New Building Materials Such as Autoclave Aerated Concrete Offer New Opportunities Most architects are content to use

existing building materials. But Martina Decker, an environmentallyconcerned designer with a keen interest in science and technology, wants to create new building materials. Share This: Decker, an assistant professor in the College of Architecture and Design, has partnered with scientists to create new building materials that have the potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption and thus make buildings more sustainable. She has, for instance, fabricated a prototype for a smart screen that, once installed within glass building facades, could moderate temperature and light. The screen is engineered from shape-memory alloys that can change shape as a result of changes in room temperature. The concept is simple: if it's cold inside, the screen opens to allow sunlight into the building. Conversely, on hot days the screen closes to block the solar heat. No electricity is needed to move the screen, since the material is both a sensor and a motor. Though the concept is simple, the science involved in creating the screen is complex. And that's why Decker, who arrived at NJIT in the fall, loves working at the university. "Before I arrived here, NJIT researchers like Zafar Iqbal shaped my understanding of certain materials," says Decker, who is quick to add that creating new materials can be accomplished only through collaboration. "NJIT professors are doing amazing things and it's very exciting for me to be here." Before coming to NJIT, Decker was a visiting critic in the Architecture Department at Cornell University, and taught art and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as at Parsons in Manhattan. She is a frequent lecturer at universities where she has spoken on the use of new materials and how they can change the future of architecture. She completed her architecture degree at the University of Applied Sciences, in Munich, and has worked in offices in Europe and North America. She co-founded Decker Yeadon LLC, a Brooklyn-based architectural office, in 2006. This semester Decker is teaching a collaborative design studio. The class is composed of industrial design majors, digital design majors and interior design majors. All of the students in the studio class are working in teams to design and create a contemporary circus. Decker is also setting up a Material Dynamics Lab, where she intends to work with NJIT professors and students to explore the application of new building materials. The lab will be located in NJIT's Idea Factory. One of the material groups she'll work to develop in the lab are smart materials that can react to their environment. She's especially interested in polymorphic smart materials that can change shape in response to an external stimulus. These smart materials operate like artificial muscles and as such can be used in various ways to promote sustainable building. She'll also assess new materials for architectural applications and work on shaping the materials for specific building applications. "This is the moment in my research when close collaboration with scientists is essential," she says. "Designers know what the particular performance requirements, but scientists know exactly how to modify the performance of substances and materials." She hopes to work closely with NJIT Physics Professor John Federici, who is establishing the Remote Sensing Center at NJIT. Sophisticated sensor technologies are important not only to activate some of the new material assemblies. But the sensors are also essential to monitor and measure the effectiveness of a new material prototype. Once in her lab, Decker will create proof-of-concept prototypes to verify the performance of the material assemblies. She has been at NJIT only for a few months, yet Decker says it's a perfect environment for a designer like her, who wants to collaborate with researchers to invent new materials. "As a designer I will work closely with various researchers here," she says, "and hope this will be an example of how NJIT unites science and technology with architecture and design to develop new sustainable technologies."

Work of Rivers as an Agent of Erosion The geological work performed by rivers may be placed under three heads: Erosion, Transport and Deposition. Rivers are active agents of erosion, especially in times of floods. They carry away much material and redeposit some part of it farther downstream, the rest being transported to the sea. Some matter goes into solution in the river water. The finer particles remain in suspension and the coarse roll along the bed during floods and hence perform the work by abrading the channel of river. The work of erosion, performed by rivers, results in the widening and deepening of their valleys during their course of development. Stages of youth, maturity and old age may be distinguished in the history of river. There is a steep sided valley of a youthful stream the broader valley and more deeply dissected landscape of mature river system and the flat meandering course of a river in the stage. Meanders When a river has cut down nearly to its base level, it flows more slowly with a reduced gradient and begins to swing side by side of its valley. The energy imparted to the load of sediments which it carries is consumed in the widening of the valley by lateral erosion, and the course of the rivers develops a series of big looped curves called meanders. The length of the loop when fully formed is about sixteen times the width of the stream. On the concave side of a meander the bank is undercut and eroded while deposition is on the convex side. River Deposits The general term given to deposit laid down by rivers is alluvium, through this is often restricted to the finer material such as silt and mud as distinct from gravels and larger fragments. After heavy rains, the velocity of river may be trebled; larger boulders which would not be moved under normal conditions of flow are shifted with an intermittent motion by stream is spate. Transported sediments are dropped by a stream whenever its velocity is checked. A river emerging from a mountain on to a flatter ground, such as the edge of a plain, builds up a heap of detritus known as alluvial cone. The material deposited is mainly sand and gravel, partly rounded during transport. The finer particles being carried on down to the sea. In the lower courses of a mature river the finer alluvium is spread out to form an alluvial flat. This is subject to periodic flooding and a fresh layer of alluvium is deposited at each flood. Water Falls These are performed where a stream in a youthful stage flows over rocks of different hardness. A hard rock is worn away less rapidly than a soft, with a result that a rivers gradient is increased where it crosses a ledge of hard rock, softer material below the resistant layer is undercut by the water, leaving an overhanging ledge over which the stream falls. Deltas A river entering a body of still water such as a lake or sea drops much of its load of sediments as its velocity is reduced and forms a delta which is gradually built forward into the still water. The building of a delta proceeds as sediments is deposited at a rivers mouth. The stream than subdivides and flows through the water on either side of the obstacle which it has made. Further deposition takes place along these distributions and after further barriers have been made, the streams branch again. In this way by repeated bifurcation and sedimentation, the deltaic deposits cover a large area which has a roughly triangular like the Greek latter as is the case of Nile delta, Ganges and Mississippi.