Ambient Air Pollution

This study has two goals. The first is to explain the geo-environmental determinants of the accelerated diffusion
of COVID-19 that is generating a high level of deaths. The second is to suggest a strategy to cope with future epidemic
threats similar to COVID-19 having an accelerated viral infectivity in society. Using data on sample of N=
55 Italian province capitals, and data of infected individuals at as of April 7th, 2020, results reveal that the accelerate
and vast diffusion of COVID-19 in North Italy has a high association with air pollution of cities measured
with days exceeding the limits set for PM10 (particulate matter 10 μmor less in diameter) or ozone. In particular,
hinterland cities with average high number of days exceeding the limits set for PM10 (and also having a lowwind
speed) have a very high number of infected people on 7th April 2020 (arithmetic mean is about 2200 infected
individuals, with average polluted days greater than 80 days per year), whereas coastal cities also having days
exceeding the limits set for PM10 or ozone but with high wind speed have about 944.70 average infected individuals,
with about 60 average polluted days per year; moreover, cities having more than 100 days of air pollution
(exceeding the limits set for PM10), they have a very high average number of infected people (about 3350 infected
individuals, 7th April 2020), whereas cities having less than 100 days of air pollution per year, they have
a lower average number of infected people (about 1014 individuals). The findings here also suggest that to minimize
the impact of future epidemics similar to COVID-19, the max number of days per year that Italian provincial
capitals or similar industrialized cities can exceed the limits set for PM10 or for ozone, considering their meteorological
conditions, is about 48 days. Moreover, results here reveal that the explanatory variable of air pollution in  cities seems to be a more important predictor in the initial phase of diffusion of viral infectivity (on 17th March
2020, b1=1.27, p b 0.001) than interpersonal contacts (b2=0.31, p b 0.05). In the second phase of maturity of
the transmission dynamics of COVID-19, air pollution reduces intensity (on 7th April 2020 with b′1 = 0.81,
p b 0.001) also because of the indirect effect of lockdown, whereas regression coefficient of transmission based
on interpersonal contacts has a stable level (b′2=0.31, p b 0.01). This result reveals that accelerated transmission
dynamics of COVID-19 is due tomainly to the mechanismof “air pollution-to-human transmission” (airborne viral infectivity)
rather than “human-to-human transmission”. Overall, then, transmission dynamics of viral infectivity,
such as COVID-19, is due to systemic causes: general factors that are the same for all regions (e.g., biological characteristics
of virus, incubation period, etc.) and specific factors which are different for each region and/or city
(e.g., complex interaction between air pollution, meteorological conditions and biological characteristics of
viral infectivity) and health level of individuals (habits, immune system, age, sex, etc.). Lessons learned for
COVID-19 in the case study here suggest that a proactive strategy to cope with future epidemics is also to
apply especially an environmental and sustainable policy based on reduction of levels of air pollution mainly
in hinterland and polluting cities- (having low wind speed, high percentage of moisture and number of fog
days) -that seem to have an environment that foster a fast transmission dynamics of viral infectivity in society.
Hence, in the presence of polluting industrialization in regions that can trigger the mechanism of air pollutionto-
human transmission dynamics of viral infectivity, this study must conclude that a comprehensive strategy
to prevent future epidemics similar to COVID-19 has to be also designed in environmental and socioeconomic
terms, that is also based on sustainability science and environmental science, and not only in terms of biology,
medicine, healthcare and health sector.

Ambient air pollution causes millions of premature deaths globally every year. In the effort to combat air pollution, countries have legally formulated air quality standards (AQS) to divide ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ concentrations of a number of pollutants. The WHO Air Quality Guidelines serve as their reference point for the four criteria pollutants PM2.5 and PM10, O_3, NO_2, and SO_2, backed by largescale studies on health repercussions at a variety of concentrations. The current legal policy study compares the limit values set out in the European Union, the United States, China, and India, with each other as well as with the latest update of the WHO Guidelines, including Interim Targets for a gradual alignment with the sustainable pollution limits. This study also elaborates on the role and measurement of such standards, and touches upon compliance, monitoring, and reporting in the respective economies. It turns out that although the four case polities developed their AQS in similar time periods and refer to the WHO Guidelines, they vary significantly from these as well as the Interim Target values in many cases. Still, all four polities report frequent, or even regular, exceedance and address this with compliance mechanisms as set out in domestic policy. This has led to a slow improvement in air quality, but monitoring, enforcement, and public information leave broad gaps, particularly in China and India.

Megacities in India (population more than 10 million) have taken actions to control air-pollution emissions. However, the second-level cities (population between one and 10 million) have not drawn an action plan, and people face serious air pollution in these cities. For one such city, Lucknow, a geographic information system (GIS)-based methodology for emission inventory of on-road vehicles has been developed. The pollutants include: sulfur dioxide (SO 2); oxides of nitrogen (NO x); carbon monoxide (CO); particulate matter (PM); 1,3 butadiene; formaldehyde; acetaldehyde; total aldehydes; and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Video recording was done at nine road intersections of varying land-use patterns to assess traffic count and vehicle kilometer travel. Parking lot surveys were carried out for assessing engine type, vehicle age, etc. and to arrive at a suitable net emission factor for each vehicle category. The 2-wheelers (2-Ws) and 4-wheelers (4-Ws) dominate the total traffic with an 83% share and are main sources of NO x (46%) and CO (77%). The heavy duty vehicles (HDVs: buses and trucks), although they account for only 2% of the vehicle fleet, emit disproportionately high emissions (23% of SO 2 , 36% of NO x , and 28% of PM). Spatial cell (2 × 2 km)-wise emission inventory of pollutants indicates that the city center has the highest pollutant emissions resulting from a large number of vehicles, mostly 2-Ws, 3-Ws, and passenger cars. The inventory information can be used for short-term and long-term planning to reduce emissions.

Amid sawmill busy lives, air pollution is one of the greatest casualties of our time and has increased worldwide since 1990. Today, the history of air pollution in sawmills accounts for 93.32% of the total number of wood processing industries in Nigeria, it seems daunting, overwhelming and have positioned the country at a perilous crossroad. For emerging nations such as Nigeria with a population projected to hit 410.6 million humans by 2050 with up to 40-60 million people with mental disorders at the moment, consequently more than 40,000 deaths a year will be due to air pollution. 7 million deaths worldwide is attributed to air pollution with the number set to increase significantly in coming decades mostly through non-communicable diseases like lung cancer, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but also through acute respiratory infections like pneumonia. Similarly, around 90% of all people breathe air contaminated with pollutants. In 2015, tobacco caused 7 million deaths, 1.2 million AIDS, 1.1 million cases of tuberculosis and 0.7 million of malaria, 19% of all cardiovascular deaths, 24% of all deaths due to ischaemic heart disease. 21% of stroke deaths, and 23% of deaths from lung cancer. Non-communicable diseases are responsible for 70% of deaths from air pollution and are a major cause of unexplained infections. In addition, air pollution seems to be significant but it is still not a determinant factor of the risk of neurodegenerative disorders in children and neurodegenerative diseases in adults. This study assessed ambient air quality in major sawmill sites in Ilorin Metropolis,

Open-top chambers ventilated with ambient or chiarcoal-filtered air were used to assess the impact of air pollution on the yield of local cultivars of wheat and rice, at a site on the outskirts of Lahore. At this location, 6-h mean O3 concentrations reach 60 ppb in certain months, and annual mean NO2 concentrations are 20–25 ppb. The experiments showed significant yield reduction in two successive seasons which ranged from 33% to 46% in wheat and from 37% to 51% in rice. The major yield parameter affected was the number of ears or panicles per plant, although there was also evidence of small effects on 1000 grain weight and on the number of grains per ear/panicle. These results have significance in terms of the maintenance of agricultural yields as pollution emissions rise in south and south-east Asia.

This paper provides an environmental justice empirical analysis on the relationship between income, demographic characteristics and concentrations of air industrial pollutants within the Italian provinces. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the empirical results. First, the estimates obtained are consistent with an inverse U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve: air pollution releases increase with income up to a turning point, where

Ambient aerosols (PM2.5; particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm) collected
during wintertime from Kanpur (26.30 °N, 80.14 °E; in Indo-Gangetic Plain: IGP) in December
2014 were studied for their chemical composition [organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC),
water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), major ions] and stable carbon isotope composition (δ13C)
of total carbon (TC). Several source samples have also been strategically collected and characterized with δ13C value. Air-mass back trajectories arriving at the receptor site during the study
period exhibited predominant influence of north-westerly winds. PM2.5 mass in ambient samples
averaged at 240 ± 72 μg m−3 and total carbonaceous aerosols (TCA) concentration averaged at
91 ± 25 μg m−3 in these samples. The OC and EC concentrations contributed nearly 22% and
2%, respectively to the ambient PM2.5e mass. A significant variability in OC/EC ratio (8.7‒14.8;
Avg. ± SD: 12 ± 2) and WSOC/OC ratio (0.35e0.51; 0.43 ± 0.05) has been recorded during
the winter season in IGP. The ambient concentrations of secondary inorganic aerosol species
(SIA) viz. SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ were 23.5 ± 8.7, 10.5 ± 6.0 and 12.8 ± 4.9 μg m−3, respectively. The δ13C of TC in ambient aerosols varied from −24.5 to −26.2‰. Large scatter
between δ13C and TC content in aerosols indicated signature from multiple sources of carbonaceous aerosols due to mixing of air-masses. Future studies with large δ13C data population in
conjunction with bulk composition would be required to better characterize the carbonaceous
aerosols over the Indian region.

Industrial air pollution has emerged as a speeding problem in recent years because of its detrimental effects on human health. The present study was conducted in Gajraula industrial area of India, highly affected by ambient air pollution. Samples of PM10 were collected from three different sites (Raunaq Automotives, Indra Chowk and Town Basti) during 2017–2018. Maximum concentration of PM10 was observed during winter and the minimum during monsoon season. Heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Fe, Al and Ni were analysed by ICP-MS. This study concluded that Indra Chowk is affected by high particulate pollution, while its level at Raunaq Automotives was moderate. Town Basti was being consid- ered as less polluted area. Toxic metals are emitted into the atmosphere mainly due to industrial, com- mercial and agricultural activities. Most of the industrial emissions from Indra Chowk were because of lots of industries in the vicinity and it has been observed that public from this area is suffering from respira- tory disorders and other health problems due to exposure of air pollution.

The impact of outdoor air pollution on infant mortality has not been quantified. Based on exposure-response functions from a U.S. cohort study, we assessed the attributable risk of postneonatal infant mortality in 23 U.S. metropolitan areas related to particulate matter <10 microm in diameter (PM10) as a surrogate of total air pollution. The estimated proportion of all cause mortality, sudden infant death syndrome (normal birth weight infants only) and respiratory disease mortality (normal birth weight) attributable to PM10 above a chosen reference value of 12.0 microg/m3 PM10 was 6% (95% confidence interval 3-11%), 16% (95% confidence interval 9-23%) and 24% (95% confidence interval 7-44%), respectively. The expected number of infant deaths per year in the selected areas was 106 (95% confidence interval 53-185), 79 (95% confidence interval 46-111) and 15 (95% confidence interval 5-27), respectively. Approximately 75% of cases were from areas where the current levels are at or be...

Introduction. Between 2006 and 2012, the stationary automatic air quality monitoring station in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria repeatedly registered peaks of the nitrogen dioxide concentration over-treshold levels with unknown origin. The main suspect was traffic оn the street near the measuring station.
Purpose. To confirm or reject the hypothesis that traffic is the source of the peaks with nitrogen dioxide concentration above threshold level.
Material and methods. An experiment was carried out in 2010, involving: 1. counting of the motor vehicles crossing a junction with at least twice as intense as traffic on the street in front of the stationary station; 2. the air pollution emitted by the motor vehicles was estimated by the subsequent dispersion modeling. During the counting a mobile station was used to measure the total urban pollution in the area of the junction. A comparative analysis of the calculated concentrations of pollutants (from traffic) and the concentrations measured by the mobile station from all sources in the area was made. The counting was repeated at the same intersection in 2017. The changes of traffic and pollution which has been happened for the 7 years was estimated. The distribution of three types of air pollutants was presented graphically.
Results and discussion. It was found that for 7 years in the city's car fleet there is only a change in the number of small passenger cars – they have been decreased 49 times. There are no changes in the ratio between the other categories of motor vehicles. The concentrations maximum of nitrogen oxides, both measured and calculated, are close in magnitude and are several times smaller than the measured peak values of the stationary station, although the mobile station was a double closer to the center of the intersection than the stationary station to the near street with traffic. Concentrations measured at different times in the junction area show close values, indicating little variability of nitrogen oxides pollution over time – without sharp peaks. The analysis of the experiment data showed that the traffic is not the source of the peak pollution with nitrogen dioxide over Stara Zagora. Graphic analysis has shown that nitrogen oxides pollution often concentrates around the southwestern corner of junctions due to the predominant wind direction from the north-northeast for the city. The share of carbon oxide pollution from traffic is 10% of total CO pollution. The proportion of fine particles (soot) from motor engines is 5% of the measured fine particulate matter (PM10) in the junction area.