scholarly journals Urban Health: Assessment of Indoor Environment Spillovers on Health in a Distressed Urban Area of Rome

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5760
Author(s):  
Alessandra Battisti ◽  
Livia Calcagni ◽  
Alberto Calenzo ◽  
Aurora Angelozzi ◽  
Miriam Errigo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Research Action ◽  
The University ◽  
Architectural Barriers

It is notable that indoor environment quality plays a crucial role in guaranteeing health, especially if we consider that people spend more than 90% of their time indoors, a percentage that increases for people on low income. This role assumes even further significance when dealing with distressed urban areas, vulnerable areas within cities that suffer from multiple deprivations. The community-based interdisciplinary research-action group of the University La Sapienza focused on a complex in the outskirts of Rome. The aim was to assess the correlations between architectural aspects of the indoor environment, socio-economic conditions, such as lifestyles and housing conditions, and eventually health outcomes. The intent of providing a comparative methodology in a context where official data is hard to find, led to the integration of social, health, and housing questionnaires with various environmental software simulations. What emerged is that underprivileged housing conditions, characterized by mold, humidity, unhealthiness, thermohygrometric discomfort, architectural barriers, and overcrowding, are often associated with recurrent pathologies linked to arthritis, respiratory diseases, and domestic accidents.

scholarly journals Relation between occupants’ health problems, demographic and indoor environment subjective evaluations: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey study in Java Island, Indonesia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254460
Author(s):  
Solli Murtyas ◽  
Nishat T. Toosty ◽  
Aya Hagishima ◽  
N. H. Kusumaningdyah
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Thermal Discomfort ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality

This study aimed to evaluate the link between health problems, demographic factors, and the indoor environment quality of residents in Indonesia. We conducted a cross-sectional design study through a questionnaire survey with 443 respondents aged between 12 and 81 years. The questionnaire was concerned with previous health problem occurrences associated with thermal discomfort experiences, indoor environments, economic conditions, and basic anthropometric factors. Logistic regression with the odds ratio (OR) was applied to evaluate the tendency of different respondent groups to suffer from certain health problems, when compared to reference groups. Furthermore, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to incorporate certain factors (economic conditions, thermal discomfort experiences, and perceived indoor environments) into a single model to understand their direct and indirect effects on health conditions. The results indicate that economic conditions are the most significantly associated with health problems. Furthermore, we found that the low-income group was the most vulnerable to health problems, including coughing, puking, diarrhoea, odynophagia, headaches, fatigue, rheumatism, fidgeting, skin rashes, muscle cramps, and insomnia (OR: 1.94–6.04, p <0.05). Additionally, the SEM suggested that the respondents’ economic conditions and thermal discomfort experiences had significant direct effects on their health problems with standardized estimates of -0.29 and 0.55, respectively. Additionally, perceived indoor environment quality, which is possible to cause thermal discomfort experience, indirectly affect health problems. These findings contribute an insightful and intuitive knowledge base which can aid health assessments associated with demographic and physical environments in developing sustainable and healthy environment strategies for the future.

A Report on The Acoustic Conditions of IEQ Laboratory Using ISO 3382-3

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26
Author(s):  
Jason Obadiah
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
The Future ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

Recently, many facilities have completed new laboratories that may be used to assess various measures of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in office spaces. Also recently, a new standard, ISO 3382-3, was released for assessing the effects of speech on IEQ in open plan offices. The aim of this report is to assess one room of the IEQ lab using the ISO 3382-3 standard. It is expected that the data gained will be of help to researchers using the facility in the future. Keywords: ISO 3382-3, Indoor Environment Quality, Acoustics

scholarly journals Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Indoor Dust Collected during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Saudi Arabia: Status, Sources and Human Health Risks

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2743
Author(s):  
Sultan Hassan Alamri ◽  
Nadeem Ali ◽  
Hussain Mohammed Salem Ali Albar ◽  
Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid ◽  
Nisreen Rajeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Weight ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Indoor Dust ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic

To control the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Saudi Arabia’s government imposed a strict lockdown during March–July 2020. As a result, the public was confined to indoors, and most of their daily activities were happening in their indoor places, which might have resulted in lower indoor environment quality. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in household dust (n = 40) collected from different residential districts of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the lockdown period. PAHs’ levels were two folds higher than the previously reported PAHs in indoor dust from this region. We detected low molecular weight (LMW) with two to four aromatic ring PAHs in all the samples with a significant contribution from Phenanthrene (Phe), present at an average concentration of 1590 ng/g of dust. Although high molecular weight (HMW) (5–6 aromatic ring) PAHs were detected at lower concentrations than LMW PAHs, however, they contributed >90% in the carcinogenic index of PAHs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of specific PAHs was above the reference dose (RfD) for young children in high-end exposure and the calculated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) was >1.00 × 10−4 for both Saudi adults and young children. The study highlighted that indoor pollution has increased significantly during lockdown due to the increased indoor activities and inversely affect human health. This study also warrants to conduct more studies involving different chemicals to understand the indoor environment quality during strict lockdown conditions.

scholarly journals An Analysis of LEED and BREEAM Assessment Methods for Educational Institutions

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracie J Reed ◽  
Peggi L Clouston ◽  
Simi Hoque ◽  
Paul R Fisette
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Green Building ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
K 12 ◽  
British Research

This study examines the differences between two environmental assessment methods for the K-12 education sector: the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Schools Version 3.0 and the British Research Establishment's (BRE) BREEAM Education issue 2.0. Credit requirements are compared side-by-side and against recommendations from researchers in areas such as acoustics, lighting and indoor environment quality. Strengths in the two schemes and areas for improvement are highlighted, with acknowledgement that each scheme offers components and techniques from which the other could benefit.

scholarly journals The Perception of the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) of Private Hostels in Ifite-Awka, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
F. O. Ezeokoli ◽  
C. A. Omenyi ◽  
C. B. N. Bert- Okonkwo ◽  
N. B. Iheama
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Light Quality ◽  
Anambra State ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Literature Searches ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Inadequate Ventilation

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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