Search results for "air qualit"
showing 10 items of 196 documents
Levels of Preservation for Cultural Heritage within an Open-air Museum
2018
In Sibiu, Romania, the Astra National Museum Complex includes an open-air museum with around 300 ethnographic monuments and a collection of almost 30,000 objects on display and in storage.Four cate...
Indoor air quality in schools of a highly polluted south Mediterranean area
2019
This study aimed at surveying lower secondary schools in southern Italy, in a highly polluted area. A community close to an industrial area and three villages in rural areas was investigated. Indoor temperature, relative humidity (RH), gaseous pollutants (CO 2 and NO 2 ), selected biological pollutants in indoor dust, and the indoor/outdoor mass concentration and elemental composition of PM 2.5 were ascertained. Temperature and RH were within, or close to, the comfort range, while CO 2 frequently exceeded the threshold of 1000 ppm, indicating inadequate air exchange rate. In all the classrooms, median NO 2 levels were above the WHO threshold value. Dermatophagoides p. allergen concentration…
Evaluation of working air quality by using semipermeable membrane devices
2008
Abstract It has been evaluated the use of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) as passive samplers of organophosphorus pesticides from air, in order to determine the contamination of working environments. Additionally, the use of SPMDs as portable samplers has been also considered. The analytical methodology for the determination of diazinon, chlorpyrifos-methyl, pirimiphos-methyl, chlorpyrifos and fenthion in SPMDs exposed to contaminated air was based on microwave-assisted extraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry determination. Limit of detection (LOD) values from 2 to 4 ng SPMD−1 and repeatability from 2 to 7% were obtained by using the aforementioned methodology. Theor…
Impacts of roundabouts in suburban areas on congestion-specific vehicle speed profiles, pollutant and noise emissions: an empirical analysis
2019
Abstract Increasing concern about global warming and air quality has meant an increasing use of energetic and environmental indicators in roundabout design. This research compares different suburban roundabouts in terms of traffic performance, pollutant and noise emissions through an integrated empirical assessment. Field measurements were carried out with a light duty vehicle in single-lane (SL), compact two-lane (CTL) and multi-lane (ML) roundabouts using Portable Emission Measurements Systems, On-Board Diagnostic scan tool and Sound Level Meter, to measure real-world exhaust emissions, engine activity and acoustic data, respectively. Afterwards, predictive discrete choice models that cor…
Unconventional Reducing Gases Monitoring in Everyday Places
2017
Abstract Air pollution, be it indoors or outdoors, is a major environmental health concern as it can lead to serious health effects, such as respiratory diseases, including asthma and lung cancer. Much progress has been made in Europe in improving outdoor air quality and limit values have been set for several pollutants. However, indoor air quality also requires attention because this is where we spend most of our time. Measurements at appropriate spatial and temporal scales are essential for understanding and monitoring heterogeneous environments with complex and highly variable emission sources, such as in urban areas. However, the costs and complexity of conventional air quality measurem…
A novel hybrid model for air quality index forecasting based on two-phase decomposition technique and modified extreme learning machine.
2017
The randomness, non-stationarity and irregularity of air quality index (AQI) series bring the difficulty of AQI forecasting. To enhance forecast accuracy, a novel hybrid forecasting model combining two-phase decomposition technique and extreme learning machine (ELM) optimized by differential evolution (DE) algorithm is developed for AQI forecasting in this paper. In phase I, the complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD) is utilized to decompose the AQI series into a set of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) with different frequencies; in phase II, in order to further handle the high frequency IMFs which will increase the forecast difficulty, variational mode decomposition (VM…
Air quality and relative humidity in commercial aircrafts: an experimental investigation on short-haul domestic flights
2013
Abstract Nowadays the achievement of a comfortable environment in aircraft cabins is a factor of paramount importance in air travel business competition; on the other hand, the need of reducing the propulsion fuel cost has driven the airline companies to adopt air handling systems that may reduce the levels of thermal comfort and air quality inside the cabins of commercial airliners. With the aim of contributing to a better knowledge of this matter, this paper reports the results of an experimental study upon the indoor air quality aboard commercial aircrafts for 14 domestic flights less than 1 h and half long. The parameters monitored were temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide …
Comparison between laboratory and pilot biotrickling filtration of air emissions from painting and wood finishing
2010
BACKGROUND: Painting and wood finishing is one industrial sector affected by the European Union environmental regulations on volatile organic compound (VOC) air emissions. The painting process typically results in high flow rates with low VOC concentrations, so biotrickling filtration could be an economical alternative for controlling air emissions. This study analyses the operation of a pilot unit installed in a furniture facility, and compares its performance with the removal efficiency obtained in the laboratory using a synthetic feed composed of n-butyl acetate, toluene and m-xylene to simulate industrial air emissions. RESULTS: Laboratory studies showed that fluctuating and oscillating…
Experiencing Urban Mining in an Italian Municipality towards a Circular Economy vision
2017
Abstract Selective waste collection in Italy has undergone significant changes over the last decade, highlighting very different approaches from one region to another. Research results presented in this paper are underlying differences between geographical regions and use them as a model of good practices to improve the less optimized systems. In the last decade, the Trento City Council has established a goal – the optimization of selective municipal solid waste collection – that led to a very low amount of recyclable materials in the residual fraction. More than that, for the first time sanitary textiles have been considered as a separable fraction at the source; for a long time this type …
Ventilation Rates and Unsatisfied Percentage from Indoor CO2 Concentration
2010
This work reports the results of a survey carried out on a hall in a historic building in Palermo (Italy) with the aim of assessing the air quality by means of objective measurement of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and its subjective evaluation through a questionnaire. The measured values of CO2 concentration were compared with those evaluated using the Meckler equation under steady-state conditions, having verified necessary parameters such as the constancy of the indoor and outdoor CO2 levels and the uniformity of the CO 2 generation rate for all the occupants. The positive correspondence between measured and calculated results allowed us to utilise, under differing circumstances, t…