Categorisation of designs according to preference values for shape rules

Shape grammars have been used to explore design spaces through design generation according to sets of shape rules with a recursive process. Although design space exploration is a persistent issue in computational design research, there have been few studies regarding the provision of more preferable and refined outcomes to designers. This paper presents an approach for the categorisation of design outcomes from shape grammar systems to support individual preferences via two customised viewpoints: (i) absolute preference values of shape rules and (ii) relative preference values of shape rules with shape rule classification levels with illustrative examples

A-2000: Close air support aircraft design team

The US Air Force is currently faced with the problem of providing adequate close air support for ground forces. Air response to troops engaged in combat must be rapid and devastating due to the highly fluid battle lines of the future. The A-2000 is the result of a study to design an aircraft to deliver massive fire power accurately. The low cost A-2000 incorporates: large weapons payload; excellent maneuverability; all weather and terrain following capacity; redundant systems; and high survivability

Cross-sectional variations in the valuation role of investment growth

Real options models show a stepwise increase in the value-earnings association as accounting profitability increases and guides managerial investment decisions. However, we expect the role of investment growth in valuation to vary depending upon whether tangible or intangible investments support the investment growth. We find that value is less strongly associated with earnings when intangibles support investment growth. We attribute the differential value-earnings association across tangibles- vs. intangibles-supported investment growth to underinvestment in intangibles under the mandatory expensing accounting regime. We also find that the differential value-earnings association is increasing in financial constraints. We attribute this finding to the fact that financial constraints exacerbate the underinvestment problem by curtailing or delaying risky intangible investments. Lastly, we find that the differential value-earnings relation is limited to firms with low compensation convexity. We attribute this finding to the efficacy of managerial risk-taking incentives of compensation convexity because option vega helps mitigate the underinvestment problem by inducing executives to take up risky intangible investments. We contribute to the literature by documenting cross-sectional variations in the feedback role of accounting profitability

Evaluation of Building Performance in Use - A Case Study of the Seager Distillery Development

A two-year post-occupancy performance evaluation has been undertaken of the apartments within Galliard Homes’ Seager Distillery redevelopment site in London. The Seager Distillery site is typical of the many new high-density developments in London, reflecting the tightening standards on energy use and pressure on land use. This paper presents the energy and environmental performance of three apartments studied in detail, including the assessment of the performance of the building fabric, MVHR units and the communal heating system. The paper compares the actual performance against the design intent of the apartments and summarises the performance of the communal heating system in use. It then highlights the reasons for any performance gaps identified, which provide useful learning to both Galliard Homes and the wider building industry. The study has demonstrated that measurements of the actual performance of the building fabric align with design expectations; however, issues were found in the performance of the MVHR systems in the apartments affecting thermal comfort and energy use. This was further exacerbated by the underperforming communal heating system, where various shortcomings have affected its design, installation and operation. The study highlighted areas for improvement in the building and its services in terms of design, installation, commissioning and post-occupancy maintenance. Better building handover and occupant access to relevant information were identified to promote building usability and further contribute to closing the performance gaps

The Value Relevance of Earnings and the Prediction of One-Year-Ahead Cash Flows

In this paper we examine the validity of using one-year-ahead cash flows prediction tests as a substitute for the value relevance test of earnings. We show theoretically that the R2 of the cash flows prediction regression is contaminated by the presence of (1) noise in the cash flows and (2) spurious, i.e., value-unrelated, correlation between one-year-ahead cash flows and current earnings. We test if either of the above two factors contribute to the result of Kim and Kross (2005) that the ability of earnings to predict one-year-ahead cash flows has increased over the recent decades, in contrast to the evidence of decreasing value relevance of earnings. We find empirical evidence that both factors contributed to their result and conclude that the cash flows prediction test is a poor substitute for the value relevance test of earnings

Shape exploration in design : formalising and supporting a transformational process

The process of sketching can support the sort of transformational thinking that is seen as essential for the interpretation and reinterpretation of ideas in innovative design. Such transformational thinking, however, is not yet well supported by computer-aided design systems. In this paper, outcomes of experimental investigations into the mechanics of sketching are described, in particular those employed by practising architects and industrial designers as they responded to a series of conceptual design tasks,. Analyses of the experimental data suggest that the interactions of designers with their sketches can be formalised according to a finite number of generalised shape rules. A set of shape rules, formalising the reinterpretation and transformations of shapes, e.g. through deformation or restructuring, are presented. These rules are suggestive of the manipulations that need to be afforded in computational tools intended to support designers in design exploration. Accordingly, the results of the experimental investigations informed the development of a prototype shape synthesis system, and a discussion is presented in which the future requirements of such systems are explored

Extracting Self-Consistent Causal Insights from Users Feedback with LLMs and In-context Learning

Microsoft Windows Feedback Hub is designed to receive customer feedback on a wide variety of subjects including critical topics such as power and battery. Feedback is one of the most effective ways to have a grasp of users' experience with Windows and its ecosystem. However, the sheer volume of feedback received by Feedback Hub makes it immensely challenging to diagnose the actual cause of reported issues. To better understand and triage issues, we leverage Double Machine Learning (DML) to associate users' feedback with telemetry signals. One of the main challenges we face in the DML pipeline is the necessity of domain knowledge for model design (e.g., causal graph), which sometimes is either not available or hard to obtain. In this work, we take advantage of reasoning capabilities in Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate a prior model that which to some extent compensates for the lack of domain knowledge and could be used as a heuristic for measuring feedback informativeness. Our LLM-based approach is able to extract previously known issues, uncover new bugs, and identify sequences of events that lead to a bug, while minimizing out-of-domain outputs

Using Analysts’ Forecasts to Measure Properties of Analysts’ Information Environment

This paper presents a model that relates properties of the analysts\u27 information environment to the properties of their forecasts. First, we express forecast dispersion and error in the mean forecast in terms of analyst uncertainty and consensus (that is, the degree to which analysts share a common belief). Second, we reverse the relations to show how uncertainty and consensus can be measured by combining forecast dispersion, error in the mean forecast, and the number of forecasts. Third, we show that the quality of common and private information available to analysts can be measured using these same observable variables. The relations we present are intuitive and easily applied in empirical studies

A smart sewer asset information model to enable an ‘Internet of Things’ for operational wastewater management

Real-time prediction of flooding is vital for the successful future operational management of the UK sewerage network. Recent advances in smart infrastructure and the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), presents an opportunity within the wastewater sector to harness and report in real-time sewer condition data for operation management. This study presents the design and development of a prototype Smart Sewer Asset Information Model (SSAIM) for an existing sewerage network. The SSAIM, developed using Industry Foundation Class version 4 (IFC4) an open neutral data format for BIM, incorporates distributed smart sensors to enable real-time monitoring and reporting of sewer asset performance. Results describe an approach for sensor data analysis to facilitate the real-time prediction of flooding

The Eye4HK Meme and the Construction of an Injustice Frame

The territory-wide protest in Hong Kong in 2019, originated from a proposed amendment bill on the extradition of fugitives to China which triggered massive protests. In an incident, the police shot a female medic in the eye which outraged the public. A Korean celebrity initiated an online movement by uploading a selfie covering his right eye to Twitter showing solidarity with the victim. The eye-covered image signifies the girl who lost her eye as a political victim, gaining wide sympathy. The sub-campaign constructed an image of resistance against police brutality which strengthened the wider movement in Hong Kong and helped to win support in other parts of the world. The campaign also linked the emotions of the two places by recalling Koreans’ memory of their historical struggle for democracy. The sub-campaign generated symbolic resources accumulating through the production and reproduction process online and subsequently benefited the wider social movement for political change