Design and Feasibility Evaluation of Self-Reporting Application for Indoor Air Quality and Health Measures

Indoor air quality (IAQ) plays an important role in human health as people spend the majority of their time indoors. A self-reporting application was developed to collect long-term perceived IAQ data and symptoms caused by poor IAQ immediately at the onset of symptoms. The feasibility of the application was tested in a real-world environment by four teachers in two school buildings for 18 weeks. The participants received two questionnaire notifications per day to answer IAQ, symptoms, productivity, stress, sleep, and pupil concentration/restlessness related questions. They were also able to report those issues any other time. During the pilot, the participants answered 569 questionnaires in the application. They found the application to be usable and useful, however, the frequency of questionnaire notifications became heavy, because the perceived IAQ did not change much. The feasibility study showed the potential of the self-reporting application to capture perceived IAQ and symptoms, promptly enabling fast reaction to possible problems in IAQ.

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Determination of Selected Pollutants and Measurement of Physical Parameters for the Evaluation of Indoor Air Quality in School Buildings in Athens, Greece

Indoor and Built Environment ◽

10.1177/1420326x0101000311 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 10 (3-4) ◽

pp. 185-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Panayotis A. Siskos ◽

Konstantina E. Bouba ◽

Aspasia P. Stroubou

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

School Buildings

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Investigation of window-opening behaviour and indoor air quality in dwellings situated in the temperate zone in China

Indoor and Built Environment ◽

10.1177/1420326x20924746 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1420326X2092474

Author(s):

Tingxuan Deng ◽

Xiong Shen ◽

Xiaojie Cheng ◽

Junjie Liu

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Temperate Zone ◽

World Health ◽

Formaldehyde Concentration ◽

Short Term ◽

Night Time ◽

Window Opening

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a key factor that could affect the indoor environment and people's health. In this study, we report a comprehensive study on IAQ in 30 dwellings in the temperate zone in China. Thirty naturally ventilated dwellings were selected in the urban area of Kunming, which is the largest city in temperate zone in China. In four seasons, short-term measurement of formaldehyde and benzene, toluene, xylenes-volatile organic compounds and air infiltration rate were conducted in these dwellings. A long-term 1-year monitoring of temperature, relative humidity, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon dioxide (CO2), window-opening behaviour and night-time air change rate (ACR) were conducted in 13 of these dwellings by remote sensors. Short-term measurements showed the mean formaldehyde concentration in summer (100.76 μg/m3), benzene concentration in winter (8.46 µg/m3), PM2.5 concentration (80.4 µg/m3) in spring of 2017 exceeded the Chinese standard, the US Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment value and the World Health Organization guidelines. The night-time ACR was the highest in summer (2.1 h−1) and the lowest in winter (1.6 h−1) in bedrooms of 13 long-term monitored dwellings due to seasonal time variation in window opening in bedrooms, which was mainly driven by CO2 concentration, indoor temperature and outdoor PM10 concentration.

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Erratum to “Indoor air quality investigation according to age of the school buildings in Korea” [J. Environ. Manage. 90 (2008) 348–354]

Journal of Environmental Management ◽

10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.12.003 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 90 (5) ◽

pp. 1962 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jongryeul Sohn ◽

Wonho Yang ◽

Jihwan Kim ◽

Busoon Son ◽

Jinchul Park

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

School Buildings

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Antifungal properties of essential oils for improvement of indoor air quality: a review

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2017-0023 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 63-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Harriet Whiley ◽

Sharyn Gaskin ◽

Tiffany Schroder ◽

Kirstin Ross

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Essential Oils ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Scale Up ◽

Indoor Environments ◽

Tea Tree ◽

Antifungal Potential ◽

Published Research

AbstractConcerns regarding indoor air quality, particularly the presence of fungi and moulds, are increasing. The potential for essential oils to reduce, control or remove fungi, is gaining interest as they are seen as a “natural” alternative to synthetic chemical fungicides. This review examines published research on essential oils as a method of fungal control in indoor environments. It was difficult to compare the relative performances of essential oils due to differences in research methods and reporting languages. In addition, there are limited studies that scale up laboratory results and assess the efficacy of essential oils within building environments. However, generally, there appears to be some evidence to support the essential oils clove oil, tea tree oil, oregano, thyme and lemon as potential antifungal agents. Essential oils from heartwood, marjoram, cinnamon, lemon basil, caraway, bay tree, fir, peppermint, pine, cedar leaf and manuka were identified in at least one study as having antifungal potential. Future studies should focus on comparing the effectiveness of these essential oils against a large number of fungal isolates from indoor environments. Studies will then need to focus on translating these results into realistic application methods, in actual buildings, and assess the potential for long-term antifungal persistence.

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Creating A Healthy Indoor Air Quality In School Buildings

10.5339/qfarc.2014.eepp0574 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Marianne Stranger ◽

Kim Constandt ◽

Frederick Maes ◽

Borislav Lazarov ◽

Eddy Goelen

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

School Buildings

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Indoor Air Quality: Monitoring and Modeling Protocol for Urban School Buildings

Sick Building Syndrome ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-17919-8_10 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 179-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Radha Goyal ◽

Mukesh Khare

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Urban School ◽

Quality Monitoring ◽

School Buildings ◽

Air Quality Monitoring

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AN EVALUATION OF INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND OCCUPANT WELL-BEING IN MANITOBA SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Journal of Green Building ◽

10.3992/1552-6100.12.1.123 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 123-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ahmed Radwan ◽

Mohamed H. Issa

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Thermal Comfort ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Well Being ◽

School Buildings ◽

Indoor Environmental Quality ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Green School

This exploratory research aims to evaluate indoor environmental quality in the classrooms of three school buildings in Southern Manitoba, Canada, and to evaluate the well-being of these schools' teachers as it pertains to their perception of their classrooms' indoor environment. The schools include a middle-aged, conventional school; a new, non-green school; and a new, green school certified using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. The methodology involved using a mobile instrument cart to conduct snapshot measurements of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting and acoustics in classrooms and an occupant survey to evaluate teachers' long-term satisfaction with their classrooms' indoor environmental quality. The results showed that the new, green and new, non-green schools' classrooms performed better than the conventional, middle-aged school's classrooms with respect to some aspects of thermal comfort and indoor air quality only. Teachers in the new, green school and in the new, non-green school were more satisfied than teachers in the conventional, middle-aged school with their classrooms' overall indoor environmental quality, lighting quality and indoor air quality. Surprisingly, the new, green and new-non green school classrooms' performance were very comparable with the new, green school's classrooms performing statistically significantly better with respect to relative humidity. Similarly, none of the differences in teachers' satisfaction ratings between the new, green and new, non-green school were statistically significant.

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