WireWarping: A fast surface flattening approach with length-preserved feature curves

This paper presents a novel approach — WireWarping for computing a flattened planar piece with length-preserved feature curves from a 3D piecewise linear surface patch. The property of length-preservation on feature curves is very important to industrial applications for controlling the shape and dimension of products fabricated from planar pieces. WireWarping simulates warping a given 3D surface patch onto plane with the feature curves as tendon wires to preserve the length of their edges. During warping, the surface-angle variations between edges on wires are minimized so that the shape of a planar piece is similar to its corresponding 3D patch. Two schemes — the progressive warping and the global warping schemes are developed, where the progressive scheme is flexible for local shape control and the global scheme gives good performance on highly distorted patches. Experimental results show that WireWarping can successfully flatten surface patches into planar pieces while preserving the length of edges on feature curves.     

地铁站上的漂浮城岛——香港九龙站发展案例研究

通过聚焦九龙机铁站并观察其巨构建筑的特征来考察香港九龙站地区的发展计划案,分析巨构建筑的原型并将其与九龙机铁站项目进行对比.总结巨构建筑和香港地铁网络站点结合的实践,并指出巨构建筑在亚洲城市中的空间分布特征,试图在建筑语境下建立起评判的标准.     

Thermal sensation and comfort models for non-uniform and transient environments, part III: Whole-body sensation and comfort

A three-part series presents the development of models for predicting the local thermal sensation (Part I) and local thermal comfort (Part II) of different parts of the human body, and also the whole-body sensation and comfort (Part III) that result from combinations of local sensation and comfort. The models apply to sedentary activities in a range of environments: uniform and non-uniform, stable and transient. They are based on diverse findings from the literature and from body-part-specific human subject tests in a climate chamber. They were validated against a test of automobile passengers. The series is intended to present the models’ rationale, structure, and coefficients, so that others can test them and develop them further as additional empirical data becomes available.A) The whole-body (overall) sensation model has two forms, depending on whether all of the body's segments have sensations effectively in the same direction (e.g warm or cool), or whether some segments have sensations opposite to those of the rest of the body. For each, individual body parts have different weights for warm versus cool sensations, and strong local sensations dominate the overall sensation. If all sensations are near neutral, the overall sensation is close to the average of all body sensations.B) The overall comfort model also has two forms. Under stable conditions, people evaluate their overall comfort by a complaint-driven process, meaning that when two body parts are strongly uncomfortable, no matter how comfortable the other body parts might be, the overall comfort will be near the discomfort level of the two most uncomfortable parts. When the environmental conditions are transient, or people have control over their environments, overall comfort is better than that of the two most uncomfortable body parts. This can be accounted for by adding the most comfortable vote to the two most uncomfortable ones.     

Authentication of borage oil

Over the past 30 years borage (Borago officinalis) has become established as a speciality oilseed crop grown exclusively for its oil, a rich source of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), C18 : 3n – 6. GLA is metabolised in the human body from linoleic acid and is itself a precursor in the formation of dihomo‐gammalinolenic acid, arachidonic acid and metabolites of these, prostaglandins, leukotrienes and thromboxanes. The oil is used extensively in the nutritional supplements, cosmetics and pet care industries primarily for its anti‐inflammatory and skin health properties. Global usage is estimated to be approximately 1000 tonnes per year and oil is usually traded on the basis of its GLA content with higher contents attracting a premium commercially. In recent years the development of competitively priced high GLA sources, particularly oils from genetically modified safflower have resulted in an increase in the aduleration of borage oil to raise GLA levels. Analytical and statistical techniques have now been developed to assist authenticating borage oil samples.     

在水一方——2012年台湾建筑奖侧记

台湾建筑奖创立于1979年,是台湾岛内最具信誉的建筑奖.34年来共评选出百余奖项,成为见证台湾建筑发展的重要里程碑台湾建筑不懈的追求,使其在亚洲和大中华地区独树帜.笔者参与了2012年台湾建筑奖的评选活动,在此分享所见所感,希望加强两岸三地的交流和整合.     

Pattern computation for compression garment by a physical/geometric approach

This paper addresses the problem of computing planar patterns for compression garments. In the garment industry, the compression garment has been increasingly widely used to retain the shape of a human body, where certain strain (or normal pressure) is designed at some places on the compression garment. Variant values and distribution of strain can only be generated by sewing different two-dimensional (2D) patterns and warping them onto the body. We present a physical/geometric approach for computing 2D meshes that, when folded onto the three-dimensional (3D) body, can generate a user-defined strain distribution through proper distortion. This is opposite to the widely studied mesh parameterization problem, whose objective is to minimize the distortion between the 2D and 3D meshes in angle, area or length.     

Relationships among interpersonal conflict, requirements uncertainty, and software project performance

Interpersonal conflict and user requirements uncertainty are pervasive phenomena that plague information systems projects. Relevant literature indicates that interpersonal conflicts can negatively affect information system (IS) projects, even after controlling for the effects of conflict management and resolution. However, the negative emotional characteristics of conflict alone have limited explanatory power with regard to IS project success. The purpose of this study is to provide additional insights into this phenomenon by examining the impact on IS project performance made by the interaction between interpersonal conflict and requirement uncertainty (which comprises both diversity and instability). The authors surveyed the top 1600 companies in Taiwan and the results revealed that requirements instability would lead to potential interpersonal conflict and interpersonal conflict was directly associated with requirements diversity which, in turn, was negatively associated with final project performance.     

中国特色的建筑设计院

本文僮要回顾建筑设计院在中国特定条件下的发展历史，谈论其中国特色，并希望由此特色发展出适合我国二十一世纪国情的建筑设计体制。