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It is costly to sample all air pollutants of a general community for continuous indoor air quality (IAQ) assessments. To optimize the resources for IAQ baseline monitoring for general facilities management, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of using a simple IAQ index as a screening parameter of a screening test to identify an asymptomatic air‐conditioned office with probable unsatisfactory IAQ.

The IAQ index is determined from the fractional dose of some representative common indoor air pollutants of unsatisfactory IAQ, either by taking equal importance of the pollutants as a weighting factor or weighted by the regional failure rates with respect to the corresponding air pollutants. Specifically, a database of regional IAQ assessment results of 422 air‐conditioned offices was employed to justify the selected screening levels for the IAQ index.

The proposed IAQ index of a screening assessment was used for verifying, respectively, 58 and seven air‐conditioned offices of Hong Kong with satisfactory and unsatisfactory IAQ. The results showed that 57 satisfactory offices and two unsatisfactory offices were correctly identified by the unweighted and weighted IAQ indices respectively. Evaluation of the proposed index in further IAQ improvements of some offices showed that it would be a practical tool for preliminary IAQ screening assessment.

The screening test itself could not identify all the IAQ problems but could identify the office groups with higher risk of unsatisfactory IAQ with reduced effort.

The study shows the usefulness of the proposed IAQ index to identify the unrecognized IAQ problems for air‐conditioned office environments. It could be adopted as a routine screening measure in facility management of which a wide‐ranging set of IAQ measurement is undesired.

This study presents a useful reference for policymakers, building owners and professionals for indoor environmental assessments.

This study aims to evaluate the efficiency of various techniques for enhancing indoor air quality (IAQ) in construction. It analyzed the alterations in the concentration of indoor air pollutants over time for each product employed in controlling pollution sources and removing it, which included eco-friendly substances and adsorbents. The study will provide more precise and dependable data on the effectiveness of these control methods, ultimately supporting the creation of more efficient and sustainable approaches for managing indoor air pollution in buildings.

The research investigates the impact of eco-friendly materials and adsorbents on improving indoor air quality (IAQ) in Dubai's tall apartment buildings. Field experiments were conducted in six units of The Gate Tower, comparing the IAQ of three units built with “excellent” grade eco-friendly materials with three built with “good” grade materials. Another experiment evaluated two adsorbent products (H and Z) in the Majestic Tower over six months. Results indicate that “excellent” grade materials significantly reduced toluene emissions. Adsorbent product Z showed promising results in pollutant reduction, but there is concern about the long-term behavior of adsorbed chemicals. The study emphasizes further research on household pollutant management.

The research studied the effects of eco-friendly materials and adsorbents on indoor air quality in Dubai's new apartments. It found that apartments using “excellent” eco-friendly materials had significantly better air quality, particularly reduced toluene concentrations, compared to those using “good” materials. However, high formaldehyde (HCHO) emissions were observed from wood products. While certain construction materials led to increased ethylbenzene and xylene levels, adsorbent product Z showed promise in reducing pollutants. Yet, there is a potential concern about the long-term rerelease of these trapped chemicals. The study emphasizes the need for ongoing research in indoor pollutant management.

The research, while extensive, faced limitations in assessing the long-term behavior of adsorbed chemicals, particularly the potential for rereleasing trapped pollutants over time. Despite the study spanning a considerable period, indoor air pollutant concentrations in target households did not stabilize, making it challenging to determine definitive improvement effects and reduction rates among products. Comparisons were primarily relative between target units, and the rapid rise in pollutants during furniture introduction warrants further examination. Consequently, while the research provides essential insights, it underscores the need for more prolonged and comprehensive evaluations to fully understand the materials' and adsorbents' impacts on indoor air quality.

The research underscores the importance of choosing eco-friendly materials in new apartment constructions for better IAQ. Specifically, using “excellent” graded materials can significantly reduce harmful pollutants like toluene. However, the study also highlights that certain construction activities, such as introducing furniture, can rapidly elevate pollutant levels. Moreover, while adsorbents like product Z showed promise in reducing pollutants, there is potential for adsorbed chemicals to be rereleased over time. For practical implementation, prioritizing higher-grade eco-friendly materials and further investigation into furniture emissions and long-term behavior of adsorbents can lead to healthier indoor environments in newly built apartments.

The research offers a unique empirical assessment of eco-friendly materials' impact on indoor air quality within Dubai's rapidly constructed apartment buildings. Through field experiments, it directly compares different material grades, providing concrete data on pollutant levels in newly built environments. Additionally, it explores the efficacy of specific adsorbents, which is of high value to the construction and public health sectors. The findings shed light on how construction choices can influence indoor air pollution, offering valuable insights to builders, policymakers and residents aiming to promote public health and safety in urban living spaces.

Indoor environments are characterized by several pollutant sources. Some of these can be sufficiently characterized through the prediction of the airflow and pollutant distribution patterns. The purpose of this study was to simulate, analyze and compare different locations of known pollutant source inside a ventilated room.

Computational fluid dynamics modelling approach was used to analyze the prediction of the airflow and pollutant distribution patterns for different locations of known pollutant source inside a ventilated room by mixing ventilation.

Distinct areas of poor air quality, perfectly identified by concentration fields, were given. The indoor air quality obtained by the different simulated conditions was analyzed and compared.

Pollutant concentration was not measured in the validation experiments (qualitative validation based on the velocity fields).

Once the contaminant concentration fields are calculated based on the source location, the model is very useful to choose the best place to install any pollutant indoor equipment to preserve breathing zones.

Providing an effective indoor air quality assessment to prevent exposure risk. The results would be useful for making decisions to optimize the design procedure, such as establish the best location to install polluting equipment, occupied areas and their interdependence with ventilation systems. In addition, this tool also helps to choose the best location and correct set point adjustment for the pollutant sensors.

Several countries have carried out air quality monitoring in professional workplaces where chemicals are used. Health-care spaces have been less investigated. This paper aims to define a protocol, as developed by a research group, for inpatient rooms to understand the state of the art and to suggest design and management strategies for improving process quality.

Starting from the ISO-16000 standard and guidelines for monitoring activities, a protocol is defined for a one year investigation, with passive samplers. Through data analysis of the investigations and analysis of the cleaning and finishing products, heating, ventilation and air conditioning and maintenance activities, etc., it is possible to highlight the potential influences of chemical pollution.

A methodology is defined for understanding the chemical pollution and the possible factors related to construction materials, cleaning products and maintenance activities.

The paper analyzes only a limited number of case studies because the monitoring activity is still in progress.

The investigation offers a starting point for a wide tool for the definition of design, maintenance and management strategies in health-care facilities.

The research project, aimed at improving the knowledge of indoor air quality (IAQ) in inpatient rooms, is a starting point for a supporting tool for future regulations concerning health-care facilities.

IAQ is an issue on which many governments are focusing. Several health-care researchers have reported studies that aim at improving users’ health. Most investigations are about biological and physical risks, but chemical risks have been less studied. The paper suggests some design and management strategies for inpatient room.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a screening test for indoor air quality (IAQ) assessment by auditing only a few “dominant” contributors for preliminary measurements in air‐conditioned offices.

In Hong Kong, up to ten common indoor air pollutants have to be audited in determining the IAQ acceptance for typical air‐conditioned offices. Indeed, parameters could not be uniformly contributed to the assessed “IAQ satisfaction”. The study reviews the past ten‐year assessment experiences in Hong Kong and investigates the “dominant” contributors of unsatisfactory IAQ for screening tests.

When compared with the “full” assessment of all ten listed parameters, a screening test with assessment parameters reduced by half would correctly identify 96 per cent unsatisfactory and 95 per cent satisfactory cases.

The screening test was developed with the reported patterns of the ten common air pollutants from on‐site measurements and survey studies in typical air‐conditioned offices in Hong Kong. Therefore, the test application may require adaptation for use in other countries.

The study shows the usefulness of a regional database in developing a screening strategy for IAQ and so it would be a useful reference for policymakers in evaluating a cost‐justified IAQ assessment protocol.

The paper proposes a simple screening test which can identify the probable unsatisfactory IAQ in offices by assessing only a few “dominant” contributors, with selection of representative assessment parameters based on experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the corrosion of silver due to hydrogen sulphide pollutant in indoor conditions at a microelectronics plant located in Mexicali, Baja California, a semi‐arid zone in the northwest of Mexico.

Silver coupons and silver plated on to copper‐lead frames are exposed in the assembly process building of a microelectronics company during a period of 60 days and also in a sheltered test chamber that simulates indoor conditions with ambient concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, temperature and relative humidity (rH). Other exposures are made in the test chamber to study the corrosion behaviour of silver coupons over a duration of 24 months. The corrosion products were analysed using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X‐ray Spectroscopy (EDS). Corrosion rates were measured by Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) under laboratory‐controlled conditions.

The presence of silver sulphide corrosion products, dendrites and whiskers is observed on the exposed samples using SEM and EDS analysis.

The paper is designed to establish whether the company, where the exposure is taking place, constituted an indoor environment with outdoor hydrogen sulphide pollutant in sufficient concentration to induce silver corrosion.

The methodology used in this work can be applied to study the indoor corrosion behaviour of other metals, which will be of interest to the microelectronics industry.

This paper describes a new proactive approach for facility managers to assess and manage complaints of “sick buildings”.

The assessment of the “sick building” syndrome problem is multifaceted and should include both objective data such as those collected and analyzed by industrial hygienists, and subjective data such as occupant perception measurements, usually gathered by surveys. The data for this research, both objective and subjective, were provided on a wide variety of office buildings and were analyzed using an artificial neural‐network based model.

Current literature on the subject suggests that the cause of poor indoor environments involves many variables interacting in an unlimited number of combinations. Using a blended definition of a narrowly defined “sick building”, a framework for a decision‐making support system for facility managers is provided.

The data collection was limited to Southeastern US commercial office buildings, but the model has global applicability.

Recommendations are presented to help facility managers better understand the complex nature of the indoor environment based on this research.

This research and data analysis can be tailored to and is applicable to any building type.

There is growing concern in the more affluent, developed countries about the possible relationship between the environment created in energy‐efficient, high‐tech, air‐conditioned buildings, and the health problems of occupants. Over the past decade there has been a considerable increase in interest shown in the indoor air quality of offices, due in the main to improvements in measuring indoor air contaminants, a greater understanding of the health effects and the fact that 80 to 90 per cent of people now spend their time indoors. There is also a greater public awareness of the need for an adequate working environment. It is significant that the increased involvement of unions in white collar areas of work has generated considerable debate on the subject of hazards in the office environment which coincides with the national and international concern now materialising.

This study seeks to investigate the usefulness of occupant acceptance as a preliminary screen measure for offices' indoor air quality (IAQ). An effective alert indication of IAQ problems of a concerned indoor environment would help to promote good IAQ.

The study evaluates the hypothesis that the occupant dissatisfaction with the overall indoor environment provides an indication of IAQ problems. Hence, occupant dissatisfaction would be used as a screening parameter to identify problematic IAQ regarding some IAQ criteria in subsequent IAQ assessments. The hypothesis was tested with a database of regional cross‐sectional measurement in 490 offices within Hong Kong.

The occupants' dissatisfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) was correlated with the IAQ assessment results of nine IAQ assessment parameters regarding some IAQ criteria for air‐conditioned offices. At certain screening levels of predicted IEQ dissatisfaction, the performance of the proposed screening tool, indicating unsatisfactory office IAQ, was evaluated in terms of the test sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and Yule's Q statistics. The results showed that occupants' response to the indoor environment produced indications of unsatisfactory IAQ regarding the requirement of an “Excellent” office.

The subjective feelings of occupants are capable of identifying marked indoor environmental problems, but cannot identify the “marginal” IAQ problem cases.

The study shows the usefulness of using occupant acceptance to identify the unrecognized IAQ problems for air‐conditioned office environment. Using the identification model developed in the study, all the suspected cases were associated with a high chance of IAQ dissatisfaction and subsequent IAQ assessments were thus recommended.

The paper proposes a new identification method to identify the unrecognized IAQ problems which may indicate unsatisfactory IAQ. Also, the occupants' responses on the indoor environment are quantified.

A building's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has a direct impact on the health and productivity on its occupants. Understanding the effects of IAQ in educational buildings is essential in both the design and construction phases for decision-makers. The purpose of this paper is to outline the impact air quality has on occupants' performance, especially teachers and students in educational settings.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of IAQ on teachers' performances and to deliver air quality requirements to building information modelling-led school projects. The methodology of the research approach used a quasi-experiment through questionnaire surveys and physical measurements of indoor air parameters to associate correlation and deduction. A technical college building in Saudi Arabia was used for the case study. The study developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model to define and predict relationships between teachers' performance and IAQ.

This paper contains a detailed investigation into the impact of IAQ via direct parameters (relative humidity, ventilation rates and carbon dioxide) on teacher performance. Research findings indicated an optimal relative humidity with 65%, ranging between 650 to 750 ppm of CO₂, and 0.4 m/s ventilation rate. This ratio is considered optimum for both comfort and performance

This paper focuses on teacher performance in Saudi Arabia and used ANN to define and predict the relationship between performance and IAQ. There are few studies that focus on teacher performance in Saudi Arabia and very few that use ANN in data analysis.