Indoor air quality in Portuguese schools: levels and sources of pollutants

Indoor air quality (IAQ) parameters in 73 primary classrooms in Porto were examined for the purpose of assessing levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes, particulate matter, ventilation rates and bioaerosols within and between schools, and potential sources. Levels of VOCs, aldehydes, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, bacteria and fungi, carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide, temperature and relative humidity were measured indoors and outdoors and a walkthrough survey was performed concurrently. Ventilation rates were derived from CO₂ and occupancy data. Concentrations of CO₂ exceeding 1000 ppm were often encountered, indicating poor ventilation. Most VOCs had low concentrations (median of individual species <5 μg/m³) and were below the respective WHO guidelines. Concentrations of particulate matter and culturable bacteria were frequently higher than guidelines/reference values. The variability of VOCs, aldehydes, bioaerosol concentrations, and CO₂ levels between schools exceeded the variability within schools. These findings indicate that IAQ problems may persist in classrooms where pollutant sources exist and classrooms are poorly ventilated; source control strategies (related to building location, occupant behavior, maintenance/cleaning activities) are deemed to be the most reliable for the prevention of adverse health consequences in children in schools.     

Quantification and source characterization of volatile organic compounds from exercising and application of chlorine-based cleaning products in a university athletic center

Humans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, impacting their own air quality through occupancy and activities. Human VOC emissions indoors from exercise are still relatively uncertain, and questions remain about emissions from chlorine-based cleaners. To investigate these and other issues, the ATHLETic center study of Indoor Chemistry (ATHLETIC) campaign was conducted in the weight room of the Dal Ward Athletic Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Using a Vocus Proton-Transfer-Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (Vocus PTR-TOF), an Aerodyne Gas Chromatograph (GC), an Iodide-Chemical Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (I-CIMS), and Picarro cavity ringdown spectrometers, we alternated measurements between the weight room and supply air, allowing for determination of VOC, NH₃, H₂O, and CO₂ emission rates per person (emission factors). Human-derived emission factors were higher than previous studies of measuring indoor air quality in rooms with individuals at rest and correlated with increased CO₂ emission factors. Emission factors from personal care products (PCPs) were consistent with previous studies and typically decreased throughout the day. In addition, N-chloraldimines were observed in the gas phase after the exercise equipment was cleaned with a dichlor solution. The chloraldimines likely originated from reactions of free amino acids with HOCl on gym surfaces.     

An experimental evaluation of cross-layer routing in a wireless mesh backbone

Over the latest few years, cross-layer design in wireless networks has drawn great attention from the research community. One of the main arguments in favor of such techniques is that the hop-count metric alone is not enough to capture the specificities of wireless links (e.g., interferences, collisions, fading). In this paper, we address a simple yet fundamental question: What are the real improvements that cross-layering can bring to routing performance when compared to the simple hop-count metric? In our experiments, we consider the backbone of a real wireless mesh network composed of 12 routers deployed in an office building. We focus on the stability of routes and their persistence. In spite of the nature of cross-layer metrics that take into account information from different layers, lets them be very reactive to changes, we observe that using these metrics, pairs of nodes tend to mainly use the same set of two or three routes between them.     

A differential inclusion approach for modeling and analysis of dynamical systems under uncertainty

In this paper we deal with the application of differential inclusions to modeling nonlinear dynamical systems under uncertainty in parameters. In this case, differential inclusions seem to be better suited to modeling practical situations under uncertainty and imprecision than formulations by means of fuzzy differential equations. We develop a practical algorithm to approximate the reachable sets of a class of nonlinear differential inclusion, which eludes the computational problems of a previous set-valued version of the Heun’s method. Our algorithm is based on a complete discretization (time and state space) of the differential inclusion and it suits hardware features, handling the memory used by the method in a controlled fashion during all iterations. As a case of study, we formulate a differential inclusion to model an epidemic outbreak of dengue fever under Cuban conditions. The model takes into account interaction of human and mosquito populations as well as vertical transmission in the mosquito population. It is studied from the theoretical point of view to apply the Practical Algorithm. Also, we estimate the temporal evolution of the different human and mosquito populations given by the model in the Dengue 3 epidemic in Havana 2001, through the computation of the reachable sets using the Practical Algorithm.     

Transverse stress profiles reconstruction for finite element analysis of laminated plates

The present work focuses on a posteriori, equilibrium based, reconstruction of transverse stress profiles in the finite element analysis of FSDT laminated plates. The accuracy of this reconstruction depends on accuracy of the first and second-order derivatives of the plate stress resultants, which is not guaranteed by most available low-order plate finite elements. To cure this trouble, two different strategies, based on the Recovery by Compatibility in Patches procedure, are here proposed and compared. Numerical results of typical reconstructed transverse stress profiles are presented showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Superconducting Vortex Lattice Configurations on Periodic Potentials: Simulation and Experiment

Nb films have been fabricated on top of array of Ni nanodots. The array of periodic pinning potentials modifies the vortex lattice for specific values of the external applied magnetic field. By means of an implemented code developed from scratch, computer simulations based only on the vortex?Cvortex and the vortex?Cnanodot interactions provide the total interaction between vortices and pinning sites as well as the position of the vortices in the array unit cell. This simulation approach could be performed on square, rectangular or triangular arrays of nanodefects of different size.     

Invited review: Large-scale indirect measurements for enteric methane emissions in dairy cattle: A review of proxies and their potential for use in management and breeding decisions

Efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production through selection and management of low-emitting cows require accurate and large-scale measurements of methane (CH₄) emissions from individual cows. Several techniques have been developed to measure CH₄ in a research setting but most are not suitable for large-scale recording on farm. Several groups have explored proxies (i.e., indicators or indirect traits) for CH₄; ideally these should be accurate, inexpensive, and amenable to being recorded individually on a large scale. This review (1) systematically describes the biological basis of current potential CH₄ proxies for dairy cattle; (2) assesses the accuracy and predictive power of single proxies and determines the added value of combining proxies; (3) provides a critical evaluation of the relative merit of the main proxies in terms of their simplicity, cost, accuracy, invasiveness, and throughput; and (4) discusses their suitability as selection traits. The proxies range from simple and low-cost measurements such as body weight and high-throughput milk mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR) to more challenging measures such as rumen morphology, rumen metabolites, or microbiome profiling. Proxies based on rumen samples are generally poor to moderately accurate predictors of CH₄, and are costly and difficult to measure routinely on-farm. Proxies related to body weight or milk yield and composition, on the other hand, are relatively simple, inexpensive, and high throughput, and are easier to implement in practice. In particular, milk MIR, along with covariates such as lactation stage, are a promising option for prediction of CH₄ emission in dairy cows. No single proxy was found to accurately predict CH₄, and combinations of 2 or more proxies are likely to be a better solution. Combining proxies can increase the accuracy of predictions by 15 to 35%, mainly because different proxies describe independent sources of variation in CH₄ and one proxy can correct for shortcomings in the other(s). The most important applications of CH₄ proxies are in dairy cattle management and breeding for lower environmental impact. When breeding for traits of lower environmental impact, single or multiple proxies can be used as indirect criteria for the breeding objective, but care should be taken to avoid unfavorable correlated responses. Finally, although combinations of proxies appear to provide the most accurate estimates of CH₄, the greatest limitation today is the lack of robustness in their general applicability. Future efforts should therefore be directed toward developing combinations of proxies that are robust and applicable across diverse production systems and environments.