This book presents the state of the art of two areas: intelligent residential buildings and the behaviour of their occupants. These areas need to be treated together in order to develop new concepts for buildings, which are more efficient, more comfortable and more healthy. The concept of intelligent building is associated with the creation of a management system that takes into account the requirements of the occupants in terms of thermal comfort and their daily activities, maintaining good indoor air quality and minimizing energy consumption. In commercial or office buildings, these systems are already at an intermediate stage of implementation. However, in the residential sector they have yet to be significantly implemented. In mild climates, where the interactions of the occupants with the building mechanisms are the primary way to ensure adequate comfort and ventilation, the importance of occupant behaviour studies and their incorporation in the algorithms of the intelligent buildings becomes even more crucial. This book offers new concepts on how to bring these aspects together.

This book describes the prerequisites for the placing on the market and the safe use of machinery in compliance with the relevant EU Directives, especially the Machinery Directive 2006/42. It provides readers with high-level knowledge concerning the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) that machinery must fulfill. The approach and principles of the Machinery Directive were most recently made worldwide acknowledged in the ILO code of practice on safe machinery, released in 2013. The book addresses that code, as well as providing valuable insight into other EU Product and Workplace legislation. Focusing on the key aspect of safe machinery, the "machinery safety risk assessment", which allows readers to better understand the more difficult aspects of risk assessments, the book equips readers to tackle problems at the manufacturing stage and in different use scenarios, introducing them to risk reduction techniques and functional safety aspects.

This book examines the energy dimension of the smart city from the perspective of urban planning, providing a complete overview that ranges from theoretical aspects to practical considerations and projects. In addition, it aims to illustrate how the concept of the smart city can enhance understanding of the urban system and foster new forms of management of the metropolis, including with respect to energy supply and use. Specifically, the book explores the different dimensions of the relationship between energy and the city, discusses methodological issues with a special focus on ontological approaches to sustainability, and describes practices, tools, and good examples of energy-related urban planning. The authors represent the main Italian research groups working in the field, Italy being an excellent example of a country exposed to energy problems due to, for example, vulnerability to climate change and lack of primary energy resources. This book will be valuable for students of urban planning, town planners, and researchers interested in understanding the changing nature of the city and the challenges posed by energy issues.

This book examines the Facilities Management (FM) of hospitals and healthcare facilities, which are among the most complex, costly and challenging kind of buildings to manage. It presents and evaluates the FM service quality standards in Singapore's hospitals from the patient's perspective, and provides recommendations on how to successfully improve FM service quality and achieve higher patient satisfaction. The book also features valuable supplementary materials, including a checklist of 32 key factors for successful facilities management and another checklist of 24 service attributes for hospitals to achieve desirable service quality in connection with facilities management. The book adopts a unique approach of combining service quality and quality theory to provide a more holistic view of how FM service quality can be achieved in hospitals. It also integrates three instruments, namely the SERVQUAL model, the Kano model and the QFD model to yield empirical results from surveys for implementation in hospitals. Although the book was written from the perspective of FM service quality for hospitals, the findings and recommendations are also relevant for other non-healthcare sectors where appropriate lessons may also be drawn for FM and service quality in general. It will particularly benefit Quality Managers, Facilities Managers and Hospital Administrators.

Sounding the Alarm in the Schoolhouse: Safety, Security, and Student Well-Being was written as a resource guide for educational and mental health professionals and policymakers, as well as families and communities seeking to develop programming to reduce school violence and promote safe, engaging, and effective schools. This book explores the growing crisis in school safety and security through the lens of the roles that mental health and student and community well-being play in creating environments that are resistant to violent and antisocial behavior. The book gives practical information and research on school, classroom or community applications, the latest trends and issues in the field, and best practices for promoting student health and well-being. It also covers violence prevention measures and protocols to follow in crisis intervention situations. Issues of culture, gender and society are specifically addressed.

Port Business is essential reading for all those with an interest in trade and transportation and the role of ports in the global supply chain. It discusses the various types of ports in existence, identifies the major ports per category, analyzes what the key business drivers are, describes their governance, how they are managed, which trends influence them, and what kind of impact they have on supply chains. Dr. Jurgen Sorgenfrei uses his significant consulting and project development experience within the international ports, shipping, rail & logistics sector, and in global economics, trade, analytics, and forecasting as well as in intermodal hinterland transport to provide this comprehensive overview of port management. The book is a combination of a strong background in principles and practical knowledge and is an indispensable resource for those interested in maritime economics. .

Facilities management continues to expand and develop in terms of the volume and diversity of commercial activity, with a significant influence upon organisational success and goal achievement. The two previous editions of Facilities Management have become established as key sources for all facilities management courses and forward thinking facilities managers, providing a strong blend of research-informed opportunities and practical, balanced advice for strategically orientated practitioners. This third edition builds on those foundations, focussing on the driving idea that excellent facilities management demands a responsive and dynamic approach to the positive impacts facilities can have on users operating within a world in flux. Within this overarching theme the book considers numerous contemporary issues facing facilities managers, within a framework that covers organisation, technology and process.

Effective Maintenance The Key to Profitability Paul D. Tomlingson Plant maintenance represents a high percentage of operating costs in many industries—and as global competition increases, so does the need for reduced downtime and cost-effective maintenance. Effective Maintenance is geared toward helping managers develop, measure, and enhance the maintenance organization. Every aspect of this multi-faceted topic is explored and explained—with an emphasis on practical, use-it-today advice. This comprehensive, results-oriented resource will help you to:

• Establish what maintenance should be doing in your plant environment
• Determine whether maintenance is organized correctly
• Find out whether maintenance is performing effectively
• Implement an improvement program, if needed
• Ensure continuous improvement and effective performance

This book investigates the factors that lead to slip and fall incidents and establishes a relationship between the coefficient of friction (COF), floor slipperiness and floor roughness. It also examines human perception of slipperiness through measured coefficient of friction (COF). On the basis of questionnaire surveys among manufacturing workers, it identifies potential risk factors and assesses human perceptions of slipperiness. It also uses a tribology approach to relate the interaction between contaminants, floor and footwear materials.

Six years of UNESCO-World Technopolis Association workshops, held at various world cities and attended by government officials and scholars from nearly all the world's countries, have resulted in a uniquely complete collection of reports on science park and science city projects in most of those countries. These reports, of which a selected few form chapters in this book, allow readers to compare knowledge-based development strategies, practices, and successes across countries. The chapters illustrate varying levels of cooperation across government, industry, and academic sectors in the respective projects - and the reasons and philosophies underlying this variation - and resulting differences in practices and results.

This book describes the latest methods and tools for the management of information within facility management services and explains how it is possible to collect, organize, and use information over the life cycle of a building in order to optimize the integration of these services and improve the efficiency of processes. The coverage includes presentation and analysis of basic concepts, procedures, and international standards in the development and management of real estate inventories, building registries, and information systems for facility management. Models of strategic management are discussed and the functions and roles of the strategic management center, explained. Detailed attention is also devoted to building information modeling (BIM) for facility management and potential interactions between information systems and BIM applications. Criteria for evaluating information system performance are identified, and guidelines of value in developing technical specifications for facility management services are proposed. The book will aid clients and facility managers in ensuring that information bases are effectively compiled and used in order to enhance building maintenance and facility management.

The term Facilities Management has become global but fraught with confusion as to what the term signifies. For some, notably in the USA, Facilities Management remains a discipline of human ecology. Elsewhere the term has become conflated with an alternative meaning: providing or outsourcing the provision of various services essential to the operation of particular buildings. This volume redresses that imbalance to remind Facilities Management of its roots, presenting evidence of Facilities Management success stories that engage the wider objectives of the organizations they serve, and engaging students, scholars and critical practitioners of general management with an appreciation of the power and influence of physical space and its place in the theory and practice of organizations. This book includes management perspectives from outside the field to ensure that the issues raised are seen in an organizational and management context, informing debate within the Facilities Management fraternity. It draws on human ecology and the perspective of the firm as, itself, an intra-organizational ecology of social constructs. The ecology of a firm is not restricted to the firm's boundaries. It extends to wider relationships between the firm and its stakeholders including, in an age of outsourced building services, the Facilities Management supply chain. This volume offers arguments and evidence that managing such constructs is a key role for Facilities Management and an important participant in the provision of truly usable spaces.

This book is about the currently evolving global standardization of corporate workplace models and the challenges this poses for their implementation in a local context. In recent years, multinational corporations were increasingly engaged in the development of standardized global workplace models. For their implementation and feasibility, it is decisive as how these standards fit the diverse regional workplace cultures. This topic was pursued in the course of a research project, comparing established workplaces in Germany, USA and Japan against global workplace standards of multinational corporations. The analysis confirmed the expected differences among local workplaces and on the other hand a predominant mainstream among global corporate workplace standards. Conspicuous however, are the fundamental differences between local models and corporate standards. For the implementation of global standards in local context, this implies multiple challenges on cultural, organizational and spatial level. The analysis findings provide information for assessing current projects and pinpointing optimization measures. The analysis framework further provides a tool to uncover and assess needs and restrictions for the development of future workplace models.

From Training to Performance in the 21st Century is a series sponsored by the National Society for Performance and Instruction (NSPI) which provides valuable how-to resources to help trainers, human resource professionals, and human performance technologists improve performance in the workplace. This book is part of the first three-volume set, Designing the Work Environment for Optimum Performance,
which shows how to fix the workplace, not the worker.
The set provides hands-on tools to help create work environments that support human performance.

Draws on numerous scientific studies and the author's professional experience in assessing real-life ergonomic problems in diverse workplaces nationwide to provide a systematic approach including reproducible checklists and worksheets--for performing ergonomic assessments to identify and correct health hazards at work.

He presents a variety of practical, cost-effective solutions from adjusting chairs, lowering computer keyboards, taking frequent microbreaks, and finding new ways of performing repetitive tasks--for preventing work-related health problems.

This critical volume provides practical insights on sulfuric acid and related plant design and on techniques to improve and enhance substantially the efficiency of an existing plant by means of small modifications. The book provides readers with a better understanding of the state-of-art in sulfuric acid manufacture as well as, importantly, in the manufacture of value-added products based on sulfur that are also associated with the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Overall, engineers and plant managers will be introduced to technologies for making their sulfuric acid enterprises more productive, remunerative, and environmentally friendly. A Practical Guide to the Manufacture of Sulfuric Acid, Oleums, and Sulfonating Agents covers sulfuric acid and derivative chemical plant details from the nuts-and-bolts level to a holistic perspective based on actual field experience. The book is indispensable to anyone involved in implementing a sulfuric acid or related chemical plant.

One of the leading experts on public lands and land rights issues, Robert H. Nelson here brings together a collection of his finest essays. Nelson demonstrates that the 'progressive' goal of achieving scientific management of public lands has not been realized; instead, public land management has been dominated by interest group politics and ideology.

The production and consumption of energy carriers in complex buildings take place within the network of interconnected energy processes. For this reason, a change carried out in one energy process influences other energy processes. Therefore, all balance equations of energy carriers should be investigated as a whole, and energy management of complex buildings creates a large energy system with internal relationships between energy installations and the equipment, as well as external relationships with the environment. Energy Systems of Complex Buildings presents the system approach to the energy-ecological analysis of energy management in complex buildings. Mathematical models of balancing the direct energy consumption, as well as cumulative energy consumption and cumulative emission of noxious substances are based on input-output analysis. Algorithms devoted to system analysis in the exploitation of energy management of complex buildings are included. In the case of ecological analysis, a new approach is presented basing on the idea of thermoecological costs. In this way, two groups of noxious influence (depletion of non-renewable energy resources and emissions of noxious substances) are taken into account. The LCA energy-ecological analysis of complex buildings has also been presented. Students, building designers, energy auditors, and researchers will learn the methodology of evaluating the energy and ecological effects by applying new technologies and devices in buildings, which influence future investigations concerning the energy and ecological analysis of complex buildings.

The management of technical plants for productivity and safety is generally a complex activity, particularly when many plants in one territory are affected, quality guarantees and cost results are required, and the technology involved is heterogeneous and innovative. To enable readers to manage technical plants efficiently, despite the above complications, Methodologies and Techniques for Advanced Maintenance presents theories, methodologies and practical tools for the realization of an intelligent maintenance management system for distant monitoring. It also covers the development and running of a remote control center. The so-called granted availability management system (GrAMS) was conceived to enable organizations involved in technical-industrial plant management to move towards "well known availability" and "zero failures" management. In particular, Methodologies and Techniques for Advanced Maintenance deals with the diagnostic aspects and safety levels of technical plants (such as elevators, thermo-technical plants, etc.). The author also discusses the usage of ad hoc designed software analysis tools based on neural networks and reliability indicators. Methodologies and Techniques for Advanced Maintenance is a useful text for practitioners and researchers in maintenance and facilities. Its application spans industrial, plant, technological, infrastructure and civil fields.

In order to satisfy the needs of their customers, network utilities require specially developed maintenance management capabilities. Maintenance Management information systems are essential to ensure control, gain knowledge and improve-decision making in companies dealing with network infrastructure, such as distribution of gas, water, electricity and telecommunications. Maintenance Management in Network Utilities studies specified characteristics of maintenance management in this sector to offer a practical approach to defining and implementing the best management practices and suitable frameworks.
Divided into three major sections, Maintenance Management in Network Utilities defines a series of stages which can be followed to manage maintenance frameworks properly. Different case studies provide detailed descriptions which illustrate the experience in real company situations. An introduction to the concepts is followed by main sections including:

A Literature Review: covering the basic concepts and models needed for framework design, development and implementation.
Framework Design and Definition: developing the basic pillars of network utilities maintenance management framework.
Performance Evaluation & Maturity: focusing on the reliability concept and maturity models from different viewpoints.

By establishing basic foundations for creating and maintaining maintenance managements strategies, Maintenance Management in Network Utilities acts a practical handbook for all professionals in these companies and across areas such as network development, operations management and marketing.
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Supply Chain Engineering considers how modern production and operations management techniques can respond to the pressures of the competitive global marketplace. It presents a comprehensive analysis of concepts and models related to outsourcing, dynamic pricing, inventory management, RFID, and flexible and re-configurable manufacturing systems, as well as real-time assignment and scheduling processes. A significant part is also devoted to lean manufacturing, line balancing, facility layout and warehousing techniques. Explanations are based on examples and detailed algorithms while discarding complex and unnecessary theoretical minutiae. All examples have been carefully selected from an industrial application angle. This book is written for students and professors in industrial and systems engineering, management science, operations management and business. It is also an informative reference for managers looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their production systems.

The analysis of the reliability and availability of power plants is frequently based on simple indexes that do not take into account the criticality of some failures used for availability analysis. This criticality should be evaluated based on concepts of reliability which consider the effect of a component failure on the performance of the entire plant. System reliability analysis tools provide a root-cause analysis leading to the improvement of the plant maintenance plan. Taking in view that the power plant performance can be evaluated not only based on thermodynamic related indexes, such as heat-rate, Thermal Power Plant Performance Analysis focuses on the presentation of reliability-based tools used to define performance of complex systems and introduces the basic concepts of reliability, maintainability and risk analysis aiming at their application as tools for power plant performance improvement, including: * selection of critical equipment and components, * definition of maintenance plans, mainly for auxiliary systems, and * execution of decision analysis based on risk concepts. The comprehensive presentation of each analysis allows future application of the methodology making Thermal Power Plant Performance Analysis a key resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students in mechanical and nuclear engineering.

Although fossil fuels remain the primary global energy source, developing and expanding economies are creating an ever-widening gap between supply and demand. Efficient energy management offers a cost-effective opportunity for both industrialized and developing nations to limit the enormous financial and environmental costs associated with burning fossil fuels. The implication of photovoltaic systems in particular presents the potential for clean and sustainable electrical energy to be generated from an unrestricted source. Energy Management in Buildings Using Photovoltaics demonstrates how adopting 'best practices' for energy management and harvesting can reduce the need to construct new generating facilities. Illustrated with figures, tables and photos, Energy Management in Buildings Using Photovoltaics provides an introduction and step by step instructions on designing and planning photovoltaic systems and energy policies for both residential and industrial buildings. With particular focus on the example of provided by European industry, the creation of energy efficient systems is explored including chapters on: Zero Energy Buildings, Photovoltaics Technology, and Connection of the Network By presenting this topic from basic introduction to highly technical analysis, Energy Management in Buildings Using Photovoltaics acts a study guide for postgraduate students as well as a key point of reference for researchers and technical consultants in the field of photovoltaic systems.

There are many aspects to consider when evaluating or improving an indoor environment; thermal comfort, energy saving, preservation of materials, hygiene and health are all key aspects which can be improved by passive methods of environmental control. Passive Methods as a Solution for Improving Indoor Environments endeavours to fill the lack of analysis in this area by using over ten years of research to illustrate the effects of methods such as thermal inertia and permeable coverings; for example, the use of permeable coverings is a well known passive method, but its effects and ways to improve indoor environments have been rarely analyzed. Passive Methods as a Solution for Improving Indoor Environments includes both software simulations and laboratory and field studies. Through these, the main parameters that characterize the behavior of internal coverings are defined. Furthermore, a new procedure is explained in depth which can be used to identify the real expected effects of permeable coverings such as energy conservation and local thermal comfort as well as their working periods in controlling indoor environments. This theoretical base is built on by considering future research work including patents and construction indications which will improve indoor environmental conditions with evidence from real data. This makes Passive Methods as a Solution for Improving Indoor Environments an ideal resource for specialists and researchers focusing on indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and energy saving or with a general interest in controlling indoor environments with passive methods.

Creating a Learning Commons: A Practical Guide for Librarians provides experienced and detailed research-based guidance for academic librarians and other professionals charged with creating a learning commons. Readers can follow the entire process of developing a library learning commons design and implementation plan from inception to post-occupancy planning and assessment. This practical guide is designed to help librarians develop sound strategies for navigating the challenging issues that often emerge in launching a dynamic and collaborative new library learning commons space within a university or college setting. Lampert and Meyers-Martin provide a practical guide, complete with examples and photos of award-winning learning commons designs. This book will help dedicated professionals identify best practices within today's existing learning commons settings and get up to speed on how to best approach developing their own library's new and innovative learning spaces.