Clothing is the nearest and a mobile environment for human beings. The relationship between clothing and environmental climate from the past to the present society in Japan was firstly reviewed. Next, to examine the seasonal changes of the wearing conditions of the people living and working in the modern big city of Tokyo, the observations was taken in roughly 10-day intervals from June 2001 to May 2002 using a fixed point-observation method by means of digital photography. The wearing percentage for each garment calculated separately for males and females showed clear seasonal changes and showed close relationship with air temperature. It was noted, however, that the wearing percentage of the jackets at an air temperature of 30 degree C in summer reached 18% only for males and the wearing condition fell outside of the comfort zone. In the summer in 2005, the Ministry of Environment in Japan promoted “Cool Biz” fashion, where ties and jackets are not worn and comfort is maintained even at 28 degree C, in order to reduce energy consumption. In order to determine the effects of the “Cool Biz” promotion on the wearing percentage for males, the thermal insulation and evaporative heat resistance of the cool biz fashion were evaluated by a sweating thermal manikin “JUN” and the wearing percentage of clothes in 2006 was examined using the same method. With this as a background, the role of clothing in the human-clothing-environment system was discussed in relation with the revolutionary advances in science and technology.

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It is well documented that fire-fighting involves strenuous activity in harsh environmental conditions. The combination of increased metabolic heat production and high ambient temperature will result in an elevated deep body temperature and heart rate. These responses will be exacerbated if the fire-fighter is dehydrated. The protective clothing worn by the fire-fighter reduces the heat gain from the environment, but can also add thermal strain by increasing work load and impeding metabolic heat loss. An inexperienced fire-fighter may be less economic and under greater psychological stress; this will affect both the work rate and performance. The extent to which all of these factors affect performance will also depend on the fitness level of the fire-fighter and how close they are to their maximum physical capacity. Therefore, there are many inter-related factors that influence a fire-fighter's response and ultimately his or her ability to perform the task. This review examines the physiological responses to fire-fighting and discusses the factors that may impact on fire-fighter performance.

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Following the onset of exercise there is a sudden increase in metabolic heat production that cannot be initially offset by the body's heat loss mechanisms. During this thermal imbalance a change in body heat content (ΔH_b) occurs. The only way the value for ΔH_b can be truly determined is by performing simultaneous direct measurements of the rates of heat production and heat loss. There are several calorimetric methods that can be used to quantify these values. The most accurate and simple method for measuring the rate of heat production is by separately calculating the energy released from the oxidation of fats and carbohydrates using indirect calorimetry, while direct air flow calorimetry provides the most accurate and responsive measurement of total body heat loss. Thermometry is often used as a surrogate for calorimetry by estimating mean body temperature and subsequently deriving a value for ΔH_b. The most common thermometry approach, the 2-compartment model of “core” and “shell” temperature, has been demonstrated to greatly underestimate ΔH_b. The inclusion of a third compartment representing the thermal influences of muscle tissue has been demonstrated to provide a better thermometric estimation of ΔH_b; however this requires the invasive measurement of intramuscular temperature. A modified 2-compartment thermometry model incorporating an “adjustment factor” correcting for the underestimation of the traditional model for ΔH_b appears to be the most practical alternative. Further research is required to develop thermometry model for the better estimation of ΔH_b under various conditions.

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This study aimed at pointing out the local thermal effects and subjective responses to cold air exposures of gloved hands in conditions of similar hand heat loss rates. Thirteen males and 13 females, lightly clothed (0.6 clo), participated in three separated experimental sessions (once a week), while sitting for 105 min in a climatic chamber at an operative temperature of 19°C. Subjects' hands were exposed in a ventilated cold box (air velocity=2.5 m·s⁻¹) at one of three temperatures (8°C, 10°C or 14°C) depending on the dry heat exchange coefficient of the gloved hands. The temperature of the box was chosen to induce similar heat loss rates across conditions. Main results showed that local skin temperatures can be divided in 3 categories: 4 fingers (coolest), a thumb, back and palm (least cool). Female had lower skin temperatures than males but their local thermal discomfort was found to be similar for the same local skin temperature levels. As a consequence, the durations of the accepted exposures without discomfort were shorter in females. Discrepancies between male and female responses are discussed in terms of different hand skin blood flows. A practical aspect of our results concerns the glove thermal insulations which are obviously too poor at the finger levels, a factor determinant for discomfort occurrence in case of cold hand exposures.

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This paper presents the work on development of appropriate pre-design strategies for energy-efficient buildings in different climates in China. This study is based on field thermal environment surveys of 13 cities representing the five major climatic types, namely severe cold, cold, hot summer and cold winter, hot summer and warm winter, and mild climate. The comfort zones for the residents who live in these different cities are defined as reference for analyzing outdoor climate conditions. The analyzing reference has been developed based on the thermal neutrality regression function. The Building Bio-climatic Chart method (Szokolay's CPZ) and the measured weather data (30-year average) of the analyzed cities are adopted to identify each city's outdoor climate condition and the appropriate passive design strategies. These basic climate analyses could give basic information on architectural initial design guidelines, and also offer an initial concept and data as well to develop passive design for climate zones for China in the future.

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