Room Size Research Articles

Human Exploration of Enclosed Spaces through Echolocation.

Some blind humans have developed echolocation, as a method of navigation in space. Echolocation is a truly active sense because subjects analyze echoes of dedicated, self-generated sounds to assess space around them. Using a special virtual space technique, we assess how humans perceive enclosed spaces through echolocation, thereby revealing the interplay between sensory and vocal-motor neural activity while humans perform this task. Sighted subjects were trained to detect small changes in virtual-room size analyzing real-time generated echoes of their vocalizations. Individual differences in performance were related to the type and number of vocalizations produced. We then asked subjects to estimate virtual-room size with either active or passive sounds while measuring their brain activity with fMRI. Subjects were better at estimating room size when actively vocalizing. This was reflected in the hemodynamic activity of vocal-motor cortices, even after individual motor and sensory components were removed. Activity in these areas also varied with perceived room size, although the vocal-motor output was unchanged. In addition, thalamic and auditory-midbrain activity was correlated with perceived room size; a likely result of top-down auditory pathways for human echolocation, comparable with those described in echolocating bats. Our data provide evidence that human echolocation is supported by active sensing, both behaviorally and in terms of brain activity. The neural sensory-motor coupling complements the fundamental acoustic motor-sensory coupling via the environment in echolocation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Passive listening is the predominant method for examining brain activity during echolocation, the auditory analysis of self-generated sounds. We show that sighted humans perform better when they actively vocalize than during passive listening. Correspondingly, vocal motor and cerebellar activity is greater during active echolocation than vocalization alone. Motor and subcortical auditory brain activity covaries with the auditory percept, although motor output is unchanged. Our results reveal behaviorally relevant neural sensory-motor coupling during echolocation.

Chemical kinetics of multiphase reactions between ozone and human skin lipids: Implications for indoor air quality and health effects.

Ozone reacts with skin lipids such as squalene, generating an array of organic compounds, some of which can act as respiratory or skin irritants. Thus, it is important to quantify and predict the formation of these products under different conditions in indoor environments. We developed the kinetic multilayer model that explicitly resolves mass transport and chemical reactions at the skin and in the gas phase (KM-SUB-Skin). It can reproduce the concentrations of ozone and organic compounds in previous measurements and new experiments. This enabled the spatial and temporal concentration profiles in the skin oil and underlying skin layers to be resolved. Upon exposure to ~30ppb ozone, the concentrations of squalene ozonolysis products in the gas phase and in the skin reach up to several ppb and on the order of ~10mmolm-3 . Depending on various factors including the number of people, room size, and air exchange rates, concentrations of ozone can decrease substantially due to reactions with skin lipids. Ozone and dicarbonyls quickly react away in the upper layers of the skin, preventing them from penetrating deeply into the skin and hence reaching the blood.

Analysis of Received Power Characteristics of Commercial Photodiodes in Indoor Los Channel Visible Light Communication

To date, the photodiode still the first choice component is used in optical communication, especially for visible light communication (VLC) system. It has advantages of speed, energy consumption, and sensitivity, compared to other devices (e.g. image sensor). There are many practical implementations of high-speed VLC which uses photodiode. Commercially available photodiode typically have specific characteristics, so that it needs some consideration to be used as optimal receiver devices in VLC system. In this paper, analysis of received power characteristics of the photodiode in indoor line-of-sight (LoS) channel of VLC system is discussed. MATLAB® simulation is used as approach model (student version). The experiments are done by changing several parameters such as the semi-angle half power of the transmitter, distance from the transmitter to receiver, room size, field-of-view (FOV), lens index and optical filter gain. From the results, it can be known that distance, room size, FOV and LED power factor to have linear characteristic against the received power of commercial photodiode. Also in LoS channel model, the gain of optical filter and lens index plays an important role in defining the characteristics of received power.

At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort by Nicole C. Rudolph

Reviewed by: At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort by Nicole C. Rudolph Kimberly Elman Zarecor (bio) At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort. By Nicole C. Rudolph. New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2015. Pp. 272. $95. In this deeply researched and dense study of state housing policy in postwar France, Nicole C. Rudolph argues that debates about the organization of domestic interiors became a battleground on which politicians, bureaucrats, and designers fought over what it meant to be a modern French citizen. Six chapters track variations in proposed and built examples of state-sponsored housing units as the government sought to optimize its financial and ideological investments in housing construction from the 1940s to the 1970s. Rudolph chronicles overt and subtle changes in the organization of residential spaces, including the number and size of rooms, the layout of kitchens, and the location of living and sleeping areas. She shows that even small changes to floor plans were intended to encourage modern ways of living as understood by experts working in the state bureaucracy. Chapter 1 describes the first postwar attempts to design ideal units based on scientific principles of hygiene and functionality. Rudolph writes that the state was moving toward a "one-size-fits-all home," but that early experiments with model units revealed that "rather than the modern home having to accommodate how real people lived, occupants were going to be expected to adapt to the modern home" (p. 32). This antagonism between residents and the experts appears as a theme throughout the book. Chapter 2 focuses on the interwar history of the architectural profession in France and its engagement with the housing question. Rudolph provides a brief summary of French avant-garde proposals for ideal apartments, including [End Page 1099] designs by Le Corbusier and fellow members of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM). The chapter follows these architects into the 1940s, when they had opportunities to test ideas in state-funded projects, the best known of which is Le Corbusier's Unité d'habitation in Marseilles. The third chapter steps away from the chronological development of the units and looks to the postwar years of the Salon des Arts Ménagers (SAM). This annual exhibition, which ran from 1923 to 1983, was devoted to "educating the French" in the "art of living" and in-spiring women to become the "perfect" housewives (p. 87). In its postwar incarnation, the SAM advertised appliances, home decorating techniques, and even full-scale model homes that showed off a middle-class consumer lifestyle. Chapters 4 and 5 return to the design of apartment units. By the mid-1950s, the slow rate of housing construction in France, especially in comparison to Great Britain and West Germany, created a sense of urgency and crisis. Chapter 4 discusses the grands ensembles that dominated state housing programs in this decade and examines the range of options offered across economic strata from minimum units for the poor to those for the middle class. For all units, the total square meters decreased and transitional spaces such as foyers and hallways were removed. Chapter 5 looks at the qualitative results of these efforts, especially in the opinions of housewives. Experts conducted surveys with residents who often expressed dismay at the inflexibility of their new spaces. Some architects dismissed the complaints as a failure to adapt to modern design, but Rudolph shows that apartment layouts did start to reflect these concerns. The final chapter follows the growth of the suburbs in the 1960s as more single-family homes were built. Even William Levitt, the developer of the American Levittowns, built 5,000 French suburban houses in the 1970s. Many French architects rejected this suburbanization and argued for regulatory reform to make it easier to finance new buildings in dense urban neighborhoods. After 1968 they left behind the functionalist one-size-fits-all model and promoted individual approaches to unit design while remaining committed to urban sites and state funding. Rudolph is writing for a French studies audience that is assumed to be well-versed in political and social history. This is both a strength and...

患者のコミュニケーションに寄与する精神医療環境に関する考察

Based on Jurgen Ruesch and Gregory Bateson's classic theory on psychiatry and Harry Stack Sullivan's personality developmental theory, this study focuses on the environment of psychiatric hospitals that contribute to the restoration of patients' communication system by examining interpersonal relationships between psychiatric patients. The following four points concerning the inpatient environment of psychiatric hospitals designed with the purpose of healing patients is sought to elucidate: (1) from the standpoint of “total institution,” exploration of the issues and limits concerning improving the quality of space; (2) discussion of how medical staffs who contribute to patients' communication should be involved as “others”; (3) discussion of ideal hospital ward spaces that contribute to patients' communication, and (4) elucidation of features of young patients and identification of clues for constructing a theory of space for child and adolescent psychiatric wards. The survey target was “A” Medical Center. A “mapping” survey of all patients and staffs who use the common spaces of the hospital wards was carried out over a total of two days. Decrease in patients' desire for interpersonal communication and tendency to avoid others was observed in all adult inpatient wards. These trends were especially noticeable in both the Rehab ward patients with long inpatient stays and the MTSA. It can be said that both environments are stereotypical “total institutions.” The survey revealed the following: 1. It is important to keep a proper distance from the SS where the staffs stay to the common space where patients stay. For ideal space that contributes to communication between patients, there is the need to construct spaces that support the diverse needs of patients with different disorders. Also it is necessary to provide the space which could spend time alone in the public space for the long term patients. Therefore it is desirable to have common space configurations that enable creating spaces and environments that meet patients' needs by, for example, having rich flexibility of changing functions and being equipped with furniture. Practices such as lining up many dining tables in one place and placing a TV in the common space should be avoided to the utmost by, for example, adopting a style of decentralized dining. 2. Direct nursing intervention by the staff for patients has the effect of promoting patients' use of common spaces. Nurses' Observation promotes communication between patients. On the other hand, excessive Nursing Intervention carries the possibility of hindering communication between patients. 3. The spatial needs of patients in the child and adolescent psychiatric ward are different from adult patients. These patients enjoy staying in common spaces, and in many cases they are with others. They carry out many dynamic acts such as conversations, and they have not lost their desire to be involved with other people. Also, a characteristic of these patients is their ease of being influenced by staff and programs. Because their relationship with others differs depending on their desire for friends, desire for being needed, or desire for intimacy, it is necessary to provide stay spaces and play spaces on different scales as spaces in an adolescent ward. Because they have few stays in patient rooms, there is more necessary to expand the floor size of common rooms than individual patient rooms. Furthermore, there is the need to take into consideration the characteristics of different genders.

A Reverberation-Time-Aware Approach to Speech Dereverberation Based on Deep Neural Networks

A reverberation-time-aware deep-neural-network DNN-based speech dereverberation framework is proposed to handle a wide range of reverberation times. There are three key steps in designing a robust system. First, in contrast to sigmoid activation and min-max normalization in state-of-the-art algorithms, a linear activation function at the output layer and global mean-variance normalization of target features are adopted to learn the complicated nonlinear mapping function from reverberant to anechoic speech and to improve the restoration of the low-frequency and intermediate-frequency contents. Next, two key design parameters, namely, frame shift size in speech framing and acoustic context window size at the DNN input, are investigated to show that RT60-dependent parameters are needed in the DNN training stage in order to optimize the system performance in diverse reverberant environments. Finally, the reverberation time is estimated to select the proper frame shift and context window sizes for feature extraction before feeding the log-power spectrum features to the trained DNNs for speech dereverberation. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed framework outperforms the conventional DNNs without taking the reverberation time into account, while achieving a performance only slightly worse than the oracle cases with known reverberation times even for extremely weak and severe reverberant conditions. It also generalizes well to unseen room sizes, loudspeaker and microphone positions, and recorded room impulse responses.

YI Kwang Su's Love and history records of modern hospital under the japanese colonial period.

This article aims to evaluate and analyze the description of the modern hospital as history record, which appeared in YI Kwang Su's novel Love. This novel has mentioned in detail western style clinic, Bukgando Catholic hospital, tuberculosis sanitarium as its main space. Modern hospitals are depicted in the novel has a great significance in historical aspect as well as in literary aspect. The most data on modern hospital is laws, statistics and newspaper archives. These materials are a great help to understand the history and status of the modern hospital. Literary description here is important materials, that specific to reconstruct the appearance of the modern hospital at that time. Literary representations infuse life into the history record. In this regard, Love has special meaning in the history of Korean modern literature. Before anything else, doctor AN Bin's clinic as a first space of the novel vividly shows the reality of the Western style clinic and a general practitioner under the colonial period. The establishment of the hospital was based on 「Rules on private hospital」 declared by the Japanese Government General of Korea in 1919. According to this Rules, a private clinic's founder had to submit the documents to the director of police affairs, in which all the details were written. It included name of hospital, site location and size, floor plan of a nearby building, each size of patient's rooms, number of steps and emergency exit, bath, toilet, disinfecting room. AN Bin's clinic was a private hospital with the requirements in the rules. The descriptions of this clinic re-created real situation of private hospitals, specifically scale of hospital, interior space, conditions of patient's room at the time. The second modern hospital in the novel is Bukgando Catholic hospital. There is a lot more materials on medical activity and hospital of protestant churches than we thought. But we do not have a lot of information on catholic church's medical activities and hospital. In this respect, Bukgando Catholic hospital in Love has a great value as historical material. The medical activity of catholic churches was weak than protestant's one under the japanese colonial period. But there were catholic church's medical activities and hospitals. The catholic church's professional medical activities are mainly deployed since the 1930s in earnest, especially Bukgando Catholic hospital played an important role. The catholic hospital in this novel is valuable material to understand medical activities of catholic church. Third form of the modern hospital described in the Love is tuberculosis sanitarium. WADA Tomomi maintained that the model of Bukhan sanitarium was Kyeongseong sanitarium, that was established by the seventh-day adventist in 1936. She thinks, that the adventist church's treatment is similar to Bukhan sanitarium's. The therapy of the adventist church, however, was common from tuberculosis treatment at the time and AN Bin was not adventist. And WADA Tomomi said that 'ozone' therapy of Bukhan sanitarium came from Kyeongseong sanitarium. But we can find this therapy in Haeju sanitarium. In this respect, AN Bin's sanitarium is similar to Haeju sanitarium. YI Kwang Su had not modeled his Bukhan sanitarium on certain sanitarium. He had integrated the materials on sanitarium and envisioned Bukhan sanitarium. Here Haeju sanitarium played important role than Kyeongseong sanitarium. In conclusion, Love has a special meaning as an important historical material, that restore and understand the history of the modern hospital. Literature is worth as a record of the society. In particular, novel infuses human breath into the history record, as if we can see the motion picture.

Effects of Inhalation of Emissions from Cedar Timber on Psychological and Physiological Factors in an Indoor Environment

Components extracted from cedar timber have been reported to have stress-reducing effects in humans. If the positive effects of cedar timber in indoor environments are scientifically proven, an indoor environment that utilizes cedar timber may contribute to the improvement or promotion of well-being in humans. In this study, we evaluated the effects of inhaling emissions of volatile constituents from cedar timber (Cryptomeria japonica) on the psychological and physiological factors in indoor environments. A case-control study with a crossover design was conducted with 10 subjects occupying two rooms that were controlled for interior materials, indoor climate, and room size. Cedrol and β-eudesmol were specifically detected in the case room. However, no significant differences were observed in psychological and physiological factors. There was a significant loss in vigor in the control group from the time before entering the room to the time after leaving the room; however, this loss in vigor was not seen in the case group. Temperature conditions were higher than the indoor environmental standard in Japan but similar in the two groups. Our results showed a minor positive change in vigor among participants exposed to cedar timber for a short term. Inhalation of emissions of volatile constituents from cedar timber may have positive effects in humans; however, further research on their efficacy is needed.

Trends in hotel pricing

Purpose The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the effect of different hotel characteristics and room attributes on room rates of hotels in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, the capital and second most important city in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach Using the hedonic pricing method, hotel characteristics are decomposed and analyzed, giving us the perception of the impact of each hotel attributes on the room rates and the people’s willingness to pay for this. Ordinary least square regression analysis was applied to the hedonic price model to find which variables could explain differences in the hotel room rates in Lisbon and Porto. Findings The results suggest that in Lisbon and in Porto, a number of common characteristics have significant effects on consumer willingness to pay for a stay in a hotel as star rating, consumer rating and the room size. In Porto, the existence of a fitness centre and in Lisbon, the distance to the city centre are also attributes that create a premium in room rates. Practical implications The knowledge of the most valued characteristics by consumers is an important tool for hotel managers to define a price strategy. Also important is the knowledge of the attributes that provide more added value for consumers as these should be taken into account in new investment decisions. Originality/value This study highlights the implications of the way one defines and measures qualitative hotel characteristics in hedonic pricing. Although the hedonic method has been applied in several studies, to our knowledge, in Portugal, there are few studies applied only to hotel room rates, and there are no studies comparing hotel room rates in different Portuguese cities. Moreover, the research highlights the critical role of a proper definition and measurement of the variables in hedonic pricing in general and the hotel star in particular.

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Metro Train-Induced Vibrations on Adjacent Masonry Buildings

This paper studies the subway-induced vibrations on two adjacent masonry structures in Shanghai with focus on the vibration level and frequency. The results show that: (1) the vibration levels of the two masonry structures in three directions are all higher during the peak traffic hours than the off-peak hours and are higher in the daytime than at night. In addition, they are higher at the mid-span of the floor than the wall-floor junctions and staircase. (2) The parameters of the numerical model were calibrated by the measured vibration response. The slab properties, room size, and other factors can affect the vibration response distribution. (3) The vertical vibrations in the rooms with precast slab are greater than those with cast-in-situ slab. The vertical vibrations at the ash seam between the precast slabs are amplified. In addition, the room depth has a small effect on the vibration intensity. The relationship between the room depth and the vibration intensity depends on the relative width and depth of the room. (4) The width of the room has a significant effect on the vertical vibration. The floor corner and surrounding wall constraint conditions greatly affect the vibration intensity.

Analysis of secondary user performance in cognitive radio networks with reactive spectrum handoff

Cognitive radio networks use dynamic spectrum access of secondary users (SUs) to deal with the problem of radio spectrum scarcity . In this paper, we investigate the SU performance in cognitive radio networks with reactive-decision spectrum handoff. During transmission, a SU may get interrupted several times due to the arrival of primary (licensed) users. After each interruption in the reactive spectrum handoff, the SU performs spectrum sensing to determine an idle channel for retransmission. We develop two continuous-time Markov chain models with and without an absorbing state to study the impact of system parameters such as sensing time and sensing room size on several SU performance measures. These measures include the mean delay of a SU, the variance of the SU delay, the SU interruption probability, the average number of interruptions that a SU experiences, the probability of a SU getting discarded from the system after an interruption and the SU blocking probability upon arrival.

A 3-D Spatial Model for In-Building Wireless Networks With Correlated Shadowing

Consider orthogonal planes in the 3-D space representing floors and walls in a large building. These planes divide the space into rooms, where a wireless infrastructure is deployed. This paper is focused on the analysis of the correlated shadowing field created by this wireless infrastructure through the set of walls and floors. When the locations of the planes and wireless nodes are governed by Poisson processes, we obtain a simple stochastic model which captures the non-uniform nature of node deployment and room sizes. This model, which we propose to call the Poisson building, captures the complex in-building shadowing correlations, is scalable in the number of dimensions, and can be used for network performance analysis. It allows an exact mathematical characterization of the interference distribution in both infinite and finite buildings, which further leads to closed-form expressions for the coverage probabilities in in-building cellular networks and the success probability of in-building underlay D2D transmissions.

뮤지컬 공연을 위한 프로시니엄 형식의 무대공간 구성에 대한 연구

The purpose of this study is to provide a reference for stage planning by analyzing current state of major theaters' stage space and understanding feedback from directors belonged to theaters. Each room in total 18 theaters' stage facilities was measured and their usage and requirements were analyzed on the spot. In addition, each director provided their experiential knowledge about appropriate stage composition for musical performance. The findings are as follow: under stage machinery is not needed for musical. Tour teams prefer to use their own show-deck for set conversion. On the other hand, over stage flying system needs to be able to deal with dense, fast, and accurate scene change. The size and location of the motor room needs to be carefully considered. The number of set battens is directly linked up with the size of the motor room, which should be located lower than the gridiron. As stage sets get bigger and complicated, the number of works at the gridiron is also increasing. The grating floor has to have enough strength coping with machines lifting heavy sets. Most sound control for musical performance is being done at F.O.H. these days rather that in the sound control room. It should equip enough work area and related infra especially for tour teams. 1st gallery needs to have enough effective width, power infra for lighting fixture, and strong guardrail. Lastly, the whole process of parking-unloading-transporting equipments and sets from loading dock to stage and vice versa needs to be efficient, and this has to be carefully considered from early stage of planning.

Housing and tuberculosis in an Inuit village in northern Quebec: a case-control study.

Between November 2011 and November 2012, an Inuit village in Nunavik, Quebec experienced a surge in the occurrence of active TB; contact investigations showed that TB infection was highly prevalent (62.6%), particularly among those over age 14 years (78.8%). A nested case-control study showed that nutritional inadequacy was associated with acquisition of infection but not progression to disease. We performed a study to determine whether characteristics of one's dwelling were associated with 1) acquisition of newly diagnosed TB infection and 2) progression to confirmed or probable disease among those with TB infection. In this nested case-control study, we enrolled 200 people who were household or social contacts of at least 1 person with active TB or had received a diagnosis of active TB and assessed whether characteristics of their dwellings were associated with their odds of having newly diagnosed TB infection and/or odds of progression to disease between November 2011 and November 2012. For our first objective, we compared participants with newly diagnosed TB infection (regardless of their disease status) to a control group of contacts who were uninfected. For the second objective, we compared participants with confirmed or probable disease to a control group consisting of those with infection but no disease. We used information collected during investigation of the contacts and from study questionnaires to determine whether participants may have been exposed to TB in their own home (if they had shared a dwelling with someone who had smear-positive TB during the outbreak) or in other dwellings that they visited at least weekly. The participants lived in 79 dwellings. The mean number of people per room was 1.1 (standard deviation [SD] 0.5). The mean room size and ventilation level of the common living space (kitchen and living/dining rooms) were 67.9 (SD 9.4) m3 and 1.69 (SD 0.26) air changes per hour, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, the number of people per room was positively associated with the odds of newly diagnosed infection and odds of disease, but only among participants who lived with someone with smear-positive TB (the minority of participants). Other dwelling characteristics were not associated with either outcome. Reducing household crowding may contribute to TB prevention. Overall, our investigations have not identified associations that explain the elevated disease risk in this village. In light of our results and considering the high prevalence of TB infection, treatment of latent infection is an essential intervention for long-term reduction of TB incidence in this village.

The relationship between high residential density in student dormitories and anxiety, binge eating and Internet addiction: a study of Chinese college students.

ContextAlthough various studies have indicated that high residential density may affect health and psychological outcomes, to our knowledge, there have been no studies regarding the predictive nature of crowded living conditions on binge eating and the use of the Internet as coping strategies.MethodsA total of 1048 Chinese college students (540 males and 508 females) were randomly selected and asked to complete a battery of questionnaires that included the Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Internet Addiction Test, and Rosenbaum’s Self-Control Scale. Binge eating behaviors and compensatory behaviors were also reported, and variables about residential density were measured.ResultsAmong female participants, binge eating scores were significantly predicted by anxiety caused by high-density living conditions (P = 0.008), and similarly, the frequency of compensatory behaviors was significantly predicted by anxiety caused by high-density living conditions (P = 0.000) and self-control (P = 0.003). Furthermore, the Internet Addiction Test scores were significantly predicted by the anxiety caused by high -density living conditions (P = 0.000) and self-control (P = 0.000). Among male participants, not only were the binge eating scores significantly predicted by the anxiety caused by high-density living conditions (P = 0.000) and self-control (P = 0.000), but the frequency of compensatory behaviors was also significantly predicted by the anxiety caused by high-density living conditions (P = 0.000) and self-control (P = 0.01). Furthermore, Internet Addiction Test scores were significantly predicted by anxiety caused by high-density living conditions (P = 0.000) and self-control (P = 0.000). It was further found that for both genders, subjective factors such as self-control, and the anxiety caused by high-density living conditions had a stronger impact on Internet addiction than objective factors, such as the size of the student’s dormitory room. Moreover, self-control was found to act as a moderator in the relationship between anxiety and Internet addiction among male participants.ConclusionBinge eating and Internet use could be considered coping strategies for Chinese college students facing high residential density in their dormitories.

Analysis of satisfiers and dissatisfiers in online hotel reviews on social media

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze online hotel reviews produced by customers to identify and compare factors known as satisfiers and dissatisfiers based on Herzberg’s two-factor theory. This approach was applied to compare full-service and limited-service hotels, which can show different levels of customer expectation. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of 919 satisfaction- and dissatisfaction-indicating reviews of 100 hotels in both full-service and limited-service hotel segments in New York City on Trip Advisor was conducted. Findings Results show that satisfiers and dissatisfiers in full-service hotels were distinct, with the exception of two common service-related factors, namely, “staff and their attitude” and “service”. On the other hand, “staff and their attitude” and four room facilities-related factors, “room cleanliness/dirtiness”, “bed”, “bathroom” and “room size”, were revealed as common satisfiers and dissatisfiers in limited-service hotels. To fulfill customer satisfaction and resolve dissatisfaction in both full-service and limited-service hotels, satisfiers and dissatisfiers should be highlighted according to the hotel class; the most critical factor is “staff and their attitude”. Practical implications Analysis of online hotel reviews provides understanding of customers’ satisfiers and dissatisfiers, and the results are very useful to hotel management. Therefore, hotel operators should monitor electronic word-of-mouth, recognizing and acting upon previous and current customers’ satisfactory and unsatisfactory reactions. Originality/value As technologies such as social media develop, customers are increasingly sharing their satisfactory and unsatisfactory experiences on consumer-generated online review sites. These have become a major source of information not only for customers deciding on a hotel stay but also for hotel managers trying to understand their customers and competitors.

Architects’ and interior designers’ perspectives on hospital patient rooms designed by the people who work in these rooms

Increasing interest in acuity-adaptable patient rooms, performing more services in patient rooms, and the increasing size of the population all have implications for the patient room as a workspace, including the number of people working in the room, types of tasks performed, and amount and layout of the space in which tasks are performed. This presentation describes an analysis of the opinions of professionals who typically control the design of hospital patient rooms, concerning five med/surg patient room designs developed through a participatory process involving mixed groups of hospital staff members, all of whom work in patient rooms. Ratings and comments provided by the design professionals identified clear preferences for one of the designs, as well as rooms and design elements for which there were more mixed or negative opinions. It is important for architects and designers to understand how room size, layout, and organization of features can be used to facilitate work for the full spectrum of hospital staff members who work in patient rooms. Such facilitation can reduce physical strain and improve efficiency and patient care.

Inadequate Hand Surgical Operating Room (OR) Size Allocation: A Comparative OR Space Utilization Study: N/A - Not a clinical study

Inadequate Hand Surgical Operating Room (OR) Size Allocation: A Comparative OR Space Utilization Study: N/A - Not a clinical study

Three-Dimensional Integral-Imaging Display From Calibrated and Depth-Hole Filtered Kinect Information

We exploit the Kinect capacity of picking up a dense depth map, to display static three-dimensional (3D) images with full parallax. This is done by using the IR and RGB camera of the Kinect. From the depth map and RGB information, we are able to obtain an integral image after projecting the information through a virtual pinhole array. The integral image is displayed on our integral-imaging monitor, which provides the observer with horizontal and vertical perspectives of big 3D scenes. But, due to the Kinect depth-acquisition procedure, many depthless regions appear in the captured depth map. These holes spread to the generated integral image, reducing its quality. To solve this drawback we propose here, both, an optimized camera calibration technique, and the use of an improved hole-filtering algorithm. To verify our method, we performed an experiment where we generated and displayed the integral image of a room size 3D scene.

Room Volume Estimation Based on Ambiguity of Short-Term Interaural Phase Differences Using Humanoid Robot Head

Humans can recognize approximate room size using only binaural audition. However, sound reverberation is not negligible in most environments. The reverberation causes temporal fluctuations in the short-term interaural phase differences (IPDs) of sound pressure. This study proposes a novel method for a binaural humanoid robot head to estimate room volume. The method is based on the statistical properties of the short-term IPDs of sound pressure. The humanoid robot turns its head toward a sound source, recognizes the sound source, and then estimates the ego-centric distance by its stereovision. By interpolating the relations between room volume, average standard deviation, and ego-centric distance experimentally obtained for various rooms in a prepared database, the room volume was estimated by the binaural audition of the robot from the average standard deviation of the short-term IPDs at the estimated distance.