Effect of outside air ventilation rate on volatile organic compound concentrations in a call center

A study of the relationship between outside air ventilation rate and concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated indoors was conducted in a call center office building. The building, with two floors and a total floor area of 4600 m², is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Ventilation rates were manipulated with the building's four air handling units (AHUs). VOC and CO₂ concentrations in the AHU returns were measured on 7 days during a 13-week period. VOC emission factors were determined for individual zones on days when they were operating at near steady-state conditions. The emission factor data were subjected to principal component (PC) analysis to identify groups of co-varying compounds. Potential sources of the PC vectors were ascribed based on information from the literature. The per occupant CO₂ generation rates were 0.0068–0.0092 l s⁻¹. The per occupant isoprene generation rates of 0.2–0.3 mg h⁻¹ were consistent with the value predicted by mass balance from breath concentration and exhalation rate. The relationships between indoor minus outdoor VOC concentrations and ventilation rate were qualitatively examined for eight VOCs. Of these, acetaldehyde and hexanal, which likely were associated with material sources, and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, associated with personal care products, exhibited general trends of higher concentrations at lower ventilation rates. For other compounds, a clear inverse relationship between VOC concentrations and ventilation was not observed. The net concentration of 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol monoisobutyrate isomers, examples of low-volatility compounds, changed very little with ventilation likely due to sorption and re-emission effects. These results illustrate that the efficacy of ventilation for controlling VOC concentrations can vary considerably depending upon the operation of the building, the pollutant sources and the physical and chemical processes affecting the pollutants. Thus, source control measures, in addition to adequate ventilation, are required to limit concentrations of VOCs in office buildings.     

MODELING NITROGEN TRANSPORT IN THE IPSWICH RIVER BASIN,MASSACHUSETTS, USING A HYDROLOGICAL SIMULATION PROGRAM IN FORTRAN (HSPF)1

ABSTRACT: Increased riverine nitrogen (N) fluxes have been strongly correlated with land use changes and are now one of the largest pollution problems in the coastal region of the United States. In the present study, the Hydrological Simulation Program‐FORTRAN (HSPF) is used to simulate transport of N in the Ipswich River basin in Massachusetts and to evaluate the effect of future land use scenarios on the water quality of the river. Model results show that under a land use change scenario constructed with restrictions from environmental protection laws, where 44 percent of the forest in the basin was converted to urban land, stream nitrate concentrations increased by about 30 percent of the present values. When an extreme land use scenario was used, and 100 percent of the forest was converted to urban land, concentrations doubled in comparison to present values. Model simulations also showed that present stream nitrate concentrations might be four times greater than they were prior to urbanization. While pervious lands with high density residential land use generated runoff with the highest N concentrations in HSPF simulations, the results suggested that denitrification in the riparian zone and wetlands coupled with the hydrology of the basin are likely to control the magnitude of nitrate loads to the aquatic system. The simulation results showed that HSPF can predict the general patterns of inorganic N concentrations in the Ipswich River and tributaries. Nevertheless, HSPF has some difficulty simulating the extreme variability of the observed data throughout the main stem and tributaries, probably because of limitations in the representation of wetlands and riparian zones in the model, where N processes such as denitrification seem to play a major role in controlling the transport of N from the terrestrial system to the river reaches.     

HISTORICAL AND ESTIMATED GROUND WATER LEVELS NEAR WINNIPEG,CANADA, AND THEIR SENSITIVITY TO CLIMATIC VARIABILITY1

ABSTRACT: Long term well hydrographs and estimated ground water levels derived from hydroclimatic and biological data were used to evaluate trends within the Upper Carbonate Aquifer (UCA) near Winnipeg, Canada, during the 20th Century. Ground water records from instruments have been kept since the early 1960s and are derived from piezometers in the overlying sediments and in open boreholes in the UCA. Some boreholes extend into an underlying Paleozoic carbonate sequence. Shallow well hydrographs show no obvious long term trends but do exhibit variations on the order of three to four years that are correlated with changes in annual temperature and precipitation at lags up to 24 months. Trends observed in deeper wells appear to be largely related to ground water usage patterns and show little correlation with climate over the past 35 years. Stepwise multiple regression modeled average annual hydraulic head in the shallow wells as a function of regional temperature, precipitation, and tree ring variables. Estimated hydraulic heads had a slightly greater range prior to the 1960s, most prominently during an interval of lowered ground water levels between 1930 and 1942. Regression results demonstrate that moisture sensitive tree ring data are viable predictors of past ground water levels and may be useful for studies of aquifers in regions that lack long, high quality precipitation records.     

INTERREGIONAL COMPARISON OF ALLUVIAL STREAM CHANNEL MORPHOLOGY: GREAT PLAINS VERSUS CENTRAL LOWLANDS1

ABSTRACT: Stream channel development is a complicated process involving many factors. A major goal of research in fluvial geomorphology is to develop an understanding of the relations between channel form, water discharge, and sediment discharge characteristics. The concept of thresholds has been introduced as an element in fluvial processes, with the implication that the factors involved in a process might change in some way as threshold boundaries are passed. This study is focused on the extent to which a particular regional boundary represents a threshold in the process of stream channel development. Twenty-four alluvial stream channels from the Great Plains region and 24 from the Central Lowlands region are compared with regard to the distributional form, central tendency and dispersion characteristics, and correlation structure of ten variables, including indicators of discharge, channel sediment, and channel morphology. The results suggest that these aspects of the data are very similar between the regions, except for certain differences in central tendency characteristics, which are assumed to reflect underlying differences between the regions in geology and climate. In general, the results support the idea that this regional boundary is not an effective threshold with respect to the stream channel development process, and that, therefore, stream channels develop in these environmentally distinct regions by way of a similar process.     

内高压成形技术现状与发展趋势

介绍了内高压成形原理 ,工艺分类、优点、应用范围和适用材料 ,综述了国外内高压成形在工业领域尤其汽车工业的应用情况 ,给出了用内高压成形制造的典型结构件、枝杈管件、异形管件和空心轴类件。详细介绍了国内研制的 4 0 0MPa内高压成形机参数及在该设备上试制的铝合金管件、不锈钢管件、空心阶梯轴和轿车后轴纵臂等内高压成形件。最后指出内高压成形需要深入研究的课题和发展趋势     

城市环境噪声测量中布点数的优化研究

应用主成分分析,模糊聚类概念及动态规划方法对环境噪声测量的布点数进行优化研究。所建立的模型试用于厦门市环境噪声布点数的优化研究。     

二次颗粒物源成分谱的建立在尘源解析中的作用

通过CMB模型计算各类尘源对TSP、PM10的影响时发现，二次颗粒物对尘源解析起到了不容忽视的作用，因此就二次颗粒物源成分谱进行了专门解析研究，并把二次颗粒物解析也纳入到模型中来，从而完善了源解析结果。     

利用Authorware开发模具拆装交互性课件

介绍了如何采用Authorware6 .0为主控程序及编程语言 ,Flash4为辅助程序 ,以Solid works2 0 0 0为图形控制平台进行模具拆装课件设计的过程。该课件具有操作简便 ,表达直观 ,开放性强等特点。     

嘉峪关地磁低点位移异常与地震的相关性研究

对地磁垂直分量日变低点位移异常与1988年以来祁连山西段ML≥5.0级地震相对应的震例进行了分析研究,结果表明:该地区的地震活动和地磁低点位移异常都有其独特之处并与其构造活动有着密切联系.     

郑州市道路网络结构特征对大气颗粒物污染的影响及尺度效应

交通排放是大气颗粒物(PM)污染主要来源之一,从道路网络空间结构探究大气颗粒物污染缓解途径,对治理城市空气污染具有重要意义。该研究数据来源于郑州市GF-2遥感影像及建成区8个空气质量监测点(AQMS)的日监测数据。以AQMS为中心建立1 km×1 km(Scale1)-6 km×6 km(Scale6)空间尺度的样方,运用主成分分析法和线性混合效应模型,探讨不同空间尺度下影响PM10、PM2.5质量浓度的关键性路网结构特征,为郑州市路网结构规划和空气污染治理提供科学依据。结果表明,(1)郑州市建成区各监测点的颗粒物质量浓度及变异性都有冬高夏低的特征。(2)郑州市路网结构对PM10质量浓度的影响程度高于PM2.5。(3)主干道面积占比与PM10在Scale1、Scale3-Scale5尺度正相关,与PM2.5仅在Scale5正相关;总道路及次干道面积占比与PM10在Scale2-Scale6均正相关,但与PM2.5仅在Scale5、Scale6尺度正相关。在Scale5的空间尺度下控制总道路及次干道面积占比、减少主干道面积占比,可以有效缓解PM10、PM2.5的污染。(4)路网连通复杂度在Scale2与PM10负相关,在Scale2尺度提升路网环通复杂度可以促进PM10污染的有效缓解。(5)节点与廊道数量水平在Scale1、Scale2与PM10负相关,在Scale1、Scale5与PM2.5负相关。通过在Scale1尺度提升节点与廊道数量水平可以同时有效缓解PM10、PM2.5污染。