Gönpa Gang—The First Application of Dendrochronological Dating to Study the Traditional Architecture of Upper Mustang (Nepal)

Gönpa Gang is an example of the traditional Buddhist architecture of Upper Mustang. It is also the first monument in Upper Mustang to be studied using the dendrochronological dating method. The gönpa is a two-story building of imposing size, made from simple elements of Tibetan architecture, namely masonry walls, timber posts, and beams. A total of 14 samples were collected from elements on both the ground and the first floor. The limited number of samples results from the cultural and religious character of the object under study. Only the elements consistent with the structure and the space arrangement, interpreted as original features, were examined. Microscopic observation and the analysis of the anatomical features of all 14 samples resulted in the identification of Himalayan pine (blue pine), Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jacks. Intra-annual density fluctuation, false rings, and missing rings were detected. From 14 samples collected in Gönpa Gang, 18 series were worked out. Thus, 15 series from 12 samples were synchronized and used for the development of the mean chronology, UMGG_m, with a total length of 160 rings. The chronology covers the period from 1524 to 1683. Examination of the Gang Gönpa wood resulted in the age determination of 13 elements. The results were compared with architectural stratification by Harrison and historical data from written sources. The timber used in the gönpa comes from the Southern Mustang area. The examined wood demonstrates a correlation with the timber used in the Upper Mustang historical buildings further north.

FPGA-based Implementation of SHA-256 with Improvement of Throughput using Unfolding Transformation

Security has grown in importance as a study issue in recent years. Several cryptographic algorithms have been created to increase the performance of these information-protecting methods. One of the cryptography categories is a hash function. This paper proposes the implementation of the SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm-256) hash function. The unfolding transformation approach was presented in this study to enhance the throughput of the SHA-256 design. The unfolding method is employed in the hash function by producing the hash value output based on modifying the SHA-256 structure. In this unfolding method, SHA-256 decreases the number of clock cycles required for traditional architecture by a factor of two, from 64 to 34 because of the delay. To put it another way, one cycle of the SHA-256 design can generate up to four parallel inputs for the output. As a result, the throughput of the SHA-256 design can be improved by reducing the number of cycles by 16 cycles. ModelSim was used to validate the output simulations created in Verilog code. The SHA-256 hash function factor four hardware implementation was successfully tested using the Altera DE2-115 FPGA board. According to timing simulation findings, the suggested unfolding hash function with factor four provides the most significant throughput of around 4196.30 Mbps. In contrast, the suggested unfolding with factor two surpassed the classic SHA-256 design in terms of maximum frequency. As a result, the throughput of SHA-256 increases 13.7% compared to unfolding factor two and 58.1% improvement from the conventional design of SHA-256 design.

What Happens in Your Brain When You Walk Down the Street? Implications of Architectural Proportions, Biophilia, and Fractal Geometry for Urban Science

This article reviews current research in visual urban perception. The temporal sequence of the first few milliseconds of visual stimulus processing sheds light on the historically ambiguous topic of aesthetic experience. Automatic fractal processing triggers initial attraction/avoidance evaluations of an environment’s salubriousness, and its potentially positive or negative impacts upon an individual. As repeated cycles of visual perception occur, the attractiveness of urban form affects the user experience much more than had been previously suspected. These perceptual mechanisms promote walkability and intuitive navigation, and so they support the urban and civic interactions for which we establish communities and cities in the first place. Therefore, the use of multiple fractals needs to reintegrate with biophilic and traditional architecture in urban design for their proven positive effects on health and well-being. Such benefits include striking reductions in observers’ stress and mental fatigue. Due to their costs to individual well-being, urban performance, environmental quality, and climatic adaptation, this paper recommends that nontraditional styles should be hereafter applied judiciously to the built environment.

Traditional Gypsum Pavements with Natural Aditives

In traditional architecture, the construction systems used have always been linked to the material resources of the environment. In the areas of extraction of gypsum in the Iberian Peninsula, the use of this material as a conglomerant was not limited to the interior lining of vertical and/or horizontal walls or to interior decorations, as is the case today, but proved to be a very versatile material, which could be used both in structural elements and in finishing elements and decorations. This study shows the preliminary results of an ongoing research on the recovery of traditional gypsum pavements, where three types of traditional gypsum plasters with natural products such as collagen, coconut soap, potassium soap, vegetable oil and marshmallow root were tested. The hygroscopic behaviour of the treated samples has been evaluated from the capillarity water absorption and the contact angle, due to their high hygroscopicity. On the other hand, the density and porosity, surface hardness and thermal conductivity of the samples have also been determined.

Contemplating the traditional rural architecture of Nalanda: A case study

The fundamental purpose of a building is to provide a comfortable and safe living environment, which protects from the extremes of surrounding environment, as well as give an opportunity of physical and psychosomatic development. The traditional buildings evolved gradually to meet the eventually changing human needs and lifestyle over a period of time, integrates the environmental and socioeconomic characters of the society in a well manner. These buildings have attained deep reconciliation with site surroundings, and thus, have minimal environmental impact. In spite of rapidly growing concept of advanced technological approach towards sustainability, the concept of indigenous technology and traditional architecture plays an active role. The main objective of this paper is to understand the principles and strategies for sustainability from traditional rural architecture and indigenous technologies. The methodology adopted is documentation of a traditional rural house of Nalanda, India, and analyse the environmental and socioeconomic aspects. The data has been collected from surveys, site measurements, literature, and other secondary sources. The thermal performance of a traditional house is analysed through computer aided simulations in the present investigation. This paper concludes with an appreciation of principles of traditional rural architecture and advocates their integration in the present scenario.

Taman Ujung Soekasada: Analysis of Physical Attributes and Urban Heritage Management

The revitalization and preservation of Taman Ujung Soekasada cultural heritage area make this building used as a heritage tourism destination in Karangasem. The purpose of this research is to analyze the uniqueness of Taman Ujung Soekasada cultural heritage as heritage tourism and to find out people's perceptions about the development of the area into a tourist destination in Amlapura City. This study uses a mixed-method that combines two analyzes, namely quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative analysis was obtained through a perceptual survey of one hundred respondents to find out their opinion on the management of Ujung Soekasada Park as a heritage tourism area. Qualitative analysis was carried out by identifying spatial conditions, spatial planning, and building patterns in Ujung Soekasada Park, Amlapura. The physical elements contained in the traditional architecture of Taman Ujung Soekasada have a high value if it can be managed properly to become a tourist destination, especially to provide added value to community economic activities such as increasing micro-businesses, selling local community handicrafts, staging cultural arts and activities. other. Based on the results of the analysis, it is obtained the identification of the perceptions of the visitor community and tourism actors that they strongly agree to use Ujung Soekasada Park as a cultural tourism area by displaying the potential of traditional works of buildings, with a percentage of 86.57% hope that it can encourage tourists to come to Amlapura City, so that it can encourage progress of community economic activities around the tourist center.

Evaluating the Impacts of Courtyards on Educational Buildings, Case Study in the University of Sharjah

Courtyards are traditionally associated with the Middle East countries, where climate and culture have given shape to a particular type of traditional architecture. The study evaluates the environmental and social impacts of courtyards in an educational building integrated with occupant’s interaction behavior. The case study of the University of Sharjah includes eight different courtyards unoccupied for many years, in different locations around the building with various proportions; the objectives were to examine and evaluate the impact of redesigning the interior spaces of the courtyards in terms of environmental and social aspects. The inductive and experimental approach were adopted in this research, where two surveys were conducted for the occupants, before and after the design applications. In addition to the use of eco-tech software for simulation. In conclusion, the results of surveys and interviews clarified the problem and offered some recommendations and simulation analysis provided recommendations and guidelines for designers.

Traditional Architecture of Maaloula

Maaloula is a Christian village with exceptional architecture and location. It has a world reputation due to its dialect; people converse and write in the Aramaic language. It is one of the Qalamoun’s three villages with Bakhaa and Jabaden. Consequently, the village has attracted linguists worldwide; moreover, it has been the goal of many travellers since the 19th century. Like many of the traditional sites, Maaloula was affected by modern lifestyles and changing needs. These factors altered the village's architecture and construction techniques. This paper highlights the main characteristics that have been identified by Maaloula(s situation. The article will cover various traditional features and the main typology of houses that are starting to disappear. Finally, the difficulties that Maaloula faced before, during and after the Syrian crisis.

On the efficiency of high-order difference schemes for the Schro¨dinger equation

Исследуется ряд двух- и трехслойных разностных схем, построенных на расширенных шаблонах, до восьмого порядка точности для уравнения Шрёдингера. Наряду с многоточечными схемами рассматривается метод коррекции Ричардсона в приложении к схеме четвертого порядка аппроксимации, повышающий порядок точности путем построения линейных комбинаций приближенных решений, полученных на различных вложенных сетках. Проведено сравнение методов по устойчивости, сложности реализации алгоритмов и объему вычислений, необходимых для достижения заданной точности. На основе теоретического анализа и численных экспериментов выявлены методы, наиболее эффективные для практического применения The efficiency of difference methods for solving problems of nonlinear wave optics is largely determined by the order of accuracy. Schemes up to the fourth order of accuracy have the traditional architecture of three-point stencils and standard conditions for the application of algorithms. However, a further increase in the order in the general case is associated with the need to expand the stencils using multipoint difference approximations of the derivatives. The use of such schemes forces formulating additional boundary conditions, which are not present in the differential problem, and leads to the need to invert the matrices of the strip structure, which are different from the traditional tridiagonal ones. An exception is the Richardson correction method, which is aimed at increasing the order of accuracy by constructing special linear combinations of approximate solutions obtained on various nested grids according to traditional structure schemes. This method does not require the formulation of additional boundary conditions and inversion of strip matrices. In this paper, we consider several explicit and implicit multipoint difference schemes up to the eighth order of accuracy for the Schr¨odinger equation. In addition, a simple and double Richardson correction method is also investigated in relation to the classical fourth-order scheme. A simple correction raises the order to sixth and a double correction to eighth. This large collection of schemes is theoretically compared in terms of their properties such as the order of approximation, stability, the complexity of the implementation of a numerical algorithm, and the amount of arithmetic operations required to achieve a given accuracy. The theoretical analysis is supplemented by numerical experiments on the selected test problem. The main conclusion drawn from the research results is that of all the considered schemes, the Richardson-corrected scheme is the most preferable in terms of the investigated properties

Implementation of Distributed Operation and Maintenance of Cross-Border e-Commerce Platform Based on Cloud Native Architecture

The traditional architecture of e-commerce data management needs to adapt to the new and more complex environment, which needs to provide massive data management, compatibility of different types of data, and better user experience. Cloud computing technology is a synthesis of parallel, distributed, and grid computing and is one of the future directions of information technology development. In this paper, we use cloud computing data management technology to study the data management of e-commerce. It is hoped that the current e-commerce data management can be improved with the help of cloud computing technology. This paper starts from analyzing the current e-commerce representatives Taobao.com and Jingdong Mall to find out the data characteristics of these two enterprises, analyze the existing data problems, and find the aspects that can be improved. Using this open-source cloud computing implementation solution, we solve the storage problem of large files and unstructured small files in the e-commerce system.