Combining ontological and temporal formalisms for composite activity modelling and recognition in smart homes

Activity recognition is essential in providing activity assistance for users in smart homes. While significant progress has been made for single-user single-activity recognition, it still remains a challenge to carry out real-time progressive composite activity recognition. This paper introduces a hybrid ontological and temporal approach to composite activity modelling and recognition by extending existing ontology-based knowledge-driven approach. The compelling feature of the approach is that it combines ontological and temporal knowledge representation formalisms to provide powerful representation capabilities for activity modelling. The paper describes in detail ontological activity modelling which establishes relationships between activities and their involved entities, and temporal activity modelling which defines relationships between constituent activities of a composite activity. As an essential part of the model, the paper also presents methods for developing temporal entailment rules to support the interpretation and inference of composite activities. In addition, this paper outlines an integrated architecture for composite activity recognition and elaborated a unified activity recognition algorithm which can support the recognition of simple and composite activities. The approach has been implemented in a feature-rich prototype system upon which testing and evaluation have been conducted. Initial experimental results have shown average recognition accuracy of 100% and 88.26% for simple and composite activities, respectively.     

DOGeye: Controlling your home with eye interaction

Nowadays home automation, with its increased availability, reliability and with its ever reducing costs is gaining momentum and is starting to become a viable solution for enabling people with disabilities to autonomously interact with their homes and to better communicate with other people. However, especially for people with severe mobility impairments, there is still a lack of tools and interfaces for effective control and interaction with home automation systems, and general-purpose solutions are seldom applicable due to the complexity, asynchronicity, time dependent behavior, and safety concerns typical of the home environment. This paper focuses on user-environment interfaces based on the eye tracking technology, which often is the only viable interaction modality for users as such. We propose an eye-based interface tackling the specific requirements of smart environments, already outlined in a public Recommendation issued by the COGAIN European Network of Excellence. The proposed interface has been implemented as a software prototype based on the ETU universal driver, thus being potentially able to run on a variety of eye trackers, and it is compatible with a wide set of smart home technologies, handled by the Domotic OSGi Gateway. A first interface evaluation, with user testing sessions, has been carried and results show that the interface is quite effective and usable without discomfort by people with almost regular eye movement control.     

Women’s mobility,neighbourhood socio-ecologies and homemaking in urban informal settlements

Abstract

The paper contributes to the growing research on relational thinking about housing and home by exploring the informal homes of rural migrants in Khulna city, Bangladesh. The concept of ‘unbounding’ is used to trace the fluidity and connections established between migrant homes and neighbourhood socio-ecologies. Walking interviews exploring women’s livelihoods reveal that different expendable agencies of the urban environment (e.g. trash, weeds and animal excreta) create conditions for labour in which migrant women hold specific competencies to secure essential resources for home. Unbounding positions home within a socio-ecology of multiple houses that women traverse to support their urban living. The approach offers opportunities to examine the unique ways urban homeless populations strategically as well as affectively engage with under-recognized agencies and actors in informal settlements. Unbounding provides a useful lens with which to raise new conceptual and empirical questions about housing and home in relation to the city that contributes to the homes and livelihoods of marginalized populations.     

Microbial volatile organic compounds in the air of moldy and mold-free indoor environments

A single-blinded study was performed to analyze whether indoor environments with and without mold infestation differ significantly in microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOC) concentrations. Air sampling for MVOC was performed in 40 dwellings with evident mold damage and in 44 dwellings, where mold damage was excluded after a thorough investigation. The characteristics of the dwellings, climatic parameters, airborne particles and air exchange rates (AER) were recorded. The parameters mold status, characteristics of the interiors and measured climatic parameters were included in the multiple regression model. The results show no significant association between most of the analyzed MVOC and the mold status. Only the compounds 2-methyl-1-butanol and 1-octen-3-ol indicated a statistically significant, but weak association with the mold status. However, the concentrations of the so-called MVOC were mainly influenced by other indoor factors. 2-Methylfuran and 3-methylfuran, often used as main indicators for mold damage, had a highly significant correlation with the smoking status. These compounds were also significantly correlated with the humidity and the AER. The compounds 3-methyl-1-butanol, 2-hexanone, 3-heptanone and dimethyl disulfide were weakly correlated with the recorded parameters, the humidity being the strongest influencing factor. Only 2-methyl-1-butanol and 1-octen-3-ol showed a statistically significant association with the mold status; however, only a small portion (10% in this case) of the total variability could be explained by the predictor mold status; they do not qualify as indicator compounds, because such minor correlations lead to a too excessive part of incorrect classifications, meaning that the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of these compounds are too low. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The assumption that mold infestations might be detected by microbial VOC emissions must be considered with great reservation. The major part of the total variability of the measured MVOC concentrations originates from not known influencing factors and/or from factors not directly associated with the mold status of the dwellings (confounders). More specific and sensitive markers for the assessment of the mold status should be found, if the screening for mold infestations should be performed by volatile organic compounds.     

基于蓝牙通讯的智能家居红外控制系统的实现

蓝牙技术作为一种在2.4GHz无线基础上新发展起来的电缆置换技术,由于其全球统一的标准性、数据传输方面的优越性、自动组网能力、低功耗、低成本和高安全性等特点,已经得到广泛认同。使用蓝牙技术实现家中各个房间之间的通讯,用红外技术实现对家中各种红外家电的统一红外控制,两种技术相结合构建智能家电控制系统,通过蓝牙红外中继器控制实现蓝牙通讯信号到红外控制信号的转换,从而实现对红外家居设备的统一管理。     

Sustainable thermal technologies and care homes: Productive alignment or risky investment?

The use of more sustainable thermal technologies is a policy imperative across the UK building stock. However, not all building uses provide the same opportunities for technology uptake as others. Care homes for older people have characteristics which in technical and economic terms suggest that they might be particularly appropriate for the implementation of more sustainable thermal technologies. They have comparatively high demands for space heating and hot water often sustained on a 24/7 basis. However there are many considerations, both generic and contextual, that will typically play into processes of technology uptake. Through qualitative research in six case study homes, focused on management and staff perspectives and experiences, we explore the degree to which there might be a productive alignment between care home operation and the use of sustainable thermal technologies. Two key themes emerge focused on business considerations and the importance of avoiding risk and damage to reputation; and the ways in which different thermal technologies are relevant to and can potentially impact on care practices. We conclude that despite potential benefits the sector could remain rather resistant to sustainability innovations. We suggest therefore areas in which productive action and further research could be undertaken.     

It’s Time to End Single-Family Zoning

Abstract

Local planning in the United States is unique in the amount of land it reserves for detached single-family homes. This privileging of single-family homes, normally called R1 zoning, exacerbates inequality and undermines efficiency. R1’s origins are unpleasant: Stained by explicitly classist and implicitly racist motivations, R1 today continues to promote exclusion. It makes it harder for people to access high-opportunity places, and in expensive regions it contributes to shortages of housing, thereby benefiting homeowners at the expense of renters and forcing many housing consumers to spend more on housing. Stacked against these drawbacks, moreover, are a series of only weak arguments in R1’s favor about preferences, aesthetics, and a single-family way of life. We demonstrate that these pro-R1 concerns are either specious, or can be addressed in ways less socially harmful than R1. Given the strong arguments against R1 and the weak arguments for it, we contend planners should work to abolish R1 single-family zoning.     

Variations of formaldehyde and VOC levels during 3 years in new and older homes

Indoor air organic compounds were continuously monitored during 3 years in new and older homes which were voluntarily selected throughout countries. The levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the new homes decreased markedly after 1 year, and steady emissions of VOCs were obtained in the initial months. Formaldehyde and a-pinene related to wooden materials need a longer flushing period than the other compounds in the new homes. The levels of the indoor air organic compounds in the older homes showed no significant fluctuation during the 3-year period. Decreases of the indoor-produced compounds in the new homes did not depend upon the ventilation systems. The results indicate that the indoor-produced compounds in the new homes will be more influenced by the aging decreases of emission source strengths than ventilation systems. The quantitative information on the trend of the indoor air organic compound levels will be useful for the risk assessment of indoor exposure to those compounds, and also for Japanese IAQ guidelines. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The initial levels of VOCs in the new homes decreased dramatically and were close to the mean values for the older homes after one year. The results suggest that steady emissions of VOCs are obtained within initial months. However, formaldehyde and a-pinene did not follow the trend for VOCs, particularly in the wooden framed houses. The results tend to suggest that formaldehyde and a-pinene related to wooden materials will need more long a flushing period than other compounds in the new homes. Decreasing tendency of indoor air organic compound levels in the new homes did not appear to show any dependency upon the ventilation systems over the whole period. Absence of data for ventilation rates in the houses dose not permit interpretation of the relation between ventilation rates and indoor air organic compound levels with statistical certainty, but the results suggest that indoor air organic compound levels in the homes will be more influenced by emission source strengths than ventilation systems. The levels of indoor air organic compounds in the new homes are sufficiently decreased according to the ageing decreases of organic compounds when the home is ventilated with adequate quantities.     

房车的再设计与再制造

本文以房车产业为例,从产品的再设计与再制造的角度出发,探讨在当今工业生产背景下,工业产品的生产如何能够适应社会与环境需求,并用再设计与再制造的协同优势完成对该产品的应用研究.     

Costs of a more spacious home after remodelling by hermit crabs

Architectural creations occur throughout the animal kingdom, with invertebrates and vertebrates building structures such as homes to maximize their Darwinian fitness. Animal architects face many trade-offs in building optimally designed structures. But what about animals that do not build, and those that only remodel the original creations of others: do such secondary architects face similar trade-offs? Recent evidence has revealed that hermit crabs—animals well known for opportunistically moving into remnant gastropod shells—can also act as secondary architects, remodelling the shells they inherit from gastropods. Remodelling has only been found among terrestrial hermits (Coenobita spp.), not marine hermits. Here we investigate the potential trade-offs Coenobita compressus faces from remodelling by subjecting its remodelled and unremodelled homes to controlled engineering crush tests, which parallel the homes being crushed by predators. While remodelled homes are significantly more spacious and lightweight than unremodelled homes, we find that the homes attain these beneficial qualities at a cost: a reduced resistance to being crushed. Hermit crabs may therefore only remodel their homes to thresholds set by the bite force of their predators. Our results suggest that, like primary animal architects, which face trade-offs when optimizing architectural designs, secondary animal architects face trade-offs when remodelling such designs.