Automobile catalytic converters are dispersing platinum-group elements (PGEs) Rh, Pt, and Pd into the environment (1-3). This paper represents the first detailed study to assess the PGE content of soils and grasses from U.S. roadsides. These soils were analyzed using cation exchange pretreatment and ultrasonic nebulizer-ICP-MS (4). Highway and several urban sites showed Pt abundances of 64-73 n...

Vehicular networks make use of the Roadside Units (RSUs) to enhance the communication capabilities of the vehicles in order to forward control messages and/or to provide Internet access to vehicles, drivers and passengers. Unfortunately, within vehicular networks, the wireless signal propagation is mostly affected by buildings and other obstacles (e.g., urban fixtures), in particular when consi...

Real-time monitoring of traffic density, road congestion, public transportation, and parking availability are key to realizing the vision of a smarter city and, with the advent of vehicular networking technologies such as IEEE 802.11p and WAVE, this information can now be gathered directly from the vehicles in an urban area. To act as a backbone to the network of moving vehicles, collecting, ag...

foliar surface of plants is continuously exposed to the surrounding atmosphere and is, therefore, the main receptor of particulate pollutants. this physical trait can be used to determine the level of particulate pollution in the surroundings, as well as the ability of individual plant species to intercept and mitigate particulate pollutants. in the present study, leaf cuticle characters of fou...

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between house dust mite, cat and dog allergen levels with household characteristics in the houses of children living in urban and rural areas in central Poland. METHODS Dust samples were collected from 141 urban and 191 rural houses. Der f1 + Der p1, Can f 1, and Fel d1 levels were measured and associated with residential condit...

The COVID-19 lockdown provided a unique opportunity to test the impacts of changes in travel patterns on air quality and environment. Therefore, this study provides insights into emergency public health “lockdown” measures upon traffic flow, active gaseous pollutant concentrations (NO, NO2 O3) Oxford city centre during 2020 using time-series analysis linear regression methods. Comparisons count...

In this study, aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements, from a MFR sun photometer operating in Athens, were compared with columnar dust loading estimations, from the BSC-DREAM model, during identified dust events, in order to extract the typical specific extinction crosssection for dust over the area. The selected urban environment of Athens provided us with the opportunity to investigate the ...

In developing countries, rapid industrialization without environmental controls has resulted in heavy metal contamination of communities. We hypothesized that residential neighborhoods located near ore industries in three northern Mexican cities would be heavily polluted with multiple contaminants (arsenic, cadmium, and lead) and that these sites would be point sources for the heavy metals. To ...

Ambient air particulate matter (PM)-associated reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been linked to a variety of altered cellular outcomes. In this study, three different PM samples from diesel exhaust particles (DEPs), urban dust standard reference material SRM1649a and air collected in Manchester have been tested for their ability to oxidise DNA in a cell-free assay, to increase intracellular RO...