Development of the advanced, real-time methods for monitoring of bioaerosols is becoming increasingly important. At present, the Ultraviolet Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (UVAPS, Model 3312, TSI, St. Paul., MN) is the only commercially available method for in-situ, continuous measurements of viable airborne microorganisms. Research included in this thesis aimed towards comprehensive evaluation of the method over a wide range of operating conditions, linking the experimental results to the theoretical basis of its design and operation, and to developing a scientific basis for its application to real-time monitoring of bioaerosols. Specifically, due to a growing concern in the general community about the environmental and health aspects of biological aerosols originated from various types of agricultural operations including animal farming, this research was focussed on developing a research methodology/strategy for applying the method to the investigation of bioaerosols in the swine confinement buildings (SCB). Investigations under controlled laboratory conditions were primarily concerned with selectivity, sensitivity, counting efficiency, and detection limits of the spectrometer. This study also examined the effect of physiological state (metabolic activity) of bacteria on the performance characteristics of the method. The practical implications of the research findings are discussed in this thesis. Further field investigations undertaken on a pig farm advanced understanding of the UVAPS performance in the real-life environmental settings. The research also provided a new insight on the particle size distribution and the effect of on-farm-activities on aerosol load inside the SCBs, for both biological and non-biological aerosols. This study has proved that the UVAPS is a powerful tool for investigation of viable bioaerosols in the environment. However, this method is limited to detection of active metabolising bacteria that excludes dormant bacterial spores. In addition, the method is very sensitive to physiological state of bacteria and to the effect of adverse environmental conditions on metabolic activity of airborne bacteria, which may decrease the amount of the intrinsic fluorophores in the cells below sensitivity level iv of the monitor. Possible limitations of this technology include also the lack of selectivity and thus interferences from the non-microbial organic components of airborne particles. In addition, the sensitivity of the method is insufficient for monitoring viable bacteria in the environments with relatively low concentrations of bioaerosols. In order to increase sensitivity of the method, it would be desirable to concentrate the bioaerosols into a smaller volume with the aim of high-volume virtual impactors (aerosol concentrators) prior to the monitoring. Therefore, in the indoor environments where an application of the concentrator is not feasible, the utilisation of the UVAPS may be problematic. Due to the intrinsic limitations, the method is not recommended for the direct measurements of viable bioaerosols and should be used in conjunction with the conventional biosamplers for obtaining more realistic insights into the microbial air quality. Nevertheless, the UVAPS has been found to be an adequate method for the investigation of the dynamics of biological aerosols in real-time. Overall, this thesis contributes to the advancing of the understanding of the method and may assist in developing new, more advanced technologies for the real-time monitoring of viable bioaerosols, as well as in developing sampling strategies for the application of the method to various bioaerosol studies.

Concern regarding the health effects of indoor air quality has grown in recent years, due to the increased prevalence of many diseases, as well as the fact that many people now spend most of their time indoors. While numerous studies have reported on the dynamics of aerosols indoors, the dynamics of bioaerosols in indoor environments are still poorly understood and very few studies have focused on fungal spore dynamics in indoor environments. Consequently, this work investigated the dynamics of fungal spores in indoor air, including fungal spore release and deposition, as well as investigating the mechanisms involved in the fungal spore fragmentation process. In relation to the investigation of fungal spore dynamics, it was found that the deposition rates of the bioaerosols (fungal propagules) were in the same range as the deposition rates of nonbiological particles and that they were a function of their aerodynamic diameters. It was also found that fungal particle deposition rates increased with increasing ventilation rates. These results (which are reported for the first time) are important for developing an understanding of the dynamics of fungal spores in the air. In relation to the process of fungal spore fragmentation, important information was generated concerning the airborne dynamics of the spores, as well as the part/s of the fungi which undergo fragmentation. The results obtained from these investigations into the dynamics of fungal propagules in indoor air significantly advance knowledge about the fate of fungal propagules in indoor air, as well as their deposition in the respiratory tract. The need to develop an advanced, real-time method for monitoring bioaerosols has become increasingly important in recent years, particularly as a result of the increased threat from biological weapons and bioterrorism. However, to date, the Ultraviolet Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (UVAPS, Model 3312, TSI, St Paul, MN) is the only commercially available instrument capable of monitoring and measuring viable airborne micro-organisms in real-time. Therefore (for the first time), this work also investigated the ability of the UVAPS to measure and characterise fungal spores in indoor air. The UVAPS was found to be sufficiently sensitive for detecting and measuring fungal propagules. Based on fungal spore size distributions, together with fluorescent percentages and intensities, it was also found to be capable of discriminating between two fungal spore species, under controlled laboratory conditions. In the field, however, it would not be possible to use the UVAPS to differentiate between different fungal spore species because the different micro-organisms present in the air may not only vary in age, but may have also been subjected to different environmental conditions. In addition, while the real-time UVAPS was found to be a good tool for the investigation of fungal particles under controlled conditions, it was not found to be selective for bioaerosols only (as per design specifications). In conclusion, the UVAPS is not recommended for use in the direct measurement of airborne viable bioaerosols in the field, including fungal particles, and further investigations into the nature of the micro-organisms, the UVAPS itself and/or its use in conjunction with other conventional biosamplers, are necessary in order to obtain more realistic results. Overall, the results obtained from this work on airborne fungal particle dynamics will contribute towards improving the detection capabilities of the UVAPS, so that it is capable of selectively monitoring and measuring bioaerosols, for which it was originally designed. This work will assist in finding and/or improving other technologies capable of the real-time monitoring of bioaerosols. The knowledge obtained from this work will also be of benefit in various other bioaerosol applications, such as understanding the transport of bioaerosols indoors.

Surface contamination occurs in nuclear facilities, something that is important to detect easily and efficiently. Using today’s methods to detect nuclear surface contamination may cause certain inconsistencies as the human operator is solely trusted to keep the detector at the correct distance and move it at the correct speed. This thesis project aims to address the problem of inconsistent measurements with respect to the current measurement methods. A system is designed to monitor the measurement process with regards to detector velocity and height. The system will trigger a warning when the minimum detectable activity is too high, as it would lead to inconsistent results. This system consists of a cart-detector setup with a scintillation detector and velocity measurement device(s). Software will utilize the measurement data to implement the aforementioned monitoring. The system aims to be compliant with international standards, such as the ISO 11929 and the ISO 7503 standards, and will thus make use of these standards. The result of the part-analysis for each component of the system showed a large inaccuracy regarding the Intertial Measurement Units (IMUs); hence, the robotic wheels were chosen as the main method of measuring speed for this project. The robotic wheels and the detector were shown to be sufficiently accurate for the desired measurements. The Raspberry Pi 4 model B, the on- board computer, was also shown to be performance-wise and property-wise well suited for the project. This project showed that there is a theoretical way to implement the speed of a moving detector-rig into the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) formula. However, the implementation investigated in this project suggests that full compatibility with ISO 7503 was not achievable. / Radioaktiv ytkontaminering förekommer i kärnkraftverk, vilket är viktigt att upptäcka snabbt och effektivt. Dagens metoder för att upptäcka radioaktiv ytkontaminering kan lida av viss osäkerhet eftersom man förlitar sig helt på att operatören kan manövrera detektorn på rätt höjd och hastighet. Detta examensarbete behandlar en lösning till det ovan nämnda problemet. Ett ”proof-of-concept”-system som kan övervaka mätprocessen designas. Genom att mäta hastighet och känna till höjden över marken kan en varning meddelas användaren när den minsta detekterbara aktiviteten (MDA) når ett tröskelvärde. Det färdiga systemet är en plattform på hjul med en scintillator- detektor monterad tillsammans med en eller flesta hastighetsmätningsenheter. Systemet bör vara kompatibelt med internationella standarder, till exempel ISO 11929 och ISO 7503. Resultaten från den utvärdering av varje individuell komponent som gjorts visade på en stor mätosäkerhet i de två utvärderade IMUerna. Detta medförde att robothjulen valdes som enda källa för hastighetsmätning. Robothjulen, samt detektorn påvisade god mätsäkerhet, väl lämpad för detta projekt. Även mikrodatorn, Raspberry Pi 4 model B, visade sig vara lämplig sett till prestanda och egenskaper. Projektet resulterade i att det är trott att det finns en lämpligt sätt att i teorin implementera hastighet som en parameter i formeln för MDA. Det är dock värt att nämna att resultaten tyder på att det i denna implementation inte var möjligt att uppnå fullständig kompabilitet ISO 7503.