BACKGROUND Community exposures to environmental contaminants from industrial scale dairy operations are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of dairy operations on nearby communities by assessing airborne contaminants (particulate matter, ammonia, and cow allergen, Bos d 2) associated with dairy operations inside and outside homes. METHODS The study was cond...

Beyond our own interest in airborne particulate matter, the prediction of extinction and absorption spectra of single particles of mixed composition has wide use in astronomy, geology, atmospheric sciences, and nanotechnology. Single particle spectra present different challenges than traditional spectroscopic approaches. To quantify the amount of a material in a bulk sample (molecules in soluti...

Exposure to airborne particulate matter has been linked to cardiovascular events. Whether this finding reflects an effect of particulate matter exposure on the triggering of events or development of atherosclerosis remains unknown. Using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis collected at baseline (2000-2002), the authors investigated associations of 20-year exposures to particulat...

The effects of airborne particulate matter (“aerosols”) on clouds (known as the “aerosol indirect effect”) are potentially one of the largest impacts humans have on climate. Even more important, the indirect effect is currently thought to have a net climatic cooling effect, largely offsetting the warming from greenhouse gases. Despite its importance, the indirect effect is one of the most uncer...

The use of high-efficiency HVAC filters is a common strategy to control exposure to airborne particulate matter in residential buildings. However, high-efficiency filters generally have a higher pressure drop and are widely assumed to have large energy penalties. In this paper, we explore the underlying theoretical energy implications of high-pressure-drop filters and we present the results of ...

There is concern regarding the heterogeneity of exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) across urban areas leading to negatively biased health effects models. New, low-cost sensors now permit continuous and simultaneous measurements to be made in multiple locations. Measurements of ambient PM were made from October to April 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 to assess the spatial and temporal variabi...

Fugitive dust (dust composed of natural materials, suspended into the air by human activities) is an air quality concern in many agricultural regions of the United States. Fugitive dust is generated almost everywhere by vehicles traveling on unpaved or sediment-covered roads and at construction and waste management sites (Cowherd et al., 1988). In the Southern High Plains of Texas and the Colum...

We show the effect of mobile source traffic pollution on infant mortality, both directly and through the channel of airborne particulate matter and carbon monoxide. We show higher levels of local traffic density lead to increased weekly infant mortality rates, and explore variation in effects by distance from traffic source, weather conditions, and infant subgroups. Direct effects of traffic ar...

The volatilization of NH3 from landapplied manure is not only a loss of valuable N, but also an air quality concern because NH3 plays a role in the formation of airborne particulate matter, which can be a health hazard. The relative differences in potential NH3 losses from land application of liquid dairy manure were determined via 3 methods: surface application, Aerway incorporation (shallow i...

Bioaerosols such as bacterial and fungal cells and their spores are along with non-biological particles part of indoor airborne particulate matter and have been related since a long time to health issues of human beings as well as flora, and fauna. To identify the different risks and to establish exposure thresholds, microbiology of air samples from a series of indoor environments must be chara...