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Traditional air monitoring approaches using regulatory monitors have historically been used to assess regional-scale trends in air pollutants across large geographical areas. Recent advances in air pollution sensor technologies could provide additional information about nearby sources, support the siting of regulatory monitoring stations, and improve our knowledge of finer-scale spatiotemporal variation of ambient air pollutants and their associated health effects. Sensors are now being developed that are much smaller and lower cost than traditional ambient air monitoring systems and are capable of being deployed as a network to provide greater coverage of a given area. The CitySpace project conducted by the US EPA and the Shelby County Health Department included the deployment of a network of 17 sensor pods using Alphasense OPC-N2 particulate matter (PM) sensors integrated with meteorological sensors in Memphis, TN for six months. Sensor pods were collocated with a federal equivalent method (FEM) tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) monitor both before and after the primary study period. Six of the sensor pods were found to meet the data quality objective (DQO) of coefficient of determination (R2) greater than 0.5 when collocated with the TEOM. Seven pods were decommissioned before the end of the study due to mechanical failure. The six pods meeting the DQO were used to examine the spatiotemporal variability of fine PM (PM2.5) across the Memphis area. One site was found to have higher relative PM2.5 concentrations when compared to the other sites in the network. The 1-min data from this sensor pod were evaluated to quantify the regional urban background and local-scale contributions to PM2.5 at that monitoring location. This method found that approximately 20% of the PM2.5 was attributed to local sources at this location, compared to 9% at a local regulatory monitoring site. Additionally, the 1-min data were combined with 1-min wind speed and wind direction data to examine potential sources in the area using the nonparametric trajectory analysis (NTA) technique. This method geographically identified local source areas that contributed to the measured concentrations at the high reading sensor location throughout the course of the study.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency held an international two-day workshop in June 2018 to deliberate possible performance targets for non-regulatory fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) air sensors. The need for a workshop arose from the lack of any market-wide manufacturer requirement for documented sensor performance evaluations, the lack of any independent third party or government-based sensor performance certification program, and uncertainty among all users as to the general usability of air sensor data. A multi-sector subject matter expert panel was assembled to facilitate an open discussion on these issues with multiple stakeholders. This summary provides an overview of the workshop purpose, key findings from the deliberations, and considerations for future actions specific to sensors. Important findings concerning PM2.5 and O3 sensors included the lack of consistent performance indicators and statistical metrics as well as highly variable data quality requirements depending on the intended use. While the workshop did not attempt to yield consensus on any topic, a key message was that a number of possible future actions would be beneficial to all stakeholders regarding sensor technologies. These included documentation of best practices, sharing quality assurance results along with sensor data, and the development of a common performance target lexicon, performance targets, and test protocols. Keywords: Low-cost air quality sensors, Performance targets, PM2.5, Ozone

Background An adult cohort consisting of 63 participants engaged in the US EPA's recent Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) and a University of Michigan cardiovascular sub-study conducted during summer and winter periods over 3 years between 2004 and 2007 (5 seasons in total). Through all participants' wearing of a monitoring vest, personal exposures to various air pollutants were measured. Purpose The study objective was to identify the association between personal exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and six cardiovascular health endpoints in an adult non-smoking cohort of the DEARS. Methods Twenty five VOCs were collected using the DEARS exposure vest incorporating advanced passive diffusion tube. Six cardiovascular health endpoints including systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), heart rate (HR), brachial artery diameter (BAD), brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and nitroglycerin-mediated arterial dilatation (NMD) were collected by novel, in-home clinical examinations. To reduce the number of personal VOCs highly correlated to each other, a principal component analysis was conducted. Accounting for more individual variations in association between personal VOCs and cardiovascular health endpoints, a linear mixed model was employed, where cohort subjects were not necessarily to have the same linear association. Results Applying the principal component analysis, 3 out of 12 components were retained, which appeared to involve a petroleum source (1st component), a 1-3 butadiene source (2nd component), and an ambient (Freon) source (3rd component). Petroleum related VOCs were associated with increases in FMD and showed mixed relationships with NMD (lag 0–1 day increased NMD, lag 2 days decreased NMD). Butadiene related VOCs decreased DBP but increased HR and BAD. Freon (ambient background) related VOCs increased HR. Conclusions We observed mixed and variable results in this first study to evaluate the relationships between personal exposures to VOCs of different origin on cardiovascular physiology. In sum, the findings suggest that VOCs may have rapid impacts upon the human cardiovascular system; however, understanding the health implications and the mechanisms responsible is beyond the scope of this investigation.

Air monitoring is desirable in many places to understand dynamic pollution trends and sources and improve knowledge of population exposure. While highly miniaturized low cost sensor technology is quickly evolving, there is also a need for the advancement of mid-tier systems that are closer to reference-grade technologies in their longevity and performance, but also feature compactness that requires less significant infrastructure. This project evaluated the performance of a prototype solar-powered air monitoring system known as a Village Green Project (VGP) system with wireless data transmission that was deployed on a school rooftop in Hong Kong and operated for over one year. The system provided highly time-resolved and long-term data utilizing mid-tier cost ozone, PM2.5 and meteorological instruments. It operated with very minimal maintenance but shading by a nearby building reduced solar radiation, thus battery run time, over the 16-months measurement period, approximately 330,000 1-min observations were recorded (data completeness of ~62%). The monitoring data were evaluated by comparison with a nearby Hong Kong Environment Protection Department (EPD) station and exhibited good performance for 1-h resolution (R2 = 0.74 for PM2.5 and R2 = 0.76 for ozone). Furthermore as a demonstration, a nonparametric regression (NPR) model was applied for identifying the location of pollution source, combining air pollution and meteorological measurements. In addition, based on the high time-resolution wind data, local-scale back-trajectories were calculated as an input for receptor-oriented Nonparametric Trajectory Analysis (NTA) model. The combination of the VGP air monitoring system and NTA model identified apparent local sources in urban area. The demonstration was largely successful and operational improvements are clearly suggested to insure better siting and configurations to insure adequate power and air flow.

An investigation of personal fine and coarse particulate matter (PM 2.5 , PM 10–2.5 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), and ozone (O 3 ) exposures was conducted with an adult asthmatic cohort as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Moderate and Severe Asthmatics and their Environment Study (MASAES). The overall goal of the MASAES was to determine the association of particulate matter on the degree of resulting lung inflammation, with those having severe asthma hypothesized to be more highly susceptible to such outcomes. The primary exposure objective was to determine the spatial (personal versus ambient) and temporal relationships associated with the aforementioned air pollutants and establish the precision of a new dual PM 2.5 , PM 10–2.5 monitor (CPEM) for personal exposure monitoring. A total of 16 non-smoking adults of various asthma severities were monitored over the course of a 14 month period during 2008–2009. Participants were monitored for 24 continuous hours each monitoring day with a maximum of five events per participant. Median personal PM 2.5 and PM 10–2.5 exposures were 16.5 and 10.1 μg m −3 , respectively. Daily ambient mass concentrations accounted for less than 1% of the observed variability in personal PM 2.5 or PM 10–2.5 exposures. Duplicate personal measures yielded R 2 values of 0.92 PM 2.5 and 0.77 PM 10–2.5 , respectively. Maximum daily personal exposures of 17.0 ppb NO 2 and 21.7 ppb O 3 occurred with respective mean exposures of 5.8 and 3.4 ppb. Ambient NO 2 and O 3 measures were observed to be poorly associated with personal exposures ( R 2

Exposure models for air pollutants often adjust for effects of the physical environment (e.g., season, urban vs. rural populations) in order to improve exposure and risk predictions. Yet attempts are seldom made to attribute variability in observed outdoor air measurements to specific environmental variables. This research presents a statistical strategy to identify and explain the spatial and temporal components of air pollutant measurement variance using regional predictors and large-scale (with impacts over multiple kilometers of distance) emission source effects. The emission sources considered in this investigation include major highways and industries, and were chosen based on their proximity to monitoring areas designated in the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS). Linear mixed effects models were used to investigate 24-h averaged outdoor residential air measurements of several pollutants, including PM 2.5 mass, PM components (elemental carbon, organic carbon, metals, elements), nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Three hierarchal statistical models were utilized to calculate and examine variance component estimates for each analyte before and after adjustment for fixed effects, which included sampling season, day of the week, air concentrations at an ambient (centralized) monitoring site, and the frequency of time a receptor was downwind of specific large-emissions sources. Results indicate that temporal variability accounted for the majority of total measurement variance (90% on average). Adjustments for ambient concentration and sampling season significantly reduced temporal variance estimates for most VOCs and for about half of the PM components (generally with reductions of 24–97%). Major exceptions to this trend were found with metals (Fe, Mn, and Zn), ethyltoluene, and p-dichlorobenzene, where only 4–30% of the temporal variance was explained after the same adjustments. Additional reductions in temporal variance (up to 37%) were observed after adjusting for the large-emission sources and day of the week effects, with the strongest effects observed for PM components, including select metals. Thus, for the Detroit airshed, VOCs appear to have been largely affected by regional factors, whereas PM components were explained by both regional factors and localized large-emissions sources. Examination of the radial directions associated with suspected emission sources generally supported a priori expectations of source–analyte associations (e.g., NO 2 increases from areas of high vehicle traffic). Overall, this investigation presents a statistical multi-pollutant analysis strategy that is useful for simultaneously (1) estimating spatial and temporal variance components of outdoor air pollutant measurements, (2) estimating the effects of regional variables on pollutant levels, and (3) identifying likely emissions sources that may affect outdoor air levels of individual or co-occurring pollutants.

Intra-urban variability in air pollution source impacts was investigated using receptor modeling of daily speciated PM2.5 measurements collected at residential outdoor locations across Detroit, MI (Wayne County) as part of the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) during summer and winter from 2004 to 2006. Six areas were selected for the residential monitoring in the DEARS to capture impacts from different sources including local industry, motor vehicles, and upwind regional sources. PM2.5 measurements were also collected at the Allen Park, MI Chemical Speciation Network (CSN) site for comparison with the residential outdoor sites. Sources impacting PM2.5 were quantified using the EPA Chemical Mass Balance Model (CMB 8.2). Published source profiles were used as input to CMB along with a mixed industrial profile and a steel manufacturing profile obtained by applying the EPA Positive Matrix Factorization Model (PMF 4.0) to CSN data from a Midwestern U.S. site with industrial sources similar to Detroit. Major PM2.5 sources impacting the Allen Park and residential monitoring areas during DEARS included motor vehicles (24–36% by mass), secondary sulfate/coal combustion (17–35%), secondary nitrate (16–37%) and organic matter (17–21%). Road dust, steel manufacturing, and mixed industrial sources contributed less than 11% by mass. CMB source contribution estimates for Allen Park during the DEARS generally compared well to CMB estimates from the collocated year-long CSN measurements using the same source profiles. CMB source contributions during DEARS showed similar contributions across the residential monitoring areas for secondary sulfate/coal combustion and secondary nitrate consistent with regional impacts for these sources. Contributions from motor vehicles, steel manufacturing, and mixed industrial sources varied across the DEARS monitoring areas, indicating impacts from local sources within the Detroit airshed that may not be well characterized by the Allen Park monitoring location.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) and the accompanying Federal Reference Method (FRM) for PM 10 in 1987. The EPA revised the particle standards and FRM in 1997 to include PM 2.5. In 2005, EPA proposed revisions to this NAAQS to include PM 10–2.5 but only finalized revisions with a PM 2.5 FRM and the development of a national monitoring network in 2006. Presently, no EPA designated reference or equivalent method sampler has the ability to directly measure the mass concentrations of PM 10 , PM 10–2.5 , and PM 2.5 simultaneously. An additive approach has been used for samplers like the dichotomous monitors to calculate PM 10 mass concentrations from independent measures of PM 10–2.5 and PM 2.5 (i.e. PM 10 = PM 10–2.5 + PM 2.5 ). A differential approach has been used to calculate PM 10–2.5 from identical collocated PM 10 and PM 2.5 samplers (i.e. PM 10–2.5 = PM 10 –PM 2.5 ). Since these two approaches have been used widely for PM measurements, it is informative to evaluate their precision and comparability. EPA performed collocated tests of five different particle samplers in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina to evaluate the comparability and to characterize the additive and differential approaches used to determine particle mass concentrations. The intra-sampler precision of MiniVol, Omni, and dichotomous samplers was less than 8.4%. The precision of PM 10 measurements using the additive approach with dichotomous samplers was less than 3.5%. The poorest precision of the various PM 10–2.5 differential approaches was less than 15.1%. No zero or negative PM 10–2.5 concentrations were calculated using the differential approach. A coefficient of determination of 0.81 or higher was obtained for all paired comparison of PM 10–2.5. The reported test results show that concentrations calculated from both the additive and differential approaches generally agree among the portable samplers, the more established dichotomous sampler and the Federal Reference Methods

The U.S. EPA periodically evaluates ambient concentrations, human exposures, and health risks for 180 hazardous air pollutants plus diesel particulate matter using modeled estimates from the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). NATA publishes estimates at the spatial resolution of U.S. Census tracts, which are subdivisions of a county. These local scale, model-predicted estimates from NATA are used extensively in community-based assessments; however, evaluation of NATA’s ambient concentrations and human exposure estimates against measurement data has been limited to date. This paper compares modeled annual average benzene results from the 2002 NATA with measured results from the 2004 to 2007 Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) as a case study of the quality of NATA results. NATA model estimates support community-scale characterization and assessment. Benzene is particularly important as it was estimated by the 2002 NATA as the largest single air toxic pollutant in terms of cancer risk in the U.S. We found that the average ambient concentrations of benzene predicted by NATA were within 5 percent, on average, of the 24-h integrated average ambient concentrations measured in DEARS. The NATA human exposure estimates, which include only outdoor sources for benzene, were, on average, approximately half the measured breathing zone concentrations from DEARS. Our analyses support that the factors driving higher DEARS personal benzene concentrations relative to the NATA predicted exposure values are likely due, at least in part, to indoor sources. This work points to further community-scale modeling research to improve characterizations and assessments of human exposures.

The Mechanistic Indicators of Childhood Asthma (MICA) study in Detroit, Michigan introduced a participant-based approach to reduce the resource burden associated with collection of indoor and outdoor residential air sampling data. A subset of participants designated as MICA-Air conducted indoor and outdoor residential sampling of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This participant-based methodology was subsequently adapted for use in the Vanguard phase of the U.S. National Children’s Study. The current paper examines residential indoor and outdoor concentrations of these pollutant species among health study participants in Detroit, Michigan. Pollutants measured under MICA-Air agreed well with other studies and continuous monitoring data collected in Detroit. For example, NO2 and BTEX concentrations reported for other Detroit area monitoring were generally within 10–15% of indoor and outdoor concentrations measured in MICA-Air households. Outdoor NO2 concentrations were typically higher than indoor NO2 concentration among MICA-Air homes, with a median indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio of 0.6 in homes that were not impacted by environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during air sampling. Indoor concentrations generally exceeded outdoor concentrations for VOC and PAH species measured among non-ETS homes in the study. I/O ratios for BTEX species (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and m/p- and o-xylene) ranged from 1.2 for benzene to 3.1 for toluene. Outdoor NO2 concentrations were approximately 4.5 ppb higher on weekdays versus weekends. As expected, I/O ratios pollutants were generally higher for homes impacted by ETS. These findings suggest that participant-based air sampling can provide a cost-effective alternative to technician-based approaches for assessing indoor and outdoor residential air pollution in community health studies. We also introduced a technique for estimating daily concentrations at each home by weighting 2- and 7-day integrated concentrations using continuous measurements from regulatory monitoring sites. This approach may be applied to estimate short-term daily or hourly pollutant concentrations in future health studies.

This analysis provides the initial summary of PM 2.5 mass concentrations relationships for all seasons and participants for a general population in the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS). The summary presented highlights the utility of the new methodologies applied, in addition to summarizing the particulate matter (PM) data. Results include the requirement to adjust the exposure data for monitor wearing compliance and measured environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) levels, even though the study design specified a non-smoking household. A 40% wearing compliance acceptance level was suggested as necessary to balance minimizing exposure misclassification (from poor compliance) and having sufficient data to conduct robust statistical analyses. An ETS threshold level equivalent to adding more than 1.5 μg m −3 to the collected sample was found to be necessary to detect changes in the personal exposure factor ( F pex ). It is not completely clear why such a large threshold level was necessary. Statistically significant spatial PM 2.5 gradients were identified in three of the six DEARS neighborhoods in Wayne County. These were expected, given the number of strong, localized PM sources in the Detroit (Michigan) metro area. Some residential outdoor bias levels compared with the central site at Allen Park exceeded 15%. After adjusting for ETS biases, the outdoor contributions to the personal exposure were typically larger by factors from 1.75 to 2.2 compared with those of the non-outdoor sources. The outdoor contribution was larger in the summer than in the winter, which is consistent with the fractions of time spent outdoors in the summer vs. the winter (6.7% vs. 1.1% of the time). Mean personal PM 2.5 cloud levels for the general population DEARS cohort ranged from 1.5 to 3.8 (after ETS adjustment) and were comparable to those reported previously. The personal exposure collections indoors were typically at least 13 times greater than those contributed outdoors.

Factors and sources affecting measurement uncertainty associated with monitoring metals in airborne particulate matter (PM) were investigated as part of the Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study (WOEAS). The assessment was made using co-located duplicate samples and a comparison of two analytical approaches: ED-XRF and ICP-MS. Sampling variability was estimated using relative percent difference (RPD) of co-located duplicate samples. The comparison of ICP-MS and ED-XRF results yields very good correlations (R2 ≥ 0.7) for elements present at concentrations that pass both ICP-MS and ED-XRF detection limits (e.g. Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb and Cu). PM concentration ranges (median, sample number) of 24-h indoor PM10 and personal PM10 filters, and outdoor PM2.5 filters were determined to be 2.2–40.7 (11.0, n = 48) μg m−3, 8.0–48.3 (11.9, n = 48) μg m−3, and 17.1–42.3 (21.6, n = 18) μg m−3, respectively. The gravimetric analytical results reveal that the variations in PM mass measurements for same-day sampling are insignificant compared to temporal or spatial variations: 92%, 100% and 96% of indoor, outdoor and personal duplicate samples, respectively, pass the quality criteria (RPD ≤ 20%). Uncertainties associated with ED-XRF elemental measurements of S, Ca, Mn, Fe and Zn for 24-h filter samples are low: 78%–100% of the duplicate samples passed the quality criteria. In the case of 24-h filter samples using ICP-MS, more elements passed the quality criteria due to the lower detection limits. These were: Li, Na, K, Ca, Si, Al, V, Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Mo, Ag, Zn, Pb, As, Mg, Sb, Sn, Sr, Th, Ti, Tl, and U. Low air concentrations of metals (near or below instrumental detection limits) and/or inadvertent introduction of metal contamination are the main causes for excluding elements based on the pass/fail criteria. Uncertainty associated with elemental measurements must be assessed on an element-by-element basis.

The primary objective of the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) was to compare air pollutant concentrations measured at various neighborhoods, or exposure monitoring areas (EMAs), throughout a major metropolitan area to levels measured at a central site or community monitor. One of the EMAs was located near a busy freeway (annual average daily traffic (AADT) of ∼130,000) so that impacts of mobile sources could be examined. Air pollution concentrations from the roadway-proximate sites were compared to the central site monitor. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) selected (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p- and o-xylene, 1,3 butadiene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and 4-ethyltoluene) are typically associated with mobile sources. Gradients were also evident that demonstrated the amplification of pollutant levels near the roadway compared to the community monitor. A novel distance-to-roadway proximity metric was developed to plot the measurements and model these gradients. Effective distance represents the actual distance an air parcel travels from the middle of a roadway to a site and varies as a function of wind direction, whereas perpendicular distance is a fixed distance oriented normal to the roadway. Perpendicular distance is often used as a proxy for exposures to traffic emissions in epidemiological studies. Elevated concentrations of all the compounds were found for both a summer and winter season. Effective distance was found to be a statistically significant (p < 0.05) univariate predictor for concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene for summer 2005. For each of these pollutants, effective distance yielded lower p-values than the corresponding perpendicular distance models, and model fit improved. Results demonstrate that this near-road EMA had elevated levels of traffic-related VOCs compared to the community monitor, and that effective distance was a more accurate predictor of the degree to which they were elevated as a function of distance. Effective distance produced a range of distance-to-roadway values for a single site based on wind direction, thus increasing the number and range of values that could be used to plot and predict relative differences in pollutant concentrations between two sites.

Ambassador Bridge, connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, is the busiest international commercial vehicle crossing in North America, with a large percentage of heavy duty diesel trucks. This study seeks to examine the contribution of diesel truck traffic across Ambassador Bridge to indoor exposure patterns of elemental carbon (EC), a common surrogate for diesel exhaust particles, in homes in close proximity to the bridge. We also aim to understand the relative importance of home ventilation characteristics and wind speed. Measurements were collected as part of the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS). Residential indoor and outdoor EC measurements were collected over five consecutive 24 h periods in both the summer and winter at 16 homes in close proximity to Ambassador Bridge. Ambient concentrations and meteorological data were collected at a central-site monitor, and home air exchange rates were estimated using a perfluorocarbon tracer. The contributions of ambient concentrations and Ambassador Bridge, and potential effect modification by wind speed and home ventilation status were quantified with regression analyses. Both ambient concentrations and the percentage of time a home was downwind from the bridge were associated with an increase in indoor concentrations. Ambient concentrations significantly contributed to indoor concentrations regardless of wind speed category but were a greater influence in home experiencing calm winds. The effect of the percent of time downwind variable on indoor levels was only significant in homes where the ventilation status was high. The distance a home was from the bridge tollbooth complex was not significantly associated with indoor concentrations. We conclude that diesel traffic emissions related to Ambassador Bridge may have an impact on indoor EC exposures. Given that people spend the majority of their time indoors, it is important to evaluate the impact of traffic-related pollution in the home environment.

Concentrations of PM2.5, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), 30 organic source markers (13 alkanes, 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and ketones, and 3 hopanes) and 19 inorganic source markers are reported from residential indoor, residential outdoor, and ambient microenvironments from a nine home pilot study conducted in Tampa, Florida. Mean daily PM2.5 concentrations were 9.3 μg m−3 for residential indoor, 11.3 μg m−3 for residential outdoor, and 12.7 μg m−3 for ambient microenvironments. The EPA Chemical Mass Balance Model (CMB8.2) was used for source apportionment of PM2.5 residential outdoor samples. Four main sources of PM2.5 were identified: sulfate (55±6%) (average outdoor PM2.5±S.D.), gasoline-powered motor vehicles (32±4%), diesel-powered vehicles (8±2%), and road dust (5±1%).

Coarse particulate matter (PM 10 - 2.5 ) concentration data from residential outdoor sites were collected using portable samplers as part of an exposure assessment for the North Carolina Asthma and Children's Environment Studies (NC-ACES). PM 10 - 2.5 values were estimated using the differential between independent PM 10 and PM 2.5 collocated MiniVol measurements. Repeated daily 24-h integrated PM 10 and PM 2.5 residential outdoor monitoring was performed at a total of 26 homes during September 2003–June 2004 in the Research Triangle Park, NC area. This effort resulted in the collection of 73 total daily measurements. This assessment was conducted to provide data needed to investigate the association of exposures to coarse particle PM mass concentrations with observed human health effects. Potential instrument bias between the differential MiniVol methodology and a dichotomous sampler were investigated. Results indicated that minimal bias of PM 10 - 2.5 mass concentration estimates (slope = 0.8, intercept = 0.36 μ g m - 3 ) existed between the dichotomous and differential MiniVol procedures. Residential outdoor PM 10 - 2.5 mass concentrations were observed to be highly variable across measurement days and ranged from 1.1 to 12.6 μ g m - 3 (mean of 5.4 μ g m - 3 ) . An average correlation coefficient of r = 0.75 existed between residential outdoor PM 10 - 2.5 mass concentrations and those obtained from the central ambient monitoring site. Temporal and spatial variability of PM 10 - 2.5 mass concentrations during the study were observed and are described in this report.

The objective of this study is to characterize the airborne particle sources that are common to four different environments (personal, residential indoor, residential outdoor and ambient) and to study the relationships between PM2.5 exposure and emission sources. Twenty-four hour integrated filter samples were collected on 7 days in each of 4 seasons from June 2000 to May 2001 for 38 individuals in four different type of environments in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, NC. An expanded receptor model (since different environments were analyzed simultaneously, it was also called combined model) was established for this study. The organic carbon (OC) and the first component of OC (OC1) measurements were not blank corrected in this study, so an adaptive blank estimation process was integrated into the combined receptor model and the best OC and OC1 blank values were estimated while the source profiles were being extracted. Four external sources (motor vehicle emission, soil, secondary sulfate, and secondary nitrate) and four internal sources (environmental tobacco smoking and its mixture, personal care/activity, Cu-factor mixed with indoor soil, and cooking) were resolved. The contributions of each source to the different environments were estimated. The contribution of external sources to the composition of personal and indoor samples, and various infiltration factors were also discussed. This study also provided a novel method for blank value estimation.

A study of personal exposures and indoor and outdoor concentrations of particles was carried out in 2000–2001 for 37 health-impaired residents of North Carolina. Earlier papers have dealt with the 24-h integrated gravimetric samples; this report adds the continuous data (1-min resolution) using optical scattering devices (personal data RAMs, or pDRs) for personal and indoor measurements. Subjects and their households were sampled for 7 consecutive days in each of four seasons, although not all subjects completed all four seasons. Each subject completed an activity diary with 15-min resolution on each day giving his or her presence in one of six locations and describing activities with the potential for increased exposure to particles. More than 800 person-days and 1.1×10 6 person-min of valid personal exposures and indoor air concentrations were collected. The pDRs compared well with the PM 2.5 gravimetric devices, with an R 2 of 87% compared to the indoor Harvard impactor (HI), and 70% compared to the personal exposure monitor (PEM). As found in previous studies, (and as expected due to the calibration of these devices with an aerosol of higher density than normal ambient and indoor aerosols), the pDRs overestimated the gravimetric concentrations by 20–50%. Because the correction factor varied by season and by type of sample (indoor vs. personal), no overall correction factor could be applied. The estimated mean increases in exposure during three common activities (cooking, cleaning, and personal care) were 56, 28, and 20 μg m −3 , respectively. Several less common activities, such as burning food and using a fireplace were found to result occasionally in very high (>1500 μg m −3 ) short-term peaks of exposure. Although households with smoking were ineligible for participation, two households did have significant smoking, and had the highest average personal exposures and indoor concentrations of all the study homes. The diurnal variation of personal exposures and indoor concentrations was bimodal, with peaks occurring between 10 and 11 AM and 5 and 6 PM. The “damping effect” of the home due to air exchange caused the infiltrated outdoor particles to show only a unimodal variation, with a single broad and mild peak occurring between 6 and 10 AM. A method for identifying peak concentrations due to indoor sources and personal activities was developed. Peaks due to personal activities and indoor sources occurred about 23% and 14% of the time, respectively. On average, outdoor particles contributed about half of the total personal exposures and indoor concentrations, but there was wide variation across subjects. These findings using the MIE data were then compared to previously published estimates using measurements of sulfur from the gravimetric data; good agreement ( R 2 values from 50% to 65%) was found, providing a measure of validation to both methods. Personal exposures exceeded co-located indoor concentrations by 2–3 μg m −3 , confirming findings of a small but statistically significant “personal cloud” for PM 2.5 made in previous studies using gravimetric 24-h integrating monitors.

A simple methodology was developed to collect measurements of duty cycle, the fraction of time the heating and air conditioning (HAC) system was operating, inside residences. The primary purpose of the measurements was to assess whether the HAC duty cycle was related to reductions in indoor particulate matter (PM) concentrations. A miniature temperature logger placed on an HAC outlet vent monitored changes in temperature as the system cooled or heated the residence. Temperature step changes signaling duty cycle periods were identified using spreadsheet macros. Parallel measurements of 24-h integrated air exchange rates (AERs) and indoor PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations were collected to determine relationships with the duty cycle. The mild temperatures (mean=18.7°C) present during the Spring season of the RTP PM Panel Study and personal comfort preferences caused low and variable daily duty cycles (mean=0.061, std. dev.=0.054) in both heating and cooling mode. Warmer ambient temperatures during the Fall season of the Tampa Asthmatic Children's Study (TACS) resulted in cooling-only HAC operation, with a higher mean duty cycle of 0.21 (std. dev.=0.11). Statistically significant linear relationships were observed between daily average duty cycle and the ambient temperature for both studies. Duty cycle exhibited a strong diurnal pattern commensurate with ambient temperature fluctuations. Duty cycles were positively associated with the residence AERs for heating-mode operations, but negatively associated when operating in cooling mode. Personal preferences contributed to the variability in the relationship between duty cycle and AER. The relationship between duty cycle and PM 2.5 or PM 10 indoor–outdoor ratios were not statistically significant. The association of duty cycle with indoor–outdoor ratio was confounded by the short time span (mean of 10.3 min for the TACS) of HAC system operation and the presence of strong indoor sources altering the indoor concentration levels.

The Research Triangle Park (RTP) Particulate Matter (PM) Panel Study represented a 1-year investigation of personal, residential and ambient PM mass concentrations across distances as large as 70 km in central North Carolina. One of the primary goals of this effort was to estimate ambient PM 2.5 contributions to personal and indoor residential PM mass concentrations. Analyses indicated that data from the two distinct non-smoking subject populations totaling 38 individuals and 37 residences could be pooled. This resulted in nearly 800 data points for each variable. A total of 55 measurements believed to have been potentially influenced by personal or residential exposure to passive environmental tobacco smoke were not included in the analysis database. Variables to be examined included C ig (concentration of indoor generated PM), E ig (personal exposure to indoor generated PM), F inf (ambient PM infiltration factor), and F pex (personal exposure to PM of ambient origin factor). Daily air exchange rates (AER) were measured and statistical modeling to derive estimates of particle penetration ( P ) and particle deposition ( k ) factors was performed. Seasonality, cohort grouping, participant or combinations of these variables were determined not to be significant influences in estimating group infiltration factors. The mean (±std) mixed model slope estimates were AER=0.72±0.63, P =0.72±0.21, k =0.42±0.19, and F inf =0.45±0.21. These variables were then used in a number of mixed effects models having varying features of single, random or fixed intercepts and/or slopes to determine the most appropriate means of estimating ambient source contributions to personal and residential settings. A mixed model slope for F pex (±SE) was 0.47±0.07 using the model with the highest degree of fit.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has recently performed the Research Triangle Park Particulate Matter Panel Study. This was a 1-year investigation of PM and related co-pollutants involving participants living within the RTP area of North Carolina. Primary goals were to characterize the relationships between ambient and residential PM measures to those obtained from personal exposure monitoring and estimate ambient source contributions to personal and indoor mass concentrations. A total of 38 participants living in 37 homes were involved in personal, residential indoor, residential outdoor and ambient PM2.5 exposure monitoring. Participants were 30 non-smoking hypertensive African-Americans living in a low-moderate SES neighborhood (SE Raleigh, NC) and a cohort of eight individuals having implanted cardiac defibrillators (Chapel Hill, NC). Residential and ambient monitoring of PM10 and PM10–2.5 (coarse by differential) was also performed. The volunteers were monitored for seven consecutive days during each of four seasons (summer 2000, fall 2000, winter 2001, spring 2001). Individual PM2.5 personal exposure concentrations ranged from 4 to 218 μg m−3 during the study. The highest personal exposures were determined to be the result of passive environmental tobacco exposures. Subsequently, ∼7% of the total number of personal exposure trials were excluded to minimize this pollutant's effect upon the overall analysis. Results indicated that a pooled data set (seasons, cohorts, residences, participants) was appropriate for investigation of the basic mass concentration relationships. Daily personal PM2.5 mass concentrations were typically higher than their associated residential or ambient measurements (mean personal=23.0, indoor=19.1, outdoor=19.3, ambient=19.2 μg m−3). Mean personal PM2.5 exposures were observed to be only moderately correlated to ambient PM2.5 concentrations (r=0.39).

A 17-day pilot study investigating potential PM exposures of an elderly population was conducted near Baltimore, Maryland. Collection of residential indoor, residential outdoor, and ambient monitoring data associated with the subjects living at a common retirement facility was integrated with results from a paired epidemiological pilot study. This integration was used to investigate the potential pathophysiological health effects resulting from daily changes in estimated PM exposures with results reported elsewhere. Objectives of the exposure study were to determine the feasibility of performing PM exposure assessment upon an elderly population and establishing relationships between the various exposure measures including personal monitoring. PM 2.5 was determined to be the dominant outdoor size fraction (0.83 PM 2.5 /PM 10 mass ratio by dichot monitoring). Individual 24-h PM 1.5 personal exposures ranged from 12 to 58 μg m −3 . Comparison of data from matched sampling dates resulted in mean daily PM 1.5 personal, PM 2.5 outdoor, and PM 1.5 indoor concentrations of 34, 17, and 17 μg m −3 , respectively. Activity patterns of the study population indicated a generally sedentary population spending a mean of 96% of each day indoors. Future studies would benefit from the use of a consistent sampling methodology across a larger number of PM measurement sites relevant to the elderly subjects, as well as a larger personal PM exposure study population to more successfully collect data needed in matched epidemiological-exposure studies.

Personal exposure monitoring for select polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was performed as part of the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) Pilot Study in Baltimore, MD and in four surrounding counties (NHEXAS-Maryland). An objective of this effort was to establish environmental exposure estimates for non-scripted subpopulations involved in their normal activities. Participants, children, and adults (ages 13-84) were randomly selected from urban, suburban, and rural areas near Baltimore. Twenty-four hour PM(10) sample collections (~5.8 m(3)) were performed using personal environmental monitors. Monitoring was performed for 47 households and 6 sampling Cycles during 1995-1996. A total of 233 personal air samples were available from the participants with eight PAHs speciated (e.g., chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene) as well as an aggregate grouping (total carcinogenic PAHs). Results indicate that ~50% of the selected samples had detectable concentrations for 3 to 5 of the individual PAHs depending upon spatial setting. Noted differences were observed between exposure concentrations from individuals living in rural areas as compared to urban/suburban environments. Mean benzo(a)pyrene concentrations were observed to be 0.10 ng/m(3) across the entire sampling population. This represented a value well below the World Health Organization's 1.0 ng/m(3) ambient air guideline for this PAH.

An ambient air sampling program was conducted in a wood smoke impacted residential area of Juneau, Alaska during the winter of 1985-86. This study was undertaken to determine the bacterial mutagenicity (Ames test) and chemical characteristics of respirable particulate matter collected in this area. Fine particle (0-2.5 {mu}m) concentrations for the sampling period of November 16th to January 7th ranged from 1.19 to 209.8 {mu}g/m{sup 3}. Bioassay samples from ambient air fine particle concentration periods of 25.6 to 209.8 {mu}g/m{sup 3} showed indirect acting mutagenicity of 6.64 to 77.8 rev/m{sup 3} with a mutagenicity/particle concentration correlation coefficient of 0.89. The indirect acting mutagenic potency values ranged from 0.29 to 1.44 rev/{mu}g of extracted organics and averaged 0.73 {plus minus} 0.26. Correlations between fine particle concentration, indirect acting mutagenicity and PAH concentrations were observed for most periods throughout the study. A comparison of ambient air samples collected from wood smoke impacted residential areas in Raleigh, NC; Albuquerque, NM; and Juneau, AK showed that the relationship between ambient air mutagenicity and fine particle concentration was similar for each location.