Since the oil crises of the 1970s building professionals have become increasingly aware of the effects of their design decisions on the energy consumption rates in buildings. Often this has led to strategies that have compromised aspects of human requirements such as thermal comfort or air quality. When this has been combined with an architectural approach that often takes little heed of local climate or custom the result has been uncomfortable buildings that are disliked by and have often affected the health of their occupants.The comfort of building occupants is dependant on many environmental parameters including those provided by the building envelope, building environmental services and control systems. Inadequate design and control can lead to reductions of occupant comfort, energy ef ciency and cost ef ciency. To achieve a high quality internal environment with good energy and cost ef ciencies, the interactions between the contributory factors must be taken into consideration. An examination of the notion of indoor environmental quality and the potential for control strategies and methodologies for this multivariate problem are considered within the contexts of energy ef ciency and running costs. The use of fuzzy logic control is examined as a technical response to this dilemma. A high level fuzzy supervisor was used to make control decisions on the best course of action to achieve high levels of indoor environmental quality while taking into account effects on energy and cost ef ciency. Simulation results indicated the potential for improvements in system operation. List of symbols BPbuilding performance CE cost ef ciency CO2 error zone CO 2 concentration error from set point (ppm) CO2 z zone air CO 2 concentration (ppm)

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A human's Capillary Refill Time (CRT) is a key indicator of their current health status. Being able to accurately assess a human's cardiovascular system peripherally by assessing their CRT in an emergency or search and rescue situation could, in critical scenarios, mean the difference between life and death. This paper presents a novel algorithm that enables a Shadow Robot Hand equipped with BioTAC biomimetic tactile fingertip sensors and a red, green, blue (RGB) camera to measure the CRT of humans by making contact with their forehead, regardless of their skin tone. The method presented replicates, to some extent, the methods carried out by medical professionals when measuring CRT and could be used to equip a first responder robot. Furthermore, the algorithms determine whether a person has a healthy cardiovascular system or whether the blood supply has been cut off from the skin indicating various issues such as shock or severe dehydration. The method presented in this work allows for a more accurate measurement of CRT than that of a medical professional.

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