The Need for Building Science Education

As the demand for high-performance housing grows, so does the need for improvements in building science education. Trial and error has long been the method for learning how to avoid problems in the construction of energy-efficient housing, including water intrusion and mold growth. Building codes have addressed these issues in prescriptive ways that were not evidence-based. Stricter building codes or builder licensing requirements are not necessarily the solutions to problems associated with misunderstandings about building science. Motivating professionals currently involved in the housing industry to learn through continuing education is a start, but the core problem must be addressed by including building science education in curricula related to architecture, engineering, construction management and other fields. The long-term solution is to include building science education in academic construction management programs. The purpose of this paper is to review the history of what has come to be known as building science and its importance to the residential construction industry. Problems that result from a lack of knowledge about the field are covered and a potential solution is proposed.

Exploring the spatial arrangement of patient rooms for minimum nurse travel m hospital nursing units in Korea

With in creasing dema nds on medical care services,one of the trends is the mixed patient room arrangement of single/double-bed and multi-bed rooms in a nursing unit on the same floor.This influences nurse-to-patient assignment and often causes an unbalanced workload and longer travel distances for nurses.The objective of this study was to investigate how floor configuration and room density influence nurse travel in the hospitafs medical surgical urdts in Korea.This study presented a novel approach to measure nurse travel distances in eight existingn ursing units.The agent-based simulation was con ducted to model nurses'walking trails,and the distanee of one nurse travel to assigned patient rooms was measured for each nurse.With revisions in the spatial arrangement of patient rooms,locating multibed rooms near the nurse station,symmetric room layout centering the nurse station,and planning both single/double-bed and multi-bed rooms on one side of corridors,nurse travel distanee decreased more than 15%.This study contributed to the knowledge of agent-based simulation as an evaluation framework for spatial analysis.Apart from application to Korea,these results are particularly of interest in countries where private patient rooms are not commonly economically feasible.