Urban Environment during Post-War Reconstruction: Architectural Dominants and Nodal Points as Measures of Changes in an Urban Landscape

Modernist planners were given the opportunity to apply the idea of the Modern Movement in the implementation of cities transforming after the World War II blitz, which was not possible before in long-term evolving structures. However, they could not alter everything: some urban and even architectural elements were necessary to be preserved. As a result, the elements of the ancient landscapes of these cities—historical objects and spaces—necessary for the continuity of evidence of history and identity were preserved, often being completely reconstructed. Finally, in some of these cities, both old and new elements contribute to the contemporary urban landscape. The aim of the research is to examine two key categories of urban structure in this perspective: (1) architectural dominants (landmarks) and (2) urban network nodes. For this purpose, (1) the changes in the number and rank of the spaces through which the landmarks expositions were carried out are compared, and (2) the changes in the rank of nodes in the urban structure, both these in the pre-war and in the present structures, as well as changes in their distribution and concentration areas are analyzed. The number of individual elements is compared and the changes in the structure of their arrangement are analyzed with the use of a polygon grid. A medium-scale European city (Bialystok) is used as the case study. Results of our analysis indicate that the post-war reconstruction led to a decrease in the number of elements of the urban grid (streets, nodal points), especially those of low rank. The rank of many others also decreased: 57% of all nodal points within the historical grid of the selected area does not exist in the post-war structure. The number of main rank directions of exposition decreased by 18% and in the subordinate group by 38%. The research is an attempt to construct a new criteria of evaluating changes in the quality of the cityscape, which is described in the article.

A disease-based evaluation of lung cancer care quality in a community healthcare system.

251 Background: Lung cancer care is complex, but, for quality improvement, can be simplified into five ‘nodal points’: lesion detection, diagnostic biopsy, radiologic staging, invasive staging, and treatment. We previously demonstrated great heterogeneity in passage through these nodal points in patients who received surgical resection for lung cancer in our healthcare system. However, examining only surgical patients may underestimate the enormity of the opportunity for quality improvement. With the aim of identifying quality gaps in pre-treatment evaluation for lung cancer, we evaluated the flow of care through these nodal points within a community-based healthcare system. Methods: We classified lung cancer care procedures received by all suspected lung cancer patients treated within the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program at Baptist Cancer Center, Memphis TN between 2014 and 2019, into five nodal points. We compared the frequency of, and time intervals between, nodal points among patients receiving surgical, nonsurgical (chemotherapy/radiation), or no definitive treatment, using Chi-square or Kruskal Wallis tests, where appropriate. Results: Of 1304 eligible patients: 11% had no pre-treatment diagnostic procedure, 20% no PET/CT, and 39% no invasive staging. 39% of patients underwent surgical resection, 51% received non-surgical treatment, and 10% received no treatment. Patients who had surgery were less likely than those who had non-surgical treatment to get a diagnostic test, radiologic staging, and invasive staging (Table). Patients who had non-surgical treatment were more likely to pass through all five nodal points (50% v 68%, p<0.0001). The median (IQR) duration from initial lesion identification to treatment (n=1126) was 77 days (45-190); 27 days (10-90) from lesion identification to diagnostic biopsy (n=1115); and 38 days (26-63) from diagnostic biopsy to treatment (n=1041). Patients who had surgery received less timely care than those who had non-surgical or no treatment: median 122 v 66 v 68 days from lesion identification to treatment; 40 v 21 v 29 days from lesion identification to diagnostic biopsy; 46 v 38 v 31 days from diagnostic biopsy to treatment (p<0.0001 all comparisons). Conclusions: Quality improvement initiatives within our healthcare system, such as the establishment of a coordinated multidisciplinary program, enhanced care quality over previous benchmarks. Despite improvements, lung cancer patients who had surgery received less frequent and less timely pre-treatment evaluation than those without surgery. Implementing a standardized cancer care pathway from diagnosis to surgery could help to reduce variations in optimal care delivery.[Table: see text]

THE NEW-NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: ARE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGING THE ONTOLOGY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS?

Our hypermediated societies affect the very nature of what a social movement is. This article identifies five core nodal points of what constitutes a social movement: Program claims, Identity construction, Connections, Actions, and Resolve (PICAR). Primarily using France’s yellow vest movement case, I assess the impact of social media on these nodal points. I find that social media afford opportunities as well as present challenges for contemporary movements which taken together amounts to a newly emerging ontology. This new-new social movement ontology is characterized by processes of discontinuity (open ideological positioning, fluid collective identities, weak ties, an online repertoire of action, and relative ephemerality) co-existing with continuity (the return of a class politics of redistribution, the continued importance of collective identity, offline repertoires, and cycles of protest). This analysis demonstrates the dynamic interplay between political and mediation opportunity structures, producing new emancipatory potentials and challenging constraints.

Shape Optimization of a Wooden Baseball Bat Using Parametric Modeling and Genetic Algorithms

Baseball is a popular and very lucrative bat-and-ball sport that uses a wooden bat to score runs. We hypothesize that new design features for baseball bats will emerge from their shape optimization using parametric modeling and genetic algorithms. We converge the location of two points on bats made from maple (Acer sp.) and ash (Fraxinus sp.) wood that are associated with increased velocity of a ball rebounding off a bat: vibrational nodal points and the center of percussion (COP). Our modeling and optimization approach was able to reduce the distance between the nodal points and COP from 166.0 mm to 52.1 mm. This change was similar in both wood species and resulted from changes to the geometry of the bat, specifically shifting of the mass of the bat toward the center of the barrel and removing mass from the very end of the barrel. We conclude that the combination of parametric finite element modeling and optimization using genetic algorithms is a powerful tool for exploring virtual designs for baseball bats that are based on performance criteria and suggest that our designs could be realized in practice using subtractive manufacturing technology.

Performative Control and Rhetoric in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Response to COVID-19

This article analyses how specific nodal points of performative control developed and consequently structured the discourse on Aotearoa New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies these points by adopting a rhetorical-performative approach to uncover three particular performances of control that articulated the pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand, from the diagnosis of the first COVID-19 case in the country in February 2020 through to October 2020. This period of analysis covers the emergence, subsequent nationwide lockdown, elimination, and re-emergence of the virus. There are three distinct nodal points that unfold as key to the nation’s ability to control COVID-19: the hegemonic “us”; iwi regionalism; and the rhetoric of kindness. A mixed approach of content analysis of government data, Facebook data, and key imagery is employed to constitute these nodal points’ relevance and how they structured the performative control that threaded through the nation’s initial response as a whole. The article demonstrates how Aotearoa New Zealand, considered by popular assessment to have been successful in its response to COVID-19, managed to eliminate the virus twice in 2020, but not without aspects of the antagonisms that have beset other nations. These include the exacerbation of internal dichotomies and questions about the legality of Government mandates. As the country’s response to COVID-19 is traced, the employment of a rhetorical-performative framework to identify the key nodal points also highlights how the framework could be applied to Aotearoa New Zealand’s continuing response as the pandemic endures.

Analysis of the nodal beam isolation system based on application of helical spring

A nodal beam isolation system allows the transmission of vibration from the source to an isolated element to be limited using nodal points on the elastic beam connecting them. These points are selected in such a way that their position during vibration is constant. The application of a helical spring as an elastic beam reduces the dimensions of the system and increases its applications. An effective computational model of the nodal beam isolation system based on a helical spring application as an elastic beam is presented in the paper. The model allows the position of nodal points to be determined for a given excitation frequency. It also allows the influence of system parameters on spring vibration amplitudes and static stiffness of the connection between the source and isolated element to be analysed. The analysis makes it possible to formulate conclusions facilitating the designer to select the proper system parameters for the given operating conditions. The results of numerical and experimental tests exhibit high compliance with the results of the presented model.

Introduction

Islands (and groups of islands) across the globe played crucial roles in the establishment and development of the British Empire. This chapter sets out the main themes and contours of the volume that follows. Islands acted as key nodal points, providing critical assistance for those embarked on long-distance voyages. Intercontinental maritime trade, colonial settlement, and scientific exploration would have been impossible without them. They also acted as sites of competition and conflict for rival European powers. The importance of islands outstripped their physical size, the populations they sustained, or their individual economic contribution to the imperial balance sheet. Standing at the centre of maritime routes of global connectivity, islands offer historians of the British Empire fresh perspectives on the intercontinental communication, commercial connections, and territorial expansion that characterized that empire.