Search Results (5)

It is commonly accepted that ‘the brain computes’ and that it serves as a model for establishing principles of technical (first of all, electronic) computing. Even today, some biological implementation details inspire the implementation of more performant electronic implementations. However, grasping details without context often leads to decreasing operating efficiency. In the cases of those major implementations, the notion of ‘computing’ has an entirely different meaning. We provide the notion of generalized computing from which we derive technical and biological computing, and by showing how the functionalities are implemented, we also highlight what performance losses lead the solution. Both implementations have been developed using a success–failure method, keeping the successful part-solutions (and building on top of them) and replacing a less successful one with another. Both developments proceed from a local minimum of their goal functions to another, but some principles differ fundamentally. Moreover, they apply entirely different principles, and the part-solutions must cooperate with others, so grasping some biological solution without understanding its context and implementing it in the technical solution usually leads to a loss of efficiency. Today, technical systems’ absolute performance seems to be saturated, while their computing and energetic inefficiency are growing. Full article

Sustainability in the built environment seeks to balance ecological responsibility with human health and well-being. Biophilic design, a key strategy within sustainable architecture that emphasizes connections with nature, has emerged as a promising approach to enhancing Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and promoting occupant well-being. However, while biophilic design has been widely studied in various settings, its application in workplace environments within public buildings, particularly museums, remains underexplored. This research addresses this gap by investigating biophilic design strategies integrated in the Bell Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota, and their impact on IEQ, occupant satisfaction, work performance, and health. Utilizing the Sustainable Post-Occupancy Evaluation Survey (SPOES) based on the B3 Minnesota Sustainable Building Guidelines, this study assesses employee perceptions of their health and well-being in the built environment. The findings reveal high satisfaction (M = 6.29) with the physical environment, a positive impact on work performance (M = 5.89), and improved overall health (M = 5.35). The authors examine how the Bell Museum’s adaptation of Terrapin’s 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, identifying effective strategies such as natural light, material connections with nature, and spatial configuration. While these elements contribute to an enhanced indoor environment, the study also identifies areas for improvement, including the absence of certain biophilic patterns, such as biomorphic forms and multisensory elements, and complexity and order, which could further enrich occupant experience. The study underscores the role of biophilic principles in shaping indoor environments and suggests that future research explore additional strategies to enhance well-being. Full article

Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary collaboration (TDC) continue to address complex societal problems such as sustainable development, global environmental change, and public health challenges. Nature-based design (NBD) methods including biomimicry, biomorphism, biophilia, bio-utilization and zoomorphism are essential for the design of the sustainable built environment (SBE). Currently, there is no transdisciplinary collaboration framework (TCF) to support the NBD of the SBE. The first step to fill this gap is through systematically exploring the applications of multidisciplinary research (MDR) in building design and by conducting a case study on the challenges to the MDR in the application of NBD methods for the SBE in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Science at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. The systematic literature review and the survey results of academics on MDR collaboration showed a lack of transdisciplinary research (TDR) due to limited communication between disciplines. The research findings showed a lack of communication between academia and the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry to advance NBD innovations for the SBE. The findings indicated that a TCF for research on NBD is needed to support knowledge exchange within academia and with industry for reducing the negative impacts of the building industry. Findings from the current research and future research will be used to develop and test a general TCF and then to develop a TCF for the NBD of the SBE aligned with the RIBA Plan of Work. Full article

The formation of a polymer protection layer around fragile mineral architectures ensures that structures stay intact even after treatments that would normally destroy them going along with a total loss of textural information. Here we present a strategy to preserve the shape of silica-carbonate biomorphs with polymers. This method converts non-hybrid inorganic-inorganic composite materials such a silica/carbonate biomorphs into hybrid organic/carbonate composite materials similar to biominerals. Full article

Tissue repairing has been the ultimate goal of surgery, especially with the emergence of reconstructive medicine. A large amount of research devoted to exploring innovative porous scaffold designs, including homogeneous and inhomogeneous ones, have been presented in the literature. The triply periodic minimal surface has been a versatile source of biomorphic structure design due to its smooth surface and high interconnectivity. Nonetheless, many 3D models are often rendered in the form of triangular meshes for its efficiency and convenience. The requirement of regular hexahedral meshes then becomes one of limitations of the triply periodic minimal surface method. In this paper, we make a successful attempt to generate microscopic pore structures using tetrahedral implicit surfaces. To replace the conventional Cartesian coordinates, a new coordinates system is built based on the perpendicular distances between a point and the tetrahedral faces to capture the periodicity of a tetrahedral implicit surface. Similarly to the triply periodic minimal surface, a variety of tetrahedral implicit surfaces, including P-, D-, and G-surfaces are defined by combinations of trigonometric functions. We further compare triply periodic minimal surfaces with tetrahedral implicit surfaces in terms of shape, porosity, and mean curvature to discuss the similarities and differences of the two surfaces. An example of femur scaffold construction is provided to demonstrate the detailed process of modeling porous architectures using the tetrahedral implicit surface. Full article