Domestic Arrangements: The Maid's Room in the Atakoy Apartment Blocks, Istanbul, Turkey

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The first phase of Istanbul's Ataköy Housing Development, an icon of architectural modernism in Turkey, inflects modernist architectural forms with local domestic traditions. This study examines the maid's room, a sphere of the Turkish modern interior where post-war ideas and ideals both reconciled and contradicted the customary and the modern. The case study extends recent attempts to re-think postwar architectural culture and its global effects

Electromagnetic scattering solution of conducting strips in layered media using the fast multipole method

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the solution of the electromagnetic scattering problems in layered media for the first time. This is achieved by using closedform expressions for the spatial-domain Green’s functions for layered media. Until now, the FMM has been limited to the homogeneous-medium problems. An integral equation based on the two-dimensional scalar Helmholtz equation is solved to compute the electromagnetic scattering from sample geometries of conducting strips in layered media in order to demonstrate the accuracy and the efficiency of the new method

An efficient method for electromagnetic characterization of 2-D geometries in stratified media

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A numerically efficient technique, based on the spectral-domain method of moments (MoM) in conjunction with the generalized pencil-of-functions (GPOF) method, is developed for the characterization of two-dimensional geometries in multilayer planar media. This approach provides an analytic expression for all the entries of the MoM matrix, explicitly including the indexes of the basis and testing functions provided that the Galerkin’s MoM is employed. This feature facilitates an efficient modification of the geometry without the necessity of recalculating the additional elements in the MoM matrix. To assess the efficiency of the approach, the results and the matrix fill times are compared to those obtained with two other efficient methods, namely, the spatial-domain MoM in conjunction with the closed-form Green’s functions, and a fast Fourier transform algorithm to evaluate the MoM matrix entries. Among these, the spectral-domain MoM using the GPOF algorithm is the most efficient approach for printed multilayer geometries

Blended learning in design education: an analysis of students' experiences within the disciplinary differences framework

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Blended learning has already become an indispensable part of education in many fields. However, the majority of existing research on blended learning has assumed homogeneity of disciplines. This study suggests that research highlighting disciplinary effects and differences is much needed to effectively develop courses and tools consonant with the characteristics of each discipline. To help close this research gap, this paper focuses on design education and analyses student experiences in a "blended design studio" that combined the Moodle learning management system, live videoconferencing, and social networking media (Facebook) with traditional face-to-face learning (design studio). Students' perceptions of the methods and tools were elicited through structured and open-ended questions and qualitative variations in responses were categorised. Subsequent quantitative analysis revealed that the characteristics of soft-applied fields require customisation in blended courses and educational system designs in several ways

Application of a mode-locked fiber laser for highly time resolved broadband absorption spectroscopy and laser-assisted breakdown on micro-plasmas

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Absorption spectroscopy is known to be a powerful tool to gain spatially and temporally resolved information on excited and reactive species in a plasma discharge. Furthermore, the interaction of the discharge with short intense laser pulses can trigger the ignition and the transition into other transient states of the plasma. In this context laser-assisted 'pump-probe' experiments involving simultaneously generated supercontinuum radiation yield highly temporally resolved and spatially well-defined information on the transient phenomena. In this paper we demonstrate the possibility for 'pump-probe' experiments by initiating breakdown on a picosecond time scale ('pump') with a high-power beam and measuring the broadband absorption with the simultaneously provided supercontinuum ('probe'). Since both pulses are generated from the same mode-locked master oscillator, they have a strong level of synchronization

Inflammation in benign prostate tissue and prostate cancer in the finasteride arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial

BACKGROUND: A previous analysis of the placebo arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) reported 82% overall prevalence of intraprostatic inflammation and identified a link between inflammation and higher-grade prostate cancer and serum PSA. Here we studied these associations in the PCPT finasteride arm. METHODS: Prostate cancer cases (N=197) detected either on a clinically indicated biopsy or on protocol-directed end-of-study biopsy, and frequency-matched controls (N=248) with no cancer on an end-of-study biopsy were sampled from the finasteride arm. Inflammation in benign prostate tissue was visually assessed using digital images of H&E stained sections. Logistic regression was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: In the finasteride arm, 91.6% of prostate cancer cases and 92.4% of controls had at least one biopsy core with inflammation in benign areas; p < 0.001 for difference compared to placebo arm. Overall, the odds of prostate cancer did not differ by prevalence (OR=0.90, 95% CI 0.44-1.84) or extent (P-trend=0.68) of inflammation. Inflammation was not associated with higher-grade disease (prevalence: OR=1.07, 95% CI 0.43-2.69). Furthermore, mean PSA concentration did not differ by the prevalence or extent of inflammationin either cases or controls. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of intraprostatic inflammation was higher in the finasteride than placebo arm of the PCPT, with no association with higher-grade prostate cancer. IMPACT: Finasteride may attenuate the association between inflammation and higher-grade prostate cancer. Moreover, the missing link between intraprostatic inflammation and PSA suggests that finasteride may reduce inflammation-associated PSA elevation

1 mJ pulse bursts from a Yb-doped fiber amplifier

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We demonstrate burst-mode operation of a polarization-maintaining Yb-doped fiber amplifier capable of generating 60 mu J pulses within bursts of 11 pulses with extremely uniform energy distribution facilitated by a novel feedback mechanism shaping the seed of the burst-mode amplifier. The burst energy can be scaled up to 1 mJ, comprising 25 pulses with 40 mu J average individual energy. The amplifier is synchronously pulse pumped to minimize amplified spontaneous emission between the bursts. Pulse propagation is entirely in fiber and fiber-integrated components until the grating compressor, which allows for highly robust operation. The burst repetition rate is set to 1 kHz and spacing between individual pulses is 10 ns. The 40 mu J pulses are externally compressible to a full width at half-maximum of 600 fs. However, due to the substantial pedestal of the compressed pulses, the effective pulse duration is longer, estimated to be 1.2 ps. (C) 2012 Optical Society of Americ