Browsing by Author "Colbeck, I."
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Item Open Access Airborne biological hazards and urban transport infrastructure: current challenges and future directions(Springer Verlag, 2016-06-18) Nasir, Zaheer A.; Campos, L. C.; Christie, N.; Colbeck, I.Exposure to airborne biological hazards in an ever expanding urban transport infrastructure and highly diverse mobile population is of growing concern, in terms of both public health and biosecurity. The existing policies and practices on design, construction and operation of these infrastructures may have severe implications for airborne disease transmission, particularly, in the event of a pandemic or intentional release of biological of agents. This paper reviews existing knowledge on airborne disease transmission in different modes of transport, highlights the factors enhancing the vulnerability of transport infrastructures to airborne disease transmission, discusses the potential protection measures and identifies the research gaps in order to build a bioresilient transport infrastructure. The unification of security and public health research, inclusion of public health security concepts at the design and planning phase, and a holistic system approach involving all the stakeholders over the life cycle of transport infrastructure hold the key to mitigate the challenges posed by biological hazards in the twenty-first century transport infrastructureItem Open Access Fingerprinting outdoor air environment using microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) – A review(Elsevier, 2016-11-08) Garcia Alcega, Sonia; Nasir, Zaheer A.; Ferguson, Robert M. W.; Whitby, Corinne; Dumbrell, Alex J.; Colbeck, I.; Gomes, D. M.; Tyrrel, Sean F.; Coulon, FredericThe impact of bioaerosol emissions from urban, agricultural and industrial environments on local air quality is of growing policy concern. Yet the risk exposure from outdoor emissions is difficult to quantify in real-time as microbial concentration in air is low and varies depending on meteorological factors and land use types. While there is also a large number of sampling methods in use, there is yet no standardised protocol established. In this review, a critical insight into chemical fingerprint analysis of microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOC) is provided. The most suitable techniques for sampling and analysing MVOCs in outdoor environments are reviewed and the need for further studies on MVOCs from outdoor environments including background levels is highlighted. There is yet no rapid and portable technique that allows rapid detection and analysis of MVOCs on site. Further directions towards a portable GC–MS coupled with SPME or an electronic nose are discussed.Item Open Access Heavy metal composition of particulate matter in rural and urban residential built environments in Pakistan(Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum, 2015-06-30) Nasir, Zaheer A.; Colbeck, I.; Ali, Z.; Ahmed, S.Heavy metals in outdoor and indoor airborne particulate matter (PM) and dust in different residential built environmentsat two rural and one urban site in Pakistan were analysed. An eight stage non-viable impactor (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., USA) loaded with EMP 2000 glass microfiber filter papers (Whatman, England) was used to collect airborne PM.The indoordust samples (settled dust) were collected from different indoor surfaces (floor, cupboards) in living rooms and kitchens from houses at rural sites. The outdoor samples were collected from courtyards of the houses.At the urban site dust samples were also collected by the roads at 27 different locations around Lahoreand at a background site (University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences).Additionally, samples of dung cake, used as solid fuel, at one of the rural sites were taken.Heavy metals (Si, Al, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb, Co and As) were determined by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. At rural site I, in general, the concentrations of metals were higher outdoors than indoors, except for slightly higher indoor levels of Cu (0.85.g/m3 indoor: 0.56 outdoor.g/m3 ), Si (3.31.g/m3 indoor: 3.17 outdoor.g/m3 ) and Pb(11.99 ng/m3 indoor: 9.32 outdoor ng/m3 ). At the rural site II the mean concentration were higher outdoors than indoors, excluding Ni which was considerably higher indoors (55.68 ng/m3 ) than outdoors (31.91 ng/m3 ).At the urban site,outdoors, Si had the highest concentration (3.46 .g/m3 ) followed by Al, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Cd, Pb and Co. Similarly, the indoor levels had a maximum contribution from Si (12.30 .g/m3 ) followed by Al, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, As, Pb, Ni and Co.With reference to dust at rural site I the top five metals outdoors were Si (708 mg/kg), Al, Cu, Zn and Pb (52 mg/kg) while, indoors Al was highest (281 mg/kg), followed by Si, Cu, Zn and Pb (57 mg/kg). At rural site II, both outdoors and indoors, Al (274 mg/kg – outdoor: 266 mg/kg - indoor), Si, Zn, Cu and Pb (61 mg/kg – outdoor: 80 mg/kg - indoor) were the five most abundant metals.The main five metals in decreasing order of their concentration in the road dust around Lahore were Si (686 mg/kg), Al, Cu, Zn and Pb (81 mg/kg). On the other hand, the dust samples from the background site showed Si (345 mg/kg) > Al >Pb> Cu > Zn (73 mg/kg). The airborne metal concentration of Pb was within the guideline value of WHO (0.5 .g/m3 ) but the levels of Mn, Cd and Ni were higher at all sites than the guidelines proposed by European Commission and WHO highlighting the risk of exposure to toxic metals in non-occupational environments.Item Open Access Seasonal variation of particulate matter in the ambient conditions of Khanspur, Pakistan(Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum, 2015-06-30) Ali, Z.; Shahzadi, K.; Sidra, S.; Zona, Z.; Zainab, I.; Aziz, K.; Ahmad, M.; Raza, S. T.; Nasir, Zaheer A.; Colbeck, I.Concentrations of particulate matter tend to vary with shifting seasons. Levels of particulate matter were monitored during the summer and winter season in Khanspur, a high altitude tourist resort in Pakistan. A DustTrak DRX (Model 8533, TSI Inc.) and Kestrel 4500 Pocket Weather Tracker (Nielsen- Kellerman) were installed at selected site in Khanspur and run for 24 hours. During summer the 24- hour average concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10 and PMTotalwere 96 ± 26.42, 106± 29.02, 118± 33.3, 163± 52.5 and 209 ± 79.5 µg/m³ while these were considerably lower during the winter season for the same size fractions (62 ± 48.6, 63± 49.3, 63 ± 49.5, 65.33 ± 50.06 and 66.96 ± 50.78µg/m³). A one way ANOVA was applied on the obtained data and it was concluded that seasons have a substantial impact upon PM concentrations. Moreover, this study provides evidence that seasonal variation of particulate matter is influenced by meteorological parameters.Item Open Access State of air quality in and outside of hospital wards in urban centres – a case study in Lahore, Pakistan(Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum, 2015-06-30) Gulshan, T.; Ali, Z.; Zona, Z.; Ansari, B.; Ahmad, M.; Zainab, M.; Nasir, Zaheer A.; Colbeck, I.Particulate pollution in healthcare facilities is a potential threat to healthcare workers, patients and visitors. A study was carried out to monitor particulate levels in and outside of five wards of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, a tertiary healthcare facility of Lahore. Measurements indicated that the hourly mean concentrations of PM2.5 in a medical, pulmonology (chest), surgical, pediatric and nephrology ward were 78 ± 37, 86 ± 46, 94 ± 48, 169 ± 122 and 488 ± 314 µg m- 3 respectively. The outside levels of PM2.5 of the same wards were 69 ± 27, 81 ± 49, 178 ± 85, 282 ± 164 and 421 ± 240 µg m- 3 . Indoor levels were higher than outdoors in all the wards except surgical and pediatric ward. Such elevated levels of PM can result in aggravation of the poor health status of the patients as well as affecting the hospital staff and visitors.