The goal of this study is to create a method for designers to reconcile the critical functional and aesthetic requirements in chair design. This paper presents a brief history of the design of chairs, an overview of historical types of proportional systems, a discussion of anthropometry and the technical requirements of chair design. The body of the study involves the affects of the application of anthropometric measurement to the proportions of two Modernist chairs; the Zig Zag chair by Gerrit Reitveld and the Grand Confort or LC2 chair by Le Corbusier, Perriand and Jeanneret. Changes to the proportions of the chairs will be proposed in an attempt to fit a variety of people, including outliers in the population. The findings of the study indicate that the chairs resulting from the anthropometric changes are not considered beautiful or well proportioned when they contradict the structural logic of the original design. By determining a hierarchy of functional requirements and understanding the anthropometric values associated with it, a designer can develop the products aesthetics and test them during the design process using this method.

In recent years, the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project has become a widespread mode for infrastructure construction. The BOT project is promoted to alleviate the government financial pressure and lead in efficiency of the private sector. There were a lot of large constructions to adopt BOT model, such as Taiwan High Speed Rail, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System, and so forth. Self-liquidating ratio (SLR) is one of the most important indicators in evaluating a BOT project. Since the cash flow structures are different between BOT projects and projects financed solely by government, the original SLR formula is not perfectly suitable. Therefore, this study revises the SLR formula, and tries to use the new definition to construct a financial-decision model for the government and concession company. When the government administration and the concession company negotiate a concession agreement, they have to determine the investment proportion and royalty. However, traditional evaluation model, such as Net-Present Value Method, Internal Rate of Return Method, are rarely focus on the theme. As a result, there is not a appropriate standard to use. This study combines cash flow concept and linear programming method to construct financial-decision models for both sides. We expect to look for a bargain space of investment proportion and royalty. With the bargain space, the participants of BOT project can make a better investment decision, and reduce the wrong policy which may lead the waste of social resources.

No description available.

No description available.

A series of experiments examined both the phenomenological nature and centrality of Cognitive Control in common cognitive paradigms. This was done primarily by employing manipulations of Congruency Proportion (CP), which are thought to modulate key aspects of Cognitive Control. Experiment 1 leads this investigation by examining the degree to which participants are consciously aware of the influence of CP in the Simon task. Here, it was observed that participants’ subjective reports of the proportion of congruent trials did not predict their actual CP effects, suggesting a non-conscious locus of CP effects. Experiments 2 and 3 followed up these preliminary findings by assessing the degree to which CP effects differentially modulate the application of Cognitive Control in two variants of the size congruity paradigm (Numerical Judgement and Physical Judgement). Here, I found that manipulations of CP significantly impacted the Numerical Judgement task, but not the Physical Judgement task, and thus seriously challenge the notion of a central and unitary Cognitive Control module. In Experiment 4, I assessed the systematic variation (via correlations) of effects from the size congruity paradigm and the Stroop task across blocks of trials at different levels of CP. In addition, I examined the degree to which the effects of CP were related to common self report measures of Cognitive Control (the Need for Cognition scale and Cognitive Failures Questionnaire). The pattern of within-task and between-task reliabilities was examined to elucidate the degree to which there is a common central control component that governs behaviour in all tasks. There was surprisingly little to no relation among the CP effects observed in these three tasks. In addition, neither participants’ engagement with the task (as indexed by theNeed for Cognition Scale), nor their propensity to have attentional slips (as indexed by the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire) predicted their performance in any way. Taken together, this set of experiments has seriously undermined the received view that CP effects arise from a central and unitary form of conscious control. These results are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of Cognitive Control.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2005

Mitt examensprojekt är en experimentell undersökning av proportionalitet som vägledande princip i den arkitektoniska formgivningprocessen. Proportionslära ansågs länge vara en viktig del av arkitekturämnet, men är idag mest något som hör arkitekturhistorien till. Det ursprungligen matematiska begreppet proportionalitet har utvidgats men i och med det också urvattnats. Euklides definierar det så här: en första storhet förhåller sig till en andra storhet så som den andra storheten förhåller sig till en tredje. En gång i tiden ansågs en byggnads skönhet och dess proportionerliga förhållande delar och helhet emellan, vara direkt sammankopplade. Palladio skriver t.ex: ”(...) i fråga om alla byggnader är (det) nödvändigt, att alla deras delar överensstämma med varandra och hava sådana proportioner att det ej finns någon av dem, varmed man icke skulle kunna mäta det hela och även var och en av de andra delarna(...). Inom detta sätt att tänka är skönhet och proportion sammankopplade med det musikteoretiska harmonibegreppet, dvs hur olika toner samspelar på ett enhetligt vis. Med tiden har proportionsbegreppet utvidgats och vi kan idag tala om hur exempelvis en fasad är proportionerligt komponerad eller ej, och detta utan att analysera dess matematiska egenskaper. Istället hänvisar vi till saker som upplevd av balans mellan byggnadsdelar. Här tjänar proportionsbegreppet väl som liknelse. Men det har samtidigt skett en betydelseförskjutning som inte på något sätt berikar vår förståelse av arkitektur. Proportion används idag som en synonym till ”talförhållande”, vilket som helst. Det är inte bara allmänt vedertaget att prata om exempelvis ett ”fönsters proportioner” när man syftar till förhållandet mellan dess höjd och bredd, jag upplever att detta språkbruk även vara utbrett inom arkitektkåren. Mig veterligen så finns det ingen rektangel förutom den ”gyllene” som i sig är proportionerlig (Den gyllene rektangelns kortsida förhåller sig till dess långsida så som långsidan förhåller sig till långsidan + kortsidan).Jag ser att, det i min mening urvattnade proportionsbegreppet har lett till en del missförstånd och fördomar om vad proportioner handlar om. Att det enbart skulle handla om en uppsättning normer där vissa talförhållanden helt godtyckligt har premierats framför andra. I detta sammanhang är det lätt att förstå den skepsis många arkitekter känner inför proportionsläror. Varför ska man lita på förutbestämda regler framför att lita på sin egen intuition?I mitt arbete har jag mer och mer förstått att olika talförhållanden samspelar mer eller mindre bra med varandra. Att de besitter vissa egenskaper och på olika sätt är ”besläktade” med varandra. Jag har använt beprövade förhållanden och hittat vad jag faktiskt tror är nya harmonier. Även om jag vågar påstå mig ha ritat en till hög grad både proportionerlig och harmonisk byggnad så är förstås kvaliteterna i dessa proportioner och harmonier öppna för diskussion. / My degree project is an experimental examination of proportionality as a guiding principle in the architectural design process. proportioning was long considered to be an important part of the architecture of the subject, but today is the most thing of architectural history to. It originally mathematical concept of proportionality has been extended but with it too watered down. Euclid defines it like this: a first magnitude is related to a second magnitude as the other entity is related to a third. At one time it was considered a building's beauty and its proportionate relationship between parts and the whole, be directly linked. Palladio writes for example: "(...) in all the buildings are (the) necessary, that all their parts correspond with each other, and have such proportions that there are any of them, which they would not be able to measure it all and also each of the other parts (...). In this way of thinking is the beauty and proportion connected with the music theory harmony concept, ie how different tones interact in a uniform way. Over time, the proportion concept expanded and today we can talk about how, for example, a facade is proportionally composed or not, and this without analyzing its mathematical properties. Instead, we refer to things that are perceived by the balance between building components. This serves commensurate concept well parable. But there has also been a significant shift in no way enriches our understanding of architecture. Proportion is used today as a synonym for "voice-holding" any. It is not only widely accepted to talk about, for example, a "window's proportions" when referring to the ratio of its height and width, I feel that this language even be widespread in the architectural profession. To my knowledge there is no rectangle in addition to the "golden" which itself is proportionate (The golden rectangle short side is related to the long side so that the long side is related to the long side + short side) .I see that, in my opinion watered down proportionate concept has led to some misunderstandings and prejudices about what proportions is about. It would only be about a set of norms which some speech conditions arbitrarily has been awarded over others. In this context it is easy to understand the skepticism many architects feel about proportion teachings. Why should you rely on predetermined rules rather than rely on their own intuition? In my work, I have more and more understood that various speech conditions interact more or less well with each other. That they possess certain characteristics and in different ways is "related" to each other. I have used proven circumstances and found what I actually think is new harmonies. Although I dare say I have drawn one to measure both the proportional and harmonious building so of course the qualities of these proportions and harmonies open for discussion.

This thesis is an investigation and analysis of a classical typology, the Villa, aided by extensive travel and research. The project begins to identify a new found set of guidelines of proportion, planes, points, and the space in between them to understand the forms in which a Villa can take within its landscape. An understanding of the wealth and opulence required to live in one of these Villas broaches the way we begin to think about the amounts of space required to live. A purely hand drawn and produced set of drawings were produced, punctuating deliberate choices in construction and landscape. These abstractions are then brought to fruition through model and painting, breathing life into the ideas that are displayed. / Master of Architecture / This project is a result of the exposure and analysis of the classic typology of the VIlla. An early interest in Palladio, fueled by an incredible and rigorous study abroad program led to research and study into the ways in which a building can have an emotional impact on its inhabitants, and how a building begins to feel connected to its landscape. The thesis developed into a search for order, a way of ordering and arriving at a solution of proportion, points, planes and atria. These aspects then created the Villas, a series of abstracted ideas of an ideal getaway in a vibrant countryside.

Group testing is a procedure that splits samples into multiple groups based on some specific grouping criterion and then tests each group. It is usually used in identifying affected individuals or estimating the population proportion of affected individuals. Improving precision of group testing and saving cost of experiment are two crucial tasks for investigators. Cost-efficiency is a ratio of precision to cost; hence improving cost-efficiency is as crucial as improvement of precision and cost saving. In this thesis, retesting will be considered as a method to improve precision and cost-efficiency, and save cost. Retesting is an extension of group testing. It uses two or more group testing stages, and testing original samples in all of the stages. Hepworth and Watson (2015) proposed a two-stage group testing procedure where two stages have equal group sizes, and the number of groups of the second stage is based on the number of positive groups in the first stage. In this thesis, our main goal is estimating a proportion p under the circumstance of unequal group sizes in two stages, and discovering the most cost-efficient experiment design. Analytical solutions of precision will be provided; we will use these analytical solutions with simulations to analyse some experimental designs, and discover whether doing one group testing only is precise enough or not and if it is worth retesting for each design. In the end, we will combine all these analyses and identify the optimal experiment design. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Thesis advisor: Sara Cordes / Human infants show relatively sophisticated abilities to track and use proportional information. However, by the age of 6, children tend to make predictable errors in their proportional reasoning and later encounter significant challenges in many aspects of formal fraction learning. Thus, one of the central questions motivating this research is to identify the factors leading to these difficulties, in light of evidence of early intuitions about these concepts. In the current dissertation, I address this question by investigating the tradeoff between attending to proportional magnitude information and discrete numerical information about the components (termed “numerical interference”) across both spatial (i.e., area models, number lines) and symbolic (fractions, decimals) representations of proportion information. These explorations focus on young children (5-7 year olds) who have yet to receive formal fraction instruction, older children (9-12 year olds) who are in the process of learning these concepts, and adults who have already learned formal fractions. In Project 1, I investigated how older children and adults map between symbolic and spatial representations, particularly focusing on their strategies in highlighting componential information versus magnitude information when solving these mapping tasks. In Projects 2 and 3, I explore the malleability of individual differences in this numerical interference in 4- to 7-year-old children. Across the three projects, I suggest that although numerical interference does impact proportional reasoning, this over-attention to number can be reduced through modifying early experiences with proportional information. These findings have implications for education and the way we conceptualize numerical interference more generally. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.