Linking human-building interactions in shared offices with personality traits

Occupant behavior influences office building energy performance. The level of human-building interactions (HBIs) in shared offices strongly influences building energy use and occupant well-being. This study explored the link between occupant personality types and their behaviors of sharing energy and environment control systems and interactions with their colleagues. Inspired by the Five-Factor Model (FFM), we classified HBI behaviors into four dimensions: willingness to share control, knowledge of control, group decision behavior, and adaptive strategies. These four variables can be mapped to the four personality traits proposed by the FFM: agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness. Our cluster analysis identified six behavioral patterns: average (17.7%), reserved (15.3%), environmentally friendly (16.6%), role model (24.2%), self-centered (17.2%), and mechanist (9.0%). We further applied association rules, a widely utilized machine learning technique, to discover how demographics, building-related contextual factors, and perception-attitudinal factors influence HBI behaviors. Country, control feature accessibility, and group dynamics were found to be the three most influential factors that determine occupants’ HBI behaviors. The study provides insights about building design and operation, as well as policy to promote socially and environmentally desirable HBI behaviors in a shared office environment

Erosional effects on runout of fast landslides, debris flows and avalanches: A numerical investigation

The mechanism of mass changes in debris transportation process is an important topic in the study of fast landslides, debris flows and avalanches. Basal erosion is recognised as a dynamic interaction between the original moving material and the entrained basal topsoil shearing along their non-slip contact surface. In this paper we propose a new concept of yield rate and establish the erosional relationship to bridge these two systems. A pertinent mathematical model and numerical implementation are formulated. Parametric numerical experiments are conducted to compare the erosional effects. The simulated results are consistent with available experimental and field observations. The influence of the involvement of the erosive material on runout behaviour and the global mobility of the moving material are elucidated. The proposed method is then employed to analyse a recent debris flow event in northern Italy. The excellent match to the field data gives it a plausible potential application to the analysis of this type of gravity-driven flow with significant erosion. Defined in a dimensionless form, the proposed yield rate can be estimated conveniently in general geotechnical practices.published_or_final_versio

Effects of ERP Systems in China: Cultural Influences in the Manufacturing Industry

To gain a competitive advantage in the global market, many Chinese manufacturing firms have invested heavily in implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Evidence shows, however, that ERP system use has varied significantly between firms. This study addresses such variances in performance in the Chinese manufacturing context, particularly at a plant level. The Gattiker and Goodhue model was adapted for our investigation incorporating a survey instrument. Data were collected from 59 Chinese manufacturing firms. The data collected were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling in association with the Partial Least Squares technique. The results show that the level of interdependence, differentiation between plants, time elapsed after ERP system implementation, high context communication in the Chinese culture, and personal relationships (guanxi) have significant impacts the performance of on firms that use ERP systems. The results also indicate that a better fit between ERP systems and Chinese culture will lead to a higher performance. Particularly, personal relationships (guanxi) have a positive influence on the use of ERP systems, while high context communication has a negative influence. The findings have significant implications for IS researchers and practitioners in the Chinese social context

Critical phenomenon of the order-disorder transition in incompressible active fluids

We study incompressible systems of motile particles with alignment interactions. Unlike their compressible counterparts, in which the order-disorder (i.e., moving to static) transition, tuned by either noise or number density, is discontinuous, in incompressible systems this transition can be continuous, and belongs to a new universality class. We calculate the critical exponents to $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon )$ in an $\epsilon =4-d$ expansion, and derive two exact scaling relations. This is the first analytic treatment of a phase transition in a new universality class in an active system

Upper bound limit analysis of slope stability using rigid finite elements and nonlinear programming

In this paper, the development and application of a new upper bound limit method for two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) slope stability problems is presented. Rigid finite elements are used to construct a kinematically admissible velocity field. Kinematically admissible velocity discontinuities are permitted to occur at all inter-element boundaries. The proposed method formulates the slope stability problem as an optimization problem based on the upper bound theorem. The objective function for determination of the minimum value of the factor of safety has a number of unknowns that are subject to a set of linear and nonlinear equality constraints as well as linear inequality constraints. The objective function and constrain equations are derived from an energy-work balance equation, the Mohr-Coulomb failure (yield) criterion, an associated flow rule, and a number of boundary conditions. The objective function with constraints leads to a standard nonlinear programming problem, which can be solved by a sequential quadratic algorithm. A computer program has been developed for finding the factor of safety of a slope, which makes the present method simple to implement. Four typical 2D and 3D slope stability problems are selected from the literature and are analysed using the present method. The results of the present limit analysis are compared with those produced by other approaches reported in the literature.published_or_final_versio

Drilling process monitoring for a wealth of extra factual data from drillhole site investigation

This paper presents a method for obtaining valuable additional information from automatic drilling process monitoring in conventional drillhole site investigation. A digital drilling process monitor (DPM) is developed and used to automatically and continuously monitor and record the operational process while a hole is being drilled in ground using a hydraulic rotary machine. The DPM data are examined in detail for an enhanced recording and understanding of the ground profile while drilling. The extra information from the DPM is validated with information from conventional manual drillhole logging. The DPM results can improve geotechnical knowledge and engineering practice in Hong Kong and other mountainous regions.published_or_final_versio

Electronic Scanning in Acoustic Microscopy

Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) employs mechanical scanning in both x and y directions. There is one great advantage in this configuration which is that imaging is done on axis, resulting in diffraction limited resolution. However a mechanical system is inherently slow and cumbersome, even though recent advances have brought the scanning time for an image at high frequencies down to the order of a second. For the inspection of inexpensive items such as integrated circuit chips, which is done at frequencies below 100 MHz, it is imperative to have a cheap and ideally real time system. The present work describes recent developments in our laboratory in this directio

Ultrasonic Sizing of Voids Using Area Functions

We present a simple technique for determining the size of voids by the inversion of backscattered ultrasonic signals using the area function formula. The formulation of this method is based on the Born approximation, which is a weak scattering approximation, but the method works well for voids. The area function has been widely used as a method for determining the position of the flaw centroid to assist implementation of some inversion algorithms. The method has been reported in [6]. Here, we report some further studies, and more experimental results in detail

Assessment of Spray Polyurethane Foam Worker Exposure to Organophosphate Flame Retardants Through Measures in Air, Hand Wipes, and Urine

Tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP, also referenced as TCIPP), a flame retardant used in spray polyurethane foam insulation, increases cell toxicity and affects fetal development. Spray polyurethane foam workers have the potential to be exposed to TCPP during application. In this study, we determined exposure to TCPP and concentrations of the urinary biomarker bis(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BCPP) among 29 spray polyurethane foam workers over 2 work days. Work was conducted at residential or commercial facilities using both open-cell (low density) and closed-cell (high density) foam. Study participants provided two personal air samples (Day 1 and Day 2), two hand wipe samples (Pre-shift Day 2 and Post-shift Day 2), and two spot urine samples (Pre-shift Day 1 and Post-shift Day 2). Bulk samples of cured spray foam were also analyzed. Sprayers were found to have significantly higher TCPP geometric mean (GM) concentration in personal air samples (87.1 μg/m3), compared to helpers (30.2 μg/m3; p = 0.025). A statistically significant difference was observed between TCPP pre- and post-shift hand wipe GM concentrations (p = 0.004). Specifically, TCPP GM concentration in post-shift hand wipe samples of helpers (106,000 ng/sample) was significantly greater than pre-shift (27,300 ng/sample; p \u3c 0.001). The GM concentration of the urinary biomarker BCPP (23.8 μg/g creatinine) was notably higher than the adult male general population (0.159 μg/g creatinine, p \u3c 0.001). Urinary BCPP GM concentration increased significantly from Pre-shift Day 1 to Post-shift Day 2 for sprayers (p = 0.013) and helpers (p = 0.009). Among bulk samples, cured open-cell foam had a TCPP GM concentration of 9.23% by weight while closed-cell foam was 1.68%. Overall, post-shift BCPP urine concentrations were observed to be associated with TCPP air and hand wipe concentrations, as well as job position (sprayer vs. helper). Spray polyurethane foam workers should wear personal protective equipment including air-supplied respirators, coveralls, and gloves during application

Organosilane functionalization of InN surface

[[abstract]]Direct coupling of aminosilane molecules onto the plasma hydroxylated InN surface is demonstrated. By using synchrotron-radiation photoelectron spectroscopy, the authors have studied the surface chemical properties of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane coupled InN. They have also found that the positively charged amine terminal groups on the functionalized InN surface can be utilized to bind negatively charged Au colloids (10 nm diameter) in aqueous solution. Combining with the existing bioconjugation techniques for Au colloids, this approach opens up the possibility of nanoparticle-biomolecular hybrid systems for chemical and biosensing using electronic devices based on surface-functionalized InN.[[fileno]]2010109010082[[department]]物理