Research Article
Factors Affecting Indoor Radon Concentrations of Greek Dwellings through Multivariate Statistics - First Approach
| Dimitrios Nikolopoulos1*, Sofia Kottou2, Anna Louizi2, Ermioni Petraki1,3, Efstratios Vogiannis4 and Panayiotis H.Yannakopoulos1 | |
| 1Department of Electronic Computer Engineering, TEI of Piraeus, Greece, Petrou Ralli & Thivon GR250, 12244, Aigaleo, Greece | |
| 2Medical Physics Department, Medical School, University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75, GR11527, Goudi, Greece | |
| 3Department of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, London, UK | |
| 4Evangeliki Model School of Smyrna, Lesvou 4, GR17123, Nea Smirni, Athens, Greece | |
| Corresponding Author : | Dimitrios Nikolopoulos Department of Electronic Computer Engineering TEI of Piraeus, Greece, Petrou Ralli & Thivon GR250 12244, Aigaleo, Greece Tel: +0030-210-5381110 Fax: +0030-210-5381436 Mobile: +0030-6977-208318 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] |
| Received April 02, 2014; Accepted May 22, 2014; Published May 24, 2014 | |
| Citation: Nikolopoulos D, Kottou S, Louizi A, Petraki E, Vogiannis E et al. (2014) Factors Affecting Indoor Radon Concentrations of Greek Dwellings through Multivariate Statistics - First Approach. J Phys Chem Biophys 4:145. doi:10.4172/2161-0398.1000145 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Nikolopoulos D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
A large scale nationwide radon survey was conducted in Greek dwellings between 1994 and 2000. Twelve hundred passive CR-39 detectors were distributed and collected along with 963 filled in questionnaires. These were rechecked during 2012-13 to evaluate factors that potentially affect indoor radon concentrations, namely the factors (i) area (environment), (ii) building level-floor, (iii) ground type, (iv) basement, (v) building type, (vi) construction year, (vii) building walls contact, (viii) wall materials and (ix) floor materials. The questionnaires were prepared by the research team according to international standards. One-way and multivariate statistical methods were applied for the analysis, in specific (I) Linear Regression Analysis, (II) One way or multiway ANOVA, (III) General MANOVA, (IV) Stepwise Regression Analysis and (V) Principal Components Analysis. The results revealed that approximately 0.1% of the dwellings exhibited outlier radon concentrations. Noteworthy statistical correlations were detected between the measured mean annual indoor radon concentration levels and the factors (ii) (building level-floor) and (viii) (wall materials). Weak evidence was provided for the corresponding correlation with the factors (v) (building type) and (vii) (building walls contact). Minor was the association with the factors (iv) (construction year) and (ix) (floor materials). Significant differences were detected in the results of the applied statistical methods.
