The mixing state of soot particles in the atmosphere is of crucial importance for assessing their climatic impact, since it governs their chemical reactivity, cloud condensation nuclei activity and radiative properties. To improve the mixing state representation in models, we present a new approach, the stochastic particle-resolved model PartMC-MOSAIC, which explicitly resolves the composition ...

In this study we compared the biological reactivity of PM3.3 with those of carbon black (CB) and respirable silica particles, monitored by in vitro hemolytic potential and morphological alterations, in order to evaluate the correlations between the different physico-chemical characteristics of the three types of particulate and their biological effects. Carbon black and silica particles were us...

It is a generally accepted fact that urban vegetation has the potential to filter fine and ultra fine dust particles (PM10 and smaller) out of the air through deposition processes taking place at the leaf surfaces. It is therefore an obvious idea to investigate the potential of vegetation for improving the local air quality in urban areas, especially in those locations that are heavily polluted...

BACKGROUND Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) were applied on PM10 particle data in order to: identify particle clusters that can be differentiated on the bases of their chemical composition and morphology, investigate the relationship among the chemical and morphological parameters and evaluate differences among the sampling sites. PM10 was collected in ...

The Kuwaiti oil wells set on fire by retreating Iraqi troops at the end of the Persian Gulf War released complex particles, inorganic and organic gases, and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, damaging the environment where many people live and work. In this study, we assessed the health effects of particles from the Kuwaiti oil fires by instilling hamsters intratracheally with particles (<3.5 mi...