Suggest Design Guidelines Research Articles

Review of the NRC Canada studies on fire resistance of floor assemblies: Results, design guidelines and research gaps

AbstractThe National Research Council Canada conducted two major fire resistance studies on floor assemblies over the past two decades. Despite the publication of the experimental results, there is a lack of suggested guidelines for design practitioners and gaps for future research. Thus, this paper comprehensively reviews the fire resistance results of 85 full‐scale floor tests, suggests design guidelines, and identifies research gaps. These efforts aim to enhance the understanding and support the potential improvement of the fire performance of floor assemblies. The review of the results covers the impact of various design parameters on the fire resistance of floor assemblies, such as framing type and spacing, insulation type, subfloor configuration, resilient channel spacing, number of gypsum board layers, and screw spacing from the board edge. Although the interaction of these factors is complex, some of them play significant roles in determining the overall fire resistance of floor assemblies. For instance, rock and cellulose insulation outperformed glass fibre, a wider resilient channel spacing lowered fire resistance, whilst an increased distance of screws from the board edge improved the fire resistance. More importantly, detailed explanations are provided for the influences these parameters exert on fire resistance. Following this detailed examination of the results, design guidelines are provided for practitioners' consideration. A comparison is made between the experimental results and predictions from the component additive methods in the Canadian and Euro Codes, demonstrating that both methods yield conservative results. Finally, this paper concludes by identifying research gaps and providing recommendations for future investigations, including the necessity of experimental studies on floor assemblies with new design configurations and the promising role of machine learning in fire resistance evaluation.

Fly Me to the Micron: Microtechnologies for Drosophila Research.

Multicellular model organisms, such as Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), are frequently used in a myriad of biological research studies due to their biological significance and global standardization. However, traditional tools used in these studies generally require manual handling, subjective phenotyping, and bulk treatment of the organisms, resulting in laborious experimental protocols with limited accuracy. Advancements in microtechnology over the course of the last two decades have allowed researchers to develop automated, high-throughput, and multifunctional experimental tools that enable novel experimental paradigms that would not be possible otherwise. We discuss recent advances in microtechnological systems developed for small model organisms using D. melanogaster as an example. We critically analyze the state of the field by comparing the systems produced for different applications. Additionally, we suggest design guidelines, operational tips, and new research directions based on the technical and knowledge gaps in the literature. This review aims to foster interdisciplinary work by helping engineers to familiarize themselves with model organisms while presenting the most recent advances in microengineering strategies to biologists.

An Earthen Sill as a Measure to Mitigate Salt Intrusion in Estuaries

At a global scale, deltas are vital economic hubs, in part due to the combination of their access to inland regions via river systems with their proximity to sea. However, with the sea in close vicinity also comes the threat of freshwater contamination by saline seawater, especially during droughts. This study explores the potential of a mitigation measure to estuarine salt intrusion, namely the construction of a (temporary) earthen sill—a measure implemented in the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans (LA, USA). This study suggests design guidelines on how a sill can be used to mitigate estuarine salt intrusion: the design should focus on the longitudinal placement and the height of the sill, and the mitigating efficiency of the sill reduces with increasing tidal range. Overall, a (temporary) sill has great potential to reduce salt intrusion in salt wedge estuaries if there is sufficient water depth available.

Critical pressure versus mechanical criteria for the analytical modeling of wetting on multiscale surfaces

HypothesisIn order to better understand the outstanding wetting behaviors of many vegetal surfaces, it is necessary to properly carry out an analytical modeling of mixed-state wetting on real and multiscale surfaces. The energetical approach is limited with regards to its ability to describe the dynamics of the impregnation of surface asperities and therefore, a mechanical or a critical pressure approach can be more suitable. Nevertheless, as yet they have not been applied on natural surfaces with a sufficiently accurate description of the latter and have only yielded qualitative results. ExperimentsThe theoretical basis underlying both the mechanical and the critical pressure approaches to capillary phenomena is thoroughly derived and discussed. Critical pressure criteria that are applicable to real multiscale surfaces are introduced and applied to the case of the sacred Lotus, accounting for its nanoscale topography. FindingsEffective anchorage depths, solid-liquid contact areas and triple line lengths are calculated. Results quantitatively show that the presence of a nanoscale topography leads to a more superficial mixed-state wetting and increases the maximal overpressure sustainable by the menisci in a composite-wetting state. It is also demonstrated that the surface asperities of Nelumbo nucifera leaves have evolved to withstand severe raindrop impacts without being over-sized. Eventually, we show that the mechanical approach is flawed. Therefore, we strongly advocate using critical pressure criteria when designing multiscale water-repellent surfaces, for which we suggest design guidelines.

Design guidelines for pedestrian circulation requirements of multi-modal hub stations

Many countries are increasing their research interest in multi-modal passenger transportation design, including hub, interchange, and other typologies. Multi-modal transportation is the act of connecting and moving people and goods using at least two different modes of transportation. As a result, expanding the country's transportation system is part of its economic reform strategy. The problem of the paper is the lack of guidelines for pedestrian circulation requirements in public transportation stations in Egypt. This paper analyzed and evaluated the pedestrian circulation requirements in public transport stations in Egypt. With the aim of suggesting the design guidelines for pedestrian circulation requirements in multi-modal hub stations in Egypt. After identification, the findings are formed by the suggested design guidelines for pedestrian circulation requirements of multi-modal hub stations in Egypt. This paper recommends a framework for the design aspects of multi-modal hub stations.

A mobile e-learning application for enhancement of basic mathematical skills in visually impaired children

Although smartphones are equipped with accessibility functions, they still pose significant problems for visually impaired people. Sometimes these functions cannot fulfil the expectations of users. Early mobile devices had physical buttons and a keypad, and visually impaired users could navigate around the keypad using the tactile markers on the buttons. However, the lack of tactile markers makes it much more difficult to operate a touchscreen device. This paper describes an e-learning platform that is designed to improve the accessibility of smartphone applications for students who are visually impaired but have some useful vision. A User-Centered Design approach was used to develop an effective solution for visually impaired students. A study was conducted during the development of the described platform, and the results showed that our suggested design improves task completion time as compared to the initial version. Participants also expressed higher levels of satisfaction when using the improved design of this platform. The modified design was also assessed using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS), and the results indicate that it is quite reliable and rated well among visually impaired children. Furthermore, developers can use our suggested design guidelines such as clear navigation, color contrast, immediate feedback, icon arrangements, button and text size in the development of new applications.

Review of the NRC Canada Studies on Fire Resistance of Walls: Results, Research Gaps and Design Guidelines

The National research council Canada conducted three major fire resistance studies on the interior party walls, interior fire separation walls and exterior walls. The fire resistance results of these studies were published over the past three decades and the publications were short in suggesting design guidelines for practioners’ use and gaps for future research. This paper summaries the fire resistance results of 35 full-scale wall tests, suggests design guidelines and identifies future research gaps for interior party walls, interior fire separation walls and exterior walls. The result summary includes the effect of different design parameters on the fire resistance performance of wall assemblies such as the stud type and spacing, number of stud rows, number of gypsum board layers and thickness, mid-height blocking, resilient channels installation and spacing, screws spacing for attaching gypsum board to either wall faming or resilient channels, insulation type and exterior wall sheathing type on the fire resistance of loadbearing and non-loadbearing wall assemblies. The summary results was used as the basis for suggesting design guidelines for practioners’ use and identifying gaps for future research to improve the fire resistance performance of wall assemblies. For example, the use of a reduced screw spacing from 406 mm o.c. to 203 mm o.c. in the gypsum board field and from 406 mm o.c. to 150 mm o.c. at the board joints was suggested for future research to keep the protective gypsum board layer attached to studs or resilient channels longer for a better fire resistance performance of wall assemblies. Also, fire resistance design guidelines are suggested, for examples, the use of rock fibre insulation for non-load bearing interior party walls to achieve 1.5-h fire resistance, the use of cellulose fibre insulation for loadbearing fire separation walls to achieve 2-h fire resistance rating and the use of reduced screw spacing in attaching the gypsum board to wall framing from 406 mm o.c. to 203 mm o.c. for loadbearing exterior wall assembly with gypsum board glass mat sheathing to expand the fire resistance rating from non-useful 30-min to a useful code compliance 45-min fire resistance rating assembly. Additional suggested examples for future research gaps and design guidelines are also provided.

Understanding Privacy Risks and Perceived Benefits in Open Dataset Collection for Mobile Affective Computing

Collecting large-scale mobile and wearable sensor datasets from daily contexts is essential in developing machine learning models for enabling everyday affective computing applications. However, there is a lack of knowledge on data contributors' perceived benefits and risks in participating in open dataset collection projects. To bridge this gap, we conducted an in-situ study on building an open dataset with mobile and wearable devices for affective computing research (N = 100, 4 weeks). Our study results showed that a mixture of financial and altruistic benefits was important in eliciting data contribution. Sensor-specific risks were largely associated with the revelation of personal traits and social behaviors. However, most of the participants were less concerned with open dataset collection and their perceived sensitivity of each sensor data did not change over time. We further discuss alternative approaches to promote data contributors' motivations and suggest design guidelines to alleviate potential privacy concerns in mobile open dataset collection.

운전자 감성에 영향을 미치는 센터페시아 설계: 고급감을 고려하는 방법으로

Objective: This study is defined the Center Fascia design variables in automobiles and see how each variable affects the sense of luxuriousness.<BR>Background: Since modern consumers take the functional part of purchasing products for granted, various studies are being conducted to enhance the aesthetic and emotional satisfaction of the products. In the automobile market as well, these were responding to the consumption trends of these users, and the increase in size and number of internal displays has had a major impact on the interior of the room.<BR>Method: Quantification theory I was performed to confirm the effect of design variables on the sub-item of luxuriousness, and regression analysis was performed to confirm the effect of the sub-item of luxuriousness on the luxuriousness.<BR>Results: It was confirmed that there was a difference in luxuriousness score according to the combination of design variables, and as a result of classifying luxuriousness scores according to each combination, it was classified into four levels of Best, Good, Moderate, and Worst. At this time, the Best level was classified into 4 alternatives, the Good level was classified into 13 alternatives, and Moderate and Worst levels were classified into 5 alternatives, respectively.<BR>Conclusion: The best combination, which drivers feel the highest sense of luxuriousness, was identified as a combination of small to medium level bezel size and plastic and chrom material in the horizontal display form. It can be seen that the Best level alternative is also in line with the recently released Center Fascia design trend of new cars and future concept cars.<BR>Application: The results of this study suggest design guidelines that enhance the luxuriousness of Center Fascia.

Elucidating effects of catalyst loadings and porous transport layer morphologies on operation of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers

Producing green hydrogen efficiently via proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is the key for achieving decarbonization targets. Iridium catalyst is expensive, and it is important to minimize its use and to optimize interface between Ir and ionomer or water for higher utilization of catalyst in oxygen evolution reaction. In this paper, x-ray computed tomography along with electrochemical and modeling techniques are used to characterize the interface for two different porous transport layers (PTLs) and catalyst layers at various loadings. We show that low porosity sintered PTLs exhibit higher interfacial contact with the catalyst and the membrane that results in improved kinetics. Radiography and modeling results indicate that oxygen taking multiple transport pathways through the PTL results in slug flow through the channels that reduces mass transport overpotential. Based on the results, we suggest design guidelines for high efficiency and durable PEMWE and their components.

Exploring University Instructors’ Challenges in Online Teaching and Design Opportunities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

As the pandemic began, university instructors shifted their classes online to ensure learning for numerous students. While teaching online, the instructors soon encountered many challenges. Existing studies have explored different kinds of challenges through surveys or interviews with instructors. However, to our knowledge, no studies have reported instructors’ challenges in online teaching during COVID-19 through a systematic literature review. Moreover, there are no studies that have suggested design guidelines for creating tools to help instructors. Thus, we identified various challenges that university instructors face while teaching classes online, along with the causes of the challenges, through conducting a systematic review using the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Only the studies (a) reporting the challenges of instructors in online teaching, (b) having reported challenges regarding online teaching during COVID-19, and (c) reporting challenges of instructors from universities/colleges were considered in the systematic review. We found that the biggest category of the challenges that university instructors faced was managing/conducting online classes. Lastly, we propose design opportunities to help instructors to teach an online class more effectively and in interactive ways. This review shows the possibility of overcoming the existing challenges in online teaching with instructors receiving the appropriate support and tools for online classes. Additionally, we suggest some recommendations for future research. We hope this review contributes to a deeper understanding of university instructors’ struggle in online classes and suggests potential solutions for supporting instructors in online education.

Social Robots as Creativity Eliciting Agents.

Can robots help children be more creative? In this work, we posit social robots as creativity support tools for children in collaborative interactions. Children learn creative expressions and behaviors through social interactions with others during playful and collaborative tasks, and socially emulate their peers’ and teachers’ creativity. Social robots have a unique ability to engage in social and emotional interactions with children that can be leveraged to foster creative expression. We focus on two types of social interactions: creativity demonstration, where the robot exhibits creative behaviors, and creativity scaffolding, where the robot poses challenges, suggests ideas, provides positive reinforcement, and asks questions to scaffold children’s creativity. We situate our research in three playful and collaborative tasks - the Droodle Creativity game (that affords verbal creativity), the MagicDraw game (that affords figural creativity), and the WeDo construction task (that affords constructional creativity), that children play with Jibo, a social robot. To evaluate the efficacy of the robot’s social behaviors in enhancing creative behavior and expression in children, we ran three randomized controlled trials with 169 children in the 5–10 yr old age group. In the first two tasks, the robot exhibited creativity demonstration behaviors. We found that children who interacted with the robot exhibiting high verbal creativity in the Droodle game and high figural creativity in the MagicDraw game also exhibited significantly higher creativity than a control group of participants who interacted with a robot that did not express creativity (p < 0.05*). In the WeDo construction task, children who interacted with the robot that expressed creative scaffolding behaviors (asking reflective questions, generating ideas and challenges, and providing positive reinforcement) demonstrated higher creativity than participants in the control group by expressing a greater number of ideas, more original ideas, and more varied use of available materials (p < 0.05*). We found that both creativity demonstration and creativity scaffolding can be leveraged as social mechanisms for eliciting creativity in children using a social robot. From our findings, we suggest design guidelines for pedagogical tools and social agent interactions to better support children’s creativity.

Effects of extracellular matrix viscoelasticity on cellular behaviour.

Substantial research over the past two decades has established that extracellular matrix (ECM) elasticity, or stiffness, affects fundamental cellular processes, including spreading, growth, proliferation, migration, differentiation and organoid formation. Linearly elastic polyacrylamide hydrogels and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers coated with ECM proteins are widely used to assess the role of stiffness, and results from such experiments are often assumed to reproduce the effect of the mechanical environment experienced by cells in vivo. However, tissues and ECMs are not linearly elastic materials-they exhibit far more complex mechanical behaviours, including viscoelasticity (a time-dependent response to loading or deformation), as well as mechanical plasticity and nonlinear elasticity. Here we review the complex mechanical behaviours of tissues and ECMs, discuss the effect of ECM viscoelasticity on cells, and describe the potential use of viscoelastic biomaterials in regenerative medicine. Recent work has revealed that matrix viscoelasticity regulates these same fundamental cell processes, and can promote behaviours that are not observed with elastic hydrogels in both two- and three-dimensional culture microenvironments. These findings have provided insights into cell-matrix interactions and how these interactions differentially modulate mechano-sensitive molecular pathways in cells. Moreover, these results suggest design guidelines for the next generation of biomaterials, with the goal of matching tissue and ECM mechanics for in vitro tissue models and applications in regenerative medicine.

Importance of device structure and interlayer design in storage stability of naphthalene diimide-based all-polymer solar cells

Our work highlights the importance of device structure and interlayer design in the storage stability of NDI-based all-PSCs and suggests design guidelines for efficient and burn-in free all-PSCs.

건축·공간디자인 분야의 학제간 융합 연구를 위한 시선추적 관련 선행연구의 통합적 경향 분석

This study aims to suggest implications for the field of architecture and space design by analyzing the tendencies of journal articles that have been conducted using the eye tracking technique, from various angles. For this study, years, research fields, research purposes, reasons for introduction of the technique and research methods of the final articles, selected in accordance with the data selection criteria were analyzed and the study results are as follows. First, in relation to the research purposes of the previous studies, ‘analyses’ occupied 42.4% of them from a quantitative perspective, but there was a relative lack of the studies for ‘evaluating’, ‘suggesting’, ‘developing’ and ‘seeking’. It is considered that when eye tracking is applied to architecture and space design in future, rather than simple analyses, study results containing practical implications need to be provided. Second, holding a majority, there were 125 papers(55.6%) that introduced the eye tracking technique, ‘because this was an useful technique as an objective and quantitative analysis tool’. This implies the eye tracking technique can be a helpful research method too for research on behaviors of human beings that use consumed spaces or spaces used by the majority. Third, the subjects of the eye tracking experiments were divided into architectural and street spaces, behaviors, images and documents. It was hard to find the validity of experimental design in many of the studies, since there was an absence of descriptions on the study subjects and the experiment time. This demonstrates that eye tracking experimental studies in the future field of architecture and space design have to describe experimental design processes clearly not to lose the objectivity of research. Fourth, when it comes to analyzing eye tracking data, in the initial stages of research, most of the analyses focused on the observation time, whereas since 2010, data have been analyzed using more than two analysis methodologies. This means in the future field of architecture and space design, research tasks need to be verified in an objective way, based on integrated analyses using a variety of analysis methodologies. Lastly, when comparing the tendencies of the studies on architecture and space design and on other fields, the field of architecture and space design has been focused on visual and perceptual response analysis of the subjects, while other fields have been carried out with diverse topics. In the future architecture and space design, the scope of research needs to expand as well in order to seek proper evaluation plans, verify and inquire into design elements, suggest design guidelines and develop education tools.

KnobSlider: Design of a Shape-Changing Parameter Control UI and Study of User Preferences on Its Speed and Tangibility.

Professionals such as sound engineers or aircraft pilots heavily use physical knobs and sliders on their interfaces. The interfaces have advantages over touchscreen interfaces, especially when the users need to quickly and eyes-freely respond to changing situations such as when musicians are improvising, or there is smoke in a cockpit. However, unlike touchscreen interfaces, the physical interfaces are often bulky and crowded and lack of adaptability to user preferences or small spaces. To have advantages from both physical and touchscreen control interfaces, we explore design space of control interfaces and suggest design guidelines in the following steps. We first conduct a formative study with eight professionals who use knobs and sliders. Based on their feedback, we propose design requirements for future parameter control interfaces. We then introduce the design of the KnobSlider, a shape-changing device that combines the advantages of a physical knob and a slider in a time- and space-multiplexing way. To increase users' acceptance on shape-changing control interfaces, we investigate subjective preference on speed of shape-changes by using pairwise comparison with different maximum speeds. We also investigate how tangibility—showing KnobSlider on a video or showing it in the physical world—affects users preference and suggest speed design guidelines for future studies.

정신적 장애가 있는 노인을 위한 주거공간계획

Purpose: Recently, as Korea has become an aging society, numerous problems related to the elderly have occurred. In particular, issues related to the psychological wellness of the elderly are becoming more and more serious. In general, most of the elderly suffering from psychological disorders are hospitalized in facilities which due to their poor conditions has in fact been pointed out as a violation of their human rights. Therefore, based on the findings of previous research, this study aims to suggest design guidelines or basic design guidelines for residential space planning for the elderly with psychological disorders to support their living in residential spaces, rather than in facilities. Method: First, by referring to precedent studies and performing a review on the literature, the overall types and symptoms of the psychological disorders in the elderly were analyzed. Secondly, among the experimental research from Korea and abroad concerning wellness, the research in which positive effects on the wellness of the elderly suffering from psychological disorders were achieved were derived through a keyword search. Thirdly, design strategies for a residential space for the elderly with psychological disorders and specific plans for residential space planning were derived by grouping similar results among the foregoing experimental research with positive influences. Result: Based on the experimental research, seven design strategies were elicited for the residential space planning for the elderly with psychological disorders. The following is an overall summary of the specific guidelines depending on the design strategies: (i) for the elderly with psychological disorders, mental stability should be provide by controlling contact with others through the provision of separate personal provision of private space, and (ii) for the elderly with anxiety disorder, spaces should be planned to support the visual accessibility from rest of the family members. Furthermore, (iii) for the elderly with depression and anxiety disorder, orientation, locations and sizes of windows should be planned to allow the inflow of sunlight in the morning and (iv) natural or artificial ‘natural’ elements having positive effects on stress reduction should also be planned for the residential space. (iv) natural or artificial ‘natural’ elements should also be planned for the residential space to alleviate the stress level. Lastly (v) devices such as controlling TV channels, opening and closing of curtains should be installed to ensure that the elderly can control the spaces by themselves. Also a plan for reducing noises which may cause stress or sleep disturbance is also required.

Addressing the Issue of Routing Unfairness in Opportunistic Backhaul Networks for Collecting Sensed Data

Widely deploying sensors in the environment and embedding them in physical objects is a crucial step towards realizing smart and sustainable cities. To cope with rising resource demands and limited budgets, opportunistic networks (OppNets) offer a scalable backhaul option for collecting delay-tolerant data from sensors to gateways in order to enable efficient urban operations and services. While pervasive devices such as smartphones and tablets contribute significantly to the scalability of OppNets, closely following human movement patterns and social structure introduces network characteristics that pose routing challenges. Our study on the impact of these characteristics reveals that existing routing protocols subject a key set of devices to higher resource consumption, to which their users may respond by withdrawing participation. Unfortunately, existing solutions addressing this unfairness do not guarantee achievable throughput since they are not specifically designed for sensed data collection scenarios. Based on concepts derived from the study, we suggest design guidelines for adapting applicable routing protocols to sensed data collection scenarios. We also follow our design guidelines to propose the Fair Locality Aware Routing (FLARoute) technique. Evaluating FLARoute within an existing routing protocol confirms improved fairness and throughput under conditions that compromise the performance of existing solutions.

The Impact of Message Replication on the Performance of Opportunistic Networks for Sensed Data Collection

Opportunistic networks (OppNets) provide a scalable solution for collecting delay‑tolerant data from sensors for their respective gateways. Portable handheld user devices contribute significantly to the scalability of OppNets since their number increases according to user population and they closely follow human movement patterns. Hence, OppNets for sensed data collection are characterised by high node population and degrees of spatial locality inherent to user movement. We study the impact of these characteristics on the performance of existing OppNet message replication techniques. Our findings reveal that the existing replication techniques are not specifically designed to cope with these characteristics. This raises concerns regarding excessive message transmission overhead and throughput degradations due to resource constraints and technological limitations associated with portable handheld user devices. Based on concepts derived from the study, we suggest design guidelines to augment existing message replication techniques. We also follow our design guidelines to propose a message replication technique, namely Locality Aware Replication (LARep). Simulation results show that LARep achieves better network performance under high node population and degrees of spatial locality as compared with existing techniques.

Connectivity Properties of Free Diffusion-Based Molecular Nanoscale Communication Networks

The connectivity properties of nanonetworks that employ free diffusion-based molecular communication are analyzed by constructing a model based on Gilbert’s disk graph. In free diffusion-based molecular communication, “path loss” has a different functional form compared with wireless propagation and the scenarios under consideration are not generally limited to 2-D environments as in the case of wireless networks. Hence, the constructed model takes into account the peculiarities of diffusion-based communication in 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D scenarios. The model incorporates particle-counting noise and is independent of the signaling mechanism employed. Analytical formulas are derived for the critical values of the signal strength-to-detection threshold ratio and the number of nodes that are required to achieve a connected or an almost-connected network. Monte Carlo simulations are used to validate model predictions and to suggest design guidelines for deploying nanonetworks. An empirical study is also conducted to evaluate the time required to broadcast an alarm in a connected nanonetwork of various sizes. The time to broadcast as a function of the number of nodes in a fixed region is observed to follow a power law, where the exponent depends on the dimensionality of the medium.