Publications by authors named "Jan Bendl"

Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), mandated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), regulate fuel sulphur content (FSC) to mitigate the environmental and health impact of shipping emissions in coastal areas. Currently, FSC is limited to 0.1% (w/w) within and 0.

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  • This study introduces a new LSTM neural network model that uses color features from street images to estimate air quality, specifically focusing on particulate matter (PM) in different European environments like urban and suburban areas.
  • The model outperformed other deep learning models and achieved over 80% accuracy in interpreting various PM metrics, verified with data collected in downtown Augsburg, Germany.
  • The LSTM-HSV model shows potential for broader applications in estimating air pollution, which could be beneficial for urban planning and public health efforts.
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A SEM/EDX based automated measurement and classification algorithm was tested as a method for the in-depth analysis of micro-environments in the Munich subway using a custom build mobile measurements system. Sampling was conducted at platform stations, to investigate the personal exposure of commuters to subway particulate matter during platform stays. EDX spectra and morphological features of all analyzed particles were automatically obtained and particles were automatically classified based on pre-defined chemical and morphological boundaries.

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Humic-like substances (HULIS), known for their substantial impact on the atmosphere, are identified in marine diesel engine emissions obtained from five different fuels at two engine loads simulating real world scenarios as well as the application of wet sulfur scrubbers. The HULIS chemical composition is characterized by electrospray ionization (ESI) ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and shown to contain partially oxidized alkylated polycyclic aromatic compounds as well as partially oxidized aliphatic compounds, both including abundant nitrogen- and sulfur-containing species, and clearly different to HULIS emitted from biomass burning. Fuel properties such as sulfur content and aromaticity as well as the fuel combustion efficiency and engine mode are reflected in the observed HULIS composition.

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The emissions of marine diesel engines have gained both global and regional attentions because of their impact on human health and climate change. To reduce ship emissions, the International Maritime Organization capped the fuel sulfur content of marine fuels. Consequently, either low-sulfur fuels or additional exhaust gas cleaning devices for the reduction in sulfur dioxide (SO) emissions became mandatory.

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  • The study analyzed equivalent black carbon (eBC) levels in Augsburg, Germany over three years, highlighting peak concentrations during morning and evening traffic hours.
  • It revealed that eBC levels were significantly affected by traffic patterns, meteorological conditions, and showed a 35% drop on weekends and a 30% drop during COVID-19 lockdowns due to reduced vehicle usage.
  • The research utilized multilinear regression to explain 53% of eBC variability, offering insights for policymakers aimed at reducing eBC pollution and its health impacts.
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  • The study investigated the toxic effects of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) from different sources, specifically comparing soot particles coated with β-pinene SOA and naphthalene SOA on human bronchial cells.
  • Results showed that naphthalene SOA induced stronger oxidative stress and genotoxicity responses in the cells compared to β-pinene SOA due to differences in their chemical composition.
  • The findings suggest that SOAs from anthropogenic sources, like naphthalene, have higher toxicological risks compared to biogenic sources, highlighting the need for further research on SOA health effects.
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Background: Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) formed from anthropogenic or biogenic gaseous precursors in the atmosphere substantially contribute to the ambient fine particulate matter [PM in aerodynamic diameter ()] burden, which has been associated with adverse human health effects. However, there is only limited evidence on their differential toxicological impact.

Objectives: We aimed to discriminate toxicological effects of aerosols generated by atmospheric aging on combustion soot particles (SPs) of gaseous biogenic () or anthropogenic (naphthalene) precursors in two different lung cell models exposed at the air-liquid interface (ALI).

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The Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic with its capital city Ostrava is a European air pollution hot spot for airborne particulate matter (PM). Therefore, the spatiotemporal variability assessment of source contributions to aerosol particles is essential for the successful abatement strategies implementation. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) was applied to highly-time resolved PM chemical composition (1 h resolution) and particle number size distribution (PNSD, 14 nm - 10 μm) data measured at the suburban (Ostrava-Plesná) and urban (Ostrava-Radvanice) residential receptor sites in parallel during an intensive winter campaign.

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Generally, there are only a few fixed air quality monitoring stations installed in villages or rural areas and only a few studies on small-scale variations in air pollution have been described in detail, which make it difficult to estimate human exposure in such environments and related adverse health effects. Moreover, biomass combustion can be an important source of air pollution in rural areas, comparable to vehicle and industrial emissions in urban planning. And their air pollutants are mainly affected by local sources.

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This study quantified the temporal variability of concentration of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs), genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage and dioxin-like activity of the extractable organic matter (EOM) of atmospheric aerosol particles of aerodynamic diameter (dae, μm) coarse (1 < dae < 10), upper- (0.5 < dae < 1) and lower-accumulation (0.17 < dae < 0.

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