Development and evaluation of air pollution–linked quality of life (AP-QOL) questionnaire: insight from two different cohorts

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, the air pollution–related quality of life (AP-QOL) questionnaire was carried out in two geographically and economically different...     

Source identification, contamination status and health risk assessment of heavy metals from road dusts in Dhaka, Bangladesh

In this study, concentrations of Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb were determined in road dusts collected from different locations in Dhaka to assess source, contamination status and health risk. Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to determine Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb and their mean concentrations were 162.27 ± 29.46, 721.18 ± 180.14, 35.65 ± 12.55, 104.56 ± 128.33, 515.32 ± 321.90, BDL, and 342.82 ± 591.20 mg/kg, respectively. Among the heavy metals, highest concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb were found at urban sites-7 (municipal waste dumping) and 8 (medical waste incineration). Highest concentration of Cr followed by Cu and Zn was found at site-5 (Tejgaon, urban). Principal component analysis revealed that anthropogenic activities are the potential sources for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb while earth crust for Mn. Pollution index and pollution load index results suggested that all the sites were contaminated and/or degraded by Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb except sites-9 (urban), 10 (sub-urban), 11 (rural) while sites-7 and 8 (urban) were extremely degraded. For noncarcinogenic health risk, hazard quotient values for dermal were higher compared to that of inhalation/ingestion. Though hazard index values were less than 1 at all the sites, these were at least one order of magnitude higher for children group than that of adult group, thus the children group may face more noncarcinogenic health risk at sites-7 and 8. Values of incremental lifetime cancer risk were from 10⁻⁹ to 10⁻¹¹ showed no carcinogenic health risk by road dusts contaminated with the heavy metals.     

Estimation and inter-comparison of dust aerosols based on MODIS, MISR and AERONET retrievals over Asian desert regions

This study presents detailed analysis of spatiotemporal variations and trend of dust optical properties i.e., Aerosol Optical Depth(AOD) and Angstrom component over Asian desert regions using thirteen years of data(i.e., 2001–2013) retrieved from Aerosol Robotic Network(AERONET), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer(MISR). These regions include Solar Village, Dunhuang and Dalangzadgad and are considered as origin of desert aerosols in Asia. Mann–Kendall trend test was used to show the trend of AOD. The relationship of AOD with weather parameters and general AOD trend over different wavelengths has also been shown. AOD's trend has been observed significant throughout the year in Solar Village, while in Dunhuang and Dalanzadgad the significant trend has been found only in peak period(March–June).Analysis show high values of AOD and low values of angstrom in Solar Village during peak period. In Chinese desert regions, high values of AOD have been found during peak period and low values in pre-peak period. Significant relationship has been observed between AOD and average temperature in Solar Village and Dalanzadgad whereas rainfall and wind speed showed no significant impact on AOD in all desert regions.     

Estimation of aerosol optical depth in relation to meteorological parameters over eastern and western routes of China Pakistan economic corridor

This study finds out seasonal and monthly variations in Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over eastern and western routes of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the relationship between AOD and meteorological parameters (i.e., temperature, rainfall and wind speed). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) data was used from the terra satellite for the period of 2000-2016. This study aims to overtake the conventional view of the purpose of using the satellite datasets. This study takes on to the concept that validated satellite data sets rather should be used for the analysis instead of just validation specifically for our study region. Hence, after comparing MODIS AOD with MISR AOD, only MISR AOD dataset is used for further analysis. The results show a decreasing trend of AOD in summer season, a positive relationship between temperature and AOD during winter and spring seasons whereas a positive relationship between wind speed and AOD in winter and spring seasons over eastern and western routes. Periodic analysis of MODIS AOD and MISR AOD depicts May-Aug as the peak period of aerosol concentration over central Pakistan. The inter-annual analysis shows the aerosol trend remained higher during summer season however rainfall shows the washout effect. Eastern route has higher standard deviation and larger values for aerosol prevalence as compared to western route. The trajectory analysis using the HYSPLIT model suggests the bias of air mass trajectory caused deviation in the aerosol trend in the year 2014.     

Concentrations and chemical compositions of PM10 during hazy and non-hazy days in Beijing

In order to study the concentrations of major components,characteristics and comparison in hazy and non-hazy days of PM₁₀ in Beijing,aerosol samples were collected at urban site in Beijing from December 29,2014 to January 22,2015.Heavy metals like Zn,Pb,Mn,Cu,As,V,Cr and Cd were deeply studied considering their toxic effects on human being;nine water-soluble inorganic ions(SO₄^2-,NO₃^-,NH₄⁺,Na⁺,K⁺,Cl...     

Size fraction of hazardous particulate matter governing the respiratory deposition and inhalation risk in the highly polluted city Delhi

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Delhi has been identified as one of the highly polluted cities in the world and recently associated with the highest population weighted PM2.5...     

On-road emissions of CO, CO2 and NOX from four wheeler and emission estimates for Delhi

This study presents the emission factor of gaseous pollutants(CO, CO_2, and NO X) from on-road tailpipe measurement of 14 passenger cars of different types of fuel and vintage. The trolley equipped with stainless steel duct, vane probe velocity meter, flue gas analyzer, Nondispersive infra red(NDIR) CO_2 analyzer, temperature, and relative humidity(RH) sensors was connected to the vehicle using a towing system. Lower CO and higher NO X emissions were observed from new diesel cars(post 2010) compared to old cars(post 2005), which implied that new technological advancement in diesel fueled passenger cars to reduce CO emission is a successful venture,however, the use of turbo charger in diesel cars to achieve high temperature combustion might have resulted in increased NO X emissions. Based on the measured emission factors(g/kg), and fuel consumption(kg), the average and 95% confidence interval(CI) bound estimates of CO, CO_2,and NO X from four wheeler(4W) in Delhi for the year 2012 were 15.7(1.4–37.1), 6234(386–12,252),and 30.4(0.0–103) Gg/year, respectively. The contribution of diesel, gasoline and compressed natural gas(CNG) to total CO, CO_2 and NO X emissions were 7:84:9, 50:48:2 and 58:41:1respectively. The present work indicated that the age and the maintenance of vehicle both are important factors in emission assessment therefore, more systematic repetitive measurements covering wide range of vehicles of different age groups, engine capacity, and maintenance level is needed for refining the emission factors with CI.     

Climatology of PM2.5 organic carbon concentrations from a review of ground-based atmospheric measurements by evolved gas analysis

In this work we have compared ground-based measurements of organic carbon (OC) in the fine aerosol (PM2.5) fraction that are reported in peer-reviewed publications as part of both short campaigns and continuous monitoring networks. The comparison provides a quantitative review of global OC measurements for the purpose of establishing the extent to which organic aerosol concentrations are known with sufficient geographic and historical resolution to constrain global climate models. Only North America has sufficient measurements to provide meaningful spatial and temporal trends, although available measurements from China and Japan indicate that the Asian region is the most polluted with OC concentrations of approximately 10 μg m^?3. These measurements have a low spatial resolution, with most sites located in highly urban areas within a small geographic region. OC concentrations in North America are approximately 1 μg m^?3 and are better characterized spatially, temporally, and historically by continuous monitoring networks established decades ago. OC concentration shows a weakly increasing trend in some regions from 1997 to 2006, although in most regions it has remained effectively constant over the last ten years. Eastern U.S. sites show maximum OC in the winter and western U.S. sites show maximum OC in the summer. There is no correlation at U.S. sites between OC concentration and sulfate, nitrate, or ammonium ions, with R² < 0.1 in each case.