English

The cabin of a commercial aircraft is a high density environment in which occupants are potentially at risk of airborne transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Trans-continental and trans-oceanic flights are routinely undertaken with hundreds of passengers. During these long flights there is an increased duration of potential exposure to airborne contaminants and bioeffluents. This paper determines a "worst case" risk of tuberculosis infection for the passengers and flight attendants based upon typical design and ventilation parameters of a commercial aircraft.

Sources of indoor air pollutants in residential and office environments can be managed to reduce occupant exposures. Techniques for managing indoor air pollution sources include: source elimination, substitution, modification, pretreatment, and altering the amount, location, or time of use. Intelligent source management requires knowledge of the source's emission characteristics, including chemical composition, emission rates, and decay rates.

People who suffer from airborne respiratory allergies often advised to obtain and rely upon portable HEPA filtered air devices for relief. While this advice may work for some individuals, many allergic people do not experience relief or a lessening of symptoms. For allergic individuals for whom this mitigation strategy is not successful, the manufacturers' claims seem over stated.

This report describes the development of a standard questionnaire for use in investigating sick building syndrome (SBS) in specific cases and in research projects. The questionnaire itself is packaged with the report. It is intended to be used for screening surveys to determine the prevalence of SBS in a particular building. It may be necessary to adapt the questionnaire if it is going to be used for a specific research project or to gather data on particular potential causes of SBS. The focus has been on achieving standardisation within the United Kingdom.

This paper critically examines the underlying premises of indoor climate control technologies and the HV AC industry (heating, ventilating, air-conditioning). It questions whether 'total environmental control' is possible, effective and desirable. The paper also reviews the methods and terminology of thermal comfort science focusing on the question of predictability of people's environmental preferences.