Civil engineering design and industry are continuously evolving with the support of advancements in technology. Digital tools are able to assist designers in solving several issues with more accuracy and minimized efforts. In parallel, maximization of human comfort is a target for various design procedures, where mathematical models and standardized protocols are conventionally used to optimize well-being of customers. Major challenges and troubles can indeed derive, structurally speaking, from human reactions, which are related to a multitude of aspects, and may further enforced by slender / transparent glass components. The so-called “emotional architecture” and its nervous feelings are intrinsic part of the issue, and hence the mutual interaction of objective and subjective parameters can make complex the building design optimization.

This paper presents some recent studies in which human comfort for glass structures occupants is quantitatively measured, to support an optimal multi-criteria human comfort-driven design. Major efforts are derived from pilot remote experiments based on micro-facial expression analysis and remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) optical measure of heart rate. Further, multiple sensors are used in in-field experiments to capture kinematic and biometric parameters for customers when moving in structural glass environments of building scenarios.

Fabrication and characterization of lanthanide compound doped CH₃NH₃PbI₃ (MAPbI₃) perovskite solar cells have been performed for improving the photovoltaic properties with long-term stabilities of conversion efficiency. The purpose of this research is to investigate additive effect of formamidinium iodine (FAI) and lanthanide compound into the perovskite layer for improving carrier diffusion and mobility in the perovskite layer. Incorporation of FAI and europium chloride (EuCl₂) into the perovskite crystals maintained the stability of conversion efficiency for 30 days. The photovoltaic properties were based on the crystal growth and orientation with suppression of decomposition, thermodynamic stabilities, and the narrow band dispersion with decrease of effective mass. In contrast case, addition of samarium or terbium compound reduced the stabilities, and suppressed the carrier mobility owing to the flat band dispersion of localized d orbital of samarium atom or 4f orbital of terbium atom near valence band state. The annealing treatment improved the crystal orientation related to the carrier diffusion with inhibiting recombination, improving short circuit current density and external quantum efficiency. The perovskite crystal doped with EuCl₂ and FAI have high advantage to apply for practical use of the photovoltaic devices with long-term stability.

Machine tools are machines that manufacture different machines and parts. Therefore, the machine tools support all types of manufacturing. And they are known as “mother machines”. When machining by a machine tool, a cutting tool is mounted into a female taper socket. Wear on the inner surface of the female taper which occur when changing tools or during heavy cutting have an influence on the run-out of tool. Therefore, female tapers require periodic maintenance. In the maintenance for female tapers of machine tools, sensory inspection has been standardized in JIS and ISO standards. However, this inspection is impossible to evaluate quantitatively and requires a lot of time. Additionally, this sensory method produces varying accuracies depending on the operators. Therefore, previous studies have proposed a quantitative measurement method which is less dependent on the skill level of the operators. In this previous method, the red lead paint mixed with red lead powder and oil is used to estimate the amount of wear based on the luminance value of the red lead paint. The red lead concentration has a significant influence on the results. In this study, we investigate the influence of red lead concentration through experiments and report the results.