Motivational profiles from a self-determination perspective: The quality of motivation matters.

The present research complements extant variable-centered research that focused on the dimensions of autonomous and controlled motivation through adoption of a person-centered approach for identifying motivational profiles. Both in high school students (Study 1) and college students (Study 2), a cluster analysis revealed 4 motivational profiles: a good quality motivation group (i.e., high autonomous, low controlled); a poor quality motivation group (i.e., low autonomous, high controlled); a low quantity motivation group (i.e., low autonomous, low controlled); and a high quantity motivation group (i.e., high autonomous, high controlled). To compare the 4 groups, the authors derived predictions from qualitative and quantitative perspectives on motivation. Findings generally favored the qualitative perspective; compared with the other groups, the good quality motivation group displayed the most optimal learning pattern and scored highest on perceived need-supportive teaching. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Natural ventilation in practice: linking facade design,thermal performance,occupant perception and control

The action of opening a window is the most intuitive and simple response to controlling overheating in a room. However, it relies on the vagaries of occupant interaction to exploit the passive design potential and achieve comfortable results. An understanding of occupant behaviour is thus of significance in the design and evaluation of naturally ventilated buildings. This paper demonstrates the link between facade design, thermal performance, occupant perception, and window use in naturally ventilated offices in summer, based on a pilot study monitoring offices in Cambridge, UK. Survey results indicate that facade design has a large impact on the occupants' perceived control over and satisfaction with their environments. The research reveals that there is a close connection between perceived control and actual control (with respect to window use), and that occupants with a high level of perceived control more frequently use their windows than others with a low level of perceived control. Positive feedback loops between occupant action and effect reinforce appropriate behaviour and the paper shows that it is possible to derive statistically significant behavioural models to predict window use for different facade conditions.

L'action d'ouvrir une fenêtre est la réponse la plus intuitive et la plus simple au problème du contrôle de la surchauffe d'une pièce. Néanmoins, elle est soumise aux caprices des interactions des occupants pour que soit exploité le potentiel de la conception passive et qu'il en résulte une température agréable. Comprendre le comportement des occupants n'est donc pas sans importance pour la conception et l'évaluation des bâtiments à ventilation naturelle. Cet article démontre le lien existant entre la conception des façades, les performances thermiques, la perception des occupants et l'utilisation des fenêtres dans les bureaux à ventilation naturelle en été, sur la base d'une étude pilote de suivi de bureaux à Cambridge, au Royaume-Uni. Les résultats de cette enquête indiquent que la conception des façades a une incidence importante sur le contrôle perçu de leur environnement par les occupants et sur leur satisfaction à l'égard de ce dernier. L'étude révèle qu'il existe un lien étroit entre contrôle perçu et contrôle réel (par rapport à l'utilisation des fenêtres) et que les occupants qui ont un niveau élevé de contrôle perçu utilisent plus fréquemment leurs fenêtres que ceux qui ont un faible niveau de contrôle perçu. Les boucles de feedback positif entre les actions des occupants et leurs effets renforcent le comportement adapté et l'article montre qu'il est possible d'en retirer des modèles comportementaux statistiquement significatifs permettant de prédire l'utilisation des fenêtres en fonction de l'état des façades.

Mots clés: comportement adaptatif, performances des bâtiments, conception des façades, ventilation naturelle, ventilation nocturne, comportement des occupants, perception des occupants, contrôle des fenêtres, Royaume-Uni     

Interprocedural Compiler Optimization for Partial Run-Time Reconfiguration

In this paper, we study the performance impact of dynamic hardware reconfigurations for current reconfigurable technology. As a testbed, we target the Xilinx Virtex II Pro, the Molen experimental platform and the MPEG2 encoder as the application. Our experiments show that slowdowns of up to a factor 1000 are observed when the configuration latency is not hidden by the compiler. In order to avoid the performance decrease, we propose an interprocedural optimization that minimizes the number of executed hardware configuration instructions taking into account constraints such as the “FPGA-area placement conflicts” between the available hardware configurations. The presented algorithm allows the anticipation of hardware configuration instructions up to the application’s main procedure. The presented results show that our optimization produces a reduction of 3 to 5 order of magnitude of the number of executed hardware configuration instructions. Moreover, the optimization allows to exploit up to 97% of the maximal theoretical speedup achieved by the reconfigurable hardware execution.     

薄膜晶体硅太阳能电池的潜力

如果效率和成本目标能够实现，薄膜晶体硅太阳能电池有潜力替代目前在光伏市场上占主导地位的多晶硅太阳能电池。     

A sub‐pixel mapping algorithm based on sub‐pixel/pixel spatial attraction models

Soft classification techniques avoid the loss of information characteristic to hard classification techniques when handling mixed pixels. Sub‐pixel mapping is a method incorporating benefits of both hard and soft classification techniques. In this paper an algorithm is developed based on sub‐pixel/pixel attractions. The design of the algorithm is accomplished using artificial imagery but testing is done on artificial as well as real synthetic imagery. The algorithm is evaluated both visually and quantitatively using established classification accuracy indices. The resulting images show increased accuracy when compared to hardened soft classifications.     

Overview of an innovative EU–China collaboration in education and research in sustainable built environment

This paper introduces an international collaboration of EU and Asia in education, training and research in the field of sustainable built environment, which attempts to develop a network of practical and intellectual knowledge and training exchange between Chinese and European Universities in the field of sustainable building design and construction. The projects funded by the European Commission Asia Link program, UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Council and the UK Engineering Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC) have been introduced. The projects have significant impacts on promoting sustainable development in built environment in China. The aim of this paper is to share the experiences with those who are interested and searching the ways to collaborate with China in education and research.     

SAT-Solving in Practice, with a Tutorial Example from Supervisory Control

Satisfiability solving, the problem of deciding whether the variables of a propositional formula can be assigned in such a way that the formula evaluates to true, is one of the classic problems in computer science. It is of theoretical interest because it is the canonical NP-complete problem. It is of practical interest because modern SAT-solvers can be used to solve many important and practical problems. In this tutorial paper, we show briefly how such SAT-solvers are implemented, and point to some typical applications of them. Our aim is to provide sufficient information (much of it through the reference list) to kick-start researchers from new fields wishing to apply SAT-solvers to their problems. Supervisory control theory originated within the control community and is a framework for reasoning about a plant to be controlled and a specification that the closed-loop system must fulfil. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the computer science community and the control community by illustrating how SAT-based techniques can be used to solve some supervisory control related problems.     

Assessing the natural ventilation cooling potential of office buildings in different climate zones in China

This paper presents an investigation of the natural ventilation cooling potential (NVCP) of office buildings in the five generally recognised climate zones in China using the Thermal Resistance Ventilation (TRV) model, which is a simplified, coupled, thermal and airflow model. The acceptable operative temperature for naturally conditioned space supplied by the ASHARE Standard 55-2004 has been used for the comfort temperature setting. Dynamic simulations for a typical office room in the five representative cities, which are Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Guangzhou, have been carried out. The study demonstrates that the NVCP depends on the multiple impacts of climate, the building's thermal characteristics, internal gains, ventilation profiles and regimes. The work shows how the simplified method can be used to generate detailed, indoor, operative temperature data based on the various building conditions and control profiles which are used to investigate the NVCP at the strategic design stage. The simulation results presented in this paper can be used as a reference guideline for natural ventilation design in China.