Humidification is not a common procedure in many buildings in the Netherlands. An exception are buildings used for healthcare, especially hospitals. There, e.g. in operating theatres, relative humidity (RH) generally is controlled stringently at levels around 50%. From an energy point-of-view humidification …

Several studies found that classrooms' indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can positively influence in-class activities. Understanding and quantifying the combined effect of four indoor environmental parameters, namely indoor air quality and thermal, acoustic, and lighting conditions on people is essential …

BACKGROUND: The care sector for persons with disabilities considers the physical environment relevant for the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. However, scientific evidence is limited. OBJECTIVE: To obtain evidence regarding comforting and encouraging environments and to develop …

This chapter reports on the findings of a research project aimed at investigating the actual thermal environment of the housing of older occupants (aged 65 or over) in South Australia. The study documented their thermal preferences and behaviours during hot and cold weather and relationships to their …

CC-BYNatural ventilation has been used widely in buildings to deliver a healthy and comfortable indoor environment for occupants. It also reduces the consumption of energy in the built environment and dilutes the concentration of carbon dioxide. Various methods and techniques have been used to evaluate …

The physical environment of a shelter for homeless families may be a stressful place for parents. Exposure to natural environments might help to improve parental wellbeing. This study tested the impact of personalized exposure to a natural environment on wellbeing of parents residing in shelters. Single-case …

The severity of the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in lockdown and curfew implementations in different countries, including the Netherlands, in order to reduce the spread of the virus. After implementation of “hard lockdown” in the Netherlands, many young adults, among other social groups, had to face …

Autonomously exploring and mapping is one of the open challenges of robotics and artificial intelligence. Especially when the environments are unknown, choosing the optimal navigation directive is not straightforward. In this paper, we propose a reinforcement learning framework for navigating, exploring, …

Presentation at Healthy Buildings 2021 – 17th International Healthy Buildings Conference 21–23 June 2021

In daily life, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from building heating, cooling and electricity consumption accounts for 47% of the total building carbon dioxide emissions. This makes people pay too much attention to energy conservation and emission reduction, which leads to the neglect of a pleasant …