Abstract
Personal exposure, indoor, residential outdoor and urban background particulate matter (PM2.5) samples were collected in parallel, for 30 participants and analyzed for their chemical content. Source apportionments for the separate microenvironments were performed using conventional positive matrix factorization (PMF), and for the combined dataset, applying a new PMF method with factor selection. Regional sources were the largest contributor to the sampled PM2.5 in all microenvironments and accounted for 69% in urban background; 55% and 54% in residential outdoor and indoor environment, respectively; and 40% of personal exposure. For personal exposure, personal activities accounted for 21% (2.2 µg/m3), and constituted the main difference in total mass concentration between personal exposure and the other microenvironments. The PMF method with factor selection was found to be a useful tool in the PMF analysis of multiple microenvironments, since ambient contributions to indoor and personal exposure are less likely to be distorted or misinterpreted. The possibility to more correctly estimate the source contributions will increase by combining the datasets for the different microenvironments into a larger dataset and using the PMF with factor selection method.
Highlights
People are exposed to air pollution which originates naturally or due to anthropogenic activities
Personal activities accounted for 21% (2.2 μg/m3), and constituted the main difference in total mass concentration between personal exposure and the other microenvironments
The small contribution from traffic was likely in part due to the fact that the urban background station (UB) station is at an elevated position and not close to any major traffic routes
Summary
People are exposed to air pollution which originates naturally or due to anthropogenic activities. Air Pollutants can travel thousands of miles from its source (Huneeus et al, 2011), their concentrations vary spatially and temporally (Ito et al, 2004). Numerous epidemiological studies have found associations between mass concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and adverse health effects (Samet et al, 2000; Pope et al, 2002; Brook et al, 2010; WHO, 2013). There are many studies investigating relationships between personal exposure and indoor as well as ambient levels of particles mass concentration. These studies were mostly focused on PM2.5 and sometimes on black smoke, and performed in Europe and North America. Some studies have shown that ambient concentrations do not always reflect personal
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