Household Space Research Articles

Counter Home: Unravelling the Socio-Spatial Dynamics of Hijra Dwellings of Khulna, Bangladesh

Amidst limited social acceptance and scant governmental and non-governmental support for third gender communities in Bangladesh, this paper explores the intricate relationship between the conception of hijra and its profound impact on redefining the notion of home. In the queer tropics, hijra communities form a unique identity within South Asia’s urban fabric. Employing ethnographic methods and spatial analysis, this multidisciplinary study investigates the hijra home-making process in Khulna, Bangladesh, shedding light on their lived experiences. It unravels the complex interplay of tropical architecture leading to their transformation into, and stigmatisation as, hijras, investigating the spatial implications of their stigma in the organisation of household spaces based on hijra notions of publicness-privateness, spatial sequencing/order, layering, and hierarchy. The formal articulation of homes and their integration into the larger urban scale signifies a distinctive counter-spatial culture within this marginalised community, which acts to counter prevailing ideas of stability, ownership, and family within the concept of home. This counter-culture, as the paper unveils, makes the hijra home dynamics a process of socio-spatial transaction where gender identities manifest and are subverted/shaped by the domestic space. The findings of the paper enrich our understanding of the diverse spatial ways social discriminations are interwoven into the ordinary fabric of contemporary urban living in the tropical city of Khulna.

ABOUT THE PROTOTYPOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE DWELLING

Throughout human history, housing has been crucial for human existence, serving as shelter, a symbol of social status, economic prosperity, and cultural identity. Studying archaeological data from different times and peoples has enabled the analysis of the main stages of the development of one of the fundamental values of human material culture - housing. Housing stands as concrete evidence supporting hypotheses and scientific discoveries, offering insights into the life, culture, and traditions of specific epochs. Its extensive evolutionary journey has been shaped significantly by advancements aimed at optimizing living conditions, influenced by societal norms, domestic practices, and scientific advancements. This ongoing evolution has defined housing's architectural characteristics, including differentiation of family, household, functional planning, work, and communal spaces, alongside spatial and expressive architectural elements. It encompasses the development of individual housing units within broader building and settlement frameworks, encompassing diverse housing types and their typological classifications, as well as applying construction and technical methods. This study examines the distinctive typological groups of housing, characterized by their structural underpinnings. These groups are delineated by key factors influencing the inception of formative architectural techniques, such as the early development of functional-planning solutions rooted in familial and regional contexts, and cultural traditions. Additionally, the article explores the architectural evolution of housing, analyzing how prototype components have shaped the phased development of residential functional-planning structures over time. This research contributes to a broader series of investigations into typological evolution of housing, aiming to deepen our understanding of its transformative journey across different historical periods.

Virus removal by high-efficiency air (HEPA) filters and filtration capacity enhancement by nanotextiles: a pilot study.

Portable household air purifiers are widely used devices designed to maintain a high-quality level of indoor air. Portable air purifiers equipped with the high-efficiency air (HEPA) filter served 100h in a household space occupied by two adults without any symptoms of respiratory tract infection. The main objective of the study was to determine microbial contamination on the HEPA filter and to investigate if the selected nanotextile monolayer made of polyamide 6 (PA6) nanofibers can capture potential microorganisms when installed downstream of the HEPA filter as the final filtration medium. Samples were taken from the inlet and outlet surfaces. Samples from the nanotextile were collected in the same manner as from the HEPA filter. QIAStat DX® 1.0 Analyzer using the Respiratory SARS CoV-2 Panel multiplex PCR detection system was selected for microorganism detection. Adenovirus was detected on the inlet surface of the HEPA filter. The outlet surface of the filter contained no viruses included in the Respiratory SARS CoV-2 Panel portfolio. The nanotextile monolayer was replaced twice during the 100h of operation, so three pieces were used and all contained coronavirus 229 E. Coronavirus 229 E was then detected in the nasopharynx of one of the members of the household as well. It may be assumed that the selected nanotextile is capable of capturing a virus of a small size.

Crafts in the Time of Coronavirus

Crafts in the Time of Coronavirus

ГЕНДЕРНЫЙ АСПЕКТ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ КОМАНДНОГО СОСТАВА Л.-ГВ. ПРЕОБРАЖЕНСКОГО ПОЛКА 1881-1914 ГГ. (В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИСТОРИИ ПОВСЕДНЕВНОСТИ)

The article studies the social space of the officer service of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment in the late XIX - early XX centuries on the basis of archival documents and sources of personal origin. The set of the main social indices of officers and generals of the regiment is analyzed. The gender aspects of officers’ everyday life and their impact on the military institute are considered. The influence of the social and household space of family life on the service of officers and generals-commanders of the regiment, their mental experiences and the formation of career trajectories is highlighted. In conclusion, the conclusion is made about the special place of the officers of the transfiguration in the process of formation of the military-political elite of the transition period.

Augmented-Reality Presentation of Household Sounds for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People.

Normal-hearing people use sound as a cue to recognize various events that occur in their surrounding environment; however, this is not possible for deaf and hearing of hard (DHH) people, and in such a context they may not be able to freely detect their surrounding environment. Therefore, there is an opportunity to create a convenient device that can detect sounds occurring in daily life and present them visually instead of auditorily. Additionally, it is of great importance to appropriately evaluate how such a supporting device would change the lives of DHH people. The current study proposes an augmented-reality-based system for presenting household sounds to DHH people as visual information. We examined the effect of displaying both the icons indicating sounds classified by machine learning and a dynamic spectrogram indicating the real-time time-frequency characteristics of the environmental sounds. First, the issues that DHH people perceive as problems in their daily lives were investigated through a survey, suggesting that DHH people need to visualize their surrounding sound environment. Then, after the accuracy of the machine-learning-based classifier installed in the proposed system was validated, the subjective impression of how the proposed system increased the comfort of daily life was obtained through a field experiment in a real residence. The results confirmed that the comfort of daily life in household spaces can be improved by combining not only the classification results of machine learning but also the real-time display of spectrograms.

Male-Selective Outmigration and Decision-Making Among Females: A Case Study of Select Villages in Kumaon Himalayas of India

This paper is based on a household-level survey conducted in seven villages of the Kumaon region of India and seeks to examine if male-selective outmigration has strengthened the decision-making among left-behind females. There has been an improved role of left-behind females in holding the responsibility of taking decisions in both household and economic spaces. However, these effects are observed relatively smaller in the domains or activities that have a financial involvement. The selective outmigration has opened up opportunities for left-behind females to develop skills related to financial management at the household and farm levels and also in farm-business management and entrepreneurship.

Understanding Natural Language in Context

Recent years have seen an increasing number of applications that have a natural language interface, either in the form of chatbots or via personal assistants such as Alexa (Amazon), Google Assistant, Siri (Apple), and Cortana (Microsoft). To use these applications, a basic dialog between the assistant and the human is required. While this kind of dialog exists today mainly within static robots that do not make any movement in the household space, the challenge of reasoning about the information conveyed by the environment increases significantly when dealing with robots that can move and manipulate objects in our home environment. In this paper, we focus on cognitive robots, which have some knowledge-based models of the world and operate by reasoning and planning with this model. Thus, when the robot and the human communicate, there is already some formalism they can use -- the robot’s knowledge representation formalism. In this paper we describe an approach for translating natural language directives into the robot's formalism, allowing much more complicated household tasks to be completed. We do so by combining off-the-shelf SoTA large language models, planning tools, and the robot knowledge of the state of the world and of its own model. This results in much more accurate interpretation of directives in natural language.

The Secretariat of Francis Walsingham, 1568–1590

AbstractMid‐Elizabethan rivalry over policy and patronage split the system of state information and espionage into the collaboration of individuals. To maintain the utmost privacy, Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, designed a comparatively enclosed information management and secretarial machinery that combined household space with clientage. This strategy facilitated the multiple infiltrations of clientage into the different levels of power politics, ranging from pan‐European espionage to government administration and parliament. The political involvement of clientele hence constructed the late Tudor polity out of another amalgam of bureaucratic and household elements. Using the model of Walsingham's privatised, flexible and meritocratic secretariat, this essay will examine a new style of Tudor clientage and their capture of power within the mid‐Elizabethan regime. In doing so, it explores the connection within and between clients, bureaucrats and the monarch, as well as a political controversy concerning the late Tudor polity.

Assessment of space heating consumption efficiency based on a household survey in the hot summer and cold winter climate zone in China

Space heating demand in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) climate zone in China has increased rapidly over the past decade. It poses significant challenges for China's electricity supply infrastructure and building decarbonization. This study aims to understand the relative energy efficiency of household space heating and identify potential opportunities to reduce electricity usage at the household level. A stochastic frontier analysis approach is used to quantify the energy efficiency of households' space heating by forming an efficient frontier (minimum requirement of consumption given the characteristics of the household) and by comparing all households against that frontier. The results indicate that the average household space heating efficiency is 0.69. This indicates that households in the HSCW area have the ability to reduce their heating electricity consumption by 31% while still keeping the current level of indoor thermal comfort in the winter. The level of building energy efficiency standards (BEES) is the key factor influencing the space heating savings potential. Thus, Policy choices should focus on revising and optimizing superior BEES, and accelerating energy efficiency retrofits of existing residential buildings in this region.

The role of electricity tariff design in distributed energy resource deployment

This paper simulates the effect of more advanced residential electricity tariffs on household adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs). We employ an end-user DER investment and operational engineering optimization model, and adapt it to include an economic utility function, calibrated to the observed hourly residential electricity consumption data from 2016 in the Commonwealth Edison service territory in Chicago, in order to represent household-level preferences for electricity consumption. We simulate the effect of a spectrum of electricity tariffs, from the status quo flat volumetric tariffs to more sophisticated tariffs that are reflective of electricity generation and distribution system costs. We find that tariffs that are more time variant lead to greater adoption of DERs, helping further reduce peak demands above and beyond the reductions that are achieved through shifts in consumption. Regarding the effect of electricity tariff design on DER investments, we find that given DER purchase costs in 2016, investments in rooftop photovoltaic (PV) and batteries are not privately optimal under any of our tariff design scenarios based on 2016 cost levels for electricity and gas in the Chicago study area. However, with continued reductions in PV technology costs, rooftop PV may see a greater adoption rate under some of the more cost-reflective tariffs. We also demonstrate a greater incentive to invest in electrification of household space heating in the form of heat pumps under cost-reflective tariffs. These findings provide insights on electricity tariff design and the role of DERs in the future decarbonized electricity system, and highlight the need to consider region-specific costs and conditions when analyzing the effects of electric tariff reform.

Containment from Within

The restrictions limiting social interaction and use of public space in Nairobi during the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately affected residents in poor urban communities, who are dependent on using streets, alleyways, and communal areas as extensions of their household spaces to secure livelihoods. This research focuses on how this situation has been handled by women entrepreneurs living in these communities, a group that literature suggests are among those most vulnerable. Kenyans are not unfamiliar with severe limitations and control. Restrictive and punitive measures have been regularly meted out by authorities in times of crisis. While we did find evidence of restrictions being highly detrimental to the livelihoods and incomes of the women, women were able to reorganise their income generation and expenditures in attempts to cope with the situation. They were, however, unable to come together to communally address grievances and challenges; they were barred from spaces of public, important platforms that aided group interests for the women pre-COVID-19 and allowed them to take part in placemaking. The women’s abilities to cope were largely determined by the neighbourhoods they lived in, showing the need to understand and respond differently to the respective historical, social, and economic realities of these communities.

포스트코로나 시대 노후아파트 리모델링 계획을 위한 거주자 의견 조사

Background/Objectives: Apartment dwellers had various problems such as hygiene and quarantine in their residential space, lack of area, privacy and noise during the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify the direction of the remodeling plan reflecting their opinions by classifying the deteriorated apartment residents in the metropolitan area by family life cycle during the pandemic. Methods: The survey method of this study was conducted with 201 apartment dwellers living in deteriorated apartments over 15 years old in the metropolitan area in South Korea. Results: The results of the study are as follows. First, in terms of unit planning, variable space planning that can be used for multiple purposes in all family life cycles and space planning for exercise and hobbies were derived as important items. Second, all family life cycles showed a high preference for safety and hygiene of common spaces in apartments. Third, in terms of complexes and communities, all family life cycles showed high preference for hygiene and functionality of community facilities. Conclusion/Implications: These results imply that when planning apartment remodeling in the post-corona era, it is necessary to consider the variability of space for unit households, the sanitary condition of the main building, and the diversity of community facilities.

Using tiny artifacts to answer big questions: Machine learning, microdebitage, and household spaces at Tamarindito

The spatial analysis of microdebitage (measuring less than 6.3 mm) can identify areas where stone tools were knapped at archaeological sites. These tiny artifacts tend to become embedded in the locations where they were first deposited and are less vulnerable to post-depositional movement, making microdebitage an important artifact class for identifying primary areas of stone tool production. Traditional microdebitage analysis, however, can take multiple hours spread over several days to complete. Because of this, microdebitage analysis is typically completed in very small areas of sites due to the intensive time and labor commitment required. Recently, however, my colleagues and I have developed a novel, interdisciplinary method that combines dynamic image analysis and machine learning to analyze microdebitage taken from soil samples at archaeological sites. Analyses of experimental microdebitage demonstrated that microdebitage could be accurately and efficiently identified within archaeological soil samples using this method. In the present study, we apply these methods to soil samples taken from the Maya Capital of Tamarindito in Guatemala to verify whether these methods remain accurate when applied to archaeological contexts.

Measurement report: Size-resolved chemical characterisation of aerosols in low-income urban settlements in South Africa

Abstract. Naturally and anthropogenically emitted aerosols, which are determined by their physical and chemical properties, have an impact on both air quality and the radiative properties of the earth. An important source of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in South Africa is household combustion for space heating and cooking, which predominantly occurs in low-income urban settlements. The aim of this study was to conduct a detailed size-resolved assessment of chemical characteristics of aerosols associated with household combustion through the collection of particulates in low-income urban settlements in South Africa to quantify the extent of the impacts of atmospheric pollution. Outdoor (ambient) and indoor aerosols in different size fractions were collected during summer and winter in four low-income urban settlements located in the north-eastern interior on the South African Highveld, i.e. Kwadela, Kwazamokuhle, Zamdela, and Jouberton. Mass concentration and chemical composition was determined for three size fractions, namely, PM1, PM2.5, and PM2.5−10. The highest concentrations of particulates were measured indoors with the highest mass concentration determined in the indoor PM2.5−10 (coarse) size fraction. However, the highest mass concentrations were determined in PM1 in all outdoor aerosol samples collected during winter and summer, and in indoor samples collected during summer. Significantly higher concentrations were determined for SO4-2 in outdoor and indoor particulates compared to other ionic species, with NH4+ and NO3- being the second most abundant. SO4-2 and NH4+ almost exclusively occurred in the PM1 size fraction, while NO3- was the major constituent in the larger size fractions. The highest SO4-2 levels were recorded for the winter and summer outdoor campaigns conducted at Zamdela, while NO3- and NH4+ concentrations were higher during the winter outdoor campaign. The combined concentrations of trace elements were higher for indoor particulates compared to outdoor aerosols, while the total trace element concentrations in PM1 were substantially higher than levels thereof in the two larger size fractions of particulates collected during all sampling campaigns. No distinct seasonal trend was observed for the concentrations of trace elements. Na, Ca, and Cr had the highest concentrations in particulates collected during outdoor and indoor sampling campaigns. Ni concentrations in outdoor and indoor aerosols exceeded the annual average European standard. PM1 collected during all sampling campaigns in low-income urban settlements had the highest organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations. The highest OC and EC levels were determined in PM1 collected during the winter indoor campaign. OC and EC concentrations were highest during winter, which can be attributed to changes in meteorological patterns and increased household combustion during winter. Low OC/EC ratios determined for particulates collected in low-income urban settlements are indicative of OC and EC being mainly associated with local sources of these species. OC concentrations determined in this study were an order of magnitude lower than OC concentrations determined for ambient aerosols collected in the north-eastern interior of South Africa, while similar EC levels were measured. According to estimated dust concentrations, it was indicated that dust is the major constituent in all size ranges of particulates collected in this study, while trace elements were the second most abundant. However, trace elements made the highest contribution to indoor PM1 and PM1−2.5 mass. Mass concentrations and chemical concentrations determined for aerosols collected in low-income settlements reflect the regional impacts of anthropogenic sources in the north-eastern interior of South Africa and the influence of local sources.

Household Space Considerations for Elderly Members Living in Apartment Buildings of Dhaka City during the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation

Household Space Considerations for Elderly Members Living in Apartment Buildings of Dhaka City during the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation

Reworking boundaries in the home-as-office: boundary traffic during COVID-19 lockdown and the future of working from home

The COVID-19 crisis has led to an unprecedented acceleration in the number of people working from home (WFH). This article applies a practice theoretical lens to expand the pre-pandemic telework literature which often overlooks how WFH is part of complex socio-material arrangements. Based on 56 household interviews in the UK, the United States, and Norway during lockdown in Spring 2020, we reveal the everyday realities of WFH, exploring their implications for the future of work. Developing the concept of boundary traffic, which refers to the additional interaction and collision of a range of everyday practices normally separated in time and space when working outside the home, we provide some insights into how disruption and de- and re-routinization vary by household type, space, and employer’s actions. Much teleworking scholarship highlights technological and spatial flexibility of work, without recognizing the mundane realities of WFH when there is no space for a large computer monitor, preferences to be with children even when a secluded home office is available, or a feeling that important social connections diminish when working on a virtual basis. We discuss the future of work in relation to digitalization, social inequality, and environmental sustainability and conclude by stressing how WFH cannot be understood as merely a technical solution to work-life flexibility. Rather, lockdown-induced WFH has deeply changed the meaning and content of homes as households have resolved the spatial, material, social, and temporal aspects of boundary traffic when embedding work into the domestic practice-bundle.

Technological insights on the Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery of Monte Meana cave (Sardinia, Italy)

An important Bronze Age settlement was discovered during an archaeological excavation in the Monte Meana karst cave in south-western Sardinia (Italy) between 2007 and 2012. In this region, the caves were used since the Neolithic for different purposes, such as burials or other rituals. The dig highlighted a rare example of domestic use of a cave and showed a case study of household space of the Early -Middle Bronze Age, at the beginning of the Nuragic civilization. This provided the opportunity to investigate through a multidisciplinary approach, the empirical knowledge of ancient potters and technological characters of local pottery production especially in relation to domestic use, in a context at that time devoid of external cultural interferences. For this purpose, a selection of 24 pottery sherds related to vessel forms for cooking, storage, and eating were studied through macroscopic surveys and archaeometric analysis by petrography, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results revealed some discriminant variables (shape, wall thickness, features of the paste, surface smoothing, presence of diagnostic mineralogical phases, and tempers), within the ceramic products of this Sardinian Bronze Age site, showing skillful management of firing temperatures.

A Study on the Plan for Child-Rearing-Friendly Housing: A Case Study on the Remodeled Public Housing in Kyoto, Japan

ABSTRACT In this study, we aimed to identify the planning conditions necessary for child-rearing-friendly housing by investigating an old municipal apartment in Kyoto City that was remodeled for achild-rearing household and determine the residents’ space utilization. The results were as follows: 1) Securing expandable space is highly beneficial for households with young children, especially when they utilize mostly the extended space for daily living. And asouth-facing arrangement is important to ensure comfort. 2) In plans for child-rearing households, it is necessary to secure enough storage space in consideration of the increase in the amount of necessary storage due to the children’s growth. 3) Restricted arrangement of household spaces to reduce movement is effective in supporting childcare. 4) It is desirable to design aspace to support residents so that they can utilize and modify it according to their needs, which change over time according to the age of their children.

The Influence of Heating Degree Days on Fuelwood Consumption in Households in Selected Countries of Central and Southeastern Europe

Serbia is one of the few European countries that does not keep official statistics and does not have data on heating degree days. A heating degree day (HDD) represents a measure to quantify the energy needs for heating a building. In order to create a database, six meteorological stations in Serbia had been selected, for which the heating degree days were calculated for every year in the period 2010-2018. The months with the highest values of heating degree days were also determined for each year of the analyzed period. In addition to the annual level, heating degree days in the heating seasons over the analyzed period were calculated for the six selected stations, as well as the length and the average air temperature of each heating season. In Serbia, heating season officially lasts from October 15 to April 15. To determine the influence of the calculated annual heating degree days on fuelwood consumption in households in Serbia, over the period 2010-2018, multiple econometric models were formulated. The influence of the annual values of heating degree days on fuelwood consumption for household space heating in Slovenia and Croatia was analyzed, as well. The analysis of energy consumption in the households of the selected countries showed that wood fuels are mostly used for heating, primarily fuelwood. This is the reason why this type of fuel was selected for the research.