Architectural Design Aspects Research Articles

Universal Design Patterns for stoma care away-from-home

RESEARCH Please cite this paper as: Froyen H, Verdonck E, De Meester D, and Heylighen A. Universal design patterns for stoma care away-from-home. AMJ 2009, 1, 13, 213-216 Doi 10.4066/AMJ.2009.159 Abstract Accommodating the real diversity of user populations, including those with physical and / or mental impairments and functional limitations, requires a large amount of design information in connection with human dis-abilities (limitations and possibilities). In order to collect and organise this information for designers and decision makers, Universal Design Patterns (UD Patterns) offer descriptive information about, on the one hand, CONFLICTS between users and built environments, and on the other hand, empirically evident design RESOLUTIONS. Direct collaboration with users / experts was tested in the development of a specific UD Pattern for a (Semi-) ambulant accessible toilet for personal care, with specific emphasis on stoma-care in public facilities. The paper illustrates how people with ostomies and care-givers communicate with researchers, and how relevant design information is extracted and structured. On a more general level, results show how environment-related dimensions of human functioning differ from medical aspects, and how direct involvement of end-users enriches the content of design information. Key words: accessibility, disability, evidence-based design, stoma care, Universal Design, Universal Design Patterns, users / experts Introduction Including the real diversity of user populations in the design of the built environment requires a large amount of design information in connection with human dis-abilities (limitations and possibilities). In order to collect and organise this information for decision makers and designers, we advance Universal Design Patterns [1] as key elements in the process of the systematic elimination of handicap situations in the built environment [2]. By way of example, a search was made into major design aspects for toilet facilities for stoma care away-from-home. Contrary to the incredible amount and diversity of architectonic aspects and elements, potentially responsible for disabling built environments, the disability of people who use urostomy and colostomy bags is centred on toileting, often involving a frequent and urgent need to use a toilet to empty or change their bag [3]. This is a primary reason for the strategic choice of this clearly delimited research theme of ‘conflicts’ and ‘resolutions’ for stoma care. A second reason is that colostomy manifests itself in the social area as ‘a hidden disability’ and that designers cannot distil data from first principles from informal observations of the persons involved. A third reason is that comprehensive generic design information in connection with this theme is also lacking, for example, in architectural design guides [4], and also in the many printed and digital ‘Patient’s Guides to Colostomy Care’. Exceptions, such as the recent The Accessible Toilet Resource [3], confirm this situation. Methods The limited research into relevant architectural design aspects for spaces and facilities for stoma care away-from-home was carried out in Belgium in the period July to December 2008. A literature search on relevant architectural design aspects included medical and paramedical sources of information. In August 2008 these design aspects were discussed with care-giver TL (Enterostomal Therapist) and the facilities for stoma care in Imelda Hospital, Bonheiden were analysed. On location, discussions were conducted with hospitalised persons with ostomies (female, 40 yrs., ileostomy; male 75 yrs., colostomy). As a consequence, the list of relevant design aspects was adapted and expanded. In September 2008 the tentative research data were presented orally to the local Ostomy Association Keerbergen, with 40 persons with ostomies and their spouses / significant others in the audience. A questionnaire that was handed out, which listed and described relevant architectural design aspects was answered anonymously by 18 persons with ostomies. Discussions were conducted with two persons present with

A Multi-Level Cache Model for Run-Time Optimization of Remote Visualization

Remote visualization is an enabling technology aiming to resolve the barrier of physical distance. While many researchers have developed innovative algorithms for remote visualization, previous work has focused little on systematically investigating optimal configurations of remote visualization architectures. In this paper, we study caching and prefetching, an important aspect of such architecture design, in order to optimize the fetch time in a remote visualization system. Unlike a processor cache or web cache, caching for remote visualization is unique and complex. Through actual experimentation and numerical simulation, we have discovered ways to systematically evaluate and search for optimal configurations of remote visualization caches under various scenarios, such as different network speeds, sizes of data for user requests, prefetch schemes, cache depletion schemes, etc. We have also designed a practical infrastructure software to adaptively optimize the caching architecture of general remote visualization systems, when a different application is started or the network condition varies. The lower bound of achievable latency discovered with our approach can aid the design of remote visualization algorithms and the selection of suitable network layouts for a remote visualization system.

Semantic model-driven architecting of service-based software systems

Model-driven development is a software development framework that emphasises model-based abstraction and automated code generation. Service-based software architectures benefit in particular from semantic, ontology-based modelling. We present ontology-based transformation and reasoning techniques for layered semantic service architecture modelling. Integrated ontological layers support abstract domain modelling, architectural design, and interoperability aspects. Ontologies are beneficial due to their potential to formally define models, to allow reasoning about semantic models, and to automate transformations at all layers. Ontologies are suitable in particular for the Web Services platform due to their ubiquity within the Semantic Web and their application to support semantic Web services.

Virtual Computing Infrastructures for Nanoelectronics Simulation

The operational principles, components, and organization of a Grid-computing infrastructure called In-VIGO (standing for In Virtual Information Grid Organizations)are described. In-VIGO enables computational engineering and science in virtual information Grid organizations. Its distinctive feature is the extensive use of virtualization technologies to provide secure execution environments as needed by tools and users. This paper reviews and motivates the requirements of a cyber infrastructure for computational nanoelectronics. It then explains how such requirements are addressed by the In-VIGO middleware approach, which uses virtualized resources to build computational Grids. The architecture and key design aspects of its first deployed version-In-VIGO 1.0-are presented. It is operational and currently being used to enable the use of computational electronics tools over the Web. Aspects of the design and architecture of the next version of In-VIGO are also presented. It uses Web services standards and components, and lessons learned from In-VIGO 1.0.

PV for buildings: Benefits and experiences with amorphous silicon in BIPV applications

Thin-film technology based on amorphous silicon (a-Si) offers a range of attractive features that are ideally suited for building-integrated photovoltaic installations (BIPV). Solar modules may be assembled to customer-specific BIPV elements for roofs and facades, and thus may combine various functions, namely electricity generation, thermal insulation, shading, and even satisfy aspects of architectural design. Compared to other PV technologies, a-Si modules show only a minor reduction in power output at elevated temperatures, and in efficiency at lower light levels, and thus offer superior energy yields per peak power. H. Maurus, M. Schmid, B. Blersch, P. Lechner, and H. Schade, RWE SCHOTT Solar GmbH, Germany report.

Conceptual Building Design—Evolutionary Approach

Issues relating to the application of the genetic algorithm (GA) to conceptual building design are addressed and designer support techniques are introduced. Particular attention is given to methods for representing domain knowledge, necessary for creating a general building design model, and techniques that permit the manipulation of both structural and architectural design aspects so that the power of the GA is effectively exploited to support the role of the designer as a decision maker. An example of a decision support system is presented, and its robustness and power of knowledge discovery are demonstrated by means of a parametric study. The role of human-computer interaction in knowledge discovery is also considered, both in the context of better understanding of the design domain and as a tool to increase user confidence in the outcome. This paper is addressed toward readers involved in conceptual building design who have basic knowledge of genetic algorithms.

Higher-order architectural connectors

We develop a notion of higher-order connector towards supporting the systematic construction of architectural connectors for software design. A higher-order connector takes connectors as parameters and allows for services such as security protocols and fault-tolerance mechanisms to be superposed over the interactions that are handled by the connectors passed as actual arguments. The notion is first illustrated over CommUnity, a parallel program design language that we have been using for formalizing aspects of architectural design. A formal, algebraic semantics is then presented which is independent of any Architectural Description Language. Finally, we discuss how our results can impact software design methods and tools.

Architectural layout design optimization

This article presents an optimization model of the quantifiable aspects of architectural floorplan layout design, and a companion article presents a method for integrating mathematical optimization and subjective decision making during conceptual design. The model presented here offers a new approach to floorplan layout optimization that takes advantage of the efficiency of gradient-based algorithms, where appropriate, and uses evolutionary algorithms to make discrete decisions and do global search. Automated optimization results are comparable to other methods in this research area, and the new formulation makes it possible to integrate the power of human decision-making into the process.

Seismic and Structural Engineering of a Curved Cable-Stayed Bridge

The innovative bridge design discussed in this paper is a long-span curved cable-stayed bridge with a single canted tower. The superstructure of the bridge consists of a multicell steel box girder with composite concrete-steel deck. The single tower of the bridge is a multicell steel box with the core cell dedicated to the service elevator and stairs. The outer cells of the single tower are filled with high-strength concrete to provide strength and stiffness in a composite action. The foundation of the main single tower is a solid footing embedded in the rock. Inelastic time-history analyses were conducted to complete the seismic design and establish expected seismic performance. After a description of the architectural design, seismological, geotechnical, and structural design aspects are discussed, and a summary of seismic design and expected seismic response of the curved cable-stayed bridge concept is presented.

SPATIAL AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN ASPECTS IN COMMUNITY BASED MOSQUES

Indonesia as one of the biggest Muslim countries in the world are very rich in the quality and quantity of<br />mosques architecture. The largest number of mosques in Indonesia is designed, built, and developed by local<br />communities. Unfortunately, the potention of these kind of mosques is often unconsciously forgotten in the<br />field of architectural studies. Therefore, this research is held to define these mosques’ spatial and<br />architectural design aspects which were considered as appropriate for the needs of their local communities’.<br />As a descriptive-qualitative architectural research, the methods employed in this research are (1) field<br />surveying, (2) architectural documenting, and (3) informal interview, which were held in three purposive<br />sample of mosques: Masjid An-Nur Jagalan, Masjid Gading Pesantren, and Masjid Jami’ Kauman Malang. These<br />three mosques were chosen because of their close relations with their surrounding communities and their long<br />time developments by their local societies. The result of this study shows that some specific spatial and<br />architectural elements which were found in these community based mosques are (1) the scale, size, and depth<br />of space, (2) the classification and the placement of space, (3) the architectural expressions, (4) the openness,<br />the boundaries, and the relationship between spaces, (5) the athmospherical qualities of space, (6) the<br />classification of the users in spaces, (7) the intensity of the users in spaces, and (8) the manner and the<br />position of the users in spaces.

Development of the approximate analytical model for the stub-girder system using neural networks

This paper presents the methodology to develop a neural-networks-based model for approximate structural analysis. The approach is verified by modeling a stub-girder system to predict its behavior. The development of approximate analytical model by using neural networks is studied in an effort to find a method to efficiently generate credible outputs that are consistent with those by Vierendeel truss girder and finite element models. The criteria and rules for determining the neural network architecture are described using the performance evaluation with eight architecture design aspects and two subject variables to be compared. The criteria of accuracy are mostly focused because one of the objectives of an approximate analysis is to provide results that are within an allowable error.

Structural analysis and generation of synthetic digital circuits with memory

One of the most difficult aspects of experimental reconfigurable architecture or computer-aided design (CAD) tool research is obtaining sufficiently large benchmark circuits. One approach to obtaining such circuits is to generate them stochastically. Current circuit generators construct combinational and sequential logic circuits. Many of today's devices, however, are being used to implement entire systems, and often these systems contain on-chip storage. This paper describes a circuit generator that constructs circuits containing significant amounts of memory. To ensure the circuits are realistic, we have performed a detailed structural analysis of such circuits; this analysis is also described in this paper.

Designing Enterprise Client/Server Systems

B. Gold-Bernstein and D. Marca Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998, 360 pp. ISBN 0-13-890195-3, $45.00 Client/servers systems represent the vast majority of enterprise software. Yet over 80% of these projects fail. This book presents a concrete design method that provides for reliable design and implementation of multi-tier client/server systems. This book is organized into five basic parts: Context for Understanding Distributed Client/Server Systems Business Components—The Essential Model Software Components—The Implementation Model Organizational Enablers Case Study In Part 1, Chapter 1 answers the question: Why build client/server systems? by giving a general context roadmap, discussing why businesses are under pressure to change, how legacy systems inhibit change, why client/server systems enable change. What is new and not new in client/server systems, and the importance of good design and modeling are also presented. Chapter 2 discusses all aspects of models and modeling in general, including a definition of the basic structure of a model. Chapter 3 presents the Illumisys Design Method, a specific event- and object-based method for developing distributed client/server systems. In Part 2, the first stage of the Illumisys Design Method, the business requirements, are covered. Chapter 4 provides an overview on a rigorous and formal model for business requirements, termed the Essential Model. Chapter 5 discusses the Environmental Aspect—how a system interacts with the outside world and how boundaries are defined. The organization of the rules which drive the business are encompassed in the Information Aspect and are discussed in Chapter 6. This chapter is careful to note the differences between the Information Aspect and a Database Model. Chapter 7 describes the Bridge Aspect, which is a consistency component that insures that the Environmental Aspect and the Information Aspect are describing a single system. The Behavioral Aspect, as described in Chapter 8, brings together further all previously defined aspects and provides detailed descriptions of responses to specific events. Chapter 9 discusses the Event Distribution Aspect, which describes the geographical distribution of the business events—where business events actually occur. However, there are additional factors that can affect system partitioning, such as performance goals and processing volumes. Chapter 10 describes the Component Measurement Aspect, which encapsulates the natural rhythms and cycles of the business. In Part 3, the design of the distributed architecture implementation is described. Chapter 11 presents an overview of the Implementation Model, which maps the business events and responses defined in the Essential Model to the distributed architecture. A Statement of Design Metrics, which determines design tradeoffs and is used to partition the essential requirements across the distributed processor architecture, is discussed in Chapter 12. The Multi-Tier Partitioning Aspect is described in Chapter 13. Multi-tier partitioning enables: data encapsulation, granular business rules, component application architecture, and scalability. Selecting the appropriate technology, such as processors and tools, is a critical aspect of distributed architecture design. Chapter 14 defines five steps of the Technical Architecture Design that is appropriate for enterprise architecture planning. The Processor Distribution Aspect, as described in Chapter 15, provides the specifications of the software granules that will operate on each processor, and these specifications are used to build the software components. Having defined the processing and data distribution design, Chapter 16 describes the Geographical Distribution Aspect, which maps processors to geographical location. Chapter 17 defines Traffic Analysis, which measures the message traffic between processors as well as the contention on individual processors. In Part 4, an overall plan to enable change to the system is described. Organizational enablers are used and include: organizational architecture, process management, and organizational transformation. Chapter 18 describes an Organizational Architecture that easily adapts to changes in the business environment. Designing client/server systems requires a strategy for identifying and managing concurrent activities. Process Management, as described in Chapter 19, synchronizes all concurrent activities and ensures that the system delivers the required functionality. The last aspect of the Organizational enablers deals with the transformation required by business. Chapter 20 deals with Organizational Transformation—a process required to enable business change. In Part 5, all of the models are brought together to show, from beginning to end, how the Illumisys Design Method is applied to a specific business situation. This is accomplished via a case study (Fleury Market). Chapter 21 provides necessary background for the case study. Chapters 22 and 23 contain, respectively, all components for the Essential Model and the Implementation Model for the case study. Overall, the book is well written and easy to understand. This book would be an important addition for anyone interested in designing and implementing a client/server system in a business environment. This book would also be appropriate for an advanced database or special topics course. James P. Buckley Department of Computer Science University of Dayton

Planning and design of a Civil Defence shelter station in Singapore

The proposed MRT North East Line (NEL) consists of sixteen transit stations and a depot. Thirteen of the underground stations are designed as Civil Defence (CD) shelters as required by the Civil Defence Shelter Bureau (CDSB) of Singapore. This paper presents the main CD design requirements and its implications on the architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical design aspects of an underground rail transit station. It shows how a public transport facility can be successfully designed to meet both transit and CD operational requirements.

W2H: WWW interface to the GCG sequence analysis package.

The user-friendly, graphical X-windows interface (WPI) to the GCG sequence analysis package can often not be used due to the lack of an X-server on PC or Macintosh computers. Because Web browsers like Netscape are much more common on those platforms, we decided to develop W2H, a WWW interface to the GCG Sequence Analysis Software Package with nearly the same functionality as the X-windows interface WPI. The new WWW interface (W2H) to the GCG Sequence Analysis Software Package (Wisconsin Package) supports modern Web technologies, like client-pull method, or embedded scripting language, and provides a reasonable platform independence. The interface is quite comprehensive with advanced features like sequence selector, search set builder, enzyme chooser, access to sequence databases, uploading client files to the GCG server or displaying and manipulating graphical outputs in addition to GCG analysis programs. W2H also manages secure access to both GCG server and user data. For special environments, like workshops, conferences and company intranets, there is a special mode (Intranet mode) with less security constraints. The behaviour of W2H is mostly controlled by meta-data files describing the applications and giving a base for dynamic creation of HTML documents. This paper presents mainly the development approaches used, and architectural design aspects of W2H. W2H is available by ftp://ftp.ebi.ac. uk/pub/software/unix/w2h or ftp://genome.dkfz-heidelberg.de/pub/w2h m.senger@ebi.ac.uk

High-performance protocol architecture

The development of high-speed networking applications requires improvements to data communication protocols in order to efficiently provide the required services to the applications. In this survey paper, we will first give a rapid presentation of protocol optimization techniques and of some high-speed transport protocols developed for specific application needs. We will then present a new protocol architecture based on the “Application Level Framing” (ALF) and “Integrated Layer Processing” (ILP) concepts. ALF states that applications send data as a sequence of autonomous “frames”, which will be at the same time the unit of transmission, the unit of control and the unit of processing. This allows for efficient design of application specific protocols. It also enables ILP, i.e., the integration of multiple transmission control layers in a single loop, maximizing the efficiency of modern processors. We will present both the architectural design aspects and the corresponding implementation problems. Practical experimentations with ALF and ILP will also be described and their benefits and limitations assessed. We will also present a new approach to network architecture namely the active networks approach, and discuss its pros and cons.

A formal basis for architectural connection

As software systems become more complex, the overall system structure—or software architecture—becomes a central design problem. An important step toward an engineering discipline of software is a formal basis for describing and analyzing these designs. In the article we present a formal approach to one aspect of architectural design: the interactions among components. The key idea is to define architectural connectors as explicit semantic entities. These are specified as a collection of protocols that characterize each of the participant roles in an interaction and how these roles interact. We illustrate how this scheme can be used to define a variety of common architectural connectors. We further provide a formal semantics and show how this leads to a system in which architectural compatibility can be checked in a way analogous to type-checking in programming languages.

An insect vision-based motion detection chip

The architectural and circuit design aspects of a mixed analog/digital very large scale integration (VLSI) motion detection chip based on models of the insect visual system are described. The chip comprises two one-dimensional 64-cell arrays as well as front-end analog circuitry for early visual processing and digital control circuits. Each analog processing cell comprises a photodetector, circuits for spatial averaging and multiplicative noise cancellation, differentiation, and thresholding. The operation and configuration of the analog cells is controlled by digital circuits, thus implementing a reconfigurable architecture which facilitates the evaluation of several newly designed analog circuits. The chip has been designed and fabricated in a 1.2-/spl mu/m CMOS process and occupies an area of 2/spl times/2 mm/sup 2/.

The Missing Dimension in the Built Environment

This article addresses architects, planners, and developers but should also interest any other professionals involved in the creation of the built environment. It begins by stating that the built environment is principally made up of buildings and groupings of buildings. Therefore, architecture and urban design are the major focus of the article. Definitions of architecture are then presented from a variety of authors and architects. An argument is made thatthere actually is a missing dimension in the built environment illustrated by quotations from architects, architectural theorists, amid critics. It becomes evident that architecture is unable to satisfy the emotional and aesthetic needs of people and also that the profession itself, which admits that modern architecture has created bleak and insensitive environments, is in profound disagreement on how to rectify the situation. Under the heading “Architecture–The Object” arguments for and against different architectural movements or stylistic tendencies are highlighted by quotations from the proponents of tile various styles and theories. A similar approach is taken for cities under the heading “Urban Design–The Juxtaposition of Objects.” The fact that something is missing from architectural and city design is concluded, and examples of a preoccupation for the spiritual aspect of architecture and urban design are used to illustrate this growing concern for a dimension that has been much neglected in tile previous several decades. The notion of “spiritual” is then defined, followed by a list of spiritual qualities. Two important principles, unity in diversity and consultation are discussed before presenting some concluding thoughts on how the designers of the built environment can begin finding ways of infusing their designs with a spiritual dimension.

THE CORINTHIAN CAPITALS OF THE CAPERNAUM SYNAGOGUE: A REVISION

In recent years the debate over the dating of the “early-type Galilean” synagogue has been renewed and conducted with greater intensity than ever. Since the beginning of research on this subject it has been recognized that the builders of these synagogues based their designs on classical Graeco-Roman architectural principles and, at the same time, were also strongly influenced by the architectural and ornamental features of the many pagan buildings that existed in neighbouring Syria and Lebanon during the Hellenistic and Roman periods (Kohl and Watzinger 1916: 147–173). Research on these synagogues has concentrated mainly on their architectural design, including metrological and artistic aspects. Moreover, recently there has been a notable increase of archaeological data, following excavations at a number of synagogue sites in Galilee and on the Golan Heights.