#Particle pollution

[eirenical]

Ok, so... We're in the light purple zone now. And it is dark inside and everything is YELLOW outside. 😬

You people out West in the States... How do you do this every year? This is freaking me the fuck out. O_O

[cleanair4blueskiesday]

We need coordinated policies on climate chance and air quality.

7 September marks the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. Unfortunately, a vicious circle of climate change, wildfires and air pollution has had major impacts on health, ecosystems and agriculture, reports the WMO

[eirenical]

Here's the updated map for June 7, 2023 7:00 AM:

If you are on the East Coast and trying to figure out what all of these air quality warnings mean and what you should do, here is what the colors and corresponding AQI numbers mean. The updated AirNow map is at this link:

Edit: this was posted at 10:50am on June 6 2023 and the screenshots were taken around 9am.

[giazhou1]

Melamine Foam Helps Reduce Cleanroom Particulate Contamination

Although there are a large number of necessary standards and specifications in terms of design features and operating guidelines to minimize particulate contamination in clean rooms. But there is little or no formal consideration in the industry of the role of the materials used for insulation.

No matter where cleanroom manufacturing occurs, whether it is pharmaceutical, biotech or semiconductor, environmental design must ensure product safety and quality. Cleanrooms are designed to minimize the introduction and circulation of potential contaminants, and controlling particulate emissions is critical to maintaining a safe, clean environment.

Amid all the focus on preventing, monitoring and controlling particulate matter, an important aspect that is often overlooked is the impact of insulation on particulate matter levels. These insulation materials control surface temperatures of process piping and HVAC equipment in and around clean rooms while conserving energy and providing personal protection to operators.

Regardless of the type of insulation chosen, it will have to be cut to size during installation, most likely to fit into complex ductwork in a confined confined space, and all operations will take place on site. Once installed, insulation is not simply "fit and forget" but is often inspected regularly and taken apart for duct maintenance repairs.

When cutting and handling this melamine foam, which is typically installed in clean rooms, there was a significant increase in background particulate matter, indicating that these materials are adding significant amounts of particulate matter to the environment even before cutting is performed. Because the material releases air from its open-cell structure, this coincides with an increase in the amount of particulate matter. However, melamine foam after hot pressing can achieve clean cutting and can absorb particulate pollutants in clean rooms.

Melamine foam is a thermosetting organic plastic and has a highly fine three-dimensional network cross-linked structure, which is resistant to many organic solvents. Melamine foam does not contain other compounds, is also non-fiber material, does not contain any dust, does not contain any halogenated hydrocarbons, flame retardants, or toxic heavy metals. In addition, melamine foam also has acid and alkali resistance, mildew resistance, antibacterial properties, etc., making it very suitable for clean room insulation and effectively reducing particulate pollutants.

For more information about SINOYQX Melamine Foam, please reach us at sales@sinoyqx.com or voice to us: +86-28-8411-1861.

[jayelf]

Air pollution

Air pollution endangers life on Earth and is caused mainly by the emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills around seven million people worldwide.

Air pollution is when harmful compounds enter the atmosphere and modify their properties and composition. Air pollution endangers life on Earth and is caused mainly by the emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills around seven million people worldwide. Air pollution is caused majorly by the usage of energy and the…

[justacynicalromantic]

🔴The rocket strike on April 11 at the Trypil thermal power plant in the Kyiv region caused huge damage to the environment of the region due to the release of pollutants into the atmosphere.

The State Ecoinspection of the Capital District reports that the fire caused an uncontrolled release of harmful substances into the atmosphere, namely:

- more than 2.5 tons of nitrogen dioxide;

- more than 6.17 thousand tons of carbon dioxide;

- more than 2.4 tons of carbon monoxide;

- more than 0.7 tons of VOCs;

- 1 ton of suspended solids.

There is soil contamination with oil products, copper and zinc. According to the inspectors' estimates, the amount of damage to the environment from this missile strike alone reaches more than $650 thousand$

[doomsayersunited]

If 1100 people die annually from ultrafine particles emitted by vehicle tailpipes & industry in an area with 1.5 million people, that would mean about 5.9 million people are being killed by these preventable pollutants. Every. Single. Year!

[worldcitiesday]

Urban Forestry filters for urban polluants.

The benefits of Urban Forestry.

[safeday]

Climate change impacts safety and Health at work.

Excessive heat, UV radiation, extreme weather events, air pollution, vector borne diseases, chemicals impacts worker's health. World Day of Safety and Health at Work 2024; April 28th.

Glossary of terms

Gonadotrope: a substance or agent capable of adversely affecting the sexual glands. Harmful substance: substance or mixture of substances capable of harming workers’ health or safety during employment, after employment or in later generations. Hazard: probability of impairment to health following exposure to a specific substance; the level of the hazard depends not only on the toxicity of the substance itself but also on the use and the absorption rate. Health: state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely an absence of disease or disablement. Ingestion: entry of a toxic or other substance into the body through the digestive tract; if elementary principles of personal hygiene are applied, this can occur at workplaces only rarely and accidentally. Inhalation: entry of a substance into the body through the respiratory tract. This is the main path of entry of toxic substances into the body; having reached the lung, the substances may remain stored in the lung tissue or nodes (insoluble dusts) or pass into the blood (gases and vapours, fumes, soluble dusts) through the alveolar surface and reach the upper nerve centres without undergoing any filtration; as the alveolar surface is about eight times larger than the digestive surface and 40 times greater than the skin, absorption is much faster and constitutes a greater hazard than entry by other routes. Irritant: a substance, generally in the form of gas, aerosol or dust, or agent able to cause inflammatory reactions of the respiratory tract, conjunctive tissues or skin; highly soluble gases and vapours, such as ammonia, act mainly on the upper respiratory tract; on the other hand, less soluble gases and vapours, such as nitrogen dioxide, penetrate more deeply into the respiratory tract and are more dangerous because of the associated risk of pulmonary oedema. Mist: aerosol consisting of droplets (e.g. oils or acids). Monitoring: systematic surveillance of the hazards to which workers are exposed; it may be carried out by measuring certain parameters of the working environment, particularly the concentrations of airborne toxic substances, or by measuring biological parameters, particularly the concentrations of toxic substances or their metabolites or certain organic reactions in the urine, blood or exhaled air. Mutagen: substance or agent capable of causing sudden and lasting changes in one or more hereditary features, generally by modifying one or more genes; if these changes take place only in somatic cells (e.g. the blood cells), they are not transmitted to descendants. Occupational health officer: a specialist in the problems associated with the protection of workers’ health against occupational hazards, who acts as adviser to employers and workers; he 1 For different temperatures and/or pressures, the formula must be adapted. For an ambient temperature of 200 C at standard pressure, for instance, the figure 24.45 must be replaced by 24.04. Occupational exposure to harmful airborne substances may be an occupational physician, an industrial hygienist or a safety engineer or technician, either in a service organised by the plant itself or attached to an outside body. Personal sampler: a light and compact portable instrument for sampling the air and/or carrying out measurements in the worker’s breathing zone, whatever his movements during the period of duty. Radioactive substance: any substance which emits ionizing radiations as the result of fission of its atomic nucleus; radiotoxicity is much higher than chemical toxicity and depends on the radioactivity of the substance (number of nuclear fissions per unit of time), the nature of the radiation emitted, the duration of the radioactivity (half-life) and the metabolism of the substance in the body; radioactive substances may take the form of very fine particles (particle sizes of less than 1μm).

Occupational exposure to airborne substances harmful to health

[asrarblog]

Smog; The Present Health Scare – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #879

[cleanair4blueskiesday]

Reducing air pollution saves lives and money – it’s time to invest in Clean Air Now.

While the world is gearing up for the summit of the future and the climate COP 29 to find solutions to global crises, another problem related to the planet we all share is often overlooked: air pollution. On International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, celebrated on 7 September every year, we need to speak up for clean air. 

Air pollution has an enormous burden on public health, ecosystems, climate, and ultimately, the economy.  Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a staggering 7 million deaths are caused by air pollution every single year.  

More than 40 years on, the cooperation among Parties to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention) has led to remarkable results:  significant emissions reductions (by 50-80% since 1990 in the Pan-European region and North America),  1 additional year of life expectancy, and 600,000 lives saved annually. Tackling some pollutants that are bad for air and climate at the same time, the Convention has also supported integrated approaches for clean air and climate action.  

However, there are many more challenges still to be tackled to reduce air pollution in the region. A report in 2022 on the effectiveness of the Convention’s most recent protocol, the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone or Gothenburg Protocol, showed that while emission reductions have been achieved, damage to human health, ecosystems and materials remains. Therefore, in 2023, Parties decided in a ground-breaking decision to revise the Gothenburg Protocol, which is expected to further strengthen efforts to reduce air pollution in the region. 

Clean air is a life and money saver 

The latest research on the cost of inaction on air pollution under the Convention has shown the importance of investing in clean air policies. The report shows that business as usual is not an option as it is up to 25 times more expensive than additional clean air policies. While the average cost of an optimal air pollution strategy is estimated to be 0.01–0.02 per cent of GDP, the current monetary damage cost to health, ecosystems and the economy due to ambient air pollution corresponds to over 5 per cent of GDP in nearly half (26) of 56 countries of the Pan-European region and North America. In at least 6 countries, the damage is more than 10 per cent of GDP. The largest part of the damage cost consists of reduced life expectancy, followed by morbidity costs (e.g., hospital admittance, sick leave, medicine costs), and damage to ecosystems. 

This means that greater action on cleaner air pays off by saving lives and money. The revision of the Gothenburg Protocol is expected to deliver further concrete action to protect ecosystems and human health from air pollution and incentivize Governments in the region to further invest in clean air policies. It’s time to invest in #CleanAirNow. 

About the Air Convention  

The UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution was adopted in 1979. Over the years, it has been extended by eight protocols that identify specific measures to be taken by Parties to cut their emissions of air pollutants. The Convention has 51 Parties, covering North America and almost the entire European continent.  

[evilvillain123456789]

Hey man, don't even worry about me and the newly formed membrane of skin covering my unnaturally huge, permanently open mouth that prevents me from speaking in anything other than muffled, vibratey grunts. It's not a bad deal at all- I recently found out that I can use it to filter various particulate matter from the air, and that it's all actually quite delicious, and nutricious. And, well, I'm always hungry nowadays, and those particles arent worth much .....So I'm just gonna sit myself down right here under the breezeway and never move from this spot in order to concerve calories. And maybe once I'm at a surplus I can use the growth of my body to anchor myself in, incase the wind picks up too much for me to handle. And maybe others like me will congregate here and as our flesh begins to touch, it won't seperate, and we'll gradually form a grand structure, one akin to coral, here in the remains of the city. And at the same time, other structures will form too, in other places, rising like skyscrapers dotting the horizon over the course of decades, centuries, thousands of years, eventually leaning in, touching eachother for the structural support and aerodynamicysm, melding, growing, reproducing. Until at last the air is completely free of all germs, pollutants, aeroplankton, all that good stuff, bringing on the long process of our colonies starving one by one, starting from the top where the air is thinnest, down to the bottom where our numbers are greatest, eventually rotting, the rest of us calcifying, leaving fresh materials for the newest batch of mobile life on earth, but by the time the luckiest of this new life gains sapience, the strong wind will have already eroded at our bones, spreading it all amongst the now rich soil, leaving not even a legend of what had happed before.

[ririblogsss]

y'all if any of you guys wants to expand upon or use as inspiration anything I've written do so. Also if you guys want me to write more abt something tell me.

Anyways with that out of the way.

Ive been thinking about collage Danny AU but instead of going to Gotham he goes to central city (its in Ohio, and The flash is based there). So im thinking that the population over there has a massive percentile of meta humans compared to other cities, because of the particle accelerator incident plus the multiple flash points. All this to say is that the people in Central City are used to civilians having enhanced strength, uncommon dietary restrictions, random outburst of power act.

So Danny just turned 18 comes in to get his degree in biochemical engineering and astronomy, after finishing school with extra credits. He gets a dorm with 2 other people a meta with speeding problems and a normal dude named Sam.

In Dannys perspective he is a very chill roommate, making sure he washes after himself when using the kitchen. Regularly taking out the trash ect..

In his roomates perspective, they think Danny is a paranoid meta who recently escaped a dysfunctional household where he was discriminated for being a meta.

why they have this assumption simple. Danny is clearly malnourished and refuses to actually make a diet he needs. Only eating small servings of food, and trying to save as much as possible for later. He gets paranoid when using moe strength than a human should posses, almost as if he's scared of getting found out. And third of all Danny glows in the dark, quite literally, its not an annoying or absurd amount. Danny glows the same way glow in the dark stars do.

So yeah Dannys roommates know he is a meta but they don't know how they should breach the subject as its clear that Danny is very paranoid of getting found out.

On the other hand Barry Allen is getting worried about his grandsons(bart) roomate, as its very concerning the demeanor he is displaying. Barry intends to investigate the situation more to make sure this isn't a 'broken phone' type of misunderstanding. And if it isn't he is pulling a Bruce.

Meanwhile Danny's on his dormitory roof enjoying the stars, sure there's light pollution but his enhanced vision allows him to see them as if were a clear sky. Not knowing how his life is going to change in the coming weeks.

[deadsetobsessions]

Sea Cryptic!Danny Phantom- pt. 8

[Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4] [Pt.5] [Pt.6] [Pt.7] [Pt.9] [Pt.10]

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been to the hospital in the past three years, I’d have enough money to buy a bag of skittles from Target. Most of it wasn’t for me though lol I’ll add this onto the list in a bit, but I tend to do that from my desktop but I’m still currently attached to an IV drip. I’ve also never been this hydrated in my life lmao

——

Danny poked a puffed up pufferfish. The poison floated through his ghost form and did nothing but give him a little zap. Danny chuckled, wiping away a bit of oil that had gotten onto the fish from a nearby oil spill. Jesus fuck. Danny knew that bald headed, easily drawn Vlad wannabe from across the river would do something terrible to Gotham’s waters (not that it needed help being atrocious to Danny’s clean water appreciation).

The puffer fish- Danny gave up on understanding Gotham’s water ecosystem, having realized that it was a cursed mix of saltwater and freshwater and swamp- gave a fearful little wiggle and Danny let it go, turning to the oil particles floating around.

Danny took out his phone.

“Danny? Why the hell are you calling at three in the morning?”

Danny raised a hand and blasted out some ice, gathering the oil up. “Hey Sam. If I got you into contact with Poison Ivy, do you think you could team up to get rid of Lex Luthor’s new holding company in Gotham?”

“Danny, are you asking me to commit an act of ecoterrorism?”

“That’s not even the weirdest thing I’ve ever asked you to do.” Danny placed a hand on the ice mass and flew it, the oil, and himself across the river to Metropolis.

“Deal.” Sam’s voice gets further away as she pulled her phone from her ear. “I’ll text Tucker, see if he could futz with Luthor’s taxes. I heard her doesn’t even give his workers a livable wage, and that’s so not gonna fly.”

“Perfect! Thanks! We could totally meet up and hang out with my new friends!”

“Hah! That Tim guy? The one that wanted you to introduce Phantom to him?”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, goth girl.”

“Sure, dork. I’ll swing by Friday?”

“Sure! Want me to pick you up?” Danny phased through Lex Luthor’s frankly ridiculous amounts of security measures, still completely invisible and towing a giant mass of oil covered ice.

“Cool. Now hang up. I actually need sleep.”

“Ah, you must be dead tired. I get it.”

Sam hung up, and a second later, Danny got a pic of her holding up a middle finger with her signature purple nail polish.

Danny stared down at the sleeping billionaire. Gross. He let his face re enter the visible spectrum and lowered the temperature of the room drastically. Luthor groaned, waking up as he shivered like a hyped up chihuahua.

Danny bared his teeth, glowing green skin reflecting the black holes of the universe and imploding stars and burning planets as he leaned towards the frozen two bit villain.

“RESPECT THE PLANET,” Danny snarled. He unmelted the invisible ice as he simultaneously made the oil visible, the entirety of the oil spill coating every single inch of Luthor’s penthouse bedroom. Danny winked out, but not before snapping a quick picture of Lex Luthor’s absolutely covered in his company’s oil spill.

If Danny had made sure that there were fish droppings mixed in with the oil… that was his own damn business.

——

Danny floated over to a brooding Batman.

“Do you have two hundred dollars on you?” Danny asked in lieu of a greeting.

Batman grunted a yes.

“Two hundred dollars for a photo of Lex Luthor being hit with karma.”

Batman instantly handed over the cash and received a printed out photo of Lex Luthor (in his Lexcorp pjs) covered by fossil fuel.

"Is this..."

"The oil from his oil spill? Yes."

Batman stared at the picture.

"Why was this more expensive than ID'ing corpses?"

"Cause it's funnier. And dead people deserve more consideration than a egg looking ass polluting everything he touches."

Superman zoomed into the space in front of them, face eager.

"I heard you had something about Luthor?"

Danny figured that Batman probably contacted the hero, and confidently said, "$200 for personal use, $300 for commercial use."

Superman quickly got together three hundred dollars in cash and quickly forked it over. Danny gave him another physical copy of the photo and a usb drive with the photo in a digital format.

"I am so pinning this up." Superman muttered.

"Get out of my city." Batman said flatly. Superman waved a hand, beamed at Danny, and left.

"Did you know Gotham's waters is a mixture of freshwater, swamp, and saltwater habitats?"

Batman grunted.

"Also, please stop stalking Danny Fenton. It's odd."

Batman swiveled his head over. "What."

Danny stared him down. "Stop. Stalking. Innocent. Bystanders. Or else I will recreate the phrase "drowned rat" with you as the subject."

Batman stilled.

"I don't kill, by the way. I can, however, dunk you in the sea and lift you up like a goth version of Simba."

Batman relaxed minutely. "I can't."

"And why not?"

Batman gave him a despairing look. "Have you met my children?"

"... Point."

[todropscience]

MICROPLASTICS FOUND IN THE EXHALED BREATH OF DOLPHINS

Microplastic is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, widespread across terrestrial and marine environments. In the environment, microparticles have been documented in a variety of fauna. Human epidemiological studies have found relationships between inhaled microplastics and oxidative stress, as well as inflammation.

Recent research has uncovered something quite striking: bottlenose dolphins in Florida and Louisiana are exhaling microplastic fibers. While plastic pollution has been well-documented in marine environments, this new study adds inhalation to the growing list of exposure routes for these animals. Bottlenose dolphins were found to be exhaling microplastics similar in chemical composition to those found in human lungs. Their exposure to microplastics might reveal broader environmental risks, especially for cetaceans health.

Breath samples were collected from wild bottlenose dolphins during health assessments conducted by scientists in collaboration with several organizations, including the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and the Oceanogràfic Foundation. The researchers used a Petri dish or a custom spirometer to capture the dolphins' exhaled breath and, in the laboratory, analyzed the samples under a microscope for small plastic particles characterized by their smooth surface, bright colors, or fibrous shapes.

- A microplastic from a bottlenose dolphin's breath, nearly 14 times smaller than a human hair. Photo by Dziobak/College of Charleston.

The study found microplastics in dolphins from both urban and rural estuaries, demonstrating that even less-populated areas are not immune to plastic contamination. The key takeaway is that plastic pollution is a widespread issue, with effects that may be more far-reaching than initially thought. While the impacts on dolphins' lung health remain unknown, this research underscores the need to investigate how microplastic inhalation could affect marine life and humans alike. Reducing reliance on plastic is a crucial step toward addressing this growing problem.

Main photograph: Todd Speakman/National Marine Mammal Foundation.

Reference (Open access):  Dziobak et al. 2024. First evidence of microplastic inhalation among free-ranging small cetaceans. PLoS ONE