The impact of electrostatic precipitation as a useful form of particulate filtration in the breathing zone is investigated in an intervention study in an air-conditioned commercial office in central London. Surface dust deposition and airborne dust levels are measured in the open plan zones of two floors--a control floor and a floor where the intervention is effected. The intervention consists ...

We fabricated depth-type hierarchical CNT/quartz fiber (QF) filters through in situ growth of CNTs upon quartz fiber (QF) filters using a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The filter specific area of the CNT/QF filters is more than 12 times higher than that of the pristine QF filters. As a result, the penetration of sub-micron aerosols for CNT/QF filters is reduced by tw...

A field study was carried out in order to derive a factor for the conversion of historic worker exposure data on airborne beryllium (Be) obtained by sampling according to the 37-mm closed faced filter cassette (CFC) 'total' particulate method into exposure concentration values to be expected when sampling using the 'Gesamtstaubprobenahmesystem' (GSP) inhalable sampling convention. Workplaces se...

Many studies have attempted to evaluate the importance of airborne fungi in the development of invasive fungal infection, especially for immunocompromised hosts. Several kinds of instruments are available to quantitate fungal propagule levels in air. We compared the performance of the most frequently used air sampler, the Andersen sampler with six stages, with a portable one, the Reuter centrif...

this study is aimed to identify sources of particulate matter with mean aerodynamic diameterbelow 10 μm (pm10) present in the atmosphere of the metropolitan area of mexico city (mamc), usingsamples obtained from january 1st to june 30th, 2009, analyzed with x-ray spectrometric techniques.minivol samplers were used to collect samples on polycarbonate filters in three sites (north, center, andsou...

BACKGROUND The built environment of the International Space Station (ISS) is a highly specialized space in terms of both physical characteristics and habitation requirements. It is unique with respect to conditions of microgravity, exposure to space radiation, and increased carbon dioxide concentrations. Additionally, astronauts inhabit a large proportion of this environment. The microbial comp...

Water-soluble inorganic ions in aerosol samples have been studied. The sample collection took place during summer in 2003 at a European background site which is operating within the framework of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program. Gent type PM10 stacked filter unit (SFU) samplers were operated in parallel on a day and night basis to collect particles in separate coarse (2.0-10 micro...

Tests are reported on a modified laminar flow biological safety cabinet in which the return air plenum that conducts air from the work area to the high efficiency particulate air filters is under negative pressure. Freon gas released inside the cabinet could not be detected outside by a freon gas detection method capable of detecting 10(-6) cc/s. When T3 bacteriophage was aerosolized 5 cm outsi...

This study compared the filtrating efficiency (FE) of a commercial electronic air filter for filtering bacteria and viruses from contaminated air with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. An enclosed chamber was constructed, in the middle of which an air filter was placed for testing. MTB H37Ra and T7 virus at concentrations of 5x10(8) each were sprayed into one side of the chamber ...

Landscape fires can produce large quantities of smoke that degrade air quality in both remote and urban communities. Smoke from these fires is a complex mixture of fine particulate matter and gases, exposure to which is associated with increased respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The public health response to short-lived smoke events typically advises people to remain indoo...