1,720,958 research outputs found
CAN TEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE IMPROVE OUTDOOR CONDITIONS IN RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS?
No full textThe life quality and the livability level of a city are strictly related to how public
urban spaces are used and maintained, and to the type and number of outdoor activities.
The absence of recreational and optional activities may create poor outdoor conditions:
many public spaces are currently used in ineffective ways, often in uncomfortable and
unsafe conditions. Seasonal and weather conditions are also a potential limit to the use of
spaces between buildings.
The paper stems from several investigations that demonstrate how the request for urban
quality is a pressing need of residential areas inhabitants, and how collective outdoor
spaces have great unexplored potentiality.
With sustainable models, capable of adapting to outdoor climate conditions, this research
will try to respond to the request of a livable outdoors, in order to introduce effective
programming in comfortable conditions, and give back strength and identity to
neighborhoods. Through the analysis of several case studies, classified on the basis of
their use and through recurring features and keywords, the project aims at identifying a
transferable model based on sustainable and multipurpose structural units for temporary
outdoor architectures. These elements will be the base to introduce urban “acupuncture
intervention” as a support for the growing need for recreational and cultural activities, in
order to provide a tool capable of improving the urban outdoor conditions.
The background purpose is to come to a conscious use of the city’s potentialities with the
aim of improving the citizen’s modus vivendi
Cool façade optimization: A new parametric methodology for the urban heat island phenomenon (UHI)
No full textIn recent years, the urban climate has been progressively changing due to different causes that affect the environmental conditions. One consequence of this metamorphosis and the growing building density is known as the urban heat island (UHI) factor, which alters the quality of outdoor spaces due to the overheating of building surfaces. Microclimate features influence indoor activities and human heat stress. The research aims to provide an answer to the problem caused by excessive solar radiation on the urban fabric and the consequent UHI factor. The following study focuses on different façade characterizations based on various materials with relevant reflectance efficiencies that transform the exterior of buildings into 'cool façades'. The research considers the thermal performance of the building façade, the heat exchange between the building, and canyon surfaces as thermal masses in a new parametric methodology. Using thermodynamic tools connected by a parametric engine, the analysis demonstrates how cool façades reduce heat transfer to both the building and the environment. The study analyzes façade materials related to their shading capacity, high reflectivity, and emissivity in different urban canyon scenarios. Microclimates and outdoor comfort are monitored by measuring the canyon surface temperatures and the Universal Thermal Climate index (UTCI), which combines air temperature, humidity, mean radiant temperature, and wind speed. The indoor environment is observed using air temperatures. The study reveals how cool façades help to improve outdoor as well as indoor conditions
Light design in historical buildings: Parameters and prototypes. Comparison of façade behavior: Metal meshes vs. high-tenacity polymer composite meshes
No full textThe quality of living spaces has long been a key
issue in design focused on user needs. To correctly define the
environmental quality of indoor spaces, many aspects must be
considered, which necessarily involves transverse knowledge. An
important role in the quality of spaces is the correct use of
natural light to ensure good lighting and user comfort. This is
even truer within historical buildings where the final function or
use has changed over the centuries. At the same time, simulation
tools have recently become very important, along with new
measurement models based on open-source protocols. The
experimental method proposed is applied to initial analysis for
the design of a high-performance shell that can optimize façade
behavior in relation to solar radiation, considering aesthetic
aspects as well. The research aims to show how historical
buildings could benefit from the versatile nature of hightechnological
devices that can answer both the functional and
aesthetic needs of ancient structures. The goal is to obtain the
best indoor conditions in terms of visual comfort. The results
confirm the need to consciously use modern technological tools to
support design. The design of healthy, safe, comfortable
environments can and must make use of the most innovative
architectural support tools, but it still requires the awareness anabilit
B.E.S.T.: Building Elements Smart Technology
No full textAbstract
Scientific studies have long proven that buildings are responsible for about 40% of world energy consumption, and the percentage is even higher in Italy. In recent years, parameters for new buildings have been established to reduce energy consumption; this did not happen for existing buildings, however, in which the requirements are waived due to their historical features. The proposed research addresses the issue of energy efficiency when upgrading existing buildings, with particular focus on actions related to vertical transparent building elements. These elements were analyzed through solid and thermo-fluid dynamics simulations, through the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software, in order to evaluate their thermal and environmental performance. The analysis led to identification of the most important energetic shortcomings in the vertical transparent building elements most commonly used in old buildings. We studied a highly efficient and smart transparent closure module that integrates the use of materials, innovative technological systems and as small approach the home automation applications based on the Micro- Electrical-Mechanical-System (MEMS). This module interacts with existing elements in order to correct weaknesses. The system developed, which serves as a first experimental prototype, allows the thermal performance of existing vertical transparent elements to be improved. These will not be replaced, but rather integrated with the module studied. Moreover, the system significantly improves indoor comfort through the use and integration of micro-systems to mechanically control natural ventilation, shading systems and the possible integration of minimal-sized elements for air-conditioning
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
