Prevalence of POE in UK Higher Education Institutions

Purpose: To identify the extent to which POE is understood and applied within higher education institutions across the UK and to identify users' perceptions of its efficacy. Design/Methodology: A mixed methodology was applied to this research. Part one consisted of an online survey intended to generate an overview of the extent of POE use across the sector. The second phase, intended to develop greater insight and understanding of users' perceptions of POE, relied upon in-depth interviews with a smaller sample drawn those who had completed the survey in part one. Findings: Differing models POE are used within higher education institutions with varying degrees of complexity. Models exist that are based on standard structures and templates, whilst entirely bespoke options have been developed by some institutions. The work found that there is a clear preference for applying bespoke methods rather than standardised ones. Research limitations/implications: The research is based on a sample of Directors of Estates from UK Universities. The conclusions relate specifically to that sector and context. The extent for broader generalisation is limited by the research sample. Practical implications: The work shows that POE is understood to have differing purpose and effectiveness in individual Universities. This leads to the conclusion that more coherent and consistent understanding should be promoted within the sector. Social Implications: The work has implications for the effective management of university buildings to support user satisfaction. Originality/Value: This paper indicates that there is prevalence of applying POE processes in higher education institutions and that specific models have been developed for the sector. However, the extent to which the process is valued and understood is highly variable

A Novel Adaptive Lighting System Which Considers Behavioral Adaptation Aspects for Visually Impaired People

The number of visually impaired people and elderly people groups are significant, but the current lighting system used in buildings, which is based on the current standard, cannot provide the necessary lighting comfort for them. The lighting system should provide the correct illuminance for every activity and even pattern of light. This research presents the work in progress in developing the novel adaptive lighting system tailored for visually impaired people, which becomes the solution to the problem. The behavioral adaptation aspects and the experience and memory principle are taken into account in the system design. It also makes use of the latest independent adjustable artificial light (LED) technology, to get an even pattern of lighting, while still considering efficient energy usage. The proposed system structure uses a wireless sensor network (WSN), big data processing, and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sub-system, which can predict and adaptively regulate the illumination level based on the occupant’s needs and routines. The initial simulation of the lighting model is presented in this paper. The simulation uses five scenarios in different seasons and daylight. The simulation shows satisfactory results for illuminance values 200, 250, 300, 500, and 750 lux, needed by the occupants

Learning Space Design: The presentation of a framework for the Built Environment Discipline

This paper reports on research undertaken to identify the specific learning space preferences of built environment students within a UK university. Through an instrumental case study design, utilizing a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach, this research explored learning space requirements for built environment students. Initial focus groups were conducted to identify elements of the learning spaces that are important in students’ learning spaces, which were then used to develop questions for the survey phase of the research. From this, we proceeded to develop a framework for learning space design for built environment students. Eight important learning space factors were identified; access to space, convenient workspaces, environment, layout, sense, integrated space, aesthetics and identity. Initial findings are presented regarding differences between disciplines in their rating of elements of the learning space. A framework is presented for practitioners to use in the design process for the development of built environment disciplines learning spaces. This research adds to current understanding regarding student centered learning and workplace research, highlighting preferences for specific learning space factors. The current research is part of a bigger study but presents built environment disciplines outcomes which are applicable to a larger group

Achieving literacy in sustainability : shifting the paradigm for construction management education

Construction work and buildings have a major impact on the environment through site modification and the majority contribution to energy use worldwide. Therefore if changes are made to construction processes and the design of buildings, the potential for slowing down environmental degradation could be significant. There is a significant body of academics that believes the education of undergraduate construction students who will be the construction professionals of the future, is the key to making the changes required to industry practices to improve environmental performance. This thesis identifies why initiatives aimed at improving undergraduate environmental knowledge and then attitudes have not been supported more fully by the HE sector, specifically within the construction management discipline. It also explores the use of educational frameworks developed by the relevant professional body in supporting the development of environmental knowledge in graduates. The pedagogical research undertaken involved an extensive literature review and the gathering of data from UK universities and the UK construction industry. Additionally data was gathered from Australian universities in an attempt to identify aspects of good practice in curriculum design to promote literacy in sustainability. The analysis of data led to the development of a model for curriculum design that can be used in conjunction with the professional body framework to promote literacy in sustainability. The validity of the model was evaluated using a simulation of the model in a small scale project and testing changes in student knowledge, attitudes and behaviour before and after undertaking the project. A mixed model methodology was utilised in each phase that allowed for the use of a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis at each stage of the work

A Comparative Simulation Study of the Thermal Performances of the Building Envelope Wall Materials in the Tropics

he building walls which form the major part of the building envelope thermally interact with the changing surrounding environment throughout the day influencing the indoor thermal comfort of the space. This paper aims at assessing in detail the different aspects (thermophysical properties, thickness, exposure to solar heat gain, etc.) of opaque building wall materials affecting the indoor thermal environment and energy efficiency of the buildings in tropical climate (in the summer and winter days) by conducting simplified simulation analysis using the Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES-VE) program. Besides, the thermal efficiency of a number of selected wall materials with different thermal properties and wall configurations was analysed to determine the most optimal option for the studied climate. This study first developed the conditions for parametric simulation analysis and then addressed selected findings by comparing the thermal responses of the materials to moderate outdoor temperature and energy-saving potential. While energy consumption estimation for a complete operational building is a complex method by which the performance of the wall materials cannot be properly defined, as a result, this simplistic simulation approach can guide the designers to preliminary analyse the different building wall materials in order to select the best thermal efficiency solution

Optimizing Project Delivery through Augmented Reality and Agile Methodologies

The construction sector, which has a long history to use visualisation to envisage proposed designs and project delivery, is beginning to see the benefits of augmented reality and agile project management methodologies. This study investigated the benefits of augmented reality and agile project management methodologies. Convergent design method was considered valuable and the most straightforward for this study, as different types of quantitative and qualitative data were required to be collected and analysed. The participants drawn from the construction sector revealed a number of augmented and agile determinants that facilitated the delivery of construction and integration of project teams. The participants suggested that the proposed ARGILE framework increases client understanding of the tasks output, increases client involvement and collaboration with the project team. It was further established that the proposed ARGILE framework enhances project time management, embeds the client and empowers multidisciplinary team, increases collaboration and communication

Measuring student learning gain: a review of transatlantic measurements of assessments in higher education

Learning gain is a potentially valuable lens on student development. Its importance was highlighted by discussions framing the teaching excellence framework (TEF), which considered the ‘distance travelled’ by a learner as a potential metric. Learning gain in England is at its early stages whilst the United States have had a much more established measurement of learning gain culture. This paper examines the already existing measures being used within the US including the three standardised measures of the Voluntary System of Accountability, for example the Collegiate Learning Assessment, and one self-report measure. A review of these measures illuminates key lessons from existing practice in the US

Application of agro and non-agro waste materials for unfired earth blocks construction: A review

The production process of conventional building materials consumes a high amount of energy which has a negative impact on the environment. The use of locally available materials and upgradation of traditional techniques can be a good option for sustainable development. Consequently, earth has attracted the attention of the researchers as a building construction material for its availability and lower environmental impact. On the other hand, in developing countries waste disposal from the agricultural and industrial sectors raises another serious concern. The scientists have introduced such waste additives into the earth matrix to improve its performance. Therefore, the present paper reviews the state-of-the-art of research on the effects of these various agro and non-agro wastes in the production of unfired earth blocks. This study is divided into three sections: The first section outlines the different types of waste materials and earth blocks considered in the selected papers. The second part deals in depth with the test results of the different properties (density, water absorption, compressive strength, flexural strength and thermal conductivity) of unfired earth blocks containing waste materials. The last section analyses and compares the results with the current earth-building construction standards. The literature survey presents that the waste materials have a clear potential to partly replace earth by complying with certain requirements. Moreover, the application of such wastes for the development of building construction materials provides a solution that decreases energy usage as well as contributes to effective waste management. Future research on establishing guidelines and standards for the development and production of these sustainable unfired earth building materials is recommended

EnvironMoores: Efficient NoVel Intelligent Reliable OccupatioN Monitoring for IndOor human-comfORt adaptivE System

In recent years, due to growing low-cost sensing solutions, the provision of lighting and thermal comfort has been widely increased to existing and future smart buildings to aid productivity, health, and wellbeing. Thermal camera, for example, has the potential to be used widely in the home comfort system nowadays. It was very expensive that only military, firefighters and surveyors were able to use it due to its price. However, the current sensing solutions seriously lack real-time intelligent monitoring and thus adaptively control human comfort supporting systems of smart buildings and most of the existing systems only consider quantitative variables. Therefore, EnvironMoores will develop a novel solution based on the fusion of wireless sensors and thermal imaging to monitor lighting and thermal comfort in real-time. The sensing system will collect both environmental and human-related data. The data will also focus on health/disability condition of occupants. The system will be analyzed for its effectiveness in reducing cost and energy. The focus of EnvironMoores will be on the lightning and thermal comfort aspects

Developing a Reliable Shallow Supervised Learning for Thermal Comfort using Multiple ASHRAE Databases

The artificial intelligence (AI) system faces the challenge of insufficient training datasets and the risk of an uncomfortable user experience during the data gathering and learning process. The unreliable training data leads to overfitting and poor system performance which will result in wasting operational energy. This work introduces a reliable data set for training the AI subsystem for thermal comfort. The most reliable current training data sets for thermal comfort are ASHRAE RP-884 and ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II, but the direct use of these data for learning will give a poor learning result of less than 60% accuracy. This paper presents the algorithm for data filtering and semantic data augmentation for the multiple ASHRAE databases for the supervised learning process. The result was verified with the visual psychrometric chart method that can check for overfitting and verified by developing the Internet of Things (IoT) control system for residential usage based on shallow supervised learning. The AI system was a Wide Artificial Neural Network (ANN) which is simple enough to be implemented in a local node. The filtering and semantic augmentation method can increase the accuracy to 96.1%. The control algorithm that was developed based on the comfort zone identification can increase the comfort acknowledgement by 6.06% leading to energy saving for comfort. This work can contribute to 717.2 thousand tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year which is beneficial for a more sustainable thermal comfort system and the development of a reinforced learning system for thermal comfort