The public preferences for environmental quality should be a primary consideration of planners and decision-makers in environmental systems planning. In the first stage of multicriteria analysis, a multi-attribute evaluation model for determining public preferences is formulated. The environmental indices are defined for a comparison of environmental quality in different metropolitan districts....

BACKGROUND Air pollution is increasingly documented as a threat to public health in most developing countries. Evaluation of current air quality levels, regulatory standards and scientific literature on outdoor and indoor air pollution, and health effects are important to identify the burden, develop and implement interventions and to fill knowledge gaps in Sri Lanka. METHODS PUBMED and Medli...

It is estimated that even up to 30% of buildings worldwide may be the subject of complaints connected with the quality of indoor air. Potential sources of air pollution can be both organic and inorganic particles. This article focuses on biological air pollutants from living and dead biological sources, especially those connected with fungi. Fungi found in the indoor air of domestic dwellings i...

Stilted building is a unique kind of buildings distributed across the southwest mountainous area in China, especially the Miao and Dong dwellings in Qiandongnan area. In this paper, two local traditional stilted houses, old-fashioned and new-fashioned, were selected for case study to investigate indoor environmental quality by field survey. The indoor thermal, luminous and acoustic environment ...

Much of the world population, particularly in developing countries, still relies on firewood to meet basic energy needs. The resulting indoor air pollution can have severe health consequences, particularly for young children who spend considerable time in close proximity to the fire while their mothers cook. In this paper we use data from a household survey to examine gas stove adoption, firewo...

A potential source of confounding in studies investigating the effect of indoor air pollution on child health is exposure to ambient air pollution. We investigate this relationship pairing city-level air pollution measures with child level data from the National Family Health Survey (2005-06) for six cities in India. We address simultaneity in child health outcomes and potential endogeneity of ...

To assess the status of, and factors associated with, residents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to air pollution and respiratory health of children in Shanghai, we conducted a cross-sectional survey. Demographic factors associated with residents' knowledge were identified by multiple logistic regressions. The questionnaires were completed by 972 participants, half from the Sh...

Air pollution issues in South Africa were only brought to public attention in the late 1980’s when concern was expressed over the high emissions from industries on the Highveld (east of Johannesburg). Air pollution issues have since been raised in other parts of the country such as Durban and Cape Town. Although the research and monitoring of air pollution has been largely fragmented and uncoor...

The authors investigated the association of early-life exposure to indoor air pollution with neuropsychological development in preschoolers and assessed whether this association differs by glutathione-S-transferase gene (GSTP1) polymorphisms. A prospective, population-based birth cohort was set up in Menorca, Spain, in 1997-1999 (n = 482). Children were assessed for cognitive functioning (McCar...

BACKGROUND Secondhand smoke poses a serious health hazard. In Israel the recent passage of a law designed to protect people from secondhand smoke in public places was greeted with controversy. The debate is taking place without data on actual levels of pollution for secondhand smoke in public places. OBJECTIVES To estimate levels of small respirable suspended particles, atmospheric markers of...