Integrating LED lighting design strategies with side daylighting systems to improve interior lighting design of office buildings

A high contrast ratio between windows and surrounding walls may lead to office workers visual discomfort that could negatively affect their satisfaction and productivity. Consequently, occupants may try to adapt their working environment by closing blinds and/ or turning on the lights to enhance indoor visual comfort, which can reduce predicted energy savings. The hypothesis of this study is that reducing luminance contrast ratio on the window wall will improve window appearance which potentially will reduce visual discomfort and decrease workers interventions. Thus, this PhD research proposes a simple strategy to diminish the luminance contrast on the window wall by increasing the luminance of the areas surrounding the windows using supplementary light emitting diode (LED) systems. To test the hypothesis, this investigation will involve three experiments in different office layouts with various window types and orientations in Brisbane, Australia. It will assess user preferences for different luminance patterns in windowed offices featuring flexible, lowpower LED lighting installations that allows multiple lighting design options on the window wall. Detailed luminance and illuminance measures will be used to match quantitative lighting design assessment to user preferences.

Analysis and design of beam-shaped rectangular polyrod antennas

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the near field and radiation characteristics show a fairly good agreement which justifies the TE(11)(x) mode of excitation. Eight polyrod antennas of different configurations were built and tested as functions of taper angles, straight and curved axial lengths, and frequency of excitation. It is found that the radiation patterns. cross-polarization level, beamwidth and gain could be controlled not only by the axial length and taper angles but also by shaping the axis of the polyrods in order to realize an optimum design

Sustainable building envelope design by considering energy cost and occupant satisfaction

The built environment is a major contributor to the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, with a considerable amount of energy being consumed in buildings due to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, space illumination, use of electrical appliances, etc., to facilitate various anthropogenic activities. The development of sustainable buildings seeks to ameliorate this situation mainly by reducing energy consumption. Sustainable building design, however, is a complicated process involving a large number of design variables, each with a range of feasible values. There are also multiple, often conflicting, objectives involved such as the life cycle costs and occupant satisfaction. One approach to dealing with this is through the use of optimization models. In this paper, a new multi-objective optimization model is developed for sustainable building design by considering the design objectives of cost and energy consumption minimization and occupant comfort level maximization. In a case study demonstration, it is shown that the model can derive a set of suitable design solutions in terms of life cycle cost, energy consumption and indoor environmental quality so as to help the client and design team gain a better understanding of the design space and trade-off patterns between different design objectives. The model can very useful in the conceptual design stages to determine appropriate operational settings to achieve the optimal building performance in terms of minimizing energy consumption and maximizing occupant comfort level.

Unbounding the interaction design problem: The contribution of HCI in three interventions for well-being

In this paper we consider HCI's role in technology interventions for health and well-being. Three projects carried out by the authors are analysed by appropriating the idea of a value chain to chart a causal history from proximal effects generated in early episodes of design through to distal health and well-being outcomes. Responding to recent arguments that favour bounding HCI's contribution to local patterns of use, we propose an unbounded view of HCI that addresses an extended value chain of influence. We discuss a view of HCI methods as mobilising this value chain perspective in multi-disciplinary collaborations through its emphasis on early prototyping and naturalistic studies of use.

Gabapentin: A Stereochemically Constrained gamma Amino Acid Residue in Hybrid Peptide Design

Nature has used the all-alpha-polypeptide backbone of proteins to create a remarkable diversity of folded structures. Sequential patterns of 20 distinct amino adds, which differ only in their side chains, determine the shape and form of proteins. Our understanding of these specific secondary structures is over half a century old and is based primarily on the fundamental elements: the Pauling alpha-helix and beta-sheet. Researchers can also generate structural diversity through the synthesis of polypeptide chains containing homologated (omega) amino acid residues, which contain a variable number of backbone atoms. However, incorporating amino adds with more atoms within the backbone introduces additional torsional freedom into the structure, which can complicate the structural analysis. Fortunately, gabapentin (Gpn), a readily available bulk drug, is an achiral beta,beta-disubstituted gamma amino add residue that contains a cyclohexyl ring at the C-beta carbon atom, which dramatically limits the range of torsion angles that can be obtained about the flanking C-C bonds. Limiting conformational flexibility also has the desirable effect of increasing peptide crystallinity, which permits unambiguous structural characterization by X-ray diffraction methods. This Account describes studies carried out in our laboratory that establish Gpn as a valuable residue in the design of specifically folded hybrid peptide structures. The insertion of additional atoms into polypeptide backbones facilitates the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds whose directionality is opposite to that observed in canonical alpha-peptide helices. If hybrid structures mimic proteins and biologically active peptides, the proteolytic stability conferred by unusual backbones can be a major advantage in the area of medicinal chemistry. We have demonstrated a variety of internally hydrogen-bonded structures in the solid state for Gpn-containing peptides, including the characterization of the C-7 and C-9 hydrogen bonds, which can lead to ribbons in homo-oligomeric sequences. In hybrid alpha gamma sequences, district C-12 hydrogen-bonded turn structures support formation of peptide helices and hairpins in longer sequences. Some peptides that include the Gpn residue have hydrogen-bond directionality that matches alpha-peptide helices, while others have the opposite directionality. We expect that expansion of the polypeptide backbone will lead to new classes of foldamer structures, which are thus far unknown to the world of alpha-polypeptides. The diversity of internally hydrogen-bonded structures observed in hybrid sequences containing Gpn shows promise for the rational design of novel peptide structures incorporating hybrid backbones.

Healing gardens in the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital: Reflections on benefits, preferences and design from bench diaries

Background Interest in the use of healing gardens in healthcare settings to provide therapeutic benefits is increasing, however insight is needed to determine whether patients, patient families and friends, and staff who spend time in these gardens use these in the manner for which they were designed, and experience the benefits suggested by broader research in this field. Objective(s) Visitors to four of the LCCH gardens have left comments in ‘bench diaries’ (visitors books). Analysis of these comments yields valuable insights into the use of the gardens, enabling reflection on the design intent and outcomes and guidance regarding how the gardens might be better utilised, as well as a basis for further investigation into the use and value of the gardens. Method(s) Comments have been coded and analysed using a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns relating to the reasons for which people appear to come to the healing gardens; benefits they appear to receive from spending time there; and features and aspects of the gardens that they appear to appreciate in particular. Only comments related to the gardens have been used in this analysis, with all comments being deidentified. Outcome/Conclusion Comments left in the Adventure Garden and Secret Garden bench diaries were used for the analysis, as Staff Garden and Babies Garden bench diary comments did not relate to the garden. There were no negative comments relating to the gardens, other than one comment requesting additional benches. The vast majority of comments expressed gratitude for the space. The four most frequently observed themes from the comments left in the Secret Garden Bench Diary indicated that they were seeking ‘time out’ from their experiences of being at the hospital, a desire for a ‘dose of nature’ (greenery, beautiful garden, etc), and fresh air, and that the garden space provided a restorative experience to them in some manner. Comments in the Adventure Garden Bench Diary related predominately to the view. Analysis of the comments emphasises the importance of gardens providing multi-sensory experiences that significantly differentiate the space from the hospital ward and provide visitors with a sense of being away, of peacefulness, and of familiarity with the outside world. Positioning gardens with prospect, and solar aspect, appears important in these regards, as does the presence of visible greenery. Adequate seating in locations that provide pleasing views appears particularly important for staff and adult visitors. Whilst comments in the Bench Diaries did not indicate direct awareness of the stress and anxiety-reducing effects that research elsewhere has found from viewing plants and nature, however these effects may underpin many of these experiences that visitors did share.

Traditional patterns and textures as values for meaningful automatization in music

This contribution focuses on the accelerated loss of traditional sound patterning in music, parallel to the exponential loss of linguistic and cultural variety in a world increasingly 'globalized' by market policies and economic liberalization, in which scientific or technical justification plays a crucial role. As a suggestion to an alternative trend, composers and music theorists are invited to explore the world of design and patterning by grammar rules from non-dominant cultures, and to make an effort to understand their contextual usage and its transformation, in order to appreciate their symbolism and aesthetic depth. Practical examples are provided.

PeptideMine - A webserver for the design of peptides for protein-peptide binding studies derived from protein-protein interactomes

Background: Signal transduction events often involve transient, yet specific, interactions between structurally conserved protein domains and polypeptide sequences in target proteins. The identification and validation of these associating domains is crucial to understand signal transduction pathways that modulate different cellular or developmental processes. Bioinformatics strategies to extract and integrate information from diverse sources have been shown to facilitate the experimental design to understand complex biological events. These methods, primarily based on information from high-throughput experiments, have also led to the identification of new connections thus providing hypothetical models for cellular events. Such models, in turn, provide a framework for directing experimental efforts for validating the predicted molecular rationale for complex cellular processes. In this context, it is envisaged that the rational design of peptides for protein-peptide binding studies could substantially facilitate the experimental strategies to evaluate a predicted interaction. This rational design procedure involves the integration of protein-protein interaction data, gene ontology, physico-chemical calculations, domain-domain interaction data and information on functional sites or critical residues. Results: Here we describe an integrated approach called ``PeptideMine'' for the identification of peptides based on specific functional patterns present in the sequence of an interacting protein. This approach based on sequence searches in the interacting sequence space has been developed into a webserver, which can be used for the identification and analysis of peptides, peptide homologues or functional patterns from the interacting sequence space of a protein. To further facilitate experimental validation, the PeptideMine webserver also provides a list of physico-chemical parameters corresponding to the peptide to determine the feasibility of using the peptide for in vitro biochemical or biophysical studies. Conclusions: The strategy described here involves the integration of data and tools to identify potential interacting partners for a protein and design criteria for peptides based on desired biochemical properties. Alongside the search for interacting protein sequences using three different search programs, the server also provides the biochemical characteristics of candidate peptides to prune peptide sequences based on features that are most suited for a given experiment. The PeptideMine server is available at the URL: http://caps.ncbs.res.in/peptidemine

Microbiological characterisation of soils : Evaluation of some critical steps in data collection and experimental design

The study of soil microbiota and their activities is central to the understanding of many ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. The collection of microbiological data from soils generally involves several sequential steps of sampling, pretreatment and laboratory measurements. The reliability of results is dependent on reliable methods in every step. The aim of this thesis was to critically evaluate some central methods and procedures used in soil microbiological studies in order to increase our understanding of the factors that affect the measurement results and to provide guidance and new approaches for the design of experiments. The thesis focuses on four major themes: 1) soil microbiological heterogeneity and sampling, 2) storage of soil samples, 3) DNA extraction from soil, and 4) quantification of specific microbial groups by the most-probable-number (MPN) procedure. Soil heterogeneity and sampling are discussed as a single theme because knowledge on spatial (horizontal and vertical) and temporal variation is crucial when designing sampling procedures. Comparison of adjacent forest, meadow and cropped field plots showed that land use has a strong impact on the degree of horizontal variation of soil enzyme activities and bacterial community structure. However, regardless of the land use, the variation of microbiological characteristics appeared not to have predictable spatial structure at 0.5-10 m. Temporal and soil depth-related patterns were studied in relation to plant growth in cropped soil. The results showed that most enzyme activities and microbial biomass have a clear decreasing trend in the top 40 cm soil profile and a temporal pattern during the growing season. A new procedure for sampling of soil microbiological characteristics based on stratified sampling and pre-characterisation of samples was developed. A practical example demonstrated the potential of the new procedure to reduce the analysis efforts involved in laborious microbiological measurements without loss of precision. The investigation of storage of soil samples revealed that freezing (-20 °C) of small sample aliquots retains the activity of hydrolytic enzymes and the structure of the bacterial community in different soil matrices relatively well whereas air-drying cannot be recommended as a storage method for soil microbiological properties due to large reductions in activity. Freezing below -70 °C was the preferred method of storage for samples with high organic matter content. Comparison of different direct DNA extraction methods showed that the cell lysis treatment has a strong impact on the molecular size of DNA obtained and on the bacterial community structure detected. An improved MPN method for the enumeration of soil naphthalene degraders was introduced as an alternative to more complex MPN protocols or the DNA-based quantification approach. The main advantage of the new method is the simple protocol and the possibility to analyse a large number of samples and replicates simultaneously.

A novel neural network design for long range prediction of rainfall pattern

The importance of long-range prediction of rainfall pattern for devising and planning agricultural strategies cannot be overemphasized. However, the prediction of rainfall pattern remains a difficult problem and the desired level of accuracy has not been reached. The conventional methods for prediction of rainfall use either dynamical or statistical modelling. In this article we report the results of a new modelling technique using artificial neural networks. Artificial neural networks are especially useful where the dynamical processes and their interrelations for a given phenomenon are not known with sufficient accuracy. Since conventional neural networks were found to be unsuitable for simulating and predicting rainfall patterns, a generalized structure of a neural network was then explored and found to provide consistent prediction (hindcast) of all-India annual mean rainfall with good accuracy. Performance and consistency of this network are evaluated and compared with those of other (conventional) neural networks. It is shown that the generalized network can make consistently good prediction of annual mean rainfall. Immediate application and potential of such a prediction system are discussed.

Design issues and caching strategies for CD-ROM based multimedia storage

CD-ROMs have proliferated as a distribution media for desktop machines for a large variety of multimedia applications (targeted for a single-user environment) like encyclopedias, magazines and games. With CD-ROM capacities up to 3 GB being available in the near future, they will form an integral part of Video on Demand (VoD) servers to store full-length movies and multimedia. In the first section of this paper we look at issues related to the single- user desktop environment. Since these multimedia applications are highly interactive in nature, we take a pragmatic approach, and have made a detailed study of the multimedia application behavior in terms of the I/O request patterns generated to the CD-ROM subsystem by tracing these patterns. We discuss prefetch buffer design and seek time characteristics in the context of the analysis of these traces. We also propose an adaptive main-memory hosted cache that receives caching hints from the application to reduce the latency when the user moves from one node of the hyper graph to another. In the second section we look at the use of CD-ROM in a VoD server and discuss the problem of scheduling multiple request streams and buffer management in this scenario. We adapt the C-SCAN (Circular SCAN) algorithm to suit the CD-ROM drive characteristics and prove that it is optimal in terms of buffer size management. We provide computationally inexpensive relations by which this algorithm can be implemented. We then propose an admission control algorithm which admits new request streams without disrupting the continuity of playback of the previous request streams. The algorithm also supports operations such as fast forward and replay. Finally, we discuss the problem of optimal placement of MPEG streams on CD-ROMs in the third section.

CFD Based Design Optimizations of the Diffuser of a Gas Dynamically Driver Laser Cavity

Based on the an earlier CFD analysis of the performance of the gas-dynamically controlled laser cavity [1]it was found that there is possibility of optimizing the geometry of the diffuser that can bring about reductions in both size and cost of the system by examining the critical dimensional requirements of the diffuser. Consequently,an extensive CFD analysis has been carried out for a range of diffuser configurations by simulating the supersonic flow through the arrangement including the laser cavity driven by a bank of converging – diverging nozzles and the diffuser. The numerical investigations with 3D-RANS code are carried out to capture the flow patterns through diffusers past the cavity that has multiple supersonic jet interactions with shocks leading to complex flow pattern. Varying length of the diffuser plates is made to be the basic parameter of the study. The analysis reveals that the pressure recovery pattern during the flow through the diffuser from the simulation, being critical for the performance of the laser device shows its dependence on the diffuser length is weaker beyond a critical lower limit and this evaluation of this limit would provide a design guideline for a more efficient system configuration.The observation based on the parametric study shows that the pressure recovery transients in the near vicinity of the cavity is not affected for the reduction in the length of the diffuser plates up to its 10% of the initial size, indicating the design in the first configuration that was tested experimentally has a large factor of margin. The flow stability in the laser cavity is found to be unaffected since a strong and stable shock is located at the leading edge of the diffuser plates while the downstream shock and flow patterns are changed, as one would expect. Results of the study for the different lengths of diffusers in the range of 10% to its full length are presented, keeping the experimentally tested configuration used in the earlier study [1] as the reference length. The conclusions drawn from the analysis is found to be of significance since it provides new design considerations based on the understanding of the intricacies of the flow, allowing for a hardware optimization that can lead to substantial size reduction of the device with no loss of performance.

Deciphering complex patterns of class-I HLA-peptide cross-reactivity via hierarchical grouping

T-cell responses in humans are initiated by the binding of a peptide antigen to a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecule. The peptide-HLA complex then recruits an appropriate T cell, leading to cell-mediated immunity. More than 2000 HLA class-I alleles are known in humans, and they vary only in their peptide-binding grooves. The polymorphism they exhibit enables them to bind a wide range of peptide antigens from diverse sources. HLA molecules and peptides present a complex molecular recognition pattern, as many peptides bind to a given allele and a given peptide can be recognized by many alleles. A powerful grouping scheme that not only provides an insightful classification, but is also capable of dissecting the physicochemical basis of recognition specificity is necessary to address this complexity. We present a hierarchical classification of 2010 class-I alleles by using a systematic divisive clustering method. All-pair distances of alleles were obtained by comparing binding pockets in the structural models. By varying the similarity thresholds, a multilevel classification was obtained, with 7 supergroups, each further subclassifying to yield 72 groups. An independent clustering performed based only on similarities in their epitope pools correlated highly with pocket-based clustering. Physicochemical feature combinations that best explain the basis of clustering are identified. Mutual information calculated for the set of peptide ligands enables identification of binding site residues contributing to peptide specificity. The grouping of HLA molecules achieved here will be useful for rational vaccine design, understanding disease susceptibilities and predicting risk of organ transplants.

Investigation Into Harmful Patterns Over Multitrack Shingled Magnetic Detection Using the Voronoi Model

Two-dimensional magnetic recording 2-D (TDMR) is a promising technology for next generation magnetic storage systems based on a systems-level framework involving sophisticated signal processing at the core. The TDMR channel suffers from severe jitter noise along with electronic noise that needs to be mitigated during signal detection and recovery. Recently, we developed noise prediction-based techniques coupled with advanced signal detectors to work with these systems. However, it is important to understand the role of harmful patterns that can be avoided during the encoding process. In this paper, we investigate the Voronoi-based media model to study the harmful patterns over multitrack shingled recording systems. Through realistic quasi-micromagnetic simulation studies, we identify 2-D data patterns that contribute to high media noise. We look into the generic Voronoi model and present our analysis on multitrack detection with constrained coded data. We show that the 2-D constraints imposed on input patterns result in an order of magnitude improvement in the bit-error rate for the TDMR systems. The use of constrained codes can reduce the complexity of 2-D intersymbol interference (ISI) signal detection, since the lesser 2-D ISI span can be accommodated at the cost of a nominal code rate loss. However, a system must be designed carefully so that the rate loss incurred by a 2-D constraint does not offset the detector performance gain due to more distinguishable readback signals.

Design and Validation of On-chip Planar Mixer Based on Advection and Viscoelastic Effects

Mixing at low Reynolds number is usually due to diffusion and requires longer channel lengths for complete mixing. In order to reduce the mixing lengths, advective flow can be induced by varying the channel geometry. Additionally, in non-newtonian fluids, appropriate modifications to channel geometry can be used to aid the mixing process by capitalizing on their viscoelastic nature. Here we have exploited the advection and viscoelastic effects to implement a planar passive micro-mixer. Microfluidic devices incorporating different blend of mixing geometries were conceived. The optimum design was chosen based on the results of the numerical simulations performed in COMSOL. The chosen design had sudden expansion and contraction along with teeth patterns along the channel walls to improve mixing. Mixing of two different dyes was performed to validate the mixing efficiency. Particle dispersion experiments were also carried out. The results indicated effective mixing. In addition, the same design was also found to be compatible with electrical power free pumping mechanism like suction. The proposed design was then used to carry out on-chip chemical cell lysis with human whole blood samples to establish its use with non-newtonian fluids. Complete lysis of the erythrocytes was observed leaving behind the white blood cells at the outlet.