Journal
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
Volume 38, Issue 37, Pages 6399-6410Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.07.013
Keywords
carbon monoxide; elemental composition; indoor concentration; nitrogen dioxide; particulate matters; personal exposure; volatile organic compound
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Between 1998 and 2000 in Oxford, UK, simultaneous personal exposures and microenvironmental measurements (home indoor, home outdoor and work indoor) to fine particulate matters PM2.5, volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) were carried out once per person among 50 adults over a 48-h period. Thirty-seven elements in PM2.5 and 30 different VOCs were analysed. Questionnaires were distributed to record their time-activity patterns and exposure-related information. Results showed that participants spent more time (89.5%) in all indoors than in other microenvironments. Geometric mean (GM) of personal and home indoor levels of PM2.5, 14 elements (aluminium, arsenic, bromine, calcium, copper, iron, gallium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, lead, selenium, silicon, titanium), total VOC (TVOC) and 8 individual compounds (nonane, decane, undecane, trimethylbenzene, toluene, benzaldehyde, alpha-pinene and d-limonene) were over 20% higher than their GM outdoor levels. Those of NO2, 5 aromatic VOCs (benzene, o-xylene, ethylbenzene, propylbenzene, m,p-xylene) and 5 other elements (chlorine, magnesium, manganese, sulphur, zinc) were close to their GM outdoor levels. For PM2.5 and TVOC, personal exposures and residential indoor levels (in GM) were about 2 times higher among the tobacco-smoke exposed group compared to the non-smoke exposed group, suggesting that smoking is an important determinant of these exposures. Determinants for CO were visualised by real-time monitoring, and we showed that the peak levels of personal exposure to CO were associated with smoking, cooking and transportation activities. Moderate to good correlations were only found between the personal exposures and residential indoor levels for both PM2.5 (r = 0.60, p<0.001) and NO2 (r = 0.47, p = 0.003). (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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