IMPROVEMENT OF HYDROPON INSTALLATIONS

Hydroponics is a promising area of development of modern agriculture, which provides long-term cultivation of basic vegetables and greenery in small areas with minimal consumption of water and fertilizers. This technology allows you to get a fairly large harvest of fresh vegetables within large cities, including office and residential premises. Entrepreneurs and researchers are paying close attention to developing more efficient hydroponics methods and equipment to implement them in order to reduce usable space, save water, nutrients and increase air supply and plant capacity. Several hydroponics systems are known: static solution culture, continuous flow solution (NFT) culture, deep water culture, passive irrigation, underwater and drainage irrigation systems, wastewater drainage system, deep-water fertilized culture, rotary system, aeroponics, wick system. The first three of the above methods were used commercially and industrially. The system of static culture solution does not provide the necessary saturation of plant roots with air. With the implementation of the method of continuous solution culture, minor buffering is possible due to interruptions in the flow (power outage), flooding of water in some canals, in addition, there are restrictions on the maximum length of canals (12 - 15 m). The system of deep-water culture on an industrial scale is used mainly for growing lettuce. Other mentioned systems are not efficient enough in terms of commercial use. The improved hydroponic installations presented in the article were developed taking into account the following requirements: universality of use (possibility of growing different types of plants); harmonization of optimal supply of crops with water, nutrients, light and air; maximum use of space; increasing the area for each plant and maintaining its stems and shoots. Also in the article the equation for definition of the basic parameters of the developed installations is given.

Squashed black holes at large D

Using the large D effective theory approach, we construct a static solution of non-extremal and squashed black holes with/without an electric charge, which describes a spherical black hole in a Kaluza-Klein spacetime with a compactified dimension. The asymptotic background with a compactified dimension and near-horizon geometry are analytically solved by the 1/D expansion. Particularly, our work demonstrates that the large D limit can be applied to solve the non-trivial background with a compactified direction, which leads to a first-order flow equation. Moreover, we show that the extremal limit consistently reproduces the known extremal result.

Stability against movement: An extension of expressional form

<p>This thesis has slowly become a paradox of retrieving information from the frictionless landscape of interconnected objects, through drawing, to develop an analogue methodology in understanding this provocative site at Kumutoto Lane. Making the invisible, visible. The word ‘drawing’ retains a dynamic, energetic & incipient value in which resonates well against the nature of the site. The idea of friction is imperative to both of these concepts, drawing and site, and is why I began my investigation into the abandoned site at Clifton Terrace with pencil and paper. Kumutoto Lane is an example of unfinished built form and I would like to see if I can use this awkward abandonment to express the idea of drawing as a catalyst for architectural design. A poetical expansion to how the road draws a line through the infrastructure that we live in. The site is part of a profound history in relation to the Wellington Urban Motorway and is just a small piece of what was a very large prospective precinct spanning from Ngauranga Gorge through to the the airport, facilitated by what was then the Ministry of Works. In terms of form, the project will generate an architectural reaction providing an ‘office space’ for the abandoned Ministry of Works Department. I have been really cautious to not let the specificness of the site camouflage how I am working on it, essentially appointing the Clifton terrace carpark as a case study. Ideologies of this research assimilated into dynamic forms to flow in and around the existing landscape, avoiding a static solution in which I believe will contradict the nature of the site. It has been crucial to identify a relationship between land and line through out the growth of this research, with an emphasis expressed towards the development of a methodological approach to ensure this was achieved. Methodology has become the veracious backbone to this research.</p>

Stability against movement: An extension of expressional form

<p>This thesis has slowly become a paradox of retrieving information from the frictionless landscape of interconnected objects, through drawing, to develop an analogue methodology in understanding this provocative site at Kumutoto Lane. Making the invisible, visible. The word ‘drawing’ retains a dynamic, energetic & incipient value in which resonates well against the nature of the site. The idea of friction is imperative to both of these concepts, drawing and site, and is why I began my investigation into the abandoned site at Clifton Terrace with pencil and paper. Kumutoto Lane is an example of unfinished built form and I would like to see if I can use this awkward abandonment to express the idea of drawing as a catalyst for architectural design. A poetical expansion to how the road draws a line through the infrastructure that we live in. The site is part of a profound history in relation to the Wellington Urban Motorway and is just a small piece of what was a very large prospective precinct spanning from Ngauranga Gorge through to the the airport, facilitated by what was then the Ministry of Works. In terms of form, the project will generate an architectural reaction providing an ‘office space’ for the abandoned Ministry of Works Department. I have been really cautious to not let the specificness of the site camouflage how I am working on it, essentially appointing the Clifton terrace carpark as a case study. Ideologies of this research assimilated into dynamic forms to flow in and around the existing landscape, avoiding a static solution in which I believe will contradict the nature of the site. It has been crucial to identify a relationship between land and line through out the growth of this research, with an emphasis expressed towards the development of a methodological approach to ensure this was achieved. Methodology has become the veracious backbone to this research.</p>

Energetics of collapsible channel flow with a nonlinear fluid-beam model

We consider flow along a finite-length collapsible channel driven by a fixed upstream flux, where a section of one wall of a planar rigid channel is replaced by a plane-strain elastic beam subject to uniform external pressure. A modified constitutive law is used to ensure that the elastic beam is energetically conservative. We apply the finite element method to solve the fully nonlinear steady and unsteady systems. In line with previous studies, we show that the system always has at least one static solution and that there is a narrow region of the parameter space where the system simultaneously exhibits two stable static configurations: an (inflated) upper branch and a (collapsed) lower branch, connected by a pair of limit point bifurcations to an unstable intermediate branch. Both upper and lower static configurations can each become unstable to self-excited oscillations, initiating either side of the region with multiple static states. As the Reynolds number increases along the upper branch the oscillatory limit cycle persists into the region with multiple steady states, where interaction with the intermediate static branch suggests a nearby homoclinic orbit. These oscillations approach zero amplitude at the upper branch limit point, resulting in a stable tongue between the upper and lower branch oscillations. Furthermore, this new formulation allows us to calculate a detailed energy budget over a period of oscillation, where we show that both upper and lower branch instabilities require an increase in the work done by the upstream pressure to overcome the increased dissipation.

The Kinematic and Static Analysis of the Dual Drive Fusiform Tensegrity Robot

In recent decades, researchers have successfully applied tensegrity robots in wilderness exploration, aerospace and biomimicry, based on the strong adaptability and high stiffness to mass ratio. In this paper, a fusiform tensegrity robot driven by cable and telescopic strut is proposed, which is intended to be used as a foot module of a multi-legged robot. The numerical kinematic and static solution of the dual drive fusiform tensegrity robot is derived using the principle of minimum energy. Then, its force space, which is a set of external forces applied to the robot in a certain equilibrium configuration, is calculated. Next, the workspace of one reference point is derived by calculating an equivalent four bar mechanism. Meanwhile the workspace of the other end of the strut is calculated numerically. Finally, the theoretical analysis is verified by a simulation, and the dual drive fusiform tensegrity robot module is proved to be feasible as one foot of a multi-legged robot.

Positive energy static solutions for the Chern–Simons–Schrödinger system under a large-distance fall-off requirement on the gauge potentials

In this paper we prove the existence of a positive energy static solution for the Chern–Simons–Schrödinger system under a large-distance fall-off requirement on the gauge potentials. We are also interested in existence of ground state solutions.

Microfluidics Integration into Low-Noise Multi-Electrode Arrays

Organ-on-Chip technology is commonly used as a tool to replace animal testing in drug development. Cells or tissues are cultured on a microchip to replicate organ-level functions, where measurements of the electrical activity can be taken to understand how the cell populations react to different drugs. Microfluidic structures are integrated in these devices to replicate more closely an in vivo microenvironment. Research has provided proof of principle that more accurate replications of the microenvironment result in better micro-physiological behaviour, which in turn results in a higher predictive power. This work shows a transition from a no-flow (static) multi-electrode array (MEA) to a continuous-flow (dynamic) MEA, assuring a continuous and homogeneous transfer of an electrolyte solution across the measurement chamber. The process through which the microfluidic system was designed, simulated, and fabricated is described, and electrical characterisation of the whole structure under static solution and a continuous flow rate of 80 µL/min was performed. The latter reveals minimal background disturbance, with a background noise below 30 µVpp for all flow rates and areas. This microfluidic MEA, therefore, opens new avenues for more accurate and long-term recordings in Organ-on-Chip systems.

Characterizing block-copolymer micelles used in nanomedicines via solution static scattering techniques

Block copolymers are well recognized as excellent nanotools for delivering hydrophobic drugs. The formulation of such delivery nanoparticles requires robust characterization and clarification of the critical quality attributes correlating with the safety and efficacy of the drug before applying to regulatory authorities for approval. Static solution scattering from block copolymers is one such technique. This paper first outlines the theoretical background and current models for analyzing this scattering and then presents an overview of our recent studies on block copolymers.

Charged throats in the Hořava–Lifshitz theory

A spherically symmetric solution of the field equations of the Hořava–Lifshitz gravity–gauge vector interaction theory is obtained and analyzed. It describes a charged throat. The solution exists provided a restriction on the relation between the mass and charge is satisfied. The restriction reduces to the Reissner–Nordström one in the limit in which the coupling constants tend to the relativistic values of General Relativity. We introduce the correct charts to describe the solution across the entire manifold, including the throat connecting an asymptotic Minkowski space-time with a singular 3+1 dimensional manifold. The solution external to the throat on the asymptotically flat side tends to the Reissner–Nordström space-time at the limit when the coupling parameter, associated with the term in the low energy Hamiltonian that manifestly breaks the relativistic symmetry, tends to zero. Also, when the electric charge is taken to be zero the solution becomes the spherically symmetric and static solution of the Hořava–Lifshitz gravity.