Impact Of Daylight Research Articles

Influence of daylight on real estate housing prices. A multiple regression model application in Turin

Daylight is crucial in architecture, influencing human health, well-being, energy efficiency, and the post-COVID-19 perception of residential spaces. People often consider daylight among the most important features when buying a home, which potentially affects real estate asset pricing. Within this framework, this study explored the impact of daylight on real estate asset pricing, particularly focusing on its role in the Italian market. The research employed two approaches: (i) simulations of 100 units to determine a large set of daylight metrics and (ii) a statistical approach, applying Hedonic Analysis principles to investigate how house attributes influence pricing. A data sample of 100 housing units was selected in Turin (Italy), including variables such as location, floor area, construction year, façade type, and daylight metrics. By using Multiple Regression Analysis, after Exploratory Analysis and outlier management, we identified significant variables influencing housing listing prices, such as energy class, conservation status, elevator presence, terraces/balconies, and frame type. Notably, two daylight metrics (annual sunlight exposure and useful daylight illuminance) were found to be significant, while others, like average daylight factor and spatial daylight autonomy, were not. The final model was validated by means of a control sample, demonstrating the relevance of daylight in real estate pricing. This research contributes to the literature, providing an in-depth exploration of the impact of daylight on hedonic analysis in a relatively underexplored research space. Precisely, the work contributes to bridging the literature gap about the detection of the influence of daylight on real estate market pricing processes by means of regression analysis.

The Effect of Occupant Behavior on the Residential Visual Environment: A Case Study from Annaba, Algeria

The construction of comfortable, energy-efficient and health-friendly homes is more crucial than ever at a time whenthe health crisis is forcing us to reconsider our way of life. This article used a post-occupancy evaluation of theinhabited space in residential buildings at Oued El-Fourcha neighborhood in Annaba to assess user satisfaction withoccupied buildings, examine the impact of daylighting and human behavior on the lighting ambience. The results ofthe study were processed by SPHINX Lexica software, focusing mainly on the qualitative aspects of daylighting in theinhabited space, taking into account occupant preferences. The study demonstrated an unfavorable level of internalilluminance, and that adequate lighting also needs to meet occupant requirements in order to make these windowsusable, which must satisfy a number of socio-cultural, climatic and environmental factors.

Optimizing the Shading Device Configuration of Kinetic Façades through Daylighting Performance Assessment

When designing a façade, it is essential to consider the impact of daylight and how it can be optimized through external movable shading devices. To accurately evaluate the lighting performance of a kinetic facade, it is crucial to consider the operation of these shading devices, as they can significantly impact performance. This study proposes a high-precision methodology that utilizes digital tools and hourly data to examine the effectiveness of dynamic shading device systems in enhancing daylight performance and optimizing shading configurations using the Genetic Optimization algorithm. The study’s results demonstrate that the proposed methodology is accurate and effective, showing that the optimal operation scenario can exceed LEED v4.1 requirements while meeting daylight availability standards. Designers can achieve optimal performance by adjusting each parameter for a lighting energy-conserving kinetic façade. The limitations and applicability of this method are also discussed.

Assessment of occupants' behaviour on the indoor luminous ambiances of collective residential buildings: A case study from Annaba, Algeria

The rise of ecological approaches to designing and constructing homes, which prioritize energy efficiency and sanitation, has garnered significant attention. Ecological architecture is especially pertinent in its integration of natural light into the design process. Changing patterns of living and space utilization necessitate a reassessment of priorities and the adoption of new techniques in living space design. This study aims to evaluate the satisfaction of occupants in residential buildings in the Oued el-Fourcha neighborhood in Annaba through a post-occupancy assessment. The assessment explores the intersection of designing for daylighting and designing for how occupants interact with their indoor environment. Additionally, it investigates the impact of daylighting and human behavior on the lighting environment. The study examines the qualitative aspects of daylighting, consider-ing the preferences, health, and behavior of building occupants. The research findings indicate that window size and occupant behavior can have a detrimental effect on the lighting environment of occupied spaces, which can subsequently impact occupant health.

Sample size bias in the empirical assessment of the acute risks associated with daylight saving time transitions

ABSTRACT The assessment of the acute impact of daylight saving time (DST) transitions is a question of great interest for an understanding of the benefits and inconveniences of a practice that is now under public scrutiny in Europe and America. Here, we report a thorough analysis of a record of 13 well-known research studies that reported increased risks associated with DST transitions in health issues – acute myocardial infarction, ischemic strokes and trauma admissions – and in societal issues – accidents, traffic accidents and fatal motor vehicle accidents. We found that a five percent increase of the risks suffices to understand the reported increased risks associated with the spring transition. Reported values above this threshold are impacted by the sample size of the study. In the case of the autumn transition, no increase in the risks is found.

Evidence-Based Design in the Hospital Environment: A Staff's Burnout Study in the COVID-19 Era.

This study aimed to evaluate the evidence-based design of the hospital physical space effect on the burnout of nurses and physicians during COVID-19. The research question was to identify the connection between daylight, nature-view windows, and hospital staff burnout during Covid-19. The evidence-based design in the hospital environment affects the health of the medical staff. The promotion of the hospital environment has a significant effect on healthcare system improvement. This cross-sectional study was performed on 406 nurses and physician's burnout in Guilan province in 2020. Three questionnaires were used: demographic, physical space of the hospital, daylight, nature-view windows, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Logistic regression (LR) analysis was used to determine the association between burnout and the hospital environment. The significance level was considered with p < .05. The results showed statistically significant correlations between patient units and the environmental characteristics of the hospitals with staff's burnout (p < .001). Of note, 62.9% of physicians and 71.9% of nurses had moderate work-related burnout. The highest burnout score was seen among staffs of emergency departments adjusted multivariate LR model revealed that 27.1% of work-related burnout in nurses and physicians was predictable with age, light, marital status, and hospitals. Our results showed that accessing more daylight could reduce burnout (p = .018, odds ratio [OR] = 0.910). Based on the result, the daylight impact on burnout reduction is more significant than other factors. It is suggested that adequate lighting, proper environmental design, and nature-view windows could create appropriate space for enhancing medical staff satisfaction and reducing burnout.

The impact of daylight saving time in Mexico

ABSTRACT We analyse the effect of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on automobile, acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) and crime-related fatalities in Mexico from 1998 to 2018. We rely on a regression discontinuity approach to obtain the causal impact of DST on these three causes of mortality. We find an increase in automobile fatalities of 13% −14% during the fall and spring transitions. Automobile fatalities increase 27% in urban areas during the fall transition and 18% in rural areas for spring. Crime-related fatalities increase 16% for the whole country, 13% in urban areas and 16% in rural areas in the fall transition and 2% in rural areas in the spring transition. The only impact on AMI fatalities that we find is a small increase in urban areas during the spring transition. In general, our results estimate an increase of about 100 more deaths per year due to DST, which translates into a monetary cost of about $22 million U.S. dollars per year.

The impact of daylight and window views on length of stay among patients with heart disease: A retrospective study in a cardiac intensive care unit

BackgroundHeart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The length of stay (LOS) is a well-established parameter used to evaluate health outcomes among critically ill patients with heart disease in cardiac intensive care units (CICUs). While evidence suggests that the presence of daylight and window views can positively influence patients’ LOS, no studies to date have differentiated the impact of daylight from window views on heart disease patients. Also, existing research studies on the impact of daylight and window views have failed to account for key clinical and demographic variables that can impact the benefit of such interventions in CICUs. MethodsThis retrospective study investigated the impact of access to daylight vs. window views on CICU patients’ LOS. The study CICU is located in a hospital in the southeast United States and has rooms of the same size with different types of access to daylight and window views, including rooms with daylight and window views (with the patient bed located parallel to full-height, south-facing windows), rooms with daylight and no window views (with the patient bed located perpendicular to the windows), and windowless rooms. Data from electronic health records (EHRs) for the time-period September 2015 to September 2019 (n=2936) were analyzed to investigate the impact of room type on patients’ CICU LOS. Linear regression models were developed for the outcome of interest, controlling for potential confounding variables. ResultsUltimately, 2319 patients were finally included in the study analysis. Findings indicated that patients receiving mechanical ventilation in rooms with access to daylight and window views had shorter LOS durations (16.8 h) than those in windowless rooms. Sensitivity analysis for a subset of patients with LOS ≤3 days revealed that parallel bed placement to the windows and providing access to both daylight and window views significantly reduced their LOS compared to windowless rooms in the unit (P=0.007). Also, parallel bed placement to the window significantly reduced LOS in this patient subset for those with an experience of delirium (P=0.019), dementia (P=0.008), anxiety history (P=0.009), obesity (P=0.003), and those receiving palliative care (P=0.006) or mechanical ventilation (P=0.033). ConclusionsFindings from this study could help architects make design decisions and determine optimal CICU room layouts. Identifying the patients who benefit most from direct access to daylight and window views may also help CICU stakeholders with patient assignments and hospital training programs.

Let there be light: Daylight saving time and road traffic collisions

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of daylight saving time (DST) on fatal road crashes in Australia. I exploit within year transitions to and from DST in a regression discontinuity in time framework. To examine the long run effect of the policy, I use trials of DST implemented in various states, and a DST extension due to the Sydney Olympics. Neither the transition to or out of DST, nor the long run effects of DST have an impact on fatalities on the road. However, there is evidence of reallocation of accidents over the day due to ambient light.

Traffic crash changes following transitions between daylight saving time and standard time in the United States: New evidence for public policy making

Introduction: This study examined the impact of daylight saving time changes on traffic crashes in the United States. Using a data-driven regression analysis approach, the study analyzed 2014–2016 crash data from six states spanning all four major time zones in the contiguous United States. Method: The researchers developed regression models for a number of analysis scenarios and by days of week separately. Based on the crash data, the team used an eight-week impact period for the spring time change and a four-week impact period for the fall time change. Results: The regression analysis showed that the spring time change was followed by an overall crash reduction of 18% during the eight-week period immediately after the time change, with a considerably higher crash reduction for freeway crashes (24%), rural crashes (24%), or non-intersection crashes (21%). The time change back to SDT in fall was followed by a 6% overall crash increase during the following four weeks, with considerably higher increases for freeway crashes (15%), non-intersection crashes (9%), nighttime crashes (28%), single-vehicle crashes (28%), and crashes in urban areas (12%). This study provides additional insights, including in many cases more comprehensive knowledge on how the changes to and from DST each year affect roadway traffic crashes. Practical Applications: The findings of this project further add to the current understanding on how the time changes affect public health in the form of traffic crashes. They also serve as additional evidence for public policy makers to better weigh the benefits and impacts associated with the time changes in the United States for relevant policy makings.

The impact of daylight on suicide rates

Since Durkheim and Morselli found a spring peak in suicides in the late 19th century, researchers have presented possible explanations, including daylight variation, for this seasonal pattern. Our identification strategy exploits the idiosyncratic variation in daylight within Norwegian regions, arising from the country’s substantial latitudinal range. We use full population data for a period of 45 years in a pre-registered research design. We find a small and non-significant relationship: One extra hour of daylight increases the suicide rate by merely 0.75 % (95 % CI: −0.4 % to 1.9 %).

The Calculated Circadian Effects of Light Exposure from Commuting

Light entrains human circadian rhythms, but increased time spent indoors and decreased daylight exposure may disrupt human circadian regulation and cause health problems. Much research is focused on improving indoor lighting conditions to minimize the adverse circadian impact of electric lights, and few studies investigate the circadian impact of daylight during the incidental time that people spend outdoors. For instance, when people commute from home to work, they are exposed to daylight. The purpose of this study is to investigate daylight’s impact on commuters’ circadian rhythms. Measurements of the illuminance and the spectral irradiance distribution (SID) of daylight were taken for three modes of commuting: driving, riding on trains, and walking; and under different weather conditions, on different days, and at different locations throughout the summer and autumn in the Sydney metropolitan region in Australia. With the SID data, three metrics were calculated to estimate the circadian impacts: α-opic irradiance, circadian stimulus (CS), and equivalent melanopic lux (EML). The results suggest that driving or walking on sunny or cloudy days and riding trains on sunny days are beneficial for the commuters’ circadian synchronization.

Subdivided venetian blind control strategies considering visual satisfaction of occupants, daylight metrics, and energy analyses

Thermal and lighting performance in buildings depend on their facade characteristics, and are important factors to achieve environmental sustainability. Application of an integrated model that balances these two performance indices would help optimise window and shading configurations by considering the comfort of occupants. As occupants infrequently operate shadings in shared spaces, the energy efficiency and visual comfort could be improved by planning appropriate shading strategies in initial design process. Thus, this paper presents a multi-stage study on the control strategies of venetian blinds by considering visual comfort and daylight metrics, and through energy analyses. First, the case study was performed in a south-oriented daylit office room. 30 people were interviewed via a survey about working on a laptop considering three different times of a day, five blind types, and three positions. The impact of daylight on their visual comfort was surveyed at different illuminance levels which were measured by daylight loggers. The useful daylight illuminance (UDI), Daylight Availability (DAv), spatial daylight autonomy (sDA), annual sunlight exposure (ASE), and simplified daylight glare probability (DGPs) were used to evaluate the results. Finally, the window and blinds were modelled for different window to wall ratios (WWRs) for long-term energy and daylight analysis, by considering bi-directional scattering distribution function (BSDF) materials and using the five-phase matrix method.Therefore, the positions of the occupants and their activities were determined to be important parameters in deciding the most suitable blind strategy. According to occupants’ working place and daytime, subdivided shadings are recommended, particularly in 90% WWR considering both energy efficiency (40% savings) and satisfaction of occupants.

Influence of Groves on Daylight Conditions and Visual Performance of Users of Urban Civil Infrastructures

The control and efficient use of daylight is a difficult task due to its seasonal and hourly variation. Although it is matter of active research in indoor lighting due to the necessity to light human tasks at any hour of the day in a sustainable way, little attention has been paid to the impact of daylight on visual performance, safety and ergonomics of citizens, especially pedestrians in urban areas. This attention is even lower when dealing with the interaction between daylight and urban groves, which is an essential element in cities due to a wide variety of benefits like shadowing, CO2 absorption, natural aesthetics, noise protection and many others. In this work, the interaction between daylight and typical urban trees in one city with high levels of insolation (Granada, in southern Spain) has been studied. The results, conclusions and proposals for a more sustainable urban planning are analyzed and presented.

Water-soluble vitamins in honeys of various botanical origin and their change during storage of honey

The richest chemical composition of honey determines its extremely high biological activity. The composition and concentration of bioactive compounds of honey largely depend on its botanical origin, i.e. they are determined by nectar and the pollen chemical composition of the nectariferous plant, on the soil on which they grow, as well as on climate and weather conditions. Along with enzymes and minerals, vitamins are found in honey in small but measurable amounts. Vitamins of honey are mainly represented by B-group vitamins. The content of vitamins in honey varies according to its botanical origin. The following types of honey were used for the study: acacia, sunflower, chestnut, linden, buckwheat. The quantitative determination of water-soluble B-group vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid, nicotinic acid) in honey of various botanical origin was carried out in the accredited laboratory of the direction of chemical and biological research of beekeeping products of the Federal Research Center of Beekeeping by the method of capillary electrophoresis. It was revealed that chestnut and buckwheat honey present the highest levels of water-soluble vitamins content; that confirms the prospects of their use as a source of vitamins. Vitamins are unstable compounds that can be easily destroyed by various factors. Under the impact of daylight, the studied water-soluble vitamins contained in honey are destroyed during storage. The dynamics of changes in the vitamins content was traced during the storage of honey for 12 months in a dark place and in the light. Riboflavin andnicotinic acid, which is significantly reduced, is caracterized by a higher sensitivity to the action of daylight during storage of honey.

The interaction between daylight and fifteenth and sixteenth century glass windows from the Low Countries

The positive impact of daylight on various forms of life is well understood. The daylight conditions a person experiences inside a building strongly depend on the character of the glazing. Contemporary windows maximize the transmission of visible daylight. In post-medieval times glassmakers were confronted with less pure materials. Driven by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation they were at the same time challenged by the demand for increased daylight. Luckily, technological evolutions allowed the production of thinner windows. It is currently an open question if glassmakers in the (Southern) Low Countries during the booming economic period from the fifteenth to seventeenth century made use of the interplay between material and fabrication properties to bring light into the darkness. Therefore, this paper links the impact of glass purity and production technique to light transmission for a well-diagnosed group of excavated glass window pieces from the castle of Middelburg-in-Flanders and a set of roundels, all dating back to between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and explores what factors have influenced this technological improvement. A non-destructive approach making use of UV–vis–NIR absorption spectroscopy unveiled that the more recent material is less pure compared to the older dated material but that light transmission was maximized due to the applied production technique.

The dark side of white hair? Artificial light irradiation reduces cortisol concentrations in white but not black hairs of cattle and pigs

Analysing hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs) is a minimally invasive way to retrospectively assess long-term stress, and its application in studies of animal welfare and stress has attracted considerable interest. However, not only stress-related effects but also hair-specific characteristics and external influences can affect HCCs and interfere with the interpretation of results. Thus, it was the aim of this study to investigate the impact of daylight and UV irradiation on cortisol concentrations in the hairs of pigs and cattle. We also examined whether a potential irradiation effect on HCCs depended on the colour of the hair. For this purpose, black and white hair samples from 18 Saddleback pigs and 18 Holstein Friesian cattle were exposed to artificial light (both visible and UV) and compared with control hair samples from the same animals kept in the dark. Exposure to artificial light significantly decreased HCCs in both pigs (P < 0.05) and cattle (P < 0.001), and hair colour had an influence on HCCs, with black hair showing higher cortisol levels than white hair (cattle: P < 0.001, pigs: P = 0.07). The interaction between light exposure and hair colour was significant in both pigs (P < 0.01) and cattle (P < 0.001), so light exposure reduced HCCs in porcine white hair but not black hair. In cattle, light-exposed white hair exhibited lower hair cortisol levels than control white hair or black hair. These results demonstrate that artificial light irradiation degrades hair cortisol or favours its elimination by structural changes of the hair matrix. However, this effect was only detectable in white hair, indicating that the melanin pigments in black hair absorbed radiation, thereby reducing the effects of photodegradation. Compared with other known influencing factors on HCCs, such as age and body region, the influence of light irradiation was relatively low in this in vitro experiment. However, further studies should investigate this influence under real-life animal conditions, such as outdoor and indoor housing.

140 Trudy VNIRO. Vol. 184. P. 140–148 Новый лазерный планктономер «КАРП» — комплексный автономный регистратор планктона

A prototype of a new laser plankton recorder was developed and tested.The device description is presented. The possibility of registering nauplii, cysts and mature individuals of artemia, fry of various species of fish and some species of plankton were investigated in fish tank and aquariums. The results of field tests of the model of the device in July 2019, carried out jointly with the specialists of the Tyumen branch of “VNIRO” on the Solyonoe Lake of the Tyumen Region, are presented. The impact of daylight on the layout was evaluated. Solutions have been proposed to minimize it. The preliminary results of the refinement of the device were shown and promising options for its use as an additional sensor in the probing and towed CTD complexes at the RV were proposed. The device is being developed to estimate the size and quantitative composition of mesoplankton, which is the food base of fish stocks as well as for the field research related to the industrial breeding of artemia.

Optimizing window size by integrating energy and lighting analyses considering occupants’ visual satisfaction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the approximate window-to-wall ratio (WWR), window width-to-height ratio (WHR) and sill level for a room in Rasht–Gilan province and to present an optimal window in each of the WWR ranges providing the minimum energy consumption by integrating artificial lighting and thermal analyses, whilst maintaining internal comfort conditions using dynamic evaluation.Design/methodology/approachThe process of modelling has four main steps: 1 – defining the building's features and requirements, 2 – validating input weather file data by on-site measurement, 3 – determining input parameters for the lighting and thermal analysis and 4 – clarifying variable parameters and fitness function for the optimization algorithm. Also, the survey study is performed in a daylit office room, in which 30 employees are employed to answer the questions in three different times of a day. In this process, the impact of daylight on their visual comfort is surveyed in 1,350 different illuminance levels which are manually recorded.FindingsThe range of useful daylight illuminance (UDI) values is determined as 200–1,000 lux. The optimum range of WWRs in the case study is 15%–25%. Also, due to the appropriate window height, electric lighting could be decreased by 40%.Originality/valueThermal and lighting performance in buildings is the relation of facade characteristics to environmental sustainability. Recent studies focussed on optimizing WWR and window characteristics considering thermal comfort and energy analyses. However, architects need freedom for designing façade and making decisions in their first sketches. Thus a guideline for optimum window conditions in each WWR is required. Also, considering occupants' behaviour in practical buildings, the visual comfort investigation is a gap in WWR optimization.

Impact of daylight saving time on lighting energy consumption and on the biological clock for occupants in office buildings

Nowadays, there is an in-depth debate about the suitability of daylight saving time. The shift of one hour during summer time allows a better use of daylighting reducing energy consumptions. However, the impact of daylight saving time on the human health has not been quantified in most of the scenarios. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of daylight saving time on the health of occupants (by calculating Circadian Stimulus Autonomy) and on the energy consumptions for lighting (by calculating Daylight Autonomy) in office buildings. A standard office is analyzed in eleven representative locations of Europe and for three different time schedules: with daylight saving time, with continuous winter time and with continuous summer time. Despite restricted to a specific case study, results provide elements useful to evaluate pros and cons in maintaining daylight saving time, confirming that they are strongly dependent on the geographical position and on the local luminous climate. It was demonstrated that, abolishing daylight saving time, maintaining the local time all the year (winter time), would determine a reduction of Daylight Autonomy generally lower than 6% and that this decrease would be more consistent for cities characterized by higher latitude. At the same time an increase of Circadian Stimulus Autonomy values would be obtained, more consistent for northern cities (maximum observed increment 16%). On the other hand, applying the one-hour shift for the entire year (summer time) would not determine benefits in terms of energy savings nor of impact on circadian system.