During the latter part of the 20th century, a transition away from coal as a major energy source in developed countries was accompanied by a notable decrease in air pollution-related deaths in those countries. Currently the same phenomenon is being observed in developing nations like China and India. However, many areas that do still rely on coal for their energy production or industrial needs also reflect a gap in research on the effects of those specific processes on local populations. Located in Nepal at the foot of the Himalayan Plateau, Kathmandu represents one such location. The local economy of Kathmandu and the surrounding area relies heavily on the production of bricks using coal-fired kilns, which produce large amounts of particulate matter. This particulate matter contains a characteristic mix of metals. This unique fingerprint can be used to identify and track kiln emissions in ambient samples. We collected hourly samples of ambient metal concentrations over a period of three months at the start of 2019. We then used these data to perform positive matrix factorization (PMF) to identify several factors contributing to the ambient air pollution of the sampled area, each representing a source type. The PMF output included the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of each factor as well as hourly variation of each factor. We were able to isolate the fraction of PM2.5 contributed by coal and estimate the health effects attributable to this fraction using a modified risk ratio of 1.05 to reflect the higher toxicity of coal emissions. We found that the current estimates of health impacts in Nepal underestimate the true impact of coal by 416 deaths per year.

[pt] A poluição do ar é um assunto de preocupação mundial que se relaciona com poluentes múltiplos e suas relações complexas com muitos fatores, tais como meteorologia local e uso da terra. Numerosos estudos afirmam que a exposição à poluição do ar aumenta o risco de mortalidade, sintomas respiratórios, inflamação pulmonar e estresse oxidativo. No entanto, alguns estudos que examinam os efeitos adversos para a saúde pública e ambiental associados à poluição atmosférica consideram apenas os níveis de poluentes legislados (por exemplo, material particulado, MP). Este trabalho baseiase principalmente nos poluentes ainda não legislados usando as seguintes abordagens: 1) monitoramento de longo período; 2) ensaios toxicológicos e de bioacumulação; 3) aplicação de modelos estatísticos de complexos; e 4) um olhar mais atento à exposição aumentada a que os residentes rurais têm sido expostos. / [en] Air pollution is a worldwide concern that relates to multiple pollutants and its complex relationships with many factors such as local meteorology and land use. Numerous studies state that exposure to air pollution increases the risk of mortality, respiratory symptoms, lung inflammation, and oxidative stress. However, some studies examining public and environmental health adverse effects associated with air pollution consider only criteria pollutant levels (e.g., particulate matter, PM). This work builds mostly on the non-criteria pollutants using the following approaches: 1) long-term monitoring; 2) toxicological and bioaccumulation essays; 3) application of state-of-the-art statistical models; and 4) a closer look at the increased exposure to which rural residents have been exposed.

In contradistinction with road transport exhaust particulate matter (PM) emission, non-exhaust PM emission has not decreased substantially in recent years. One source of non-exhaust PM emission is studded tyre-pavement contact. A-state-of-the-art experimental machines must be developed and improved in order to make a contribution to decrease of non-exhaust PM emission consequently improving human health. This thesis carried out at the department of Machine Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology deals with redesign of the tribometer available at the department premises to mount and test scaled down studded tyre-pavement PM generation. Three concepts of redesigned tribometer were generated and evaluated against each other, out of which one was selected to be designed in detail, manufactured, assembled and tested. Final concept validation was conduction of an experiment with studded and plain tyres running on a granite sample. PM10 and PM0.5 results were collected and analysed and final redesign of the tribometer was assessed. / I motsats till utsläpp av partiklar från vägtransporter har utsläpp av partiklar från andra källor än avgaser inte minskat avsevärt under de senaste åren. En källa till utsläpp av partiklar utöver avgaser är kontakten mellan dubbdäck och vägbana. Det är nödvändigt att utveckla och förbättra de senaste laborationsmaskinerna för att kunna bidra till att minska icke avgasrelaterade utsläpp och därmed människors hälsa. Denna avhandling, som utförts vid avdelningen för maskinkonstruktion vid KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan), handlar om att omkonstruera den tribometer som finns tillgänglig vid institutionen för att kunna montera och testa en nedskalad produktion av partiklar från däck och beläggning med dubbdäck. Tre koncept för en omkonstruerad tribometer skapades och utvärderades mot varandra, varav en valdes ut för att konstrueras i detalj, tillverkas, monteras och testas. Den slutliga valideringen av konceptet bestod av att genomföra ett experiment med dubbade och vanliga däck som kördes på ett granitprov. PM10- och PM0.5-resultaten samlades in och analyserades, varpå den slutliga omkonstruktionen av tribometern utvärderades.

Particulate emissions from road transportation are known to have an adverse impact on human health as well the environment. As the effects become more palpable, stricter legislation have been proposed by regulating bodies. This puts forward a challenge for the automotive industry to develop after treatment technologies to fulfil the progressively stricter legislation. At present, the most common after-treatment technologies used for particulates are the diesel and gasoline particulate filters. The typical size distribution of the particles is such that the smallest particles in terms of size are in numbers the largest, although they are not influencing the total particle mass significantly. The most recent legislation have included restrictions on the particle number as well as particle mass. In this thesis numerical tools for studying the transport and interaction of particles in an exhaust flow are evaluated. The specific application is particle agglomeration as a mean to reduce the number of particles and manipulate the size distribution. As particles agglomerate the particle number distribution is shifted and larger sized agglomerates of particles are created reducing the number of ultra-fine particles. The particle agglomeration is obtained by forcing sudden acceleration and deceleration of the host gas carrying the particles by variations in the cross sectional areas of the geometry it is passing through. Initially, a simplified one dimensional model is utilized to assess the governing parameters of particle grouping. Grouping here means that the particles form and are transported in groups, thus increasing the probability for agglomeration. The lessons learned from the 1D-model are also used to design the three dimensional geometry: an axisymmetric corrugated pipe. Two different geometries are studied, they both have the same main pipe diameter but different diameter on the corrugations. The purpose is to find the potential onset of flow instabilities and the influence of 3D-effects such as recirculation on the agglomeration. The CFD simulations are performed using DES methodology. First the simulations are run without particles in a non pulsatile flow scenario. Later particles are added to the setup in a one way coupled approach (no particle-particle interaction). The main results were: 1) An additional criterion for grouping to the ones given in previous work on the 1D model is proposed. It is found that grouping is more likely if the combination of the pulse frequency and geometric wavelength is large. Furthermore, smooth pulse forms (modelling the modulation in the flow due to the geometry) yielded more grouping than other more abrupt pulse shapes. However, idealised inlet pulses underestimate the extent of grouping compared to actual engine pulses. 2) For the geometry with larger maximum cross sectional area stronger flow separation was observed along with higher turbulent kinetic energy. 3) Particles were added in the flow field and a reduction in the particle count was observed in the initial simulations for particles going from the first corrugated segment to the last. Natural extensions of the present work would be to consider pulsatile flow scenarios, particle-particle interaction and a polydisperse setup for the particles / <p>QC 20181008</p>

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京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23493号 / 工博第4905号 / 新制||工||1766(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 高野 裕久, 教授 米田 稔, 准教授 上田 佳代 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

We investigated the hypothesis that exposure to inhaled diesel exhaust PM can alter the gut microbiome and intestinal integrity, thereby promoting systemic inflammatory response and early CVD risk, which are exacerbated by HF diet. Furthermore, we investigated whether the observed exposure and diet-mediated outcomes could be mitigated through probiotic treatment. We performed an exposure study on C57Bl/6 male mice, placed on either a low fat (LF) diet or a high-fat (HF) diet, and exposed via oropharyngeal aspiration to 35 μg diesel exhaust particles (DEP) suspended in 35 μl of sterile saline or sterile saline controls (CON) twice a week for four weeks. A subset of mice on HF diet were dosed with 0.3 g/day (PRO, ~7.5x108 CFU/day) of probiotic Ecologic® Barrier 849 (Winclove Probiotics) in drinking water during the course of the study. For our first aim, we investigated the alterations in the gut microbiome, measured circulating cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and measured CVD biomarkers in the heart. Our results revealed that exposure to inhaled DEP results in gut dysbiosis characterized by expansion of the phyla Verrucomicrobia and Proteobacteria and reduction in Actinobacteria, which was exacerbated by HF diet. Probiotics mitigated the DEP-mediated expansion of Proteobacteria and re-established Actinobacteria in the intestine of HF animals. Furthermore, we determined that exposure to inhaled DEP increases systemic LPS and inflammatory markers IL-1α, IL-3, G-CSF, and TNF-α. Furthermore, we found that inhaled DEP exposure results in increased CVD biomarkers sICAM-1, sP-selectin, and thrombomodulin in the heart. Probiotic treatment was effective in attenuating LPS, inflammatory responses, and CVD biomarkers in HF animals, validating the involvement of the microbiome in mediating inhaled DEP-mediated responses. Considering the effects we observed in the microbiota and systemically of the HF and probiotic treatment animals, we investigated the effects of inhaled DEP on intestinal integrity and inflammation in HF ± PRO animals. Our results showed that inhaled DEP in conjunction with HF diet promotes increased goblet cell and mucin 2 expression, tight junction (TJ) proteins (claudin-3, occludin, and zonula occludens (ZO)-1) expression, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, and decreased TNF-α and IL-10. Moreover, we found that probiotics promoted intestinal immune response following inhaled DEP exposure characterized by an increase in TNF-α and IL-10 and showed variable expression of TJs in the intestine. In conclusion, we found that inhaled DEP exposure results in changes in gut microbial profiles, altered intestinal integrity, systemic inflammation, and increased CVD biomarkers, which are exacerbated by HF diet. The use of probiotics in this study proved to be pivotal in understanding the microbiome's influences on the regulation of intestinal integrity, intestinal inflammation, systemic inflammation, and cardiovascular system following inhaled DEP exposure with HF diet.