scholarly journals A comparison of the effect of indoor thermal and humidity condition on young and older adults' comfort and skin condition in winter

2021 ◽  
pp. 1420326X2110309
Author(s):  
Yi Jin ◽  
Fan Wang ◽  
Sarah R. Payne ◽  
Richard B. Weller

Dry indoor air has been identified as the main cause of dry skin in winter which greatly affects older occupants' wellbeing, but HVAC design standards are based on average adults and do not specify a humidity level that can prevent dry skin. A field study was carried out to understand the difference between the younger and older people with regards to thermal and humidity comfort and skin condition in winter. The study proves a research procedure that is friendly to and preferred by the participants to measure the effect of the indoor environment on their comfort and skin condition in a real living environment setting. The results suggest that younger and older occupants are different in thermal comfort, specifically older occupants prefer a warmer environment than younger occupants, and the neutral temperature produced by the predicted mean vote method is not warm enough for older occupants. The study also suggests stratum corneum hydration appears to be a good indicator to present the effect of indoor humidity on the occupants' skin condition, which can be used to determine the minimum humidity level to reduce the risk of suffering dry skin in winter.

2013 ◽  
Vol 664 ◽  
pp. 207-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Han ◽  
Li Fen Yi

There is a great improvement in modern people’s working and living environment. As the new building materials and technology appear, it brings some problems to indoor environment. more and more people pay attention to their living conditions especially the quality of indoor environment. Every year ,there are 110,000 people who die from indoor air pollution every year in China, hence indoor air pollution is affecting human health. In this paper, through analysis of the sources, adverse health effects of several common indoor air pollutants, air pollutants are major contributing factors to chronic diseases and mortality. It should be treated urgently with the people’s standard of living improvement.


2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 525-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Cui ◽  
Jing Chao Xie ◽  
Wen Yue Bian ◽  
Hiroshi Yoshino ◽  
U Yanagi ◽  
...  

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has been concerned since 1970s in some western countries. Many researchers have studied the effects of air pollution on children's health and evidence suggested that it did contribute significantly to the risk of adverse health in children. Children spend the majority of their time indoors, mostly at home. To study health effects of long-term exposure to indoor air, we conducted a questionnaire survey about indoor environment and children's health status in 2012 on the 4-5 grades children of a primary school in Beijing. The questionnaire was used to collect data on general information of children, living environment, residential equipments and lifestyle and children's health status. We classified the investigated families into several categories according to residential surrounding air pollution, decoration and smoking. Then we observed respiratory symptoms like cough, dyspnea with phlegm, nasal obstruction, asthma and some allergy symptoms in different categories. The results of this survey suggest that indoor air quality is associated with children's health. Morbidity of children's respiratory system symptoms and some allergy symptoms is higher in relatively poor indoor environment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 409-410 ◽  
pp. 695-698
Author(s):  
Zu Kang Lei ◽  
Zhi Qiang Gao

This article surveys mainly the microclimate diversity and transition characteristics of air temperatures and relative humiditys differences between exterior and different interior spaces at a typical Chinese residence in the cold-winter and hot-summer area by summer and winter, which is under the situation without air conditioning. According to the results, building envelope is the main factor of affecting the stability of indoor environment, limited impact on the relative humidity. The closed state of living space and ventilation are also the origin of causing the difference of RH.


2013 ◽  
Vol 726-731 ◽  
pp. 1373-1377
Author(s):  
Ji Fei Xu ◽  
Xin Ying Wang ◽  
Hui Min ◽  
Hong Yu Ma ◽  
Ji Zhao

The campus indoor environment is an important learning and living environment for college students, and it is closely related to the health of college students. Using natural sedimentation to monitor and evaluate the indoor air microorganisms of four classrooms (0407, 0408, 0409 and 0410) which are in the Inner Mongolia University campus comprehensive building of fourth floor. The results show that the concentration variation of indoor air microorganisms is different in one day, in the 5 periods of time from morning to night, the maximum is 2.0×103 cfu·m-3 in the morning, which is 12 times to the minimum. Air microbial content of the sunny classrooms (0407 and 0409) is obviously higher than night side classrooms (0408 and 0410), the total bacteria concentration of classroom 0407 is 2.1 times to classroom 0408, and the concentration of classroom 0409 is 1.5 times to classroom 0410. Among the 4 sampling points, the highest total concentration of air microorganisms is 8.0×102 cfu·m-3, the lowest value is 3.0×102 cfu·m-3, and the average value is 6.0×102 cfu·m-3. Bacteria as the main air microorganism in summer campus classroom, accounted 77.4%, mold accounted18.9%, actinomycetes accounted 3.7%. According to the air microorganism standards, it evaluates that each time of indoor air is clean.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 875-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radostina A. Angelova ◽  
Peter Stankov ◽  
Detelin Markov ◽  
Rositsa Velichkova ◽  
Iskra Simova

It is imperative a model be developed that can assess the difference between the amount of CO2, generated within the human body and the amount of CO2 that is ejected by the body as a function of indoor air parameters. This model would allow the assessment of the amount of the CO2 which is not ejected by the body through exhalation and which have to be neutralized and ejected by the body through other mechanisms or have to be accumulated in the body depots. Currently, there is no experimental data that allows for predicting the amount of CO2, ejected through the blood gas exchange in the lungs as a function of CO2 concentration in the inhaled air. Our study, conducted within the AIRMEN project, aims to research the phenomenology of the human body as a physiological source of the deterioration of both the indoor environment and conditions of comfort and in particular on the indoor air quality. It is based on an experimental investigation of the external result from the human body metabolism and gas exchange in the lungs. The results of this study make it possible to logically define the limits of the permissible CO2 concentration in the indoor air for the different air quality categories indoors.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073490412110301
Author(s):  
Yawei Wang ◽  
Gaowan Zou ◽  
Conglin Liu ◽  
Y Gao

The Halon 1301 fixed gas fire extinguishing system used in ship engine rooms has been banned from production all over the world, because halon destroys the ozone layer. Therefore, it is necessary to find an environmentally friendly, compatible and efficient alternative firefighting system. In this study, we performed fire extinguishing tests in an ISO9705 standard room for four alternative fire extinguishing agents, as well as Halon 1301. The fire extinguishing efficiency of each agent was determined based on its cooling effect, dilution effect of oxygen concentration, the extinguishing time of the oil pool fire and the re-ignition probability of the wood stack. The test results provide data support for the selection of alternatives of Halon 1301 from the aspect of fire extinguishing efficiency. Among these results, Novec 1230 had the best ability to put out the oil pool fire, and HFC-227ea suppressed the wood stack fire the best. The difference between the cooling ability of each fire extinguishing agent was small, and the inert gas (IG-541) displayed the best ability to dilute oxygen. Hot aerosol required the longest time to extinguish fire. Consequently, under the existing design standards, HFC-227ea had the better firefighting efficiency, more suitable to replace Halon 1301.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 757-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Herkert ◽  
Keri C. Hornbuckle

Accurate and precise interpretation of concentrations from polyurethane passive samplers (PUF-PAS) is important as more studies show elevated concentrations of PCBs and other semivolatile air toxics in indoor air of schools and homes.


Author(s):  
Seyed Ali Keshavarz ◽  
Mazyar Salmanzadeh ◽  
Goodarz Ahmadi

Recently, attention has been given to indoor air quality due to its serious health concerns. Clearly the dispersion of pollutant is directly affected by the airflow patterns. The airflow in indoor environment is the results of a combination of several factors. In the present study, the effects of thermal plume and respiration on the indoor air quality in a ventilated cubicle were investigated using an unsteady computational modeling approach. The person-to-person contaminant transports in a ventilated room with mixing and displacement ventilation systems were studied. The effects of rotational motion of the heated manikins were also analyzed. Simulation results showed that in the cases which rotational motion was included, the human thermal plume and associated particle transport were significantly distorted. The distortion was more noticeable for the displacement ventilation system. Also it was found that the displacement ventilation system lowered the risk of person-to-person transmission in an office space in comparison with the mixing ventilation system. On the other hand the mixing system was shown to be more effective compared to the displacement ventilation in removing the particles and pollutant that entered the room through the inlet air diffuser.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Mattsson ◽  
Lennart Larsson

An emissions barrier was used in premises with indoor air complaints due to emissions from the buildings in question. The emissions comprised chlorophenols/chloroanisoles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from treated wood, and volatile organic compounds (VOC), mainly 2-ethylhexanol, from PVC flooring and the glue used to paste the flooring onto a concrete slab. Attaching the barrier at the surfaces from where the emissions were spread (floor, walls, ceiling) resulted in a fresh and odour-free indoor air. We conclude that using an emissions barrier in buildings made unhealthy by moisture is an efficient way of restoring a pleasant and healthy indoor air.


Author(s):  
F. O. Ezeokoli ◽  
C. A. Omenyi ◽  
C. B. N. Bert- Okonkwo ◽  
N. B. Iheama

This study aimed at evaluating the indoor environment conditions of the private hostels in Ifite Awka Anambra state with a view to establishing its quality and impacts on students dwelling on these hostels in the study area. Being a survey research, the study was affected by the use of questionnaire, literature searches and direct observations. Accordingly, a total of 311 questionnaires were administered while 258 questionnaires which represent 83% were returned and found useful. The study found that IEQ parameters of hostels in study area are: Indoor air quality was poor due to inadequate ventilation of rooms; thermal comfort of rooms was found to be warm; indoor light quality was found good and the acoustics comfort and noise slightly good and to some extent poor. Therefore, the study recommended that during the design and construction of buildings, IEQ parameters should be considered, so as to obtain a quality indoor environment.


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