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The influence of urban lighting on the visual tasks of pedestrians are well known and, likewise, studies have explored the relationship between urban lighting and pedestrians’ feelings of safety. But there are other, less investigated, possible effects of light in mesopic situations. Research on street lighting for pedestrians has traditionally focused on minimal required illuminance for various visual performance tasks (e.g., obstacle detection and face recognition). However, it is not only pedestrians’ visual performance that is important for safety, but also their general attentiveness to the environment. Despite this, the psychological concepts related to the individuals’ attention, such as alertness, arousal and anxiety, have not been considered in street lighting research to date even though they too can play an important role in pedestrian’s attention and safety. Since proper metrics for these concepts are needed, we conducted a pilot study to test their sensitivity. We decided for a conceptual replication of a field experiment from 1916 and managed to partly replicate the findings. More importantly, we learned meaningful lessons from this endeavour. Implications for future research are discussed.

Engaging people with dementia in the design of technology is increasingly gaining more attention—and rightfully so. Yet to be sensitive and responsive to the variety of participants with dementia in different contexts and phases of a design process can be challenging. In this case-study, we applied retrospective reporting to elicit information on this topic from an experienced designer. The findings show how a designer practices adaptivity in duration, explanations, and approach to access experiences during in-situ evaluation of a technical prototype. Insights from this case show the need for reflecting on the potential impact of adaptivity and discussing in the field how adaptivity should be practiced to add value to the work of designers in dementia care contexts.

The functionality, well-being, and quality of life of people living with dementia can be positively impacted by careful environmental design. As a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak, sudden rearrangements were made in the social and physical environment of dementia care residents. The present study aimed to explore the lessons learned regarding the design and use of the built environment during the COVID-19 lockdown and to find how the built environment might contribute positively to improved well-being, and social and physical connection of dementia care residents in the future. In a mixed-method explorative study, social-physical aspects of the built environment that influence quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic were explored. In general, buildings with a spacious layout and flexible use of spaces contribute to a higher quality of life and level of resident well-being, improved infection control, greater resilience, and enhances social and physical contact. Currently, the buildings of many care facilities are not designed to accommodate a severely infectious disease outbreak. Additionally, nursing staff have learned the importance of attending to the number of stimuli in the social and built environment and attuning these to individual, instead of group needs. Our findings indicate there is a need for designing and building spacious long-term dementia care facilities that allow for flexible, social and personalized appropriation of spaces.

this research studies the effects of dynamic lighting on DOC patients receiving treatment at an Early Intensive Neurorehabilitation department in a rehabilitation clinic in the Netherlands; It includes a retrospective study comparing the progress in CRS-R (in particular the arousal scale) between patients in rooms with standard vs dynamic lighting; and an intervention study - a small experimental design following an ABAB manipulation of modest versus more strong light dynamics over a 4-week period, on effects on the CRS-R arousal scale and the distal-proximal gradient (skin temperature).

In this project, the effect of two different dynamic light scenarios on human well-being, performance and sleep are being tested in real life.

Despite the diversity of methods of assessment, daytime sleepiness remains difficult to detect and monitor. In fact, some inconsistencies are observed in clinical and non-clinical research when it comes to the correlation or convergence between the outcomes of the different methods of assessment of sleepiness. The present study combines both field and laboratories settings to investigate how various measures of sleepiness react to the cumulative effect of repeated sleep restriction. More specifically, this study aims to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of field measures of sleepiness across different time scales, and validate such assessments against validated physiological and performance indexes acquired in laboratory settings.

In this project, the effect of two different dynamic light scenarios on human well-being, performance and sleep are being tested in real life.

Spectral distributions of the light measured horizontally under the free floor standing luminaire at different times of day

Detailed insights in both visual effects of light and effects beyond vision due to manipulations in illuminance and correlated color temperature (CCT) are needed to optimize study protocols as well as to design light scenarios for practical applications. This study investigated temporal dynamics and interindividual variability in subjective evaluations of sensation, comfort and mood as well as subjective and objective measures of alertness, arousal and thermoregulation following abrupt transitions in illuminance and CCT in a mild cold environment.

Allowing more indoor temperature variations may stimulate human physiological thermoregulation and benefit (metabolic) health. However, thermal comfort may be compromised. To investigate possible solutions for balancing thermal comfort and health, we evaluated a novel personal comfort system (PCS) in moderately drifting ambient temperatures (17-25˚C). This PCS targets the most sensitive body parts (hands, underarms and feet in cold and the head in warm conditions), leaving the rest of the body exposed to the ambient dynamic temperature. A cross-over, randomized study was conducted in an office-like laboratory. Eighteen participants (nine male and nine female) were enrolled and performed two scenarios on separate days, one with the PCS and another scenario without the PCS in 17-25˚C. Skin temperature, skin blood flow and thermal perception were measured. The skin temperature is used to indicate thermoregulation as it is an important driver for thermoregulation while skin blood flow indicates vasomotion. The results show that the designed PCS significantly affected the skin temperature of targeted body parts while it had no significant effects on the skin temperature of most non-targeted body parts. Moreover, the skin blood flows of the hands and feet were not affected by the designed PCS in 17-21˚C. On the other hand, the designed PCS significantly changed thermal sensation and improved thermal comfort in cold to neutral conditions (17-23˚C). Therefore, the PCS may maintain the effectiveness of the cold temperature drift on vasomotion and thermoregulation, while significantly improving thermal perceptions. These findings imply that the designed PCS, combined with cold ambient conditions, potentially balances thermal comfort and health in office environments., CLIMA 2022 conference, 2022: CLIMA 2022 The 14th REHVA HVAC World Congress