This article studied the exposure to 45 defined volatil organic compounds in an university art school, ventilated with a 100% exhaust mechanical ventilation system. Several students wore passive dosimeters.Floors where no emission of VOCs occurred had no detectable exposures : the conclusions show that a non-recirculating ventilation system can eliminate indoor air quality issues between floors.
The use of house dust is studied to identify sources and quantify levels of toxicants for the estimation of exposure. Sampling strategies were examined, just as uncertainty and lack of knowledge. The presentation of the results of sampling is also discussed. This article describes case studies.
The aim of that study is to establish the relationship between symptoms and report of building dampness and odors.A questionnaire was then sent to the inhabitants of 231 multi-family buildings of Stockholm, containing more than 4800 dwellings, with questions about : personal factors, symptoms, population density in the apartment, water leakage, odors, and signs of high indoor air humidity.A combination of odor and high humidities was linked to high occurrence of the symptoms : humidity in building is therefore associated to Sick building Syndrome.
A survey was carried out in 16 libraries in Modena University (Northern Italy) to assess the indoor exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds. VOCs were present in all the investigated libraries.The conclusion of that study is that no major problems were related to indoor pollution but the identification of the possible sources of contaminants is important, just as a definition of the relationship between indoor and outdoor levels of pollutants : that will take into account the effects of air recycling due to natural ventilation systems.
The changes in occurrence and the distribution of airborne fungi when they are transported in the airstream from the outdoor air to the indoor air are not well-known. For that study, fungal samples were tested in different locations in the HVAC systems with a six-stage Andersen Sampler with malt extract agar. The results showed that the fungal species changed according to those locations.
One of the major means of air diffusion for air conditioning equipment is the displacement ventilation. The stack effect is used by introducing at a very low speed, in the lower part of the room, some air whose temperature is close to the one of the desired atmosphere.
This paper proposes a space zone model for the calculation of all the airflow parameters based on tracer gas measurements, including flow rates of outdoor air, VAV supply. This approach gives a practical protocol for buildings managers to evaluate the performance of airside systems and determine air-conditioning and ventilation system performance parameters within acceptable errors.
This paper intends to resolve the spatial and temporal variation of VOC concentrations in apartments. Numerous indoor and outdoor measurements taken in the period between 1994 and 2001 have been analyzed.A method is presented, it can be used to normalize the results from VOC measurements taken at any time of the year. A table with adjustments factors is given.
This paper is a presentation of a methodology for developing responses to sudden releases of toxic pollutants in buildings. This methodology may be applied even if few data on the building are available.The results are several tools that describe uncertainty in the predictions and a model to rank the parameters depending to their influence on the expected reduction in model prediction uncertainties.
A questionnaire study (on ventilation, surface materials, heating and cooling) was performed on 3562 employees working in 32 buildings without previously known indoor air problems.The associations between symptom prevalence and building characteristics are reported in this paper.