How Digitalization Is Affecting Urban Transformation

The chapter aims to analyze the role that digital innovation has whenever it is connected in shaping urban spatial and functional transformations. It is capable of governing any kind of urban project that must find a new platform to engage in diverse modernity. The smart city implementation is one of the results of the new relationship between technology and physical settlement, but it still does not find methodological completeness as it is still linked to connected sensors and numerical flows of data. The chapter explores the critical issues and opens up new research paths following the study of some ongoing urban experimentations as have been amplified in the ongoing new phases in this post-pandemic 2021. The digital network can be a newly established matrix for both the territory and cities, just as roads and railways networks have been in the past – if it becomes a work of public interest on par with conventional urbanization infrastructure ones.

Communicative-functional components of discourse

The article considers the main types of semantic-sigmatic and communicative-functional transformations of lexical units against the background of changes in certain parameters of discourse and analyzes the fundamental motives for changing the load of lexical units in modern space. The relevance of this work is determined by modern transformations of linguistic study of different types of discourse, which occur on the basis of the study of communication and the search for universal foundations of linguistic interaction. Language is considered as a complex communicative and cognitive phenomenon that determines the state of intercultural communication. The components that directly affect the communication process and the success of the modern language formation must be identified. The aim of this study was to analyze the semantic-sigmatic and communicative-functional components of discourse and the theory of their understanding in modern communication. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study included the works of scientists in the field of modern methods of communication. The objective method was the analysis of documents (monographs, articles, statistics, scientific papers and textbooks on the selected topic).

Functional and Morphological Transformations of the Urban Block—Contribution to the Expected Modernization of Zagreb’s Historical Core

The paper explores the possibilities of the structural and functional transformation of blocks in the historical center of Zagreb as a part of modernization after many years of neglect as well as earthquakes in 2020. The research aims to determine how the existing block tissue corresponds with the needs of today’s residents and the possibility of its improvement. The historical circumstances in which the blocks were formed and underwent the most significant changes and modern processes that affect the state and value are determined. There is a special focus on the interior of the block (courtyards), as well as on the spaces on the ground floors of street facades, where numerous, unexplored changes can be observed. The findings provide starting points for desirable structural–functional transformations of blocks and stem from the synthesis and interpretation of knowledge from four interrelated parts of the research. The characteristics of blocks have changed during city development stages, as depicted by an analysis and graphic interpretation of historical maps and urban plans (1864–2021). Influences of modern processes on changes of the city are determined on the basis of the synthesis of previous research from different interdisciplinary points of view; a detailed analysis of the structural–functional changes is conducted on the example of three selected blocks. Transformation models for three selected blocks are proposed.

Urban Development and the (Re)use of the Communist-Built Industrial and Agricultural Sites after 1990. The Showcase of Bucharest–Ilfov Development Region

Urban development and changing the patterns of industry and agriculture had caused the foremost spatial and functional transformations of the post-communist period in Romania. These changes have resulted in increased land consumption, often including the reuse of abandoned or non-residential built-up areas (e.g., industrial, agricultural). By integrating spatial and statistical data, the current analysis has revealed as key features: spatial shrinkage, fragmentation, functional diversification, tertiarization and change of patterns. Using a functional change matrix, five main (re)use types have been identified and quantified: maintenance, conversion, replacement, abandonment, and demolition. Overall, between 1990 and 2018, over 50% functional losses have been recorded.

Stimulus Driven Functional Transformations in the Early Olfactory System

Olfactory stimuli are encountered across a wide range of odor concentrations in natural environments. Defining the neural computations that support concentration invariant odor perception, odor discrimination, and odor-background segmentation across a wide range of stimulus intensities remains an open question in the field. In principle, adaptation could allow the olfactory system to adjust sensory representations to the current stimulus conditions, a well-known process in other sensory systems. However, surprisingly little is known about how adaptation changes olfactory representations and affects perception. Here we review the current understanding of how adaptation impacts processing in the first two stages of the vertebrate olfactory system, olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), and mitral/tufted cells.

Schubert’s Experiments with Processual Form

This article assesses, from a process-oriented analytical perspective, the role of formal reinterpretation in Schubert’s music. The article builds on the work of Janet Schmalfeldt (in turn inspired by the analytical and philosophical processual approaches to form of Theodor W. Adorno and Carl Dahlhaus). It also draws on the form-functional approach of William Caplin, and the dialogical formal perspective of James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy. The article’s first part considers some typical structural features of form-functional transformations and presents a threefold categorization of them: intrathematic (e.g., continuation ? cadential), interthematic (e.g., introduction ? P-theme), and multilevel transformations (e.g., transition ? contrasting middle). In addition to providing examples drawn from Schubert’s works for piano that illustrate these three types of form-functional transformations (D. 899 no. 3, D. 566/I), the second part of the article discusses instances of theme-type (D. 784/I) and exposition-space-and-type (D. 935/I) transformations and form-functional intertextuality (D. 958/I) between Schubert’s and Beethoven’s works. The article concludes with a detailed consideration of the Piano Sonata in B-flat, D.960/I, addressing aspects of large-scale formal implications related to a particular formal strategy in Schubert’s ternary P-themes: the “double-conversion effect,” a process of form-functional transformation that features the reinterpretation of formal functions not once but twice in a self-contained formal zone.

Measurements and geometry

The paper is aimed at demonstrating the points of contact between measurements and geometry, which is done by modelling the main elements of the measurement process by the elements of geometry. It is shown that the basic equation for measurements can be established from the expression of projective metric and represents its particular case. Commonly occurring groups of functional transformations of the measured value are listed. Nearly all of them are projective transformations, which have invariants and are useful if greater accuracy of measurements is desired. Some examples are given to demonstrate that real measurement transformations can be dealt with via fractional-linear approximations. It is shown that basic metrological and geometrical categories are related, and a concept of seeing a multitude of physical values as elements of an abstract geometric space is introduced. A system of units can be reasonably used as the basis of this space. Two tensors are introduced in the space. One of them (the affinor) describes the interactions within the physical object, the other (the metric tensor) establishes the summation rule on account of the random nature of components.

Cancer: a mirrored room between tumor bulk and tumor microenvironment

It has been well documented that the tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a key role in the promotion of drug resistance, the support of tumor progression, invasiveness, metastasis, and even the maintenance of a cancer stem-like phenotype. Here, we reviewed TME formation presenting it as a reflection of a tumor’s own organization during the different stages of tumor development. Interestingly, functionally different groups of stromal cells seem to have specific spatial distributions within the TME that change as the tumor evolves into advanced stage progression which correlates with the fact that cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are located in the edges of solid tumor masses in advanced tumors.We also focus on the continuos feedback that is established between a tumor and its surroundings. The “talk” between tumor mass cells and TME stromal cells, marks the evolution of both interlocuting cell types. For instance, the metabolic and functional transformations that stromal cells undergo due to tumor corrupting activity.Moreover, the molecular basis of metastatic spread is also approached, making special emphasis on the site-specific pre-metastatic niche formation as another reflection of the primary tumor molecular signature.Finally, several therapeutic approaches targeting primary TME and pre-metastatic niche are suggested. For instance, a systematic analysis of the TME just adjacent to the tumor mass to establish the proportion of myofibroblasts-like cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) which may in turn correspond to stemness and metastases-promotion. Or the implementation of “re-education” therapies consisting of switching tumor-supportive stromal cells into tumor-suppressive ones. In summary, to improve our clinical management of cancer, it is crucial to understand and learn how to manage the close interaction between TME and metastasis.

Iron-Mediated Radical Nitro-Halogenation Reactions of Enynes with tert-Butyl Nitrite

A radical nitro-halogenation/cyclization of various enynes with tert-butyl nitrite (TBN) has been developed, which conveniently introduces the useful nitro group and halogen into organic compounds. Some control experiments on mechanism study and further functional transformations proceed well in this reaction system.

Bit Streaming Processing Algorithms for Intelligent Hardware Converters

The need to transfer the primary data conversions close to the sensors, to the endpoints of monitoring systems, as well as in IoT terminal devices makes the development of new approaches to computing and the design of appropriate algorithms relevant. The article shows stream processing algorithms that provide functional transformations of signals presented in bit stream form (single pulse streams, PWM signal streams) and binary codes at the same time. In such algorithms, the computational process is based on discretization, pulse frequency sweep and pulse-width sweep of codes as well as organization of parallel-serial processing. The suggested principles of algorithm organization are based on the fact that the computation is considered not as an event associated with calculation but as a continuous process of a result formation. The transition to algorithmic representations proposed by the authors makes it possible to obtain universal behavioral descriptions, independently of the specific hardware on which their implementation is performed.