There are two categories of vibration related to the human body : hand-arm vibration and whole-body vibration. Hand-arm vibrations are generated by hand-held tools such as chain saws and pavement breakers. And whole-body vibrations are generated by vehicles, heavy machines, trains, ships and so on. Wholebody vibration is mainly discussed here. Three types of human responses to these vibrations are described, psychological, mechanical and physiological. The perceptible threshold of vibration is the main psychological response. Vibration transmission in the human body is a main mechanical response. Physiological responses are effects on the circulation, muscle activity, visual acuity and motion sickness.

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Several topics relating to a preservation system for humanity, architecture and indoors, buildings and the global environment are introduced in non-academic style. Topics includes physical systems such as insulation and ventilation, passive and active engineering systems as well as a philosophy, and a design concept for a sick-free house for an aged family, concepts and activities on building and system commissioning, international co-operative efforts for humanity and the environment, and discussion on the meaning of energy conservation concludes the author's philosophy. The author's subjective experiences are the basis of discussions.

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Indoor air pollution in residential environments caused by chemicals, such as formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), results from a reduction in the air exchange rate. This reduction occurs due to an increase in the airtightness of building envelopes designed to conserve energy for heating and air-conditioning, and the introduction of new building materials such as plywood and finishing materials. Ventilation and contaminant source strengths are the dominant determinants of indoor air contaminant concentrations. The higher ventilation becomes, the lower the predominant concentration of the sources of indoor air contaminants becomes. The stronger the contaminant sources are, the higher the concentrations are. Residential multiple building envelopes are made of reinforced concrete, resulting in higher airtightness, and tend to decrease the air change rate. In order to improve indoor air quality we have conducted field measurements in multiple buildings with natural ventilation and mechanical continuous ventilation systems. The results were as follows: 1) Under some living and wind conditions, natural ventilation may not be sufficient to provide a proper air change rate and acceptable indoor air quality. 2) When mechanical continuous ventilation systems were operated at a proper level for the air change rate, formaldehyde and VOC concentrations were improved compared with those of other residences.

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Because wind velocity in the outdoor environment is generally higher than that indoors, it is necessary to find the equation of man's convective heat transfer coefficient which can be used for the outdoor environment. In order to see how the convective heat transfer coefficient differs in the clothed state from that in the nude state, experiments which changed clo value were carried out. In the present experiment the equation for man's convective heat transfer coefficient was proposed in the wind range from 0.7m/s to 4.7m/s. In addition, it was confirmed that clo unit changed by wind velocity and convective heat transfer coefficient was not changed by clothes.

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It is said that mean skin temperature correlates closely with thermal sensation. As local skin temperatures are not uniform, when thinking about heat exchange between the human body and the environment and thermal sensation in the entire human body, we have to average local skin temperatures according to some method. Skin temperature is the result of heat exchange between the human body and the surroundings. When we calculate a formula for heat equilibrium between the human body and the environment, it turns out that the formula for mean skin temperature includes the ratios for both skin area and the combined heat transfer coefficient. Recently, a thermal manikin that expresses the heat characteristics of the human body was developed. In this study, we measured local combined heat transfer coefficients with a thermal manikin and calculated new weighting factors for the formula for mean skin temperature. The results obtained in the present study are as follows: 1) When the formula for mean skin temperature is used, the total combined heat transfer coefficient for the human body has to average local combined heat transfer coefficients according to the weighting factor for the surface area. 2) It was found that this weighting factor does not depend on both the air velocity and the difference between the skin surface temperature and air temperature. 3) A new weighting factor for mean skin temperature has been proposed.

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In recent years attention has been focused on home care for patients with intractable disease, but compared with intractable neurological disease, requirements for the improvement of dwelling conditions of the patients with collagen disease have not yet been completely studied. We performed a field survey on patients, that is what kind of inconveniences the patients find in their daily life at home and what efforts are made to overcome such inconveniences. To find out what is needed in dwelling conditions for the patients from the viewpoint of healthcare center, we did a survey by direct interview with the patients in downtown Tokyo, mostly living in apartments. The results of the survey were as follows: (1) Most patients use technical aids to improve dwelling conditions rather than home repair. (2) The sources of information on technical aids are meeting of patients and hospital in most cases, and healthcare centers are participated less frequently. (3) In the group with Raynaud's symptom, most patients are satisfied with their apartments.

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