**Inocent Moyo**

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Received: 13 November 2019; Accepted: 7 January 2020; Published: 25 March 2020

**Abstract:** This paper uses insights gained from a qualitative study of informal cross border actors on selected Southern African Development Community (SADC) borders to argue for the decolonisation of these borders. It is asserted that, although SADC citizens enjoy a 90-day free visa in member states, this should not be simplistically taken to mean that there are "open borders" and free movement of persons in region. The recognition that a border "open" to formal actors may be closed to informal cross border actors based on issues of power and class is the foundation for the decolonisation of these borders, a process which should articulate to the regional integration project in the region. Such a decolonisation of borders should recognise in policy and/or border management regimes all cross-border actors, especially non-state actors, who are criminalized and rendered invisible through cross border discourses and policies. This point is worth emphasizing, because most people who cross African borders may not be the formal actors such as multinational corporations (MNCs) and/or their proxies who are favoured by cross border policies, but ordinary people such as informal cross border traders and border citizens, who need decolonised borders for them to enjoy freedom of movement, rather than being depoliticized and relegated to the subaltern who cannot speak, let alone move.

**Keywords:** decolonisation; SADC borders; regional integration


*Article* **Implications of BREEAM Sustainability Assessment on the Design of Hotels**

#### **María M. Serrano-Baena 1, Paula Triviño-Tarradas 1, Carlos Ruiz-Díaz 2 and Rafael E. Hidalgo Fernández 1,\***

Received: 23 July 2020; Accepted: 12 August 2020; Published: 13 August 2020

**Abstract:** This original research paper analyses the actual and important topic of the implications of BREEAM sustainability assessment on the design of hotels and it is a personal response to "The Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development" and its influence on the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. The paper aims to examine the influence of the sustainable assessment method BREEAM on the design of hotels by using seven case studies and studying the changes that were implemented in order to achieve their targets. Qualitative data were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews and analyzing the supplied documentation. The authors notice that the results revealed that a BREEAM approach might limit the design of the hotels but, including the right measures at the early design stage of the project, the target can be easily achieved.

**Keywords:** hospitality; hotels; sustainable assessment; BREEAM methodology; green hotel

#### **1. Introduction**

Over the past decades, sustainable development has become very important in every economic sector but especially in the Construction and Tourism sectors [1]. Tourism is one of the most powerful drivers of development for the world economy and in particular, international tourism has been considered as a tool for development in emerging economies. Developing countries are leaders in including sustainability procedures for building and hotels are becoming more eco-friendly by including environmental standards in their design, architecture and management [2,3].

Hotels are key in this process of sustainability; in places where tourism is the main contributor to GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the addition of a sustainable design and sustainable certifications for new buildings and renovations is crucial [3]. For a decade, the Hospitality sector has been pressured to include environmental strategies and reduce the carbon footprint by government legislation, in order to minimize its impact on the environment [4,5].

Despite its involvement in sustainability, there is not much research on what is the best way to approach a "green hotel" and how the design can be affected by including sustainable measures [6]. This article is organized into three main sections. The first offers a brief overview of the impact of the Agenda 2030 on Tourism. The second exposes the existing literature about the importance of sustainable certificates on the Hospitality Industry and the background of one of the first sustainable European building assessment methods applicable to residential and commercial buildings, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Method (BREEAM) [7]. The last part aims to analyse by a qualitative method the impact of BREEAM on the design of hotels.

#### *Impact of 2030 Agenda on the Tourism*

In 2015, the Heads of State and Government of 193 countries met at the 70th General Assembly of United Nations and approved the resolution of "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". This plan is call to action to protect our planet, end poverty and improve the lives and prospects of everyone. The 2030 Agenda sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030 that are considered at the moment a global emergency to mitigate and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development, the economic, social and environmental [8,9]. This plan must be implemented entirely and as a whole, as all the different goals and targets are related to each other. The United Nations Resolution states that in order to achieve the completion of the SGDs, all the nations must take responsibility. The European Union has played an active role and will implement the 2030 Agenda internally and globally in cooperation with partner countries [10].

The UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) establishes that tourism contributes directly or indirectly to the achievement of all SDGs and in particular, it is included as a target in the Goals 8, 12 and 14 [8,11].

Coastal and maritime tourism are tourism's biggest segments. It is specified in target 14.7 that "by 2030, increase the economic benefits to small island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism" [8]. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) rely on healthy marine ecosystems. Integrated Coastal Zone Management must include tourism development to preserve fragile marine ecosystems and promote a blue economy [11].

#### **2. Literature Review**

#### *2.1. The Importance of Sustainability Certifications for the Hospitality Industry*

In 1993, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) put forward the concept of Sustainable Tourism Development. In 1995, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNWTO held in Spain the first World Conference on Sustainable Tourism and the Charter for Sustainable Tourism was adopted in this meeting. Since then, Sustainable Tourism has occupied a dominant position in the Tourism industry [14,15]. Although the UNWTO has established that tourism contributes to the completion of the SDGs [10], the Hospitality industry faces the challenge of determining which of the 17 SDGs and associated targets are its priority [16].

Widely, the building sector accounts for one third of energy-related carbon emissions [17,18]. In the UK, buildings are responsible for half of the carbon emissions, half of the water consumption, one third of the landfill waste and one quarter of all raw materials used in the economy [19]. Hotels' users consume a great amount of water and energy at the same time that generates an important amount of solid waste and effluents on a daily basis [20], but hotels may have a significant and positive impact on the environment by changing some of their management and design aspects. Customers have radically changed their attitude towards adopting environment-friendly practices and as a result, hotels cannot ignore their environmental and social responsibilities [13,21]. For this, many hotels are now in the process of becoming "green hotels", but it has been demonstrated that most of them only focus on small changes such as reusing linen and towels [22,23]. A green hotel must operate according to the principles of green hospitality; this does not mean planting some trees in front of it, but being environmentally friendly, implementing waste management systems, recycling, and saving in water and energy, among other procedures [24].

The guests expect the implementation of more sustainable and eco-friendly practices such as water conservation, energy efficiency and proper waste division [25,26] and this approach should be incorporated from the planning stage to the demolition phase of the building. A green building must be designed as a whole and covers all the phases such as design, construction and operation [27].

As it has been studied before, the term smart tourism is closely related to the application of new technologies [28,29]. They propose to rethink the traditional approach to tourism and include the latest technology such as smartphones and tablets in its planning and programming. New technologies can enhance tourism in different ways; several studies demonstrate that hotels display, on the internet, their certificates and environmental practices to show their customers their awareness of the environment [30,31]. Studies indicate that the application of environmental procedures and their consequent certifications can improve the image of the company and its operating performance [32]. As a consequence, environmental assessments of buildings have become one of the most important steps in the sustainable built environment [5,7,33]. The European Union Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) [34] and the UK Climate Change Act of 2008 set sustainable buildings on the UK policy agenda; since then, a wide variety of tools have been developed to assess and help construction projects, and BREEAM is one of the most successful of these tools [35].

#### *2.2. Background of BREEAM Assessment*

At first in the UK and now worldwide, BREEAM is leading the list of sustainability assessments; between 2013 and 2017, over 10,800 certified assessments were issued at both the Design and Post-construction stage [36]. The method was launched in the UK in 1990 by the Building Research Establishment (BRE); it was initially designed to focus predominantly on environmental aspects [33,37], but in the past decade it has also highlighted economic and social aspects. It has been applied in 77 countries [7,38].

BREEAM considers ten categories to measure sustainable value, including management, health and wellbeing, energy, transport, water, materials, waste, land use and ecology, pollution and innovation [38]. Each of these categories is divided into a range of assessment issues with its own target, aim and benchmarks.

A BREEAM assessor will determine when a target or benchmark is reached and will award with score points or credits as per Table 1, then these are weighted and aggregated on a scale of outstanding, excellent, very good, good, pass and unclassified [38], as shown in Table 2.

**Table 1.** BREEAM Environmental section weightings.

This weighting system is defined in more detail within the BRE Global Core Process Standard (BES5301).

**Table 2.** BREEAM rating benchmarks.

BREEAM is regularly updated to ensure it meets the requirements for building sustainability and it is used for public and private projects, applicable to residential and commercial buildings [7]. In some cases, it is a mandatory requirement to satisfy certain planning conditions or regulations, particularly for the public sector projects. In other cases, it is used voluntarily to earn recognition due to its international prestige [33], and it is highly valued when it comes to indicate the carbon emissions of commercial buildings.

It has been demonstrated that hotels and tourism benefit from the application of sustainable assessments such as BREEAM [32]. In addition, the method has shown its support to the SDGs and the Agenda 2030 and has demonstrated how and where the BREEAM family of standards and tools support the SDGs [39]. It has highlighted its significant contribution to meeting the following goals [8]:

Despite its importance, little research has been conducted about the effects the application of this sustainability assessment method might have on the hotel's design and management process. Holmes and Hudson [40] examined how BREEAM affects the design of an office building but the method has been through many changes since this study was taken and they focused more on the perceived value of the method than its design effects. Lowe and Watts [41] analysed the benefits of implementing BREEAM on a two storey medical centre development but this research was focussed

on the financial implications of the method. Fenner and Ryce [42] compared BREEAM with the LEED method, analysing their limitations in current practice, but this research did not focus on the design aspect. Several studies taken from Haroglu and Schweber [33,35,43] analysed the implication that BREEAM might have on the design process although these studies used different types of buildings as case studies such as educational, commercial, residential and healthcare. Mengxue Lu [7] compared four rating tools: BREEAM, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Assessment (LEED), Green Star and Building Environmental Assessment method (BEAM Plus), and concluded that all of them were similar, covering the same environmental aspects, in terms of energy audit. The carbon audit, however, was not a common investigation focus in any of them.

This paper examines how the implementation of BREAAM impacts on the design of hotels and their management processes and demonstrates the changes that have occurred to the projects in a specific context as a result of the assessment. The intention of the study is not to generalize across specific design features of the hotels but rather to provide a general understanding of the influences and impact that the BREEAM method might have on the hotels' design stage. Due to the lack of research on this field and its importance in Tourism and Hospitality, this study examines the impact of the BREEAM assessment method on the design process of seven hotels in the UK.

#### **3. Methodology**

This study uses a qualitative method of analysis. The qualitative approach to research seeks to analyze the effect of BREEAM on hotels' design decisions; this is not confined to a specific phase of the projects but it comprehends the entire process from conception to completion and beyond. Although some researchers have investigated before about sustainable assessments and specifically BREEAM, little research has been focused on the implications that the method might have on the design of buildings [30,32,40] and no prior research has been found were the case study was a hotel. Hence, the study presents this limitation and the need for further development in this area of research. In addition, the qualitative method used in the research is based on human experience and is dependent on the individual skills of the researcher and the people interviewed.

In the present study, a number of specialized Hospitality professionals, both architects and architect technicians, were selected based on their level of expertise in the field and quality of hotels produced during their careers. All of them are Hospitality focused and the main people responsible for the selected projects of this study. They offered a variety of hotel projects assessed under BREEAM. In total, 7 case study hotels were selected, each of them with different characteristics, stages and BREEAM targets. As a context, all of the hotels are based in the UK due to the importance of this method there.

Architects and architectural technicians responsible for the design of the buildings were interviewed. The interviews were undertaken during April and May of 2020 and, due to the worldwide pandemic of COVID 19 and the mandatory lockdown in the UK during these months, it was not possible to do the interviews face to face. Hence, they were done via Yealink Meeting Server with each technician and architect. Each interview lasted an average of 30 min per project and they were recorded with Windows 10 Screen Recorder. The collection of data was also supplemented with documentation provided by the designers including plans and elevations, BREEAM assessments, planning decision notices and relevant information from several professionals that influenced in the design process of the hotels, with all of the information in pdf format. In Table 3, the details of the selected cases are shown such as the stage of the project, number of rooms, number of storeys and BREEAM target and final score. For confidentiality, the projects are named under the headings A, B, C, D, E, F and G.

**Table 3.** Case study hotel projects.

#### **4. Results**

An extensive amount of data was collected from the interviews about the influence that the BREEAM assessment method has on various aspects of the hotel design. This section includes two parts, the first is a description and a brief of the information obtained from the architects and technicians about the required changes during the design process of each case study. The second part exposes the key design changes extracted from the interviews that were crucial in all the cases.

#### *4.1. General Description of Case Studies*

In case study A, the client was very interested in getting a BREEAM Excellent score and it finally achieved the highest ever BREEAM score for a hotel in the UK. The building is now utilising a range of low energy technologies to reduce its energy demand and generates its own energy supply, delivering an 87% reduction in CO2. The negotiation process with the assessor involved many changes in the project, mainly in the Mechanical and Electrical designing phase, where the assessor asked for bigger plant rooms and more plant areas in addition to several systems that were needed to achieve the credits. It was required to incorporate a number of sustainable construction techniques including enhanced isolative building elements and a sustainable surface water drainage system. In addition, the hotel harvests rainwater, which is used to serve the toilets in the building and to water the external landscaping areas. Increasing the size of cycle store was also needed; the technician explained that this is very common practice when working on a BREEAM project since it is an easy way to get the number of credits required and usually it does not impact excessively the design of it. Finally, the designers had to increase the size of the refuse store as a result of accommodating more numbers of bins and also provide an external bin store. The materials used for this building were assessed in order to meet the Building Regulations and BREEAM criteria, resulting in a combination of brick, metal and stone cladding.

Case study B was a regeneration and further extension of an existing historical building; as a result, the design process required special attention in this case. The hotel is located in the city centre and had a planning requirement to achieve a BREEAM Very Good score. A pre-assessment was submitted as part of the planning application, which is the standard process for most of the buildings in the UK. The planners reviewed it and conditioned it to make sure that the score was achieved; as a consequence, certain changes were needed in order to get BREEAM Very Good as the final score. The designers had to increase the number of cycle storage spaces in the building in order to get the credits related. Under the ecology requirements, even though it was a regeneration of an existing site, the architects and technicians had to provide an enhancement. They had to include certain numbers of bat boxes housed on the roof levels designated for nesting bats. This requirement was needed under the premises that the demolition of an adjacent building was needed in order to extend the hotel and it was deemed that bats could have nested there if they wanted to, so in order to replace this, bat boxes were included. The number and size of bins were increased and, as a consequence, the refuse store was also slightly expanded to accommodate them. In regard to the building envelope, some of the windows had to be upgraded due to the fact that the acoustic requirements of BREEAM were higher than the hotel operator's requirements. The specification of the glass was changed but the size and position of the windows remained the same, so the design of the facade was not altered. Finally, the material

of the new hotel was proposed as rendered to match the existing building which, from a BREEAM perspective, is not ideal due to its characteristics but planning required it to keep the same material in order to minimise the impact of the extension.

Case study C is an existing building refurbishment and extension, it has planning approval and is currently under construction. The hotel is on the boundary on three sides and they are extending it out on the fourth side. There is no space for landscaping and the existing building has a pitched roof, so there were no opportunities for proposing green roofs, bat or bird boxes and planters at ground floor; as a consequence, the ecology credits were difficult to achieve. In order to compensate this, the BREEAM assessor advised that during the design stage, the architects should carry out an assessment to demonstrate that they were not able to provide ecological enhancements. The Mechanical and Electrical engineer presence was crucial in this hotel; although they always have an important role on the completion of BREEAM projects, in this specific case and due to the lack of ecological enhancements, the engineers had to bring new solutions to compensate this lack. The installation of flow restrictors helps to save water by limiting the flow of particularly wasteful taps and showers. The architect explained that the water consumption is always a common factor to take into account for Hospitality projects and its right management can drastically change the running cost of the hotel. Finally, to meet BREEAM acoustic requirements, the technicians had to enhance the existing glazing by adding a secondary glazing. At the moment, they are on target for achieving BREEAM Very Good.

Case study D is a highly sustainable skyscraper building with a small footprint and 42 floors. It had a planning requirement for a BREEAM Excellent but it finally achieved an Outstanding, the highest BREEAM rating available at the time of completion. Ecology had a major impact on the project. Solar panels and a green roof were included in addition to beehives on the 39th floor to produce honey for guests. On the lower levels, bat and bird boxes for nesting were also incorporated. In addition, due to the small footprint of the building, it was impossible to include a cycle store within it, so a separated external cycle store was designed with a green roof and green walls under the recommendations of the ecologists. Finally, it is important to mention that the mechanical system of the hotel has a vital importance in this project. Several measures were included such as a combined heat power system that contributes to a 30 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and light regulation system that adjusts the level of light according to the time of day and season. In addition, waste management is crucial in this case; the hotel recycles cooking oil, general waste, soap and bottled bathroom products. Moreover, it uses eco-friendly products from local suppliers.

Case study E has planning approval and is currently under construction. In this project, there were no planning requirements for BREEAM but the client founders had a BREEAM target of Excellent; they requested the BREEAM assessment method to help to reduce the running cost of the hotel. The architect explained that the energy and water consumption in hotels is massive so by including some procedures that will reduce the impact of that, the benefits will be higher for the owners. As well as that, one of the hotel operators also had, as an employee requirement, the achievement of BREEAM Very Good for their projects, so although in this case it is a lower target than the founder´s, it is still important to take into consideration. The pre-assessment of the project is done and the building has a potential target of 79% score for BREEAM Excellent, higher than the 70% minimum score needed so it is highly possible that the project will achieve the targeted score. In this case study, they also had to increase the cycle and bin stores' sizes in order to achieve the credits needed. For the ecology requirements, the designers had to include a total of 65 square metres of planting distributed on three separate roof levels as a consequence of filling the site completely by the building at ground level. The ecologists made a report with their requirements and due to the lack of space for planting, the landscape architect had to include all these planters on different levels of the building to achieve the needed credits. Internally, the architects had to increase the thickness and specifications of the partitions to meet BREEAM acoustic requirements. The technicians had to enhance the glazing specifications for some of the external windows due to the fact that the operators had some requirements for the windows and, in some instances, BREEAM was above them so they had to upgrade the windows in

order to achieve the acoustic requirements. The architect explained that one of the hotel operators had very strict thermal requirements, which were well above Building Regulations and BREEAM requirements so the insulation of the building did not need any adjustment to meet the credits. Finally, an adaptability study was needed, which is a document that studies the spatial, structural, and service strategies of the building and analyzes the malleability of it in response to changing operational parameters over time [44]. The study proved that the hotel will be able to change its use if needed, mainly because it is built in lightweight partitions and blade columns.

Case study F is under construction at the moment. This project comprehends two buildings in the same site, a refurbished existing office building and a newly built hotel with some affordable accommodations included. Due to there being three different uses sharing the site, planning required three separated permanent cycle stores and temporary short-term cycle storage. The temporary cycle store had to be increased as the BREEAM assessor recommended. In this case, it was a planning requirement to increase the number of bird and bat boxes that the ecologists advised, so BREEAM did not influence this decision. Since the hotel is a new building, the designers decided to go for blade columns and lightweight partitions to facilitate the adaptability of the building if it changes its use, so BREEAM rated this positively.

Case study G has planning approval and it is under construction; it has planning and operator's requirements for BREEAM Very Good. There is a planning condition that it must get this targeted score, so a pre-assessment was done in the first place to study the best way to meet this requirement. As in the previous case studies, the main changes were the bin and cycle stores and the inclusion of planters at ground floor level around the building. After a few discussions with the ecologists, some of the planters were omitted as they contained trees that are no longer proposed; the architect explained that this aspect is being revised at the moment. Currently, the design and illuminance of external lighting, including the hotel signage, has been highlighted by the assessor to take into consideration in order to reduce future risks of non-conformance. A lighting assessor will revise these and recommend the best solution; as a consequence, it will have a minor impact on the external design.

#### *4.2. Key Design Changes*

Several changes were needed during the design process of the described projects. The key changes applied to the buildings explicitly to obtain the required BREEAM credits and under the instructions of the BREEAM assessor have been identified below. In addition to these changes, the presence of the Mechanical and Electrical engineer is crucial for the design of the hotels. As it has been demonstrated, hotels are linked to produce high levels of water consumption; people tend to consume more water when they stay in hotels than in their homes [45,46]. Implementing the right strategies, technologies and innovation measures help the hotels to reduce their water consumption drastically [47]; case studies C and E included water management systems. The key design changes can be classified under three main groups: upgrade through layout amendments, upgrade through performance and upgrade through additions. On the other hand, Haroglu [33] classified the key design changes under three main areas: building features, materials and water services.

#### 4.2.1. Upgrade through Layout Amendments

These changes were related to both internal and external amendments of the layout.

The increase in the cyclist facilities in order to house a greater number of cycles is a common factor in all the case studies. This amendment falls under the Transport section and credits are given with the adequate provision of cyclist facilities to promote exercise and help to reduce congestion and CO2 emissions [48]. It is a relatively easy way to get BREEAM credits and does not have a major impact on the layout.

Another key change that was required in the case studies A, B, E and G was the enlargement of the bins storage areas due to increase in the number of bins; this amendment falls under the Waste section. With the provision of dedicated storage facilities, BREEAM aims to promote sustainable waste management and divert recyclable waste from landfill or incineration [49].  It has been demonstrated that around the 30% of a hotel´s solid waste can be recycled and reused [50].

#### 4.2.2. Upgrade through Performance

A different category of measures that can be applied to improve the efficiency of the hotels, especially for refurbished and existing buildings, are those related to the performance of their components.

In case studies B, C and E, the architects had to change the type of windows by upgrading the glazing specifications and also, in case study E, they had to increase the thickness of the partitions to meet BREEAM acoustic requirements. These are associated with the Acoustic performance subcategory of the Health and Wellbeing section of BREEAM [51]. In this same section, the team involved in case study G are working on the enhancement of lighting impact to ensure artificial lighting is considered at the design stage to minimize its impact [52].

#### 4.2.3. Upgrade through Additions

Finally, there are specific elements that help to obtain the BREEAM target score and will help with the completion of a sustainable or green hotel. Mostly two main categories can be classified in this group, Energy and Land Use and Ecology.

Under the first category, solar panels are an immediate response when working on a sustainable hotel as happened in our case study D. BREEAM promotes the reduction in atmospheric pollution and carbon emissions and encourages local energy generation taken from renewable sources [53].

Certain actions are adopted to enhance the ecology of the site. These fall under the Land Use and Ecology BREEAM category, specifically under the subcategory Enhancing site ecology [54]. The installation of bird and bat boxes at strategic locations on the site was a measure used in case studies B, D and E. Planters with native species or that are beneficial to local wildlife were distributed on different levels of the hotels in case studies D, E and G. Lastly, case study D has a green roof that improves air and water quality and creates a wildlife habitat.

#### **5. Discussion**

The results obtained in this work have important implications on what is the best way to approach the design of a sustainable hotel. The details obtained from the interviews suggest that the application of the sustainability assessment method of BREEAM on the project, should be planned and done since the first stage of its design in order to facilitate the inclusion of the actions or elements recommended by the BREEAM assessor. In addition, it has been found that the inclusion of a BREEAM assessor at the very early stages of the project and the right technicians will accelerate and facilitate the execution of a green hotel. This aligns with the comments by Haroglu [33] about the significance of how the assessment process is handled and how the early involvement of BREEAM assessors can play an important role in the design. Fenner and Ryce [42] also state that the assessor´s approach might have a significant effect on the clarity of the BREEAM assessment. It has been noticed that, in addition of the architects, two other professionals are key for the execution of the project under the BREEAM premises; they are the mechanical and electrical engineer (M&E), and the ecologist. These two technicians will help to adequately address the requirements that the assessor imposes on the hotel. This relates to the results of Lowe and Watts [41], which stated that the introduction of BREEAM on a construction development will cause an increment of the M&E workload, with most of the work being in the design of the systems.

The data collected from the interviews shows that the impact that BREEAM might have on the design depends on whether the hotel is existing or newly built. It has been explained by the architects that if the building is existing, both Planning and BREEAM are more flexible in qualifying the project under the BREEAM requirements due to the difficulty of adapting an existing hotel into a green hotel. In addition, it has been extracted that specifically for hotels, the measures to be taken are common in almost all the cases. In the case of existing buildings that require a refurbishment for their new use, the most important categories to consider are Health and Wellbeing and Land Use and Ecology. In this instance, an update of the existing windows will improve the thermal and acoustic insulation conditions. In addition, the introduction of bat and bird boxes and planters will immediately add an enhancement of the ecology of the hotel. In the case of newly built hotels, the Waste and Transport categories have been a common factor in all of them. An adequate design of the project that includes enough area designated to cycle and bins stores, will help in acquiring the necessary credits to classify the project as a sustainable hotel. Again, Health and Wellbeing and Land Use and Ecology categories are very important for newly built hotels; additionally to the elements mentioned above for refurbished hotels, the incorporation of green roofs will contribute positively to acquiring the BREEAM target score. As it has been already highlighted, the inclusion of new technological and sustainable measures, such as solar panels, is also key in new buildings.

#### **6. Conclusions**

The present study has shown the results of the investigation of seven case study hotels in order to examine the impact that BREEAM has on their design. It was found that the sustainability assessment has a major impact on the design of these buildings and the approach for designing a BREEAM hotel might seem challenging. The main implications of the sustainability assessment were found to be in the Health and Wellbeing and Land Use and Ecology categories for both refurbished and newly built hotels but some categories, such as Waste and Transport, have a major importance for newly built hotels.

The study utilises BREEAM as the tool for measuring the sustainability of different hotels because it is the most common sustainable method used in the UK, but the results can be extrapolated and used for reference for any other hotel that aims to become more sustainable or for those newly built hotels that need to include sustainable elements in their design to be green hotels. For instance, the key changes shown in this research can be applied for newly built or refurbished hotels.

BREEAM is expected to become even more popular and international in the following years ahead. This will implicate new restrictions and measures taken to incorporate BREEAM requirements and the need for further research on this field.

While this paper makes a contribution to understanding the impact that BREEAM has on the design elements of hotels, the importance of water and waste management in hotels has been noticed. Hence, future research could seek to identify how BREEAM impacts on the water and waste management in hotels and how the right actions can enhance their performance.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.M.S.-B.; Data curation, M.M.S.-B., C.R.-D. and R.E.H.F.; Formal analysis, M.M.S.-B.; Investigation, M.M.S.-B.; Methodology, M.M.S.-B.; Project Administration, P.T.-T. and R.E.H.F.; Resources, M.M.S.-B.; Supervision, P.T.-T. and R.E.H.F.; Validation, M.M.S.-B. and P.T.-T.; Writing—original draft, M.M.S.-B.; Review—original draft, P.T.-T. and C.R.-D.; Final editing, M.M.S.-B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

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*Proceedings*  **Design of a System to Implement Occupational Stress Studies Trough Wearables Devices and Assessment Tests †**

**Patricia Concheiro-Moscoso 1,\*, María del Carmen Miranda-Duro 1, Carlota Fraga 1, Cristina Queirós 2, António José Pereira da Silva Marques 3 and Betania Groba 1**

Published: 20 August 2020

**Abstract: Introduction**: Stress at work is a factor that has repercussions on both a personal and health level, as well as on productivity at work. **Objective**: To establish if the wearables are devices capable of determining the level of labor stress of working people in a research center. **Methodology:** This pilot study followed up different variables during 6 months on 11 participants of a research center. In the study, wearables Xiaomi MiB and 3 were used, which recorded and continuously monitored the physical activity and sleep of the participants. On the other hand, different specific evaluation tests were used to measure work stress, quality of life and sleep quality. **Results**: The data obtained from the tests and the wearables show that men feel slightly more stressed and sleep worse than women; however, men spend more time sitting and walking than women. **Conclusions:** It is considered important to replicate the study in larger and more heterogeneous cohorts.

**Keywords:** wearables; work stress; quality of life

#### **1. Introduction**

Work stress is a phenomenon that has been gaining in importance in the recent years. It is defined as "a harmful reaction that people have to cope with the pressures and undue demands placed on them at work" [1]. It has a high impact and repercussions on personal and health levels, as well as on productivity at work [2]. When the occupational stress situation maintenances and increases gradually over time, it could be Burnout [3]. This syndrome is defined as "a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors at work, and is integrated by the dimensions of burnout, cynicism and inefficiency" [3]. The Burnout has a negative influence in the employment and employees' psychological welfare [4].

Some researches on the stress detection reported to the need for improvements the measurement of daily stressors and in the design of studies with the aim of knowing the influence that the different stress process have in the quality of life [5]. So, in this direction, wearable devices as phones, activity trackers, or sensors could become the main tools for the continuous and real-time monitoring of different parameters in order to contribute to health processes and make a relevant contribution to research [6]. In addition, these technological devices can measure physical activity and sleep quality to relate to possible patterns of behavior when exposed to significant stress situations. Some studies, such as Liao et al. (2005), Mozos et al. (2016) and Han et al. (2017), monitored stress in real time through combination of sensors systems to detect stressful situations [7].

This study provides to a new form to capture stress signals by using a smart wristband. Therefore, the aim of this research was to stablish if these wearables are devices capable of determining the level of occupational stress of workers in a research center in Galicia.

#### **2. Methods**

#### *2.1. Study Design*

This pilot study was conducted in a research center during 6 months. It included 11 participants based on the inclusion criteria. The inclusion of participants, who were working in an administrative management department from a research center, is highlighted. Prior to participation, informed consent was obtained from all research volunteers. The study protocol was approved by the Autonomic Research Ethics of A Coruña-Ferrol (2019/249).

#### *2.2. Measures*

#### 2.2.1. Assessment Tools

All tools were self-administrated, coded and managed through Consortium Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCAP) software. The tools were designed, configured and assigned to each of participants via REDCAP. Moreover, the researchers followed up on questionnaires that were filled in by the participants during the study.

The sociodemographic questionnaire was self-administrated at the start of the study. Perceived Stress Scale v10, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale, EuroQol-5D-5L scale were covered at the start and the end of the research.

Weekly questionnaire was composed by 7 questions about stress, work engagement and frustration; 3 questions were daily self-administrated and 4 questions were weekly self-administrated.

#### 2.2.2. Wearables Devices

The participants wore Xiaomi Mi Band 3 during 6 months. The activity, sleep and heart rate data were extracted by automatic data acquisition system of TALIONIS group, which was located in the work environment of participants.

#### **3. Results**

A total of 11 workers participated in this study, who were mostly women (63.63%). There were no significant differences between start and final measurements of participants.

The measures associated with health-related quality of life show that some participants reported to slight and moderate problems in the dimensions "pain/discomfort" (n = 2) and anxiety/depression (n = 3), specifically at the beginning of the study. In both evaluations, the average score of perceived health status were high (EI = 84.56 (±8.13); EF = 88.38 (±9.91)). PSS-10 results show that the men (Total score = 11.25) exhibited higher levels of stress than women (Total score = 9.71). This is opposed to weekly questionnaire, which shows that women (total score for women = 15.57; total score for man = 14.56) had higher level of stress.

Averages scores of PSQI show that participants had slight difficulties to fall asleep and low sleep quality (EI = 4.89 (±2.62); EF = 4.38 (±1.85)). By contrast, wearables reported that participants attained optimal sleep habits. Data from wearables Xiaomi Mi Band 3 show that men were sitting (7.35 h) and walking (2.22 h) more time than women (6.34 h; 1.64 h). However, the women slept for more time (8.15 h) than men (7.90 h).

#### **4. Discussion and Conclusions**

The aim of this proposal was to establish whether these wearables are devices capable of determining the level of occupational stress of workers. Furthermore, it was determined that the level of occupational stress and quality of life of a group of working people. EQ 5D-5L data show that there were no statically differences associated to sex; this matter is supported by other studies [8]. In general, the participants presented high levels of perceived health status. Men reported more stress than women; in contrast, scientific evidence has reported that the female sex had the highest levels of stress because social, psychological and biological consequences [9]. On the other hand, men showed fewer sleep hours than women; this aspect differs from others studies whose data indicated that women had more sleep problems than men [10]. In conclusion, it is necessary to develop studies with larger sample and with other working environments.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis and writing P.C.-M., M.C.M.-D., C.F. and B.G.; review, editing, visualization and supervision C.Q., A.J.P.S.M. and B.G.; and funding acquisition, M.C.M.-D. and P.C.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: All the economic costs involved in the study will be borne by the research team. This work was supported in part by some grants from the European Social Fund 2014-2020. CITIC (Research Centre of the Galician University System) and the Galician University System (SUG) obtained funds through Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with 80%, Operational Programme ERDF Galicia 2014-2020 and the remaining 20% by the Secretaría Xeral de Universidades of the Galician University System (SUG). Specifically, the author PCM obtained a scholarship (Ref.ED481A-2019/069) and the author M.C.M.D. (Ref.ED481A 2018/205) to develop the PhD thesis. On the other hand, the diffusion and publication of this research was funded by the CITIC, Research Centre of the Galician University System with the support previously mentioned (Ref ED431G2019/01).

**Acknowledgments:** Financial support from the Xunta de Galicia and the European Union (European Social Fund—ESF), is gratefully acknowledged.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

*Proceedings* **2020**, *54*, 19

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

### *Proceedings*  **Virtual Reality Game Analysis for People with Functional Diversity: An Inclusive Perspective †**

#### **María del Carmen Miranda-Duro \*, Patricia Concheiro-Moscoso, Javier Lagares Viqueira, Laura Nieto-Riveiro, Nereida Canosa Domínguez and Thais Pousada García**

TALIONIS Group, CITIC, Oza, Universidade da Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(P.C.-M<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(J.L.V<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(L.N.-R<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(N.C.D<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(T.P.G.)

**\*** Correspondence<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
† Presented at the 3rd XoveTIC Conference, A Coruña, Spain, 8–9 October 2020.

Published: 20 August 2020

**Abstract:** Virtual reality (VR) allows us to simulate everyday life environments with realism and in an immersive environment, with the use of the appropriate hardware. People with functional diversity, either because of environmental barriers or because of their reduced mobility, have fewer opportunities to participate in different daily activities or risk situations outdoors. Therefore, VR can be a technological resource for these people to access, try out, and experience different environments and scenarios, offering new participation experiences. Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to analyze the properties and determine the possibilities of the virtual reality applications available on commercial platforms for use in the practice of rehabilitation and intervention aimed at people with functional diversity. This is a transversal, descriptive study that has focused on the analysis of the 40 applications from the STEAM Virtual Reality and VIVE platforms for High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC). After analysis, it has been observed that there are no applications available that are fully accessible and with a minimum degree of usability for use by people with functional diversity.

**Keywords:** virtual reality; functional diversity; accessibility

#### **1. Introduction**

Virtual reality (VR) allows us to simulate everyday life environments with realism and in an immersive environment, with the use of the appropriate hardware. These virtual spaces allow for the reproduction of everyday situations, such as shopping, attending a concert, or going on a medical visit, but also, other experiences that are less frequent, such as exposure to risk events, adventure experiences, or stimuli that can simulate "phobias" for their approach. People with functional diversity, either because of environmental barriers or because of their reduced mobility, have fewer opportunities to participate in different daily activities or risk situations outdoors. Therefore, VR can be a technological resource for these people to access and try out different environments and scenarios, offering new experiences of participation. Furthermore, the possibility of adapting and customizing these virtual contents gives them added value, optimizing their applicability in a therapeutic intervention [1,2].

The aim of this proposal is to analyze the properties and determine the possibilities of VR apps available on commercial platforms for use in the practice of rehabilitation and intervention aimed at people with functional diversity. As a specific objective, it is proposed that the content of the apps must be related to different activities in people's daily lives, such as simulations of a job or activities such as cooking.

#### **2. Material and Methods**

The present study was carried out between February and May. The apps included in the analysis of the present study met the inclusion and exclusion previously defined (see Table 1).

The present study consists of a transversal, descriptive study that has focused on the analysis of the different apps included. This process has been carried out on the basis of a checklist of our own elaboration through which different characteristics were analyzed, such as language options; age for use; type of activity (observation or interaction); purpose; duration; physical and cognitive, comprehension or usability implications; game mode (individual or multiplayer); level of accessibility, and cost.

**Table 1.** Inclusion and exclusion criteria of virtual reality app analyzed.

#### **3. Results**

A total of 40 VR apps were included in the analysis of the present study. From Viveport were Camila, Let Hawaii Happen, Lifelique VR Museum, BallomBon Cashmere, Ikea VR Pancake Kitchen, The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience, Richie Experience, Sim City, The Blu: Whale Encounter, VR Bowls, Engage, ISS 360º Tour with Tim Peake, Crossing the Road with Safety, Cmoar VR Cinema, Cabinet Model Room, The VR Museum of Fine Art, Underwater Mermaid, Clash of Chefs VR—Early Access, Bartender VR Simulator, Manifest Dream, VR Paris Bus Tour—France, Museum of Other Realities, 3D Organon VR Anatomy, OhShape, Ultimate Fishing Simulator, Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, First Person Tennis—The Real Tennis Simulator, Virtual Vacations, Blueplanet VR, Conductor, Paper Fire Rookie, and Healthy Badminton 2019 [3]. From the Steam platform, we included BoxVR, Tiny Town VR, Budget Cuts, Thief Simulator, Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality, Ocean Rift, and Minigolf VR [4].

The most common language was English (92.5%), while the 52.5% of them were only in English, followed by Spanish (30%)—but none of them were only in Spanish—and Chinese (27.5%), while 7.5% were only in Chinese. The languages included in the apps were English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Dutch. However, no app specified the appropriate age for use. In addition, related to the type of activity, 30% of the 40 apps were only for observational mode, while the rest were available in an observation and interaction mode with the VR scenario.

Among the different purposes that the different apps had, it is worth mentioning some of them, for example story-telling; vacation simulator; education (i.e., anatomy) and learning cultural aspects (i.e., visiting museums or cities); creating dresses; games such as blow up balloons; activities such as cooking; observation of oceans or landscapes; job simulator (i.e., office job, waiter, surgeon); a city simulator; playing sports (i.e., bowls, golf, tennis, badminton, boxing); organization of classes, meetings and others; space simulator in the role of an astronaut; crossing the road with safety; leisure activities such as cinema, room design, fishing, firefighting, and a thief simulator. The duration of the experience in each app was specified only in five of them and ranged from minimum 2 min to 2 hours maximum, depending on the type of activity. In addition, 82.5% are to be enjoyed individually, while the rest allows for a multi-player experience.

With regards to accessibility, 37.5% are required to be used standing up, while 5% are performed sitting down. However, 57.5% can be used both standing and sitting. In this line, 45% are free, while the rest range from EUR 0.99 to EUR 27.99.

#### **4. Discussion and Conclusions**

The aim of this proposal is to analyze the properties and determine the possibilities of VR apps available on commercial platforms for use in the practice of rehabilitation and intervention aimed at people with functional diversity. Therefore, it should be noted that the purpose of the apps mainly does not include in leisure activities, clothing, food, social participation, education, work, and play. Activities such as personal care, grooming, or others such as money management are also not included.

In the same way, the authors have found it difficult to classify the different apps as "easy", "difficult", or "intermediate" taking into account what is involved at the physical, cognitive or understanding level due to basic limitations, such as language or the controls themselves that are used for virtual reality experiences. Thus, there was no app specifically designed and created for people with functional diversity, but which also met the accessibility requirements defined by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 [5].

In conclusion, after the analysis was carried out, it has been observed that there are no applications available that are fully accessible and with a minimum degree of usability for use by people with functional diversity. In addition, there is a language handicap, since they are mostly only available in English. The way of interacting with the virtual environment can also generate problems, since the use of the controls and the activation of different buttons complicates and limits the complex handling in case the person has reduced mobility. Given this lack of adequate resources and the relevance that VR can have in therapeutic processes, the need to create virtual reality scenarios adapted and suitable for people with functional diversity is detected.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, and writing M.d.C.M.-D., P.C.-M., and J.L.V.; review, editing, visualization, and supervision, L.N.-R, N.C.D., and T.P.G.; funding acquisition, M.d.C.M.-D. and P.C.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported in part by some grants from the European Social Fund 2014-2020. CITIC (Research Centre of the Galician University System) and the Galician University System (SUG) obtained funds through Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with 80%, Operational Programme ERDF Galicia 2014-2020 and the remaining 20% by the Secretaría Xeral de Universidades of the Galician University System (SUG). Specifically, the author MCMD obtained a scholarship (Ref. ED481A 2018/205) and the author PCM (Ref. ED481A-2019/069) to develop the PhD thesis. On the other hand, the diffusion and publication of this research was funded by the CITIC, Research Centre of the Galician University System with the support previously mentioned (Ref ED431G 2019/01).

**Acknowledgments:** Financial support from the Xunta de Galicia and the European Union (European Social Fund—ESF), is gratefully acknowledged.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


*1.3.1 Antigen presenting cell (APC)*

These cells are the messengers between innate (non-specific) immunity and the adaptive (specific). Specialized APC are macrophage (MØ), B-cells and Dendric cells (DC) [3].

Roles of Antigen Presenting Cell (APC) can be summarized as [5]:


**11. Choice of surgical procedure**

Bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy (STT), Dunhill procedure (DP), near total thyroidectomy (NTT) and total thyroidectomy (TT) are the four procedures that have been or are being performed for GD. STT, DP, NTT were the procedure of choice till 21st century due to said higher incidence of hypoparathyroidism, nerve damage or hematoma [15]. However, these have not been verified in recent large studies or meta-analysis [48]. A retrospective cohort study 8032 patients of benign thyroid disease having undergone STT or TT found no difference in temporary of permanent nerve damage and permanent hypoparathyroidism though temporary hypocalcemia was significantly higher in TT compared to TT (13.12% Vs. 2.7%) [49]. A similar trend has been seen in most other studies. TT for GD has been found to have lower rates of recurrent hyperthyroidism compared to other procedures (STT more than DP) [17, 50]. The nerve damage rates have been higher however hypocalcemia rates have been slightly higher though they do not reach statistical

significance [50]. The choice of surgical procedure did not have a difference in their effect on Graves' ophthalmopathy [17, 50]. RAI with steroid cover was found to be not inferior to surgery. The TT performed by trained surgeons at high volume center have no higher rates of these morbid complications. More and more TT are now being performed for benign diseases throughout world. Thomas WT et al. in an analysis of nationwide in patient analysis in US noted an increase in TT for benign diseases from 17.6% in 1993–1997 to 39.6 in 2003–2007 [51]. This trend is seen across the globe even in less developed regions [40, 52]. However TT may be avoided in in situations where lifelong thyroxine supplements may be un reliable, more common in the lesser developed countries [3]. Never the less, 2016 ATA guidelines for Hyperthyroidism suggest that a NTT of TT should be performed for GD if surgery is being contemplated [30].

## **12. Disadvantages of surgery**

Patients would require lifelong thyroxine replacement after thyroidectomy and compliance may be an issue in some. Also, potential risk of permanent hypoparathyroidism and recurrent laryngeal nerve damage or neck hematoma are present. However, in trained hands, their incidence is no higher than after surgery for euthyroid goiters. Vis a vis ATD and RAI, surgery is the least cost effective first line treatment of Graves' Disease [53, 54]. In recurrent GD after ATT, surgery was more cost effective than RAI or lifelong ATD to a large extent [55]. The cost implications are likely to vary across the globe depending on various factors.

#### **13. Surgical approach to thyroid**

Though conventionally, open thyroidectomy through a transverse collar incision is the standard of care, heightened cosmetic demands of patients along with refinements in surgical instruments and surgical training has resulted in significant shift favoring minimally invasive procedures. Meta-analysis of 846 cases between 1999–2011 by Zhang et al. concluded that endoscopic thyroidectomy provides better cosmetic satisfaction along with lesser blood loss at the expense of higher costs and operative time with acceptable rates of hypocalcemia and nerve compromise [56].

Robotic surgery is now a feasible option for Graves' Disease with comparable complication rates [57]. Also, larger glands can be excised via robotic technique. Retrospective analysis of 44 robotic TT via bilateral axillo- breast approach was no inferior when compared to 144 cases of open thyroidectomy in terms of recurrence, hypocalcemia and nerve damage on prolonged follow up of 35 months [58]. This is now a valid option for those concerned about cosmesis.

#### **14. Conclusion**

Etiology of hyperthyroidism has to be determined thoroughly to determine the line of management. Radioactive iodine ablation (RAI) or surgery is the main modality of treatment in GD. Anti-thyroid drug is essential to make the patient euthyroid prior to definitive therapy. Prompt discussion with patients regarding delayed outcome and retreatment in those who opt for RAI is mandatory. Surgical treatment of choice in the form of NTT or TT ought to be performed in a highvolume centre to reduce complication and recurrence. Toxic adenoma and TMNG are managed similarly to GD i.e., rendering euthyroid with ATDs, followed by

*Surgery for Graves' Disease DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96958*

definitive therapy. Extent of surgery in toxic solitary adenoma depends on radiology, nuclear imaging after malignancy is ruled out. Newer ablative therapies like RFA, EA, LTA are considered as a substitute for definitive therapy in selective patients. Nonetheless malignancy should always be treated by surgery.


*2.4. LC-MS/MS Analysis*

The reverse-phase chromatography was performed on the Ultimate 3000 Nano LC System (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) coupled to the Q Exactive Plus benchtop Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA) using a chip-based nanoelectrospray source (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA). Samples prepared in the loading buffer (0.1% TFA and 2% acetonitrile in water) were loaded on the Inertsil ODS3 (GLSciences, Torrance, USA) trap column (0.1 × 20 mm, 3 µm) at 10 µL/min and separated on the Reprosil PUR C18AQ (Dr. Maisch, Germany) fused-silica column (0.1 × 500 mm, 1,9 µm) with a linear gradient of 3–35% buffer B (0.1% formic acid, 80% acetonitrile in water) for 55 min; 35–55% B for 5 min; and 55–100% B for 1 min at a flow rate of 440 nL/min. Prior to injection of the next sample, the column was washed with buffer B for 5 min and re-equilibrated with buffer A (0.1% formic acid and 3% acetonitrile in water) for 5 min.

Peptides were analyzed on the mass spectrometer with one full scan (350–2000 *m*/*z*, *R* = 70,000 at 200 *m*/*z*) at a target of 3 × 106 ions and a maximum ion fill-time of 50 ms, followed by up to 10 data-dependent MS/MS scans with higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD) (target 1 × 105 ions, max ion fill time 45 ms, isolation window 1.4 *m*/*z*, normalized collision energy (NCE) 27%) detected in the Orbitrap (*R* = 17,500 at fixed first mass 100 *m*/*z*). Other settings included: charge exclusion: unassigned, 1, and more than 6; peptide match–preferred; excluded isotopes–on; and the dynamic exclusion of 40 s was enabled.

#### *2.5. Analysis of LC–MS/MS Data*

Label-free protein quantification was performed using MaxQuant software version <IP_ADDRESS> (Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Planegg, Germany) and a common contaminants database by the Andromeda search engine [14] with cysteine carbamidomethylation as a fixed modification was used. Oxidation of methionine and protein N-terminal acetylation were used as variable modifications. Peak lists were searched against the human protein sequences extracted from the Uniprot (28.06.19) database. The false discovery rate (FDR) was set to 0.01 for both proteins and peptides with a minimum length of seven

amino acids. Peptide identification was performed with an allowed initial precursor mass deviation of up to 20 ppm and an allowed fragment mass deviation of 20 ppm. Downstream bioinformatics analysis was performed using Perseus software, version <IP_ADDRESS> (Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Planegg, Germany). Protein groups only identified by site, only from peptides identified also in the reverse database, or those belonging to the common contaminants database were excluded from the analyses. For Student's *t*-test, missing values were imputed with a width of 0.3 and a downshift of 1.8 over the total matrix. Two sample tests were performed in Perseus with s0 set to 0. Label-free quantification was performed using a minimum ratio count of 1. The protein levels were assessed by the iBAQ (intensity-based absolute quantification) method using MaxQuant software. To determine the relative abundance of identified proteins in the samples (riBAQ), we divided the obtained iBAQ values by the sum of all iBAQ values and expressed this ratio as percentage. The results were analyzed using Venn diagrams. Protein ontology analysis of the differentially expressed proteins (PO) was performed on gene ontology terms to catalog the biological processes using DAVID Bioinformatics resources, 6.7 (Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA). The mass spectrometry proteomics data were deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE [15] partner repository with the dataset identifier PXD021673.


*Edited by Muhammad Saifullah*

Weather warnings are important because governments use them to protect life and property. In addition, predicting temperature and precipitation is important for agriculture. As such, weather forecasting is an integral part of meeting targets 2 and 13 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger and climate action, respectively. This book presents recent developments in scientific research on weather and climate in the extreme environments of Asian, African, and European regions. It provides in-depth case studies from Pakistan, the United States, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Africa. The global and inter-disciplinary results of these studies help us to understand and address the grand challenges of weather as well as its impact on society.

Published in London, UK © 2021 IntechOpen © Ralwel / iStock

Weather Forecasting

Weather Forecasting

*Edited by Muhammad Saifullah*


*4.3. Double Subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate*

The double subduction zone of the Molucca Sea Plate is shown in the vertical crosssection of C-C (west–east), crossing the Celebes Sea, Sangihe Island, Molucca Sea, and the Morotai Basin (Figure 8); and the vertical cross-section D-D (west–east), crossing Sulawesi's north arm, the Molucca Sea, and Halmahera Island (Figure 9). Based on tomographic inversion results in the C1 area, the high-Vp, high-Vs anomalies subduct to the west and reach the asthenosphere layer at a depth of ~300 km. Based on the resolution test (Figures S6–S8), the subduction pattern is shown to reach a depth of ~400 km (CRT result: not good resolved areas), while a low Vp/Vs is seen in the partially molten asthenosphere layer at a depth of ~210 km. High-Vp, high-Vs, and low-Vp/Vs anomalies subducting eastward to a depth of ~200 km are also observed. This feature can be interpreted as a double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate, which subducts westward beneath the Sangihe Islands and eastward beneath the Morotai Basin. This is also followed by the presence of intermediate and deep earthquakes in the upper mantle layer that forms a double subduction slab pattern, as indicated by high seismic velocity [53]. These results are consistent with those of Chou et al. [50], Zhao [46], and Zenonos et al. [29,30] who suggest that high Vp, high Vs, and low Vp/Vs can be associated with the feature of subducted slab. Previous studies of P-wave tomography also identified a double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate [9,22–24,27,60] in which the plate subducting to the west can reach the mantle transition layer at a depth of ~600 km. According to Fan and Zhao [27], the Molucca Sea Plate is submerged deeper in the north than in the south. These studies also indicate that the arch of double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate has submerged into the upper mantle at a depth of ~150 km. Based on the geometry model of slab2 (green line) from Hayes et al. [45], the arch of the double subduction is closer to the surface in the uppermost mantle layer.

The C2 area is located beneath the Sangihe Trench (ST), which is a collision zone of the Sangihe continental crust that moves eastward with an overriding plate structure [26] and the Molucca Sea Plate that subducts to the west. The tomographic inversion results show that high-Vp, high-Vs, and low-Vp/Vs anomalies in the mantle crust can be interpreted as rock material that experienced micro-cracks that have since closed due to high pressure [30,61–63]. The C3 area is located beneath the Halmahera Trench (HT), which is a collision zone of the Halmahera continental crust that moves westward, having an overriding plate structure [26] with the Molucca Sea Plate subducting to the east. The tomographic inversion results show that low-Vp, low-Vs, and high-Vp/Vs anomalies in the crust and mantle can be interpreted as highly fractured, water-saturated rock material [63]. Our results obtained beneath the Central Ridge of Molucca Sea, indicate a clear presence of boundary between ST which has high-velocity anomalies and low Vp/Vs and HT, which has low-velocity anomalies and high Vp/Vs. This boundary also has a signature of high seismicity area. An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 occurred on 10 July 2021 on this boundary that can be interpreted as a collision zone between fault planes or fractures [10]. The boundary may represents material with different densities between the western and eastern parts of the Central Ridge of the Molucca Sea which have upraised ophiolite bodies [17,18].

In the vertical cross-section D-D of area D1 (Figure 9), the results of the inversion tomography show the presence of a double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate indicated by high-Vp, high-Vs anomalies. It subducts westward and eastward, reaching a solid asthenosphere layer at a depth of ~300 and ~250 km, respectively. The Molucca Sea Plate is not well-imaged as far as the Vp/Vs ratio, and there is a discontinuity in the slab that subducts westward at depths of ~100–150 km. On the other hand, the slab that subducts to the east is well-imaged, as indicated by low Vp/Vs. The seismic pattern observed at intermediate and deep depths had a high seismic velocity, which can be associated with a double subduction slab [53]. This finding is consistent with Chou et al. [50], Zhao [46] and Zenonos et al. [29,30]; i.e., high Vp, high Vs, and low Vp/Vs are interpreted as a slab subduction. Previous studies of P-wave tomography have also identified a double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate to depths of ~600–650 km subducting to the west, and depths of ~250–400 km subducting to the east [9,22–24,27,60]. The arch of double subduction in this area is in the uppermost mantle layer near the surface, which is consistent with the geometry of the slab2 model from Hayes et al. [45]. Fan and Zhao [27] showed that the arch of the Molucca Sea Plate submerged shallower in the south than in the north.

The D3 and D5 areas are located in ST and HT which is a collision zone between the continental crust and the denser, heavier oceanic crust. The ST area is the collision zone between the continental crust of Sulawesi's north arm located above the Molucca Sea Plate that subducts to the west. The HT area is the collision zone between the continental crust of Halmahera above the Molucca Sea Plate and subducting to the east [26]. According to Puspito et al. [22], low velocity dominates the Molucca Sea collision zones and volcanic zones. The results of tomography inversion in these two areas show high-Vp, high-Vs, and low-Vp/Vs anomalies in the crust and mantle. This feature can be interpreted as rock material that experienced micro-cracks that have since closed due to high pressure [30,61–63]. The D4 area, located beneath the island of Tifore in the Central Molucca Sea may correspond to upraised ophiolite body [17,18] which has an active thrust fault [11,12]. The tectonic activity in this area causes many earthquakes of both small and large magnitudes. Tomographic inversion results in the Central Molucca Sea show low-Vp, low-Vs anomalies, and high Vp/Vs in the crust and mantle which indicate the presence of highly fractured brittle material and water-saturated rock [63]. In the west and east (ST and HT), we suggest that the rock material is probably not water-saturated because the micro-cracks have been covered by high pressure. However, further north (Figure 8, cross-section C-C'), the cracked and water-saturated rock materials shift to the east (there is a clear boundary in the Central Molucca Sea) and extend to HT.

Figure 10 shows a 3D visualization of the double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate beneath Sulawesi's north arm, the Molucca Sea, and Halmahera Island based on P-wave tomography inversion results. These results show that the Molucca Sea Plate subducts to the west beneath Sulawesi's north arm. In perspective from south to north, the state of the slab field also dips north from the Minahasa Peninsula to the Celebes Sea, having numerous earthquake events that follow the high-Vp anomaly pattern and is interpreted as a double subduction of the Molucca Sea Plate. This is consistent with the green three-dimensional surface plot of the slab2 models of the Molucca Sea Plate [45] in Figure 6.