N Lukman’s research while affiliated with National University of Malaysia and other places

Exposure to indoor air pollution among office workers can result in various health issues and increase the incidence of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of exposure to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) among office workers and the relationship with the prevalence of SBS at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi. A cross-sectional comparison research involving 144 office workers from various new and old buildings was carried out at UKM, Bangi. Information was gathered and symptoms associated with SBS were determined using a series of questionnaires. During office hours, IAQ parameters were collected using air quality sensor. The old building had substantially higher levels of NO₂ (24.26 ppb), CO (0.62 ppb), and PM₁₀ (4.99 µg/m3) than the new building. It was found that, with a p < 0.001, the concentration of O₃ in the new building (11.47 ppb) was significantly higher than in the old building (4.93 ppb). The study’s findings also showed that the difference in temperature between the old buildings (26°C) and new buildings (24°C) was statistically significant (p = 0.003). Referring to relative humidity (RH), the result of the old building is lower (56%) compared to the new building (62%). Although old buildings exhibited a higher prevalence of SBS (34.7%), it was found that there was no significant difference compared to new buildings (27.5%). According to the study’s findings, found that exposure to CO (χ² = 5.242, p = 0.022), PM₁₀ (χ² = 13.449, p < 0.001), and PM_2.5 (χ² = 19.755, p < 0.001) among office workers with the prevalence of SBS has significant association. In conclusion, this study suggests that exposure to high levels of CO, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 can increase the prevalence of SBS. Good housekeeping and regular maintenance of ventilation can keep good IAQ and reduce health effects among occupants.

Wind catchers are natural ventilation systems attached to buildings in order to ventilate the indoor air. In order to design and evaluate the performance of wind catchers, as a natural ventilation system, an accurate CFD simulation of indoor airflow and outdoor wind flow is fundamental. It is widely known that there are a large number of computational parameters influencing CFD simulations. Consequently, comprehensive sensitivity analyses of the effect of these parameters on the simulation results are essential to provide guidance for the evaluation of a CFD study. According to the literature review carried out, a wide generic sensitivity study for the CFD simulation of natural ventilation in wind catchers is highly required. This paper presents a series of 3D steady RANS simulations for a generic isolated two-sided wind catcher attached to a room subjected to wind directions ranging from 0° to 90° with an interval of 15°. The CFD simulations are validated with detailed wind tunnel experiments. The influence of an extensive range of computational parameters is explored in this paper, including the resolution of the computational grid, the size of the computational domain, the turbulence model and the order of the discretization scheme.

The wide spread use of air conditioning to meet the high load of cooling for buildings in hot-arid climate regions has become a real problem. Since these systems have a high impact on the peak electricity load, and cause environmental problem associated with ozone depletion, global warming, urban heat island and deterioration of the indoor air quality. Recently, as means to reduce energy consumption of air conditioning systems, wind towers have been used as an alternative solution to meet summer thermal cooling. The ventilation structures called "Badgirs" or wind towers were the most important means by which the interior was cooled in Iranian desert region. These wind towers or wind catchers can be found in Iranian cities with hot-dry and hot-humid climates. This paper is a synopsis of the results of a research on the wind catcher element in the traditional architecture of Iran. A review of the wind towers' characteristics with emphasis on their morphology is provided and categorization of the wind towers based on their physical attributes and parameters are thus proposed. This paper also presents a limited thermal simulation results which shows the influence of different wind catcher's plan geometry on the indoor air temperature. The simulations carried out using a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software called FLUENT, demonstrate the effect of two different square wind catchers on the indoor thermal performance.

Environmental and natural phenomena play a very significant role in laying the region's interrelated cultural, economic and social infrastructures. The buildings in the Iranian desert regions are constructed according to the specific climatic conditions and differ with those built in other climates. Due to lack of access to modern heating and cooling equipment in ancient times the architects were obliged to rely on natural energies to render the inside condition of the buildings pleasant. In the past, without modern facilities, it was only the intelligent architecture of the buildings that enabled people to tolerate the hot summer. The ventilation structures called Badgir were the most important means by which the interior was cooled. This paper is a synopsis of the results of a research on element in traditional architecture of Iran. It can be seen in cities with hot-dry and hot-humid climates. This analysis demonstrates wind towers' characteristics with emphasis on their morphology. Different ratio between different element of wind catchers such as length and width of plan, wind catcher height and shelf height that can be fundamental information to design a new wind catcher in modern buildings as a sustainable element.

An investigation towards a past Malay culture yields a new design paradigm in how current trends in work culture is heading. Current work culture points to the home as an option for conducting office work. This has been made possible by new technological innovations in communications. A home-office is now possible and this could generate better incomes and a more wholesome individual and community. With incorporation of low energy design, an economical home-office could produce even better productivity. In this paper, new 'kinetic boundaries and dividers' are proposed to achieve flexibility in building design configuration. Last but not least, a new design prototype for a home-office environment is offered.

Public Toilets in Malaysia today are seen as outmoded and do not cater to the current lifestyle. The classic and current public toilet [island or free standing type] involves issues such as hygiene, health, security, vandalism, privacy, ventilation, lighting and aesthetics. In this innovation, a new ecology-green and sustainable public toilet design is being proposed. This design explores the various issues mentioned above and is uniquely developed to provide maximum comfort for an in-house habitation, sustainable, zero energy, as well as, providing for functional an aesthetically pleasing outlook.