Smart workplaces: a system proposal for stress management

Over the past last decades of contemporary society, workplaces have become the primary source of many health issues, leading to mental problems such as stress, depression, and anxiety. Among the others, environmental aspects have shown to be the causes of stress, illness, and lack of productivity. With the arrival of new technologies, especially in the smart workplaces field, most studies have focused on investigating the building energy efficiency models and human thermal comfort. However, little has been applied to occupants’ stress recognition and well-being overall. Due to this fact, this present study aims to propose a stress management solution for an interactive design system that allows the adapting of comfortable environmental conditions according to the user preferences by measuring in real-time the environmental and biological characteristics, thereby helping to prevent stress, as well as to enable users to cope stress when being stressed. The secondary objective will focus on evaluating one part of the system: the mobile application. The proposed system uses several usability methods to identify users’ needs, behavior, and expectations from the user-centered design approach. Applied methods, such as User Research, Card Sorting, and Expert Review, allowed us to evaluate the design system according to Heuristics Analysis, resulting in improved usability of interfaces and experience. The study presents the research results, the design interface, and usability tests. According to the User Research results, temperature and noise are the most common environmental stressors among the users causing stress and uncomfortable conditions to work in, and the preference for physical activities over the digital solutions for coping with stress. Additionally, the System Usability Scale (SUS) results identified that the system’s usability was measured as “excellent” and “acceptable” with a final score of 88 points out of the 100. It is expected that these conclusions can contribute to future investigations in the smart workplaces study field and their interaction with the people placed there.Nas últimas décadas da sociedade contemporânea, o local de trabalho tem se tornado principal fonte de muitos problemas de saúde mental, como o stress, depressão e ansiedade. Os aspetos ambientais têm se revelado como as causas de stress, doenças, falta de produtividade, entre outros. Atualmente, com a chegada de novas tecnologias, principalmente na área de locais de trabalho inteligentes, a maioria dos estudos tem se concentrado na investigação de modelos de eficiência energética de edifícios e conforto térmico humano. No entanto, pouco foi aplicado ao reconhecimento do stress dos ocupantes e ao bem-estar geral das pessoas. Diante disso, o objetivo principal é propor um sistema de design de gestão do stress para um sistema de design interativo que permita adaptar as condições ambientais de acordo com as preferências de utilizador, medindo em tempo real as características ambientais e biológicas, auxiliando assim na prevenção de stress, bem como ajuda os utilizadores a lidar com o stress quando estão sob o mesmo. O segundo objetivo é desenhar e avaliar uma parte do projeto — o protótipo da aplicação móvel através da realização de testes de usabilidade. O sistema proposto resulta da abordagem de design centrado no utilizador, utilizando diversos métodos de usabilidade para identificar as necessidades, comportamentos e as expectativas dos utilizadores. Métodos aplicados, como Pesquisa de Usuário, Card Sorting e Revisão de Especialistas, permitiram avaliar o sistema de design de acordo com a análise heurística, resultando numa melhoria na usabilidade das interfaces e experiência. O estudo apresenta os resultados da pesquisa, a interface do design e os testes de usabilidade. De acordo com os resultados de User Research, a temperatura e o ruído são os stressores ambientais mais comuns entre os utilizadores, causando stresse e condições menos favoráveis para trabalhar, igualmente existe uma preferência por atividades físicas sobre as soluções digitais na gestão do stresse. Adicionalmente, os resultados de System Usability Scale (SUS) identificaram a usabilidade do sistema de design como “excelente” e “aceitável” com pontuação final de 88 pontos em 100. É esperado que essas conclusões possam contribuir para futuras investigações no campo de estudo dos smart workplaces e sua interação com os utilizadores

Applying social practice theory to contemporary working practices in sustainable office buildings: Implications for the performance gap

The UK Government has committed to an 80% reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) against 1990 levels by 2050. Widening understandings of the environmental impact of the built environment have fuelled debates around how the environmental performance of buildings should be approached. The UK non-domestic building sector presents a significant challenge within the field of environmental performance of buildings and an imperative to improve performance has led to the emergence of green or sustainable building as a long-term solution.Sustainably designed buildings are increasingly present within the non-domestic building sector, however issues of discrepancy between environmental performance design targets, such as energy and water use, and actual ‘in-use’ performance have been widely reported and researched. The difference between predicted and operational building performance is termed the ‘performance gap’. Narrowing the performance gap is not limited to addressing technological, physical and economic aspects associated with design, but extends to social and psychological considerations. This research focuses on the performance gap with particular reference to building occupants and operational energy use. The dominant approaches to understanding the role of building occupants in the performance gap are situated within the disciplines of economics and psychology. Individuals are placed at the centre of analysis with a focus on changing behaviour. This research reframes the approach to understanding occupants, applying sociological theories of social practice and shifting focus from individuals to the collective actions or ‘practices’ occupants are engaged in. Thus, the focus of the research is not evaluating occupant behaviour as an approach to understand the impact of office building occupants on the performance gap, but evaluating the impact of the social practices office workers are engaged in within office buildings; the contemporary working practices. This research provides a conceptualisation of contemporary working practices that underpin the empirical study. Contemporary working practices in three BREEAM Excellent certified office buildings are then evaluated through the lens of social practice theory and implications for energy use and the performance gap are appraised. Research findings present novel insights into contemporary working practices and their implications for energy use, which may inform future office design and improve the efficiency of current sustainably designed office buildings. Implications for reframing the analysis of occupants in the performance gap are drawn out, and important subtleties of practice are revealed which impact on design for contemporary working. Issues of unpredictability of occupancy, multiple device use, shifts in peak energy use, design for functionality, handover and commissioning, standards and norms and cultural shifts emerge from this research. The conceptualised working practices underpinning this research form a key contribution to the body of knowledge around the performance gap. This research challenges established approaches to the performance gap in respect of occupants and demonstrates that understandings of webs of interlocking practices provides deeper and broader insights into how ways of living and working may be rendered more sustainable. The research provides new knowledge on how social practice theory can be applied to understand the contemporary working practices occupants are engaged in within sustainably designed office buildings, and the implications of these practices for energy use and the performance gap

The design of an indirect method for the human presence monitoring in the intelligent building

This article describes the design and verification of the indirect method of predicting the course of CO2 concentration (ppm) from the measured temperature variables Tindoor (degrees C) and the relative humidity rH(indoor) (%) and the temperature T-outdoor (degrees C) using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with the Bayesian Regulation Method (BRM) for monitoring the presence of people in the individual premises in the Intelligent Administrative Building (IAB) using the PI System SW Tool (PI-Plant Information enterprise information system). The CA (Correlation Analysis), the MSE (Root Mean Squared Error) and the DTW (Dynamic Time Warping) criteria were used to verify and classify the results obtained. Within the proposed method, the LMS adaptive filter algorithm was used to remove the noise of the resulting predicted course. In order to verify the method, two long-term experiments were performed, specifically from February 1 to February 28, 2015, from June 1 to June 28, 2015 and from February 8 to February 14, 2015. For the best results of the trained ANN BRM within the prediction of CO2, the correlation coefficient R for the proposed method was up to 92%. The verification of the proposed method confirmed the possibility to use the presence of people of the monitored IAB premises for monitoring. The designed indirect method of CO2 prediction has potential for reducing the investment and operating costs of the IAB in relation to the reduction of the number of implemented sensors in the IAB within the process of management of operational and technical functions in the IAB. The article also describes the design and implementation of the FEIVISUAL visualization application for mobile devices, which monitors the technological processes in the IAB. This application is optimized for Android devices and is platform independent. The application requires implementation of an application server that communicates with the data server and the application developed. The data of the application developed is obtained from the data storage of the PI System via a PI Web REST API (Application Programming Integration) client.Web of Science8art. no. 2

An Exploration of the Applications of Increased Information Availability in Smart Buildings

Modern buildings have the capability to capture vast quantities of information about the building itself, its purpose, the people that use it and its wider environment. With the development of fields such as the Internet of Things and Big Data, the future of buildings will involve more data around all aspects of their operation and the people using them. Within the context of these changes, this research hypothesises that the availability of increasing information within buildings can enable new ways of operation to step change their performance. Initially the thesis combines an extensive literature review of modern building developments and the current landscape that buildings operate within to develop clarity around the term “Smart Building”. Two case studies are then presented to demonstrate the potential of Smart Building concepts: The first case study involves a pilot study within an existing university library building using occupancy, energy, occupant satisfaction and building functionality data to investigate the potential of the buildings ability to vary physical space with occupancy. The second study uses computational fluid dynamics to model the thermal comfort variations throughout a large underfloor heated naturally ventilated atrium. The results are then used to investigate potential energy savings and comfort improvements through correlating individual comfort preferences with environmental variations. The work forms a clear definition of a Smart Building to create a framework for researchers and designers to focus future Smart Building developments. The first case study then demonstrates that by varying physically occupied space with occupancy, energy consumption of the building can be reduced by approximately 33%. The second study demonstrates that a step change in both comfort and energy efficiency can be achieved in flexible working spaces by aligning individual preferences with environmental conditions. These findings are discussed in detail, addressing limitations and future expansions of the novel approaches developed

Smart buildings for healthy and sustainable workplace: scoping study report

Deficiencies in the design and operation of office buildings can give rise to high social, environmental and economic (triple bottom line) costs. As a result, there are significant pressures and incentives to develop ‘smart building’ technologies that can facilitate improved indoor environment quality (IEQ), and more energy efficient operation of office buildings. IEQ indicators include lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and noise. In response to this, the CRC for Construction Innovation commissioned a six-month scoping study (Project no. 2002-043) to examine how different technologies could be used to improve the ‘triple bottom line’ for office buildings. The study was supported by three industry partners, Bovis Lend Lease, Arup, and The Queensland Department of Public Works. The objective of the study was to look at the history, trends, drivers, new technologies and potential application areas related to the operation of healthy and efficient office buildings. The key output from the study was a recommendation for a prototype system for intelligent monitoring and control of an office environment, based on identified market, technical and user requirements and constraints

Occupant productivity and office indoor environment quality : a review of the literature

The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature to draw an understanding of the relationship between indoor environmental quality and occupant productivity in an office environment. The study reviews over 300 papers from 67 journals, conference articles and books focusing on indoor environment, occupant comfort, productivity and green buildings. It limits its focus to the physical aspects of an office environment. The literature outlines eight Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors that influence occupant productivity in an office environment. It also discusses different physical parameters under each of the IEQ factors. It proposes a conceptual model of different factors affecting occupant productivity. The study also presents a review of the data collection methods utilised by the research studies that aim to investigate the relationship between IEQ and occupant productivity. The study presents a comprehensive discussion and analysis of different IEQ factors that affect occupant productivity. The paper provides a concise starting point for future researchers interested in the area of indoor environmental quality