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Showing papers by "George Biskos published in 2019"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed and compared available measurements of the most commonly reported indoor particulate matter (PM) fractions in office environments and the methodological approaches that were used for the assessment of air quality and associated health effects.

34 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: High time-resolved aerosol data is provided which may be valuable for validating indoor aerosol models applied to risk assessment and for evidence regarding the potential deposition of particulate matter on human respiratory system.
Abstract: Thermal spraying is widely used for industrial-scale application of ceramic coatings onto metallic surfaces. The particular process has implications for occupational health, as the high energy process generates high emissions of metal-bearing nanoparticles. Emissions and their impact on exposure were characterized during thermal spraying in a work environment, by monitoring size-resolved number and mass concentrations, lung-deposited surface area, particle morphology, and chemical composition. Along with exposure quantification, the modal analysis of the emissions assisted in distinguishing particles from different sources, while an inhalation model provided evidence regarding the potential deposition of particulate matter on human respiratory system. High particle number (>10(6) cm-3; 30-40 nm) and mass (60-600 µgPM1 m-3) concentrations were recorded inside the spraying booths, which impacted exposure in the worker area (10(4)-10(5) cm-3, 40-65 nm; 44-87 µgPM1 m-3). Irregularly-shaped, metal-containing particles (Ni, Cr, W) were sampled from the worker area, as single particles and aggregates (5-200 nm). Energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirmed the presence of particles originated from the coating material, establishing a direct link between the spraying activity and exposure. In particle number count, 90% of the particles were between 26-90 nm. Inhaled dose rates, calculated from the exposure levels, resulted in particle number rates (n˙) between 353 × 10(6)-1024 × 10(6) min-1, with 70% of deposition occurring in the alveolar region. The effectiveness of personal protective equipment (FPP3 masks) was tested under real working conditions. The proper sealing of the spraying booths was identified as a key element for exposure reduction. This study provides high time-resolved aerosol data which may be valuable for validating indoor aerosol models applied to risk assessment.

21 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A coordinated field campaign was conducted in multiple locations in Greece in order to characterize the ambient particulate matter (PM) levels, its chemical composition and the contribution of the regional and local sources as discussed by the authors.

17 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the toxicity of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) produced by spark ablation (SA) was investigated on Lemna minor and showed that AgNPs exhibit a toxic behavior at concentrations as low as 5μg/L−1, which is considerably lower compared to the threshold concentrations reported in other studies.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the MODIS- Aqua aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm and Angstrom exponent (a) at 412/470 nm over the 15-year period between 2002 and 2017, providing the longest analyzed dataset for this region, and found that during spring and summer, high aerosol load (aOD up to 1.2) consisting of coarse desert dust particles, as indicated by values as low as 0.15, is observed over the Taklamakan, Thar and Registan deserts and the region between the Ar
Abstract: Central and South Asia are regions of particular interest for studying atmospheric aerosols, being among the largest sources of desert dust aerosols globally. In this study we use the newest collection (C061) of MODIS - Aqua aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm and Angstrom exponent (a) at 412/470 nm over the 15-year period between 2002 and 2017, providing the longest analyzed dataset for this region. According to our results, during spring and summer, high aerosol load (AOD up to 1.2) consisting of coarse desert dust particles, as indicated by a values as low as 0.15, is observed over the Taklamakan, Thar and Registan deserts and the region between the Aral and Caspian seas. The dust load is much lower during winter and autumn (lower AOD and higher a values compared to the other seasons). The interannual variation of AOD and a suggests that the dust load exhibits large decreasing trends (AOD slopes down to -0.22, a slopes up to 0.47 decade-1 ) over the Thar desert and large increasing trends between the Aral and Caspian seas (AOD and a slopes up to 0.23 decade-1 and down to -0.61 decade-1 , respectively.) The AOD data are evaluated against AERONET surface-based measurements. Generally, MODIS and AERONET data are in good agreement with a correlation coefficient (R) equal to 0.835.

3 citations