Search results for " Pollution"
showing 10 items of 1010 documents
Indoor air quality of everyday use spaces dedicated to specific purposes—a review
2017
According to literature data, some of the main factors which significantly affect the quality of the indoor environment in residential households or apartments are human activities such as cooking, smoking, cleaning, and indoor exercising. The paper presents a literature overview related to air quality in everyday use spaces dedicated to specific purposes which are integral parts of residential buildings, such as kitchens, basements, and individual garages. Some aspects of air quality in large-scale car parks, as a specific type of indoor environment, are also discussed. All those areas are characterized by relatively short time use. On the other hand, high and very high concentration level…
On the impact of safety requirements, energy prices and investment costs in street lighting refurbishment design
2018
Abstract Street lighting is an indispensable feature for the night landscape of cities. It is important for road safety, users visual comfort, crime prevention and to augment the perceived personal safety. Realize and maintain an adequate street lighting service is very expensive for municipalities with significant impact on their budgets. For this reason, special attention should be paid to the design of new street lighting systems and to the refurbishment of existing ones, since many of them are inadequate. In light of this it is very important to implement street lighting designs that fulfil lighting requirements avoiding energy waste and light pollution and, at the same time, result eco…
Inorganic arsenic species in groundwater: A case study from Purbasthali (Burdwan), India
1996
A regional groundwater quality survey from 20 tube wells in the Purbasthali area of the Burdwan district of West Bengal province (India) identified arsenic pollution in this area. Arsenic was detected in 19 cases at a concentration level 0.5 to 135.9 micrograms/L. Speciation studies indicate that As(III) is present in only one sample and organo-arsenic compounds have not been detected. Iron, antimony and pH of such water samples were also studied to see if there is any correlation of the presence of arsenic and these parameters. A high concentration of iron (0.3 to 10.7 mg/L) has been detected. Antimony is present in all these water samples (0.03 to 0.9 microgram/L). The pH value of the gro…
Comparison of gamma-ray coincidence and low-background gamma-ray singles spectrometry
2011
Aerosol samples have been studied under different background conditions using gamma-ray coincidence and low-background gamma-ray singles spectrometric techniques with High-Purity Germanium detectors. Conventional low-background gamma-ray singles counting is a competitive technique when compared to the gamma-gamma coincidence approach in elevated background conditions. However, measurement of gamma-gamma coincidences can clearly make the identification of different nuclides more reliable and efficient than using singles spectrometry alone. The optimum solution would be a low-background counting station capable of both singles and gamma-gamma coincidence spectrometry.
Air pollution in European countries and life expectancy—modelling with the use of neural network
2019
Abstract The present paper discusses a novel methodology based on neural network to determine air pollutants’ correlation with life expectancy in European countries. The models were developed using historical data from the period 1992–2016, for a set of 20 European countries. The subject of the analysis included the input variables of the following air pollutants: sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and non-methane volatile organic compounds. Our main findings indicate that all the variables significantly affect life expectancy. Sensitivity of constructed neural networks to pollutants proved to be particularly important in …
Aviation Contrail Cirrus and Radiative Forcing Over Europe During 6 Months of COVID‐19
2021
Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a 72% reduction of air traffic over Europe in March–August 2020 compared to 2019. Modeled contrail cover declined similarly, and computed mean instantaneous radiative contrail forcing dropped regionally by up to 0.7 W m−2. Here, model predictions of cirrus optical thickness and the top‐of‐atmosphere outgoing longwave and reflected shortwave irradiances are tested by comparison to Meteosat‐SEVIRI‐derived data. The agreement between observations and modeled data is slightly better when modeled contrail cirrus contributions are included. The spatial distributions and diurnal cycles of the differences in these data between 2019 and 2020 are partially caused…
Origin of atmospheric aerosols at the Pierre Auger Observatory using studies of air mass trajectories in South America
2014
The Pierre Auger Observatory is making significant contributions towards understanding the nature and origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. One of its main challenges is the monitoring of the atmosphere, both in terms of its state variables and its optical properties. The aim of this work is to analyze aerosol optical depth $\tau_{\rm a}(z)$ values measured from 2004 to 2012 at the observatory, which is located in a remote and relatively unstudied area of the Pampa Amarilla, Argentina. The aerosol optical depth is in average quite low - annual mean $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.04$ - and shows a seasonal trend with a winter minimum - $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.03$ -, and a sum…
The Effect of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in Three Italian Medium-Sized Cities
2020
Despite the societal and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures put in place by the Italian government provided an unprecedented opportunity to increase our knowledge of the effect transportation and industry-related emissions have on the air quality in our cities. This study assessed the effect of reduced emissions during the lockdown period, due to COVID-19, on air quality in three Italian cities, Florence, Pisa, and Lucca. For this study, we compared the concentration of particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and O3 measured during the lockdown period, with values obtained in the same period of 2019. Our results show no evidence of a direct relationship between th…
δ13C variations in tree rings as an indication of severe changes in the urban air quality
2002
Abstract Annual growth rings sampled from three free-standing trees (Platanus hybrida sp.), grew in the metropolitan area of Palermo (Italy) and covering a 118 years time span (1880–1998), have been studied for their 13C/12C carbon isotope ratios. It has been found that the 13C/12C tree ring record, during the study time interval, decreased of −3.6‰, from −26.4‰ in 1880 to −30‰ in 1998. Such a progressive depletion has been attributed to the addition of anthropogenic 13C depleted carbon dioxide to the local atmosphere. The observed 13C/12C decrease has been used to infer some possible pathways of atmospheric CO2 change in the study urban area.
Outdoor, indoor and personal distribution of BTEX in pregnant women from two areas in Spain - Preliminary results from the INMA project
2010
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are habitually found in both outdoor and indoor environments, may represent a significant health risk. In this context, pregnancy is a critical period since foetuses are more vulnerable than adults to exposure to toxic compounds. The objective of this study is to present the preliminary results of a series of measurements of outdoor (O), indoor (I) and personal exposure (P) to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene and m,p-xylene (BTEX) in 107 pregnant women from two areas in Spain, namely Valencia and Sabadell. BTEX samplers were installed for 48 hours both inside and outside of the women’s homes, along with personal samplers. In addition, the tes…