Lecture

Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

CIVIL-460: Indoor air quality and ventilation

This course covers the fundamentals of indoor air quality and ventilation strategies for optimal building air quality. Through lectures, discussions, modeling software, a hands-on group project, students explore indoor air pollutants, their properties, emi ...

Description

This lecture covers special topics in indoor air quality and ventilation, focusing on recent studies using culture-independent techniques to understand the microbial ecology of the built environment. It discusses case studies on indoor bacteria sources, human microbial emissions, and the transmission modes of respiratory pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. The lecture also explores the impact of respiratory activities on aerosol transmission, emphasizing the importance of particle size in virus transmission. Additionally, it delves into the efficiency of masks in blocking aerosols of different sizes from reaching the lower lungs. Various visualization techniques and research findings are presented to illustrate these concepts.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Pathogen transmission

In medicine, public health, and biology, transmission is the passing of a pathogen causing communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to a particular individual or group, regardless of whether the other individual was previously infected. The term strictly refers to the transmission of microorganisms directly from one individual to another by one or more of the following means: airborne transmission – very small dry and wet particles that stay in the air for long periods of time allowing airborne contamination even after the departure of the host.

Respiratory syncytial virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a common, contagious virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derived from the large cells known as syncytia that form when infected cells fuse. RSV is a common cause of respiratory hospitalization in infants, and reinfection remains common in later life: it is a notable pathogen in all age groups.

Respiratory system

The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies greatly, depending on the size of the organism, the environment in which it lives and its evolutionary history. In land animals the respiratory surface is internalized as linings of the lungs. Gas exchange in the lungs occurs in millions of small air sacs; in mammals and reptiles these are called alveoli, and in birds they are known as atria.

Respiratory disease

Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, pleurae, pleural cavity, the nerves and muscles of respiration. Respiratory diseases range from mild and self-limiting, such as the common cold, influenza, and pharyngitis to life-threatening diseases such as bacterial pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, tuberculosis, acute asthma, lung cancer, and severe acute respiratory syndromes, such as COVID-19.

Bacteria

Bacteria (bækˈtɪəriə; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria play a vital role in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients and the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere.

Related lectures (56)

Anoxygenic Photosynthesis

Explores anoxygenic photosynthesis, redox potential, cyclic electron flow, ATP generation, green sulfur bacteria, chlorosomes, and prokaryotic phototroph diversity.

Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation

Covers indoor air quality, ventilation, particle sizes, and global health burden of indoor air pollution.

Respiratory System: Mechanics and Anatomy

Explores the anatomy and mechanics of the respiratory system, focusing on lung function and breathing mechanisms.

Revisiting Airflow and Aerosol Transport in the Deep Lungs

Explores airflow and aerosol transport in the deep lungs, covering anatomy, flow patterns, and deposition mechanisms.

Ventilation: Indoor Air Quality