We reported a month ago that Microsoft appeared to be showing off a new version of the Windows 10 Start Menu with rounded corners which appeared to be based on the latest versions of Fluent Design.

Now WindowsLatest may have an explanation of what we were seeing, with new references to WinUI showing up on Windows 10.

Specifically, a scan of Microsoft Program Database (PDB) files in Windows 10 Build 20197, reveals:

WinUI is a user interface layer that contains modern controls and styles for building Windows apps. As the native UI layer in Windows, it embodies Fluent Design, giving each Windows app the polished feel that customers expect.

WinUI 3 is the next version of the WinUI framework, shipping later this year. It dramatically expands WinUI into a full UX framework, making WinUI available for all types of Windows apps from Win32 to UWP (and presumably also OS development) for use as the UI layer.

Currently, the Start Menu, Action Center and other modern elements are written in XAML with UI components from Windows.UI.XAML.

It looks like Microsoft may be planning to update that code to point to use WinUi instead, which should help with developer adoption of the new UI framework in the future.

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Microsoft may be getting ready to replace the Windows 10 desktop with a Fluent WinUI version - MSPoweruser - MSPoweruser

We all know that Microsoft has been working towards making Windows look more appealing to the eyes as part of a major overhaul. And one of the design changes that the company has planned was to introduce rounded corners.

Over the last few days, the company has pushed out updates for internal applications like Maps, Calculator, Calendar, Sticky Notes, Windows Images, Movies and TV etc. where you can notice Microsoft dropping sharp-edged corners. Remember these changes are subtle as of now and can be found in the internal menus or pop-up alerts.

These rounded corners are expected to replace the sharp-edged corners that can be found in almost all other apps in Windows. To recall the older Windows operating systems did have rounded corners, however, when Microsoft adopted the Metro UI with Windows 8 and the Windows phones, the company chose to go with a boxy and formal user interface.

Since Windows 8, as well as Windows phones, are a thing of the past, this dated design also needs a change and Microsoft is doing just that. Unlike Apples macOS Big Sur where the corners are well rounded, the edges in Windows are subtle and are expected for Xbox, Office, and other Microsoft products in due course.

In a related piece of news, Microsoft is testing a ton of new features on the Windows 10 UI and the company is planning to replace the Windows 10 user interface with the modern and Fluent WinUI.

Senior program manager of the Windows Insider Program Brandon LeBlanc offered further insight on the preview build's most important feature in a blog post, saying:

We mentioned we had more Settings work on the way, and heres the next one as of todays build youll now be able to manage your disks and volumes from within the Settings app. This includes tasks such as viewing disk information, creating and formatting volumes, and assigning drive letters.

Via: Windows Latest

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Windows 10s new look has been revealed early in some apps - TechRadar

Restoration work could resume this fall on one of the oldest buildings in the D.C. region Magruder's Blacksmith Shop, a stone cottage in Potomac, Maryland, built four decades before George Washington laid the cornerstone at the U.S. Capitol.

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

Restoration work could resume this fall on one of the oldest buildings in the D.C. region Magruders Blacksmith Shop, a stone cottage in Potomac, Maryland, built four decades before George Washington laid the cornerstone at the U.S. Capitol.

The small stone house, the oldest building in Potomac, is a familiar landmark on River Road at Seven Locks Road just outside the Capital Beltway. But when its new owner installed a copper roof last summer and made other changes to the historic structure, the project was slapped with a Stop Work order, requested by the county Historic Preservation Office.

For nearly a year, the cottage, believed to have once been a blacksmith shop, has been bracketed on one side by scaffolding and surrounded by a chain-link fence.

I was shocked to see that copper was not an approved material. They explained to me the historical reason as to why that is, said Gus Stefanou, a Gaithersburg accountant who bought the historic building early last year. Its the oldest structure in Montgomery County, thought to have been built somewhere around the mid-1700s.

Stefanou also had installed vinyl windows against the historic character of the building.

Since the county ordered work to be stopped on the stone house last year, Stefanou has worked carefully with the Historic Preservation Office to ensure that the improvements he makes adhere to the structures history, according to Rebeccah Ballo, historic preservation supervisor with the Montgomery County Planning Department.

He has agreed to replace the new copper roof, installed last year, with a wood shake roof, replace a large dormer in the rear of the house with two smaller dormers and install wood frame windows to replace the white vinyl windows that were installed last summer.

The project now has been cleared by the historic preservation committee Im all about it being correct, Stefanou said.

Planning Department documents indicate that Stefanous second round of restoration plans were approved by the Historic Preservation Commission on June 29.

Stefanou is hoping that the work can resume on the historic house this fall.

Its a top priority for me. I do not like seeing the property in the current state its in, said Stefanou.

Link:
Restoration work could resume this fall on historic Maryland cottage - WTOP

Updated 8:00pm EDT, Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Trumbull may not have enough teachers to reopen school

TRUMBULL Less than two weeks before students report for their first day of classes, Trumbull officials are hoping they will have enough teachers to reopen the schools in-person.

The information was disclosed at Tuesdays school board meeting following a report that about two dozen teachers will not be returning to their classrooms because of concerns about COVID-19.

Were making progress, Interim Supt. Ralph Iassogna told the Board of Education at the meeting. Worst case scenario: Not enough returning teachers, and substitutes not adequate. We may have to consider another learning model.

The district had planned to reopen Sept. 8 using a hybrid learning model, with students divided into two groups and splitting time in the buildings. One group would attend live classes Mondays and Tuesdays, the other on Thursdays and Fridays. Each group would have remote classes on the three days they are not in school.

But the number of teachers who have opted out of returning to the classroom, which Iassogna estimated at between 20 and 25, is causing concern.

Right now, our numbers are OK, but there are a number of staff members whose (return to work status) are not processed yet, he said. It could go over 30, but I doubt it.

Information on the status of the non-returning teachers, what buildings and grades the teachers had been working in and what percentage they were of the districts teaching staff was not immediately available. Trumbull has six public elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

School officials are in daily contact with local colleges seeking eligible candidates to hire as long-term replacements, he said.

Though he remained optimistic that the buildings could reopen as scheduled, he conceded that the district may have to call a special board meeting next week if it became necessary to delay reopening. The Wilton school system made a similar call earlier this week.

If you cant get teachers, you cant run in-school or hybrid learning, he said. We are monitoring the situation very closely.

Board members had plenty of questions for Iassogna following his statements. Jacqueline Norcel expressed her concern that a last-minute change in plans could put families in a difficult position, especially considering many families had scrambled to arrange child care for a partial school return. Even temporary distance learning could be really difficult for a family, she said.

Scot Kerr also expressed concern over the impact of even temporary return-to-school delays.

Just to clarify, its possible we could open remotely before transitioning to hybrid learning? he asked.

Iassogna confirmed that was possible, adding that the district would continue to search for replacement staff during the period of remote learning, if necessary.

We may have to say, lets go remote for the first month while were still trying to hire them, he said.

Assuming the schools do resume in-person learning on some scale, there also is a need for as many as 40 more lunch monitors, according to Assistant Superintendent Jonathan Budd.

The issue, Budd said said, is that lunch monitors typically supervise the elementary school students while they are eating lunch in the cafeteria. But the current plans call for meals to be delivered from the cafeteria and eaten in the classrooms. Teachers contractually have a break during lunch times, he said.

Now we need two types of monitors, Budd said. Some to deliver the meals, and others to watch the children while they are eating in the classroom.

The district is currently seeking to add lunch monitors for two to three hours each school day, and Budd said the schools would work with people who were available only on certain days.

Aside from staffing, board members also had numerous questions about the readiness of the buildings to receive students. Chairman Lucinda Timpanelli commented that many of the schools do not have central air conditioning and asked about improving air circulation in those buildings.

John Morello, the facilities director, said adding ventilation to the buildings was a tricky task given the age of most of the buildings.

The only thing would be exhaust fans, like a bathroom fan on a larger scale, he said.

Portable air conditioners, which also have built-in particle filters, were out of the question because of the schools antiquated electrical systems, he said. Portable air purifiers were a possibility, given their much lower power draw compared to air conditioners, but finding them was a challenge.

The quickest place to get them is Home Depot, he said. But the school system would need dozens of the $270 units. Six Trumbull teachers required air purification for their classrooms because of existing health problems, Morello said, and so far he had only been able to find purifiers for five of them. A search of the stores around the state showed that most had either none or very few in stock, he said.

The (Home Depot) location in Trumbull is the only one, they received a pallet of 23 today and 20 of them are going to Sacred Heart, he said. Theyre going to see if they can get more.

Even placing cheap box fans in the windows of classrooms is not feasible because of their design, he said.

The windows dont open like a window in your home so you can put the fan in the window blowing out, he said. The windows swing open.

Simply placing a fan on a table pointed at the window would not work, since the angle of the glass in the open window would deflect air back into the classroom, he said.

Iassogna, who took over as interim superintendent when Gary Cialfi took early retirement in January, said the entire staff deserved praise for the can-do attitude and round-the-clock effort with which workers had addressed a series of unforeseen and unprecedented challenges.

People dont realize what we have overcome, he said. He rattled off a handful of issues that the schools have faced in just the past six months, including a new interim superintendent and search for a permanent one, a board member resigning during a public meeting, a national examination of race relations that has been led in part by students, COVID-19, emergency remote learning, and a $1.2 million budget shortfall.

These things take their toll, he said.

So with those challenges met, finding 20 teachers, 40 lunch monitors and a truckload of air purifiers doesnt seem quite so daunting, he said.

Or, as board member Tim Gallo said, a whole new set of problems could be right around the corner.

One thing were sure of is that tomorrow things will change, he said.

deng@trumbulltimes.com

Excerpt from:
Trumbull may not have enough teachers to reopen school - Trumbull Times

Manhattan: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, in The right way to reopen schools (op-ed, Aug. 19), suggests that we not open the schools until after September, and, even then, only for the youngest children, phasing in older students gradually. If we do not heed his message, schools will open and close within two weeks, and, instead of providing instruction, we will have increased infections. I was a teacher and supervisor for 32 years in the NYC DOE. Do the powers that be really think children can socially distance and wear masks all day? All you need is one child who takes off the mask, or goes over to a friend for a chat, and youve potentially infected an entire class. Mayor de Blasios plan is doomed to failure. Do not open the schools. Begin with remote learning and proceed from there. Barbara Guinan, Ed.D.

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Readers sound off on camp in COVID, Broken Windows and car accidents - New York Daily News

In 1990 I had the remarkable good fortune to spend a week with Roger Tory Peterson. I could write a book about that one week, but for now I only want to emphasize the importance of one particular conversation.

Peterson changed the interaction between people and wildlife when he invented the field guide a concise yet detail-packed book for identifying species but small enough to carry comfortably in the field.

When you invented the field guide, I said, you made it possible for people to identify birds without having to learn about birds.

After a quiet moment, Peterson replied, Youre right.

Our ensuing conversation made it quite clear that it was a subject that bothered him. As he mentally developed the concept and physically assembled it, he never thought of birding as a replacement for ornithology. He conceived it as an adjunct that would augment the degree to which the human-bird interface would produce positive outcomes.

This one particular unintended outcome progressively became a rhetorical point with profound ripple effects. The impact begins with the separating of birding and ornithology, and the ripples elaborate from there.

Just because a birder can distinguish a rock wren from a canyon wren for a checkmark on a list does not make that person an ornithologist.

Just because a person can catch a rainbow trout on bait, lure or fly does not make that person an ichthyologist.

Just because a person owns 15 wildflower identification books, spends dozens of hours afield every summer to find wildflowers and can give both American and Latin names for 100 species despite all this effort and accomplishment does not make that person a botanist.

The examples are almost endless, but three are of special importance right now.

First, just because a person hunts big game animals such as deer, elk and moose does not make that person a mammalogist.

Second, just because a person owns a ranch does not make that person an ecologist.

And third, just because a person finds aesthetic pleasure or even intellectual gratification in wildlife identification does not make that person a wildlife biologist.

All of this and other aspects as well can be collectively summarized in a single meaningful appraisal: Familiarity with selective wildlife, by itself, does not qualify as a credential of expertise.

As relevant as this concept is right now, it will be crucial when three months from now Coloradans vote whether or not to restore the gray wolf to Colorados ecosystems.

I assert without reservation that personal opinions should be based on best available knowledge and not on bondage to tradition. From this perspective I pose the earnest and legitimate question: What do you know biologically, mammalogically, ecologically and biogeographically about the gray wolf?

This question reveals the distinction between assumptive knowledge and actual knowledge. The two are not the same. So study up!

Next month, I will be quizzing you for what you actually know about the gray wolf.

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Wildlife Window: Time to study up on the gray wolf - Loveland Reporter-Herald

MASON CITY, Iowa - The former St. John Baptist Church has quite the history.

In 1919, a group of African-American Baptists formed the church, with members meeting in various homes for services, and then a labor hall, before buying a house on 6th Street SW, which would be moved for a basement to be dug to house a chapel. In 1937, church members bought recycled stone, flooring, windows, even wiring and pipe from the demolished Grant School that was only a few blocks away to build a permanent house of worship.

The church was located in a once ethnically diverse section of Mason City, which went under the "Brickyard" and "Powder Street" names, and the congregation held lively events and programs, including Saturday morning breakfasts.

"They gave to the whole neighborhood, whether you were white or black or Asian, it didn't matter. It helped everybody in the neighborhood, all kids, all people."

Since services stopped in 1996, the church has largely sat empty, though the pews, carpet and other materials inside have been preserved. Over the last few years, there have been plans to bring new life to the building, but none have been successful. Now, a group is looking to restore the former church, with the upstairs planned to be converted into a chapel and community center, with historical items related to the congregation on display. The basement would also be renovated, and would house the offices of Al-Yad, an organization that provides help to children in foster care.

However, Corinne Sills, who got involved with the project a few years ago, predicts that renovations would cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars, and despite applying for grants and other financial assistance, they have been unable to receive them. Sills, who is also with Al-Yad, says the only way to make the restoration possible is by donations and volunteers.

"I think it's important to preserve any kind of history for our children to view. Anything positive that we can put in today's society is extremely important."

While the building has largely remained intact, the bell tower is in desperate need of repair, as well a new roof, window replacement, new exterior wood, and modernizing the plumbing and electricity.

"If we don't get some of the outside done, it will start falling."

For those who want to donate to the efforts, you can drop a check off at NSB Bank, 451 S. Illinois Avenue in Mason City, with checks being written to Al-Yad.

For more information about the project, you can contact Sills at 641-425-9333, or Marcia Boster at 641-420-2879.

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Group working to restore historic Mason City church - KIMT 3

India Stoughton lived and covered the arts and culture scene in Beirut for eight years. She's currently based in London due to the pandemic.

At the moment that one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history blasted outwards from Beirut's port and swept across the city, Zeina Arida, the director of Sursock Museum, was standing outside her office with two colleagues. The force of the explosion, less than a mile away, threw them into the museum's stairwell, as all around them windows shattered and glass and debris rained down. "We have escaped by a miracle," Arida said over the phone three days later. "The museum is blown away, very simply... There is no door, no window, no glass left in the building."

The force of the explosion also brought down parts of the ceilings and internal walls in the museum, housed in an ornate white mansion dating from 1912. Less than five years after it reopened in October 2015 -- following a seven-year renovation costing more than $10 million -- the museum is a wreck.

Beirut's architectural heritage: What the city stands to lose Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

It had displayed a significant collection of Lebanese art from the late 1800s onwards and was known to host regular temporary exhibitions by both Lebanese and international artists.

Many works from the institution's permanent collection were damaged but, according to Arida, the stained-glass windows that decorate the faade saved many more from destruction. "The tinted glass is so thin that when we first went to look at the damage we were walking on a ground of colored powder," she said.

Painted glass is seen in Beirut's Sursock Museum in the Lebanese capital on October 5, 2015. Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images

Stained glass windows in the Sursock Museum were completely destroyed in the musuem due to the explosion. Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

Streets filled with artists

Beirut's tight-knit cultural sector is still in the throes of this crisis but it's clear that the explosion has had a devastating effect. Many of the city's art spaces were located in the cosmopolitan neighborhoods of Mar Mikhael and Gemmayzeh and in the industrial area of Karantina, all close to the epicenter of the blast. "These streets were a hub for artists from many walks of life. [They] are filled with our friends, our colleagues," said playwright and filmmaker Lucien Bourjeily.

A view from the roof of an apartment building overlooking the ravaged port of Lebanon's capital Beirut in the Mar Mikhael neighborhood. Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

Three days after the explosion, he and others on the theater scene had set up an online group to offer help and support to those who had lost their homes and studios. Bourjeily, who helped organize protests in 2015 when rubbish was left to rot on the streets of Beirut, says artists play a crucial role in leading a call for change after the blast because they are often freelancers who are not as embedded in Lebanon's system of sectarian political patronage.

Galerie Tanit, located less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the explosion, was completely gutted by the blast, which destroyed all the windows and walls, leaving just concrete pillars behind. One employee was seriously injured and Jean-Marc Bonfils, the architect who designed the gallery and lived above it, was killed in the blast.

Gaia Fodoulian, the young director of Letitia Gallery, which closed in February after months of economic hardship, was also killed. Firas Dahwish, who worked at Agial Art Gallery and Saleh Barakat Gallery in the west of the city, was severely injured. He died in hospital five days later.

The Arab Image Foundation, which safeguards a significant collection of photographs documenting a century of life in the Middle East, was also badly damaged. Three staff and board members were injured.

As they mourn the dead, the city's gallerists, artists and creatives are struggling to process the damage to many of the city's most important cultural spaces. "The city is destroyed. It's beyond description... There is not a single person in Beirut who has not been damaged... It's an unbelievable apocalypse," said gallerist Saleh Barakat, who opened Agial Art Gallery, one of the oldest art spaces in the city, in 1990, just after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanese volunteers clear the rubble in the devastated Gemmayzeh neighbourhood, on August 7. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

The explosion is widely perceived to have occurred as a direct result of entrenched corruption and dysfunction among leaders who have clung onto power for more than three decades. "Maybe we needed this for a wake up call. We are very, very angry. We are burying our dead and we are taking care of our injured but the anger is just growing and growing," he said.

A slow road back to reopening

The disaster comes at the end of a year of upheaval that had already taken a heavy toll on the local culture scene. Last September, the 10th edition of the Beirut Art Fair attracted 36,000 visitors, signaling a decade of successful growth for Lebanon's art scene. Over the past five years, new commercial and non-profit arts spaces have sprung up all across the city. Amid upheaval in the wake of the Arab Spring, artists from across the region moved to Beirut, and international curators and dealers regularly traveled to its most important exhibitions. But massive anti-government demonstrations, which began last October and continued for months, caused many of the city's art spaces to strike in solidarity with protesters, allowing staff to join the demonstrations.

"It is going to be very unlikely that things will go back to normal or the art scene can be functional again in less than six months," said Barakat. "How can I open up again? I have no windows, I have no doors. I have nothing... I have seen a lot of very bad situations but there was hope every time... Now we were already broke. How are you going to do anything if you don't have any money?"

According to the gallerist, without an independent investigation into the causes of the explosion, no one has any hope that insurance will pay out. Money aside, he cannot fathom reopening while the same leaders many hold responsible for the explosion remain in power. "We are not going to stop defending our cause, but there should be some changes before we can continue... We should dedicate our time and lives to changing the system, and then we'll see," he said.

The front of Marfa' Projects before the blast. Credit: Courtesy Joumana Asseily

The front of Marfa' Projects after the blast. Credit: Courtesy Joumana Asseily

Marfa' Projects, an exhibition space located next to the customs house in the Lebanese port, was completely destroyed by the explosion. "All that time we were working, exhibiting, 500 meters (0.3 miles) away from a kind of nuclear bomb," said owner Joumana Asseily.

She had closed the gallery for a week due to lockdown. Anyone inside would have been killed. She said she no longer cares about the loss of her gallery. "What is gone is gone. Even the artists don't care at this point. It's all material damages. What really enrages me is the people who lost their lives... The people who don't have houses, who don't have money to rebuild their houses."

But she is determined to reopen -- although only once it's possible to rebuild at the port. "The location was crucial for me," she said. "You feel it is the heart of Beirut because everything passes there."

For some, the challenge of rebuilding is simply too daunting. "I don't think we're going to be able to pick ourselves up and move on... I am 55. I have reconstructed my life so many times, and this time it's just the last straw," said Antoine Haddad, whose gallery, Artlab, suffered extensive damage. He plans to emigrate to Canada, but will continue to run Artlab online. "I owe the artists, morally. I'm engaged to provide for them."

Andre Sfeir-Semler, by contrast, is determined to reopen as soon as possible, even if she has to do it without any windows. "Of course we want to go on... You need to nourish people with art and culture because that is what feeds their souls," she said. But Sfeir-Semler Gallery, located 1.7 kilometers (a little over a mile) from the explosion, is a wreck. "The walls all broke down. The cinema imploded. We have a hole in the roof," she detailed, adding that a staff member who was at the galley when the explosion occurred only survived because she was in the bathroom.

Beneath the anger and sadness, many are simply exhausted. "The culture scene relies so much on private initiatives and very often on specific individuals that have been fighting for the past 25 years, if not more, and what is frightening is that we are already so exhausted, so discouraged," said Sursock Museum director Zeina Arida.

A sad city

"We all have this feeling that what the state failed at building, they have just destroyed." What gives her hope, however, is the support from other institutions, both local and international, who have pledged to help with everything from restoring artworks to renovations.

An aerial view of Sursock Palace, damaged in the explosion on August 7. Credit: Haytham Al Achkar/Getty Images

Gregory Buchakjian, an art historian and artist who spent 10 years documenting Beirut's abandoned buildings, described a long-running "war" between those who want to preserve the city's architectural heritage and the government, whose lax zoning laws and lack of formal protection for structures built after the 17th century leave Ottoman and French-mandate era buildings vulnerable to developers who want to tear them down and replace them with more lucrative skyscrapers. "Many people were saying that the municipality will try to demolish buildings on the pretext that they are on the verge of collapsing," he said. "It's definitely going to be a battle to preserve what can be preserved."

He added: "What is heartbreaking is that some of the buildings that were abandoned when I did my study were renovated, and now they are completely ruined."

Sursock Palace, a private residence close to Sursock Museum, built in 1860, was painstakingly restored over 20 years after the civil war ended. The interior of the three-story mansion was torn apart by the blast. Ornate Ottoman painted wooden ceilings collapsed, leaving antique furnishings smashed and buried under wood, rubble and glass. Its owners say there is little point in trying to fix the damage while the same corrupt leaders remain in power.

Buchakjian believes it's too early to predict how the explosion will affect Beirut's culture scene in the long term. "People are still just cleaning the rubble, assessing the damage."

A crooked painting hangs on the wall of the Sursock Palace, heavily damaged after the explosion. Credit: Felipe Dana/AP

But some people are already looking ahead. "There is this sense of solidarity... We really have the sense that we are all in trouble together," he said.

Back at the Sursock Museum, Arida has gathered the shattered pieces of two ceramic sculptures by Lebanese artist Simone Fattal, part of the permanent collection, in case the artist wants to use them to create something new. She has also offered use of the museum's storage spaces to other institutions and artists.

"It's a very sad city now... It's going to take years and it's going to take a lot of work," Marfa' Projects' Joumana Asseily said, but "all these institutions are so essential, so important... It's going to be very difficult. A lot of them won't survive. But the ones that make it are more important than ever. They must go on. I can't imagine how, but we need them."

All interviews for this article were conducted over the phone. The top image is an interior shot of Sursock Palace.

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Beirut's once-thriving cultural community was already at breaking point. Then the blast hit - CNN

The vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs indoors, most of it from the inhalation of airborne particles that contain the coronavirus. The best way to prevent the virus from spreading in a home or business would be to simply keep infected people away. But this is hard to do when an estimated 40% of cases are asymptomatic and asymptomatic people can still spread the coronavirus to others.

Masks do a decent job at keeping the virus from spreading into the environment, but if an infected person is inside a building, inevitably some virus will escape into the air.

I am a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Much of my work has focused on how to control the transmission of airborne infectious diseases indoors, and Ive been asked by my own university, my kids schools and even the Alaska State Legislature for advice on how to make indoor spaces safe during this pandemic.

Once the virus escapes into the air inside a building, you have two options: bring in fresh air from outside or remove the virus from the air inside the building.

The safest indoor space is one that constantly has lots of outside air replacing the stale air inside.

In commercial buildings, outside air is usually pumped in through heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. In homes, outside air gets in through open windows and doors, in addition to seeping in through various nooks and crannies.

Simply put, the more fresh, outside air inside a building, the better. Bringing in this air dilutes any contaminant in a building, whether a virus or a something else, and reduces the exposure of anyone inside. Environmental engineers like me quantify how much outside air is getting into a building using a measure called the air exchange rate. This number quantifies the number of times the air inside a building gets replaced with air from outside in an hour.

While the exact rate depends on the number of people and size of the room, most experts consider roughly six air changes an hour to be good for a 10-foot-by-10-foot room with three to four people in it. In a pandemic this should be higher, with one study from 2016 suggesting that an exchange rate of nine times per hour reduced the spread of SARS, MERS and H1N1 in a Hong Kong hospital.

Many buildings in the U.S., especially schools, do not meet recommended ventilation rates. Thankfully, it can be pretty easy to get more outside air into a building. Keeping windows and doors open is a good start. Putting a box fan in a window blowing out can greatly increase air exchange too. In buildings that dont have operable windows, you can change the mechanical ventilation system to increase how much air it is pumping. But in any room, the more people inside, the faster the air should be replaced.

So how do you know if the room youre in has enough air exchange? Its actually a pretty hard number to calculate. But theres an easy-to-measure proxy that can help. Every time you exhale, you release CO2 into the air. Since the coronavirus is most often spread by breathing, coughing or talking, you can use CO2 levels to see if the room is filling up with potentially infectious exhalations. The CO2 level lets you estimate if enough fresh outside air is getting in.

Outdoors, CO2 levels are just above 400 parts per million (ppm). A well ventilated room will have around 800 ppm of CO2. Any higher than that and it is a sign the room might need more ventilation.

Last year, researchers in Taiwan reported on the effect of ventilation on a tuberculosis outbreak at Taipei University. Many of the rooms in the school were underventilated and had CO2 levels above 3,000 ppm. When engineers improved air circulation and got CO2 levels under 600 ppm, the outbreak completely stopped. According to the research, the increase in ventilation was responsible for 97% of the decrease in transmission.

Since the coronavirus is spread through the air, higher CO2 levels in a room likely mean there is a higher chance of transmission if an infected person is inside. Based on the study above, I recommend trying to keep the CO2 levels below 600 ppm. You can buy good CO2 meters for around $100 online; just make sure that they are accurate to within 50 ppm.

If you are in a room that cant get enough outside air for dilution, consider an air cleaner, also commonly called air purifiers. These machines remove particles from the air, usually using a filter made of tightly woven fibers. They can capture particles containing bacteria and viruses and can help reduce disease transmission.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that air cleaners can do this for the coronavirus, but not all air cleaners are equal. Before you go out and buy one, there are few things to keep in mind.

The first thing to consider is how effective an air cleaners filter is. Your best option is a cleaner that uses a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, as these remove more than 99.97% of all particle sizes.

The second thing to consider is how powerful the cleaner is. The bigger the room or the more people in it the more air needs to be cleaned. I worked with some colleagues at Harvard to put together a tool to help teachers and schools determine how powerful of an air cleaner you need for different classroom sizes.

The last thing to consider is the validity of the claims made by the company producing the air cleaner.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers certifies air cleaners, so the AHAM Verifide seal is a good place to start. Additionally, the California Air Resources Board has a list of air cleaners that are certified as safe and effective, though not all of them use HEPA filters.

Both the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that poor ventilation increases the risk of transmitting the coronavirus.

If you are in control of your indoor environment, make sure you are getting enough fresh air from outside circulating into the building. A CO2 monitor can help give you a clue if there is enough ventilation, and if CO2 levels start going up, open some windows and take a break outside. If you cant get enough fresh air into a room, an air cleaner might be a good idea. If you do get an air cleaner, be aware that they dont remove CO2, so even though the air might be safer, CO2 levels could still be high in the room.

If you walk into a building and it feels hot, stuffy and crowded, chances are that there is not enough ventilation. Turn around and leave.

By paying attention to air circulation and filtration, improving them where you can and staying away from places where you cant, you can add another powerful tool to your anti-coronavirus toolkit.

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Originally posted here:
How to use ventilation and air filtration to prevent the spread of coronavirus indoors - The Conversation US

Photo: ODHS

The Oliver museum has been struggling with drafts, hotand cold issuesyear-round and the outside wood has been degrading due to the building'sold windows. But after a conservationproject got underway, their problems were solved.

Thanks to a grant from Heritage BCs Heritage Legacy Fund and a donation from the late Carolyn Cope, the 1924-era windows were able to be carefully restored recently.

Gerry Plantes Carpentry Ltd stepped up to repair the old wood, sand and repaint it, and replace the cracked panes on the building.The project included new putty and weather stripping to help to regulate inside temperatures.

The building was Olivers former BC Police Station, and remains in the nationally-recognized conservation standards since the completed project preserved the original material on the building.

Oliver and District Heritage Society (ODHS) are looking forward to having abetter environment for both artifacts and people.

See original here:
Old windows replaced in the museum help the 96 year old building look good as new - Penticton News - Castanet.net