Shapes, Numbers, Perception: Aspects and Dimensions of the Design-Performance Space

The design-performance space denotes a virtual space that can be constructed based on discretized design variables and performance indicators. For an n-dimensional design-performance space, n = d + p,whereby d = the number of discrete design variables, and p = the number of discrete performance indicators. Once constructed, this space can be visualized and used by the designer to explore the relationship between design variables and corresponding performance attributes. We present, for the building design domain, an approach to generation and exploration of the design-performance space. In this approach, an initial design is used to generate a set of alternative designs that collectively constitutethe design space. One way of doing this relies on the “scalarizationi of design variables. The scalarization leads to the representation of a building as a point in a d-dimensional design space. Each coordinate ofsuch a space accommodates a salient (semantic or geometric) design variable. Subsequently, the entire corpus of design alternatives is subjected to performance modelling. Based on the modelling results, an ndimensionaldesign-performance space is constructed. We specifically address the potential for and limitations of describing building geometry in terms of a continuous scalar dimension of the design space. We introduce the concept of “Relative Compactnessi, which is derived by comparing the volume tosurface area ratio of a shape to that of a (compact) reference shape with the same volume. We present the results of an empirical study, which shows a significant correlation between the numeric values of relativecompactness and the subjective evaluation of the compactness of architectural shapes

Flow Cytometric Evaluation of Pregnancy-Induced Anti-Donor Immunization

Background. Living donor kidneys from spouses and children (from offspring to parents) are currently considered to be important organ sources. However, pregnancy-induced alloimmunization may provoke acute rejection episodes after kidney transplantation, being flow cytometry cross-match (FCXM) we studied donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) in the sera of recipients planned for living kidney transplantation from their spouse or children. When the FCXM was positive, we confirmed the existence of anti-human leukocyte antigen (H LA) antibodies using flow cytometry panel-reactive antibody (flow-PRA)