Office Space Research Articles

A preliminary investigation of a novel solar-powered absorption-desiccant-radiant cooling system for thermally active buildings

Desiccant air-conditioning systems are considered a competitive alternative to conventional vapor compression cycles. However, the literature lacks detailed studies of such systems when coupled with thermally active buildings and powered by solar energy due to the complexity of modeling and controlling the system. In the present study, a novel hybrid desiccant-dehumidification-absorption system, driven by external compound parabolic concentrators (DDA-XCPC), is used to serve a typical office space in a hot climate zone. The entire system is modeled and simulated dynamically in the TRNSYS environment. The current study investigates the proposed system performance in terms of the achieved thermal comfort, energy consumption, solar fraction, life cycle costs, and carbon emissions. The results reveal superior thermal comfort levels with percentages of people dissatisfied below 5.6 %. The daily solar fraction ranged between 41 and 90 %, with an average of 49 %, whereas the coefficient of performance varied between 0.46 and 1.38 while having a season average of 0.86. Compared to a conventional system, driven by a gas boiler, the proposed system increased the life cycle costs by 6,824 USD due to the large capital investment of the solar thermal loop. However, each 1,000 USD of additional expenses was accompanied by a cutdown of 4,619 kg of CO2 emissions. Increments in the solar system’s capacity (i.e., solar collector area and storage tank volume) have adverse and favorable impacts on the economic and environmental performances, respectively. Therefore, the system can be a viable option whenever green energy production is prioritized and considerably incentivized.

Characterization of higher education spatial injustices: Cases of selected Sub-Saharan universities

The primary focus of this study was to explore the experiences of academics in relation to the challenges they face regarding office space. This paper was underpinned by the qualitative exploratory research design within the interpretivist philosophy. This paper explores the varied expressions of participants (three lecturers, two senior lecturers, three associate professors, four full professors, and three managers) through semi-structured interviews on how they characterize spatial challenges in their selected universities. In its examination, I undergirded the thesis of this paper on the social justice theory and on the concept of space as espoused by Lefebre (2004). In addition, extant literature on the epistemology of academic space and academic performance was intensively evaluated. The result of this study provides a glimpse of the socially just challenges academics face regarding office space. This study is of significance because there is scarcity of research on the comparison of office space provision in relation to selected universities in the Sub-Saharan region. In addressing this scholarly gap, the paper provides insights in the epistemology of space, social justice, and academic performance and how space can disrupt the academic agenda.

From boredom to bliss: unravelling the influence of biophilic office design on gen Z’s mental well-being and contentment

PurposeThis study aims to examine the connection between biophilic workplace design and its effect on Gen Z employees’ mental well-being and job contentment. The aim is to provide insights for the top management to acknowledge and implement biophilic workplaces to create a more productive and fulfilling work environment.Design/methodology/approachThe research study is supported by a literature review of 45 peer-reviewed papers. The research involved a comprehensive review of databases such as Scopus, EBSCO, Elsevier, Jstor and Google Scholar using relevant keywords and Boolean operators. The inclusion criteria for the study are limited to articles published between 2013 and 2024. The review results provide insights into the current state of research on biophilic office spaces and their impact on Gen Z employees’ mental well-being and productivity.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal how biophilic office design positively impacts the mental well-being and job contentment of Gen Z employees, leading to increased productivity. It demonstrates that being around elements of nature at work can reduce stress and enhance cognitive function, leading to increased job contentment.Originality/valueFew studies have been done on the impact of biophilic-designed offices on Gen Z employees, a cohort increasingly becoming the dominant workforce. The conceptual model proposed in the study has defined the positive aspects of biophilic design for Gen Z employees.

Influence of Current Ratio, Net Profit Margin, Total Asset Turnover, And Debt to Equity Ratio on Share Prices in Manufacturing Companies in The Property and Real Estate Sector on The Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2019-2021 Period

Numerous industries provide investors with various funding options in today's rapidly evolving business and technology landscape. One particularly intriguing area in this regard is investment. Investment refers to allocating cash into various assets for a specific duration to generate profits, such as income or capital appreciation. Infrastructure development has led to the management of several industries, including property and real estate. Property can stimulate other economic sectors by providing employment opportunities and enhancing overall societal well-being. This is further bolstered by the rapid growth of the property sector, driven by the consistent availability of land and the rising public demand for housing and office spaces. Based on the data results, it is evident that there was an upsurge in demand for property and real estate in 2019. In contrast, production was sluggish expansion across all industries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Share prices will rise with increased demand and fall with less demand. This is evident in the company's effective management of shareholders. Financial reports are crucial for the company's future. Financial report data can be utilized as a decisive factor in decision-making. By assessing the financial performance of PT. Alam Sutera Reality Tbk, PT. Bumi Serpong Tbk, and PT. Bekasi Fajar Industri Estate Tbk, investors can make well-informed investment decisions. The liquid or illiquid ratio, which is based on the company's debt-to-equity ratio, current ratio, net profit margin, and total asset turnover, can be calculated to complete this assessment.

Advantages And Disadvantages of WFH

In this paper, we explore the cost-saving benefits associated with WFH, such as reduced overhead expenses for office space and utilities, as well as potential productivity gains stemming from flexible work schedules. However, we also delve into the challenges that WFH poses for financial professionals, including the loss of in-person collaboration opportunities, heightened cybersecurity risks, and implications for organizational culture and employee engagement. Through a comprehensive analysis of existing literature, case studies, and empirical data, this paper seeks to offer insights into how financial firms can effectively navigate the transition to WFH, capitalize on its advantages, and mitigate its drawbacks. Ultimately, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the evolving dynamics of remote work within the finance sector and provides valuable recommendations for practitioners and policymakers alike.This paper amalgamates extant literature, empirical inquiries, and real-world illustrations to furnish a holistic comprehension of the intricacies surrounding WFH. By scrutinizing the positive and negative facets, organizations can craft judicious WFH policies to optimize benefits while navigating challenges in the ever-evolving terrain of remote work. Key Words: Work-From-Home (WFH), finance specialization, remote work, advantages, disadvantages, productivity, flexibility, collaboration, communication, cost-efficiency

Supervision as a Dispersed Practice: Exploring the Creation of Supervisory Spaces in Day‐to‐Day Social Work Practice

ABSTRACTSupervision is integral to social work practice; however, how it operates in day‐to‐day practice remains poorly understood. Existing research mainly comprises quantitative and qualitative accounts of social workers' and supervisors' experiences of supervision. More recently, a small number of studies examining the content of supervision have added to our understanding of what happens in supervision. However, supervisory interactions outside formal supervision have received scant empirical attention. This paper draws on an ethnographic study of four social work teams in England, exploring how formal and informal case discussion supports social workers' sensemaking. Data comprised observations of case talk in the office space (n = 21) and group case discussions (n = 2), recordings of one‐to‐one supervision (n = 17) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 22). Findings highlighted the importance of space in how social workers perceived and engaged with supervision. Supervisory spaces involve the interaction of physical, thinking and emotional spaces to create spaces that are supportive, task‐focused and reflective. Moreover, these supervisory spaces are not confined to formal one‐to‐one supervision or to the dyadic supervisor–supervisee relationship. This raises questions for how child protection social workers can be best supported, across diverse supervisory spaces and relationships, to ensure their practice is effective.

A machine learning framework for detection and severity estimation of faults for chillers and air handling units in HVAC systems

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are omnipresent in modern-day industrial plants, office spaces, and residential complexes. Chillers and Air Handling Units (AHU) are the critical HVAC sub-systems that perform vital operations and consume maximum energy. Any fault in these sub-systems can thus adversely affect any organization's operations, making fault detection pivotal for effective maintenance. This study proposes a machine learning-based chiller and AHU fault detection framework that aims to reduce the risk of Type I Error and detect the fault severity. We first discuss detecting specific chiller and AHU faults using the Neyman-Pearson principle, controlling the Type I Error rate under 5%, with high probability. We then propose an ensemble-based feature selection method, which yields a set of essential features that can accurately estimate the severity level of specific faults. Further, Random Forests and k-Nearest Neighbors-based classifiers are employed to detect fault severity. We evaluate the performance of the proposed framework on two benchmark data sets, ASHRAE-RP-1043(Chiller) and ASHRAE-RP-1312(AHU), respectively, which show promising results.

Research on the Teaching Model of Office Space Design in the Context of Combining Curriculum and Competition

The teaching philosophy of combining courses with competitions has been a hot topic in the field of education in recent years. Integrating competitions into the curriculum makes teaching more diverse. At present, many design teachers are trying to introduce this concept into curriculum teaching. However, many problems were also encountered during the integration process. This article takes the course of office space design as the carrier, studies the feasibility of introducing competition into teaching, and explores a new teaching model that combines curriculum and competition. This study aims to unify theoretical teaching with practical teaching, thereby cultivating applied skilled talents.

Registration of apartments and office spaces in 3D land administration – A case study in Croatia

Due to the needs of modern society, cadastral systems should be designed to support three dimensional (3D) spatial data. One of many possible approaches for implementing a 3D cadastre, in countries such as Croatia, is to establish a Building Register as a transitional register between 2D and 3D cadastres, where data about buildings and infrastructure would be collected, gradually adapted to the data model of 3D cadastre, and finally migrated to the 3D cadastre database. Sources for establishing the Building Register can be based on the records of state surveys, the register of administrative units, the land book, data managed by local and regional self-government units, data from construction documentation according to special regulations in the field of spatial planning, data managed by the building and infrastructure managers, as well as from other sources. A significant element of the 3D cadastre would be the inclusion of representations of buildings and units of use, as well as public utility infrastructure and complex spatial real-life entities (e.g., bridges, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, overlapping of constructed objects with natural facilities, large shopping malls with more underground and overhead floors etc.). This paper presents a conceptual model of a 3D cadastre in Croatia by establishing the Building Register with focus on unit of use of real properties, namely apartments and office spaces. The paper also summarizes the current situation regarding the Croatian Land Administration System (LAS) and proposes a conceptual model for modelling unit of use of real properties. Additionally, a proposal is made herein to assign unique identifiers to buildings and their parts in a logical manner which would be intuitive and clear to citizens of Croatia, citizens of European Union and citizens of Croatia neighboring countries. The proposed methodology of determining unique identifiers could provide the means for easier navigation in 3D space and better understanding of spatial information by lay citizens, by institutions or emergency services.

Customer participation in new product development and the impact of remote work

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) with a massive and unexpected challenge that has caused many to adjust their operational standards. Perhaps the biggest change has been the shift to remote work and away from traditional office spaces. Thus, this study aims to explore the implications of this shift within the context of customer participation in the new product development (NPD) process.Design/methodology/approachOur study surveys 218 small-to-medium size business-to-business firms in the USA on a variety of questions revolving around their NPD processes, customer collaboration and the shift to remote work. The authors use structural equation modeling in the AMOS program to analyze the data.FindingsThe findings indicate that both customer participation breadth and customer participation depth positively impact new product performance. Furthermore, these relationships are found to be contingent upon whether firms rely on remote work during the collaboration process. The results show that accessing a broader variety of explicit customer insights (i.e., breadth) has become easier in the increasingly remote collaboration environment. However, as face-to-face customer participation in NPD has decreased, the prospect of gaining deep, tacit customer knowledge relevant to product development (i.e., depth) has become more challenging.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the knowledge-based view of the firm and the customer participation literature, and it also has implications for managers adjusting to the shift to remote work following the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provide additional evidence that customer participation is an effective strategy for SMEs (Morgan et al., 2018), but remote work has both positive and negative implications regarding the type of external knowledge that is acquired during customer participation in NPD.

Delineating Dy3+ and Sm3+ in thermally stable strontium silicate apatites for multifunctional applications

The structural, optical and temperature dependent luminescence properties of a series of Sr2Y8-xREx(SiO4)6O2 (RE=Dy and Sm) silicate phosphors are investigated for their multifunctional applications. The phosphors were synthesized using the solid-state reaction route with varying doping levels and characterized for phase purity. X-ray Diffraction analysis revealed the hexagonal crystal structure of (Sr2RE2)(RE6)(SiO4)6O2, indicating the incorporation of rare earth (RE) ions into two distinct crystallographic sites, thereby augmenting the luminescence properties. Dy3+ doped compounds exhibit intense yellow emission, promising white light generation when paired with InGaN blue LED chips. Sm3+ doped samples show orange-red emission around 601 nm, attributed to multipole-multipole interactions, with rapid decay curves suitable for high-speed response LEDs. Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) values were computed to assess the commercial viability of these phosphors in luminescence applications and the role of lighting in the growth of indoor plants and office spaces is discussed. The Sr2Y7.8Dy0.2(SiO4)6O2 phosphor with remarkable quantum yield of 63.56% demonstrated a thermal stability of 0.27 eV with enhanced sensitivity of about 0.39% K−1 and Sr2Y7.8Sm0.2(SiO4)6O2 with stability around 0.31eV with sensitivity of 1.11% K⁻¹ at 100K reveals them as potential candidates for optical temperature sensing. These results declare the competence of synthesized novel silicate apatites in solid-state lighting and optical thermometry.

Improving Mixed-mode Ventilation Systems by Controlling Building Envelope Design for Office Spaces in Egypt

Improving Mixed-mode Ventilation Systems by Controlling Building Envelope Design for Office Spaces in Egypt

Hybrid AI: Harnessing the Power of Cloud and On-Premise Datacenter for Enterprise AI Use Cases

The article thoroughly explores the impact of VDI technology, on company operations in relation to remote work. It also delves into the role of VDI in transforming work highlighting the advantages like increased employee engagement, a sense of inclusivity improved working conditions and opportunities for training and growth. Additionally, it emphasizes the benefits of VDI such as reduced carbon emissions due to commuting and office space usage. The focus is on VMware Horizon, a leading VDI solution examining its features, benefits and recent advancements in VDI technology. This comprehensive analysis underscores the importance of VDI in modernizing workspaces by providing scalable, secure and efficient solutions for businesses. The study emphasizes the need, for testing and evaluation of real world impacts when implementing VDI solutions across environments. This article provides an exploration of implementing VDI systems including challenges encountered and methodologies used to assess their performance and impact.

Indoor Light Environment Factors That Affect the Psychological Satisfaction of Occupants in Office Facilities

Recently, human well-being has emerged as a pivotal concern that affects not only quality of life but also social and economic dimensions. Lighting in office spaces is crucial for the health and cognitive function of occupants, and various methods are used to assess it. However, there is still a lack of research investigating the relationship between lighting satisfaction and its key factors in diverse spaces. This study focused on the office light environment, using quantitative and qualitative data analysis to understand occupants’ satisfaction and the factors influenced by lighting characteristics. According to the results, occupant satisfaction was higher in light environments with illuminance levels exceeding the appropriate illuminance standard. Furthermore, the influx of daylight and its influencing factors, such as daylight exposure and window size, played a significant role in enhancing satisfaction. However, while daylight was a primary source of glare, its mitigation was not solely reliant on installations, such as blinds; architectural designs, including space arrangement, were also crucial in addressing it. Furthermore, the perception of the lighting environment varied based on work behaviors and spatial arrangements, influencing satisfaction with the lighting conditions. Therefore, a comprehensive approach that considers lighting elements, human behavior, and architectural design is essential in creating a lighting environment for office occupants.

The use of Virtual Private Network in the Context of “Bring Your Own Device” in the Post Covid-19 Remote Workplace

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for remote work provides an added layer of security by encrypting the internet connection. It helps protect sensitive data and prevents unauthorized access. With a VPN, employees can securely access company resources and files from anywhere in the world. This allows for greater flexibility in work arrangements and enables employees to collaborate seamlessly. Implementing a VPN as a remote workplace solution can lead to cost savings for businesses. It eliminates the need for physical office space and reduces expenses associated with commuting and travel. While VPNs offer numerous benefits for remote work, it is crucial for organizations to implement proper security measures and educate employees on best practices to realize this technology's full potential. This article explores the change in the use of VPNs during and after the Covid-19 pandemic era. A short literature review precedes the opinion of the information security community about the usage and role of VPNs in efficiently securing information and information systems.

Leaving the Big City: New Patterns of Migration in Canada

Big cities have always been attractive places for people to settle. However, recent trends, including work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements, along with the rising cost of housing in big cities, mean more Canadians of all age groups are relocating to smaller communities. Much of this movement is to smaller areas within the same province, so that communities which traditionally saw an out-migration of population are now dealing with the challenges createdby a significant influx of new residents. Focusing on the exodus from the three largest Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, this paper examines the challenges and consequences for smaller communities. The proportion of people living in these three CMAs has grown from 28.9 per cent in 1981 to35.5 per cent in 2021. This increase reflects the fact that the fastest growing industries, suchas finance, technology and communications, are located in major urban areas. However, the pandemic, combined with the technology that allows people to work from anywhere, means that more people are moving to smaller communities where they can enjoy lower housing costs and other benefits that less dense places offer. While younger people willing to tolerate the occasional commute to the city in hybrid working arrangements are relocating to smaller communities, some retirees are downsizing and also leaving the big city behind. This out-migration has created challenges for big cities. With workers resisting a return to the downtown office, urban cores are left with vast amounts of empty office space. Companies are thus reducing the size of their leased space or not renewing current leases. Public transit and shopping malls have seen usage drop, and a subsequent rise in crime and social disorder in some cities is encouraging even more people to consider moving elsewhere. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly contributed to the increasing exodus from the largest cities.A post-pandemic return to normal economic activity could slow departures from the big cities. The largest CMAs are still growing, due to an increasing number of immigrants, many of whom prefer to settle in big cities where people who arrived previously from their homelands have located. Canada’s commitment to expanded immigration has meant continued growth for major urban centres while the exodus of people from those centres has renewed the growth of mid-size and smaller communities. For the community of Cowansville, Quebec, for example, the flow of people out of Montrealhas produced renewed growth. The newcomers, especially those who bring significant resources with them, stimulate the local economy. Greater demand for products and services helps local businesses and can create employment opportunities for local residents. It will be important to monitor these migration trends in the coming years in order to ensure that infrastructure, funding and services adapt to the challenges so that everyone, whether they choose to live in a big city or in a small community, has access to the services and infrastructure they need in order to enjoy an optimum quality of life.

Optimizing the characteristic cooling curves of PCM-integrated thermally active buildings: Experimental and numerical investigations

Phase change materials (PCMs) exploit their cyclic phase change (solidification and melting) to enable latent heat storage. While incorporating them in thermally activated building systems can potentially enhance energy savings and thermal comfort, they can introduce significant challenges to the building energy management system. This work first reports the result of small-scale side-by-side experiments on two thermally active cuboids with and without BioPCMs at different supply water and PCM melting temperatures, as well as irradiance levels. Next, a dynamic model is developed in TRNSYS v18.05 for a typical design of an office space under hot desert climate conditions. The model is then integrated into a multi-objective optimization routine using NSGA-II algorithms to identify the optimal characteristic cooling curves, melting temperatures, and PCM thicknesses that simultaneously minimize energy consumption and maximize the percentage of comfortable hours. The experimental observations of the PCM-integrated cuboid highlighted energy savings between 80.45 and 84.56 %, compared to the reference cuboid, at nearly the same levels of indoor temperatures. The PCM panels reduced the cooling capacity of the radiant floor but also dampened air temperature variations by up to 83.17 %. Besides, higher solar irradiance levels, encountered in desert areas, were found to enhance the cooling capacity by up to 46.8 %. The Pareto solutions highlighted the possibility of achieving acceptable unmet hours of 3.16 % using PCMs and without the need for an assisting air system, compared to 14.1 % without PCMs. Besides, at the same unmet hours of the reference system, the PCMs reduced the total energy consumption and the peak cooling power by 9.75 and 41.2 %, which translates into substantial operation and capital investments, respectively. Moreover, the study demonstrated by example the importance of calibrating the commonly used cooling curves of thermally active buildings when planning for PCM integration.

Investigation of the indoor CO2 removal efficiency and fresh air energy savings of living walls in office spaces

Elevated indoor CO2 levels might have adverse effects on human health. However, conventional physical and chemical methods for indoor CO2 removal face the challenges of high energy consumption, low efficiency at low CO2 concentrations, and high costs. Furthermore, the introduction of outdoor air to lower indoor CO2 concentrations results in significant HVAC energy consumption. Aligning with office hours and the natural light cycle, the utilization of photosynthesis in living walls (LWs) offers an energy-efficient and sustainable solution for the mitigation of high CO2 levels in office spaces. This study experimentally investigates the impacts of the carbon fixation pathways, light flux density, and substrate moisture content on the CO2 removal rate of LWs in two identical rooms. The findings provide practical suggestions for plant species selection, lighting design, and irrigation management in office spaces to enhance the CO2 removal efficiency of LWs. Additionally, the fresh air energy-saving effects of LWs under different scenarios are accurately simulated in EnergyPlus. The results demonstrate that choosing C3 plants over CAM plants in LWs yields higher CO2 removal efficiency. The activation of artificial lighting is recommended when the surface light flux density of LWs drops below the light compensation point (LCP), ensuring favorable conditions for growth. In a 30-m2 office room accommodating two and three occupants, LWs can respectively reduce the demand for fresh air by 13.9 %–38.5 % and decrease fresh air energy consumption by 11.2 %–28.2 %.

Modern Office Management in the Post-Covid-19

Advanced office administration within the post-COVID-19 time is experiencing noteworthy changes. The widespread has quickened the appropriation of half-breed working designs, with a move towards inaccessible work and adaptable working models. This has driven a reconfiguration of workplaces and a reevaluation of their part in cities. The plan of advanced domestic office spaces has become crucial to meet the wants of inaccessible laborers. Furthermore, headways in office innovation have played an imperative part in managing the challenges brought around by the widespread. The longer-term workplaces are anticipated to be more collaborative, versatile, and energetic, with a center on activity-based workspace situations. Besides, grasping these moves can lead to noteworthy vitality reserve funds in office buildings. Generally, present-day office administration within the post-Covid-19 period requires organizations to adjust to modern working designs, use innovation, and make adaptable and proficient workspaces The researcher aims to conduct a Research study on modern office management in the post-Covid-19 era. Important objectives are set as follows: To study the relationship between modern management in the New Normal era and the performance of modern offices and to consider rules for planning faculty for cutting edge office administration within the post-COVID-19 time. This study was on modern office management in the post-Covid-19 era. This research has been started since studying the preliminary data of quantitative research. The test bunch utilized in this consider comprised of 378 present day office directors in Bangkok. A survey was utilized as an apparatus to gather information. Information investigation utilized clear measurements counting recurrence , cruel , rate , standard deviation, and testing of connections between advanced organization. with working comes about Utilizing numerous relationship examination and different relapse examination . The comes about of the ponder found that 1) the relationship between administration Modern era in the New Normal era in human resources Organizational learning And the aspect of adjustment in the new normal era has a positive relationship with operating results in finance, customers, and internal processes. and learning and development. 2) The relationship between modern management in the New Normal era and teamwork. Have a relationship plus financial, customer, and internal process performance results. 3) The relationship between Modern management in the New Normal era in terms of network creation There is a positive relationship between operating results, customers, internal processes. and learning and development.

VR digital twin of office space with computer vision-based estimation of room occupancy and power consumption

AbstractIn the past years, energy consumption has increased rapidly due to many factors, including the rise in technology adoption. This has many downfalls, from higher costs to CO$$_2$$ 2 emissions. Human activities in offices and houses represent a considerable amount of energy usage. A digital twin (DT) of an open-plan common space is created, serving the purpose of remote room occupancy monitoring and automatic detection of energy consumption. A virtual reality (VR) model is developed and integrated to temperature, humidity and imaging sensors. For maintaining privacy, images are processed in local computers to measure occupancy levels and live video feed were never transmitted. The same set of imaging sensors were also used in a bespoke computer vision module for energy consumption estimation. The human avatars were mapped with high correlation (R$$^{2}$$ 2 $$= 0.85$$ = 0.85 ) with actual positions on floor. Our energy consumption algorithm accuracy obtained true positive rate of $$91.58\%$$ 91.58 % and F1 score of $$81.96\%$$ 81.96 % . Finally, all this information is transmitted and visualized to the 3D digital twin for remote monitoring and simulation.