Emission of pollutants and their accumulation due to poor ventilation and air exchange are serious problems currently under investigation by many researchers. Of particular concern are issues involving air quality within buildings. Toxic fumes and airborne diseases are known to produce undesirable odors, eye and nose irritations, sickness, and occasionally death. Other products such as tobacco smoke and carbon monoxide can also have serious health effects on people exposed to a poorly ventilated environment; studies indicate that indirect or passive smoking can also lead to lung cancer.Design for prevention or remediation of indoor air pollution requires expertise in optimizing geometrical configurations; knowledge of HVAC systems, perceived or expected contaminants and source locations; and economics. Much of the design concept involves ways in which to optimize the benefits or balance the advantages and disadvantages of various configurations and equipment. The fact that a room or building will conceivably become contaminated is generally an accepted fact — to what extent indoor air pollution will become critical is not really known until it happens.A series of numerical models that run in MATLAB are described in the text and placed on the Web. These models include the finite difference method, finite volume method, finite element method, the boundary element method, particle-in-cell, meshless methods, and lagrangian particle transport. In addition, all example problems can be run using COMSOL, a commercial finite-element-based computer code with a great deal of flexibility and application. By accessing AutoCad ICES or DWG file structures, COMSOL permits a building floor plan to be captured and the interior walls discretized into elements./a

People live in indoor environment about 90% of lifetime and an adult inhales about 15 kg air each day, over 75% of the human body’s daily mass intake (air, food, water). Therefore, indoor air quality (IAQ) is very important to human health. This book provides the basic knowledge of IAQ and highlights the research achievements in the past two decades. It covers the following 12 sections: introduction, indoor air chemicals, indoor air particles, measurement and evaluation, source/sink characteristics, indoor chemistry, human exposure to indoor pollutants, health effects and health risk assessment, IAQ and cognitive performance, standards and guidelines, IAQ control, and air quality in various indoor environments. It provides a combination of an introduction to various aspects on IAQ studies, the current state-of-knowledge, various advances and the perspective of IAQ studies. It will be very helpful for the researchers and technicians in the IAQ and the related fields. It is also useful for experts in other fields and general readers who want to obtain a basic understanding of and research advances in the field of IAQ. A group of experts in IAQ research have been recruited to write the chapters. Their research interests and experience cover the scope of the book. In addition, some experienced experts in IAQ field have been invited as advisors or reviewers to give their comments, suggestions and revisions on the handbook framework and the chapter details. Their contribution guarantees the quality of the book. We are very grateful to them. Last but not least, we express our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Spengler, Harvard University, for writing the foreword of the current Handbook of Indoor Air Quality both as a pioneer scientist who contributed greatly to indoor air science and as an Editor-in-chief of Handbook of Indoor Air Quality 2001, 1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. In addition to hard copies, the book is also published online and will be updated by the authors as needed to keep it aligned with current knowledge. These salient features can make the handbook fresh with the research development.

With the recent tightening of air quality standards as mandated by the U.S. EPA, has come great pressure on regulatory bodies at all levels of government, along with the industries and groups affected by these standards, to better assess the hazards and risks that result from air pollutants. Risk Assessment and Indoor Air Quality carefully ties tog

Written by experts, Exposure Analysis is the first complete resource in the emerging scientific discipline of exposure analysis. A comprehensive source on the environmental pollutants that affect human health, the book discusses human exposure through pathways including air, food, water, dermal absorption, and, for children, non-food ingesti

This contributed volume is primarily intended for graduate and professional audiences. The book provides a basic understanding of urban air quality issues, root causes for local and urban air pollution, monitoring and modelling techniques, assessment, and control options to manage air quality at local and urban scale. The book also offers useful information on indoor air quality and smart sensors, which are gaining much importance in current times.

Most people in the United States spend far more time indoors than outdoors. Yet, many air pollution regulations and risk assessments focus on outdoor air. These often overlook contact with harmful contaminants that may be at their most dangerous concentrations indoors. A new book from the National Research Council explores the need for strategies to address indoor and outdoor exposures and examines the methods and tools available for finding out where and when significant exposures occur. The volume includes: A conceptual framework and common terminology that investigators from different disciplines can use to make more accurate assessments of human exposure to airborne contaminants. An update of important developments in assessing exposure to airborne contaminants: ambient air sampling and physical chemical measurements, biological markers, questionnaires, time-activity diaries, and modeling. A series of examples of how exposure assessments have been applied-properly and improperly-to public health issues and how the committee's suggested framework can be brought into practice. This volume will provide important insights to improve risk assessment, risk management, pollution control, and regulatory programs.

Environmental modelling has enjoyed a long tradition, but there is a defined need to continually address both the power and the limitations of such models, as well as their quantitative assessment. This book showcases modern environmental modelling methods, the basic theory behind them and their incorporation into complex environmental investigations. It highlights advanced computing technologies and how they have led to unprecedented and adaptive modelling, simulation and decision-support tools to study complex environmental systems, and how they can be applied to current environmental concerns. This volume is essential reading for researchers in academia, industry and government-related bodies who have a vested interest in all aspects of environmental modelling. Features include: A range of modern environmental modelling techniques are described by experts from around the world, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe and Thailand; many examples from air, water, soil/sediment and biological matrices are covered in detail throughout the book; key chapters are included on modelling uncertainty and sensitivity analysis; and, a selection of figures are provided in full colour to enable greater comprehension of the topics discussed.

Estimates of the air pollution health impact play a crucial role in environmental protection. These estimates require accurate data on the pollutant exposure and dose to the population as well as the dose–response relationships to calculate the health impact. From an air quality manager’s perspective there is concern about the validity and accuracy of these calculations. There is a need for information and possible ways to adjust the assessment. One important topic for air quality managers is to understand the relative cont- bution of sources to the total exposure. These sources may be coming from both different outdoor sources from sectors such as transport, industry and energy ind- tries, and from a number of indoor sources, such as heating, ventilation and indoor activities as well as out-gassing from building material and furniture. Indoor air quality is now drawing the attention of policy makers. The basic right to, and importance of, healthy indoor air was emphasized by the World Health Organization as early as 2000 and several countries have described target conc- trations for various pollutants. The WHO Air Quality Guidelines 2005 rec- mended the development of specific guidelines for indoor air quality and these are expected to be published soon. Indoor air pollutants have not been as extensively monitored as outdoor air pollutants and the evidence base for contributions to health effects needs to be strengthened.