[1] Air pollution and health
The book presents a comprehensive account of air pollution science and its impact on human health. It ranges in scope from meteorology, atmospheric chemistry and particle physics, to the aetiology and epidemiology of allergic reactions and respiratory, cardiovascular and related disorders. There is also international coverage and sections on cost implications, risk assessment, regulation, standards and information networks. The multidisciplinary approach and the range of issues covered should provide readers with information on all issues relating to ambient air pollution.
[2] Air pollution in cities
Air quality in cities is the result of a complex interaction between natural and anthropogenic environmental conditions. Air pollution in cities is a serious environmental problem – especially in the developing countries. The air pollution path of the urban atmosphere consists of emission and transmission of air pollutants resulting in the ambient air pollution. Each part of the path is influenced by different factors. Emissions from motor traffic are a very important source group throughout the world. During transmission, air pollutants are dispersed, diluted and subjected to photochemical reactions. Ambient air pollution shows temporal and spatial variability. As an example of the temporal variability of urban air pollutants caused by motor traffic, typical average annual, weekly and diurnal cycles of NO, NO2, O3 and Ox are presented for an official urban air-quality station in Stuttgart, southern Germany. They are supplemented by weekly and diurnal cycles of selected percentile values of NO, NO2, and O3. Time series of these air pollutants give information on their trends. Results are discussed with regard to air pollution conditions in other cities. Possibilities for the assessment of air pollution in cities are shown. In addition, a qualitative overview of the air quality of the world’s megacities is given.
[3] Human health effects of air pollution
Hazardous chemicals escape to the environment by a number of natural and/or anthropogenic activities and may cause adverse effects on human health and the environment. Increased combustion of fossil fuels in the last century is responsible for the progressive change in the atmospheric composition. Air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone (O3), heavy metals, and respirable particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), differ in their chemical composition, reaction properties, emission, time of disintegration and ability to diffuse in long or short distances. Air pollution has both acute and chronic effects on human health, affecting a number of different systems and organs. It ranges from minor upper respiratory irritation to chronic respiratory and heart disease, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections in children and chronic bronchitis in adults, aggravating pre-existing heart and lung disease, or asthmatic attacks. In addition, short- and long-term exposures have also been linked with premature mortality and reduced life expectancy. These effects of air pollutants on human health and their mechanism of action are briefly discussed.
[4] Modeling of Air Pollutants and Ozone Concentration by Using Multivariate Analysis: Case Study of Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria
Air pollution is one of the key problems in urban areas and its investigation is vital both for people’s health and for the environment as a whole. In particular, ground ozone is a secondary air pollutant with concentrations dependent mainly on changes in the levels of other pollutants and meteorological conditions within a given region. This paper presents a statistical study based on multivariate analysis of hourly data on 9 air pollutants and 6 meteorological variables in the town of Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria over a period of 7 years and 3 months. Yeo-Johnson power transformation is applied to each air pollutant variable to improve normality of the time series. The dominant patterns in the considered data are examined with the help of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and factor analysis. Furthermore, particular focus is given for determining the concentration levels of ozone in relation to the other air pollutants and/or 6 meteorological time series using principal component regression (PCR). The good fitting of the obtained models with coefficients of determination R2 over 78% is obtained. An example of using the model to forecast the concentrations of ozone for 24 hours ahead is given. The obtained results could be used as an assessment in all analyses of the air quality of the town Dimitrovgrad, including the official reports of the Environmental Agency and also as an independent alternative to the official alerting systems.
[5] Biochemical Properties and Air Pollution Tolerance Indices of Plants in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria
Aims: The impact of air pollution on biochemical properties and air pollution tolerance indices of ten plants growing at Trans-Amadi Industrial Lay-out and along East-West Road, Port Harcourt alongside Umuokiri-Aluu as control site were studied.
Study Design: The leaves of the plants were collected and used to determine fresh weight, turgid weight, dry weight, relative water content, leaf extract pH, ascorbic acid content and total chlorophyll content. Air pollution tolerance indices were calculated from data obtained for each plant species.
Results: Results showed that relative water content of leaf samples were of the order Trans-Amadi Industrial Lay-out > East-West Road compared with the control. Leaf extract pH was higher at Trans-Amadi Industrial Lay-out and East-West Road than the control while Ascorbic acid was lower at Trans-Amadi and East-West Road. Percentage increase in air pollution tolerance index of seven plants of Trans-Amadi followed the order: Terminalia catappa (7.70%), Eluesine indica (22.24%), Musa sapientum (25.54%), Panicum maximum (26.56%), Psidium guajava (37.10%), Mangifera indica (44.18%), Delonix regia (181.90%) while that of East-West Road were of the order: Musa paradisiaca (4.84%), Chromolaena odorata (13.19%), Panicum maximum (20.17%), Musa sapientum (23.95%), Carica papaya (25.04%), Psidium guajava (25.32%), Mangifera indica (33.63%).
Conclusion: Air pollution tolerance indices of the plants were of the sensitive category and hence they can be used to monitor air quality of Niger Delta.
Reference
[1] Holgate, S.T., Samet, J.M., Koren, H.S. and Maynard, R.L., 1999. Air pollution and health.
[2] Mayer, H., 1999. Air pollution in cities. Atmospheric environment, 33(24-25), pp.4029-4037.
[3] Kampa, M. and Castanas, E., 2008. Human health effects of air pollution. Environmental pollution, 151(2), pp.362-367.
[4] Gocheva-Ilieva, S.G., Ivanov, A.V. and Iliev, I.P., 2016. Modeling of air pollutants and ozone concentration by using multivariate analysis: Case study of Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology, pp.1-8.
[5] Tanee, F.B.G., Albert, E. and Amadi, B.R., 2014. Biochemical Properties and Air Pollution Tolerance Indices of Plants in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria. Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology, pp.4835-4845.
