The purpose of this study is to argue the works of Le Corbusier, Venturi, and Lynn in an organic point of view to find what makes their works very impressive and aggressive in architectural history. It is important for architects to see the relationship between machines and organism, because of their inherent interest in structure. Although Le Corbusier, Venturi, and Lynn imply organic thought in different ways, organic thought played a decisive role for all of them. The most distinguished characteristic of organism is an inseparable organization on the whole. Organic thought has played an important role in architecture inspiring new ways of designing and organizing all elements involved.

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This study analyzes mediatheques in terms of spatial organization, and examines the historical processes through which they have been systematized. It examines the physical effects of social and cultural programs on mediatheques to deduce the values underlying their spatial characteristics. By investigating and verifying these values, this study examines and interprets the spatial characteristics of mediatheques. The scope of this study is limited to mediatheques in France, operating most effectively in the form of libraries and local community facilities. To describe the spatial evolution of public libraries as social mega facilities and to establish the reasons behind these changes, the authors examine changes in information systems, fashion, and society. By examining these changes, they describe various phenomena that characterize the transition of conventional libraries into mediatheques. They then topologically classify public libraries in France and quantitatively verify their spatial organizations by examining the structure of their spaces. A historical examination of the topological relations of major library functions, specifically, public library-bookstack-guides and reference-reading areas, shows that 33% of all mediatheques have a topologically mixed space system in contrast to the spatial organization of conventional libraries with stack-guides and reference-reading areas. Embodying generational changes through the visible ranges of space, and despite the use of open-frames, mediatheques have a lower level of visibility than traditional libraries. This spatial characteristic suggests that mediatheques are centered on information access, reflecting the 21st century ethos of social pluralism. It also reflects a social tendency in the age of pluralism that suggests that libraries are composed of various reading spaces meant to accommodate various readers' demands, even as the visibility within libraries is lowered overall.

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This paper analyzes the French urban influence on cities created by Spaniards on the island of Cuba from the 16^th to 19^th century. Due to its geographical location, the island of Cuba acquired great influence from the American and European continent during the Spanish Colonial period. The study was accomplished through the recompilation of the principal 58 cities created in Cuba during the colonial period, the analysis of their different urban types and the evaluation in several cities of the main characteristic of their French influence. The evolution of the Hispanic-French relationship and the historical events that affected the Caribbean took place on many cities created during the last century of the colonial period. This is evident in the variations in their urban structure and block divisions.

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This paper seeks to examine the relationship between detached houses and the consciousness of the inhabitants¹ concerning their house in the city and suburbs of Vientiane in the Lao PDR. The relationship between hardware aspects such as the physical dimensions of the house, and its floor plan are compared to the software aspects, such as the character of family homes and household size, and the usage of the area in each room. The opinions of respondents regarding their own house are also examined. These points can be summarized by the following issues: 1) the character of the type of houses was examined by using the statistic method of Hayashi′s quantification theory III; 2) the character of families residing in detached homes and household size; 3) the house size or floor area in each house type; and 4) the level of satisfaction of inhabitants with their houses, which relates to current changes in culture and social concerns. Field surveys were performed to obtain information from students of the Faculty of Architecture at the National University of Laos using questionnaires. The main findings were: 1) single families are living in more modern houses (one-story brick houses) whereas multi-household families are living in more traditional houses (wooden stilt houses); 2) inhabitants of one-story brick houses were more satisfied with the bedroom and other rooms than inhabitants of houses in other types; and 3) inhabitants of traditional houses (wooden stilt houses) complained about the rooms.

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Accelerated urbanization and the tremendous effort in achieving a state of modernization have significantly transformed the Bangkok cityscape over the past few decades. This situation inevitably accounts for the demise of traditional Thai dwellings, or ruan thai, the inherited tradition and the dwellers′ way of life rooted in an agrarian society. Among the existing ruan thai in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, it is remarkable that there are not only Thai residents but also those from diverse cultural groups such as Muslims, the Mon and Laotians. This paper is a study of the spatial anthropology of the ruan thai resided in by Thai Muslims in the east of Bangkok. Based on field surveys and oral history, its central goal is to examine the spatial characteristics of Thai-Islamic dwellings, which reflect a dialogical relationship between the socio-cultural and spatio-temporal dimensions. Grounded in the context of a matriarchal society, the case studies constitute several spatial aspects shared by typical Thai dwellings. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the Islamic way of life plays a crucial role in the way the dwellers use space, particularly in terms of the invisible, yet fixed-feature, sphere.

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In this paper the authors intend to outline the genius of Eladio Dieste, a Uruguayan creator whose architectural expression could be defined as truly modern for America and the world. His leitmotiv was the use of science and technology to solve not only formal but also social problems. Dieste excelled in the search for economic techniques adequate for enhancing creativity and human dignity. His avant-garde solutions are rooted in tradition and thus reflect the true character and untamed force of the Americas. He offered a new basis on which to cement a sustainable architecture of unquestioned prevalence in this nature-blessed continent. The authors are dealing here with something rather unusual in the field of building construction: an almost isolated author capable of introducing technical innovations, which can be both poetical and environmentally friendly. A builder who, confronted with the vast expansions of his native plains, invents a new tradition to put science at the service of people and architecture. The voice of underdeveloped countries is distinctly heard in the soft tones of Eladio Dieste′s architectural works. As his legacy has been somehow neglected, it is our hope with the present discussion on some of Dieste′s design insights to revive his methods and make architects more aware of the real significance of his compassionate and yet unequalled mastery.

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The municipal area of Naples produces 1600 tons of garbage every day, only 9% of which is recycled. While many cities in Europe have made remarkable progress in managing urban waste meaningfully, it remains a major concern for Naples. As the centralized system appears incompetent, on-site waste management seems a solution. The Infra-Free (IF) system is the inspiration behind an alternative model. It reduces burden on the urban infrastructure for both; waste management and energy as the later is produced in the process of the first. Every house does not have adequate space and this leads to a solution based on the community. The proposed system will manage waste and generate energy not only for the community but also for the urban spaces around. It is economically beneficial and helps to accumulate social capital, which is a vital asset for any city. The authors worked on a block located in the historical center of Naples and found that the network of courtyards provided an ideal setup for a community based waste management system. Thus, urban waste no longer remains a problem but becomes an economically rewarding opportunity for generating social energy and revitalizing the community.

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Research on the characteristics of spatial cognition without vision is used to improve the design of indoor environments to be safer for blind and visually handicapped persons. A fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) decision mechanism is presented for modeling path planning strategies adopted by blind travelers including wall-following, and shortcutting through the environment. A statistical case based reasoning (CBR) strategy is introduced for anticipating the points of switch between the two mentioned behaviours along the path. The combination of CBR and FCM modules provided a robust model of decision making which can be used for predicting blind motions. In this research, 51 eye-masked subjects contributed for obtaining the path patterns and for validating the results obtained using the proposed path prediction approach.

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Open spaces are important for improvement of the quality of urban living. Traditional research on open spaces mainly focuses on spatial forms and visual esthetics to analyze environmental quality, but lacks adequate consideration regarding acoustic elements. In the field of acoustic environment, people pay much attention to interior sound quality design and noise pollution. In order to provide a new viewpoint for urban design and to reinforce design methods, herein, the concept of soundscape was introduced. In this survey, the types and the features of waterfront soundscapes, as well as the spatial distribution of visitors were observed. Thirteen pairs of sound and image scenarios were presented to 112 subjects at the tourism city, Hangzhou, China. The sounds and images used were of real settings in waterfront scenic areas. The affective response was measured in terms of pleasure. The evaluation results showed the influence of the interaction between visual and acoustic stimuli on perception of the environment. It has been proven that there is a need to identify places where conservation of the sound environment is essential, due to the drastic impact of the loss of sound quality or its salient informational content on human appreciation, especially in theme spaces and folk-custom landscapes. Moreover, the coherence between sound and image influences human preferences, since coherent combinations are rated higher than the mean of the component stimuli. Therefore, the spatial partition of soundscape is also necessary with the movement of visual images.

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The purpose of this study is to consider diverse non-structural measures to mitigate urban flood damage. Examining related literatures and conducting interviews and surveys with a group of experts were carried out in order to derive proper measures. As a result, non-structural measures have been categorized as follows: (1) urban planning measures such as land-use, park and forestation plans, land acquisition and relocation plans, (2) architectural planning measures such as elevating the building basement or site, dry and wet flood-proofing techniques, facility maintenance and repair, structural retrofitting or reinforcement, building greening and pavements with water permeability, and (3) regulatory system measures such as statutes, ordinances, flood prevention standards, public awareness and education, flood warning systems and flood insurance. Most of these categorized measures are feasible, but problems do exist, partially regarding insufficient legal support, lack of techniques, and limited case studies. Even though the flood insurance system is in its early stages in Korea, it may be an integral and crucial non-structural measure for an advanced disaster prevention policy if the objective standards of risk assessment and various incentives are established.

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Korea will become an Aged-Society by the year 2018 and a Super-Aged Society by the year 2026. Because such a large demographic shift will continue, more attention should be given to the housing problems of low- income senior citizens as a response to aging of the population. This research examines residential satisfaction of low-income senior citizens based on the housing and social characteristics of 72 older adults from 3 different communities in Seoul obtained in direct interviews. In addition, visits were made to their homes for actual measurements and on-site observations. The average age of respondents was 75 years, 75% were living alone, and 83.3% were receiving National Basic Livelihood Security. Approximately 55% of the homes did not meet the minimum housing standard with overall satisfaction of 2.86 on a scale of five. The factors of greatest dissatisfaction were level of natural light, winter heating, and dampness in the room. Respondents visited one to three different community centers every day and participated in an average of three programs, the most popular being meal services, health improvement programs, and medical services. The senior welfare centers were the most important public places for these senior citizens.

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In this paper, the influence of building height on the thermal climate in urban canyons is discussed. The investigation was carried out using a three-dimensional numerical model with high spatial and temporal resolution that simulated the microclimatic changes in urban environments. Model calculations were performed for a typical summer day in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a city in South Asia with a high population density and tropical climate. Two existing urban canyons in the city center with different height to width ratios, and projected canyons with increased building heights were investigated for daytime conditions. The thermal climate was evaluated on the basis of solar radiation, air temperature T_a, and mean radiant temperature T_mrt, mostly along the pedestrian ways. The results show that with respect to daytime thermal climate depending on T_a, greater building height was more advantageous in the case of shallow canyons than for deeper canyons. However, the mean radiant temperature T_mrt on the pedestrian ways was found to be 30−40°C higher than T_a for sunny conditions; however, for shaded conditions, the difference was minimal. Finally, considerable decreases in T_mrt were found in projected canyons compared with existing canyons, especially during those times of the day when there is shade.

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Decentralized resource management is a promising field as it has the ability to lessen impact on Earth′s climate change, assist with renewable technology development, increase equity in the distribution and consumption of resources, decrease vulnerability and enable participation of local people and businesses in the supply of technologies. Alternative energy and water resources are widely researched to provide self-sufficiency in scales of single houses to communities, but are still limited to demographical, technological, economical and social factors, which vary around the globe. Infra-Free (IF) is an academic research that seeks a synergy between relevant research fields to promote different decentralization scenarios for combined energy and water technologies with best-performance. The Infra-Free Motherboard (IF^M) is a proposal for a standardized platform, where installed technologies integrate within a household as robotic systems that evolve into a self-aware artificial platform to provide customized resource management. It addresses a multidirectional, real-time processing artificial resource management system that could develop its own skills by close interaction with the environment and the user. The system is enhanced with algorithms and dynamic systems to provide communication between different co-evolving systems that plug-in, adapt, evaluate and finally, customize themselves to dynamically changing environments due to resource availability, local needs, technology readiness and individual choices. The multidirectional real-time processing system further extends into a community application, where intelligent self-learning systems are aware of the amount and availability of resources in the whole network (community) and control the distribution between subsystems (houses) using best performance principles. Finally, this provides a dynamically transforming community that learns, adapts and redesigns itself. In this paper; at first, we introduce the standardized IF^M and modular sub-system architecture. Next, we describe the hardware (platform) and software (self-learning process) architecture for the purpose to realize a customized real-time energy management system in a community of interconnected houses with a special focus on energy equation strategies. Next, we study a scenario to apply IF^M in a small-scale community (100 people) in Masdar in 2012; integrated with a plug-in car concept, CO₂ recycle, evaporative cooling and Stirling engine system. Finally, we analyze the energy equalization potential of IF^M in a computer simulation for a 6-household cluster (25 people).

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In this research study, the authors examined the behavioral characteristics of the evacuees who survived the Daegu subway fire on February 15, 2003, and matters related to evacuation were analyzed through interviews and questionnaires. The authors selected the Daegu subway fire survivors as their research subjects in order to understand human behavior concerning an underground emergency and to obtain ″close-to-reality″ data. Data, with regard to this research, is required in order to develop a method of minimizing life-threatening dangers and provide evacuation safety based directly on those who survived the actual evacuation process in the February 15, 2003 Daegu subway fire. This study found that the various spatial, environmental, and human factors made evacuation very difficult. When the fire broke out, 24.5% of the passengers reacted passively instead of instantly taking evacuation action; there is a statistical difference between the location of the carriage on the train and the factors that influenced each person′s decision to take refuge (x²=34.186, df=15, p=0.003<0.05). The greatest obstacles to evacuees were bad visibility (68.7%) due to smoke, and 93.3% of the subjects did not have significant help from the exit light they saw while evacuating. Finally, only 12% of the survivors evacuated through appropriate escape routes and exits.

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As international considerations concerning the environment increase, various concrete efforts have been attempted, and in response to this, KGBCC (Korean Green Building Certification Criteria) was developed and has operated since 2002. The objective of this study is to research residents′ understanding regarding KGBCC and conduct comparative research on residents′ satisfaction level and the cause of dissatisfaction concerning KGBCC assessment standards, based on KGBCC-certified apartment complex and general apartment complex. For the research, a questionnaire regarding the awareness of the KGBCC, satisfaction level, and cause of dissatisfaction were conducted with residents of a KGBCC-certified apartment complex and a general apartment complex in the Samsan district, Incheon. The survey results were compared and analyzed, and improvements to the KGBCC are suggested.

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Architectural design work depends on information created from the initial phase and this information has great influence on various parts of the design process. Despite this, the poor management and use of initial information still is one of the major problems in design. Design tools with planning information created in the initial phase do not address the need for data interoperability. This study aims to develop the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) extension model for the management and use of planning information through integration of design models and planning information in design work. This paper introduces the scope, rationale, method, implementation, and verification of study. The validity of the proposed method is also demonstrated.

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This paper presents an investigation of Beijing residents concerning their apartment interior color preference using an IGA interior design system. The investigation tested typical living room interiors consisting of five factors, the ceiling, walls, floor, interior door and sofa, and the participants were instructed to find ideal color combinations for the five factors using the IGA system. Through statistical analysis of the design results of 231 participants, it was found that they tend to use brighter materials for the walls and floor in darker interiors. It was also found that their age, gender and family income level has an influence on their preference concerning lightness and saturation of interior color. Through analysis of the evolutionary process of IGA, it is also revealed that the color of the ceiling, walls, floor and door tend to be similar to each other, while the difference of color of the sofa to the other colors tends to be more diverse.

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Urbanization is commonly associated to densification, which may lead to upward growth or urban consolidation. High-rise buildings with a given height (H) relative to a certain street width (W) create what may be termed urban canyons. The present study evaluates the potential of having optimal daylighting conditions as a function of urban morphology for the city of Curitiba (25º25′50″ S, 46º16′15″ W), where street axes designated to allow densification (in the so called Structural Sector of the city) may lead to the formation of urban canyons by not imposing height restrictions to existing buildings. Daylight analysis was based on software simulations with Luz do Sol, DLN, ECOTECT and RADIANCE. It was verified that diagonal axial orientations relative to the North (rotated in 45º) provide higher daylighting potentials to buildings located in urban canyons. From the obtained results, height restrictions are suggested for such buildings and for different axial orientations in the Structural Sector of Curitiba.

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This study primarily researches the influence of wayfinding decision point spatial forms and signage on wayfinding behaviors in hospital outpatient areas, using spatial syntax analysis to perform axial mapping analysis and isovist analysis. We then perform a wayfinding experiment involving 24 experimental subjects, combining visual records and the records of behavior to perform analysis and categorization for wayfinding, visual content and behavior-producing decision point space forms. Finally, we compile the results of the experiment to investigate the effect of decision point spatial configuration, signage, and other factors on wayfinding behaviors. The primary results of our research include the following three points: (1) the most probable behavior produced in wayfinding was the stop behavior; visual content relied primarily upon direction signage; (2) wayfinding decision point node configurations that most often produced wayfinding behaviors were the closed form, the open L form, and the open form; (3) in terms of outpatient space wayfinding design, direction signage in closed forms and open L forms had the greatest effect on wayfinding.

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The domestic qualities that Tokyo offers to accommodate urban nomadism are found not only at the interior and building scales (addressed in Part I and II, respectively) but also at the district scale. This paper examines this scale through the study of specific Tokyo districts, referred to here as Transit Urban Centers, by comparing and highlighting its differences with an urban configuration emerging in Tokyo through redevelopment projects. By means of this comparison, relevant conclusions for architectural and urban planning can be extracted in order to construct an alternative to gentrifying urbanism. This alternative relies upon the amplification of the concept of domesticity as a spatial quality at the interior, architectural and urban scales.

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Hebron City has been subjected to complicated geopolitical conditions. Hebron′s urban growth has been highly influenced by various geopolitical factors imposed by the colonization power since 1967 and have been intensifying after 1994 Peace Process. The purpose of this paper is to study the association between the geopolitical factors and the urban growth patterns on the fringe area of Hebron City after 1996 Oslo Accords by examining the influence of the colonization settling activities, control area authority, and closure measures adopted by the colonization authorities since 2000. By comparing the urban growth densities based on maps between 1996 and 2007 and their patterns with the geopolitical map in the last ten years, the research found the following: First, there is a strong association between the restriction levels resulted from the geopolitical condition and the growth densities on the fringe area. Second, part of the proposed new jurisdiction area has limited expansion capacity as well as negative impacts on greenery areas.

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A method is proposed to estimate the required length of double-layered flexural reinforcing bars for reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This research deals with deep beams in which the shear reaction is dominant and the plastic hinge is not formed. The ACI (American Concrete Institute) and AIJ (Architectural Institute of Japan) guidelines propose several methods to determine the cut-off length of double-layered bars for typical foundation beams. However the theoretical and experimental bases are not yet presented. A series of experimental works was conducted to measure the bond strength of double-layered bars. A method to estimate the double-layered length and the shear strength of beams with small shear span-to-depth ratio is then developed based on the concept of the partial truss mechanism.

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The objective of maximum stiffness problem is to minimize the displacement. For this purpose, an optimization analysis is needed in order to obtain the structural shape with maximum stiffness. Displacement for structures with multiple degrees of freedom which has been modeled using finite element method is expressed in the form of a vector. In order to measure the size of vector quantity, a vector norm is used. The use of different types of vector norms might yield different results in maximum stiffness problem with shape as the design variable. This paper studies the effect of types of vector norms used in the outcome of analysis in maximum stiffness problem. Three types of vector norms, namely Euclidean, absolute value and maximum value norms, are studied. The results show that Euclidean norm is the most effective norm to be used.

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In general, vibration problems affecting the strength of members and serviceability of building structures are not considered in a structural design process. However, prediction of vibration is very critical and essential for structural designs, in particular, of structures that accommodate precision devices and products such as wafers and electronic microscopes. To predict the structural vibration of a floor, it is necessary to know various dynamic loads and dynamic characteristics of the floor. This study aims to predict the dynamic loads and structural vibrations of the steel plate in terms of the transfer function method. In order to know the dynamic loads and structural vibrations, a modal test and an impact excitation experiment were conducted multiple times on a steel plate. Results from the experiment were analyzed and compared against the measured excitation forces and vibration results. The results suggest that predicting the dynamic loads and vibration levels using the transfer function method is possible.

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RC buildings often suffer severe damage, including pancake-type total collapse, during strong earthquakes. The objective of this study is to find a way to prevent pancake-type collapse in old RC buildings during strong earthquakes. In 2006, the authors conducted static loading tests on RC column specimens failing in shear and proposed an equation for evaluating the lateral deflection angle at the losing point of axial load carrying capacity. In this study, first, the equation was reexamined using data for specimens with a wider range of parameters. Comparison with this new experimental data showed that the equation is effective for conservative evaluation. Second, the applicability of the equation to RC columns failing in flexure was also examined. For this, the lateral deflection angle of columns failing in flexure was obtained by adding the flexural component to the shear component proposed already. The proposed method was found to be effective. Finally, a trial evaluation of the axial deformation at the losing point of the axial load carrying capacity was performed, and the equation was found to be effective, though with some exceptions.

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In this study, to evaluate autogenous shrinkage of high-strength mass concrete with specimen size and hydration delay effects, the thermal deformation was calculated using thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) corrected by the maturity method, and was subtracted from measured total deformation. And the properties and relations of hydration heat and autogenous shrinkage at early ages were numerically analyzed. In test and analysis results, hydration temperature is affected by specimen conditions such as size and admixture, and change of hydration temperature could affect autogenous shrinkage; the higher hydration temperature and the greater autogenous shrinkage. There is a close relationship between hydration temperature and autogenous shrinkage at early ages, especially between HHV (hydration heating velocity) and ASV (autogenous shrinking velocity); the higher HHV, the higher ASV and the greater ultimate autogenous shrinkage. The points where hydration temperature and autogenous shrinkage start to increase rapidly are due to the consumption of gypsum in the cement hydration process, and are strongly related to the setting time.

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Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a new heuristic method that has yielded promising results for solving complex optimization problems. Its advantages are a simple structure, ease of use, quality of solution, and robustness. This paper utilizes the PSO algorithm for parameter estimation of structural systems, which could be formulated as a multi-modal numerical optimization problem with high dimension. Simulation results for identifying the parameters of multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF) linear and nonlinear structural systems are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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For the maintenance and renovation of historic buildings, it is an essential prerequisite to identify the species of each member of a structure. In historic timber structures, identification of the wood used for structural members is a priority, but very limited data have been collected to date. In this study, columns and other structural members of historic timber structures in Korean cultural heritage buildings were collected to identify their wood species using light microscopy methods. Among the 999 column members in the wooden heritages investigated, red pine (Pinus densiflora, 55.4%), zelkova (Zelkova serrata, 29.7%), and oriental chestnut oak (Quercus acutissima, 7.7%) were found in 92.8% of the tested column members. Over different eras, the wood species used in historic timber structures changed from hardwood to softwood. Foreign wood species such as western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and pitch pine (Pinus radiata) were observed in a few cases.

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Based on the conventional wide column analogy, two different three-dimensional shear wall models for open and closed sections are proposed. These approximate models are verified in comparison to not only the results available in the literature but also the ones obtained by using models containing shell elements. With the help of these new models five different groups of shear wall-frame structures with different floor plans and different heights are analyzed. The first three natural vibration periods are determined and time history analyses are performed. The results of these computations are observed to be in good agreement with those obtained by detailed models containing shell elements.

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With the construction of bridges crossing inland waterways, it becomes vital to analyze the risk of vessel-bridge collision. In this paper, the limitation of the current vessel-bridge collision risk analysis approach recommended by the AASHTO code is addressed, and a new method is proposed based on method of moments of reliability theory. With consideration of the random characteristic of water level, impact angle, impact velocity and deadweight tonnage of vessels even with unknown distribution, the proposed method can reflect the risk level of vessel-bridge collision more accurately. The method can be also applied to other risk analysis of general building structures.

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Safety in residential areas, especially at night is essential as the economy and population rises. Streetlight enhances the safety level in residential areas. The purpose of this paper is to examine the actual measurement of streetlight illuminance at night and perceptions of residents on aspects related to streetlight illuminance by a questionnaire survey. Three residential areas were selected namely Taman Dato′ Keramat (TK) (comprising mainly old detached houses), Kampung Pasir (KP) (mainly traditional village houses) and Petaling Jaya (PJ) (modern detached houses). The average streetlight illuminance at all measurement points in the TK area was 7.0lx, the KP area 15.9lx and the PJ area 6.9lx. Consideration regarding the layout of trees and streetlights is also addressed in this paper. It was found that residents′ perceptions concerning the brightness of streetlights corresponded with the measurement results in the KP area, whereas, it did not in the TK and PJ areas because of the high frequency of low illuminance points. Obviously, the number of low illuminance points should be reduced so that residents will feel safe. At least two-thirds of the respondents who expressed ″very bright″ or ″bright″ about the streetlight illuminance felt that their residential areas are ″very safe″ or ″safe″.

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In this study, the authors focused on light wind from the sea and its thermal environment relaxation effect during periods of calm conditions during the night when there is a concern that the urban heat island phenomenon is exacerbated. The light wind from the sea may be characteristic to urban waterfront areas where temperature increase persists throughout the day even during the night because of accumulated heat on the ground surface and artificial exhaust heat. The wind directions during periods of calm conditions at night were compared. The ratio of sea breeze to land wind near the ground level was greater than the ratio of the upper-level wind during calm conditions at night. The authors focused on the period when upper-level wind was calm. As the upper-level wind became calm, the wind direction changed from land breeze to sea breeze, and the temperature decreased as the direction of the wind changed. These observations indicated the temperature lowering effect of light wind from the sea. Previous studies of the wind system during the night generally discussed the land breeze. This study was unique in that the authors' focused on utilizing the cool light breeze from the sea at night.

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This study was conducted to determine the convective heat transfer rates (α_c) of each part of the human body and of the whole body when a human is in a standing or sedentary posture in an outdoor environment. A wind tunnel was used to reproduce the side wind in an outdoor environment, and a naked thermal manikin was used to control the detailed thermal characteristics of the human body. Accurate radiation analysis was employed to evaluate the radiation effect of the thermal manikin. The α_cs of the whole body and of each part of the body increased along with the wind velocity in the standing and sedentary postures. In the standing position, the α_cs of the head, feet, and hands, the terminuses of the human body, were about 20-30% higher than the average α_c of the whole body. In the sedentary position, the α_cs of the head, hands, and arms, the terminuses of the human body, were about 20% higher than the average α_c of the whole body. The α_cs in this study were lower than those obtained from the climate chamber. Meanwhile, they were similar to or slightly higher than those from the results in wind tunnels.

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This paper describes an alternative method of predicting noise from construction sites using a probability approach. The basis of the approach is the separation of the source characteristics from the propagation characteristics. A site area is divided into a number of square patches in which the source can be located at the centre of any patch or node. The approach assumes that the probability that the noise source of certain acoustic power is at a particular node is the same as for all other nodes. The noise level from each patch is obtained and the temporal noise level distribution during the working day period can be constructed. L_Aeq accompanied with standard deviation and noise indices during a working day period can be estimated. The effect of the duty cycle of equipment and number of items of equipment were incorporated in the approach. When validated with the current procedure, the model L_Aeq value has good agreement with those obtained from BS 5228, and thus indicates that the probability approach is capable of predicting the equivalent noise level. The method could be used as the basis of an operational management tool for a noise abatement scheme.

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Split-type air conditioning systems, or heat pump systems with multiple indoor and outdoor units, are becoming very popular for room cooling and heating of small or middle-sized non-residential buildings in Japan. However, their running performance is yet to become known due to the difficulty of measuring the actual amount of heat transferred by the system. Mixed irregular flow of vapor and liquid refrigerant prevents building engineers from obtaining accurate heat flow data between indoor and outdoor units. This study introduces an alternative method to calculate heat transferred by the system from air volume and enthalpy measured with simple sensors attached to the indoor units. Experimental results on a national university campus in suburban Tokyo showed unexpectedly low COP values both in summer and winter mainly due to the prevailing low partial load factors under 20-30% of the system capacity.

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An innovative indoor LED lighting prototype that uses pressed-flat grooved heat pipes as heat transfer channels to conduct LED-released heat to heat-sink-fins is proposed. Natural convection inside the flow channels within the heat-sink fins serves as the main heat dissipation mechanism. In order to accommodate different illumination directions, the thermal performance of the LED lighting prototype at different inclination and rotation angles (different heat pipe performances) were experimentally investigated. The results show that the temperature distribution of the prototypes is dependent on inclination angles, however, independent of rotation angles. FFT analysis reveals that dominant fluctuation frequencies of the temperature around the central area of the prototype with different inclination angles are about 4.7 minutes.

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