Bioaerosol concentrations in residential buildings located in the Northeastern US have not been widely studied. Here, in 2011‐2015, we studied the presence and seasonal variability of culturable ...fungi and bacteria in three multi‐family apartment buildings and correlated the bioaerosol concentrations with building ventilation system types and environmental parameters. A total of 409 indoor and 86 outdoor samples were taken. Eighty‐five percent of investigated apartments had indoor‐outdoor (I/O) ratios of culturable fungi below 1, suggesting minimal indoor sources of fungi. In contrast, 56% of the apartments had I/O ratios for culturable bacteria above 1, indicating the prominence of indoor sources of bacteria. Culturable fungi I/O ratios in apartments serviced by central heating, ventilation, and air‐conditioning (HVAC) system were lower than those in apartments with window AC. The type of ventilation system did not have a significant effect on the presence of indoor culturable bacteria. A significant positive association was determined between indoor dew point (DP) levels and indoor culturable fungi (P < .001) and bacteria (P < .001), regardless of ventilation type. Also, residents in apartments with central HVAC did not experience extreme DP values. We conclude that building ventilation systems, seasonality, and indoor sources are major factors affecting indoor bioaerosol levels in residential buildings.
This study used several real-time and filter-based aerosol instruments to measure PM
2.5
levels in a high-rise residential green building in the Northeastern US and compared performance of those ...instruments. PM
2.5
24-hr average concentrations were determined using a Personal Modular Impactor (PMI) with 2.5 µm cut (SKC Inc., Eighty Four, PA) and a direct reading pDR-1500 (Thermo Scientific, Franklin, MA) as well as its filter. 1-hr average PM
2.5
concentrations were measured in the same apartments with an Aerotrak Optical Particle Counter (OPC) (model 8220, TSI, Inc., Shoreview, MN) and a DustTrak DRX mass monitor (model 8534, TSI, Inc., Shoreview, MN). OPC and DRX measurements were compared with concurrent 1-hr mass concentration from the pDR-1500. The pDR-1500 direct reading showed approximately 40% higher particle mass concentration compared to its own filter (n = 41), and 25% higher PM
2.5
mass concentration compared to the PMI
2.5
filter. The pDR-1500 direct reading and PMI
2.5
in non-smoking homes (self-reported) were not significantly different (n = 10, R
2
= 0.937), while the difference between measurements for smoking homes was 44% (n = 31, R
2
= 0.773). Both OPC and DRX data had substantial and significant systematic and proportional biases compared with pDR-1500 readings. However, these methods were highly correlated: R
2
= 0.936 for OPC versus pDR-1500 reading and R
2
= 0.863 for DRX versus pDR-1500 reading. The data suggest that accuracy of aerosol mass concentrations from direct-reading instruments in indoor environments depends on the instrument, and that correction factors can be used to reduce biases of these real-time monitors in residential green buildings with similar aerosol properties.
Implications: This study used several real-time and filter-based aerosol instruments to measure PM
2.5
levels in a high-rise residential green building in the northeastern United States and compared performance of those instruments. The data show that while the use of real-time monitors is convenient for measurement of airborne PM at short time scales, the accuracy of those monitors depends on a particular instrument. Bias correction factors identified in this paper could provide guidance for other studies using direct-reading instruments to measure PM concentrations.
Objectives. Worldwide, over 200 million children are involved in child labor, with another 20 million children subjected to forced labor, leading to acute and chronic exposures resulting in safety ...and health (S&H) risks, plus removal from formal education and play. This review summarized S&H issues in child labor, including forced or indentured domestic labor as other sectors of child labor. Specifically, we focused on exposures leading to S&H risks. Methods. We used PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. References were in English, published in 1990–2015, and included data focused on exposures and S&H concerns of child labor. Results. Seventy-six journal articles were identified, 67 met criteria, 57 focused on individual countries, and 10 focused on data from multiple countries (comparing 3–83 countries). Major themes of concern were physical exposures including ergonomic hazards, chemical exposure hazards, and missed education. Childhood labor, especially forced, exploitative labor, created a significant burden on child development, welfare, and S&H. Conclusions. More field researche data emphasizing longitudinal quantitative effects of exposures and S&H risks are needed. Findings warranted developing policies and educational interventions with proper monitoring and evaluation data collection, plus multiple governmental, international organization and global economic reform efforts, particularly in lower-income, less developed countries.
Active healthy living design has typically focused on urban and community environments to support physical activity; this article looks at an expanded definition of active healthy living ...opportunities at building level design for various groups. We wanted to engage youth, adults, and diversely abled people through a form of inclusive design that encourages individuals to venture out of their private homes, workplaces, or other isolating conditions and explore areas of shared spaces or get outside of personal environments and buildings for self-directed, restorative activity. Incentives for people to venture outside of private spaces became even more important for maintaining healthy minds and bodies during the recent pandemic. The objectives of this discussion are to propose a multidisciplinary tool to facilitate decisions around creating shared spaces in different building typologies that promote active, self-directed behaviour by occupants to engage physically, socially, or psychologically with features that support health and wellbeing. We first examined a wide range of theories and design practices for potential applications to building-centred design that supports healthy behaviour, reduces environment stress, and employs space syntax and the Biophilic Healing Index to help encourage healthy behaviours by a wide range of occupant ages and abilities in and around buildings. A rating scale was then associated with criteria representing evidence-based guidelines, and capable of being fitted for use as a teaching-learning and discussion aid. An overview of data from demonstration of the tool is presented, along with feedback on proposed improvements and how these might impact professional practice.
•Design work precedes building occupancy but designers should still consider occupant behavior.•The transferability of occupant behavior data depends on incorporation of key contextual ...factors.•Creating a synthetic set of generic building occupants captures aspects of context, is feasible and helpful in design practice, and is available now for commercial buildings.
This paper addresses the challenge of incorporating occupant behavior into building performance simulation models used during the design process—that is, before the actual occupants are known. It proposes the use of synthetic population data, an approach that is novel in building performance modeling although common in urban planning and public health. A simpler approach embodied in the ASHRAE Fundamentals volume is to report standard distributions of values for behavioral variables, assuming that parameters vary independently of one another when in fact many co-vary or are interdependent. An alternative approach calibrates models of occupant behavior against actual occupants in specific existing buildings, but this raises questions of transferability. Needed is a database of “generic” occupants that designers can use prospectively during the design process. This paper documents a process of combining disparate field studies of commercial buildings into a larger occupant behavior database and generating a statistically similar synthetic data set that can be shared without compromising confidentiality requirements associated with field studies. The synthetic data set successfully incorporates much of the covariance structure of the underlying field data and supports multivariate modeling. Its scope and structure necessarily serve the needs of the associated modeling framework. Cooperative and systematic sharing of data by field researchers is crucial for building large enough data sets to serve as a behaviorally-robust basis for building design.
There are limited data on air quality parameters, including airborne particulate matter (PM) in residential green buildings, which are increasing in prevalence. Exposure to PM is associated with ...cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and since Americans spend almost 90% of their time indoors, residential exposures may substantially contribute to overall airborne PM exposure. Our objectives were to: (1) measure various PM fractions longitudinally in apartments in multi-family green buildings with natural (Building E) and mechanical (Building L) ventilation; (2) compare indoor and outdoor PM mass concentrations and their ratios (I/O) in these buildings, taking into account the effects of occupant behavior; and (3) evaluate the effect of green building designs and operations on indoor PM. We evaluated effects of ventilation, occupant behaviors, and overall building design on PM mass concentrations and I/O. Median PMTOTAL was higher in Building E (56 µg/m³) than in Building L (37 µg/m³); I/O was higher in Building E (1.3-2.0) than in Building L (0.5-0.8) for all particle size fractions. Our data show that the building design and occupant behaviors that either produce or dilute indoor PM (e.g., ventilation systems, combustion sources, and window operation) are important factors affecting residents' exposure to PM in residential green buildings.
Several frameworks incorporate social and psychological elements of environmentally significant behaviour, and most assume cognitive and deliberate decision-making. Household energy consumption ...behaviours, however, span a spectrum from reasoned and deliberate to unplanned and automatic. The aim of this paper is to advance knowledge of reasoned and unplanned behaviours in the context of pro-environmental action. Using results of a survey administered to occupants of an urban residential green building, this study explores five household consumption behaviours and tests the hypothesis that unplanned behaviours will be poorly predicted by a reasoned, values-based behavioural framework. Using path analyses, variables in a values-based framework are used to predict surveyed behaviours. Findings indicate that behaviours hypothesized to be unplanned were not well predicted by the values-based framework. The framework successfully predicted what was hypothesized to be a fully reasoned behaviour. Three potential reasons are discussed for the lack of prediction of some behaviours. A deeper understanding of how unplanned, automatic or habitual behaviours intervene in conservation intentions can help policy-makers and building designers better respond to influences of occupant behaviour on building performance.
Exposure to bioaerosols has been implicated in adverse respiratory symptoms, infectious diseases, and bioterrorism. Although these particles have been measured within residential and occupational ...settings in multiple studies, the deposition of bioaerosol particles within the human respiratory system has been only minimally explored. This paper uses real-world environmental measurement data of total fungal spores using Air-o-Cell cassettes in 16 different apartments and residents’ physiological data in those apartments to predict respiratory deposition of the spores. The airborne spore concentrations were measured during the spring, summer, and fall. The respiratory deposition of five most prevalent spore generaAscospores, Aspergillus, Basidiospores, Cladosporium, and Myxomyceteswas predicted using three empirical models: the Multiple Path Particle Dosimetry model, using both the Yeh and age-specific versions, and the Bioaerosol Adaptation of the International Committee on Radiological Protection’s Lung deposition model. The predicted total deposited number of spores was highest for Ascospores and Cladosporium. While the majority of spores deposit were in the extrathoracic region, there is a significant deposition for both Aspergillus and Cladosporium in the alveolar region, potentially leading to the development of aspergillosis or allergic asthma. Although the dose–response relationship is unknown, the estimate of the actual spore deposition could be the first step in determining such a relationship.
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is determined by indoor and outdoor sources and conditions, building characteristics, and occupant behavior. In the field study context where the researcher lacks full ...control of observational conditions, it is difficult to compare and integrate these determinants because they require such different types and sources of data. This pilot-level project investigated the potential to overcome these limitations by integrating traditional IAQ measurement techniques with questionnaires and analysis of building deficiencies using 3D infrared thermography imaging in two residential multi-apartment buildings. Of the building deficiencies detected by the 3D thermography, missing insulation (MI) correlated best with the IAQ measurements and questionnaire data. Apartments missing more than 5% of insulation in their exterior wall (n = 6) had a significantly higher number concentration of ultrafine airborne particles (diameter < 300 nm) (p = 0.013) and their indoor/outdoor ratio (p = 0.029) compared to apartments where less than 5% of insulation was missing (n = 14). The correlation was driven by apartments where no smoking or use candles or incense was reported. Ultrafine particle concentrations in apartments with combustion sources were higher regardless of the levels of MI. Corner apartments had a higher fraction of MI compared to non-corner apartments (p = 0.002); higher levels of MI were detected in apartments where a resident had an asthma attack in the past 12 months. Our data suggest that integration of different data streams produces a more informative IAQ investigation. This pilot-level study should be performed on a larger scale to examine its wider applicability in the IAQ field.
•Building deficiencies detected by spatially resolved infrared thermography imaging.•Missing insulation correlated with IAQ measurements and questionnaire data.•Ultrafine particle concentration positively correlated with missing insulation levels.•Indoor combustion sources positively correlated with airborne particle presence.•Asthma attacks associated with high levels of missing insulation and indoor combustion sources.
Research on the etiology and course of illness typically follows a biological model emphasizing the individual as the primary unit of analysis. The result has been a narrowed orientation that focuses ...a great deal of resources on individual-level interventions and much less attention to underlying factors that contribute to the prevalence of disease. Chronic diseases such as asthma, coronary disease, ulcers, diabetes, and cancers, however, have been found to be affected by multiple factors on various levels of analysis, defying attempts to 'individualize' risk and prevention. The study of structural factors that underlie health outcomes can reveal important information that normally remains undetected during clinical and epidemiological research on individual risk factors. Research that incorporates contextual variables of a physical, social, biological, temporal, or economic nature can help identify patterns of illness across space and time and factors that predispose a population to greater health disparities. This article reviews the theoretical basis and methods for improving the validity of ecological studies in addressing contextual variables. In particular, research design incorporating multiple levels of analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) is examined to address some of the challenges to incorporating community information. Community-based studies are described to illustrate this approach to ecological research. Finally, suggestions are offered for the further development of ecological and contextual research strategies in public health interests.
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