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We conducted aerial fixed wing ultra low volume (ULV) spray trials with naled to investigate penetration of exposed and simulated cryptic habitat within opened buildings, partially sealed buildings, and outdoor locations targeting sentinel adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in north central Florida. Mortality was observed in open and closed buildings and outdoors, even in mosquitoes placed in cryptic habitats. Observations on the impact of building type, mosquito exposure method such as placement in cryptic habitat, and spray nozzle size on mosquito mortality are described and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We investigate Green Star buildings in Brisbane, all are open plan. [•] We collect 493 surveys tailored to assess discomfort glare in these spaces. [•] Physical luminance measurements are acquired using high dynamic range images. [•] A new modified index, the Unified Glare Probability, was created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La arquitectura como arte dentro de la ciencia ha evolucionado a medida que Io ha hecho tecnología de la construcción. La morfología de edificios singulares, en los últimos veinte años, se asocia inexorablemente al uso de un determinado software de diseño arquitectónico dentro de la tecnología digital, Io que ha abierto un tema de reflexión y debate muy importante. Es necesario analizar y cuestionar a cerca de los nuevos espacios que comienzan a gestarse desde la inteligencia artificial del ordenador que están transformando la arquitectura. Este artículo pretende aportar una serie de reflexiones a esta cuestión y abrir un debate necesario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Electric lighting consumes 19% of total electricity production worldwide. Open-plan offices constitute the majority of office stock, in which most office workers perform their daily tasks, and hence the lighting in those offices has significant impact on, not only energy usage, but also occupants’ productivity. This paper presents a unique lighting optimization approach for open-plan offices that is capable of tuning task lighting to each occupant''s preference in the most energy-efficient fashion. Exploiting individual controllability of the advanced networked lighting systems, each luminaire can be dynamically actuated at a different level to realize various lighting configurations without any physical rewiring. This research formulates lighting actuation into a linear programming problem and finds the optimal light outputs for each of the luminaires that collaboratively deliver specified lighting to each workstation while using the least amount of energy. Simulations using our lighting optimization approach have shown its versatility in providing proper workstation-specific task lighting under different requirements compared to business-as-usual practices. Energy savings are generated from tuning the light levels to occupants’ needs as well as keeping unoccupied areas unlit or minimally lit with this approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes a large-scale wireless and wired environmental sensor network test-bed and its application to occupancy detection in an open-plan office building. Detection of occupant presence has been used extensively in built environments for applications such as demand-controlled ventilation and security; however, the ability to discern the actual number of people in a room is beyond the scope of current sensing techniques. To address this problem, a complex sensor network is deployed in the Robert L. Preger Intelligent Workplace comprising a wireless ambient-sensing system, a wired carbon dioxide sensing system, and a wired indoor air quality sensing system. A wired camera network is implemented as well for establishing true occupancy levels to be used as ground truth information for deriving algorithmic relationships with the environment conditions. To our knowledge, this extensive and diverse ambient-sensing infrastructure of the ITEST setup as well as the continuous data-collection capability is unprecedented. Final results indicate that there are significant correlations between measured environmental conditions and occupancy status. An average of 73% accuracy on the occupancy number detection was achieved by Hidden Markov Models during testing periods. This paper serves as an exploration to the research of ITEST for occupancy detection in offices. In addition, its utility extends to a wide variety of other building technology research areas such as human-centered environmental control, security, energy efficient and sustainable green buildings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents results of a combined experimental and analytical approach to investigate modal properties of a lively open-plan office floor. It is based on state-of-the-art finite-element (FE) modeling, FRF-based shaker modal testing, FE model correlation, manual model tuning, and sensitivity-based automatic model updating of a detailed FE model of this composite floor structure. The floor studied accommodates a fully furnished office. Such environments can be problematic regarding their vibration serviceability. However, there is a lack of reliable information about their as-built modal properties and the ability of designers to predict them. Therefore this paper has two aims: (1) to assess the ability to both predict and measure as accurately as possible the fundamental and higher modes of floor vibration, and (2) to correlate and update the initially developed FE model of the floor, so that its modes match as accurately as possible their measured counterparts. It was found that even a very detailed FE model, the development of which was based on best engineering judgment, missed the natural frequencies by 10–15% in some of the first four modes of vibration which possibly could be excited by walking. The key reasons for this were both over- and underestimation of the stiffness of the main composite beams, depending on the beam location. This was probably caused by uncertainties due to visible cracking of the lightweight concrete in the zone above the beams, effects of nonstructural elements, such as false flooring, and the inevitable uneven distribution of mass and stiffness in the real-life floor in operation. All of these factors are difficult to model explicitly in the floor, so their aggregate effect was taken into account via changes in the beam stiffness. This was found by performing a sensitivity-based FE model updating in which the first four vertical bending modes of the floor were successfully updated. Such updating was possible only after all perimeter walls were explicitly modeled. The obtained updated properties are by no means a unique solution which minimizes the difference between natural frequencies and maximizes the MAC values between the experimental and analytical mode shapes. Rather, it is a reasonable set of modeling parameters which quantifies the possible uncertainty when specifying FE modeling parameters for an open-plan floor structure like the one described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]