Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Health

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Health Of all the things that people take for granted, air would probably take the first prize. Despite the fact that without air, the life on the Earth would be impossible, the attitude towards air has been rather careless for considerably long time, which has led to a number of problems concerning air ecology in the present-day world. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Health specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the issues on the agenda is the quality of indoor air, the factors that influence it and the means to improve the indoor air quality, or IAQ. Because of a range of negative factors, both human-induced and natural, the average index of indoor air quality is rapidly decreasing, which can lead to a number of health issues and, therefore, requires certain actions. Although a home accommodation is not typically used as storage of toxic waste, there are still a lot of indoor factors that ma ke the IAQ worse. Among the most common pollutants, the ones that seem the most innocent or appear to be the least noticeable often take the first place. Outlining the key pollutants will bring one a step closer to understanding how to increase the IAQ. The first pollutant to mention is animal hair. Cluttering the room, it creates perfect environment for more dust and bacteria. Dust mites, which have already been mentioned, serve as the place for bacteria growth and are also classified as pollutants. Weirdly enough, food comes in a close second, mostly because its particles also clutter the area. Another source of air pollution at home, chemicals have a rather deplorable result on the state of the IAQ. While chemicals help cleaning the place, in a paradoxical way, they are also classified as strong allergens and, therefore, harm the indoor air considerably. However, banning chemicals from use as a means to clean home accommodation is not a way out either; according to the existing evidence, the pollen in carpets and upholstery that appear as a result of insufficient cleaning is also classified as an allergen and a factor that enhances IAQ deteriorate. Likewise, tobacco, or even second-hand smoke, contributes to making the IAQ even worse, since the particles of tobacco soar in the air, cluttering the lungs of the dwellers. Damp basements, in their turn, spur the growth of mould and can be related to as rather hazardous phenomenon. Finally, such issues as CO and CO2 production, as well as radon radiation that are emitted from some of the materials that buildings are constructed from, should be mentioned. Even though the hair-rising list of threats offered above is a fraction of the harsh reality, there are still some ways to handle the problem. First of all, the ecology of the environment must be improved; once the air is polluted outside, there is no way to make it cleaner inside the house. Then, certain methods of more efficient house cleaning must be adopte d. Finally, it is necessary to enhance the awareness about the home accommodation ecology among people (Plushke 242).Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Summary Unlike outdoor air quality, which is usually influenced largely by industries, large-scale air pollutants like plants and factories, and toxic waste, indoor air quality depends to a considerable extent on the attitude of the person who owns the apartment. Therefore, the awareness concerning the urban ecology and especially the ecology of home accommodations must be enhanced. Meanwhile, the environmental issues must also be considered when improving the IAQ. To be more exact, more trees, which produce oxygen, must be grown so that people could enjoy high IAQ. Plushke, Peter. Indoor Air Pollution. Vol. 4. New York, NY: Springer, 2004. Print.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

APA Referencing What You Need to Know

APA Referencing What You Need to Know APA Referencing: What You Need to Know Although produced by the American Psychological Association, APA referencing is now used to cite sources in a variety of academic fields (not just the social sciences). Knowing the basics of APA referencing is therefore important for any college student. In today’s post, we run through a few important facts about APA referencing, including its background and the format you should use for in-text citations. What is APA Style? APA style and APA referencing are set out in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which covers various elements of style and formatting as well as citing sources. First published in 1974, the APA manual is designed to ensure that academic writers communicate â€Å"with a minimum of distraction and a maximum of precision.† The APA’s simple-but-clear referencing system is part of this. APA Citations APA referencing uses parenthetical citations, meaning basic source information is provided in the main body of your document. For the majority of source types, APA citations require you to give an author surname and year of publication (along with relevant page numbers if you’re quoting a source directly): Ciabatta is â€Å"one of the most famous Italian breads† (D’Acampo, 2011, p. 22). Note that the name, year and page number are separated by commas in APA citations; it’s also important to remember that the page number is preceded by â€Å"p.† in these citations. The format changes a little when the author is named in the text. In these cases, the year of publication is given immediately after the name, but any page numbers still appear after the quoted text: D’Acampo (2011) claims that â€Å"Tuscan bread is well known for being low in salt† (p. 33). APA Reference Lists In addition to in-text citations, APA referencing requires all sources to be listed with full publication information at the end of your document. This reference list should: List all sources cited in your document (do not list sources you haven’t cited) Invert the names of authors (surname first, followed by initials) Order sources alphabetically by author surname List multiple works by the same author chronologically, earliest first Italicize all journal and book titles Use a half-inch hanging indent for each line after the first in an entry Provide all names of authors for any text with up to seven authors; for texts with more than seven authors, simply list the first six then add the final author after an ellipsis Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in titles and subtitles The precise information required for each source varies depending on format but will generally include details about the author(s), title and publisher. The D’Acampo book cited above, for instance, would appear in the reference list as: D’Acampo, G. (2011). Italian home baking. London: Kyle Books. And after finishing your reference list, why not treat yourself to a nice ciabatta?