Science-Driven Societal Transformation, Part III: Design

Interpersonal synchrony when singing in a choir

Singing in a choir has long been known to enhance well-being and protect mental health. Clearly, the experience of a uniquely harmonious social activity is very satisfying for the singers. How might this come about? One of the important factors positively associated with well-being is interpersonal action coordination allowing the choir to function as a whole. This review focuses on temporal coordination dynamics of physiological systems and/or subsystems forming part or the core of the functional substrate of choir singing. These coordination dynamics will be evaluated with respect to the concept of a superordinate system, or superorganism, based on the principles of self-organization and circular causality. We conclude that choral singing is a dynamic process requiring tight interpersonal action coordination that is characterized by coupled physiological systems and specific network topology dynamics, representing a potent biomarker for social interaction.

Applicability of Assessment Indices for Hanok-User Sensory Comfort Based on Visual and Tactile Comfort Evaluation Indicators

This study aimed to present an evaluation system to assess comfort that reflects the unique value of vernacular architecture. For this purpose, the background, purpose, evaluation items, and evaluation methods of Korean Standard-Basic Part: 6300-1, 2 (KS A 6300) were analyzed. As a result, the weakness was found in the KS system that there was no method to evaluate the user’s human sensory comfort. To overcome this problem, the contents of KS A 6300-1, 2 were analyzed, and evaluation indices were categorized to assess the comfort of human sensory experience. A comfort assessment index was then derived to evaluate the visual and tactile comfort of the Korean traditional house by analyzing previous research and systems. To assess the possibility of using the Hanok evaluation system for the derived comfort indices, the actual building environmental and user data were collected for one year. Based on the previous step, Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) were calculated, and at the same time, a comparative analysis was conducted with the collected user data. As a result, DGP showed a tendency of changing user comfort and an error of 7 to 8% regardless of region, while PMV showed a tendency similar to the change in user discomfort response rate. Accordingly, it was concluded that each evaluation index could be used for the comfort evaluation of Hanok.