In architecture, new materials rarely emerge. For centuries, wood, masonry and concrete formed the basis for most structures on Earth. In the 1880s, the adoption of the steel frame changed architecture forever. Steel allowed architects to design taller buildings with larger windows, giving rise to the skyscrapers that define city skylines today. Since the industrial revolution, construction materials have been largely confined to a range of mass-produced elements. From steel beams to plywood panels, this standardized kit of parts has informed the design and construction of buildings for over 150 years. That may soon change with advances in what’s called “large-scale additive manufacturing.” Not since the adoption of the steel frame has there been a development with as much potential to transform the way buildings are conceived and constructed. Large-scale additive manufacturing, like desktop 3D printing, involves building objects one layer at a time. Whether it’s clay, concrete or plastic, the print material is extruded in a fluid state and hardens into its final form. As director of the Institute for Smart Structures at the University of Tennessee, I’ve been fortunate to work on a series of projects that deploy this new technology. While some roadblocks to the widespread adoption of this technology still exist, I can foresee a future in which buildings are built entirely from recycled materials or materials sourced on-site, with forms inspired by the geometries of nature. Promising prototypes Among these is the Trillium Pavilion, an open-air structure printed from recycled ABS polymer, a common plastic used in a wide range of consumer products. The structure’s thin, double-curved surfaces were inspired by the petals of its namesake flower. The project was designed by students, printed by Loci Robotics and constructed on the University of Tennessee Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville. Other recent examples of large-scale additive manufacturing include Tecla, a 450-square-foot (41.8-square-meter) prototype dwelling designed by Mario Cucinella Architects and printed in Massa Lombarda, a small town in Italy. The architects printed Tecla out of clay sourced from a local river. The unique combination of this inexpensive material and radial geometry created an energy-efficient form of alternative housing. Back in the U.S., the architecture firm Lake Flato partnered with the construction technology firm ICON to print concrete exterior walls for a home dubbed “House Zero” in Austin, Texas. The 2,000-square-foot (185.8-square-meter) home demonstrates the speed and efficiency of 3D-printed concrete, and the structure displays a pleasing contrast between its curvilinear walls and its exposed timber frame. The planning process Large-scale additive manufacturing involves three knowledge areas: digital design, digital fabrication and material science. To begin, architects create computer models of all the components that will be printed. These designers can then use software to test how the components will respond to structural forces and tweak the components accordingly. These tools can also help the designer figure out how to reduce the weight of components and automate certain design processes, such as smoothing complex geometric intersections, prior to printing. A piece of software known as a slicer then translates the computer model into a set of instructions for the 3D printer. You might assume 3D printers work at a relatively small scale – think cellphone cases and toothbrush holders. But advances in 3D printing technology have allowed the hardware to scale up in a serious way. Sometimes the printing is done via what’s called a gantry-based system – a rectangular framework of sliding rails similar to a desktop 3D printer. Increasingly, robotic arms are used due to their ability to print in any orientation. Robotic arms allow for more flexibility in the construction process. The printing site can also vary. Furnishings and smaller components can be printed in factories, while entire houses must be printed on-site. A range of materials can be used for large-scale additive manufacturing. Concrete is a popular choice due to its familiarity and durability. Clay is an intriguing alternative because it can be harvested on-site – which is what the designers of Tecla did. But plastics and polymers could have the broadest application. These materials are incredibly versatile, and they can be formulated in ways that meet a wide range of specific structural and aesthetic requirements. They can also be produced from recycled and organically derived materials. Inspiration from nature Because additive manufacturing builds layer by layer, using only the material and energy required to make a particular component, it’s a far more efficient building process than “subtractive methods,” which involve cutting away excess material – think milling a wood beam out of a tree. Even common materials like concrete and plastics benefit from being 3D-printed, since there’s no need for additional formwork or molds. Most construction materials today are mass-produced on assembly lines that are designed to produce the same components. While reducing cost, this process leaves little room for customization. Since there is no need for tooling, forms or dies, large-scale additive manufacturing allows each part to be unique, with no time penalty for added complexity or customization. Another interesting feature of large-scale additive manufacturing is the capability to produce complex components with internal voids. This may one day allow for walls to be printed with conduit or ductwork already in place. In addition, research is taking place to explore the possibilities of multi-material 3D printing, a technique that could allow windows, insulation, structural reinforcement – even wiring – to be fully integrated into a single printed component. One of the aspects of additive manufacturing that excites me most is the way in which building layer by layer, with a slowly hardening material, mirrors natural processes, like shell formation. This opens up windows of opportunity, allowing designers to implement geometries that are difficult to produce using other construction methods, but are common in nature. Structural frames inspired by the fine structure of bird bones could create lightweight lattices of tubes, with varying sizes reflecting the forces acting upon them. Façades that evoke the shapes of plant leaves might be designed to simultaneously shade the building and produce solar power. Overcoming the learning curve Despite the many positive aspects of large-scale additive manufacturing, there are a number of impediments to its wider adoption. Perhaps the biggest to overcome is its novelty. There is an entire infrastructure built around traditional forms of construction like steel, concrete and wood, which include supply chains and building codes. In addition, the cost of digital fabrication hardware is relatively high, and the specific design skills needed to work with these new materials are not yet widely taught. In order for 3D printing in architecture to become more widely adopted, it will need to find its niche. Similar to how word processing helped popularize desktop computers, I think it will be a specific application of large-scale additive manufacturing that will lead to its common use. Perhaps it will be its ability to print highly efficient structural frames. I also already see its promise for creating unique sculptural façades that can be recycled and reprinted at the end of their useful life. Either way, it seems likely that some combination of factors will ensure that future buildings will, in some part, be 3D-printed. Nearly every organization of size struggles with it. The trouble starts when you start asking people what DT actually means. What is it, exactly? And people kinda scratch their heads. It’s hard to nail down. This lack of mental traction is because of, we think, poor word choice. “Transformation” is not really a word people use to describe everyday life. Nobody ever gets out of bed in the morning and says, “I’m going to transform myself today!!!” It’s more like a word out of a superhero movie. By itself, it sounds ridiculous. What people are really talking about, in more everyday language, is “Change”. Because as the image says, “change” is the Alpha and Omega of business. All DT is, then, is using technology to create and manage change at an ever more accelerated and effective rate. For all the technical wizardry and big-budget enterprise software associated with DT, it’s really just common sense more than anything else. The other thing to remember, of course, is that technology is not the problem, people are the problem. Many, if not most, DT initiatives fail, and they fail mainly because of cultural issues i.e. human beings. Culture is key to DT because all roads lead back to culture in the end. We've been helping the small and mighty business, design audacious digital ad campaign projects since 2014.
This isn't about the usual 'online marketing', or 'designing an engaging website', but more like inspiring small business owners and their teams in North Jersey to grow profitable businesses. Whether local or regional ad campaign projects, the growth transformation isn't just digital, but human. The digital tools we use are of no value without great customer service & customer interacting, and the kiss of death in digital transformation through ad campaign projects is when our company &/or business owners believe it is about the tech alone. If you're a small business owner in north Jersey, Contact Us for a free consultation AUTHOR Rebekah Brandes Fly above the white peaks of one sprawling French ski resort during winter, and you may catch a glimpse of Simon Beck’s mystical alpine masterpieces: enormous geometric patterns the English artist creates in the snow using a compass and his snowshoes. When he’s not traveling the world to stamp out his complex designs — he’s done so in the United States, Canada, Japan, Chile, and Argentina — Beck, 65, lives at France’s Les Arcs resort. There, on the snow-covered frozen lakes, he makes the majority of his artwork, or drawings, as he calls them. A former cartographer who earned his living designing orienteering maps, he ventured into his current occupation on a whim back in 2004. “It was just a bit of fun,” Beck told Nice News. “One day, I just wanted to do something after skiing, and I saw this nice little lake outside the building where I live, and it’s about half the size of a soccer field. I just thought, ‘Let’s go and draw a pattern on the lake.’” When he realized how impressive the pattern looked, something he wasn’t expecting, Beck was encouraged to continue. Fast forward nearly two decades, and he’s coming up on 400 completed snow drawings, each of which typically take somewhere between seven and 30 hours. He’s been commissioned to make snow art for big brands like Corona beer, and multiple apparel companies have featured his designs on items of clothing. He’s even forayed into sand art, making 180 different drawings over the years on one beach in southwest England during the summertime. So how does he manage to conceive of and execute such impressive, intricate designs? When he started, he drew them on paper before taking the art to the snow. These days, though, he tends to make things up as he goes. To hear him talk about it, it’s clear the process comes rather naturally to Beck, who graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Oxford before turning to mapmaking. For example, he casually described the steps he recently took to complete a “very simple drawing.” “I just walked straight across the location, decided where the middle of it should be, and did 10 radii on 45 double paces in length to get the 10 points of a 10-pointed star,” he explained. Next, he paced along each radius, leaving a marker at certain points. “And then I sort of joined up the dots with straight lights, and then drew some triangles around the edge of it in Von Koch’s Snowflake style.” The design element is far from the most challenging part of the process. “You need a lot of stamina,” Beck said. “I mean, after a big drawing you’re really tired.” In addition to that stamina (fueled by soup and Coca-Cola), and the simple tools he uses, Beck requires one other element to create his snow art. “I really like listening to music when I’m working in the snow,” he shared, adding: “Indeed, it would be so terribly boring without these personal stereos.” When asked what tunes he has loaded up on his own stereo, he responded: “Oh, it’s classical music. There’s a little bit of Pink Floyd on it, too.” Click here to follow Beck on Facebook and see many more of his incredible designs. Source: Nice News The Pudding calculated what place someone is most likely referring to, depending on where they are. The Pudding is a digital publication that explains ideas debated in culture with visual essays.
In the 1950s, less than 10% of families with children were single-parent. In 2022, among families with children, 31% were single-parent — more than three times as common.
Using AI to detect students' smiles in geotagged photos, Resume.io ranked America's twenty happiest colleges.
There are a few ways to find out which colleges offer students the best experience. You could read each college's reviews and testimonials. You could search a college's name on Twitter for students' brutally honest opinions on studying there. Or, you could do what Resume.io did: use an AI facial recognition tool to detect smiles in Instagram selfies geotagged at different universities, and rank colleges according to the highest proportion of happy-looking faces. After assessing a photo, the AI tool gives a percentage between zero and 100 to indicate how confident it is that the analyzed face is expressing happiness. Resume.io considered faces scoring 75 percent or higher to be genuinely happy ones. Key Findings:
Pork roll, hoagies and farm roads vs Taylor Ham, subs, and eight-lane highways… North and South Jersey are completely different worlds. Here are a few of the biggest differences between the two parts of New Jersey. 1. Pork Roll vs. Taylor Ham For some reason, this is the true dividing issue for most New Jerseyans. In the south, it's Pork Roll. Up north, it's Taylor Ham. Everyone has an opinion, even if they don't eat it. 2. Completely different landscapes... The flat farmlands of south Jersey are a stark contrast to the rocky and mountainous terrain of the northern part of the state 3. ...and completely different traffic patterns. The traffic in north Jersey never seems to cease. Down south, slow country roads generally don't get backed up, but you might be stuck behind a tractor or a combine if you're unlucky. 4. Hoagies...or Subs? This is another terminology debate. Anyone from the Philadelphia metro area calls sandwiches hoagies, but elsewhere, they're known as subs. 5. Each part of the state roots for a different city's sports teams... Philadelphia-area fans are probably the most loyal fans in all of sports, but much of north Jersey roots for the New York teams. No matter who they root for, though, New Jerseyans will always remind you that The Meadowlands is in the Garden State. 6. ... and considered a different city "the City". If your friends are trying to plan a day in "the city", you might want to ask for clarification. 7. Beach vibes vary from the northern towns of Monmouth County to the sleepy towns of Cape May County. Northern New Jersey's shore towns are more residential and lively all year long. Down in the southern parts of Ocean or Cape May county, the population is largely seasonal, and the towns are much quieter. 8. The difference between north and south Jersey is so great that we can't even agree on the "correct" borders.
The "line" between North and South Jersey is determined by where you grew up, and if you consider Central Jersey to be a real thing. There's no true border that we can all agree on. Source: Only in your state "5 Ways Climate Change Is Amplifying Allergies: Why You'll Be Sneezing (and Itching) More"11/7/2023
As the world grapples with the consequences of climate change, scientists have been delving into the potential impact on allergies. Jeffrey Demain, a distinguished professor at the University of Washington and Director of the Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Center of Alaska, warns that if global warming continues, we can anticipate more frequent and severe allergies. Recently, he shared his insights at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware. Here's an overview of the reasons why rising temperatures are poised to make allergy sufferers more miserable than ever.
While most of the available evidence highlights the worsening of allergies, it's important to note that many studies have been primarily correlational. Demain is the first to acknowledge that seasonal variations will still occur, as exemplified by harsh winters like this year's. However, he asserts that the overall trends are unmistakable, even if your nose might not readily agree. |
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