Research completed by a Mullen-lead team not only confirms the value of air outside being fresh, but also the advantages of air brought into buildings being “scrubbed.” The investigators report that “Fine particulate air pollution is harmful to children in myriad ways. While evidence is mounting that chronic exposures are associated with reduced academic proficiency, no research has examined the frequency of peak exposures. . . .
Coordination critical
The Transdisciplinary Workplace Research Network met September 16-19 in Frankfurt Germany. A number of timely, compelling, applicable sets of research findings were presented; that material is shared here.
Focus, performance at risk
Outcome variations quantified
Conditions and professional performance linked
Brink and colleagues evaluated links between college/university classroom conditions and student performance. They report that their literature review determined that “Warm white light provides a relaxing environment and supports communication, and should gradually change to blue-enriched white light after its prolonged use during the morning to prevent drowsiness. . . . these different correlated color temperatures imitates the natural change of daylight during the day and therefore supports teachers' and students' circadian rhythm.. . .
The implications of working from home are multidimensional. Sjolie, Francisco, Mahon, Kaukko, and Kemmis (study published in Journal of Praxis in Higher Education) report that they “collected data from students and academic staff. . . . working from a home office, or as a distributed team, provides significantly increased flexibility for the work situation, it could provide less flexibility in carrying out the work, both in terms of meeting colleagues, collaborating and teaching.
Ko and colleagues evaluated how windows influence space user experiences. They report that they “assessed the influence of having a window with a view [of nature] on thermal and emotional responses as well as on cognitive performance. . . . The chamber kept the air and window surface temperature at 28 °C, a slightly warm condition. . . . In the space with versus without windows, the thermal sensation was significantly cooler ( . . . equivalent to 0.74 °C lower), and 12% more participants were thermally comfortable.
Sort of seat significant
