In the light of difficulties associated with giving up smoking, which is the most effective strategy for household members to adopt to reduce children’s exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the home, an evaluation has been undertaken of other

The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of various design and operating parameters on smoking room performance. Twenty-eight experiments were conducted in a simulated smoking room with a smoking machine and an automatic door opener. Measurements were made of air flows, pressures, temperatures, two particle-phase ETS tracers, two gas-phase ETS tracers, and sulfur hexafluoride. Quantification of leakage flows, the effect of these leaks on smoking room performance and non-smoker exposure, and the relative importance of each leakage mechanism are presented.

A variety of strategies have been implemented to protect nonsmokers from second hand smoke; these include separation or restricting smoking to selected areas, installation of air cleaners, increased ventilation, and outright prohibition of smoking. The concentrations of nicotine were measured and examined in different venues as a function of the techniques employed.

In the paper, based on MS Thesis by Julinek, 2001, the authors describe CFD modelling of the natural and mixed convection of air inside the entrance atrium of the Moravian library in Brno, Czech Republic. The eight-floor high atrium is formed with eight galleries, which are linked together with staircase, on one side and with glass wall on the other side. Inside the atrium, combination of natural and forced ventilation is used.

Two new blocks of flats have been built for people with respiratory diseases. A number of points were taken into particular account during the design and construction of the buildings. For example, the project designers and builders were given training in prevention of problems with indoor air, only building materials that had been tested and found to have low emissions were used, and a supply/exhaust ventilation system and a central vacuum-cleaning system were installed.

Airborne particle size distribution depends on the type of source from which the particles originate - filtration efficiency in turn, is dependent on particle size. Thus, in order to optimise filtration efficiency, it is important to gain knowledge on both: the size distribution of particles in the air to be filtered and the relationship between filtration efficiency and particle size. In addition, assessment needs to be made about the expected concentration level of particles around the building envelope and its time variation.

Reactions among pollutants in the intake air can increase the concentrations of irritating and hazardous products in the indoor air and may lead to an increase of the sick building syn-drome (SBS). A short description of an experimental set-up that enables the studies of the impact of different settings of a full scale ventilation system on air with different ambient compositions is presented. Preliminary sampling using Tenax TA show that some reaction rates are increased in the experimental set-up, which could indicate that heterogenous reactions occur.

Particle number concentrations and size distributions were measured in the living room of an unoccupied apartment located in a street canyon in central Copenhagen, in the street, and at a nearby urban background station. A simple dispersion model was used to calculate the particle concentrations outside a window facing the street from where most of the ventilation air was supplied. The penetration efficiencies and the deposition rates were estimated using the concentration rate balance, ignoring indoor sources.

Accurate characterization of particle concentrations indoors is critical to exposure assessments. It is estimated that indoor particle concentrations depend strongly on outdoor concentrations. For health scientists, knowledge of the factors that control the relationship of indoor particle concentrations to outdoor levels is particularly important. In this paper, we identify and evaluate sources of data for those factors that affect the transport to and concentration of outdoor particles indoors.

Irritative and respiratory symptoms are reported from people working or living in damp and mouldy buildings, but signs of pulmonary involvement have not yet been found. We studied 522 teachers working in 15 primary schools with various degrees of dampness and mould growth. Symptoms, spirometry, CO-diffusion, and bronchial challenge was compared to classification of dampness and mould growth in or outside classrooms.