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This study aims to evaluate The Springs’ indoor environment, one of the iconic townhouse-type residential buildings in Dubai, more efficiently for the integrated evaluation of the indoor environment with the weights of indoor environmental factors such as thermal, indoor air, lighting and acoustic.

The weights of the indoor environment factors were derived for the integrated evaluation to reflect the residents’ preferences. Based on the post-occupancy evaluation (P.O.E.) survey, the weights according to the gender, age group and indoor spaces followed a comparison and analytical processes.

This paper had found the priority of residents’ needs for each space in The Springs project. In summer, thermal comfort was the most important factor for living room and the master bedroom. In winter, the priority for living room and kitchen was the indoor air quality.

As it is the first research survey for housing project in Dubai, it needs to be extended to other housing projects in Dubai. To increase the reliability of the weights calculated through this study and the applicability of the integrated indoor environmental evaluation, more in-depth P.O.E. survey is needed with wide range of survey participants.

This paper will help developing guidelines for future renovation based on the comparative analysis among thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, lighting comfort and indoor air comfort.

This paper is the first attempt to analyze the condition of early housing projects in Dubai. The data can be used to increase not only the design quality and marketability of housing projects in Dubai but also the condition of residents’ health status to avoid sick building syndrome from approximately 20 years old buildings.

The present shift and change in the human lifestyle across the world are undeniable. Currently, individuals spend a substantial amount of time indoors due to the global COVID-19 pandemic that strikes the entire world. This change in human lifestyle has devastating effects on human health and productivity. As a result, the influence of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on the health and productivity of building users becomes a critical field of research that requires immediate attention. As a result, the purpose of this study is to review the state-of-the-art literature by establishing a connection between the factors that influence health and productivity in any given indoor environment.

The methodology involves a thorough review of selected published journals from 1983 to 2021, and the result was analysed through content analysis. The search included journal articles, books and conference proceedings on the critical factors influencing IEQ and their impact on building occupants, which was sourced from different databases such as ScienceDirect, Taylor, GoogleScholar and Web of Science.

The findings from the 90 selected articles revealed four critical factors influencing the quality of the indoor environment and are categorised into; indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort. The findings suggested that when developing a system for controlling the quality of the indoor environment, the indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort should be taken into account.

The indoor environment deeply impacts the health of individuals in their living and work environments. Industry must have a moral responsibility to provide health facilities in which people and workers feel satisfies and give conditions for prosperity. Addressing these essential aspects will not only help the decision-making process of construction professionals but also encourages innovative construction techniques that will enhance the satisfaction, wellness and performance of building occupants.

To provide input data to design and energy performance calculations of buildings and ventilation, heating, cooling and lighting systems.

European directive for energy performance of buildings was approved in the beginning of 2003. The transition period is 3‐6 years depending on the article. European Standardisation Organisation (CEN) has drafted several standards to help the member countries implementing the directive. One of these is the “Criteria for the indoor environment including thermal, indoor air quality (ventilation) light and noise.” The standard has been developed based on existing international standards and guidelines for the indoor environment taken into account the latest results from published research.

The standard specifies design values of indoor environment, values to be used in energy calculations, and methods how to verify the specified indoor environment in the buildings. The paper describes some of the principles used in standards, and gives examples presented in the standard. The standard covers all building types but the paper is focuses on the non‐residential buildings, numeric examples are given only for offices.

The draft standard is under international review process during writing this paper, and subject to changes. The standard give default criteria for the indoor environmental parameters, which can be used if no national requirements are available.

This paper describes the indoor environmental parameters, which are important for people's health, comfort and energy consumption of buildings. This will help users to select more uniform input data for energy calculations.

This study aims to explore the impact of the indoor environment on recovery from COVID-19 infections. Extant literature on the impact of the four key themes of the indoor environment (indoor air quality, indoor thermal quality, daylighting and visual comfort, and acoustic comfort) on COVID-19 infection and recovery rates were reviewed.

Data collection for this study was based on extant literature within the Scopus database and scoped to a time frame of 2020–2021 because the topical issue of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and its impact on COVID-19 arose in the wake of the pandemic. In total, 224 documents were systematically desk reviewed from various journals.

The study identified that air pollutants such as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ as well as air-conditioned places, low ambient temperatures, poor ventilation and no views of the outdoor environment were deteriorating factors for COVID-19 patients. On the other hand, proper ventilation, the use of air cleaners, views of the outdoor environment and allowance for ample daylighting were improvement factors for COVID-19 patients. The inter-relationship of the various concepts was presented in an ontology chart.

As COVID-19 still exists and keeps evolving, this study provides suggestions to industry professionals, especially health-care Facility Managers, to create a post-pandemic environment focusing on the IEQ and finding long-term and reliable solutions for the well-being of occupants. Adaptability is crucial. New, creative technology solutions are being introduced daily, but it is up to the facility managers and health-care professionals to analyse and specify the most cost- and outcome-effective technologies for their facility.

The study brought to light the pivotal role of the indoor environment on the health and well-being of occupants, particularly in the contraction, spread, prevention and control of infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

One of the fundamental human requirements is a working environment that allows people to perform their work optimally under comfortable conditions. Given that buildings and air conditioning systems are designed on the basis of a certain level of discomfort, this raises the key question ‘What is the effect of the level of comfort on the productivity of people working in office environments?’ The purpose of this paper is to quantify this relationship as an aid to making choices regarding the working environment at strategic level within the facilities management process, with particular emphasis on thermal conditions.

This study seeks to investigate the usefulness of occupant acceptance as a preliminary screen measure for offices' indoor air quality (IAQ). An effective alert indication of IAQ problems of a concerned indoor environment would help to promote good IAQ.

The study evaluates the hypothesis that the occupant dissatisfaction with the overall indoor environment provides an indication of IAQ problems. Hence, occupant dissatisfaction would be used as a screening parameter to identify problematic IAQ regarding some IAQ criteria in subsequent IAQ assessments. The hypothesis was tested with a database of regional cross‐sectional measurement in 490 offices within Hong Kong.

The occupants' dissatisfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) was correlated with the IAQ assessment results of nine IAQ assessment parameters regarding some IAQ criteria for air‐conditioned offices. At certain screening levels of predicted IEQ dissatisfaction, the performance of the proposed screening tool, indicating unsatisfactory office IAQ, was evaluated in terms of the test sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and Yule's Q statistics. The results showed that occupants' response to the indoor environment produced indications of unsatisfactory IAQ regarding the requirement of an “Excellent” office.

The subjective feelings of occupants are capable of identifying marked indoor environmental problems, but cannot identify the “marginal” IAQ problem cases.

The study shows the usefulness of using occupant acceptance to identify the unrecognized IAQ problems for air‐conditioned office environment. Using the identification model developed in the study, all the suspected cases were associated with a high chance of IAQ dissatisfaction and subsequent IAQ assessments were thus recommended.

The paper proposes a new identification method to identify the unrecognized IAQ problems which may indicate unsatisfactory IAQ. Also, the occupants' responses on the indoor environment are quantified.

Occupant behavior can lead to considerable uncertainties in thermal comfort and air quality within buildings. To tackle this challenge, the use of probabilistic controls to simulate occupant behavior has emerged as a potential solution. This study seeks to analyze the performance of free-running households by examining adaptive thermal comfort and CO2 concentration, both crucial variables in indoor air quality. The investigation of indoor environment dynamics caused by the occupants' behavior, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, became increasingly important. Specifically, it investigates 13 distinct window and shading control strategies in courtyard houses to identify the factors that prompt occupants to interact with shading and windows and determine which control approach effectively minimizes the performance gap.

This paper compares commonly used deterministic and probabilistic control functions and their effects on occupant comfort and indoor air quality in four zones surrounding a courtyard. The zones are differentiated by windows facing the courtyard. The study utilizes the energy management system (EMS) functionality of EnergyPlus within an algorithmic interface called Ladybug Tools. By modifying geometrical dimensions, orientation, window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and window operable fraction, a total of 465 cases are analyzed to identify effective control scenarios. According to the literature, these factors were selected because of their potential significant impact on occupants’ thermal comfort and indoor air quality, in addition to the natural ventilation flow rate. Additionally, the Random Forest algorithm is employed to estimate the individual impact of each control scenario on indoor thermal comfort and air quality metrics, including operative temperature and CO2 concentration.

The findings of the study confirmed that both deterministic and probabilistic window control algorithms were effective in reducing thermal discomfort hours, with reductions of 56.7 and 41.1%, respectively. Deterministic shading controls resulted in a reduction of 18.5%. Implementing the window control strategies led to a significant decrease of 87.8% in indoor CO2 concentration. The sensitivity analysis revealed that outdoor temperature exhibited the strongest positive correlation with indoor operative temperature while showing a negative correlation with indoor CO2 concentration. Furthermore, zone orientation and length were identified as the most influential design variables in achieving the desired performance outcomes.

It’s important to acknowledge the limitations of this study. Firstly, the potential impact of air circulation through the central zone was not considered. Secondly, the investigated control scenarios may have different impacts on air-conditioned buildings, especially when considering energy consumption. Thirdly, the study heavily relied on simulation tools and algorithms, which may limit its real-world applicability. The accuracy of the simulations depends on the quality of the input data and the assumptions made in the models. Fourthly, the case study is hypothetical in nature to be able to compare different control scenarios and their implications. Lastly, the comparative analysis was limited to a specific climate, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings in different climates.

Occupant behavior represents a significant source of uncertainty, particularly during the early stages of design. This study aims to offer a comparative analysis of various deterministic and probabilistic control scenarios that are based on occupant behavior. The study evaluates the effectiveness and validity of these proposed control scenarios, providing valuable insights for design decision-making.

With the rapid development of the indoor spaces positioning technologies such as the radio-frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth and WI-FI, the locations of indoor spatial objects (static or moving) constitute an important foundation for a variety of applications. However, there are many challenges and limitations associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces. The purpose of this study is to address the current trends, limitations and future challenges associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces. Also it addresses the related features of indoor spaces such as indoor structures, positioning technologies and others.

In this paper, the author focuses on understanding the aspects and challenges of spatial database managements in indoor spaces. The author explains the differences between indoor spaces and outdoor spaces. Also examines the issues pertaining to indoor spaces positioning and the impact of different shapes and structures within these spaces. In addition, the author considers the varieties of spatial queries that relate specifically to indoor spaces.

Most of the research on data management in indoor spaces does not consider the issues and the challenges associated with indoor positioning such as the overlapping of Wi-Fi. The future trend of the indoor spaces includes included different shapes of indoors beside the current 2D indoor spaces on which the majority of the data structures and query processing for spatial objects have focused on. The diversities of the indoor environments features such as directed floors, multi-floors cases should be considered and studied. Furthermore, indoor environments include many special queries besides the common ones queries that used in outdoor spaces such as KNN, range and temporal queries. These special queries need to be considered in data management and querying of indoor environments.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper successfully addresses the current trends, limitations and future challenges associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces.

Biocontaminants represent higher risks to occupants' health in shared spaces. Natural ventilation is an effective strategy against indoor air biocontamination. However, the relationship between natural ventilation and indoor air contamination requires an in-depth investigation of the behavior of airborne infectious diseases, particularly concerning the contaminant's viral and aerodynamic characteristics. This research investigates the effectiveness of natural ventilation in preventing infection risks for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) through indoor air contamination of a free-running, naturally-ventilated room (where no space conditioning is used) that contains a person having COVID-19 through building-related parameters.

This research adopts a case study strategy involving a simulation-based approach. A simulation pipeline is implemented through a number of design scenarios for an open office. The simulation pipeline performs integrated contamination analysis, coupling a parametric 3D design environment, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and energy simulations. The results of the implemented pipeline for COVID-19 are evaluated for building and environment-related parameters. Study metrics are identified as indoor air contamination levels, discharge period and the time of infection.

According to the simulation results, higher indoor air temperatures help to reduce the infection risk. Free-running spring and fall seasons can pose higher infection risk as compared to summer. Higher opening-to-wall ratios have higher potential to reduce infection risk. Adjacent window configuration has an advantage over opposite window configuration. As a design strategy, increasing opening-to-wall ratio has a higher impact on reducing the infection risk as compared to changing the opening configuration from opposite to adjacent. However, each building setup is a unique case that requires a systematic investigation to reliably understand the complex airflow and contaminant dispersion behavior. Metrics, strategies and actions to minimize indoor contamination risks should be addressed in future building standards. The simulation pipeline developed in this study has the potential to support decision-making during the adaptation of existing buildings to pandemic conditions and the design of new buildings.

The addressed need of investigation is especially crucial for the COVID-19 that is contagious and hazardous in shared indoors due to its aerodynamic behavior, faster transmission rates and high viral replicability. This research contributes to the current literature by presenting the simulation-based results for COVID-19 as investigated through building-related and environment-related parameters against contaminant concentration levels, the discharge period and the time of infection. Accordingly, this research presents results to provide a basis for a broader understanding of the correlation between the built environment and the aerodynamic behavior of COVID-19.

Energy usage of households accounts for a significant portion of total energy consumption and carbon emissions. Scottish homes today are highly energy consumers emitting on average 3 tonnes of CO₂ per house annually and the amount exceeds the UK average of 2.75 tonnes of CO₂. Moreover, 26% of the households are actually facing fuel poverty and it is therefore a critical task to efficiently manage and minimise energy trends in housing in order to meet carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction and energy consumption cut targets such as 80% overall cuts in carbon emissions by 2080 for the UK, compared with 1990 levels. The study has been undertaken within the Zero Energy Mass Custom Homes (ZEMCH) research network's demonstration projects e.g. ‘ZEMCH 109’. The existing post-council end-terraced house was intended to be extended in South Ayrshire, Scotland in 2012. As part of the project, the Building Environments Analysis Unit (BEAU) research centre has conducted a post occupancy monitoring of the energy and indoor environmental conditions e.g. indoor air temperature, relative humidity and CO₂ levels in the Scottish affordable home which will also continue even after the construction of the newly built extension and the refurbishment of the existing home. It is therefore important for the successful demonstration of the ZEMCH 109 project and for the purpose of this study that a detailed monitoring and a post occupancy evaluation (POE) of the exiting NRGStyle home are performed sufficiently in order to investigate the relationship between energy consumption and the indoor environmental conditions and cross-checked with the accepted standards.