Ricerc@Sapienza

The study of the spatial distribution of atmospheric PM and of its components is essential for a reliable identification of emission sources, the evaluation of particle dispersion over the territory and the assessment of personal exposure. However, the very high cost of a network based on traditional PM samplers generally prevents the achievement of these goals. A low-cost, self-powered and automatic device for PM sampling on membrane filters has been recently become available.

Lichen transplants Evernia prunastri (L.) Ach. and recently available low-cost PM10samplers were placed side-by-side for one year at twenty-three sites located in an urban-industrial hot-spot of Central Italy, thus enablingthe construction of an extensive and dense air quality monitoring network. Accumulation levels of the elementsin lichens afterfive months and thirteen months of exposure were compared with the means of the elementconcentrations determined in the PM10sampled during the same monitoring periods.

Very-low volume, low-cost and automatic devices for PM sampling on membrane filters have been employed in Terni, an urban and industrial hot-spot of Central Italy, to evaluate the spatial distribution of PM10 and its main chemical components. The samplers, worked in parallel for 15 months at 23 monitoring sites and PM10 samples were analyzed for PM mass, ions, levoglucosan and water-soluble and insoluble elements.

Domestic biomass heating and wildfires strongly affect particulate matter (PM) concentration in the atmosphere. The individuation of alternative chemical tracers may provide a valuable tool to apportion different possible contributions to biomass burning.

The ability of particulate matter (PM) to induce oxidative stress is frequently estimated by acellular oxidative potential (OP) assays, such as ascorbic acid (AA) and 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT), used as proxy of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in biological systems, and particle-bound ROS measurement, such as 20,70-dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCFH) assay.

A very-low volume sampler of particulate matter (PM) on membrane filters, recently developed with the purpose of allowing spatially-resolved determination of PM and of its chemical components, was employed from December 2016 to February 2018 in a wide and dense monitoring network across Terni, an urban and industrial hot-spot of Central Italy (23 sampling sites, about 1 km between each other). Terni basin can be considered as an open air laboratory for studying the spatial distribution of PM, as it includes several spatially disaggregated sources.

Particulate matter (PM) air pollution represents a major environmental and health issue which largely depends on the type and amount of local emissions in industrial and urban areas. Therefore, the evaluation of the spatial distribution of PM chemical components is fundamental for a reliable identification of emission sources and the assessment of personal exposure.

A study of spatial variability of PM10 elemental components was conducted in Terni city (Central Italy), situated in an intramountain depression characterized by the presence of several particulate matter emission sources. The meteorological conditions of the Terni basin limit the dispersion and enhance the accumulation of atmospheric pollutants. Thanks to the utilization of new smart samplers, used for the ?rst time and working in parallel at 23 sampling sites, spatially resolved data were obtained.

A study of spatial variability of PM10 elemental components was conducted in Terni city (Central Italy), situated in an intramountain depression characterized by the presence of several particulate matter emission sources. The meteorological conditions of Terni basin limit the dispersion and enhance the accumulation of the atmospheric pollutants. Thanks to the utilization of new samplers (Smart Sampler), used for the first time and working in parallel at 23 sampling sites, spatially resolved data were obtained.

Natural materials, such as soils, are influenced by many factors acting during their formative and evolutionary process: atmospheric agents, erosion and transport phenomena, sedimentation conditions that give soil properties a non-reducible randomness by using sophisticated survey techniques and technologies. This character is reflected not only in spatial variability of properties which differs from point to point, but also in multivariate correlation as a function of reciprocal distance.