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Healthy Building
Healthy building refers to an emerging area of interest that supports the physical, psychological, and social health and well-being of people in buildings and the built environment. Buildings can be key promoters of health and well-being since most people spend a majority of their time indoors. According to the National Human Activity Pattern Survey, Americans spend "an average of 87% of their time in enclosed buildings and about 6% of their time in enclosed vehicles." Healthy building can be seen as the next generation of green building that not only includes environmentally responsible and resource-efficient building concepts, but also integrates human well-being and performance. These benefits can include "reducing absenteeism and presenteeism, lowering health care costs, and improving individual and organizational performance." In 2017, Joseph G. Allen and Ari Bernstein of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building: ventilat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.Fernald LD (2008)''Psychology: Six perspectives'' (pp.12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010. Ψ (''psi''), the first letter of the Greek word ''psyche'' from which the term psychology is derived (see below), is commonly associated with the science. A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volatile Organic Compounds
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a trait known as volatility. VOCs are responsible for the odor of scents and perfumes as well as pollutants. VOCs play an important role in communication between animals and plants, e.g. attractants for pollinators, protection from predation, and even inter-plant interactions. Some VOCs are dangerous to human health or cause harm to the environment. Anthropogenic VOCs are regulated by law, especially indoors, where concentrations are the highest. Most VOCs are not acutely toxic, but may have long-term chronic health effects. Definitions Diverse definitions of the term VOC are in use. Canada Health Canada classifies VOCs as organic compounds that have boiling points roughly in the range of . The emphasis is placed on commonly encountered VO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ergonomics
Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learning are to reduce human error, increase productivity, and enhance safety, system availability, and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and the engineered system. The field is a combination of numerous disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, engineering, biomechanics, industrial design, physiology, anthropometry, interaction design, visual design, user experience, and user interface design. Human factors research employs methods and approaches from these and other knowledge disciplines to study human behavior and generate data relevant to the four primary goals above. In studying and sharing learning on the design of equipment, devices, and processes that fit the human body and its cognitive abilities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biophilic Design
Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. Used at both the building and city-scale, it is argued that this idea has health, environmental, and economic benefits for building occupants and urban environments, with few drawbacks. Although its name was coined in recent history, indicators of biophilic design have been seen in architecture from as far back as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Biophilia hypothesis The word “Biophilia” was first introduced by a psychoanalyst named Erich Fromm who stated that biophilia is the “passionate love of life and of all that is alive…whether in a person, a plant, an idea, or a social group” in his book ''The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness'' in 1973. Fromm’s approach was that of a psychoanalyst (a person who studies the unconscious mind) and presented a broad spectru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walkability
Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport corridors designed for maximum vehicle throughput. Instead, it should be relatively complete livable spaces that serve a variety of uses, users, and transportation modes and reduce the need for cars for travel. The term 'walkability' was primarily invented in the 1960s due to Jane Jacobs' revolution in urban studies. In recent years, walkability has become popular because of its health, economic, and environmental benefits. It is an essential concept of sustainable urban design. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian rights-of-way, traffic and road conditions, land use patterns, building accessibility, and safety, among others. Factors One proposed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daylighting
Daylighting is the practice of placing windows, skylights, other openings, and reflective surfaces so that sunlight (direct or indirect) can provide effective internal lighting. Particular attention is given to daylighting while designing a building when the aim is to maximize visual comfort or to reduce energy use. Energy savings can be achieved from the reduced use of artificial (electric) lighting or from passive solar heating. Artificial lighting energy use can be reduced by simply installing fewer electric lights where daylight is present or by automatically dimming/switching off electric lights in response to the presence of daylight – a process known as daylight harvesting. The amount of daylight received in an internal space can be analyzed by measuring illuminance on a grid or undertaking a daylight factor calculation. Computer programs such as Radiance allow an architect or engineer to quickly calculate benefits of a particular design. The human eye's respons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circadian Rhythm
A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment ( entrained by the environment). These 24-hour rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in animals, plants, fungi and cyanobacteria. The term ''circadian'' comes from the Latin ''circa'', meaning "approximately", and ''dies'', meaning "day". Processes with 24-hour cycles are more generally called diurnal rhythms; diurnal rhythms should not be called circadian rhythms unless they can be confirmed as endogenous, and not environmental. Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (German for "time givers"), which include light, temperature and redox cycles. In clinical settings, an abnormal circadian rhythm in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annual Review Of Public Health
The ''Annual Review of Public Health'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about public health, including epidemiology, biostatistics, occupational safety and health, environmental health, and health policy. In its 40-year history, it has had three editors: Lester Breslow, Gilbert S. Omenn, and Jonathan E. Fielding. As of 2022, ''Journal Citation Reports'' gave the journal a 2021 impact factor of 21.870, ranking it fourth of 182 journals in the category "Environmental & Occup. Health (Social Science)" and eighth of 210 journals in the category "Public, Environmental & Occup. Health (Science)". History The ''Annual Review of Public Health'' published its first volume in 1980, in response to a second American "public health revolution". The preface of the first volume noted the shift towards chronic health conditions like cancer and heart disease. It also noted the rising cost of diagnosing and treating disease in the US, which had doubled from 1950 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metabolic Rate
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the conversion of food to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of metabolic wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. The word metabolism can also refer to the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, including digestion and the transportation of substances into and between different cells, in which case the above described set of reactions within the cells is called intermediary (or intermediate) metabolism. Metabolic reactions may be categorized as '' catabolic'' – the ''breaking down'' of compounds (for example, of glucose to pyruvate b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relative Humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depends on the temperature and pressure of the system of interest. The same amount of water vapor results in higher relative humidity in cool air than warm air. A related parameter is the dew point. The amount of water vapor needed to achieve saturation increases as the temperature increases. As the temperature of a parcel of air decreases it will eventually reach the saturation point without adding or losing water mass. The amount of water vapor contained within a parcel of air can vary significantly. For example, a parcel of air near saturation may contain 28 g of water per cubic metre of air at , but only 8 g of water per cubic metre of air at . Three primary measurements of humidity are widely employed: absolute, relative, and specific. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mean Radiant Temperature
__NOTOC__ The concept of mean radiant temperature (MRT) is used to quantify the exchange of radiant heat between a human and their surrounding environment, with a view to understanding the influence of surface temperatures on personal comfort. Mean radiant temperature has been both qualitatively defined and quantitatively evaluated for both indoor and outdoor environments. MRT has been defined as the uniform temperature of an imaginary enclosure in which the radiant heat transfer from the human body is equal to the radiant heat transfer in the actual non-uniform enclosure. MRT is a useful concept as the net exchange of radiant energy between two objects is approximately proportional to the product of their temperature difference multiplied by their emissivity (ability to emit and absorb heat). The MRT is simply the area weighted mean temperature of all the objects surrounding the body. This is meaningful as long as the temperature differences of the objects are small compared t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Comfort
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation ( ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55).ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy The human body can be viewed as a heat engine where food is the input energy. The human body will release excess heat into the environment, so the body can continue to operate. The heat transfer is proportional to temperature difference. In cold environments, the body loses more heat to the environment and in hot environments the body does not release enough heat. Both the hot and cold scenarios lead to discomfort. Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort for occupants of buildings or other enclosures is one of the important goals of HVAC ( heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) design engineers. Thermal neutrality is maintained when the heat generated by human metabolism is allowed to dissipate, thus maintaining thermal equil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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