Mamwi Gidaanjitoomin/Together We Build It: A Systematic Review of Traditional Indigenous Building Structures in North America and Their Potential Application in Contemporary Designs to Promote Environment and Well-Being.

(1) Background: Housing has long been recognized as an essential determinant of health. Our sense of home goes beyond physical shelter and is associated with personal or collective connections with spaces and places. However, modern architecture has gradually lost its connections between people and places; (2) Methods: We examined traditional Indigenous architecture and how it can be utilized in contemporary settings to restore connections to promote the environment, health, and well-being. (3) Results: We found that traditional Indigenous building structures may be the best manifestation of the Indigenous interconnected and holistic worldviews in North America, containing thousands of years of knowledge and wisdom about the land and the connection between humans and the environment, which is the foundation of reciprocal well-being; (4) Conclusions: Learning from the traditional structures, we proposed that modern architects should consider the past, present, and future in every endeavor and design and to utilize traditional knowledge as a crucial source of inspiration in creating works that are beneficial for both current and future generations by taking collectivism, health and well-being, and the environment into consideration in designs.

Explaining an Influential Model of the Significant Relationship Between Religion, Spirituality, and Environmental Peace in Mosque Interior Architecture.

Investigating the components of environmental peace in an architectural work, especially Islamic mosques, requires a detailed understanding of this concept and its influential factors. In the architecture of the mosques of the past, certain patterns have always followed a continuous trend that made a logical relationship with the time before and after, but this continuity and trend are not seen today. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of environmental peace from two aspects of religion and spirituality. Religion means comprehensive instructions and complete guidelines that, on the one hand, show the goal and teaches the human being how to achieve it, and on the other hand, help the human being on problems that are difficult to understand by universal means of understanding (reason, experience, and intuition). Therefore, the identification of the true ultimate goal in human life as well as the determination of the intermediate goals that indicate the path to the ultimate goal is possible only through the recognition and adherence to the right religion, and this fact shows the close relationship between religion and spirituality. The research method investigates the relationship between variables through a correlation method and then through structural equations. The statistical population was selected based on the Cochran formula including 120 professors and postgraduate students in architecture and Islamic architecture of Tehran Universities. The research tool was a web-based questionnaire and its link was made available to the statistical community online. The structural equation method was used in SPSS and Amos software to test the regression and fitting test model. Pearson correlation test was also used to determine the relationship between research variables. The results show that the model of the influence of "religion" factors in enhancing "environmental peace" through the mediating variable of "spirituality" explains these relationships; in other words, in this indirect causal relation, enhancement of semantic factors mediated by "spirituality" factors enhances environmental peace in architecture.

The historical process of the masonry city walls construction in China during 1st to 17th centuries AD.

Masonry city walls were common defense facilities in the cities of the Eurasian before the industrial revolution. However, they were not widespread in China until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Limited in research methods, previous studies failed to make convincing arguments on this phenomenon. We collected, organized and analyzed relevant historical documents to reconstruct the spatio-temporal process of the construction of masonry walls from 1st to 17th century in China. We conducted a time series analysis primarily based on factors such as wars, garrisons, economy, and natural disasters. Analysis of the correlation among the construction of masonry walls and these factors provides insights into this process. From the 1st to 14th century, only 125 masonry city walls were built in China and the annual average number was below 0.1. While in the Ming Dynasty, a total of 1,493 masonry walls were built, with an annual average of 5.41. The construction activities in 1368-1456 spread throughout the country, but mainly appeared in the high-grade administrative cities and garrisons, as a result of the planned implementation of the central government. The construction activities in 1457-1644 had corresponding cluster areas during different periods, mainly at county-level. We found that the wall construction was stimulated by external factors such as wars and disasters. We believe that the mass construction of masonry walls in the Ming Dynasty is a phenomenon of cultural diffusion. The central government plan, the complex interactions between local governments and community, and the stimulation of external factors worked together to contribute to the diffusion of masonry city walls in the Ming Dynasty.

Large-scale micron-order 3D surface correlative chemical imaging of ancient Roman concrete.

There has been significant progress in recent years aimed at the development of new analytical techniques for investigating structure-function relationships in hierarchically ordered materials. Inspired by these technological advances and the potential for applying these approaches to the study of construction materials from antiquity, we present a new set of high throughput characterization tools for investigating ancient Roman concrete, which like many ancient construction materials, exhibits compositional heterogeneity and structural complexity across multiple length scales. The detailed characterization of ancient Roman concrete at each of these scales is important for understanding its mechanics, resilience, degradation pathways, and for making informed decisions regarding its preservation. In this multi-scale characterization investigation of ancient Roman concrete samples collected from the ancient city of Privernum (Priverno, Italy), cm-scale maps with micron-scale features were collected using multi-detector energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and confocal Raman microscopy on both polished cross-sections and topographically complex fracture surfaces to extract both bulk and surface information. Raman spectroscopy was used for chemical profiling and phase characterization, and data collected using EDS was used to construct ternary diagrams to supplement our understanding of the different phases. We also present a methodology for correlating data collected using different techniques on the same sample at different orientations, which shows remarkable potential in using complementary characterization approaches in the study of heterogeneous materials with complex surface topographies.

Penfield's ceiling: Seeing brain injury through Galen's eyes.

The cathedral ceiling located in the entrance hall of the Montreal Neurological Institute, planned by its founder Wilder Penfield, has intrigued visitors since it was erected in 1934. Central to its charm is a cryptic comment by the ancient physician Galen of Pergamum, which refutes a dire Hippocratic aphorism about prognosis in brain injury. Galen's optimism, shared by Penfield, is curious from a fellow ancient. In this article, we use primary sources in Ancient Greek as well as secondary sources to not only examine the origins of Galen's epistemology but also, using a methodology in classics scholarship known as reception studies, illustrate how an awareness of this ancient debate can illuminate contemporary clinical contexts. While Galen based his prognostications on direct clinical observations like the Hippocratics, he also engaged in experimental and anatomic work in both animals and humans, which informed his views on neurologic states and outcomes. Penfield's memorialization of Galen is representative of the evolution of the neurosciences and the ongoing importance of evidence-based prognostication in severe brain injury.

Biodeterioration Risk Threatens the 3100 Year Old Staircase of Hallstatt (Austria): Possible Involvement of Halophilic Microorganisms.

BACKGROUND: The prosperity of Hallstatt (Salzkammergut region, Austria) is based on the richness of salt in the surrounding mountains and salt mining, which is documented as far back as 1500 years B.C. Substantial archaeological evidence of Bronze and Iron Age salt mining has been discovered, with a wooden staircase (1108 B.C.) being one of the most impressive and well preserved finds. However, after its discovery, fungal mycelia have been observed on the surface of the staircase, most probably due to airborne contamination after its find. OBJECTIVE: As a basis for the further preservation of this valuable object, the active micro-flora was examined to investigate the presence of potentially biodegradative microorganisms. RESULTS: Most of the strains isolated from the staircase showed to be halotolerant and halophilic microorganisms, due to the saline environment of the mine. Results derived from culture-dependent assays revealed a high fungal diversity, including both halotolerant and halophilic fungi, the most dominant strains being members of the genus Phialosimplex (synonym: Aspergillus). Additionally, some typical cellulose degraders, namely Stachybotrys sp. and Cladosporium sp. were detected. Numerous bacterial strains were isolated and identified as members of 12 different genera, most of them being moderately halophilic species. The most dominant isolates affiliated with species of the genera Halovibrio and Marinococcus. Halophilic archaea were also isolated and identified as species of the genera Halococcus and Halorubrum. Molecular analyses complemented the cultivation assays, enabling the identification of some uncultivable archaea of the genera Halolamina, Haloplanus and Halobacterium. Results derived from fungi and bacteria supported those obtained by cultivation methods, exhibiting the same dominant members in the communities. CONCLUSION: The results clearly showed the presence of some cellulose degraders that may become active if the requirements for growth and the environmental conditions turn suitable; therefore, these microorganisms must be regarded as a threat to the wood.

[Spatial characteristics analysis of Huizhou-Styled Village based on ideal ecosystem model and 3D landscape indices: A case in Chengkan, China]. / 基于理想生态系统模式与三维景观指数的徽派村落空间特征解析­­ä»¥å‘ˆåŽä¸ºä¾‹.

Huizhou-Styled Village is a typical representative of the traditional Chinese ancient villages. It preserves plentiful information of the regional culture and ecological connotation. The Huizhou-Style is the apotheosis of harmony between the Chinese ancient people and nature. The research and protection of Huizhou-Styled Village plays a very important role in fields of ecology, geography, architecture and esthetics. This paper took Chengkan Village of Anhui Province as an exa-mple, and proposed a new model of ideal ecosystem oriented in theories of Feng-shui and psychological field. The new method of characterizing 3D landscape index was introduced to explore the spatial patterns of Huizhou-Styled Village and the functionality of the composited landscape components in a quantitative way. The results indicated that, Chengkan Village showed a spatially composited pattern of "mountain-forest-village-river-forest". It formed an ideal settlement ring structure with human architecture in the center and natural landscape around in the horizontal and vertical horizons. The traditional method based on the projection distance caused the deviation of the landscape index, such as underestimating the area and distance of landscape patch. The 3D landscape index of average patch area was 6.7% higher than the 2D landscape index. The increasing rate ofarea proportion in 3D index was 1.0% higher than that of 2D index in forest lands. Area proportion of the other landscapes decreased, especially the artificial landscapes like construction and cropland landscapes. The area and perimeter metric were underestimated, whereas the shape metric and the diversity metric were overestimated. This caused the underestimation of the dominance of natural patches was underestimated and the overestimation of the dominance of artificial patches during the analysis of landscape pattern. The 3D landscape index showed that the natural elements and their combination in Chengkan Village ecosystem reflected better ecological function, the key elements and the composited landscape ecosystem preserved higher stability, connectivity and aggregation. The quantitative confirmation showed that the Huizhou-Styled Village represented by Chengkan Village is an ideal ecosystem.

Development of sedentary communities in the Maya lowlands: coexisting mobile groups and public ceremonies at Ceibal, Guatemala.

Our archaeological investigations at Ceibal, a lowland Maya site located in the Pasión region, documented that a formal ceremonial complex was built around 950 B.C. at the onset of the Middle Preclassic period, when ceramics began to be used in the Maya lowlands. Our refined chronology allowed us to trace the subsequent social changes in a resolution that had not been possible before. Many residents of Ceibal appear to have remained relatively mobile during the following centuries, living in ephemeral post-in-ground structures and frequently changing their residential localities. In other parts of the Pasión region, there may have existed more mobile populations who maintained the traditional lifestyle of the preceramic period. Although the emerging elite of Ceibal began to live in a substantial residential complex by 700 B.C., advanced sedentism with durable residences rebuilt in the same locations and burials placed under house floors was not adopted in most residential areas until 500 B.C., and did not become common until 300 B.C. or the Late Preclassic period. During the Middle Preclassic period, substantial formal ceremonial complexes appear to have been built only at a small number of important communities in the Maya lowlands, and groups with different levels of sedentism probably gathered for their constructions and for public rituals held in them. These collaborative activities likely played a central role in socially integrating diverse groups with different lifestyles and, eventually, in developing fully established sedentary communities.

Ethical Guidelines for Structural Interventions to Small-Scale Historic Stone Masonry Buildings.

Structural interventions to historic stone masonry buildings require that both structural and heritage values be considered simultaneously. The absence of one of these value systems in implementation can be regarded as an unethical professional action. The research objective of this article is to prepare a guideline for ensuring ethical structural interventions to small-scale stone historic masonry buildings in the conservation areas of Northern Cyprus. The methodology covers an analysis of internationally accepted conservation documents and national laws related to the conservation of historic buildings, an analysis of building codes, especially Turkish building codes, which have been used in Northern Cyprus, and an analysis of the structural interventions introduced to a significant historic building in a semi-intact state in the walled city of Famagusta. This guideline covers issues related to whether buildings are intact or ruined, the presence of earthquake risk, the types of structural decisions in an architectural conservation project, and the values to consider during the decision making phase.

Os primeiros registros do uso de águas termais e a formação das estâncias hidrominerais no Brasil / The first records of the use of thermal waters and the formation of thermal cities in Brazil

Trabalho aborda os primeiros registros do uso de águas termais para finalidade terapêutica, o prestígio e a consolidação da prática do termalismo como tratamento medicinal e investiga a forma como a disseminação dessas práticas impulsionaram o desenvolvimento do turismo e a formação das estâncias hidrominerais no Brasil a partir do final do século XIX, explorando, sobretudo a relação entre o traçado urbano e a funções terapêuticas e turísticas dessas cidades.(AU)

This paper addresses the first records of the use of thermal waters for therapeutic purposes in Brazil, the prestige and the practical consolidation of hydrotherapy as medicinal treatment and it investigates how the spread of these practices stimulated the development of tourism and the formation of spas in Brazil from the late nineteenth century, particularly addressing the relationship between the urban layout and the therapeutic and tourist functions of these cities.(AU)

De núcleos de cura a destinos turísticos: a origem do Termalismo e o desenvolvimento das estâncias hidrominerais na Europa / From healing facilities to tourist destination: the origin of Balneotherapy and the developent of thermal cities in Europe

O trabalho explora as origens do termalismo no ocidente, abordando os primeiros registros de uso de águas termais com finalidade terapêutica e o desenvolvimento e dessa prática no campo da medicina. Investiga a relação entre o termalismo e o desenvolvimento do turismo ao longo do século XIX, identificando a infraestrutura e a organização espacial específica que se consolidou nas estâncias europeias desse período e que, posteriormente, influenciariam decisivamente na organização das estâncias brasileiras.(AU)

This paper explores the origins of hydrotherapy in the West, covering the first use records of thermal waters for therapeutic purposes and the development of this practice in medical field. It investigates the relationship between hydrotherapy and development of this practice in medical field. It investigates the relationship between hydrotherapy and development throughout the nineteenth century tourism, identifying the infrastructure and the specific spatial organization that was consolidated in European resorts of that period and its subsequently and decisively influence in the organization of Brazilian resorts.(AU)