scholarly journals Carpet Bombings

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liza Grandia
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Carpet Industry ◽  
Green Label

Outdoor images predominate in our cultural conceptions of “air pollution” even though indoor air quality (IAQ) is typically tenfold more contaminated.   New modeling of LA smog in Science suggests that source emissions from indoor and personal care products contribute more to that city’s infamous poor air quality than vehicular combustion.  In similar paradox, even as outdoor smoke from California wildfires in 2017 pushed PM2.5 levels past red into unprecedented magenta alerts, children were sickened inside school classrooms after new carpets were laid.  This auto-ethnographic paper chronicles our ongoing struggle to remove those carpets from “Beacon” Elementary, a bilingual Mexican-American school in California's Central Valley that has suffered decades of racialized neglect of its facilities. Forging through the uncertain epidemiology of environmental illness, “Beacon” mothers began documenting their children’s ailments after the new carpet installation, but the school district dismissed the mothers' citizen science.  The Superintendent continued to vouch for the carpet’s safety based on the industry’s voluntary “Green Label.”  A historical section of this article therefore recounts how and why the carpet industry invented this label in the aftermath of a scandal in which new carpets sickened a fifth of the EPA workforce at their headquarters in Washington, DC between 1987 and 1988.  Thirty years later, once again, three California environmental regulatory agencies are scrutinizing the carpet industry for hazardous ingredients.  

scholarly journals Evaluasi Desain Bangunan Berdasarkan Sistem Sertifikasi DGNB (Studi Kasus : The Khabele School, Austin)

Arsitektura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Dady Wicaksono ◽  
Sugini Sugini
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Sustainable Building ◽  
Pollution Problem ◽  
Zero Carbon

<p class="Abstract"><em><span lang="EN-GB">The air pollution problem had become a big problem for many cities in the world. In line with the rapid development of these cities, the concept of sustainability also continues to develop with various solutions to overcome existing problems. To solve the air pollution problem, the authors evaluated the selected building object, The Khabele School, to see the extent of the building's contribution to overcoming the air pollution problem.  The evaluation was carried out based on the DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council) certification system, the variables measured were biotope area factor (BAF), indoor air quality, daylight factor, and zero-carbon mobility. The results reveal that indoor air quality and daylight factors could meet the desired standards, while BAF and zero-carbon mobility had not met the standard. Based on theoretical and empirical studies, this paper discussed alternative design strategies, to improve the quality of the building, so that they can contribute more to overcoming air pollution problem.</span></em></p>

scholarly journals Association between Human Health and Indoor Air Pollution in Saudi Arabia: Indoor Environmental Quality Survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-66
Author(s):  
Mohd Saleem ◽  
Mohd Adnan Kausar ◽  
Fahmida Khatoon ◽  
Sadaf Anwar ◽  
Syed Monowar Alam Shahid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Natural Light ◽  
Common Symptom ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality

In many aspects of life quality, bio-contaminants and indoor air quality have had catastrophic consequences, including a negative impact on human health with an increased prevalence of allergic respiratory reactions, asthma, and infectious diseases. We aimed to evaluate the quality of indoor air environment and find out the association between human health and indoor air pollution and also to assess the physical health status of a group of Saudi and non-Saudi populations during this pandemic. Also, we aimed to assess the most common health condition or symptoms associated with ventilation. A questionnaire was distributed online to test indoor air quality, ventilation status, common signs and symptoms of any allergy or mental status and their relationship to certain variables. A total of 362 respondents were included. Before living in the current home, flu or Influenza and chapped lips were more prevalent than allergies and chapped lips signs while living in the current home. (12.2% , 10.8% vs. 18.5% , 13.55% before and after respectively) Multiple colds were the second most common symptom (10.2%). Hoarse voice and headaches were the least common symptoms experienced; each constituted 4.4%. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, most respondents wore a facemask, approximately 76.5%; and almost one-third of respondents had bright natural light inside the current home (43.1%). The presence of natural light within the current home was significantly associated with symptoms experienced during living in the current house (p<0.05). Natural sunlight exposure could decrease allergic symptoms and minor health problems associated with poor ventilation and air quality indoors. In current living homes, the majority of respondents never used air purifiers (72.9 percent). In order to get attention from people to enhance the quality and ventilation mechanism of indoor air, special care and awareness of the effects of the use of air purifiers on human health is needed.

scholarly journals Efficiency and Eco-Costs of Air Purifiers in Terms of Improving Microbiological Indoor Air Quality in Dwellings—A Case Study

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Brągoszewska ◽  
Magdalena Bogacka ◽  
Krzysztof Pikoń
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Pollution Prevention ◽  
Average Concentration ◽  
Environmental Cost ◽  
Bacterial Aerosol ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ecological Cost

Air pollution, a by-product of economic growth, generates an enormous environmental cost in Poland. The issue of healthy living spaces and indoor air quality (IAQ) is a global concern because people spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. An increasingly popular method to improve IAQ is to use air purifiers (APs). Indoor air is often polluted by bioaerosols (e.g., viruses, bacteria, fungi), which are a major concern for public health. This work presents research on culturable bacterial aerosol (CBA) samples collected from dwellings with or without active APs during the 2019 summer season. The CBA samples were collected using a six-stage Andersen cascade impactor (ACI). The CBA concentrations were expressed as Colony Forming Units (CFU) per cubic metre of air. The average concentration of CBA in dwellings when the AP was active was 450–570 CFU/m3, whereas the average concentration when the AP was not active was 920–1000 CFU/m3. IAQ, when the APs were active, was on average almost 50% better than in cases where there were no procedures to decrease the concentration of air pollutants. Moreover, the obtained results of the particle size distribution (PSD) of CBA indicate that the use of APs reduced the proportion of the respirable fraction (the particles < 3.3 µm) by about 16%. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the ecological cost of air purification. Our conceptual approach addresses the impact of indoor air pollution on human health and estimates the ecological cost of APs and air pollution prevention policies.

Quantifying the impact of traffic-related air pollution on the indoor air quality of a naturally ventilated building

2016 ◽  
Vol 89-90 ◽  
pp. 138-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheming Tong ◽  
Yujiao Chen ◽  
Ali Malkawi ◽  
Gary Adamkiewicz ◽  
John D. Spengler
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
The Impact

Coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for Prediction of Traffic-related Air Pollution Infiltration Effects in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Nieborowski
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Forced Ventilation ◽  
Real Life Data ◽  
Air Intake ◽  
Forced Air

&lt;div&gt; &lt;p&gt;Improper ventilation of buildings may lead to an accumulation of pollutants indoors. In the case of a room with forced air ventilation and external air intake like most centralized and some home air conditioning units, this study will show CFD simulations of various indoor air quality conditions based on different forced ventilation AC unit intake conditions like common in housing situations like Hong Kong. Especially when close to roadways or other external pollution sources, the positioning of the air intake shows up to have a high significance for the infiltration rate resulting as influence for the indoor air quality as previous research shows (e.g. Zheming Tong et al., 2016). The same is the case for a forced ventilation case like air conditioning units with outside air intake. Research like earlier referenced paper has not been conducted with higher buildings or forced air intake yet. Parametrized CFD-based air quality models with using OpenFoam will be employed to quantify the impact of the air intake location and rate in a 2-dimensional interface on the indoor air quality of a forced ventilated section of a building. The findings of the CFD simulation will be simplified as average indoor air pollution and other external factors. As an approach to predict the estimate indoor infiltration rate, an ANN (Artificial Neuronal Network) will be used, trained and validated with said data. The neural network is supposed to predict the pollutant intake based on fewer and as easier to obtain meteorological parameters and air pollution data. Finally, the ANN predictions of the models will be verified with real life data from other papers. Results will show that a major part of indoor pollutants may emerge indoors and cannot be neglected. In comparison with real life data, it seems the model lacks significant input to predict with high accuracy.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt;

Air pollution and pulmonary health: Effects of short-term indoor air quality intervention with portable air purifier

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Kei Chung ◽  
Xiaoxing Cui* ◽  
Lin Fang ◽  
Jianbang Xiang ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Air Purifier

Bioactive Nano-Filters to Control Legionella on Indoor Air

2012 ◽  
Vol 506 ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
P.A.F. Rodrigues ◽  
S.I.V. Sousa ◽  
Maria José Geraldes ◽  
M.C.M. Alvim-Ferraz ◽  
F.G. Martins
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Legionella Pneumophila ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Public Health Issue

Several factors affect the indoor air quality, among which ventilation, human occupancy, cleaning products, equipment and material; they might induce the presence of aerosols (or bioaerosols in the presence of biological components) nitrogen oxides, ozone, carbon monoxide and dioxide, volatile organic compounds, radon and microorganisms. Microbiological pollution involves hundreds of bacteria and fungi species that grow indoors under specific conditions of temperature and humidity. Exposure to microbial contaminants is clinically associated with allergies, asthma, immune responses and respiratory infections, such as Legionnaires Disease and Pontiac Feaver, which are due to contamination byLegionella pneumophila. Legionnaire's Disease has increased over the past decade, because of the use of central air conditioning. In places such as homes, kindergartens, nursing homes and hospitals, indoor air pollution affects population groups that are particularly vulnerable because of their health status or age, making indoor air pollution a public health issue of high importance. Therefore, the implementation of preventive measures, as the application of air filters, is fundamental. Currently, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are the most used to capture microorganisms in ventilation, filtration and air conditioning systems; nevertheless, as they are not completely secure, new filters should be developed. This work aims to present how the efficiency of a textile nanostructure in a non-woven material based on synthetic textiles (high hydrophobic fibers) incorporating appropriate biocides to controlLegionella pneumophila, is going to be measured. These bioactive structures, to be used in ventilation systems, as well as in respiratory protective equipment, will reduce the growth of microorganisms in the air through bactericidal or bacteriostatic action. The filter nanostructure should have good air permeability, since it has to guarantee minimum flows of fresh air for air exchange as well as acceptable indoor air quality.

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