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Urban-scale green spaces have been a central topic as of late, but community-scale green spaces are overlooked in urban studies. This paper takes community green spaces in the main urban area of Beijing as the case to quantitatively interpret the spatial-temporal patterns of their service efficiency and distribution characteristics. The measurement section of the paper includes two parts: the first part compares the applicability of two major green space service efficiency measurement methods on the community scale and determines that the Shortest Time Distance method performs better in describing the spatial-temporal patterns of service efficiency. The second part applies the Time Distance Entropy method to initially identify the locational relationship between community green spaces and neighboring residential buildings, then proposes the Green Space Distribution Coefficient method based on this relationship to analyze the 'courtyard', 'mixed', and 'centralized' distribution types alongside the transition relationships between them, and the spatial-temporal patterns of distribution characteristics are measured. The results of service efficiency reveal that the community paradigms transform from 'humanistic-oriented' to 'benefit-oriented' as the Shortest Time Distance measurement values show an ascending trend with the passage of years and the outward expansion of the ring roads. The results of distribution characteristics reveal that the community residential culture transforms from 'closeness' to 'detachment' as Green Space Distribution Coefficient measurement values show a descending trend under the same conditions. Based on the measurements, this paper further provides several optimizing strategies for community green spaces in the central urban area of Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential buildings instigate a vital role in creating a safe and comfortable indoor living environment. The phenomenon of overheating, an impact of climate change, can cause a negative effect on residents' productiveness and heat-related illnesses and can even force high pressure on electricity generation by increasing the risk of power outages due to excessive peak cooling and heating requirements. Various issues on building thermal comfort are being evolved and discussed in review articles. However, there are few articles that review the current condition of adaptive thermal comfort studies and the potential for energy savings in residential buildings. Therefore, the aims for this paper are to: identify comfort temperature ranges in residential buildings, investigate the correlation of comfort temperature with indoor and outdoor temperatures with the aid of 'comfort threads', and clarify the effect of adaptive measures on residential energy saving potential. This study obtained a large variation of residential comfort temperatures, which mostly depend on the climate and operation modes of the building. 'Comfort threads' explains that people are adapting to a large variation of indoor and outdoor temperatures and the wide range of comfort temperature could provide significant energy savings in residential buildings. This review provides insight on and an overview of thermal comfort field studies in residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building elements, especially partitions, floors and external walls significantly affect indoor acoustic comfort. Their ability to reduce noise transmission from neighbouring rooms or from outdoors depends on the element composition and the building materials used. In Central Europe, the heavyweight masonry or concrete walls and slabs are typical elements both for family and residential buildings. However, increasing popularity of lightweight multi-layered structures is noticeable. This creates new opportunities for the gradual replacement of traditional materials with renewable and recycled ones, both for load-bearing components and for fillings and other layers of building elements. This paper introduces such design changes in relation to acoustics, particularly airborne sound insulation. The greatest attention is paid to the replacement of masonry and mineral wool insulation with timber and wood fibres. The overview is supplemented by examples of low-energy house external wall and timber wall with recycled infill whose sound insulation has been determined by measurements in the acoustic laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Simple Summary: As modern chicken production is based on keeping the birds indoors in buildings without windows, the artificial light environment is one of the key factors affecting their welfare and production. This paper aims to describe the light environment in nine broiler breeder houses with one of three different light sources (LED light, compact fluorescent lights or LED with UVA) using two different light assessments: spectrometer and the environmental light field (ELF) method. The paper also aimed to describe how the artificial light compares to the light in forest habitats. The results show that the light environments were relatively similar between the nine breeder houses and were typical for indoor environments. The artificial light environment differed significantly from the forest habitats, including a higher intensity even in the dense forests, a larger range of intensities in the natural environment (i.e., less bare) and a difference in the spectral balance between the forest and the breeder houses. The forests had roughly equal amounts of red and green, with a characteristic switch to more green than red in the upper part of the environment. The implications of these results, together with several potential improvements to the artificial light environment, are discussed. Light is a key factor in poultry production; however, there is still a lack of knowledge as to describing the light quality, how to measure the light environment as perceived by birds, and how artificial light compares with the light in the natural forest habitats of their wild ancestors. The aim of this study was to describe the light environment in broiler breeder houses with three different light sources, using two different methods of light assessment. We also aimed to compare an artificial light environment with the light in a range of relevant natural forest habitats. A total of 9 commercial broiler breeder houses with one of three different light sources—Lumilux 830 CFL (n = 3), Biolux 965 CFL (n = 3) or LED Evolys with UVA (n = 3) were visited. Assessments of the light environment in the breeder houses were conducted using both a spectrometer and the environmental light field (ELF) method. ELF measurements from three forest types in south India (Kerala) were also included. We found that most aspects of the light environment were similar between the nine breeder houses and were not dependent on the type of light sources. The only clear difference related to the light source was the spectral balance, wherein 830 CFL had the most red-dominated light, 965 CFL had the most blue-dominated light and Evolys was intermediate but with more UV than the latter two. Plumage color had minimal effect on the light environment. Both the spectrometer and the ELF method provided valuable information. The spectrometer gave detailed values about certain aspects of the light environment, while the ELF described the light more in line with human and avian visual perception. We also found that the light environment in the investigated broiler breeder houses differs dramatically in all measured aspects from the natural light habitats of wild junglefowl, suggesting improvement possibilities in artificial lighting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the comparison between several well‐known classification algorithms in Machine Learning with the purpose of finding the most suitable algorithm to predict the dwelling time, that is, how long a certain tourist should stay in a particular tourist spot. This dwelling time prediction can be adopted by tour and travel agents to provide optimal scheduling for their package tours. The algorithm in question is strictly for classification because in this case, the dwelling time does not require a very specific number of minutes; thus, the time can be classified and restricted into several time frames. The origin and features of the dataset are described in this paper as well as the comparison methodology to show the procedure of how the comparison was made. Lastly, the performance results will be used to determine which algorithm to use for this specific case and it will be shown in a form of a graph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are significant energy consumers and provide a notable potential to reduce primary energy consumption and increase energy efficiency. Cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency projects is of crucial importance for their implementation. Cost-optimality of different packages of energy retrofit measures is studied across the EU, but Serbia mostly lacks such information. This paper analyzes cost-optimal solutions for Serbian residential buildings connected to district heating systems, considering three different scenarios related to the economic input parameters. Additionally, it considers the potential for primary energy savings beyond cost-optimality and associated costs. The optimal solutions, that correspond to minimal global cost or minimal primary energy consumption, are determined as the results of the combinatorial optimization problems. These problems are solved using the genetic algorithm and local search. The results are compared against the ones obtained with the sensitivity analysis. The global cost can be reduced by 8-43% in the cases of cost-optimal solutions, simultaneously saving 30-76% of primary energy. The potential to save primary energy is higher - it exceeds 70% in all the analyzed cases, but also requires higher global cost, sometimes larger than in the absence of the retrofit. The paper also emphasizes high dependencies of the results on very uncertain economic inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the estimation accuracy of economic loss and casualty in seismic risk assessment, a high-resolution building exposure model is necessary. Previous studies in developing global and regional building exposure models usually use coarse administrative-level (e.g. country or sub-country level) census data as model inputs, which cannot fully reflect the spatial heterogeneity of buildings in large countries like China. To develop a high-resolution residential building stock model for mainland China, this paper uses finer urbanity-level population and building-related statistics extracted from the records in the tabulation of the 2010 population census of the People's Republic of China (hereafter abbreviated as the "2010 census"). In the 2010 census records, for each province, the building-related statistics are categorized into three urbanity levels (urban, township, and rural). To disaggregate these statistics into high-resolution grid level, we need to determine the urbanity attributes of grids within each province. For this purpose, the geo-coded population density profile (with 1 km × 1 km resolution) developed in the 2015 Global Human Settlement Layer (GSHL) project is selected. Then for each province, the grids are assigned with urban, township, or rural attributes according to the population density in the 2015 GHSL profile. Next, the urbanity-level building-related statistics can be disaggregated into grids, and the 2015 GHSL population in each grid is used as the disaggregation weight. Based on the four structure types (steel and reinforced concrete, mixed, brick and wood, other) and five storey classes (1, 2–3, 4–6, 7–9, ≥10) of residential buildings classified in the 2010 census records, we reclassify the residential buildings into 17 building subtypes attached with both structure type and storey class and estimate their unit construction prices. Finally, we develop a geo-coded 1 km × 1 km resolution residential building exposure model for 31 provinces of mainland China. In each 1 km × 1 km grid, the floor areas of the 17 residential building subtypes and their replacement values are estimated. The model performance is evaluated to be satisfactory, and its practicability in seismic risk assessment is also confirmed. Limitations of the proposed model and directions for future improvement are discussed. The whole modelling process presented in this paper is fully reproducible, and all the modelled results are publicly accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: This paper proposes a new evaluation method for rural residence thermal insulation performance based on indoor thermal comfort (PMV) index, which provides a new optimization idea for the retrofitting of existing buildings. In the field investigation of rural dwellings, it was found that thermal feelings are significantly different with varied envelopes even under the same indoor air temperature, and this paper explores the phenomenon in simulation. Based on building thermal investigations in several villages of North China, a typical energy and environment simulation model for rural residences was developed using DeST, and the hourly parameters of temperature and humidity were used to calculate the adaptive thermal comfort (APMV) of the rooms. The results show that the main reason for the different thermal comfort at the same air temperature is the large difference in the inner surface temperature. By adjusting the insulation thickness of the envelope structure, the relationship between it and the APMV value is obtained. By adjusting the insulation thickness of the enclosure structure and getting the correlation between it and the APMV value, it is obtained that when the heat transfer coefficient of the enclosure structure meets 0.5 W/(m2·K), the indoors can be in thermal comfort. This paper considers that the indoor air temperature cannot represent the APMV to evaluate the indoor thermal comfort, and the APMV value should be used to evaluate the thermal comfort of the renovated building and calculate the corresponding energy saving rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is consumed in buildings through the use of various types of energy systems, which are controlled by the occupants via provided interfaces. The quality of this control should be verified to improve the efficiency of the systems and for the comfort of the occupants. In the case of residential buildings, due to privacy reasons, it is problematic to directly monitor human–building interactions using sensors installed in dwellings. However, data from increasingly common smart meters are easily available. In this paper, the potential use of data from heat meters is explored for the analysis of occupant interactions with space-heating (SH) systems. A pilot study is conducted based on a one-year set of daily data from 101 dwellings. First, the identification of an indoor temperature and a strategy for thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) adjustments for all the investigated dwellings is presented. Second, the performed analysis suggests that 96% of the households did not use the automatic adjustment function of the TRVs since adjustments using the on–off mode were the most common, which could be empirical evidence for Kempton's theory on mental models of home heating controls. The reasons for this could be the weakness of the TRV as an SH interface and the technical specificity of the analyzed SH (its supply temperature). The preliminary investigation confirms the potential of the proposed methodology, but further research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effectiveness of different ventilation methods in reducing indoor air pollutants in newly constructed residential buildings, focusing on indoor air quality (IAQ) in Dubai. The paper highlights the growing concern for IAQ in response to residents' increasing awareness of their well-being and environmental sustainability. The study examines the concentrations of formaldehyde (HCHO), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) in bedrooms and living rooms before and after implementing various ventilation methods during the construction phase. The findings indicate that mechanical exhaust ventilation, mainly through bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, was highly effective in reducing HCHO levels. Combining kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans demonstrated the most significant reduction in HCHO concentrations. Similarly, reductions in VOCs, such as ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene, were observed with different ventilation methods. Natural ventilation also proved effective in reducing pollutant concentrations. The results emphasize the importance of implementing appropriate ventilation strategies to improve IAQ in residential buildings. However, the study acknowledges the limitations of a single-location measurement and recommends further research to validate the findings across different building types and locations. Additionally, long-term studies are necessary to assess the sustained effects of ventilation methods on IAQ. The study highlights the significance of addressing IAQ concerns in residential buildings and suggests potential research directions to explore other ventilation strategies and their energy efficiency implications. Ultimately, this research contributes to developing healthier and sustainable living environments by promoting effective ventilation strategies to mitigate indoor air pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting an appropriate ANN model is crucial for speeding up the process of building performance simulation during the design phase of residential building layouts, particularly when evaluating three or more green performance metrics simultaneously. In this study, daylight, visual, and outdoor thermal metrics were selected as main green performance. To find the suitable ANN model, sensitivity analysis was used to obtain a set of proper parameters applied to the ANN structure. To train the ANN model with a higher predicting accuracy, this paper tested four different scenarios of ANN parameter setups to find some general guidelines about how to set up an ANN model to predict DF, sunlight hours, QuVue and UTCI. The results showed that an ANN model with a combined output variable demonstrated better average prediction accuracy than ANN models with a separated output variable. Having two times the number of training samplings compared to the number of input variables can lead to a high accuracy of prediction. The ideal number of neurons in the hidden layer was approximately 1.5 times the number of input variables. These findings of how to improve the ANN model may provide guidance for modeling an ANN for building performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous inspections and observations are required to preserve the safety and condition of buildings. Although the number of deteriorated buildings has increased over the years, traditional inspection methods are still used. However, this approach is time-consuming, costly, and carries the risk of poor inspection owing to the subjective intervention of the inspector. To overcome these limitations, many recent studies have developed advanced inspection methods by integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) methods during the visual inspection stage. However, the inspection approach using UAV and AI can vary in operation and data acquisition methods depending on the building structures. Notably, in the case of residential buildings, it is necessary to consider how to operate UAVs and how to apply AI due to privacy issues of residents and various exterior contour shapes. Thus, an empirical case study was adopted in this study to explore the integration of UAVs and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to inspect the condition of structures, focusing on residential buildings. As a result, this study proposed the field-adopted UAV operation method and AI-based defect detection model for adopting the residential buildings. Moreover, the lessons learned from holistic and descriptive analyses, which include drone application limitations, points of improvement of data collection, and items to be considered when AI and UAV based inspection for residential buildings, are summarized in this paper. The discussed problems and results derived from this study can contribute to future AI- and UAV-based building inspections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Homeless' people are usually considered as citizens without property. The absence of ownership, especially in terms of housing, co-creates the very idea of homelessness in current societies. Despite this fact, 'homeless' citizens negotiate and experience their property, things, or the shelter in which they dwell. This paper sheds light on how this property is negotiated and experienced and how it influences home-making. It does so by drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the city of Pilsen, a second-order city in Czechia. Based on the intra-urban comparison of informal dwelling in two abandoned buildings – a former railway station tower and an allotment cottage – the paper conceptualize the unspotted home and argues that it arises from the assemblage of socio-materiality, meanings, and various dimensions of politics, where the politics of home-ownership has an important position. While informal ownership here is related to power asymmetry within home-making, paradoxically, it also brings about more complex informal citizenship and the potential for political action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The free movement of capital, goods, services and workers between countries creates new challenges for national tax systems. The problem is complicated by the growing importance of intra-firm crossborder trade and complex production chains, the growing contribution to added value of hard-to-assess and easily mobile intangible assets, as well as the growing digitalization of the economy. The interaction of national legislation, international norms and bilateral treaties has formed a very complex international tax architecture. This makes it necessary to distinguish between the countries of origin, residence and destination. The paper analyzes the problems of building a tax system based on the source principle, defines the criteria for identifying the source of income, which is equated with added value, which is determined by the sum of factor incomes - wages and profits. The transition to the application of the balance sheet method of calculating added value automatically identifies the source of income by the place of payment of wages and receipt of profit. The country in which the added value is created clearly determines the place where this value should be taxed. The place of taxation of added value and its components does not depend on the composition and origin of capital, the use of intangible assets, the ownership of shares and any components. All these features of capital must be used in the distribution of the remaining profit after paying all taxes, contributions and fees provided by the law of the source country. Due to the uncertainty of the concept of "resident" and the possibility of residence in many jurisdictions at the same time, the principle of taxation of distributed profits (dividends) based on residence should be replaced by the principle of citizenship. The application of the proposed changes to the Tax Code of Ukraine makes it impossible to transfer profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All human beings in the world; no matter their race, culture, origin and religion have a right to live and access different environments with ease and comfort ability. This includes disabled persons with any type from all types of disability. Hence, we need to ensure that all the buildings that we need to access in our daily lives are designed to accommodate all. One of the most significant buildings that people spend most of their time in and their comfort being most important are residential buildings. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that residential homes incorporate inclusive design principles to accommodate all individuals, particularly those with special needs. This research paper examines residential spaces' design principles for disabled individuals in Northern Cyprus, focusing on Mağusa and Nicosia's social housing, to assess their suitability. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative analyses. Qualitatively, it includes a literature review on design principles for disabled access and an overview of residential spaces. Quantitatively, it employs a structured questionnaire with three sections: demographics, accessibility, and housing features, using a 1–5 scale (1 being Very Poor, and 5 being Very Good). Approximately 160 questionnaires were distributed, with 147 used in the study. The findings reveal challenges with sidewalk accessibility and toilet design, indicating dissatisfaction with residential designs. Social housing in Famagusta and Nicosia also falls short of universal design standards for the disabled. Despite these issues, residents are relatively satisfied with the living room and kitchen spaces. Overall, the research concludes that Northern Cyprus residential designs inadequately address the special needs of disabled individuals, particularly regarding circulation spaces and overall quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand response program is an important feature of the smart grid. It attempts to reduce peak demand, improve the smart grid efficiency, and ensure system reliability. Implementing demand-response programs in residential and commercial buildings requires the use of smart meters and smart plugs. In this paper, we propose an architecture for a home-energy-management system based on the fog-computing paradigm, an Internet-of-Things-enabled smart plug, and a smart meter. The smart plug measures in real-time the root mean square (RMS) value of the current, frequency, power factor, active power, and reactive power. These readings are subsequently transmitted to the smart meter through the Zigbee network. Tiny machine learning algorithms are used at the smart meter to identify appliances automatically. The smart meter and smart plug were prototyped by using Raspberry Pi and Arduino, respectively. The smart plug's accuracy was quantified by comparing it to laboratory measurements. To assess the speed and precision of the small machine learning algorithm, a publicly accessible dataset was utilized. The obtained results indicate that the accuracy of both the smart meter and the smart plug exceeds 97% and 99%, respectively. The execution of the trained decision tree and support vector machine algorithms was verified on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2, operating at a clock speed of 600 MHz. The measured latency for the decision tree classifier's inference was 1.59 microseconds. In a practical situation, the time-of-use-based demand-response program can reduce the power cost by about 30%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular construction has become exceedingly relevant against the current scenario of increasing housing demand and can respond to this need in Canada due to its advantages of rapid construction. However, a holistic environmental sustainability framework for this construction method is still lacking. This paper proposes a hierarchical-based framework to benchmark the environmental performance of modular buildings versus conventional buildings. The framework identifies criteria and indicators affecting environmental sustainability, makes composite indicators, and establishes performance benchmarks. Based on expert survey, six criteria (construction waste management, energy performance and efficiency strategies, site disruption and appropriate strategies, renewable and environmentally preferable products, regional materials, and renewable energy use) are first identified. The related indicators and sub-indicators are combined to develop indices using Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution. Robust benchmark scales were established through application of Monte Carlo analysis on data collected through experts. Finally, the developed indices were compared against the benchmark scales at different assessment levels. The proposed framework was examined for two single-family modular buildings in British Columbia, Canada. The overall environmental performance benchmarking informs the policy makers on the usefulness of modular buildings, while the criteria-level indices direct the construction industry practitioners to improve the low performing indicators. The proposed framework will enhance the sustainability of modular and offsite construction in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of human civilization, traditional villages and buildings have been significantly threatened by fire. As an essential part of Huizhou traditional architecture, fire seal walls play a crucial role in preserving Huizhou architecture by effectively blocking the spread of fire. However, with economic and social development, the Huizhou fire seal wall's original fire prevention function has been unable to meet the needs of modern fire protection. This study aims to explore the fire performance of different types of Huizhou fire seal walls to provide a reference guide for future fire protection, optimization, and transformation of traditional buildings. In this paper, 3D models of traditional buildings with fire seal walls were built with FDS, and the performance of the different kinds of fire seal walls was simulated under the influence of wind speeds, building spacing, and the height of the vertical ridge of the fire seal wall. The results showed that, under the same conditions, a fire seal wall with a single eave is superior to fire seal walls with quintuple eaves in terms of performance, and fire seal walls with quintuple eaves are superior to fire seal walls with triple eaves in the middle and late stages of a fire. In addition, wind speeds, building spacing, and the height of the vertical ridge have different effects on the fire performance of seal walls. Lower wind speeds can reduce the fire performance of fire seal walls, and no wind and higher wind speeds have no significant effect on the fire performance of fire seal walls, while increasing the height of the vertical ridge and fire spacings appropriately can improve the fire performance of fire seal walls. This study provides a reference guide for future fire protection, optimization, and transformation of Huizhou fire seal walls, which can help improve the fire safety of traditional buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether existing generic fragility curves for various residential building typologies can be safely applied for the vulnerability assessment of school buildings. We select three representative typologies of actual reinforced concrete (RC) school buildings in Thessaloniki, Greece and we conduct a detailed fragility analysis combining field inspection and structural monitoring data to advanced numerical modeling. Building-specific fragility and vulnerability curves are derived for the three school buildings based on 3D incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) of the calibrated numerical models. The comparisons of the developed curves with generic ones showed their significant differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of written sources, architectural evidence, excavation reports and antiquarian records this paper argues that charnelling of human skeletal remains was more common in medieval England than has hitherto been fully recognized. It became increasingly widespread following formalization of belief in Purgatory in the late 13th century, and charnel houses can be found both at the better-documented greater churches and at parish churches, for which churchwardens' accounts are important sources. Charnel houses are mainly freestanding buildings in churchyards, or crypts within the body of the church, and both forms are often semi-subterranean, with the carefully maintained charnel visible through windows high in the charnel house walls. There was typically a chapel located above the charnel room, in which prayers for the dead were offered, similar to chantries. The paper presents the first detailed exploration of the potential liturgical contexts for charnelling. It is argued that the most likely form of rite to accompany the translation and deposition of charnel would have comprised a re-enactment of the Office of the Dead followed by an adapted version of the burial service, with possible secondary uses of the charnel house in the days leading up to Easter, the most solemn part of the Christian year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del Museo de Antropología is the property of Museo de Antropologia - IDACOR and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Papeles del CEIC is the property of Centro de Estudios sobra la Identidad Colectiva, Facultas de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted wide attention from many fields, especially healthcare, because of its large capacities for information perception and collection. In this paper, we present an IoT-based home telehealth system for providing smart healthcare management for individuals, especially older people. Each client node of the system is mainly composed of an electronic water meter that records the user's daily water usage, in order to analyze their living patterns and lifestyle as well as ascertain their well-being, and an unobtrusive sleep sensor that monitors the user's physiological parameters during sleep, such as heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), body movement (BM), and their states on the bed or outside the bed. The collected data can be transmitted to a remote centralized cloud service by a wireless home gateway for analyzing the living pattern and rhythm of users. Furthermore, the periodic feedback of results can be provided to users themselves, as well as their family and health advisers. In the present study, data was collected from a total of 18 older subjects for one year to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system. By analyzing living patterns and rhythm, preliminary results indicate the effectiveness of the telehealth system and suggest the potential of the system regarding improvement in the quality of life (QoL) of older people and promotion of their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) has emerged as a policy alternative to increase housing stock and provide affordable options for areas impacted by housing shortages, many local governments recently adopted ADU policies that promote the construction of ADUs. Taking the City of Los Angeles as the study area, this paper examines how the city's ADU ordinance impacts the relationship of the characteristics of the properties and neighborhoods with ADU development by constructing multilevel logistic regression models. The outputs of the models suggest that the ordinance contributes to diversifying the types and locations of the properties and neighborhoods where ADUs are built. The influence of the property characteristics associated with ADU development before the implementation of the ordinance significantly diminished after the ordinance. The outputs also indicate that the ordinance probably attracted ADU developments in the areas with higher accessibility to bus transit. These findings will help planners take appropriate actions and policies that support ADU developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precast concrete (PC) slabs are widely used in the assembly of concrete residential buildings. The PC slabs are manufactured at the factory and then arranged in stacks for transport to the construction site for assembly. Currently, optimization of the stacking plans for PC slabs focuses on yard-space utilization and transportation efficiency and rarely considers the assembly sequence; secondary sequencing of prefabricated elements is required during construction to meet the lifting scheme, which leads to increased construction preparation time and risk of worker injury. To enable stacking crews to generate stacking plans rapidly and systematically to improve the on-site lifting efficiency of the components, this paper proposes a storage-location allocation model with two objectives: reduce secondary-sorting workload and increase stacking stability for PC slabs. At the same time, it must match the characteristics of the problem. To prevent the solution from falling into the local optimum during the evolution of the particle swarm optimization algorithm, we introduce an elitist learning strategy, which can improve the solutions when the group converges. Finally, we verify our allocation model and optimization algorithm through example simulations. The simulation results show that, compared with the traditional method, the stacking plans generated by this method have a lower secondary-sorting workload and higher stacking stability when using the same number of storage racks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architecture is one of the key and important parts of a city. Various kinds of buildings have absolute control over the quantity and area and are the key factors for the appearance of a city. With the development of cities and the increase of population, high-rise residential buildings can effectively alleviate the shortage of urban residential land, but at the same time, it also brings some problems, such as monotonous elevation of high-rise residential buildings, improper selection of elevation forms. As people's aesthetic awareness is getting higher and higher, people's requirements for the image of residential buildings are getting higher and higher. However, the research on the elevation design of high-rise residential buildings is relatively lagging behind. Therefore, it is necessary to enrich and expand the elevation design of high-rise residential buildings. Image binarization is an important technology in image preprocessing. It plays an important role in pattern recognition, optical character recognition, and medical imaging. Binary image is a simple image format. It has only two gray levels, but it occupies an important position in the field of image processing. In specific image processing application systems, it is often necessary to obtain binary values. The binary image processing arithmetic is developed from set theory under mathematical morphology. Although its basic arithmetic is simple, it can produce complex results. Based on the characteristics of binary image and the complex effect it produces, this paper finds out its regularity, finds a design method of building elevation, and realizes the application of binary image in building elevation design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state formulated the first five-year plan for national economic development with the development of heavy industry as the core. The assistance of the Soviet Union completely opened the prelude to China's large-scale industrial construction. With the continuous increase of urban energy consumption in China and the huge pressure it brings to the environment, urban planning and design aiming at energy conservation and climate adaptability has attracted more and more attention. Residential building layout is an important part of urban planning and design, which is closely related to building environmental energy consumption and urban microclimate. Therefore, it is necessary to study the energy saving and climate adaptive design strategy of residential building layout. Yichun is a cold city, located in the northernmost part of the three northeastern provinces, with a population of about 1 million. Its climate is characterized by continuous low temperature in winter, and the extreme value of daily lowest air temperature in Yichun City since 1981 is -42.2°C. The highest temperature in summer is 35°C. The unique geographical location and climate have created Yichun's unique urban quality, and outdoor cultural activities are also unique. Yichun is a place with four distinct seasons, and each season has its own characteristics. The beauty of the four seasons contrasts greatly. The best travel time in Yichun is from June to September. In this study, the scientific nature of environment numerical simulation software is verified. Taking the surrounding residential open space as the research object, reasonable grid simulation size and initial boundary conditions are set. The quantitative relationship between design elements and thermal comfort level is established through software simulation. After repeated and a large number of hourly simulation verification, combined with the spatial distribution map and numerical distribution map of thermal comfort, the design elements and open space are established. On this basis, the optimization strategies of open space in residential areas in extreme weather areas are put forward, including the reasonable layout of activity areas, careful selection of open positions, attention to the proportion of open space, attention to plane enclosure and corner units, encouragement of secondary restrictions of activity space, reasonable selection of underlying surface materials, and reasonable layout of water bodies. This paper mainly studies the design of outdoor communication space in Yichun residential area in winter. The average temperature in winter is -14°C ~ -2°C. Through the study of design methods and countermeasures, an operable Yichun residential area design method is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents proposals for using the direct-contact gravel, ground, air heat exchanger in single-family residential buildings with a passive house standard, according to the Passive House Institute (PHI). The methodology of their application consists of using heat and cold from the ground at an insignificant depth (about 1.5–4.0 m below the ground level for the central European climate) through an aggregate that is buried in the ground. This solution of simple installations is used for preheating and cooling fresh air drawn into the building through a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery. In more complex applications it can be integrated with the source of heat and cold in passive buildings to create complete heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. In both cases, the air flowing through the exchanger is cooled and dried in summer, heated and humidified in winter, and filtered from pollen and bacteria all year. Direct contact of the deposit with the surrounding native soil facilitates rapid regeneration of the bed temperature. This article presents several proposals for integration with systems ensuring climatic comfort in a passive building, as exemplary applications. The paper presents preliminary estimates of energy (savings of up to 70% of electrical energy consumed), economic (SPBT = 3.65 years), and environmental (69.5% reduction in CO2 emissions) benefits related to implementing this solution in various configurations of technological systems for buildings in Poland. The calculations were carried out for the city of Poznań, taking into account the hourly intervals and using the author's code written in MS Excel. The analysis of the operation of the direct-contact gravel, ground, air heat exchanger (GGAHE) system is based on a theoretical heat and mass exchange model. The integrated solutions of technical systems presented in this article provide an interesting alternative to traditional heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, in order to improve the quality of living, China has carried out a series of urban renewal projects, such as adding elevators to old communities. Taking Hangzhou as an example, this paper studies the decision to install elevators in old residential buildings. This study used cold spots and hot spots, local autocorrelation and fishnetting analysis to show the spatial and temporal patterns of lift retrofitting in old communities. Finally, the spatial lag model is used to test whether there is a spatial spillover effect in the behavior of residents installing elevators. The research shows that: (1) Hot spots areas for retrofitting lifts are clustered in the central urban areas of Hangzhou, such as the intersection of Shangcheng District, Xiacheng District, Jianggan District, Gongshu District and Xihu District (scenic area); (2) The trend of retrofitting areas spreading from the center to the periphery; (3) In different communities, the number of elevators added in neighboring communities has a positive effect on the decision of adding elevators in other local communities. Therefore, the neighborhood effect cannot be ignored in the topic of community renovation, in which residents spontaneously participate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the public routines through which migrant domestic workers inhabit a global city such as Hong Kong. Using 'public outings' as a conceptual entry point to understanding migrants' mobile geographies of dwelling, it seeks to present such migrants as ordinary urban actors who inhabit, share and shape the city landscape every day just like many others. Whilst disciplined by their employers in all sorts of ways, domestic workers nonetheless use the public and quasi-public spaces within their neighbourhoods – spaces integral to their work routines – as sites for forging a precarious autonomy. Drawing on a short ethnography – using participant diaries, interviews, and participant observation – of live-in migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, the paper describes how migrants use a range of neighbourhood spaces to create an improvised infrastructure of care that helps creates a sense of domesticity and home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we dwell tenderly in the ruins of the modern university? This paper engages a hopeful, collaborative, and sensory methodology to imagine possibilities for research and researcher. As academic women navigating the decay of the neoliberal university amid the shadowy spectre of the 'ideal' academic, we explore our lived experiences, identities, and questions. For us, managing modernity's disorientation and dislocation means showing up differently, with new tools, new theoretical frames, and new ways of relating. From our experiential and aesthetic inquiry, tendrils of possibility for what research does, has been, is, and could be, are emerging. Our dwelling together (co-sensing in radical tenderness) helps us see beyond the thicket of institutional requirements towards a more hopeful and collective existence – for if the sense of separation instilled by modernity is a social disease, healing must be a communal endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floor planning, as one of the most important considerations in building design, often involves intensive trial-and-error processes with many constraints considered simultaneously. Artificial intelligence (AI) generative design solutions being developed are hampered by two shortcomings. Firstly, the vast topological knowledge embedded in existing floor plans has been largely unexplored and is thus wasted. Secondly, an efficient methodological instrument to learn the topological knowledge for generative design is lacking. This paper aims to develop a graph learning methodology to learn graph knowledge from floor plans and generate knowledge ready for building generative design. A discrete denoising diffusion model (D3M) that can learn topology graphs via its bi-directional structure of 'corruption and denoise' is developed and trained using more than 80,000 floor plans from a large-scale dataset. It is found that the D3M can learn the knowledge from floor plans and present it as various building floor topologies, which are evaluated in a preliminary case study as reliable and useful for generating real-life building floor plans. The research provides a design knowledge management framework that can be further implemented in academic works and design practices through some mainstreaming or commercializing efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In high-rise buildings with large indoor and outdoor temperature difference, neglecting the effect of stack effect in smoke exhaust shafts may cause calculation error of the fluid network model. In this paper, the mathematical model of kitchen smoke exhaust system considering the influence of stack effect was put forward and it can be inserted different range hood sub-models. Compared with the results of six working conditions of the model without considering the stack effect, the error of the proposed model were reduced by 7.6%, 4.3%, 4.1%, 2.8%, 2.4%, and 2.1%. While the indoor and outdoor temperature difference varies from - 5 °C to 49 °C, the effect of stack effect on the pressure in the flue and the flow rate for each user was studied for six operating rates s. The results show that under the combined effect of stack effect and flue resistance, the static pressure of the kitchen smoke exhaust system showed a low-high-low distribution, and the maximum static pressure in the flue moved toward the bottom with the increase of temperature difference. User flow rates exhibit a low-high-low-high distribution, with an increased flow rate in the bottom users and the largest flow rate in the top users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores disabled people's experiences of 'everyday' hate within and around their home. The characteristics of the home make it a particularly interesting site of analysis, as many of the features offer protections and risks simultaneously. Moreover, the home is a particularly important space within our everyday lives, particularly for disabled people who may encounter marginalization within other social spaces. In this article, I consider how encounters within the home shape the way in which the space is made, and how disabled people are able to be within them. I explore the home as a space where persistent and repeated violence can occur, which in turn, shapes how bodies come to occupy (or not), their homes and to what meanings the home takes on. In an attempt to explore this, I offer different conceptualizations of the home as a site of refuge, control and containment, avoidance, and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reaching sustainability targets requires a holistic understanding of the different dimensions of residential building stock development. This paper aims to provide a solid and transparent approach for modelling residential building stock development with a focus on the long-term need for repairs and renovations. The modelling approach is based on Dynamic Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and the model is constructed using comprehensive Finnish statistics. Still, it is widely applicable to different geographical locations and modifiable for various purposes. The main contributions to the previous literature are the incorporation of empirical building mortality analysis and rehabilitation degree model in the MFA modelling framework. The model is demonstrated by modelling the development of Finnish residential building stock from 2020 to 2050. The annual average need for renovation from 2020 to 2050 is 4.1 million residential square metres (1.8% percent of the entire housing stock), equalling to annual investments of some 7.8 billion euros. However, the results revealed notable geographical differences between municipality categories. The results also suggest that the proportion of renovations in the total construction market is increasing while the volume of new housing construction is decreasing. The modelled results are in line with the Finnish Long-Term Renovation Strategy 2020–2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As different classes of residential dwellings, government-subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) housing and unsubsidised private housing are aimed at adjacent groups of households on the housing ladder in Hong Kong. Subsidised housing is in high demand, and one important way of meeting it is to have better-endowed HOS families move up by buying into the private market. The paper explores the differences in price trends between these two classes of properties and attempts to find some of their determinants. Empirical analysis of historical prices of HOS and private housing reveals higher volatility in HOS prices and a differing trend with private market prices, as well as many more HOS transactions after the implementation of the White Form Secondary Market (WSM) Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 22% of the existing dwellings in the EU were built before 1946. In Wrocław, Poland ca. 21% of all dwellings in multifamily houses are protected for their heritage value. For such a significant share of the residential building stock pursuit of sustainability through amenity improvement is inevitable and will gain pace with the EU endorsed Renovation Wave. The discourse about the scope of renovations should be extended to consider an improvement of historical housing's spatial quality without compromising its heritage value. Balconies are perceived as an indispensable part of new-built apartments; however, they are scarce in tenements built at the turn of 20th century. Adding balconies as a part of retrofitting is common in Germany or Denmark, but rare in Poland. By analysing heritage preservation practices in Chemnitz, Copenhagen and Wrocław, this paper aims to understand how retention of heritage value shapes local approach to adding balconies. Semi-structured interviews (18) were conducted with heritage conservation officers and other stakeholders. The results revealed a shared recognition of balcony's role as an element contributing to heritage housing preservation through enhanced usability. Factors that impede balcony additions in historical tenements in Wrocław were identified for different tenure types, followed by recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mehr Housing now deals with a serious quality of residence, which is rooted in its planning system. The housing planning approach in Iran-the custodial approach-that emerged in the frame of a comprehensive plan influenced by the modernism movement in Europe is the reason for this crisis due to its specific attitude towards the space and atomist worldview. On the contrary, the landscape approach with its "holistic" attitude considers the improvement of residence quality depending on a system of space that guarantees the quality improvement in the frame of dual perceptual-physical criteria. This study aims to compare those components that affect the quality of residence within two "planning" and "landscape" approaches and asks what kind of relationship exists between components affecting the quality of residence within two landscape and planning approaches at different levels in Iran. The purpose of this study is to achieve a strategy to improve the quality of residence in Mehr Housing through a comparative analysis of the theoretical foundations of "planning approach" as the custodial approach of Mehr Housing and the landscape approach. The research method of this study is qualitative based on the theoretical analysis of two landscape and planning approaches. The comparison between components affecting the quality of residence in these two approaches was made through logical reasoning. The assessment of data obtained from other studies was done by comparing them with previous components and comparison between them. Due to its sectoral and partial view on some components of quality in the residence environment, the "planning approach" could not guarantee the quality of the environment despite the importance of these components. This is the incident that has responded to the different needs of occupants by improving the quality of residence within the landscape approach in the frame of "spatial arrangement" and creating a "whole" that is simultaneously perceptual and functional. Hence, it is possible to revive the potential social capital in the Mehr Housing Project by "modifying" the conditions of the environment with an idealistic attitude-adopting a landscape approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper was to assess quality in Romanian rural touristic boarding houses by completing a questionnaire-based survey. The survey was made in the summer of 2020 by interviews with 139 managers from 28 villages from Maramures County. The research was based on over 100 items questionnaire structured on 40 questions and 4 sections: the description of the buildings and facilities, the description of the environment, the characteristics of accommodation facilities, the characteristics of the offered services (food, cleaning, hospitality). The main results of our survey revealed that the analyzed rural touristic boarding houses have procedures and methods to assure the quality of buildings and services which are implemented for years. In this way the adaptation to safety measures needed to assure the quality of accommodation and services during COVID period is easier to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the number of informal settlement dwellings are increasing rapidly; these areas are often associated with numerous large fires. Unfortunately, until recently, very little research has been focused on informal settlement fire issues leaving any attempts to improve their fire safety lacking the evidence base to support effective-decision making. However, over the past 4 years, a limited number of researchers have looked at better understanding these fires through full-scale experimentation and numerical modelling; starting to provide the necessary evidence base and future research directions. It is with this background in mind that this paper seeks to provide a more fundamental understanding of the effect of dwelling separation distance on informal settlement fire spread based on full-scale experiments and analytical equations. In this paper two full-scale experiments were conducted. Both experiments consisted of multiple dwellings, with the main difference between the experiments being the separation distance. Fire spread times, heat release rates, door and window flow velocities, ceiling temperatures and incident heat fluxes were recorded and are reported for both experiments. Theoretical neutral planes are derived and compared to the experimental neutral planes, which show relatively good correlation. The paper continues by calculating the expected incident radiation and time-to-ignition, using the flux-time product method, of the two fire scenarios (i.e., the two experiments) through means of analytical equations, and these findings are compared to the experimental results. Through configuration factors, the paper shows the effect of separation distance, dwelling height and dwelling length on the times-to-ignition, where it is clear that the heat flux received by an adjacent dwelling decrease approximately exponentially as the distance between dwellings increases, and consequently, the time-to-ignition increases exponentially as the separation distance between dwellings increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper reviews engineering work developed for blast analysis and design of industrial/residential and ammunition storage facilities. The review also covers work done for progressive collapse analysis and blast deflectors. Design/methodology/approach: The first part of the paper describes characteristics of various types of explosions. Empirical and numerical models that were developed to estimate structural capacity are reviewed. The structural idealization, theoretical basis, and merits of various methods are also described. The influence of various parameters affecting the structural performance is discussed. Findings: The material of the paper captures recent engineering developments that can be used by practitioners for blast analysis and design for industrial and residential buildings. Little emphasis was given in the published literature to develop simplified analytical models that can be used in practice to compute the dynamic response of buildings subject to accidental explosions. Furthermore, analytical expressions are required to compute the reduction in the stiffness due to impact loading. Originality/value: Current building codes address conventional live, dead, wind and earthquake loads. Very few guidelines are available in practice for design of buildings subject to blast loading. The objective of this paper is to review and piece together recent engineering work developed for blast analysis and design of industrial/residential buildings and ammunition facilities. The paper provides useful resource material for the engineers in practice using recent techniques to design these structures. The review covers past three decades that can be used as a baseline for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry is energy-intensive and labor-intensive, which has great potential in reducing energy demand and carbon emissions. The construction method of off-site prefabricated components has many advantages to make it a good substitute for traditional methods. The purpose of this paper is to reduce the carbon emissions of prefabricated residential concrete members by improving the standardization rate of prefabricated components in the architectural design stage. In addition, this paper also uses building information modeling technology to establish Revit models and develops Revit using C# language to achieve rapid calculation of the prefabrication rate of building and standardization rate of components. The calculation results of the case show that, in the design stage, the carbon emissions are reduced by 2034.16 kg CO2e by improving the standardization rate of prefabricated components, accounting for 0.1552% of the carbon emissions of all prefabricated components. This study can help the designer reduce the carbon emissions of prefabricated components, and this technology may make a significant contribution in improving the environmental sustainability of prefabricated buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of economy, China's cities and villages have been changing with each passing day. The planning and updating of traditional settlements have become an important topic in the development of our country. By studying the theory of space syntax, the author extracted the technical method of updating traditional settlements. We chose a traditional settlement as the research object. Based on the regional function of traditional settlements, the spatial structure of the region has been used to plan and update the area. The method designed in this paper can effectively update and transform traditional settlements. This is of practical significance to the progress and construction of our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]