Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, February 2023, Volume 6, #139
[Cite as: Fadeyi MO (2023). Mathematical thinking of the relevance of digital technologies integrated with AI for indoor air management. Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, February 2023, Volume 6, #139.]
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The practice of providing a solution to a problem instead of solving it and the complexity of the problems associated with indoor air management led to many unsolved problems and the healthy living of building occupants being compromised. The indoctrination of intern students and fresh graduates from the institutes of high learning into the practice dampens any possibility of having a light at the end of a very dark tunnel of poor problem-solving practice. The life journey of an undergraduate student who was indoctrinated into poor problem-solving practice and his realisation of the power of digital technologies integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) to help solve indoor air’s complex problems in a value-oriented manner is the subject of this short fiction story.
Leo Udoh was a mechanical engineering undergraduate student at the Technical University of Breton (TUB) who was very apprehensive about working in the industry. He knew that unlike the structured problems given at the university, problems to be solved in the industry were unstructured and complex. He also knew that unlike the ‘babysitting’ kind of guidance professors at the university provided or were expected to provide to students by asking most of the questions and providing the students with the answers, industry supervisors would require interns, as expected of any staff, to come out with most of the questions related to problems and find answers to the questions.
“Industry supervisors do not do ‘babysitting’ duties,” one of Leo’s seniors bluntly told him. Knowledge of what would happen in the industry was not very comforting for Leo. Leo was particularly concerned about how his decision in problem-solving could negatively affect human lives and the business of his companies and clients if he had to come up with most questions and find answers with little or no spoon-feeding by industry supervisors. He became very anxious and felt sick when it was time for him to start his industry work attachment as an intern.
Year 3 students at TUB were required to work in the industry for 12 months as part of the university initiatives of making students job ready upon graduation. Based on the arrangements made by the university with the industry partners, students were required to be treated and given responsibility as if they were newly graduated full-time staff to enhance their job readiness.
Leo was attached to the facility management department of a major government hospital in the country. The hospital was called Breton General Hospital. Three months into the internship, Leo’s anxiousness started to reduce as he realised there was not much to be worried about. Before joining the hospital, Leo thought he did not have enough knowledge to solve facility management problems, especially those related to indoor air, a building performance of high priority in a hospital.
As it happened, indoor air problems were prevalent at BGH. There were a lot of firefighting activities to solve indoor air problems. The rate at which indoor air problems were occurring led to many of the indoor air problems being unsolved. Even those that were thought to be solved were not solved appropriately. Many of the solutions proffered led to many problems because solutions were provided to problems instead of using solutions to solve problems through elimination or reduction of the causes of problems.
The fast-paced indoor air problems occurrence made it challenging for the facility management team to keep up with defining and identifying the causes of problems that occurred or possible causes of potential problems. Thus, the team gave up on identifying the causes of the problems. It was easier for them to provide solutions to problems and hope the solution would be solved.
In no time, Leo became accustomed to coming out with a solution without understanding the problem and what could be causing the problem. Leo was highly motivated to adopt the practice of providing a solution to a problem because only solution creations and creators were celebrated and rewarded, not problem-solving and solver.
There was little interest in whether a problem was solved. Leo realised that when people at BGH call for a meeting to talk about solving a problem, they jump straight to talking about the solution to be created with little or no effort or interest in knowing what the purpose is, the problem, and what could be causing the problem.
Leo had no choice but to learn very fast if he wanted to survive at BGH or get favourable appraisal from his work supervisor. He learnt that the BGH management celebrates what they appreciate, and he was very clear about what BGH appreciates. There was a time Leo wanted to caution his team about the need to define a problem and identify its causes, i.e., hazards and vulnerabilities causing the problem, before even talking about a solution, as he learnt at the university. He was scolded and mocked by his facility management team members.
“You guys should not mind him. He thinks he is still in school. Boy! This is real life. Wake up!” The Director of the facility management department mocked Leo jokingly. “No, Sir! I mean, we can provide a short-fix solution as a temporary measure to buy time to do the required problem analysis to solve the complex problem sustainably.” Leo tried to explain himself to the Director and the team when he could not take the mocking.
“Boy, please just follow what we do here. You are an intern. You don’t have a say here. You can do whatever you like when you get back to your university,” The Director, who knew Leo was right but was insecure about the idea coming from an intern, responded to shut Leo up. This wasn’t the first time Leo was mocked like this. To fit in, Leo followed what the facility management team at BGH appreciated and celebrated. In no time, Leo was accustomed to and more comfortable with the BGH problem-solving approach he disagreed with at the beginning of his internship.
Within 12 months Leo spent at the BGH, many health and work performance problems related to poor indoor air condition were reported by BGH staff. Instead of ensuring the problems do not occur again, or the high frequency and intensity at which the problems occur do not happen again, by actually solving and preventing the problems through the elimination of the causes, the focus was on creating solutions that can gain them publicity to boost their egos.
When Leo returned to the university to complete his undergraduate studies, he had formed a strong opinion that much of what was being taught at the university did not apply to industry practice. Within a year after completing his internship, Leo graduated from the university and returned to BGH to start a full-time job.
Over the years, Leo had perfected the practice of just developing solutions, whether applicable or not, to the problem at hand to boost his ego and not necessarily to solve or prevent problems in the hospital. As a result, within seven years of joining the facility management team department at BCH, Leo rose very quickly, at an unprecedented pace, to become the Director of the facility management department. That was a massive career achievement considering the huge size and popularity of the BGH as a major hospital in the country, visited by very high-profile dignitaries in the country and from abroad.
The poor practice caught up with Leo one day when a prominent politician died in the hospital due to medication errors. The lawsuit made by the politician’s family against BGH, and the public outcry led to the hospital and police investigations. The investigations into the case revealed that there had been several cases of medication errors that led to unreported near death and deaths associated with medical errors.
While there could be many possible causes of medication errors, it was discovered that poor indoor air condition in the hospital was a major contributing factor to the medication errors. The poor indoor air condition had caused poor health conditions for several medical staff. As a result, the staff experienced diminished concentration and cognitive power to perform their work effectively. It was also revealed that the facility management team’s poor indoor air management practices had contributed to several cases of surgical errors, patient falls, hospital-acquired infections, and misdiagnosis leading to wrong treatment.
It was observed that many of the solutions developed by the facility management department under the leadership of Leo, although celebrated by the hospital, had caused many problems that compromised the indoor air condition at the hospital. Many of the solutions were not suitable, reliable, durable, and usable. Thus, compromising the expected indoor air quality needed to improve the health condition and work performance of staff at BGH. Poor IAQ means the delivered air had concentrations of pollutants and characteristics at a level that is not acceptable for healthy living or meets the expectation of a typical person working or living in a hospital.
Many times, the quantity of indoor air delivered in the hospital by the designed or developed indoor air solution was not enough to deliver the healthy indoor air condition required to meet the need of the BGH staff. The inability of the delivered indoor air to prevent staff and patients from experiencing harm that will make them experience health problems and death in the case of some patients means the delivered indoor air failed in terms of safety. The indoor air systems used to deliver the indoor air were sub-solutions in the main solution, i.e., the indoor air management plan developed by the facility team under the leadership of Leo.
The indoor air management solution can also be a sub-solution for an indoor environmental management solution. The indoor air management plan (solution) addresses how the design, construction or installation, and maintenance and operations of each sub-solution in it and their interactions will determine the extent to which the delivered indoor air will meet the healthy living need of occupants of BGH building in a value-oriented manner.
A need means a problem that must be solved to meet an outcome. The outcome, in this case, means healthy living. A value is the ratio of usefulness provided by a solution to invested resources. The indoor air management plan by Leo and his team failed to deliver the required value. The management of the BGH invested a lot of resources but got little out of the investment.
The hospital settled the case with the prominent politician’s family out of court with a multi-million-dollar penalty. As the Director of the facility management department, Leo was held responsible by BGH management for the poor indoor air conditions. He was fired with no benefits. Leo, who had a wife and a young son, made several efforts to look for a new job after his abrupt dismissal but to no avail. No company wanted to hire him because what happened at BGH was still very fresh in their mind.
His wife, a secondary school teacher, advised him to pursue a master’s degree. “Hopefully, with a higher degree and new knowledge, understanding, and skills, perhaps you could get a favourable job offer,” Leo’s wife said. Leo registered for MSc in facility management at his alma mater, TUB. One of the highlights for Leo during his MSc degree study was an elective module titled ‘managing indoor air’ he took.
Leo believed that to make a comeback in the facility management industry; he needed to know more about indoor air science, management, and engineering. The following are some of what he learnt from the ‘managing indoor air’ module. The module was taught by a professor they popularly called Prof. M.
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An indoor air management process is complex and challenging. What makes the indoor air management process complex and challenging includes the following: (i) The identification of sources of indoor air pollutants can be very challenging; (ii) The complexity involved in the design and maintenance of an effective ventilation system; (iii) The complexity involved in the monitoring and control of moisture sources; (iv) The difficulty in balancing indoor air condition concerns with other indoor environmental concerns; (v) Human behaviour cannot be controlled and can only be influenced at best; (vi) Ensuring healthy indoor air can be very costly.
What can make identifying sources of indoor air pollutants very challenging? Various sources of air pollutants are present in indoor and outdoor environments. The air pollutants, which may be gaseous or particles of biological and chemical origin, have peculiar characteristics determined by their sources. The limited knowledge and understanding of how the characteristics of air pollutants and how the characteristics are shaped by their sources make it difficult to identify sources of pollutants.
Additionally, not knowing the characteristics of an air pollutant will introduce another layer of difficulty that makes identifying sources very challenging. The inability to identify the sources of air pollutants will introduce complexity to the indoor air management process.
If an air pollutant is present in indoor air, but there is no instrument to detect it, corrective measures cannot be put in place. The measurement method adopted can also introduce misinformation into the indoor air management process. Suppose spot measurement was done instead of continuous measurement. In that case, the concentration of an air pollutant may not be detectable because the source was dormant or not existing at the time of measurement.
Thus, the opportunity to identify the existence of a source of air pollutants that can compromise the health and wellbeing of occupants of the indoor environment may be missed. On the other hand, adopting continuous measurement may require high resources that are not available to be invested. This means varying concentrations of air pollutants due to the changing status of the source of air pollutants, and the measurement method adopted may make it difficult to identify the source that can introduce air pollutants present in the indoor environment.
Indoor chemistry or interaction between air pollutants may introduce air pollutants that may not be initially present in the indoor environment. Many facility managers may not have the chemistry or pollutants interaction expertise to make an informed decision on appropriate corrective or preventive measures. Such a chemistry or interaction phenomenon may send the facility managers or investigators on a goose chase looking for a physical source of the detected air pollutants, not knowing the source was from indoor chemistry or pollutants interaction phenomenon.
Identifying many air pollutants requires sophisticated instruments, which are very costly. The high investment and time or patience required to purchase equipment and materials and recruit the right expertise to identify sources of air pollutants may discourage the effort required to identify sources of indoor air pollutants.
Many ventilation systems are poorly designed and maintained because of the complex process involved. The complexity usually comes from the climatic condition of the place where the building is located, the number and activities of occupants or users of a building, the type and size of the building involved, regulations, cost of design and maintenance, maintainability, and the required performance of ventilation systems. When these important considerations are ignored or poorly considered at the design and facility management stages, many problems will be introduced into the indoor air management process at the facility management stage.
Moisture in the indoor environment can increase the concentration of biological air pollutants in the indoor environment. However, identifying the sources of moisture, which may be due to water usage and infiltration, building leakages, condensation, and humidity levels in a country or place, may require a lot of resources not available to be invested.
The lack of consideration for facility management at the design stage may lead to the existence of hard-to-reach areas, like crawl spaces, in a building, making it difficult for facility managers to detect and monitor moisture and take corrective and preventive measures before they contribute to poor indoor air conditions. Limited knowledge and understanding of the importance of human behaviour, such as showering, cooking, breathing, etc., can hinder corrective and preventive measures for avoiding unwanted moisture levels in a building.
The human need for comfort and convenience and lack or denial of awareness will influence behaviour that can compromise or improve indoor air conditions. Unfortunately, many designers and facility managers do not appreciate how human behaviour impacts indoor air condition. The lack of appreciation will hinder the necessary corrective and preventive measures to reduce the negative impacts that human behaviour can have on indoor air condition.
Initial investment, maintenance costs, replacement costs, energy costs, and compliance costs are some of the costs that hinder many building owners, facility managers, and decision-makers, especially when they are not sure of the indoor usefulness they will gain from the investment, to invest in healthy indoor air delivery.
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Reflecting on his experience at BGH and what he learnt from the module titled “managing indoor air”, Leo could relate to the challenges of managing indoor air the professor taught them. Thinking back, he could now explain why he and his team consciously and unconsciously did not make much effort to identify causes or potential causes of indoor air problems they wanted to prevent or correct. They found it comfortable and convenient to move straight to solution development.
Leo went to meet Prof. M after one of the classes. “Considering everything that must be done, making informed decisions to solve or prevent indoor air problems can be daunting. I don’t think human brains and physiological nature can handle the complex process.” Leo said to the professor.
“Hmmmm! I understand your concern. Human needs help.” Prof. M replied. Human needs digital technologies integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) as a strategic tool for enhancing the value a created indoor air management process delivers to humans. “What makes digital solutions integrated with AI relevant…?” Leo asked enthusiastically. “I will share a podcast I made with you. Listen and reflect on the podcast’s message and let me know what you think after.” Prof. M advised. The following is the extract from the information shared by Prof M in the podcast.
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Learning ability is essential to solving and preventing problems but can be challenging in a complex and fast-paced process. The inability to learn at the required pace to generate the required experience to solve or prevent problems will lead to many unsolved problems. Managing indoor air to support the healthy living of indoor occupants exposed to it involves solving a complex problem in a value-oriented manner. What is indoor air management? What is a complex problem? What is value?
Indoor air management is the act of creating a plan for a process of delivering healthy indoor air in a value-oriented manner by adopting strategies for identifying and eliminating existing or potential hazards and vulnerabilities that can cause problems in the process. A complex problem is the kind of problem that occurs from connected components of a system, task, or process with competing performances that affect the system, task, or process overall performance.
Value is the ratio of the level of usefulness of the output delivered from a solution to the input, i.e., resources invested into the solution to deliver the usefulness. In essence, indoor air management is a solution. Humans surely need help with this! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
The value delivery performance of indoor air management (solution) should be judged based on the usefulness of indoor air (output) it delivers to support every consumer/stakeholder in solving or preventing problems that could hinder healthy living. The determinants of the indoor air’s usefulness are the quantity (Qt), quality (Ql), and safety (S) of the indoor air and the associated comfort (Cf), convenience (Cv), and ease of awareness (Aw) about the problem that is being or need to be solved and direction to take with justification.
Comfort means ease felt to one’s wellbeing. Ease means the extent to which pain is not felt. Example of such comfort includes physical ease, psychological ease or emotional wellbeing, contentment, etc. Convenience means ease of doing things. The ease, in this case, will result in higher speed and efficiency in completing a task or solving a problem. Awareness means the ease of gaining knowledge, understanding, or skills about what is going on, what to do, and the reasons behind what is going on and what to do. It is important to note that as indoor air is a subset of indoor environmental parameters, the impact of the delivered on the other parameters, which are thermal, comfort, visual, acoustic, and spatial performance, will affect healthy living.
The solution should also be judged by the resources a consumer will sacrifice or has sacrificed (invested), i.e., input, in the hope of getting the indoor air usefulness from the solution. The invested resources are the cost (C) and the associated sacrificed, or will-be sacrificed, Cfs, Cvs, and Aws.
Sacrificed comfort could be interpreted as the physical ease, psychological or emotional wellbeing, contentment, etc., that has to be invested into the solution to deliver the required output’s (indoor air) usefulness. Sacrificed convenience sacrifice could be interpreted as pain experienced due to the challenges and problems in the solution that was overcome or attempted to be overcome to deliver the required output’s (indoor air) usefulness. Sacrificed awareness could be interpreted as the extent of knowledge, understanding, and skills that must be invested to ensure the solution delivers the required output’s (indoor) usefulness.
If Y = Cf+Cv+Aw, where Y is the benefit from indoor air’s Qt, Ql, and S experienced by every consumer. If X = Cfs+Cvs+Aws, where X is the consumer’s sacrificed benefit associated with the total costs invested in delivering Qt, Ql, and S. If Value (V) = Usefulness/Invested Resources, where V is the value the solution provides to every consumer, then V = Y (Qt x Ql x S)/ X (C). The equation assumes that the benefit from each indoor air’s Qt, Ql, and S is not considered separately. It also assumes the sacrificed benefit from costs spent to deliver each indoor air’s Qt, Ql, and S is not considered separately.
In instances where it is pragmatic and easier to measure the benefit each indoor air’s Qt, Ql, and S provides and also pragmatic and easier to measure the costs of delivering each of indoor air’s Qt, Ql, and S and consumer’s sacrificed benefit associated with the costs, the equation can be expanded. The equation will be V = (YQt)(Qt) x (YQl)(Ql) x (Ys)(S)/ (XQt)(CQt) x (XQl)(CQl) x (Xs)(Cs).
The quality of the decision made to reduce, in real time, the risk of each component of the equation being compromised depends on the learning ability (L) of the decision maker to be clear about the purpose, define a problem and its causes, and solve or prevent the problem through elimination or significant reduction of the causes, i.e., hazard and vulnerability, to make V≥1.
Each parameter in the value delivery equation can be determined based on the achieved or predicted status (performance), which starts from level zero, divided by the set target (performance goal). Thus, if the target equals status for each parameter, the usefulness level delivered will be equal to the invested resources level. This means value = 1. Technically, it is good if the value equals or exceeds 1 up to infinity. It is not good if the value is less than 1 or down to zero (absolute waste occurrence state). Only in the case of Qt, Ql, S, and C can status be greater than the set target. The maximum set target for Cf, Cv, Aw,Cfs, Cvs, and Aws cannot be beyond 100%. If there is a need to understand how the value a solution delivers to consumers moves between 0 and infinity across a period or certain conditions, differential equations can be adopted. That is a topic for another day.
I hope you are feeling me. There is no way humans can keep up with every problem within a problem for many complex problems that must be solved and simultaneously get the data required to compute and update the value equation and its parameters in real-time. Why do I think humans can’t accomplish this? By design, humans lack the learning ability at the required pace in fast-paced and dynamic complex processes, like indoor air management processes, that have complex problems.
Learning ability (L) is the rate at which experience can be gained from an event exposed to, or information received, i.e., L= Exp/Evt. A higher level of critical and reflective thinking, aided by the quality of questions asked and clarity in the purpose of questioning, is needed to improve effective learning ability. The ability to do critical and reflective thinking even in the face of a complex or high number of indoor air related events or information will be advantageous.
Thus, anything that has a high (deep) learning ability and can generate, receive, gather, and store a higher quantity and quality event or information to be processed at a faster rate will significantly increase the level of experience generated, i.e., Exp = Evt x L. Experience means knowledge, understanding, and skills.
The ability and speed of applying generated experience to effectively solve or prevent problems, irrespective of the complexity and number involved, will determine the extent to which the risk of waste or low value occurrence is reduced. Who and, or what can fulfill the learning ability, event or information generation and processing, and experience application requirements?
Digital technologies integrated with artificial intelligence programmed with human natural intelligence fit the bill. That means humans still need to know how to solve or prevent indoor air problems and use digital technologies integrated with AI to increase the speed at which the problem is solved or prevented in a value-oriented manner. Without the adoption of digital technologies with AI, humans will leave many problems unsolved as the complexity of managing indoor air increases due to ever-increasing and changing human social, economic, and environmental needs, i.e., sustainability needs (problems to be solved).
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Prof. M went on to give examples and case studies in his podcast on how the high-speed learning ability and experience generation and application that digital technologies integrated with AI possess, and humans do not have, can be used to lessen the challenges involved in managing indoor air. Prof. M had previously discussed the challenges in one of the lectures Leo attended. Thus, Leo appreciated the explanation Prof. M gave in the podcast.
After listening to the podcast, Leo told Prof. M that he found the information very insightful, and he wishes such technologies integrated with AI were available for indoor air management. “Actually, such technologies exist. It is just that such technologies are not readily available in this country. I know of a company, Digital Healthy Buildings Inc, in Silicon Valley in the United States.” Prof M said.
“Wow! How I wish I could work in such a company”, Leo said. “I can write a recommendation for you to work there as an intern if you wish. The CEO is my close friend. We lived in the same room for 4 years when we were both doing PhDs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States.
He did Ph.D. in computer science and engineering while I did my Ph.D. In environmental engineering. We are still close contacts and have collaborated on some projects recently. His company is currently diversifying into the healthcare sector and looking for people with facility management experience. With your facility management degrees, years of industry experience, and basic knowledge of and skills in computer science, I am very sure you can add value to the organisation as an intern.” Prof. M shared this with Leo. Leo graduated with a minor in computer science.
“That would be wonderful! The idea you shared in podcast provides the philosophy needed to transform the facility management industry. I really want to leverage the benefit inherent in digital technologies integrated with AI”, Leo showed interest.
Prof M. acted on his promise. A few weeks before Leo completed his MSc degree, he got a 2-year internship position at Digital Healthy Buildings Inc. Leo’s wife was very supportive of the idea as she believed such an opportunity would help her husband rejuvenate his career. The plan was for Leo’s wife, Rebecca, to care for their son, Lamptey, who was in primary school when Leo was away for two years for his internship position in the US.
Leo only met his family three times face to face over the two years. Each time they met was for about a week whenever Leo travelled back home. Leo, Rebecca, and Lamptey sacrificed. Leo was homesick, and his wife and son missed him dearly. The purpose of the sacrifice was what keep the family going and persevering.
Leo learnt a lot about adopting digital technologies integrated with AI. Despite being an intern, Leo delivered value to the company through his extensive facility management experience in the healthcare industry. Leo’s internship stint was so successful that he was offered a permanent position at Digital Healthy Buildings Inc. His new monthly salary was times 6 of what he collected as an intern. With the new financial power, Leo brought his wife and son to live with him in the US. With the successful completion of some examinations, Rebecca was able to work as a high school teacher. While working at his company, Leo completed an MBA programme and received an MBA from Harvard University.
After more than 15 years at the company as a full-time staff, LEO was made deputy CEO of the company. This was a testament to how Leo was highly valued at the company. Leo helped his company revolutionalise facility management practices in the US healthcare sector.
Leo’s impact in the US caught the attention of government authorities in his home country. At that time, the government of his country had the scheme to attract their citizens based overseas and highly accomplished industry leaders and scientists in their chosen discipline to return home to contribute to the country’s development. The remuneration and benefits were highly attractive. Leo was offered a position to be a senior director in his country’s Ministry of the Built Environment.
The major task in the department he headed was to revolutionalise how buildings were designed, constructed, and managed in the country. Leo and Rebecca returned home while their son, Lamptey, went to the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom to pursue his postgraduate studies in Economics.
In carrying out the tasks, Leo believed the first thing to do is to revolutionalise how buildings are managed, i.e., the plan for maintenance and operation processes to achieve suitable, reliable, durable, and usable building systems that deliver building performance that can solve building users’ problems. He believed that if the facility management practices are well sorted out, the well-defined facility management practices will influence design considerations and how buildings are constructed to ensure suitable, reliable, durable, and usable buildings for as long as the building is intended to be used.
Leo always said, what is the point of having a good design and constructed building when it will be poorly managed? Leo believed the degree to which the building is poorly managed would determine how fast all the good intentions at the design and construction stage would easily be wiped out, and the building would become a real danger to human life. His indoor air management experience at BGH was a major factor in his belief.
With his extensive experience., knowledge, understanding, and skills, Leo survived all the politics, envies, insecurity, and inferiority complex directed towards him in the industry and other challenges faced by him and his team in transforming the built environment and delivered a truly digital and sustainable built environment that is well managed. The main challenge he had to lead to overcome was the facility management sector.
The facility management sector had gone from bad to worse. The poor facility management practices had made buildings, like hospitals, to be very dangerous places to work and reside in. The indoor air condition, in particular, had been poorly managed.
Consideration for how a building should be managed to limit the conflict between each of the building performance mandates, indoor air, thermal, acoustics, visual/light, spatial, and building integrity, to deliver a total or holistic building performance that is of usefulness in solving building occupants or users’ healthy living problem had been relegated not important. The practice of giving due consideration to how conflict within and between building systems can compromise a particular building’s performance mandate was almost inexistence.
The revolution championed by Leo and his team made poor practices a thing of the past. It is important to note Leo’s team was lucky. The team was lucky because at the time of the digital revolution of the building industry in the country, the costs of digital technologies integrated with AI had started to be affordable by almost any building owner due to the improvement and availability in digital technology and AI across the globe at that time, and the infrastructure was also available. Such a revolution would have been difficult to achieve when Leo started his career over three decades ago.
The mathematical thinking on the relevance of digital technologies integrated with AI for indoor air management, and by extension, total or holistic building performance, was guided by the engineering philosophy Leo adopted to effectively transform the industry. The engineering philosophy is rooted in being clear about the purpose of any task and the reason for the purpose, the problem to be solved, and the causes (hazards and vulnerabilities leading to the problem) of the problem and using the understanding of the causes to inform solution development that can give value to all stakeholders as much as possible within context.
The criteria used to judge the performance of buildings and professionals in the industry were also based on this philosophy. The work experience gained at digital healthy building Inc coupled with his MBA from Harvard and facility management training at TUB and work experience were enormously useful for him in carrying out his duties at the ministry to the satisfaction of stakeholders in the industry.
A previously disgraced Leo, professionally, was now an apple in the eye of everyone in the country. He was highly celebrated, respected, and loved in the country. He was so successful many universities in the country were seeking his service as a professor of practice to educate the future generation when he was about to retire from his position at the ministry.
Leo, who was now in his mid-60s, eventually settled to work at TUB as a distinguished professor of practice in engineering philosophy. His teaching focused on his engineering philosophy and the use of digital technologies integrated with AI to speed up the rate at which problems are solved in a value-oriented manner.
Leo used his professional setback resulting from poor indoor air management to develop an experience that revolutionalised the country’s built environment into a digital and sustainable one. Leo received many prestigious awards with his wife, Rebecca, by his side. Leo also influenced his son with his engineering philosophy, aided by digital technologies adoption, to be an accomplished economist who worked as a director at the international monetary fund (IMF).
Reflecting on his life on his 70th birthday, Leo believed if the professional setback that happened to him at BGH did not happen, he might not have gotten the experience that made him seize the opportunities that came with the affordable and readily available digital technologies integrated with AI when he was tasked to revolutionalise the building industry in his country. He believed the setback made it possible for him to achieve the professional and personal success he achieved.
Aside from praising the Almighty, Leo thanked his wife, who had supported him enormously and provided advice that changed his life’s course for good, and Prof. M for showing him the way. After he retired from TUB, Leo spent most of his time with his wife. Both travelled around the world. Sometimes, Lamptey and his wife and triplets followed them. The End.
Indoor Air Cartoon Journal 