Diagnosing damp takes the surveyor through the necessary techniques for undertaking a thorough examination of a building for dampness and to understand the limitations imposed at each level of investigation.

This book discusses the effects of soluble mineral salts on ceramic brick masonry walls in Petrolina, a city in Pernambuco, Brazil, located 780 km from the ocean. To shed light on this phenomenon, the authors mapped the pathologies originating from the effects of soluble mineral salts and installed wells to monitor the underground water supply at five locations in the city where the phenomenon most frequently occurs. Further, they analyzed samples of soil, groundwater, and bricks affected by the phenomenon and measured levels of chloride in the atmosphere at these sites. The results obtained indicate that the pathological manifestations are influenced by the high levels of soluble salts observed in the soil and groundwater samples collected, and are not affected by chloride in the atmosphere.

Almost all homes, apartments, and commercial buildings will experience leaks, flooding, or other forms of excessive indoor dampness at some point. Not only is excessive dampness a health problem by itself, it also contributes to several other potentially problematic types of situations. Molds and other microbial agents favor damp indoor environments, and excess moisture may initiate the release of chemical emissions from damaged building materials and furnishings. This new book from the Institute of Medicine examines the health impact of exposures resulting from damp indoor environments and offers recommendations for public health interventions. Damp Indoor Spaces and Health covers a broad range of topics. The book not only examines the relationship between damp or moldy indoor environments and adverse health outcomes but also discusses how and where buildings get wet, how dampness influences microbial growth and chemical emissions, ways to prevent and remediate dampness, and elements of a public health response to the issues. A comprehensive literature review finds sufficient evidence of an association between damp indoor environments and some upper respiratory tract symptoms, coughing, wheezing, and asthma symptoms in sensitized persons. This important book will be of interest to a wide-ranging audience of science, health, engineering, and building professionals, government officials, and members of the public.

This book, "Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media", presents a set of new developments in the field of basic and applied research work on the physical and chemical aspects of heat and mass transfer phenomena in a porous medium domain, as well as related material properties and their measurements. The book contents include both theoretical and experimental developments, providing a self-contained major reference that is appealing to both the scientists and the engineers. At the same time, these topics will encounter of a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines, such as chemical, civil, agricultural, mechanical engineering, etc. The book is divided in several chapters that intend to be a short monograph in which the authors summarize the current state of knowledge for benefit of professionals.

With an ever-increasing proportion of the world’s population living in cities, soil properties such as salinity, acidity, water retention, erosion and pollution are becoming more significant in urban areas. While these are known issues for agriculture and forestry, as urban development increases, it is essential to recognise the potential of soil properties to create problems for the environment as well as structural concerns for buildings and other engineering works. Understanding Soils in Urban Environments explains how urban soils develop, change and erode. It describes their physical and chemical properties with a focus on specific soil problems that cause environmental damage, such as acid sulfate soils, and also affect the integrity of engineering structural works. This fully revised second edition addresses contemporary issues, including an increase in the use of green roofs and urban green space as well as manufactured soils in a variety of urban environments. Understanding Soils in Urban Environments provides a concise introduction to all aspects of soils in urban environments and will be extremely useful to students in a wide range of disciplines, from soil science and urban forestry and horticulture, to planning, engineering, construction and land remediation, as well as to engineers, builders, landscape architects, ecologists, planners and developers.

These are the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Engineering Sciences and Technologies (ESaT 2016), held from 29th of June until the 1st of July 2016 in the scenic High Tatras Mountains, Tatranské Matliare, Slovak Republic. After the successful implementation and excellent feedback of the first international conference ESaT 2015, ESaT 2016 was organized under the auspices of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Košice, Slovak Republic in collaboration with the University of Miskolc, Hungary. The conference focused on a wide spectrum of topics and subject areas in civil engineering sciences. The proceedings bringing new and original advances and trends in various fields of engineering sciences and technologies that accost a wide range of academics, scientists, researchers and professionals from universities and practice. The authors of the articles originate from different countries around the world guaranteeing the importance, topicality, quality and level of presented results.