1,720,982 research outputs found
Shape grammar based adaptive building envelopes: Towards a novel climate responsive facade systems for sustainable architectural design in Vietnam.
Get PDFThe concept of a dynamic building enclosure is a relatively novel and unexplored area in sustainable architectural design and engineering and as such, could be considered a new paradigm. These façade systems, kinetic and adaptive in their nature, can provide opportunities for significant reductions in building energy use and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time having a positive impact on the quality of the indoor environment. Current research in this area reports on a growing increase in the application of new generative design approaches and computational techniques to assist the design of adaptable kinetic systems and to help quantify their relationships between the building envelope and the environment.
In this research, a novel application of shape grammar for the design of kinetic façade shading systems has been developed, based upon a generative design approach that controls the creation of complex shape composites, starting from a set of initial shapes and pre-defined rules of their composition. Shape grammars provide an interesting generative design archetype in which a set of shape rules can be recursively applied to create a language of designs, with the rules themselves becoming descriptors of such generated designs.
The research is inspired by traditional patterns and ornaments in Vietnam, seen as an important symbol of its cultural heritage, especially in the era of globalisation where many developing countries, including Vietnam, are experiencing substantial modernist transformations in their cities. Those are often perceived as a cause of the loss of both visual and historical connections with indigenous architectural origins and traditions. This research hence investigates how these aspects of spatial culture could be interpreted and used in designing of novel façade shading systems that draw their inspiration from Vietnamese vernacular styles and cultural identity. At the same time, they also have to satisfy modern building performance demands, such as a reduction in energy consumption and enhanced indoor comfort. This led to the exploration of a creative form-finding for different building façade shading configurations, the performance of which was tested via simulation and evaluation of indoor daylight levels and corresponding heating and cooling loads. The developed façade structures are intended to adapt real-time, via responding to both results of an undertaken simulation and data-regulation protocols responsible for sensing and processing building performance data. To this extent, a strategy for BIM integrated sustainable design analysis (SDA) has also been deliberated, as a framework for exploring the integration of building management systems (BMS) into smart building environments (SBEs).
Finally, the research reports on the findings of a prototype system development and its testing, allowing continuous evaluation of multiple solutions and presenting an opportunity for further improvement via multi-objective optimisation, which would be very difficult to do, if not impossible, with conventional design methods
Sustainable design analysis and BIM integration
No full textIn this chapter the purpose of sustainable design analysis (SDA) in the building design process is addressed – its principles, integration, implementation,\ud
advantages and pitfalls. The benefits of full integration of SDA with building\ud
information modelling (BIM) is also explored, with the author reflecting on interoperability\ud
and uptake issues. There is no attempt to propose alterations to the\ud
nature of the design process in its journey from conception to completion, nor to\ud
pose an argument as to what merits good architecture, sustainable or not. Instead\ud
the author explores the need for, and the role of, sustainable design analysis\ud
within the design process as it is, arguing for an approach that favours a true\ud
iterative cycle of sustainable design. A case study demonstrates the integration of\ud
SDA in the design process and highlights its benefits. Although the term ‘sustainable\ud
design analysis’ is used within the text, the primary focus of this chapter will\ud
be on the environmental\ud
aspects of sustainability
Contractors’ selection criteria for sustainable infrastructure delivery in Nigeria
Get PDFThe research reported in this study developed and validated a framework for the pre-evaluation of contractors for sustainable infrastructure projects through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Nigeria. The proposed framework uses the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to select contractors for build-operate-transfer (BOT) contractors. Theoretically grounded on a system theory, a sustainable infrastructure delivery (SID) model is developed in this research. One of its important features is the ability to solve complex
decision problems, typical of a decision-making process that involves selection of contractors for PPP projects. At the deductive phase of the proposed model is the integration of the ANP (multi-criteria decision-making technique) for data synthesis. An extensive literature review was conducted with regard to selection criteria for contractors. Furthermore, a web-based questionnaire survey was undertaken, aimed at capturing the perception of the Nigerian construction professionals regarding the importance of these criteria
for pre-evaluation of contractors for public infrastructure procurement. A total of 143 questionnaires was received and their feedbacks were analysed with the IBM SPSS statistical
package. The findings revealed a broad range of 55 relevant criteria that were linked to sustainable contractor selection. Through the application of factor analysis, the number of the criteria was reduced to 16, after multicollinearity issues in the data set had been resolved.
The 16 factors were modelled to pairwise comparison matrices, transforming decision making process from linear to a systemic approach. A purposeful sampling methodology was then
applied for the selection of decision-making panel (DM), who completed the pairwise comparison survey. The survey results were synthesised by ANP. The final solution derived
order of significance of the two categories of contractors- multinational construction corporations (MCC) and local construction contractors (LCC) in respect to the delivery of a sustainable infrastructure. Sensitivity analysis of the research findings reveals that the 16 criteria have differential comparative advantages, which requires critical judgement during contractors’ pre-evaluation process. Although the overall priorities rank multinational construction corporations (MCC) higher than local construction companies (LCC), it is not absolute that MCC will deliver a better value for money on all tangible and intangible elements of sustainable infrastructure
attributes. LCC outperform on some of the key criteria such as local employment creation and local material sourcing, which are essential pre-evaluation criteria. This research proposes a novel framework to harmonise sustainability indicators in contractor selection and offers a new theoretical insight into the approach to contractors’ selection criteria during pre-evaluation process, which contributes to the enhancement of PPP delivery in
Nigeria. Overall, the proposed SID model has demonstrated the need for a shift in the modus operandi of the government’s ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) in Nigeria from
unidirectional to systemic selection techniques. It clearly demonstrates the appropriateness of the ANP to predict the contractor that will deliver more sustainable infrastructure
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Optimum design of reinforced concrete skeletal systems using non-linear programming techniques
Get PDFSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN033993 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
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