Emissions from Particles and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in Falun.-How is the emission divided between particles and VOC? This study investigates the air quality in Falun, a small city in central Sweden, with a focus on particles and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Falun is located in a valley which makes it sensitive to inversions, when the vertical mixing of air over the city is prevented. When this happens emissions over the city can stay for days and the pollution levels can be high. The report is based upon a literature review, calculation of emissions from traffic and a survey of industrial emissions. Emission of VOCs can be dangerous to people and contributes to the production of ground- level ozone. Particles can be a carrier for other dangerous compounds. The result shows that high pollution levels caused by inversions can happen. The temperature, wind and temperature differences show that inversions during the winter months are possible up to half of the time. Emissions from cars and industries are a problem. The municipality forced to control air pollution and in Swedish law there is a threshold value for both particles and the volatile organic compounds benzene. Spreading of pollution in air in Falun is centered around the emission sourses. Because it´s hard to prevent inversions, the municipality must focus on reducing emission of pollutants. This can be done through road planning and diverting traffic to other routes around the city.

Air pollutants, such as ozone (O3) and diesel exhaust particles, elicit oxidative stress in the lung. Antioxidants within the respiratory tract lining fluid (RTLF) protect the underlying tissue from oxidative injury. Supplementation with vitamins has been shown to modulate the acute ozone-induced effects, but the mechanisms behind this have not been fully clarified. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the airway responses to diesel exhaust and ozone exposure in healthy humans, with the emphasis on inflammatory and antioxidant responses. Furthermore, to study whether oral supplementation with vitamin C could increase ascorbate concentration in the RTLF and whether vitamin supplementation could modulate the negative effects induced by ozone exposure. Diesel exhaust (100 µg/m3 PM10 for 2h), evaluated 18 hours post exposure (PE), induced a neutrophilic airway inflammation and an increase in bronchoalveolar (BAL) urate and reduced glutathione. During O3 exposure (0.2 ppm for 2h), significant losses of nasal RTLF urate and ascorbate concentrations were observed. Six hours PE, a neutrophilic inflammation was evident in the bronchial wash (BW), together with enhanced concentrations of urate and total glutathione. In the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), where vitamin C, urate and glutathione concentrations were augmented, no inflammatory response was seen. In alveolar lavage leukocytes, there was a significant loss of glutathione and cysteine, whereas an increase in ascorbate was found in bronchial tissue samples. Following supplementation with increasing doses of vitamin C (60-1,000 mg/day, for 14 days), evaluated 24 hours after the last dose, ascorbate concentrations were unchanged in the nasal RTLF, despite elevated concentrations in plasma and urine. In contrast, following a single dose of 1g of vitamin C, vitamin C concentrations increased significantly in both plasma and nasal lavage two hours post supplementation, before returning to baseline levels at 24 hours. Notably, dehydroascorbate (DHA) accounted for the largest part of RTLF vitamin C and a number of control experiments were performed to ensure the authenticity of this finding. Healthy O3 responders were exposed to O3 (0.2 ppm for 2 h) and air, following seven days of supplementation with vitamin C and E or placebo. No protective effect on lung function or airway inflammation was observed following supplementation. BW and BAL-DHA were enhanced after O3, with further increases following supplementation. In conclusion, oxidative air pollutants induce airway inflammation, as well as a broad spectrum of antioxidant adaptations, which could ultimately limit the airway inflammatory responses. Oral vitamin supplementation was shown to augment RTLF-vitamin C concentrations, but it did not provide protection from the ozone-induced airway responses following a single insult of ozone. The finding of high concentrations of DHA in the RTLF could indicate that DHA represents an important transport form of vitamin C onto the surface of the lung.

This dissertation contends that efforts to reduce air pollution in Birmingham, Alabama, from the 1940s through the early 1970s relied on citizens who initially resisted federal involvement but eventually realized that they needed Washington's help. These activists had much in common with clean air groups in other U.S. cities, but they were somewhat less successful because of formidable industrial opposition. In the 1940s the political power of the Alabama coal industry kept Birmingham from following the example of cities that switched to cleaner-burning fuels. The coal industry's influence on Alabama politics had waned somewhat by the late 1960s, but U.S. Steel and its allies wielded enough political power in 1969 to win passage of a weak air pollution law over one favored by activists. Throughout this period the federal government gradually increased its involvement in Alabama's air pollution politics, culminating in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the enactment of environmental laws that empowered federal officials to pressure Alabama to pass a revised 1971 air pollution law that met national standards. After the passage of this law, but before the appointment of an air pollution control board to enforce it, a federal judge temporarily shut down Birmingham-area industries at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency, the first time that the agency had used such emergency powers. Over time, grassroots activists in Birmingham came to the realization that their efforts were doomed to fail, or at least to be significantly delayed, without the aid of the federal government. For nearly twenty-five years after the enactment of the 1945 smoke ordinance, supporters of air pollution control wanted the state government to deal with the problem of air pollution, with the federal government only providing technical expertise and funding for scientific research. But with their defeat in the 1969 legislative session, when the industry-backed air pollution bill passed, clean air campaigners in Alabama realized--and publicly stated--that only pressure from Washington would force Montgomery to clean up Alabama's air.

An External Loop Airlift Bioreactor with a small amount (99% porosity) of stainless steel mesh packing inserted in the riser section was used for bioremediation of a phenol polluted air stream. The packing enhanced VOC and oxygen mass transfer rates and provided a large surface area for cell immobilization. Using a pure strain of Pseudomonas putida, fed-batch and continuous runs at three different dilution rates were completed with phenol in the polluted air as the only source of growth substrate. 100% phenol removal was achieved at phenol loading rates up to 33120 mg/h.m3 using only one third of the column, superior to any previously reported biodegradation rates of phenol polluted air with 100% efficiency. A mathematical model has been developed and is shown to accurately predict the transient and steady state data.

Adverse birth outcomes have many causes but there is increasing awareness that air pollution is one of them. This study examines the effects of air pollution on infant health and mortality using data from the State of Georgia. The estimation methods control for potential endogenous variables such as the length of gestation and the demand for prenatal care. Moreover dummy-fixed effects are used to control for unobserved neighborhood characteristics using the place of residence of the mother. In addition, the model uses a comprehensive framework, which considers birth weight, length of gestation, and mortality, thus allowing pre and postnatal assessment of the impact of air pollution on health. The empirical results show moderate evidence of an effect of air pollution on low birth weight and length of gestation and found a more substantive effect on infant mortality.

This thesis has investigated the cascade impactor with its fractionating particulate capabilities for monitoring respirable particulate matter. Additionally, the cascade impactor was compared with the high volume sampler, the present acceptable method of measuring total suspended particulates.This two-year study analyzed the quarterly and annual geometric means, geometric standard deviations and mass median diameters of the cascade impactor concentrations. Correlation coefficients between the cascade impactor and high volume sampler were analyzed to reveal the relationship between the two sampling methods.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

No description available.

An External Loop Airlift Bioreactor with a small amount (99% porosity) of stainless steel mesh packing inserted in the riser section was used for bioremediation of a phenol polluted air stream. The packing enhanced VOC and oxygen mass transfer rates and provided a large surface area for cell immobilization. Using a pure strain of Pseudomonas putida, fed-batch and continuous runs at three different dilution rates were completed with phenol in the polluted air as the only source of growth substrate. 100% phenol removal was achieved at phenol loading rates up to 33120 mg/h.m3 using only one third of the column, superior to any previously reported biodegradation rates of phenol polluted air with 100% efficiency. A mathematical model has been developed and is shown to accurately predict the transient and steady state data.

In Part 1, we separated surface ozone time series collected from EPA monitoring sites in and around Georgia from 1980-2002 using a Kolmogorov -Zurbenko Filter to assess the influences associated with characteristic timescales to the overall variability of ozone for individual communities. Comparison of time scale variabilities supports that the diurnal and synoptic variation are most influential timescales in small and large urban and rural locations, with the synoptic scale variation decreasing with the increase of urban size. We define boundaries of influence due to a communitys local chemistry and due to transport by utilizing the diurnal and synoptic ozone timescales respectively. We used the synoptic scale to evaluate the boundaries of similarity among sites that share synoptic scale trends due to transport. Results showed two-phased correlation decay with distance from urban centers. We evaluate the diurnal timescale as a means of evaluating the influence of an areas photochemistry, separated from long-range transport mechanisms. We consider isolation of the diurnal timescale extrapolated spatially for a relative sensitivity analysis based on ozone with respect to concentrations of the precursor group NOy. Results show differences base on urban scale and can define photochemical boundaries. In Part 2, a Particle-Into-Liquid Sampler with an anion/cation chromatograph (PILS-IC) was used to evaluate the fine particle desert dust mixed with urban pollution during the Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-Asia). Three flights in the Yellow Sea boundary layer captured high mineral dust mixed with pollutants from Asian urban centers. Results report on the fine particle ionic compositions and chemical evolution of dust and pollution during those flights. The main component of water-soluble mineral dust was Ca2+ with Mg2+, which existed with significant fractions in the form of carbonates. Nitrate and sulfate measured after transport of nearly half a day, were connected to ammonium or potassium, the rest likely associated with mineral dust. Initial mass accommodation coefficients much less than 0.1 for uptake of SO2 or HNO3 by mineral dust in urban plumes containing fossil fuel and biomass burning emissions could explain the observations. The data suggest a dependence of accommodation coefficient on relative humidity.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is adapted to the measurement of adhesion forces between indoor-air-pollutant bioparticulates and synthetic carpet fiber materials. This novel technology is used to characterize the adhesion and release of a model bioparticulate, the bacterium E. coli on Nylon. This knowledge will lead to expanded studies of a wider range of biocontaminants, and ultimately to the ability to design carpet and rugs upholstery that reduce the spread of indoor air pollutants. Such an advance would improve life significantly for the 20+ million Americans who suffer from asthma, and countless others who are afflicted with allergies and illness spread via bioparticulates.