Buildings located close to busy roads, industry or stock farms, are of risk of increased indoor particle concentrations, which negatively impacts the health of the building occupants. In order to reduce the exposure of the building occupants, it is important to take measures to reduce the concentration of particulate matter indoors. Solutions for existing buildings include application of improved filters in the air handling units, using local air cleaners and limit the use of operable windows. However, little is known about the overall effectiveness of these measures in existing buildings that are in use. The aim of our study was to quantify the effectiveness of particle reducing measures in buildings at high traffic locations. We performed a field study in a school in a neighbourhood between highways. In this school the effect of improved filters in the air handling unit, a HEPA filter at room level as well as the combination of both interventions on the particle concentrations indoors were studied. We quantified the effect of the interventions by momentary measurements of PM2,5 and ultrafine particles (≥4 nm). Moreover, PM2.5 was continuously measured outdoors and indoors. The ePM1 85% filters in the AHU seemed effective on the reduction of (ultrafine) particles (nearly 75% reduction of PM2,5). The use of a HEPA filter was not effective in our test situation.@en

Heritage estate landscapes are clusters of historical estates with their gardens and agricultural land. These heritage estate landscapes suffer from climate change (abundance and shortage of water), spatial fragmentation through urbanization, and loss of identity through economic tendencies. These challenges can only be addressed from a regional point of view that takes local differences into account and takes the landscape as the basis for future strategies for further development. This paper addresses an adaptive and multi-scale landscape design approach for developing a more resilient heritage estate landscape, taking the estate landscape in the Baakse Beek region (a region in the East of the Netherlands) as a case study. Deforestation is identified as one of the critical agents of spatial change in the region, causing significant water system problems and loss of biodiversity. Based on a regional analysis of the estate landscape's historical development, forest landscape restoration (FLR) is employed as a contextual design strategy to regain ecological functionality and enhance human wellbeing in the degraded landscape across scales. This paper showcases a multi-scale spatial design approach for developing cultural heritage landscapes.@en

The integration of buildings into vegetation has become a necessity in many metropolitan areas of the world today. It expands the potential of vertical and horizontal, exterior and interior, exposed and enclosed spaces in a building that can be used to accommodate plants. Green infrastructures have benefits both on urban and building scales. They can be categorized into green roofs and vertical greenery systems that can be divided further into green façade, green wall, green terraces, elevated forest and vertical forest. There are many design and planting considerations for architects, structural engineers and botanists when using living architectures to mimic natural systems, such as plant characteristics and environmental conditions. Plants used for vertical greenery are more likely to be hardwood species to adjust solar radiation during cooling and heating periods, as well as for aesthetic pleasure. Take Bosco Verticale, which is located in Milan, as an example to look into engineering methods when trees grow on balconies of high-rise buildings. It can be concluded that planting restraint safety systems and regular maintenance are necessary for the tree growth in the sky. However, the change in growing conditions causes various problems such as stability and irregular growth of trees. Instead of using steel cables and cages to prevent trees from falling off in the sky, the concept of self-growing connections is proposed to act as natural bracings and provide the stability for vertical forests. This paper is meant to generate awareness of the possibilities of the vertical integration of trees into buildings, show application considerations, and inspire future developments.

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Ultra fijnstof en fijnstof in de lucht is afkomstig van natuurlijke en antropogene
bronnen. Vooral de antropogene bronnen zijn zeer schadelijk voor de menselijke
gezondheid en werken zelfs door in cleanrooms.@en

A global net sum equilibrium in heat exchange is a fact and thus a global climate change doesn’t exist, but climate shifts in climate cells, especially in the northern temperate cell, do. The global climate has been ever since homeostatic, and has recuperated far huger climate impacts in the past. Current climate models need a drastically revision on the focus of carbon dioxide as main driver. Carbon dioxide and other carbon gasses do influence albedo patterns, but provide globally a homeostatic effect with a commonly accepted increase impact of 0.3 degrees Celsius. Carbon dioxide does not trigger the climate shifts, but is an indicator of exhaust of combustion processes that emit very small particles which drive these climate shifts. They are the fine dust and nano structured particles that cause the shifts of the climate in cells, as demonstrated in this article and results i.e. in more thunder and lightning, extreme weather, distinct droughts and precipitation patterns. The causes underlying these shifts are nano structured particles in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, especially largely produced and remain in the temperate climate northern hemisphere cell and get dispersed by jet streams and low and high pressure areas. However, because of electrical charge, caused by friction or due to anthropogenic negatively charged nano structured particle, emissions will travel up to the lower stratosphere and become neutralized at the electro sphere level, and they do also have a tendency to move to the Arctic. The southern hemisphere climate faces limited anthropogenic emissions, because only 10 percent of the world population can contribute with less pollutant providing activities, and hasn’t changed, but that could well be because it is equally influenced and driven, like the northern hemisphere, by the variation of sun activity in diverse cycles. The present problem is that we produce huge amounts of air borne nano structured particles from combustion processes that never exist before. The only nano particles known in nature are those who are limited produced from volcano eruptions and natural forest fires. The natural feedback systems that moderate climate shifts and influence global climate are: convection by cumulonimbus clouds, sea currents and vegetation adaptation. A novel ultra-fine dust electric reduction device (UFDRS-System),created by the author, diminishs to a size of less than 10 nano particles in diameter and thus prevents major electrical drift of nano structured particulates in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and contributes largely in purifying the air and thus reduces the effects of climate shifts.@en

Natures and anthropogenic particulates can travel long distances on wind flows, but negative electrical charge due to friction can increase dispersion. Models for calculations of distance travelling of biological particulate matter with and without charge are never been calculated in a theoretical approach. Nor do we realize the fact that we can calculate actual distances if we take the charge on particles in account. Particles that travel through the air encounter friction. Friction can be described in two ways; either in a smooth constant way through the air with its viscous forces, or in a turbulent chaotic eddies and vortices and other flow instabilities. In case of only viscous forces are to be concerned, it can be described as a lower Reynolds number than one, while in all other setting it always must be described by Reynolds numbers larger than or equal to one. This article describes the calculated effects on particles, either in a low Reynolds number and thus as a Navier-Stokes equation or Stokes’ Law or, in case of non-laminar and complex forces in an equal or higher Reynolds number according to the third Law of Newton. In addition some striking examples of particle travelling are given with evidence of natural particulate matter long distance dispersion.@en