Odor, gaseous and PM emissions from small scale combustion of wood types indigenous to Central Europe.

In this study, we investigated the emissions, including odor, from log wood stoves, burning wood types indigenous to mid-European countries such as Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, as well as Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (Germany) and South Tyrol (Italy). The investigations were performed with a modern, certified, 8 kW, manually fired log wood stove, and the results were compared to emissions from a modern 9 kW pellet stove. The examined wood types were deciduous species: black locust, black poplar, European hornbeam, European beech, pedunculate oak (also known as "common oak"), sessile oak, turkey oak and conifers: Austrian black pine, European larch, Norway spruce, Scots pine, silver fir, as well as hardwood briquettes.

Multidimensional modeling of aerosol monitoring data.

The present study deals with the application of N-way factor analysis for modeling and interpretation of a three-dimensional environmental data set acquired from monitoring of particulate matter (PM) collected at four different sampling locations in Lower Austria region (Central Europe). In the study the Tucker3 algorithm for N-way modeling was used. It was statistically validated that the Tucker3 model offered having the dimensionality [222] is appropriate for correct interpretation of the relationships between chemical parameters, sampling locations and sampling period.

Improved source assessment of Si, Al and related mineral components to PM10 based on a daily sampling procedure.

Samples obtained from an industrialized valley in the East Alpine region were collected daily for a half year and analyzed using X-ray fluorescence to examine the elements Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Zn, P, S and Cl. Some factors affecting the changes of these elements were considered, including time, elemental correlations, weekday, weekend and seasonal changes. Diagnostic analysis provided an insight into a decoupling behavior that occursin siliceous and carbonates minerals.

Indoor and outdoor atmospheric fungal spores in the São Paulo metropolitan area (Brazil): species and numeric concentrations.

The aim of this study was to estimate the indoor and outdoor concentrations of fungal spores in the Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo (MASP), collected at different sites in winter/spring and summer seasons. The techniques adopted included cultivation (samples collected with impactors) and microscopic enumeration (samples collected with impingers). The overall results showed total concentrations of fungal spores as high as 36,000 per cubic meter, with a large proportion of non culturable spores (around 91% of the total).

Application of the integrating sphere method to separate the contributions of brown and black carbon in atmospheric aerosols.

Until about a decade ago, black carbon (BC) was thought to be the only light absorbing substance in the atmospheric aerosol except for soil or desert dust In more recent years, light absorbing polymeric carbonaceous material was found in atmospheric aerosols. Absorption increases appreciably toward short wavelengths, so this fraction was called brown carbon. Because brown carbon is thermally rather refractory, it influences the split between organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in thermal methods and, through its light absorption characteristics, leads to overestimations of BC concentrations.