Publications by authors named "W P Robarge"
The goal of this study is to determine how much ammonia/nitrogen is being deposited to the Maryland Eastern Shore land and the Chesapeake Bay from poultry operations on Maryland's Eastern Shore. We simulated the fate of ammonia/nitrogen emitted (using emission factors from the U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Stable isotope (δ(13) C, δ(15) N, δ(34) S values) analysis has become increasingly important for tracing contaminant sources in environments. Pretreatment of environmental samples allows accurate analysis of stable isotope ratios. The pretreatment of a sample and its subsequent preservation could either contaminate or create experimental artifacts affecting the validity of the resulting C/N ratios and the elemental isotopic contents of a sample.
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- This study investigates the prevalence and spatial distribution of heavy metals (cadmium, lead, mercury, and arsenic) in the blood of 310 pregnant women to identify at-risk groups and potential exposure sources.
- Geospatial analysis revealed significant clusters of higher cadmium and lead levels in certain areas, affecting about 10% of Durham County residents, with specific concentrations being notably higher in these clusters compared to the overall population.
- The findings suggest that lower education levels and higher pre-pregnancy BMI are associated with elevated blood metal levels, highlighting the need for targeted intervention strategies to mitigate exposure risks.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are regulated aerial pollutants that have environmental and health concerns. Swine operations produce and emit a complex mixture of VOCs with a wide range of molecular weights and a variety of physicochemical properties. Significant progress has been made in this area since the first experiment on VOCs at a swine facility in the early 1960s.
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- The demand for measuring gaseous ammonia (NH(3)) has grown recently due to consistent NH(3) concentrations despite stricter nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) standards.
- Various networks in the U.S. are implementing methods to measure NH(3), which will aid scientists and policymakers in understanding ecosystem changes and air quality.
- The study evaluated the accuracy of different passive samplers (ALPHA, Radiello(®), Ogawa) by comparing them to reference methods, with results indicating varied precision levels among the samplers.