Air sample data were collected during asbestos abatement of two buildings using area and personal sampling methods. Abatement involved removal of pipe insulation from crawl spaces. The two sampling methods were compared to determine if there was a relationship between them. A relationship was observed between area and personal airborne samples in building 2 as determined by correlation and regression but is most likely due to chance. One major outlier was detected for both area and personal measurement sample data sets in building 2.

A large quantity of oily fumes is generated in fast food and Chinese restaurants from cooking oil kept at a high temperature in the kitchens. If these oily fumes are not properly abated, they can be a major source of organic emissions in some dense urban areas with a lot of restaurants such as found in Hong Kong. In the present study, the most commonly used cooking oil, peanut oil, was kept at 260°C in an environment typical of a commercial kitchen that consisted of a two-burner stir-frying cooking range, a single-tank electric fryer, a baffle-type grease extractor and an exhaust duct.

A simplified indoor air quality (IAQ) model has been applied to predict IAQ in an Australian house, using environmental chamber measurements of source strengths, house ventilation and room size. Total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) was used as the model pollutant in this study. The validity of the IAQ model was initially assessed by comparing model predictions with measurements in the house over a period of time. The root mean square error between the measured and predicted values was 0.039. This model explains 57% of the potential for error.

A survey of the particle-size distribution of 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in indoor and outdoor air was performed in 20 homes in several Japanese cities. Highest PAH concentrations were found in the fine-particle fraction (smaller than 2.5 μm in diameter). The pro· portion of indoor PAH concentrations in fine particles was found to be higher than that of outdoors.

Mary is a person who suffered terrible health problems, most likely stemming from the design conditions in a lab in which she worked. Designers everywhere can learn from her experience.

A survey of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) controls in California office buildings was carried out to obtain information on the type and distribution of ETS controls in office buildings and to evaluate the effectiveness of various ETS controls. A total of 118 smoking areas in 111 county and city buildings were inspected to collect information on the type of ETS controls. Only 31 % of the smoking areas inspected were physically separated from nonsmoking areas with full floor-to-true-ceiling walls, 25% exhausted air to the outside, and 38% did not recirculate air to non-smoking areas.