An Augmented Virtuality Based Solar Energy Power Calculator in Electrical Engineering

It is becoming increasingly important to include information about power generation from renewable energy sources in the training of electrical engineers. Solar energy is arguably the most common renewable energy source in use today. Providing practical hands-on training on solar energy power generation today requires the use of photovoltaic panel devices which are used for transforming solar energy into electrical energy. In many developing countries, practical hands-on training on solar power generation is limited due to the cost of photovoltaic panel devices and so the training consists of theoretical and tutorial classes sometimes supported by remote and virtual laboratories. This paper presents an augmented virtuality tool where real-time information from a mobile device's sensors is used directly within a virtual or computer generated environment. The tool provides a practical context for hands-on tutorial exercises on solar energy power generation

Ubiquitous computing and natural interfaces for environmental information

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil Gestão e Sistemas AmbientaisThe next computing revolution‘s objective is to embed every street, building, room and object with computational power. Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) will allow every object to receive and transmit information, sense its surroundings and act accordingly, be located from anywhere in the world, connect every person. Everyone will have the possibility to access information, despite their age, computer knowledge, literacy or physical impairment. It will impact the world in a profound way, empowering mankind, improving the environment, but will also create new challenges that our society, economy, health and global environment will have to overcome. Negative impacts have to be identified and dealt with in advance. Despite these concerns, environmental studies have been mostly absent from discussions on the new paradigm. This thesis seeks to examine ubiquitous computing, its technological emergence, raise awareness towards future impacts and explore the design of new interfaces and rich interaction modes. Environmental information is approached as an area which may greatly benefit from ubicomp as a way to gather, treat and disseminate it, simultaneously complying with the Aarhus convention. In an educational context, new media are poised to revolutionize the way we perceive, learn and interact with environmental information. cUbiq is presented as a natural interface to access that information

Design behaviors : programming the material world for responsive architecture

The advances of material science, coupled with computation and digital technologies, and applied to the architectural discipline have brought to life unprecedented possibilities for the design and making of responsive, collectively created and intelligent environments. Over the last two decades, research and applications of novel active materials, together with digital technologies such as Ubiquitous Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, and Artificial Intelligence, have introduced a model of Materially Responsive Architecture that presents unique possibilities for designing novel performances and behaviors of the architectural Beyond the use of mechanical systems, sensors, actuators or wires, often plugged into traditional materials to animate space, this dissertation proves that matter itself, can be the agent to achieve monitoring, reaction or adaptation with no need of any additional mechanics, electrical or motorized systems. Materials, therefore, become bits and information uniting with the digital world, while computational processes, such as algorithmic control, circular feedback, input or output, both drive and are driven by the morphogenetic capacities of matter, uniting, therefore, with the material world. Through the applications and implications of Materially Responsive Architecture we are crossing a threshold in design where physicality follows and reveals information through time and through dynamic configurations. Design is not limited to a finalised form but rather associated to a performance, where the final formal outcome consists in a series of animated and organic topologies rather than static geometries and structures. This new paradigm, is referred to, in this thesis, as the Design Behaviors paradigm (in the double sense of "behaviors of design" and "designing behaviors"), and is characterized by unique exchanges and dialogues between users and the environment, facilitated by the conjunction of human, material and computational intelligence. Buildings, objects and spaces are able to reconfigure themselves, in both atomic and macro scale, to support environmental changes and users' needs, behavioral and occupational patterns. At the same time the Design Behaviors paradigm places not only matter and the environment at the center of design and morphogenesis, but also the users, that become active participants of their built environment and play the final creative role. This paradigm shift, boosts new relations among the human's perception and body and the inhabited space. The new design paradigm is also a new cultural one, in which statics, repetition and Cartesian grids, traditionally related with safety, orientation and comfort, give way to motion, unpredictability and organic principles of evolution. Materially Responsive Architecture and the Design Behaviors paradigm define uniquely enhanced "environments" and "ecologies" where human, nature, artifice and technology collectively and evolutionally co-exist within a framework of increased consciousness and awareness. This thesis argues that, while there is no doubt that our future cities will consist in an extensive layer of distributed sensors, actuators and digital interfaces, they will also consist in an additional layer of novel materials, that are dynamic and soft, rather than rigid and hard, able to sense as sensors, actuate as motors, and be programmed as a software. The new materiality of our cities relies on the advances of material science, coupled with the cybernetic and computational power, and can be actuated by the environment to change states (Re-Active Matter), can be controlled by the users to respond (Co-Active Matter), and eventually can be designed and programmed to learn and evolve as living organisms do (Self-Active Matter). The physical space of the city is, thus, the seamless intertwining of digital and material content, becoming an active agent in the dynamic relationship between the environment and humans.Los avances en la ciencia de los materiales, junto con la computación y las tecnologías digitales, y aplicados a la disciplina arquitectónica, han dado vida a posibilidades sin precedentes para el diseño y la realización de entornos responsivos, inteligentes y creados de forma colectiva. En las últimas dos décadas, la investigación y aplicación de nuevos materiales activos junto con tecnologías digitales como la Computación Ubicua, la Interacción Hombre-Ordenador y la Inteligencia Artificial, han introducido el modelo de Materially Responsive Architecture (Arquitectura Materialmente Responsiva), que presenta posibilidades únicas para el diseño de nuevas actuaciones y comportamientos del espacio arquitectónico. Más allá del uso de sistemas mecánicos, sensores, o motores, a menudo conectados a materiales tradicionales para activar el espacio, esta disertación demuestra que la materia en sí misma puede ser el agente que consiga monitoreo o reactividad sin necesidad de añadir ningún sistema mecánico o eléctrico. Los materiales, en este caso, se convierten en bits e información fundiéndose con el mundo digital, mientras que los procesos computacionales, como el feedback circular y el input o output, a la vez impulsan y son impulsados por la capacidad morfogenética de la materia, uniéndose, por lo tanto, con el mundo material. A través de las aplicaciones y las implicaciones de la Materially Responsive Architecture, estamos cruzando un umbral en el diseño donde el mundo físico sigue y revela información a través de configuraciones dinámicas en el tiempo. El diseño no se limita a una forma finalizada, sino se relaciona a una performance, donde el resultado formal final consiste en una serie de topologías orgánicas y animadas en lugar de estructuras y geometrías estáticas. En esta tesis doctoral, este nuevo paradigma se denomina paradigma de Design Behaviours (en el doble sentido de "comportamientos de diseño" y de "diseño de comportamientos") y se caracteriza por intercambios únicos entre el usuario y el entorno, facilitados por la conjunción de inteligencia humana, material y computacional. Los edificios, objetos y espacios pueden reconfigurarse a sí mismos, tanto a nivél atómico como a macro escala, para responder a los cambios ambientales y a las necesidades de los usuarios. Al mismo tiempo, el paradigma Design Behaviors coloca en el centro del diseño y la morfogénesis no solo la materia y el medio ambiente, sino también a los usuarios, que se convierten en participantes de su entorno construido y desempeñan el papel creativo final. El nuevo paradigma define "entornos" y "ecologías" aumentados de manera singular, donde el ser humano, la naturaleza, el artificio y la tecnología coexisten de manera colectiva y evolutiva dentro de un marco de mayor conciencia consciente. El nuevo paradigma de diseño es también un nuevo paradigma cultural, en el que las redes estáticas, repetitivas y cartesianas, tradicionalmente relacionadas con la seguridad, la orientación y el confort, dan paso al movimiento, la imprevisibilidad y la evolución orgánica. Esta tesis sostiene que, si bien no hay duda de que nuestras ciudades futuras consistirán en una capa extensa de sensores distribuidos e interfaces digitales, también contarán con una capa adicional de materiales dinámicos y suaves, en lugar de rígidos y duros, capaces de sentir como sensores, actuar como motores y ser programados como un software. La nueva materialidad de nuestras ciudades puede ser activada por el medio ambiente para cambiar su estado (Re-Active Matter), puede ser controlada por los usuarios para responderles (Co-Active Matter), y eventualmente puede diseñarse y programarse para aprender y evolucionar por sí misma así como lo hacen los organismos vivos (Self-Active Matter). El espacio físico de la ciudad es, por lo tanto, el entrelazado holístico entre contenido digital y material, convirtiéndose en un agente activo en la relación dinámica entre el medio ambiente y los humanos

Architecture design studio pedagogy for translating environmental sustainable elements

Sustainable design helps reduce negative impacts on the environment and improve building performance. The architectural educators strive to impart the sustainable requisite to students. Based on the literature review and the results of an exploratory study conducted, it is evident that the pedagogy employed by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) architectural educators follows reflective-in-action and Kolb‘s theory. However, the environmental sustainable design elements are not reflected in most architectural design studio curriculum. In fact, only a few courses have elements of environmental sustainable design embedded in them. This research aims to determine the manner in which architectural educators in UTM translate environmental sustainable design elements to students. A mixed method was employed in this study: observation on the second year environmental design studio was done for four (4) months (n=7); a questionnaire was distributed to all architectural students (n=150), and interviews of educators (n=17) involved in workbase studios in the department of Architecture were conducted. The data from the observation was analyzed with categorical data analysis with a percent agreement set at 70% inter-coder reliability coefficient. The questionnaire was analyzed using SPSS version 20, with a one way ANOVA set at p<0.05 significance level to obtain results for inferences, while the interviews were analyzed by content analysis. Results on the analysis show that the architectural educators imparted aspect of environmental sustainable design elements directly to the students through various pedagogies, and the students used those environmental sustainable design elements in their design studio work. The results also reveal that the architectural curriculum is a hidden curriculum which embeds sustainable design elements; however, understanding of building ecosystem and ability to design sustainable buildings are not enforced on the students across all the design studios. It is only mandatory in the second semester of the second year studio since the theme is on the environmental paradigm. This implies that in order to empower students with the ability to design environmental sustainable buildings, more sustainable core subjects could be included in the studio curriculum. Findings could be employed by architectural educators and policy makers as a guide for future curriculum upgrading and development

Digital Transformation

The amount of literature on Digital Transformation is staggering—and it keeps growing. Why, then, come out with yet another such document? Moreover, any text aiming at explaining the Digital Transformation by presenting a snapshot is going to become obsolete in a blink of an eye, most likely to be already obsolete at the time it is first published. The FDC Initiative on Digital Reality felt there is a need to look at the Digital Transformation from the point of view of a profound change that is pervading the entire society—a change made possible by technology and that keeps changing due to technology evolution opening new possibilities but is also a change happening because it has strong economic reasons. The direction of this change is not easy to predict because it is steered by a cultural evolution of society, an evolution that is happening in niches and that may expand rapidly to larger constituencies and as rapidly may fade away. This creation, selection by experimentation, adoption, and sudden disappearance, is what makes the whole scenario so unpredictable and continuously changing.The amount of literature on Digital Transformation is staggering—and it keeps growing. Why, then, come out with yet another such document? Moreover, any text aiming at explaining the Digital Transformation by presenting a snapshot is going to become obsolete in a blink of an eye, most likely to be already obsolete at the time it is first published. The FDC Initiative on Digital Reality felt there is a need to look at the Digital Transformation from the point of view of a profound change that is pervading the entire society—a change made possible by technology and that keeps changing due to technology evolution opening new possibilities but is also a change happening because it has strong economic reasons. The direction of this change is not easy to predict because it is steered by a cultural evolution of society, an evolution that is happening in niches and that may expand rapidly to larger constituencies and as rapidly may fade away. This creation, selection by experimentation, adoption, and sudden disappearance, is what makes the whole scenario so unpredictable and continuously changing

Матеріали 4-го Міжнародного семінару з доповненої реальності в освіті (AREdu 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна. 11 травня 2021 року

Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Augmented Reality in Education (AREdu 2021). Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. May 11, 2021.Матеріали 4-го Міжнародного семінару з доповненої реальності в освіті (AREdu 2021). Кривий Ріг, Україна. 11 травня 2021 рок

Тhe benefits of an additional practice in descriptive geometry course: non obligatory workshop at the Faculty of civil engineering in Belgrade

At the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade, in the Descriptive geometry (DG) course, non-obligatory workshops named “facultative task” are held for the three generations of freshman students with the aim to give students the opportunity to get higher final grade on the exam. The content of this workshop was a creative task, performed by a group of three students, offering free choice of a topic, i.e. the geometric structure associated with some real or imagery architectural/art-work object. After the workshops a questionnaire (composed by the professors at the course) is given to the students, in order to get their response on teaching/learning materials for the DG course and the workshop. During the workshop students performed one of the common tests for testing spatial abilities, named “paper folding". Based on the results of the questionnairethe investigation of the linkages between:students’ final achievements and spatial abilities, as well as students’ expectations of their performance on the exam, and how the students’ capacity to correctly estimate their grades were associated with expected and final grades, is provided. The goal was to give an evidence that a creative work, performed by a small group of students and self-assessment of their performances are a good way of helping students to maintain motivation and to accomplish their achievement. The final conclusion is addressed to the benefits of additional workshops employment in the course, which confirmhigherfinal scores-grades, achievement of creative results (facultative tasks) and confirmation of DG knowledge adaption

The contemporary visualization and modelling technologies and techniques for the design of the green roofs

The contemporary design solutions are merging the boundaries between real and virtual world. The Landscape architecture like the other interdisciplinary field stepped in a contemporary technologies area focused on that, beside the good execution of works, designer solutions has to be more realistic and “touchable”. The opportunities provided by Virtual Reality are certainly not negligible, it is common knowledge that the designs in the world are already presented in this way so the Virtual Reality increasingly used. Following the example of the application of virtual reality in landscape architecture, this paper deals with proposals for the use of virtual reality in landscape architecture so that designers, clients and users would have a virtual sense of scope e.g. rooftop garden, urban areas, parks, roads, etc. It is a programming language that creates a series of images creating a whole, so certain parts can be controlled or even modified in VR. Virtual reality today requires a specific gadget, such as Occulus, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR and similar. The aim of this paper is to acquire new theoretical and practical knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of virtual reality, the ability to display using virtual reality methods, and to present through a brief overview the plant species used in the design and construction of an intensive roof garden in a Mediterranean climate, the basic characteristics of roofing gardens as well as the benefits they carry. Virtual and augmented reality as technology is a very powerful tool for landscape architects, when modeling roof gardens, parks, and urban areas. One of the most popular technologies used by landscape architects is Google Tilt Brush, which enables fast modeling. The Google Tilt Brush VR app allows modeling in three-dimensional virtual space using a palette to work with the use of a three-dimensional brush. The terms of two "programmed" realities - virtual reality and augmented reality - are often confused. One thing they have in common, though, is VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language. In this paper are shown the ways on which this issue can be solved and by the way, get closer the term of Virtual Reality (VR), also all the opportunities which the Virtual reality offered us. As well, in this paper are shown the conditions of Mediterranean climate, the conceptual solution and the plant species which will be used by execution of intensive green roof on the motel “Marković”

Virtual creation - Architectural design with virtual reality

Virtual reality (VR) shows promise as an important tool for architecture and design. Recent advancements in the technology are evolving the ways in which the tool is being implemented in the design field. There is a need to research the use of VR in design industry. The thesis aims to illustrate the possible uses of this new technology by answering the research question of how can virtual reality help designers to improve the design process. The use of virtual reality is examined in detail with qualitative research methods, interviews and observation, and as a tool in a creative process. The hypothesis of the study is that virtual reality is a valuable architectural design tool which improves the efficiency and quality of the design work while also effectively aiding clients, constructors, and fellow designers in understanding the creative vision of design work through all phases of a project. This study identifies that virtual reality can be utilized in all design phases, reducing risks and saving time and money in design projects. VR is helping to make design decisions, discover design mistakes, comprehend the relations of the spaces and allow designers to prototype their designs in full scale. Virtual reality provides a new tool for designers to express, reflect, represent, market and sell their designs. The outcome of the thesis outlines the process of using VR as a design tool and utilizes the knowledge in the creative process. The creative process of the thesis was created by designing three modular prefabricated houses by utilizing virtual reality as a design tool in the design development phase. Overall, the study strengthens the hypothesis that the use of virtual reality improves the design process and collaboration between clients, designers and the project team. Several challenges, however, can impact the use of VR such as motion sickness, organizational issues and lack of control. Although adopting new technologies such as VR can cause uncertainty and disruptions in the industry, it can also diversify the work opportunities for designers. Future research should focus on overall adoption rates of VR in architecture. In addition, more knowledge is needed on the design phases using VR in wider contexts as well as collaboration of the project team.Virtuaalitodellisuus (VR) nähdään lupaavana työkaluna suunnittelussa. Teknologian kehittyminen on parantanut työkalun hyödyntämismahdollisuuksia arkkitehtuuristen tilojen suunnittelussa. Opinnäytetyöni vastaa tarpeeseen selvittää uuden teknologian mahdollisuuksia suunnittelussa. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on selvittää kuinka virtuaalitodellisuus voi auttaa suunnittelijoita parantamaan suunnitteluprosessia. Tutkin virtuaalitodellisuuden käyttöä kvalitatiivisilla tutkimusmenetelmillä, haastatteluilla ja havainnoinnilla, sekä luovan prosessin välineenä. Tutkimuksen hypoteesi on, että virtuaalitodellisuus on arvokas arkkitehtoninen suunnittelutyökalu, joka parantaa suunnittelijoiden, rakentajien ja asiakkaiden ymmärrystä sekä projektin laatua kaikkien suunnitteluvaiheiden aikana. Tutkimuksessa todetaan, että virtuaalitodellisuutta hyödynnetään kaikissa suunnitteluvaiheissa, se säästää rahaa ja aikaa sekä vähentää riskejä. Virtuaalitodellisuus tehostaa suunnittelua ja auttaa tekemään päätöksiä, löytämään virheitä, ymmärtämään tilojen suhteita ja testaamaan prototyyppiä sen luonnollisessa mittakaavassa. Virtuaalitodellisuudesta on tullut uusi työkalu suunnitelmien ilmaisuun, esitykseen, markkinointiin ja myyntiin. Opinnäytetyössä kuvataan virtuaalitodellisuutta suunnittelun työkaluna ja hyödynnetään informaatiota tutkimuksen luovassa osuudessa. Luova osuus kuvastaa kolmen modulaarisen esivalmistetun talon suunnitteluprosessia, jossa hyödynnetään virtuaalitodellisuutta suunnittelun tukena. Tutkimus vahvistaa hypoteesia siitä, että virtuaalitodellisuuden käyttö parantaa suunnitteluprosessia ja yhteistyötä asiakkaiden, suunnittelijoiden ja projektiryhmän välillä. Virtuaalitodellisuuden käyttöön voivat vaikuttaa monet haasteet, kuten esimerkiksi pahoinvointi, organisaation adoptoinnin haasteet ja VR kokemuksen kontrolloinnin vaikeudet. Vaikka uuden teknologian käyttöönotto voi aiheuttaa epävarmuutta ja häiriöitä, se voi myös monipuolistaa suunnittelijoiden työmahdollisuuksia. Tutkimuksen tulosten pohjalta suositellaan tutkimustiedon kartoittamista VR:n käytön määrästä tilasuunnittelussa. Laaja-alaisempaa lisätietoa tarvitaan myös suunnitteluvaiheiden ja projektiryhmän yhteistyön helpottumisesta virtuaalitodellisuuden avulla