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Architecture has been primarily ocularcentric for the last century. This thesis proposes a more sensible approach to architecture. A multisensory experience that gives the user a deeper response to the building. Architecture can activate and engage multiple senses through the revelation of nature such as: wind, light, and shadow. Architecture has the power to reveal the essence of nature and natural phenomena. It can also become a catalyst to help us understand nature and attain a deeper connection with it and ourselves. Through derived forms and attention to details, architects can capture the essence of nature without direct imitation. Architecture has always had the power to reveal. The architect must choose what is revealed. This thesis is an exploration into the idea of architecture as a revelation of nature in a specific climate, location, and context to allow the user to become more attuned to nature. Architecture can allow the users to explore and discover nature in a way that was previously ignored or overlooked, or perhaps it can reveal a phenomenon for the first time. Architecture can reveal nature through: orientation, material choices, form, function, openings, details, and spacing. Allowing natural phenomena to be a part of the design process creates a building attuned to nature. These revelations can occur with careful consideration to components, conditions, and details such as: wind, light, shadow, and structure. In order to achieve these, special consideration must be give to the tectonic and stereotomic construction. / Master of Architecture

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-02-08T12:04:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Giane Cauzzi Brocco_.pdf: 5767947 bytes, checksum: 1352c6e88b55fea0bf9be17c23e39e46 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-08T12:04:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giane Cauzzi Brocco_.pdf: 5767947 bytes, checksum: 1352c6e88b55fea0bf9be17c23e39e46 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-10-27 / Nenhuma / A disponibilidade de recursos naturais é comprimida pelo crescimento populacional e por padrões inadequados de produção, fazendo com que as organizações procurem referências para crescer de modo sustentável. Para isso, é necessário readequar as indústrias, repensando as lideranças e o impacto de cada ação para o planeta. Os negócios dependem da natureza, e a busca por soluções sustentáveis é, além de uma boa prática, condição necessária para a manutenção da competitividade. O Método de Pensamento Biomimético busca na natureza a fonte de inspiração para a criação e a resolução de desafios; no entanto, o atual formato do Método de Pensamento Biomimético nem sempre é convidativo aos que não enxergam a natureza como princípio de orientação na busca de soluções sustentáveis ou aos que não se sentem confortáveis com modelos disruptivos de inovação. O Método do Pensamento Sistêmico permite enxergar de forma holística e integrada tanto o contexto como o impacto de uma solução e, ainda, oportuniza a quebra de modelos mentais limitantes; todavia, não direciona a criação de produtos, sistemas ou processos, lacuna que busca ser suprida pelo Método de Pensamento Biomimético. Logo, visando ao desenvolvimento sustentável por meio de soluções sustentáveis, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo integrar o Método de Pensamento Biomimético ao Método de Pensamento Sistêmico, dando origem ao Método Biomimético Sistêmico. Para tanto, o método de pesquisa utilizado foi a Design Science Research (DSR). Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que o método proposto é aceito por especialistas de ambas as áreas e é adequado para encontrar soluções sustentáveis e sistêmicas. Nesse sentido, contribui para o desenvolvimento sustentável, configurando um passo importante para o avanço da inovação e sustentabilidade de forma consciente por meio de impactos positivos para as empresas e para a natureza. / While the availability of natural resources is constrained by population growth and inadequate production processes, organizations still look for references to grow in a sustainable way. Therefore, it is necessary to reshape industries, rethink leaderships and become aware of the impact of every action to the planet. Given the dependence that businesses have of nature, the search for sustainable solutions is, besides a good practice, a necessary condition for maintaining competitiveness. The Biomimicry Thinking Method ensures that the final design solution is likely to truly emulate nature, however, the current format of the Biomimicry Thinking Method is not always inviting to those who do not see nature as a guiding principle to find sustainable solutions or also for those who do not feel comfortable with innovative technology models. Meanwhile, the Systems Thinking Method gives a holistically view and integrate both the context and the impact of a solution and, opportunistically, the breaking of limiting mental models, however it is not for the design of products, systems and processes. Therefore this research aiming at sustainable development through sustainable solutions, aimed to integrate the Biomimicry Thinking Method with the Systems Thinking Method, giving rise to the Systemic Biomimetic Method. To support this study, the research method used was the Design Science Research (DSR). The results of this research indicate good acceptance of the method between experts from both areas and, in addition, it can be concluded that the developed method is suitable for find sustainable systemic solutions and to contribute to sustainable development, and sets up an important step in advancing of innovation and sustainability in a conscious way through the positive impacts for companies and nature.

Flying insects face challenging conditions such as rainfall, fog, and dew. In this theoretical and experimental thesis, we investigate the survival mechanisms of the mosquito, Anopheles, through particles of various size. Large particles such as falling raindrops can weigh up to fifty times a mosquito. Mosquitoes survive such impacts by virtue of their low mass and strong exoskeleton. Smaller particle sizes, as present in fog and insecticide, pose the greatest danger. Mosquitoes cannot fly through seemingly innocuous household humidifier fog or other gases with twice the density of air. Upon landing, fog accumulates on the mosquito body and wings, which in small quantities can be shaken off in the manner of a wet dog. Large amounts of dew on the wings create a coalescence cascade ultimately folding the wings into taco shapes, which are difficult to dry. The insights gained in this study will inform the nascent field of flapping micro-aerial vehicles.

This work examined the design, fabrication, and testing of a bio-mimetic MEMS earthworm crawler with external actuators. The micro-earthworm consisted of a passive mobile shuttle with two flexible diamond shaped segments; each segment was independently squeezed by a pair of stationary chevron-shaped thermal actuators. By applying a specific sequence of squeezes to the earthworm segments, the shuttle could be driven backwards or forwards. Unlike existing inchworm drives, which use separate clamping and thrusting motors, the earthworm motor applies only clamping forces and lateral thrust is produced by the shuttle’s compliant geometry. A study of existing crawler work was performed; to the author’s knowledge, this was the first micro-crawler to achieve both clamping force and lateral motion using the same actuators. The earthworm assembly was fabricated using the POLYMUMPs process, with planar dimensions of 400 µm wide by 800 µm long. The stationary earthworm motors operated within the range of 4-9 V, and 0-10 kHz; these motors provided a maximum shuttle range of motion of 350 µm (~half the size of the device), a maximum shuttle speed of 17,000 µm /s at 10 kHz, and a maximum DC shuttle force of 80 µN. The shuttle speed was found to vary linearly with both input voltage and input frequency; the shuttle force was found to vary linearly with actuator voltage. The tested design had higher force, range, and speed (per device footprint) than most other existing designs. Future work recommendations included the implementation of multiple motors and a closed loop control system to allow an indefinite range of motion, as well as the investigation of a two degree of freedom crawler. / THE DESIGN AND TESTING OF A BIO-INSPIRED HIGH PRECISION, HIGH SPEED, LONG RANGE PERISTALTIC MICRO-MOTOR

A Systematic Approach to Bio-inspired Conceptual Design

abstract: Development of efficient and renewable electrocatalytic systems is foundational to creation of effective means to produce solar fuels. Many redox enzymes are functional electrocatalysts when immobilized on an electrode, but long-term stability of isolated proteins limits use in applications. Thus there is interest in developing bio-inspired functional catalysts or electrocatalytic systems based on living organisms. This dissertation describes efforts to create both synthetic and biological electrochemical systems for electrocatalytic hydrogen production. The first part of this dissertation describes the preparation of three different types of proton reduction catalysts. First, four bioinspired diiron complexes of the form (μ-SRS)Fe(CO)3[Fe(CO)(N-N)] for SRS = 1,2-benzenedithiolate (bdt) and 1,3-propanedithiolate (pdt) and N-N = 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy) and 2,2’-bypyrimidine (bpym), are described. Electrocatatlytic experiments show that although the byprimidinal complexes are not catalysts, the bipyridyl complexes produce hydrogen from acetic acid under reducing conditions. Second, three new mononuclear FeII carbonyl complexes of the form [Fe(CO)(bdt)(PPh2)2] in which P2 = bis-phosphine: 4,5-Bis(diphenylphosphino)- 9,9-dimethylxanthene (Xantphos), 1,2-Bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene (dppb), or cis- 1,2-Bis(diphenylphosphino)ethylene (dppv) are described. All are functional bio-inspired models of the distal Fe site of [FeFe]-hydrogenases. Of these, the Xanthphos complex is the most stable to redox reactions and active as an electrocatalyst. Third, a molybdenum catalyst based on the redox non-innocent PDI ligand framework is also shown to produce hydrogen in the presence of acid. The second part of this dissertation describes creating functional interfaces between chemical and biological models at electrode surfaces to create electroactive systems. First, covalent tethering of the redox probe ferrocene to thiol-functionalized reduced graphene oxide is demonstrated. I demonstrate that this attachment is via the thiol functional groups. Second, I demonstrate the ability to use electricity in combination with light to drive production of hydrogen by the anaerobic, phototrophic microorganism Heliobacterium modesticaldum. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biochemistry 2017

No description available.

Bio-structures owe their remarkable mechanical properties to their hierarchical geometrical arrangement as well as heterogeneous material properties. This dissertation presents an integrated, interdisciplinary approach that employs computational mechanics combined with flow network analysis to gain fundamental insights into the failure mechanisms of high performance, light-weight, structured composites by examining the stress flow patterns formed in the nascent stages of loading for the rostrum of the paddlefish. The data required for the flow network analysis was generated from the finite element analysis of the rostrum. The flow network was weighted based on the parameter of interest, which is stress in the current study. The changing kinematics of the structural system was provided as input to the algorithm that computes the minimum-cut of the flow network. The proposed approach was verified using two classical problems – three- and four-point bending of a simply-supported concrete beam. The current study also addresses the methodology used to prepare data in an appropriate format for a seamless transition from finite element binary database files to the abstract mathematical domain needed for the network flow analysis. A robust, platform-independent procedure was developed that efficiently handles the large datasets produced by the finite element simulations. Results from computational mechanics using Abaqus and complex network analysis are presented. The complex network strategy successfully identified failure mechanisms in the bio-structure by identifying strain localization in regions of tension, and buckling/crushing in regions of compression. The transdisciplinary strategy used in this study identified the failure mechanisms early, when the material was still in the linearly elastic regime, thereby tremendously reducing the computational time and cost as compared to running a finite element analysis to failure. This work also developed five proof-of-concept, bio-inspired models with varying lattice complexity based on the rostrum. Performance of these bio-inspired models was analyzed with respect to the stress and deformation. Numerical experiments were carried out on one of the bio-inspired model to demonstrate the application of newly developed similitude laws for blast loading. This research has laid the groundwork for an efficient design-test-build cycle for rapid prototyping of novel bio-inspired structures by using flow network analysis, finite element analysis, and similitude laws.

The thesis explores the various ways in which Biomimicry can be used to develop sustainable solutions that are derived from the natural cycles of organisms. Some of these include the use of solar and wind energy, as well as waste management. Aside from these, the thesis also explores the various ways in which Biomimicry can be used to develop more sustainable solutions for interior and exterior designs. The thesis explores different ways to help in sustainable architecture for the future as we are heading into the future. By using computational programming, we are able to design innovative solutions to help offset the carbon footprint of the planet. The design goal is to create a façade system inspired from the principles of biomimicry which helps in offsetting the carbon footprint of building over its lifespan.