Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ)
Online ISSN : 1881-817X
Print ISSN : 1348-0685
ISSN-L : 1348-0685
Volume 83, Issue 754
Displaying 1-11 of 11 articles from this issue
  • Kazuki KANEKO, Hisaya NAGAI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 929-936
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     This study investigates the characteristics of natural smoke exhaustion in the case of fire in buildings with a large cavity space. If the cavity space area is large enough, it can be considered equivalent to the ambient space. Therefore, it becomes possible to discharge the smoke at the time of fire to the cavity space side. However, the quantitative criterion of the space volume is not necessarily clear. Furthermore, the criterion of opening area for the air supply at the bottom of the space required for smoke exhaustion is also unclear so far. In this study, it aims to clarify these quantitative criteria by CFD analysis.
     The building with a large cavity space covered in this research is the simplified building of an actual one where the fire simulation experiment was carried out in the past. The height of the reference building is 72m, and it has a cavity space of 324m2 (18m × 18m) at the center of the building and a bottom opening of 39m2.
     In this paper, the cavity temperatures, velocities and the amount of the ambient air inflow volume into the cavity space at the time of fire when changing the height and bottom opening ratio of the reference building were numerically simulated by CFD. In this CFD analysis, we used a simple compressible k-ε turbulence model that takes into consideration the air density change. We also used the standard k-ε model to compare the results. In addition, they were compared with predicted values obtained from the prediction formula of the ambient air inflow volume from the bottom opening based on small-scale model experiments by Tanaka et al.
     The main findings obtained in this study were as follows.
     1) Except for the case of shallow cavity space with an aspect ratio of no more than 1.0 to 1.5, the predicted air inflow volume from the bottom opening at the time of fire by the simple prediction formula is approximately equal to the calculation by the simple compressible turbulence model. Therefore, in the case of shallow cavities, it is necessary to consider not only the inflow air volume from the bottom opening but that from the top of the cavity space.
     2) For shallow cavities with an aspect ratio of no more than about 1.0 to 1.5, it is not necessary to form the bottom opening required for natural smoke exhaustion. However, it has a tendency that the smaller the cavity space area is, the smaller the aspect ratio that doesn't need the bottom opening is.
     3) In buildings having a cavity space having an aspect ratio of not less than 2.0, the ambient inflow air volume into it at the time of fire increases with increasing of the bottom opening ratio. However, in consideration of the findings 2) above, from the design point of view, it can be said that it is desirable to set the bottom opening ratio to about not less than 10% in a cavity space having no more than 4.0 aspect ratio.
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  • Sohei TSUJIMURA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 937-944
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Sound environments in public spaces such railway stations and airports are often reported for problems in Japan. Japanese society is aging rapidly and listening difficulties during announcements at a railway stations are becoming a serious problem in Japan. For elderly in whom hearing loss progresses with age, it is difficult to comprehend announcements at major railway stations, especially in the crowded Tokyo metropolitan area. The author has studied and reported on the ability of elderly people to reproduce announcements at railway stations. However, that study did not give much consideration to the influence of the listening impression of elderly people, which appears to differ depending on changes in the speaking rate of an announcement. Therefore, this paper focused on the speaking rate of announcements made at a railway station as an acoustical factor of phonatory system in a speech transmission process.
     To clarify the influence of the speaking rate of announcements on auditory impression at a railway station, a physical model of a station was built to conduct a subjective experiment with elderly people and young adults enrolled as participants. About 16-second general announcement for a railway station was used in this experiment. The background noise used was the same as that heard in the concourse of a real station in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The relationship of the speaking rate of an announcement to subjective evaluations such as “Listening difficulty”, “Noisiness”, and “Unnatural utterance” was investigated. The optimum speaking rate for announcements at railway stations was discussed based on the results.
     In this experiment, the speaking rate of announcements was based on varied parameters, and subjective evaluations of announcements were made under three sound settings for back ground noise conditions (LA 65 dB, 70 dB, 75 dB). Speaking rates of announcements were set at 6 levels from 4.5 to 9.5 syllable/s, at 1 syllable/s interval. The signal-to-noise ratio condition was +10 dB. With regard to “Listening difficulty” and “Noisiness”, evaluations were made on a 5-point Likert scale (“1: Not good at all”, “2: Not very good”, “3: Somewhat good”, “4: Very good”, “5: Extremely good”) was used. To evaluate “Unnatural utterance”, a 7-point Likert scale (“-3 and 3: Feel very slow (or fast)”, “-2 and 2: Feel slow (or fast)”, “-1 and 1: Feel a little slow (or fast)”, “0: Appropriate”) was used.
     In this study, speaking rate condition, background noise level conditions and whether or not the participant had hearing loss were used as factors, and a three-way analysis of variance was conducted. As a result, with regard to “Speaking rate”, it was suggested that “Listening difficulty” has the lowest evaluation value when the speaking rate was 6.5 or 7.5 syllable/s. “Listening difficulty” with a background noise of 75 dB has a higher evaluation value with background noise 65 dB and 70 dB. Furthermore, within this speaking rate range, “Unnaturalness utterance” for announcements at the railway station was not felt. These results demonstrated that the optimum speaking rate of an announcement at the railway station is in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 syllable/s.
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  • Yuki AKIZUKI, Akihiko HOKUGO, Akira TAKASHIMA, Toshinari MATSUI, Yoshi ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 945-953
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     As a result of tsunami associated with the Nankai Trough Earthquake, the predicted death toll in night-time is larger than that in day-time. That is why the start of evacuation is often delayed if an earthquake occurs at night, and the walking speed of evacuation at night tends to decline due to poor visibility caused by low illuminance level of evacuation routes and difficulty in walking through rubble. Therefore, improvement of the visual environment at night-time is very important for quick evacuation from tsunami.
     In this paper, a pilot study on guiding method for tsunami evacuees with lighting system in a coastal area of Fukura district of Minami Awaji City was reported, where heavy damage is anticipated by Tsunami of Nankai Trough Earthquake. The pilot study was conducted through the actual evacuation drill at this district in day-time and night-time, and 177 data in day-time and 146 data in night-time of this district residents were collected by the questionnaire survey. Some participants wear a portable GPS device for measuring their walking speed and moving track at the evacuation drill. Moreover, six participants who were not familiar with this district (i.e., assumed tourists) took part in this pilot study after the actual evacuation drill for residents. The major findings of this research are as follows:
     1) Assumed tourists who were not familiar with this district and with newly outside deployed disaster prevention equipment “illuminated guidance sign for tsunami evacuation” cannot understand what it was. 90% of resident participants who had been given information about these signs' meanings and setting positions noticed them in the actual evacuation drill. However, only 17% of assumed tourists did notice them. In order for illuminated guidance signs to function effectively, it is necessary to educate the population in addition to better the specification and placement.
     2) Illuminated guidance sign indicating the evacuation area itself is useful for evacuees to confirm the direction for evacuating and let them know they are evacuating properly, therefore give evacuees sense of relief.
     3) Because it is not always true that evacuees carry flashlights with them, it is necessary to place security lights with built-in battery on major evacuation routes to guarantee the minimum level of needed illuminance on the road surface.
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  • Kazunori TAKADA, Koichi TATEMATSU, Kei SHIMONOSONO, Hirofumi HAYAMA, T ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 955-964
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In this study, to investigate a method for reducing the linear thermal transmittance between windows and building walls, we used Taguchi’s method to calculate the linear thermal transmittance between PVC windows, FIX, Casements, Sliding, and the building wall in the wooden filling heat insulation construction method. We quantitatively evaluated the impact of the insulation performance and the position of the frame part on the building wall as well as the influence of the properties of the indoor casing (thermal conductivity) on the linear thermal transmittance. We presented a configuration that minimized the linear thermal transmittance, described the fabrication of test specimens, and reported the appropriateness of these specimens via performance verification. Our results are summarized as follows.
     1) The linear thermal transmittance (ψb) between the windows and building walls was similar in all cross sections. In each case, the numerical magnitude could be confirmed with a certain extent of difference, possibly because of the influence of the control factor on the heat flux between the windows and building walls.
     2) From the average value of the SN ratio, configuration that minimized the linear thermal transmittance were found for the combination, (Case 18) which accounted for the third level of the control factor (control factor A being the second level) common to all cross sections.
     3) From the average value of the SN ratio, we found that the linear thermal transmittance can be reduced by improving the heat insulation performance of the frame part and the indoor casing and reducing the distance of the installation position of the frame part on the building wall directed inside the room.
     4) It is possible to clearly show the ranking of control factors contributing to the reduction in the linear thermal transmittance at each section site; however, when considering window species having different cross-sectional structures, it is difficult to clearly judge the hierarchy from the extent of the impact of the SN ratio for each section site depending on the location of Sliding as an example.
     5) The precedence order for each control factor could be clarified as a window based on the impact of the SN ratio obtained using the average ψb (Aveψb) between the window and the building wall per aperture window.
     6) Performance verification was conducted for the average linear thermal transmittance between the window and the building wall per aperture window in FIX by fabricating test specimens (Cases 1, 5, and 18). The measured values, similar to the calculated values, demonstrated a tendency of decreased linear thermal transmittance in the order of Case 1 → Case 5 → Case 18. Furthermore, in each case, the divergence between the two values was less than 10%, which exhibited good consistency and proved the validity of the calculated values.
     7) The installation position of the frame part had a higher effect on the convection component compared with the radiation component of the heat transfer resistance on the outdoor side; however, the impact on the linear thermal transmittance was small.
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  • Taiki SATO, Makoto YANESHITA, Masayuki OGURO
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 965-974
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Recently, monolithic and closed sports stadiums with big stands and large roofs have attracted attention as they contribute to increasing the number of attendance and availability ratio of a stadium. Closure of stadiums causes a decrease in the wind velocity and the volume of ventilated air on the turf pitch.
     However, the environment suitable for a desirable growth of the natural grass of the turf requires good ventilation. In particular, the quality of the natural grass can be deteriorated during summer season, when the wind velocity and the volume of ventilated air are decreased. The reason for this has been attributed to an increase in the turf surface temperature as a result of the shortage of heat release from grass and soil by evaporation. As a countermeasure, large-size ventilation fans have been increasingly used in sports stadiums.
     Therefore, to maintain a high-quality turf pitch for players and spectators, and to realize easy maintenance and management, it is important to design the configuration of sports stadiums with a consideration for natural ventilation. In addition, to save the energy consumption of ventilation fans in existing stadiums, it is necessary to derive an appropriate layout and blowing direction of fans according to the characteristics of the natural ventilation of each stadium.
     Therefore, the authors have developed a coupling analysis based on an iterative partitioned method for turf thermal environment analysis. This analysis carries out the coupled simulation of radiation, convection, moisture transport, and heat budget of the turf surface for the prediction of the thermal environment near the turf surface and the condition of turf surface. This paper describes the outline of the method and the simulation results under natural ventilation with additional large mechanical fans in a stadium.
     First, the configuration of the stadium is reproduced in three dimensions. The turf surface temperature around the low wind velocity area is increased. This temperature distribution can accurately reproduce the measured results. Moreover, heat release by latent heat of evaporation from the turf surface is shown to be about 8 to 10 times larger than other heat flux components. Therefore, it is important, in order to reduce the turf surface temperature, to promote latent heat of evaporation by increasing the amount of moisture transport from the turf to the air through air flow generation and discharging highly humid air form turf pitch by ventilation.
     Next, the effects of the ventilation fan with a swinging function on decreasing the turf surface temperature are simulated under the calm wind condition based on unsteady simulation. The iterative partitioned method enables the unsteady coupled simulation of radiation, convection, moisture transport, and heat budget of the turf surface. A ventilation fan can generate airflow and reduce turf surface temperature in a wide range of about half of the grass pitch by its swinging motion. However, in half of the downwind of the grass pitch, although wind velocity remained, the turf surface temperature increased owing to moisture retention. This result indicates that layout and blowing direction planning of ventilation fans considering the quick discharge of highly humid air is important.
     In conclusion, the coupled analysis of radiation, convection, and humidity based on separation-iterative solution method is effective for the planning of natural ventilation and the operation of the large fan for stadiums with consideration of the quality of natural grass of the turf pitch.
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  • A Phase Change Material experimental method and a thermal behavior calculation method to reproduce the thermal behavior
    Mao SERIKAWA, Tomohiro SAEKI, Masayuki MAE
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 975-985
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Phase Change Materials (PCM) contribute to the temperature stability in houses, where it is utilized as a mean of passive solar strategy. However, the literature lack established experimental methods of PCM installation in buildings. This article aimed to study and propose experimental and calculation methods for a PCM material.
     Chapter 1 introduced the purpose of this research. It is proposed that for a PCM that has different melting and solidification behaviors (i.e., during heating and cooling cycles) the specific heat is to be measured, and the thermal behavior should be monitored during these state transitions as well.
     Chapter 2 is concerned with the measurement part. Three types of PCM were examined; paraffin without gelatin, paraffin with gelatin and sodium sulfate decahydrate. Since these types of PCM come as flat film packs, the Peltier device can efficiently be used to measure their specific heat and thermal conductivity. Regarding the representative temperature for specific heat and enthalpy of the PCM packs, it appeared to be more appropriate to use the weighted average temperature of the PCM-surface temperature and the temperature between two PCM packs measured at equal distances from the external plane surfaces. Through a series of consecutive process of heating then cooling (solidification), followed again by heating (melting), and so on, it was detected that PCM behavior at melting process is different from its response at solidification process, especially when the specimen is entirely melted or entirely solidified.
     The calculation method for replicating the experiment is proposed in Chapter 3. To accurately consider the PCM variations on the melting-and-solidification processes, three apparent specific heat curves should be accompanied in the calculation. The rule for switching from one curve to another is obtained from the measurements in Chapter 2. The employed curve should be changed when the PCM temperature reaches a particular point.
     There are some issues to be considered when applying the proposed calculation to PCM types other than paraffin or sodium sulfate decahydrate. These issues are presented in Chapter 4.
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  • Hiroko ONODERA, Nobuyuki SUNAGA, Eiko KUMAKURA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 987-995
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     To prevent global warming, saving energy in houses is indispensable. In the construction of residential buildings, to reduce energy consumption, strong insulation and energy-saving measures have been promoted. However, in general housing and in high-performance houses, energy consumption can differ greatly depending on residents' lifestyles. To promote energy saving in houses, it is important to improve the energy-saving consciousness of residents and to promote energy-saving behaviors.
     In this study, by targeting high-performance houses that use natural energy with thermal insulation performance equivalent to the HEAT 20 G1 level, we clarified the actual state of residents' energy-saving consciousness and energy consumption. In addition, we clarified the changes in residents' energy-saving consciousness and behavior upon exposure to information about saving energy. Furthermore, we examined the information that leads to improvements in energy-saving consciousness.

     The major findings are as follows:
     ·Even in high-performance houses, energy consumption differs by more than three times depending on lifestyle, and its breakdown is diverse as well. Therefore, energy-saving behaviors are effective even in high-performance houses.
     ·Among residents of high-performance houses, the priority of consciousness is often “comfort is No. 1, economy is No. 2.” They want to reduce utility costs to the extent possible but tend not to implement energy-saving behaviors that reduce comfort.
     ·By recognizing the difference in energy consumption due to the use of heating equipment, the heating equipment in two houses was changed, and as a result, the energy consumption of these houses was reduced greatly.
     ·By providing information, in the second year, the usage of solar thermal systems changed according to the residents' individual lifestyles.
     ·If a resident voluntarily devises energy-saving behaviors, the satisfaction level of the thermal environment increases, and endogenous motivation for energy-saving behaviors is expected to increase as well.
     ·The residents' sense for energy cost changes with the passage of time; therefore, we believe there is a possibility of further energy saving.
     ·Information on the effects of saving energy is easier for people to accept if it indicates energy cost.
     ·Comparative information about other houses of the same level is effective for promoting energy-saving consciousness.
     ·It is possible that the frequency of checking parameters such energy consumption and power generation may increase if such information is displayed on the operation panels of water heaters, air conditioners, and other such devices.
     ·In high-performance houses, it is necessary to carefully explain how to utilize housing systems and facilities to live comfortably while reducing energy consumption.
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  • U YANAGI, Shinsuke KATO
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 997-1004
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Since 2005, advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized biological science. One particular application of NGS technologies is to elucidate microbiomes in built environments. We are currently conducting a series of studies on the elucidation and control of mass infection mechanisms based on dynamic measurement of environment microbiomes. The objective of this study is to clarify the dispersion characteristics of oral bacteria in built environment. Bacterial communities from occupants’ hands and oral cavities, doorknobs, desk and keyboard surfaces, and air in a university laboratory were investigated. For each sample, the variable region 4 (V4) of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the primer set 5’-acactctttccctacacgacgctcttccgatct-GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGGTAA-3’ (1st_515F) and 5’-gtgactggagttcagacgtgtgctcttccgatct-GGACTACHVGGGTWTCTAAT-3’ (1st_806R). The 16S rRNA amplification protocol version 4_13 was used as a pretreatment with the Next-Generation Sequencer (NGS, Illumina MiSeq system v2). DNA quality was checked using the Agilent 2200 TapeStation. All samples that contained the necessary quality and quantity of nucleic acid concentration for analysis were then analyzed. The produced sequence library was mixed. To improve the quality of the mixed sequence library, a refining processing using the AMPureXP PCR purification system (Beckman Coulter, Inc.) was carried out. About data analysis, the leads for all samples obtained in the sequence analysis (lead 1 and lead 2) were unified, and then assemblies of lead 1 and lead 2 were extracted, followed by clustering and representation arrangement. CD-HIT-OTU was used for alignment extraction and representation arrangement. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) search was performed using the DDBJ 16S rRNA database (version 2016 01 12) by querying representation arrangements. For sequencing, alignment (PyNAST) and genealogical tree creation (FastTree) were performed using a phylogenetic system (RDP classifier), and template alignment was accomplished using the QIIME pipeline. Rarefaction analysis and comparison with a bacillus solution were performed using the QIIME pipeline. The main results obtained by this study are shown as follows. 1) Higher rank 6 phyla of 98% of rates of all 18 phyla being detected and occupying to the whole on a bacterial phyla level more than at composition ratio 1% were Firmicutes (44.9%), Proteobacteria (30.2%), Actinobacteria (9.5%), Bacteroidetes (8.4%), Fusobacteria (3.3%) and Cyanobacteria (1.7%). 2) Higher rank 15 genera of 70% of rates of all 149 genera were Streptococcus (28.4%), Haemophilus (9.0%). Prevotella (5.0%), Staphylococcus (4.5%), Neisseria (4.2%), Corynebacterium (3.8%), Pseudomonas (2.8%), Rothia (2.8%), Fusobacterium (2.1%), Enhydrobacter (1.6%), Veillonella (1.4%), Leptotrichia (1.2%), Granulicatella (1.2%), Acinetobacte (1.1%), Porphyromonas (1.0%). 3) On the species level, reads of one or more larger than 3 orders had 33 species from each sampling point, and about 30% of bacteria were pathogenic bacterium or opportunistic infection bacterium. In particular, P. melaninogenica which is a disease germ in a mouth, and R. dentocariosa and R. mucilaginosa which is an opportunistic infection bacillus in a mouth were detected from all parts. 4) By the analysis of species intersection of each group of bacteria, reads larger than 3 orders from all samples were P. melaninogenica and R. aeria and both bacteria are causative organism of respiratory tract infection. That is, the fact that oral cavity bacteria of this human associated were detected from all surfaces and indoor air showed clearly that oral cavity bacteria had dispersed in all parts among indoor environment.
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  • Kazuki KUGA, Sung-Jun YOO, Kazuhide ITO
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 1005-1013
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In the recent decades, stricter regulation for cigarette industry has been established due to serious health effect of tobacco smoke which contains various harmful chemical compounds, and electric cigarette (e-cigarette, vape) which is composed of e-liquid and heating device has been widely popularized throughout the world. Although e-liquid mainly contains nicotine and some additives, it was reported that aldehydes occurred by heating e-liquid cause health risks for e-cigarette users (first-hand smokers) and second-hand smokers. The purpose of this research is to develop a comprehensive prediction method for quantitative estimation of respiratory exposure risks to e-cigarette smoke. Previously, we have developed in silico computer simulated person(CSP) which is reproduced actual shape of human body and respiratory tract in detail. The CSP, which was prepared for the numerical analysis, was integrated with CFD analysis in order to predict contaminant transfer in indoors and inside human airway. Moreover, physiologically based pharmacokinetic(PBPK) model was adopted in the airway part of CSP. This PBPK model enables to estimate contaminant adsorption at airway wall surface and contaminant reaction/transfer phenomenon inside airway tissue. Assuming e-cigarette smoker and the other occupant in the simple room, first-hand/second-hand exposure risks of inhaled formaldehyde was estimated under the unsteady breathing condition.
     As a result, it was revealed that 39% of inhaled formaldehyde was adsorbed into airway wall surface, and 47% was reached to the lungs through the bronchioles. 11% of inhaled formaldehyde was re-discharged from the airway when the breathing cycle is in the exhalation mode. This formaldehyde was reached to the other occupant, and 2% of the exhaled formaldehyde from e-cigarette smoker was inhaled into occupant's airway.
     This study demonstrated a comprehensive analysis of inhalation exposure, especially first-hand/second-hand exposure risks in indoor space. The movement of first-hand e-cigarette smoke in the human airway and its health risk was quantitatively analyzed by using PBPK-CFD hybrid analysis. Moreover, transfer phenomenon of the second-hand e-cigarette smoke in indoor space, and second-hand exposure risk were simultaneously estimated. We believe the in silico human model(CSP) integrated with PBPK-CFD hybrid analysis has great potential for inhalation exposure risks assessment of e-cigarette smoke.
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  • Yuki KIYOKAWA, Daisuke NARUMI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 1015-1024
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Recently, increasing urban temperatures due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and Global Warming (GW) have been remarkable in some Japanese metropolises. The UHI effect and GW not only cause temperatures to rise, they also have other diverse impacts on urban dwellers. Therefore, it is important to understand the effect of temperature increase on urban dwellers to take action for preventing the occurrence of adverse impact. So, this research evaluated the temperature sensitivity in electric power supply. As for the target area, we set the whole of system power supply area and individual supply districts of mainly dominant land usage for office, commercial and residential. Temperature sensitivity for system was positioned as a standard and we compared between system and each district. In addition, the secular change of office and residential districts was examined.

     The results of this research are described below.
     1) As a result of calculating the temperature sensitivity by time for electric power supply for districts with different building using, only the daytime working hours are affected in the office district, whereas, it showed high figures at the morning and at nighttime in the residential distinct, also the figure gradually increased from morning to afternoon in the commercial district, and showed a remarkably high figure at night, especially at around 8PM.
     2) In secular change of long-term of temperature sensitivity, focusing on the comparison between 2001 and 2015, temperature sensitivity decreases greatly in both the summer and winter in the office district, whereas in the residential district, the results that greatly increase in winter especially indicated. It is expected temperature sensitivity will decrease as a result of progress in energy saving measures, but temperature sensitivity increased because increasing in electricity share on thermal demand affected.
     3) In secular change of short-term of temperature sensitivity, focusing on comparison between 2010 and 2011, temperature sensitivity in the office and commercial districts decreases greatly during the summer and winter, and the decrease continues until 2015. But the residential district, decrease can be seen only in the summer of 2011.
     4) The results of estimating the annual air conditioning use time on each building using showed that the cooling use time was remarkably long in the office and commercial using, and that the period without air conditioning was remarkably long in residential using.
     5) As a result of calculating the fluctuation of power consumption in each time when the temperature rose by 1 °C as a whole for Osaka Prefecture, the summer showed a peak around 8PM due to the influence of residential and commercial using. Its figure was about 750 MW. Peak was observed in the morning in addition to the nighttime in winter, but overall the fluctuation was a relatively small figure compared with the summer.
     6) As a result of calculating the change amount in annual electricity consumption when the temperature rose by 1 °C as a whole for Osaka prefecture, the increase in the summer greatly exceeded the decrease in the winter in regard to office and commercial using, but compared with 2001, the budget tended to decrease in 2015. Regarding residential using as well, the increase in summer greatly exceeded the decrease in winter, but the decrease in winter remarkably increased in 2015, so the budget was almost balanced.
     7) Rate of temperature sensitivity in the system power is relatively low temperature sensitivity because it contains a lot of industrial use where the temperature sensitivity is low. In contrast with, each supply district in Osaka Prefecture (office, residential, commercial district) showed figures much higher than that.
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  • Kenichi HASEGAWA, Naoki KAGI, Jun SAKAGUCHI, Naohide SHINOHARA, Yasuyu ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 754 Pages 1025-1032
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: December 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Meta-analysis has revealed that building dampness and mouldy indoor environments are associated with a 30%–50% increase in respiratory and asthma-related health issues (Fisk, 2007). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published an authoritative source of information on damp indoor spaces and health in 2004 (IOM, 2004). Proper architectural methods and optimal occupant behaviour in indoor environments are needed to minimize building dampness. Authors have already proposed a method to estimate indoor dampness from self-reported information by occupants and verified its validation. In this paper, results of an internet survey conducted over two consecutive years were analyzed for an association between indoor dampness based on proposed estimation method and allergic symptoms among children.
     A prospective cohort survey of children under twelve years old was conducted via the internet. Questionnaires were distributed on the web to 5,071 houses in all prefectures of Japan in February 2014, and 3,262 completed questionnaires were returned within 5 days. The response rate was 64.3%. These houses had already participated in a questionnaire survey during the same month of the previous year. Therefore, we could estimate changes in the indoor environment and children's allergic symptoms over two consecutive years.
     A method to estimate indoor dampness using occupants' self-reported answers to questions about visible vapor condensation, mould growth, perception of mouldy odor and other factors during the winter season was proposed. This dampness index ranges from 0 to 24, and its values are classified into four ranks based on the quartiles. Rank 4 represents houses with the most serious problems related to indoor dampness. The questionnaires also included items regarding the following health-related symptoms among children: ocular symptoms, nasal symptoms, respiratory symptoms, dermal symptoms and mental symptoms. The results showed that the prevalence of each symptom except for mental symptom was from about 2.0 to 11.5% at second survey period, and that the prevalence of symptom onset within 3 months was included after exposing indoor dampness during winter. The dampness index revealed an association between indoor dampness and health-related symptoms.
     We further assessed the association between four kinds of health-related symptoms onset one year later from first survey period and factors that influenced indoor dampness. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using a multivariable logistic regression model adjusted for gender, age and parents health conditions. Adjusted ORs for ocular symptoms (OR = 4.94, p < 0.001) were statistically significant in Rank 4 of the dampness index. Based on this analysis, an increased risk of ocular symptoms due to a change in indoor dampness was estimated. Moreover, adjusted ORs for nasal and respiratory symptoms were statistically significant when the dampness index remained at Rank 3 and Rank 4 during surveyed period of two years. It is revealed that exposed indoor dampness affects onset of both the nasal and respiratory symptoms among children.
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