Analysis and Synthesis of Metadata Goals for Scientific Data

The proliferation of discipline-specific metadata schemes contributes to artificial barriers that can impede interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. The authors considered this problem by examining the domains, objectives, and architectures of nine metadata schemes used to document scientific data in the physical, life, and social sciences. They used a mixed-methods content analysis and Greenberg’s (2005) metadata objectives, principles, domains, and architectural layout (MODAL) framework, and derived 22 metadata-related goals from textual content describing each metadata scheme. Relationships are identified between the domains (e.g., scientific discipline and type of data) and the categories of scheme objectives. For each strong correlation (\u3e0.6), a Fisher’s exact test for nonparametric data was used to determine significance (p \u3c .05). Significant relationships were found between the domains and objectives of the schemes. Schemes describing observational data are more likely to have “scheme harmonization” (compatibility and interoperability with related schemes) as an objective; schemes with the objective “abstraction” (a conceptual model exists separate from the technical implementation) also have the objective “sufficiency” (the scheme defines a minimal amount of information to meet the needs of the community); and schemes with the objective “data publication” do not have the objective “element refinement.” The analysis indicates that many metadata-driven goals expressed by communities are independent of scientific discipline or the type of data, although they are constrained by historical community practices and workflows as well as the technological environment at the time of scheme creation. The analysis reveals 11 fundamental metadata goals for metadata documenting scientific data in support of sharing research data across disciplines and domains. The authors report these results and highlight the need for more metadata-related research, particularly in the context of recent funding agency policy changes

Teaching Space Syntax Through Reflective Practice

12-15 June 200

Architecture as contextual re-interpretation : a mixed-use cultural center in Old Havana, Cuba

This thesis addresses contextual design in the city, particularly the design of contemporary architecture in historic places. The research focuses on an analysis of Old Havana\u27s urban architecture, particularly the spatial qualities of colonial Cuban houses as well as visual, social, and functional qualities of their urban façades. Additionally, I analyze specific mid-twentieth century houses that reinterpret Cuba’s colonial architecture in order to derive architectural principles that are tested in my design process. The design project is a mixed-use cultural center at the Plaza Vieja in Old Havana, Cuba. As a cultural destination currently under going restoration, the Plaza Vieja is an appropriate place to propose a contemporary project that reinterprets Havana’s historic context. The cultural center embodies a synthesis between old and new ideas

Articulating the composite city: the case of Hong Kong

Symposium Theme: Composite CitiesHong Kong, with its dense verticality, public-private function mixes, and cultural mix of East and West, has long been the world model of hybrid metropolitan development. But how is this hybrid condition currently working out? In Hybrid Hong Kong Stephen Yiu-wai Chu argues that the efforts to brand Hong Kong as ‘Asia’s world city’ have led to the loss of Hong Kong’s unique hybridity, which is being replaced by a Central Business District identity in which there is little or no place for vernacular and creative cultures. This paper explores how urban planners in Hong Kong are fighting this tendency, which can also be recognized in other world capitals, using a unique hybrid model which exemplifies top-down bureaucracy meeting bottom-up initiatives to create an urban transaction between government interventions and urban entrepreneurship to foster a composite city. © EURAU2014published_or_final_versio

Construction safety and digital design: a review

As digital technologies become widely used in designing buildings and infrastructure, questions arise about their impacts on construction safety. This review explores relationships between construction safety and digital design practices with the aim of fostering and directing further research. It surveys state-of-the-art research on databases, virtual reality, geographic information systems, 4D CAD, building information modeling and sensing technologies, finding various digital tools for addressing safety issues in the construction phase, but few tools to support design for construction safety. It also considers a literature on safety critical, digital and design practices that raises a general concern about ‘mindlessness’ in the use of technologies, and has implications for the emerging research agenda around construction safety and digital design. Bringing these strands of literature together suggests new kinds of interventions, such as the development of tools and processes for using digital models to promote mindfulness through multi-party collaboration on safet

Prescriptive Methodology as a Generative Tool: A Case Study Conducted at Introductory Interior Design Studio Level in the United Arab Emirates

In the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates), interior design education is often misunderstood as interior decoration, wherein the former is a more comprehensive design approach to spaces formed by structural boundaries and curation of human interaction. The conducted case study addressed a small number of students enrolled in Interior Design Studio I at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi campus. In addition to traditional teaching methods compromised of individual desk critique sessions, group pin-ups and presentations, three innovative methods were implemented as a means of guiding students through the process: direct sequential instruction executed within an assigned time frame, reflection on the surfaced result and use of flat photography or panoramas as means of space communication. Throughout the three implemented stages of the project, and through utilizing the above-described generative methodology, students achieved complex representation and revealed higher spatial order related to human occupation and space inhabitation. This methodology allowed students to channel their work through complex sets of interconnected information and derived an outcome from an accumulative multi-layered resolution. The article presents the process and analyses the achieved outcomes

Using protocol analysis to explore the creative requirements engineering process

Protocol analysis is an empirical method applied by researchers in cognitive psychology and behavioural analysis. Protocol analysis can be used to collect, document and analyse thought processes by an individual problem solver. In general, research subjects are asked to think aloud when performing a given task. Their verbal reports are transcribed and represent a sequence of their thoughts and cognitive activities. These verbal reports are analysed to identify relevant segments of cognitive behaviours by the research subjects. The analysis results may be cross-examined (or validated through retrospective interviews with the research subjects). This paper offers a critical analysis of this research method, its approaches to data collection and analysis, strengths and limitations, and discusses its use in information systems research. The aim is to explore the use of protocol analysis in studying the creative requirements engineering process.<br /

TECHNE Issue 02

The second issue of TECHNE, an annual publication of student work from the Department of Architecture at the New York City College of Technology. Edited by faculty members Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, and Jason Montgomery, this issue includes contributions from Danny Batista, Jason Sai Hung, Heidi Cherubin, Michelle Yang, Laura Calle, Carlos Jacome, Carolina Walters, Hito Rodriguez, Carlin Baez, Brendan Sigvardsson Cooney, Mimu Sakuma, Anton Sukaj, Marie Baretsky, Tatiana Zheludkova, Moises Reyes, Brendan Edwards, Desiree Andrade, Felipe Arellano, Shadeen Dixon, Tam Huiying, Melissa Benitez, Carlos Jacome, Kilton Shehu, Daniel Mego, Marie Baretsky, Jin Chen, Heraldi Sadmojo, Luiza De Souza, Kate Sanko, Bertol Dragani, Charles Happel, Rithol Clytus, Maria Genao, Bertoli Dragani, Jason Ng, Michelle Matthews, Anastasiia Shaiukova, Enny Filpo, Vladislav Valentinov, Raymond Jimenez, Catherine Brito, Andrea Garrido, Genaro Cobar, Batista Rodriguez, and Nicole Ordonez. Table of Contents: INTRODUCTIONS Introduction Ting Chin, Assistant Professor--p. 7 Abstraction and Architecture Jason Montgomery, Assistant Professor--p. 801 DIAGRAMMING--p. 16 02 ITERATION--p. 30 03 MODELING/ MASSING--p. 42 04 REPRESENTATION--p. 54 05 DESIGN CONCEPT--p. 98 06 THE CITY--p. 124On the Abstract and the Real in the Urban Architecture Design Studio Amira Joelson, Associate Adjunct Professor--p. 128 Reflection on the City and Urban Design Bertol Dragani, Third Year Student--p. 131 07 DIGITAL DESIGN--p. 15