Learning = playing: Interactive learning with game-based design principles

This paper explores the rapid escalation of demand for information in both complex and convergent forms of accessible technology. The authors contend that this growth creates a concomitant demand for a highly skilled information technology workforce. To ensure the preservation and continued development of this workforce, education of the information technology professional is increasingly acknowledged as one of the primary challenges
confronting educators and educational institutions. Many institutions have sought solutions to this educational conundrum in populist concepts of e-learning

Modelling based design of a pilot-scale membrane bioreactor for combined nutrient removal from domestic wastewater

A three stage-treatment of domestic wastewater including anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic phases is employed in this study while a clarifier unit is replaced with a submerged membrane in the aerobic unit. The effects of operational parameters on the performance of a pilot scale submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) namely hydraulic retention time (HRT), ratio of return activated sludge (QRS), ratio of internal recycle (QIR), solid retention time (SRT) and dissolved oxygen (DO) are evaluated by simulations, using a hybrid model composed of TUDP model, oxygen transfer model, biofouling model due to extra-cellular polymeric substances (EPS) and turbulent shear model. The results showed that anaerobic HRT of 3 hours, anoxic HRT of 6 hours, QRS of 20% and QIR of 300 % are satisfactory in obtaining a high removal efficiency (>90%) of COD, NH4-N, P04-P as well as a less sludge production. An increase of sludge production causes an increase in EPS, which fouls the membrane surface and increase the cleaning cycle of membrane. Operation of 5MBR system at 2 mg/I of DO and 30 days of SRT can extend the membrane cleaning cycle dramatically. The membrane cleaning cycle however is strongly dependent on the initial and terminal specific fluxes and displays inverse power relationships to those fluxes.

Interval-based and fuzzy set-based approaches to modeling of fuzzy inference systems with the local monotonicity property

Even though the importance of the local monotonicity property for function approximation problems is well established, there are relative few investigations addressing issues related to the fulfillment of the local monotonicity property in Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) modeling. We have previously conducted a preliminary study on the local monotonicity property of FIS models, with the assumption that the extrema point(s) (i.e., the maximum and/or minimum point(s)) is either known precisely or totally unknown. However, in some practical situations, the extrema point(s) can be known imprecisely (as an interval or a fuzzy set). In this paper, the imprecise information is exploited to construct an FIS model that fulfills the local monotonicity property. A procedure to estimate the extrema point(s) of a function is devised. Applicability of the findings to a datadriven modeling problem is further demonstrated.

Efficient and accurate set-based registration of time-separated aerial images

This paper addresses the task of time-separated aerial image registration. The ability to solve this problem accurately and reliably is important for a variety of subsequent image understanding applications. The principal challenge lies in the extent and nature of transient appearance variation that a land area can undergo, such as that caused by the change under illumination conditions, seasonal variations, or the occlusion by non-persistent objects (people, cars). Our work introduces several major novelties (i) unlike previous work on aerial image registration, we approach the problem using a set-based paradigm; (ii) we show how image space local, pair-wise constraints can be used to enforce a globally good registration using a constraints graph structure; (iii) we show how a simple holistic representation derived from raw aerial images can be used as a basic building block of the constraints graph in a manner which achieves both high registration accuracy and speed; (iv) lastly, we introduce a new and, to the best of our knowledge, the only data corpus suitable for the evaluation of set-based aerial image registration algorithms. Using this data set, we demonstrate (i) that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art for pair-wise registration already, achieving greater accuracy and reliability, while at the same time reducing the computational cost of the task and (ii) that the increase in the number of available images in a set consistently reduces the average registration error, with a major difference already for a single additional image.

An email classification model based on rough set theory

The communication via email is one of the most popular services of the Internet. Emails have brought us great convenience in our daily work and life. However, unsolicited messages or spam, flood our email boxes, which results in bandwidth, time and money wasting. To this end, this paper presents a rough set based model to classify emails into three categories - spam, no-spam and suspicious, rather than two classes (spam and non-spam) in most currently used approaches. By comparing with popular classification methods like Naive Bayes classification, the error ratio that a non-spam is discriminated to spam can be reduced using our proposed model.

Non-Deterministic Exploration through Parametric Design

This paper explores non-deterministic parametric modelling as a design tool. Specifically, it addresses the application of parametric variables to the generation of a conceptual bridge design and the use of repeatable discrete components to the conceptual form. In order to control the generation of the bridge form, a set of design variables based on the concept of a law curve have been developed.These design variables are applied and tested through interactive modelling and variation, driven by manipulating the law curve. Combining this process with the application and control of a repeatable element, known as a Representative Volumetric Element (RVE), allows for the development and exploration of a design solution that could not be achieved through the use of conventional computer modelling.The competition brief for the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) ‘Dialectical Bridge’ has been used as a case study to demonstrate the use of non-deterministic parametric modelling as a design tool.The results of the experimentation with parametric variables, the law curve and representative volumetric elements (RVE) are presented in the paper.

Abstraction versus case based:A comparative study of two approaches to support Parametric Design

We describe an experimental study testing the reuse of design knowledge as a method to support learning and use of parametric design in architecture.The use of parametric design systems and programming environments offer architects new opportunities, providing a powerful means to create geometries and allowing dynamic design exploration, but it can also impose substantial challenges.The proposition tested in this study is that the reuse of design knowledge can improve architects’ ability to use parametric modelling, and reduce the barriers to using programming in a design context.The paper explores and compares two approaches as a means of accessing and reusing existing design solutions: the reuse of abstract parametric ‘Design Patterns’ [1]; and secondly the reuse of parametric solutions from specific design cases (Case- Based Design).This paper outlines the principles and methods of ‘abstract’ versus ‘case-based’ approaches to reuse parametric solutions; and focuses on the results of their practical implementation through the statistical analysis of a comparative study involving 126 designers. In conclusion, it is proposed the outcomes from this study can be applied to inform the methodology for introducing parametric design in architecture and design disciplines.

Urban codes : abstraction and case-based approaches to algorithmic design and implications for the design of contemporary cities

This paper reports on a comparative study that evaluates two approaches to support the learning and use of algorithmic design in architecture, and extrapolates from this to consider applications for the algorithmic design of cities. The study explored two methods to reduce the barriers of using programming and potentially improve design performance. The first is the reuse of abstract algorithmic ‘patterns’. The second approach is the reuse of algorithmic solutions from specific design cases (case-based design). Reflecting on this research we outline how our findings discussed in relation to alternate thinking on the use of pattern, might inform a hybrid approach to the algorithmic design of cities.

Operating a studio within a research culture: the urban heart surgery design research forum

The question of whether or not design can be considered research has perplexed schools of architecture ever since they were first introduced into universities. It was at the center of the Oxbridge union debates in the early 1900s. It formed one of the corner stones of the Oxford conference on education organized by the RIBA in 1958 (Martin 1958) and came under scrutiny again in the UK with the introduction of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 1992. While the arguments both for and against are considerable1, “in order to understand the questions and the possibilities of architectural research and to respond to the difficulties that confront us now, we have to have a model which acknowledges what schools of architecture really are, and could be, and then work with that” 2.
Drawing on professionally oriented research models, such as qualitative ‘clinical research’, from Medicine and the Health Sciences - where the processes of exploration, observation, investigation, recording and communication are conducted in-situ by the ‘practitioner-as-researcher’ 3 - the following paper outlines an initiative introduced in 1999, referred to as the ‘Urban Heart Surgery’ 4. The program actively integrates students entering their second degree program into a studio based design research culture and allows them to engage in critical discourse by working on high profile strategic design projects in three areas significant to Victoria’s future growth: Metropolitan Urbanism, Urbanism on the Periphery, and Regional Urbanism.
With a growing core of industrial and community based partnerships, including: four regional councils (Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool) and three metropolitan municipalities (Melbourne City, Port Phillip and Wyndham), the forum actively facilitates a graduate/practice research agenda through the ARC linkage grant program.

The language of design resolution in a digital building information model

Information in construction industry is delivered and interpreted in a language specific to the industry in which large complex objects are only partially described and with much information being implicit in the language used. Successful communication therefore relies on participants in the industry leaming how to interpret the language through many years of education, training and experience. With the introduction of computer technology, and in particular the detailed digital building information model (DB 1M), the accepted language currently in use is no longer a valid method of describing the building. At all stages in the paper based design and documentation process it is generally readily apparent which parts of the design require further completion and which are fully resolved. This is able to be achieved through the complex graphical language currently in use. In the DBIM, all information appears at the same level of resolution making difficult the interpretation of implicit information embedded in the model. This compromises the collaborative design environment which is being described as a fundamental characteristic of the future construction industry. This paper focuses on two areas. The first analyses design resolution and the role uncertain information plays in the design process. It then discusses the manner in which designers and the industry in general deal with incomplete or unresolved information. The second describes a theoretical model in which a design resolution (DR) environment incorporates the level of design resolution as an operable element in a collaborative DBIM. The development and implementation of this model will allow designers to better share, understand and interpret design knowledge from the shared information during the various stages of digital design and before full resolution is achieved.

The need for a culturally inclusive andragogy for collaborative design learning

In recognition of the apparent paradox between the cultural-systems of Asia and the West and the teaching and learning styles they promote, this platform paper aims to propose how research might investigate differences between achievement and diverse learning preferences at various stages of the design process in the multi-cultural studios of Deakin University. The paper presents a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant project currently running at Deakin as a reflexive research program aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of international students collaborating in three undergraduate design studios. The primary aim of this program is to inform a new culturally inclusive andragogy for problem-based design teaching through experiential
learning theory.