Indoor air quality in primary schools

Freitas, Maria do Carmo Duarte; Canha, Nuno; Martinho, Maria; Almeida-Silva, Marina; Almeida, Susana Marta; Pegas, Priscilla; Alves, Célia; Pio, Casimiro; Trancoso, Maria Ascensão; Sousa, R.; Mouro, Filomena; Contreiras, Teresa

doi:10.1504/ijep.2012.051210

Cited by 33 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 159 publications

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“…There has been extensive research on micro-environments where people spend their time with the aim of understanding exposure patterns. Initially, the studied micro-environments were mainly buildings in which people spend a significant fraction of the daytime such as offices [2,3], public buildings like schools [4][5][6], dwellings [7], and other indoor places where leisure activities [8][9][10] are developed. In recent years, the need to understand the exposure levels in an integrated perspective has started to gain consensus since individuals spend around 90% of their time in different indoor environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

et al. 2018

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This study evaluated the emissions of specific indoor sources usually present in Portuguese dwellings in order to understand their impact on the indoor air quality. With this aim, three typical activities were studied including home heating using two types of fireplaces (open and closed) and biofuels (pinewood and briquettes), cooking styles (frying and boiling) in different types of kitchen appliances, and several levels of bread toasting. The levels of specific pollutants were found to be above the established Portuguese limit values including VOCs, formaldehyde, and particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ). Although these emissions are transient and short in duration, the resulting concentrations are high and can severely impact the occupants' daily exposure. Besides promoting good ventilation, the choice of residential appliances with low emissions should be taken into account. In addition, it is important that occupants perform specific activities following the best practices so that their exposure to pollutants is minimized.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

et al. 2018

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“…8 Athletes and the common individual that practice sport present a higher risk of contact with bioaerosols and pollution due to the fact that 1. the minute ventilation could proportionally enhance the quantity of inhaled pollutants; 2. most of the air is inhaled through the mouth, bypassing the normal nasal mechanisms of filtration of larger particles and 3. the increased airflow velocity would carry pollutants deeper into the respiratory tract. 9 However, despite the importance of healthy air in sport facilities, indoor air quality (IAQ) studies have been focused principally on schools, [10][11][12][13][14][15] elderly care centres, [16][17][18][19] homes 20 and offices. 21,22 Comparatively, IAQ evaluations carried out in fitness centres (not school gymnasiums) are very scarce and few have been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the fungal and bacterial microflora and concentrations in fitness centres

Ramos

Viegas

Verde

et al. 2016

Indoor and Built Environment

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Fitness centres are special places where conditions for microbiological proliferation should be considered. Moisture due to human perspiration and water condensation as a result of human physical activities are prevalent in this type of buildings. Exposure to microbial contaminants is clinically associated with respiratory disorders and people who work out in polluted environments would be susceptible to contaminants. This work studied the indoor air contamination in three gymnasiums in Lisbon. The sampling was performed at two periods: at the opening (morning) and closing (night) of the three gymnasiums. The airborne bacterial and fungal populations were sampled by impaction directly onto Tryptic Soy Agar (for bacteria) and Malt Extract Agar (for fungi) plates, using a Merck MAS-100 air sampler. Higher bacterial concentrations were found at night as compared to the morning but the same behaviour was not found for fungal concentrations. Gram-negative catalase positive cocci were the dominant bacteria in indoor air samples of the studied gymnasiums. In this study, 21 genera/species of fungal colonies were identified. Chrysosporium sp., Chrysonilia sp., Neoscytalidium hialinum, Sepedonium sp. and Penicillium sp. were the most prevalent species identified in the morning, while Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., Chrysosporium sp., Acremonium sp. and Chrysonilia sp. were more prevalent at night. A well-designed sanitation and maintenance program for gymnasiums is needed to ensure healthier space for indoor physical activity.

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“…The governments of these countries recognized the health problems related to indoor air pollution and the importance to investigate and manage the IAQ of different indoor environments. Many recent studies were conducted worldwide regarding various aspects of indoor air quality and its effects upon health (Lee et al, 2002;Fromme et al, 2007;World Health Organization [WHO], 2010;Almeida et al, 2011;Franck et al, 2011;Canha et al, 2012). One important factor to maintain good IAQ is ventilation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of PM_2.5 and carbon dioxide levels in urban homes

Abdel-Salam

2015

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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PM 2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) samples were collected in the indoor environments of 15 urban homes and their adjacent outdoor environments in Alexandria, Egypt, during the spring time. Indoor and outdoor carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels were also measured concurrently. The results showed that indoor and outdoor PM 2.5 concentrations in the 15 sites, with daily averages of 45.5 ± 11.1 and 47.3 ± 12.9 µg/m 3 , respectively, were significantly higher than the ambient 24-hr PM 2.5 standard of 35 µg/m 3 recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The indoor PM 2.5 and CO 2 levels were correlated with the corresponding outdoor levels, demonstrating that outdoor convection and infiltration could lead to direct transportation indoors. Ventilation rates were also measured in the selected residences and ranged from 1.6 to 4.5 hr −1 with median value of 3.3 hr −1 . The indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios of the monitored homes varied from 0.73 to 1.65 with average value of 0.99 ± 0.26 for PM 2.5 , whereas those for CO 2 ranged from 1.13 to 1.66 with average value of 1.41 ± 0.15. Indoor sources and personal activities, including smoking and cooking, were found to significantly influence indoor levels.Implications: Few studies on indoor air quality were carried out in Egypt, and the scarce data resulted from such studies do not allow accurate assessment of the current situation to take necessary preventive actions. The current research investigates indoor levels of PM 2.5 and CO 2 in a number of homes located in the city of Alexandria as well as the potential contribution from both indoor and outdoor sources. The study draws attention of policymakers to the importance of the establishment of national indoor air quality standards to protect human health and control air pollution in different indoor environments.

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Indoor air quality in primary schools

Cited by 33 publications

References 159 publications

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

Characterizing the fungal and bacterial microflora and concentrations in fitness centres

Investigation of PM_2.5 and carbon dioxide levels in urban homes

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Indoor air quality in primary schools

Cited by 33 publications

References 159 publications

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

Characterizing the fungal and bacterial microflora and concentrations in fitness centres

Investigation of PM2.5 and carbon dioxide levels in urban homes

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Investigation of PM_2.5 and carbon dioxide levels in urban homes