<p>    </p> <p>Technological advances and gaming have assisted users in becoming energy-efficient or raising awareness about energy efficiency. However, these games typically take place in schools and workplaces. Low-income households, which spend a larger percentage of income on utilities compared to average income households, exhibit greater sensitivity to energy disturbances. Despite this, there has been limited research on applying these technologies in low-income households. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The dissertation addresses the research gap concerning motivating low-income households to adopt new technologies focused on implementing energy-efficient HVAC behaviors. To achieve this objective, a gamification approach is employed, integrating a competitive social game into a cloud-based application named MySmartE. This application offers personalized eco-feedback and enables voice commands using Amazon Alexa. The game is deployed in two multi-residential low-income household communities located in Indiana. The collected data from field studies is analyzed to explore various aspects, including community interactions during the gaming seasons, technology adoption, and factors influencing participation in the social game. The findings reveal a positive correlation between increased gaming interac- tions and the adoption of MySmartE technology within these communities, underscoring the potential of gamification and technology to effectively engage low-income households in adopting energy-efficient practices. </p>

As questões relacionadas à prática da eutanásia, que têm sido apresentadas, em nossa sociedade, especialmente através da mídia, levaram-me à realização deste estudo. A partir de aproximações com leituras do campo dos Estudos Culturais, nas suas versões pós-estruturalistas, dos Estudos da Ciência e de estudos de Michel Foucault, passei a interrogar como a rede de enunciados relacionados à vida, à morte e à eutanásia aparecem na mídia impressa. Neste estudo, estou entendendo o corpo como produção de práticas sociais; a materialidade biológica, ao ser inscrita por discursos e práticas de diferentes instâncias culturais que se articulam ou se confrontam, configura-se naquilo que nomeamos de corpo; o morrer não apenas como um fato biológico, mas também como um processo construído socialmente cujas transformações alteram comportamentos e sentimentos; e a medicina como um saber/poder que, principalmente a partir do século XIX, numa política dirigida à vida, vai incidir sobre o corpo e os fenômenos biológicos, controlando e regulamentando o indivíduo e sua vida/morte.Hoje, a mídia tem ocupado destacado lugar na veiculação e instituição de determinadas verdades, funcionando como uma importante estratégia de regulação do corpo e da vida. Nesse sentido, os enunciados que nos interpelam cotidianamente, ao serem incorporados, configuram determinados modos de pensar e agir. No estudo, analisei edições dos jornais Zero Hora (ZH), de Porto Alegre/RS, e Folha de São Paulo, de São Paulo, e da revista Veja, publicadas ao longo do ano de 2005 e 2006, que tratavam de casos relacionados à eutanásia. A partir das discussões e dos relatos apresentados pelas reportagens, percebi a ocorrência de movimentos voltados a debater e a repensar as formas como se tem exercido o poder sobre a vida das pessoas, como, por exemplo, as mobilizações da sociedade em manifestações públicas de apoio ou protesto às decisões sobre a vida/morte de pacientes com doenças terminais ou sem chance de cura, assim como a existência de embates entre médicos e advogados nabusca pela legitimação da prática médica em suspender ou limitar procedimentos e tratamentos que prolonguem ou mantenham a “vida” dos pacientes. Compreendi que, os avanços da tecnociência e da ampliação do poder de intervenção médica no “curso” da vida/morte têm atuado como estratégias para salvar e manter a vida, sem que se questionem as condições do paciente e da vida que está sendo mantida. Por fim, percebi o caráter e a força política dessas discussões e manifestações, mobilizando órgãos como o Conselho Federal de Medicina a aprovar uma Resolução favorável aos limites do saber e do poder sobre a vida, além de contribuir para a aceitação da ortotanásia na sociedade e trazer discussões sobre os alicerces em que as leis, normas e códigos brasileiros se amparam.Minha proposta foi possibilitar um outro espaço de pensar e problematizar determinadas práticas diante da possibilidade de liberdade de decisão e ação das pessoas em situações de morte e chamar a atenção para a posição hegemônica dos discursos – religioso, jurídico, médico – no gerenciamento da vida/morte. / Issues related to euthanasia practice that have been shown in our society, especially through media, motivated this study. From approximations to the Cultural Studies in its post-structuralist versions, Science Studies, and works of Michel Foucault, I have questioned how utterances related to life, death, and euthanasia have been shown in media. In this study, body is understood as a production of social practices; the biological materiality, on being inscribed by discourses and practices from different cultural instances that are articulated or confronted, conforms what we have named as body; dying is seen not only as a biological fact, but also as a process that is socially constructed, whose transformations alter behaviors and feelings; and medicine is taken as a knowledge/power that, particularly from the nineteenth century, in a policy directed towards life, has acted on the body and the biological phenomena, controlling and regulating the individual and his/her life/death. Presently, media has had a marked role in spreading and instituting certain truths, functioning as an important strategy to regulate body and life. In this sense, utterances that have stricken us daily, when they are embodied, conform certain ways of thinking and acting. In this study, I have analyzed issues of two newspapers (Zero Hora, from Porto Alegre/RS, and Folha de São Paulo, from São Paulo), and a magazine (Veja), published over the years 2005 and 2006, presenting cases related to euthanasia. From the discussions and reports considered, I have noticed the occurrence of movements to both debate and rethink the ways power has been exerted on peoples’ lives. For instance, mobilizations of society in public manifestations to either support or protest against decisions about life/death of terminal patients with no chances to be cured, as well as the existence of disputes between physicians and lawyers in search of legitimization of the medical practice to suspend or limit procedures and treatments that prolong or maintain patients’ “lives”. I have understood that, despite the great developments in techno-science and the amplification of power of medical intervention, more comprehensive reflections to show impacts of these new treatments and their possibleconsequences have not been made. Such interventions in the “course” of life/death have acted as strategies to save and maintain life, in a logic ruled by life, without questioning the conditions of either the patient or the life that is maintained. Finally, I have perceived the political character and strength of those discussions and manifests, mobilizing institutions, such as the Federal Medical Board, to approve a Resolution that favors the limits of knowledge and power over life, besides contributing towards the acceptance of orthothanasia in society and bringing about discussions on the foundations on which Brazilian laws, norms and codes are grounded. My proposal has been to provide another space to think and problematize certain practices, in relation to the possibility of freedom to decide and act of people facing death situations, as well as to draw attention to the hegemonic position of – religious, juridical, and medical – discourses in life/death management.

As questões relacionadas à prática da eutanásia, que têm sido apresentadas, em nossa sociedade, especialmente através da mídia, levaram-me à realização deste estudo. A partir de aproximações com leituras do campo dos Estudos Culturais, nas suas versões pós-estruturalistas, dos Estudos da Ciência e de estudos de Michel Foucault, passei a interrogar como a rede de enunciados relacionados à vida, à morte e à eutanásia aparecem na mídia impressa. Neste estudo, estou entendendo o corpo como produção de práticas sociais; a materialidade biológica, ao ser inscrita por discursos e práticas de diferentes instâncias culturais que se articulam ou se confrontam, configura-se naquilo que nomeamos de corpo; o morrer não apenas como um fato biológico, mas também como um processo construído socialmente cujas transformações alteram comportamentos e sentimentos; e a medicina como um saber/poder que, principalmente a partir do século XIX, numa política dirigida à vida, vai incidir sobre o corpo e os fenômenos biológicos, controlando e regulamentando o indivíduo e sua vida/morte.Hoje, a mídia tem ocupado destacado lugar na veiculação e instituição de determinadas verdades, funcionando como uma importante estratégia de regulação do corpo e da vida. Nesse sentido, os enunciados que nos interpelam cotidianamente, ao serem incorporados, configuram determinados modos de pensar e agir. No estudo, analisei edições dos jornais Zero Hora (ZH), de Porto Alegre/RS, e Folha de São Paulo, de São Paulo, e da revista Veja, publicadas ao longo do ano de 2005 e 2006, que tratavam de casos relacionados à eutanásia. A partir das discussões e dos relatos apresentados pelas reportagens, percebi a ocorrência de movimentos voltados a debater e a repensar as formas como se tem exercido o poder sobre a vida das pessoas, como, por exemplo, as mobilizações da sociedade em manifestações públicas de apoio ou protesto às decisões sobre a vida/morte de pacientes com doenças terminais ou sem chance de cura, assim como a existência de embates entre médicos e advogados nabusca pela legitimação da prática médica em suspender ou limitar procedimentos e tratamentos que prolonguem ou mantenham a “vida” dos pacientes. Compreendi que, os avanços da tecnociência e da ampliação do poder de intervenção médica no “curso” da vida/morte têm atuado como estratégias para salvar e manter a vida, sem que se questionem as condições do paciente e da vida que está sendo mantida. Por fim, percebi o caráter e a força política dessas discussões e manifestações, mobilizando órgãos como o Conselho Federal de Medicina a aprovar uma Resolução favorável aos limites do saber e do poder sobre a vida, além de contribuir para a aceitação da ortotanásia na sociedade e trazer discussões sobre os alicerces em que as leis, normas e códigos brasileiros se amparam.Minha proposta foi possibilitar um outro espaço de pensar e problematizar determinadas práticas diante da possibilidade de liberdade de decisão e ação das pessoas em situações de morte e chamar a atenção para a posição hegemônica dos discursos – religioso, jurídico, médico – no gerenciamento da vida/morte. / Issues related to euthanasia practice that have been shown in our society, especially through media, motivated this study. From approximations to the Cultural Studies in its post-structuralist versions, Science Studies, and works of Michel Foucault, I have questioned how utterances related to life, death, and euthanasia have been shown in media. In this study, body is understood as a production of social practices; the biological materiality, on being inscribed by discourses and practices from different cultural instances that are articulated or confronted, conforms what we have named as body; dying is seen not only as a biological fact, but also as a process that is socially constructed, whose transformations alter behaviors and feelings; and medicine is taken as a knowledge/power that, particularly from the nineteenth century, in a policy directed towards life, has acted on the body and the biological phenomena, controlling and regulating the individual and his/her life/death. Presently, media has had a marked role in spreading and instituting certain truths, functioning as an important strategy to regulate body and life. In this sense, utterances that have stricken us daily, when they are embodied, conform certain ways of thinking and acting. In this study, I have analyzed issues of two newspapers (Zero Hora, from Porto Alegre/RS, and Folha de São Paulo, from São Paulo), and a magazine (Veja), published over the years 2005 and 2006, presenting cases related to euthanasia. From the discussions and reports considered, I have noticed the occurrence of movements to both debate and rethink the ways power has been exerted on peoples’ lives. For instance, mobilizations of society in public manifestations to either support or protest against decisions about life/death of terminal patients with no chances to be cured, as well as the existence of disputes between physicians and lawyers in search of legitimization of the medical practice to suspend or limit procedures and treatments that prolong or maintain patients’ “lives”. I have understood that, despite the great developments in techno-science and the amplification of power of medical intervention, more comprehensive reflections to show impacts of these new treatments and their possibleconsequences have not been made. Such interventions in the “course” of life/death have acted as strategies to save and maintain life, in a logic ruled by life, without questioning the conditions of either the patient or the life that is maintained. Finally, I have perceived the political character and strength of those discussions and manifests, mobilizing institutions, such as the Federal Medical Board, to approve a Resolution that favors the limits of knowledge and power over life, besides contributing towards the acceptance of orthothanasia in society and bringing about discussions on the foundations on which Brazilian laws, norms and codes are grounded. My proposal has been to provide another space to think and problematize certain practices, in relation to the possibility of freedom to decide and act of people facing death situations, as well as to draw attention to the hegemonic position of – religious, juridical, and medical – discourses in life/death management.

As questões relacionadas à prática da eutanásia, que têm sido apresentadas, em nossa sociedade, especialmente através da mídia, levaram-me à realização deste estudo. A partir de aproximações com leituras do campo dos Estudos Culturais, nas suas versões pós-estruturalistas, dos Estudos da Ciência e de estudos de Michel Foucault, passei a interrogar como a rede de enunciados relacionados à vida, à morte e à eutanásia aparecem na mídia impressa. Neste estudo, estou entendendo o corpo como produção de práticas sociais; a materialidade biológica, ao ser inscrita por discursos e práticas de diferentes instâncias culturais que se articulam ou se confrontam, configura-se naquilo que nomeamos de corpo; o morrer não apenas como um fato biológico, mas também como um processo construído socialmente cujas transformações alteram comportamentos e sentimentos; e a medicina como um saber/poder que, principalmente a partir do século XIX, numa política dirigida à vida, vai incidir sobre o corpo e os fenômenos biológicos, controlando e regulamentando o indivíduo e sua vida/morte.Hoje, a mídia tem ocupado destacado lugar na veiculação e instituição de determinadas verdades, funcionando como uma importante estratégia de regulação do corpo e da vida. Nesse sentido, os enunciados que nos interpelam cotidianamente, ao serem incorporados, configuram determinados modos de pensar e agir. No estudo, analisei edições dos jornais Zero Hora (ZH), de Porto Alegre/RS, e Folha de São Paulo, de São Paulo, e da revista Veja, publicadas ao longo do ano de 2005 e 2006, que tratavam de casos relacionados à eutanásia. A partir das discussões e dos relatos apresentados pelas reportagens, percebi a ocorrência de movimentos voltados a debater e a repensar as formas como se tem exercido o poder sobre a vida das pessoas, como, por exemplo, as mobilizações da sociedade em manifestações públicas de apoio ou protesto às decisões sobre a vida/morte de pacientes com doenças terminais ou sem chance de cura, assim como a existência de embates entre médicos e advogados nabusca pela legitimação da prática médica em suspender ou limitar procedimentos e tratamentos que prolonguem ou mantenham a “vida” dos pacientes. Compreendi que, os avanços da tecnociência e da ampliação do poder de intervenção médica no “curso” da vida/morte têm atuado como estratégias para salvar e manter a vida, sem que se questionem as condições do paciente e da vida que está sendo mantida. Por fim, percebi o caráter e a força política dessas discussões e manifestações, mobilizando órgãos como o Conselho Federal de Medicina a aprovar uma Resolução favorável aos limites do saber e do poder sobre a vida, além de contribuir para a aceitação da ortotanásia na sociedade e trazer discussões sobre os alicerces em que as leis, normas e códigos brasileiros se amparam.Minha proposta foi possibilitar um outro espaço de pensar e problematizar determinadas práticas diante da possibilidade de liberdade de decisão e ação das pessoas em situações de morte e chamar a atenção para a posição hegemônica dos discursos – religioso, jurídico, médico – no gerenciamento da vida/morte. / Issues related to euthanasia practice that have been shown in our society, especially through media, motivated this study. From approximations to the Cultural Studies in its post-structuralist versions, Science Studies, and works of Michel Foucault, I have questioned how utterances related to life, death, and euthanasia have been shown in media. In this study, body is understood as a production of social practices; the biological materiality, on being inscribed by discourses and practices from different cultural instances that are articulated or confronted, conforms what we have named as body; dying is seen not only as a biological fact, but also as a process that is socially constructed, whose transformations alter behaviors and feelings; and medicine is taken as a knowledge/power that, particularly from the nineteenth century, in a policy directed towards life, has acted on the body and the biological phenomena, controlling and regulating the individual and his/her life/death. Presently, media has had a marked role in spreading and instituting certain truths, functioning as an important strategy to regulate body and life. In this sense, utterances that have stricken us daily, when they are embodied, conform certain ways of thinking and acting. In this study, I have analyzed issues of two newspapers (Zero Hora, from Porto Alegre/RS, and Folha de São Paulo, from São Paulo), and a magazine (Veja), published over the years 2005 and 2006, presenting cases related to euthanasia. From the discussions and reports considered, I have noticed the occurrence of movements to both debate and rethink the ways power has been exerted on peoples’ lives. For instance, mobilizations of society in public manifestations to either support or protest against decisions about life/death of terminal patients with no chances to be cured, as well as the existence of disputes between physicians and lawyers in search of legitimization of the medical practice to suspend or limit procedures and treatments that prolong or maintain patients’ “lives”. I have understood that, despite the great developments in techno-science and the amplification of power of medical intervention, more comprehensive reflections to show impacts of these new treatments and their possibleconsequences have not been made. Such interventions in the “course” of life/death have acted as strategies to save and maintain life, in a logic ruled by life, without questioning the conditions of either the patient or the life that is maintained. Finally, I have perceived the political character and strength of those discussions and manifests, mobilizing institutions, such as the Federal Medical Board, to approve a Resolution that favors the limits of knowledge and power over life, besides contributing towards the acceptance of orthothanasia in society and bringing about discussions on the foundations on which Brazilian laws, norms and codes are grounded. My proposal has been to provide another space to think and problematize certain practices, in relation to the possibility of freedom to decide and act of people facing death situations, as well as to draw attention to the hegemonic position of – religious, juridical, and medical – discourses in life/death management.

<p dir="ltr">Personalized thermal controls are beneficial for occupant comfort and productivity in office buildings. Recent research efforts on learning personal thermal comfort support the integration of personalized preferences in optimal building control and further implementation in real buildings. This Thesis presents the development and field implementation of personal preference-based thermal control in real offices, emphasizing the role of model predictive control (MPC) and low-cost local sensing. Probabilistic thermal preference profiles, a low-cost thermal sensing network and a MPC framework were integrated into a centralized building management and control system. The customized, preference-based HVAC control implemented in the offices indicated the comfort benefits of monitoring local thermal conditions (vs wall thermostats) for different preference profiles and showed 28-35% energy savings with personalized MPC (vs personalized static setpoint control).</p><p dir="ltr">Regarding the practical limitations in collecting sufficient data from occupants to train their thermal comfort model, we present a Bayesian meta-learning approach for developing reliable, data-driven personalized thermal comfort models using limited data from individuals. A high-dimensional neural network was developed, considering general thermal comfort impact factors (environmental variables, clothing level and metabolic rate) as well as personal thermal characteristics (expressed as a vector of continuous latent variables) as model inputs. The model parameters in the neural network were trained with subsets of ASHRAE RP-884 database. The trained neural network is transferrable, so that the thermal preferences of new individuals can be predicted by inferring their personal thermal characteristics using limited data. The results show that the developed Bayesian meta-learning approach to infer personal thermal comfort performs better than existing methods, especially when using limited data.</p><p dir="ltr">Moreover, this Thesis also discusses the potential of balancing thermal comfort and energy cost by setting dynamic temperature constraints in personalized MPC. A co-simulation framework of EnergyPlus and MPC is constructed using EnergyPlus Python API. Dynamic temperature constraints are selected based on personal thermal profile, weather conditions and utility rate variations. The performance of the personalized MPC with dynamic constraints demonstrates a balance between thermal comfort and energy cost in cooling season.</p>

<p>  </p> <p>Heating and cooling (HC) energy use account for about 40% of the total annual energy consumption and cost of an average household in the U.S and it is significantly affected by residents’ energy-related behavior. This is particularly important for low-income residents in the U.S. who spend a larger portion of their income (i.e., about 16%) on home energy costs compared to average-income households (i.e., 4%). To address opportunities for reducing residential HC energy usage without requiring physical building upgrades, this thesis presents a new paradigm for smart and connected energy-aware communities that leverage smart eco-feedback devices and social games to engage residents in understanding and reducing their home energy use.</p> <p><br></p> <p>First, this Thesis presents a new modeling approach for personalized eco-feedback design integrated with a collaborative social game to assist residents to enhance their thermostat use while promoting community-level energy savings. The modeling framework is integrated into a cloud-based application, MySmartE, with visual (wall-mounted tablet) and voice (Alexa) user interfaces to facilitate behavioral changes in a user-centric approach. The platform is deployed in a multi-unit residential community in Fort Wayne, IN and the experimental data are used to investigate: (i) how occupants’ thermostat behaviors changed after using the MySmartE app; (ii) how users interacted with the app during the game; and (iii) how was users’ experience with the developed platform. Despite the heterogeneous characteristics of households, the results from the field study show the positive effect of the intervention in the thermostat-adjustment behaviors, which results in an increase in the indoor temperature during the cooling season compared to the baseline period. Findings from the user interaction analysis and post-experiment interviews also reveal the significant potential to nudge households’ energy conservation behaviors with the developed platform along with the challenges that should be tackled to derive long-term behavior changes. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Second, this Thesis introduces a sociotechnical modeling approach based on utility theory to reveal causal effects in human decision-making and infer attributes affecting households’ thermostat responses during an eco-feedback intervention. This modeling approach (i) is based on a utility model that quantifies residents’ preferences over indoor temperatures given decision attributes related to their thermal environment and eco-feedback and (ii) incorporates latent parameters that are inferred to determine the unique behavioral characteristics of each household. For parameter learning, a hierarchical Bayesian model is developed with a non-centered parameterization and calibrated to the field data. Based on the calibration results, the proposed model quantifies the impact of the eco-feedback on households’ thermostat-adjustment behaviors and serves as a foundation for analyzing resident behavior in connected residential communities with eco-feedback energy-saving programs.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Finally, this Thesis presents a modeling approach for investigating the decision trends of residents in goal-oriented collaborative social games while considering their decision preferences and goal achievement capabilities. The proposed approach involves a mechanism design method that derives optimal decisions by conducting counterfactual simulations given various scenarios of goal and reward sets. This modeling approach (i) re-defines utility functions to include decision attributes that reflect user preferences on the game status; (ii) calibrates the model to learn the decision preferences of the residents; (iii) simulates the decision-making process of residents by solving the Nash Equilibrium for a given set of game scenarios. The results revealed the decision trends of the residents given the various goals and rewards along with the potential goal achievement trends and the resulting variations in the marginal community utility.</p>

<p>  </p> <p>Recent developments in radiative cooling paints have shown significant promise towards commercialization of the technology. Therefore, questions have been asked as to how the durability of these paints could be evaluated and improved, as well as how these paints could impact energy use and global climate change. In this work, a paint formulation was developed using nanoplatelet hBN pigments with an MP-101 binder from SDC Technologies, Inc. This formulation shows similar reflective properties to that of an hBN acrylic formulation (97.5% and 97.9% reflectance, respectively) while boosting a water droplet contact angle of as much as 120°, proving hydrophobicity and therefore self-cleaning properties. Additionally, a comprehensive study was conducted to understand the potential impact of the radiative cooling paints on the changing global climate. Three potential impacts of the paint were discussed, including capture and utilization of CO2 into the CaCO3 paint, the reduction of HVAC usage on buildings painted with the RC paints, and net cooling of the earth due to the solar reflection and thermal emission of the paint into deep space. It was discovered that all three parts had a positive impact on the global climate, regardless of which US climate zone the representative building was in. Additionally, it was found that the paints could reduce as much as an equivalent 539 lbs CO2eq from the atmosphere for each m2 of the paint applied.</p>

<p>This dissertation focuses on the creation of a paradigm shift in building innovation. Challenges in achieving building energy-efficiency at scale highlight the complexity of the building performance problem, which is embedded with social, cultural, physical, environmental, and economic factors. Traditional approaches to building design have difficulty accounting for these multi-faceted variables and related longitudinal barriers and intangible impacts. Firstly, key stakeholders and their economic constraints change throughout time, and this variability is not traditionally considered upfront or addressed throughout a building’s operation. Secondly, buildings have social, cultural, environmental and economic implications that are difficult to quantify and evaluate against strictly functional design objectives. Therefore, current deeply technical and often system-specific building design strategies could benefit from whole-building solutions that account for this complexity and enable a paradigm shift in design toward human-centered outcomes (i.e., well-being, health, financial sustainability) and effective (i.e., equitable and sustainable) buildings. </p> <p>To drive this shift, an impact-based innovation framework was employed to pursue system-level and ecosystem-level strategies to optimize longitudinal building value assessment and distribution. First, a grounded theory study was pursued which identified gaps in current design practice that miss underlying building subsystem interactions which influence building performance. A system-level taxonomy of the building was then defined, linking identified sub-system synergies to functional, emotional and social building benefits for inhabitants. Then, an exploratory mixed-methods study was pursued, yielding a longitudinal building value framework that helps characterize key stakeholders, building design choices, and shared efficacy metrics. Building on these inputs, a multi-stakeholder, longitudinal building value assessment model was developed. The model was tested on two residential building development scenarios, highlighting its ability to capture the true impact of buildings on affected stakeholders over time in terms of tangible and intangible building costs and benefits. Finally, business model innovation concepts were employed to identify specific changes in stakeholder value delivery and capture strategies that could redistribute building costs and benefits over time, and thereby facilitate a shift in the paradigm of design and value capture in the residential building industry. </p>