Ekbatana Hill, with a length of 1,000 meters and width of 500 meters is located in the north east of Hamedan city. According to both Iranian and foreign archeologists and historians, Ekbatana Hill is the remains of ruined imperial palaces of ancient Hamadan belonging to the Median, Achaemenid and Parthian eras. The remains found on the hill and some gold and silver tablets indicate that it flourished during the Achaemenid era. Hamadan was to all appearances, the summer capital of pre-Islamic government; therefore the palaces built on the hill were decorated with precious things of the time, which have been plundered during wars.
This research is an approach to the study of the historical hill, which is now located in the center of Hamedan city. It is certainly not expected that the hill has any position in the new current civil functions, but its occupation during recent decades needs a substantial review. On the other hand, the hidden layers might sometimes endanger the hill, due to lack of facilities. It is in need of a new observation, in order to properly share parts of the existing remains of the hill, especially the fortification wall, in the current civic life and assign it as a part of the city edge. So, the study of historical traces on one hand and urban renovation theories on the other can be an effective approach.

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Now that the buildings of the former Army of Japan are facing the prospect of demolition, there is increasing demand that their historical importance be assessed and that ways be found to reuse or preserve them. Today, as the example of early Meiji barracks built in the middle of 1870′s, only three still exist in Sendai, Shibata and Nagoya. The Army′s architectural system has not yet been sufficiently studied. So far, the architectural prototype for Army buildings has not been found, but we can describe the architectural planning process and the prototypes both for garrisons, which were built on the site of ancient castles, and for barracks, which mixed the traditional Japanese carpentry and the positive introduction of new techniques from Europe. This paper intends to clarify the planning method for military garrisons and the early stages of the barracks construction process by way of field surveys and archival documents.

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Resor House can be considered significant since it provides a meaningful clue to understanding the changes in Mies′ conception of architectural space, particularly the relationship between the interior and the exterior spaces. In this light, this paper focuses on the following characteristics of the living room of Resor House. Firstly, in terms of spatial characteristics, the paper discusses the idea that there is an enhanced relationship between the interior and the exterior spaces of Resor House. This is achieved by minimizing the use of fixed elements other than the ceiling and floor in the living room space, and through the emphasis of its objet-like characteristic, resulting in a homogeneous, continuous, and hierarchical composition for the overall living room space. Secondly, the paper examines the idea that a building can act as a visual frame that forms a single integrated visual whole between the inside and the outside, while maintaining the inherent properties of the interior and exterior spaces. This aspect can explain the fact that after Resor House, the role of architecture as a device to create the relationship between spaces, especially of those between the interior and exterior, becomes more emphasized in Mies′ architecture. In addition, Resor House is also significant in that concrete solutions to the country house idea, which appeared conceptually during Mies′ German era, particularly as a precise study on its interior space, are actively suggested through this project. In so doing, Resor House exemplifies Mies′ concrete experiments on the possibility of integrating the interior space into the exterior environment on a site that has abundant natural features.

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During the Japanese Colonial period (1895-1945), Japanese Buddhist sects did missionary work and built Buddhist temples throughout Taiwan. To make clear their roles during the colonial and post-colonial period, the architectural characteristics of the Buddhist temples and their condition of use in the post-war period are worth studying. This paper first discusses the course of Jodoshin propagation and the establishment of temples in Taiwan, their architectural forms and construction and compares them to Japanese Jodoshin Sect temples built in the same period, in order to affirm the characteristics of Jodoshin Buddhist architecture in colonial Taiwan. It also surveys their situations in the post-colonial period in order to clarify the relationship between social background, architectural form and usage. It is concluded that although Taiwan′s Jodoshin Sect temple architecture was different from the common Jodoshin Sect architecture, these differences resulted from the latest Japanese trends. Furthermore, the differences in form and construction may be attributed to different approaches regarding their use in the post-colonial period.

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This is a study of forms loosening in German modern architecture. Through computer graphics form analysis, we have explored the design process of Hannes Meyer′s (1889-1954) Federal School of the General German Trade Unions Federation (ADGB) (1928-1930). We then verified our conclusions with Meyer′s own explanations. In Chapter 2, we have examined the formation of the psychological effects of the glazed corridor during the design process. In Chapter 3, we have clarified the formation of the method known as ″dissolution into the landscape″ through the analysis of landscape and architecture. Then in Chapter 4, we have explained that a ″biological″ concept is present in these two methods. Meyer loosened architectural form based on a ″biological″ concept and presented a new architectural methodology at the end of the 1920s.

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Based on historical study and social analysis, this article reveals the inner logic of spatial transformation over the past several hundred years of the Hanzhengjie district in the city of Wuhan. It also focuses on the concept of informality and everyday life, using some interesting case studies to discuss the relationship between the evolution and revolution of its urban morphology and everyday life. As a result, the author proposes that the perspectives of urban informality and everyday life are necessary compensations for modern rational planning, and objectively argues that the life here is a value that we should preserve to some extent.

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This study explores the sense of place in contemporary commercial spaces in South Korean cities by analyzing Shin-chon, one of the major commercial districts located in Seoul. While studies of ″place″ have grown alongside critiques of modernism and have played a significant role in fostering better understandings of built environments in the last few decades, the discourses of sense of place within dynamically changing metropolis remain relatively unexamined. Despite many criticisms of the distracting and placeless aspects of contemporary Korean cities, these aspects also reveal localized commercialisms, privatized public spaces, and material representations in everyday life. Advertisements are here perceived as the mode of communication and medium through which one can construct sense of place according to what one experiences. Signboards are the vehicles that reflect this psychological process. Through the application of Walter Benjamin′s two concepts – flâneur and mimesis – this paper will discuss how the theory of signboards in everyday life is formulated, and how Shin-chon can be interpreted as a place where people find sense of place without being alienated from the built environment.

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Historical sites are special places not only due to the cultural heritage that they house, but also due to their natural resources. Many such sites are in a danger of losing their historical character if relevant measures are not put in place to ensure the continuity of this character. This paper is concerned with the character of place in historical site of Sanandaj considering two main factors of physical substance and pattern of material which were recognized as basic aspects contributing to the character of place (Kropf, 1996). The paper also proposes the SWOT analysis as an effective framework for identifying and assessing the qualities of place to derive an appropriate decision-making in conservation plan of historic site. The outcome of the case study is that the historical site of Sanandaj has the potential for natural and cultural resource-management plans, but this has not been explored as of yet.

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Using customs such as grave festivals, we analyzed the composition of settlements in Aso Caldera, and the following results were obtained. (1) Although the Aso religion is now rare, many expressions that originated in settlements that refer to the back of the outer rim of the volcanic crater are used in Aso Valley. (2) Although grave festivals are rarely performed in Aso Valley, they are still performed by more than half of the Nango Valley settlements. (3) Grave festivals, which consist of cleaning a grave, offering sacred sake and dining together in front of the grave, express gratitude to an ancestor and are considered to be the most important settlement festivals. (4) In Nango Valley, each cemetery is owned by a family, or by a head family and portion family, and no pattern of cemetery positions was observed. However, in Aso Valley, cemetery ownership is designated by place of residence, and cemetery positions are distant from places of residence and have a tendency to be located in a certain direction and on the side facing the outer rim of the volcanic crater. (5) Although the deceased′s house is clearly distinguished from others in Aso Valley as a feature of the space used in the observation of funeral customs, this feature is not observed in Nango Valley.

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This paper discusses the space formation and transformation of the urban tissue of Old Delhi. Main focuses are the street system, neighbourhood blocks, the distribution of public, religious and commercial facilities and the distribution of religious communities.
Based on field research within the south-western area of Jama Masjid, the authors found a hierarchy in the street system. There are 1. Major roads (Bazaar), 2. Smaller public streets, 3. Narrow lanes within residential blocks, and 4. Dead-end alleys. Narrow lanes and dead-end lanes within residential blocks are called kuchas, galis or katras. Each kucha, gali or katra has its own name and forms a neighbourhood block. In some places a larger neighbourhood quarter called a mohalla is formed by neighbouring kuchas, galis and katras.
Religious facilities for Muslims (mosques, dargahs) and Hindus (mandirs, shrines) are distributed separately. This means that Muslim and Hindu communities were also separated.
However, the distribution of religious facilities shown in the 19^th century maps of Shahjahanabad indicates that these communities were previously mixed to a greater extent than they are today.

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Owing to the accelerated pace of modernization and urbanization, traditional Thai dwellings, or ruan thai, and mode of living not only lose their multidimensionality, but also are dramatically displaced by modern housing and lifestyle. The premature, unsustainable, developments result in serious dwelling problems, particularly in and around the Bangkok Megalopolis. This research is a proxemic study of Thai dwellings in three evolution periods; the ″old,″ the ″transitional,″ and the ″old and new″ tradition. In order to understand how Thai dwellings respond to the ever-shifting contexts, the research focuses on the reexamination of the interrelationship between the broad, natural and cultural, context and the intimate, spatial, content and the reintegration between the horizontality and verticality of the ruan thai′s lived space. The in-depth research selects eight ruan thai located in the Phrapradaeng District, Samutprakarn Province as the case studies. Methodologically, this research includes the socio-cultural and spatial analyses, while Hall′s PMS study is employed to explicate the contexts of the ruan thai′s lived space. Through the analyses of spatial and sectional diagrams, the study reveals the spatial contents of ruan thai as integral parts of the Thai ecological and cultural context.

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There are lots of private workshops in Hanzhengjie district in the city of Wuhan. The productive line here is naturally divided into different part according to different procedure, which is separate from each other in the space. This paper focuses on the space of clothing workshop, which is the typical case. Then it minutely studies the existing environment as well as the correlation factor after getting plenty of details from a long-term filed investigation¹. Furthermore it analyzes the mutual influences and the complicated relationships among the productive space (of clothing workshop), commercial and dwelling spaces. Finally it summarizes the characteristics of the productive space in HanZhengJie, and objectively argues that the production in Hanzhengjie is a special characteristic to be preserved at some extent.

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Today the cultural heritage of humankind is endangered not only by natural catastrophes and the exploitation of resources but also by economic and social problems and institutional weaknesses. Western and Central Asian countries contain a major part of the cultural heritage on the earth, but due to different problems common in developing countries, cultural heritage in such countries suffers from natural and non-natural risks. A lack of public awareness of various types of risks itself worsens the conditions in such countries. It is necessary to clarify the situation within the region regarding different categories of risk, and then considering how to devise measures for heritage sites that are truly endangered at present, as well as how to prepare for risk anticipated in the future.
This paper discusses and categorises the risks to cultural heritage in Western and Central Asia.

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The Malay house is distinctive by its composition of several buildings clustered with respect to its main unit. This study attempts to explore the formation rules of this type and its variations from both a spatial and construction point of view. More than 200 houses in the nine states of Peninsula Malaysia are examined and divided into five groups for detailed analysis and comparison. All Malay houses under study can be produced by five sets of rules and their sub-rules, which act as a descriptive language as well as a generating mechanism. The rule system is organized in three layers that can account for the transformations of local styles in Peninsula Malaysia, which may reveal stimulating information regarding the evolutionary relations among Malay house types.

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Among Hanoi′s different housing forms, the traditional ″Tube house″ in Hanoi′s Old Quarter (built before and in the19th century) and the modern ″Street house″ (built after the Vietnamese Economic Reform in 1986 and called the ″Neo tube house″ in this paper) are the 2 dwelling forms that have certain similarities as well as basic differences. Yet, they have never been compared in any previous study. Though the ″Tube house″ has been extensively studied so far, there are still little-studied aspects such as identity and characteristics. Moreover, ″Neo tube house″, despite its dominant appearance in contemporary urban fabrics of Vietnamese big cities, has not been adequately studied so far, though it was sometimes criticized in Vietnamese architectural and urban debates. Therefore, this paper aims to primarily study these 2 forms in terms of identity, characteristics and typology with my own pictorial proofs, and then interpret their relationship as well as compare them on those aspects to draw urban development lessons.

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Thus far, research on modern city planning in China has focused on international cities such as Shanghai and colonial cities such as Tsingtao. Such urban areas have been considered as representing the highest level of modern Chinese city planning; however, they were simply mirroring cities in the West. Researchers are now noticing that some other cities such as Nantong and Tianshui have taken a more domestic approach to city planning; however, they have not conducted systematic studies.
Zhang Jian was responsible for the great achievements that were made in city planning in modern Nantong from 1895 to 1926. This paper analyzes the city planning history of modern Nantong, summarizes Zhang′s city planning thoughts, and examines how it has inspired contemporary city planning by investigating historical remains, interviewing experts in Zhang research, and reviewing Zhang′s writings.
Zhang′s success demonstrates that it is feasible to develop advanced theory and define local city planning characteristics. The formation of Zhang′s city planning thoughts serves as an appropriate example for the development of a contemporary Chinese city planning system in academia.

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the domain of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) around Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan, using the Voronoi diagrams with obstacles, in order to improve the survival rate of victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). The results indicate a more efficient AED location by including the necessary time for the rescuer and the helper, both of whom happened to be near the SCA victim, to reach an AED by avoiding various obstacles in the park: pond, building, planting, and fence. After indicating the current location of AEDs, the authors propose a new location plan with additional AEDs placed in public facilities where there are none, and improving the average shortest-path distance from 343m to 119m, which is equivalent to an almost 18% improvement in the survival rate.

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The Old City of Hebron has a compact urban fabric mainly composed of open courthouses. Before deterioration, extended families inhabited these residential quarters. The rehabilitation process since 1996 by Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) has brought new residents to fill these empty courthouses after their restoration. The selection of these residents has been based on a special policy where both the original owners and HRC have participated in this process. The purpose of this research is to analyze the new social structure resulted from this policy, through examination the family kinship level of the newly selected residents. This research has found that the policy has preserved a close-knit community character on family kinship level but with a difference between the residents selected by HRC and those selected by property owners. Although few owners moved back, these owners and their relatives are now occupying more than one third of the rehabilitated units. In addition, there is a good level of family kinship among the newly selected residents on both levels; the courthouse units and the general neighborhood.

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The objective of this study was to observe the arrangements of coastal housing settlements, their domestic spatial arrangements, and the transformations that occurred after the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of 2004. The study focused on recovery-related resettlement and relocation programs, as well as the problems that arose during the reconstruction processes. The implications of resettlement and relocation on changes to domestic spatial arrangements and availability, in addition to community adaptations to the changing living environment were also investigated. Furthermore, the factors that need to be considered to ensure the effectiveness of future reconstruction efforts following disasters were analyzed. We also determined that housing structural quality, local living environment organizations and coastline regulations were the primary factors that mitigated the effects of the tsunami along the Sri Lankan coastline.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of workplaces in the LEED–certified buildings in the United States. LEED^®, standing for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a U.S. national sustainable building benchmark as well as green building rating system adopted nationally and internationally. The study compared seven IEQ criteria in relation to occupant's satisfaction and performance between LEED-certified buildings and non-LEED-certified buildings. The seven IEQ criteria included qualities of office layout, office furnishings, thermal comfort, indoor air quality (IAQ), lighting, acoustics, and cleanliness and maintenance. The study found that LEED-certified buildings showed higher occupant satisfaction with office furnishings quality, IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified buildings. However, non-LEED-certified buildings presented higher occupant satisfaction with office layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality than LEED-certified buildings. LEED-certified buildings had higher occupant performance in office furnishings quality, thermal comfort quality, IAQ, and cleanliness and maintenance quality than non-LEED-certified buildings. But non-LEED-certified buildings showed higher occupant performance in office layout quality, lighting quality, and acoustic quality. The implementations of the study include emphasis on various issues of IEQ in workplace design when complying with LEED and refinement of current LEED IEQ criteria.

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This study begins with a hypothesis that pedestrian movement can be considered as an outcome of two distinct components - (1) the configuration of street network and (2) the location of specific attractions (urban facilities - shops, offices, pubic buildings etc.) within a network. The objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between geometrical factors of street network and socio-economic process between urban attractors and pedestrians. With this purpose, a new analytical model will be developed, whereby two well-known analytical methods of spatial analysis in architectural or urban field is combined - network analysis and multi agent system. Mainly centrality measures of network analysis will be compared to the volume of pedestrian flow from the agent simulation model. This comparison will generate a picture that demonstrates the existence of two types of factors in the performance of urban spaces. - 1) from the street network which is geometrical, static, predictable, 2) from the process which is relatively probabilistic, complex and unpredictable.
This paper is the 1st step of continuous research, to determine the necessary concept through critical review of the two methods, establish an outline of the new model, and simulation of a small virtual street network.

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Productivity is one of the most important criteria enabling site engineers to evaluate construction performance. A great deal of research has been carried out to investigate an appropriate method of productivity measurement. From these efforts, four different methods have been developed according to the various ways measurements and calculations of productivity are performed: 1) deterministic model-based, 2) simulation model-based, 3) queuing theory-based and 4) actual measurement. However, since there is no reference for productivity measurement based on practical applications, difficulties have arisen in determining which method is appropriate under specific situations. This paper presents a study on the quantified comparisons of results obtained by different methods in order to resolve this limitation. Actual datasets were collected from five construction jobsites where earthmoving was being carried out. Productivity was acquired through four methods. Results showed that the highest value of productivity was yielded by a deterministic model, followed by those obtained by a simulation model. The actual measurement yielded the lowest values of productivity. A queuing theory-based measurement was only available for four datasets due to the limitation of practical application in queue discipline. This study contributes to academia and industry in the field of construction by providing basic characteristics and quantified comparisons of various productivity measurements based on practical applications to actual cases.

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Tainan is a city full of architectural diversity, with nearly four hundred years of history since the Dutch colonization in 1624. The Taiwanese called it Fucheng, which means ″the first capital built in Taiwan.″ During the urbanization process, the vernacular spatial characteristics became concealed as a result of the urban renovation plan during the Japanese colonial period. The authors wish to explore this vernacular quality and make it the aesthetic criteria for the old town district in Tainan. First, urban conservation and aesthetic zoning plans in western countries are reviewed for reference. Second, the authors make an analysis of the morphological structure in the old town district, define the exterior layer and interior layer of typical old town blocks, and illustrate — with spatial characteristics, spatial deficiencies, urban context gaps and lost space — the composition of temple plazas and land use patterns, etc. Third, based on the morphology of aesthetic zoning, redevelopment of the historic landscape by both accentuating the streetscape and rezoning inside the old town blocks is proposed. In addition, the authors suggest viewshed control and graded density to recompose a pedestrian village with a fluid open space network. After the aesthetic zoning techniques are fully discussed and understood, the authors finally encourage marketing and an autonomous community as means toward the sustainable development of the old town district.

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The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of reconstruction of condominium buildings and the associated support measures for the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 in Japan and the 921 Chi-Chi Earthquake of 1999 in Taiwan. We found that the system and structure of support after both earthquakes were similar: the basic measures included subsidies, interest subsidies, deregulation for rebuilding, and participation of semi-public organizations. After the 921 Chi-Chi earthquake, the objectives were both rebuilding and repair, and these were supported by an extensive and multiple system involving both government and a semi-public fund, whereas after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, the principal objective was rebuilding, and this was expedited by rapid modifications to existing systems. Despite the presence of powerful supporting mechanisms, progress in rebuilding following the 921 Chi-Chi earthquake was slower than that following the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake because of the relocation of owners and delays in the establishment of support measures. In the case of the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, the immediate arrangement of supporting measures and the time limit on demolition of damaged buildings at public expense expedited rebuilding not only of heavily damaged buildings, but also those with medium damage.

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Sumida Ward, one of the old industrial districts in Tokyo, has been undergoing a prolonged period of deindustrialization. The socio-economic attributes of its land have played a major role in the reduced level of activity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the landownership characteristics and typology of present land use in the Knitting industrial accumulation located in Sumida, based upon analysis of a group of land parcels. Three main findings were made; first, there is a strong tendency demonstrated for new owners to introduce new uses for land, replacing old ones. Second, the area has not gone through dramatic changes that could alter its nature because new owners generally purchased limited area. Large portion of land have remained in the hand of managers and/or their successors. Later owners have showed little tendency to set up new businesses after closing down the original knitting industry, instead they have converted the factories into houses. Third, the land parcels, which still support textile industries, have been utilized to integrate relatively many new usage types as well, thus enabling enrichment in the area′s variety of uses.

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This study examines the adolescents′ use of urban public places for hanging out activities in Jakarta, Indonesia and the multiple affordances that these places possess for adolescents′ hanging out behaviour. The set of questionnaires was distributed among adolescents aged 11-16 in four schools in Jakarta to obtain the description of their utilisation of the available public places. The study found that the adolescents use various types of places to accommodate their need to hang out with friends. They use places designated as settings for entertainment and socialising as well as places designated for other functions. The findings also highlighted the potential of certain types of urban places such as bus stops, street corners and some unplanned places that become an integral part of adolescents′ everyday activity spaces. Such places possess various affordances that support the adolescents′ need for social settings. The study confirms the adolescents′ use of the whole city as hangouts. In designing urban places, it becomes important to consider the adolescents′ capabilities to perceive multiple affordances of urban places and to utilise these places for the activities beyond the main functions of the places.

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This paper presents an experimental investigation of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with double layered longitudinal bars, bond-strengthening hooks and 1300 MPa-class spirals. The hooks made of mild steel increased the bond strength along longitudinal bars. This experiment is aimed at quantification of not only the effectiveness of the spirals and bond-strengthening hooks on the RC members consisting of double layered longitudinal bars but also the influence of cut-off bars in an inner (second) layer. Twelve specimens were prepared and subjected to cyclic shear loads. All the specimens failed because of bond splitting along the longitudinal bars. The hooks, made of mild steel, increased the bond strength along the longitudinal bars. Applying the bond-strengthening hooks was found to improve the shear capacities of the specimens with the cut-off bars. The authors developed a truss mechanism model for members with longitudinal bars in an inner (second) layer. The model showed that the shear strength depends on the span/depth ratio L/D and inner (second) layer bar length L_d.

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The dynamics of a real three-story structure were studied based on changes of its natural frequency when beams and braces were removed, to simulate damage, and returned, to simulate reinforcement. Total 81 steps simulating different structural states were adopted for these testes. For comparison, laboratory shake table experiments were performed with 1/20-scale models, for the same 81 steps. In addition, numerical simulations of the real structure were also carried out over the same 81 steps for comparison. The change in natural frequency for the three methods, together with the influence of temperature and humidity, showed interesting tendencies, which prove important and meaningful for the development of structural health monitoring systems using dynamic data.

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To investigate the modification of PAE-modified cement mortar with high flowability and fracture mode of adhesive strength properties in tension, experimental parameters were set as PAE solid-cement ratio (P/C) and cement:fine aggregate (C:F) and experiments regarding unit weight, flow, consistency change, crack resistance and segregation were conducted. Adhesion in tension was measured to comprehend the properties and fracture mode in tensile load. It was found to be superior to that of resin based materials such as polyurethane and epoxy which showed entire loss of consistency in an elapsed time of 90 min. after mixing. Adhesive strength in tension increased with continuity during curing period and showed the maximum in the case of C:F=1:1 and P/C=20%.

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Earthquakes occurring on September 12 (8.4 M_L) and 13 (7.9 M_L), 2007, in South and West Sumatra, Indonesia, respectively, damaged many buildings. This paper reports investigation results on damaged buildings in and around Padang, West Sumatra, and discusses the seismic performance of two reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures with unreinforced masonry (URM) brick walls.
Observations revealed that several RC structures with URM walls suffered severe damage such as shear failure of columns, buckling of column longitudinal reinforcements, and collapse of brick walls. In confined and simple URM structures, damage mainly to brick walls was observed. On the contrary, timber structures performed relatively well during the earthquakes.
Two calculations were performed—one with and one without infill walls, focusing on two three-story collapsed and surviving RC buildings in Padang. A distinct difference was identified between the seismic performance of the two buildings when considering infill walls. Therefore, these samples of earthquake-damaged buildings verify that nonstructural infill walls can significantly contribute to the seismic performance of this type of structure.

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Some types of Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) that are emitted from plastics used in building materials and household appliances have associated health risks, even at low concentrations. In this study, we proposed a means of determining SVOC emissions for full-scale electrical appliances using the purging flow rate (PFR) – the relationship between the emission rate and concentration. The measurement point used to measure SVOCs was located in the downstream section of the flow. The predicted emission rates for toluene and Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate from a liquid crystal display television (LCD TV) were 29.87 μg/m²·h and 0.47 μg/m²·h, which equates to the compounds measured from a piece of LCD TV using the micro test chamber method. Results demonstrate that the proposed test method is expected to have practical applications for determining SVOC emissions. However, the PFR simulated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was substantially dependent on the CFD analysis boundary conditions in terms of the turbulence intensity or the length scale. In order to measure SVOC emission rates, it is preferable to use an experimental PFR even though CFD analysis is useful for selecting the measurement point by exampling the distribution of the PFR.

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Internet Data Center (IDC) heat removal is one of the most essential yet least understood of all critical IT environment processes. The cooling of data centers has emerged as a significant challenge as the density of computing equipment increases. In this research, environmental aspects of energy consumption and load-profile were studied through the survey of domestic data centers that need all year round cooling load. The energy-using patterns of cooling system combined with real power density are compared and energy saving effects of data center is reviewed. All cooling systems use CRAC or CRAH units of some kind, which come in various capacities and remove the heat from the room. There are five heat removal methods and two common physical equipment arrangements that can be combined to create ten basic types of cooling systems. Air supply and air return systems each have three and four different configurations that can be combined to create thirteen basic types. An understanding of the many types of cooling/air distribution systems and their attributes can be used to develop guidelines for when each type should be used, and such guidelines are provided in this study for both raised floor and hard floor applications. The design criteria of cooling and air distribution systems were analyzed using quantitative data acquired by surveying 20 multi-megawatt data centers in Korea. It provides the best configurations and design criteria for different IT environments and common practices and equipment options that may increase cooling system availability.

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This is one of two papers that predict the effects of energy saving renovation measures for existing urban residential buildings. The previous paper predicted such effects based on thermal simulation, but the simulative outputs are not sufficiently convincing. So in this paper, the measures′ effects will be further analyzed based on the factual electricity consumption from site investigation. Firstly, the monthly electricity consumption of the subject building was investigated in 2007/2008. Then, the factual heating and cooling loads were distinguished through climate analysis. Finally, assuming that the relative energy saving effects of the measures are the same in thermal simulation and in fact, the simulative energy saving effects were revised by applying the factual heating and cooling loads, followed by CO₂ emission and cost for a 40-year residual life span. The results show that the simulative outputs were too exaggerated, and must be revised based on factual electricity consumption. From the viewpoint of reducing energy use and CO₂ emission, it is worth renovating existing residential buildings with energy saving measures, however, the economic benefits following revision are negative because of the too cheap electricity price in China. Therefore the government should provide subsidies for the energy saving renovations of buildings.

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One of the major constraints of developing countries in controlling carbon dioxide emissions is the limited availability of an emission database. Since there is no city level emission database in Malaysia, the authors have made the first attempt in the country to establish city level carbon dioxide emission data for different sizes of city using the System Dynamics based FML Model. From the results, it was found that the carbon dioxide emission of a city has a positive correlation with population size and GDP value, and an increasing emission trend is taking place in Malaysia regardless of the size of city. Projections of emission trends up to 2050 showed that if no aggressive actions were taken to cap emissions from the cities, there would be an extreme increase of emissions by as much as more than seven times of the current level. Hence, the authors have proposed three alternative approaches to set a city level carbon budget, i.e. equal share, population and GDP approaches. The study also demonstrated the capability of the present model in estimating present and future city level carbon dioxide emissions. The model can be used for establishment of a city level carbon dioxide emission database for the whole of Malaysia and in future may be applied to other developing countries.

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The main environmental problem for people living in Iraq is the long hot dry summer. Basements were used in the past by the people to solve part of the problem. Recently older solutions have been bypassed in favor of air conditioning. The consequent electric loads are very high. In this paper the basement is evaluated thermally for summer use and tested for cooling loads. Climate factors were measured outside a building, inside it and in the basement. The measurements lasted from early spring to late autumn. The basement was by far the best of the measured spaces thermally. For most of the summer they were only slightly off reasonable thermal comfort readings for sedentary activities. However it did peak at around 35°C for two weeks. Calculations show that a relatively small cooling load would improve the interior to a comfortable temperature. By comparison a cooling load several times more would be required to reach similar conditions in an above ground space.

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Recently, theoretical analysis and investigations have begun to evaluate that secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are generated by chemical reactions in indoor air. The overarching goal of this work was to better understand ozone and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) distribution within rooms. Towards this end, this paper reports the development of a cylindrical test chamber that can be used to obtain the second order rate constant (k_b) for the bi-molecular chemical reaction of ozone and VOC in the air phase and the fractional aerosol yield (Y) for partitioning from the air phase to aerosol phase.

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The distribution and mixture of urban land use in Japanese cities was quantitatively represented by using two indexes of texture analyses, spatial autocorrelation and information entropy. The spatial autocorrelation was calculated as Moran′s I, and the entropy acquired by considering not only the composition of the areas of each land use class, but also the relation of adjacent cells. Land use data in urban areas except green areas were obtained from a digital land use map, and green areas by processing remote sensing data using an Aster GDS. These data were compiled by GIS, and the two indexes of each land use were calculated in each class. It was concluded that both indexes indicate different states of land use, and their relation was different in each land use class. In some it was sufficient to consider only the entropy, but in other cases, it was not sufficient. Using these indexes together gave a more accurate portrait than one alone for grasping the distribution and mixture of urban land use.

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In indoor environments, air sampling normally involves drawing a sample from an air stream or room using equipment based on either the impaction or filtration methods. An international standard regarding sampling methods for the detection and enumeration of molds is about to be proposed. This ISO (ISO/TC 146/Sc 6/WG 10N 27), entitled ″Detection and enumeration of molds - sampling by filtration″ suggests that the process of suspension is necessary in order to spread mold spores filtered on the surface of a filter onto a growth media. However, airborne microbes suspended in air are rarely in the state of naked particles. Therefore, by the suspension process specified by the ISO method, the number of colony forming units (CFUs) on a culture medium will not accurately express the number of bio-aerosols actually suspended in air. The present study was conducted to clarify the behavior of bio-aerosols suspended in air and to demonstrate the inadequacies of a filtration method that uses the suspension process to quantify fungal spores on a filter surface. The authors found that fungal spores suspended in air are coagulation particles and not naked particles, as demonstrated by both the Andersen sampler as well as electron microscopy of W.sebi spores. Furthermore, by the process of suspension, the CFU number was several times the value of fungal spores actually suspended in air.

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The climate of a conurbation is of great importance, in particular for public health and to provide a good environment. Town planning should take into account how it can influence microclimate, especially in view of pollutant emissions by internal combustion engines. This article provides case studies of the effect of parklands on temperature, humidity and pollution, based on a series of formal measurements. Analysis of climatic data has found that gardens and parklands are responsible for significant precipitation. The present examples conform to this pattern. The author shows the influence of different types of garden on temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation and air pollution. The results clearly show the important role of parklands in urban areas. Such gardens are the least polluted places in a town. Breezes generated by the parklands repel and disperse pollutants, while gardens contribute considerably to the air quality in cities.

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The increased density of buildings in urban areas in Japan over the past several years has meant that less outdoor wind blows into buildings. Additionally, houses with many or large-size of openings are difficult to build due to concerns about security and privacy. In the present study, we have investigated the cross-ventilation characteristics of void, monitor roof and wind tower for the purpose of improving the cross-ventilation in detached houses built in high-density urban areas based on wind tunnel experiment and flow-network model calculation. At first, wind-pressure characteristics of a detached house in high-density urban areas were obtained by the wind tunnel experiment. From this result, we found that it is difficult to ensure adequate cross-ventilation in houses located in high-density urban areas by only openings in the wall surface. So, void, monitor roof and wind tower have been investigated as techniques of improving the cross-ventilation. Wind-pressure characteristics of each technique were examined by wind tunnel experiment. And rates of cross-ventilation flow from cases (i.e., void, monitor roof and normal roof) were calculated by flow-network model using wind-pressure coefficients from previous experiments. It can be concluded that void is a very effective technique for improving cross-ventilation in detached houses.

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