Search results for "Indoor"
showing 10 items of 219 documents
Association between cooking fuels and mild cognitive impairment among older adults from six low- and middle-income countries
2022
AbstractThere is a small body of evidence suggesting that unclean cooking fuel use may be associated with cognitive decline. However, to date, no study has investigated the association between unclean cooking fuel and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Thus, we investigated the association between cooking fuel type or ventilation type and MCI among adults aged ≥ 65 years using nationally representative datasets from six low- and middle-income countries. Cross-sectional, community-based data from the World Health Organization (WHO) Study on global Ageing and adult health (SAGE) were analyzed. MCI was defined using the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association criteria. Unclean cookin…
Microbiology and atmospheric processes: biological, physical and chemical characterization of aerosol particles
2008
Abstract. The interest in bioaerosols has traditionally been linked to health hazards for humans, animals and plants. However, several components of bioaerosols exhibit physical properties of great significance for cloud processes, such as ice nucleation and cloud condensation. To gain a better understanding of their influence on climate, it is therefore important to determine the composition, concentration, seasonal fluctuation, regional diversity and evolution of bioaerosols. In this paper, we will review briefly the existing techniques for detection, quantification, physical and chemical analysis of biological particles, attempting to bridge physical, chemical and biological methods for …
Volatile Profiles of Emissions from Different Activities Analyzed Using Canister Samplers and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) Analysis: …
2017
The objective of present study was to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from several sources (fuels, traffic, landfills, coffee roasting, a street-food laboratory, building work, indoor use of incense and candles, a dental laboratory, etc.) located in Palermo (Italy) by using canister autosamplers and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. In this study, 181 VOCs were monitored. In the atmosphere of Palermo city, propane, butane, isopentane, methyl pentane, hexane, benzene, toluene, meta- and para-xylene, 1,2,4 trimethyl benzene, 1,3,5 trimethyl benzene, ethylbenzene, 4 ethyl toluene and heptane were identified and quantified in all sampling sites.
Northern Hemisphere forests at temperate and boreal latitudes are substantial pollen contributors to atmospheric bioaerosols
2017
Abstract Forest pollen is a heavy contributor to atmospheric bioaerosols during spring months. This is important because bioaerosols make up 25% of the atmospheric aerosols shaping cloud formation, precipitation and ultimately climate. To test this premise, we drew from available literature, a meta-analysis of 25 forest pollen reports and a comparative analysis of Zea mays versus Pinus taeda pollen. Using available literature, we showed forest pollen grains are not too large or too few in the atmosphere and that some types are prone to bursting into subpollen particles (SPP). High forest pollen concentrations were consistent in the meta-analysis of 25 forest pollen reports from 1937 to 2014…
A methodology for evaluating the flexibility potential of domestic air-conditioning systems
2020
The paper presents a methodology for quantifying the electrical flexibility potential of air-conditioning systems (ACS) installed in residential buildings according to the building envelope characteristics and the ACS performance. In order to provide a thorough analysis of the issue, the ACS baseline consumption referred to the indoor temperature of 24°C has been computed for three typical residential buildings built in the South of Italy over different periods. The baseline consumption was used as a reference to estimate the effect of the set point temperature change on the ACS power profile. The results showed that increasing the set-point temperature of ACS by 2°C and 4°C leads to a redu…
A Humanoid Social Robot Based Approach for Indoor Environment Quality Monitoring and Well-Being Improvement
2020
The indoor environmental quality (IEQ) monitoring inside buildings where people spend most of their time is essential for ensuring their well-being. Traditional approaches based on Building Automation and Control Systems consider buildings equipped with many different sensors. Unfortunately, the sensors are not always placed for taking the measurements at the right positions. Besides, users could feel a negative perception due to continuous supervision. The present work proposes an approach based on a social humanoid robot that monitors indoor environmental quality. It friendly interacts with occupants providing appropriate suggestions. Particularly, the social robot has been endowed with c…
Location-Aware MAC Scheduling in Industrial-Like Environment
2018
We consider an environment strongly affected by the presence of metallic objects, that can be considered representative of an indoor industrial environment with metal obstacles. This scenario is a very harsh environment where radio communication has notorious difficulties, as metallic objects create a strong blockage component and surfaces are highly reflective. In this environment, we investigate how to dynamically allocate MAC resources in time to static and mobile users based on context awareness extracted from a legacy WiFi positioning system. In order to address this problem, we integrate our WiFi ranging and positioning system in the WiSHFUL architecture and then define a hypothesis t…
A Comprehensive Survey of Indoor Localization Methods Based on Computer Vision
2020
Computer vision based indoor localization methods use either an infrastructure of static cameras to track mobile entities (e.g., people, robots) or cameras attached to the mobile entities. Methods in the first category employ object tracking, while the others map images from mobile cameras with images acquired during a configuration stage or extracted from 3D reconstructed models of the space. This paper offers an overview of the computer vision based indoor localization domain, presenting application areas, commercial tools, existing benchmarks, and other reviews. It provides a survey of indoor localization research solutions, proposing a new classification based on the configuration stage…
BIOAEROSOL
2017
Cultural heritage constitutive materials can provide excellent substrates for microbial colonisation, highly influenced by thermo-hygrometric parameters. In cultural heritage-related environments, a detrimental microbial load may be present both on manufact surface and in the aerosol. Confined environments (museums, archives, deposits, caves, hypogea) have peculiar structures and dif- ferent thermo-hygrometric parameters, influencing the development of a wide range of microbial species, able to induce artefact biodeterioration and to release biological particles in the aerosol (spores, cellular debrides, toxins, allergens) potentially dangerous for the human health (visitors/users). In orde…
Urban upbringing and childhood respiratory and allergic conditions: A multi-country holistic study
2018
Objective: We integratively assessed the effect of different indoor and outdoor environmental exposures early in life on respiratory and allergic health conditions among children from (sub-) urban areas. Methods: This study included children participating in four ongoing European birth cohorts located in three different geographical regions: INMA (Spain), LISAplus (Germany), GINIplus (Germany) and BAMSE (Sweden). Wheezing, bronchitis, asthma and allergic rhinitis throughout childhood were assessed using parental-completed questionnaires. We designed “environmental scores” corresponding to different indoor, green- and grey-related exposures (main analysis, a-priori-approach). Cohort-specific…