Search results for ""author simon"

Recent years have seen the construction of buildings made of plastic, structures that are as attractive as they are unusual. After initial experiments in the 1970s, plastic is currently experiencing a tremendous boom. Originally used for temporary structures like the BMW Pavilion in Frankfurt, it is now employed in many permanent buildings as well, including the recent Catholic church in Radebeul by Staib/Behnisch. Prominent international avant-garde architects such as Shigeru Ban and Herzog & de Meuron frequently use transparent plastic for their structures. Transparent plastic seems ephemeral and thus captures the spirit of the times. Its various qualities between transparent and translucent make it possible to achieve fascinating effects with light and color. Projects presented include the Allianz Arena in Munich by Herzog & de Meuron, the Rocket Tower in Leicester by Grimshaw & Partners, the Paper Art Museum by Shigeru Ban in Shizuoka, Japan, and the public housing development Cité Manifeste in Mulhouse by Lacaton Vassal. Seit einigen Jahren entstehen ebenso attraktive wie ungewöhnliche Bauten aus Kunststoff. Nach ersten Versuchen in den 1970er Jahren erlebt der Baustoff derzeit einen ungeheuren Boom. Zunächst für temporäre Bauten wie dem BMW Pavillon in Frankfurt genutzt, entstehen mittlerweile auch zahlreiche bleibende Gebäude (wie kürzlich die Katholische Kirche von Staib/Behnisch in Radebeul). Bekannte Architekten der internationalen Avantgarde wie Shigeru Ban oder Herzog & de Meuron verwenden gerne transparenten Kunststoff für ihre Bauten. Das Material scheint ephemer, transitorisch (ohne es zu sein) und trifft damit den Nerv der heutigen Zeit. Seine unterschiedlichen Qualitäten zwischen transparent und transluzent erlauben faszinierende Licht- und Farbeffekte. Zu den dargestellten Projekten gehören die Allianz-Arena in München von Herzog & de Meuron, der Rocket-Tower in Leicester von Grimshaw & Partner, das Papiermuseum von Shigeru Ban in Shizuoka, Japan, und der soziale Wohnungsbau der Cité Manifeste in Mulhouse von Lacaton Vassal.

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It is late summer in East Sussex, 1914. Amidst the season’s splendour, fiercely independent Beatrice Nash arrives in the coastal town of Rye to fill a teaching position at the local grammar school. There she is taken under the wing of formidable matriarch Agatha Kent, who, along with her charming nephews, tries her best to welcome Beatrice to a place that remains stubbornly resistant to the idea of female teachers. But just as Beatrice comes alive to the beauty of the Sussex landscape, and the colourful characters that populate Rye, the perfect summer is about to end. For the unimaginable is coming – and soon the limits of progress, and the old ways, will be tested as this small town goes to war.

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The successful laying of a transatlantic cable in 1866 remade world communications. A message could travel across the ocean in minutes, shrinking the space between continents, cultures, and nations. An eclectic group of engineers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and media visionaries then developed this technology into a telecommunications system that spread a particular vision of civilization-but not everyone wanted to wire the world the same way. Wiring the World is a cultural and social history that explores how the large Anglo-American cable companies won out over alternative visions. Bitter rivalries emerged over telegram prices, visions for world peace, scientific innovation, and the role of the nation-state. Such struggles determined the growth of cable technology, which in turn influenced world history. Filled with fascinating characters and new insights into pivotal events, Wiring the World traces globalization's diverse paths and close ties to business and politics.

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The Brabazon – the name evokes the immediate post-war optimism of civil aviation. The giant airliner was built by Bristol Aircraft in 1949 to cross the Atlantic and serve the empire. However, the plane proved to be a commercial failure when airlines felt that it was too large and expensive to be useful. Large and luxurious, it carried only 60-80 passengers, and with a range of 5,000 miles, a 225ft wing span and eight engines buried in the wings with enough fuel to reach New York, the ‘100-ton bomber’ was more impressive and capable than the B-29: the ultimate passenger airliner was born. Now, with previously unpublished material and illustrations from the original Bristol Brabazon sales brochure, among other sources, the Brabazon’s 1930s-style elegance is displayed once again, celebrating its design, construction and sheer luxury. A fitting outcome for such a paragon of post-war optimism and an aircraft still considered by many to be the foremost in propeller-driven civil aviation.

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Endometriosis is a chronic benign estrogen-dependent disease which is characterized by the presence of endometriotic glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity. It affects women during reproductive age, but it may also be diagnosed in menopausal women. Endometriosis can be asymptomatic; but most frequently it can be responsible for pain symptoms and/or infertility, severely impacting women' quality of life. Overall, clinical presentation depends on the location of endometriotic lesions: intestinal symptoms can occur in case of bowel nodules whereas urinary symptoms can occur in case of urinary tract endometriosis. At the moment, the exact prevalence of endometriosis is unknown because its definitive diagnosis requires surgery and histological evaluation. It has been estimated that this benign chronic disease affects at least 3.6% of reproductive age women; however, its prevalence could significantly increase considering women suffering from dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain and/or infertility. The etiology of endometriosis is unclear: various factors, such as multiple abnormalities of the immune system, genetic factors and environmental factors may influence women' susceptibility to develop this chronic disease. Although the gold standard for the diagnosis of endometriosis is the pathological evaluation of surgical biopsies or specimens, today transvaginal ultrasonography is largely employed to reliably identify the presence of deep infiltrating endometriosis or ovarian endometriomas. The aim of the surgery for endometriosis is to restore the normal anatomy by removing endometriotic lesions and by performing adequate removal of abdominal adhesions. However, surgery, in case of deep infiltrating implants, can be rather challenging for gynecologists due to the complexity of pelvic adhesions involving several structures and it may be characterized by rare but not negligible urological, intestinal, neurological and vascular complications. Furthermore, pain may recur after conservative surgery for endometriosis. Although surgery is obviously required in cases of ureteral stenosis, bowel occlusion or ovarian cysts with doubtful characteristics of malignancy, medical therapy, and, particularly, hormonal therapies, are the initial therapeutic approach today for most patients with endometriosis-related pain. Long-term medical therapy for endometriosis aims to minimize the production and action of estradiol, inhibiting the production of cyclic hormones from the ovaries. Numerous medical options (such as estroprogestins, progestins, gonadotropin- releasing hormones analogs and antagonists) are available for treating women with endometriosis: the choice of the most suitable compound is based on several factors, such as intensity of pain, age, desire to conceive, costs, route of administration and impact of the endometriosis on work capacity, sexual function and quality of life of each women. Currently, research is focused on finding new innovative targets to treat this benign chronic disease; in fact, it is well known that development, maintenance and progression of endometriosis depend on a variety of aberrant mechanisms including cell proliferation, immune function, apoptosis, invasion capacity and angiogenesis. The aim of this book is to give an accurate overview on pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy of endometriosis.

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