Design criteria for achieving an acceptable indoor radon concentration are presented in this paper. The paper suggests three design criteria. These criteria have to be considered at the early stage of the building design phase to meet the latest recommendations from the World Health Organization in most countries. The three design criteria are; first, establishing a radon barrier facing the gro...

OUTDOOR/INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN LISBON: A PRELIMINARY STUDY. Simultaneous measurements of outdoor and indoor pollution were performed at three schools in Lisbon. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde and NO 2 were passively monitored over a two-week period. Bacterial and fungal colony-forming units and comfort parameters were also monitored at classrooms and playgroun...

Though the high prevalence of biomass fuel use in the developing world is widely known, the use of burning biomass for cooking and heating in the developed world is under-recognized. Combustion materials including coal and wood are also used for heating in some areas of the United States. We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of conducting indoor environmental monitoring in rural...

the state of works of art exhibited inside museums can be strongly influenced by indoor air quality, due to chemical activity of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter. for that reason it is important to carry out periodic air quality controls to check if the concentration levels of air pollutants comply with the limits specified by the national laws. in this work we show results obtained i...

Architects and engineers are beginning to consider a new dimension of indoor air: the structure and composition of airborne microbial communities. A first step in this emerging field is to understand the forces that shape the diversity of bioaerosols across space and time within the built environment. In an effort to elucidate the relative influences of three likely drivers of indoor bioaerosol...

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in a building is a very important element to ensure the health and comfort level of the building occupants. This is because work productivity may be interrupted due to the polluted environmental condition and bad indoor air quality. Both factors may lead to bad health and physical condition and consequently to bad work performance. The study presents the understanding a...

To characterize indoor air quality at the markets in Hong Kong, three non-air-conditioned and two air-conditioned markets were selected for this study. The indoor air pollutants measured included PM(10) (particulate matters with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 microm), total bacteria count (TBC), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) and sulfur dioxide (SO(2)). The...

The aim of the present work is to maximize indoor environmental quality (IEQ), in particular air quality, and energy performance in schools, when having different ventilation alternatives combined with carbon dioxide feedback. In this effort, trial measurements and energy simulations were conducted to predict and compare the indoor environmental and energy performance in an otherwise similar sc...

Background: In recent years, Tehran has faced major problems with air pollution for many reasons, and this issue has become a critical point in most of the days. However, less attention has been paid to the indoor air pollutants in exercise centers and their possible health effects. In this research, it was tried to briefly describe the characteristics and chemical composition of the aerosols p...

The issues of indoor air quality are complex and can be directly influenced by a number of system and building parameters. There are no universal solutions for every problem since there are numerous potential contaminant sources. They may originate from indoors and have a direct impact on indoor environmental quality, or they may originate from outdoors and be transferred by a mechanical or nat...