Monitoring of air ducting using mechanical robot for indoor air quality (IAQ) improvement

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has become public concern recently. Air ducting is used in Mechanical Ventilation and Air Conditioning (MVAC) system to deliver air to the building occupants. Without proper maintenance of the ducting system, it will affect the IAQ of overall building. Monitoring air ducting is the preliminary step to get real view inside the ducting. This study focused on the development of the Mechanical Ducting Robot (MerDuct) to monitor the ducting and data collection at real time (in�situ). The developments of the MerDuct have been performed in three phases. MerDuct were controlled wirelessly, and equipped with lamp and camera to get real visual inside the ducting. Case studies were visually performed suing MerDuct in three different scenarios namely full operation ducting, second is seldom operation ducting and third is abandoned ducting. Three case studies had been conducted in Block A4 Academic Office Building UTHM, Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) at Thermal Environmental Laboratory UTHM, and Building Services Laboratory Block E6, Faculty of Engineering Technology UTHM respectively. MerDuct was designed to be able travel to the various ranges along the ducting and using analog joystick to make it user friendly .The seldom operation of ducting was clearly shows clean ducting without any trapped dust and web since the LEV was only used once a week and it is only less than 1 year old. The other two scenarios clearly showed trapped dust and web from photo captured by MerDuct. From the experimental data, MerDuct was successfully performed as monitoring robot to detect Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) problem source. The image taken by MerDuct could help building owner to predict necessary time to perform the duct cleaning to improve the IAQ based on occupational safety and health for sustainable development

Indoor environmental quality assessment in groceries

Mestrado em Segurança e Higiene no TrabalhoAir is among the vital human needs to survive. It is the one thing humans cannot be without for longer than a few minutes. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a public and occupational health concern since we are exposed to air pollutants daily, given that we spend almost 90% of our time in indoor environments. IAQ can be affected by numerous factors, from outdoor pollutants that get indoors through ventilation to building materials, furnishing, and activities carried by the building occupants. Exposure to air pollutants has been linked to a panoply of adverse effects on our health, well-being, and performance. The aim of this study was to assess the IAQ in grocery stores (GS) in the municipality of Cascais in the Lisbon district of Portugal, and, consequently, to characterize the workers' occupational exposure to air pollutants. The study was conducted in 13 small “family” grocery stores. The IAQ monitoring campaign was conducted using low-cost technologies and focused on several parameters, namely: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Volatile organic compound (VOCs), Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), Temperature (T), and Relative Humidity (RH). The results were analyzed using SPSS software. Overall, the IAQ of the studied GSs complied with the Portuguese legislation, except for PM2.5, where 23% of GSs presented levels above the established limit value of 25 μg.m-3. The IAQ assessment allowed us to identify the best strategies to improve the workers’ experience in indoor environments at their workplaces.N/

Indoor air quality assessment in grocery stores

FCT_UIDB/05608/2020. FCT_UIDP/05608/2020.Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a public and occupational health concern, as we are exposed to air pollutants daily given that we spend a great amount of our time in indoor environments. IAQ can be affected by numerous factors, from outdoor pollutants that get indoors through ventilation to building materials, furnishings, and activities carried by the building occupants. Exposure to air pollutants has been linked to a panoply of adverse effects on our health, well-being, and performance. The aim of this study was to assess the IAQ in grocery stores (GSs) in the municipality of Cascais in the Lisbon metropolitan area (Portugal) to characterize the workers’ occupational exposure to air pollutants. The study was conducted in 13 small “family” grocery stores. The IAQ monitoring campaign was conducted using low-cost sensor technologies and focused on several parameters, namely: carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), temperature (T), relative humidity (RH). Overall, the IAQ of the studied GSs complied with Portuguese legislation, except for PM2.5, where 23% of GSs presented levels above the established limit value. The mean inhaled dose of workers during a workday was estimated to be 157.7 ± 57.2 μg for PM2.5 and 165.8 ± 56.0 μg for PM10. The IAQ assessment allowed the identification of the best strategies to improve worker experience in indoor workplace environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epidemiology trend with particular spatio-temporal distribution of DIR in Malaysia

Previous epidemiology record shows obvious trend of dengue fever that contribute to significant upsurge in the increasing number of dengue cases and deaths until the late nineteenth century with the sharp straight trend. This virus is transmitted to human by the bite of a female Aedes Aegypti mosquito, that could simply recognise by a white marking on its legs and lyre on the upper surface of its thorax. In Malaysia, dengue fever has been occurred since the first case in Penang around 1901 and continuously showed an intensity increment over the past few decades. The epidemics of dengue in Malaysia were observed predominantly confined to the densely populated and urbanised areas of Peninsular Malaysia (East of Malaysia) focusing in the Selangor state. Dengue cases that recorded in the nine district of Selangor state over seven years' period were used to ample evidence of dengue and peak transmission occurred in 2014, 2015 and 2019. The objective of this study was to access the dengue incidence rate according to the district in Selangor. The results were clustered by district based on the mean annual dengue incidence rate (DIR) values to classify the dengue risk categories. Among highest incidence rates were located at four districts; Petaling, Hulu Langat, Klang and Gombak where surrounding federal territory of Kuala Lumpur in the center of the region is on of main interest from high population densities and conclusion has been made that high DIR is strongly increase the risk of dengue incidence in that state

Urban air pollution and health inequities: a workshop report.

Over the past three decades, an array of legislation with attendant regulations has been implemented to enhance the quality of the environment and thereby improve the public's health. Despite the many beneficial changes that have followed, there remains a disproportionately higher prevalence of harmful environmental exposures, particularly air pollution, for certain populations. These populations most often reside in urban settings, have low socioeconomic status, and include a large proportion of ethnic minorities. The disparities between racial/ethnic minority and/or low-income populations in cities and the general population in terms of environmental exposures and related health risks have prompted the "environmental justice" or "environmental equity" movement, which strives to create cleaner environments for the most polluted communities. Achieving cleaner environments will require interventions based on scientific data specific to the populations at risk; however, research in this area has been relatively limited. To assess the current scientific information on urban air pollution and its health impacts and to help set the agenda for immediate intervention and future research, the American Lung Association organized an invited workshop on Urban Air Pollution and Health Inequities held 22-24 October 1999 in Washington, DC. This report builds on literature reviews and summarizes the discussions of working groups charged with addressing key areas relevant to air pollution and health effects in urban environments. An overview was provided of the state of the science for health impacts of air pollution and technologies available for air quality monitoring and exposure assessment. The working groups then prioritized research needs to address the knowledge gaps and developed recommendations for community interventions and public policy to begin to remedy the exposure and health inequities

Characterising the Exposure of Prison Staff to Second-Hand Tobacco Smoke

Acknowledgements This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research Programme (project number 15/55/44). We are grateful to all the staff at the Scottish Prison Service and in HMP Kilmarnock and HMP Addiewell who assisted with this study. We are also extremely grateful to David Walker, Ruaraidh Dobson and Mrs Flora Buthlay for their help with data collection and retrieval of instruments from prisons, and to Dr Steve Turner for helpful comments on an earlier draft. KH, HS, GL, ED gratefully acknowledge core funding from UK MRC and Chief Scientist Office (MC_UU_12017/12; SPHSU12; MC/PC/13027 partnership grant) for their work within prison settings. We acknowledge the contribution of our co-investigators in the TIPs research team to the overall design of the TIPs study (Professor Linda Bauld, Dr Kathleen Boyd, Dr Philip Conaglen, Dr Peter Craig, Douglas Eadie, Professor Alastair Leyland, Professor Jill Pell).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Gap Analysis of Environmental Health Research in Malawi : Report to the National Commission of Science and Technology

The aim of this consultancy was to assess the current gaps in research for the environmental health sector in Malawi, and to recommend research priorities and an effective action plan to address these gap

Design of pulse jet coolant delivery system for minimal quantity lubricant (IP MQL) operation

Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) machining is one of the promising solutions to the requirement for reducing cutting fluid consumption. The work here describes MQL machining in a range of lubricant consumption of 2.0-2.355ml/s, which is between 10– 100 times lesser than the consumption usually adopted in industries. MQL machining in this range is called pulse jet coolant delivery system. A specially designed system, the IP MQL, was used for concentrating small amounts of lubricant onto the cutting interface. The performance of concentrated spraying of lubricant in pulse jet coolant delivery system design was simulated and compared with that of current ‘Pulse Jet MQL’ systems. The concentrated spraying of lubricant with a specially designed system was found to be effective in increasing tool life in the pulse jet coolant delivery system range

Measurement of environmental tobacco smoke exposure among adults with asthma.

Because the morbidity and mortality from adult asthma have been increasing, the identification of modifiable environmental exposures that exacerbate asthma has become a priority. Limited evidence suggests that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may adversely affect adults with asthma. To study the effects of ETS better, we developed a survey instrument to measure ETS exposure in a cohort of adults with asthma living in northern California, where public indoor smoking is limited. To validate this survey instrument, we used a passive badge monitor that measures actual exposure to ambient nicotine, a direct and specific measure of ETS. In this validation study, we recruited 50 subjects from an ongoing longitudinal asthma cohort study who had a positive screening question for ETS exposure or potential exposure. Each subject wore a passive nicotine badge monitor for 7 days. After the personal monitoring period, we readministered the ETS exposure survey instrument. Based on the survey, self-reported total ETS exposure duration ranged from 0 to 70 hr during the previous 7 days. Based on the upper-range boundary, bars or nightclubs (55 hr) and the home (50 hr) were the sites associated with greatest maximal self-reported exposure. As measured by the personal nicotine badge monitors, the overall median 7-day nicotine concentration was 0.03 microg/m(3) (25th-75th interquartile range 0-3.69 microg/m(3)). Measured nicotine concentrations were highest among persons who reported home exposure (median 0.61 microg/m(3)), followed by work exposure (0.03 microg/m(3)), other (outdoor) exposure (0.025 microg/m(3)), and no exposure (0 microg/m(3); p = 0.03). The Spearman rank correlation coefficient between self-reported ETS exposure duration and directly measured personal nicotine concentration during the same 7-day period was 0.47, supporting the survey's validity (p = 0.0006). Compared to persons with no measured exposure, lower-level [odds ratio (OR) 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.4-8.8] and higher-level ETS exposures (OR 6.8; 95% CI, 1.4-32.3) were associated with increased risk of respiratory symptoms. A brief, validated survey instrument can be used to assess ETS exposure among adults with asthma, even with low levels of exposure. This instrument could be a valuable tool for studying the effect of ETS exposure on adult asthma health outcomes

Exposure to NO2 in occupational built environments in urban centre in Lahore

Increased economic growth, urbanisation and substantial rise in automobile vehicles has contributed towards the elevated levels of air pollution in major cities in Pakistan. Aone week study was conducted by using passive samplers to assess NO2 concentration in occupational built environments at two most congested and populated sites of Lahore. Both sites were locatedon the busy roads of Lahore. At Site-I the highest concentration was in outdoors followed by corridor and indoor. While at Site II all the sampling location wereindoors and level were comparable to that of outdoor levelsat Site I. The results suggest the likely contribution of ambient sources in exposure to indoor NO2 in educational and other occupational built environments in urban centres