Deploying a Deep Learning-based Application for an Efficient Ther­mal Energy Storage Air-Conditioning(TES-AC)System:Design Guidelines

Facility management and maintenance of the Thermal-Energy-Storage Air-Conditioning(TES-AC)system is a tedious task at a large scale mainly due to the charging load that can increase energy consumption if needed to be charged at peak hours.Besides,maintenance of TES-AC at a large scale gets complex as it contains many sensor data.By utilizing deep learning techniques on the sensor data,charging load prediction can be made possible,so facility managers can prepare in advance.However,a deep learning-based application will be unusable if it is not deployed in a user-friendly manner where facility managers can benefit from this application.Hence,this research focuses on gathering design guidelines for a deep learning-based application and further validates the design considerations with a developed application for efficient human-computer interaction through qualitative analysis.The approach taken to gather design guidelines demonstrated a positive correlation between expert-suggested features and the user-friendly aspect of the application as 67.08%of participants found the features suggested by experts to be most satisfactory.Furthermore,it evaluates user satisfaction with the advanced developed application for TES-AC according to the gathered design guidelines.

Current design guidelines’streetscape improvement for visual perception and walkability:A case study of Sejong City,Republic of Korea

This study explores how recent design guidelines have focused on the visual variety of streetscapes making them more attractive.To date,this topic has been one of the most challenging parts of constructing walkable streets.We evaluated the streetscape features of Sejong City,recently constructed as Republic of Korea’s new capital city,and investigated their relationships with design guidelines.Consequently,we identified three principal reasons related to the design guidelines for the visual monotony in the street produced by the most up-to-date design guidelines compared with an ordinary street.First,the design guidelines cannot restrict the construction of large-scale buildings on the street,hindering visual changes caused by the zoning ordinance regulations because zoning regulations took priority when it comes to urban planning and regulatory governance.Second,design standards intending for a consistent street wall of buildings,which were used only in regard to the street enclosure standard,produced less spatial diversity and indistinct building bases,presenting weak vertical articulation.Third,applying the uniform standards for each building created repetitive architecture despite design standards for visual variety,such as recessed top floors,arcades,and retail uses for the ground floors facing a street.

Guidelines for rational design of high-performance absorbents:A case study of zeolite adsorbents for emerging pollutants in water

Rational design is important to achieve high-performance sorbents used to remove the contaminants of emerging concern(CECs) from water.However, it is hard to propose effective design guidelines due to the lack of a clear understanding of the interaction mechanisms. By means of systematic quantum chemical computations, as a case study, we investigated the interactions between zeolite X/M^(n+)-zeolite X(Si/Al=1,M^(n+)=Cu^(2+) and Ni^(2+)) and three commonly used CECs(namely salicylic acid, carbamazepine and ciprofloxacin) in water to clarify the adsorption mechanisms. Our computations found that anionic salicylic acid cannot be adsorbed by neither zeolite X nor M^(n+)-zeolite X in neutral water due to the high electrostatic repulsion. In comparison, carbamazepine and ciprofloxacin have favorable binding energies with both zeolite X and M^(n+)-zeolite X, and their interactions with M^(n+)-zeolite X are stronger due to the joint effects of H-bond, metal complexation and electrostatic interaction. The adsorption loading of ciprofloxacin, which has a large molecular size, on M^(n+)-zeolite X is limited due to the steric hindrance. In general, steric hindrance, electrostatic interaction, H-bond and metal complexation are dominant factors for the examined systems in this study. Thus, for the design of high-performance absorbing materials, we should fully consider the molecular properties of pollutants(molecular size, surface electrostatic potential and atomic type, etc.), and properly enhance the favorable effects and avoid the unfavorable factors as much as possible under the guidance of the interaction mechanisms.

Practice Research on Standardization of Undergraduate Graduation Design of Tunnel and Underground Engineering

Graduation project(thesis)is an important practice part in undergraduate education,which forms an organic whole with theoretical teaching link,and it is the continuation,deepening and examination of the theoretical teaching part.This paper focuses on the constitution that the lack of quality standards for undergraduate graduation design,resulting in different depth and breadth standards;the graduation design materials are scattered and lack of standardization,which leads to the lack of systematic reference materials for students,taking the tunnel and underground engineering major as an example,this paper carries out the practice research on the standardization of the graduation design of tunnel and underground engineering through investigation and combining the teaching resources accumulated in the past decades.Through the study of practice,the content of undergraduate graduation design of tunnel and underground engineering is standardized,the breadth and depth of graduation design is defined,and the“Guide for undergraduate graduation design of tunnel and underground engineering”is organized and compiled,which can provide reference for the standardization and guidance of undergraduate graduation design of tunnel and underground engineering.

Amman＇s Land Typology： The Importance of Site Characteristics on the Delivery of Sustainable Buildings

Amman＇s land typology is characterized by hilly slopes, and this presents challenges and opportunities for architects and designers aiming at delivering sustainable buildings. The research focuses on the importance of any site＇s given criteria, mainly its slope and topography on the delivery of sustainable buildings. Amman city consists broadly of two main types of buildings, apartment buildings and villas, by studying each type of building with regard to its environmental context on a given site in the city, the research seeks to identify the sustainable variables that site topography delimit or facilitate, using a set of attributes for each building type. The main objective of this research is to highlight the sustainable approach for building on sloped sites throughout the building project life-cycle in general, and to set a sustainability framework for designers during the initial design phase in particular. A number of case studies for both types of buildings are studied and analysed, and conclusions are given based on syntheses of available data from literature review or case analysis. At the end, the research provides a mechanism for the development of guidelines for sustainable and passive viability on preferred buildings orientation in hilly areas with regard to local climatic data.

Design and use of group-specific primers and probes for real-time quantitative PCR

Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)has gained popularity as a technique to detect and quantify a specific group of target microorganisms from various environmental samples including soil,water,sediments,and sludge.Although qPCR is a very useful technique for nucleic acid quantification,accurately quantifying the target microbial group strongly depends on the quality of the primer and probe used.Many aspects of conducting qPCR assays have become increasingly routine and automated;however,one of the most important aspects,designing and selecting primer and probe sets,is often a somewhat arcane process.In many cases,failed or non-specific amplification can be attributed to improperly designed primer-probe sets.This paper is intended to provide guidelines and general principles for designing group-specific primers and probes for qPCR assays.We demonstrate the effectiveness of these guidelines by reviewing the use of qPCR to study anaerobic processes and biologic nutrient removal processes.qPCR assays using group-specific primers and probes designed with this method,have been used to successfully quantify 16S ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid(16S rRNA)gene copy numbers from target methanogenic and ammoniaoxidizing bacteria in various laboratory-and full-scale biologic processes.Researchers with a good command of primer and probe design can use qPCR as a valuable tool to study biodiversity and to develop more efficient control strategies for biologic processes.

Smart computing approach for design and scale-up of conical spouted beds with open-sided draft tubes

Open-sided draft tubes provide an optimal gas distribution through a cross flow pattern between the spout and the annulus in conical spouted beds.The design,optimization,control,and scale-up of the spouted beds require precise information on operating and peak pressure drops.In this study,a multi-layer perceptron(MLP)neural network was employed for accurate prediction of these hydrodynamic characteristics.A relatively huge number of experiments were accomplished and the most influential dimensionless groups were extracted using the Buckingham-pi theorem.Then,the dimensionless groups were used for developing the MLP model for simultaneous estimation of operating and peak pressure drops.The iterative constructive technique confirmed that 4-14-2 is the best structure for the MLP model in terms of absolute average relative deviation(AARD%),mean square error(MSE),and regression coefficient(R^(2)).The developed MLP approach has an excellent capacity to predict the transformed operating(MSE=0.00039,AARD%=1.30,and R^(2)=0.76099)and peak(MSE=0.22933,AARD%=11.88,and R2=0.89867)pressure drops.

Towards designing telepresence robot navigation for people with disabilities

Purpose–The authors believe that people with cognitive and motor impairments may benefit from using of telepresence robots to engage in social activities.To date,these systems have not been designed for use by people with disabilities as the robot operators.The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach–The authors conducted two formative evaluations using a participatory action design process.First,the authors conducted a focus group(n¼5)to investigate how members of the target audience would want to direct a telepresence robot in a remote environment using speech.The authors then conducted a follow-on experiment in which participants(n¼12)used a telepresence robot or directed a human in a scavenger hunt task.Findings–The authors collected a corpus of 312 utterances(first hand as opposed to speculative)relating to spatial navigation.Overall,the analysis of the corpus supported several speculations put forth during the focus group.Further,it showed few statistically significant differences between speech used in the human and robot agent conditions;thus,the authors believe that,for the task of directing a telepresence robot’s movements in a remote environment,people will speak to the robot in a manner similar to speaking to another person.Practical implications–Based upon the two formative evaluations,the authors present four guidelines for designing speech-based interfaces for telepresence robots.Originality/value–Robot systems designed for general use do not typically consider people with disabilities.The work is a first step towards having our target population take the active role of the telepresence robot operator.

Visible light responsive spiropyran derivatives based on dynamic coordination bonds

Spiropyrans(SPs) are a well-known class of photochromic compounds and have found widespread application due to their unique properties. However, for many conventional SPs, high energy ultraviolet(UV)light is commonly essential to drive photoisomerization, leading to poor fatigue resistance. Moreover, the practical application of spiropyrans is hindered by their fast fading speed due to the instability of closed forms(SP) or open forms(MC). Herein, we disclose a novel strategy to address these challenges through introducing both electron-donating substituents to stabilize the SP and dynamic coordination bonds to stabilize the MC. The resulting new spiropyrans complexes exhibit negative photochromic properties, with fast visible light response, good stability of both SP and MC, and significantly improved fatigue resistance.

A critical review of the fatigue life prediction of asphalt mixtures and pavements

New pavement construction techniques and the increased use of recycled materials have led to unexpected and premature pavement failure in recent years.The pavement’s exposure to daily and seasonal extreme temperature and repeated vehicular loads accumulate damage.Pavement cracking occurs once the cumulative damage surpasses the material’s cracking threshold.Fatigue crack is the most common pavement cracking type.Over the past four decades,researchers have carried out numerous experiments and analyses to understand pavement cracking.This paper aims to provide an overview of fatigue cracking and discuss various fatigue test methods for characterizing asphalt concrete mixtures.The article also discusses the most common phenomenological and mechanistic models for predicting the fatigue life of asphalt concrete pavements based on different fatigue test results.The paper details the implementation of the commonly used numerical models found in numerical simulation software and their prediction ability for the fatigue life of a pavement structure.Two major flaws in current evaluation methods are the sensitivity of experimental results and the lack of reliability of some predictive models.Multiscale asphalt material characterization is the ongoing practice for determining the most appropriate performance evaluation tool.However,proceeding with future research objectives is unrealistic until the accuracy of the tests and reliability of the predictions can be verified against actual field results.This critical review of the fatigue life predictions of asphalt mixtures and pavements should help to refine or redefine the right course of action for future research.