scholarly journals Distribution Characteristics of Indoor PM2.5 Concentration Based on the Water Type and Humidification Method

Author(s):  
Seonghyun Park ◽  
Janghoo Seo ◽  
Sunwoo Lee

With the industrialization and rapid development of technology that can measure the concentration of pollutants, studies on indoor atmosphere assessment focusing on occupants have been recently conducted. Pollutants that worsen indoor atmosphere include gaseous and particulate matter (PM), and the effects and diffusion characteristics that influence indoor atmosphere vary depending on the indoor and outdoor concentration. White dust is a PM generated from minerals in water used for humidifiers during winter. Therefore, studies on the impact of white dust on human health and its size distribution are being actively conducted. However, since the indoor PM concentration varies depending on the humidification method and water type used, relevant studies are needed. Accordingly, this study examined the change in the PM2.5 concentration and relative humidity on the basis of water types and humidification method. It was found that the indoor PM2.5 concentration varied from 16 to 350 ug/m3, depending on the water types used for an ultrasonic humidifier. Conversely, when using a natural evaporative humidifier, white dust did not increase the indoor PM2.5 concentration, regardless of the mineral content of the water used. Considering both humidification ability and continuous humidifier use indoors, water purifier with nano-trap filters must be utilized for ultrasonic humidifiers.

Author(s):  
Tomoyasu Hirano ◽  
Tokuaki Shobayashi ◽  
Teiji Takei ◽  
Fumihiko Wakao

It is too early to provide a clear answer on the impact of exposure to the second-hand aerosol of heated tobacco products (HTPs) in the planning of policy for smoke-free indoors legislation. Here, we conducted a preliminary study to evaluate indoor air quality with the use of HTPs. We first measured the concentration of nicotine and particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air following 50 puffs in the use of HTPs or cigarettes in a small shower cubicle. We then measured these concentrations in comparison with the use equivalent of smoking 5.4 cigarettes per hour in a 25 m3 room, as a typical indoor environment test condition. In the shower cubicle test, nicotine concentrations in indoor air using three types of HTP, namely IQOS, glo, and ploomTECH, were 25.9–257 μg/m3. These values all exceed the upper bound of the range of tolerable concentration without health concerns, namely 3 µg/m3. In particular, the indoor PM2.5 concentration of about 300 to 500 μg/m3 using IQOS or glo in the shower cubicle is hazardous. In the 25 m3 room test, in contrast, nicotine concentrations in indoor air with the three types of HTP did not exceed 3 μg/m3. PM2.5 concentrations were below the standard value of 15 μg/m3 per year for IQOS and ploomTECH, but were slightly high for glo, with some measurements exceeding 100 μg/m3. These results do not negate the inclusion of HTPs within a regulatory framework for indoor tolerable use from exposure to HTP aerosol, unlike cigarette smoke.


Author(s):  
Chien-Cheng Jung ◽  
Wan-Yi Lin ◽  
Nai-Yun Hsu ◽  
Chih-Da Wu ◽  
Hao-Ting Chang ◽  
...  

Exposure to indoor particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) is a critical health risk factor. Therefore, measuring indoor PM2.5 concentrations is important for assessing their health risks and further investigating the sources and influential factors. However, installing monitoring instruments to collect indoor PM2.5 data is difficult and expensive. Therefore, several indoor PM2.5 concentration prediction models have been developed. However, these prediction models only assess the daily average PM2.5 concentrations in cold or temperate regions. The factors that influence PM2.5 concentration differ according to climatic conditions. In this study, we developed a prediction model for hourly indoor PM2.5 concentrations in Taiwan (tropical and subtropical region) by using a multiple linear regression model and investigated the impact factor. The sample comprised 93 study cases (1979 measurements) and 25 potential predictor variables. Cross-validation was performed to assess performance. The prediction model explained 74% of the variation, and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations, the difference between indoor and outdoor CO2 levels, building type, building floor level, bed sheet cleaning, bed sheet replacement, and mosquito coil burning were included in the prediction model. Cross-validation explained 75% of variation on average. The results also confirm that the prediction model can be used to estimate indoor PM2.5 concentrations across seasons and areas. In summary, we developed a prediction model of hourly indoor PM2.5 concentrations and suggested that outdoor PM2.5 concentrations, ventilation, building characteristics, and human activities should be considered. Moreover, it is important to consider outdoor air quality while occupants open or close windows or doors for regulating ventilation rate and human activities changing also can reduce indoor PM2.5 concentrations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 217-256
Author(s):  
Jagjeet Lally

By the latter decades of the nineteenth century, caravan trade first showed signs of growth before entering a period of decline and reorientation. This chapter evaluates the causes of the relative and absolute decline of trade, focusing on productive and transport technologies (including railways, steamships and telegraph lines), the rapid development and diffusion of which were the hallmarks of the era of the New Imperialism. The impact of technological change was ambivalent, with the modern nowhere supplanting more archaic motilities; instead, the existing pattern of trade was undermined where new technologies interacted with wider economic changes, particularly the institution of protectionism in Russian Central Asia. This is examined by returning to three of the most important commodities flowing through the networks of caravan trade: indigo, silk and textiles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 8927-8935
Author(s):  
Bing Zheng ◽  
Dawei Yun ◽  
Yan Liang

Under the impact of COVID-19, research on behavior recognition are highly needed. In this paper, we combine the algorithm of self-adaptive coder and recurrent neural network to realize the research of behavior pattern recognition. At present, most of the research of human behavior recognition is focused on the video data, which is based on the video number. At the same time, due to the complexity of video image data, it is easy to violate personal privacy. With the rapid development of Internet of things technology, it has attracted the attention of a large number of experts and scholars. Researchers have tried to use many machine learning methods, such as random forest, support vector machine and other shallow learning methods, which perform well in the laboratory environment, but there is still a long way to go from practical application. In this paper, a recursive neural network algorithm based on long and short term memory (LSTM) is proposed to realize the recognition of behavior patterns, so as to improve the accuracy of human activity behavior recognition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 1607-1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Yun Lee ◽  
Sunho Jung ◽  
Sangdo Oh ◽  
Seong Hoon Park

We proposed that a moderator, others' similarity, would determine the impact of high participation rates of others on an individual's charitable behavior, and aimed to show that this moderator would work through the diffusion of responsibility motive. Participants (N = 152 undergraduate students) completed measures of charitable behavior and diffusion of responsibility, after being assigned to 1 of 2 conditions where a set percentage of other students (manipulated as either similar undergraduate students or dissimilar graduate students) were stated to have already donated to a charitable campaign (high contribution condition = 70% participation, low contribution condition = 30% participation). Our results showed that the high participation rate of others increased an individual's charitable behavior when the others in question were similar to that individual, but not when the others were dissimilar. In addition, the high rate of participation by others increased the diffusion of responsibility motive when the others in question were dissimilar to that individual, leading to a negative effect on that individual's charitable behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
MARAT R. BIKTIMIROV ◽  
◽  
OLGA V. PILIPENKO ◽  
MAXIM S. SAFONOV ◽  
◽  
...  

Taking practical responsible decisions in the field of social and industrial management in the context of rapid development of digital technologies in the era of the knowledge economy is impossible without reliance on expertise. A kind of organization of activities for the production of ‘predictions’ is required, when not only an accurate assessment of the impact of certain factors and their possible interactions with each other is given, but also as a result of creative construction of scenarios for the development of processes and events, an understanding comes which factors need to be taken into account. At the same time, the expertise constantly faces criticism, calling the conclusions of experts arbitrary, unreliable and subjective. Often, expertise is confused with monitoring, evaluation, diagnosis, inspection or counseling. The authors of the article carried out a structural analysis of the content of the expertise processes in the project management vector in the digitalization era and came to the conclusion that the effectiveness of the expertise is significantly increased in case of clear regulation of this type of activity, providing the necessary status.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Alizadeh ◽  
Navid Kharghani ◽  
Carlos Guedes Soares

Glass/Vinylester composite laminates are comprehensively characterised to assess its impact response behaviour under moisture exposure in marine structures. An instrumented drop weight impact machine is utilised to determine the impact responses of dry and immersed specimens in normal, salted and sea water. The specimens, which had three different thicknesses, were subjected to water exposure for a very long period of over 20 months before tested in a low-velocity impact experiment. Water uptake was measured primarily to study the degradation profiles of GRP laminates after being permeated by water. Matrix dissolution and interfacial damage observed on the laminates after prolonged moisture exposure while the absorption behaviour was found typically non-Fickian. The weight of the composite plates firstly increased because of water diffusion up to month 15 and then decreased due to matrix degradation. The specimens with 3, 6 and 9 mm thickness exhibited maximum water absorption corresponding to 2.6%, 0.7% and 0.5% weight gain, respectively. In general, the results indicated that water uptake and impact properties were affected by thickness and less by water type. Impact properties of prolonged immersed specimens reduced remarkably, and intense failure modes detected almost in all cases. The least sensitive to impact damage were wet specimens with 9 mm thickness as they indicated similar maximum load and absorbed energy for different impact energies.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Izabela K Ragan ◽  
Lindsay M Hartson ◽  
Taru S Dutt ◽  
Andres Obregon-Henao ◽  
Rachel M Maison ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated intense interest in the rapid development and evaluation of vaccine candidates for this disease and other emerging diseases. Several novel methods for preparing vaccine candidates are currently undergoing clinical evaluation in response to the urgent need to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In many cases, these methods rely on new approaches for vaccine production and immune stimulation. We report on the use of a novel method (SolaVAX) for production of an inactivated vaccine candidate and the testing of that candidate in a hamster animal model for its ability to prevent infection upon challenge with SARS-CoV-2 virus. The studies employed in this work included an evaluation of the levels of neutralizing antibody produced post-vaccination, levels of specific antibody sub-types to RBD and spike protein that were generated, evaluation of viral shedding post-challenge, flow cytometric and single cell sequencing data on cellular fractions and histopathological evaluation of tissues post-challenge. The results from this preliminary evaluation provide insight into the immunological responses occurring as a result of vaccination with the proposed vaccine candidate and the impact that adjuvant formulations, specifically developed to promote Th1 type immune responses, have on vaccine efficacy and protection against infection following challenge with live SARS-CoV-2. This data may have utility in the development of effective vaccine candidates broadly. Furthermore, the results of this preliminary evaluation suggest that preparation of a whole virion vaccine for COVID-19 using this specific photochemical method may have potential utility in the preparation of one such vaccine candidate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Xuehua Ma ◽  
Yi Zhou ◽  
Luyi Yang ◽  
Jianfeng Tong

Rapid development of the economy increased marine litter around Zhoushan Island. Social-ecological scenario studies can help to develop strategies to adapt to such change. To investigate the present situation of marine litter pollution, a stratified random sampling (StRS) method was applied to survey the distribution of marine coastal litters around Zhoushan Island. A univariate analysis of variance was conducted to access the amount of litter in different landforms that include mudflats, artificial and rocky beaches. In addition, two questionnaires were designed for local fishermen and tourists to provide social scenarios. The results showed that the distribution of litter in different landforms was significantly different, while the distribution of litter in different sampling points had no significant difference. The StRS survey showed to be a valuable method for giving a relative overview of beach litter around Zhoushan Island with less effort in a future survey. The questionnaire feedbacks helped to understand the source of marine litter and showed the impact on the local environment and economy. Based on the social-ecological scenarios, governance recommendations were provided in this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 444
Author(s):  
Xucai Zhang ◽  
Yeran Sun ◽  
Ting On Chan ◽  
Ying Huang ◽  
Anyao Zheng ◽  
...  

Urban vibrancy contributes towards a successful city and high-quality life for people as one of its vital elements. Therefore, the association between service facilities and vibrancy is crucial for urban managers to understand and improve city construction. Moreover, the rapid development of information and communications technology (ICT) allows researchers to easily and quickly collect a large volume of real-time data generated by people in daily life. In this study, against the background of emerging multi-source big data, we utilized Tencent location data as a proxy for 24-h vibrancy and adopted point-of-interest (POI) data to represent service facilities. An analysis framework integrated with ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) models is proposed to explore the spatiotemporal relationships between urban vibrancy and POI-based variables. Empirical results show that (1) spatiotemporal variations exist in the impact of service facilities on urban vibrancy across Guangzhou, China; and (2) GTWR models exhibit a higher degree of explanatory capacity on vibrancy than the OLS models. In addition, our results can assist urban planners to understand spatiotemporal patterns of urban vibrancy in a refined resolution, and to optimize the resource allocation and functional configuration of the city.


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