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CEE Ph.D. Seminar
Fri, Feb 21, 2014 @ 04:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arian Safari and Arsalan Heydarian, Astani ENE Ph.D. Students
Talk Title: Toxico-chemical properties of size-fractionated airborne particulate matter and implications for human health / Measuring the Impact of Personal Control and Energy Use through the Use of Immersive Virtual Environments.
Abstract: Presenter: Arian Safari
Exposure to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) has been linked to several adverse health effects, including but not limited to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in addition to neurological disorders. There is growing literature supporting the hypothesis that one of the important pathways underlying these adverse health endpoints is the oxidative stress (e.g. ROS generation) that derives from the interaction of PM with cells. Elevated ROS levels can alter the redox status of the cell and consequently trigger a series of acute and chronic responses such as pulmonary inflammation and mitochondrial damage. This talk would focus on the PM-induced oxidative stress, its temporal and spatial variations, its relationship with chemical composition and PM emission sources and implications for toxicity assessment and human health. Moreover, a summary of the results of our recent studies in the Los Angeles south coast air basin will be discussed.
Presenter: Arsalan Heydarian
Title: Measuring the Impact of Personal Control and Energy Use through the Use of Immersive Virtual Environments.
Absract:
Recent studies have focused on increasing energy efficiency in commercial buildings through technological means (e.g., efficient HVAC systems, sensors and sensing systems). However, most studies underestimate the impact of occupants’ behavioral choices. This presentation focuses on measuring the impact of personal control and energy consumption behaviour through the use of immersive virtual environments. The presentation will focus on two main topics the (1) evaluation of human interaction within immersive virtual environments compared to the physical environments and (2) the impact of personal control on lighting use in office environments. The presentation is broken down into the following components: discussion of the problem statement, use of immersive virtual environments to study alternative designs, brief discussion of the pilot experiments, and future works.
Location: SLH 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
