Does particulate matter affect cognitive performance? Evidence from the city of Seoul

Author(s):  
Hyunkuk Cho
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzane S. de Sá ◽  
Brett B. Palm ◽  
Pedro Campuzano-Jost ◽  
Douglas A. Day ◽  
Weiwei Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Fundamental to quantifying the influence of human activities on climate and air quality is an understanding of how anthropogenic emissions affect the concentrations and composition of airborne particulate matter (PM). The central Amazon basin, especially around the city of Manaus, Brazil, has experienced rapid changes in the past decades due to ongoing urbanization. Herein, changes in the concentration and composition of submicron PM due to pollution downwind of the Manaus metropolitan region are reported as part of the GoAmazon2014/5 experiment. A high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and a suite of other gas- and particle-phase instruments were deployed at the T3 research site, 70 km downwind of Manaus, during the wet season. At this site, organic components represented on average 79 ± 7 % of the non-refractory PM1 mass concentration, which was in the same range as several upwind sites. The organic PM1 was, however, considerably more oxidized at T3 compared to upwind measurements. Positive-matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the time series of organic mass spectra collected at the T3 site, yielding three factors representing secondary processes (73 ± 15 % of total organic mass concentration) and three factors representing primary anthropogenic emissions (27 ± 15 %). Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) was applied to the afternoon time series of concentrations of NOy, ozone, total particle number, black carbon, and sulfate. Four clusters were identified and characterized by distinct airmass origins and particle compositions. Two clusters, Bkgd-1 and Bkgd-2, were associated with background conditions. Bkgd-1 appeared to represent near-field atmospheric PM production and oxidation of a day or less. Bkgd-2 appeared to represent material transported and oxidized for two or more days, often with out-of-basin contributions. Two other clusters, Pol-1 and Pol-2, represented the Manaus influence, one apparently associated with the northern region of Manaus and the other with the southern region of the city. A composite of the PMF and FCM analyses provided insights into the anthropogenic effects on PM concentration and composition. The increase in mass concentration of submicron PM ranged from 25 % to 200 % under polluted compared to background conditions, including contributions from both primary and secondary PM. Furthermore, a comparison of PMF factor loadings for different clusters suggested a shift in the pathways of PM production under polluted conditions. Nitrogen oxides may have played a critical role in these shifts. Increased concentrations of nitrogen oxides can shift pathways of PM production from HO2-dominant to NO-dominant as well as increase the concentrations of oxidants in the atmosphere. Consequently, the oxidation of biogenic and anthropogenic precursor gases as well as the oxidative processing of pre-existing atmospheric PM can be accelerated. The combined set of results demonstrates the susceptibility of atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and associated climate forcing to anthropogenic perturbations over tropical forests.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Cabrini Mauro ◽  
Vera Lúcia Silveira Bota Ferrante ◽  
Marcos Abdo Arbex ◽  
Maria Lúcia Ribeiro ◽  
Romeu Magnani

The objective of this study was to investigate an association between pre-harvest sugarcane burning and respiratory diseases in children under five years of age. The following data were collected in five schools in the city of Araraquara, SP, Southeastern Brazil, between March and June 2009: daily records of absences and the reasons stated for these absences, total concentration of suspended particulate matter (µg/m3), and air humidity. The relationship between the percentage of school absences due to respiratory problems and the concentration of particulate matter in March and from April to June presented a distinct behavior: absences increased alongside the increase in particulate matter concentration. The use of school absences as indicators of this relationship is an innovative approach.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geetanjali Kaushik ◽  
Arvind Chel ◽  
Sangeeta Shinde ◽  
Ashish Gadekar

Almost 670 million people comprising 54.5% of our population reside in regions that do not meet the Indian NAAQS for fine particulate matter. Numerous studies have revealed a consistent correlation for particulate matter concentration with health than any other air pollutant. Aurangabad city a rapidly growing city with population of 1.5 million is home to five major industrial areas, the city is also known for its historical monuments which might also be adversely affected from air pollution. Therefore, this research aims at estimating PM10 concentrations at several locations across Aurangabad. The concentration of PM10 was highest at the Railway Station followed by Waluj (an industrial zone) and City chowk is the centre of the city which has high population, tall buildings, few open spaces which causes high congestion and does not allow the particulates to disperse. Other locations with high concentrations of PM are Mill corner, Harsul T-point, Kranti Chowk, Seven Hill, TV centre and Beed Bye pass. All these locations have narrow roads, high traffic density, poor road condition with pot holes and few crossing points which cause congestion and vehicle idling which are responsible for high pollution. Therefore, it is evident that air pollution is a serious issue in the city which may be further aggravated if it is not brought under control. Hence, strategies have to be adopted for combating the menace of air pollution.INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTVolume-5, Issue-2, March-May 2016, Page :61-74


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yovitza Romero ◽  
Priyanka deSouza ◽  
Fabio Duarte ◽  
Patrick Kinney ◽  
Carlo Ratti ◽  
...  

Abstract Lima has been ranked among the top most polluted cities in the Americas. Vehicular emissions are the dominant source of pollution in the city. In order to reduce congestion and pollution levels during the XVIII Pan- and Parapan-American Games, Lima government officials enacted the pico y placa policy to restrict the number of vehicles on certain heavily trafficked roads in the city at rush hours between Monday to Thursday based on the last digit of their license plates. This policy was retained after the Games. In this paper we evaluate the impact of this policy on fine particulate matter concentration levels (PM2.5) at a background site in the city using a difference-in-difference approach. We find that the policy resulted in increases on PM2.5 levels on Monday-Thursday compared to Friday-Sunday levels after the policy was enacted, compared to previous years. However, such an increase was not significant. These results suggest the need for additional policies to reduce pollution due to traffic in Lima. It also suggests the need to track the response to this policy over time to evaluate its efficacy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
MN Mondol ◽  
M Khaled ◽  
AS Chamon ◽  
SM Ullah

Aerosol particulate matter and trace gases were sampled at five locations in the city areas of Bangladesh. The sampling sites were selected in the city areas near motor vehicles run with heavy traffic. The average concentrations of total suspended particulate matter in city ambient air were 413.02, 292.63, 671.65, 184.09 and 301.13 ?g m-³ in Dhaka, Noakhali, Chittagong, Faridpur and Kustia, respectively, which were higher than the daily average value, given by WHO and US EPA standard. The highest SPM concentration is in Chittagong (671.65 ?g m-³) and the lowest in Faridpur (184.09 ?g m-³). The city areas studied fall in the ‘Unhealthy” to “Extremely Unhealthy’ class according to the Air Quality Index, 2003. Trace metal concentrations of total suspended particulate matter in city ambient air were analyzed. The reported previous Pb concentration in farmgate, Dhaka was 1238 ng m-3 by Biswas et al., (2003) and now shows a decreasing tendency, presumably due to the ban on the use of leaded fuel. The average results of trace metals have been compared to national and international standards. The Cu and Zn concentration of current study is found very high in comparison with other previously reported results. The air of Chittagong city is highly polluted. Motor vehicles, especially two stroke engine vehicles are increasingly major sources of air pollution in Chittagong. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v49i4.22630 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 49(4), 263-270, 2014


2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 537-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Motta ◽  
Vito Librando ◽  
Zelica Minniti ◽  
Concetta Federico ◽  
Salvatore Saccone

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Mohammad Lokman Hossain ◽  
Subrata Chandra Roy ◽  
Mithun Chandra Bepari ◽  
Bilkis Ara Begum

Air borne particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 were collected by using Mini Vol portable Air Sampler from the world most densely populated city Dhaka and its suburban areas over a period of January through December in 2016. This study revealed a comparison of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) of a highly polluted urban area to its two neighboring areas that accommodate heavy oil based power plants. In all three sites the quantity of PM decreases in summer reaching its lowest level in the month of July, however, it increases significantly in winter season. Despite the presence of the fuel based power plants the average concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 at the city Dhaka surpasses its two neighbors Manikganj and Nawabganj. Interestingly, PM2.5/PM10 ratio is higher at the suburban areas than urban area. The study shows that for all the sites PM2.5 is approximately twice than that of WHO and USEPA. However, the values of PM2.5 is almost similar for Nawabganj and Manikganj but much higher for the Dhaka city especially during dry season . The Mass concentration of Black Carbon (BC) was also determined from the PM samples from Manikganj and Nawabganj. Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 43, No. 1, 59-66, 2019


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