Time Enhanced Architectural Modelling (T.E.A.M.): Virtual reality project for the planning and visualization of kinetic architecture and dynamic design

T.E.A.M. is a research project that was created to facilitate the design of kinetic projects and components created through a computational design process. Time is the ingredient that allows dynamism. The following paper examines the core features of Platform One, an experimental digital application born within the project and aimed at supporting designers during the development, in a VE (Virtual Environment) of dynamic architectures and components, as well as the principles that inspired it. The application presents two key features: the first one is that everything modified and developed in the VE retains its geometric characteristics, allowing the user to reach an informed 3D model at the end of the process; the second one is the ease and enjoyment with which the user manipulates complex dynamic geometries in the three-dimensional environment through a natural interface design approach that focuses on direct manipulation of architectural objects and components. The simulator is designed to be used in a 6DOF virtual environment using a commercial VR headset. It has currently been loaded with several archetypal test architectures and soon it will be available to designers who want to test their work with it.

Always Valid Inference: Continuous Monitoring of A/B Tests

A/B tests are typically analyzed via frequentist p-values and confidence intervals, but these inferences are wholly unreliable if users endogenously choose samples sizes by continuously monitoring their tests. We define always valid p-values and confidence intervals that let users try to take advantage of data as fast as it becomes available, providing valid statistical inference whenever they make their decision. Always valid inference can be interpreted as a natural interface for a sequential hypothesis test, which empowers users to implement a modified test tailored to them. In particular, we show in an appropriate sense that the measures we develop trade off sample size and power efficiently, despite a lack of prior knowledge of the user’s relative preference between these two goals. We also use always valid p-values to obtain multiple hypothesis testing control in the sequential context. Our methodology has been implemented in a large-scale commercial A/B testing platform to analyze hundreds of thousands of experiments to date.

Gesture commands for controlling high-level UAV behavior

Directing groups of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) is a task that typically requires the full attention of several operators. This can be prohibitive in situations where an operator must pay attention to their surroundings. In this paper we present a gesture device that assists operators in commanding UAVs in focus-constrained environments. The operator influences the UAVs’ behavior by using intuitive hand gesture movements. Gestures are captured using an accelerometer and gyroscope and then classified using a logistic regression model. Ten gestures were chosen to provide behaviors for a group of fixed-wing UAVs. These behaviors specified various searching, following, and tracking patterns that could be used in a dynamic environment. A novel variant of the Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm was developed to autonomously plan the paths of the cooperating UAVs. These autonomy algorithms were executed when their corresponding gesture was recognized by the gesture device. The gesture device was trained to classify the ten gestures and accurately identified them 95% of the time. Each of the behaviors associated with the gestures was tested in hardware-in-the-loop simulations and the ability to dynamically switch between them was demonstrated. The results show that the system can be used as a natural interface to assist an operator in directing a fleet of UAVs. Article highlights A gesture device was created that enables operators to command a group of UAVs in focus-constrained environments. Each gesture triggers high-level commands that direct a UAV group to execute complex behaviors. Software simulations and hardware-in-the-loop testing shows the device is effective in directing UAV groups.

Ok Google, What Am I Doing?

Conversational assistants in the form of stand-alone devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home have become popular and embraced by millions of people. By serving as a natural interface to services ranging from home automation to media players, conversational assistants help people perform many tasks with ease, such as setting timers, playing music and managing to-do lists. While these systems offer useful capabilities, they are largely passive and unaware of the human behavioral context in which they are used. In this work, we explore how off-the-shelf conversational assistants can be enhanced with acoustic-based human activity recognition by leveraging the short interval after a voice command is given to the device. Since always-on audio recording can pose privacy concerns, our method is unique in that it does not require capturing and analyzing any audio other than the speech-based interactions between people and their conversational assistants. In particular, we leverage background environmental sounds present in these short duration voice-based interactions to recognize activities of daily living. We conducted a study with 14 participants in 3 different locations in their own homes. We showed that our method can recognize 19 different activities of daily living with average precision of 84.85% and average recall of 85.67% in a leave-one-participant-out performance evaluation with 30-second audio clips bound by the voice interactions.

Building integrated photovoltaic design of nonlinear airport roof based on ruled surface fitting

Solar energy is a new renewable energy. Using solar energy to generate electricity is an effective means to achieve sustainable development. The huge roof at the top of the airport is a natural interface to receive solar energy, which can be used to supply the energy needed by the airport through building integrated photovoltaic design. However, due to the curved shape of the airport roof, there are limitations in solar energy acquisition and construction of the airport roof. In this paper, the method of “ruled surface fitting-solar radiation analysis-modular unit arrangement” is used to optimize the shape of the non-linear airport roof, and convert the complex roof surface shape into a straight line with good sunlight performance and easy construction. The ruled surface can better integrate BIPV and nonlinear airport, and improve the solar power generation efficiency of the building, thus improving the sustainable performance of the building.

AEROSPACE: DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT OF A SMART WING USING INTELLIGENT MATERIALS (SMA)

The purpose of this article is to develop a power system using smart tools, such as Shape Memory Spectrum (SMA), to control the shape of the plane. Map the proposed smart wing includes S Springs that are attached to one end of the wing in the windshield profile. The second chain is connected each spring to the valve with the possibility of a cylinder. The upper and lower layers are made to spread the springs up and down. The summer strength is controlled by heat, which is the result of the current display. The smart suite is designed and tested to reflect the purpose of the natural interface. An efficient and effective pipeline management system is provided. Through testing and analyzing the principles, the technology improved and showed great potential for future use. Strategy - the presented system can be applied to other aircraft systems such as wings, fights, roads, and elevators. Parent / Account is a unique emotional sacrifice type. Stored materials are used to propel aircraft flow. This policy applies to wings, bars, riders, and lifters.

Engineered pH-Sensitive Protein G / IgG Interaction

ABSTRACTWhile natural protein-protein interactions have evolved to be induced by complex stimuli, rational design of interactions that can be switched-on-demand still remain challenging in the protein design world. Here, we demonstrate a computationally redesigned natural interface for improved binding affinity could further be mutated to adopt a pH switchable interaction. The redesigned interface of Protein G-IgG Fc domain, when incorporated with histidine and glutamic acid on Protein G (PrG-EHHE), showed a switch in binding affinity by 50-fold when pH was altered from mild acidic to mild basic. The wild type (WT) interface only showed negligible switch. The overall binding affinity at mild acidic pH for PrG-EHHE outperformed the WT PrG interaction. The new reagent PrG-EHHE will be revolutionary in IgG purification since the traditional method of using an extreme acidic pH for elution can be circumvented.Abstract Figure