In urban areas, high levels of air pollution pose significant risks to human health, emphasising the need for detailed air quality (AQ) monitoring. However, traditional AQ monitoring relies on the data from Reference Monitoring Stations, which are sparsely distributed and provide only hourly or daily data, failing to capture the spatial and temporal variability of air pollutant concentrations. Addressing this challenge, we introduce in this article the ExpoLIS system, an all-weather mobile AQ monitoring system that integrates various AQ low-cost sensors (LCSs), providing high spatio-temporal resolution data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
November 2023
Along with climate change, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems affecting everyone in the world today [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrban vegetable gardens are very often a feature of cities that want to offer their citizens a more sustainable lifestyle by producing their own food products. However, cities can have significant pollution levels (or pollution hotspots) due to specific sources of pollution, such as traffic. Among the various pollutants, microplastics (MPs) are emerging as a consensual concern due to the awareness of the environmental contamination, their bioaccumulation potential and human intake, and, consequently unknown human health impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper presents a source apportionment study performed on a dataset collected at a trafficked site in Coimbra (Portugal) during the period December 2018-June 2019. The novelty of this work consists in the methodological approach used and the sensitivity study carried out to give hints to potential future applications. Indeed, a multi-time resolution and multi-parameter study was performed joining together aerosol data from 24-h chemically characterized samples and high-time resolution multi-wavelength absorption coefficients retrieved by an Aethalometer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the suitability of outdoor particulate matter data obtained from a fixed monitoring station in estimating the personal deposited dose. Outdoor data were retrieved from a station located within the urban area of Lisbon and simulations were performed involving school children. Two scenarios were applied: one where only outdoor data were used assuming an outdoor exposure scenario, and a second one where an actual exposure scenario was adopted using the actual microenvironment during typical school days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
February 2023
Air pollution is an important source of morbidity and mortality. It is essential to understand to what levels of air pollution citizens are exposed, especially in urban areas. Low-cost sensors are an easy-to-use option to obtain real-time air quality (AQ) data, provided that they go through specific quality control procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
February 2023
Air pollution is known to be one of the main causes of injuries to the respiratory system and even premature death. Gases, particles, and biological compounds affect not only the air we breathe outdoors, but also indoors. Children are highly affected by the poor quality of the air they breathe because their organs and immune systems are still in the developmental stages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe lockdowns held due to the COVID-19 pandemic conducted to changes in air quality. This study aimed to understand the variability of PM levels and composition in an urban-industrial area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and to identify the contribution of the different sources. The composition of PM was assessed for 24 elements (by PIXE), secondary inorganic ions and black carbon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
October 2022
This study aimed to understand the knowledge of Portuguese citizens about air quality and the extent to which the concerns about specific environmental problems can motivate their acquaintance of information. Moreover, this study also allowed to understand which information about air quality needs further dissemination to provide the citizens with all the available tools and the correct knowledge. For this, a national online survey about air quality perception was conducted, where 1131 answers were obtained and two different populations were compared: the general population and a sub-population from an urban-industrial area of Lisbon metropolitan area that had experienced frequent air pollution events in the past.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aims to investigate the sources of particulate pollution in indoor and outdoor environments, with focus on determining their contribution to the exposure of children to airborne particulate matter (PM). To this end, parallel indoor and outdoor measurements were carried out for a selection of 40 homes and 5 schools between September 2017 and October 2018. PM2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to understand the influence of industries (including steelworks, lime factories, and industry of metal waste management and treatment) on the air quality of the urban-industrial area of Seixal (Portugal), where the local population has often expressed concerns regarding the air quality. The adopted strategy was based on biomonitoring of air pollution using transplanted lichens distributed over a grid to cover the study area. Moreover, the study was conducted during the first period of national lockdown due to COVID-19, whereas local industries kept their normal working schedule.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This study estimates the risk of aerosol infection by SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments where high density of occupation results in an increased probability of infection, such as schools, offices, supermarkets, restaurants and gyms.
Material And Methods: In each type of building use, several conditions were simulated, such as the use and effectiveness of masks, ventilation, use of equipment that allows air asepsis using HEPA filters, the density of occupancy and the length of stay in the spaces, using a model based on the dispersion of aerosol particles in indoor spaces and on the accumulation and inhalation of these particles over time.
Results: The results showed that the replacement of social masks by masks with FFP2 classification decreased the risk of infection by 90% in schools.
Residential settings are of utmost importance for human exposure, as it is where people spend most of their time. Residential wood combustion is a widespread practice known as a source of indoor particulate matter (PM). Nevertheless, research on the risks of exposure associated with this source is scarce, and a better understanding of respiratory deposition of smoke particles is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtmospheric particles are a major environmental health risk. Assessments of air pollution related health burden are often based on outdoor concentrations estimated at residential locations, ignoring spatial mobility, time-activity patterns, and indoor exposures. The aim of this work is to quantify impacts of these factors on outdoor-originated fine particle exposures of school children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAir pollution is one of the major environmental health problems that people face nowadays, affecting everyone in the world [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental empowering to control resource consumption and environmental impacts is critical to engage citizens to adopt more sustainable habits. This study demonstrates the potential benefits of innovative approaches based on sustainability indicators towards a low-carbon economy. A methodology to measure and promote sustainability in schools has been proposed and evaluated, aiming at showing the environmental performance and informing of potential environmental savings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA wider characterization of indoor air quality during sleep is still lacking in the literature. This study intends to assess bioburden before and after sleeping periods in Portuguese dwellings through active methods (air sampling) coupled with passive methods, such as electrostatic dust cloths (EDC); and investigate associations between before and after sleeping and bioburden. In addition, and driven by the lack of information regarding fungi azole-resistance in Portuguese dwellings, a screening with supplemented media was also performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2020
Understanding air pollution in urban areas is crucial to identify mitigation actions that may improve air quality and, consequently, minimize human exposure to air pollutants and their impact. This study aimed to assess the temporal evolution of the air quality in the city of Setúbal (Portugal) during a time period of 10 years (2003-2012), by evaluating seasonal trends of air pollutants (PM, PM, O, NO, NO and NO) measured in nine monitoring stations. In order to identify emission sources of particulate matter, PM and PM were characterized in two different areas (urban traffic and industrial) in winter and summer and, afterwards, source apportionment was performed by means of Positive Matrix Factorization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2020
Passive diffusion tubes for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbonyls and low volume particulate matter (PM) samplers were used simultaneously in kitchens and outdoor air of four dwellings. PM filters were analysed for their carbonaceous content (organic and elemental carbon, OC and EC) by a thermo-optical technique and for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and plasticisers by GC-MS. The morphology and chemical composition of selected PM samples were characterised by SEM-EDS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Pollut Res Int
September 2020
Toxic metals as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) exist in the atmosphere as particulate matter components. Their concentration levels in the European Union (EU) are regulated by European legislation, which sets target and limit values as annual means, and by the World Health Organization (WHO) that defines guidelines and reference values for those metal elements. Modelling tools are recommended to support air quality assessment regarding the toxic metals; however, few studies have been performed and those assessments rely on discrete measurements or field campaigns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
May 2020
The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heat-not-burn tobacco (HNBT), as popular nicotine delivery systems (NDS), has increased among adult demographics. This study aims to assess the effects on indoor air quality of traditional tobacco cigarettes (TCs) and new smoking alternatives, to determine the differences between their potential impacts on human health. Measurements of particulate matter (PM, PM and PM), black carbon, carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO) were performed in two real life scenarios, in the home and in the car.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to provide a comprehensive characterisation of the indoor air quality during the sleeping period of 10 couples at Lisbon dwellings, using a multi-pollutant approach, and to understand how the compliance with legislation and guidelines was to assure a good indoor air quality. The assessment of indoor air quality was conducted in the cold season using real time monitors during the sleeping period for comfort parameters (temperature and relative humidity) and air pollutants (carbon dioxide - CO, carbon monoxide - CO, formaldehyde - CHO, total volatile organic compounds - VOCs, and particulate matter - PM and PM), together with active sampling of bioaerosols (fungi and bacteria) before and after the sleeping period. Lower compliance (less than 50% of the cases) with the Portuguese legislation was found for temperature, CO (3440 ± 1610 mg m), VOCs (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with adverse health outcomes, particularly in susceptible population groups such as children. This study aims to characterise children's exposure to PM and its chemical constituents. Size-segregated aerosol samples (PM0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeople spend one third of their life sleeping, but the bedroom, as a specific micro-environment, is often neglected when assessing human exposure to air pollutants. However, exposure during sleep may be significant in the long-term to the integrated individual exposure. This study aimed to assess the exposure during sleep, focusing on a multi-pollutant approach (comfort parameters, carbon dioxide - CO, carbon monoxide - CO, formaldehyde (CHO), total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter - PM and PM - and ultrafine particles, particle number concentrations - PNC - and lung deposited surface area - LDSA).
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