Modeling passenger comfort in turboprop aircraft using objective measures.

Background: A quantitative comfort model will aid in evaluating comfort levels of various target groups before the actual flight of an airplane. However, constructing the model is always a challenge due to the complexity of the phenomenon.

Objectives: In this paper, we present quantitative comfort models to predict the (dis)comfort of passengers flying with turboprops based on objective measures.

Typical and extreme weather datasets for studying the resilience of buildings to climate change and heatwaves.

We present unprecedented datasets of current and future projected weather files for building simulations in 15 major cities distributed across 10 climate zones worldwide. The datasets include ambient air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, direct and diffuse solar irradiance, and wind speed at hourly resolution, which are essential climate elements needed to undertake building simulations. The datasets contain typical and extreme weather years in the EnergyPlus weather file (EPW) format and multiyear projections in comma-separated value (CSV) format for three periods: historical (2001-2020), future mid-term (2041-2060), and future long-term (2081-2100).

Life cycle assessment for early-stage process optimization of microbial biosurfactant production using kinetic models-a case study on mannosylerythritol lipids (MEL).

This study assesses the environmental impacts of mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs) production for process optimization using life cycle assessment (LCA). MELs are glycolipid-type microbial biosurfactants with many possible applications based on their surface-active properties. They are generally produced by fungi from the family of Ustilaginaceae via fermentation in aerated bioreactors.

Bringing Light into the Dark-Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction.

Carbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, often based on scarce transparent inventory data.

Sustainable Pultruded Sandwich Profiles with Mycelium Core.

This research focuses on exploring the potential of mycelium as a sustainable alternative to wood or solid foam in pultruded glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) sandwich profiles. The study evaluates the performance and the environmental sustainability potential of this composite by mechanical tests and life cycle assessment (LCA). Analysis and comparison of pultruded sandwich profiles with mycelium, polyurethane (PUR) foam and chipboard demonstrate that mycelium is competitive in terms of its performance and environmental impact.

Effects of increased recirculation air rate and aircraft cabin occupancy on passengers' health and well-being - Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Aircraft cabins are special environments. Passengers sit in close proximity in a space with low pressure that they cannot leave. The cabin is ventilated with a mixture of outside and recirculated air.

Increased self-reported sensitivity to environmental stimuli and its effects on perception of air quality and well-being.

Background: In previous studies, negative associations were found between increased environmental sensitivity and general well-being as well as positive perception of air quality. However, only a few studies with partly inconsistent results examined this relation under exposure. They tried to determine whether people with increased environmental sensitivity react to real environmental conditions with changes in current well-being and perception of air quality.

Comparing the semantic networks of children with cochlear implants and children with typical hearing: Effects of length of language access.

Purpose: Kenett et al. (2013) report that the sematic networks, measured by using an oral semantic fluency task, of children with cochlear implants (CI) are less structured compared to the sematic networks of children with typical hearing (TH). This study aims to evaluate if such differences are only evident if children with CI are compared to children with TH matched on chronological age, or also if they are compared to children with TH matched on hearing age.

A holistic modeling framework for estimating the influence of climate change on indoor air quality.

The IPCC 2021 report predicts rising global temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events in the future, which will have different effects on the regional climate and concentrations of ambient air pollutants. Consequently, changes in heat and mass transfer between the inside and outside of buildings will also have an increasing impact on indoor air quality. It is therefore surprising that indoor spaces and occupant well-being still play a subordinate role in the studies of climate change.

Improving consistency at testing cementitious materials in the Dynamic Surface Leaching Test on the basis of the European technical specification CEN/TS 16637-2 - Results of a round robin test.

The environmental impact assessment of materials is usually based on laboratory tests, mostly in combination with models describing the longterm fate of the substances of interest in the targeted environmental compartment. Thus, laboratory tests are the fundamental link to achieve appropriate assessment conclusions which makes it essential to generate consistent results. This just as applies to the leaching of cementitious materials.

Environmental Impacts of Biosurfactants from a Life Cycle Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review.

Biosurfactants are considered as an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to conventional fossil-derived and chemically produced surfactants. Their production pathways, physicochemical properties, and applications are widely researched and discussed in literature. In this context, investigating the different impacts from the entire life cycle of biosurfactants is important to understand and mitigate potential environmental hotspots.

Groundwater risk assessment of leached inorganic substances from façades coated with plasters and mortars.

A requirement of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) in the European Union states that construction materials and works must be designed in a way that throughout their entire life cycle, they have no exceedingly high impact on the environment. The objective of the current work was to evaluate the environmental risk of stormwater runoff from plasters and mortars using the Groundwater Risk Assessment (GRA). The source term eluates are based on the results obtained by a model for leaching prediction of inorganic substances for vertical test panels (VTPs) coated with plasters and mortars.

Leaching prediction for vertical test panels coated with plaster and mortars exposed under real conditions by a PHREEQC leaching model.

A requirement of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) in the European Union states that construction works must be designed in such a way that throughout their entire life cycle, they have no exceedingly high environmental impact. The objective of the current work was to simulate the leaching of selected metals and sulfate in vertical test panels (VTPs) covered by plaster and mortar. The investigation is based on 18-month leaching outdoor tests (LOT) under real weather conditions.

Cabin air quality on non-smoking commercial flights: A review of published data on airborne pollutants.

We reviewed 47 documents published 1967-2019 that reported measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on commercial aircraft. We compared the measurements with the air quality standards and guidelines for aircraft cabins and in some cases buildings. Average levels of VOCs for which limits exist were lower than the permissible levels except for benzene with average concentration at 5.

Shape Memory Polymer Foam with Programmable Apertures.

In this work, a novel type of polyester urethane urea (PEUU) foam is introduced. The foam was produced by reactive foaming using a mixture of poly(1,10-decamethylene adipate) diol and poly(1,4-butylene adipate) diol, 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, 1,4-butanediol, diethanolamine and water as blowing agent. As determined by differential scanning calorimetry, the melting of the ester-based phases occurred at temperatures in between 25 °C and 61 °C, while the crystallization transition spread from 48 °C to 20 °C.

Municipal waste incineration fly ashes: from a multi-element approach to market potential evaluation.

Background: Fly ashes from municipal solid waste incineration contain significant amounts of (technology critical) elements. Processes to recover Cu or Zn are already in practice, but it still remains difficult to evaluate the full secondary resource potential of the ashes. One reason is the absence of a worldwide comparable analytical basis for detailed market analyses.

Influence of façade orientation on the leaching of biocides from building façades covered with mortars and plasters.

Biocides used in building façades to prevent potential growth of algae, fungi and bacteria are of major concern regarding the quality of stormwater runoff. The aim of the study was to analyze the influence of the façade orientation on the biocide release under real weather conditions to gain information for the development of on-site treatment systems. Field tests with model houses containing two different plaster compositions were carried out over a period of 18 months.