WorldWideScience

Sample records for dust control

  1. Engineering-scale dust control experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winberg, M.R.; Pawelko, R.J.; Jacobs, N.C.; Thompson, D.N.

    1990-12-01

    This report presents the results of engineering scale dust-control experiments relating to contamination control during handling of transuranic waste. These experiments focused on controlling dust during retrieval operations of buried waste where waste and soil are intimately mixed. Sources of dust generation during retrieval operations include digging, dumping, and vehicle traffic. Because contaminants are expected to attach to soil particles and move with the generated dust, control of the dust spread may be the key to contamination control. Dust control techniques examined in these experiments include the use of misting systems, soil fixatives, and dust suppression agents. The Dryfog Ultrasonic Misting Head, manufactured by Sonics, Incorporated, and ENTAC, an organic resin derived from tree sap manufactured by ENTAC Corporation, were tested. The results of the experiments include product performance and recommended application methods. 19 figs., 7 refs., 6 tabs

  2. Control of harmful dust in coal mines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goddard, B; Bower, K; Mitchell, D

    1973-01-01

    This handbook consists of a series of short chapters devoted to: sources of airborne dust; dust standards and methods of sampling; dust prevention on mechanized faces; ventilation and dust extraction; distribution and use of water; dust control on mechanized faces; dust control in drivages and headings; drilling and shotfiring; dust control in transport; some outbye dust control techniques (hygroscopic salts, impingement curtains); water infusion; personal protective equipment. (CIS Abstr.)

  3. Dust control at Yucca Mountain project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kissell, F.; Jurani, R.; Dresel, R.; Reaux, C.

    1999-01-01

    This report describes actions taken to control silica dust at the Yucca Mountain Exploratory Studies Facility, a tunnel located in Southern Nevada that is part of a scientific program to determine site suitability for a potential nuclear waste repository. The rock is a volcanic tuff containing significant percentages of both quartz and cristobalite. Water use for dust control was limited because of scientific test requirements, and this limitation made dust control a difficult task. Results are reported for two drifts, called the Main Loop Drift and the Cross Drift. In the Main Loop Drift, dust surveys and tracer gas tests indicated that air leakage from the TBM head, the primary ventilation duct, and movement of the conveyor belt were all significant sources of dust. Conventional dust control approaches yielded no significant reductions in dust levels. A novel alternative was to install an air cleaning station on a rear deck of the TBM trailing gear. It filtered dust from the contaminated intake air and discharged clean air towards the front of the TBM. The practical effect was to produce dust levels below the exposure limit for all TBM locations except close to the head. In the Cross Drift, better ventilation and an extra set of dust seals on the TBM served to cut down the leakage of dust from the TBM cutter head. However, the conveyor belt was much dustier than the belt in the main loop drift. The problem originated with dirt on the bottom of the belt return side and much spillage from the belt top side. Achieving lower dust levels in hard rock tunneling operations will require new approaches as well as a more meticulous application of existing technology. Planning for dust control will require specific means to deal with dust that leaks from the TBM head, dust that originates with leaky ventilation systems, and dust that comes from conveyor belts. Also, the application of water could be more efficient if automatic controls were used to adjust the water flow

  4. Step by step in dust control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Archer, N. [Arch Environmental Equipment, Inc. (United States)

    2003-05-01

    The paper examines the different stages in identifying delegating and controlling dust before it becomes a serious problem for a facility. Material handling, processing, storage and traffic are the major dust producing sources. All industries that convey dry, light material need to install a dust control system. The confine-seal-suppress method of dust control has provided excellent results in numerous applications, only with the combination of all three will maximum dust control. When a system is properly engineered and correctly installed, meeting the EPA Government standards becomes very easy, and is necessary in to the operation of a quality facility. 5 photos.

  5. Control of dust production in ITER

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez-Rodrigo, L.; Ciattaglia, S.; Elbez-Uzan, J.

    2006-01-01

    In the last years dust has been observed in a number of fusion devices and is being studied more in detail for understanding in particular the physical phenomena related to its formation, its composition, physical and chemical characteristics, and the amount of produced dust. The extrapolation of dust formation to ITER predicts (with large error bars), a large mass of dust production with a scattered size distribution. To evaluate the impact of dust on safety, assumptions have also been made on radionuclide inventory, and mobility in off-normal events, as well as any postulated contributions the dust may make to effluents or accidental releases. Solid activation products in structures are generally not readily mobilisable in incidental and accidental situations, so that activated dust, tritium and activated corrosions products are the important in-vessel source terms in postulated scenarios that assume a mobilisation and release of some fraction of this inventory. Such a release would require the simultaneous leak or bypass of several robust confinement barriers. Further concerns for dust may be the potential for chemical reactions between dust and coolant in the event of an in-vessel leak, and the theoretical possibility of a dust explosion, either of which could in principle cause a pressure rise that challenges one or more of the confinement barriers. Although these hazards can - and will - be controlled by other measures in the ITER design, application of the principle of Defence in Depth dictates that the dust inventory should also be minimised and controlled to prevent the potential hazard. A well-coordinated R-and-D programme is required to support this dust production control. This document provides from the safety point of view, an overview of existing data given in '' Dossier d'Options de Surete '', the first safety report presented in 2001 to the French Safety Authorities, and ITER documents; it also gathers information on status of studies on activated

  6. 30 CFR 56.9315 - Dust control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Dust control. 56.9315 Section 56.9315 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE SAFETY AND... control. Dust shall be controlled at muck piles, material transfer points, crushers, and on haulage roads...

  7. Gravimetric dust sampling for control purposes and occupational dust sampling.

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Unsted, AD

    1997-02-01

    Full Text Available Prior to the introduction of gravimetric dust sampling, konimeters had been used for dust sampling, which was largely for control purposes. Whether or not absolute results were achievable was not an issue since relative results were used to evaluate...

  8. Fugitive dust control experiments using soil fixatives on vehicle traffic surfaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winberg, M.R.; Wixom, V.E.

    1992-08-01

    This report presents the results of engineering scale dust control experiments using soil fixative for contamination control during handling of transuranic waste. These experiments focused on controlling dust during retrieval operations of buried waste where waste and soil are intimately mixed. Sources of dust generation during retrieval operations include digging, dumping, and vehicle traffic. Because contaminants are expected to attach to soil particles and move with the generated dust, control of the dust spread may be the key to contamination control. Dust control techniques examined in these experiments include the use of soil fixatives to control generation of fugitive dusts during vehicle traffic operations. Previous experiments conducted in FY 1990 included testing of the soil fixative, ENTAC. These experiments showed that ENTAC was effective in controlling dust generation but had several undesirable properties such as slow cure times and clogged the pumps and application nozzles. Therefore, other products would have to be evaluated to find a suitable candidate. As a result, two soil fixatives were tested in these present experiments, COHEREX-PM, an asphalt emulsion product manufactured by Witco Corporation and FLAMBINDER, a calcium lignosulfonate product manufactured by Flambeau Corporation. The results of the experiments include product performance and recommended application methods for application in a field deployable contamination control unit to be built in FY 1993

  9. SPARCLE: Electrostatic Dust Control Tool Proof of Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, P. E.; Curtis, S. A.; Minetto, F.; Marshall, J.; Nuth, J.; Calle, C.

    2010-01-01

    Successful exploration of most planetary surfaces, with their impact-generated dusty regoliths, will depend on the capabilities to keep surfaces free of the performance-compromising dust. Once in contact with surfaces, whether set in motion by natural or mechanical means, regolith fines, or dust, behave like abrasive Velcro, coating surfaces, clogging mechanisms, making movement progressively more difticult, and being almost impossible to remove by mechanical mcans (brushing). The successful dust removal strategy will deal with dust dynamics resulting from interaction between Van der Waals and Coulombic forces. Here, proof of concept for an electrostatically-based concept for dust control tool is described and demonstrated. A low power focused electron beam is used in the presence of a small electrical field to increase the negative charge to mass ratio of a dusty surface until dust repulsion and attraction to a lower potential surface, acting as a dust collector, occurred. Our goal is a compact device of less than 5 kg mass and using less than 5 watts of power to be operational in less than 5 years with heritage from ionic sweepers for active spacecraft potential control (e.g ., on POLAR). Rovers could be fitted with devices that could hamess the removal of dust for sampling as part of the extended exploration process on Mercury, Mars, asteroids or outer solar system satellites, as well as the Moon.

  10. Evaluate fundamental approaches to longwall dust control. Phase III report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Babbitt, C.; Bartlett, P.; Kelly, J.; Ludlow, J.; Mangolds, A.; Rajan, S.; Ruggieri, S.; Varga, E.

    1984-03-31

    The overall objective of the contract is to evaluate the effectiveness of available dust control technology for double-drum shearer longwall sections in a coordinated, systematic program at a few longwall test sections and to make the results available to the entire coal mining industry. This program is investigating nine different dust control techniques. These nine subprograms encompass a broad range of dust control measures ranging from administrative controls to new hardware. They span not only presently employed methods but also those recently adopted in the United States and those proposed for the future. This report documents the Phase III effort on each of the subprograms. For clarity, the report is divided in sections by subprogram as follows: Section 2, Subprogram A - passive barriers/spray air movers for dust control; Section 3, Subprogram B - practical aspects of deep cutting; Section 4, Subprogram C - stage loader dust control; Section 5, Subprogram D - longwall automation technology; Section 6, Subprogram E - longwall application of ventilation curtains; Section 7, Subprogram F - reversed drum rotation; Section 8, Subprogram G - reduction of shield generated dust; Section 9, Subprogram H - air canopies for longwalls; and Section 10, Subprogram I - mining practices. 43 figures, 11 tables.

  11. Controlling fugitive dust emissions in material handling operations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tooker, G E

    1992-05-01

    The primary mechanism of fugitive dust generation in bulk material handling transfer operations is by dispersion of dust in turbulent air induced to flow with falling or projected material streams. This paper returns to basic theories of particle dynamics and fluid mechanics to quantify the dust generating mechanism by rational analysis. Calculations involving fluid mechanisms are made easier by the availability of the personal computer and the many math manipulating programs. Rational analysis is much more cost effective when estimating collection air volumes to control fugitive emissions; especially in enclosed material handling transfers transporting large volumes of dusty material. Example calculations, using a typical enclosed conveyor-to-conveyor transfer operation are presented to illustrate and highlight the key parameters that determine the magnitude of induced air flow that must be controlled. The methods presented in this paper for estimating collection air volumes apply only enclosed material handling transfers, exhausted to a dust collector. Since some assistance to the control of dust emissions must be given by the material handling transfer chute design, a discussion of good transfer chute design practice is presented. 4 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.

  12. House dust mite control measures for asthma

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gøtzsche, Peter C.; Johansen, Helle Krogh

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The major allergen in house dust comes from mites. Chemical, physical and combined methods of reducing mite allergen levels are intended to reduce asthma symptoms in people who are sensitive to house dust mites. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of reducing exposure to house dust mite...... antigens in the homes of people with mite-sensitive asthma. SEARCH STRATEGY: PubMed and The Cochrane Library (last searches Nov 2007), reference lists. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised trials of mite control measures vs placebo or no treatment in people with asthma known to be sensitive to house dust mites......), the standardised mean difference was 0.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.10 to 0.10). There were no statistically significant differences either in number of patients improved (relative risk 1.01, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.27), asthma symptom scores (standardised mean difference -0.04, 95% CI -0.15 to 0...

  13. Efficiency of inert mineral dusts in the control of corn weevil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos F. Jairoce

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Corn weevil (Sitophilus zeamais may cause great losses in the crop and in stored corn grains. This insect is controlled with the use of chemical insecticides, which may cause serious damage to human health. One alternative of control is the use of inert dusts. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of inert dusts in the control of S. zeamais under laboratory conditions. The experiment was conducted in 2014, in a completely randomized design, and the treatments consisted of basalt dust with three different granulometries (A, B and C and diatomaceous earth, each of which at the doses of 2 and 4 kg t-1 and a control (no application. Each treatment had four replicates, and the sample unit consisted of 20 g of corn grains infected with 10 adults of S. zeamais kept in temperature-controlled chamber at 25 °C, 70% RH and photophase of 12 h. The dust efficiency was calculated using the equation of Abbott. The mortality rate was higher with the use of diatomaceous earth, reaching 100% after 5 days of exposure and the percentage of control for basalt dusts, 29 days after treatment, was above 80%.

  14. Test plan for FY-91 dust control studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winberg, M.R.

    1991-03-01

    This test plan defines basic test procedures for testing commercially available vendor products as soil fixatives and dust suppression agents to determine their capability to control fugitive dust generation during transuranic waste retrieval and handling operations. A description of the test apparatus and methods are provided in this test plan. This test plan defines the sampling procedures, controls, and analytical methods for the samples collected. Data management is discussed, as well as quality assurance and safety requirements for the study. 6 refs., 5 figs

  15. In-vessel dust and tritium control strategy in ITER

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shimada, M., E-mail: michiya.shimada@iter.org [ITER Organization, Route de Vinon-sur-Verdon, 13115 St. Paul-lez-Durance (France); Pitts, R.A.; Ciattaglia, S.; Carpentier, S.; Choi, C.H.; Dell Orco, G.; Hirai, T.; Kukushkin, A.; Lisgo, S.; Palmer, J.; Shu, W.; Veshchev, E. [ITER Organization, Route de Vinon-sur-Verdon, 13115 St. Paul-lez-Durance (France)

    2013-07-15

    A baseline strategy for dust and tritium-inventory control and recovery in ITER has been established and preparations are underway for its implementation. Limits on dust and tritium-inventory are an integral part of the ITER safety case and are fixed at 1 kg for tritium, 1000 kg for mobilisable dust and 11 kg (beryllium)/76 kg (tungsten) for dust on hot surfaces. Maximum average T-retention rates of ∼1 g/shot are estimated for baseline inductive operation at Q{sub DT} = 10, suggesting that the in-vessel T-retention could reach the administrative limit of 640 g in as little as ∼2 months of operation. Baking is expected to remove a significant fraction of the T co-deposited on the divertor targets. Despite large uncertainties, dust quantities are expected to remain well below safety limits over the divertor cassette lifetime. In situ aspiration during divertor cassette exchange is foreseen as the main dust removal technique.

  16. Review of fugitive dust control for uranium mill tailings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, C.T.; Elmore, M.R.; Hartley, J.N.

    1983-01-01

    An immediate concern associated with the disposal of uranium mill tailings is that wind erosion of the tailings from an impoundment area will subsequently deposit tailings on surrounding areas. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), under contract to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is investigating the current technology for fugitive dust control. Different methods of fugitive dust control, including chemical, physical, and vegetative, have been used or tested on mill tailings piles. This report presents the results of a literature review and discussions with manufacturers and users of available stabilization materials and techniques

  17. Review of fugitive dust control for uranium mill tailings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, C.T.; Elmore, M.R.; Hartley, J.N.

    1983-01-01

    An immediate concern associated with the disposal of uranium mill tailings is that wind erosion of the tailings from an impoundment area will subsequently deposit tailings on surrounding areas. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), under contract to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is investigating the current technology for fugitive dust control. Different methods of fugitive dust control, including chemical, physical, and vegetative, have been used or tested on mill tailings piles. This report presents the results of a literature review and discussions with manufacturers and users of available stabilization materials and techniques.

  18. Foam property tests to evaluate the potential for longwall shield dust control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, W R; Beck, T W; Zheng, Y; Klima, S; Driscoll, J

    2018-01-01

    Tests were conducted to determine properties of four foam agents for their potential use in longwall mining dust control. Foam has been tried in underground mining in the past for dust control and is currently being reconsidered for use in underground coal longwall operations in order to help those operations comply with the Mine Safety and Health Administration's lower coal mine respirable dust standard of 1.5 mg/m 3 . Foams were generated using two different methods. One method used compressed air and water pressure to generate foam, while the other method used low-pressure air generated by a blower and water pressure using a foam generator developed by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Foam property tests, consisting of a foam expansion ratio test and a water drainage test, were conducted to classify foams. Compressed-air-generated foams tended to have low expansion ratios, from 10 to 19, with high water drainage. Blower-air-generated foams had higher foam expansion ratios, from 30 to 60, with lower water drainage. Foams produced within these ranges of expansion ratios are stable and potentially suitable for dust control. The test results eliminated two foam agents for future testing because they had poor expansion ratios. The remaining two foam agents seem to have properties adequate for dust control. These material property tests can be used to classify foams for their potential use in longwall mining dust control.

  19. Coupling the Mars Dust and Water Cycles: Investigating the Role of Clouds in Controlling the Vertical Distribution of Dust During N. H. Summer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, M. A.; Haberle, R. M.; Hollingsworth, J. L.; Wilson, R. J.

    2014-01-01

    The dust cycle is critically important for the current climate of Mars. The radiative effects of dust impact the thermal and dynamical state of the atmosphere (Gierasch and Goody, 1968; Haberle et al., 1982; Zurek et al., 1992). Although dust is present in the Martian atmosphere throughout the year, the level of dustiness varies with season. The atmosphere is generally the dustiest during northern fall and winter and the least dusty during northern spring and summer (Smith, 2004). Dust particles are lifted into the atmosphere by dust storms that range in size from meters to thousands of kilometers across (Cantor et al., 2001). During some years, regional storms combine to produce hemispheric or planet encircling dust clouds that obscure the surface and raise atmospheric temperatures by as much as 40 K (Smith et al., 2002). Key recent observations of the vertical distribution of dust indicate that elevated layers of dust exist in the tropics and sub-tropics throughout much of the year (Heavens et al., 2011). These observations have brought particular focus on the processes that control the vertical distribution of dust in the Martian atmosphere. The goal of this work is to further our understanding of how clouds in particular control the vertical distribution of dust, particularly during N. H. spring and summer

  20. Evaluation of Surface Modification as a Lunar Dust Mitigation Strategy for Thermal Control Surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaier, James R.; Waters, Deborah L.; Misconin, Robert M.; Banks, Bruce A.; Crowder, Mark

    2011-01-01

    Three surface treatments were evaluated for their ability to lower the adhesion between lunar simulant dust and AZ93, AlFEP, and AgFEP thermal control surfaces under simulated lunar conditions. Samples were dusted in situ and exposed to a standardized puff of nitrogen gas. Thermal performance before dusting, after dusting, and after part of the dust was removed by the puff of gas, were compared to perform the assessment. None of the surface treatments was found to significantly affect the adhesion of lunar simulants to AZ93 thermal control paint. Oxygen ion beam texturing also did not lower the adhesion of lunar simulant dust to AlFEP or AgFEP. But a workfunction matching coating and a proprietary Ball Aerospace surface treatment were both found to significantly lower the adhesion of lunar simulants to AlFEP and AgFEP. Based on these results, it is recommended that all these two techniques be further explored as dust mitigation coatings for AlFEP and AgFEP thermal control surfaces.

  1. Dust control for draglines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grad, P.

    2009-09-15

    Monitoring dust levels inside draglines reveals room for improvement in how filtration systems are used and maintained. The Australian firm BMT conducted a field test program to measure airflow parameters, dust fallout rates and dust concentrations, inside and outside the machine house, on four draglines and one shovel. The study involved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The article describes how the tests were made and gives results. It was not possible to say which of the two main filtration systems currently used on Australian draglines - Dynavane or Floseps - performs better. It would appear that more frequent maintenance and cleaning would increase the overall filtration performance and systems could be susceptible to repeat clogging in a short time. 2 figs., 1 photos.

  2. Open-air sprays for capturing and controlling airborne float coal dust on longwall faces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beck, T.W.; Seaman, C.E.; Shahan, M.R.; Mischler, S.E.

    2018-01-01

    Float dust deposits in coal mine return airways pose a risk in the event of a methane ignition. Controlling airborne dust prior to deposition in the return would make current rock dusting practices more effective and reduce the risk of coal-dust-fueled explosions. The goal of this U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study is to determine the potential of open-air water sprays to reduce concentrations of airborne float coal dust, smaller than 75 µm in diameter, in longwall face airstreams. This study evaluated unconfined water sprays in a featureless tunnel ventilated at a typical longwall face velocity of 3.6 m/s (700 fpm). Experiments were conducted for two nozzle orientations and two water pressures for hollow cone, full cone, flat fan, air atomizing and hydraulic atomizing spray nozzles. Gravimetric samples show that airborne float dust removal efficiencies averaged 19.6 percent for all sprays under all conditions. The results indicate that the preferred spray nozzle should be operated at high fluid pressures to produce smaller droplets and move more air. These findings agree with past respirable dust control research, providing guidance on spray selection and spray array design in ongoing efforts to control airborne float dust over the entire longwall ventilated opening. PMID:29348700

  3. Open-air sprays for capturing and controlling airborne float coal dust on longwall faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beck, T W; Seaman, C E; Shahan, M R; Mischler, S E

    2018-01-01

    Float dust deposits in coal mine return airways pose a risk in the event of a methane ignition. Controlling airborne dust prior to deposition in the return would make current rock dusting practices more effective and reduce the risk of coal-dust-fueled explosions. The goal of this U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study is to determine the potential of open-air water sprays to reduce concentrations of airborne float coal dust, smaller than 75 µm in diameter, in longwall face airstreams. This study evaluated unconfined water sprays in a featureless tunnel ventilated at a typical longwall face velocity of 3.6 m/s (700 fpm). Experiments were conducted for two nozzle orientations and two water pressures for hollow cone, full cone, flat fan, air atomizing and hydraulic atomizing spray nozzles. Gravimetric samples show that airborne float dust removal efficiencies averaged 19.6 percent for all sprays under all conditions. The results indicate that the preferred spray nozzle should be operated at high fluid pressures to produce smaller droplets and move more air. These findings agree with past respirable dust control research, providing guidance on spray selection and spray array design in ongoing efforts to control airborne float dust over the entire longwall ventilated opening.

  4. Dust control products at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas: environmental safety and performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, Bethany K.; Little, Edward E.

    2015-01-01

    Controlling fugitive dust while protecting natural resources is a challenge faced by all managers of unpaved roads. Unfortunately, road managers choosing between dust control products often have little objective environmental information to aid their decisions. To address this information gap, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborated on a field test of three dust control products with the objectives of (a) evaluating product performance under real-world conditions, (b) verifying the environmental safety of products identified as practically nontoxic in laboratory tests, and (c) testing the feasibility of several environmental monitoring techniques for use in dust control tests. In cooperation with refuge staff and product vendors, three products (one magnesium chloride plus binder, one cellulose, and one synthetic fluid plus binder) were applied in July 2012 to replicated road sections at the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. These sections were monitored periodically for 12 months after application. Product performance was assessed by mobile-mounted particulate-matter meters measuring production of fugitive dust and by observations of road conditions. Environmental safety was evaluated through on-site biological observations and leaching tests with samples of treated aggregate. All products reduced dust and improved surface condition during those 12 months. Planned environmental measurements were not always compatible with day-to-day refuge management actions; this incompatibility highlighted the need for flexible biological monitoring plans. As one of the first field tests of dust suppressants that explicitly incorporated biological endpoints, this effort provides valuable information for improving field tests and for developing laboratory or semifield alternatives.

  5. Control of dust hazards in mines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sukhanov, V V

    1981-09-01

    This paper analyzes health hazards associated with air pollution by respirable coal dust which causes pneumoconioses. The following directions in pneumoconioses prevention are discussed: improved protective systems (e.g. respirators), mining schemes optimized from a health hazards point of view, correct determination of the maximum permissible level of respirable dusts, reducing working time. Safety regulations in the USSR on the critical amount of coal dust in the miner respiratory system are insufficient as the 20 g limit is too high and does not guarantee safety. Using regression analysis influence of the factors which cause pneumoconioses is analyzed. This influence is described by an equation which considers the following factors: number of shifts associated with contact of a miner with coal dusts, dust concentration in mine air, amount of air with coal dust being respirated, miner's age, years as miner, coal rank. It is stated that use of the proposed equation (derived by computer calculations) permits the safe working time to be correctly determined considering all factors which cause pneumoconioses.

  6. Respirable dust measured downwind during rock dust application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, M L; Organiscak, J; Klima, S; Perera, I E

    2017-05-01

    The Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted underground evaluations in an attempt to quantify respirable rock dust generation when using untreated rock dust and rock dust treated with an anticaking additive. Using personal dust monitors, these evaluations measured respirable rock dust levels arising from a flinger-type application of rock dust on rib and roof surfaces. Rock dust with a majority of the respirable component removed was also applied in NIOSH's Bruceton Experimental Mine using a bantam duster. The respirable dust measurements obtained downwind from both of these tests are presented and discussed. This testing did not measure miners' exposure to respirable coal mine dust under acceptable mining practices, but indicates the need for effective continuous administrative controls to be exercised when rock dusting to minimize the measured amount of rock dust in the sampling device.

  7. Influence of Air Humidity and Water Particles on Dust Control Using Ultrasonic Atomization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okawa, Hirokazu; Nishi, Kentaro; Shindo, Dai; Kawamura, Youhei

    2012-07-01

    The influence of air humidity and water particles on dust control was examined using ultrasonic atomization at 2.4 MHz, an acrylic box (61 L), and four types of ore dust samples: green tuff (4 µm), green tuff (6 µm), kaolin, and silica. It was clearly demonstrated that ultrasonic atomization was effective in raising humidity rapidly. However, at high relative air humidity, the water particles remained stable in the box without changing to water vapor. Ultrasonic atomization was applied to suppress dust dispersion and 40-95% dust reduction was achieved at 83% relative air humidity. Dust dispersion was more effective with ultrasonic atomization than without.

  8. 30 CFR 71.301 - Respirable dust control plan; approval by District Manager and posting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... District Manager and posting. 71.301 Section 71.301 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION... plan; approval by District Manager and posting. (a) The District Manager will approve respirable dust control plans on a mine-by-mine basis. When approving respirable dust control plans, the District Manager...

  9. Dust control in Belgian coal mines. Position at the beginning of 1975

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Preat, B; Vanstraelen, M

    1975-01-01

    A general view is given of dust control in Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1975. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal faces treated by the classical methods of pre-spraying of the wall, wet cutting, water infusion and wet pneumatic picks are given separately; in some cases two or more of these techniques are used together on the same coalface. The number of rock headings in which different methods of dust control are used is also given.

  10. The control and prevention of dust explosions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1982-01-01

    Papers presented discussed: explosion characteristics and hybrid mixtures explosion characteristics and influencing factors, propagation of dust explosions in ducts, prevention of dust explosions, desensitization, explosion-proof type of construction, explosion pressure relief, optical flame barriers, slide-valves for explosion protection, Ventex explosion barrier valves, grinding and mixing plants, spray driers, dust explosions in silos, and explosion-proof bucket elevators. One paper has been abstracted separately.

  11. Effects of grain dust on lungs prior to and following dust remediation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pahwa, Punam; Dosman, James A; McDuffie, Helen H

    2008-12-01

    To determine longitudinal estimates of pulmonary function decline in Canadian grain elevator workers before and after dust control by analyzing data collected from five regions of Canada over 15 years. Declines in forced expired volume in one second and forced vital capacity before and after dust control were estimated by using a generalized estimating equations approach. For grain workers who were in the grain industry for 20 or more years both before and after dust control: the mean annual loss of forced expired volume in one second was greatest among current smoking grain workers followed by ex-smokers and nonsmokers, respectively. Similar results were obtained for forced vital capacity. Grain dust control was effective in reducing decline in the lung function measurements among grain workers in all smoking and exposure categories.

  12. The effects of a newsletter on bedding control on house dust mite allergen concentrations in childcare centers in Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeonghoon Kim

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Objectives Bedding in childcare centers (CCCs can hold house dust mite (HDM allergens. This study examined whether HDM allergen levels can be reduced through the distribution of an educational newsletter on bedding control to parents of CCC children in Korea. Methods All 38 CCCs were measured for Der 1 (sum of Der f 1 and Der p 1 concentrations on classroom floors and bedding before the intervention. Educational newsletters on children’s bedding control were sent to 21 CCCs by mail, and teachers were asked to distribute the newsletters to the parents of the children (intervention group. The remaining 17 CCCs were not sent newsletters (control group. The measurement of Der 1 concentrations in 38 CCCs was repeated after the intervention. Dust samples were collected with a vacuum cleaner and analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods. Results The Der 1 concentrations on the bedding were significantly higher than those on the floors in 38 CCCs at baseline (p<0.05. Although changes of the Der 1 concentrations for the control group (n=17 were not significant, Der 1 concentrations for the intervention group (n=21 decreased significantly from 2077.9 ng/g dust to 963.5 ng/g dust on the floors and from 3683.9 ng/g dust to 610.4 ng/g dust on bedding (p<0.05. Conclusions The distribution of educational newsletters on bedding control to parents may be an effective means of controlling HDMs in CCCs.

  13. Inactivation of dust mites, dust mite allergen, and mold from carpet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ong, Kee-Hean; Lewis, Roger D; Dixit, Anupma; MacDonald, Maureen; Yang, Mingan; Qian, Zhengmin

    2014-01-01

    Carpet is known to be a reservoir for biological contaminants, such as dust mites, dust mite allergen, and mold, if it is not kept clean. The accumulation of these contaminants in carpet might trigger allergies or asthma symptoms in both children and adults. The purpose of this study is to compare methods for removal of dust mites, dust mite allergens, and mold from carpet. Carpets were artificially worn to simulate 1 to 2 years of wear in a four-person household. The worn carpets were inoculated together with a common indoor mold (Cladosporium species) and house dust mites and incubated for 6 weeks to allow time for dust mite growth on the carpet. The carpets were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups. Available treatment regimens for controlling carpet contaminants were evaluated through a literature review and experimentation. Four moderately low-hazard, nondestructive methods were selected as treatments: vacuuming, steam-vapor, Neem oil (a natural tree extract), and benzalkonium chloride (a quaternary ammonium compound). Steam vapor treatment demonstrated the greatest dust mite population reduction (p 0.05) for both physical and chemical methods. The steam-vapor treatment effectively killed dust mites and denatured dust mite allergen in the laboratory environment.

  14. A Three-Year Course of House Dust Mite Sublingual Immunotherapy Appears Effective in Controlling the Symptoms of Allergic Rhinitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novakova, Silviya M; Novakova, Plamena I; Yakovliev, Plamen H; Staevska, Maria T; Mateva, Nonka G; Dimcheva, Teodora D; Peichev, Jivko L

    2018-05-01

    Background Allergic rhinitis is the most common allergic disorder. Although the management of the disease is successful in many patients, based on guidelines, some of them remain with symptoms uncontrolled with pharmacotherapy. Presently, there is no substantiated information on the control of allergic rhinitis in patients who underwent sublingual immunotherapy. Objective The purpose of this prospective follow-up study was to assess the control of allergic rhinitis in adults after a three-year course of house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy. Methods This prospective real-life study was designed to include adults with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis sensitized to house dust mite who underwent a three-year course of sublingual immunotherapy. Control of symptoms was assessed by Rhinitis Control Assessment Test (RCAT) after three years of house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy. Additionally, patients assessed their symptoms by utilizing a visual analog scale. Results A total number of 86 consecutively enrolled patients (46 (53.49%) men; mean age 26.10 years (SD = 5.85)) with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis and clinically relevant sensitization to house dust mite were evaluated. When assessed by RCAT on the third year, 74 (86.05%) had well-controlled symptoms and 20 (27.03%) of them were completely controlled. A significant reduction in visual analog scale scores-from 7.52 cm at baseline to 2.31 cm-was established ( P house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy appears effective in controlling the symptoms of allergic rhinitis.

  15. Control of coal-dust in mines. Second edition. Bor'ba s ugol'noi i porodnoi pyl'yu v shakhtakh

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pemrukhin, P.M.; Grodel, G.S.; Zhilyaev, N.I.; Korenev, A.P.; Krivokhizha, B.M.; Kul' bachnyi, A.N.; Lyubimoba, A.I.; Medvedev, E.N.; Yaremachenko, P.P.

    1981-01-01

    An examination is made of problems concerned with over-all removal of dust from the air in mines. A description is given of physical and physico-chemical properties of ore mine dust that are of importance to evaluating processes in the formation, propagation and suppression of dust. Results are given for theoretical and on-site studies of dust aerodynamics in mines. A presentation is made of contemporary measures for controlling coal and rock dust in mines as well as means and methods of controlling air dust-level. Technical characteristics are given for new instruments for measuring air dust level. Brief data are given on preliminary wetting of coal in a massif, and a discussion is made of theoretical and practical problems related to hydro-dedusting, dust suppression, and dust removal during the operation of mining machinery as well as instruments for dedusting air on the surface complex of a mine. The book is intended for engineering-technical personnel in coal mines, design-planning and scientific-research institutes. 52 references, 61 tables.

  16. Dust limit management strategy in tokamaks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosanvallon, S.; Grisolia, C.; Andrew, P.; Ciattaglia, S.; Delaporte, P.; Douai, D.; Garnier, D.; Gauthier, E.; Gulden, W.; Hong, S. H.; Pitcher, S.; Rodriguez, L.; Taylor, N.; Tesini, A.; Vartanian, S.; Vatry, A.; Wykes, M.

    2009-06-01

    Dust is produced in tokamaks by the interaction between the plasma and the plasma facing components. Dust has not yet been of a major concern in existing tokamaks mainly because the quantity is small and these devices are not nuclear facilities. However, in ITER and in future reactors, it will represent operational and potential safety issues. From a safety point of view, in order to control the potential dust hazard, the current ITER strategy is based on a defense in depth approach designed to provide reliable confinement systems, to avoid failures, and to measure and minimise the dust inventory. In addition, R&D is put in place for optimisation of the proposed methods, such as improvement of measurement, dust cleaning and the reduction of dust production. The aim of this paper is to present the approach for the control of the dust inventory, relying on the monitoring of envelope values and the development of removal techniques already developed in the existing tokamaks or plasma dedicated devices or which will need further research and development in order to be integrated in ITER.

  17. Dust limit management strategy in tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosanvallon, S.; Grisolia, C.; Andrew, P.; Ciattaglia, S.; Delaporte, P.; Douai, D.; Garnier, D.; Gauthier, E.; Gulden, W.; Hong, S.H.; Pitcher, S.; Rodriguez, L.; Taylor, N.; Tesini, A.; Vartanian, S.; Vatry, A.; Wykes, M.

    2009-01-01

    Dust is produced in tokamaks by the interaction between the plasma and the plasma facing components. Dust has not yet been of a major concern in existing tokamaks mainly because the quantity is small and these devices are not nuclear facilities. However, in ITER and in future reactors, it will represent operational and potential safety issues. From a safety point of view, in order to control the potential dust hazard, the current ITER strategy is based on a defense in depth approach designed to provide reliable confinement systems, to avoid failures, and to measure and minimise the dust inventory. In addition, R and D is put in place for optimisation of the proposed methods, such as improvement of measurement, dust cleaning and the reduction of dust production. The aim of this paper is to present the approach for the control of the dust inventory, relying on the monitoring of envelope values and the development of removal techniques already developed in the existing tokamaks or plasma dedicated devices or which will need further research and development in order to be integrated in ITER.

  18. The global distribution of mineral dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tegen, I; Schepanski, K

    2009-01-01

    Dust aerosol particles produced by wind erosion in arid and semi arid regions affect climate and air quality, but the magnitude of these effects is largely unquantified. The major dust source regions include the Sahara, the Arabian and Asian deserts; global annual dust emissions are currently estimated to range between 1000 and 3000 Mt/yr. Dust aerosol can be transported over long distances of thousands of kilometers, e.g. from source regions in the Saharan desert over the North Atlantic, or from the Asian deserts towards the Pacific Ocean. The atmospheric dust load varies considerably on different timescales. While dust aerosol distribution and dust effects are important on global scales, they strongly depend on dust emissions that are controlled on small spatial and temporal scales.

  19. Large Aperture Electrostatic Dust Detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skinner, C.H.; Hensley, R.; Roquemore, A.L.

    2007-01-01

    Diagnosis and management of dust inventories generated in next-step magnetic fusion devices is necessary for their safe operation. A novel electrostatic dust detector, based on a fine grid of interlocking circuit traces biased to 30 or 50 v has been developed for the detection of dust particles on remote surfaces in air and vacuum environments. Impinging dust particles create a temporary short circuit and the resulting current pulse is recorded by counting electronics. Up to 90% of the particles are ejected from the grid or vaporized suggesting the device may be useful for controlling dust inventories. We report measurements of the sensitivity of a large area (5x5 cm) detector to microgram quantities of dust particles and review its applications to contemporary tokamaks and ITER.

  20. A dust-free dock

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Merrion, D. [E & F Services Ltd. (United Kingdom)

    2002-10-01

    This paper describes the process of unloading coal, petcoke and other dusty products in environmentally-sensitive areas. It presents a case study of the deepwater Port of Foynes on the west coast of Ireland which imports animal feed, fertiliser, coal and cement clinker, where dockside mobile loaders (DMLs) have eliminated spillage and controlled dust, and a record case study of the Humber International Terminal in the UK, where air curtinas, dust suppression grids and EFFEX{reg_sign} filters overcome the dust problems. 2 photos.

  1. From explosions to black lung: a history of efforts to control coal mine dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, J L

    1993-01-01

    Highlights in the history of efforts to prevent occupational lung disease among coal miners in the United States are reviewed. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 is summarized, and the sources and effects of its provisions to prevent coal workers' pneumoconiosis are examined. Descriptions follow of the identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis as a disease, identification of respirable coal mine dust as its cause, and establishment and enforcement of an exposure limit. The development of prevention efforts focusing on surveillance of both exposure and outcome and of enforcement of dust control methods is examined.

  2. Regional and climatic controls on seasonal dust deposition in the southwestern U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reheis, M.C.; Urban, F.E.

    2011-01-01

    Vertical dust deposition rates (dust flux) are a complex response to the interaction of seasonal precipitation, wind, changes in plant cover and land use, dust source type, and local vs. distant dust emission in the southwestern U.S. Seasonal dust flux in the Mojave-southern Great Basin (MSGB) deserts, measured from 1999 to 2008, is similar in summer-fall and winter-spring, and antecedent precipitation tends to suppress dust flux in winter-spring. In contrast, dust flux in the eastern Colorado Plateau (ECP) region is much larger in summer-fall than in winter-spring, and twice as large as in the MSGB. ECP dust is related to wind speed, and in the winter-spring to antecedent moisture. Higher summer dust flux in the ECP is likely due to gustier winds and runoff during monsoonal storms when temperature is also higher. Source types in the MSGB and land use in the ECP have important effects on seasonal dust flux. In the MSGB, wet playas produce salt-rich dust during wetter seasons, whereas antecedent and current moisture suppress dust emission from alluvial and dry-playa sources during winter-spring. In the ECP under drought conditions, dust flux at a grazed-and-plowed site increased greatly, and also increased at three annualized, previously grazed sites. Dust fluxes remained relatively consistent at ungrazed and currently grazed sites that have maintained perennial vegetation cover. Under predicted scenarios of future climate change, these results suggest that an increase in summer storms may increase dust flux in both areas, but resultant effects will depend on source type, land use, and vegetation cover. ?? 2011.

  3. Electronic design of air dust concentration gauge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machaj, B.; Strzalkowski, J.; Krawczynska, B.

    1993-01-01

    A new version of isotope dust concentration gauge for monitoring airborne dust pollution of air employs a ready made personal computer as the control and processing unit in the gauge instead of specialized electronics. That solution of the gauge reduces the needed specialized electronics to a simple computer interface coupling the computer to the measuring head. This also reduced electronics of the measuring head itself, i.e. GM detector circuit, power supplies and electronic circuits to switch on/off driving motors. The functioning and operation of the gauge is controlled by the computer program that can be easily modified if needed. The computer program for the gauge enables automatic measurements of dust concentration. Up to fifty measuring cycles can be easily programmed for a day. The results of measurements are presented in the form of data collection, diagram of dust concentration distribution during one day, diagram of dust distribution during 30 successive days or diagram of average dust concentration distribution during a day which may be computed by combining data of the selected number of measurements. Recalibration of the gauge and checking up of the gauge are also carried out under the program control. (author). 6 refs, 9 figs

  4. The effect of cleanliness control during installation work on the amount of accumulated dust in ducts of new HVAC installations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holopainen, R; Tuomainen, M; Asikainen, V; Pasanen, P; Säteri, J; Seppänen, O

    2002-09-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the amount of dust in supply air ducts in recently installed ventilation systems. The samples for the determination of dust accumulation were collected from supply air ducts in 18 new buildings that have been constructed according to two different cleanliness control levels classified as category P1 (low oil residues and protected against contaminations) and category P2, as defined in the Classification of Indoor Climate, Construction and Building Materials. In the ducts installed according to the requirements of cleanliness category P1 the mean amount of accumulated dust was 0.9 g/m2 (0.4-2.9 g/m2), and in the ducts installed according to the cleanliness category P2 it was 2.3 g/m2 (1.2-4.9 g/m2). A significant difference was found in the mean amounts of dust between ducts of categories P1 and P2 (P < 0.008). The cleanliness control procedure in category P1 proved to be a useful and effective tool for preventing dust accumulation in new air ducts during the construction process. Additionally, the ducts without residual oil had lower amounts of accumulated dust indicating that the demand for oil free components in the cleanliness classification is reasonable.

  5. Dust and radon: the legal implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Sittert, J.M.O.

    1990-01-01

    It is known that radon gas is not generally considered to be a major problem when encountered in the working environment. However, in its process of decay, a series of four short lived daughter products are formed. In a dust-laden atmosphere these daughter products, which are ionized readily, attach to the particulate material and when inhaled are deposited in the alveoli of the lungs. Therefore, if respirable dust is controlled, the effects of radon daughters will also be minimized. The legal requirements for dust control in South Africa and their implications are discussed. 1 ill

  6. Utilization of ultrasonic atomization for dust control in underground mining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okawa, Hirokazu; Nishi, Kentaro; Kawamura, Youhei; Kato, Takahiro; Sugawara, Katsuyasu

    2017-07-01

    This study examined dust suppression using water particles generated by ultrasonic atomization (2.4 MHz) at low temperature (10 °C). Green tuff (4 µm), green tuff (6 µm), kaolin, and silica were used as dust samples. Even though ultrasonic atomization makes fine water particles, raising relative air humidity immediately was difficult at low temperature. However, remaining water particles that did not change to water vapor contributed to suppression of dust dispersion. Additionally, the effect of water vapor amount (absolute humidity) and water particles generated by ultrasonic atomization on the amount of dust dispersion was investigated using experimental data at temperatures of 10, 20, and 30 °C. Utilization of ultrasound atomization at low temperature has the advantages of low humidity increments in the working space and water particles remaining stable even with low relative air humidity.

  7. Paleo-dust insights onto dust-climate interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albani, S.; Mahowald, N. M.

    2017-12-01

    Mineral dust emissions are affected by changing climate conditions, and in turn dust impacts the atmospheric radiation budget, clouds and biogeochemical cycles. Climate and public health dust-related issues call for attention on the fate of the dust cycle in the future, and the representation of the dust cycle is now part of the strategy of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project phase 4 and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (PMIP4-CMIP6). Since mineral aerosols are one of the most important natural aerosols, understanding past dust responses to climate in the paleoclimate will allow us to better understand mineral aerosol feedbacks with climate and biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene. Modern observations and paleoclimate records offer the possibility of multiple, complementary views on the global dust cycle, and allow to validate and/or constrain the numerical representation of dust in climate and Earth system models. We present our results from a set of simulations with the Community Earth System Model for different climate states, including present and past climates such as the pre-industrial, the mid-Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum. A set of simulations including a prognostic dust cycle was thoroughly compared with a wide set of present day observations from different platforms and regions, in order to realistically constrain the magnitude of dust load, surface concentration, deposition, optical properties, and particle size distributions. The magnitude of emissions for past climate regimes was constrained based on compilations of paleodust mass accumulation rates and size distributions, as well as based on information on dust provenance. The comparison with a parallel set of simulations without dust allows estimating the impacts of dust on surface climate. We analyze impacts of dust on the mean and variability of surface temperature and precipitation in each climate state, as well as the impacts that changing dust emissions had

  8. Effectiveness of dust control methods for crystalline silica and respirable suspended particulate matter exposure during manual concrete surface grinding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbar-Khanzadeh, Farhang; Milz, Sheryl A; Wagner, Cynthia D; Bisesi, Michael S; Ames, April L; Khuder, Sadik; Susi, Pam; Akbar-Khanzadeh, Mahboubeh

    2010-12-01

    Concrete grinding exposes workers to unacceptable levels of crystalline silica dust, known to cause diseases such as silicosis and possibly lung cancer. This study examined the influence of major factors of exposure and effectiveness of existing dust control methods by simulating field concrete grinding in an enclosed workplace laboratory. Air was monitored during 201 concrete grinding sessions while using a variety of grinders, accessories, and existing dust control methods, including general ventilation (GV), local exhaust ventilation (LEV), and wet grinding. Task-specific geometric mean (GM) of respirable crystalline silica dust concentrations (mg/m³ for LEV:HEPA-, LEV:Shop-vac-, wet-, and uncontrolled-grinding, while GV was off/on, were 0.17/0.09, 0.57/0.13, 1.11/0.44, and 23.1/6.80, respectively. Silica dust concentrations (mg/m³ using 100-125 mm (4-5 inch) and 180 mm (7 inch) grinding cups were 0.53/0.22 and 2.43/0.56, respectively. GM concentrations of silica dust were significantly lower for (1) GV on (66.0%) vs. off, and (2) LEV:HEPA- (99.0%), LEV:Shop-vac- (98.1%) or wet- (94.4%) vs. uncontrolled-grinding. Task-specific GM of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSP) concentrations (mg/m³ for LEV:HEPA-, LEV:Shop-vac-, wet-, and uncontrolled grinding, while GV was off/on, were 1.58/0.63, 7.20/1.15, 9.52/4.13, and 152/47.8, respectively. GM concentrations of RSP using 100-125 mm and 180 mm grinding cups were 4.78/1.62 and 22.2/5.06, respectively. GM concentrations of RSP were significantly lower for (1) GV on (70.2%) vs. off, and (2) LEV:HEPA- (98.9%), LEV:Shop-vac- (96.9%) or wet- (92.6%) vs. uncontrolled grinding. Silica dust and RSP were not significantly affected by (1) orientation of grinding surfaces (vertical vs. inclined); (2) water flow rates for wet grinding; (3) length of task-specific sampling time; or, (4) among cup sizes of 100, 115 or 125 mm. No combination of factors or control methods reduced an 8-hr exposure level to below the

  9. Response of the Eastern Mediterranean microbial ecosystem to dust and dust affected by acid processing in the atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael David Krom

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Acid processes in the atmosphere, particularly those caused by anthropogenic acid gases, increase the amount of bioavailable P in dust and hence are predicted to increase microbial biomass and primary productivity when supplied to oceanic surface waters. This is likely to be particularly important in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS, which is P limited during the winter bloom and N&P co-limited for phytoplankton in summer. However, it is not clear how the acid processes acting on Saharan dust will affect the microbial biomass and primary productivity in the EMS. Here, we carried out bioassay manipulations on EMS surface water on which Saharan dust was added as dust (Z, acid treated dust (ZA, dust plus excess N (ZN and acid treated dust with excess N (ZNA during springtime (May 2012 and measured bacterioplankton biomass, metabolic and other relevant chemical and biological parameters. We show that acid treatment of Saharan dust increased the amount of bioavailable P supplied by a factor of ~40 compared to non-acidified dust (18.4 nmoles P mg-1 dust vs. 0.45 nmoles P mg-1 dust, respectively. The increase in chlorophyll, primary and bacterial productivity for treatments Z and ZA were controlled by the amount of N added with the dust while those for treatments ZN and ZNA (in which excessive N was added were controlled by the amount of P added. These results confirm that the surface waters were N&P co-limited for phytoplankton during springtime. However, total chlorophyll and primary productivity in the acid treated dust additions (ZA and ZNA were less than predicted from that calculated from the amount of the potentially limiting nutrient added. This biological inhibition was interpreted as being due to labile trace metals being added with the acidified dust. A probable cause for this biological inhibition was the addition of dissolved Al, which forms potentially toxic Al nanoparticles when added to seawater. Thus, the effect of anthropogenic acid

  10. Applications of high-speed dust injection to magnetic fusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Zhehui; Li, Yangfang

    2012-01-01

    It is now an established fact that a significant amount of dust is produced in magnetic fusion devices due to plasma-wall interactions. Dust inventory must be controlled, in particular for the next-generation steady-state fusion machines like ITER, as it can pose significant safety hazards and degrade performance. Safety concerns are due to tritium retention, dust radioactivity, toxicity, and flammability. Performance concerns include high-Z impurities carried by dust to the fusion core that can reduce plasma temperature and may even induce sudden termination of the plasma. We have recognized that dust transport, dust-plasma interactions in magnetic fusion devices can be effectively studied experimentally by injection of dust with known properties into fusion plasmas. Other applications of injected dust include diagnosis of fusion plasmas and edge localized mode (ELM)'s pacing. In diagnostic applications, dust can be regarded as a source of transient neutrals before complete ionization. ELM's pacing is a promising scheme to prevent disruptions and type I ELM's that can cause catastrophic damage to fusion machines. Different implementation schemes are available depending on applications of dust injection. One of the simplest dust injection schemes is through gravitational acceleration of dust in vacuum. Experiments at Los Alamos and Princeton will be described, both of which use piezoelectric shakers to deliver dust to plasma. In Princeton experiments, spherical particles (40 micron) have been dropped in a systematic and reproducible manner using a computer-controlled piezoelectric bending actuator operating at an acoustic (0,2) resonance. The circular actuator was constructed with a 2.5 mm diameter central hole. At resonance (∼ 2 kHz) an applied sinusoidal voltage has been used to control the flux of particles exiting the hole. A simple screw throttle located ∼1mm above the hole has been used to set the magnitude of the flux achieved for a given voltage

  11. Plasma particle lofting : experimental investigation of dust removal force

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heijmans, L.C.J.; Nijdam, S.

    2015-01-01

    Dust is everywhere. Sometimes it's harmless, but sometimes it needs to be removed. Especially in modern optical machinery, dust control can be of vital importance. In this research we look at dust on a surface. We focus on the behaviour under influence of a plasma. The dust particles will stick to a

  12. Inhalation of road dust by human subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takishima, T; Nakamura, M; Sasaki, M; Miyano, M; Yamaya, M; Sasaki, H

    1987-11-01

    We measured pneumomagnetic field strength (PMFS) in 42 healthy control subjects living in districts of Northern Japan with low levels of road dust pollution and in 39 healthy subjects living in areas with high levels of road dust pollution. Suspended road dust produced by studded tires increases from 30 micrograms/m3 during the summer season to levels as high as 400 micrograms/m3 during the snow season in the downtown areas of Sendai, Japan. Road dust retained in the lungs, containing 3% iron, was magnetized from the surface of the chest wall, and PMFS was measured. Three to 5 sequential PMFS measurements were made in each subject in March and October of 1984 and 1985, and in March 1986. The PMFS in control subjects in March 1984 was 37 +/- 14 pico-Tesla (mean +/- SD) and did not significantly differ from the PMFS in October 1984 or that in March 1985. In March 1984, the PMFS of the subjects in highly polluted areas was 95 +/- 100 pico-Tesla (mean +/- SD) and was significantly higher than that of control subjects (p less than 0.01) and subsequently decreased in March 1985 and in March 1986, corresponding to a decrease in suspended road dust brought about by a campaign to eliminate the use of studded tires. Our findings suggest that some road dust caused by studded tires is retained in the lungs.

  13. Field evaluation of air-blocking shelf for dust control on blasthole drills

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    J. Drew Potts; W. Randolph Reed [Office of Mine Safety and Health Research, NIOSH, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dust Control, Ventilation, and Toxic Substance Branch

    2011-03-15

    In previous studies, an air-blocking shelf has been shown to be successful in reducing respirable dust leakage from the drill shroud in a laboratory setting. Dust reductions of up to 81% were achieved with the shelf under operating conditions consisting of a 1.9:1 collector-to-bailing airflow ratio and a 5.1-cm gap between the shroud and ground. Recent research focused on evaluating the shelf on two actual operating blasthole drills, in much more severe environments. In the field, the shelf reduced dust levels in the areas surrounding one operating blasthole drill by 70%. Dust reductions measured in the immediate vicinity of the shroud were reduced by 66% at one mine and 81% at the other mine. These field tests confirm that the air-blocking shelf is useful for reducing respirable dust generation from blasthole drills.

  14. Role of the convergence zone over West Africa in controlling Saharan mineral dust load and transport in the boreal summer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Owen M. Doherty

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available During summer, large amounts of mineral dust are emitted and transported from North Africa over the tropical North Atlantic towards the Caribbean with the exact quantity varying greatly from year to year. Much effort has been made to explain the variability of summer season mineral dust load, for example, by relating dust variability to teleconnection indices such as ENSO and the NAO. However, only weak relationships between such climate indices and the abundance of mineral dust have been found. In this work, we demonstrate the role of the near-surface convergence zone over West Africa in controlling dust load and transport of mineral dust. We apply the ‘Center of Action’ approach to obtain indices that quantify the movement and strength of the convergence zone using NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data. The latitudinal position of the convergence zone is significantly correlated with the quantity of mineral dust at Barbados over the period 1965–2003 (r=−0.47. A southward displacement of the convergence zone is associated with both increased near-surface flow and decreased precipitation over the dust source regions of the southern Saharan desert, Sahel and Lake Chad. This in turn reduces soil moisture and vegetation, furthering the potential for dust emission. In contrast, the intensity of the convergence zone is not correlated with dust concentration at Barbados. We conclude that the coupling of changes in near-surface winds with changes in precipitation in source regions driven by a southward movement of the convergence zone most directly influence dust load at Barbados and over the tropical North Atlantic during summer.

  15. Dust exposure and pneumoconiosis in a South African pottery. 1. Study objectives and dust exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rees, D; Cronje, R; du Toit, R S

    1992-07-01

    Dust exposure and pneumoconiosis were investigated in a South African pottery that manufactured wall tiles and bathroom fittings. This paper describes the objectives of the investigation and presents dust measurement data. x Ray diffraction showed that the clays used by the pottery had a high quartz content (range 58%-23%, mean 38%). Exposure to respirable dust was measured for 43 workers and was highest (6.6 mg/m3) in a bathroom fitting fettler. Quartz concentrations in excess of 0.1 mg/m3 were found in all sections of the manufacturing process from slip production to biscuit firing and sorting. The proportion of quartz in the respirable dust of these sections was 24% to 33%. This is higher than is usually reported in English potteries. Four hundred and six (80%) of the 509 workers employed at the pottery were potentially at risk of occupational lung disease. The finding of large numbers of pottery workers exposed to unacceptable dust concentrations is not surprising as poor dust control was found in all six wall tile and sanitary ware factories surveyed by the National Centre for Occupational Health between 1973 and 1989. Dust related occupational disease can be expected in potters for many years to come.

  16. Effects of dust on forest tree health in Zagros oak forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moradi, A; Taheri Abkenar, K; Afshar Mohammadian, M; Shabanian, N

    2017-10-10

    Dust is one of the most devastating factors for the environment threatening all animal and plant species. In many regions, the ecological and economic impact of microdust on scarce species is critical. In the western region of Iran, the Zagros forests have been exposed to dust storms for many years. In this study, the effect of dust on oak trees, the most important trees of Zagros forests, is investigated. For this purpose, 3-year-old seedlings of three species of oak trees under natural conditions were exposed to dust during spring and summer months. Seedlings were divided into two groups; one group was assigned as dust treatment and the other as control that the control group washed regularly to remove dust. Anatomical characteristics of leaves and dust deposits on leaves during the study period were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The rate of photosynthesis and gas exchange in control and treated plants was examined by IRGA, LCI. SEM images showed that stomata structure, trichome density, and epicuticular waxes of leaves are different in all three species. This difference in micromorphology of species influences the effects of dust deposited on the leaves. A comparison of leaf species images in control and dust treatment showed that in dust treatment the percentage of stomata blocked by dust in three species (per unit area) of Quercus infectoria, Q. libni, and Q. brantii were 61/6, 48/4, and 38/1%, respectively. The results of leaf gas exchange investigation indicated that stomatal occlusion by dust had a negative impact on the examined parameters of three oak species (P ≤ 0.01). Thus, gas exchange and photosynthetic rates of the treated species were significantly reduced. The results of both parts of the study showed the vulnerability of the three species to dust as Q. infectoria > Q. libni > Q. brantii. Therefore, based on these findings, dust can disrupt the physiological activities of the studied species and the continuation of the

  17. Occupational dust exposure and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma risk in a population-based case–control study conducted in the greater Boston area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Langevin, Scott M; McClean, Michael D; Michaud, Dominique S; Eliot, Melissa; Nelson, Heather H; Kelsey, Karl T

    2013-01-01

    Head and neck cancers account for an estimated 549,000 global cancer diagnoses each year. While tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and HPV16 infection are considered to be the major risk factors for this disease, occupational risk factors, including exposure to asbestos, have also been described, although dust exposures other than asbestos have been historically understudied. We have investigated the relationship between occupational exposures to five types of dusts, including sawdust, concrete dust, leather dust, metal dust, and chimney soot, and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) in the greater Boston area. We report findings from a population-based case–control study involving 951 incident HNSCC cases and 1193 controls, frequency matched on age (±3 years), sex, and town/neighborhood of residence. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between occupational exposure to each type of dust and HNSCC, overall and by primary tumor site. After adjusting for age, sex, race, smoking, alcohol consumption, education, and HPV16 serology, laryngeal carcinoma risk increased for each decade of occupational exposure to sawdust (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.3) and metal dust (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.4); and HNSCC risk increased for each decade of occupational leather dust exposure (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.9). We have provided evidence for an association between occupational sawdust and metal dust and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and leather dust and HNSCC, with increasing risk with longer duration at the exposed occupation

  18. Occupational dust exposure and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma risk in a population-based case-control study conducted in the greater Boston area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langevin, Scott M; McClean, Michael D; Michaud, Dominique S; Eliot, Melissa; Nelson, Heather H; Kelsey, Karl T

    2013-12-01

    Head and neck cancers account for an estimated 549,000 global cancer diagnoses each year. While tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and HPV16 infection are considered to be the major risk factors for this disease, occupational risk factors, including exposure to asbestos, have also been described, although dust exposures other than asbestos have been historically understudied. We have investigated the relationship between occupational exposures to five types of dusts, including sawdust, concrete dust, leather dust, metal dust, and chimney soot, and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) in the greater Boston area. We report findings from a population-based case-control study involving 951 incident HNSCC cases and 1193 controls, frequency matched on age (±3 years), sex, and town/neighborhood of residence. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between occupational exposure to each type of dust and HNSCC, overall and by primary tumor site. After adjusting for age, sex, race, smoking, alcohol consumption, education, and HPV16 serology, laryngeal carcinoma risk increased for each decade of occupational exposure to sawdust (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.3) and metal dust (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.4); and HNSCC risk increased for each decade of occupational leather dust exposure (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.9). We have provided evidence for an association between occupational sawdust and metal dust and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and leather dust and HNSCC, with increasing risk with longer duration at the exposed occupation. © 2013 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Climatic controls of the interannual to decadal variability in Saudi Arabian dust activity: Towards the development of a seasonal prediction tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Y.; Notaro, M.; Liu, Z.; Alkolibi, F.; Fadda, E.; Bakhrjy, F.

    2013-12-01

    Atmospheric dust significantly influences the climate system, as well as human life in Saudi Arabia. Skillful seasonal prediction of dust activity with climatic variables will help prevent some negative social impacts of dust storms. Yet, the climatic regulators on Saudi Arabian dust activity remain largely unaddressed. Remote sensing and station observations show consistent seasonal cycles in Saudi Arabian dust activity, which peaks in spring and summer. The climatic controls on springtime and summertime Saudi Arabian dust activity during 1975-2010 are studied using observational and reanalysis data. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) of the observed Saudi Arabian dust storm frequency shows a dominant homogeneous pattern across the country, which has distinct interannual and decadal variations, as revealed by the power spectrum. Regression and correlation analyses reveal that Saudi Arabian dust activity is largely tied to precipitation on the Arabian Peninsula in spring and northwesterly (Shamal) wind in summer. On the seasonal-interannual time scale, warm El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase (El Niño) in winter-to-spring inhibits spring dust activity by increasing the precipitation over the Rub'al Khali Desert, a major dust source region on the southern Arabian Peninsula; warm ENSO and warm Indian Ocean Basin Mode (IOBM) in winter-to-spring favor less summer dust activity by producing anomalously low sea-level pressure over eastern north Africa and Arabian Peninsula, which leads to the reduced Shamal wind speed. The decadal variation in dust activity is likely associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which impacts Sahel rainfall and North African dust, and likely dust transport to Saudi Arabia. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and tropical Indian Ocean SST also have influence on the decadal variation in Saudi Arabian dust activity, by altering precipitation over the Arabian Peninsula and summer Shamal wind speed. Using eastern

  20. Testing of a Plasmadynamic Hypervelocity Dust Accelerator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ticos, Catalin M.; Wang, Zhehui; Dorf, Leonid A.; Wurden, G. A.

    2006-10-01

    A plasmadynamic accelerator for microparticles (or dust grains) has been designed, built and tested at Los Alamos National laboratory. The dust grains are expected to be accelerated to hypervelocities on the order of 1-30 km/s, depending on their size. The key components of the plasmadynamic accelerator are a coaxial plasma gun operated at 10 kV, a dust dispenser activated by a piezoelectric transducer, and power and remote-control systems. The coaxial plasma gun produces a high density (10^18 cm-3) and low temperature (˜ 1 eV) plasma in deuterium ejected by J x B forces, which provides drag on the dust particles in its path. Carbon dust particles will be used, with diameters from 1 to 50 μm. The plasma parameters produced in the coaxial gun are presented and their implication to dust acceleration is discussed. High speed dust will be injected in the National Spherical Torus Experiment to measure the pitch angle of magnetic field lines.

  1. DustEM: Dust extinction and emission modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Compiègne, M.; Verstraete, L.; Jones, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Boulanger, F.; Flagey, N.; Le Bourlot, J.; Paradis, D.; Ysard, N.

    2013-07-01

    DustEM computes the extinction and the emission of interstellar dust grains heated by photons. It is written in Fortran 95 and is jointly developed by IAS and CESR. The dust emission is calculated in the optically thin limit (no radiative transfer) and the default spectral range is 40 to 108 nm. The code is designed so dust properties can easily be changed and mixed and to allow for the inclusion of new grain physics.

  2. 30 CFR 90.301 - Respirable dust control plan; approval by District Manager; copy to part 90 miner.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... District Manager; copy to part 90 miner. 90.301 Section 90.301 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH... control plan; approval by District Manager; copy to part 90 miner. (a) The District Manager will approve... District Manager shall consider whether: (1) The respirable dust control measures would be likely to...

  3. Wood-related occupations, wood dust exposure, and sinonasal cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, R B; Gerin, M; Raatgever, J W; de Bruyn, A

    1986-10-01

    A case-control study was conducted to examine the relations between type of woodworking and the extent of wood dust exposure to the risks for specific histologic types of sinonasal cancer. In cooperation with the major treatment centers in the Netherlands, 116 male patients newly diagnosed between 1978 and 1981 with primary malignancies of epithelial origin of this site were identified for study. Living controls were selected from the municipal registries, and deceased controls were selected from the national death registry. Interviews were completed for 91 (78%) cases and 195 (75%) controls. Job histories were coded by industry and occupation. An index of exposure was developed to classify the extent of occupational exposure to wood dust. When necessary, adjustment was made for age and usual cigarette use. The risk for nasal adenocarcinoma was elevated by industry for the wood and paper industry (odds ratio (OR) = 11.9) and by occupation for those employed in furniture and cabinet making (OR = 139.8), in factory joinery and carpentry work (OR = 16.3), and in association with high-level wood dust exposure (OR = 26.3). Other types of nasal cancer were not found to be associated with wood-related industries or occupations. A moderate excess in risk for squamous cell cancer (OR = 2.5) was associated with low-level wood dust exposure; however, no dose-response relation was evident. The association between wood dust and adenocarcinoma was strongest for those employed in wood dust-related occupations between 1930 and 1941. The risk of adenocarcinoma did not appear to decrease for at least 15 years after termination of exposure to wood dust. No cases of nasal adenocarcinoma were observed in men whose first exposure to wood dust occurred after 1941.

  4. A controlled intervention study concerning the effect of intended temperature rise on house dust mite load

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sidenius, Kirsten E; Hallas, Thorkil E; Poulsen, Lars K.

    2002-01-01

    In epidemiological studies, increased indoor temperature--producing a lower relative humidity--is associated with low house dust mite (HDM) load. Twenty-eight dwellings were allocated for either intervention (12/15 completed) or control (11/13 completed). In the intervention group, participants w...

  5. Determinants of dust exposure in tunnel construction work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakke, Berit; Stewart, Patricia; Eduard, Wijnand

    2002-11-01

    In tunnel construction work, dust is generated from rock drilling, rock bolting, grinding, scaling, and transport operations. Other important dust-generating activities are blasting rock and spraying wet concrete on tunnel walls for strength and finishing work. The aim of this study was to identify determinants of dust exposure in tunnel construction work and to propose control measures. Personal exposures to total dust, respirable dust, and alpha-quartz were measured among 209 construction workers who were divided into 8 job groups performing similar tasks: drill and blast workers, shaft drilling workers, tunnel boring machine workers, shotcreting operators, support workers, concrete workers, outdoor concrete workers, and electricians. Information on determinants was obtained from interviewing the workers, observation by the industrial hygienist responsible for the sampling, and the job site superintendent. Multivariate regression models were used to identify determinants associated with the dust exposures within the job groups. The geometric mean exposure to total dust, respirable dust, and alpha-quartz for all tunnel workers was 3.5 mg/m(3) (GSD = 2.6), 1.2 mg/m(3) (GSD = 2.4), and 0.035 mg/m(3) (GSD = 5.0), respectively. A total of 15 percent of the total dust measurements, 5 percent of the respirable dust, and 21 percent of the alpha-quartz exceeded the Norwegian OELs of 10 mg/m(3), 5 mg/m(3), and 0.1 mg/m(3), respectively. Job groups with highest geometric mean total dust exposure were shotcreting operators (6.8 mg/m(3)), tunnel boring machine workers (6.2 mg/m(3)), and shaft drilling workers (6.1 mg/m(3)). The lowest exposed groups to total dust were outdoor concrete workers (1.0 mg/m(3)), electricians (1.4 mg/m(3)), and support workers (1.9 mg/m(3)). Important determinants of exposure were job group, job site, certain tasks (e.g., drilling and scaling), the presence of a cab, and breakthrough of the tunnel. The use of ventilated, closed cabs appeared to be

  6. Dust acoustic shock wave at high dust density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghosh, Samiran; Sarkar, Susmita; Khan, Manoranjan; Avinash, K.; Gupta, M. R.

    2003-01-01

    Dust acoustic (DA) shock wave at high dust density, i.e., the dust electroacoustic (DEA) or dust Coulomb (DC) shock wave has been investigated incorporating the nonadiabatic dust charge variation. The nonlinear DEA (DC) shock wave is seen to be governed by the Korteweg-de Vries Burger equation, in which the Burger term is proportional to the nonadiabaticity generated dissipation. It is seen that the shock strength decreases but after reaching minimum, it increases as the dust space charge density |q d n d | increases and the shock strength of DA wave is greater than that of DEA (DC) wave. Moreover the DEA (DC) shock width increases appreciably with increase mass m i of the ion component of the dusty plasma but for DA shock wave the effect is weak

  7. Experimental Method for Measuring Dust Load on Surfaces in Rooms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lengweiler, Philip; Nielsen, Peter V.; Moser, Alfred

    A new experimental setup to investigate the physical process of dust deposition and resuspension on and from surfaces is introduced. Dust deposition can reduce the airborne dust concentration considerably. As a basis for developing methods to eliminate dust-related problems in rooms, there is a n......A new experimental setup to investigate the physical process of dust deposition and resuspension on and from surfaces is introduced. Dust deposition can reduce the airborne dust concentration considerably. As a basis for developing methods to eliminate dust-related problems in rooms......, there is a need for better understanding of the mechanism of dust deposition and resuspension. With the presented experimental setup, the dust load on surfaces in a channel can be measured as a function of the environmental and surface conditions and the type of particles under controlled laboratory conditions....

  8. Cometary Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levasseur-Regourd, Anny-Chantal; Agarwal, Jessica; Cottin, Hervé; Engrand, Cécile; Flynn, George; Fulle, Marco; Gombosi, Tamas; Langevin, Yves; Lasue, Jérémie; Mannel, Thurid; Merouane, Sihane; Poch, Olivier; Thomas, Nicolas; Westphal, Andrew

    2018-04-01

    This review presents our understanding of cometary dust at the end of 2017. For decades, insight about the dust ejected by nuclei of comets had stemmed from remote observations from Earth or Earth's orbit, and from flybys, including the samples of dust returned to Earth for laboratory studies by the Stardust return capsule. The long-duration Rosetta mission has recently provided a huge and unique amount of data, obtained using numerous instruments, including innovative dust instruments, over a wide range of distances from the Sun and from the nucleus. The diverse approaches available to study dust in comets, together with the related theoretical and experimental studies, provide evidence of the composition and physical properties of dust particles, e.g., the presence of a large fraction of carbon in macromolecules, and of aggregates on a wide range of scales. The results have opened vivid discussions on the variety of dust-release processes and on the diversity of dust properties in comets, as well as on the formation of cometary dust, and on its presence in the near-Earth interplanetary medium. These discussions stress the significance of future explorations as a way to decipher the formation and evolution of our Solar System.

  9. Study on coal dust wettability measurement using cold briquetting technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, M.; Xu, H.; Shu, X. [North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing (China). Department of Resource and Environmental Engineering

    2008-12-15

    Quantitative measuring of coal dust wettability is essential for the research and development of chemical coal dust suppressants in the field of dust control with wetting-agent-added water. The causes of low repeat rate and poor consistency in present lab testing of coal dust wettability are discussed. The influence of different briquetting pressure (from 0 to 6.5108 Pa) on the wet behavior of coal dust is investigated as a new way to quantitatively evaluate coal dust wettability. The study shows that there is a fairly high coincidence between the coal dust wettability data measured by the briquetting technique and the results gained from the lab dust suppression tests using an MCYZ apparatus designed by the authors. 9 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

  10. Experimental study on effects of drilling parameters on respirable dust production during roof bolting operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Hua; Luo, Yi; McQuerrey, Joe

    2018-02-01

    Underground coalmine roof bolting operators exhibit a continued risk for overexposure to airborne levels of respirable coal and crystalline silica dust from the roof drilling operation. Inhaling these dusts can cause coal worker's pneumoconiosis and silicosis. This research explores the effect of drilling control parameters, specifically drilling bite depth, on the reduction of respirable dust generated during the drilling process. Laboratory drilling experiments were conducted and results demonstrated the feasibility of this dust control approach. Both the weight and size distribution of the dust particles collected from drilling tests with different bite depths were analyzed. The results showed that the amount of total inhalable and respirable dust was inversely proportional to the drilling bite depth. Therefore, control of the drilling process to achieve proper high-bite depth for the rock can be an important approach to reducing the generation of harmful dust. Different from conventional passive engineering controls, such as mist drilling and ventilation approaches, this approach is proactive and can cut down the generation of respirable dust from the source. These findings can be used to develop an integrated drilling control algorithm to achieve the best drilling efficiency as well as reducing respirable dust and noise.

  11. A Computer-Controlled SEM-EDX Routine for Characterizing Respirable Coal Mine Dust

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria Johann-Essex

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A recent resurgence in coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (or “black lung” and concerns over other related respiratory illnesses have highlighted the need to elucidate characteristics of airborne particulates in occupational environments. A better understanding of particle size, aspect ratio, or chemical composition may offer new insights regarding causal factors of such illnesses. Scanning electron microscopy analysis using energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX can be used to estimate these particle characteristics. If conducted manually, such work can be very time intensive, limiting the number of particles that can be analyzed. Moreover, potential exists for user bias in interpretation of EDX spectra. A computer-controlled (CC routine, on the other hand, can allow similar analysis at a much faster rate, increasing total particle counts and reproducibility of results. This paper describes a CCSEM-EDX routine specifically developed for analysis of respirable dust samples from coal mines. The routine is verified based on reliability of results obtained on samples of known materials, and reproducibility of results obtained on a set of 10 dust samples collected in the field. The characteristics of the field samples are also discussed with respect to mine occupational environments.

  12. The Mars Dust and Water Cycles: Investigating the Influence of Clouds on the Vertical Distribution and Meridional Transport of Dust and Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, Melinda A.; Haberle, Robert M.; Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.; Brecht, Amanda S.; Urata, Richard A.

    2015-11-01

    The dust and water cycles are critical to the current Martian climate, and they interact with each other through cloud formation. Dust modulates the thermal structure of the atmosphere and thus greatly influences atmospheric circulation. Clouds provide radiative forcing and control the net hemispheric transport of water through the alteration of the vertical distributions of water and dust. Recent advancements in the quality and sophistication of both climate models and observations enable an increased understanding of how the coupling between the dust and water cycles (through cloud formation) impacts the dust and water cycles. We focus here on the effects of clouds on the vertical distributions of dust and water and how those vertical distributions control the net meridional transport of water. We utilize observations of temperature, dust and water ice from the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the NASA ARC Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM) to show that the magnitude and nature of the hemispheric exchange of water during NH summer is sensitive to the vertical structure of the simulated aphelion cloud belt. Further, we investigate how clouds influence atmospheric temperatures and thus the vertical structure of the cloud belt. Our goal is to isolate and understand the importance of radiative/dynamic feedbacks due to the physical processes involved with cloud formation and evolution on the current climate of Mars.

  13. The Mars Dust and Water Cycles: Investigating the Influence of Clouds on the Vertical Distribution and Meridional Transport of Dust and Water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, M. A.; Haberle, R. M.; Hollingsworth, J. L.; Brecht, A. S.; Urata, R.

    2015-01-01

    The dust and water cycles are critical to the current Martian climate, and they interact with each other through cloud formation. Dust modulates the thermal structure of the atmosphere and thus greatly influences atmospheric circulation. Clouds provide radiative forcing and control the net hemispheric transport of water through the alteration of the vertical distributions of water and dust. Recent advancements in the quality and sophistication of both climate models and observations enable an increased understanding of how the coupling between the dust and water cycles (through cloud formation) impacts the dust and water cycles. We focus here on the effects of clouds on the vertical distributions of dust and water and how those vertical distributions control the net meridional transport of water. We utilize observations of temperature, dust and water ice from the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the NASA ARC Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM) to show that the magnitude and nature of the hemispheric exchange of water during NH summer is sensitive to the vertical structure of the simulated aphelion cloud belt. Further, we investigate how clouds influence atmospheric temperatures and thus the vertical structure of the cloud belt. Our goal is to isolate and understand the importance of radiative/dynamic feedbacks due to the physical processes involved with cloud formation and evolution on the current climate of Mars.

  14. The Coupled Mars Dust and Water Cycles: Understanding How Clouds Affect the Vertical Distribution and Meridional Transport of Dust and Water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, M. A.

    2015-01-01

    The dust and water cycles are crucial to the current Martian climate, and they are coupled through cloud formation. Dust strongly impacts the thermal structure of the atmosphere and thus greatly affects atmospheric circulation, while clouds provide radiative forcing and control the hemispheric exchange of water through the modification of the vertical distributions of water and dust. Recent improvements in the quality and sophistication of both observations and climate models allow for a more comprehensive understanding of how the interaction between the dust and water cycles (through cloud formation) affects the dust and water cycles individually. We focus here on the effects of clouds on the vertical distribution of dust and water, and how those vertical distributions control the net meridional transport of water. For this study, we utilize observations of temperature, dust and water ice from the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) combined with the NASA ARC Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM). We demonstrate that the magnitude and nature of the net meridional transport of water between the northern and southern hemispheres during NH summer is sensitive to the vertical structure of the simulated aphelion cloud belt. We further examine how clouds influence the atmospheric thermal structure and thus the vertical structure of the cloud belt. Our goal is to identify and understand the importance of radiative/dynamic feedbacks due to the physical processes involved with cloud formation and evolution on the current climate of Mars.

  15. Peach leaf responses to soil and cement dust pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maletsika, Persefoni A; Nanos, George D; Stavroulakis, George G

    2015-10-01

    Dust pollution can negatively affect plant productivity in hot, dry and with high irradiance areas during summer. Soil or cement dust were applied on peach trees growing in a Mediterranean area with the above climatic characteristics. Soil and cement dust accumulation onto the leaves decreased the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) available to the leaves without causing any shade effect. Soil and mainly cement dust deposition onto the leaves decreased stomatal conductance, photosynthetic and transpiration rates, and water use efficiency due possibly to stomatal blockage and other leaf cellular effects. In early autumn, rain events removed soil dust and leaf functions partly recovered, while cement dust created a crust partially remaining onto the leaves and causing more permanent stress. Leaf characteristics were differentially affected by the two dusts studied due to their different hydraulic properties. Leaf total chlorophyll decreased and total phenol content increased with dust accumulation late in the summer compared to control leaves due to intense oxidative stress. The two dusts did not cause serious metal imbalances to the leaves, except of lower leaf K content.

  16. High-latitude dust in the Earth system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullard, Joanna E; Baddock, Matthew; Bradwell, Tom; Crusius, John; Darlington, Eleanor; Gaiero, Diego; Gasso, Santiago; Gisladottir, Gudrun; Hodgkins, Richard; McCulloch, Robert; NcKenna Neuman, Cheryl; Mockford, Tom; Stewart, Helena; Thorsteinsson, Throstur

    2016-01-01

    Natural dust is often associated with hot, subtropical deserts, but significant dust events have been reported from cold, high latitudes. This review synthesizes current understanding of high-latitude (≥50°N and ≥40°S) dust source geography and dynamics and provides a prospectus for future research on the topic. Although the fundamental processes controlling aeolian dust emissions in high latitudes are essentially the same as in temperate regions, there are additional processes specific to or enhanced in cold regions. These include low temperatures, humidity, strong winds, permafrost and niveo-aeolian processes all of which can affect the efficiency of dust emission and distribution of sediments. Dust deposition at high latitudes can provide nutrients to the marine system, specifically by contributing iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll oceans; it also affects ice albedo and melt rates. There have been no attempts to quantify systematically the expanse, characteristics, or dynamics of high-latitude dust sources. To address this, we identify and compare the main sources and drivers of dust emissions in the Northern (Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland) and Southern (Antarctica, New Zealand, and Patagonia) Hemispheres. The scarcity of year-round observations and limitations of satellite remote sensing data at high latitudes are discussed. It is estimated that under contemporary conditions high-latitude sources cover >500,000 km2 and contribute at least 80–100 Tg yr−1 of dust to the Earth system (~5% of the global dust budget); both are projected to increase under future climate change scenarios.

  17. High Latitude Dust in the Earth System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullard, Joanna E.; Baddock, Matthew; Bradwell, Tom; Crusius, John; Darlington, Eleanor; Gaiero, Diego; Gasso, Santiago; Gisladottir, Gudrun; Hodgkins, Richard; McCulloch, Robert; hide

    2016-01-01

    Natural dust is often associated with hot, subtropical deserts, but significant dust events have been reported from cold, high latitudes. This review synthesizes current understanding of high-latitude (> or = 50degN and > or = 40degS) dust source geography and dynamics and provides a prospectus for future research on the topic. Although the fundamental processes controlling aeolian dust emissions in high latitudes are essentially the same as in temperate regions, there are additional processes specific to or enhanced in cold regions. These include low temperatures, humidity, strong winds, permafrost and niveo-aeolian processes all of which can affect the efficiency of dust emission and distribution of sediments. Dust deposition at high latitudes can provide nutrients to the marine system, specifically by contributing iron to high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll oceans; it also affects ice albedo and melt rates. There have been no attempts to quantify systematically the expanse, characteristics, or dynamics of high-latitude dust sources. To address this, we identify and compare the main sources and drivers of dust emissions in the Northern (Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland) and Southern (Antarctica, New Zealand, and Patagonia) Hemispheres. The scarcity of year-round observations and limitations of satellite remote sensing data at high latitudes are discussed. It is estimated that under contemporary conditions high-latitude sources cover >500,000 sq km and contribute at least 80-100 Tg/yr1 of dust to the Earth system (approx. 5% of the global dust budget); both are projected to increase under future climate change scenarios.

  18. Environmental impacts of oil and gas brine applications for dust and ice control in New York : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Transportation agencies are required to treat roads for dust and ice control to ensure adequate safety for travelers. This is commonly achieved through application of solid and liquid chemicals. These materials can be conventional rock salt, brine fr...

  19. Fipronil and its degradates in indoor and outdoor dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahler, B.J.; Van Metre, P.C.; Wilson, J.T.; Musgrove, M.; Zaugg, S.D.; Burkhardt, M.R.

    2009-01-01

    Fipronil is a potent insecticide used for control of termites, fleas, roaches, ants, and other pests. We measured fipronil, fipronil sulfide, and desulfinyl fipronil concentrations in indoor and outdoor dust from 24 residences in Austin, Texas. At least one of these three fipronil compounds was detected in every sample. Fipronil accounted for most of the total fipronil (T-fipronil; fipronil+desulfinyl fipronil+fipronil sulfide), followed by desulfinyl fipronil and fipronil sulfide. Nineteen of 24 samples of indoor dust had T-fipronil concentrations less than 270 ??g/kg; the remaining five had concentrations from 1320 to 14,200 ??g/kg. All three of the residences with a dog on which a flea-control product containing fipronil was used were among the five residences with elevated fipronil concentrations. In outdoor dust, all concentrations of T-fipronil were less than 70??g/kg with one exception (430??g/kg). For every residence, the concentration of T-fipronil in indoor dust exceeded that in outdoor dust, and the median concentration of T-fipronil was 15 times higher indoors than outdoors.

  20. Dust Measurements in Tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rudakov, D; Yu, J; Boedo, J; Hollmann, E; Krasheninnikov, S; Moyer, R; Muller, S; Yu, A; Rosenberg, M; Smirnov, R; West, W; Boivin, R; Bray, B; Brooks, N; Hyatt, A; Wong, C; Fenstermacher, M; Groth, M; Lasnier, C; McLean, A; Stangeby, P; Ratynskaia, S; Roquemore, A; Skinner, C; Solomon, W M

    2008-01-01

    Dust production and accumulation impose safety and operational concerns for ITER. Diagnostics to monitor dust levels in the plasma as well as in-vessel dust inventory are currently being tested in a few tokamaks. Dust accumulation in ITER is likely to occur in hidden areas, e.g. between tiles and under divertor baffles. A novel electrostatic dust detector for monitoring dust in these regions has been developed and tested at PPPL. In DIII-D tokamak dust diagnostics include Mie scattering from Nd:YAG lasers, visible imaging, and spectroscopy. Laser scattering resolves size of particles between 0.16-1.6 (micro)m in diameter; the total dust content in the edge plasmas and trends in the dust production rates within this size range have been established. Individual dust particles are observed by visible imaging using fast-framing cameras, detecting dust particles of a few microns in diameter and larger. Dust velocities and trajectories can be determined in 2D with a single camera or 3D using multiple cameras, but determination of particle size is problematic. In order to calibrate diagnostics and benchmark dust dynamics modeling, pre-characterized carbon dust has been injected into the lower divertor of DIII-D. Injected dust is seen by cameras, and spectroscopic diagnostics observe an increase of carbon atomic, C2 dimer, and thermal continuum emissions from the injected dust. The latter observation can be used in the design of novel dust survey diagnostics

  1. Control of house-dust mites with home disinfectants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schober, G.; Wetter, G.; Bischoff, E.; Bronswijk, van J.E.M.H.; Kniest, F.M.

    1987-01-01

    Chemical disinfectants and biocidal preparations used in households were tested in the laboratory for their ability to kill the house-dust miteDermatophagoides farinae. Batches of ten specimens were soaked in aqueous solutions or suspensions containing 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0, 3.0 and 10.0% (by volume)

  2. Fusion oriented plasma research in Bangladesh: theoretical study on low-frequency dust modes and edge plasma control experiment in tandem mirror

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khairul Islam, Md.; Salimullah, Mohammed; Yatsu, Kiyoshi; Nakashima, Yousuke; Ishimoto, Yuki

    2003-01-01

    A collaboration with a Japanese institute in the field of plasma-wall interaction and dusty plasma has been formed in order to understand the physical properties of edge plasma. Results of the theoretical study on dusty plasma and the experimental study on GAMMA10 plasma are presented in this paper. Part A deals with the results obtained from the theoretical investigation of the properties and excitation of low-frequency electrostatic dust modes, e.g. the dust-acoustic (DA) and dust-lower-hybrid (DLH) waves, using the fluid models. In this study, dust grain charge is considered as a dynamic variable in streaming magnetized dusty plasmas with a background of neutral atoms. Dust charge fluctuation, collisional and streaming effects on DA and DLH modes are discussed. Part B deals with the results of the plasma control experiment in a non-axisymmetric magnetic field region of the anchor cell of GAMMA10. The observations, which indicate the comparatively low-temperature plasma formation in the anchor cell, are explained from the viewpoint of enhanced outgassing from the wall due to the interaction of the drifted-out ions. The drifting of ions is thought to be due to the effect of a local non-axisymmetric magnetic field. Experimental results on the control of the wall-plasma interaction by covering the flux tube of a non-axisymmetric magnetic field region by conducting plates are given. Possible influences of the asymmetric magnetic field and conducting plates on the GAMMA10 plasma parameters are discussed. (author)

  3. Laboratory Investigation of Space and Planetary Dust Grains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spann, James

    2005-01-01

    Dust in space is ubiquitous and impacts diverse observed phenomena in various ways. Understanding the dominant mechanisms that control dust grain properties and its impact on surrounding environments is basic to improving our understanding observed processes at work in space. There is a substantial body of work on the theory and modeling of dust in space and dusty plasmas. To substantiate and validate theory and models, laboratory investigations and space borne observations have been conducted. Laboratory investigations are largely confined to an assembly of dust grains immersed in a plasma environment. Frequently the behaviors of these complex dusty plasmas in the laboratory have raised more questions than verified theories. Space borne observations have helped us characterize planetary environments. The complex behavior of dust grains in space indicates the need to understand the microphysics of individual grains immersed in a plasma or space environment.

  4. Bioaccessibility of Fipronil Sorbed to Soil and House Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide with uses ranging from soil treatment, to the control of household pests and ectoparasites on pets. Soils and house dusts readily sorb fipronil and when these soils and dusts are ingested, the fipronil may become bioaccessible for uptake ...

  5. Dust confinement and dust acoustic waves in a magnetized plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piel, A.

    2005-10-01

    Systematic laboratory experiments on dust acoustic waves require the confinement of dust particles. Here we report on new experiments in a magnetized plasma region in front of an additional positively biased disk electrode in a background plasma which is generated in argon at 27MHz between a disk and grid electrode. The plasma diffuses through the grid along the magnetic field. The three-dimensional dust distribution is measured with a horizontal sheet of laser light and a CCD camera, which are mounted on a vertical translation stage. Depending on magnetic field and discharge current, cigar or donut-shaped dust clouds are generated, which tend to rotate about the magnetic field direction. Measurements with emissive probes show that the axial confinement of dust particles with diameters between 0.7-2 μm is achieved by a balance of ion-drag force and electric field force. Dust levitation and radial confinement is due to a strong radial electric field. Dust acoustic waves are destabilized by the ion flow or can be stimulated by a periodic bias on the disk electrode. The observed wave dispersion is compared with fluid and kinetic models of the dust acoustic wave.

  6. Controlled human exposure to indoor air, dust, and ozone; XDOZ

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elholm, Grethe; Bønløkke, Jakob; Schlünssen, Vivi

    2017-01-01

    . All participants were subjected to four different exposure scenarios in the climate chamber.Exp. 1: Dust (250 – 300 µg/m3)Exp. 2: Ozone (100 ppb)Exp. 3: Dust (250 – 300 µg/m3) + ozone (100 ppb)Exp. 4: Filtered air (<20µg/m3)The exposure time was 5½ hours for each session.The health effects were...... evaluated at baseline and specific follow-up times in relation to selected respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes, such as; nasal volume, exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), spirometry (FEV1 and FVC), exhaled breath condensate (EBC), nasal lavage, blood samples, EndoPat. Questionnaires were used for assessment...

  7. Allergies, asthma, and dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reactive airway disease - dust; Bronchial asthma - dust; Triggers - dust ... Things that make allergies or asthma worse are called triggers. Dust is a common trigger. When your asthma or allergies become worse due to dust, you are ...

  8. Tungsten dust remobilization under steady-state and transient plasma conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Ratynskaia

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Remobilization is one of the most prominent unresolved fusion dust-relevant issues, strongly related to the lifetime of dust in plasma-wetted regions, the survivability of dust on hot plasma-facing surfaces and the formation of dust accumulation sites. A systematic cross-machine study has been initiated to investigate the remobilization of tungsten micron-size dust from tungsten surfaces implementing a newly developed technique based on controlled pre-adhesion by gas dynamics methods. It has been utilized in a number of devices and has provided new insights on remobilization under steady-state and transient conditions. The experiments are interpreted with contact mechanics theory and heat conduction models.

  9. [Protecting Safety During Dust Fires and Dust Explosions - The Example of the Formosa Fun Coast Water Park Accident].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsieh, Ming-Hong; Wu, Jia-Wun; Li, Ya-Cing; Tang, Jia-Suei; Hsieh, Chun-Chien

    2016-02-01

    This paper will explore the fire and explosion characteristics of cornstarch powder as well as strategies for protecting the safety of people who are involved a dust fire or dust explosion. We discuss the 5 elements of dust explosions and conduct tests to analyze the fire and explosion characteristics of differently colored powders (yellow, golden yellow, pink, purple, orange and green). The results show that, while all of the tested powders were difficult to ignite, low moisture content was associated with significantly greater risks of ignition and flame spread. We found the auto-ignition temperature (AIT) of air-borne cornstarch powder to be between 385°C and 405°C, with yellow-colored cornstarch powder showing the highest AIT and pink-colored cornstarch powder showing the lowest AIT. The volume resistivity of all powder samples was approximately 108 Ω.m, indicating that they were nonconductive. Lighters and cigarettes are effective ignition sources, as their lit temperatures are higher than the AIT of cornstarch powder. In order to better protect the safety of individuals at venues where cornstarch powder is released, explosion control measures such as explosion containment facilities, vents, and explosion suppression and isolation devices should be installed. Furthermore, employees that work at these venues should be better trained in explosion prevention and control measures. We hope this article is a reminder to the public to recognize the fire and explosion characteristics of flammable powders as well as the preventive and control measures for dust explosions.

  10. Optimising a fall out dust monitoring sampling programme at a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    GREG

    Key words: Fall out dust monitoring, cement plant, optimising, air pollution sampling, fall out dust sampler locations. .... applied for those areas where controls are in place. Sampling ..... mass balance in the total cement manufacturing process.

  11. Carbohydrate and protein contents of grain dusts in relation to dust morphology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dashek, W V; Olenchock, S A; Mayfield, J E; Wirtz, G H; Wolz, D E; Young, C A

    1986-01-01

    Grain dusts contain a variety of materials which are potentially hazardous to the health of workers in the grain industry. Because the characterization of grain dusts is incomplete, we are defining the botanical, chemical, and microbial contents of several grain dusts collected from grain elevators in the Duluth-Superior regions of the U.S. Here, we report certain of the carbohydrate and protein contents of dusts in relation to dust morphology. Examination of the gross morphologies of the dusts revealed that, except for corn, each dust contained either husk or pericarp (seed coat in the case of flax) fragments in addition to respirable particles. When viewed with the light microscope, the fragments appeared as elongated, pointed structures. The possibility that certain of the fragments within corn, settled, and spring wheat were derived from cell walls was suggested by the detection of pentoses following colorimetric assay of neutralized 2 N trifluoroacetic acid hydrolyzates of these dusts. The presence of pentoses together with the occurrence of proteins within water washings of grain dusts suggests that glycoproteins may be present within the dusts. With scanning electron microscopy, each dust was found to consist of a distinct assortment of particles in addition to respirable particles. Small husk fragments and "trichome-like" objects were common to all but corn dust. Images FIGURE 4. FIGURE 5. PMID:3709476

  12. Dust Devil Tracks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    (Released 8 May 2002) The Science This image, centered near 50.0 S and 17.7 W displays dust devil tracks on the surface. Most of the lighter portions of the image likely have a thin veneer of dust settled on the surface. As a dust devil passes over the surface, it acts as a vacuum and picks up the dust, leaving the darker substrate exposed. In this image there is a general trend of many of the tracks running from east to west or west to east, indicating the general wind direction. There is often no general trend present in dust devil tracks seen in other images. The track patterns are quite ephemeral and can completely change or even disappear over the course of a few months. Dust devils are one of the mechanisms that Mars uses to constantly pump dust into the ubiquitously dusty atmosphere. This atmospheric dust is one of the main driving forces of the present Martian climate. The Story Vrrrrooooooooom. Think of a tornado, the cartoon Tasmanian devil, or any number of vacuum commercials that powerfully suck up swirls of dust and dirt. That's pretty much what it's like on the surface of Mars a lot of the time. Whirlpools of wind called

  13. Experience with dust suppression in mining a thick, dirty seam

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Siepmann, D; Kohlhauer, H

    1975-11-20

    Dust suppression measures used when mining a thick, dirty seam are described. Dust sprays inside and outside the shearer drum helped to reduce coarse dust, but the resulting increase in moisture content of the coal limits the extent to which this method can be used. The shields were also fitted with sprays. Because of the dirt in the seam, continuous, remotely controlled deep infusion was used. This reduced the dust concentration from more than 10 mg/m/sup 3/ to between 3.9 and 6.6 mg/m/sup 3/.

  14. 'Nuisance Dust' - a Case for Recalibration?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datson, Hugh; Marker, Brian

    2013-04-01

    time). 'Custom and practice' acceptance criteria for dust samples obtained by mass or soiling techniques have been developed and are widely applied even though they were not necessarily calibrated thoroughly and have not been reviewed recently. Furthermore, as sampling techniques have evolved, criteria developed for one method have been adapted for another. Criteria and limit values have sometimes been based on an insufficient knowledge of sampler characteristics. Ideally, limit values should be calibrated for the locality to take differences in dust density and visibility into account. Work is needed on the definition of criteria and limit values, and sampling practices for coarse dust fractions, followed by discussion of good practices for securing effective monitoring that is proportionate and fit for purpose. With social changes and the evolution of environmental controls since the 1960s, the public perception of 'nuisance dust' has changed and needs to be addressed by reviewing existing thresholds in relation to the range of monitoring devices currently in use.

  15. Lead in Chinese villager house dust: Geographical variation and influencing factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bi, Xiangyang; Liu, Jinling; Han, Zhixuan; Yang, Wenlin

    2015-01-01

    House dust has been recognized as an important contributor to Pb exposure of children. Here we conducted a comprehensive study to investigate geographical variation of Pb in Chinese villager house dust. The influences of outdoor soil Pb concentrations, dates of construction, house decoration materials, heating types, and site specific pollution on Pb concentrations in house dust were evaluated. The concentrations of Pb in 477 house dust samples collected from twenty eight areas throughout China varied from 12 to 2510 mg/kg, with a median concentration of 42 mg/kg. The median Pb concentrations in different geographical areas ranged from 16 (Zhangjiakou, Hebei) to 195 mg/kg (Loudi, Hunan). No correlations were found between the house dust Pb concentrations and the age of houses, as well as house decoration materials. Whereas outdoor soil, coal combustion, and site specific pollution may be potential Pb sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed that elemental compositions of the house dust were controlled by both anthropogenic and geogenic sources. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the Pb bearing particles in the house dust were also studied. - Highlights: • Geographical variation in house dust Pb concentrations were observed. • Dust Pb concentrations were not associated with house age and decoration materials. • Soil, coal combustion, and site specific pollution were potential Pb sources. • Pb bearing particles were identified by SEM-EDX. - The variations of Pb in Chinese villager house dust were controlled by outdoor soil, coal combustion, and site specific pollution sources.

  16. Worker exposure to silica dust in South African non-mining industries in Gauteng: An exploratory study

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Khoza, NN

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available %, and sandblasting 2.4%. The overall maximum and minimum exposures were 5.772 and 0.009 mg/m?, respectively. Conclusion: Workers are potentially at high risk of contracting silicosis and other diseases associated with respirable silica dust. Dust control... and monitoring were inadequate in the industries visited. It is recommended that an in-depth study be conducted and that airborne dust-control programmes be implemented. Key words: non-mining industries, silica dust, respirable crystalline silica dust...

  17. Kuiper Belt Dust Grains as a Source of Interplanetary Dust Particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liou, Jer-Chyi; Zook, Herbert A.; Dermott, Stanley F.

    1996-01-01

    The recent discovery of the so-called Kuiper belt objects has prompted the idea that these objects produce dust grains that may contribute significantly to the interplanetary dust population. In this paper, the orbital evolution of dust grains, of diameters 1 to 9 microns, that originate in the region of the Kuiper belt is studied by means of direct numerical integration. Gravitational forces of the Sun and planets, solar radiation pressure, as well as Poynting-Robertson drag and solar wind drag are included. The interactions between charged dust grains and solar magnetic field are not considered in the model. Because of the effects of drag forces, small dust grains will spiral toward the Sun once they are released from their large parent bodies. This motion leads dust grains to pass by planets as well as encounter numerous mean motion resonances associated with planets. Our results show that about 80% of the Kuiper belt grains are ejected from the Solar System by the giant planets, while the remaining 20% of the grains evolve all the way to the Sun. Surprisingly, the latter dust grains have small orbital eccentricities and inclinations when they cross the orbit of the Earth. This makes them behave more like asteroidal than cometary-type dust particles. This also enhances their chances of being captured by the Earth and makes them a possible source of the collected interplanetary dust particles; in particular, they represent a possible source that brings primitive/organic materials from the outer Solar System to the Earth. When collisions with interstellar dust grains are considered, however, Kuiper belt dust grains around 9 microns appear likely to be collisionally shattered before they can evolve toward the inner part of the Solar System. The collision destruction can be applied to Kuiper belt grains up to about 50 microns. Therefore, Kuiper belt dust grains within this range may not be a significant part of the interplanetary dust complex in the inner Solar

  18. Hygienic evaluation of new technology for control of methane and dust in coal mines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gadzhiev, G P; Deynega, V G; Sukhanov, V V; Levshina, I M; Yarym, N T; Petrenko, G A

    1977-07-01

    Exploitation of available new technology for mining is hindered by the dangers of gas evolution, and the need for maintenance of hygienic standards. The Moscow Mining Institute has developed, and proposed for industrial introduction, a new process for control of methane and dust in mine shafts; the method will help to raise significantly the productivity of excavating machines in high gas factor shafts. The process to combat methane and dust consists essentially in drilling boreholes from the side of the gallery, or from the outer surface, into the coal-bearing stratum. These boreholes are injected with a 24% solution of urea-formaldehyde resin (binder M/sub 2/), with 1% solution of ammonium chloride hardener. After several months this plastic is removed. The new technology involves the escape of toxic substances into the air, hence the need for hygienic testing. Additional study must estimate the danger of accidents, e.g., shaft fires, toxicity of combustion products of coal or binder. Study is also needed on pathologies which might occur to miners engaged in removal of the plastic with the new technology.

  19. Comparison of conventional and bio-treated methods as dust suppressants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naeimi, Maryam; Chu, Jian

    2017-10-01

    Dust is an environmental, geotechnical, health, and economical hazard. Fugitive dust emanating along transportation systems such as roads, railways, and airports especially can have significant impacts on health, safety, material loss, cost of maintenance, and interfere with the facilities. Quantitative studies on the effectiveness of the proper dust palliatives and their environmental impact have been studied with a number of biological and chemical methods. The objective of this study was to establish a method for using the microbial Induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) approach to reduce the percent of mass loss against erosive force of wind regarding to the concentration and characteristics of aggregate used, climate, and traffic amounts. The results of this study showed that the required precipitation for dust control of sand by 70% is less than 15 g CaCO 3 /m 2 between sand grains in bio-treated sand. The wind tunnel test results of this study also indicate that the effectiveness of the bio-treatment method for dust control depends on many variables, such as the percent of precipitated calcium carbonate and tensile strength.

  20. Modeling Respiratory Toxicity of Authentic Lunar Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santana, Patricia A.; James, John T.; Lam, Chiu-Wing

    2010-01-01

    The lunar expeditions of the Apollo operations from the 60 s and early 70 s have generated awareness about lunar dust exposures and their implication towards future lunar explorations. Critical analyses on the reports from the Apollo crew members suggest that lunar dust is a mild respiratory and ocular irritant. Currently, NASA s space toxicology group is functioning with the Lunar Airborne Dust Toxicity Assessment Group (LADTAG) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to investigate and examine toxic effects to the respiratory system of rats in order to establish permissible exposure levels (PELs) for human exposure to lunar dust. In collaboration with the space toxicology group, LADTAG and NIOSH the goal of the present research is to analyze dose-response curves from rat exposures seven and twenty-eight days after intrapharyngeal instillations, and model the response using BenchMark Dose Software (BMDS) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Via this analysis, the relative toxicities of three types of Apollo 14 lunar dust samples and two control dust samples, titanium dioxide (TiO2) and quartz will be determined. This will be executed for several toxicity endpoints such as cell counts and biochemical markers in bronchoaveolar lavage fluid (BALF) harvested from the rats.

  1. Whither Cometary Dust?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisse, Carey M.

    2010-10-01

    In this paper I will discuss recent findings that have important implications for our understanding of the formation and evolution of primitive solar system dust, including: - Nesvorny et al. (2010), following up on their dynamical analyses of the zodiacal dust bands as sourced by the breakup of the Karin (5Mya) and Veritas (8Mya) asteroid families, argue that over 90% of the interplanetary dust cloud at 1 AU comes from JFC comets with near-circularized, low inclination orbits. This implies that the noted IPD collections of anhydrous and hydrous dust particles are likely to be from Oort cloud and JFC comets, respectively, not from asteroids and comets as thought in the past. Hydrous dust particles from comets like 85P/Wild2 and 9P/Tempel 1 would be consistent with results from the STARDUST and Deep Impact experiments. - Estimates of the dust particle size distributions (PSDs) in the comae of 85P/Wild2 (Green et al. 2004, 2007) and 73P/SW-3 (Sitko et al. 2010, Vaubaillon & Reach 2010) and in the trails of comets (Reach et al. 2007) have broken power law structure, with a plateau enhancement of particles of 1 mm - 1 cm in size. This size is also the size of most chondritic inclusions, and the predicted size range of the "aggregational barrier", where collisions between dust particles become destructive. - Studies of the albedo and polarization properties of cometary dust (Kolokolova et al. 2007) suggest there are 2 major groupings, one with low scattering capability and one with high. While these families could possibly have been explained by systematics in the PSDs of the emitted dust, independent work by Lisse et al. (2008) on the mineralogy of a number of highly dusty comets has shown evidence for one family of comets with highly crystalline dust and another with highly amorphous dust.

  2. Integrative Analysis of Desert Dust Size and Abundance Suggests Less Dust Climate Cooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kok, Jasper F.; Ridley, David A.; Zhou, Qing; Miller, Ron L.; Zhao, Chun; Heald, Colette L.; Ward, Daniel S.; Albani, Samuel; Haustein, Karsten

    2017-01-01

    Desert dust aerosols affect Earths global energy balance through interactions with radiation, clouds, and ecosystems. But the magnitudes of these effects are so uncertain that it remains unclear whether atmospheric dust has a net warming or cooling effect on global climate. Consequently, it is still uncertain whether large changes in atmospheric dust loading over the past century have slowed or accelerated anthropogenic climate change, and the climate impact of possible future alterations in dust loading is similarly disputed. Here we use an integrative analysis of dust aerosol sizes and abundance to constrain the climatic impact of dust through direct interactions with radiation. Using a combination of observational, experimental, and model data, we find that atmospheric dust is substantially coarser than represented in current climate models. Since coarse dust warms global climate, the dust direct radiative effect (DRE) is likely less cooling than the 0.4 W m superscript 2 estimated by models in a current ensemble. We constrain the dust DRE to -0.20 (-0.48 to +0.20) W m superscript 2, which suggests that the dust DRE produces only about half the cooling that current models estimate, and raises the possibility that dust DRE is actually net warming the planet.

  3. Signaling Pathways Involved in Lunar Dust Induced Cytotoxicity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ye; Lam, Chiu-Wing; Scully, Robert R.; Williams, Kyle; Zalesak, Selina; Wu, Honglu; James, John T.

    2014-01-01

    The Moon's surface is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust. Lunar dust contain about 1-2% of very fine dust (pathways involved in lunar dust-induced toxicity. F344 rats were exposed for 4 weeks (6h/d; 5d/wk) in nose-only inhalation chambers to concentrations of 0 (control air), 2.1, 6.1, 21, and 61 mg/m(exp 3) of lunar dust. Five rats per group were euthanized 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after the last inhalation exposure. The total RNAs were isolated from the blood or lung tissue after being lavaged, using the Qigen RNeasy kit. The Rat Fibrosis RT2 Profile PCR Array was used to profile the expression of 84 genes relevant to fibrosis. The genes with significant expression changes are identified and the gene expression data were further analyzed using IPA pathway analysis tool to determine the signaling pathways with significant changes.

  4. Oxydative stress in rats caused by coal dust plus cigarette smoke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nia Kania

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Coal dust and cigarette smoke are pollutants found in coal mines that are capable of inducing oxidative stress, the effects of which on blood malondialdehyde (MDA level and serum superoxide dismutase (SOD level are still unknown. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of coal dust and cigarette smoke on levels of MDA and SOD in rats. An experimental study was done on Wistar male rats divided into the following groups: control (C, coal dust exposure (14 days (CDE, cigarette smoke exposure (14 days (CSE, coal dust exposure (7 days followed by cigarette smoke exposure (7 days (CDE+CSE, cigarette smoke exposure (7 days followed by coal dust exposure (7 days (CSE+CDE. All exposures increased MDA levels and decreased SOD activity significantly between groups (p=0.000. All exposure groups had significantly increased blood MDA levels, compared to the control group, although there was no difference between CSE + CDE and CDE + CSE. For SOD levels, all exposure groups had significantly decreased the SOD levels compared to control. But there were no significant differences between CSE vs CDE and CDE + CSE vs CSE + CDE. We conclude that exposure to cigarette smoke significantly increases blood MDA level and decreases serum SOD activity, which was not found in exposure to coal dust. Combined exposures also increase blood MDA level and decrease serum SOD activity significantly.

  5. Oxydative stress in rats caused by coal dust plus cigarette smoke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nia Kania

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Coal dust and cigarette smoke are pollutants found in coal mines that are capable of inducing oxidative stress, the effects of which on blood malondialdehyde (MDA level and serum superoxide dismutase (SOD level are still unknown. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of coal dust and cigarette smoke on levels of MDA and SOD in rats. An experimental study was done on Wistar male rats divided into the following groups: control (C, coal dust exposure (14 days (CDE, cigarette smoke exposure (14 days (CSE, coal dust exposure (7 days followed by cigarette smoke exposure (7 days (CDE+CSE, cigarette smoke exposure (7 days followed by coal dust exposure (7 days (CSE+CDE. All exposures increased MDA levels and decreased SOD activity significantly between groups (p=0.000. All exposure groups had significantly increased blood MDA levels, compared to the control group, although there was no difference between CSE + CDE and CDE + CSE. For SOD levels, all exposure groups had significantly decreased the SOD levels compared to control. But there were no significant differences between CSE vs CDE and CDE + CSE vs CSE + CDE. We conclude that exposure to cigarette smoke significantly increases blood MDA level and decreases serum SOD activity, which was not found in exposure to coal dust. Combined exposures also increase blood MDA level and decrease serum SOD activity significantly.

  6. DUST PROPERTIES OF LOCAL DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES WITH THE SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hwang, Ho Seong; Andrews, Sean M.; Geller, Margaret J.

    2013-01-01

    We report Submillimeter Array observations of the 880 μm dust continuum emission for four dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) in the local universe. Two DOGs are clearly detected with S ν (880 μm) =10-13 mJy and S/N > 5, but the other two are not detected with 3σ upper limits of S ν (880 μm) =5-9 mJy. Including an additional two local DOGs with submillimeter data from the literature, we determine the dust masses and temperatures for six local DOGs. The infrared luminosities and dust masses for these DOGs are in the ranges of 1.2-4.9 × 10 11 (L ☉ ) and 4-14 × 10 7 (M ☉ ), respectively. The dust temperatures derived from a two-component modified blackbody function are 23-26 K and 60-124 K for the cold and warm dust components, respectively. Comparison of local DOGs with other infrared luminous galaxies with submillimeter detections shows that the dust temperatures and masses do not differ significantly among these objects. Thus, as argued previously, local DOGs are not a distinctive population among dusty galaxies, but simply represent the high-end tail of the dust obscuration distribution

  7. Dust Destruction in the ISM: A Re-Evaluation of Dust Lifetimes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, A. P.; Nuth, J. A., III

    2011-01-01

    There is a long-standing conundrum in interstellar dust studies relating to the discrepancy between the time-scales for dust formation from evolved stars and the apparently more rapid destruction in supernova-generated shock waves. Aims. We re-examine some of the key issues relating to dust evolution and processing in the interstellar medium. Methods. We use recent and new constraints from observations, experiments, modelling and theory to re-evaluate dust formation in the interstellar medium (ISM). Results. We find that the discrepancy between the dust formation and destruction time-scales may not be as significant as has previously been assumed because of the very large uncertainties involved. Conclusions. The derived silicate dust lifetime could be compatible with its injection time-scale, given the inherent uncertainties in the dust lifetime calculation. The apparent need to re-form significant quantities of silicate dust in the tenuous interstellar medium may therefore not be a strong requirement. Carbonaceous matter, on the other hand, appears to be rapidly recycled in the ISM and, in contrast to silicates, there are viable mechanisms for its re-formation in the ISM.

  8. Agglomeration of dust in convective clouds initialized by nuclear bursts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacon, D. P.; Sarma, R. A.

    Convective clouds initialized by nuclear bursts are modeled using a two-dimensional axisymmetric cloud model. Dust transport through the atmosphere is studied using five different sizes ranging from 1 to 10,000 μm in diameter. Dust is transported in the model domain by advection and sedimentation. Water is allowed to condense onto dust particles in regions of supersaturation in the cloud. The agglomeration of dust particles resulting from the collision of different size dust particles is modeled. The evolution of the dust mass spectrum due to agglomeration is modeled using a numerical scheme which is mass conserving and has low implicit diffusion. Agglomeration moves mass from the small particles with very small fall velocity to the larger sizes which fall to the ground more readily. Results indicate that the dust fallout can be increased significantly due to this process. In preliminary runs using stable and unstable environmental soundings, at 30 min after detonation the total dust in the domain was 11 and 30%, respectively, less than a control case without agglomeration.

  9. Lunar Airborne Dust Toxicity Hazard Assessments (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, B. L.; McKay, D. S.; Taylor, L. A.; Wallace, W. T.; James, J.; Riofrio, L.; Gonzalez, C. P.

    2009-12-01

    was developed for this task. The dust separation system includes a fluidized bed, an elutriation flask, and a cyclone. The product dust is collected on a membrane filter with 0.45 micrometer pore size. Collection and separation efficiencies, and particle size distribution measurements of the material retained in the various components are tracked as development and tests proceed. Calculations show that respirable-sized particles, if released in a habitat, would remain suspended in the air for extended periods of time. Without active dust control, most of this fine dust would end up in the crew’s lungs. Dust exposure standards, similar to those established for quartz on Earth, will determine the design, mass, power, and cost of dust control systems incorporated into lunar habitats and pressurized rovers.

  10. Models of surface convection and dust clouds in brown dwarfs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freytag, B; Allard, F; Ludwig, H-G; Homeier, D; Steffen, M

    2008-01-01

    The influence of dust grains on the atmospheres of brown dwarfs is visible in observed spectra. To investigate what prevents the dust grains from falling down, or how fresh condensable material is mixed up in the atmosphere to allow new grains to form, we performed 2D radiation-hydrodynamics simulations with CO5BOLD of the upper part of the convection zone and the atmosphere containing the dust cloud layers. We find that unlike in models of Cepheids, the convective overshoot does not play a major role. Instead, the mixing in the dust clouds is controlled by gravity waves.

  11. Using an Instrumented Drone to Sample Dust Devils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Brian; Lorenz, Ralph; Davis, Karan; Lipple, Brock

    2017-10-01

    Dust devils are low-pressure, small (many to tens of meters) convective vortices powered by surface heating and rendered visible by lofted dust. Dust devils occur in arid climates on Earth, where they degrade air quality and pose a hazard to small aircraft. They also occur ubiquitously on Mars, where they may dominate the supply of atmospheric dust. Since dust contributes significantly to Mars’ atmospheric heat budget, dust devils probably play an important role in its climate. The dust-lifting capacity of a devil likely depends sensitively on its structure, particularly the wind and pressure profiles, but the exact dependencies are poorly constrained. Thus, the exact contribution to Mars’ atmosphere remains unresolved. Moreover, most previous studies of martian dust devils have relied on passive sampling of the profiles via meteorology packages on landed spacecraft, resulting in random encounter geometries which non-trivially skew the retrieved profiles. Analog studies of terrestrial devils have employed more active sampling (instrumented vehicles or manned aircraft) but have been limited to near-surface (few meters) or relatively high altitude (hundreds of meters) sampling. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, combined with miniature, digital instrumentation, promise a novel and uniquely powerful platform from which to sample dust devils via (relatively) controlled geometries at a wide variety of altitudes. In this presentation, we will describe a pilot study using an instrumented quadcopter on an active field site in southeastern Oregon, which (to our knowledge) has not previously been surveyed for dust devils. We will present preliminary results from the resulting encounters, including stereo image analysis and encounter footage collected onboard the drone.

  12. Life cycle and reproduction of house-dust mites: environmental factors influencing mite populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, B J

    1998-01-01

    An understanding of the life cycle of house-dust mites, as well as environmental factors influencing mite populations, can be exploited in mite control. The most important limiting factor for house-dust-mite populations is air humidity. House-dust mites osmoregulate through the cuticle and therefore require a high ambient air humidity to prevent excessive water loss. In addition, the supracoxal glands actively take up ambient water vapour, and the protonynph stage of the life cycle is resistant to desiccation. Larger house-dust-mite populations are found when the absolute indoor air humidity is above 7 g/kg (45% relative humidity at 20 degrees C). Consequently, ventilation by air-conditioning systems is being developed as a means of control. A number of other aspects of the domestic environment are also being manipulated in an integrated approach to render the habitat less suitable for mites. The potential exists for developing models for house-dust mite populations, environmental characteristics, and the effects of various approaches to control.

  13. Past, present and future of dust research at the Elliot Lake Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grenier, M.; Bigu, J.

    1985-12-01

    A brief history of the dust research work at the Elliot Lake Laboratory is given. Two decades of dust research work are studied and reviewed. This review clearly shows where, when, and with what intensity various components of dust research were performed. From the data presented here, it is suggested that a major portion of the future efforts be aimed at research directed towards the control and suppression of dust in underground mines

  14. Assessment of state-of-the-art dust emission scheme in GEOS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darmenov, A.; Liu, X.; Prigent, C.

    2017-12-01

    The GEOS modeling system has been extended with state-of-the-art parameterization of dust emissions based on the vertical flux formulation described in Kok et al., 2014. The new dust scheme was coupled with the GOCART and MAM aerosol models. In the present study we compared dust emissions, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and radiative fluxes from GEOS experiments with the standard and new dust emissions. AOD from the model experiments were also compared with AERONET and satellite based AOD product. Based on this comparative analysis we concluded that the new parameterization improved the GEOS capability to model dust aerosols originating from African sources, however it led to overestimation of dust emissions from Asian and Middle-Eastern sources. Further regional tuning of key parameters controlling the threshold friction velocity may be required in order to attain more definitive and uniform improvement in the dust modeling skill with the newly implemented dust emissions scheme.

  15. DUST PROPERTIES OF LOCAL DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES WITH THE SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, Ho Seong; Andrews, Sean M.; Geller, Margaret J., E-mail: hhwang@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: sandrews@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: mgeller@cfa.harvard.edu [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2013-11-01

    We report Submillimeter Array observations of the 880 μm dust continuum emission for four dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) in the local universe. Two DOGs are clearly detected with S{sub ν}(880 μm) =10-13 mJy and S/N > 5, but the other two are not detected with 3σ upper limits of S{sub ν}(880 μm) =5-9 mJy. Including an additional two local DOGs with submillimeter data from the literature, we determine the dust masses and temperatures for six local DOGs. The infrared luminosities and dust masses for these DOGs are in the ranges of 1.2-4.9 × 10{sup 11}(L{sub ☉}) and 4-14 × 10{sup 7}(M{sub ☉}), respectively. The dust temperatures derived from a two-component modified blackbody function are 23-26 K and 60-124 K for the cold and warm dust components, respectively. Comparison of local DOGs with other infrared luminous galaxies with submillimeter detections shows that the dust temperatures and masses do not differ significantly among these objects. Thus, as argued previously, local DOGs are not a distinctive population among dusty galaxies, but simply represent the high-end tail of the dust obscuration distribution.

  16. Collisionless damping of nonlinear dust ion acoustic wave due to dust charge fluctuation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghosh, Samiran; Chaudhuri, Tushar K.; Sarkar, Susmita; Khan, Manoranjan; Gupta, M.R.

    2002-01-01

    A dissipation mechanism for the damping of the nonlinear dust ion acoustic wave in a collisionless dusty plasma consisting of nonthermal electrons, ions, and variable charge dust grains has been investigated. It is shown that the collisionless damping due to dust charge fluctuation causes the nonlinear dust ion acoustic wave propagation to be described by the damped Korteweg-de Vries equation. Due to the presence of nonthermal electrons, the dust ion acoustic wave admits both positive and negative potential and it suffers less damping than the dust acoustic wave, which admits only negative potential

  17. Demonstration of a dust control system for boom-type roadheader. Open-file report September 1979-July 1981

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burnett, M.; Pokora, R.J.; Muldoon, T.

    1981-09-01

    This program was initiated by the Bureau of Mines to quantify the respirable dust problem caused by the use of roadheaders in underground metal-nonmetal mines with special emphasis on this problem in uranium mines. The objective was to develop methods or equipment to alleviate respirable dust and to implement a solution in a mine. Attempts to quantify the dust problem were made by a survey of MSHA records, a survey of State nine enforcement agencies, a survey of mine records, and dust measurements taken at two mines using roadheaders. The results are not conclusive because of limited and sometimes less than useful data; however, the study does indicate that a serious dust problem could and may exist. The report discusses the available data concerning respirable dust problems and presents a solution that can potentially help to solve the problem. The solution requires the use of blowing ventilation, onboard dust extraction at the source, filtration, and continued continued use of water sprays

  18. Bounded dust-acoustic waves in a cylindrically bounded collisional dusty plasma with dust charge variation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei Nanxia; Xue Jukui

    2006-01-01

    Taking into account the boundary, particle collisions, and dust charging effects, dust-acoustic waves in a uniform cylindrically bounded dusty plasma is investigated analytically, and the dispersion relation for the dust-acoustic wave is obtained. The effects of boundary, dust charge variation, particle collision, and dust size on the dust-acoustic wave are discussed in detail. Due to the bounded cylindrical boundary effects, the radial wave number is discrete, i.e., the spectrum is discrete. It is shown that the discrete spectrum, the adiabatic dust charge variation, dust grain size, and the particle collision have significant effects on the dust-acoustic wave

  19. Protective effect of the DNA vaccine encoding the major house dust mite allergens on allergic inflammation in the murine model of house dust mite allergy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Jaechun

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Vaccination with naked DNA encoding antigen induces cellular and humoral immunity characterized by the activation of specific Th1 cells. Objective To evaluate the effects of vaccination with mixed naked DNA plasmids encoding Der p 1, Der p 2, Der p 3, Der f 1, Der f 2, and Der f 3, the major house dust mite allergens on the allergic inflammation to the whole house dust mites (HDM crude extract. Methods Three hundred micrograms of these gene mixtures were injected into muscle of BALB/c mice. Control mice were injected with the pcDNA 3.1 blank vector. After 3 weeks, the mice were actively sensitized and inhaled with the whole house dust mite extract intranasally. Results The vaccinated mice showed a significantly decreased synthesis of total and HDM-specific IgE compared with controls. Analysis of the cytokine profile of lymphocytes after challenge with HDM crude extract revealed that mRNA expression of interferon-γ was higher in the vaccinated mice than in the controls. Reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells and the prominent infiltration of CD8+ T cells were observed in histology of lung tissue from the vaccinated mice. Conclusion Vaccination with DNA encoding the major house dust mite allergens provides a promising approach for treating allergic responses to whole house dust mite allergens.

  20. The Lunar Dust Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szalay, Jamey Robert

    Planetary bodies throughout the solar system are continually bombarded by dust particles, largely originating from cometary activities and asteroidal collisions. Surfaces of bodies with thick atmospheres, such as Venus, Earth, Mars and Titan are mostly protected from incoming dust impacts as these particles ablate in their atmospheres as 'shooting stars'. However, the majority of bodies in the solar system have no appreciable atmosphere and their surfaces are directly exposed to the flux of high speed dust grains. Impacts onto solid surfaces in space generate charged and neutral gas clouds, as well as solid secondary ejecta dust particles. Gravitationally bound ejecta clouds forming dust exospheres were recognized by in situ dust instruments around the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and had not yet been observed near bodies with refractory regolith surfaces before NASA's Lunar Dust and Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. In this thesis, we first present the measurements taken by the Lunar Dust Explorer (LDEX), aboard LADEE, which discovered a permanently present, asymmetric dust cloud surrounding the Moon. The global characteristics of the lunar dust cloud are discussed as a function of a variety of variables such as altitude, solar longitude, local time, and lunar phase. These results are compared with models for lunar dust cloud generation. Second, we present an analysis of the groupings of impacts measured by LDEX, which represent detections of dense ejecta plumes above the lunar surface. These measurements are put in the context of understanding the response of the lunar surface to meteoroid bombardment and how to use other airless bodies in the solar system as detectors for their local meteoroid environment. Third, we present the first in-situ dust measurements taken over the lunar sunrise terminator. Having found no excess of small grains in this region, we discuss its implications for the putative population of electrostatically lofted dust.

  1. Effect of energetic electrons on dust charging in hot cathode filament discharge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakati, B.; Kausik, S. S.; Saikia, B. K.; Bandyopadhyay, M.

    2011-03-01

    The effect of energetic electrons on dust charging for different types of dust is studied in hydrogen plasma. The hydrogen plasma is produced by hot cathode filament discharge method in a dusty plasma device. A full line cusped magnetic field cage is used to confine the plasma elements. To study the plasma parameters for various discharge conditions, a cylindrical Langmuir probe having 0.15 mm diameter and 10.0 mm length is used. An electronically controlled dust dropper is used to drop the dust particles into the plasma. For different discharge conditions, the dust current is measured using a Faraday cup connected to an electrometer. The effect of secondary emission as well as discharge voltage on charging of dust grains in hydrogen plasma is studied with different dust.

  2. Effect of energetic electrons on dust charging in hot cathode filament discharge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kakati, B.; Kausik, S. S.; Saikia, B. K.; Bandyopadhyay, M.

    2011-01-01

    The effect of energetic electrons on dust charging for different types of dust is studied in hydrogen plasma. The hydrogen plasma is produced by hot cathode filament discharge method in a dusty plasma device. A full line cusped magnetic field cage is used to confine the plasma elements. To study the plasma parameters for various discharge conditions, a cylindrical Langmuir probe having 0.15 mm diameter and 10.0 mm length is used. An electronically controlled dust dropper is used to drop the dust particles into the plasma. For different discharge conditions, the dust current is measured using a Faraday cup connected to an electrometer. The effect of secondary emission as well as discharge voltage on charging of dust grains in hydrogen plasma is studied with different dust.

  3. Coupling Mars' Dust and Water Cycles: Effects on Dust Lifting Vigor, Spatial Extent and Seasonality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, M. A.; Hollingsworth, J. L.; Haberle, R. M.; Montmessin, F.

    2012-01-01

    The dust cycle is an important component of Mars' current climate system. Airborne dust affects the radiative balance of the atmosphere, thus greatly influencing the thermal and dynamical state of the atmosphere. Dust raising events on Mars occur at spatial scales ranging from meters to planet-wide. Although the occurrence and season of large regional and global dust storms are highly variable from one year to the next, there are many features of the dust cycle that occur year after year. Generally, a low-level dust haze is maintained during northern spring and summer, while elevated levels of atmospheric dust occur during northern autumn and winter. During years without global-scale dust storms, two peaks in total dust loading were observed by MGS/TES: one peak occurred before northern winter solstice at Ls 200-240, and one peak occurred after northern winter solstice at L(sub s) 305-340. These maxima in dust loading are thought to be associated with transient eddy activity in the northern hemisphere, which has been observed to maximize pre- and post-solstice. Interactive dust cycle studies with Mars General Circulation Models (MGCMs) have included the lifting, transport, and sedimentation of radiatively active dust. Although the predicted global dust loadings from these simulations capture some aspects of the observed dust cycle, there are marked differences between the simulated and observed dust cycles. Most notably, the maximum dust loading is robustly predicted by models to occur near northern winter solstice and is due to dust lifting associated with down slope flows on the flanks of the Hellas basin. Thus far, models have had difficulty simulating the observed pre- and post- solstice peaks in dust loading. Interactive dust cycle studies typically have not included the formation of water ice clouds or their radiative effects. Water ice clouds can influence the dust cycle by scavenging dust from atmosphere and by interacting with solar and infrared radiation

  4. Evaluation of effectiveness of hydrolyzed dextran in treatment of dust-induced bronchitis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Slinchenko, N.Z.; Filipchenko, L.L.; Volkova, V.M.

    1986-05-01

    An experimental group and a control group identical in age, work experience, dust exposure and expression of disease were treated for dust-induced bronchitis. The control group received broncholytics, anti-inflammatory preparations and physiotherapy; the experimental group received same treatment plus 200 ml of rheopolyglucin, a 10% solution of dextran (water-soluble polysaccharide of glucose), twice a week for 2 to 3 weeks. In addition to general laboratory and clinical methods of investigation, cytologic analysis of sputum before and after treatment was carried out. Results of experiment are given in 3 tables showing: Dynamics of Allergic Signs after Treatment with Rheopolyglucin, Dynamics of Content of Eosinophils in Blood after Treatment, and Cytologic Characteristics of Mucus of Patients with Dust-Induced Bronchitis. Patients treated with rheopolyglucin improved more than control group in abatement of suppurative process in lungs, strengthening of specific cellular and humoral mechanisms of immune response at level of bronchopulmonary system, increased expulsion of mineral dust from lungs and significant reduction of allergic reaction. Results quantitated in tables prove advantages of adding rheopolyglucin to traditional therapy in treatment of dust-induced bronchitis. 19 refs.

  5. Fractal dust grains in plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, F.; Peng, R. D.; Liu, Y. H.; Chen, Z. Y.; Ye, M. F.; Wang, L.

    2012-01-01

    Fractal dust grains of different shapes are observed in a radially confined magnetized radio frequency plasma. The fractal dimensions of the dust structures in two-dimensional (2D) horizontal dust layers are calculated, and their evolution in the dust growth process is investigated. It is found that as the dust grains grow the fractal dimension of the dust structure decreases. In addition, the fractal dimension of the center region is larger than that of the entire region in the 2D dust layer. In the initial growth stage, the small dust particulates at a high number density in a 2D layer tend to fill space as a normal surface with fractal dimension D = 2. The mechanism of the formation of fractal dust grains is discussed.

  6. Design and development of a dust dispersion chamber to quantify the dispersibility of rock dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perera, Inoka E; Sapko, Michael J; Harris, Marcia L; Zlochower, Isaac A; Weiss, Eric S

    2016-01-01

    Dispersible rock dust must be applied to the surfaces of entries in underground coal mines in order to inert the coal dust entrained or made airborne during an explosion and prevent propagating explosions. 30 CFR. 75.2 states that "… [rock dust particles] when wetted and dried will not cohere to form a cake which will not be dispersed into separate particles by a light blast of air …" However, a proper definition or quantification of "light blast of air" is not provided. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has, consequently, designed a dust dispersion chamber to conduct quantitative laboratory-scale dispersibility experiments as a screening tool for candidate rock dusts. A reproducible pulse of air is injected into the chamber and across a shallow tray of rock dust. The dust dispersed and carried downwind is monitored. The mass loss of the dust tray and the airborne dust measurements determine the relative dispersibility of the dust with respect to a Reference rock dust. This report describes the design and the methodology to evaluate the relative dispersibility of rock dusts with and without anti-caking agents. Further, the results of this study indicate that the dispersibility of rock dusts varies with particle size, type of anti-caking agent used, and with the untapped bulk density. Untreated rock dusts, when wetted and dried forming a cake that was much less dispersible than the reference rock dust used in supporting the 80% total incombustible content rule.

  7. Wood Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Learn about wood dust, which can raise the risk of cancers of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity. High amounts of wood dust are produced in sawmills, and in the furniture-making, cabinet-making, and carpentry industries.

  8. Thirteen years of Aeolian dust dynamics in a desert region (Negev desert, Israel): analysis of horizontal and vertical dust flux, vertical dust distribution and dust grain size

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Offer, Z.Y.; Goossens, D.

    2004-01-01

    At Sede Boqer (northern Negev desert, Israel), aeolian dust dynamics have been measured during the period 1988–2000. This study focuses on temporal records of the vertical and horizontal dust flux, the vertical distribution of the dust particles in the atmosphere, and the grain size of the

  9. Development of a Laser Ablation System Kit (LASK) for Tokamak in vessel tritium and dust inventory control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez, C.; Roche, H.; Pocheau, C.; Grisolia, C.; Gargiulo, L.; Semerok, A.; Vatry, A.; Delaporte, P.; Mercadier, L.

    2009-01-01

    During Tokamak operation, Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) are subjected to severe interaction with plasma. As a consequence and independently of the PFCs composition, materials eroded and then re-deposited in the form of layers on the surfaces, can flake and produce dusts. These fragile structures are able to trap part of the hydrogenated species (tritium for example) in vessel inventory. For safety reasons, it is mandatory to measure and to control vessel dust and tritium inventory. Up to now, laser techniques are a part of the most promising methods able to solve these ITER open issues. Of special interest are laser systems loaded on a miniature tool that can be attached to a Multi Purpose Deployer (MPD) and used for laser treatments (detritiation and other), for PFCs chemical analysis as well as for micro particles recovery of dust produced during laser ablation. Such a system (Laser Ablation System Kit: LASK) is currently under development at IRFM and the following presentation will describe the current achievements of this project and the perspectives. In this paper, we will present an innovative compact system, which, loaded on a Multi Purpose Deployer, could allow operation in a harsh environment (pressure range from atmospheric to Ultra High Vacuum and temperature up to 120 deg. C). According to the process conditions, different treatments can be performed: at low laser fluence, PFCs thermal treatment will be expected, while at high laser fluence material will be ablated allowing Dust (and T) recovery as well as chemical analysis of material. This 'in-line' chemical analysis based on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) enables the ablation process to be controlled and preserves the substrate integrity. The paper will be focussed on the methodology followed during the LASK development and the method used to determine a laser process window able to remove co-deposited film without damaging the bulk material and taking into account external parameter

  10. Characterization of airborne float coal dust emitted during continuous mining, longwall mining and belt transport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahan, M R; Seaman, C E; Beck, T W; Colinet, J F; Mischler, S E

    2017-09-01

    Float coal dust is produced by various mining methods, carried by ventilating air and deposited on the floor, roof and ribs of mine airways. If deposited, float dust is re-entrained during a methane explosion. Without sufficient inert rock dust quantities, this float coal dust can propagate an explosion throughout mining entries. Consequently, controlling float coal dust is of critical interest to mining operations. Rock dusting, which is the adding of inert material to airway surfaces, is the main control technique currently used by the coal mining industry to reduce the float coal dust explosion hazard. To assist the industry in reducing this hazard, the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health initiated a project to investigate methods and technologies to reduce float coal dust in underground coal mines through prevention, capture and suppression prior to deposition. Field characterization studies were performed to determine quantitatively the sources, types and amounts of dust produced during various coal mining processes. The operations chosen for study were a continuous miner section, a longwall section and a coal-handling facility. For each of these operations, the primary dust sources were confirmed to be the continuous mining machine, longwall shearer and conveyor belt transfer points, respectively. Respirable and total airborne float dust samples were collected and analyzed for each operation, and the ratio of total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust was calculated. During the continuous mining process, the ratio of total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust ranged from 10.3 to 13.8. The ratios measured on the longwall face were between 18.5 and 21.5. The total airborne float coal dust to respirable dust ratio observed during belt transport ranged between 7.5 and 21.8.

  11. Quantifying Anthropogenic Dust Emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Nicholas P.; Pierre, Caroline

    2018-02-01

    Anthropogenic land use and land cover change, including local environmental disturbances, moderate rates of wind-driven soil erosion and dust emission. These human-dust cycle interactions impact ecosystems and agricultural production, air quality, human health, biogeochemical cycles, and climate. While the impacts of land use activities and land management on aeolian processes can be profound, the interactions are often complex and assessments of anthropogenic dust loads at all scales remain highly uncertain. Here, we critically review the drivers of anthropogenic dust emission and current evaluation approaches. We then identify and describe opportunities to: (1) develop new conceptual frameworks and interdisciplinary approaches that draw on ecological state-and-transition models to improve the accuracy and relevance of assessments of anthropogenic dust emissions; (2) improve model fidelity and capacity for change detection to quantify anthropogenic impacts on aeolian processes; and (3) enhance field research and monitoring networks to support dust model applications to evaluate the impacts of disturbance processes on local to global-scale wind erosion and dust emissions.

  12. Increasing Severity of Pneumoconiosis Among Younger Former US Coal Miners Working Exclusively Under Modern Dust-Control Regulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graber, Judith M; Harris, Gerald; Almberg, Kirsten S; Rose, Cecile S; Petsonk, Edward L; Cohen, Robert A

    2017-06-01

    Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) steadily declined among US miners following dust control regulations in 1970. In 2000, severe forms of this disease reemerged among young miners, and are well described among working-but not former-miners. Black lung benefits program (BLBP) data (2001 to 2013) were used to estimate respiratory disease burden among former miners including: (1) CWP (simple; advanced CWP, and progressive massive fibrosis [CWP/PMF]); and (2) respiratory impairment (FEV1 percent reference: mild, moderate, ≥moderately-severe). Among 24,686 claimants, 8.5% had advanced CWP/PMF; prevalence was highest among younger (less than or equal to 56 years: 10.8%) and older (greater than 70 years: 8.4%) miners and those who began work after versus before 1970 (8.3% vs. 4.0%). BLBP claims provide potentially useful data for monitoring the burden and severity of coal mine dust lung disease, and assessing efficacy of protective regulations.

  13. Occupational exposure to wood dust and risk of nasal and nasopharyngeal cancer: A case-control study among men in four nordic countries-With an emphasis on nasal adenocarcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siew, Sie Sie; Martinsen, Jan Ivar; Kjaerheim, Kristina; Sparén, Pär; Tryggvadottir, Laufey; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Pukkala, Eero

    2017-12-15

    The current study aims to provide stronger evidence to aid in our understanding of the role of cumulative occupational exposure to (softwood-dominated) mixed wood dust in aetiology of nasal cancer. We included broad exposure occurred in a range of wood-processing occupation across varied industries in four Nordic countries. A population-based case-control study was conducted on all male cases with nasal adenocarcinoma (393 cases), other types of nasal cancer (2,446) and nasopharyngeal cancer (1,747) diagnosed in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland between 1961 and 2005. For each case, five male controls, who were alive at the time of diagnosis of the case (index date), were randomly selected, matched by birth-year and country. Cumulative exposures (CE)s to wood dust and formaldehyde before the index date were quantified based on a job-exposure matrix linked to occupational titles derived from population censuses. Hazard ratios (HRs) for the CE of wood dust were estimated by conditional logistic regression, adjusted for CE to formaldehyde and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. There was an increasing risk of nasal adenocarcinoma related to wood dust exposure. The HR in the highest CE category of wood dust (≥ 28.82 mg/m 3 -years) was 16.5 (95% CI 5.05-54.1). Neither nonadenocarcinoma of the nose nor nasopharyngeal cancer could be linked to wood dust exposure. CE to softwood-dominated mixed wood dusts is strongly linked with elevated risk in nasal adenocarcinoma but not with other types of nasal or nasopharyngeal cancer. © 2017 UICC.

  14. Dust storm events over Delhi: verification of dust AOD forecasts with satellite and surface observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Aditi; Iyengar, Gopal R.; George, John P.

    2016-05-01

    Thar desert located in northwest part of India is considered as one of the major dust source. Dust storms originate in Thar desert during pre-monsoon season, affects large part of Indo-Gangetic plains. High dust loading causes the deterioration of the ambient air quality and degradation in visibility. Present study focuses on the identification of dust events and verification of the forecast of dust events over Delhi and western part of IG Plains, during the pre-monsoon season of 2015. Three dust events have been identified over Delhi during the study period. For all the selected days, Terra-MODIS AOD at 550 nm are found close to 1.0, while AURA-OMI AI shows high values. Dust AOD forecasts from NCMRWF Unified Model (NCUM) for the three selected dust events are verified against satellite (MODIS) and ground based observations (AERONET). Comparison of observed AODs at 550 nm from MODIS with NCUM predicted AODs reveals that NCUM is able to predict the spatial and temporal distribution of dust AOD, in these cases. Good correlation (~0.67) is obtained between the NCUM predicted dust AODs and location specific observations available from AERONET. Model under-predicted the AODs as compared to the AERONET observations. This may be mainly because the model account for only dust and no anthropogenic activities are considered. The results of the present study emphasize the requirement of more realistic representation of local dust emission in the model both of natural and anthropogenic origin, to improve the forecast of dust from NCUM during the dust events.

  15. Climate change and climate systems influence and control the atmospheric dispersion of desert dust: implications for human health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Dale W.; Ragaini, Richard C.

    2010-01-01

    The global dispersion of desert dust through Earth’s atmosphere is greatly influenced by temperature. Temporal analyses of ice core data have demonstrated that enhanced dust dispersion occurs during glacial events. This is due to an increase in ice cover, which results in an increase in drier terrestrial cover. A shorter temporal analysis of dust dispersion data over the last 40 years has demonstrated an increase in dust transport. Climate systems or events such as the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Indian Ocean subtropical High, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and El Nino-Sothern Oscillation are known to influence global short-term dust dispersion occurrence and transport routes. Anthropogenic influences on dust transport include deforestation, harmful use of topsoil for agriculture as observed during the American Dust Bowl period, and the creation of dry seas (Aral Sea) and lakes (Lake Owens in California and Lake Chad in North Africa) through the diversion of source waters (for irrigation and drinking water supplies). Constituents of desert dust both from source regions (pathogenic microorganisms, organic and inorganic toxins) and those scavenged through atmospheric transport (i.e., industrial and agricultural emissions) are known to directly impact human and ecosystem health. This presentation will present a review of global scale dust storms and how these events can be both a detriment and benefit to various organisms in downwind environments.

  16. Parameterizing the interstellar dust temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hocuk, S.; Szűcs, L.; Caselli, P.; Cazaux, S.; Spaans, M.; Esplugues, G. B.

    2017-08-01

    The temperature of interstellar dust particles is of great importance to astronomers. It plays a crucial role in the thermodynamics of interstellar clouds, because of the gas-dust collisional coupling. It is also a key parameter in astrochemical studies that governs the rate at which molecules form on dust. In 3D (magneto)hydrodynamic simulations often a simple expression for the dust temperature is adopted, because of computational constraints, while astrochemical modelers tend to keep the dust temperature constant over a large range of parameter space. Our aim is to provide an easy-to-use parametric expression for the dust temperature as a function of visual extinction (AV) and to shed light on the critical dependencies of the dust temperature on the grain composition. We obtain an expression for the dust temperature by semi-analytically solving the dust thermal balance for different types of grains and compare to a collection of recent observational measurements. We also explore the effect of ices on the dust temperature. Our results show that a mixed carbonaceous-silicate type dust with a high carbon volume fraction matches the observations best. We find that ice formation allows the dust to be warmer by up to 15% at high optical depths (AV> 20 mag) in the interstellar medium. Our parametric expression for the dust temperature is presented as Td = [ 11 + 5.7 × tanh(0.61 - log 10(AV) ]χuv1/5.9, where χuv is in units of the Draine (1978, ApJS, 36, 595) UV field.

  17. Resuspension of carbon dust collected in Tore Supra and exposed to turbulent airflow: Controlled experiments and comparison with model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peillon, S., E-mail: samuel.peillon@irsn.fr [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES/SCA/LPMA, Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91192 (France); Roynette, A. [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES/SCA/LPMA, Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91192 (France); Grisolia, C. [CEA, IRFM, F-13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Gensdarmes, F. [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES/SCA/LPMA, Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91192 (France)

    2014-11-15

    Highlights: • Mobilization of dust is a key issue for the safety assessment of fusion reactors. • Carbon dust has been collected on the plasma facing components of Tore Supra. • Samples exhibit bimodal particle size distributions. • Samples have been exposed to turbulent airflows for dust resuspension studies. • A comparison with the so-called Rock’n roll resuspension model is proposed. - Abstract: This work presents the results of experiments conducted with carbon microparticles collected in the tokamak Tore Supra in order to characterize their resuspension behaviour from a stainless-steel substrate when exposed to turbulent airflow. Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel with controlled velocity profiles and monitored environmental conditions. A consequent amount of dust has been collected in the vessel of the tokamak and a bimodal particle size distribution of samples is first demonstrated. Comparison with resuspension of alumina powders with equivalent particle size distributions under turbulent airflow is also discussed. Results for both carbon and alumina microparticles are then compared to a theoretical resuspension model. Data reveal that exposing multilayer deposits with bimodal particle size distributions to low-speed flows (i.e. 3–10 m/s) induces a significant reduction of the mobilized fractions compared to what was predicted by the model. In addition, results helped to highlight some limitations in the model to physically describe changes in the adhesive strength that can occur with a polydisperse deposit.

  18. Physics of interstellar dust

    CERN Document Server

    Krugel, Endrik

    2002-01-01

    The dielectric permeability; How to evaluate grain cross sections; Very small and very big particles; Case studies of Mie calculus; Particle statistics; The radiative transition probability; Structure and composition of dust; Dust radiation; Dust and its environment; Polarization; Grain alignment; PAHs and spectral features of dust; Radiative transport; Diffuse matter in the Milky Way; Stars and their formation; Emission from young stars. Appendices Mathematical formulae; List of symbols.

  19. Dust collection capacity of plants growing in coal mining areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maiti, S.K.

    1993-01-01

    Plant can act as living filter of dust pollution in coal mining areas, where the amount of suspended particulate matter and dust fall rate is very high. Therefore, plant species growing in coal mining areas are classified as evergreen or deciduous with simple and compound leaf basis. The dust arresting capacity of each leaf is measured and expressed in g/m 2 . The study indicated that evergreen plants with simple, pilose surface, like - Alstonia, Ficus cunea, F. benghalensis and Mangifera indica are good dust catcher than evergreen compound leaves of Cassia siamea, Acacia arabica and Leucaena leucocephala. Deciduous with simple leaves, such as Zizyphus mauritiana, F. religiosa, Psidium guyava are also good dust collectors. Suitable plant species also help in quick reclamation of mined out areas; one practical difficulty for establishment of trees as green belts or reclamation purpose, has been incidence of cattle grazing. This study suggested a systematic way of selecting plant species on the basis of their efficiency in dust control and resistance to cattle grazing. (author). 16 refs., 3 tabs

  20. Risk Assessment to Dust Exposure in Room Maintenance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saiku Rokhim

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available As one of the particulate chemicals, dust could occur in most of the production process and can create interference for workers health and safety. As one of the air pollution sources, dust could became a potential hazard which exist in room maintenances. Protection to workers is a must in order to reduce the risk of respiratory tract syndrome that often could be found in this cases. The aim of this study is to conduct a risk assessment to dust exposure in room maintenance, which held by contractors in PT. X (Persero building in Surabaya. This is an cross sectional study with obsevation approach. The object of this research is the repairing  works. The results indicate that the activities which could produce dust, such as: walls sanding using sandpaper, the tiles dismantle, sawmilling, the wood fiber refining, grinding, mixing and stirring cast  materials, and room cleaning. Dust produced from a variety of works including sanddust, cement, lime, wood and dust mixed with paint. The results show that three types of works considere as high-risk activity (value > 12-25, 3 types of work consider as midle risk activities (value > 5-12, and one activity considered as a low-risk work (grades 1-5. The dusk factors controlling should be held regularly, in order to minimize the risk leveln againts the workers.

  1. The Continuous Monitoring of Desert Dust using an Infrared-based Dust Detection and Retrieval Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duda, David P.; Minnis, Patrick; Trepte, Qing; Sun-Mack, Sunny

    2006-01-01

    Airborne dust and sand are significant aerosol sources that can impact the atmospheric and surface radiation budgets. Because airborne dust affects visibility and air quality, it is desirable to monitor the location and concentrations of this aerosol for transportation and public health. Although aerosol retrievals have been derived for many years using visible and near-infrared reflectance measurements from satellites, the detection and quantification of dust from these channels is problematic over bright surfaces, or when dust concentrations are large. In addition, aerosol retrievals from polar orbiting satellites lack the ability to monitor the progression and sources of dust storms. As a complement to current aerosol dust retrieval algorithms, multi-spectral thermal infrared (8-12 micron) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Meteosat-8 Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) are used in the development of a prototype dust detection method and dust property retrieval that can monitor the progress of Saharan dust fields continuously, both night and day. The dust detection method is incorporated into the processing of CERES (Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System) aerosol retrievals to produce dust property retrievals. Both MODIS (from Terra and Aqua) and SEVERI data are used to develop the method.

  2. Efficacy evaluation of a pollen blocker cream against dust-mite allergy: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yanqing; Cheng, Lei; Chen, Xiaoning; Yang, Beibei; Wang, Dehui

    2015-01-01

    To further evaluate the efficacy and safety of a pollen blocker cream against dust-mite allergy. A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial was conducted in a Chinese population. Patients diagnosed with perennial allergic rhinitis, sensitive to dust-mite allergy including Dermatophagoides farinae and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus were randomly allocated to receive a pollen blocker cream or placebo, which was applied and spread evenly to the lower internal nose region three times daily for a total of 30 days. The primary outcome measurements for efficacy were total nasal symptom score (TNSS) and individual nasal symptom score (iNSS). Adverse events were also monitored. After application of a pollen blocker, the mean TNSS decreased from 23.1 to 13.8, the decrease of the pollen blocker group (9.3) was highly significant compared with the placebo group (5.2; p 0.05), and no severe systematic reactions were observed. Pollen Blocker is a safe and effective alternative to the drugs for treatment of AR, especially for Chinese people allergic to dust-mite allergy.

  3. Sensitivity of transatlantic dust transport to chemical aging and related atmospheric processes

    KAUST Repository

    Abdelkader, Mohamed; Metzger, Swen; Steil, Benedikt; Klingmü ller, Klaus; Tost, Holger; Pozzer, Andrea; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Barrie, Leonard; Lelieveld, Jos

    2017-01-01

    We present a sensitivity study on transatlantic dust transport, a process which has many implications for the atmosphere, the ocean and the climate. We investigate the impact of key processes that control the dust outflow, i.e., the emission flux

  4. Dust as a surfactant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ignatov, A M; Schram, P P J M; Trigger, S A

    2003-01-01

    We argue that dust immersed in a plasma sheath acts as a surfactant. By considering the momentum balance in a plasma sheath, we evaluate the dependence of the plasma surface pressure on the dust density. It is shown that the dust may reduce the surface pressure, giving rise to a sufficiently strong tangential force. The latter is capable of confining the dust layer inside the sheath in the direction perpendicular to the ion flow

  5. INFRARED LUMINOSITIES AND DUST PROPERTIES OF z ∼ 2 DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bussmann, R. S.; Dey, Arjun; Jannuzi, B. T.; Borys, C.; Desai, V.; Sheth, K.; Soifer, B. T.; Le Floc'h, E.; Melbourne, J.

    2009-01-01

    We present SHARC-II 350 μm imaging of twelve 24 μm bright (F 24μm > 0.8 mJy) Dust-Obscured Galaxies (DOGs) and Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) 1 mm imaging of a subset of two DOGs. These objects are selected from the Booetes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. Detections of four DOGs at 350 μm imply infrared (IR) luminosities which are consistent to within a factor of 2 of expectations based on a warm-dust spectral energy distribution (SED) scaled to the observed 24 μm flux density. The 350 μm upper limits for the 8 non-detected DOGs are consistent with both Mrk 231 and M82 (warm-dust SEDs), but exclude cold dust (Arp 220) SEDs. The two DOGs targeted at 1 mm were not detected in our CARMA observations, placing strong constraints on the dust temperature: T dust > 35-60 K. Assuming these dust properties apply to the entire sample, we find dust masses of ∼3 x 10 8 M sun . In comparison to other dusty z ∼ 2 galaxy populations such as submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) and other Spitzer-selected high-redshift sources, this sample of DOGs has higher IR luminosities (2 x 10 13 L sun versus 6 x 10 12 L sun for the other galaxy populations) that are driven by warmer dust temperatures (>35-60 K versus ∼30 K) and lower inferred dust masses (3 x 10 8 M sun versus 3 x 10 9 M sun ). Wide-field Herschel and Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array-2 surveys should be able to detect hundreds of these power-law-dominated DOGs. We use the existing Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer/InfraRed Array Camera data to estimate stellar masses of these sources and find that the stellar to gas mass ratio may be higher in our 24 μm bright sample of DOGs than in SMGs and other Spitzer-selected sources. Although much larger sample sizes are needed to provide a definitive conclusion, the data are consistent with an evolutionary trend in which the formation of massive galaxies at z ∼ 2 involves a submillimeter bright, cold-dust, and star

  6. Lunar Dust Mitigation Screens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knutson, Shawn; Holloway, Nancy

    With plans for the United States to return to the moon, and establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface many issues must be successfully overcome. Lunar dust is one of a number of issues with the potential to create a myriad of problems if not adequately addressed. Samples of dust brought back from Apollo missions show it to be soft, yet sharp and abrasive. The dust consists of a variety of morphologies including spherical, angular blocks, shards, and a number of irregular shapes. One of the main issues with lunar dust is its attraction to stick to anything it comes in contact with (i.e. astronauts, equipment, habitats, etc.). Ionized radiation from the sun strikes the moon's surface and creates an electrostatic charge on the dust. Further, the dust harbors van der Waals forces making it especially difficult to separate once it sticks to a surface. During the Apollo missions, it was discovered that trying to brush the lunar dust from spacesuits was not effective, and rubbing it caused degradation of the suit material. Further, when entering the lunar module after moonwalks, the astronauts noted that the dust was so prolific inside the cabin that they inhaled and ingested it, causing at least one of them, Harrison "Jack" Schmidt, to report irritation of the throat and lungs. It is speculated that the dust could also harm an astronaut's nervous and cardiovascular systems, especially during an extended stay. In addition to health issues, the dust can also cause problems by scouring reflective coatings off of thermal blankets, and roughening surfaces of windows and optics. Further, panels on solar cells and photovoltaics can also be compromised due to dust sticking on the surfaces. Lunar dust has the capacity to penetrate seals, interfere with connectors, as well as mechanisms on digging machines, all of which can lead to problems and failure. To address lunar dust issues, development of electrostatic screens to mitigate dust on sur-faces is currently

  7. Reducing dust and allergen exposure in bakeries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Howard J Mason

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Bakers have a continuing high incidence of occupational allergic asthma. In factory bakeries they are exposed not only to flour dust containing allergens, but also improvers whose ingredients enhance the strength and workability of the dough and its speed of rising. Improvers are flour-based but can contain added soya, fungal or bacterial enzymes that are also allergenic, as well as vegetable oil, calcium sulphate/silicate and organic esters. This study investigated the dustiness of the components used in factory bakeries and whether altering improver ingredients could reduce dust and allergen exposure. A standardised rotating drum test was employed on the individual components, as well as a representative improver and three practicable improver modifications by decreasing calcium sulphate, calcium silicate or increasing oil content. Levels of dust, the allergens wheat flour amylase inhibitor (WAAI and soya trypsin inhibitor (STI were measured in the generated inhalable, thoracic and respirable sized fractions. A “scooping and pouring” workplace simulation was also performed. Initial tests showed that dustiness of several wheat flours was relatively low, and even lower for soya flour, but increased in combination with some other improver components. All three improver modifications generally reduced levels of dust, STI and WAAI, but increasing oil content significantly decreased dust and STI in comparison to the standard improver and those improvers with reduced calcium silicate or sulphate. The simulation demonstrated that increased oil content reduced inhalable levels of gravimetric dust, STI and WAAI. Changing improver formulation, such as increasing oil content of flour by a small amount, may represent a simple, practical method of reducing bakery workers’ exposure to dust and allergens where improvers are used. It may be a useful adjunct to engineering control, changes to work practices and appropriate training in reducing the risk to

  8. Real-time measurement of dust in the workplace using video exposure monitoring: Farming to pharmaceuticals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walsh, P T; Forth, A R; Clark, R D R; Dowker, K P; Thorpe, A

    2009-01-01

    Real-time, photometric, portable dust monitors have been employed for video exposure monitoring (VEM) to measure and highlight dust levels generated by work activities, illustrate dust control techniques, and demonstrate good practice. Two workplaces, presenting different challenges for measurement, were used to illustrate the capabilities of VEM: (a) poultry farming activities and (b) powder transfer operations in a pharmaceutical company. For the poultry farm work, the real-time monitors were calibrated with respect to the respirable and inhalable dust concentrations using cyclone and IOM reference samplers respectively. Different rankings of exposure for typical activities were found on the small farm studied here compared to previous exposure measurements at larger poultry farms: these were mainly attributed to the different scales of operation. Large variations in the ratios of respirable, inhalable and real-time monitor TWA concentrations of poultry farm dust for various activities were found. This has implications for the calibration of light-scattering dust monitors with respect to inhalable dust concentration. In the pharmaceutical application, the effectiveness of a curtain barrier for dust control when dispensing powder in a downflow booth was rapidly demonstrated.

  9. Extracting lunar dust parameters from image charge signals produced by the Lunar Dust Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley, J.; Kempf, S.; Horanyi, M.; Szalay, J.

    2015-12-01

    The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is an impact ionization dust detector used to characterize the lunar dust exosphere generated by the impacts of large interplanetary particles and meteor streams (Horanyi et al., 2015). In addition to the mass and speed of these lofted particles, LDEX is sensitive to their charge. The resulting signatures of impact events therefore provide valuable information about not only the ambient plasma environment, but also the speed vectors of these dust grains. Here, impact events produced from LDEX's calibration at the Dust Accelerator Laboratory are analyzed using an image charge model derived from the electrostatic simulation program, Coulomb. We show that parameters such as dust grain speed, size, charge, and position of entry into LDEX can be recovered and applied to data collected during LADEE's seven-month mission.

  10. From Desert to Dessert: Why Australian Dust Matters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, K. A.; Mackie, D. S.; Boyd, P. W.; McTainsh, G. H.

    2006-12-01

    The growth of some types of phytoplankton in several parts of the world ocean, including much of the Southern Ocean, is limited by the supply of iron. Large Australian dust storms uplift, transport and abrade soils, to produce aeolian dust that is a significant source iron to the Southern Ocean. Atmospheric processes that enhance the dissolution of iron from aeolian dusts are of interest and have been studied for material from major dust producing regions like the Sahara, Gobi and Australian deserts; the reported solubility of iron from aeolian dusts ranges from <0.01% to 80%. The characteristic red soils, sands and dusts from Australia are generally believed to consist of quartz grains with a coating of fine grains and crystals of iron oxides, primarily hematite and goethite. The precise mineralogy of soil and dust grain coatings is poorly understood and it also not well known how the coatings are altered during uplift and transport to the ocean. Current models to understand the processes operating during the transport and atmospheric processing of dust include some generalisations and simplifications that are not always warranted and our work has shown the overlooked complexity of the system. Models for aeolian-iron dissolution based on Northern Hemisphere data commonly include the pollutants SOx and NOx. The modern Southern Hemisphere is less polluted and thus resembles past environmental systems. The dissolution of iron from soils of the Saharan, Gobi and Australian deserts in the presence of protons only (i.e. without SOx and NOx) occurs in two phases. The first, faster phase, representing up to 20% of total iron is via a surface-controlled mechanism. The rate determining variable is the exposed surface area of the iron oxides and not the size of the underlying quartz grain. The second, slower, phase of dissolution occurs via the transport-controlled formation of a leached layer. During the simulated aeolian abrasion of Australian soils from dust producing

  11. Effect of ecological restoration programs on dust concentrations in the North China Plain: a case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Xin; Tie, Xuexi; Li, Guohui; Cao, Junji; Feng, Tian; Zhao, Shuyu; Xing, Li; An, Zhisheng

    2018-05-01

    In recent decades, the Chinese government has made a great effort in initiating large-scale ecological restoration programs (ERPs) to reduce the dust concentrations in China, especially for dust storm episodes. Using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product, the ERP-induced land cover changes are quantitatively evaluated in this study. Two obvious vegetation protective barriers arise throughout China from the southwest to the northeast, which are well known as the Green Great Wall (GGW). Both the grass GGW and forest GGW are located between the dust source region (DSR) and the densely populated North China Plain (NCP). To assess the effect of ERPs on dust concentrations, a regional transport/dust model (WRF-DUST, Weather Research and Forecast model with dust) is applied to investigate the evolution of dust plumes during a strong dust storm episode from 2 to 8 March 2016. The WRF-DUST model generally performs reasonably well in reproducing the temporal variations and spatial distributions of near-surface [PMC] (mass concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter between 2.5 and 10 µm) during the dust storm event. Sensitivity experiments have indicated that the ERP-induced GGWs help to reduce the dust concentration in the NCP, especially in BTH (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei). When the dust storm is transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, the [PMC] reduction ranges from -5 to -15 % in the NCP, with a maximum reduction of -12.4 % (-19.2 µg m-3) in BTH and -7.6 % (-10.1 µg m-3) in the NCP. We find the dust plumes move up to the upper atmosphere and are transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, accompanied by dust decrease. During the episode, the forest GGW is nonsignificant in dust concentration control because it is of benefit for dry deposition and not for emission. Conversely, the grass GGW is beneficial in controlling dust erosion and is the dominant reason for [PMC] decrease in the NCP

  12. Effect of ecological restoration programs on dust concentrations in the North China Plain: a case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Long

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In recent decades, the Chinese government has made a great effort in initiating large-scale ecological restoration programs (ERPs to reduce the dust concentrations in China, especially for dust storm episodes. Using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS land cover product, the ERP-induced land cover changes are quantitatively evaluated in this study. Two obvious vegetation protective barriers arise throughout China from the southwest to the northeast, which are well known as the Green Great Wall (GGW. Both the grass GGW and forest GGW are located between the dust source region (DSR and the densely populated North China Plain (NCP. To assess the effect of ERPs on dust concentrations, a regional transport/dust model (WRF-DUST, Weather Research and Forecast model with dust is applied to investigate the evolution of dust plumes during a strong dust storm episode from 2 to 8 March 2016. The WRF-DUST model generally performs reasonably well in reproducing the temporal variations and spatial distributions of near-surface [PMC] (mass concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter between 2.5 and 10 µm during the dust storm event. Sensitivity experiments have indicated that the ERP-induced GGWs help to reduce the dust concentration in the NCP, especially in BTH (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. When the dust storm is transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, the [PMC] reduction ranges from −5 to −15 % in the NCP, with a maximum reduction of −12.4 % (−19.2 µg m−3 in BTH and −7.6 % (−10.1 µg m−3 in the NCP. We find the dust plumes move up to the upper atmosphere and are transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, accompanied by dust decrease. During the episode, the forest GGW is nonsignificant in dust concentration control because it is of benefit for dry deposition and not for emission. Conversely, the grass GGW is beneficial in controlling dust erosion and is the

  13. Effective mitigation efforts to reduce road dust near industrial sites: assessment by mobile pollution surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeLuca, Patrick F; Corr, Denis; Wallace, Julie; Kanaroglou, Pavlos

    2012-05-15

    Assessment of spatial variation of fugitive dust sources, particularly road dust track-out from industrial sites and its subsequent re-suspension is difficult with fixed air quality monitoring stations given their sparse distribution and the highly localized nature of road dust. Mobile monitoring was employed to measure levels of road dust in the industrial area of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Results of this monitoring were used in a Fugitive Dust Control workshop held for local stakeholders, where fugitive dust control solutions were presented. After the workshop, the City of Hamilton and cooperative industrial groups executed enhanced street cleaning and individual industries and facilities performed on-site control activities. Post-workshop mobile air monitoring was performed for comparison to the initial values to determine effectiveness of these approaches. A regression model testing the difference pre- and post-workshop yielded a statistically significant difference in PM(10) measurements demonstrating improvement. The average value of PM(10) prior to the workshop was 114 μg/m(3). Post-workshop the average value dropped to 73 μg/m(3). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Numerical Prediction of Dust. Chapter 10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benedetti, Angela; Baldasano, J. M.; Basart, S.; Benincasa, F.; Boucher, O.; Brooks, M.; Chen, J. P.; Colarco, P. R.; Gong, S.; Huneeus, N.; hide

    2013-01-01

    Covers the whole breadth of mineral dust research, from a scientific perspective Presents interdisciplinary work including results from field campaigns, satellite observations, laboratory studies, computer modelling and theoretical studies Explores the role of dust as a player and recorder of environmental change This volume presents state-of-the-art research about mineral dust, including results from field campaigns, satellite observations, laboratory studies, computer modelling and theoretical studies. Dust research is a new, dynamic and fast-growing area of science and due to its multiple roles in the Earth system, dust has become a fascinating topic for many scientific disciplines. Aspects of dust research covered in this book reach from timescales of minutes (as with dust devils, cloud processes, and radiation) to millennia (as with loess formation and oceanic sediments), making dust both a player and recorder of environmental change. The book is structured in four main parts that explore characteristics of dust, the global dust cycle, impacts of dust on the Earth system, and dust as a climate indicator. The chapters in these parts provide a comprehensive, detailed overview of this highly interdisciplinary subject. The contributions presented here cover dust from source to sink and describe all the processes dust particles undergo while travelling through the atmosphere. Chapters explore how dust is lifted and transported, how it affects radiation, clouds, regional circulations, precipitation and chemical processes in the atmosphere, and how it deteriorates air quality. The book explores how dust is removed from the atmosphere by gravitational settling, turbulence or precipitation, how iron contained in dust fertilizes terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and about the role that dust plays in human health. We learn how dust is observed, simulated using computer models and forecast. The book also details the role of dust deposits for climate reconstructions

  15. Sahara Dust Cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Dust Particles Click on the image for Quicktime movie from 7/15-7/24 A continent-sized cloud of hot air and dust originating from the Sahara Desert crossed the Atlantic Ocean and headed towards Florida and the Caribbean. A Saharan Air Layer, or SAL, forms when dry air and dust rise from Africa's west coast and ride the trade winds above the Atlantic Ocean. These dust clouds are not uncommon, especially during the months of July and August. They start when weather patterns called tropical waves pick up dust from the desert in North Africa, carry it a couple of miles into the atmosphere and drift westward. In a sequence of images created by data acquired by the Earth-orbiting Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ranging from July 15 through July 24, we see the distribution of the cloud in the atmosphere as it swirls off of Africa and heads across the ocean to the west. Using the unique silicate spectral signatures of dust in the thermal infrared, AIRS can detect the presence of dust in the atmosphere day or night. This detection works best if there are no clouds present on top of the dust; when clouds are present, they can interfere with the signal, making it much harder to detect dust as in the case of July 24, 2005. In the Quicktime movie, the scale at the bottom of the images shows +1 for dust definitely detected, and ranges down to -1 for no dust detected. The plots are averaged over a number of AIRS observations falling within grid boxes, and so it is possible to obtain fractional numbers. [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Total Water Vapor in the Atmosphere Around the Dust Cloud Click on the image for Quicktime movie The dust cloud is contained within a dry adiabatic layer which originates over the Sahara Desert. This Saharan Air Layer (SAL) advances Westward over the Atlantic Ocean, overriding the cool, moist air nearer the surface. This burst of very dry air is visible in the AIRS retrieved total water

  16. Reduction of airborne radioactive dust by means of a charged water spray.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigu, J; Grenier, M G

    1989-07-01

    An electrostatic precipitator based on charged water spray technology has been used in an underground uranium mine to control long-lived radioactive dust and short-lived aerosol concentration in a mine gallery where dust from a rock breaking/ore transportation operation was discharged. Two main sampling stations were established: one upstream of the dust precipitator and one downstream. In addition, dust samplers were placed at different locations between the dust discharge and the end of the mine gallery. Long-lived radioactive dust was measured using cascade impactors and nylon cyclone dust samplers, and measurement of the radioactivity on the samples was carried out by conventional methods. Radon and thoron progeny were estimated using standard techniques. Experiments were conducted under a variety of airflow conditions. A maximum radioactive dust reduction of about 40% (approximately 20% caused by gravitational settling) at a ventilation rate of 0.61 m3/sec was obtained as a result of the combined action of water scrubbing and electrostatic precipitation by the charged water spray electrostatic precipitator. This represents the optimum efficiency attained within the range of ventilation rates investigated. The dust reduction efficiency of the charged water spray decreased with increasing ventilation rate, i.e., decreasing air residence time, and hence, reduced dust cloud/charged water droplets mixing time.

  17. Road dust from pavement wear and traction sanding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kupiainen, K.

    2007-07-01

    Vehicles affect the concentrations of ambient airborne particles through exhaust emissions, but particles are also formed in the mechanical processes in the tire-road interface, brakes, and engine. Particles deposited on or in the vicinity of the road may be re-entrained, or resuspended, into air through vehicle-induced turbulence and shearing stress of the tires. A commonly used term for these particles is 'road dust'. The processes affecting road dust emissions are complex and currently not well known. Road dust has been acknowledged as a dominant source of PM10 especially during spring in the sub-arctic urban areas, e.g. in Scandinavia, Finland, North America and Japan. The high proportion of road dust in sub-arctic regions of the world has been linked to the snowy winter conditions that make it necessary to use traction control methods. Traction control methods include dispersion of traction sand, melting of ice with brine solutions, and equipping the tires with either metal studs (studded winter tires), snow chains, or special tire design (friction tires). Several of these methods enhance the formation of mineral particles from pavement wear and/or from traction sand that accumulate in the road environment during winter. When snow and ice melt and surfaces dry out, traffic-induced turbulence makes some of the particles airborne. A general aim of this study was to study processes and factors underlying and affecting the formation and emissions of road dust from paved road surfaces. Special emphasis was placed on studying particle formation and sources during tire road interaction, especially when different applications of traction control, namely traction sanding and/or winter tires were in use. Respirable particles with aerodynamic diameter below 10 micrometers (PM10) have been the main concern, but other size ranges and particle size distributions were also studied. The following specific research questions were addressed: (i) How do traction

  18. Laboratory Studies on the Charging of Dust Grains in a Plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wenjun

    1993-01-01

    The charging of dust grains by the surrounding plasma is studied in a dusty plasma device (DPD) (Xu, W., B. Song, R. L. Merlino, and N. D'Angelo, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 63, 5266, 1992). The dusty plasma device consists of a rotating-drum dust dispersal device used in conjunction with an existing Q-machine, to produce extended, steady state, magnetized plasma columns. The dust density in the dust chamber is controlled by the drum rotation speed. The device is capable of generating a dusty plasma in which as much as about 90% of the negative charge is attached to the dust grains of 1-10mu m size. Measurements of the dust parameter eta, the percentage of negative charge on free electrons in the dusty plasma, are presented. The dust parameter eta is found to depend on the rotational speed of the dust chamber, plasma density and the type and size of different dust. The dust parameter eta is calculated from a pair of Langmuir curves taken with and without dust under the same conditions. The operation of the dust chamber as described above has been confirmed by the agreement between the measurements of eta and the direct mechanical measurements consisting of weighing dust samples collected within the rotation dust chamber, at different rotation rates. By varying the ratio d/lambda_ {rm D} between the intergrain distance and the plasma Debye length, the effects predicted by Goertz and Ip (Goertz, C. K., and W-H. Ip, Geophys. Res. Lett., 11, 349, 1984), and subsequently reanalyzed in a more general fashion by Whipple et al. (Whipple, E. C., T. G. Northrop, and D. A. Mendis, J. Geophys. Rev., 90, 7405, 1985), as "isolated" dust grains become "closely packed" grains, have been demonstrated experimentally (Xu, W., N. D'Angelo, and R. L. Merlino, J. Geophys. Rev., 98, 7843, 1993). Similar results are presented and compared for two types of dust, kaolin and Al_2O _3, which have been studied in the experiment.

  19. Universal instability of dust ion-sound waves and dust-acoustic waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsytovich, V.N.; Watanabe, K.

    2002-01-01

    It is shown that the dust ion-sound waves (DISW) and the dust-acoustic waves (DAW) are universally unstable for wave numbers less than some critical wave number. The basic dusty plasma state is assumed to be quasi-neutral with balance of the plasma particle absorption on the dust particles and the ionization with the rate proportional to the electron density. An analytical expression for the critical wave numbers, for the frequencies and for the growth rates of DISW and DAW are found using the hydrodynamic description of dusty plasma components with self-consistent treatment of the dust charge variations and by taking into account the change of the ion and electron distributions in the dust charging process. Most of the previous treatment do not take into account the latter process and do not treat the basic state self-consistently. The critical lengths corresponding to these critical wave numbers can be easily achieved in the existing experiments. It is shown that at the wave numbers larger than the critical ones DISW and DAW have a large damping which was not treated previously and which can be also measured. The instabilities found in the present work on their non linear stage can lead to formation of different types of dust self-organized structures. (author)

  20. Khuzestan dust phenomenon: a content analysis of most widely circulated newspapers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mojadam, Mehdi; Matlabi, Mohammad; Haji, Alireza; Cheraghi, Maria; Bitaraf, Saeid; Khafaie, Morteza Abdullatif

    2018-06-01

    Dust is an atmospheric phenomenon that causes adverse environmental effects. It is deemed to have harmful effects on health, economics, and climate. This study aimed to analyze the content published on the phenomenon of dust in the widely circulated newspapers in Iran. We investigated the content of all national and provincial newspapers that were published between July and August 2014. Data on the materials related to the dust phenomenon in the newspapers were categorized and coded. From a total of 510 newspaper issues, 143 articles were devoted to the dust phenomenon which 74.1% of them were published in provincial newspapers. Among the national newspapers, Hamshahri newspaper with 16 headlines and from the provincial newspapers; Karoon with 23 headlines published the highest number of articles on dust phenomenon. 45.5% of content on dust were printed on the first page of the newspapers. The most common approach to the type of content published in these newspapers was an interview. Moreover, we noticed that 28.7% of the content published in the newspapers was related to the health issue. The media plays an important role in the transmission of health information. Weaknesses in addressing the causes of dust occurrence and also in providing solutions for the dust control and prevention were noticeable in the content published in the newspaper. It seems necessary to take practical measures to disseminate relevant information to dust and also address the needs of the target audience community influenced by the dust phenomenon properly.

  1. Dust, Climate, and Human Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maynard, Nancy G.

    2003-01-01

    Air pollution from both natural and anthropogenic causes is considered to be one of the most serious world-wide environment-related health problems, and is expected to become worse with changes in the global climate. Dust storms from the atmospheric transport of desert soil dust that has been lifted and carried by the winds - often over significant distances - have become an increasingly important emerging air quality issue for many populations. Recent studies have shown that the dust storms can cause significant health impacts from the dust itself as well as the accompanying pollutants, pesticides, metals, salt, plant debris, and other inorganic and organic materials, including viable microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi). For example, thousands of tons of Asian desert sediments, some containing pesticides and herbicides from farming regions, are commonly transported into the Arctic during dust storm events. These chemicals have been identified in animal and human tissues among Arctic indigenous populations. Millions of tons of airborne desert dust are being tracked by satellite imagery, which clearly shows the magnitude as well as the temporal and spatial variability of dust storms across the "dust belt" regions of North Africa, the Middle East, and China. This paper summarizes the most recent findings on the effects of airborne desert dust on human health as well as potential climate influences on dust and health.

  2. Global Gene Expression Profiling in Lung Tissues of Rat Exposed to Lunar Dust Particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeshitla, Samrawit A.; Lam, Chiu-Wing; Kidane, Yared H.; Feiveson, Alan H.; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert; Wu, Honglu; James, John T.; Meyers, Valerie E.; Zhang, Ye

    2014-01-01

    The Moon's surface is covered by a layer of fine, potential reactive dust. Lunar dust contain about 1-2% respirable very fine dust (less than 3 micrometers). The habitable area of any lunar landing vehicle and outpost would inevitably be contaminated with lunar dust that could pose a health risk. The purpose of the study is to analyze the dynamics of global gene expression changes in lung tissues of rats exposed to lunar dust particles. F344 rats were exposed for 4 weeks (6h/d; 5d/wk) in nose-only inhalation chambers to concentrations of 0 (control air), 2.1, 6.8, 21, and 61 mg/m3 of lunar dust. Animals were euthanized at 1 day and 13 weeks after the last inhalation exposure. After being lavaged, lung tissue from each animal was collected and total RNA was isolated. Four samples of each dose group were analyzed using Agilent Rat GE v3 microarray to profile global gene expression of 44K transcripts. After background subtraction, normalization, and log transformation, t tests were used to compare the mean expression levels of each exposed group to the control group. Correction for multiple testing was made using the method of Benjamini, Krieger, and Yekuteli (1) to control the false discovery rate. Genes with significant changes of at least 1.75 fold were identified as genes of interest. Both low and high doses of lunar dust caused dramatic, dose-dependent global gene expression changes in the lung tissues. However, the responses of lung tissue to low dose lunar dust are distinguished from those of high doses, especially those associated with 61mg/m3 dust exposure. The data were further integrated into the Ingenuity system to analyze the gene ontology (GO), pathway distribution and putative upstream regulators and gene targets. Multiple pathways, functions, and upstream regulators have been identified in response to lunar dust induced damage in the lung tissue.

  3. House dust mites on skin, clothes, and bedding of atopic dermatitis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teplitsky, Valery; Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y; Babai, Ilan; Dalal, Ilan; Cohen, Rifka; Tanay, Amir

    2008-08-01

    Atopic dermatitis is a common allergic condition in children, often associated with a positive skin reaction to house dust mite allergens. To determine the presence of house dust mites on the skin, clothes, and bedding of patients with atopic dermatitis. Nineteen patients with atopic dermatitis were examined during a 2-year period. Samples from affected and healthy skin surfaces were obtained with adhesive tape, and dust samples from bedding and clothes were collected with a vacuum cleaner at the start of the study and 3-6 weeks later, and examined for the presence of house dust mites. The findings were compared with those of 21 healthy controls. The most common mite species on skin were Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae, which were found in nine patients and three controls. The patient group showed a significantly larger percentage of samples with mites than did the control group (34.9% and 7.9%, respectively) (P bedding of patients, or between patients and controls with regard to the number of mites on the clothes and bedding. Patients with atopic dermatitis showed a higher prevalence of mites on their skin than did healthy individuals, which could be involved in allergic sensitization and disease exacerbation.

  4. Dust trap formation in a non-self-sustained discharge with external gas ionization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Filippov, A. V.; Babichev, V. N.; Pal’, A. F.; Starostin, A. N.; Cherkovets, V. E.; Rerikh, V. K.; Taran, M. D.

    2015-01-01

    Results from numerical studies of a non-self-sustained gas discharge containing micrometer dust grains are presented. The non-self-sustained discharge (NSSD) was controlled by a stationary fast electron beam. The numerical model of an NSSD is based on the diffusion drift approximation for electrons and ions and self-consistently takes into account the influence of the dust component on the electron and ion densities. The dust component is described by the balance equation for the number of dust grains and the equation of motion for dust grains with allowance for the Stokes force, gravity force, and electric force in the cathode sheath. The interaction between dust grains is described in the self-consistent field approximation. The height of dust grain levitation over the cathode is determined and compared with experimental results. It is established that, at a given gas ionization rate and given applied voltage, there is a critical dust grain size above which the levitation condition in the cathode sheath cannot be satisfied. Simulations performed for the dust component consisting of dust grains of two different sizes shows that such grains levitate at different heights, i.e., size separation of dust drains levitating in the cathode sheath of an NSSD takes place

  5. Dust trap formation in a non-self-sustained discharge with external gas ionization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Filippov, A. V., E-mail: fav@triniti.ru; Babichev, V. N.; Pal’, A. F.; Starostin, A. N.; Cherkovets, V. E.; Rerikh, V. K.; Taran, M. D. [Troitsk Institute for Innovation and Fusion Research (Russian Federation)

    2015-11-15

    Results from numerical studies of a non-self-sustained gas discharge containing micrometer dust grains are presented. The non-self-sustained discharge (NSSD) was controlled by a stationary fast electron beam. The numerical model of an NSSD is based on the diffusion drift approximation for electrons and ions and self-consistently takes into account the influence of the dust component on the electron and ion densities. The dust component is described by the balance equation for the number of dust grains and the equation of motion for dust grains with allowance for the Stokes force, gravity force, and electric force in the cathode sheath. The interaction between dust grains is described in the self-consistent field approximation. The height of dust grain levitation over the cathode is determined and compared with experimental results. It is established that, at a given gas ionization rate and given applied voltage, there is a critical dust grain size above which the levitation condition in the cathode sheath cannot be satisfied. Simulations performed for the dust component consisting of dust grains of two different sizes shows that such grains levitate at different heights, i.e., size separation of dust drains levitating in the cathode sheath of an NSSD takes place.

  6. Lead in Chinese villager house dust: Geographical variation and influencing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bi, Xiangyang; Liu, Jinling; Han, Zhixuan; Yang, Wenlin

    2015-12-01

    House dust has been recognized as an important contributor to Pb exposure of children. Here we conducted a comprehensive study to investigate geographical variation of Pb in Chinese villager house dust. The influences of outdoor soil Pb concentrations, dates of construction, house decoration materials, heating types, and site specific pollution on Pb concentrations in house dust were evaluated. The concentrations of Pb in 477 house dust samples collected from twenty eight areas throughout China varied from 12 to 2510 mg/kg, with a median concentration of 42 mg/kg. The median Pb concentrations in different geographical areas ranged from 16 (Zhangjiakou, Hebei) to 195 mg/kg (Loudi, Hunan). No correlations were found between the house dust Pb concentrations and the age of houses, as well as house decoration materials. Whereas outdoor soil, coal combustion, and site specific pollution may be potential Pb sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed that elemental compositions of the house dust were controlled by both anthropogenic and geogenic sources. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the Pb bearing particles in the house dust were also studied. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Cement dust exposure and acute lung function: A cross shift study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moen Bente E

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Few studies have been carried out on acute effects of cement dust exposure. This study is conducted to investigate the associations between current "total" dust exposure and acute respiratory symptoms and respiratory function among cement factory workers. Methods A combined cross-sectional and cross-shift study was conducted in Dire Dawa cement factory in Ethiopia. 40 exposed production workers from the crusher and packing sections and 20 controls from the guards were included. Personal "total" dust was measured in the workers' breathing zone and peak expiratory flow (PEF was measured for all selected workers before and after the shift. When the day shift ended, the acute respiratory symptoms experienced were scored and recorded on a five-point Likert scale using a modified respiratory symptom score questionnaire. Results The highest geometric mean dust exposure was found in the crusher section (38.6 mg/m3 followed by the packing section (18.5 mg/m3 and the guards (0.4 mg/m3. The highest prevalence of respiratory symptoms for the high exposed workers was stuffy nose (85% followed by shortness of breath (47% and "sneezing" (45%. PEF decreased significantly across the shift in the high exposed group. Multiple linear regression showed a significant negative association between the percentage cross-shift change in PEF and total dust exposure. The number of years of work in high-exposure sections and current smoking were also associated with cross-shift decrease in PEF. Conclusions Total cement dust exposure was related to acute respiratory symptoms and acute ventilatory effects. Implementing measures to control dust and providing adequate personal respiratory protective equipment for the production workers are highly recommended.

  8. DUST AND GAS IN THE DISK OF HL TAURI: SURFACE DENSITY, DUST SETTLING, AND DUST-TO-GAS RATIO

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pinte, C.; Ménard, F. [UMI-FCA, CNRS/INSU, France (UMI 3386), and Dept. de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Santiago (Chile); Dent, W. R. F.; Hales, A.; Hill, T.; Cortes, P.; Gregorio-Monsalvo, I. de, E-mail: christophe.pinte@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr [Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, Joint ALMA Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura 763-0355, Santiago (Chile)

    2016-01-01

    The recent ALMA observations of the disk surrounding HL Tau reveal a very complex dust spatial distribution. We present a radiative transfer model accounting for the observed gaps and bright rings as well as radial changes of the emissivity index. We find that the dust density is depleted by at least a factor of 10 in the main gaps compared to the surrounding rings. Ring masses range from 10–100 M{sub ⊕} in dust, and we find that each of the deepest gaps is consistent with the removal of up to 40 M{sub ⊕} of dust. If this material has accumulated into rocky bodies, these would be close to the point of runaway gas accretion. Our model indicates that the outermost ring is depleted in millimeter grains compared to the central rings. This suggests faster grain growth in the central regions and/or radial migration of the larger grains. The morphology of the gaps observed by ALMA—well separated and showing a high degree of contrast with the bright rings over all azimuths—indicates that the millimeter dust disk is geometrically thin (scale height ≈1 AU at 100 AU) and that a large amount of settling of large grains has already occurred. Assuming a standard dust settling model, we find that the observations are consistent with a turbulent viscosity coefficient of a few 10{sup −4}. We estimate the gas/dust ratio in this thin layer to be of the order of 5 if the initial ratio is 100. The HCO{sup +} and CO emission is consistent with gas in Keplerian motion around a 1.7 M{sub ⊙} star at radii from ≤10–120 AU.

  9. Effects of exposure to grain dust in Polish farmers: work-related symptoms and immunologic response to microbial antigens associated with dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skórska, C; Mackiewicz, B; Dutkiewicz, J; Krysińska-Traczyk, E; Milanowski, J; Feltovich, H; Lange, J; Thorne, P

    1998-01-01

    Medical examinations were performed in a group of 76 Polish farmers heavily exposed to grain dust during harvesting and threshing, and in a group of 63 healthy urban dwellers not exposed to organic dusts (controls). The examinations included: interview concerning the occurrence of respiratory disorders and work-related symptoms, physical examination, lung function tests, and allergological tests comprising skin prick test with 4 microbial antigens associated with grain dust and agar-gel precipitation test with 12 microbial antigens. As many as 34 farmers (44.7%) reported the occurrence of work-related symptoms during harvesting and threshing. The most common was dry cough reported by 20 individuals (26.3%). Dyspnoea was reported by 15 farmers (19.7%), tiredness by 12 (15.7%), chest tightness by 8 (10.5%), plugging of nose and hoarseness by 5 each (6. 5%). No control subjects reported these work-related symptoms. The mean spirometric values in the examined group of farmers were within the normal range, but a significant post-shift decrease of these values was observed after work with grain. The farmers showed a frequency of the positive early skin reactions to environmental allergens in the range of 10.8 - 45.5%, and a frequency of positive precipitin reactions in range of 3.9 - 40.8%. The control group responded to the majority of allergens with a significantly lower frequency of positive results compared to the farmers. The obtained results showed a high response of grain farmers to inhalant microbial allergens and indicate a potential risk of occupational respiratory diseases (such as allergic alveolitis, asthma, Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome) among this population

  10. Respiratory Toxicity of Lunar Highland Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, John T.; Lam, Chiu-wing; Wallace, William T.

    2009-01-01

    Lunar dust exposures occurred during the Apollo missions while the crew was on the lunar surface and especially when microgravity conditions were attained during rendezvous in lunar orbit. Crews reported that the dust was irritating to the eyes and in some cases respiratory symptoms were elicited. NASA s vision for lunar exploration includes stays of 6 months on the lunar surface hence the health effects of periodic exposure to lunar dust need to be assessed. NASA has performed this assessment with a series of in vitro and in vivo tests on authentic lunar dust. Our approach is to "calibrate" the intrinsic toxicity of lunar dust by comparison to a nontoxic dust (TiO2) and a highly toxic dust (quartz) using intratrachael instillation of the dusts in mice. A battery of indices of toxicity is assessed at various time points after the instillations. Cultures of selected cells are exposed to test dusts to assess the adverse effects on the cells. Finally, chemical systems are used to assess the nature of the reactivity of various dusts and to determine the persistence of reactivity under various environmental conditions that are relevant to a space habitat. Similar systems are used to assess the dissolution of the dust. From these studies we will be able to set a defensible inhalation exposure standard for aged dust and predict whether we need a separate standard for reactive dust. Presently-available data suggest that aged lunar highland dust is slightly toxic, that it can adversely affect cultured cells, and that the surface reactivity induced by grinding the dust persists for a few hours after activation.

  11. Acute effect of glucan-spiked office dust on nasal and pulmonary inflammation in guinea pigs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Straszek, Sune; Adamcakova-Dodd, Andrea; Nervana, Metwali

    2007-01-01

    by acoustic rhinometry (AR) and animals were exposed by inhalation for 4 hr to curdlan spiked dust, unspiked dust, purified air (negative controls) or LPS (positive controls). After exposure (+5 hr) or the following day (+18 hr) measurements were repeated by AR and followed by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL...

  12. [Analysis and prevention of dust pollution caused by 5 common prosthetic materials].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiang-Wen; Wei, Bin; Zhu, Cao-Yun; Qian, Liang; Li, Yi-Han

    2017-10-01

    To analyze and evaluate dust pollution in prosthodontic clinic and make proposal for reasonable protection. This study analyzed the particle size, element composition and dust concentration of 5 materials which were commonly used in dental restorations (veneering ceramics, cobalt-chromium alloy, photosensitive plastic, hard base resin, advanced artificial teeth) by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS) and dust concentration laser tester, in order to assess the effects of prosthodontic dust posed on medical staff health and put forward reasonable suggestions for prevention and control of dust pollution. The particle size of veneering ceramics, cobalt-chromium alloy, photosensitive plastic, hard base resin and advanced artificial teeth was (2.15±3.00), (33.78±24.33), (7.78±11.86), (31.16±44.35) and (28.45±39.21)μm, respectively. The time weighted average respirable dust concentration of veneering ceramics was 0.393 mg/m 2 which was beyond the scope of national security. Dust pollution is serious in prosthodontic clinic to which we should pay more attention and take appropriate prevention measures.

  13. Dust-cyclotron and dust-lower-hybrid modes in self-gravitating ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    cantly modifies the dispersion properties of these two electrostatic modes. The implications of these results to some space and astrophysical dusty plasma systems, especially to planetary ring-systems and cometary tails, are briefly mentioned. Keywords. Dusty plasmas; dust-cyclotron waves; dust-lower-hybrid waves.

  14. Modelling dust transport in tokamaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, J.D.; Martin, J.D.; Bacharis, M.; Coppins, M.; Counsell, G.F.; Allen, J.E.; Counsell, G.F.

    2008-01-01

    The DTOKS code, which models dust transport through tokamak plasmas, is described. The floating potential and charge of a dust grain in a plasma and the fluxes of energy to and from it are calculated. From this model, the temperature of the dust grain can be estimated. A plasma background is supplied by a standard tokamak edge modelling code (B2SOLPS5.0), and dust transport through MAST (the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak) and ITER plasmas is presented. We conclude that micron-radius tungsten dust can reach the separatrix in ITER. (authors)

  15. Effect of non-Maxwellian particle trapping and dust grain charging on dust acoustic solitary waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rubab, N.; Murtaza, G.; Mushtaq, A.

    2006-01-01

    The role of adiabatic trapped ions on a small but finite amplitude dust acoustic wave, including the effect of adiabatic dust charge variation, is investigated in an unmagnetized three-component dusty plasma consisting of electrons, ions and massive micron sized negatively charged dust particulates. We have assumed that electrons and ions obey (r,q) velocity distribution while the dust species is treated fluid dynamically. It is found that the dynamics of dust acoustic waves is governed by a modified r dependent Korteweg-de Vries equation. Further, the spectral indices (r,q) affect the charge fluctuation as well as the trapping of electrons and ions and consequently modify the dust acoustic solitary wave

  16. Available Interventions for Prevention of Cotton Dust-Associated Lung Diseases Among Textile Workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nafees, Asaad Ahmed; Fatmi, Zafar

    2016-08-01

    The authors reviewed literature on interventions for cotton dust-associated lung diseases among textile workers. Internet sources (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google and Google Scholar) were accessed and interventions were categorized into: Engineering or administrative controls, or personal protective equipment (PPE). Ten relevant articles were shortlisted, five related to engineering controls (pre-processing, bactericidal treatment of cotton, improved workplace design, machinery and dust control measures). Administrative controls may involve setting standards, environmental surveillance, periodic medical examinations, and workers training. Although specific guidelines are available regarding the use of PPEs, but there was little literature on their effectiveness. It was concluded that there is a dearth of literature regarding field-based assessment of interventions for control of cotton dust associated respiratory diseases and the available studies primarily focus on pre-processing of cotton. This review highlights the uncertainties that remain; and recommends several areas for future research on respiratory health of textile workers.

  17. Simulation of the dust suppression process with foam in the areas of belt conveyors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bespalov Vadim

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article provides the analysis of the physical essence and simulation of the process of dust retention with foam in the air of working zones of belt conveyors transporting sand, crushed stone, gravel, coal, grain. In accordance with the proposed physical-energy concept of simulation of the process of dust control its physical essence is in a deliberate sequential action on the dust particles with previously prepared by the parameters external (additional dispersed systems. Use of dust retention technology foam method provides high efficiency of reducing the concentration of dust in the air of working areas of belt conveyors, which varies in the range of 85.0–99.0 %, which provides the standard level of dust contamination (MPC in air of working areas of listed industrial sources of formation and emission of dust.

  18. Dust in H II regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isobe, S.

    1977-01-01

    Several pieces of evidence indicate that H II regions may contain dust: 1) the continuum light scattered by dust grains (O'Dell and Hubbard, 1965), 2) thermal radiation from dust grains at infrared wavelengths (Ney and Allen, 1969), 3) the abnormal helium abundance in some H II regions (Peimbert and Costero, 1969), etc. Although observations of the scattered continuum suggest that the H II region cores may be dust-free, dust grains and gas must be well mixed in view of the infrared observations. This difficulty may be solved by introducing globules with sizes approximately 0.001 pc. These globules and the molecular clouds adjacent to H II regions are the main sources supplying dust to H II regions. (Auth.)

  19. The Spatial Variation of Dust Particulate Matter Concentrations during Two Icelandic Dust Storms in 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserova

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Particulate matter mass concentrations and size fractions of PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, and PM15 measured in transversal horizontal profile of two dust storms in southwestern Iceland are presented. Images from a camera network were used to estimate the visibility and spatial extent of measured dust events. Numerical simulations were used to calculate the total dust flux from the sources as 180,000 and 280,000 tons for each storm. The mean PM15 concentrations inside of the dust plumes varied from 10 to 1600 µg·m−3 (PM10 = 7 to 583 µg·m−3. The mean PM1 concentrations were 97–241 µg·m−3 with a maximum of 261 µg·m−3 for the first storm. The PM1/PM2.5 ratios of >0.9 and PM1/PM10 ratios of 0.34–0.63 show that suspension of volcanic materials in Iceland causes air pollution with extremely high PM1 concentrations, similar to polluted urban areas in Europe or Asia. Icelandic volcanic dust consists of a higher proportion of submicron particles compared to crustal dust. Both dust storms occurred in relatively densely inhabited areas of Iceland. First results on size partitioning of Icelandic dust presented here should challenge health authorities to enhance research in relation to dust and shows the need for public dust warning systems.

  20. Dust in Snow in the Colorado River Basin: Spatial Variability in Dust Concentrations, Radiative Forcing, and Snowmelt Rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skiles, M.; Painter, T.; Deems, J. S.; Landry, C.; Bryant, A.

    2012-12-01

    Since the disturbance of the western US that began with the Anglo settlement in the mid 19th century, the mountain snow cover of the Colorado River Basin (CRB) has been subject to five-fold greater dust loading. This dust deposition accelerates snowmelt through its direct reduction of albedo and its further reduction of albedo by accelerating the growth of snow effective grain size. We have previously quantified the impacts of dust in snow using a 6-year record of dust concentration and energy balance fluxes at the alpine and subalpine towers in the Senator Beck Basin Study Area (SBBSA), San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, USA. Dust loading exhibited interannual variability, and end of year dust concentrations were not necessarily related to the number of dust deposition events. Radiative forcing enhanced springtime melt by 21 to 51 days with the magnitude of advanced loss being linearly related to total dust concentration at the end of snow cover. To expand our understanding of dust on snow deposition patterns we utilize collections of dust concentration at the Colorado Dust on Snow (CODOS) study sites, established in 2009 along the western side of the CRB, to assess spatial variability in dust loading. In situ sampling of dust stratigraphy and concentration occurs twice each season, once over peak snow water equivalent (15 April), and again during melt (15 May). Dust loading occurs at all sites; dust concentrations are always higher in May, vary between sites, and the highest and lowest dust years were 2009 and 2012, respectively. In the absence of regular sampling and energy balance instrumentation these sites do not allow us to quantify the advanced melt due to dust. To facilitate this a new energy balance site, Grand Mesa Study plot (GMSP), was established for water year 2010 in west central Colorado, 150 km north of SBBSA. Back trajectories indicate similar Colorado Plateau dust sources at both SBBSA and GMSP, yet GMSP exhibits slightly lower dust

  1. A New Modular Control Board for Pulse-Jet Cleaning of Dust Collector Filter Bags

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Carosso

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This work presents a timing system modular control board to be used for pulse-jet cleaning of dust collector filter bags or pneumatic conveying systems. Many systems of this kind are already available on the market but only some of them have the ability to operate in full range alternating current power supplies. The presented versatile and innovative control board can control the electro valves, either the ones operating with alternating current and those in direct current (since they are both used in the industrial plants. For the same reason, the designed prototype system can be powered with different voltages, widening the number of potential industrial applications. The electronic board has as main advantage the ability to fully automate the cleaning cycle. It can drive many electro valves simultaneously since it is possible to connect more control boards together if needed. It also allows the user to separate the control section of the system from the section dedicated to the actuation of the electro valves. The electro valves can be controlled from a PC terminal via ethernet. The work describes the adopted solutions and the steps made for the design of the entire prototypal modular board, with particular focus on the innovative timing system.

  2. Electrostatic Dust Detector with Improved Sensitivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyle, D.P.; Skinner, C.H.; Roquemore, A.L.

    2008-01-01

    Methods to measure the inventory of dust particles and to remove dust if it approaches safety limits will be required in next-step tokamaks such as ITER. An electrostatic dust detector, based on a fine grid of interlocking circuit traces, biased to 30 or 50 V, has been developed for the detection of dust on remote surfaces in air and vacuum environments. Gaining operational experience of dust detection on surfaces in tokamaks is important, however the level of dust generated in contemporary short-pulse tokamaks is comparatively low and high sensitivity is necessary to measure dust on a shot-by-shot basis. We report on modifications in the detection electronics that have increased the sensitivity of the electrostatic dust detector by a factor of up to 120, - a level suitable for measurements on contemporary tokamaks.

  3. Lung cancer and inhaled uranium ore dust in rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchel, R.E.J.; Jackson, J.S.

    1997-01-01

    Using a nose only inhalation system, 187 nine week old male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to two different concentrations of natural uranium ore dust aerosol (44% U) without significant radon content. Inhalation exposures averaged about 4.2 h/day, 5 days/week for 65 weeks at which point lung uranium burdens in the two groups averaged 0.9 and 1.9 mg/g dry weight. Animals (63) exposed to the air stream without dust served as controls. After inhalation exposure ceased, the rats were allowed to live for their natural lifetime, a maximum of about 900 days after the start of dust inhalation. Lung uranium burdens were measured at the time of death of each animal. Lung burdens were found to decline exponentially after dust inhalation ceased, and the rate of decline was independent of the initial lung burden. All lungs were examined at necropsy and histologically for lung tumors. Lung tumors of lung origin were observed in both exposed groups and in the control group. The frequency of primary malignant lung tumors was 0.016, 0.175 and 0.328 and primary non-malignant lung tumors 0.016, 0.135 and 0.131 in the control low and high aerosol exposed groups respectively. Absorbed dose to the lung was calculated for each animal in the study. The average maximum doses for all the animals exposed to the low or high concentration of dust aerosol were 0.87 Gy and 1.64 Gy respectively. The average risk of malignant lung tumors from inhaled natural uranium ore dust was therefore about 0.20 tumors/animal/Gy. For animals with lung tumors, the average doses were 0.98 and 1.90 in the exposed groups. In both exposed groups, the frequency of primary malignant or non-malignant lung tumors was significantly greater than in the control group (p < 0.02) and the frequency of primary malignant lung tumors in the two exposed group were significantly different from each other (p = 0.05). The frequency of primary lung tumors (malignant and non-malignant) was calculated as a function of dose

  4. Characterization of atmospheric bioaerosols along the transport pathway of Asian dust during the Dust-Bioaerosol 2016 Campaign

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Kai; Huang, Zhongwei; Huang, Jianping; Maki, Teruya; Zhang, Shuang; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ma, Xiaojun; Shi, Jinsen; Bi, Jianrong; Zhou, Tian; Wang, Guoyin; Zhang, Lei

    2018-05-01

    Previous studies have shown that bioaerosols are injected into the atmosphere during dust events. These bioaerosols may affect leeward ecosystems, human health, and agricultural productivity and may even induce climate change. However, bioaerosol dynamics have rarely been investigated along the transport pathway of Asian dust, especially in China where dust events affect huge areas and massive numbers of people. Given this situation, the Dust-Bioaerosol (DuBi) Campaign was carried out over northern China, and the effects of dust events on the amount and diversity of bioaerosols were investigated. The results indicate that the number of bacteria showed remarkable increases during the dust events, and the diversity of the bacterial communities also increased significantly, as determined by means of microscopic observations with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and MiSeq sequencing analysis. These results indicate that dust clouds can carry many bacteria of various types into downwind regions and may have potentially important impacts on ecological environments and climate change. The abundances of DAPI-stained bacteria in the dust samples were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than those in the non-dust samples and reached 105-106 particles m-3. Moreover, the concentration ratios of DAPI-stained bacteria to yellow fluorescent particles increased from 5.1 % ± 6.3 % (non-dust samples) to 9.8 % ± 6.3 % (dust samples). A beta diversity analysis of the bacterial communities demonstrated the distinct clustering of separate prokaryotic communities in the dust and non-dust samples. Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria remained the dominant phyla in all samples. As for Erenhot, the relative abundances of Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi had a remarkable rise in dust events. In contrast, the relative abundances of Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi in non-dust samples of R-DzToUb were greater than those in dust samples. Alphaproteobacteria made the major

  5. EVOLUTION OF THE DUST IN V4332 SAGITTARII

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Banerjee, Dipankar P. K.; Ashok, N. M. [Astronomy and Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380009 (India); Nuth, Joseph A. III [NASA/GSFC, Mail Code: 690, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Misselt, Karl A.; Su, K. Y. L. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States); Varricatt, Watson P. [United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, 660 N. Aohoku Place, University Park Hilo, Hawaii-96720 (United States); Sand, David [Physics Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409 (United States); Marion, G. H. [University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1400, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States); Marengo, Massimo [Physics and Astronomy Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States)

    2015-12-01

    An eruptive nova-like event took place in 1994 in the stellar-merger candidate V4332 Sgr. Following the eruption, dust consisting of refractory silicate-rich dust grains containing a significant component of AlO bonding was formed sometime between 1998 and 2003. Observations using Spitzer between 2005 and 2009 show significant changes in the 10 μm silicate stretch feature. There is a deepening of the 10 μm silicate stretch as well as the development of a feature between about 13 and 20 μm consistent with a blend of the MgO and FeO stretching features and the O–Si–O bending mode of increasingly ordered silicate dust. Near-infrared observations show the presence of AlO and water vapor in the outflow in 2003, 2004, and 2005: the AlO has significantly decreased in spectra obtained in 2014 while the water vapor remains largely unchanged. An attempt is made to correlate these observations and understand the significance of these changes using DUSTY modeling. The observations appear consistent with the kinetically controlled condensation of highly underoxidized SiO/AlO/Fe/Mg dust grains in the outflow followed by the continuous evolution of the initial condensate due to thermal annealing and oxidation of the dust via reaction with ambient O, OH, and H{sub 2}O in the expanding, cooling shell. Periodic monitoring of this dust shell over the mid-infrared spectral range could yield useful information on the evolution of underoxidized silicate condensates exposed to hot water vapor in more conventional circumstellar environments.

  6. Mineralogy of Interplanetary Dust Particles from the Comet Giacobini-Zinner Dust Stream Collections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura-Messenger, K.; Messenger, S.; Westphal, A. J.; Palma, R. L.

    2015-01-01

    The Draconoid meteor shower, originating from comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, is a low-velocity Earth-crossing dust stream that had a peak anticipated flux on Oct. 8, 2012. In response to this prediction, NASA performed dedicated stratospheric dust collections to target interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) from this comet stream on Oct 15-17, 2012 [3]. Twelve dust particles from this targeted collection were allocated to our coordinated analysis team for studies of noble gas (Univ. Minnesota, Minnesota State Univ.), SXRF and Fe-XANES (SSL Berkeley) and mineralogy/isotopes (JSC). Here we report a mineralogical study of 3 IDPs from the Draconoid collection..

  7. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE DUST GENERATED IN THE RECYCLING PROCESS OF THE ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE DUST

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fábio Gonçalves Rizz

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD is a solid waste generated by the production of steel through the Electric Arc Furnace. This waste is labeled dangerous, which motivates studies aiming its recycling. Experiments were made to study a pyrometallurgical process for the recycling of the dust, using the insertion of dust briquettes in molten pig iron in three temperatures. In the briquettes, there were made additions of calcium fluoride in four different concentrations. This paper has the objective to characterize the dust that results from this process, verifying the influence of the temperature and the concentration of calcium fluoride in the briquette in the morphology and chemical composition of the new dust, determining the optimal conditions for the recovery of the zinc content of the dust. This newly generated dust was analyzed in an Scanning Electronic Microscope, used to capture micrographs and chemical composition by EDS. The micrographs show that the temperature and the calcium fluoride concentration interfere in the way the dust particles agglomerate. Chemical analysis points that the higher zinc recuperation occurrs in the experiments at 1500°C with 7% addition of calcium fluoride.

  8. Effects of dust grain charge fluctuation on obliquely propagating dust-acoustic potential in magnetized dusty plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mamun, A.A.; Hassan, M.H.A.

    1999-05-01

    Effects of dust grain charge fluctuation, obliqueness and external magnetic field on finite amplitude dust-acoustic solitary potential in a magnetized dusty plasma, consisting of electrons, ions and charge fluctuating dust grains, have been investigated by the reductive perturbation method. It has been shown that such a magnetized dusty plasma system may support dust-acoustic solitary potential on a very slow time scale involving the motion of dust grains, whose charge is self-consistently determined by local electron and ion currents. The effects of dust grain charge fluctuation, external magnetic field and obliqueness are found to modify the properties of this dust-acoustic solitary potential significantly. The implications of these results to some space and astrophysical dusty plasma systems, especially to planetary ring-systems and cometary tails, are briefly mentioned. (author)

  9. Short-term variability of mineral dust, metals and carbon emission from road dust resuspension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amato, Fulvio; Schaap, Martijn; Denier van der Gon, Hugo A. C.; Pandolfi, Marco; Alastuey, Andrés; Keuken, Menno; Querol, Xavier

    2013-08-01

    Particulate matter (PM) pollution in cities has severe impact on morbidity and mortality of their population. In these cities, road dust resuspension contributes largely to PM and airborne heavy metals concentrations. However, the short-term variation of emission through resuspension is not well described in the air quality models, hampering a reliable description of air pollution and related health effects. In this study we experimentally show that the emission strength of resuspension varies widely among road dust components/sources. Our results offer the first experimental evidence of different emission rates for mineral dust, heavy metals and carbon fractions due to traffic-induced resuspension. Also, the same component (or source) recovers differently in a road in Barcelona (Spain) and a road in Utrecht (The Netherlands). This finding has important implications on atmospheric pollution modelling, mostly for mineral dust, heavy metals and carbon species. After rain events, recoveries were generally faster in Barcelona rather than in Utrecht. The largest difference was found for the mineral dust (Al, Si, Ca). Tyre wear particles (organic carbon and zinc) recovered faster than other road dust particles in both cities. The source apportionment of road dust mass provides useful information for air quality management.

  10. Phytoremediation Reduces Dust Emissions from Metal(loid)-Contaminated Mine Tailings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil-Loaiza, Juliana; Field, Jason P; White, Scott A; Csavina, Janae; Felix, Omar; Betterton, Eric A; Sáez, A Eduardo; Maier, Raina M

    2018-04-27

    Environmental and health risk concerns relating to airborne particles from mining operations have focused primarily on smelting activities. However, there are only three active copper smelters and less than a dozen smelters for other metals compared to an estimated 500000 abandoned and unreclaimed hard rock mine tailings in the US that have the potential to generate dust. The problem can also extend to modern tailings impoundments, which may take decades to build and remain barren for the duration before subsequent reclamation. We examined the impact of vegetation cover and irrigation on dust emissions and metal(loid) transport from mine tailings during a phytoremediation field trial at the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund (IKMHSS) site. Measurements of horizontal dust flux following phytoremediation reveals that vegetated plots with 16% and 32% canopy cover enabled an average dust deposition of 371.7 and 606.1 g m -2 y -1 , respectively, in comparison to the control treatment which emitted dust at an average rate of 2323 g m -2 y -1 . Horizontal dust flux and dust emissions from the vegetated field plots are comparable to emission rates in undisturbed grasslands. Further, phytoremediation was effective at reducing the concentration of fine particulates, including PM 1 , PM 2.5 , and PM 4 , which represent the airborne particulates with the greatest health risks and the greatest potential for long-distance transport. This study demonstrates that phytoremediation can substantially decrease dust emissions as well as the transport of windblown contaminants from mine tailings.

  11. Study on the alternative mitigation of cement dust spread by capturing the dust with fogging method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purwanta, Jaka; Marnoto, Tjukup; Setyono, Prabang; Handono Ramelan, Ari

    2017-12-01

    The existence of a cement plant impact the lives of people around the factory site. For example the air quality, which is polluted by dust. Cement plant has made various efforts to mitigate the generated dust, but there are still alot of dust fly inground either from the cement factory chimneys or transportation. The purpose of this study was to conduct a review of alternative mitigation of the spread of dust around the cement plant. This study uses research methods such as collecting secondary data which includes data of rain density, the average rains duration, wind speed and direction as well as data of dust intensity quality around PT. Semen Gresik (Persero) Tbk.Tuban plant. A soft Wind rose file is used To determine the wind direction propensity models. The impact on the spread of dust into the environment is determined using secondary data monitoring air quality. Results of the study is that the mitigation of dust around the cement plant is influenced by natural factors, such as the tendency of wind direction, rain fall and rainy days, and the rate of dust emission from the chimney. The alternative means proposed is an environmental friendly fogging dust catcher.

  12. Red Dawn: Characterizing Iron Oxide Minerals in Atmospheric Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yauk, K.; Ottenfeld, C. F.; Reynolds, R. L.; Goldstein, H.; Cattle, S.; Berquo, T. S.; Moskowitz, B. M.

    2012-12-01

    Atmospheric dust is comprised of many components including small amounts of iron oxide minerals. Although the iron oxides make up a small weight percent of the bulk dust, they are important because of their roles in ocean fertilization, controls on climate, and as a potential health hazard to humans. Here we report on the iron oxide mineralogy in dust from a large dust storm, dubbed Red Dawn, which engulfed eastern Australia along a 3000 km front on 23 September 2009. Red Dawn originated from the lower Lake Eyre Basin of South Australia, western New South Wales (NSW) and southwestern Queensland and was the worst dust storm to have hit the city of Sydney in more than 60 years. Dust samples were collected from various locations across eastern Australia (Lake Cowal, Orange, Hornsby, Sydney) following the Red Dawn event. Our dust collection provides a good opportunity to study the physical and mineralogical properties of iron oxides from Red Dawn using a combination of reflectance spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy (MB), and magnetic measurements. Magnetization measurements from 20-400 K reveal that magnetite/maghemite, hematite and goethite are present in all samples with magnetite occurring in trace amounts (effects (d< 100 nm). Finally, we compared reflectance with a magnetic parameter (hard isothermal remanent magnetization, HIRM) for ferric oxide abundance to assess the degree to which ferric oxide in these samples might absorb solar radiation. In samples for which both parameters were obtained, HIRM and average reflectance over the visible wavelengths are correlated as a group (r2=0.24). These results indicate that the ferric oxide minerals in Red Dawn dust absorb solar radiation. Much of this ferric oxide occurs likely as grain coatings of nanohematite and nanogoethite, thereby providing high surface area to enhance absorption of solar radiation.

  13. Dust from mineral extraction: regulation of emissions in England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marker, Brian

    2013-04-01

    The United Kingdom, which includes England, has fairly high levels of rainfall but sporadic droughts occur especially in the east. Mineral working gives rise to dust. Concerns about dust soiling are major source of public objections to new minerals extraction operations. Dust emissions from mineral workings are a significant cause of public concern in the United Kingdom and are recognised as sources of health concerns and nuisance. Emissions are controlled through a number of complementary sets of regulations that are generally well observed by the industry and well enforced by the relevant public authorities. comprehensive system of regulation, based on European and national law, to deal with all aspects of these operations including pollution control, planning, occupational health and safety and statutory nuisances. Most minerals applications are subject to EIA which forms that basis for planning and environmental conditions and monitoring of operations. There are limit values on PM10 and PM2.5 in air, and for potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in soils and water, derived from European regulations but, as yet, no limit values for PHEs (other than radioactive materials) in air. Stakeholder engagement is encouraged so that members of the public can express concerns during minerals operations and operators can quickly deal with these. While some effects inevitably remain, the levels of dust emissions are kept low through good site design and management, proper use of machinery which is equipped to minimise emissions, and good training of the workforce. Operational sites are required to have dust monitoring equipment located outside the site boundary so that any emerging problems can be detected and addressed quickly.

  14. Vertical transport of desert particulates by dust devils and clear thermals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinclair, P.C.

    1974-01-01

    While the vertical and horizontal transport of natural surface material by dust devils is not in itself a critical environmental problem, the transport and downwind fallout of toxic or hazardous materials from dust devil activity may be a contributing factor in the development of future ecological-biological problems. Direct quantitative measurements of the dust particle size distribution near and within the visible dust devil vortex and analyses of the upper level clear thermal plume have been made to provide estimates of the vertical and horizontal transport of long half-life radioactive substances such as plutonium. Preliminary measurements and calculations of dust concentrations within dust devils indicate that over 7 x 10 3 tons of desert dust and sand may be transported downwind from an area 285 km 2 during an average dust devil season (May to August). Near the ground these dust concentrations contain particles in the size range from approximately 1 μm to 250 μm diameter. Since the vertical velocity distribution greatly exceeds the particle(s) fall velocities, the detrainment of particles within the vortex is controlled primarily by the spatial distribution of the radial (v/sub r/) and tangential (v/sub theta/) velocity fields. Above the visible dust devil vortex, a clear thermal plume may extend upward to 15,000 to 18,000 ft MSL. A new airborne sampling and air data system has been developed to provide direct measurements of the dust concentration and air motion near and within the upper thermal plume. The air sampler has been designed to operate isokinetically over a considerable portion of the low-speed flight regime of a light aircraft. A strapped down, gyro-reference platform and a boom-vane system is used to determine the vertical air motions as well as the temperature and turbulence structure within the thermal plume. (U.S.)

  15. Building an industry-wide occupational exposure database for respirable mineral dust - experiences from the IMA dust monitoring programme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houba, Remko; Jongen, Richard; Vlaanderen, Jelle; Kromhout, Hans

    2009-01-01

    protocol and the data collection sheet. In addition a system of quality control was set up and each new set of data is thoroughly investigated before inclusion into the database. Recently, it became apparent that more than 80% of the measurement data collected since winter 2005/2006 is of high quality. The IMA Dust Monitoring Programme Database contains personal measurements of more than 2,000 monitored workers who are representative of in total 5,000 workers in the industrial minerals production. This unique prospective exposure database will prove to be very valuable when health effects due to exposure to respirable mineral dust among these workers will be evaluated in the future.

  16. Dust exposure and chronic respiratory symptoms among coffee curing workers in Kilimanjaro: a cross sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakwari, Gloria; Bråtveit, Magne; Mamuya, Simon H D; Moen, Bente E

    2011-11-24

    Coffee processing causes organic dust exposure which may lead to development of respiratory symptoms. Previous studies have mainly focused on workers involved in roasting coffee in importing countries. This study was carried out to determine total dust exposure and respiratory health of workers in Tanzanian primary coffee-processing factories. A cross sectional study was conducted among 79 workers in two coffee factories, and among 73 control workers in a beverage factory. Personal samples of total dust (n = 45 from the coffee factories and n = 19 from the control factory) were collected throughout the working shift from the breathing zone of the workers. A questionnaire with modified questions from the American Thoracic Society questionnaire was used to assess chronic respiratory symptoms. Differences between groups were tested by using independent t-tests and Chi square tests. Poisson Regression Model was used to estimate prevalence ratio, adjusting for age, smoking, presence of previous lung diseases and years worked in dusty factories. All participants were male. The coffee workers had a mean age of 40 years and were older than the controls (31 years). Personal total dust exposure in the coffee factories were significantly higher than in the control factory (geometric mean (GM) 1.23 mg/m3, geometric standard deviation (GSD) (0.8) vs. 0.21(2.4) mg/m3). Coffee workers had significantly higher prevalence than controls for cough with sputum (23% vs. 10%; Prevalence ratio (PR); 2.5, 95% CI 1.0-5.9) and chest tightness (27% vs. 13%; PR; 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.2). The prevalence of morning cough, cough with and without sputum for 4 days or more in a week was also higher among coffee workers than among controls. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Workers exposed to coffee dust reported more respiratory symptoms than did the controls. This might relate to their exposure to coffee dust. Interventions for reduction of dust levels and provision of

  17. Health hazards of cement dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meo, Sultan A.

    2004-01-01

    ven in the 21st century, millions of people are working daily in a dusty environment. They are exposed to different types of health hazards such as fume, gases and dust, which are risk factors in developing occupational disease. Cement industry is involved in the development of structure of this advanced and modern world but generates dust during its production. Cement dust causes lung function impairment, chronic obstructive lung disease, restrictive lung disease, pneumoconiosis and carcinoma of the lungs, stomach and colon. Other studies have shown that cement dust may enter into the systemic circulation and thereby reach the essentially all the organs of body and affects the different tissues including heart, liver, spleen, bone, muscles and hairs and ultimately affecting their micro-structure and physiological performance. Most of the studies have been previously attempted to evaluate the effects of cement dust exposure on the basis of spirometry or radiology, or both. However, collective effort describing the general effects of cement dust on different organ and systems in humans or animals, or both has not been published. Therefore, the aim of this review is to gather the potential toxic effects of cement dust and to minimize the health risks in cement mill workers by providing them with information regarding the hazards of cement dust. (author)

  18. Respirable versus inhalable dust sampling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hondros, J.

    1987-01-01

    The ICRP uses a total inhalable dust figure as the basis of calculations on employee lung dose. This paper was written to look at one aspect of the Olympic Dam dust situation, namely, the inhalable versus respirable fraction of the dust cloud. The results of this study will determine whether it is possible to use respirable dust figures, as obtained during routine monitoring to help in the calculations of employee exposure to internal radioactive contaminants

  19. Meteorological aspects associated with dust storms in the Sistan region, southeastern Iran

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaskaoutis, D. G.; Rashki, A.; Houssos, E. E.; Mofidi, A.; Goto, D.; Bartzokas, A.; Francois, P.; Legrand, M.

    2015-07-01

    Dust storms are considered natural hazards that seriously affect atmospheric conditions, ecosystems and human health. A key requirement for investigating the dust life cycle is the analysis of the meteorological (synoptic and dynamic) processes that control dust emission, uplift and transport. The present work focuses on examining the synoptic and dynamic meteorological conditions associated with dust-storms in the Sistan region, southeastern Iran during the summer season (June-September) of the years 2001-2012. The dust-storm days (total number of 356) are related to visibility records below 1 km at Zabol meteorological station, located near to the dust source. RegCM4 model simulations indicate that the intense northern Levar wind, the high surface heating and the valley-like characteristics of the region strongly affect the meteorological dynamics and the formation of a low-level jet that are strongly linked with dust exposures. The intra-annual evolution of the dust storms does not seem to be significantly associated with El-Nino Southern Oscillation, despite the fact that most of the dust-storms are related to positive values of Oceanic Nino Index. National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis suggests that the dust storms are associated with low sea-level pressure conditions over the whole south Asia, while at 700 hPa level a trough of low geopotential heights over India along with a ridge over Arabia and central Iran is the common scenario. A significant finding is that the dust storms over Sistan are found to be associated with a pronounced increase of the anticyclone over the Caspian Sea, enhancing the west-to-east pressure gradient and, therefore, the blowing of Levar. Infrared Difference Dust Index values highlight the intensity of the Sistan dust storms, while the SPRINTARS model simulates the dust loading and concentration reasonably well, since the dust storms are usually associated with peaks in model

  20. Communication plan for windblown dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-01

    Windblown dust events occur in Arizona, and blowing dust has been considered a contributing factor to serious crashes on the : segment of Interstate 10 (I10) between Phoenix and Tucson, as well as on other Arizona roadways. Arizonas dust events...

  1. House dust in seven Danish offices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mølhave, L.; Schneider, T.; Kjærgaard, S. K.; Larsen, L.; Norn, S.; Jørgensen, O.

    Floor dust from Danish offices was collected and analyzed. The dust was to be used in an exposure experiment. The dust was analyzed to show the composition of the dust which can be a source of airborne dust indoors. About 11 kg of dust from vacuum cleaner bags from seven Danish office buildings with about 1047 occupants (12 751 m 2) was processed according to a standardized procedure yielding 5.5 kg of processed bulk dust. The bulk dust contained 130.000-160.000 CFU g -1 microorganisms and 71.000-90.000 CFU g -1 microfungi. The content of culturable microfungi was 65-123 CFU 30 g -1 dust. The content of endotoxins ranged from 5.06-7.24 EU g -1 (1.45 ng g -1 to 1.01 ng g -1). Allergens (ng g -1) were from 147-159 (Mite), 395-746 (dog) and 103-330 (cat). The macro molecular organic compounds (the MOD-content) varied from 7.8-9.8 mg g -1. The threshold of release of histamine from basophil leukocytes provoked by the bulk dust was between 0.3 and 1.0 mg ml -1. The water content was 2% (WGT) and the organic fraction 33%. 6.5-5.9% (dry) was water soluble. The fiber content was less than 0.2-1.5% (WGT) and the desorbable VOCs was 176-319 μg g -1. Most of the VOC were aldehydes. However, softeners for plastic (DBP and DEHP) were present. The chemical composition includes human and animal skin fragments, paper fibers, glass wool, wood and textilefibers and inorganic and metal particles. The sizes ranged from 0.001-1 mm and the average specific density was 1.0 g m -3. The bulk dust was resuspended and injected into an exposure chamber. The airborne dust was sampled and analyzed to illustrate the exposures that can result from sedimented dirt and dust. The airborne dust resulting from the bulk dust reached concentrations ranging from 0.26-0.75 mg m -3 in average contained 300-170 CFU m -3. The organic fraction was from 55-70% and the water content about 2.5% (WGT). The content of the dust was compared to the similar results reported in the literature and its toxic potency is

  2. Effects of dust size distribution on dust acoustic waves in magnetized two-ion-temperature dusty plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zongming; Duan Wenshan; He Guangjun

    2008-01-01

    A Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) equation, a modified ZK (mZK) equation, and a coupled ZK (cZK) equation for small but finite amplitude dust acoustic waves in a magnetized two-ion-temperature dusty plasma with dust size distribution have been investigated in this paper. The variations of the linear dispersion relation and group velocity, nonlinear solitary wave amplitude, and width with an arbitrary dust size distribution function are studied numerically. We conclude that they all increase as the total number density of dust grains increases, and they are greater for unusual dusty plasma (the number density of larger dust grains is greater than that of smaller dust grains) than that of usual dusty plasma (the number density of smaller dust grains is greater than that of larger dust grains). It is noted that the frequency of the linear wave increases as the wave number along the magnetic direction increases. Furthermore, the width of the nonlinear waves increases but its amplitude decreases as the wave number along the magnetic direction increases

  3. The flow of interstellar dust through the solar system: the role of dust charging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sterken, V. J.; Altobelli, N.; Schwehm, G.; Kempf, S.; Srama, R.; Strub, P.; Gruen, E.

    2011-01-01

    Interstellar dust can enter the solar system through the relative motion of the Sun with respect to the Local Interstellar Cloud. The trajectories of the dust through the solar system are not only influenced by gravitation and solar radiation pressure forces, but also by the Lorentz forces due to the interaction of the interplanetary magnetic field with the charged dust particles. The interplanetary magnetic field changes on two major time scales: 25 days (solar rotation frequency) and 22 years (solar cycle). The short-term variability averages out for regions that are not too close (>∼2 AU) to the Sun. This interplanetary magnetic field variability causes a time-variability in the interstellar dust densities, that is correlated to the solar cycle.In this work we characterize the flow of interstellar dust through the solar system using simulations of the dust trajectories. We start from the simple case without Lorentz forces, and expand to the full simulation. We pay attention to the different ways of modeling the interplanetary magnetic field, and discuss the influence of the dust parameters on the resulting flow patterns. We also discuss the possibilities of using this modeling for prediction of dust fluxes for different space missions or planets, and we pay attention to where simplified models are justified, and where or when a full simulation, including all forces is necessary. One of the aims of this work is to understand measurements of spacecraft like Ulysses, Cassini and Stardust.

  4. Injurious effects of wool and grain dusts on alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, D M; Donaldson, K

    1991-01-01

    Epidemiological studies of workers in wool textile mills have shown a direct relation between the concentration of wool dust in the air and respiratory symptoms. Injurious effects of wool dust on the bronchial epithelium could be important in causing inflammation and irritation. A pulmonary epithelial cell line in vitro was therefore used to study the toxic effects of wool dust. Cells of the A549 epithelial cell line were labelled with 51Cr and treated with whole wool dusts and extracts of wool, after which injury was assessed. Also, the effects of grain dust, which also causes a form of airway obstruction, were studied. The epithelial injury was assessed by measuring 51Cr release from cells as an indication of lysis, and by monitoring cells which had detached from the substratum. No significant injury to A549 cells was caused by culture with any of the dusts collected from the air but surface "ledge" dust caused significant lysis at some doses. Quartz, used as a toxic control dust, caused significant lysis at the highest concentration of 100 micrograms/well. To determine whether any injurious material was soluble the dusts were incubated in saline and extracts collected. No extracts caused significant injury to epithelial cells. A similar lack of toxicity was found when 51Cr labelled control alveolar macrophages were targets for injury. Significant release of radiolabel was evident when macrophages were exposed to quartz at concentrations of 10 and 20 micrograms/well, there being no significant injury with either wool or grain dusts. These data suggest that neither wool nor grain dust produce direct injury to epithelial cells, and further studies are necessary to explain inflammation leading to respiratory symptoms in wool and grain workers. PMID:2015211

  5. Variations between Dust and Gas in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium. III. Changes in Dust Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reach, William T.; Bernard, Jean-Philippe; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Heiles, Carl

    2017-12-01

    We study infrared emission of 17 isolated, diffuse clouds with masses of order {10}2 {M}ȯ to test the hypothesis that grain property variations cause the apparently low gas-to-dust ratios that have been measured in those clouds. Maps of the clouds were constructed from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data and directly compared with the maps of dust optical depth from Planck. The mid-infrared emission per unit dust optical depth has a significant trend toward lower values at higher optical depths. The trend can be quantitatively explained by the extinction of starlight within the clouds. The relative amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and very small grains traced by WISE, compared with large grains tracked by Planck, are consistent with being constant. The temperature of the large grains significantly decreases for clouds with larger dust optical depth; this trend is partially due to dust property variations, but is primarily due to extinction of starlight. We updated the prediction for molecular hydrogen column density, taking into account variations in dust properties, and find it can explain the observed dust optical depth per unit gas column density. Thus, the low gas-to-dust ratios in the clouds are most likely due to “dark gas” that is molecular hydrogen.

  6. Excitation of collective plasma modes during collisions between dust grains and the formation of dust plasma crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goree, J.A.; Morfill, G.; Tsytovich, V.N.

    1998-01-01

    Dust plasma crystals have recently been produced in experiments in a number of laboratories. For dust crystallization to occur, there should exist an efficient mechanism for the cooling of the dust plasma component. It is shown that the excitation of collective plasma modes during collisions between the grains may serve as the required cooling mechanism. The excitation of dust sound waves is found to be most efficient. It is shown that the cooling of dust grains via the excitation of collective plasma modes can be even more efficient than that due to collisions with neutral particles, which was previously considered to be the only mechanism for cooling of the dust plasma component. At present, the first experiments are being carried out to study collisions between individual dust grains. High efficiency of the excitation of plasma modes caused by collisions between dust grains is attributed to the coherent displacement of the plasma particles that shield the grains. it is shown that the excitation efficiency is proportional to the fourth power of the charge of the dust grains and to a large power of their relative velocity, and is independent of their mass. The results obtained can be checked in experiments studying how the binary collisions between dust grains and the pressure of the neutral component influence the dust crystallization

  7. Dust characterisation for hot gas filters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dockter, B.; Erickson, T.; Henderson, A.; Hurley, J.; Kuehnel, V.; Katrinak, K.; Nowok, J.; O`Keefe, C.; O`Leary, E.; Swanson, M.; Watne, T. [University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy and Environmental Research Center (UNDEERC)

    1998-03-01

    Hot gas filtration to remove particulates from the gas flow upstream of the gas turbine is critical to the development of many of the advanced coal-fired power generation technologies such as the Air Blown Gasification Cycle (ABGC), a hybrid gasification combined cycle being developed in the UK. Ceramic candle filters are considered the most promising technology for this purpose. Problems of mechanical failure and of `difficult-to-clean` dusts causing high pressure losses across the filter elements need to be solved. The project investigated the behaviour of high-temperature filter dusts, and the factors determining the ease with which they can be removed from filters. The high-temperature behaviour of dusts from both combustion and gasification systems was investigated. Dust samples were obtained from full-scale demonstration and pilot-scale plant operating around the world. Dust samples were also produced from a variety of coals, and under several different operating conditions, on UNDEERC`s pilot-scale reactor. Key factors affecting dust behaviour were examined, including: the rates of tensile strength developing in dust cakes; the thermochemical equilibria pertaining under filtration conditions; dust adhesivity on representative filter materials; and the build-up and cleaning behaviour of dusts on representative filter candles. The results obtained confirmed the importance of dust temperature, dust cake porosity, cake liquid content, and particle size distribution in determining the strength of a dust cake. An algorithm was developed to indicate the likely sticking propensity of dusts as a function of coal and sorbent composition and combustion conditions. This algorithm was incorporated into a computer package which can be used to judge the degree of difficulty in filter cleaning that can be expected to arise in a real plant based on operating parameters and coal analyzes. 6 figs.

  8. Dust in protoplanetary disks: observations*

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waters L.B.F.M.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Solid particles, usually referred to as dust, are a crucial component of interstellar matter and of planet forming disks surrounding young stars. Despite the relatively small mass fraction of ≈1% (in the solar neighborhood of our galaxy; this number may differ substantially in other galaxies that interstellar grains represent of the total mass budget of interstellar matter, dust grains play an important role in the physics and chemistry of interstellar matter. This is because of the opacity dust grains at short (optical, UV wavelengths, and the surface they provide for chemical reactions. In addition, dust grains play a pivotal role in the planet formation process: in the core accretion model of planet formation, the growth of dust grains from the microscopic size range to large, cm-sized or larger grains is the first step in planet formation. Not only the grain size distribution is affected by planet formation. Chemical and physical processes alter the structure and chemical composition of dust grains as they enter the protoplanetary disk and move closer to the forming star. Therefore, a lot can be learned about the way stars and planets are formed by observations of dust in protoplanetary disks. Ideally, one would like to measure the dust mass, the grain size distribution, grain structure (porosity, fluffiness, the chemical composition, and all of these as a function of position in the disk. Fortunately, several observational diagnostics are available to derive constrains on these quantities. In combination with rapidly increasing quality of the data (spatial and spectral resolution, a lot of progress has been made in our understanding of dust evolution in protoplanetary disks. An excellent review of dust evolution in protoplanetary disks can be found in Testi et al. (2014.

  9. Creation of Wood Dust during Wood Processing: Size Analysis, Dust Separation, and Occupational Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Mračková

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Mechanical separators and fabric filters are being used to remove airborne fine particles generated during the processing and handling of wood. Such particles might have a harmful effect on employee health, not only in small- but also in large-scale wood processing facilities. The amount of wood dust and its dispersion conditions vary according to geometric boundary conditions. Thus, the dispersion conditions could be changed by changing the linear size of the particles. Moreover, the smaller the particles are, the more harmful they can be. It is necessary to become familiar with properties, from a health point of view, of wood dust generated from processing. Wood dust has to be sucked away from the processing area. The fractional separation efficiency of wood dust can be improved using exhaust and filtering devices. Filtration efficiency depends on moisture content, particle size, and device performance. Because of the carcinogenicity of wood dust, the concentration of wood dust in air has to be monitored regularly. Based on the results hereof, a conclusion can be made that both mechanical separators of types SEA and SEB as well as the fabric filters with FINET PES 1 textile are suitable for the separation of wet saw dust from all types of wooden waste produced within the process.

  10. Galactic dust and extinction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyngaa, G.

    1979-01-01

    The ratio R between visual extinction and colour excess, is slightly larger than 3 and does not vary much throughout our part of the Galaxy. The distribution of dust in the galactic plane shows, on the large scale, a gradient with higher colour excesses towards l=50 0 than towards l=230 0 . On the smaller scale, much of the dust responsible for extinction is situated in clouds which tend to group together. The correlation between positions of interstellar dust clouds and positions of spiral tracers seems rather poor in our Galaxy. However, concentrated dark clouds as well as extended regions of dust show an inclined distribution similar to the Gould belt of bright stars. (Auth.)

  11. The role of endotoxin in grain dust-induced lung disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, D A; Thorne, P S; Yagla, S J; Burmeister, L F; Olenchock, S A; Watt, J L; Quinn, T J

    1995-08-01

    To identify the role of endotoxin in grain dust-induced lung disease, we conducted a population-based, cross-sectional investigation among grain handlers and postal workers. The study subjects were selected by randomly sampling all grain facilities and post offices within 100 miles of Iowa City. Our study population consisted of 410 grain workers and 201 postal workers. Grain workers were found to be exposed to higher concentrations of airborne dust (p = 0.0001) and endotoxin (p = 0.0001) when compared with postal workers. Grain workers had a significantly higher prevalence of work-related (cough, phlegm, wheezing, chest tightness, and dyspnea) and chronic (usual cough or phlegm production) respiratory symptoms than postal workers. Moreover, after controlling for age, gender, and cigarette smoking status, work-related respiratory symptoms were strongly associated with the concentration of endotoxin in the bioaerosol in the work setting. The concentration of total dust in the bioaerosol was marginally related to these respiratory problems. After controlling for age, gender, and cigarette smoking status, grain workers were found to have reduced spirometric measures of airflow (FEV1, FEV1/FVC, and FEF25-75) and enhanced airway reactivity to inhaled histamine when compared with postal workers. Although the total dust concentration in the work environment appeared to have little effect on these measures of airflow obstruction, higher concentrations of endotoxin in the bioaerosol were associated with diminished measures of airflow and enhanced bronchial reactivity. Our results indicate that the concentration of endotoxin in the bioaerosol may be particularly important in the development of grain dust-induced lung disease.

  12. Simulation study of spheroidal dust gains charging: Applicable to dust grain alignment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zahed, H.; Sobhanian, S.; Mahmoodi, J.; Khorram, S.

    2006-01-01

    The charging process of nonspherical dust grains in an unmagnetized plasma as well as in the presence of a magnetic field is studied. It is shown that unlike the spherical dust grain, due to nonhomogeneity of charge distribution on the spheroidal dust surface, the resultant electric forces on electrons and ions are different. This process produces some surface charge density gradient on the nonspherical grain surface. Effects of a magnetic field and other plasma parameters on the properties of the dust particulate are studied. It has been shown that the alignment direction could be changed or even reversed with the magnetic field and plasma parameters. Finally, the charge distribution on the spheroidal grain surface is studied for different ambient parameters including plasma temperature, neutral collision frequency, and the magnitude of the magnetic field

  13. Dust Studies in DIII-D and TEXTOR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rudakov, D.; Litnovsky, A.; West, W.; Yu, J.; Boedo, J.; Bray, B.; Brezinsek, S.; Brooks, N.; Fenstermacher, M.; Groth, M.; Hollmann, E.; Huber, A.; Hyatt, A.; Krasheninnikov, S.; Lasnier, C.; Moyer, R.; Pigarov, A.; Philipps, V.; Pospieszezyk, A.; Smirnov, R.; Sharpe, J.; Solomon, W.; Watkins, J.; Wong, C.

    2008-01-01

    Studies of naturally occurring and artificially introduced carbon dust are conducted in DIII-D and TEXTOR. In DIII-D, dust does not present operational concerns except immediately after entry vents. Energetic plasma disruptions produce significant amounts of dust. However, dust production by disruptions alone is insufficient to account for the estimated in-vessel dust inventory in DIII-D. Submicron sized dust is routinely observed using Mie scattering from a Nd:Yag laser. The source is strongly correlated with the presence of Type I edge localized modes (ELMs). Larger size (0.005-1 mm diameter) dust is observed by optical imaging, showing elevated dust levels after entry vents. Inverse dependence of the dust velocity on the inferred dust size is found from the imaging data. Migration of pre-characterized carbon dust is studied in DIII-D and TEXTOR by injecting micron-size dust in plasma discharges. In DIII-D, a sample holder filled with ∼30 mg of dust is introduced in the lower divertor and exposed to high-power ELMing H-mode discharges with strike points swept across the divertor floor. After a brief exposure (∼0.1 s) at the outer strike point, part of the dust is injected into the plasma, raising the core carbon density by a factor of 2-3 and resulting in a twofold increase of the radiated power. Individual dust particles are observed moving at velocities of 10-100 m/s, predominantly in the toroidal direction, consistent with the drag force from the deuteron flow and in agreement with modeling by the 3D DustT code. In TEXTOR, instrumented dust holders with 1-45 mg of dust are exposed in the scrape-off layer 0-2 cm radially outside of the last closed flux surface in discharges heated with neutral beam injection (NBI) power of 1.4 MW. Dust is launched either in the beginning of a discharge or at the initiation of NBI, preferentially in a direction perpendicular to the toroidal magnetic field. At the given configuration of the launch, the dust did not penetrate

  14. Dust: Small-scale processes with global consequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okin, G.S.; Bullard, J.E.; Reynolds, R.L.; Ballantine, J.-A.C.; Schepanski, K.; Todd, M.C.; Belnap, J.; Baddock, M.C.; Gill, T.E.; Miller, M.E.

    2011-01-01

    Desert dust, both modern and ancient, is a critical component of the Earth system. Atmospheric dust has important effects on climate by changing the atmospheric radiation budget, while deposited dust influences biogeochemical cycles in the oceans and on land. Dust deposited on snow and ice decreases its albedo, allowing more light to be trapped at the surface, thus increasing the rate of melt and influencing energy budgets and river discharge. In the human realm, dust contributes to the transport of allergens and pathogens and when inhaled can cause or aggravate respiratory diseases. Dust storms also represent a significant hazard to road and air travel. Because it affects so many Earth processes, dust is studied from a variety of perspectives and at multiple scales, with various disciplines examining emissions for different purposes using disparate strategies. Thus, the range of objectives in studying dust, as well as experimental approaches and results, has not yet been systematically integrated. Key research questions surrounding the production and sources of dust could benefit from improved collaboration among different research communities. These questions involve the origins of dust, factors that influence dust production and emission, and methods through which dust can be monitored. ?? Author(s) 2011.

  15. Suitability of iron ore tailings and quarry dust as fine aggregates for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Eight concrete mixes were produced with different levels of sand replacement by either iron ore tailings or quarry dust, while the ninth mix of 100 % river sand served as the control. The highest 28-day compressive strength of 29.2 N/mm2 was obtained by blending 75 % sand and 25 % quarry dust with cement, which was 7 ...

  16. POLARIZATION MEASUREMENTS OF HOT DUST STARS AND THE LOCAL INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marshall, J. P.; Cotton, D. V.; Bott, K.; Bailey, J.; Kedziora-Chudczer, L. [School of Physics, UNSW Australia, High Street, Kensington, NSW 2052 (Australia); Ertel, S. [Steward Observatory, Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Kennedy, G. M.; Wyatt, M. C. [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Burgo, C. del [Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Luis Enrique Erro 1, Sta. Ma. Tonantzintla, Puebla (Mexico); Absil, O. [Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, University of Liège, 19c allée du Six Août, B-4000 Liège (Belgium)

    2016-07-10

    Debris discs are typically revealed through the presence of excess emission at infrared wavelengths. Most discs exhibit excess at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, analogous to the solar system’s Asteroid and Edgeworth-Kuiper belts. Recently, stars with strong (∼1%) excess at near-infrared wavelengths were identified through interferometric measurements. Using the HIgh Precision Polarimetric Instrument, we examined a sub-sample of these hot dust stars (and appropriate controls) at parts-per-million sensitivity in SDSS g ′ (green) and r ′ (red) filters for evidence of scattered light. No detection of strongly polarized emission from the hot dust stars is seen. We, therefore, rule out scattered light from a normal debris disk as the origin of this emission. A wavelength-dependent contribution from multiple dust components for hot dust stars is inferred from the dispersion (the difference in polarization angle in red and green) of southern stars. Contributions of 17 ppm (green) and 30 ppm (red) are calculated, with strict 3- σ upper limits of 76 and 68 ppm, respectively. This suggests weak hot dust excesses consistent with thermal emission, although we cannot rule out contrived scenarios, e.g., dust in a spherical shell or face-on discs. We also report on the nature of the local interstellar medium (ISM), obtained as a byproduct of the control measurements. Highlights include the first measurements of the polarimetric color of the local ISM and the discovery of a southern sky region with a polarization per distance thrice the previous maximum. The data suggest that λ {sub max}, the wavelength of maximum polarization, is bluer than typical.

  17. Cosmological simulation with dust formation and destruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoyama, Shohei; Hou, Kuan-Chou; Hirashita, Hiroyuki; Nagamine, Kentaro; Shimizu, Ikkoh

    2018-06-01

    To investigate the evolution of dust in a cosmological volume, we perform hydrodynamic simulations, in which the enrichment of metals and dust is treated self-consistently with star formation and stellar feedback. We consider dust evolution driven by dust production in stellar ejecta, dust destruction by sputtering, grain growth by accretion and coagulation, and grain disruption by shattering, and treat small and large grains separately to trace the grain size distribution. After confirming that our model nicely reproduces the observed relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity for nearby galaxies, we concentrate on the dust abundance over the cosmological volume in this paper. The comoving dust mass density has a peak at redshift z ˜ 1-2, coincident with the observationally suggested dustiest epoch in the Universe. In the local Universe, roughly 10 per cent of the dust is contained in the intergalactic medium (IGM), where only 1/3-1/4 of the dust survives against dust destruction by sputtering. We also show that the dust mass function is roughly reproduced at ≲ 108 M⊙, while the massive end still has a discrepancy, which indicates the necessity of stronger feedback in massive galaxies. In addition, our model broadly reproduces the observed radial profile of dust surface density in the circum-galactic medium (CGM). While our model satisfies the observational constraints for the dust extinction on cosmological scales, it predicts that the dust in the CGM and IGM is dominated by large (>0.03 μm) grains, which is in tension with the steep reddening curves observed in the CGM.

  18. Experiments on Dust Grain Charging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, M. N.; Craven, P. D.; Spann, J. F.; Tankosic, D.; LeClair, A.; West, E. A.

    2004-01-01

    Dust particles in various astrophysical environments are charged by a variety of mechanisms generally involving collisional processes with other charged particles and photoelectric emission with UV radiation from nearby sources. The sign and the magnitude of the particle charge are determined by the competition between the charging processes by UV radiation and collisions with charged particles. Knowledge of the particle charges and equilibrium potentials is important for understanding of a number of physical processes. The charge of a dust grain is thus a fundamental parameter that influences the physics of dusty plasmas, processes in the interplanetary medium and interstellar medium, interstellar dust clouds, planetary rings, cometary and outer atmospheres of planets etc. In this paper we present some results of experiments on charging of dust grains carried out on a laboratory facility capable levitating micron size dust grains in an electrodynamic balance in simulated space environments. The charging/discharging experiments were carried out by exposing the dust grains to energetic electron beams and UV radiation. Photoelectric efficiencies and yields of micron size dust grains of SiO2, and lunar simulates obtained from NASA-JSC will be presented.

  19. Ulysses dust measurements near Jupiter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grün, E; Zook, H A; Baguhl, M; Fechtig, H; Hanner, M S; Kissel, J; Lindblad, B A; Linkert, D; Linkert, G; Mann, I B

    1992-09-11

    Submicrometer- to micrometer-sized particles were recorded by the Ulysses dust detector within 40 days of the Jupiter flyby. Nine impacts were recorded within 50 Jupiter radii with most of them recorded after closest approach. Three of these impacts are consistent with particles on prograde orbits around Jupiter and the rest are believed to have resulted from gravitationally focused interplanetary dust. From the ratio of the impact rate before the Jupiter flyby to the impact rate after the Jupiter flyby it is concluded that interplanetary dust particles at the distance of Jupiter move on mostly retrograde orbits. On 10 March 1992, Ulysses passed through an intense dust stream. The dust detector recorded 126 impacts within 26 hours. The stream particles were moving on highly inclined and apparently hyperbolic orbits with perihelion distances of >5 astronomical units. Interplanetary dust is lost rather quickly from the solar system through collisions and other mechanisms and must be almost continuously replenished to maintain observed abundances. Dust flux measurements, therefore, give evidence of the recent rates of production from sources such as comets, asteroids, and moons, as well as the possible presence of interstellar grains.

  20. Dust evolution in protoplanetary disks

    OpenAIRE

    Gonzalez , Jean-François; Fouchet , Laure; T. Maddison , Sarah; Laibe , Guillaume

    2007-01-01

    6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of IAU Symp. 249: Exoplanets: Detection, Formation and Dynamics (Suzhou, China); International audience; We investigate the behaviour of dust in protoplanetary disks under the action of gas drag using our 3D, two-fluid (gas+dust) SPH code. We present the evolution of the dust spatial distribution in global simulations of planetless disks as well as of disks containing an already formed planet. The resulting dust structures vary strongly with pa...

  1. Investigating the size, shape and surface roughness dependence of polarization lidars with light-scattering computations on real mineral dust particles: Application to dust particles' external mixtures and dust mass concentration retrievals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehri, Tahar; Kemppinen, Osku; David, Grégory; Lindqvist, Hannakaisa; Tyynelä, Jani; Nousiainen, Timo; Rairoux, Patrick; Miffre, Alain

    2018-05-01

    Our understanding of the contribution of mineral dust to the Earth's radiative budget is limited by the complexity of these particles, which present a wide range of sizes, are highly-irregularly shaped, and are present in the atmosphere in the form of particle mixtures. To address the spatial distribution of mineral dust and atmospheric dust mass concentrations, polarization lidars are nowadays frequently used, with partitioning algorithms allowing to discern the contribution of mineral dust in two or three-component particle external mixtures. In this paper, we investigate the dependence of the retrieved dust backscattering (βd) vertical profiles with the dust particle size and shape. For that, new light-scattering numerical simulations are performed on real atmospheric mineral dust particles, having determined mineralogy (CAL, DOL, AGG, SIL), derived from stereogrammetry (stereo-particles), with potential surface roughness, which are compared to the widely-used spheroidal mathematical shape model. For each dust shape model (smooth stereo-particles, rough stereo-particles, spheroids), the dust depolarization, backscattering Ångström exponent, lidar ratio are computed for two size distributions representative of mineral dust after long-range transport. As an output, two Saharan dust outbreaks involving mineral dust in two, then three-component particle mixtures are studied with Lyon (France) UV-VIS polarization lidar. If the dust size matters most, under certain circumstances, βd can vary by approximately 67% when real dust stereo-particles are used instead of spheroids, corresponding to variations in the dust backscattering coefficient as large as 2 Mm- 1·sr- 1. Moreover, the influence of surface roughness in polarization lidar retrievals is for the first time discussed. Finally, dust mass-extinction conversion factors (ηd) are evaluated for each assigned shape model and dust mass concentrations are retrieved from polarization lidar measurements. From

  2. Dust Dynamics Near Planetary Surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colwell, Joshua; Hughes, Anna; Grund, Chris

    Observations of a lunar "horizon glow" by several Surveyor spacecraft in the 1960s opened the study of the dynamics of charged dust particles near planetary surfaces. The surfaces of the Moon and other airless planetary bodies in the solar system (asteroids, and other moons) are directly exposed to the solar wind and ionizing solar ultraviolet radiation, resulting in a time-dependent electric surface potential. Because these same objects are also exposed to bombardment by micrometeoroids, the surfaces are usually characterized by a power-law size distribution of dust that extends to sub-micron-sized particles. Individual particles can acquire a charge different from their surroundings leading to electrostatic levitation. Once levitated, particles may simply return to the surface on nearly ballistic trajectories, escape entirely from the moon or asteroid if the initial velocity is large, or in some cases be stably levitated for extended periods of time. All three outcomes have observable consequences. Furthermore, the behavior of charged dust near the surface has practical implications for planned future manned and unmanned activities on the lunar surface. Charged dust particles also act as sensitive probes of the near-surface plasma environment. Recent numerical modeling of dust levitation and transport show that charged micron-sized dust is likely to accumulate in topographic lows such as craters, providing a mechanism for the creation of dust "ponds" observed on the asteroid 433 Eros. Such deposition can occur when particles are supported by the photoelectron sheath above the dayside and drift over shadowed regions of craters where the surface potential is much smaller. Earlier studies of the lunar horizon glow are consistent with those particles being on simple ballistic trajectories following electrostatic launching from the surface. Smaller particles may be accelerated from the lunar surface to high altitudes consistent with observations of high altitude

  3. Risk of Adverse Health and Performance Effects of Celestial Dust Exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scully, Robert R.; Meyers, Valerie E.

    2015-01-01

    Crew members can be directly exposed to celestial dust in several ways. After crew members perform extravehicular activities (EVAs), they may introduce into the habitat dust that will have collected on spacesuits and boots. Cleaning of the suits between EVAs and changing of the Environmental Control Life Support System filters are other operations that could result in direct exposure to celestial dusts. In addition, if the spacesuits used in exploration missions abrade the skin, as current EVA suits have, then contact with these wounds would provide a source of exposure. Further, if celestial dusts gain access to a suit's interior, as was the case during the Apollo missions, the dust could serve as an additional source of abrasions or enhance suit-induced injuries. When a crew leaves the surface of a celestial body and returns to microgravity, the dust that is introduced into the return vehicle will "float," thus increasing the opportunity for ocular and respiratory injury. Because the features of the respirable fraction of lunar dusts indicate they could be toxic to humans, NASA conducted several studies utilizing lunar dust simulants and authentic lunar dust to determine the unique properties of lunar dust that affect physiology, assess the dermal and ocular irritancy of the dust, and establish a permissible exposure limit for episodic exposure to airborne lunar dust during missions that would involve no more than 6 months stay on the lunar surface. Studies, with authentic lunar soils from both highland (Apollo 16) and mare (Apollo17) regions demonstrated that the lunar soil is highly abrasive to a high fidelity model of human skin. Studies of lunar dust returned during the Apollo 14 mission from an area of the moon in which the soils were comprised of mineral constituents from both major geological regions (highlands and mares regions) demonstrated only minimal ocular irritancy, and pulmonary toxicity that was less than the highly toxic terrestrial crystalline

  4. Grain dust and the lungs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan-Yeung, M.; Ashley, M. J.; Grzybowski, S.

    1978-01-01

    Grain dust is composed of a large number of materials, including various types of grain and their disintegration products, silica, fungi, insects and mites. The clinical syndromes described in relation to exposure to grain dust are chronic bronchitis, grain dust asthma, extrinsic allergic alveolitis, grain fever and silo-filler's lung. Rhinitis and conjunctivitis are also common in grain workers. While the concentration and the quality of dust influence the frequency and the type of clinical syndrome in grain workers, host factors are also important. Of the latter, smoking is the most important factor influencing the frequency of chronic bronchitis. The role of atopy and of bronchial hyperreactivity in grain dust asthma has yet to be assessed. Several well designed studies are currently being carried out in North America not only to delineate the frequency of the respiratory abnormalities, the pathogenetic mechanisms and the host factors, but also to establish a meaningful threshold limit concentration for grain dust. Images p1272-a PMID:348288

  5. LADEE LUNAR DUST EXPERIMENT

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This archive bundle includes data taken by the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) instrument aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft....

  6. Combustible dust tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    The sugar dust explosion in Georgia on February 7, 2008 killed 14 workers and injured many others (OSHA, 2009). As a consequence of this explosion, OSHA revised its Combustible Dust National Emphasis (NEP) program. The NEP targets 64 industries with more than 1,000 inspections and has found more tha...

  7. The development of a HEPA filter with improved dust holding characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dyment, J.; Hamblin, C.

    1995-01-01

    A limitation of the HEPA filters used in the extract of nuclear facilities is their relatively low capacity for captured dust. The costs associated with the disposal of a typical filter means that there are clear incentives to extend filter life. The work described in this report are the initial stages in the development of a filter which incorporates a medium which enhances its dust holding capacity. Experimental equipment was installed to enable the dust loading characteristics of candidate media to be compared with those of the glass fibre based papers currently used in filter construction. These tests involved challenging representative samples of the media with an air stream containing a controlled concentration of thermally generated sodium chloride particles. The dust loading characteristics of the media were then compared in terms of the rate of increasing in pressure differential. A number of open-quotes graded densityclose quotes papers were subsequently identified which appeared to offer significant improvements in dust holding. In the second phase of the programme deep-pleat filters (1,700 M 3 h -1 ) incorporating graded density papers were manufactured and tested. Improvements of up to 50% were observed in their capacity for the sub-micron sodium chloride test dust. Smaller differences (15%) were measured when a coarser, carbon black, challenge was used. This is attributed to the differences in the particles sizes of the two dusts

  8. Dust particle formation in silane plasmas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sorokin, M.

    2005-01-01

    Dust can be found anywhere: in the kitchen, in the car, in space… Not surprisingly we also see dust in commercial and laboratory plasmas. Dust can be introduced in the plasma, but it can also grow there by itself. In the microelectronics industry, contamination of the processing plasma by dust is an

  9. Optical and microphysical properties of natural mineral dust and anthropogenic soil dust near dust source regions over northwestern China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin; Wen, Hui; Shi, Jinsen; Bi, Jianrong; Huang, Zhongwei; Zhang, Beidou; Zhou, Tian; Fu, Kaiqi; Chen, Quanliang; Xin, Jinyuan

    2018-02-01

    Mineral dust aerosols (MDs) not only influence the climate by scattering and absorbing solar radiation but also modify cloud properties and change the ecosystem. From 3 April to 16 May 2014, a ground-based mobile laboratory was deployed to measure the optical and microphysical properties of MDs near dust source regions in Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang (in chronological order) along the Hexi Corridor over northwestern China. Throughout this dust campaign, the hourly averaged (±standard deviation) aerosol scattering coefficients (σsp, 550 nm) of the particulates with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) at these three sites were sequentially 101.5 ± 36.8, 182.2 ± 433.1, and 54.0 ± 32.0 Mm-1. Correspondingly, the absorption coefficients (σap, 637 nm) were 9.7 ± 6.1, 6.0 ± 4.6, and 2.3 ± 0.9 Mm-1; single-scattering albedos (ω, 637 nm) were 0.902 ± 0.025, 0.931 ± 0.037, and 0.949 ± 0.020; and scattering Ångström exponents (Åsp, 450-700 nm) of PM2.5 were 1.28 ± 0.27, 0.77 ± 0.51, and 0.52 ± 0.31. During a severe dust storm in Zhangye (i.e., from 23 to 25 April), the highest values of σsp2.5 ( ˜ 5074 Mm-1), backscattering coefficient (σbsp2.5, ˜ 522 Mm-1), and ω637 ( ˜ 0.993) and the lowest values of backscattering fraction (b2.5, ˜ 0.101) at 550 nm and Åsp2.5 ( ˜ -0.046) at 450-700 nm, with peak values of aerosol number size distribution (appearing at the particle diameter range of 1-3 µm), exhibited that the atmospheric aerosols were dominated by coarse-mode dust aerosols. It is hypothesized that the relatively higher values of mass scattering efficiency during floating dust episodes in Wuwei and Zhangye are attributed to the anthropogenic soil dust produced by agricultural cultivations.

  10. Phytoplankton growth response to Asian dust addition in the northwest Pacific Ocean versus the Yellow Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Chao; Gao, Huiwang; Yao, Xiaohong; Shi, Zongbo; Shi, Jinhui; Yu, Yang; Meng, Ling; Guo, Xinyu

    2018-02-01

    In this study, five on-board microcosm experiments were performed in the subtropical gyre, the Kuroshio Extension region of the northwest Pacific Ocean (NWPO), and the Yellow Sea (YS) in order to investigate phytoplankton growth following the addition of artificially modified mineral dust (AM dust) and various nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), N + P, and N + P + Fe). The two experiments carried out with AM-dust addition in the subtropical gyre showed a maximum chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentration increase of 1.7- and 2.8-fold, while the cell abundance of large-sized phytoplankton ( > 5 µm) showed a 1.8- and 3.9-fold increase, respectively, relative to the controls. However, in the Kuroshio Extension region and the YS, the increases in maximum Chl a and cell abundance of large-sized phytoplankton following AM-dust addition were at most 1.3-fold and 1.7-fold larger than those in the controls, respectively. A net conversion efficiency index (NCEI) newly proposed in this study, size-fractionated Chl a, and the abundance of large-sized phytoplankton were analysed to determine which nutrients contribute to supporting phytoplankton growth. Our results demonstrate that a combination of nutrients, N-P or N + P + Fe, is responsible for phytoplankton growth in the subtropical gyre following AM-dust addition. Single nutrient addition, i.e., N in the Kuroshio Extension region and P or N in the YS, controls the phytoplankton growth following AM-dust addition. In the AM-dust-addition experiments, in which the increased N-P or P was identified to determine phytoplankton growth, the dissolved inorganic P from AM dust (8.6 nmol L-1) was much lower than the theoretically estimated minimum P demand (˜ 20 nmol L-1) for phytoplankton growth. These observations suggest that additional supply augments the bioavailable P stock in incubated seawater with AM-dust addition, most likely due to an enhanced solubility of P from AM dust or the remineralization of the dissolved

  11. Four Interstellar Dust Candidates from the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westphal, A. J.; Allen, C.; Bajt, S.; Bechtel, H. A.; Borg, J.; Brenker, F.; Bridges, J.; Brownlee, D. E.; Burchell, M.; Burghammer, M.; hide

    2011-01-01

    In January 2006, the Stardust sample return capsule returned to Earth bearing the first solid samples from a primitive solar system body, Comet 81P/Wild2, and a collector dedicated to the capture and return of contemporary interstellar dust. Both collectors were approx. 0.1 sq m in area and were composed of aerogel tiles (85% of the collecting area) and aluminum foils. The Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC) was exposed to the interstellar dust stream for a total exposure factor of 20 sq m/day. The Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) is a consortium-based project to characterize the collection using nondestructive techniques. The goals and restrictions of the ISPE are described . A summary of analytical techniques is described.

  12. Maintaining the Background Dust Opacity During Northern Hemisphere Summer Mars Using Wind Stress Based Dust Lifting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jha, V.; Kahre, M. A.

    2017-12-01

    The Mars atmosphere has low levels of dust during Northern Hemisphere (NH) spring and summer (the non-dusty season) and increased levels during NH autumn and winter (the dusty season). In the absence of regional or global storms, dust devils and local storms maintain a background minimum dust loading during the non-dusty season. While observational surveys and Global Climate Model (GCM) studies suggest that dust devils are likely to be major contributors to the background haze during NH spring and summer, a complete understanding of the relative contribution of dust devils and local dust storms has not yet been achieved. We present preliminary results from an investigation that focuses on the effects of radiatively active water ice clouds on dust lifting processes during these seasons. Water ice clouds are known to affect atmospheric temperatures directly by absorption and emission of thermal infrared radiation and indirectly through dynamical feedbacks. Our goal is to understand how clouds affect the contribution by local (wind stress) dust storms to the background dust haze during NH spring and summer. The primary tool for this work is the NASA Ames Mars GCM, which contains physical parameterizations for a fully interactive dust cycle. Three simulations that included wind stress dust lifting were executed for a period of 5 Martian years: a case that included no cloud formation, a case that included radiatively inert cloud formation and a case that included radiatively active cloud (RAC) formation. Results show that when radiatively active clouds are included, the clouds in the aphelion cloud belt radiatively heat the atmosphere aloft in the tropics (Figure 1). This heating produces a stronger overturning circulation, which in turn produces an enhanced low-level flow in the Hadley cell return branch. The stronger low-level flow drives higher surface stresses and increased dust lifting in those locations. We examine how realistic these simulated results are by

  13. Properties of interstellar dust in reflection nebulae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sellgren, K.

    1988-01-01

    Observations of interstellar dust in reflection nebulae are the closest analog in the interstellar medium to studies of cometary dust in our solar system. The presence of a bright star near the reflection nebula dust provides the opportunity to study both the reflection and emission characteristics of interstellar dust. At 0.1 to 1 micrometer, the reflection nebula emission is due to starlight scattered by dust. The albedo and scattering phase function of the dust is determined from observations of the scattered light. At 50 to 200 micrometers, thermal emission from the dust in equilibrium with the stellar radiation field is observed. The derived dust temperature determines the relative values of the absorption coefficient of the dust at wavelengths where the stellar energy is absorbed and at far infrared wavelengths where the absorbed energy is reradiated. These emission mechanisms directly relate to those seen in the near and mid infrared spectra of comets. In a reflection nebula the dust is observed at much larger distances from the star than in our solar system, so that the equilibrium dust temperature is 50 K rather than 300 K. Thus, in reflection nebulae, thermal emission from dust is emitted at 50 to 200 micrometer

  14. The dust acoustic wave in a bounded dusty plasma with strong electrostatic interactions between dust grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukla, Nitin; Shukla, P.K.

    2011-01-01

    The dispersion relation for the dust acoustic wave (DAW) in an unmagnetized dusty plasma cylindrical waveguide is derived, accounting for strong electrostatic interactions between charged dust grains. It is found that the boundary effect limits the radial extent of the DAW. The present result should be helpful for understanding the frequency spectrum of the DAW in a dusty plasma waveguide with strongly coupled charged dust grains. - Highlights: → We study the dust acoustic wave (DAW) in a bounded plasma. → We account for interactions between dust grains. → The boundary effect limits the radial extent of the DAW.

  15. Sensitivity of transatlantic dust transport to chemical aging and related atmospheric processes

    KAUST Repository

    Abdelkader, Mohamed

    2017-03-20

    We present a sensitivity study on transatlantic dust transport, a process which has many implications for the atmosphere, the ocean and the climate. We investigate the impact of key processes that control the dust outflow, i.e., the emission flux, convection schemes and the chemical aging of mineral dust, by using the EMAC model following Abdelkader et al. (2015). To characterize the dust outflow over the Atlantic Ocean, we distinguish two geographic zones: (i) dust interactions within the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), or the dust–ITCZ interaction zone (DIZ), and (ii) the adjacent dust transport over the Atlantic Ocean (DTA) zone. In the latter zone, the dust loading shows a steep and linear gradient westward over the Atlantic Ocean since particle sedimentation is the dominant removal process, whereas in the DIZ zone aerosol–cloud interactions, wet deposition and scavenging processes determine the extent of the dust outflow. Generally, the EMAC simulated dust compares well with CALIPSO observations; however, our reference model configuration tends to overestimate the dust extinction at a lower elevation and underestimates it at a higher elevation. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the Caribbean responds to the dust emission flux only when the emitted dust mass is significantly increased over the source region in Africa by a factor of 10. These findings point to the dominant role of dust removal (especially wet deposition) in transatlantic dust transport. Experiments with different convection schemes have indeed revealed that the transatlantic dust transport is more sensitive to the convection scheme than to the dust emission flux parameterization. To study the impact of dust chemical aging, we focus on a major dust outflow in July 2009. We use the calcium cation as a proxy for the overall chemical reactive dust fraction and consider the uptake of major inorganic acids (i.e., H2SO4, HNO3 and HCl) and their anions, i.e., sulfate (SO42−), bisulfate

  16. Dust Studies in DIII-D and TEXTOR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rudakov, D.L.; Litnovsky, A.; West, W.P.; Yu, J.H.; Boedo, J.A.; Bray, B.D.; Brezinsek, S.; Brooks, N.H.; Fenstermacher, M.E.; Groth, M.; Hollmann, E.M.; Huber, A.; Hyatt, A.W.; Krasheninnikov, S.I.; Lasnier, C.J.; Moyer, R.A.; Pigarov, A.Y.; Philipps, V.; Pospieszczyk, A.; Smirnov, R.D.; Sharpe, J.P.; Solomon, W.M.; Watkins, J.G.; Wong, C.C.

    2009-01-01

    Studies of naturally occurring and artificially introduced carbon dust are conducted in DIII-D and TEXTOR. In DIII-D, dust does not present operational concerns except immediately after entry vents. Submicron sized dust is routinely observed using Mie scattering from a Nd:Yag laser. The source is strongly correlated with the presence of Type I edge localized modes (ELMs). Larger size (0.005-1 mm diameter) dust is observed by optical imaging, showing elevated dust levels after entry vents. Inverse dependence of the dust velocity on the inferred dust size is found from the imaging data. Direct heating of the dust particles by the neutral beam injection (NBI) and acceleration of dust particles by the plasma flows are observed. Energetic plasma disruptions produce significant amounts of dust. Large flakes or debris falling into the plasma may result in a disruption. Migration of pre-characterized carbon dust is studied in DIII-D and TEXTOR by introducing micron-size dust in plasma discharges. In DIII-D, a sample holder filled with ∼30 mg of dust is introduced in the lower divertor and exposed to high-power ELMing H-mode discharges with strike points swept across the divertor floor. After a brief exposure (∼0.1 s) at the outer strike point, part of the dust is injected into the plasma, raising the core carbon density by a factor of 2-3 and resulting in a twofold increase of the radiated power. In TEXTOR, instrumented dust holders with 1-45 mg of dust are exposed in the scrape-off layer 0-2 cm radially outside of the last closed flux surface in discharges heated with neutral beam injection (NBI) power of 1.4 MW. At the given configuration of the launch, the dust did not penetrate the core plasma and only moderately perturbed the edge plasma, as evidenced by an increase of the edge carbon content.

  17. MIDAS - an atomic force microscope for in-situ imaging of cometary dust particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fehringer, H.M.; Ruedenauer, F.G.; Steiger, W.

    1997-02-01

    Comets are interesting bodies, since they are considered to consist of matter remaining in essentially unchanged chemistry from the presolar nebula. Investigation of cometary matter therefore permits to draw conclusion s with respect to the composition of presolar matter. The atomic force microscope MIDAS will be the first instrument to analyze, within ESA's ROSETTA-mission priestine cometary matter in the form of dust particles emitted by comet WIRTANEN during its perihelion in 2013. Within this project, a dust model has been developed, permitting estimation of dust collection times required for statistically significant imaging of cometary particles. The dynamics of dust collection has been developed and experimental dust collection surfaces have been produced making use of modem nanostructuring techniques. Mechanical properties of 3-dimensional piezo-control elements, which are an essential part of the MIDAS microscope, have been determined. (author)

  18. Gene Expression Profiling in Lung Tissues from Rat Exposed to Lunar Dust Particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ye; Lam, Chiu-Wing; Zalesak, Selina M.; Kidane, Yared H.; Feiveson, Alan H.; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert; Scully, Robert R.; Williams, Kyle; Wu, Honglu; James, John T.

    2014-01-01

    The Moon's surface is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust. Lunar dust contain about 1-2% of very fine dust (gene expression changes in lung tissues from rats exposed to lunar dust particles. F344 rats were exposed for 4 weeks (6h/d; 5d/wk) in nose-only inhalation chambers to concentrations of 0 (control air), 2.1, 6.8, 21, and 61 mg/m(exp 3) of lunar dust. Five rats per group were euthanized 1 day, and 3 months after the last inhalation exposure. The total RNAs were isolated from lung tissues after being lavaged. The Agilent Rat GE v3 microarray was used to profile global gene expression (44K). The genes with significant expression changes are identified and the gene expression data were further analyzed using various statistical tools.

  19. PERSPECTIVE: Dust, fertilization and sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Remer, Lorraine A.

    2006-11-01

    Aerosols, tiny suspended particles in the atmosphere, play an important role in modifying the Earth's energy balance and are essential for the formation of cloud droplets. Suspended dust particles lifted from the world's arid regions by strong winds contain essential minerals that can be transported great distances and deposited into the ocean or on other continents where productivity is limited by lack of usable minerals [1]. Dust can transport pathogens as well as minerals great distance, contributing to the spread of human and agricultural diseases, and a portion of dust can be attributed to human activity suggesting that dust radiative effects should be included in estimates of anthropogenic climate forcing. The greenish and brownish tints in figure 1 show the wide extent of monthly mean mineral dust transport, as viewed by the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensor. The monthly mean global aerosol system for February 2006 from the MODIS aboard the Terra satellite Figure 1. The monthly mean global aerosol system for February 2006 from the MODIS aboard the Terra satellite. The brighter the color, the greater the aerosol loading. Red and reddish tints indicate aerosol dominated by small particles created primarily from combustion processes. Green and brownish tints indicate larger particles created from wind-driven processes, usually transported desert dust. Note the bright green band at the southern edge of the Saharan desert, the reddish band it must cross if transported to the southwest and the long brownish transport path as it crosses the Atlantic to South America. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov). Even though qualitatively we recognize the extent and importance of dust transport and the role that it plays in fertilizing nutrient-limited regions, there is much that is still unknown. We are just now beginning to quantify the amount of dust that exits one continental region and the

  20. Activation analysis of deposited dust brought to Israel by dust storms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ganor, E.; Tal, A.; Donagi, A.

    1975-01-01

    The determination of dust particles deposited in Jerusalem during regional dust storms was carried out by polarized microscopy, X-ray analysis and atomic absorption measurements. These analyses showed the presence of particles of quartz, calcite, dolomite, feldspar, halite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, epidote, tourmaline, glauconite, illite and other heavy minerals. The aims of the present study were to apply activation analysis for the determination of element composition in dust samples; to compare the results obtained by activation analysis with those obtained by other methods, i.e. chemical analysis, polarized microscopy and X-ray analysis. The results obtained by the various methods were in good agreement. (B.G.)

  1. Ice Nucleation Activity of Various Agricultural Soil Dust Aerosol Particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiebel, Thea; Höhler, Kristina; Funk, Roger; Hill, Thomas C. J.; Levin, Ezra J. T.; Nadolny, Jens; Steinke, Isabelle; Suski, Kaitlyn J.; Ullrich, Romy; Wagner, Robert; Weber, Ines; DeMott, Paul J.; Möhler, Ottmar

    2016-04-01

    Recent investigations at the cloud simulation chamber AIDA (Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) suggest that agricultural soil dust has an ice nucleation ability that is enhanced up to a factor of 10 compared to desert dust, especially at temperatures above -26 °C (Steinke et al., in preparation for submission). This enhancement might be caused by the contribution of very ice-active biological particles. In addition, soil dust aerosol particles often contain a considerably higher amount of organic matter compared to desert dust particles. To test agricultural soil dust as a source of ice nucleating particles, especially for ice formation in warm clouds, we conducted a series of laboratory measurements with different soil dust samples to extend the existing AIDA dataset. The AIDA has a volume of 84 m3 and operates under atmospherically relevant conditions over wide ranges of temperature, pressure and humidity. By controlled adiabatic expansions, the ascent of an air parcel in the troposphere can be simulated. As a supplement to the AIDA facility, we use the INKA (Ice Nucleation Instrument of the KArlsruhe Institute of Technology) continuous flow diffusion chamber based on the design by Rogers (1988) to expose the sampled aerosol particles to a continuously increasing saturation ratio by keeping the aerosol temperature constant. For our experiments, soil dust was dry dispersed into the AIDA vessel. First, fast saturation ratio scans at different temperatures were performed with INKA, sampling soil dust aerosol particles directly from the AIDA vessel. Then, we conducted the AIDA expansion experiment starting at a preset temperature. The combination of these two different methods provides a robust data set on the temperature-dependent ice activity of various agriculture soil dust aerosol particles with a special focus on relatively high temperatures. In addition, to extend the data set, we investigated the role of biological and organic matter in more

  2. ORIGIN OF DUST AROUND V1309 SCO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Chunhua; Lü, Guoliang; Wang, Zhaojun

    2013-01-01

    The origin of dust grains in the interstellar medium is still an unanswered problem. Nicholls et al. found the presence of a significant amount of dust around V1309 Sco, which may originate from the merger of a contact binary. We investigate the origin of dust around V1309 Sco and suggest that these dust grains are produced in the binary-merger ejecta. By means of the AGBDUST code, we estimate that ∼5.2 × 10 –4 M ☉ dust grains are produced with a radii of ∼10 –5 cm. These dust grains are mainly composed of silicate and iron grains. Because the mass of the binary merger ejecta is very small, the contribution of dust produced by binary merger ejecta to the overall dust production in the interstellar medium is negligible. However, it is important to note that the discovery of a significant amount of dust around V1309 Sco offers a direct support for the idea that common-envelope ejecta provides an ideal environment for dust formation and growth. Therefore, we confirm that common envelope ejecta can be important source of cosmic dust

  3. Method for cleaning the filter pockets of dust gas filter systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Margraf, A

    1975-05-07

    The invention deals with a method to clean filter pockets filled with dust gas. By a periodic to and fro air jet attached to a scavenging blower, a pulsed fluttering movement of the filter surface is obtained which releases the outer layers of dust. The charging of the filter pockets with scavenging air to clean the filter material can be carried out immediately on the pulsed admission with suitable time control.

  4. Exposure to grain dust in Great Britain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spankie, Sally; Cherrie, John W

    2012-01-01

    Airborne grain dust is a complex mixture of fragments of organic material from grain, plus mineral matter from soil, and possible insect, fungal, or bacterial contamination or their toxic products, such as endotoxin. In the 1990s, grain workers in Britain were frequently exposed to inhalable dust >10 mg.m(-3) (8 h), with particularly high exposures being found at terminals where grain was imported or exported and in drying operations (personal exposure typically approximately 20 mg.m(-3)). Since then, the industry has made substantial progress in improving the control of airborne dust through better-designed processes, increased automation, and an improved focus on product quality. We have used information from the published scientific literature and a small survey of industry representatives to estimate current exposure levels. These data suggest that current long-term exposure to inhalable dust for most workers is on average less than approximately 3 mg.m(-3), with perhaps 15-20% of individual personal exposures being >10 mg.m(-3). There are no published data from Britain on short-term exposure during cleaning and other tasks. We have estimated average levels for a range of tasks and judge that the highest levels, for example during some cleaning activities and certain process tasks such as loading and packing, are probably approximately10 mg.m(-3). Endotoxin levels were judged likely to be dust levels are <10 mg.m(-3). There are no published exposure data on mycotoxin, respirable crystalline silica, and mite contamination but these are not considered to present widespread problems in the British industry. Further research should be carried out to confirm these findings.

  5. Dust-Tolerant Intelligent Electrical Connection System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Mark; Dokos, Adam; Perotti, Jose; Calle, Carlos; Mueller, Robert; Bastin, Gary; Carlson, Jeffrey; Townsend, Ivan, III; Immer, Chirstopher; Medelius, Pedro

    2012-01-01

    Faults in wiring systems are a serious concern for the aerospace and aeronautic (commercial, military, and civilian) industries. Circuit failures and vehicle accidents have occurred and have been attributed to faulty wiring created by open and/or short circuits. Often, such circuit failures occur due to vibration during vehicle launch or operation. Therefore, developing non-intrusive fault-tolerant techniques is necessary to detect circuit faults and automatically route signals through alternate recovery paths while the vehicle or lunar surface systems equipment is in operation. Electrical connector concepts combining dust mitigation strategies and cable diagnostic technologies have significant application for lunar and Martian surface systems, as well as for dusty terrestrial applications. The dust-tolerant intelligent electrical connection system has several novel concepts and unique features. It combines intelligent cable diagnostics (health monitoring) and automatic circuit routing capabilities into a dust-tolerant electrical umbilical. It retrofits a clamshell protective dust cover to an existing connector for reduced gravity operation, and features a universal connector housing with three styles of dust protection: inverted cap, rotating cap, and clamshell. It uses a self-healing membrane as a dust barrier for electrical connectors where required, while also combining lotus leaf technology for applications where a dust-resistant coating providing low surface tension is needed to mitigate Van der Waals forces, thereby disallowing dust particle adhesion to connector surfaces. It also permits using a ruggedized iris mechanism with an embedded electrodynamic dust shield as a dust barrier for electrical connectors where required.

  6. Ocular toxicity of authentic lunar dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyers, Valerie E; Garcìa, Hector D; Monds, Kathryn; Cooper, Bonnie L; James, John T

    2012-07-20

    Dust exposure is a well-known occupational hazard for terrestrial workers and astronauts alike and will continue to be a concern as humankind pursues exploration and habitation of objects beyond Earth. Humankind's limited exploration experience with the Apollo Program indicates that exposure to dust will be unavoidable. Therefore, NASA must assess potential toxicity and recommend appropriate mitigation measures to ensure that explorers are adequately protected. Visual acuity is critical during exploration activities and operations aboard spacecraft. Therefore, the present research was performed to ascertain the ocular toxicity of authentic lunar dust. Small (mean particle diameter = 2.9 ± 1.0 μm), reactive lunar dust particles were produced by grinding bulk dust under ultrapure nitrogen conditions. Chemical reactivity and cytotoxicity testing were performed using the commercially available EpiOcularTM assay. Subsequent in vivo Draize testing utilized a larger size fraction of unground lunar dust that is more relevant to ocular exposures (particles lunar dust was minimally irritating. Minor irritation of the upper eyelids was noted at the 1-hour observation point, but these effects resolved within 24 hours. In addition, no corneal scratching was observed using fluorescein stain. Low-titanium mare lunar dust is minimally irritating to the eyes and is considered a nuisance dust for ocular exposure. No special precautions are recommended to protect against ocular exposures, but fully shielded goggles may be used if dust becomes a nuisance.

  7. Ecological Restoration Programs Induced Amelioration of the Dust Pollution in North China Plain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, X.; Tie, X.; Li, G.; Junji, C.

    2017-12-01

    With Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product (MCD12Q1), we quantitatively evaluate the ecological restoration programs (ERP) induced land cover change in China by calculating gridded the land use fraction (LUF). We clearly capture two obvious vegetation (grass and forest) protective barriers arise between the dust source region DSR and North China Plain NCP from 2011 to 2013. The WRF-DUST model is applied to investigate the impact of ERPs on dust pollution from 2 to 8 March 2016, corresponding to a national dust storm event over China. Despite some model biases, the WRF-DUST model reasonably reproduced the temporal variations of dust storm event, involving IOA of 0.96 and NMB of 2% for DSR, with IOA of 0.83 and NMB of -15% for downwind area of NCP. Generally, the WRF-DUST model well capture the spatial variations and evolutions of dust storm events with episode-average [PMC] correlation coefficient (R) of 0.77, especially the dust storm outbreak and transport evolution, involving daily average [PMC] R of 0.9 and 0.73 on 4-5 March, respectively. It is found that the ERPs generally reduce the dust pollution in NCP, especially for BTH, involving upper dust pollution control benefits of -15.3% (-21.0 μg m-3) for BTH, and -6.2% (-9.3 μg m-3) for NCP. We are the first to conduct model sensitivity studies to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of the ERPs on the dust pollution in NCP. And our narrative is independently based on first-hand sources, whereas government statistics.

  8. Effectiveness of interventions to reduce flour dust exposures in supermarket bakeries in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baatjies, Roslynn; Meijster, Tim; Heederik, Dick; Sander, Ingrid; Jeebhay, Mohamed F

    2014-12-01

    A recent study of supermarket bakery workers in South Africa demonstrated that 25% of workers were sensitised to flour allergens and 13% had baker's asthma. Evidence on exposure reduction strategies using specifically designed interventions aimed at reducing the risk of baker's asthma is scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of different control measures to reduce airborne flour dust exposure using a randomised design. A group-randomised study design was used to assign 30 bakeries of a large supermarket chain store to two intervention groups and a control group, of which 15 bakeries were studied. Full-shift environmental personal samples were used to characterise exposure to flour dust and wheat and rye allergens levels pre-intervention (n=176) and post-intervention (n=208). The overall intervention effect revealed a 50% decrease in mean flour dust, wheat and rye allergen exposure. The reduction in exposure was highest for managers (67%) and bakers (47%), and lowest for counterhands (23%). For bakers, the greatest reduction in flour dust was associated with control measures such as the use of the mixer lid (67%), divider oil (63%) or focused training (54%). However, the greatest reduction (80%) was observed when using a combination of all control measures. A specially designed intervention strategy reduced both flour dust and allergen levels. Best results were observed when combining both engineering controls and training. Further studies will investigate the long-term health impact of these interventions on reducing the disease burden among this group of bakers. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  9. Laboratory Studies of the Optical Properties and Condensation Processes of Cosmic Dust Grains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, M. M.; Craven, P. D.; Spann, J. F.; Tankosic, D.; LeClair, A.; West, E.; Sheldon, R.; Witherow, W. K.; Gallagher, D. L.; Adrian, M. L.

    2002-01-01

    A laboratory facility for conducting a variety of experiments on single isolated dust particles of astrophysical interest levitated in an electrodynamics balance has been developed at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. The objective of the research is to employ this experimental technique for studies of the physical and optical properties of individual cosmic dust grains of 0.1-100 micron size in controlled pressure/temperatures environments simulating astrophysical conditions. The physical and optical properties of the analogs of interstellar and interplanetary dust grains of known composition and size distribution will be investigated by this facility. In particular, we will carry out three classes of experiments to study the micro-physics of cosmic dust grains. (1) Charge characteristics of micron size single dust grains to determine the photoelectric efficiencies, yields, and equilibrium potentials when exposed to UV radiation. (2) Infrared optical properties of dust particles (extinction coefficients and scattering phase functions) in the 1-30 micron region using infrared diode lasers and measuring the scattered radiation. (3) Condensation experiments to investigate the condensation of volatile gases on colder nucleated particles in dense interstellar clouds and lower planetary atmospheres. The condensation experiments will involve levitated nucleus dust grains of known composition and initial mass (or m/q ratio), cooled to a temperature and pressure (or scaled pressure) simulating the astrophysical conditions, and injection of a volatile gas at a higher temperature from a controlled port. The increase in the mass due to condensation on the particle will be monitored as a function of the dust particle temperature and the partial pressure of the injected volatile gas. The measured data will permit determination of the sticking coefficients of volatile gases and growth rates of dust particles of astrophysical interest. Some preliminary results based on

  10. Measuring the incombustible content of mine dust using backscatter of low energy gamma rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, R.F.; Martin, J.W.

    1970-01-01

    Low energy gamma radiation directionally applied in a method, and by an adjustable apparatus to a layer of mine dust produces scattered gammas whose reflected radiation detected at a predetermined distance from the mine dust acts to cause the generation of an electrical control input for a meter indicating the incombustible content of the mine dust substantially independently of the effects on such indicating which are normally due to its bulk density and any moisture content thereof. (U.S.)

  11. Dust bands in the asteroid belt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sykes, M.V.; Greenberg, R.; Dermott, S.F.; Nicholson, P.D.; Burns, J.A.

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes the original IRAS observations leading to the discovery of the three dust bands in the asteroid belt and the analysis of data. Special attention is given to an analytical model of the dust band torus and to theories concerning the origin of the dust bands, with special attention given to the collisional equilibrium (asteroid family), the nonequilibrium (random collision), and the comet hypotheses of dust-band origin. It is noted that neither the equilibrium nor nonequilibrium models, as currently formulated, present a complete picture of the IRAS dust-band observations. 32 refs

  12. Early-Holocene greening of the Afro-Asian dust belt changed sources of mineral dust in West Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharifi, Arash; Murphy, Lisa N.; Pourmand, Ali; Clement, Amy C.; Canuel, Elizabeth A.; Naderi Beni, Abdolmajid; Lahijani, Hamid A. K.; Delanghe, Doriane; Ahmady-Birgani, Hesam

    2018-01-01

    Production, transport and deposition of mineral dust have significant impacts on different components of the Earth systems through time and space. In modern times, dust plumes are associated with their source region(s) using satellite and land-based measurements and trajectory analysis of air masses through time. Reconstruction of past changes in the sources of mineral dust as related to changes in climate, however, must rely on the knowledge of the geochemical and mineralogical composition of modern and paleo-dust, and that of their potential source origins. In this contribution, we present a 13,000-yr record of variations in radiogenic Sr-Nd-Hf isotopes and Rare Earth Element (REE) anomalies as well as dust grain size from an ombrotrophic (rain fed) peat core in NW Iran as proxies of past changes in the sources of dust over the interior of West Asia. Our data shows that although the grain size of dust varies in a narrow range through the entire record, the geochemical fingerprint of dust particles deposited during the low-flux, early Holocene period (11,700-6,000 yr BP) is distinctly different from aerosols deposited during high dust flux periods of the Younger Dryas and the mid-late Holocene (6,000-present). Our findings indicate that the composition of mineral dust deposited at the study site changed as a function of prevailing atmospheric circulation regimes and land exposure throughout the last deglacial period and the Holocene. Simulations of atmospheric circulation over the region show the Northern Hemisphere Summer Westerly Jet was displaced poleward across the study area during the early Holocene when Northern Hemisphere insolation was higher due to the Earth's orbital configuration. This shift, coupled with lower dust emissions simulated based on greening of the Afro-Asian Dust Belt during the early Holocene likely led to potential sources in Central Asia dominating dust export to West Asia during this period. In contrast, the dominant western and

  13. Dust storms and their impact on ocean and human health: dust in Earth's atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Dale W.; Kellog, Christina A.

    2004-01-01

    Satellite imagery has greatly influenced our understanding of dust activity on a global scale. A number of different satellites such as NASA's Earth-Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and Se-viewing Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) acquire daily global-scale data used to produce imagery for monitoring dust storm formation and movement. This global-scale imagery has documented the frequent transmission of dust storm-derived soils through Earth's atmosphere and the magnitude of many of these events. While various research projects have been undertaken to understand this normal planetary process, little has been done to address its impact on ocean and human health. This review will address the ability of dust storms to influence marine microbial population densities and transport of soil-associated toxins and pathogenic microorganisms to marine environments. The implications of dust on ocean and human health in this emerging scientific field will be discussed.

  14. Pheromonal Communication in the European House Dust Mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johannes L.M. Steidle

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Despite the sanitary importance of the European house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart, 1897, the pheromonal communication in this species has not been sufficiently studied. Headspace analysis using solid phase micro extraction (SPME revealed that nerol, neryl formate, pentadecane, (6Z,9Z-6,9-heptadecadiene, and (Z-8-heptadecene are released by both sexes whereas neryl propionate was released by males only. Tritonymphs did not produce any detectable volatiles. In olfactometer experiments, pentadecane and neryl propionate were attractive to both sexes as well as to tritonymphs. (Z-8-heptadecene was only attractive to male mites. Therefore it is discussed that pentadecane and neryl propionate are aggregation pheromones and (Z-8-heptadecene is a sexual pheromone of the European house dust mite D. pteronyssinus. To study the potential use of pheromones in dust mite control, long-range olfactometer experiments were conducted showing that mites can be attracted to neryl propionate over distances of at least 50 cm. This indicates that mite pheromones might be useable to monitor the presence or absence of mites in the context of control strategies.

  15. Electromagnetic dust-lower-hybrid and dust-magnetosonic waves and their instabilities in a dusty magnetoplasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salimullah, M.; Rahman, M. M.; Zeba, I.; Shah, H. A.; Murtaza, G.; Shukla, P. K.

    2006-01-01

    The electromagnetic waves below the ion-cyclotron frequency have been examined in a collisionless and homogeneous dusty plasma in the presence of a dust beam parallel to the direction of the external magnetic field. The low-frequency mixed electromagnetic dust-lower-hybrid and purely transverse magnetosonic waves become unstable for the sheared flow of dust grains and grow in amplitude when the drift velocity of the dust grains exceeds the parallel phase velocity of the waves. The growth rate depends dominantly upon the thermal velocity and density of the electrons

  16. Evaluation of Expedient Methods for Mitigating Dust on Helipads

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Tingle, Jeb

    2004-01-01

    ...) and one for sustainment use on roads and other large area applications. The project consisted of the evaluation of various dust palliatives and application equipment under controlled laboratory conditions and during field tests...

  17. Environmental factors controlling the seasonal variability in particle sizedistribution of modern Saharan dust deposited off Cape Blanc

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Friese, C.A.; van der Does, M.; Merkel, U.; Iversen, M.H.; Fischer, G.; Stuut, J-B W.

    2016-01-01

    The particle sizes of Saharan dust in marine sediment core records have been used frequently as a proxyfor trade-wind speed. However, there are still large uncertainties with respect to the seasonality of theparticle sizes of deposited Saharan dust off northwestern Africa and the factors influencing

  18. COSMIC DUST AGGREGATION WITH STOCHASTIC CHARGING

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, Lorin S.; Hyde, Truell W.; Shotorban, Babak

    2013-01-01

    The coagulation of cosmic dust grains is a fundamental process which takes place in astrophysical environments, such as presolar nebulae and circumstellar and protoplanetary disks. Cosmic dust grains can become charged through interaction with their plasma environment or other processes, and the resultant electrostatic force between dust grains can strongly affect their coagulation rate. Since ions and electrons are collected on the surface of the dust grain at random time intervals, the electrical charge of a dust grain experiences stochastic fluctuations. In this study, a set of stochastic differential equations is developed to model these fluctuations over the surface of an irregularly shaped aggregate. Then, employing the data produced, the influence of the charge fluctuations on the coagulation process and the physical characteristics of the aggregates formed is examined. It is shown that dust with small charges (due to the small size of the dust grains or a tenuous plasma environment) is affected most strongly

  19. Construction dust amelioration techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-01

    Dust produced on seasonal road construction sites in Alaska is both a traffic safety and environmental concern. Dust emanating from : unpaved road surfaces during construction severely reduces visibility and impacts stopping sight distance, and contr...

  20. Study on treatment of dust by dismantling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torikai, K.; Suzuki, K.

    1987-01-01

    In dismantling of nuclear reactors, various kinds of treatment of dust generated by cutting or dismantling concrete structures of components of reactors are evaluated for safety, cost, and performance comparing the work in air with water. A method of dust treatment for work in air is discussed. The dry method has an easy operation in practice and a good performance in the equipment, but has problem on the prevention from radioactive contamination by diffusion of dust in air. For the purpose of advancing the strong points and eliminating the weak points in dry method, an improved venturi scrubber system is proposed for dismantling work as a dust collecting system. The system consists of dust absorbing pipe, dust collector, separator of dust and water and dust transfer equipment to a storage of waste. This system would be expected to have better performance and lower operating cost in decommissioning nuclear reactors, especially, the number of dust filters, for example, HEPA filters, will be considerably saved

  1. Sensitization of children in the Stockholm area to house dust mites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordvall, S L; Eriksson, M; Rylander, E; Schwartz, B

    1988-09-01

    Atopic sensitization of children in the Stockholm area to house dust mites (HDM) was investigated in a case-control study. Sixty children with and 60 without positive skin prick tests for HDM were matched for age and sex. HDM-sensitized children had previously more often lived in other areas known to be mite infested than the control children. Sensitization to mites was related to dampness in the homes, but no significant relationship was found to the type of residence, frequent visits to a summer house in the archipelago or parental smoking. Dust samples from mattresses of the children with the strongest positive reactions to mites in skin prick tests and the respective controls were subjected to an enzyme immunoassay, to measure the content of the major allergens of the Dermatophagoides (D.) species D. pterinyssinus, D. farinae and D. microceras. Mattress dust samples from the beds of HDM-sensitized children contained significantly higher HDM antigen concentrations than those from the beds of controls. Private houses contained significantly more HDM antigens than flats and 10 of 11 homes in which a dampness problem was recognized contained mite antigens. It is postulated that mite infestation is increasing in the area, energy-saving measures creating improved conditions for HDM survival.

  2. Polish apparatus for the measurement of dust content in the air of a mine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krzystolik, P; Piskorska-Kalisz, Z

    1981-01-01

    Some characteristics are presented of the apparatus for the control of the dust content of air in coal mines, developed by the main Polish Institute of Mining Affairs. The Barbara 3 A gravitational dust meter has: volumetric velocity of suction of air of 5 cubic decimeters per minute; the mass is 5.8 kilograms; the range of the determined concentration of dust is from 0.5 to 1 grams per cubic meters; the length of the operation with the supply from four silver-zinc accumulator elements is eight hours; the selector of dust particles is a platy elutriator or a microcyclone; a membrane type of filter, an explosively danger actuation. The Barbar 4 gravitation dust meter has: volumetric velocity of air suction of 10, 20, 50, or 100 cubic decimeters per minute; supply from the network of compressed air; the mass is about eight kilograms; the selector of dust particles is a microcyclone; the filter is a membrane or is in the form of a layer of salicylic acid, placed between two nets. Both dust meters are designated for the determination of dust content as well as the content of finely dispersed dust particles. The mass of the selected specimen of dust is adequate also for the determination of the content of silica, as well as for other special analyses.

  3. Systematic characterization of structural, dynamical and electrical properties of dust devils and implications for dust lifting processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franzese, Gabriele; Esposito, Francesca; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Popa, Ciprian; Silvestro, Simone; Deniskina, Natalia; Cozzolino, Fabio

    2017-04-01

    Dust devils are convective vortices able to lift sand and dust grains from the soil surface, even in conditions of low wind speed environment. They have been observed not only on Earth but also on other planets of the solar system; in particular, they are largely studied on Mars. Indeed, the contribution of the dust devils to the Martian climate is a highly debated question. In order to investigate this topic, it is important to understand the nature of the dust lifting mechanism by the vortex and characterize the induced electric field. As part of the development process of DREAMS, the meteorological station on board the Schiapparelli lander of the ExoMars 2016 mission, and of the Dust complex package of the ExoMars 2020 mission, we performed various field campaigns in the Sahara desert (Tafilalt region, Morocco). We deployed a fully equipped meteorological station and, during the 2014 summer, we observed three months of dust devils activity, collecting almost six hundreds events. For each dust devil, we monitored the horizontal wind speed and direction, the vertical wind speed, the pressure drop due to the vortex core, the temperature, the induced electric field and the concentration of dust lifted. This data set is unique in literature and represents up to now the most comprehensive one available for the dusty convective vortices. Here we will present the analysis of the Moroccan data with particular emphasis on the study of the atmospheric electric field variations due to the passage of the vortices. The distribution of the vortex parameters (wind speed and direction, pressure, E-field and dust lifted) are showed and compared, when possible, to the ones observed by the Martian surveys. The connection between the E-field and the other parameters will be presented. In the terrestrial environment, the development of the convective vortices is restricted by the presence of the vegetation and of the urban areas, hence dust devils can impact the climate only on local

  4. Physical properties of five grain dust types.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parnell, C B; Jones, D D; Rutherford, R D; Goforth, K J

    1986-01-01

    Physical properties of grain dust derived from five grain types (soybean, rice, corn, wheat, and sorghum) were measured and reported. The grain dusts were obtained from dust collection systems of terminal grain handling facilities and were assumed to be representative of grain dust generated during the handling process. The physical properties reported were as follows: particle size distributions and surface area measurements using a Coulter Counter Model TAII; percent dust fractions less than 100 micron of whole dust; bulk density; particle density; and ash content. PMID:3709482

  5. Dust Evolution in Galaxy Cluster Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gjergo, Eda; Granato, Gian Luigi; Murante, Giuseppe; Ragone-Figueroa, Cinthia; Tornatore, Luca; Borgani, Stefano

    2018-06-01

    We implement a state-of-the-art treatment of the processes affecting the production and Interstellar Medium (ISM) evolution of carbonaceous and silicate dust grains within SPH simulations. We trace the dust grain size distribution by means of a two-size approximation. We test our method on zoom-in simulations of four massive (M200 ≥ 3 × 1014M⊙) galaxy clusters. We predict that during the early stages of assembly of the cluster at z ≳ 3, where the star formation activity is at its maximum in our simulations, the proto-cluster regions are rich in dusty gas. Compared to the case in which only dust production in stellar ejecta is active, if we include processes occurring in the cold ISM,the dust content is enhanced by a factor 2 - 3. However, the dust properties in this stage turn out to be significantly different from those observationally derived for the average Milky Way dust, and commonly adopted in calculations of dust reprocessing. We show that these differences may have a strong impact on the predicted spectral energy distributions. At low redshift in star forming regions our model reproduces reasonably well the trend of dust abundances over metallicity as observed in local galaxies. However we under-produce by a factor of 2 to 3 the total dust content of clusters estimated observationally at low redshift, z ≲ 0.5 using IRAS, Planck and Herschel satellites data. This discrepancy does not subsist by assuming a lower sputtering efficiency, which erodes dust grains in the hot Intracluster Medium (ICM).

  6. Development of surface decontamination technology for radioactive waste using plasma. Dust behaviors in the treatment of oxide films using a low-pressure arc

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adachi, Kazuo; Furukawa, Shizue; Amakawa, Tadashi; Fujiwara, Kazutoshi; Kanbe, Hiromu

    2002-01-01

    We are developing the surface treatment technique using low-pressure arc as a new decontamination technology for radioactive wastes from nuclear facilities. For the practical use, effective dust collection methods are necessary, because dust is generated from oxide films on the surface during the treatment. The method using gas stream and filters may be one of them, but the behavior of the dust has not been examined yet. We studied the basic behavior of the dust and the possibilities of dust control by gas stream as follows. 1. Most of the dust attached to the anode in the case of no gas blow. 2. Dust attachment to the anode was reduced to about half using small cross section type anode. It seems to be possible to reduce the dust attachment by proper choice of electrode shape. 3. The dust attachment was reduced to 10 to 40 percent by the gas blow to the side of arc. The dust control by gas stream might be possible. (author)

  7. The effect of dust on electron heating and dc self-bias in hydrogen diluted silane discharges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schüngel, E; Mohr, S; Iwashita, S; Schulze, J; Czarnetzki, U

    2013-01-01

    In capacitive hydrogen diluted silane discharges the formation of dust affects plasma processes used, e.g. for thin film solar cell manufacturing. Thus, a basic understanding of the interaction between plasma and dust is required to optimize such processes. We investigate a highly diluted silane discharge experimentally using phase-resolved optical emission spectroscopy to study the electron dynamics, laser light scattering on the dust particles to relate the electron dynamics with the spatial distribution of dust, and current and voltage measurements to characterize the electrical symmetry of the discharge via the dc self-bias. The measurements are performed in single and dual frequency discharges. A mode transition from the α-mode to a bulk drift mode (Ω-mode) is found, if the amount of silane and, thereby, the amount of dust and negative ions is increased. By controlling the electrode temperatures, the dust can be distributed asymmetrically between the electrodes via the thermophoretic force. This affects both the electron heating and the discharge symmetry, i.e. a dc self-bias develops in a single frequency discharge. Using the Electrical Asymmetry Effect (EAE), the dc self-bias can be controlled in dual frequency discharges via the phase angle between the two applied frequencies. The Ω-mode is observed for all phase angles and is explained by a simple model of the electron power dissipation. The model shows that the mode transition is characterized by a phase shift between the applied voltage and the electron conduction current, and that the plasma density profile can be estimated using the measured phase shift. The control interval of the dc self-bias obtained using the EAE will be shifted, if an asymmetric dust distribution is present. However, the width of the interval remains unchanged, because the dust distribution is hardly affected by the phase angle. (paper)

  8. Dust emissions from unpaved roads on the Colorado Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duniway, M.; Flagg, C.; Belnap, J.

    2013-12-01

    On the Colorado Plateau, elevated levels of aeolian dust have become a major land management and policy concern due to its influence on climate, weather, terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, landscape development and fertility, melting of snow and ice, air quality, and human health. Most desert soil surfaces are stabilized by plants, rocks, and/or physical or biological soil crusts, but once disturbed, sediment production from these surfaces can increase dramatically. Road development and use is a common surface disturbing activity in the region. The extent and density of roads and road networks is rapidly increasing due to continued energy exploration, infrastructure development, and off-highway recreation activities. Though it is well known that unpaved roads produce dust, the relative contribution of dust from existing roads or the implications of future road development to regional dust loading is unknown. To address this need, we have initiated a multifaceted research effort to evaluating dust emissions from unpaved roads regionally. At 34 sites arranged across various road surfaces and soil textures in southeastern Utah, we are: 1) monitoring dust emissions, local wind conditions, and vehicle traffic and 2) evaluating fugitive dust potential using a portable wind tunnel and measuring road characteristics that affect dust production. We will then 3) develop a GIS-based model that integrates results from 1 & 2 to estimate potential dust contributions from current and future scenarios of regional road development. Passive, horizontal sediment traps were installed at three distances downwind from the road edge. One control trap was placed upwind of the samplers to account for local, non-road dust emissions. An electronic vehicle counter and anemometer were also installed at monitoring sites. Dust samples were collected every three months at fixed heights, 15 cm up to 100 cm above the soil surface, from March 2010 to the present. Threshold friction velocities (TFV

  9. Environmentally dependent dust chemistry of a super Asian dust storm in March 2010: observation and simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Q. Wang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Near-surface and vertical in situ measurements of atmospheric particles were conducted in Shanghai during 19–23 March 2010 to explore the transport and chemical evolution of dust particles in a super dust storm. An air quality model with optimized physical dust emission scheme and newly implemented dust chemistry was utilized to study the impact of dust chemistry on regional air quality. Two discontinuous dust periods were observed with one traveling over northern China (DS1 and the other passing over the coastal regions of eastern China (DS2. Stronger mixing extents between dust and anthropogenic emissions were found in DS2, reflected by the higher SO2 ∕ PM10 and NO2 ∕ PM10 ratios as well as typical pollution elemental species such as As, Cd, Pb, and Zn. As a result, the concentrations of SO42− and NO3− and the ratio of Ca2+ ∕ Ca were more elevated in DS2 than in DS1 but opposite for the [NH4+] ∕ [SO42−+NO3−] ratio, suggesting the heterogeneous reactions between calcites and acid gases were significantly promoted in DS2 due to the higher level of relative humidity and gaseous pollution precursors. Lidar observation showed a columnar effect on the vertical structure of particle optical properties in DS1 that dust dominantly accounted for ∼ 80–90 % of the total particle extinction from near the ground to ∼ 700 m. In contrast, the dust plumes in DS2 were restrained within lower altitudes while the extinction from spherical particles exhibited a maximum at a high altitude of ∼ 800 m. The model simulation reproduced relatively consistent results with observations that strong impacts of dust heterogeneous reactions on secondary aerosol formation occurred in areas where the anthropogenic emissions were intensive. Compared to the sulfate simulation, the nitrate formation on dust is suggested to be improved in the future modeling efforts.

  10. Environmentally dependent dust chemistry of a super Asian dust storm in March 2010: observation and simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qiongzhen; Dong, Xinyi; Fu, Joshua S.; Xu, Jian; Deng, Congrui; Jiang, Yilun; Fu, Qingyan; Lin, Yanfen; Huang, Kan; Zhuang, Guoshun

    2018-03-01

    Near-surface and vertical in situ measurements of atmospheric particles were conducted in Shanghai during 19-23 March 2010 to explore the transport and chemical evolution of dust particles in a super dust storm. An air quality model with optimized physical dust emission scheme and newly implemented dust chemistry was utilized to study the impact of dust chemistry on regional air quality. Two discontinuous dust periods were observed with one traveling over northern China (DS1) and the other passing over the coastal regions of eastern China (DS2). Stronger mixing extents between dust and anthropogenic emissions were found in DS2, reflected by the higher SO2 / PM10 and NO2 / PM10 ratios as well as typical pollution elemental species such as As, Cd, Pb, and Zn. As a result, the concentrations of SO42- and NO3- and the ratio of Ca2+ / Ca were more elevated in DS2 than in DS1 but opposite for the [NH4+] / [SO42-+NO3-] ratio, suggesting the heterogeneous reactions between calcites and acid gases were significantly promoted in DS2 due to the higher level of relative humidity and gaseous pollution precursors. Lidar observation showed a columnar effect on the vertical structure of particle optical properties in DS1 that dust dominantly accounted for ˜ 80-90 % of the total particle extinction from near the ground to ˜ 700 m. In contrast, the dust plumes in DS2 were restrained within lower altitudes while the extinction from spherical particles exhibited a maximum at a high altitude of ˜ 800 m. The model simulation reproduced relatively consistent results with observations that strong impacts of dust heterogeneous reactions on secondary aerosol formation occurred in areas where the anthropogenic emissions were intensive. Compared to the sulfate simulation, the nitrate formation on dust is suggested to be improved in the future modeling efforts.

  11. Effect of dust size distribution on ion-acoustic solitons in dusty plasmas with different dust grains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gao, Dong-Ning; Yang, Yang; Yan, Qiang [Northwest Normal University, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering (China); Wang, Xiao-Yun [Lanzhou Jiao Tong University, Department of Mathematics and Physics (China); Duan, Wen-Shan, E-mail: duanws@126.com [Northwest Normal University, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering (China)

    2017-02-15

    Theoretical studies are carried out for ion acoustic solitons in multicomponent nonuniform plasma considering the dust size distribution. The Korteweg−de Vries equation for ion acoustic solitons is given by using the reductive perturbation technique. Two special dust size distributions are considered. The dependences of the width and amplitude of solitons on dust size parameters are shown. It is found that the properties of a solitary wave depend on the shape of the size distribution function of dust grains.

  12. Asian dust events of April 1998

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husar, R.B.; Tratt, D.M.; Schichtel, B.A.; Falke, S.R.; Li, F.; Jaffe, D.; Gasso, S.; Gill, T.; Laulainen, N.S.; Lu, F.; Reheis, M.C.; Chun, Y.; Westphal, D.; Holben, B.N.; Gueymard, C.; McKendry, I.; Kuring, N.; Feldman, G.C.; McClain, C.; Frouin, R.J.; Merrill, J.; DuBois, D.; Vignola, F.; Murayama, T.; Nickovic, S.; Wilson, W.E.; Sassen, K.; Sugimoto, N.; Malm, W.C.

    2001-01-01

    On April 15 and 19, 1998, two intense dust storms were generated over the Gobi desert by springtime low-pressure systems descending from the northwest. The windblown dust was detected and its evolution followed by its yellow color on SeaWiFS satellite images, routine surface-based monitoring, and through serendipitous observations. The April 15 dust cloud was recirculating, and it was removed by a precipitating weather system over east Asia. The April 19 dust cloud crossed the Pacific Ocean in 5 days, subsided to the surface along the mountain ranges between British Columbia and California, and impacted severely the optical and the concentration environments of the region. In east Asia the dust clouds increased the albedo over the cloudless ocean and land by up to 10-20%, but it reduced the near-UV cloud reflectance, causing a yellow coloration of all surfaces. The yellow colored backscattering by the dust eludes a plausible explanation using simple Mie theory with constant refractive index. Over the West Coast the dust layer has increased the spectrally uniform optical depth to about 0.4, reduced the direct solar radiation by 30-40%, doubled the diffuse radiation, and caused a whitish discoloration of the blue sky. On April 29 the average excess surface-level dust aerosol concentration over the valleys of the West Coast was about 20-50 ??g/m3 with local peaks >100 ??g/m3. The dust mass mean diameter was 2-3 ??m, and the dust chemical fingerprints were evident throughout the West Coast and extended to Minnesota. The April 1998 dust event has impacted the surface aerosol concentration 2-4 times more than any other dust event since 1988. The dust events were observed and interpreted by an ad hoc international web-based virtual community. It would be useful to set up a community-supported web-based infrastructure to monitor the global aerosol pattern for such extreme aerosol events, to alert and to inform the interested communities, and to facilitate collaborative

  13. Dust coma of Halley comet: measurements with the dust counter and mass analyzer (DUSMA)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simpson, J.A.; Sagdeev, R.Z.; Tuzzolino, A.J.; AN SSSR, Moscow. Inst. Kosmicheskikh Issledovanij)

    1986-01-01

    The paper represents a preliminary report on measurements of spatial and temporal distribution of mass and flows of dust particles coming from comet nucleus performed by means of devices constructed on the new principle of detecting comet dust specks. The device has a high time resolution (∼ 4 μs) in the wide range of mass and dust flows. On the base of a preliminary analysis the following conclusions are drawn: dust coma in quiet state (''Vega-2'') as well as at the presence of considerable emissions (''Vega-1'') manifests the presence of important short-term out-bursts having by time a quasi-periodic structure. Integral mass spectra show flows intensity growth with the decrease of measured mass (which contradicts some theoretical models). Flow levels lie approximately in the region previously determined by ground observations. The coma is extremely dynamic both in space and in time which proves the complex structure of regions of dust emission from the nucleus

  14. Adaptation of the DP 50 dust meter for measuring dust content under isokinetic conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vitek, J.; Novak, L.

    1985-03-01

    The DP 50 dust meter, developed by the Scientific Coal Research Institute Ostrava-Radvanice, is used for measuring dust content in the air in underground coal mines. Two versions of the system are used: a type developed in 1970 which is placed in a vertical position and used to measure the content of respirable coal particles in the air; and a type developed in 1983 for isokinetic measurement of dust content in the air. The latter is equipped with 8 cone-shaped adapters (with differing size and dimensions of the cone inlet adjusted to air flow rates from 0.25 to 8.00 m/s). Specifications of the 8 adapters are given in a table. The 1983 version of the DP 50 is placed in a horizontal position with the dust meter axis parallel to the direction of air flow ventilating a mine working. Recommendations for installation of dust meters in underground workings and effects of installation on measurement accuracy are discussed. 16 references.

  15. The development of a HEPA filter with improved dust holding characteristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dyment, J.; Hamblin, C.

    1995-02-01

    A limitation of the HEPA filters used in the extract of nuclear facilities is their relatively low capacity for captured dust. The costs associated with the disposal of a typical filter means that there are clear incentives to extend filter life. The work described in this report are the initial stages in the development of a filter which incorporates a medium which enhances its dust holding capacity. Experimental equipment was installed to enable the dust loading characteristics of candidate media to be compared with those of the glass fibre based papers currently used in filter construction. These tests involved challenging representative samples of the media with an air stream containing a controlled concentration of thermally generated sodium chloride particles. The dust loading characteristics of the media were then compared in terms of the rate of increasing in pressure differential. A number of {open_quotes}graded density{close_quotes} papers were subsequently identified which appeared to offer significant improvements in dust holding. In the second phase of the programme deep-pleat filters (1,700 M{sup 3}h{sup {minus}1}) incorporating graded density papers were manufactured and tested. Improvements of up to 50% were observed in their capacity for the sub-micron sodium chloride test dust. Smaller differences (15%) were measured when a coarser, carbon black, challenge was used. This is attributed to the differences in the particles sizes of the two dusts.

  16. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: DUST SUPPRESSANT PRODUCTS: SYNTECH PRODUCTS CORPORATION'S PETROTAC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dust suppressant products used to control particulate emissions from unpaved roads are among the technologies evaluated by the Air Pollution Control Technology (APCT) Verification Center, part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology Verification (ET...

  17. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: DUST SUPPRESSANT PRODUCTS: SYNTECH PRODUCTS CORPORATION'S TECHSUPPRESS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dust suppressant products used to control particulate emissions from unpaved roads are among the technologies evaluated by the Air Pollution Control Technology (APCT) Verification Center, part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology Verification (ET...

  18. Spacesuit Integrated Carbon Nanotube Dust Mitigation System for Lunar Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manyapu, Kavya Kamal

    Lunar dust proved to be troublesome during the Apollo missions. The lunar dust comprises of fine particles, with electric charges imparted by solar winds and ultraviolet radiation. As such, it adheres readily, and easily penetrates through smallest crevices into mechanisms. During Apollo missions, the powdery dust substantially degraded the performance of spacesuits by abrading suit fabric and clogging seals. Dust also degraded other critical equipment such as rovers, thermal control and optical surfaces, solar arrays, and was thus shown to be a major issue for surface operations. Even inside the lunar module, Apollo astronauts were exposed to this dust when they removed their dust coated spacesuits. This historical evidence from the Apollo missions has compelled NASA to identify dust mitigation as a critical path. This important environmental challenge must be overcome prior to sending humans back to the lunar surface and potentially to other surfaces such as Mars and asteroids with dusty environments. Several concepts were successfully investigated by the international research community for preventing deposition of lunar dust on rigid surfaces (ex: solar cells, thermal radiators). However, applying these technologies for flexible surfaces and specifically to spacesuits has remained an open challenge, due to the complexity of the suit design, geometry, and dynamics. The research presented in this dissertation brings original contribution through the development and demonstration of the SPacesuit Integrated Carbon nanotube Dust Ejection/Removal (SPIcDER) system to protect spacesuits and other flexible surfaces from lunar dust. SPIcDER leverages the Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) concept developed at NASA for use on solar cells. For the SPIcDER research, the EDS concept is customized for application on spacesuits and flexible surfaces utilizing novel materials and specialized design techniques. Furthermore, the performance of the active SPIcDER system is enhanced

  19. Effect of cement dust pollution on certain physical parameters of maize crop and soils

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parthasarathy, S; Arunachalam, N; Natarajan, K; Oblisami, G; Rangaswami, G

    1975-04-01

    A study was undertaken in the fields near a cement factory where the cement dust is the prime pollutant to the field crops and soils. Cement dust deposit varied with the distance from the kiln and fourth and fifth leaves of maize had comparatively more dust than the first three leaves from the top. The cement dust deposited plants showed a suppression in most of the characters like leaf size, number and size of cobs and plant height when compared to plants in non-polluted fields. On comparison with the physical characters of the soils from the control field the soil from cement dust polluted field showed a decrease in water holding capacity and pore space while thermal conductivity and specific heat were more. Artificial mixtures of red and black soils with cement dust showed similar trend as those of the field sample, the black soil being affected more seriously than the red soil.

  20. Design, Implementation & Assessment of Local Exhaust Ventilation System and dust collectors for crushing unit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farshid Ghorbani shahna

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background & objective: Industrial ventilation systems and dust collectors are effective solutions to reduce particulate emissions in the workplace and environmental in mineral processes. In this study, Local Exhaust Ventilation System and dust collectors for control of emitted silica, coke, silicon carbide dusts from crushing unit was designed and evaluated. Methods: : Local Exhaust ventilation system based on standards and guides was designed and implemented after field study of the processes and sources of air pollutants. A set comprised of the four parallel cyclones (Stairmand model and a new design of the scrubber had been used for dust control. After set-up of systems, its effectiveness in reducing the exposure of workers in the workshops and dust collecting were assessed. Results: Test results were significant differences between the concentration of particles in both on and off the ventilation system revealed (P <0.05. The system has been implemented as means of personal exposure to pollutants and environmental emissions were reduced 93.01% and 64.64%, respectively. Also, alone and integrated collection efficiency of cyclone and scrubber, were 94.2%, 59.05% and 97.4%, respectively. The results show good agreement with the values of the parameters ventilation system was designed. Conclusion: Implementation of integrated dust collectors is a good option in industries that have the financial and technical constraints to improve change processes and devices. This method with attainment to health and environmental standards not only can be resolve of the pollution problems, but also will be economically justified of such projects with reduction of depreciation expense and dust recycling.

  1. On Dust Charging Equation

    OpenAIRE

    Tsintsadze, Nodar L.; Tsintsadze, Levan N.

    2008-01-01

    A general derivation of the charging equation of a dust grain is presented, and indicated where and when it can be used. A problem of linear fluctuations of charges on the surface of the dust grain is discussed.

  2. Optical Extinction Measurements of Dust Density in the GMRO Regolith Test Bin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, J.; Mantovani, J.; Mueller, R.; Nugent, M.; Nick, A.; Schuler, J.; Townsend, I.

    2016-01-01

    A regolith simulant test bin was constructed and completed in the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Lab in 2013. This Planetary Regolith Test Bed (PRTB) is a 64 sq m x 1 m deep test bin, is housed in a climate-controlled facility, and contains 120 MT of lunar-regolith simulant, called Black Point-1 or BP-1, from Black Point, AZ. One of the current uses of the test bin is to study the effects of difficult lighting and dust conditions on Telerobotic Perception Systems to better assess and refine regolith operations for asteroid, Mars and polar lunar missions. Low illumination and low angle of incidence lighting pose significant problems to computer vision and human perception. Levitated dust on Asteroids interferes with imaging and degrades depth perception. Dust Storms on Mars pose a significant problem. Due to these factors, the likely performance of telerobotics is poorly understood for future missions. Current space telerobotic systems are only operated in bright lighting and dust-free conditions. This technology development testing will identify: (1) the impact of degraded lighting and environmental dust on computer vision and operator perception, (2) potential methods and procedures for mitigating these impacts, (3) requirements for telerobotic perception systems for asteroid capture, Mars dust storms and lunar regolith ISRU missions. In order to solve some of the Telerobotic Perception system problems, a plume erosion sensor (PES) was developed in the Lunar Regolith Simulant Bin (LRSB), containing 2 MT of JSC-1a lunar simulant. PES is simply a laser and digital camera with a white target. Two modes of operation have been investigated: (1) single laser spot - the brightness of the spot is dependent on the optical extinction due to dust and is thus an indirect measure of particle number density, and (2) side-scatter - the camera images the laser from the side, showing beam entrance into the dust cloud and the boundary between dust and void. Both

  3. Presence of specific IgG antibody to grain dust does not go with respiratory symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, H S; Suh, C H; Nahm, D H; Kim, H Y

    1999-02-01

    A high prevalence of work-related symptoms in relation to grain dust exposure has been reported in grain dust workers, but the role of the specific IgG antibody is unknown. To study the possible role of specific IgG (sIgG) and specific IgG4 (sIgG4) in the development of work-related symptoms, sIgG and sIgG4 subclass antibodies against grain dust antigens were determined by ELISA in sera from 43 workers and 27 non-exposed controls. They were compared with results of specific IgE antibodies, exposure intensity and the presence of respiratory symptoms. SIgG and sIgG4 antibodies were detectable in almost all sera of exposed workers, and the prevalence were significantly higher than those of controls (pgrain dust exposure and may unlikely play a role in the etiology of respiratory symptoms.

  4. Studies of dust shells around stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bedijn, P.J.

    1977-01-01

    This thesis deals with some aspects of circumstellar dust shells. This dust shell, emitting infrared radiation, is described by way of its absorptive and emissive properties as well as by the transfer of radiation through the dust shell itself. Model calculations are compared to experimental results and agree reasonably well. The author also discusses the dynamics of the extended shells of gas and dust around newly formed stars

  5. A survey of spatially distributed exterior dust lead loadings in New York City

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caravanos, Jack [Hunter College-CUNY, School of Health Sciences (United States); Weiss, Arlene L [Environmental Medicine Inc., 263 Center Avenue, Westwood, NJ 07675 (United States); School of Medicine, New York University, NY 10016 (United States); Blaise, Marc J [Hunter College-CUNY, School of Health Sciences (United States); Jaeger, Rudolph J [Environmental Medicine Inc., 263 Center Avenue, Westwood, NJ 07675 (United States) and School of Medicine, New York University, NY 10016 (United States)

    2006-02-15

    This work documents ambient lead dust deposition values (lead loading) for the boroughs of New York City in 2003-2004. Currently, no regulatory standards exist for exterior concentrations of lead in settled dust. This is in contrast to the clearance and risk assessment standards that exist for interior residential dust. The reported potential for neurobehavioral toxicity and adverse cognitive development in children due to lead exposure prompts public health concerns about undocumented lead sources. Such sources may include settled dust of outdoor origin. Dust sampling throughout the five boroughs of NYC was done from the top horizontal portion of pedestrian traffic control signals (PTCS) at selected street intersections along main thoroughfares. The data (n=214 samples) show that lead in dust varies within each borough with Brooklyn having the highest median concentration (730{mu}g/ft{sup 2}), followed in descending order by Staten Island (452{mu}g/ft{sup 2}), the Bronx (382{mu}g/ft{sup 2}), Queens (198{mu}g/ft{sup 2}) and finally, Manhattan (175{mu}g/ft{sup 2}). When compared to the HUD/EPA indoor lead in dust standard of 40{mu}g/ft{sup 2}, our data show that this value is exceeded in 86% of the samples taken. An effort was made to determine the source of the lead in the dust atop of the PTCS. The lead in the dust and the yellow signage paint (which contains lead) were compared using isotopic ratio analysis. Results showed that the lead-based paint chip samples from intact signage did not isotopically match the dust wipe samples taken from the same surface. We know that exterior dust containing lead contributes to interior dust lead loading. Therefore, settled leaded dust in the outdoor environment poses a risk for lead exposure to children living in urban areas, namely, areas with elevated childhood blood lead levels and background lead dust levels from a variety of unidentified sources.

  6. A survey of spatially distributed exterior dust lead loadings in New York City

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caravanos, Jack; Weiss, Arlene L.; Blaise, Marc J.; Jaeger, Rudolph J.

    2006-01-01

    This work documents ambient lead dust deposition values (lead loading) for the boroughs of New York City in 2003-2004. Currently, no regulatory standards exist for exterior concentrations of lead in settled dust. This is in contrast to the clearance and risk assessment standards that exist for interior residential dust. The reported potential for neurobehavioral toxicity and adverse cognitive development in children due to lead exposure prompts public health concerns about undocumented lead sources. Such sources may include settled dust of outdoor origin. Dust sampling throughout the five boroughs of NYC was done from the top horizontal portion of pedestrian traffic control signals (PTCS) at selected street intersections along main thoroughfares. The data (n=214 samples) show that lead in dust varies within each borough with Brooklyn having the highest median concentration (730μg/ft 2 ), followed in descending order by Staten Island (452μg/ft 2 ), the Bronx (382μg/ft 2 ), Queens (198μg/ft 2 ) and finally, Manhattan (175μg/ft 2 ). When compared to the HUD/EPA indoor lead in dust standard of 40μg/ft 2 , our data show that this value is exceeded in 86% of the samples taken. An effort was made to determine the source of the lead in the dust atop of the PTCS. The lead in the dust and the yellow signage paint (which contains lead) were compared using isotopic ratio analysis. Results showed that the lead-based paint chip samples from intact signage did not isotopically match the dust wipe samples taken from the same surface. We know that exterior dust containing lead contributes to interior dust lead loading. Therefore, settled leaded dust in the outdoor environment poses a risk for lead exposure to children living in urban areas, namely, areas with elevated childhood blood lead levels and background lead dust levels from a variety of unidentified sources

  7. Pulmonary and Systemic Immune Response to Chronic Lunar Dust Inhalation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crucian, Brian; Quiriarte, Heather; Nelman, Mayra; Lam, Chiu-wing; James, John T.; Sams, Clarence

    2014-01-01

    Background: Due to millennia of meteorite impact with virtually no erosive effects, the surface of the Moon is covered by a layer of ultra-fine, reactive Lunar dust. Very little is known regarding the toxicity of Lunar dust on human physiology. Given the size and electrostatic characteristics of Lunar dust, countermeasures to ensure non-exposure of astronauts will be difficult. To ensure astronaut safety during any future prolonged Lunar missions, it is necessary to establish the effect of chronic pulmonary Lunar dust exposure on all physiological systems. Methods: This study assessed the toxicity of airborne lunar dust exposure in rats on pulmonary and system immune system parameters. Rats were exposed to 0, 20.8, or 60.8 mg/m3 of lunar dust (6h/d; 5d/wk) for up to 13 weeks. Sacrifices occurred after exposure durations of 1day, 7 days, 4 weeks and 13 weeks post-exposure, when both blood and lung lavage fluid were collected for analysis. Lavage and blood assays included leukocyte distribution by flow cytometry, electron/fluorescent microscopy, and cytokine concentration. Cytokine production profiles following mitogenic stimulation were performed on whole blood only. Results: Untreated lavage fluid was comprised primarily of pulmonary macrophages. Lunar dust inhalation resulted in an influx of neutrophils and lymphocytes. Although the percentage of lymphocytes increased, the T cell CD4:CD8 ratio was unchanged. Cytokine analysis of the lavage fluid showed increased levels of IL-1b and TNFa. These alterations generally persisted through the 13 week sampling. Blood analysis showed few systemic effects from the lunar dust inhalation. By week 4, the peripheral granulocyte percentage was elevated in the treated rats. Plasma cytokine levels were unchanged in all treated rats compared to controls. Peripheral blood analysis showed an increased granulocyte percentage and altered cytokine production profiles consisting of increased in IL-1b and IL-6, and decreased IL-2

  8. Silica dust control in small-scale building/structure demolition operations using good work practice guidance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muianga, C V; Rice, C H; Succop, P

    2009-01-01

    Work practices can influence exposure, especially in small-scale operations conducted by mobile work crews. This study evaluated the use of information on good work practice in control guidance sheets adapted from UK Silica Essentials guidance sheets by trained workers and supervisors employed in small-scale concrete and masonry demolition operations. A one-page employee silica task-based control guidance sheet for each of four demolition tasks and multiple-page silica control guidance for supervisors were developed. Interactive, hands-on worker training on these task-based good work practice controls was developed. Training was presented to 26 participants from two demolition crews. Feedback on the training and task-based good work practice control guidance sheets was elicited. Observations of work practices were made before and after training. Participants indicated gains in knowledge and checklists were used to document skill attainment. The quality of the training and usefulness of the material/skills was rated high by trainees. Increased use of water to suppress dust and wet cleaning methods on the job were documented following the training. Additional follow-up after training is required to determine long-term impact on sustained changes in work practices, and to evaluate the need for refresher training.

  9. Silica dust control in small-scale building/structure demolition operations using good work practice guidance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muianga, C. V.; Rice, C. H.; Succop, P.

    2009-02-01

    Work practices can influence exposure, especially in small-scale operations conducted by mobile work crews. This study evaluated the use of information on good work practice in control guidance sheets adapted from UK Silica Essentials guidance sheets by trained workers and supervisors employed in small-scale concrete and masonry demolition operations. A one-page employee silica task-based control guidance sheet for each of four demolition tasks and multiple-page silica control guidance for supervisors were developed. Interactive, hands-on worker training on these task-based good work practice controls was developed. Training was presented to 26 participants from two demolition crews. Feedback on the training and task-based good work practice control guidance sheets was elicited. Observations of work practices were made before and after training. Participants indicated gains in knowledge and checklists were used to document skill attainment. The quality of the training and usefulness of the material/skills was rated high by trainees. Increased use of water to suppress dust and wet cleaning methods on the job were documented following the training. Additional follow-up after training is required to determine long-term impact on sustained changes in work practices, and to evaluate the need for refresher training.

  10. Measurement of nicotine in household dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Sungroul; Aung, Ther; Berkeley, Emily; Diette, Gregory B.; Breysse, Patrick N.

    2008-01-01

    An analytical method of measuring nicotine in house dust was optimized and associations among three secondhand smoking exposure markers were evaluated, i.e., nicotine concentrations of both house dust and indoor air, and the self-reported number of cigarettes smoked daily in a household. We obtained seven house dust samples from self-reported nonsmoking homes and 30 samples from smoking homes along with the information on indoor air nicotine concentrations and the number of cigarettes smoked daily from an asthma cohort study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment. House dust nicotine was analyzed by isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Using our optimized method, the median concentration of nicotine in the dust of self-reported nonsmoking homes was 11.7 ng/mg while that of smoking homes was 43.4 ng/mg. We found a substantially positive association (r=0.67, P<0.0001) between house dust nicotine concentrations and the numbers of cigarettes smoked daily. Optimized analytical methods showed a feasibility to detect nicotine in house dust. Our results indicated that the measurement of nicotine in house dust can be used potentially as a marker of longer term SHS exposure

  11. Correlation between Yellow Dust and Radioactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    AIZaabia, Mouza A; Kim, Byoung-Jik

    2015-01-01

    In East Asia, yellow dust or Asian Dust (AD) outbreaks are among the largest contributors of wind-blown dust that carry natural and anthropogenic radionuclides and subsequently alter their concentration and distribution throughout the environment. Although the Korean Peninsula has been experiencing AD events since ancient times, the research has tended to focus on the transport routes and characteristics of AD, rather than on its impact on radionuclide activity levels. This paper examines the relationship between radionuclide concentration in the air and the frequency of dusty days in South Korea during AD intrusion events. It also investigates whether increased radionuclide concentration is a function of either more mass or more dust contamination. In this study, significant linear correlations of gamma-emitting radionuclides were found with mass of dust and occurrence frequency of AD. Regardless of the source origin of the dust, 137 Cs and 7 Be concentration primarily depended on dust mass in the filter. Nonetheless, the correlations were greatly distorted in 2011 and in the spring season, particularly the correlations with AD days that were far below that of the correlations obtained for the whole study period. A possible explanation of these conflicting results is that a change in the dust source could appreciably alter the concentration, deposition, and distribution of airborne radionuclides

  12. THE DUST BUDGET OF THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD: ARE ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH STARS THE PRIMARY DUST SOURCE AT LOW METALLICITY?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyer, M. L.; Gordon, K. D.; Meixner, M.; Sargent, B. A.; Srinivasan, S.; Riebel, D.; McDonald, I.; Van Loon, J. Th.; Clayton, G. C.; Sloan, G. C.

    2012-01-01

    We estimate the total dust input from the cool evolved stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using the 8 μm excess emission as a proxy for the dust-production rate (DPR). We find that asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and red supergiant (RSG) stars produce (8.6-9.5) × 10 –7 M ☉ yr –1 of dust, depending on the fraction of far-infrared sources that belong to the evolved star population (with 10%-50% uncertainty in individual DPRs). RSGs contribute the least ( –3 M ☉ of dust each, then the total SN dust input and AGB input are roughly equivalent. We consider several scenarios of SN dust production and destruction and find that the interstellar medium (ISM) dust can be accounted for solely by stellar sources if all SNe produce dust in the quantities seen around the dustiest examples and if most SNe explode in dense regions where much of the ISM dust is shielded from the shocks. We find that AGB stars contribute only 2.1% of the ISM dust. Without a net positive contribution from SNe to the dust budget, this suggests that dust must grow in the ISM or be formed by another unknown mechanism.

  13. Evaluation of local exhaust ventilation system performance for control of Fe2O3 dust at an iron making unit

    OpenAIRE

    Mahdi Jamshidi Rastani; Farshid Ghorbani Shahna; Abdolrahman Bahrami; Somayeh Hosseini

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: Adherence to the design values and ventilation standards (VS) after installing and also maintaining continuous work of ventilation system with maximum performance throughout its life are amongst the reasons of ventilation systems monitoring. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate performance of local exhaust ventilation system for control of dust by measuring the operating parameters and also to compare it with ventilation standards (VS) and design values. Material...

  14. Characterization of high concentration dust generator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimura, Toichiro; Yokochi, Akira

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes the development of fluidized bed type high concentration dust generator that keeps for long period dust concentration range of about 10 mg/m 3 for the study of working place monitoring system and evaluation of respirator. The generator is keeping constant powder in fluidized bed for keeping the dust concentration. It is necessary to keep constant feeding rate of powder in order to keep the quantity of dust in the fluidized bed. Our generator enables to obtain constant feeding rate by a screw feeder and by using mixed powder with fluidising particles (glass beads) before feeding. The generator produces high concentration dust of 11.3 mg/m 3 ± 1.0 mg/m 3 for about 5 hours and keeps the dust size 4.2-4.6 μm in mass median aerodynamic diameter with reasonable reproducibility. (author)

  15. Dust in flowing magnetized plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pandey, Birendra P.; Samarian, Alex A.; Vladimirov, Sergey V.

    2009-01-01

    Plasma flows occur in almost every laboratory device and interactions of flowing plasmas with near-wall impurities and/or dust significantly affects the efficiency and lifetime of such devices. The charged dust inside the magnetized flowing plasma moves primarily under the influence of the plasma drag and electric forces. Here, the charge on the dust, plasma potential, and plasma density are calculated self-consistently. The electrons are assumed non-Boltzmannian and the effect of electron magnetization and electron-atom collisions on the dust charge is calculated in a self-consistent fashion. For various plasma magnetization parameters viz. the ratio of the electron and ion cyclotron frequencies to their respective collision frequencies, plasma-atom and ionization frequencies, the evolution of the plasma potential and density in the flow region is investigated. The variation of the dust charge profile is shown to be a sensitive function of plasma parameters. (author)

  16. Time-Dependent Dust Formation in Novae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyung-Won Suh

    1991-06-01

    Full Text Available The dust formation processes in novae are investigated with close attention to recent infrared observations. Using mainly the classical nucleation theory, we have calculated the time scales of dust formation and growth in the environments of novae. Those time scales roughly resemble the typical observations. We have classified the dust-forming novae into three classes according to their explosion properties and the thermodynamic properties of dust grains. Oxygen grains from much later than carbon grains because of their thermodynamic properties. The effect of grain formation to the efficiency of stellar winds to drive the material outward is tested with newly obtained Planck mean values of dust grains.

  17. Linear Alkylbenzenesulfonates in indoor Floor Dust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jørgen Øgaard; Wolkoff, Peder; Madsen, Jørgen Øgaard

    1999-01-01

    The amount of Linear Alkylbenzenesulfonates (LAS) in the particle fraction of floor dust sampled from 7 selected public buildings varied between 34 and 1500 microgram per gram dust, while the contents of the fibre fractions generally were higher with up to 3500 microgram LAS/g dust. The use...... of a cleaning agent with LAS resulted in an increase of the amount of LAS in the floor dust after floor wash relative to just before floor wash. However, the most important source of LAS in the indoor floor dust appears to be residues of detergent in clothing. Thus, a newly washed shirt contained 2960 microgram...

  18. A simplified Suomi NPP VIIRS dust detection algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yikun; Sun, Lin; Zhu, Jinshan; Wei, Jing; Su, Qinghua; Sun, Wenxiao; Liu, Fangwei; Shu, Meiyan

    2017-11-01

    Due to the complex characteristics of dust and sparse ground-based monitoring stations, dust monitoring is facing severe challenges, especially in dust storm-prone areas. Aim at constructing a high-precision dust storm detection model, a pixel database, consisted of dusts over a variety of typical feature types such as cloud, vegetation, Gobi and ice/snow, was constructed, and their distributions of reflectance and Brightness Temperatures (BT) were analysed, based on which, a new Simplified Dust Detection Algorithm (SDDA) for the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership Visible infrared Imaging Radiometer (NPP VIIRS) is proposed. NPP VIIRS images covering the northern China and Mongolian regions, where features serious dust storms, were selected to perform the dust detection experiments. The monitoring results were compared with the true colour composite images, and results showed that most of the dust areas can be accurately detected, except for fragmented thin dusts over bright surfaces. The dust ground-based measurements obtained from the Meteorological Information Comprehensive Analysis and Process System (MICAPS) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument Aerosol Index (OMI AI) products were selected for comparison purposes. Results showed that the dust monitoring results agreed well in the spatial distribution with OMI AI dust products and the MICAPS ground-measured data with an average high accuracy of 83.10%. The SDDA is relatively robust and can realize automatic monitoring for dust storms.

  19. Planar dust-acoustic waves in electron–positron–ion–dust plasmas ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2014-09-19

    Sep 19, 2014 ... ever, Xue [19] and Tarsem et al [20] proved that the observed wave phenomena in the low-altitude and .... tot. ∫ amax amin a−β da, β is the power-law index. n(a) = 0 when aamax. If the dust grain size a<λDd, the mass of the dust grain can be given as mdj = kma3 j. , where km ≈ 4. 3 πρd (ρd is ...

  20. Dust in cosmic plasma environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendis, D.A.

    1979-01-01

    Cosmic dust is invariably immersed in a plasma and a radiative environment. Consequently, it is charged to some electrostatic potential which depends on the properties of the environment as well as the nature of the dust. This charging affects the physical and dynamical properties of the dust. In this paper the basic aspects of this dust-plasma interaction in several cosmic environments - including planetary magnetospheres, the heliosphere and the interstellar medium - are discussed. The physical and dynamical consequences of the interaction, as well as the pertinent observational evidence, are reviewed. Finally, the importance of the surface charge during the condensation process in plasma environments is stressed. (Auth.)

  1. Exact solutions for rotating charged dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Islam, J.N.

    1984-01-01

    Earlier work by the author on rotating charged dust is summarized. An incomplete class of exact solutions for differentially rotating charged dust in Newton-Maxwell theory for the equal mass and charge case that was found earlier is completed. A new global exact solution for cylindrically symmetric differentially rotating charged dust in Newton-Maxwell theory is presented. Lastly, a new exact solution for cylindrically symmetric rigidly rotating charged dust in general relativity is given. (author)

  2. Effect of dust and soot on the growth of spruce trees

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rohmeder, E

    1960-07-01

    The effect of chronic exposure to road dust, calcium carbonate and soot on plant growth, was investigated in an experiment with 40 spruces of common heredity that were three years old at the start of the experiment and five years old at its conclusion. The plants were exposed for the entire 1956 growing season to the effect of a heavy coating of dust. In the following year, the growth performance and the production of shoots and needle mass in plants treated with dust were substantially below the untreated control plants. The root mass produced was also smaller in the treated plants than in those untreated. The considerable growth retardation after a heavy layering of dust lasting one growing season is primarily explained by the withdrawal of light and the resultant reduction in assimilation performance. In exposure to soot, however, the corrosive effect of the chemicals contained in the soot increased the extent of the damage to the plants.

  3. Photoelectric charging of dust grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ignatov, A. M.

    2009-01-01

    Photoemission from the surface of a dust grain in vacuum is considered. It is shown that the cutoff in the energy spectrum of emitted electrons leads to the formation of a steady-state electron cloud. The equation describing the distribution of the electric potential in the vicinity of a dust grain is solved numerically. The dust grain charge is found as a function of the grain size.

  4. Preliminary Tests of Gloss-Reduction and Coloring Agents for Camouflage of Polyvinyl Acetate Dust-Control Film

    Science.gov (United States)

    1976-02-01

    extenders Kaolin powder Calcium carbonate dust Paint flatteners Celite h99 Nytal 1+00 Dry pigments Chalk dust (various colors) Liquid...a dispersant or wetting agent for satisfactory mixing. Vor this purpose, one of two agents was used: (a) a commercial 10 per- cent determent...pockets of unmixed powder, and in some cases the powder settled to the bottom of the mold. The dispersants that were tried did not effectively disperse

  5. Toxicity of lunar dust

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Linnarsson, D.; Carpenter, J.; Fubini, B.; Gerde, P.; Loftus, D.; Prisk, K.; Staufer, U.; Tranfield, E.; van Westrenen, W.

    2012-01-01

    The formation, composition and physical properties of lunar dust are incompletely characterised with regard to human health. While the physical and chemical determinants of dust toxicity for materials such as asbestos, quartz, volcanic ashes and urban particulate matter have been the focus of

  6. Cosmic dust investigations. Pt. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simpson, J.A.; Tuzzolino, A.J.

    1989-01-01

    A series of experiments have been completed using accelerator dust particles in the mass range ≅ 10 -9 -10 -6 g and velocity range ≅ 2-12 km/s to measure the velocity loss and degree of fragmentation for dust particles penetrating 6 and 28 μm thick polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) dust detectors. These measurements prove that even for a ratio of PVDF foil thickness to particle diameter as large as 0.6, the velocity loss and fragmentation is far less than expected from earlier reports in the literature. For 6 μm thick foils the velocity loss is ≤5%. These experiments are based on an extension of our earlier work which showed that two PVDF foils spaced a given distance apart could provide accurate time-of-flight (TOF) information due to the fast pulse rise time of PVDF detector response. We also report on our present state of development of PVDF position-sensing detectors which identify the x, y coordinates of particle impact, using detector and electronic pulse techniques adapted from our semiconductor position-sensing cosmic-ray detectors. Typical position errors of ≅ 1 mm are readily achieved. Finally, we have combined the above developments into a dust-particle telescope which accurately (≅ 1 0 angular accuracy) measures the trajectory of the incident particle as well as its mass and incident velocity, irrespective of whether it is a charged or neutral particle. We discuss how this practical dust telescope can be combined with dust capture cells for space flight and later recovery for laboratory determination of elemental and isotopic composition of captured dust. We also describe a simpler trajectory array based on discrete mosaics of thin detectors which would measure trajectories with a mean angular error of ≅ 4 0 . We discuss the application of these instruments for distinguishing between interplanetary dust of cometary and asteroidal origin, and for measurements on a space station, from near-Earth trapped dust of artificial origin. (orig.)

  7. Physical properties of five grain dust types.

    OpenAIRE

    Parnell, C B; Jones, D D; Rutherford, R D; Goforth, K J

    1986-01-01

    Physical properties of grain dust derived from five grain types (soybean, rice, corn, wheat, and sorghum) were measured and reported. The grain dusts were obtained from dust collection systems of terminal grain handling facilities and were assumed to be representative of grain dust generated during the handling process. The physical properties reported were as follows: particle size distributions and surface area measurements using a Coulter Counter Model TAII; percent dust fractions less tha...

  8. Efficient radiative transfer in dust grain mixtures

    OpenAIRE

    Wolf, S.

    2002-01-01

    The influence of a dust grain mixture consisting of spherical dust grains with different radii and/or chemical composition on the resulting temperature structure and spectral energy distribution of a circumstellar shell is investigated. The comparison with the results based on an approximation of dust grain parameters representing the mean optical properties of the corresponding dust grain mixture reveal that (1) the temperature dispersion of a real dust grain mixture decreases substantially ...

  9. Probing the Cold Dust Emission in the AB Aur Disk: A Dust Trap in a Decaying Vortex?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuente, Asunción; Baruteau, Clément; Neri, Roberto; Carmona, Andrés; Agúndez, Marcelino; Goicoechea, Javier R; Bachiller, Rafael; Cernicharo, José; Berné, Olivier

    2017-09-01

    One serious challenge for planet formation is the rapid inward drift of pebble-sized dust particles in protoplanetary disks. Dust trapping at local maxima in the disk gas pressure has received much theoretical attention but still lacks observational support. The cold dust emission in the AB Aur disk forms an asymmetric ring at a radius of about 120 au, which is suggestive of dust trapping in a gas vortex. We present high spatial resolution (0".58×0".78 ≈ 80×110 au) NOEMA observations of the 1.12 mm and 2.22 mm dust continuum emission from the AB Aur disk. Significant azimuthal variations of the flux ratio at both wavelengths indicate a size segregation of the large dust particles along the ring. Our continuum images also show that the intensity variations along the ring are smaller at 2.22 mm than at 1.12 mm, contrary to what dust trapping models with a gas vortex have predicted. Our two-fluid (gas+dust) hydrodynamical simulations demonstrate that this feature is well explained if the gas vortex has started to decay due to turbulent diffusion, and dust particles are thus losing the azimuthal trapping on different timescales depending on their size. The comparison between our observations and simulations allows us to constrain the size distribution and the total mass of solid particles in the ring, which we find to be of the order of 30 Earth masses, enough to form future rocky planets.

  10. Probing the Cold Dust Emission in the AB Aur Disk: A Dust Trap in a Decaying Vortex?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fuente, Asunción; Bachiller, Rafael [Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN, IGN), Apdo 112, E-28803 Alcalá de Henares (Spain); Baruteau, Clément; Carmona, Andrés; Berné, Olivier [IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse (France); Neri, Roberto [Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38406 Saint Martin d’Hères (France); Agúndez, Marcelino; Goicoechea, Javier R.; Cernicharo, José, E-mail: a.fuente@oan.es [Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), E-28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid (Spain)

    2017-09-01

    One serious challenge for planet formation is the rapid inward drift of pebble-sized dust particles in protoplanetary disks. Dust trapping at local maxima in the disk gas pressure has received much theoretical attention but still lacks observational support. The cold dust emission in the AB Aur disk forms an asymmetric ring at a radius of about 120 au, which is suggestive of dust trapping in a gas vortex. We present high spatial resolution (0.″58 × 0.″78 ≈ 80 × 110 au) NOEMA observations of the 1.12 mm and 2.22 mm dust continuum emission from the AB Aur disk. Significant azimuthal variations of the flux ratio at both wavelengths indicate a size segregation of the large dust particles along the ring. Our continuum images also show that the intensity variations along the ring are smaller at 2.22 mm than at 1.12 mm, contrary to what dust trapping models with a gas vortex have predicted. Our two-fluid (gas+dust) hydrodynamical simulations demonstrate that this feature is well explained if the gas vortex has started to decay due to turbulent diffusion, and dust particles are thus losing the azimuthal trapping on different timescales depending on their size. The comparison between our observations and simulations allows us to constrain the size distribution and the total mass of solid particles in the ring, which we find to be of the order of 30 Earth masses, enough to form future rocky planets.

  11. Glass Frit Clumping And Dusting

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steimke, J. L.

    2013-09-26

    DWPF mixes a slurry of glass frit (Frit 418) and dilute (1.5 wt%) formic acid solution with high level waste in the Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME). There would be advantages to introducing the frit in a non-slurry form to minimize water addition to the SME, however, adding completely dry frit has the potential to generate dust which could clog filters or condensers. Prior testing with another type of frit, Frit 320, and using a minimal amount of water reduced dust generation, however, the formation of hard clumps was observed. To examine options and behavior, a TTQAP [McCabe and Stone, 2013] was written to initiate tests that would address these concerns. Tests were conducted with four types of glass frit; Frit 320, DWPF Frit 418, Bekeson Frit 418 and Multi-Aspirator Frit 418. The last two frits are chemically identical to DWPF Frit 418 but smaller particles were removed by the respective vendors. Test results on Frit Clumping and Dusting are provided in this report. This report addresses the following seven questions. Short answers are provided below with more detailed answers to follow. 1. Will the addition of a small amount of water, 1.5 wt%, to dry DWPF Frit 418 greatly reduce the dust generation during handling at DWPF? a. Yes, a small scale test showed that adding a little water to the frit greatly reduced dust generation during handling. 2. Will the addition of small amounts of water to the frit cause clumping that will impair frit handling at DWPF? a. No, not with Frit 418. Although clumps were observed to form when 1.5 wt% water was mixed with DWPF Frit 418, then compressed and air-dried overnight, the clumps were easily crushed and did not form the hardened material noted when Frit 320 was tested. 3. What is the measured size distribution of dust generated when dry frit is handled? (This affects the feasibility and choice of processing equipment for removing the dust generating fraction of the frit before it is added to the SME.) a. The size distribution for

  12. Glass Frit Clumping And Dusting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steimke, J. L.

    2013-01-01

    DWPF mixes a slurry of glass frit (Frit 418) and dilute (1.5 wt%) formic acid solution with high level waste in the Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME). There would be advantages to introducing the frit in a non-slurry form to minimize water addition to the SME, however, adding completely dry frit has the potential to generate dust which could clog filters or condensers. Prior testing with another type of frit, Frit 320, and using a minimal amount of water reduced dust generation, however, the formation of hard clumps was observed. To examine options and behavior, a TTQAP [McCabe and Stone, 2013] was written to initiate tests that would address these concerns. Tests were conducted with four types of glass frit; Frit 320, DWPF Frit 418, Bekeson Frit 418 and Multi-Aspirator Frit 418. The last two frits are chemically identical to DWPF Frit 418 but smaller particles were removed by the respective vendors. Test results on Frit Clumping and Dusting are provided in this report. This report addresses the following seven questions. Short answers are provided below with more detailed answers to follow. 1. Will the addition of a small amount of water, 1.5 wt%, to dry DWPF Frit 418 greatly reduce the dust generation during handling at DWPF? a. Yes, a small scale test showed that adding a little water to the frit greatly reduced dust generation during handling. 2. Will the addition of small amounts of water to the frit cause clumping that will impair frit handling at DWPF? a. No, not with Frit 418. Although clumps were observed to form when 1.5 wt% water was mixed with DWPF Frit 418, then compressed and air-dried overnight, the clumps were easily crushed and did not form the hardened material noted when Frit 320 was tested. 3. What is the measured size distribution of dust generated when dry frit is handled? (This affects the feasibility and choice of processing equipment for removing the dust generating fraction of the frit before it is added to the SME.) a. The size distribution for

  13. Dust emission: small-scale processes with global consequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okin, Gregory S.; Bullard, Joanna E.; Reynolds, Richard L.; Ballantine, John-Andrew C.; Schepanski, Kerstin; Todd, Martin C.; Belnap, Jayne; Baddock, Matthew C.; Gill, Thomas E.; Miller, Mark E.

    2011-01-01

    Desert dust, both modern and ancient, is a critical component of the Earth system. Atmospheric dust has important effects on climate by changing the atmospheric radiation budget, while deposited dust influences biogeochemical cycles in the oceans and on land. Dust deposited on snow and ice decreases its albedo, allowing more light to be trapped at the surface, thus increasing the rate of melt and influencing energy budgets and river discharge. In the human realm, dust contributes to the transport of allergens and pathogens and when inhaled can cause or aggravate respiratory diseases. Dust storms also represent a significant hazard to road and air travel. Because it affects so many Earth processes, dust is studied from a variety of perspectives and at multiple scales, with various disciplines examining emissions for different purposes using disparate strategies. Thus, the range of objectives in studying dust, as well as experimental approaches and results, has not yet been systematically integrated. Key research questions surrounding the production and sources of dust could benefit from improved collaboration among different research communities. These questions involve the origins of dust, factors that influence dust production and emission, and methods through which dust can be monitored.

  14. Miners' lung: a history of dust disease in British coal mining

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arthur McIvor; Ronald Johnston

    2007-02-15

    The authors explore the experience of coal miners' lung diseases and the attempts at voluntary and legal control of dusty conditions in British mining from the late nineteenth century to the present. In this way, the book addresses the important issues of occupational health and safety within the mining industry. The authors examine the prevalent diseases, notably pneumoconiosis, emphysema and bronchitis, and evaluate the roles of key players such as the doctors, management and employers, the state and the trade unions. Contents are: General editor's preface; Introduction. Part 1 Interpretations and Context: Methodology and historiography; Work and the body in coalmining. Part 2 Advancing Medical Knowledge on Dust Disease: Coal workers' pneumoconiosis: discovery and denial; Social medicine and pioneering epidemiology; The last gasp: bronchitis and emphysema. Part 3 The Industrial Politics of Miners' Lung: 'Enlightened management'? The NCB, the state and dust; The trade unions and dust. Part 4 Miners' Testimonies: Dust and Disability Narratives: Workplace culture: risk and masculinity; Breathless men: living and dying with dust disease. Conclusion. 3 figs., 10 tabs., 1 app.

  15. Palaeo-dust records: A window to understanding past environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marx, Samuel K.; Kamber, Balz S.; McGowan, Hamish A.; Petherick, Lynda M.; McTainsh, Grant H.; Stromsoe, Nicola; Hooper, James N.; May, Jan-Hendrik

    2018-06-01

    Dust entrainment, transport over vast distances and subsequent deposition is a fundamental part of the Earth system. Yet the role and importance of dust has been underappreciated, due largely to challenges associated with recognising dust in the landscape and interpreting its depositional history. Despite these challenges, interest in dust is growing. Technical advances in remote sensing and modelling have improved understanding of dust sources and production, while advances in sedimentology, mineralogy and geochemistry (in particular) have allowed dust to be more easily distinguished within sedimentary deposits. This has facilitated the reconstruction of records of dust emissions through time. A key advance in our understanding of dust has occurred following the development of methods to geochemically provenance (fingerprint) dust to its source region. This ability has provided new information on dust transport pathways, as well as the reach and impact of dust. It has also expanded our understanding of the processes driving dust emissions over decadal to millennial timescales through linking dust deposits directly to source area conditions. Dust provenance studies have shown that dust emission, transport and deposition are highly sensitive to variability in climate. They also imply that dust emissions are not simply a function of the degree of aridity in source areas, but respond to a more complex array of conditions, including sediment availability. As well as recording natural variability, dust records are also shown to sensitively track the impact of human activity. This is reflected by both changing dust emission rates and changing dust chemistry. Specific examples of how dust responds to, and records change, are provided with our work on dust emissions from Australia, the most arid inhabited continent and the largest dust source in the Southern Hemisphere. These case studies show that Australian dust emissions reflect hydro-climate variability, with

  16. Aeolian transport of biota with dust: A wind tunnel experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivas, J. A., Jr.; Gill, T. E.; Van Pelt, R. S.; Walsh, E.

    2015-12-01

    Ephemeral wetlands are ideal sources for dust emission, as well as repositories for dormant stages of aquatic invertebrates. An important component of invertebrate dispersal and colonization to new areas is the ability to be entrained into the atmosphere. Aquatic invertebrate eggs fall within the size of dust and sand grains (30-600μm), are less dense and aerodynamically shaped. We have shown previously that aquatic invertebrates can be dispersed long distances in dust storms but the extent of transport of taxa based on diapausing egg size/morphology has not been investigated. Here, we control the wind erosion process in a wind tunnel to test entrainment of diapausing stages of brine shrimp, clam shrimp, tadpole shrimp, fairy shrimp, Daphnia, and the rotifers Brachionus plicatilis and B. calyciflorus into the air by saltation. Diapausing eggs were mixed with sterilized wind-erodible soil. The soil/egg mixture was moistened with distilled water and air dried to form a crust. Dust was generated in a wind tunnel by releasing sand grains that act as saltator material similar to wind-entrained natural sands. Maximum wind velocity was 10m/s and entrained particles were sampled through an isokinetic horizontal intake opening. Aeolian sediment was collected from three points in the system; transfer section for coarse sediment, the pan subtending a settling chamber for finer saltation-sized sediment, and two paper filters for suspension-sized sediment. Samples were then passed through 250 and 350 μm sieves to remove abrader sand and rehydrated with various sterile media depending on the type of organism. We retrieved viable brine, fairy, and tadpole shrimp, ostracods, Daphnia, and diapausing eggs of the rotifers after hydration. This experiment demonstrates that resting stages of many invertebrates can be wind-eroded due to size and egg morphology and remain viable under controlled conditions mimicking dust emission.

  17. Microprocessor isotope gauges for measurement of coating thickness and of air dust pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Machaj, B.; Zrudelny, F.; Sikora, A.; Jaszczuk, J.

    1986-01-01

    The article describes a coating thickness gauge based on measurement of backscattered beta particles, and an air dust pollution gauge based on measurement of dust deposited from known volume of ambient air passed through a filter, by attenuation of beta radiation. In both cases to control the gauges and to process head signals microcomputer system based on Intel 8080 microprocessor is employed. Algorithms for processing and control of the gauges and corresponding flow charts are presented. Block diagram of microcomputer system used is presented, as well as the manner of operation of the gauges. (author)

  18. Dust in planetary nebulae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mathis, J.S.

    1978-01-01

    The author's review concentrates on theoretical aspects of dust in planetary nebulae (PN). He considers the questions: how much dust is there is PN; what is its composition; what effects does it have on the ionization structure, on the dynamics of the nebula. (Auth.)

  19. F4E R and D programme and results on in-vessel dust and tritium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Le Guern, F.; Gulden, W.; Ciattaglia, S.; Counsell, G.; Bengaouer, A.; Brinster, J.; Dabbene, F.; Denkevitz, A.; Jordan, T.; Kuznetsov, M.; Porfiri, M.T.; Redlinger, R.; Roblin, Ph.; Roth, J.; Segre, J.; Sugiyama, K.; Tkatschenko, I.; Xu, Z.

    2011-01-01

    In a Tokamak vacuum vessel, plasma-wall interactions can result in the production of radioactive dust and H isotopes (including tritium) can be trapped both in in-vessel material and in dust. The vacuum vessel represents the most important confinement barrier to this radioactive material. In the event of an accident involving ingress of steam to the vacuum vessel, hydrogen could be produced by chemical reactions with hot metal and dust. Hydrogen isotopes could also be desorbed from in-vessel components, e.g. cryopumps. In events where an ingress of air to the vacuum vessel occurs, reaction of the air with hydrogen and/or dust therefore cannot be completely excluded. Due to the radiological risks highlighted by the safety evaluation studies for ITER in normal conditions (e.g. in-vessel maintenance chronic release) and accidental ones (e.g. challenge of vacuum vessel tightness in the event of a hydrogen/dust explosion with air), limitations on the accumulation of dust and tritium in the vacuum vessel are imposed as well as controls over the maximum extent of the quantity of accidental air ingress. ITER IO has defined a strategy for the control of in-vessel dust and tritium inventories below the safety limits based primarily on the measurement and removal of dust and tritium. In this context, this paper will report on the efforts under F4E responsibility to develop a number of the new ITER baseline systems. In particular this paper, after a review of safety constraints and ITER strategy, provides the status of: (1) tasks being launched on diagnostics for in-vessel dust inventory measurement, (2) experiments to enrich the data about the effectiveness of desorption of tritium from Be at 350 o C (divertor baking aiming to release significant amount of tritium trapped in Be co-deposit), (3) on-going R and D programme (experimental and numerical simulation) at FZK, CEA and ENEA on in-vacuum vessel H2 dust explosion.

  20. Electrodynamic Dust Shield Demonstrator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stankie, Charles G.

    2013-01-01

    The objective of the project was to design and manufacture a device to demonstrate a new technology developed by NASA's Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory. The technology itself is a system which uses magnetic principles to remove regolith dust from its surface. This project was to create an enclosure that will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the invention to The Office of the Chief Technologist. ONE of the most important challenges of space exploration is actually caused by something very small and seemingly insignificant. Dust in space, most notably on the moon and Mars, has caused many unforeseen issues. Dirt and dust on Earth, while a nuisance, can be easily cleaned and kept at bay. However, there is considerably less weathering and erosion in space. As a result, the microscopic particles are extremely rough and abrasive. They are also electrostatically charged, so they cling to everything they make contact with. This was first noted to be a major problem during the Apollo missions. Dust would stick to the spacesuits, and could not be wiped off as predicted. Dust was brought back into the spacecraft, and was even inhaled by astronauts. This is a major health hazard. Atmospheric storms and other events can also cause dust to coat surfaces of spacecraft. This can cause abrasive damage to the craft. The coating can also reduce the effectiveness of thermal insulation and solar panels.' A group of engineers at Kennedy Space Center's Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory have developed a new technology, called the Electrodynamic Dust Shield, to help alleviate these problems. It is based off of the electric curtain concept developed at NASA in 1967. "The EDS is an active dust mitigation technology that uses traveling electric fields to transport electrostatically charged dust particles along surfaces. To generate the traveling electric fields, the EDS consists of a multilayer dielectric coating with an embedded thin electrode grid

  1. Influence of dust on plant growth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ershov, M F

    1959-01-01

    Further experiments were made at Kuibyshev with seedlings of Caragana aurantiaca and Prunus maackii. Some the plants were treated with a mixture of fine dust and soot at 2-2.5 g/sq m of leaf surface, and this treatment was repeated as necessary, at intervals during the growing season. Height growth of C. aurantiaca was 26.6%, and that of P. maackii 15.9% less than that of clean controls. Leaf surface area, measured shortly before fall, was 35.3% less than the controls in C. aurantiaca, and 20% less in P. maackii.

  2. Correlation between Yellow Dust and Radioactivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    AIZaabia, Mouza A [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Byoung-Jik [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    In East Asia, yellow dust or Asian Dust (AD) outbreaks are among the largest contributors of wind-blown dust that carry natural and anthropogenic radionuclides and subsequently alter their concentration and distribution throughout the environment. Although the Korean Peninsula has been experiencing AD events since ancient times, the research has tended to focus on the transport routes and characteristics of AD, rather than on its impact on radionuclide activity levels. This paper examines the relationship between radionuclide concentration in the air and the frequency of dusty days in South Korea during AD intrusion events. It also investigates whether increased radionuclide concentration is a function of either more mass or more dust contamination. In this study, significant linear correlations of gamma-emitting radionuclides were found with mass of dust and occurrence frequency of AD. Regardless of the source origin of the dust, {sup 137}Cs and {sup 7}Be concentration primarily depended on dust mass in the filter. Nonetheless, the correlations were greatly distorted in 2011 and in the spring season, particularly the correlations with AD days that were far below that of the correlations obtained for the whole study period. A possible explanation of these conflicting results is that a change in the dust source could appreciably alter the concentration, deposition, and distribution of airborne radionuclides.

  3. Lotus Dust Mitigation Coating and Molecular Adsorber Coating

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connor, Kenneth M.; Abraham, Nithin S.

    2015-01-01

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed two unique coating formulations that will keep surfaces clean and sanitary and contain contaminants.The Lotus Dust Mitigation Coating, modeled after the self-cleaning, water-repellant lotus leaf, disallows buildup of dust, dirt, water, and more on surfaces. This coating, has been successfully tested on painted, aluminum, glass, silica, and some composite surfaces, could aid in keeping medical assets clean.The Molecular Adsorber Coating is a zeolite-based, sprayable molecular adsorber coating, designed to prevent outgassing in materials in vacuums. The coating works well to adsorb volatiles and contaminates in manufacturing and processing, such as in pharmaceutical production. The addition of a biocide would also aid in controlling bacteria levels.

  4. Quantifying dust plume formation and aerosol size distribution during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment in North Africa

    KAUST Repository

    Khan, Basit Ali

    2015-01-01

    Dust particles mixed in the free troposphere have longer lifetimes than airborne particles near the surface. Their cumulative radiative impact on earth’s meteorological processes and climate might be significant despite their relatively small contribution to total dust abundance. One example is the elevated dust--laden Saharan Air Layer (SAL) over the equatorial North Atlantic, which cools the sea surface and likely suppresses hurricane activity. To understand the formation mechanisms of SAL, we combine model simulations and dust observations collected during the first stage of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM--I), which sampled dust events that extended from Morocco to Portugal, and investigated the spatial distribution and the microphysical, optical, chemical, and radiative properties of Saharan mineral dust. We employed the Weather Research Forecast model coupled with the Chemistry/Aerosol module (WRF--Chem) to reproduce the meteorological environment and spatial and size distributions of dust. The experimental domain covers northwest Africa including the southern Sahara, Morocco and part of the Atlantic Ocean with 5 km horizontal grid spacing and 51 vertical layers. The experiments were run from 20 May to 9 June 2006, covering the period of most intensive dust outbreaks. Comparisons of model results with available airborne and ground--based observations show that WRF--Chem reproduces observed meteorological fields as well as aerosol distribution across the entire region and along the airplane’s tracks. We evaluated several aerosol uplift processes and found that orographic lifting, aerosol transport through the land/sea interface with steep gradients of meteorological characteristics, and interaction of sea breezes with the continental outflow are key mechanisms that form a surface--detached aerosol plume over the ocean. Comparisons of simulated dust size distributions with airplane and ground--based observations are generally good, but suggest

  5. Suspended dust in Norwegian cities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    According to calculations, at least 80 000 people in Oslo and 8 000 in Trondheim were annoyed by too much suspended dust in 2000. The dust concentration is greatest in the spring, presumably because dust is swirling up from melting snow and ice on the streets. Car traffic is the main source of the dust, except for some of the most highly exposed regions where wood-firing from old stoves contributes up to 70 percent of the dust. National targets for air quality include suspended dust, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and benzene. Calculations show that nitrogen dioxide emissions exceeding the limit affected 4 000 people in Oslo and 1 000 people in Trondheim. The sulphur dioxide emissions in the major cities did non exceed the national quality limit; they did exceed the limit in some of the smaller industrial centres. In Trondheim, measurements show that the national limit for benzene was exceeded. Most of the emission of nitrogen dioxide comes from the road traffic. Local air pollution at times causes considerable health- and well-being problems in the larger cities and industrial centres, where a great part of the population may be at risk of early death, infection of the respiratory passage, heart- and lung diseases and cancer

  6. Transport of Mineral Dust and Its Impact on Climate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerstin Schepanski

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Mineral dust plays a pivotal role in the Earth’s system. Dust modulates the global energy budget directly via its interactions with radiation and indirectly via its influence on cloud and precipitation formation processes. Dust is a micro-nutrient and fertilizer for ecosystems due to its mineralogical composition and thus impacts on the global carbon cycle. Hence, dust aerosol is an essential part of weather and climate. Dust suspended in the air is determined by the atmospheric dust cycle: Dust sources and emission processes define the amount of dust entrained into the atmosphere. Atmospheric mixing and circulation carry plumes of dust to remote places. Ultimately, dust particles are removed from the atmosphere by deposition processes such as gravitational settling and rain wash out. During its residence time, dust interacts with and thus modulates the atmosphere resulting into changes such as in surface temperature, wind, clouds, and precipitation rates. There are still uncertainties regarding individual dust interactions and their relevance. Dust modulates key processes that are inevitably influencing the Earth energy budget. Dust transport allows for these interactions and at the same time, the intermittency of dust transport introduces additional fluctuations into a complex and challenging system.

  7. Metal Dusting: Catastrophic Corrosion by Carbon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, David J.; Zhang, Jianqiang

    2012-12-01

    Reducing gases rich in carbon-bearing species such as CO can be supersaturated with respect to graphite at intermediate temperatures of about 400-700°C. Engineering alloys such as low-alloy and stainless steels, and heat-resisting iron-, nickel-, and cobalt-base alloys catalyze gas processes that release the carbon. An understanding of how the resulting carbon deposition can destroy alloys at a catastrophically rapid rate has been the objective of a great deal of research. The current review of recent work on metal dusting covers the mass transfer—principally carbon diffusion—and graphite nucleation processes involved. A clear distinction emerges between ferritic alloys, which form cementite and precipitate graphite within that carbide, and austenitics that nucleate graphite directly within the metal. The latter process is facilitated by the strong orientation relationship between the graphite and face-centered cubic (fcc) lattices. Strategies for the control of dusting are briefly outlined.

  8. Molecules and dust in Cassiopeia A

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Biscaro, Chiara; Cherchneff, Isabelle

    2016-01-01

    We study the dust evolution in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. We follow the processing of dust grains that formed in the Type II-b supernova ejecta by modelling the sputtering of grains. The dust is located in dense ejecta clumps that are crossed by the reverse shock. We also investigate......-rich clumps that correspond to the outermost carbon-rich ejecta zone. We consider the various dust components that form in the supernova, several reverse shock velocities and inter-clump gas temperatures, and derive grain-size distributions and masses for the dust as a function of time. Both non...... and size, and the shock velocity in the clump. A Type II-b SN forms small grains that are sputtered within the clumps and in the inter-clump medium. For Cas A, silicate grains do not survive thermal sputtering in the inter-clump medium, while alumina, silicon carbide, and carbon dust may survive...

  9. Active Dust Experiment in the Mesosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norberg, Carol; Pellinen-Wannberg, Asta

    2008-01-01

    The mesosphere stretches from an altitude of about 50 to 90 km above the Earth's surface. Meteors entering the Earth's atmosphere are believed to ablate and hence give rise to a thin layer of dust particles in the upper part of the Earth's mesosphere. It seems that the dust is most dense in a layer that lies between 80 and 90 km. The dust particles are thought to have sizes of a few to tens of nanometers. Efforts have been made to measure these particles using rockets and radar techniques with limited success. We propose to release dust into the mesosphere over northern Sweden at a height of about 90 km and observe the released dust using the EISCAT radar system. The dust will be launched from the Swedish Space Corporation Esrange Space Centre on a single-stage Improved-Orion rocket that will be launched so that its flight path will be in the radar field of view.

  10. Optical and microphysical properties of natural mineral dust and anthropogenic soil dust near dust source regions over northwestern China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Wang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Mineral dust aerosols (MDs not only influence the climate by scattering and absorbing solar radiation but also modify cloud properties and change the ecosystem. From 3 April to 16 May 2014, a ground-based mobile laboratory was deployed to measure the optical and microphysical properties of MDs near dust source regions in Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang (in chronological order along the Hexi Corridor over northwestern China. Throughout this dust campaign, the hourly averaged (±standard deviation aerosol scattering coefficients (σsp, 550 nm of the particulates with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5 at these three sites were sequentially 101.5 ± 36.8, 182.2 ± 433.1, and 54.0 ± 32.0 Mm−1. Correspondingly, the absorption coefficients (σap, 637 nm were 9.7 ± 6.1, 6.0 ± 4.6, and 2.3 ± 0.9 Mm−1; single-scattering albedos (ω, 637 nm were 0.902 ± 0.025, 0.931 ± 0.037, and 0.949 ± 0.020; and scattering Ångström exponents (Åsp, 450–700 nm of PM2.5 were 1.28 ± 0.27, 0.77 ± 0.51, and 0.52 ± 0.31. During a severe dust storm in Zhangye (i.e., from 23 to 25 April, the highest values of σsp2.5 ( ∼  5074 Mm−1, backscattering coefficient (σbsp2.5,  ∼  522 Mm−1, and ω637 ( ∼  0.993 and the lowest values of backscattering fraction (b2.5,  ∼  0.101 at 550 nm and Åsp2.5 ( ∼  −0.046 at 450–700 nm, with peak values of aerosol number size distribution (appearing at the particle diameter range of 1–3 µm, exhibited that the atmospheric aerosols were dominated by coarse-mode dust aerosols. It is hypothesized that the relatively higher values of mass scattering efficiency during floating dust episodes in Wuwei and Zhangye are attributed to the anthropogenic soil dust produced by agricultural cultivations.

  11. Nasal lavage cellularity, grain dust, and airflow obstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blaski, C A; Watt, J L; Quinn, T J; Thorne, P S; Schwartz, D A

    1996-04-01

    To evaluate the clinical utility of nasal lavage (NL), we performed post-work shift NL on 172 grain workers and 78 postal worker control subjects. The grain worker group included a higher percentage of current smokers (25.7% vs 16.7%) and a lower percentage of former smokers (21.15% vs 35.9%) compared with the postal workers. The control subjects included more female workers and were slightly older than the grain workers. Compared with the postal workers, the grain workers were exposed to significantly greater concentrations of total dust (0.1 +/- 0.0 vs 6.8 +/- 1.4 mg/m3; mean +/- SEM) and total endotoxin (4.3 +/- 0.8 vs 2,372.4 +/- 653.8 endotoxin units/m3). NL from gain workers showed a higher concentration of total cells (55,000 +/- 14,000 vs 25,000 +/- 5,000 cells per milliliter; p=0.03), a higher concentration of squamous epithelial cells (17,029.0 +/- 4,177 .0 vs 7,103.7 +/- 1,479.8 cells per milliliter; p=0.03), and a higher concentration of neutrophils (40,058.0 +/- 12,803.2 vs 17,891.0 +/- 3,822.3 cells per milliliter; p=0.10) compared with postal workers. Importantly, these differences in NL cellularity between grain workers and postal workers were observed within the three strata of smokers. To further assess the importance of total cells, squamous epithelial cells, and neutrophils in the NL fluid of grain workers, we investigated the relationship between these cell concentrations and (1) measures of dust and endotoxin exposure during the work shift. (2) spirometric measures of airflow obtained immediately before the NL, and (3) work-related respiratory symptoms. The concentration of total cells, the concentration of squamous epithelial cells, or the concentration of neutrophils in the NL was not associated with ambient levels of dust or endotoxin, with baseline or cross-shift changes in lung function, or with work-related respiratory symptoms. These findings suggest that increased NL cellularity may be seen in workers exposed to high dust levels

  12. Role of dust in H II regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarazin, C.L.

    1975-01-01

    The purpose of this dissertation is to determine quantitatively the effects of U.V. absorbing dust on H II regions, and compare these effects with observations. Many observations indicate that dust grains are present within H II regions. An analytic theory is presented which describes all three of the effects of dust in H II regions. Although this model is relatively crude, it is useful in determining the approximate size of the modifications due to dust. In order to explore this problem more carefully, detailed numerical models of H II regions with dust were constructed. The ionization and thermal structure of these model H II regions is discussed. The observational consequences of the presence of dust are explored; the optical line intensities, radio continuum and line fluxes, and infrared emission of model H II regions with dust are given. These numerical models are compared with observations of diffuse nebulae. The optical line ratios are compared to several nearby bright H II regions, and it is found that the dust models may explain several anomalies in their spectrum

  13. Mite fauna and fungal flora in house dust from homes of asthmatic children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishii, A; Takaoka, M; Ichinoe, M; Kabasawa, Y; Ouchi, T

    1979-12-01

    Mite fauna and fungal flora in the house dust from homes of asthmatic children with positive and negative skin test to house dust allergen and non-asthmatic controls were examined. There was no conspicuous difference in mite species distribution among the three groups. Pyroglyphid mites dominate the mite fauna in house dust more than half of which being Dermatophagoides: D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae. There was no statistically significant difference in numbers between the two species and either species could dominate depending on the conditions of the individual houses. The average number of acarina in 0.5 g of fine dust did not differ statistically among the three groups; however, mite number per square meter floor differed between patients with positive skin test and negative skin test. The results suggest that house-cleaning might influence the possible sensitization of children. The genetic distribution of mould fungi in house dust was largely similar to that of airborne fungi. The average number of fungal colonies detected in 0.5 g of dust did not differ statistically among the three groups. Wallemia with its minute spores may cause sensitization but has so far been insufficiently investigated.

  14. Dust exposure in workers from grain storage facilities in Costa Rica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Zamora, María G; Medina-Escobar, Lourdes; Mora, Glend; Zock, Jan-Paul; van Wendel de Joode, Berna; Mora, Ana M

    2017-08-01

    About 12 million workers are involved in the production of basic grains in Central America. However, few studies in the region have examined the occupational factors associated with inhalable dust exposure. (i) To assess the exposure to inhalable dust in workers from rice, maize, and wheat storage facilities in Costa Rica; (ii) to examine the occupational factors associated with this exposure; and (iii) to measure concentrations of respirable and thoracic particles in different areas of the storage facilities. We measured inhalable (dust concentrations in 176 personal samples collected from 136 workers of eight grain storage facilities in Costa Rica. We also measured respirable (dust particles in several areas of the storage facilities. Geometric mean (GM) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) inhalable dust concentrations were 2.0mg/m 3 and 7.8 (range=dust concentrations were associated with job category [GM for category/GM for administrative staff and other workers (95% CI)=4.4 (2.6, 7.2) for packing; 20.4 (12.3, 34.7) for dehulling; 109.6 (50.1, 234.4) for unloading in flat bed sheds; 24.0 (14.5, 39.8) for unloading in pits; and 31.6 (18.6, 52.5) for drying], and cleaning task [15.8 (95% CI: 10.0, 26.3) in workers who cleaned in addition to their regular tasks]. Higher area concentrations of thoracic dust particles were found in wheat (GM and GSD=4.3mg/m 3 and 4.5) and maize (3.0mg/m 3 and 3.9) storage facilities, and in grain drying (2.3mg/m 3 and 3.1) and unloading (1.5mg/m 3 and 4.8) areas. Operators of grain storage facilities showed elevated inhalable dust concentrations, mostly above international exposure limits. Better engineering and administrative controls are needed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  15. Radio frequency discharge with dust particles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chutov, Y. I.; W. J. Goedheer,; Kravchenko, O. Y.; Zuz, V. M.; Yan, M.; Martins, R.; Ferreira, I.; Fortunato, E.; Kroesen, G.

    2000-01-01

    A 1D PIC/MCC method has been developed for computer simulations of low-pressure RF discharges with dust particles using the method for dust-free discharges. A RF discharge in argon with dust particles distributed uniformly in the interelectrode gap is simulated at parameters providing a possibility

  16. Heating of Porous Icy Dust Aggregates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sirono, Sin-iti [Earth and Environmental Sciences, Nagoya University, Tikusa-ku, Furo-cho, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan)

    2017-06-10

    At the beginning of planetary formation, highly porous dust aggregates are formed through coagulation of dust grains. Outside the snowline, the main component of an aggregate is H{sub 2}O ice. Because H{sub 2}O ice is formed in amorphous form, its thermal conductivity is extremely small. Therefore, the thermal conductivity of an icy dust aggregate is low. There is a possibility of heating inside an aggregate owing to the decay of radionuclides. It is shown that the temperature increases substantially inside an aggregate, leading to crystallization of amorphous ice. During the crystallization, the temperature further increases sufficiently to continue sintering. The mechanical properties of icy dust aggregates change, and the collisional evolution of dust aggregates is affected by the sintering.

  17. Simulating Mars' Dust Cycle with a Mars General Circulation Model: Effects of Water Ice Cloud Formation on Dust Lifting Strength and Seasonality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahre, Melinda A.; Haberle, Robert; Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.

    2012-01-01

    The dust cycle is critically important for the current climate of Mars. The radiative effects of dust impact the thermal and dynamical state of the atmosphere [1,2,3]. Although dust is present in the Martian atmosphere throughout the year, the level of dustiness varies with season. The atmosphere is generally the dustiest during northern fall and winter and the least dusty during northern spring and summer [4]. Dust particles are lifted into the atmosphere by dust storms that range in size from meters to thousands of kilometers across [5]. Regional storm activity is enhanced before northern winter solstice (Ls200 degrees - 240 degrees), and after northern solstice (Ls305 degrees - 340 degrees ), which produces elevated atmospheric dust loadings during these periods [5,6,7]. These pre- and post- solstice increases in dust loading are thought to be associated with transient eddy activity in the northern hemisphere with cross-equatorial transport of dust leading to enhanced dust lifting in the southern hemisphere [6]. Interactive dust cycle studies with Mars General Circulation Models (MGCMs) have included the lifting, transport, and sedimentation of radiatively active dust. Although the predicted global dust loadings from these simulations capture some aspects of the observed dust cycle, there are marked differences between the simulated and observed dust cycles [8,9,10]. Most notably, the maximum dust loading is robustly predicted by models to occur near northern winter solstice and is due to dust lifting associated with down slope flows on the flanks of the Hellas basin. Thus far, models have had difficulty simulating the observed pre- and post- solstice peaks in dust loading.

  18. Characterization of graphite dust produced by pneumatic lift

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen, Ke [Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Thermal Management Engineering and Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong (China); Peng, Wei; Liu, Bing [Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology of Tsinghua University, Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology Cooperation Innovation Center, The Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Engineering and Safety, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100084 (China); Kang, Feiyu [Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Thermal Management Engineering and Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong (China); Yang, Xiaoyong; Li, Weihua [Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology of Tsinghua University, Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology Cooperation Innovation Center, The Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Engineering and Safety, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100084 (China); Yu, Suyuan, E-mail: suyuan@tsinghua.edu.cn [Center for Combustion Energy, The Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering, Ministry of Educations, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2016-08-15

    Highlights: • Generation of graphite dust by pneumatic lift. • Determination of morphology and particle size distribution of graphite dust. • The size of graphite dust in this study is compared to AVR and THTR-300 results. • Graphite dust originates from both filler and binder of the matrix graphite. - Abstract: Graphite dust is an important safety concern of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTR). The graphite dust could adsorb fission products, and the radioactive dust is transported by the coolant gas and deposited on the surface of the primary loop. The simulation of coagulation, aggregation, deposition, and resuspension behavior of graphite dust requires parameters such as particle size distribution and particle shape, but currently very limited data on graphite dust is available. The only data we have are from AVR and THTR-300, however, the AVR result is likely to be prejudiced by the oil ingress. In pebble-bed HTR, graphite dust is generally produced by mechanical abrasion, in particular, by the abrasion of graphite pebbles in the lifting pipe of the fuel handling system. Here we demonstrate the generation and characterization of graphite dust that were produced by pneumatic lift. This graphite dust could substitute the real dust in HTR for characterization. The dust, exhibiting a lamellar morphology, showed a number-weighted average particle size of 2.38 μm and a volume-weighted average size of 14.62 μm. These two sizes were larger than the AVR and THTR results. The discrepancy is possibly due to the irradiation effect and prejudice caused by the oil ingress accident. It is also confirmed by the Raman spectrum that both the filler particle and binder contribute to the dust generation.

  19. Dust grain charges in a nuclear-track plasma and the formation of dynamic vortex dust structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rykov, V.A.; Khudyakov, A.V.; Filinov, V.S.; Vladimirov, V.I.; Deputatova, L.V.; Krutov, D.V.; Nefedov, A.P.; Fortov, V.E.

    2002-01-01

    Results are presented from Monte Carlo calculations of the electric charge of dust grains in a plasma produced during the slowing down of the radioactive decay products of californium nuclei in neon. The dust grain charging is explained for the first time as being due to the drift of electrons and ions in an external electric field. It is shown that the charges of the grains depend on their coordinates and strongly fluctuate with time. The time-averaged grain charges agree with the experimental data obtained on ordered liquidlike dust structures in a nuclear-track plasma. The time-averaged dust grain charges are used to carry out computer modeling of the formation of dynamic vortex structures observed in experiments. Evidence is obtained of the fact that the electrostatic forces experienced by the dust grains are potential in character

  20. Mineral Dust Instantaneous Radiative Forcing in the Arctic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kylling, A.; Groot Zwaaftink, C. D.; Stohl, A.

    2018-05-01

    Mineral dust sources at high and low latitudes contribute to atmospheric dust loads and dust deposition in the Arctic. With dust load estimates from Groot Zwaaftink et al. (https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025482), we quantify the mineral dust instantaneous radiative forcing (IRF) in the Arctic for the year 2012. The annual-mean top of the atmosphere IRF is 0.225 W/m2, with the largest contributions from dust transported from Asia south of 60°N and Africa. High-latitude (>60°N) dust sources contribute about 39% to top of the atmosphere IRF and have a larger impact (1 to 2 orders of magnitude) on IRF per emitted kilogram of dust than low-latitude sources. Mineral dust deposited on snow accounts for nearly all of the bottom of the atmosphere IRF of 0.135 W/m2. More than half of the bottom of the atmosphere IRF is caused by dust from high-latitude sources, indicating substantial regional climate impacts rarely accounted for in current climate models.

  1. Hygroscopicity of mineral dust particles: Roles of chemical mixing state and hygroscopic conversion timescale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, R. C.; Moore, M. J.; Petters, M. D.; Laskin, A.; Roberts, G. C.; Kreidenweis, S. M.; Prather, K. A.

    2009-05-01

    Our laboratory investigations of mineral dust particle hygroscopicity are motivated by field observations of the atmospheric processing of dust. During ACE-Asia we observed sulphate and nitrate to be strongly segregated from each other in individual aged Asian dust particles. CCN activation curves of pure calcium minerals as proxies for fresh (calcium carbonate) and aged (calcium sulphate, nitrate, chloride) dust indicate that this mixing state would cause a large fraction of aged dust particles to remain poor warm cloud nucleation potential, contrary to previous assumptions. The enrichment of oxalic acid in calcium-rich dust particles could have similar effects due to the formation of insoluble calcium oxalate. Soluble calcium nitrate and chloride reaction products are hygroscopic and will transform mineral dust into excellent CCN. Generating insoluble mineral particles wet by atomization produced particles with much higher hygroscopicity then when resuspended dry. The atomized particles are likely composed of dissolved residuals and do not properly reflect the chemistry of dry mineral powders. Aerosol flow tube experiments were employed to study the conversion of calcium carbonate into calcium nitrate via heterogeneous reaction with nitric acid, with simultaneous measurements of the reacted particles' chemistry and hygroscopicity. The timescale for this hygroscopic conversion was found to occur on the order of a few hours under tropospheric conditions. This implies that the conversion of non-hygroscopic calcite- containing dust into hygroscopic particles will be controlled by the availability of nitric acid, and not by the atmospheric residence time. Results from recent investigations of the effect of secondary coatings on the ice nucleation properties of dust particles will also be presented. The cloud formation potential of aged dust particles depends on both the quantity and form of the secondary species that have reacted or mixed with the dust. These results

  2. Formation and dissociation of dust molecules in dusty plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Jia; Feng Fan; Liu Fucheng; Dong Lifang; He Yafeng

    2016-01-01

    Dust molecules are observed in a dusty plasma experiment. By using measurements with high spatial resolution, the formation and dissociation of the dust molecules are studied. The ion cloud in the wake of an upper dust grain attracts the lower dust grain nearby. When the interparticle distance between the upper dust grain and the lower one is less than a critical value, the two dust grains would form a dust molecule. The upper dust grain always leads the lower one as they travel. When the interparticle distance between them is larger than the critical value, the dust molecule would dissociate. (paper)

  3. Lunar Dust and Lunar Simulant Activation, Monitoring, Solution and Cellular Toxicity Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, William; Jeevarajan, A. S.

    2009-01-01

    During the Apollo missions, many undesirable situations were encountered that must be mitigated prior to returning humans to the moon. Lunar dust (that part of the lunar regolith less than 20 microns in diameter) was found to produce several problems with mechanical equipment and could have conceivably produced harmful physiological effects for the astronauts. For instance, the abrasive nature of the dust was found to cause malfunctions of various joints and seals of the spacecraft and suits. Additionally, though efforts were made to exclude lunar dust from the cabin of the lunar module, a significant amount of material nonetheless found its way inside. With the loss of gravity correlated with ascent from the lunar surface, much of the finer fraction of this dust began to float and was inhaled by the astronauts. The short visits tothe Moon during Apollo lessened exposure to the dust, but the plan for future lunar stays of up to six months demands that methods be developed to minimize the risk of dust inhalation. The guidelines for what constitutes "safe" exposure will guide the development of engineering controls aimed at preventing the presence of dust in the lunar habitat. This work has shown the effects of grinding on the activation level of lunar dust, the changes in dissolution properties of lunar simulant, and the production of cytokines by cellular systems. Grinding of lunar dust leads to the production of radicals in solution and increased dissolution of lunar simulant in buffers of different pH. Additionally, ground lunar simulant has been shown to promote the production of IL-6 and IL-8, pro-inflammatory cytokines, by alveolar epithelial cells. These results provide evidence of the need for further studies on these materials prior to returning to the lunar surface.

  4. Coal dust symposium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1981-03-01

    This paper gives a report of the paper presented at the symposium held in Hanover on 9 and 10 February 1981. The topics include: the behaviour of dust and coal dust on combustion and explosion; a report on the accidents which occurred at the Laegerdorf cement works' coal crushing and drying plant; current safety requirements at coal crushing and drying plant; and coal crushing and drying. Four papers are individually abstracted. (In German)

  5. Spirit Feels Dust Gust

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    On sol 1149 (March 28, 2007) of its mission, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit caught a wind gust with its navigation camera. A series of navigation camera images were strung together to create this movie. The front of the gust is observable because it was strong enough to lift up dust. From assessing the trajectory of this gust, the atmospheric science team concludes that it is possible that it passed over the rover. There was, however, no noticeable increase in power associated with this gust. In the past, dust devils and gusts have wiped the solar panels of dust, making it easier for the solar panels to absorb sunlight.

  6. Obliquely propagating dust-density waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piel, A.; Arp, O.; Klindworth, M.; Melzer, A.

    2008-01-01

    Self-excited dust-density waves are experimentally studied in a dusty plasma under microgravity. Two types of waves are observed: a mode inside the dust volume propagating in the direction of the ion flow and another mode propagating obliquely at the boundary between the dusty plasma and the space charge sheath. The dominance of oblique modes can be described in the frame of a fluid model. It is shown that the results fom the fluid model agree remarkably well with a kinetic electrostatic model of Rosenberg [J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 14, 631 (1996)]. In the experiment, the instability is quenched by increasing the gas pressure or decreasing the dust density. The critical pressure and dust density are well described by the models

  7. The Electric Environment of Martian Dust Devils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barth, E. L.; Farrell, W. M.; Rafkin, S. C.

    2017-12-01

    While Martian dust devils have been monitored through decades of observations, we have yet to study their possible electrical effects from in situ instrumentation. However, evidence for the existence of active electrodynamic processes on Mars is provided by laboratory studies of analog material and field campaigns of dust devils on Earth. We have enabled our Mars regional scale atmospheric model (MRAMS) to estimate an upper limit on electric fields generated through dust devil circulations by including charged particles as defined from the Macroscopic Triboelectric Simulation (MTS) code. MRAMS is used to investigate the complex physics of regional, mesoscale, and microscale atmospheric phenomena on Mars; it is a 3-D, nonhydrostatic model, which permits the simulation of atmospheric flows with large vertical accelerations, such as dust devils. MTS is a 3-D particle code which quantifies charging associated with swirling, mixing dust grains; grains of pre-defined sizes and compositions are placed in a simulation box and allowed to move under the influence of winds and gravity. Our MRAMS grid cell size makes our results most applicable to dust devils of a few hundred meters in diameter. We have run a number of simulations to understand the sensitivity of the electric field strength to the particle size and abundance and the amount of charge on each dust grain. We find that Efields can indeed develop in Martian dust convective features via dust grain filtration effects. The overall value of these E-fields is strongly dependent upon dust grain size, dust load, and lifting efficiency, and field strengths can range from 100s of mV/m to 10s of kV/m.

  8. Density currents as a desert dust mobilization mechanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Solomos

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The formation and propagation of density currents are well studied processes in fluid dynamics with many applications in other science fields. In the atmosphere, density currents are usually meso-β/γ phenomena and are often associated with storm downdrafts. These storms are responsible for the formation of severe dust episodes (haboobs over desert areas. In the present study, the formation of a convective cool pool and the associated dust mobilization are examined for a representative event over the western part of Sahara desert. The physical processes involved in the mobilization of dust are described with the use of the integrated atmospheric-air quality RAMS/ICLAMS model. Dust is effectively produced due to the development of near surface vortices and increased turbulent mixing along the frontal line. Increased dust emissions and recirculation of the elevated particles inside the head of the density current result in the formation of a moving "dust wall". Transport of the dust particles in higher layers – outside of the density current – occurs mainly in three ways: (1 Uplifting of preexisting dust over the frontal line with the aid of the strong updraft (2 Entrainment at the upper part of the density current head due to turbulent mixing (3 Vertical mixing after the dilution of the system. The role of the dust in the associated convective cloud system was found to be limited. Proper representation of convective processes and dust mobilization requires the use of high resolution (cloud resolving model configuration and online parameterization of dust production. Haboob-type dust storms are effective dust sources and should be treated accordingly in dust modeling applications.

  9. Investigations of Wind/WAVES Dust Impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    St Cyr, O. C.; Wilson, L. B., III; Rockcliffe, K.; Mills, A.; Nieves-Chinchilla, T.; Adrian, M. L.; Malaspina, D.

    2017-12-01

    The Wind spacecraft launched in November 1994 with a primary goal to observe and understand the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere. The waveform capture detector, TDS, of the radio and plasma wave investigation, WAVES [Bougeret et al., 1995], onboard Wind incidentally detected micron-sized dust as electric field pulses from the recollection of the impact plasma clouds (an unintended objective). TDS has detected over 100,000 dust impacts spanning almost two solar cycles; a dataset of these impacts has been created and was described in Malaspina & Wilson [2016]. The spacecraft continues to collect data about plasma, energetic particles, and interplanetary dust impacts. Here we report on two investigations recently conducted on the Wind/WAVES TDS database of dust impacts. One possible source of dust particles is the annually-recurring meteor showers. Using the nine major showers defined by the American Meteor Society, we compared dust count rates before, during, and after the peak of the showers using averaging windows of varying duration. However, we found no statistically significant change in the dust count rates due to major meteor showers. This appears to be an expected result since smaller grains, like the micron particles that Wind is sensitive to, are affected by electromagnetic interactions and Poynting-Robertson drag, and so are scattered away from their initial orbits. Larger grains tend to be more gravitationally dominated and stay on the initial trajectory of the parent body so that only the largest dust grains (those that create streaks as they burn up in the atmosphere) are left in the orbit of the parent body. Ragot and Kahler [2003] predicted that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) near the Sun could effectively scatter dust grains of comparable size to those observed by Wind. Thus, we examined the dust count rates immediately before, during, and after the passage of the 350 interplanetary CMEs observed by Wind over its 20+ year

  10. Effect of chemical mixing state on the hygroscopicity and cloud nucleation properties of calcium mineral dust particles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. C. Sullivan

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric mineral dust particles can alter cloud properties and thus climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN that form cloud droplets. The CCN activation properties of various calcium mineral dust particles were studied experimentally to investigate the consequences of field observations showing the segregation of sulphate from nitrate and chloride between individual aged Asian dust particles, and the enrichment of oxalic acid in Asian dust. Each mineral's observed apparent hygroscopicity was primarily controlled by its solubility, which determines the degree to which the mineral's intrinsic hygroscopicity can be expressed. The significant increase in hygroscopicity caused by mixing soluble hygroscopic material with insoluble mineral particles is also presented. Insoluble minerals including calcium carbonate, representing fresh unprocessed dust, and calcium sulphate, representing atmospherically processed dust, had similarly small apparent hygroscopicities. Their activation is accurately described by a deliquescence limit following the Kelvin effect and corresponded to an apparent single-hygroscopicity parameter, κ, of ~0.001. Soluble calcium chloride and calcium nitrate, representing atmospherically processed mineral dust particles, were much more hygroscopic, activating similar to ammonium sulphate with κ~0.5. Calcium oxalate monohydrate (κ=0.05 was significantly less CCN-active than oxalic acid (κ=0.3, but not as inactive as its low solubility would predict. These results indicate that the common assumption that all mineral dust particles become more hygroscopic and CCN-active after atmospheric processing should be revisited. Calcium sulphate and calcium oxalate are two realistic proxies for aged mineral dust that remain non-hygroscopic. The dust's apparent hygroscopicity will be controlled by its chemical mixing state, which is determined by its mineralogy and the chemical reaction pathways it experiences

  11. Dust grains from the heart of supernovae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bocchio, M.; Marassi, S.; Schneider, R.; Bianchi, S.; Limongi, M.; Chieffi, A.

    2016-03-01

    Dust grains are classically thought to form in the winds of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. However, there is increasing evidence today for dust formation in supernovae (SNe). To establish the relative importance of these two classes of stellar sources of dust, it is important to know the fraction of freshly formed dust in SN ejecta that is able to survive the passage of the reverse shock and be injected in the interstellar medium. With this aim, we have developed a new code, GRASH_Rev, that allows following the dynamics of dust grains in the shocked SN ejecta and computing the time evolution of the mass, composition, and size distribution of the grains. We considered four well-studied SNe in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud: SN 1987A, CasA, the Crab nebula, and N49. These sources have been observed with both Spitzer and Herschel, and the multiwavelength data allow a better assessment the mass of warm and cold dust associated with the ejecta. For each SN, we first identified the best explosion model, using the mass and metallicity of the progenitor star, the mass of 56Ni, the explosion energy, and the circumstellar medium density inferred from the data. We then ran a recently developed dust formation model to compute the properties of freshly formed dust. Starting from these input models, GRASH_Rev self-consistently follows the dynamics of the grains, considering the effects of the forward and reverse shock, and allows predicting the time evolution of the dust mass, composition, and size distribution in the shocked and unshocked regions of the ejecta. All the simulated models aagree well with observations. Our study suggests that SN 1987A is too young for the reverse shock to have affected the dust mass. Hence the observed dust mass of 0.7-0.9 M⊙ in this source can be safely considered as indicative of the mass of freshly formed dust in SN ejecta. Conversely, in the other three SNe, the reverse shock has already destroyed between 10-40% of the

  12. Evaluation of Nuisance Dust Health Effects on the Workers in a Tile Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.R. Koohpaei

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Background and objectivesAir pollution in the occupational fields and its economical effects on the health care system is studied from different viewpoints such as products quality, equipment damage, environment preservation, and air pollution control. Nowadays, a lot of attention has been turned toward health effects of air pollution. The objective of this study is detection of the total dust concentration and assessment of the health effect of nuisance dust among workers in a tile production factory.MethodsIn this study airborne dust concentration was measured and evaluated by using NIOSH 0500 method. In order to determine the health effects, a standard questionnaire was used. All of personnel of workshop 1 (n=50 and workshop 2 (n=50 were assigned to the case group and one hundreds of factory employees were assigned to the control group. Results analyzed using Z test.ResultsAccording to the obtained results, concentration of dust in workshop 1 corridor was higher than that of workshop 2 corridor (59.262 mg/m3 and 32.158 mg/m3 respectively. Also, these results showed that there are significant differences between two groups in incidence of symptoms such as dry cough, eye irritation, skin redness, shortness of breath, blurred vision, skin irritation, hoarseness of voice, dry mouth and throat, throat itching and skin itching (P<0.05. However, there were not significant differences in incidence of headache, chest pain, epiphora of eyes, mucus cough, sinus problems and chest wheezing between two groups.ConclusionOn the basis of these results it was revealed that nuisance dust can affect human health and performance. This in turn can increase the medical service load and costs. As a result of inadequate control systems established in the industries, lack of information and appropriate training, and lack of personal protective equipment all across the industries, we suggest a more comprehensive research project to evaluate the effects of industrial

  13. The physics of wind-blown sand and dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kok, Jasper F; Parteli, Eric J R; Michaels, Timothy I; Karam, Diana Bou

    2012-10-01

    The transport of sand and dust by wind is a potent erosional force, creates sand dunes and ripples, and loads the atmosphere with suspended dust aerosols. This paper presents an extensive review of the physics of wind-blown sand and dust on Earth and Mars. Specifically, we review the physics of aeolian saltation, the formation and development of sand dunes and ripples, the physics of dust aerosol emission, the weather phenomena that trigger dust storms, and the lifting of dust by dust devils and other small-scale vortices. We also discuss the physics of wind-blown sand and dune formation on Venus and Titan.

  14. Development of High-Resolution Dynamic Dust Source Function - A Case Study with a Strong Dust Storm in a Regional Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dongchul; Chin, Mian; Kemp, Eric M.; Tao, Zhining; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Ginoux, Paul

    2017-01-01

    A high-resolution dynamic dust source has been developed in the NASA Unified-Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) model to improve the existing coarse static dust source. In the new dust source map, topographic depression is in 1-km resolution and surface bareness is derived using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The new dust source better resolves the complex topographic distribution over the Western United States where its magnitude is higher than the existing, coarser resolution static source. A case study is conducted with an extreme dust storm that occurred in Phoenix, Arizona in 0203 UTC July 6, 2011. The NU-WRF model with the new high-resolution dynamic dust source is able to successfully capture the dust storm, which was not achieved with the old source identification. However the case study also reveals several challenges in reproducing the time evolution of the short-lived, extreme dust storm events.

  15. Development of High-Resolution Dynamic Dust Source Function -A Case Study with a Strong Dust Storm in a Regional Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dongchul; Chin, Mian; Kemp, Eric M; Tao, Zhining; Peters-Lidard, Christa D; Ginoux, Paul

    2017-06-01

    A high-resolution dynamic dust source has been developed in the NASA Unified-Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) model to improve the existing coarse static dust source. In the new dust source map, topographic depression is in 1-km resolution and surface bareness is derived using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The new dust source better resolves the complex topographic distribution over the Western United States where its magnitude is higher than the existing, coarser resolution static source. A case study is conducted with an extreme dust storm that occurred in Phoenix, Arizona in 02-03 UTC July 6, 2011. The NU-WRF model with the new high-resolution dynamic dust source is able to successfully capture the dust storm, which was not achieved with the old source identification. However the case study also reveals several challenges in reproducing the time evolution of the short-lived, extreme dust storm events.

  16. Effects of dust size distribution on dust negative ion acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized dusty plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ma, Yi-Rong; Qi, Xin; Sun, Jian-An; Duan, Wen-Shan; Yang, Lei

    2013-01-01

    Dust negative ion acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized multi-ion dusty plasma containing hot isothermal electron, ions (light positive ions and heavy negative ions) and extremely massive charge fluctuating dust grains are investigated by employing the reductive perturbation method. How the dust size distribution affect the height and the thickness of the nonlinear solitary wave are given. It is noted that the characteristic of the solitary waves are different with the different dust size distribution. The magnitude of the external magnetic field also affects the solitary wave form

  17. Instability of dust ion-acoustic waves in a dusty plasma containing elongated and rotating charged dust grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukla, P.K.; Tskhakaya, D.D.

    2001-01-01

    The dispersion properties of the dust ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) in an unmagnetized dusty plasma is examined when the plasma constituents are electrons, ions, and charged dust grains which are elongated and rotating. Since the dipole moment of elongated and rotating dust grains is nonzero, significant modifications of the DIAW spectrum emerge. It is found that the DIAWs are subjected to an instability when the DIAW frequency approximately equals the angular rotation frequency of the elongated dust grains. The relevance of our investigation to enhanced fluctuations in space and laboratory dusty plasmas is pointed out

  18. An index for estimating the potential metal pollution contribution to atmospheric particulate matter from road dust in Beijing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hongtao; Shao, Yaping; Yin, Chengqing; Jiang, Yan; Li, Xuyong

    2016-04-15

    The resuspension of road dust from street surfaces could be a big contributor to atmospheric particulate pollution in the rapid urbanization context in the world. However, to date what its potential contribution to the spatial pattern is little known. Here we developed an innovative index model called the road dust index (RIatmospheric suspended particles. The factors were ranked and weighted based on road dust characteristics (the amounts, grain sizes, and mobilities of the road dust, and the concentrations and toxicities of metals in the road dust). We then applied the RIatmospheric suspended particles. The results demonstrated that the road dust in urban areas has higher potential risk of metal to atmospheric particles than that in rural areas. The RIatmospheric suspended particles and for controlling atmospheric particulate pollution caused by road dust emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Long-term variability of dust-storms in Iceland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagsson-Waldhauserová, Pavla; Ólafsson, Haraldur; Arnalds, Ólafur

    2013-04-01

    Iceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic Ocean with maritime climate. In spite of moist climate, large areas are with limited vegetation cover where >40% of Iceland is classified with considerable to very severe erosion and 21% of Iceland are volcanic sandy deserts. Natural emissions from these sources influenced by strong winds affect not only regional air quality in Iceland ("Reykjavik haze") but dust particles are transported over the Atlantic ocean and Arctic Ocean > 1000 km at times. The study places Icelandic dust production area into international perspective, present long term frequency of dust storm events in NE Iceland, and estimate dust aerosol concentrations during reported dust events. Meteorological observations with dust presence codes and related visibility were used to identify the frequency and the long-term changes in dust production in NE Iceland. There were annually 16.4 days on average with reported dust observations on weather stations within the NE erosion area, indicating extreme dust plume activity and erosion within the NE deserts, even though the area is covered with snow during the major part of winter. During the 2000s the highest occurrence of dust events in six decades was reported. We have measured saltation and aeolian transport during dust/volcanic ash storms in Iceland which give some of the most intense wind erosion events ever measured. Icelandic dust affects the ecosystems over much of Iceland and causes regional haze. It is likely to affect the ecosystems of the oceans around Iceland, and it brings dust that lowers the albedo of the Icelandic glaciers, increasing melt-off due to global warming. The study indicates that Icelandic dust is not only a substantial source for regional air pollution, but may be considered to contribute to the Arctic haze phenomena and Arctic air pollution.

  20. Dust devil generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    G Onishchenko, O; A Pokhotelov, O; Horton, W; Stenflo, L

    2014-01-01

    The equations describing axi-symmetric nonlinear internal gravity waves in an unstable atmosphere are derived. A hydrodynamic model of a dust devil generation mechanism in such an atmosphere is investigated. It is shown that in an unstably stratified atmosphere the convective plumes with poloidal motion can grow exponentially. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that these convective plumes in an atmosphere with weak large scale toroidal motion are unstable with respect to three-dimensional dust devil generation. (papers)

  1. Long-term effects of aluminium dust inhalation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters, Susan; Reid, Alison; Fritschi, Lin; de Klerk, Nicholas; Musk, A W Bill

    2013-12-01

    During the 1950s and 1960s, aluminium dust inhalation was used as a potential prophylaxis against silicosis in underground miners, including in Australia. We investigated the association between aluminium dust inhalation and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and Alzheimer's diseases in a cohort of Australian male underground gold miners. We additionally looked at pneumoconiosis mortality to estimate the effect of the aluminium therapy. SMRs and 95% CI were calculated to compare mortality of the cohort members with that of the Western Australian male population (1961-2009). Internal comparisons on duration of aluminium dust inhalation were examined using Cox regression. Aluminium dust inhalation was reported for 647 out of 1894 underground gold miners. During 42 780 person-years of follow-up, 1577 deaths were observed. An indication of increased mortality of Alzheimer's disease among miners ever exposed to aluminium dust was found (SMR=1.38), although it was not statistically significant (95% CI 0.69 to 2.75). Rates for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular death were above population levels, but were similar for subjects with or without a history of aluminium dust inhalation. HRs suggested an increasing risk of cardiovascular disease with duration of aluminium dust inhalation (HR=1.02, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.04, per year of exposure). No difference in the association between duration of work underground and pneumoconiosis was observed between the groups with or without aluminium dust exposure. No protective effect against silicosis was observed from aluminium dust inhalation. Conversely, exposure to aluminium dust may possibly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia of the Alzheimer's type.

  2. Regional Modeling of Dust Mass Balance and Radiative Forcing over East Asia using WRF-Chem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Siyu; Zhao, Chun; Qian, Yun; Leung, Lai-Yung R.; Huang, J.; Huang, Zhongwei; Bi, Jianrong; Zhang, Wu; Shi, Jinsen; Yang, Lei; Li, Deshuai; Li, Jinxin

    2014-12-01

    The Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) is used to investigate the seasonal and annual variations of mineral dust over East Asia during 2007-2011, with a focus on the dust mass balance and radiative forcing. A variety of measurements from in-stu and satellite observations have been used to evaluate simulation results. Generally, WRF-Chem reproduces not only the column variability but also the vertical profile and size distribution of mineral dust over and near the dust source regions of East Asia. We investigate the dust lifecycle and the factors that control the seasonal and spatial variations of dust mass balance and radiative forcing over the seven sub-regions of East Asia, i.e. source regions, the Tibetan Plateau, Northern China, Southern China, the ocean outflow region, and Korea-Japan regions. Results show that, over the source regions, transport and dry deposition are the two dominant sinks. Transport contributes to ~30% of the dust sink over the source regions. Dust results in a surface cooling of up to -14 and -10 W m-2, atmospheric warming of up to 20 and 15 W m-2, and TOA cooling of -5 and -8 W m-2 over the two major dust source regions of East Asia, respectively. Over the Tibetan Plateau, transport is the dominant source with a peak in summer. Over identified outflow regions, maximum dust mass loading in spring is contributed by the transport. Dry and wet depositions are the comparably dominant sinks, but wet deposition is larger than dry deposition over the Korea-Japan region, particularly in spring (70% versus 30%). The WRF-Chem simulations can generally capture the measured features of dust aerosols and its radaitve properties and dust mass balance over East Asia, which provides confidence for use in further investigation of dust impact on climate over East Asia.

  3. Dust removal system for fusion experimental reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Onozuka, M.; Ueda, Y.; Takahashi, K.; Oda, Y.; Seki, Y.; Ueda, S.; Aoki, I.

    1995-01-01

    Development of a dust removal system using static electricity has been conducted. It is envisioned that the system can collect and transport dust under vacuum. In the system, the dust is charged by dielectric polarization and floated by an electrostatic attraction force that is generated by the DC electric field. The dust is then transported by the electric curtain formed by the three-phase AC electric field. Experimental investigation has been conducted to examine the characteristics of the system. Current research results indicate that the dust removal system using static electricity can be used for fusion experimental reactors

  4. Dust removal system for fusion experimental reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Onozuka, M.; Ueda, Y.; Takahashi, K.; Oda, Y. [Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Yokohama (Japan); Seki, Y.; Ueda, S.; Aoki, I. [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Naka, Ibaraki (Japan)

    1995-12-31

    Development of a dust removal system using static electricity has been conducted. It is envisioned that the system can collect and transport dust under vacuum. In the system, the dust is charged by dielectric polarization and floated by an electrostatic attraction force that is generated by the DC electric field. The dust is then transported by the electric curtain formed by the three-phase AC electric field. Experimental investigation has been conducted to examine the characteristics of the system. Current research results indicate that the dust removal system using static electricity can be used for fusion experimental reactors.

  5. Technology and Policy for Suppressing Grain Dust Explosions in Storage Facilities

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    1995-01-01

    To ensure workplace safety, grain handling facilities engage in a variety of activities to control the accumulation of grain dust, such as good housekeeping practices, pneumatic systems, and liquid additives...

  6. Origin of Harmattan dust settled in Northern Ghana – Long transported or local dust?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lyngsie, Gry; Awadzi, Theodore W; Breuning-Madsen, Henrik

    2011-01-01

    is that the majority of dust deposited in northern Ghana may not be from the original Harmattan source in the Bodélé Depression. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the origin of deposited dust in Tamale, Ghana. This is examined by comparing wind data, grain size distribution, mineralogical......The Harmattan is a dry, dust-laden continental wind which has its origin in the Bodélé Depression in the Chad basin. In Ghana the Harmattan can be experienced from November to March, when the Harmattan replaces the dominant south westerly maritime Monsoon wind. The hypothesis of this study...... and geochemical data from dust samples deposited during the Harmattan and Monsoon seasons, and topsoil. This study shows that despite a clear difference between the wind directions in the Harmattan and Monsoon seasons in Tamale, northern Ghana, no distinct differences are observed between the mineral or elemental...

  7. 3 MV hypervelocity dust accelerator at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shu, Anthony; Collette, Andrew; Drake, Keith; Grün, Eberhard; Horányi, Mihály; Kempf, Sascha; Mocker, Anna; Munsat, Tobin; Northway, Paige; Srama, Ralf; Sternovsky, Zoltán; Thomas, Evan

    2012-07-01

    A hypervelocity dust accelerator for studying micrometeorite impacts has been constructed at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) at the University of Colorado. Based on the Max-Planck-Institüt für Kernphysik (MPI-K) accelerator, this accelerator is capable of emitting single particles of a specific mass and velocity selected by the user. The accelerator consists of a 3 MV Pelletron generator with a dust source, four image charge pickup detectors, and two interchangeable target chambers: a large high-vacuum test bed and an ultra-high vacuum impact study chamber. The large test bed is a 1.2 m diameter, 1.5 m long cylindrical vacuum chamber capable of pressures as low as 10(-7) torr while the ultra-high vacuum chamber is a 0.75 m diameter, 1.1 m long chamber capable of pressures as low as 10(-10) torr. Using iron dust of up to 2 microns in diameter, final velocities have been measured up to 52 km/s. The spread of the dust particles and the effect of electrostatic focusing have been measured using a long exposure CCD and a quartz target. Furthermore, a new technique of particle selection is being developed using real time digital filtering techniques. Signals are digitized and then cross-correlated with a shaped filter, resulting in a suppressed noise floor. Improvements over the MPI-K design, which include a higher operating voltage and digital filtering for detection, increase the available parameter space of dust emitted by the accelerator. The CCLDAS dust facility is a user facility open to the scientific community to assist with instrument calibrations and experiments.

  8. 3 MV hypervelocity dust accelerator at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shu, Anthony; Horanyi, Mihaly; Kempf, Sascha; Thomas, Evan [Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 (United States); Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Collette, Andrew; Drake, Keith; Northway, Paige [Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Gruen, Eberhard [Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); MPI fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Mocker, Anna [Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); MPI fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); IRS, Universitaet Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany); Munsat, Tobin [Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States); Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 (United States); Srama, Ralf [MPI fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); IRS, Universitaet Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany); and others

    2012-07-15

    A hypervelocity dust accelerator for studying micrometeorite impacts has been constructed at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) at the University of Colorado. Based on the Max-Planck-Instituet fuer Kernphysik (MPI-K) accelerator, this accelerator is capable of emitting single particles of a specific mass and velocity selected by the user. The accelerator consists of a 3 MV Pelletron generator with a dust source, four image charge pickup detectors, and two interchangeable target chambers: a large high-vacuum test bed and an ultra-high vacuum impact study chamber. The large test bed is a 1.2 m diameter, 1.5 m long cylindrical vacuum chamber capable of pressures as low as 10{sup -7} torr while the ultra-high vacuum chamber is a 0.75 m diameter, 1.1 m long chamber capable of pressures as low as 10{sup -10} torr. Using iron dust of up to 2 microns in diameter, final velocities have been measured up to 52 km/s. The spread of the dust particles and the effect of electrostatic focusing have been measured using a long exposure CCD and a quartz target. Furthermore, a new technique of particle selection is being developed using real time digital filtering techniques. Signals are digitized and then cross-correlated with a shaped filter, resulting in a suppressed noise floor. Improvements over the MPI-K design, which include a higher operating voltage and digital filtering for detection, increase the available parameter space of dust emitted by the accelerator. The CCLDAS dust facility is a user facility open to the scientific community to assist with instrument calibrations and experiments.

  9. Links between Patagonian Ice Sheet fluctuations and Antarctic dust variability during the last glacial period (MIS 4-2)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, Jérôme; Lamy, Frank

    2010-06-01

    Antarctic and Greenland ice-core records reveal large fluctuations of dust input on both orbital and millennial time-scales with potential global climate implications. At least during glacial periods, the Antarctic dust fluctuations appear to be largely controlled by environmental changes in southern South America. We compare dust flux records from two Antarctic ice-cores to variations in the composition of the terrigenous supply at ODP Site 1233 located off southern Chile and known to record fluctuations in the extent of the northern part of the Patagonian ice-sheet (NPIS) during the last glacial period (Marine Isotope Stage, MIS, 4 to 2). Within age uncertainties, millennial-scale glacial advances (retreats) of the NPIS correlate to Antarctic dust maxima (minima). In turn, NPIS fluctuations were closely related to offshore sea surface temperature (SST) changes. This pattern suggests a causal link involving changes in temperature, in rock flour availability, in latitudinal extensions of the westerly winds and in foehn winds in the southern Pampas and Patagonia. We further suggest that the long-term trend of dust accumulation is partly linked to the sea-level related changes in the size if the Patagonian source area due to the particular morphology of the Argentine shelf. We suggest that sea-level drops at the beginning of MIS 4 and MIS 2 were important for long-term dust increases, while changes in the Patagonian dust source regions primarily control the early dust decrease during the MIS 4/3 transition and Termination 1.

  10. Transport and trapping of dust particles in a potential well created by inductively coupled diffused plasmas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudhary, Mangilal; Mukherjee, S; Bandyopadhyay, P

    2016-05-01

    A versatile linear dusty (complex) plasma device is designed to study the transport and dynamical behavior of dust particles in a large volume. Diffused inductively coupled plasma is generated in the background of argon gas. A novel technique is used to introduce the dust particles in the main plasma by striking a secondary direct current glow discharge. These dust particles are found to get trapped in an electrostatic potential well, which is formed due to the combination of the ambipolar electric field caused by diffusive plasma and the field produced by the charged glass wall of the vacuum chamber. According to the requirements, the volume of the dust cloud can be controlled very precisely by tuning the plasma and discharge parameters. The present device can be used to address the underlying physics behind the transport of dust particles, self-excited dust acoustic waves, and instabilities. The detailed design of this device, plasma production and characterization, trapping and transport of the dust particle, and some of the preliminary experimental results are presented.

  11. Simulation of dust-acoustic waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winske, D.; Murillo, M.S.; Rosenberg, M.

    1998-01-01

    The authors use molecular dynamics (MD) and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation methods to investigate the dispersion relation of dust-acoustic waves in a one-dimensional, strongly coupled (Coulomb coupling parameter Λ = ratio of the Coulomb energy to the thermal energy = 120) dusty plasma. They study both cases where the dust is represented by a small number of simulation particles that form into a regular array structure (crystal limit) as well as where the dust is represented by a much larger number of particles (fluid limit)

  12. The cost of respirable coal mine dust: an analysis based on new black lung claims

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Page, S.J.; Organiscak, J.A.; Lichtman, K. [US Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of the Interior

    1997-12-01

    The article provides summation of the monetary costs of new compensation claims associated with levels of unmitigated respirable coal mine dust and the resultant lung disease known as black lung and compares these compensation costs to the cost of dust control technology research by the US Bureau of Mines. It presents an analysis of these expenditures and projects these costs over the period from 1991 to 2010, based on projected future new claims which are assumed to be approved for federal and state benefit payment. Since current and future dust control research efforts cannot change past claim histories, a valid comparison of future research spending with other incurred costs must examine only the cost of future new claims. The bias of old claim costs was eliminated in this analysis by examining only claims since 1980. The results estimate that for an expected 339 new approved claims annually from 1991 to 2010, the Federal Trust Fund costs will be 985 million dollars. During this same period, state black lung compensation is estimated to be 18.2 billion dollars. The Bureau of Mines dust control research expenditures are estimated as 0.44% of the projected future black lung-related costs. 9 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.

  13. RR Tel: Determination of Dust Properties During Minimum Obscuration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurkić T.

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available the ISO infrared spectra and the SAAO long-term JHKL photometry of RR Tel in the epochs during minimum obscuration are studied in order to construct a circumstellar dust model. the spectral energy distribution in the near- and the mid-IR spectral range (1–15 μm was obtained for an epoch without the pronounced dust obscuration. the DUSTY code was used to solve the radiative transfer through the dust and to determine the circumstellar dust properties of the inner dust regions around the Mira component. Dust temperature, maximum grain size, dust density distribution, mass-loss rate, terminal wind velocity and optical depth are determined. the spectral energy distribution and the long-term JHKL photometry during an epoch of minimum obscuration show almost unattenuated stellar source and strong dust emission which cannot be explained by a single dust shell model. We propose a two-component model consisting of an optically thin circmustellar dust shell and optically thick dust outside the line of sight in some kind of a flattened geometry, which is responsible for most of the observed dust thermal emission.

  14. Featured Image: Making Dust in the Lab

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Susanna

    2017-12-01

    This remarkable photograph (which spans only 10 m across; click for a full view) reveals what happens when you form dust grains in a laboratory under conditions similar to those of interstellar space. The cosmic life cycle of dust grains is not well understood we know that in the interstellar medium (ISM), dust is destroyed at a higher rate than it is produced by stellar sources. Since the amount of dust in the ISM stays constant, however, there must be additional sources of dust production besides stars. A team of scientists led by Daniele Fulvio (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena) have now studied formation mechanisms of dust grains in the lab by mimicking low-temperature ISM conditions and exploring how, under these conditions, carbonaceous materials condense from gas phase to form dust grains. To read more about their results and see additional images, check out the paper below.CitationDaniele Fulvio et al 2017 ApJS 233 14. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aa9224

  15. Identifying sources of aeolian mineral dust: Present and past

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhs, Daniel R; Prospero, Joseph M; Baddock, Matthew C; Gill, Thomas E

    2014-01-01

    Aeolian mineral dust is an important component of the Earth’s environmental systems, playing roles in the planetary radiation balance, as a source of fertilizer for biota in both terrestrial and marine realms and as an archive for understanding atmospheric circulation and paleoclimate in the geologic past. Crucial to understanding all of these roles of dust is the identification of dust sources. Here we review the methods used to identify dust sources active at present and in the past. Contemporary dust sources, produced by both glaciogenic and non-glaciogenic processes, can be readily identified by the use of Earth-orbiting satellites. These data show that present dust sources are concentrated in a global dust belt that encompasses large topographic basins in low-latitude arid and semiarid regions. Geomorphic studies indicate that specific point sources for dust in this zone include dry or ephemeral lakes, intermittent stream courses, dune fields, and some bedrock surfaces. Back-trajectory analyses are also used to identify dust sources, through modeling of wind fields and the movement of air parcels over periods of several days. Identification of dust sources from the past requires novel approaches that are part of the geologic toolbox of provenance studies. Identification of most dust sources of the past requires the use of physical, mineralogical, geochemical, and isotopic analyses of dust deposits. Physical properties include systematic spatial changes in dust deposit thickness and particle size away from a source. Mineralogy and geochemistry can pinpoint dust sources by clay mineral ratios and Sc-Th-La abundances, respectively. The most commonly used isotopic methods utilize isotopes of Nd, Sr, and Pb and have been applied extensively in dust archives of deep-sea cores, ice cores, and loess. All these methods have shown that dust sources have changed over time, with far more abundant dust supplies existing during glacial periods. Greater dust supplies in

  16. Dust-cyclotron and dust-lower-hybrid modes in self-gravitating magnetized dusty plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mamun, A.A.

    1999-07-01

    A theoretical investigation has been made of two new ultra-low-frequency electrostatic modes, namely, dust-cyclotron mode and dust-lower-hybrid mode, propagating perpendicular to the external magnetic field, in a self-gravitating magnetized two fluid dusty plasma system. It has been shown that the effect of the self-gravitational force, acting on both dust grains and ions, significantly modifies the dispersion properties of both of these two electrostatic modes. It is also found that under certain conditions, this self-gravitational effect can destabilize these ultra-low-frequency electrostatic modes. The implications of these results to some space and astrophysical dusty plasma systems, especially to planetary ring-systems and cometary tails, are briefly mentioned. (author)

  17. Permanence of diced cartilage, bone dust and diced cartilage/bone dust mixture in experimental design in twelve weeks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Islamoglu, Kemal; Dikici, Mustafa Bahadir; Ozgentas, Halil Ege

    2006-09-01

    Bone dust and diced cartilage are used for contour restoration because their minimal donor site morbidity. The purpose of this study is to investigate permanence of bone dust, diced cartilage and bone dust/diced cartilage mixture in rabbits over 12 weeks. New Zealand white rabbits were used for this study. There were three groups in the study: Group I: 1 mL bone dust. Group II: 1 mL diced cartilage. Group III: 0.5 mL bone dust + 0.5 mL diced cartilage mixture. They were placed into subcutaneous tissue of rabbits and removed 12 weeks later. The mean volumes of groups were 0.23 +/- 0.08 mL in group I, 0.60 +/- 0.12 mL in group II and 0.36 +/- 0.10 mL in group III. The differences between groups were found statistically significant. In conclusion, diced cartilage was found more reliable than bone dust aspect of preserving its volume for a long period in this study.

  18. Charged dust structures in plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cramer, N.F.; Vladimirov, S.V.

    1999-01-01

    We report here on theoretical investigations of the mechanical-electrostatic modes of vibration of a dust-plasma crystal, extending earlier work on the transverse modes of a horizontal line of grains (where the ions flow vertically downward to a plane horizontal cathode), the modes of two such lines of grains, and the modes of a vertical string of grains. The last two arrangements have the unique feature that the effect of the background plasma on the mutual grain interaction is asymmetric because of the wake downstream of the grains studied in. The characteristic frequencies of the vibrations are dependent on the parameters of the plasma and the dust grains, such as the Debye length and the grain charge, and so measurement of the frequencies could provide diagnostics of these quantities. Although the current boom in dusty plasma research is driven mainly by such industrial applications as plasma etching, sputtering and deposition, the physical outcomes of investigations in this rapidly expanding field cover many important topics in space physics and astrophysics as well. Examples are the interaction of dust with spacecraft, the structure of planetary rings, star formation, supernova explosions and shock waves. In addition, the study of the influence of dust in environmental research, such as in the Earth's ionosphere and atmosphere, is important. The unique binding of dust particles in a plasma opens possibilities for so-called super-chemistry, where the interacting bound elements are not atoms but dust grains

  19. Quasar Winds as Dust Factories at High Redshift

    OpenAIRE

    Elvis, Martin; Marengo, Massimo; Karovska, Margarita

    2003-01-01

    Winds from AGN and quasars will form large amounts of dust, as the cool gas in these winds passes through the (pressure, temperature) region where dust is formed in AGB stars. Conditions in the gas are benign to dust at these radii. As a result quasar winds may be a major source of dust at high redshifts, obviating a difficulty with current observations, and requiring far less dust to exist at early epochs.

  20. Effects of exposure to flour dust on respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function of mill workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamdy A. Mohammadien

    2013-10-01

    Conclusion: Flour mill workers in Sohag Governorate, like grain workers elsewhere, were at an increased risk of developing pulmonary symptoms, a strong association exists between exposure to flour dust and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and functional impairments of the lungs. The result has implications for improved dust control measures in the grain industry in Egypt.

  1. Guilt by Association: The 13 Micron Dust Emission Feature and Its Correlation to Other Gas and Dust Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloan, G. C.; Kraemer, Kathleen E.; Goebel, J. H.; Price, Stephan D.

    2003-09-01

    A study of all full-scan spectra of optically thin oxygen-rich circumstellar dust shells in the database produced by the Short Wavelength Spectrometer on ISO reveals that the strength of several infrared spectral features correlates with the strength of the 13 μm dust feature. These correlated features include dust features at 19.8 and 28.1 μm and the bands produced by warm carbon dioxide molecules (the strongest of which are at 13.9, 15.0, and 16.2 μm). The database does not provide any evidence for a correlation of the 13 μm feature with a dust feature at 32 μm, and it is more likely that a weak emission feature at 16.8 μm arises from carbon dioxide gas rather than dust. The correlated dust features at 13, 20, and 28 μm tend to be stronger with respect to the total dust emission in semiregular and irregular variables associated with the asymptotic giant branch than in Mira variables or supergiants. This family of dust features also tends to be stronger in systems with lower infrared excesses and thus lower mass-loss rates. We hypothesize that the dust features arise from crystalline forms of alumina (13 μm) and silicates (20 and 28 μm). Based on observations with the ISO, a European Space Agency (ESA) project with instruments funded by ESA member states (especially the Principal Investigator countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

  2. The evaluation and quantification of respirable coal and silica dust concentrations: a task-based approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grové, T; Van Dyk, T; Franken, A; Du Plessis, J

    2014-01-01

    Silicosis and coal worker's pneumoconiosis are serious occupational respiratory diseases associated with the coal mining industry and the inhalation of respirable dusts containing crystalline silica. The purpose of this study (funded by the Mine Health and Safety Council of South Africa) was to evaluate the individual contributions of underground coal mining tasks to the respirable dust and respirable silica dust concentrations in an underground section by sampling the respirable dust concentrations at the intake and return of each task. The identified tasks were continuous miner (CM) cutting, construction, transfer of coal, tipping, and roof bolting. The respirable dust-generating hierarchy of the tasks from highest to lowest was: transfer of coal > CM right cutting > CM left cutting > CM face cutting > construction > roof bolting > tipping; and for respirable silica dust: CM left cutting > construction > transfer of coal > CM right cutting. Personal exposure levels were determined by sampling the exposures of workers performing tasks in the section. Respirable dust concentrations and low concentrations of respirable silica dust were found at the intake air side of the section, indicating that air entering the section is already contaminated. The hierarchy for personal respirable dust exposures was as follows, from highest to lowest: CM operator > cable handler > miner > roof bolt operator > shuttle car operator, and for respirable silica dust: shuttle car operator > CM operator > cable handler > roof bolt operator > miner. Dust control methods to lower exposures should include revision of the position of workers with regard to the task performed, positioning of the tasks with regard to the CM cutting, and proper use of the line curtains to direct ventilation appropriately. The correct use of respiratory protection should also be encouraged.

  3. Reconstructing transport pathways for late Quaternary dust from eastern Australia using the composition of trace elements of long traveled dusts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petherick, Lynda M.; McGowan, Hamish A.; Kamber, Balz S.

    2009-04-01

    The southeast Australian dust transport corridor is the principal pathway through which continental emissions of dust from central and eastern Australia are carried to the oceans by the prevailing mid-latitude westerly circulation. The analysis of trace elements of aeolian dust, preserved in lake sediment on North Stradbroke Island, southeast Queensland, is used to reconstruct variation in the intensity and position of dust transport to the island over the past 25,000 yrs. Separation of local and long traveled dust content of lake sediments is achieved using a unique, four-element (Ga, Ni, Tl and Sc) separation method. The local and continental chronologies of aeolian deposition developed by this study show markedly different records, and indicate varied responses to climate variability on North Stradbroke Island (local aeolian sediment component) and in eastern and central Australia (long traveled dust component). The provenance of the continental component of the record to sub-geologic catchment scales was accomplished using a ternary mixing model in which the chemical identification of dusts extracted, from the lake sediments, was compared to potential chemical characteristics of surface dust from the source areas using 16 trace elements. The results indicate that the position and intensity of dust transport pathways during the late Quaternary varied considerably in response to changing atmospheric circulation patterns as well as to variations in sediment supply to dust source areas, which include the large anabranching river systems of the Lake Eyre and Murray-Darling Basins.

  4. Characterization of the permittivity of controlled porous water ice-dust mixtures to support the radar exploration of icy bodies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brouet, Y.; Neves, L.; Sabouroux, P.; Levasseur-Regourd, A. C.; Poch, O.; Encrenaz, P.; Pommerol, A.; Thomas, N.; Kofman, W.

    2016-12-01

    The internal properties of porous and icy bodies in the solar system can be investigated by ground-penetrating radars (GPRs), like the COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft which has sounded the interior of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Accurate constraints on the permittivity of icy media are needed for the interpretation of the data. We report novel permittivity measurements performed on water ice samples and icy mixtures with porosities in the 31-91% range. The measurements have been performed between 50 MHz and 2 GHz with a coaxial cell on a total of 38 samples with a good reproducibility. We used controlled procedures to produce fine-grained and coarse-grained ice samples with a mean diameter of 4.5 μm and 67 μm, respectively, and to prepare icy mixtures. The JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant was used as the dust component in the mixtures. The results are focused on the real-part ɛ' of the permittivity, which constrains the phase velocity of the radio waves in low-loss media. The values of ɛ' show a nondispersive behavior and are within the range of 1.1 to 2.7. They decrease with the increasing porosity Φ according to E(1 - Φ), with E equal to about 3.13 for pure water ice, and in the 3.8-7.5 range for ice-dust mixtures with a dust-to-ice volumetric ratio in the 0.1-2.8 range, respectively. These measurements are also relevant for radiometers operating in the millimeter-submillimeter domains, as suggested by the nondispersive behavior of the mixtures and of the pure components.

  5. Frontiers in In-Situ Cosmic Dust Detection and Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sternovsky, Zoltan; Auer, Siegfried; Drake, Keith; Gruen, Eberhard; Horanyi, Mihaly; Le, Huy; Xie Jianfeng; Srama, Ralf

    2011-01-01

    In-situ cosmic dust instruments and measurements played a critical role in the emergence of the field of dusty plasmas. The major breakthroughs included the discovery of β-meteoroids, interstellar dust particles within the solar system, Jovian stream particles, and the detection and analysis of Enceladus's plumes. The science goals of cosmic dust research require the measurements of the charge, the spatial, size and velocity distributions, and the chemical and isotopic compositions of individual dust particles. In-situ dust instrument technology has improved significantly in the last decade. Modern dust instruments with high sensitivity can detect submicron-sized particles even at low impact velocities. Innovative ion optics methods deliver high mass resolution, m/dm>100, for chemical and isotopic analysis. The accurate trajectory measurement of cosmic dust is made possible even for submicron-sized grains using the Dust Trajectory Sensor (DTS). This article is a brief review of the current capabilities of modern dust instruments, future challenges and opportunities in cosmic dust research.

  6. Basis for criteria for exemption of decommissioning waste: reprocessing of dust from recycling of steel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elert, M.; Wiborgh, M.

    1992-06-01

    This study is a part of a larger study with the purpose to provide the authority concerned, the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute (SSI), with technical background material needed for future decisions concerning exemption levels for recycling and disposal of material originating from decommissioned nuclear power reactors. The dismantling of nuclear power reactors will give rise to large amounts of steel scrap with a very low activity concentration. It is of interest to exempt this material from regulatory control in order to make recycling possible. During the melting of steel scrap dust will be formed which is collected in the off-gas cleaning system of the furnace. Radionuclides may be enriched in this dust, and thereby obtain a higher activity concentration than the melted scrap. Presently, there is a strong interest to reprocess these dusts with the objectives to recover valuable metals and to reduce the amounts of waste harmful to the environment. During the reprocessing of dusts collected from the melting process a further redistribution and reconcentration of radionuclides may occur. In this report the treatment of dust from steel melting is described, the potential reconcentration of radionuclides is analyzed, and the potential radiological consequences are estimated. The study has focussed on the reprocessing of dust with the plasma method used at ScanDust in Sweden, and with the Waelz process used in, for example Spain and Germany. Various factors as economical, political and future developments of dust treatment and steel processes will determine the amounts of dusts produced and also to what degree dust will be reprocessed in the future. (au)

  7. Characteristics of mineral dust impacting the Persian Gulf

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmady-Birgani, Hesam; McQueen, Kenneth G.; Mirnejad, Hassan

    2018-02-01

    It is generally assumed that severe dust events in western Iran could be responsible for elevated levels of toxic and radioactive elements in the region. Over a period of 5 months, from January 2012 to May 2012, dust particles in the size range PM10 (i.e. chemical compositions of dust and aerosol samples collected during the non-dusty periods and during two severe dust events. Results of ICP-MS analysis of components indicate that during dust events the concentrations of major elements such as Ca, Mg, Al and K increase relative to ambient conditions when Fe and trace elements such as Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn are in higher proportions. Toxic trace elements that are generally ascribed to human activities, including industrial and urban pollution, are thus proportionately more abundant in the dust under calm conditions than during dust events, when their concentration is diluted by more abundant mineral particles of quartz, calcite and clay. The variability of chemical species during two dust events, noted by tracking the dust plumes in satellite images, was also assessed and the results relate to two different source areas, namely northern Iraq and northwestern Syria.

  8. Interstellar dust and extinction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mathis, J.S.

    1990-01-01

    It is noted that the term interstellar dust refers to materials with rather different properties, and that the mean extinction law of Seaton (1979) or Savage and Mathis (1979) should be replaced by the expression given by Cardelli et al. (1989), using the appropriate value of total-to-selective extinction. The older laws were appropriate for the diffuse ISM but dust in clouds differs dramatically in its extinction law. Dust is heavily processed while in the ISM by being included within clouds and cycled back into the diffuse ISM many times during its lifetime. Hence, grains probably reflect only a trace of their origin, although meteoritic inclusions with isotopic anomalies demonstrate that some tiny particles survive intact from a supernova origin to the present. 186 refs

  9. Dust Measurements Onboard the Deep Space Gateway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horanyi, M.; Kempf, S.; Malaspina, D.; Poppe, A.; Srama, R.; Sternovsky, Z.; Szalay, J.

    2018-02-01

    A dust instrument onboard the Deep Space Gateway will revolutionize our understanding of the dust environment at 1 AU, help our understanding of the evolution of the solar system, and improve dust hazard models for the safety of crewed and robotic missions.

  10. Pebble Bed Reactor Dust Production Model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abderrafi M. Ougouag; Joshua J. Cogliati

    2008-09-01

    The operation of pebble bed reactors, including fuel circulation, can generate graphite dust, which in turn could be a concern for internal components; and to the near field in the remote event of a break in the coolant circuits. The design of the reactor system must, therefore, take the dust into account and the operation must include contingencies for dust removal and for mitigation of potential releases. Such planning requires a proper assessment of the dust inventory. This paper presents a predictive model of dust generation in an operating pebble bed with recirculating fuel. In this preliminary work the production model is based on the use of the assumption of proportionality between the dust production and the normal force and distance traveled. The model developed in this work uses the slip distances and the inter-pebble forces computed by the authors’ PEBBLES. The code, based on the discrete element method, simulates the relevant static and kinetic friction interactions between the pebbles as well as the recirculation of the pebbles through the reactor vessel. The interaction between pebbles and walls of the reactor vat is treated using the same approach. The amount of dust produced is proportional to the wear coefficient for adhesive wear (taken from literature) and to the slip volume, the product of the contact area and the slip distance. The paper will compare the predicted volume with the measured production rates. The simulation tallies the dust production based on the location of creation. Two peak production zones from intra pebble forces are predicted within the bed. The first zone is located near the pebble inlet chute due to the speed of the dropping pebbles. The second peak zone occurs lower in the reactor with increased pebble contact force due to the weight of supported pebbles. This paper presents the first use of a Discrete Element Method simulation of pebble bed dust production.

  11. Pebble Bed Reactor Dust Production Model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abderrafi M. Ougouag; Joshua J. Cogliati

    2008-01-01

    The operation of pebble bed reactors, including fuel circulation, can generate graphite dust, which in turn could be a concern for internal components; and to the near field in the remote event of a break in the coolant circuits. The design of the reactor system must, therefore, take the dust into account and the operation must include contingencies for dust removal and for mitigation of potential releases. Such planning requires a proper assessment of the dust inventory. This paper presents a predictive model of dust generation in an operating pebble bed with recirculating fuel. In this preliminary work the production model is based on the use of the assumption of proportionality between the dust production and the normal force and distance traveled. The model developed in this work uses the slip distances and the inter-pebble forces computed by the authors PEBBLES. The code, based on the discrete element method, simulates the relevant static and kinetic friction interactions between the pebbles as well as the recirculation of the pebbles through the reactor vessel. The interaction between pebbles and walls of the reactor vat is treated using the same approach. The amount of dust produced is proportional to the wear coefficient for adhesive wear (taken from literature) and to the slip volume, the product of the contact area and the slip distance. The paper will compare the predicted volume with the measured production rates. The simulation tallies the dust production based on the location of creation. Two peak production zones from intra pebble forces are predicted within the bed. The first zone is located near the pebble inlet chute due to the speed of the dropping pebbles. The second peak zone occurs lower in the reactor with increased pebble contact force due to the weight of supported pebbles. This paper presents the first use of a Discrete Element Method simulation of pebble bed dust production

  12. Dust observations by PFS on Mars Express

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zasova, L. V.; Formisano, V.; Moroz, V. I.; Grassi, D.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Blecka, M. I.; Maturilli, A.; Palomba, E.; Piccioni, G.; Pfs Team

    Dust is always present in the Martian atmosphere with opacity, which changes from values below 0.1 (at 9 μ m) up to several units during the dust storms. From the thermal IR (LW channel of PFS) the dust opacity is retrieved in a self consistent way together with the temperature profile from the same spectrum A preliminary investigation along the orbit, which comes through Hellas, shows that the value of dust opacity anticorrelates with surface altitude. From -70 to +25 of latitude the vertical dust distribution follows the exponential low with the scale of 12 km, which corresponds to the gaseous scale height near noon and indicates for well mixed condition. The dust opacity, corresponding to the zero surface altitude, is found of 0.25+-0.05. More detailed investigations of all available data will be presented, including analysis of both short- and long- wavelength spectra of PFS.

  13. Dust in the Quasar Wind (Artist Concept)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-01-01

    Dusty grains -- including tiny specks of the minerals found in the gemstones peridot, sapphires and rubies -- can be seen blowing in the winds of a quasar, or active black hole, in this artist's concept. The quasar is at the center of a distant galaxy. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that such quasar winds might have forged these dusty particles in the very early universe. The findings are another clue in an ongoing cosmic mystery: where did all the dust in our young universe come from? Dust is crucial for efficient star formation as it allows the giant clouds where stars are born to cool quickly and collapse into new stars. Once a star has formed, dust is also needed to make planets and living creatures. Dust has been seen as far back as when the universe was less than a tenth of its current age, but how did it get there? Most dust in our current epoch forms in the winds of evolved stars that did not exist when the universe was young. Theorists had predicted that winds from quasars growing in the centers of distant galaxies might be a source of this dust. While the environment close to a quasar is too hot for large molecules like dust grains to survive, dust has been found in the cooler, outer regions. Astronomers now have evidence that dust is created in these outer winds. Using Spitzer's infrared spectrograph instrument, scientists found a wealth of dust grains in a quasar called PG2112+059 located at the center of a galaxy 8 billion light-years away. The grains - including corundum (sapphires and rubies); forsterite (peridot); and periclase (naturally occurring in marble) - are not typically found in galaxies without quasars, suggesting they might have been freshly formed in the quasar's winds.

  14. Common Warm Dust Temperatures Around Main Sequence Stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales, Farisa; Rieke, George; Werner, Michael; Stapelfeldt, Karl; Bryden, Geoffrey; Su, Kate

    2011-01-01

    We compare the properties of warm dust emission from a sample of main-sequence A-type stars (B8-A7) to those of dust around solar-type stars (F5-KO) with similar Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph/MIPS data and similar ages. Both samples include stars with sources with infrared spectral energy distributions that show evidence of multiple components. Over the range of stellar types considered, we obtain nearly the same characteristic dust temperatures (∼ 190 K and ∼60 K for the inner and outer dust components, respectively)-slightly above the ice evaporation temperature for the inner belts. The warm inner dust temperature is readily explained if populations of small grains are being released by sublimation of ice from icy planetesimals. Evaporation of low-eccentricity icy bodies at ∼ 150 K can deposit particles into an inner/warm belt, where the small grains are heated to dust Temperatures of -190 K. Alternatively, enhanced collisional processing of an asteroid belt-like system of parent planetesimals just interior to the snow line may account for the observed uniformity in dust temperature. The similarity in temperature of the warmer dust across our B8-KO stellar sample strongly suggests that dust-producing planetesimals are not found at similar radial locations around all stars, but that dust production is favored at a characteristic temperature horizon.

  15. Migration of Interplanetary Dust and Comets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ipatov, S. I.; Mather, J. C.

    Our studies of migration of interplanetary dust and comets were based on the results of integration of the orbital evolution of 15,000 dust particles and 30,000 Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) [1-3]. For asteroidal and cometary particles, the values of the ratio β between the radiation pressure force and the gravitational force varied from 1000 and 1 microns. The probability of a collision of a dust particle started from an asteroid or JFC with the Earth during a lifetime of the particle was maximum at diameter d ˜100 microns. For particles started from asteroids and comet 10P, this maximum probability was ˜0.01. Different studies of migration of dust particles and small bodies testify that the fraction of cometary dust particles of the overall dust population inside Saturn's orbit is considerable and can be dominant: (1) Cometary dust particles produced both inside and outside Jupiter's orbit are needed to explain the observed constant number density of dust particles at 3-18 AU. The number density of migrating trans-Neptunian particles near Jupiter's orbit is smaller by a factor of several than that beyond Saturn's orbit. Only a small fraction of asteroidal particles can get outside Jupiter's orbit. (2) Some (less than 0.1%) JFCs can reach typical near-Earth object orbits and remain there for millions of years. Dynamical lifetimes of most of the former JFCs that have typical near-Earth object orbits are about 106 -109 yr, so during most of these times they were extinct comets. Such former comets could disintegrate and produce a lot of mini-comets and dust. (3) Comparison of the velocities of zodiacal dust particles (velocities of MgI line) based on the distributions of particles over their orbital elements obtained in our runs [3-4] with the velocities obtained at the WHAM observations shows that only asteroidal dust particles cannot explain these observations, and particles produced by comets, including high-eccentricity comets, are needed for such explanation

  16. Gas and dust in the star-forming region ρ Oph A. The dust opacity exponent β and the gas-to-dust mass ratio g2d

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liseau, R.; Larsson, B.; Lunttila, T.; Olberg, M.; Rydbeck, G.; Bergman, P.; Justtanont, K.; Olofsson, G.; de Vries, B. L.

    2015-06-01

    Aims: We aim at determining the spatial distribution of the gas and dust in star-forming regions and address their relative abundances in quantitative terms. We also examine the dust opacity exponent β for spatial and/or temporal variations. Methods: Using mapping observations of the very dense ρ Oph A core, we examined standard 1D and non-standard 3D methods to analyse data of far-infrared and submillimetre (submm) continuum radiation. The resulting dust surface density distribution can be compared to that of the gas. The latter was derived from the analysis of accompanying molecular line emission, observed with Herschel from space and with APEX from the ground. As a gas tracer we used N2H+, which is believed to be much less sensitive to freeze-out than CO and its isotopologues. Radiative transfer modelling of the N2H+ (J = 3-2) and (J = 6-5) lines with their hyperfine structure explicitly taken into account provides solutions for the spatial distribution of the column density N(H2), hence the surface density distribution of the gas. Results: The gas-to-dust mass ratio is varying across the map, with very low values in the central regions around the core SM 1. The global average, = 88, is not far from the canonical value of 100, however. In ρ Oph A, the exponent β of the power-law description for the dust opacity exhibits a clear dependence on time, with high values of 2 for the envelope-dominated emission in starless Class -1 sources to low values close to 0 for the disk-dominated emission in Class III objects. β assumes intermediate values for evolutionary classes in between. Conclusions: Since β is primarily controlled by grain size, grain growth mostly occurs in circumstellar disks. The spatial segregation of gas and dust, seen in projection toward the core centre, probably implies that, like C18O, also N2H+ is frozen onto the grains. Based on observations with APEX, which is a 12 m diameter submillimetre telescope at 5100 m altitude on Llano Chajnantor

  17. The influence of organic-containing soil dust on ice nucleation and cloud properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hummel, Matthias; Grini, Alf; Berntsen, Terje K.; Ekman, Annica

    2017-04-01

    Natural mineral dust from desert regions is known to be the most important contributor to atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INP) which induce heterogeneous ice nucleation in mixed-phase clouds. Its ability to nucleate ice effectively is shown by various laboratory (Hoose and Möhler 2012) and field results (DeMott et al. 2015) and its abundance in ice crystal residuals has also been shown (Cziczo et al. 2013). Thus it is an important player when representing mixed-phase clouds in climate models. MODIS satellite data indicate that 1 /4 of the global dust emission originates from semi-arid areas rather than from arid deserts (Ginoux et al. 2012). Here, organic components can mix with minerals within the soil and get into the atmosphere. These so-called 'soil dust' particles are ice-nucleating active at high sub-zero temperatures, i.e. at higher temperatures than pure desert dust (Steinke et al. 2016). In this study, soil dust is incorporated into the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM, Bentsen et al. 2013) and applied to a modified ice nucleation parameterization (Steinke et al. 2016). Its influence on the cloud ice phase is evaluated by comparing a control run, where only pure desert dust is considered, and a sensitivity experiment, where a fraction of the dust emissions are classified as soil dust. Both simulations are nudged to ERA-interim meteorology and they have the same loading of dust emissions. NorESM gives a lower annual soil dust emission flux compared to Ginoux et al. (2012), but the desert dust flux is similar to the MODIS-retrieved data. Although soil dust concentrations are much lower than desert dust, the NorESM simulations indicate that the annual INP concentrations from soil dust are on average lower by a just a factor of 4 than INP concentrations from pure desert dust. The highest soil dust INP concentrations occur at a lower height than for desert dust, i.e at warmer temperatures inside mixed-phase clouds. Furthermore, soil dust INP

  18. Nonlinear frequency shift of a coherent dust-acoustic wave in the presence of dust-acoustic turbulence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yi Sumin; Ryu, C.-M.; Yoon, Peter H.

    2003-01-01

    The nonlinear frequency shift of a low-frequency, coherent dust-acoustic wave in the presence of higher frequency dust-acoustic turbulence is investigated in the framework of weak turbulence theory. It is found that the frequency shift of the dust-acoustic wave in an unmagnetized dusty plasma is always positive irrespective of the propagation direction of the coherent wave. It is also found that turbulent waves propagating in the same direction as the coherent wave are shown to give rise to a much higher frequency shift than the opposite case. Finally, it is shown that the nonlinear frequency shift of a dust-acoustic wave is more pronounced than in the case of the customary ion-acoustic waves in fully ionized plasmas

  19. Pulmonary Toxicity Studies of Lunar Dust in Rodents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Chiu-Wing; James, John T.

    2012-01-01

    NASA has been contemplating returning astronauts to the moon for long-duration habitation and research and using it as a stepping-stone to Mars. Other spacefaring nations are planning to send humans to the moon for the first time. The surface of the moon is covered by a layer of fine dust. Fine terrestrial dusts, if inhaled, are known to pose a health risk to humans. Some Apollo crews briefly exposed to moon dust that adhered to spacesuits and became airborne in the Lunar Module reported eye and throat irritation. The habitable area of any lunar landing vehicle or outpost would inevitably become contaminated with lunar dust. To assess the health risks of exposure of humans to airborne lunar dust, we evaluated the toxicity of Apollo 14 moon dust in animal lungs. Studies of the pulmonary toxicity of a dust are generally first done by intratracheal instillation (ITI) of aqueous suspensions of the test dust into the lungs of rodents. If a test dust is irritating or cytotoxic to the lungs, the alveolar macrophages, after phagocytizing the dust particles, will release cellular messengers to recruit white blood cells (WBCs) and to induce dilation of blood capillary walls to make them porous, allowing the WBCs to gain access to the alveolar space. The dilation of capillary walls also allows serum proteins and water entering the lung. Besides altering capillary integrity, a toxic dust can also directly kill the cells that come into contact with it or ingest it, after which the dead cells would release their contents, including lactate dehydrogenase (a common enzyme marker of cell death or tissue damage). In the treated animals, we lavaged the lungs 1 and 4 weeks after the dust instillation and measured the concentrations of these biomarkers of toxicity in the bronchioalveolar lavage fluids to determine the toxicity of the dust. To assess whether the inflammation and cellular injury observed in the biomarker study would lead to persistent or progressive histopathological

  20. Adapting MODIS Dust Mask Algorithm to Suomi NPP VIIRS for Air Quality Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciren, P.; Liu, H.; Kondragunta, S.; Laszlo, I.

    2012-12-01

    Despite pollution reduction control strategies enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), large regions of the United States are often under exceptional events such as biomass burning and dust outbreaks that lead to non-attainment of particulate matter standards. This has warranted the National Weather Service (NWS) to provide smoke and dust forecast guidance to the general public. The monitoring and forecasting of dust outbreaks relies on satellite data. Currently, Aqua/MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectrometer) and Terra/MODIS provide measurements needed to derive dust mask and Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) products. The newly launched Suomi NPP VIIRS (Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument has a Suspended Matter (SM) product that indicates the presence of dust, smoke, volcanic ash, sea salt, and unknown aerosol types in a given pixel. The algorithm to identify dust is different over land and ocean but for both, the information comes from AOT retrieval algorithm. Over land, the selection of dust aerosol model in the AOT retrieval algorithm indicates the presence of dust and over ocean a fine mode fraction smaller than 20% indicates dust. Preliminary comparisons of VIIRS SM to CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask (VFM) aerosol type product indicate that the Probability of Detection (POD) is at ~10% and the product is not mature for operational use. As an alternate approach, NESDIS dust mask algorithm developed for NWS dust forecast verification that uses MODIS deep blue, visible, and mid-IR channels using spectral differencing techniques and spatial variability tests was applied to VIIRS radiances. This algorithm relies on the spectral contrast of dust absorption at 412 and 440 nm and an increase in reflectivity at 2.13 μm when dust is present in the atmosphere compared to a clear sky. To avoid detecting bright desert surface as airborne dust, the algorithm uses the reflectances at 1.24 μm and 2.25 μm to flag bright pixels. The

  1. Level and distribution of employee exposures to total and respirable wood dust in two Canadian sawmills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teschke, K; Hertzman, C; Morrison, B

    1994-03-01

    Personal respirable (N = 230) and total (N = 237) dust measurements were made in two coastal British Columbia sawmills using a sampling strategy that randomly selected workers from all jobs in the mills over two seasons. Information about job title, department, season, weather conditions, location of the job relative to wood-cutting machines, and control measures also was collected at the time of sampling. Only 16 respirable wood dust samples were above the detection limit of 0.08 mg/m3; all 16 had levels industry, but most sawmill investigations report mean wood dust concentrations lower than those measured in the furniture and cabinetmaking industries, where concerns about wood dust exposures initially were raised.

  2. Ground level and Lidar monitoring of volcanic dust and dust from Patagonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otero, L. A.; Losno, R.; Salvador, J. O.; Journet, E.; Qu, Z.; Triquet, S.; Monna, F.; Balkanski, Y.; Bulnes, D.; Ristori, P. R.; Quel, E. J.

    2013-05-01

    A combined approach including ground level aerosol sampling, lidar and sunphotometer measurements is used to monitor suspended particles in the atmosphere at several sites in Patagonia. Motivated by the Puyehue volcanic eruption in June 2011 two aerosol monitoring stations with several passive and active instruments were installed in Bariloche and Comodoro Rivadavia. The main goal which is to monitor ground lifted and transported ashes and dust involving danger to civil aviation, is achieved by measuring continuously aerosol concentration at ground level and aerosol vertical distribution using lidar. In addition, starting from December 2011, continuous series of weekly accumulated aerosol concentrations at Rio Gallegos are being measured to study the impact of Patagonian dust over the open ocean on phytoplankton primary productivity and CO2 removal. These measurements are going to be coupled with LIDAR monitoring and a dust optical response models to test if aerosol extrapolation can be done from the ground to the top of the layer. Laboratory chemical analysis of the aerosols will include elemental composition, solubilisation kinetic and mineralogical determination. Expected deliverables for this study is the estimation of the amount of dust exported from Patagonia towards the South Atlantic, its chemical properties, including bioavailability simulation, from model and comparison to experimental measurements.

  3. The Origin of Dust in the Early Universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwek, Eli

    2011-01-01

    In this talk I will describe the origin of dust in the early universe. I will be presenting observations of the spectral energy distribution of the galaxy J1148+5251, and present estimates of the dust mass in this high redshift (z=6.4) object. I will then discuss the origin of this dust, and the role of SN and AGB stars as dust sources, and the effect of SNRs on the destruction of dust in the interstellar medium of this galaxy.

  4. THE MEASUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF WOOD DUST

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Rosario Proto

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available In Italy, the woodworking industry presents many issues in terms of occupational health and safety. This study on exposure to wood dust could contribute to the realization of a prevention model in order to limit exposure to carcinogenic agents to the worker. The sampling methodology illustrated the analysis of dust emissions from the woodworking machinery in operation throughout the various processing cycles. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of exposure was performed using two different methodologies. The levels of wood dust were determined according to EN indications and sampling was conducted using IOM and Cyclon personal samplers. The qualitative research of wood dust was performed using an advanced laser air particle counter. This allowed the number of particles present to be counted in real time. The results obtained allowed for an accurate assessment of the quality of the dust emitted inside the workplace during the various processing phases. The study highlighted the distribution of air particles within the different size classes, the exact number of both thin and ultra-thin dusts, and confirmed the high concentration of thin dust particles which can be very harmful to humans.

  5. ENSO modulation of interannual variability of dust aerosols over the northwest Indian ocean

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Banerjee, P.; PrasannaKumar, S.

    Mineral dust is known to affect many aspects of the climate of the north Indian Ocean (IO) However, what controls its interannual variability over this region is largely unknown The authors study the mechanism controlling the interannual variability...

  6. Respirable quartz hazard associated with coal mine roof bolter dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joy, G.J.; Beck, T.W.; Listak, J.M.

    2010-01-01

    Pneumoconiosis has been reported to be increasing among underground coal miners in the Southern Appalachian Region. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conducted a study to examine the particle size distribution and quartz content of dust generated by the installation of roof bolts in mines. Forty-six bulk samples of roof bolting machine pre-cleaner cyclone dump dust and collector box dust were collected from 26 underground coal mines. Real-time and integrated airborne respirable dust concentrations were measured on 3 mining sections in 2 mines. The real-time airborne dust concentrations profiles were examined to identify any concentration changes that might be associated with pre-cleaner cyclone dust discharge events. The study showed that bolter dust is a potential inhalation hazard due to the fraction of dust less than 10 μm in size, and the quartz content of the dust. The pre-cleaner cyclone dust was significantly larger than the collector box dust, indicating that the pre-cleaner functioned properly in removing the larger dust size fraction from the airstream. However, the pre-cleaner dust still contained a substantial amount of respirable dust. It was concluded that in order to maintain the effectiveness of a roof bolter dust collector, periodic removal of dust is required. Appropriate work procedures and equipment are necessary to minimize exposure during this cleaning task. 13 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs.

  7. Dust-gas interaction deduced from Halley multicolour camera observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huebner, W.F.; Delamere, W.A.; Keller, H.U.; Reitsema, H.J.; Schmidt, H.U.; Whipple, F.L.; Wilhelm, K.

    1986-01-01

    The dust and gas productions of Comet Halley were measured by the dust counter and the mass spectrometers on the Giotto spacecraft. These instruments give only little information about the spatial asymmetry of the activity. The asymmetry in the dust production is clearly evident from the dust jets seen in the Halley Multicolour Camera images. Since the dust is entrained by the gas, production must be similarly asymmetric. The intensity profiles along and across several dust jets are related to their source regions on the nucleus. Properties of the dust jets are investigated. A few compact, but highly active source regions on the nucleus produce most of the visible dust and can account for most of the gas produced by the comet. 2 refs

  8. A SUBMILLIMETER CONTINUUM SURVEY OF LOCAL DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jong Chul; Hwang, Ho Seong; Lee, Gwang-Ho

    2016-01-01

    We conduct a 350 μ m dust continuum emission survey of 17 dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) at z = 0.05–0.08 with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). We detect 14 DOGs with S 350μm = 114–650 mJy and signal-to-noise > 3. By including two additional DOGs with submillimeter data in the literature, we are able to study dust content for a sample of 16 local DOGs, which consist of 12 bump and four power-law types. We determine their physical parameters with a two-component modified blackbody function model. The derived dust temperatures are in the range 57–122 K and 22–35 K for the warm and cold dust components, respectively. The total dust mass and the mass fraction of the warm dust component are 3–34 × 10 7 M ⊙ and 0.03%–2.52%, respectively. We compare these results with those of other submillimeter-detected infrared luminous galaxies. The bump DOGs, the majority of the DOG sample, show similar distributions of dust temperatures and total dust mass to the comparison sample. The power-law DOGs show a hint of smaller dust masses than other samples, but need to be tested with a larger sample. These findings support that the reason DOGs show heavy dust obscuration is not an overall amount of dust content, but probably the spatial distribution of dust therein.

  9. A SUBMILLIMETER CONTINUUM SURVEY OF LOCAL DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jong Chul [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedeokdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34055 (Korea, Republic of); Hwang, Ho Seong [School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, 85 Hoegiro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Gwang-Ho, E-mail: jclee@kasi.re.kr [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-12-20

    We conduct a 350 μ m dust continuum emission survey of 17 dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) at z = 0.05–0.08 with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). We detect 14 DOGs with S{sub 350μm} = 114–650 mJy and signal-to-noise > 3. By including two additional DOGs with submillimeter data in the literature, we are able to study dust content for a sample of 16 local DOGs, which consist of 12 bump and four power-law types. We determine their physical parameters with a two-component modified blackbody function model. The derived dust temperatures are in the range 57–122 K and 22–35 K for the warm and cold dust components, respectively. The total dust mass and the mass fraction of the warm dust component are 3–34 × 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙} and 0.03%–2.52%, respectively. We compare these results with those of other submillimeter-detected infrared luminous galaxies. The bump DOGs, the majority of the DOG sample, show similar distributions of dust temperatures and total dust mass to the comparison sample. The power-law DOGs show a hint of smaller dust masses than other samples, but need to be tested with a larger sample. These findings support that the reason DOGs show heavy dust obscuration is not an overall amount of dust content, but probably the spatial distribution of dust therein.

  10. Exposure to field vs. storage wheat dust: different consequences on respiratory symptoms and immune response among grain workers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrera, Coralie; Wild, Pascal; Dorribo, Victor; Savova-Bianchi, Dessislava; Laboissière, Audrey; Pralong, Jacques A; Danuser, Brigitta; Krief, Peggy; Millon, Laurence; Reboux, Gabriel; Niculita-Hirzel, Hélène

    2018-05-26

    The aim of this study was to understand the differential acute effects of two distinct wheat-related dusts, such as field or stored wheat dust handling, on workers' health and how those effects evolved at 6 month intervals. Exposure, work-related symptoms, changes in lung function, and blood samples of 81 workers handling wheat and 61 controls were collected during the high exposure season and 6 months after. Specific IgG, IgE, and precipitins against 12 fungi isolated from wheat dust were titrated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, dissociation-enhanced lanthanide fluorescence immunoassay, and electrosyneresis. The level of fungi was determined in the workers' environment. Levels of exhaled fraction of nitrogen monoxide (F E NO) and total IgE were obtained. Exposure response associations were investigated by mixed logistic and linear regression models. The recent exposure to field wheat dust was associated with a higher prevalence for five of six self-reported airway symptoms and with a lower F E NO than those in the control population. Exposure to stored wheat dust was only associated with cough. No acute impact of exposure on respiratory function was observed. Exposure to field wheat dust led to workers' sensitization against the three field fungi Aureobasidum, Cryptococcus, and Phoma, although exposure to storage wheat dust was associated with tolerance. The level of Ig remained stable 6 months after exposure. The clinical picture of workers exposed to field or storage wheat dust differed. The systematic characterization of the aerosol microbial profile may help to understand the reasons for those differences.

  11. Solitons in dusty plasmas with positive dust grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baluku, T. K.; Hellberg, M. A.; Mace, R. L.

    2008-01-01

    Although ''typical'' micrometer-sized dust grains in a space or laboratory plasma are often negatively charged because of collisions with the mobile electrons, there are environments in which grains may take on a positive charge. We consider a dusty plasma composed of electrons, positive ions and positive dust grains, and use the fluid dynamic paradigm to identify existence domains in parameter space for both dust-acoustic (DA) and dust-modified ion-acoustic (DIA) solitons. Only positive potential DA solitons are found. This represents an expected antisymmetry with the case of negative dust, where previously only negative solitons were reported. However, whereas for negative dust DIA solitons of either sign of potential may exist, we find that for the case of positive dust, DIA solitons are restricted to positive potentials only. The results for both positive and negative dust are consistent with an hypothesis that, in the absence of flows, the sign(s) of the soliton potential coincide(s) with the sign(s) of the species whose inertia is included in the calculation; i.e., the cold, supersonic species present in the plasma

  12. The observation of dust behavior in TRIAM-1M

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sasaki, K.; Hanada, K.; Nishino, N.; Tokitani, M.; Yoshida, N.; Sato, K.N.; Zushi, H.; Nakamura, K.; Sakamoto, M.; Idei, H.; Hasegawa, M.; Kawasaki, S.; Nakasihma, H.; Higashijima, A.

    2007-01-01

    The observation of dusts in plasmas was carried out by high speed camera in full non-inductive lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) plasma on TRIAM-1M. The velocities of dusts were 10-50 m/s. The number of dust generated per second increased with the discharge duration in the range of 20-57 s. This suggests that a part of dusts were generated from a movable limiter whose the surface temperature increases with the discharge duration. Dusts were coming from various directions even close to the movable limiter. Dusts were collected in the vacuum vessel by use of a kind of cleaner and the composition and the size of dust were examined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Dust size was several μm and composition was Molybdenum mixed with small amount of elements of stainless metal. The poloidal distribution of the collected mass of dusts was almost uniform

  13. House dust extracts contain potent immunological adjuvants

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beukelman, C.J.; Dijk, H. van; Aerts, P.C.; Rademaker, P.M.; Berrens, L.; Willers, J.M.N.

    1987-01-01

    A crude aqueous extract of house dust and two house dust subfractions were tested for adjuvant activity in a sensitivity assay performed in mice. Evidence is presented that house dust contains at least two potent immunological adjuvants. One of these, present in both subfractions, was probably

  14. Effects of Long-Term Dust Exposure on Human Respiratory System Health in Minqin County, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jinyu; Li, Sheng; Wang, Shigong; Shang, Kezheng

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to assess the effects of long-term sand dust exposure on human respiratory health. Dust events break out frequently in Minqin County, northwest China, whereas Pingliang City, northwest China, is rarely influenced by dust events. Therefore, Minqin and Pingliang were selected as sand dust exposure region and control area, respectively. The incidence of respiratory system diseases and symptoms was determined through a structured respiratory health questionnaire (ATS-DLD-78-A) and personal interviews. The subjects comprised 728 farmers (Minqin, 424; Pingliang, 304) aged 40 years or older, who had nondocumented occupational history to industrial dust exposure. Prevalences (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) of chronic rhinitis, chronic bronchitis, and chronic cough increased 9.6% (3.141, 1.776-5.555), 7.5% (2.468, 1.421-4.286), and 10.2% (1.787, 1.246-2.563) in Minqin comparison with Pingliang, respectively, and the differences were significant (p <.01).

  15. Surface acoustic wave dust deposition monitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasching, G.E.; Smith, N.S. Jr.

    1988-02-12

    A system is disclosed for using the attenuation of surface acoustic waves to monitor real time dust deposition rates on surfaces. The system includes a signal generator, a tone-burst generator/amplifier connected to a transmitting transducer for converting electrical signals into acoustic waves. These waves are transmitted through a path defining means adjacent to a layer of dust and then, in turn, transmitted to a receiving transducer for changing the attenuated acoustic wave to electrical signals. The signals representing the attenuated acoustic waves may be amplified and used in a means for analyzing the output signals to produce an output indicative of the dust deposition rates and/or values of dust in the layer. 8 figs.

  16. The Marriage of Gas and Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, D. J.; Laibe, G.

    2015-10-01

    Dust-gas mixtures are the simplest example of a two fluid mixture. We show that when simulating such mixtures with particles or with particles coupled to grids a problem arises due to the need to resolve a very small length scale when the coupling is strong. Since this is occurs in the limit when the fluids are well coupled, we show how the dust-gas equations can be reformulated to describe a single fluid mixture. The equations are similar to the usual fluid equations supplemented by a diffusion equation for the dust-to-gas ratio or alternatively the dust fraction. This solves a number of numerical problems as well as making the physics clear.

  17. Dust plume formation in the free troposphere and aerosol size distribution during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment in North Africa

    KAUST Repository

    Khan, Basit Ali

    2015-11-27

    Dust particles mixed in the free troposphere have longer lifetimes than airborne particles near the surface. Their cumulative radiative impact on earth’s meteorological processes and climate might be significant despite their relatively small contribution to total dust abundance. One example is the elevated dust-laden Saharan Air Layer (SAL) over the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic, which cools the sea surface. To understand the formation mechanisms of a dust layer in the free troposphere, this study combines model simulations and dust observations collected during the first stage of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM-I), which sampled dust events that extended from Morocco to Portugal, and investigated the spatial distribution and the microphysical, optical, chemical, and radiative properties of Saharan mineral dust. The Weather Research Forecast model coupled with the Chemistry/Aerosol module (WRF-Chem) is employed to reproduce the meteorological environment and spatial and size distributions of dust. The model domain covers northwest Africa and adjacent water with 5 km horizontal grid spacing and 51 vertical layers. The experiments were run from 20 May to 9 June 2006, covering the period of the most intensive dust outbreaks. Comparisons of model results with available airborne and ground-based observations show that WRF-Chem reproduces observed meteorological fields as well as aerosol distribution across the entire region and along the airplane’s tracks. Several mechanisms that cause aerosol entrainment into the free troposphere are evaluated and it is found that orographic lifting, and interaction of sea breeze with the continental outflow are key mechanisms that form a surface-detached aerosol plume over the ocean. The model dust emission scheme is tuned to simultaneously fit the observed total optical depth and the ratio of aerosol optical depths generated by fine and coarse dust modes. Comparisons of simulated dust size distributions with

  18. Dust plume formation in the free troposphere and aerosol size distribution during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment in North Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basit Khan

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Dust particles mixed in the free troposphere have longer lifetimes than airborne particles near the surface. Their cumulative radiative impact on earth's meteorological processes and climate might be significant despite their relatively small contribution to total dust abundance. One example is the elevated dust-laden Saharan Air Layer (SAL over the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic, which cools the sea surface. To understand the formation mechanisms of a dust layer in the free troposphere, this study combines model simulations and dust observations collected during the first stage of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM-I, which sampled dust events that extended from Morocco to Portugal, and investigated the spatial distribution and the microphysical, optical, chemical, and radiative properties of Saharan mineral dust. The Weather Research Forecast model coupled with the Chemistry/Aerosol module (WRF-Chem is employed to reproduce the meteorological environment and spatial and size distributions of dust. The model domain covers northwest Africa and adjacent water with 5 km horizontal grid spacing and 51 vertical layers. The experiments were run from 20 May to 9 June 2006, covering the period of the most intensive dust outbreaks. Comparisons of model results with available airborne and ground-based observations show that WRF-Chem reproduces observed meteorological fields as well as aerosol distribution across the entire region and along the airplane's tracks. Several mechanisms that cause aerosol entrainment into the free troposphere are evaluated and it is found that orographic lifting, and interaction of sea breeze with the continental outflow are key mechanisms that form a surface-detached aerosol plume over the ocean. The model dust emission scheme is tuned to simultaneously fit the observed total optical depth and the ratio of aerosol optical depths generated by fine and coarse dust modes. Comparisons of simulated dust size

  19. Quantitative detection of settled coal dust over green canopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brook, Anna; Sahar, Nir

    2017-04-01

    of a forthcoming environmental hazard are of key interest when considering the effects of pollution. According to the most basic distribution dynamics, dust consists of suspended particulate matter in a fine state of subdivision that are raised and carried by wind. In this context, it is increasingly important to first, understand the distribution dynamics of pollutants, and subsequently develop dedicated tools and measures to control and monitor pollutants in the free environment. The earliest effect of settled polluted dust particles is not always reflected through poor conditions of vegetation or soils, or any visible damages. In most of the cases, it has a quite long accumulation process that graduates from a polluted condition to long-term environmental and health related hazard. Although conducted experiments with pollutant analog powders under controlled conditions have tended to con- firm the findings from field studies (Brook, 2014; Brook and Ben-Dor 2016; Brook, 2016), a major criticism of all these experiments is their short duration. The resulting conclusion is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the implications of long-term exposure to realistic concentrations of pollutants from such short-term studies. In general, the task of unmixing is to decompose the reflectance spectrum into a set of endmembers or principal combined spectra and their corresponding abundances (Bioucas-Dias et al., 2012). This study suggests that the sensitivity of sparse unmixing techniques provides an ideal approach to extract and identify coal dust settled over/upon green vegetation canopy using in situ spectral data collected by portable spectrometer. The optimal NMF algorithms, such as ALS and LPG, are assumed to be the simplest methods that achieve the minimum error. The suggested practical approach includes the following stages: 1. In situ spectral measurements, 2. Near-real-time spectral data analysis, 3. Estimated concentration of coal dust reported as mg

  20. Charged dust in saturn's magnetosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendis, D.A.; Hill, J.R.; Houpis, H.L.F.

    1983-01-01

    Gravito-electrodynamic theory of charged dust grains is used to explain a variety of phenomena in those portions of the Saturnian ring system that are known to be dominated by fine (micron- and submicron-sized) dust, and in which collisional forces and Coulomb drag can be neglected. Among the phenomena discussed are the formation and evolution of the rotating near-radial spokes in the B-ring, the formation of waves in the F-ring, the cause of eccentricities of certain isolated ringlets, and the origin and morphology of the broad diffuse E-ring. Several novel processes predicted by the gravitoelectrodynamic theory, including 'magneto-gravitational capture' of exogenic dust by the magnetosphere, '1:1 magneto-gravitational orbital resonances' of charged dust with nearby satellites, and 'gyro-orbital resonances,' are used to explain individual observations. The effect of a ring current associated with this charged dust is also evaluated. Finally, the cosmogonic implications of the magneto-gravitational theory are briefly discussed. While several (although not all) of these processes have been discussed by one or more of the present authors elsewhere, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize all these processes within the framework of gravito-electrodynamics, and also to show its range of applicability within Saturn's ring system

  1. Spring Dust Storm Smothers Beijing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    A few days earlier than usual, a large, dense plume of dust blew southward and eastward from the desert plains of Mongolia-quite smothering to the residents of Beijing. Citizens of northeastern China call this annual event the 'shachenbao,' or 'dust cloud tempest.' However, the tempest normally occurs during the spring time. The dust storm hit Beijing on Friday night, March 15, and began coating everything with a fine, pale brown layer of grit. The region is quite dry; a problem some believe has been exacerbated by decades of deforestation. According to Chinese government estimates, roughly 1 million tons of desert dust and sand blow into Beijing each year. This true-color image was made using two adjacent swaths (click to see the full image) of data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), flying aboard the OrbView-2 satellite, on March 17, 2002. The massive dust storm (brownish pixels) can easily be distinguished from clouds (bright white pixels) as it blows across northern Japan and eastward toward the open Pacific Ocean. The black regions are gaps between SeaWiFS' viewing swaths and represent areas where no data were collected. Image courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE

  2. Lunar Dust Separation for Toxicology Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Bonnie L.; McKay, D. S.; Riofrio, L. M.; Taylor, L. A.; Gonzalex, C. P.

    2010-01-01

    During the Apollo missions, crewmembers were briefly exposed to dust in the lunar module, brought in after extravehicular activity. When the lunar ascent module returned to micro-gravity, the dust that had settled on the floor now floated into the air, causing eye discomfort and occasional respiratory symptoms. Because our goal is to set an exposure standard for 6 months of episodic exposure to lunar dust for crew on the lunar surface, these brief exposures of a few days are not conclusive. Based on experience with industrial minerals such as sandblasting quartz, an exposure of several months may cause serious damage, while a short exposure may cause none. The detailed characteristics of sub-micrometer lunar dust are only poorly known, and this is the size range of particles that are of greatest concern. We have developed a method for extracting respirable dust (<2.5 micron) from Apollo lunar soils. This method meets stringent requirements that the soil must be kept dry, exposed only to pure nitrogen, and must conserve and recover the maximum amount of both respirable dust and coarser soil. In addition, we have developed a method for grinding coarser lunar soil to produce sufficient respirable soil for animal toxicity testing while preserving the freshly exposed grain surfaces in a pristine state.

  3. Thermo-Oxidation of Tokamak Carbon Dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    J.W. Davis; B.W.N. Fitzpatrick; J.P. Sharpe; A.A. Haasz

    2008-01-01

    The oxidation of dust and flakes collected from the DIII-D tokamak, and various commercial dust specimens, has been measured at 350 C and 2.0 kPa O 2 pressure. Following an initial small mass loss, most of the commercial dust specimens showed very little effect due to O 2 exposure. Similarly, dust collected from underneath DIII-D tiles, which is thought to comprise largely Grafoil(trademark) particulates, also showed little susceptibility to oxidation at this temperature. However, oxidation of the dust collected from tile surfaces has led to ∼ 18% mass loss after 8 hours; thereafter, little change in mass was observed. This suggests that the surface dust includes some components of different composition and/or structure--possibly fragments of codeposited layers. The oxidation of codeposit flakes scraped form DIII-D upper divertor tiles showed an initial 25% loss in mass due to heating in vacuum, and the gradual loss of 30-38% mass during the subsequent 24 hours exposure to O 2 . This behavior is significantly different from that observed for the oxidation of thinner DIII-D codeposit specimens which were still adhered to tile surfaces, and this is thought to be related to the low deuterium content (D/C ∼ 0.03-0.04) of the flakes

  4. Thermo-oxidation of tokamak carbon dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, J.W.; Fitzpatrick, B.W.N.; Sharpe, J.P.; Haasz, A.A.

    2009-01-01

    The oxidation of dust and flakes collected from the DIII-D tokamak, and various commercial dust specimens, has been measured at 350 deg. C and 2.0 kPa O 2 pressure. Following an initial small mass loss, most of the commercial dust specimens showed very little effect due to O 2 exposure. Similarly, dust collected from underneath DIII-D tiles, which is thought to comprise largely Grafoil TM particulates, also showed little susceptibility to oxidation at this temperature. However, oxidation of the dust collected from tile surfaces has led to ∼18% mass loss after 8 h; thereafter, little change in mass was observed. This suggests that the surface dust includes some components of different composition and/or structure - possibly fragments of codeposited layers. The oxidation of codeposit flakes scraped from DIII-D upper divertor tiles showed an initial 25% loss in mass due to heating in vacuum, and the gradual loss of 30-38% mass during the subsequent 24 h exposure to O 2 . The oxidation of these flakes was much slower than that observed for the oxidation of thinner DIII-D codeposit specimens which were still adhered to tile surfaces. This is thought to be related to structural differences.

  5. THREE-DIMENSIONAL DUST MAPPING REVEALS THAT ORION FORMS PART OF A LARGE RING OF DUST

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlafly, E. F.; Rix, H.-W.; Martin, N. F.; Green, G.; Finkbeiner, D. P.; Burgett, W. S.; Chambers, K. C.; Kaiser, N.; Morgan, J. S.; Tonry, J. L.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Waters, C.; Draper, P. W.; Metcalfe, N.; Price, P. A.

    2015-01-01

    The Orion Molecular Complex is the nearest site of ongoing high-mass star formation, making it one of the most extensively studied molecular complexes in the Galaxy. We have developed a new technique for mapping the three-dimensional distribution of dust in the Galaxy using Pan-STARRS1 photometry. We isolate the dust at the distance to Orion using this technique, revealing a large (100 pc, 14° diameter), previously unrecognized ring of dust, which we term the ''Orion dust ring''. The ring includes Orion A and B, and is not coincident with current Hα features. The circular morphology suggests formation as an ancient bubble in the interstellar medium, though we have not been able to conclusively identify the source of the bubble. This hint at the history of Orion may have important consequences for models of high-mass star formation and triggered star formation

  6. Intercomparison and determination of trace elements in urban dust by neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Yong Sam; Moon, Jong Hwa; Kim, Sun Ha; Park, Kwang Won; Kang, Sang Hun

    2000-01-01

    Trace elements in air samples artificially loaded on filters with urban dust and the bulk material of urban dust as an environmental sample were determined non-destructively using instrumental neutron activation analysis. Standard reference material (Urban Dust, SRM 1648) of the National Institute of Standard and Technology was used for the analytical quality control. The relative error for 37 elements was less than 15% and the standard deviation was less than 10%. 29 elements in the urban dust and 21 elements in the loaded filter sample were determined respectively. To evaluate the proficiency and reliability of the measurement, data intercomparison was performed and 39 analytical laboratories participated in the analysis using different analytical methods; neutron activation analysis, particle induced X-ray emission analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry. Z-scores were calculated using the standard deviation of the laboratory's mean as target standard deviation, and a good result was obtained that the values fall between-1 and +1 except some elements. (author)

  7. The Physics of Protoplanetesimal Dust Agglomerates. IX. Mechanical Properties of Dust Aggregates Probed by a Solid-projectile Impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katsuragi, Hiroaki; Blum, Jürgen

    2017-12-01

    Dynamic characterization of mechanical properties of dust aggregates has been one of the most important problems to quantitatively discuss the dust growth in protoplanetary disks. We experimentally investigate the dynamic properties of dust aggregates by low-speed (≤slant 3.2 m s-1) impacts of solid projectiles. Spherical impactors made of glass, steel, or lead are dropped onto a dust aggregate with a packing fraction of ϕ = 0.35 under vacuum conditions. The impact results in cratering or fragmentation of the dust aggregate, depending on the impact energy. The crater shape can be approximated by a spherical segment and no ejecta are observed. To understand the underlying physics of impacts into dust aggregates, the motion of the solid projectile is acquired by a high-speed camera. Using the obtained position data of the impactor, we analyze the drag-force law and dynamic pressure induced by the impact. We find that there are two characteristic strengths. One is defined by the ratio between impact energy and crater volume and is ≃120 kPa. The other strength indicates the fragmentation threshold of dynamic pressure and is ≃10 kPa. The former characterizes the apparent plastic deformation and is consistent with the drag force responsible for impactor deceleration. The latter corresponds to the dynamic tensile strength to create cracks. Using these results, a simple model for the compaction and fragmentation threshold of dust aggregates is proposed. In addition, the comparison of drag-force laws for dust aggregates and loose granular matter reveals the similarities and differences between the two materials.

  8. The Dust Management Project: Characterizing Lunar Environments and Dust, Developing Regolith Mitigation Technology and Simulants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyatt, Mark J.; Straka, Sharon A.

    2010-01-01

    A return to the Moon to extend human presence, pursue scientific activities, use the Moon to prepare for future human missions to Mars, and expand Earth?s economic sphere, will require investment in developing new technologies and capabilities to achieve affordable and sustainable human exploration. From the operational experience gained and lessons learned during the Apollo missions, conducting long-term operations in the lunar environment will be a particular challenge, given the difficulties presented by the unique physical properties and other characteristics of lunar regolith, including dust. The Apollo missions and other lunar explorations have identified significant lunar dust-related problems that will challenge future mission success. Comprised of regolith particles ranging in size from tens of nanometers to microns, lunar dust is a manifestation of the complex interaction of the lunar soil with multiple mechanical, electrical, and gravitational effects. The environmental and anthropogenic factors effecting the perturbation, transport, and deposition of lunar dust must be studied in order to mitigate it?s potentially harmful effects on exploration systems and human explorers. The Dust Management Project (DMP) is tasked with the evaluation of lunar dust effects, assessment of the resulting risks, and development of mitigation and management strategies and technologies related to Exploration Systems architectures. To this end, the DMP supports the overall goal of the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) of addressing the relevant high priority technology needs of multiple elements within the Constellation Program (CxP) and sister ETDP projects. Project scope, plans, and accomplishments will be presented.

  9. Diagnostics of mobile dust in scrape-off layer plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratynskaia, S; Castaldo, C; Bergsaaker, H; Rudakov, D

    2011-01-01

    Dust production and accumulation pose serious safety and operational implications for the next generation fusion devices. Mobile dust particles can result in core plasma contamination with impurities, and those with high velocities can significantly contribute to the wall erosion. Diagnostics for monitoring dust in tokamaks during plasma discharges are hence important as they can provide information on dust velocity and size, and-in some cases-on dust composition. Such measurements are also valuable as an input for theoretical models of dust dynamics in scrape-off layer plasmas. Existing in situ dust diagnostics, focusing on the range of dust parameters they can detect, are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the diagnostics which allow us to detect tails of the dust velocity and size distributions, e.g. small and very fast particles. Some of the techniques discussed have been adopted from space-related research and have been shown to be feasible and useful for tokamak applications as well.

  10. Formation and dissociation of dust molecules in dusty plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Jia; Feng, Fan; Liu, Fucheng; Dong, Lifang; He, Yafeng

    2016-09-01

    Dust molecules are observed in a dusty plasma experiment. By using measurements with high spatial resolution, the formation and dissociation of the dust molecules are studied. The ion cloud in the wake of an upper dust grain attracts the lower dust grain nearby. When the interparticle distance between the upper dust grain and the lower one is less than a critical value, the two dust grains would form a dust molecule. The upper dust grain always leads the lower one as they travel. When the interparticle distance between them is larger than the critical value, the dust molecule would dissociate. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11205044 and 11405042), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. A2011201006 and A2012201015), the Research Foundation of Education Bureau of Hebei Province, China (Grant No. Y2012009), the Program for Young Principal Investigators of Hebei Province, China, and the Midwest Universities Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project, China.

  11. Dust plume formation in the free troposphere and aerosol size distribution during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment in North Africa

    KAUST Repository

    Khan, Basit Ali; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Weinzierl, Bernadett; Kalenderski, Stoitchko; Osipov, Sergey

    2015-01-01

    , this study combines model simulations and dust observations collected during the first stage of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM-I), which sampled dust events that extended from Morocco to Portugal, and investigated the spatial distribution

  12. Personal exposure to inhalable cement dust among construction workers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peters, Susan; Kromhout, Hans; Thomassen, Yngvar; Fechter-Rink, Edeltraud

    2009-01-01

    A case study was carried out in 2006-2007 to assess the actual cement dust exposure among construction workers involved in a full-scale construction project and as a comparison among workers involved in various stages of cement and concrete production. Full-shift personal exposure measurements were performed for several job types. Inhalable dust and cement dust (based on analysis of elemental calcium) concentrations were determined. Inhalable dust exposures at the construction site ranged from 0.05 to 34 mg/m3, with a mean concentration of 1.0 mg/m3. For inhalable cement dust mean exposure was 0.3 mg/m3 (range 0.02-17 mg/m3). Reinforcement and pouring workers had the lowest average concentrations. Inhalable dust levels in the ready-mix and pre-cast concrete plants were, on average, below 0.5 mg/m3 for inhalable dust and below 0.2 mg/m3 for inhalable cement dust. Highest dust concentrations were measured in cement production, particularly during cleaning tasks (inhalable dust GM=55 mg/m3; inhalable cement dust GM=33 mg/m3) at which point the workers wore personal protective equipment. Elemental measurements showed highest but very variable cement percentages in the cement plant and very low percentages of cement during reinforcement work and pouring.

  13. Mimicking Martian dust: An in-vacuum dust deposition system for testing the ultraviolet sensors on the Curiosity rover

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sobrado, J. M.; Martín-Soler, J.; Martín-Gago, J. A.

    2015-01-01

    We have designed and developed an in-vacuum dust deposition system specifically conceived to simulate and study the effect of accumulation of Martian dust on the electronic instruments of scientific planetary exploration missions. We have used this device to characterize the dust effect on the UV sensor of the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station in the Mars science Laboratory mission of NASA in similar conditions to those found on Mars surface. The UV sensor includes six photodiodes for measuring the radiation in all UV wavelengths (direct incidence and reflected); it is placed on the body of Curiosity rover and it is severely affected by the dust deposited on it. Our experimental setup can help to estimate the duration of reliable reading of this instrument during operation. We have used an analogous of the Martian dust in chemical composition (magnetic species), color, and density, which has been characterized by X-ray spectroscopy. To ensure a Brownian motion of the dust during its fall and a homogeneous coverage on the instrumentation, the operating conditions of the vacuum vessel, determined by partial pressures and temperature, have to be modified to account for the different gravities of Mars with respect to Earth. We propose that our designed device and operational protocol can be of interest to test optoelectronic instrumentation affected by the opacity of dust, as can be the degradation of UV photodiodes in planetary exploration

  14. Mimicking Martian dust: An in-vacuum dust deposition system for testing the ultraviolet sensors on the Curiosity rover

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sobrado, J. M., E-mail: sobradovj@inta.es; Martín-Soler, J. [Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid (Spain); Martín-Gago, J. A. [Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid (Spain); Instituto de Ciencias de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM–CSIC), Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid (Spain)

    2015-10-15

    We have designed and developed an in-vacuum dust deposition system specifically conceived to simulate and study the effect of accumulation of Martian dust on the electronic instruments of scientific planetary exploration missions. We have used this device to characterize the dust effect on the UV sensor of the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station in the Mars science Laboratory mission of NASA in similar conditions to those found on Mars surface. The UV sensor includes six photodiodes for measuring the radiation in all UV wavelengths (direct incidence and reflected); it is placed on the body of Curiosity rover and it is severely affected by the dust deposited on it. Our experimental setup can help to estimate the duration of reliable reading of this instrument during operation. We have used an analogous of the Martian dust in chemical composition (magnetic species), color, and density, which has been characterized by X-ray spectroscopy. To ensure a Brownian motion of the dust during its fall and a homogeneous coverage on the instrumentation, the operating conditions of the vacuum vessel, determined by partial pressures and temperature, have to be modified to account for the different gravities of Mars with respect to Earth. We propose that our designed device and operational protocol can be of interest to test optoelectronic instrumentation affected by the opacity of dust, as can be the degradation of UV photodiodes in planetary exploration.

  15. Effect of plasma absorption on dust lattice waves in hexagonal dust crystals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerong, HE; Hui, CHEN; Sanqiu, LIU

    2018-04-01

    In the present paper, the effect of plasma absorption on lattice waves in 2D hexagonal dust crystals is investigated. The dispersion relations with the effect of plasma absorption are derived. It is found that the temperature effect (electron-to-ion temperature ratio τ) enhances the frequency of the dust lattice waves, while the spatial effect (dimensionless Debye shielding parameter \\tilde{κ }) weakens the frequency of the dust lattice waves. In addition, the system stabilities under the conditions of plasma absorption are studied. It is found that the temperature effect narrows the range of instability, while the spatial effect extends this range. And the range of instability is calculated, i.e. the system will always in the stable state regardless of the value of \\tilde{κ } when τ > 3.5. However, the system will be unstable when τ = 1 and \\tilde{κ }> 4.1.

  16. Radioisotope dust pollution monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szepke, R.; Harasimczuk, J.; Dobrowiecki, J.

    1990-01-01

    Measuring principles and specification of two dust monitors: station-type AMIZ and portable-type PIK-10 for ambient air pollution are presented. The first one, a fully automatic instrument is destined for permanent monitoring of air pollution in preset sampling time from .25 to 24 hours. The second one was developed as a portable working model. Both instruments display their results in digital form in dust concentration units. (author)

  17. Dust around the Cool Component of D-Type Symbiotic Binaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurkic, Tomislav; Kotnik-Karuza, Dubravka

    2018-04-01

    D type symbiotic binaries are an excellent astrophysical laboratory for investigation of the dust properties and dust formation under the influence of theMira stellar wind and nova activity and of the mass loss and mass transfer between components in such a widely separated system. We present a study of the properties of circumstellar dust in symbiotic Miras by use of long-term near-IR photometry and colour indices. The published JHKL magnitudes of o Ceti, RX Pup, KM Vel, V366 Car, V835 Cen, RR Tel, HM Sge and R Aqr have been collected, analyzed and corrected for short-term variations caused by Mira pulsations. Assuming spherical temperature distribution of the dust in the close neighbourhood of the Mira, the DUSTY code was used to solve the radiative transfer in order to determine the dust temperature and its properties in each particular case. Common dust properties of the symbiotic Miras have been found, suggesting similar conditions in the condensation region of the studied symbiotic Miras. Silicate dust with the inner dust shell radius determined by the dust condensation and with the dust temperature of 900-1200 K can fully explain the observed colour indices. R Aqr is an exception and showed lower dust temperature of 650 K. Obscuration events visible in light curves can be explained by variable dust optical depth with minimal variations of other dust properties. More active symbioticMiras that underwent recent nova outbursts showed higher dust optical depths and larger maximum grain sizes of the order of μm, which means that the post-nova activity could stimulate the dust formation and the grain growth. Optically thicker dust shells and higher dust condensation temperatures have been found in symbiotic Miras compared to their single counterparts, suggesting different conditions for dust production.

  18. Orbital-motion-limited theory of dust charging and plasma response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Xian-Zhu; Luca Delzanno, Gian

    2014-01-01

    The foundational theory for dusty plasmas is the dust charging theory that provides the dust potential and charge arising from the dust interaction with a plasma. The most widely used dust charging theory for negatively charged dust particles is the so-called orbital motion limited (OML) theory, which predicts the dust potential and heat collection accurately for a variety of applications, but was previously found to be incapable of evaluating the dust charge and plasma response in any situation. Here, we report a revised OML formulation that is able to predict the plasma response and hence the dust charge. Numerical solutions of the new OML model show that the widely used Whipple approximation of dust charge-potential relationship agrees with OML theory in the limit of small dust radius compared with plasma Debye length, but incurs large (order-unity) deviation from the OML prediction when the dust size becomes comparable with or larger than plasma Debye length. This latter case is expected for the important application of dust particles in a tokamak plasma

  19. Effect of dust storms on FSO communications links

    KAUST Repository

    Esmail, Maged Abdullah; Fathallah, Habib; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2017-01-01

    In literature, there is a lake of information about free space optic (FSO) systems' performance in arid and semi-arid areas that are prone to frequent dust storms. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the performance of FSO links under dust storm conditions. We aim to determine the limits and capabilities of such systems in this harsh environment. To achieve this goal, we use some performance metrics including signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, bit error rate (BER), and channel capacity. The results show that dust is a rough impairment that causes link drop under low visibility range. Moreover, we found that the system performance can be improved by using short segments or multi-hop system. Furthermore, the results show negligible improvement in system performance under dense dust. The comparison of fog and dust impairments show that dust introduces much higher attenuation than fog. Therefore, dust can be considered as the ultimate impairment for FSO links.

  20. Effect of dust storms on FSO communications links

    KAUST Repository

    Esmail, Maged Abdullah

    2017-05-18

    In literature, there is a lake of information about free space optic (FSO) systems\\' performance in arid and semi-arid areas that are prone to frequent dust storms. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the performance of FSO links under dust storm conditions. We aim to determine the limits and capabilities of such systems in this harsh environment. To achieve this goal, we use some performance metrics including signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, bit error rate (BER), and channel capacity. The results show that dust is a rough impairment that causes link drop under low visibility range. Moreover, we found that the system performance can be improved by using short segments or multi-hop system. Furthermore, the results show negligible improvement in system performance under dense dust. The comparison of fog and dust impairments show that dust introduces much higher attenuation than fog. Therefore, dust can be considered as the ultimate impairment for FSO links.

  1. Reduction in emittance of thermal radiator coatings caused by the accumulation of a Martian dust simulant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hollingsworth, D. Keith; Witte, Larry C.; Hinke, Jaime [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4006 (United States); Hurlbert, Kathryn [NASA, Johnson Space Center (United States)

    2006-12-15

    Measurements were made of the effective emittance of three types of radiator coatings as a Martian dust simulant was added to the radiator surfaces. The apparatus consisted of multiple radiator coupons on which Carbondale Red Clay dust was deposited. The coupon design employed guard heating to achieve the accuracy required for acceptable emittance calculations. The apparatus was contained in a vacuum chamber that featured a liquid-nitrogen cooled shroud that simulated the Martian sky temperature. Three high-emittance radiator coatings were tested: two while silicate paints, Z-93P and NS-43G, and a silver Teflon film. Radiator temperatures ranged from 250 to 350K with sky temperatures from 185 to 248K. As dust was added to the radiator surfaces, the effective emittance of all three coatings decreased from initial values near 0.9 to a value near 0.4. A low-emittance control surface, polished aluminum, demonstrated a rise in effective emittance for thin dust layers, and then a decline as the dust layer thickened. This behavior is attributed to the conductive resistance caused by the dust layer. (author)

  2. Star Formation in High Pressure, High Energy Density Environments: Laboratory Experiments of ISM Dust Analogs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breugel, W. van; Bajt, S.; Bradley, J.; Bringa, E.; Dai, Z.; Felter, T.; Graham, G.; Kucheyev, S.; Torres, D.; Tielens, A.; Baragiola, R.; Dukes, C.; Loeffler, M.

    2005-01-01

    Dust grains control the chemistry and cooling, and thus the gravitational collapse of interstellar clouds. Energetic particles, shocks and ionizing radiation can have a profound influence on the structure, lifetime and chemical reactivity of the dust, and therefore on the star formation efficiency. This would be especially important in forming galaxies, which exhibit powerful starburst (supernovae) and AGN (active galactic nucleus) activity. How dust properties are affected in such environments may be crucial for a proper understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The authors present the results of experiments at LLNL which show that irradiation of the interstellar medium (ISM) dust analog forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) with swift heavy ions (10 MeV Xe) and a large electronic energy deposition amorphizes its crystalline structure, without changing its chemical composition. From the data they predict that silicate grains in the ISM, even in dense and cold giant molecular clouds, can be amorphized by heavy cosmic rays (CR's). This might provide an explanation for the observed absence of crystalline dust in the ISM clouds of the Milky Way galaxy. This processing of dust by CR's would be even more important in forming galaxies and galaxies with active black holes

  3. Surface Winds and Dust Biases in Climate Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evan, A. T.

    2018-01-01

    An analysis of North African dust from models participating in the Fifth Climate Models Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) suggested that, when forced by observed sea surface temperatures, these models were unable to reproduce any aspects of the observed year-to-year variability in dust from North Africa. Consequently, there would be little reason to have confidence in the models' projections of changes in dust over the 21st century. However, no subsequent study has elucidated the root causes of the disagreement between CMIP5 and observed dust. Here I develop an idealized model of dust emission and then use this model to show that, over North Africa, such biases in CMIP5 models are due to errors in the surface wind fields and not due to the representation of dust emission processes. These results also suggest that because the surface wind field over North Africa is highly spatially autocorrelated, intermodel differences in the spatial structure of dust emission have little effect on the relative change in year-to-year dust emission over the continent. I use these results to show that similar biases in North African dust from the NASA Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) version 2 surface wind field biases but that these wind biases were not present in the first version of MERRA.

  4. Long-term variability of dust events in Iceland (1949-2011)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagsson-Waldhauserova, P.; Arnalds, O.; Olafsson, H.

    2014-12-01

    The long-term frequency of atmospheric dust observations was investigated for the southern part of Iceland and interpreted together with earlier results obtained from northeastern (NE) Iceland (Dagsson-Waldhauserova et al., 2013). In total, over 34 dust days per year on average occurred in Iceland based on conventionally used synoptic codes for dust observations. However, frequent volcanic eruptions, with the re-suspension of volcanic materials and dust haze, increased the number of dust events fourfold (135 dust days annually). The position of the Icelandic Low determined whether dust events occurred in the NE (16.4 dust days annually) or in the southern (S) part of Iceland (about 18 dust days annually). The decade with the most frequent dust days in S Iceland was the 1960s, but the 2000s in NE Iceland. A total of 32 severe dust storms (visibility typically warm, occurring during summer/autumn (May-September) and during mild southwesterly winds, while the subarctic dust events (S Iceland) were mainly cold, occurring during winter/spring (March-May) and during strong northeasterly winds. About half of the dust events in S Iceland occurred in winter or at sub-zero temperatures. A good correlation was found between particulate matter (PM10) concentrations and visibility during dust observations at the stations Vík and Stórhöfði. This study shows that Iceland is among the dustiest areas of the world and that dust is emitted year-round.

  5. Improved dust representation in the Community Atmosphere Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albani, S.; Mahowald, N. M.; Perry, A. T.; Scanza, R. A.; Zender, C. S.; Heavens, N. G.; Maggi, V.; Kok, J. F.; Otto-Bliesner, B. L.

    2014-09-01

    Aerosol-climate interactions constitute one of the major sources of uncertainty in assessing changes in aerosol forcing in the anthropocene as well as understanding glacial-interglacial cycles. Here we focus on improving the representation of mineral dust in the Community Atmosphere Model and assessing the impacts of the improvements in terms of direct effects on the radiative balance of the atmosphere. We simulated the dust cycle using different parameterization sets for dust emission, size distribution, and optical properties. Comparing the results of these simulations with observations of concentration, deposition, and aerosol optical depth allows us to refine the representation of the dust cycle and its climate impacts. We propose a tuning method for dust parameterizations to allow the dust module to work across the wide variety of parameter settings which can be used within the Community Atmosphere Model. Our results include a better representation of the dust cycle, most notably for the improved size distribution. The estimated net top of atmosphere direct dust radiative forcing is -0.23 ± 0.14 W/m2 for present day and -0.32 ± 0.20 W/m2 at the Last Glacial Maximum. From our study and sensitivity tests, we also derive some general relevant findings, supporting the concept that the magnitude of the modeled dust cycle is sensitive to the observational data sets and size distribution chosen to constrain the model as well as the meteorological forcing data, even within the same modeling framework, and that the direct radiative forcing of dust is strongly sensitive to the optical properties and size distribution used.

  6. [Asthma due to grain dust].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baur, X; Preisser, A; Wegner, R

    2003-06-01

    The actual literature as well as two case reports described in detail show that grain dust induces asthmatic reactions and ODTS which are obviously not of allergic origin. For diagnosis occupational-type exposure tests are decisive whereas allergological testing usually is not. Endotoxins which are present in the grain dust samples in high concentrations have to be regarded as the major causative components. To avoid irreversible lung function impairment a comprehensive early diagnosis is necessary. Generally, a remarkable reduction of exposure to dust with high levels of airborne endotoxin in agriculture has to be achieved since in many workplaces corresponding exposures are still rather high.

  7. Triton's streaks as windblown dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sagan, Carl; Chyba, Christopher

    1990-01-01

    Explanations for the surface streaks observed by Voyager 2 on Triton's southern hemisphere are discussed. It is shown that, despite Triton's tenuous atmosphere, low-cohesion dust trains with diameters of about 5 micron or less may be carried into suspension by aeolian surface shear stress, given expected geostrophic wind speeds of about 10 m/s. For geyser-like erupting dust plumes, it is shown that dust-settling time scales and expected wind velocities can produce streaks with length scales in good agreement with those of the streaks. Thus, both geyserlike eruptions or direct lifting by surface winds appear to be viable mechanisms for the origin of the streaks.

  8. Dust formation in a galaxy with primitive abundances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloan, G C; Matsuura, M; Zijlstra, A A; Lagadec, E; Groenewegen, M A T; Wood, P R; Szyszka, C; Bernard-Salas, J; van Loon, J Th

    2009-01-16

    Interstellar dust plays a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies. It governs the chemistry and physics of the interstellar medium. In the local universe, dust forms primarily in the ejecta from stars, but its composition and origin in galaxies at very early times remain controversial. We report observational evidence of dust forming around a carbon star in a nearby galaxy with a low abundance of heavy elements, 25 times lower than the solar abundance. The production of dust by a carbon star in a galaxy with such primitive abundances raises the possibility that carbon stars contributed carbonaceous dust in the early universe.

  9. Research and development in dust and silicosis suppression

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Breuer, H

    1975-08-21

    MAK values of 4 mg/m/sup 3/ for respirable dust containing quartz and 0.15 mg/m/sup 3/ for respirable quartz dust have been established for 5 years' exposure in West German hard coal mines. Routine gravimetric measurements were introduced in 1974 and these are supplemented by the digital Tyndallometer which indicates short-term variations. Gravimetric measurements have indicated the main sources of dust and improved dust suppression measures have considerably reduced respirable dust concentrations in some cases, e.g., by seam infusion, by spraying of the face machine path and at crushers, and by dedusters on heading machines.

  10. Dipole-dipole interaction of dust grains in plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tskhakaya, D.D.; Shukla, P.K.

    2005-01-01

    Complete screening of the negative dust grain charge by a cloud of trapped ions in plasmas is investigated. In the external electric field, the compound dust particle - 'dust grain + ion cloud' acquires a dipole moment due to displacement of the centers of positive and negative charges in the opposite directions. By analogy to the Van der Waals potential, the dipole-dipole interaction of the compound dust particles can have an attractive behavior. It is shown that the dipole-dipole attractive force can exceed the shadowing force that is connected with the reciprocal interception of ions by the neighboring dust grains

  11. Dust forecasting system in JMA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mikami, M; Tanaka, T Y; Maki, T

    2009-01-01

    JMAs dust forecasting information, which is based on a GCM dust model, is presented through the JMA website coupled with nowcast information. The website was updated recently and JMA and MOE joint 'KOSA' website was open from April 2008. Data assimilation technique will be introduced for improvement of the 'KOSA' information.

  12. Photoemission of Single Dust Grains for Heliospheric Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spann, James F., Jr.; Venturini, Catherine C.; Abbas, Mian M.; Comfort, Richard H.

    2000-01-01

    Initial results of an experiment to measure the photoemission of single dust grains as a function of far ultraviolet wavelengths are presented. Coulombic forces dominate the interaction of the dust grains in the heliosphere. Knowledge of the charge state of dust grains, whether in a dusty plasma (Debye length grains is primarily determined by primary electron and ion collisions, secondary electron emission and photoemission due to ultraviolet sunlight. We have established a unique experimental technique to measure the photoemission of individual micron-sized dust grains in vacuum. This technique resolves difficulties associated with statistical measurements of dust grain ensembles and non-static dust beams. The photoemission yield of Aluminum Oxide 3-micron grains For wavelengths from 120-300 nm with a spectral resolution of 1 nm FWHM is reported. Results are compared to interplanetary conditions.

  13. The association between phthalates in dust and allergic diseases among Bulgarian children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolarik, Barbara; Naydenov, Kiril Georgiev; Larsson, Martin

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Recent studies have identified associations between the concentration of phthalates in indoor dust and allergic symptoms in the airways, nose, and skin. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to investigate the associations between allergic symptoms in children and the concentration of phthalate...... (controls). The dust samples were analyzed for their content of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP). RESULTS: A higher concentration of DEHP was found in homes...

  14. Summary of the results from the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment (LADEE) Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horanyi, Mihaly

    2016-07-01

    The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission (9/2013 - 4/2014) discovered a permanently present dust cloud engulfing the Moon. The size, velocity, and density distributions of the dust particles are consistent with ejecta clouds generated from the continual bombardment of the lunar surface by sporadic interplanetary dust particles. Intermittent density enhancements were observed during several of the annual meteoroid streams, especially during the Geminids. LDEX found no evidence of the expected density enhancements over the terminators where electrostatic processes were predicted to efficiently loft small grains. LDEX is an impact ionization dust detector, it captures coincident signals and full waveforms to reliably identify dust impacts. LDEX recorded average impact rates of approximately 1 and 0.1 hits/minute of particles with impact charges of q > 0.5 and q > 5 fC, corresponding to particles with radii of a > 0.3 and a> 0.7~μm, respectively. Several of the yearly meteor showers generated sustained elevated levels of impact rates, especially if their radiant direction intersected the lunar surface near the equatorial plane, greatly enhancing the probability of crossing their ejecta plumes. The characteristic velocities of dust particles in the cloud are on the order of ~100 m/s which we neglect compared to the typical spacecraft speeds of 1.6 km/s. Hence, with the knowledge of the spacecraft orbit and attitude, impact rates can be directly turned into particle densities as functions of time and position. LDEX observations are the first to identify the ejecta clouds around the Moon sustained by the continual bombardment of interplanetary dust particles. Most of the dust particles generated in impacts have insufficient energy to escape and follow ballistic orbits, returning to the surface, 'gardening' the regolith. Similar ejecta clouds are expected to engulf all airless planetary objects, including

  15. Results of dust precipitation and airborne dust measurements in the Rhineland Brown Coal Mining Area in 1991 and 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Respondek, A.; Stein, W.

    1994-01-01

    In the Rhineland brown coal mining area the immission value of IW 1 = 0.35 g/(m 2 xd), as stipulated in the Technical Specifications for Air Pollution Control, was not reached anywhere in the entire above-mentioned measured area in 1991. The maximum monthly pollution load, i.e. I 2 = 0.52 g/(m 2 xd), was less than the immission value IW 2 = 0.65 g/(m 2 xd). In the measured areas under review, Rheinschiene South and Rheinschiene Centre, the values for airborne dust immission I 1 in 1991 were also less than 50% of the IW 1 value of 0.15 mg/m 3 . In view of these results and also - the measurements carried out by the LIS (State Pollution Control Authority) over many years in the townships of Kerpen, Frechen-Bachem, Huerth-Hermuelheim, Horrem, Frechen and Pulheim. - A special measurement carried out by the LIS in the Erft district and in the south of the Neuss district in 1983, and - the measurements carried out in accordance with the specifications for the licensing and development plan procedures, as well as - the results of the special measurement programme carried out in the community of Elsdorf in 1988 and 1989, there is no reason to fear that harmful effects on the environment will be caused by brown coal opencast mines and coal processing plants as a result of airborne dust. The dust precipitation measurements carried out at the request of the Cologne Mines Inspectorate revealed that in 1992 none of the values measured exceeded the IW 1 value. The highest measured I 1 value was 0.21 g/(m 2 xd), i.e. 60% of the IW 1 value. The average pollution load was 0.13 g/(m 2 xd), i.e. 37%. (orig./MSK) [de

  16. Dust storm detection using random forests and physical-based ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    arid areas of the Middle. East. Due to the influences of dust aerosols on climate and human daily activities, dust detection plays a crucial role in environmental and climatic studies. Detection of dust storms is critical to accurately under- stand dust ...

  17. Pixel-based dust-extinction mapping in nearby galaxies: A new approach to lifting the veil of dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamura, Kazuyuki

    In the first part of this dissertation, I explore a new approach to mapping dust extinction in galaxies, using the observed and estimated dust-free flux- ratios of optical V -band and mid-IR 3.6 micro-meter emission. Inferred missing V -band flux is then converted into an estimate of dust extinction. While dust features are not clearly evident in the observed ground-based images of NGC 0959, the target of my pilot study, the dust-map created with this method clearly traces the distribution of dust seen in higher resolution Hubble images. Stellar populations are then analyzed through various pixel Color- Magnitude Diagrams and pixel Color-Color Diagrams (pCCDs), both before and after extinction correction. The ( B - 3.6 microns) versus (far-UV - U ) pCCD proves particularly powerful to distinguish pixels that are dominated by different types of or mixtures of stellar populations. Mapping these pixel- groups onto a pixel-coordinate map shows that they are not distributed randomly, but follow genuine galactic structures, such as a previously unrecognized bar. I show that selecting pixel-groups is not meaningful when using uncorrected colors, and that pixel-based extinction correction is crucial to reveal the true spatial variations in stellar populations. This method is then applied to a sample of late-type galaxies to study the distribution of dust and stellar population as a function of their morphological type and absolute magnitude. In each galaxy, I find that dust extinction is not simply decreasing radially, but that is concentrated in localized clumps throughout a galaxy. I also find some cases where star-formation regions are not associated with dust. In the second part, I describe the application of astronomical image analysis tools for medical purposes. In particular, Source Extractor is used to detect nerve fibers in the basement membrane images of human skin-biopsies of obese subjects. While more development and testing is necessary for this kind of work

  18. The effects of variable dust size and charge on dust acoustic waves propagating in a hybrid Cairns–Tsallis complex plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Taibany, W. F.; El-Siragy, N. M.; Behery, E. E.; Elbendary, A. A.; Taha, R. M.

    2018-05-01

    The propagation characteristics of dust acoustic waves (DAWs) in a dusty plasma consisting of variable size dust grains, hybrid Cairns-Tsallis-distributed electrons, and nonthermal ions are studied. The charging of the dust grains is described by the orbital-motion-limited theory and the size of the dust grains obeys the power law dust size distribution. To describe the nonlinear propagation of the DAWs, a Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is derived using a reductive perturbation method. It is found that the nonthermal and nonextensive parameters influence the main properties of DAWs. Moreover, our results reveal that the rarefactive waves can propagate mainly in the proposed plasma model while compressive waves can be detected for a very small range of the distribution parameters of plasma species, and the DAWs are faster and wider for smaller size dust grains. Applications of the present results to dusty plasma observations are briefly discussed.

  19. Long-term dust aerosol production from natural sources in Iceland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagsson-Waldhauserova, Pavla; Arnalds, Olafur; Olafsson, Haraldur

    2017-02-01

    Iceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic Ocean with maritime climate. In spite of moist climate, large areas are with limited vegetation cover where >40% of Iceland is classified with considerable to very severe erosion and 21% of Iceland is volcanic sandy deserts. Not only do natural emissions from these sources influenced by strong winds affect regional air quality in Iceland ("Reykjavik haze"), but dust particles are transported over the Atlantic ocean and Arctic Ocean >1000 km at times. The aim of this paper is to place Icelandic dust production area into international perspective, present long-term frequency of dust storm events in northeast Iceland, and estimate dust aerosol concentrations during reported dust events. Meteorological observations with dust presence codes and related visibility were used to identify the frequency and the long-term changes in dust production in northeast Iceland. There were annually 16.4 days on average with reported dust observations on weather stations within the northeastern erosion area, indicating extreme dust plume activity and erosion within the northeastern deserts, even though the area is covered with snow during the major part of winter. During the 2000s the highest occurrence of dust events in six decades was reported. We have measured saltation and Aeolian transport during dust/volcanic ash storms in Iceland, which give some of the most intense wind erosion events ever measured. Icelandic dust affects the ecosystems over much of Iceland and causes regional haze. It is likely to affect the ecosystems of the oceans around Iceland, and it brings dust that lowers the albedo of the Icelandic glaciers, increasing melt-off due to global warming. The study indicates that Icelandic dust may contribute to the Arctic air pollution. Long-term records of meteorological dust observations from Northeast Iceland indicate the frequency of dust events from Icelandic deserts. The research involves a 60-year period and

  20. Direct observations of the atmospheric processing of Asian mineral dust

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. C. Sullivan

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The accumulation of secondary acids and ammonium on individual mineral dust particles during ACE-Asia has been measured with an online single-particle mass spectrometer, the ATOFMS. Changes in the amounts of sulphate, nitrate, and chloride mixed with dust particles correlate with air masses from different source regions. The uptake of secondary acids depended on the individual dust particle mineralogy; high amounts of nitrate accumulated on calcium-rich dust while high amounts of sulphate accumulated on aluminosilicate-rich dust. Oxidation of S(IV to S(VI by iron in the aluminosilicate dust is a possible explanation for this enrichment of sulphate, which has important consequences for the fertilization of remote oceans by soluble iron. This study shows the segregation of sulphate from nitrate and chloride in individual aged dust particles for the first time. A transport and aging timeline provides an explanation for the observed segregation. Our data suggests that sulphate became mixed with the dust first. This implies that the transport pathway is more important than the reaction kinetics in determining which species accumulate on mineral dust. Early in the study, dust particles in volcanically influenced air masses were mixed predominately with sulphate. Dust mixed with chloride then dominated over sulphate and nitrate when a major dust front reached the R. V. Ronald Brown. We hypothesize that the rapid increase in chloride on dust was due to mixing with HCl(g released from acidified sea salt particles induced by heterogeneous reaction with volcanic SO2(g, prior to the arrival of the dust front. The amount of ammonium mixed with dust correlated strongly with the total amount of secondary acid reaction products in the dust. Submicron dust and ammonium sulphate were internally mixed, contrary to frequent reports that they exist as external mixtures. The size distribution of the mixing state of dust with these secondary species validates previous

  1. Clinical benefits of treatment with SQ house dust mite sublingual tablet in house dust mite allergic rhinitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demoly, P; Kleine-Tebbe, J; Rehm, D

    2017-10-01

    Treatment with SQ (standardised quality) house dust mite sublingual tablet for 1 year resulted in a decreased probability of having an allergic rhinitis (AR) exacerbation day (from 11% [placebo] to 5% [SQ house dust mite sublingual tablet]) and an increased probability of having a mild AR day (from 16% [placebo] to 34% [SQ house dust mite sublingual tablet]). © 2017 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

  2. Dust-acoustic instability in an inductive gas-discharge plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zobnin, A.V.; Usachev, A.D.; Petrov, O.F.; Fortov, V.E.

    2002-01-01

    Spontaneous excitation of a dust-particle density wave is observed in a dust cloud levitating in the region of the diffused edge of an rf inductive low-pressure gas-discharge plasma. The main physical parameters of this wave and of the background plasma are measured. The analytic model proposed for the observed phenomenon is based on the theory of dust sound and successfully correlates with experimental data in a wide range of experimental conditions. The effect of variable charge of dust particles on the evolution of the observed dust-plasma instability is studied analytically. It is shown that the necessary condition for the development of the dust-acoustic instability is the presence of a dc electric field in the dust cloud region

  3. Trace metals in urban road dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Randazzo, Loredana Antonella; Dongarra, Gaetano; Manno, Emanuela; Varrica, Daniela

    2006-01-01

    Heavy metals associated with urban road dust is a matter for concern as they may have serious effects on biological systems. The bioavailability and potential toxicity of metals bound to urban dust is related to the specific chemical form of the element. In the present article are reported the determinations and chemical speciation of As, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb and Zn in six samples of road dust collected within the urban centre and the outskirts of Palermo [it

  4. Is there dust in galactic haloes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greenberg, J.M.; Ferrini, F.; Pisa Univ.; Barsella, B.; Aiello, S.

    1987-01-01

    The ubiquitous presence of dust within the disks of spiral galaxies is well established. The authors predict that the presence of dust in these regions may be revealed in bright edge-on galaxies, especially by using the polarization of the scattered light from the symmetric lanes. The detection of scattered light above the galactic plane may be an indicator that the parent galaxy has not suffered close encounters with other galaxies at least within the timescale required to establish the dust layers. (author)

  5. Earlier vegetation green-up has reduced spring dust storms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Bihang; Guo, Li; Li, Ning; Chen, Jin; Lin, Henry; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Shen, Miaogen; Rao, Yuhan; Wang, Cong; Ma, Lei

    2014-10-24

    The observed decline of spring dust storms in Northeast Asia since the 1950s has been attributed to surface wind stilling. However, spring vegetation growth could also restrain dust storms through accumulating aboveground biomass and increasing surface roughness. To investigate the impacts of vegetation spring growth on dust storms, we examine the relationships between recorded spring dust storm outbreaks and satellite-derived vegetation green-up date in Inner Mongolia, Northern China from 1982 to 2008. We find a significant dampening effect of advanced vegetation growth on spring dust storms (r = 0.49, p = 0.01), with a one-day earlier green-up date corresponding to a decrease in annual spring dust storm outbreaks by 3%. Moreover, the higher correlation (r = 0.55, p storm outbreak ratio (the ratio of dust storm outbreaks to times of strong wind events) indicates that such effect is independent of changes in surface wind. Spatially, a negative correlation is detected between areas with advanced green-up dates and regional annual spring dust storms (r = -0.49, p = 0.01). This new insight is valuable for understanding dust storms dynamics under the changing climate. Our findings suggest that dust storms in Inner Mongolia will be further mitigated by the projected earlier vegetation green-up in the warming world.

  6. Gathering dust: A galaxy-wide study of dust emission from cloud complexes in NGC 300

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riener, M.; Faesi, C. M.; Forbrich, J.; Lada, C. J.

    2018-05-01

    Aims: We use multi-band observations by the Herschel Space Observatory to study the dust emission properties of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 300. We compile a first catalogue of the population of giant dust clouds (GDCs) in NGC 300, including temperature and mass estimates, and give an estimate of the total dust mass of the galaxy. Methods: We carried out source detection with the multiwavelength source extraction algorithm getsources. We calculated physical properties, including mass and temperature, of the GDCs from five-band Herschel PACS and SPIRE observations from 100 to 500 μm; the final size and mass estimates are based on the observations at 250 μm that have an effective spatial resolution of 170 pc. We correlated our final catalogue of GDCs to pre-existing catalogues of HII regions to infer the number of GDCs associated with high-mass star formation and determined the Hα emission of the GDCs. Results: Our final catalogue of GDCs includes 146 sources, 90 of which are associated with known HII regions. We find that the dust masses of the GDCs are completely dominated by the cold dust component and range from 1.1 × 103 to 1.4 × 104 M⊙. The GDCs have effective temperatures of 13-23 K and show a distinct cold dust effective temperature gradient from the centre towards the outer parts of the stellar disk. We find that the population of GDCs in our catalogue constitutes 16% of the total dust mass of NGC 300, which we estimate to be about 5.4 × 106 M⊙. At least about 87% of our GDCs have a high enough average dust mass surface density to provide sufficient shielding to harbour molecular clouds. We compare our results to previous pointed molecular gas observations in NGC 300 and results from other nearby galaxies and also conclude that it is very likely that most of our GDCs are associated with complexes of giant molecular clouds. The catalogue is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http

  7. Temporal and spatial characteristics of dust devils and their contribution to the aerosol budget in East Asia-An analysis using a new parameterization scheme for dust devils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Yaoguo; Han, Yongxiang; Liu, Zhaohuan

    2018-06-01

    Dust aerosols are the main aerosol components of the atmosphere that affect climate change, but the contribution of dust devils to the atmospheric dust aerosol budget is uncertain. In this study, a new parameterization scheme for dust devils was established and coupled with WRF-Chem, and the diurnal and monthly variations and the contribution of dust devils to the atmospheric dust aerosol budget in East Asia was simulated. The results show that 1) both the diurnal and monthly variations in dust devil emissions in East Asia had unimodal distributions, with peaks in the afternoon and the summer that were similar to the observations; 2) the simulated dust devils occurred frequently in deserts, including the Gobi. The distributed area and the intensity center of the dust devil moved from east to west during the day; 3) the ratio between the availability of convective buoyancy relative to the frictional dissipation was the main factor that limited the presence of dust devils. The position of the dust devil formation, the surface temperature, and the boundary layer height determined the dust devil intensity; 4) the contribution of dust devils to atmospheric dust aerosols determined in East Asia was 30.4 ± 13%, thereby suggesting that dust devils contribute significantly to the total amount of atmospheric dust aerosols. Although the new parameterization scheme for dust devils was rough, it was helpful for understanding the distribution of dust devils and their contribution to the dust aerosol budget.

  8. Solar-Panel Dust Accumulation and Cleanings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    Air-fall dust accumulates on the solar panels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the solar arrays. Pre-launch models predicted steady dust accumulation. However, the rovers have been blessed with occasional wind events that clear significant amounts of dust from the solar panels. This graph shows the effects of those panel-cleaning events on the amount of electricity generated by Spirit's solar panels. The horizontal scale is the number of Martian days (sols) after Spirit's Jan. 4, 2005, (Universal Time) landing on Mars. The vertical scale indicates output from the rover's solar panels as a fraction of the amount produced when the clean panels first opened. Note that the gradual declines are interrupted by occasional sharp increases, such as a dust-cleaning event on sol 420.

  9. [Efficacy of the dust mites drops sublingual immunotherapy in pediatric allergic rhinitis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Lisheng; Jiang, Yinzhu; Li, Qi

    2016-03-01

    To observe the role of the dust mites drops sublingual immunotherapy(SLIT) in pediatric allergic rhiriitis caused by dust mites and compare its efficacy between monosensitized and polysensitized children. A total of 77 pediatric allergic rhinitis patients received Dermatophagoides farina extracts sublingual immunotherapy for 2 years were enrolled as desensitization group and were allocated into monosensitized group (41 cases) and polysensitized group (36 cases) according to the number of coexisting allergens. Meanwhile another 33 allergic rhinitis children treated by pharmacotherapy during the period were collected as control group. The total symptom scores (TNSS), total medication scores (TMS) and visual analogue scale(VAS) were assessed at the beginning, six months, 1 year and 2 years of the treatment. SPSS 13. 0 software was used to analyze the data. the score of TNSS and VAS in desensitization was slightly higher than the control after six months treatment, but without difference at l year and 2 years; the score of TMS had significantly improved in desensitization compared with the corresponding points in control. All the parameters in monosensitized group were equivalent with polysensitizend group, except the score of TMS was slightly lower than the polysensitizend group at six months. Dust mite drops sublingual immunotherapy is effective for the allergic rhinitis children caused by mites. And it has similar immunotherapy efficacy between monosensitized and polysensitized children.

  10. Dust settles at Dalrymple Bay Terminal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2006-01-01

    With an annual loading capacity approaching 60Mt, Queensland's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal is one of the largest and most efficient coal export facilities in Australia. Each day, DBCT handles thousands of tonnes of coal transported directly from the Bowen Basin via an electrified railway and bound, ultimately, for out-loading onto bulk carrier ships. It is little wonder then that dust control and an accurate knowledge of coal moisture content are key priorities for DBCT. In early 2004, these priorities, together with an undertaking to the Co-ordinator General to reduce dust emissions, saw DBCT investigate the CSIRO-developed Low Frequency Microwave (LFM) Moisture Analyser. The LFM Analyser is specifically designed to deliver accurate, online measurements of moisture in continuous on-conveyor applications. At this stage, it was already enjoying significant success in the iron ore market with BHP Billiton Iron Ore investing in multiple units as part of its moisture control strategy for the Marra Mamba ore-types. The LFM Analysers, now being commercialised by spin-out company Intalysis, were commissioned in July 2004. Babcock and Brown Infrastructure (BBI), the company that holds the long-term leasehold of DBCT, was heavily involved in the analyser's commissioning. BBI's electrical supervisor Doug Mitchell says the analyser offers the means for DBCT to meet the environmental conditions of the terminal license while at the same time enabling it to meet its individual contract obligations with the terminal customers. 'This basically involves ensuring the moisture content for each coal type does not exceed that which has been agreed upon with terminal customer,' Mitchell says. DBCT has installed two analysers on the in loading conveyors, each about 100m from the coal discharge hoppers. They are fitted to steel cord belts at a nominal speed of around 6m/sec that carry the coal to either 4250tph or 5500tph yard stacking machines, depending on the string selected for

  11. Exposures Related to House Dust Microbiota in a U.S. Farming Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mi Kyeong; Carnes, Megan U; Butz, Natasha; Azcarate-Peril, M Andrea; Richards, Marie; Umbach, David M; Thorne, Peter S; Beane Freeman, Laura E; Peddada, Shyamal D; London, Stephanie J

    2018-06-01

    Environmental factors can influence the house dust microbiota, which may impact health outcomes. Little is known about how farming exposures impact the indoor microbiota. We aimed to identify exposures related to bacterial communities in house dust in a U.S. farming population. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterize bacterial communities in vacuumed dust samples from the bedrooms of a subset of 879 households of farmers and farmers' spouses enrolled in the Agricultural Lung Health Study (ALHS), a case-control study of asthma nested within the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) in North Carolina and Iowa. Information on current farming (past 12 mo), including both crop and animal farming, and other potential microbial sources was obtained via questionnaires. We used linear regression to evaluate associations between exposures and bacterial diversity within each sample, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), and permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) to identify exposures related to diversity between samples, and analysis of composition of microbiome to examine whether exposures related to diversity were also related to differential abundance of specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Current farming was positively associated with bacterial diversity in house dust, with or without adjustment for nonfarm exposures related to diversity, including presence of indoor pets, home condition, and season of dust collection. Many taxa exhibited differential abundance related to farming. Some taxa in the phyla Chloroflexi and Verrucomicrobia were associated [false discovery rate (FDR)<0.05] with farming but not with other nonfarm factors. Many taxa correlated with the concentration of house dust of endotoxin, commonly studied as a general marker of exposure to the farming environment. In this farming population, house dust microbiota differed by current farming status. Understanding the determinants of the indoor microbiota is the first step

  12. Repellent activity of desiccant dusts and conidia of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana when tested against poultry red mites (Dermanyssus gallinae) in laboratory experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilpinen, Ole; Steenberg, Tove

    2016-11-01

    Desiccant dusts and entomopathogenic fungi have previously been found to hold potential against the poultry red mite, which is an important pest in egg production and notoriously difficult to control. Both control agents may cause repellence in other arthropods and potentially also influence control levels adversely when used against the poultry red mite. Five desiccant dust products with good efficacy against the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae caused avoidance behavior in mites when tested in bioassays. The repellent activity was correlated with efficacy, which was found to depend on both dose and relative humidity (RH). However, one desiccant dust was significantly less repellent compared to other dusts with similar levels of efficacy. Further, dry conidia of the fungus Beauveria bassiana were also shown to be repellent to poultry red mites, both when applied on its own and when admixed with a low dose of the desiccant dust Diamol. The pick-up of desiccant dust particles and fungus conidia from treated surfaces by mites did not differ depending on RH, whereas the overall efficacy of the two control agents were significantly higher at 75 than at 85 % RH. In addition, the combined effect of the two substances was synergistic when tested in a bioassay where mites could choose whether to cross a treated surface. This is the first time a member of Acari has been shown to be repelled by desiccant dusts and by conidia of an entomopathogenic fungus.

  13. Low-frequency electrostatic dust-modes in a non-uniform

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    A self-consistent and general description of obliquely propagating low-frequency electrostatic dust-modes in a non-uniform magnetized dusty plasma system has been presented. A number of different situations, which correspond to different low-frequency electrostatic dust-modes, namely, dust-acoustic mode, dust-drift ...

  14. Dust Concentration and Emission in Protoplanetary Disks Vortices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, Anibal; Lizano, Susana; Barge, Pierre

    2017-12-01

    We study the dust concentration and emission in protoplanetary disks vortices. We extend the Lyra-Lin solution for the dust concentration of a single grain size to a power-law distribution of grain sizes n(a)\\propto {a}-p. Assuming dust conservation in the disk, we find an analytic dust surface density as a function of the grain radius. We calculate the increase of the dust-to-gas mass ratio ɛ and the slope p of the dust size distribution due to grain segregation within the vortex. We apply this model to a numerical simulation of a disk containing a persistent vortex. Due to the accumulation of large grains toward the vortex center, ɛ increases by a factor of 10 from the background disk value, and p decreases from 3.5 to 3.0. We find the disk emission at millimeter wavelengths corresponding to synthetic observations with ALMA and VLA. The simulated maps at 7 mm and 1 cm show a strong azimuthal asymmetry. This happens because, at these wavelengths, the disk becomes optically thin while the vortex remains optically thick. The large vortex opacity is mainly due to an increase in the dust-to-gas mass ratio. In addition, the change in the slope of the dust size distribution increases the opacity by a factor of two. We also show that the inclusion of the dust scattering opacity substantially changes the disks images.

  15. Hypervelocity Dust Impacts in Space and the Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horanyi, Mihaly; Colorado CenterLunar Dust; Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) Team

    2013-10-01

    Interplanetary dust particles continually bombard all objects in the solar system, leading to the excavation of material from the target surfaces, the production of secondary ejecta particles, plasma, neutral gas, and electromagnetic radiation. These processes are of interest to basic plasma science, planetary and space physics, and engineering to protect humans and instruments against impact damages. The Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) has recently completed a 3 MV dust accelerator, and this talk will summarize our initial science results. The 3 MV Pelletron contains a dust source, feeding positively charged micron and sub-micron sized particles into the accelerator. We will present the technical details of the facility and its capabilities, as well as the results of our initial experiments for damage assessment of optical devices, and penetration studies of thin films. We will also report on the completion of our dust impact detector, the Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), is expected to be flying onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission by the time of this presentation. LDEX was tested, and calibrated at our dust accelerator. We will close by offering the opportunity to use this facility by the planetary, space and plasma physics communities.

  16. Surface renewal as a significant mechanism for dust emission

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Zhang

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Wind tunnel experiments of dust emissions from different soil surfaces are carried out to better understand dust emission mechanisms. The effects of surface renewal on aerodynamic entrainment and saltation bombardment are analyzed in detail. It is found that flow conditions, surface particle motions (saltation and creep, soil dust content and ground obstacles all strongly affect dust emission, causing its rate to vary over orders of magnitude. Aerodynamic entrainment is highly effective, if dust supply is unlimited, as in the first 2–3 min of our wind tunnel runs. While aerodynamic entrainment is suppressed by dust supply limits, surface renewal through the motion of surface particles appears to be an effective pathway to remove the supply limit. Surface renewal is also found to be important to the efficiency of saltation bombardment. We demonstrate that surface renewal is a significant mechanism affecting dust emission and recommend that this mechanism be included in future dust models.

  17. Hypervelocity Dust Injection for Plasma Diagnostic Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ticos, Catalin

    2005-10-01

    Hypervelocity micron-size dust grain injection was proposed for high-temperature magnetized plasma diagnosis. Multiple dust grains are launched simultaneously into high temperature plasmas at several km/s or more. The hypervelocity dust grains are ablated by the electron and ion fluxes. Fast imaging of the resulting luminous plumes attached to each grain is expected to yield local magnetic field vectors. Combination of multiple local magnetic field vectors reproduces 2D or even 3D maps of the internal magnetic field topology. Key features of HDI are: (1) a high spatial resolution, due to a relatively small transverse size of the elongated tail, and (2) a small perturbation level, as the dust grains introduce negligible number of particles compared to the plasma particle inventory. The latter advantage, however, could be seriously compromised if the gas load from the accelerator has an unobstructed access to the diagnosed plasma. Construction of a HDI diagnostic for National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), which includes a coaxial plasma gun for dust grain acceleration, is underway. Hydrogen and deuterium gas discharges inside accelerator are created by a ˜ 1 mF capacitor bank pre-charged up to 10 kV. The diagnostic apparatus also comprises a dust dispenser for pre-loading the accelerator with dust grains, and an imaging system that has a high spatial and temporal resolution.

  18. Simulating galactic dust grain evolution on a moving mesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKinnon, Ryan; Vogelsberger, Mark; Torrey, Paul; Marinacci, Federico; Kannan, Rahul

    2018-05-01

    Interstellar dust is an important component of the galactic ecosystem, playing a key role in multiple galaxy formation processes. We present a novel numerical framework for the dynamics and size evolution of dust grains implemented in the moving-mesh hydrodynamics code AREPO suited for cosmological galaxy formation simulations. We employ a particle-based method for dust subject to dynamical forces including drag and gravity. The drag force is implemented using a second-order semi-implicit integrator and validated using several dust-hydrodynamical test problems. Each dust particle has a grain size distribution, describing the local abundance of grains of different sizes. The grain size distribution is discretised with a second-order piecewise linear method and evolves in time according to various dust physical processes, including accretion, sputtering, shattering, and coagulation. We present a novel scheme for stochastically forming dust during stellar evolution and new methods for sub-cycling of dust physics time-steps. Using this model, we simulate an isolated disc galaxy to study the impact of dust physical processes that shape the interstellar grain size distribution. We demonstrate, for example, how dust shattering shifts the grain size distribution to smaller sizes resulting in a significant rise of radiation extinction from optical to near-ultraviolet wavelengths. Our framework for simulating dust and gas mixtures can readily be extended to account for other dynamical processes relevant in galaxy formation, like magnetohydrodynamics, radiation pressure, and thermo-chemical processes.

  19. Analysis of mechanism of PM2.5 and house dust mite antigen Der p1 in attack stage of child asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Q; Yang, C-Y; Guo, B-Y; Wei, X; Liu, M

    2017-05-01

    We analyzed the influence of PM2.5 and house dust mite antigen Der p1 on the treatment of child asthma attack. A total of 96 children with asthma attack were included into the study. The patients were randomly divided into the PM2.5 group, the house dust mite antigen group, the synergistic group and the control group (n= 24 in each group). The PM2.5 concentration in the PM2.5 group was twice higher than standard level (≤ the average value of PM2.5 in local air). All cases were given with same treatment, and the treatment effects were compared and analyzed. It was found that the asthma control rate in the control group was significantly higher than that in the PM2.5 group and the house dust mite antigen group, and the synergistic group was the lowest. The control time in the synergistic group was significantly longest, followed by the PM2.5 group and the house dust mite antigen group, and the control group was significantly short (pasthma attack by an inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress.

  20. 1500-year Record of trans-Pacific Dust Flux collected from the Denali Ice Core, Mt. Hunter, Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saylor, P. L.; Osterberg, E. C.; Koffman, B. G.; Winski, D.; Ferris, D. G.; Kreutz, K. J.; Wake, C. P.; Handley, M.; Campbell, S. W.

    2016-12-01

    Mineral dust aerosols are a critical component of the climate system through their influence on atmospheric radiative forcing, ocean productivity, and surface albedo. Dust aerosols derived from Asian deserts are known to reach as far as Europe through efficient transport in the upper tropospheric westerlies. While centennially-to-millennially resolved Asian dust records exist over the late Holocene from North Pacific marine sediment cores and Asian loess deposits, a high-resolution (sub-annual to decadal) record of trans-Pacific dust flux will significantly improve our understanding of North Pacific dust-climate interactions and provide paleoclimatological context for 20th century dust activity. Here we present an annually resolved 1500-year record of trans-Pacific dust transport based on chemical and physical dust measurements in parallel Alaskan ice cores (208 m to bedrock) collected from the summit plateau of Mt. Hunter in Denali National Park. The cores were sampled at high resolution using a continuous melter system with discrete analyses for major ions (Dionex ion chromatograph), trace elements (Element2 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer), and stable water isotope ratios (Picarro laser ringdown spectroscopy), and continuous flow analysis for dust concentration and size distribution (Klotz Abakus). We compare the ice core dust record to instrumental aerosol stations, satellite observations, and dust model data from the instrumental period, and evaluate climatic controls on dust emission and trans-Pacific transport using climate reanalysis data, to inform dust-climate relationships over the past 1500 years. Physical particulate and chemical data demonstrate remarkable fidelity at sub-annual resolution, with both displaying a strong springtime peak consistent with periods of high dust activity over Asian desert source regions. Preliminary results suggest volumetric mode typically ranges from 4.5 - 6.5 um, with a mean value of 5.5 um. Preliminary

  1. the effect of cement dust exposure on haematological and liver

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Daniel Owu

    LIVER FUNCTION PARAMETERS OF CEMENT FACTORY WORKERS IN. SOKOTO ... to cement dust. (mean years of exposure = 9.6± 1.5 years) and 46 matched unexposed controls. ... was assessed by measuring serum liver function tests. .... of cement, may increase the risk of autoimmune disease. ... Mosby's Manual of.

  2. Transformation of arsenic-rich copper smelter flue dust in contrasting soils: A 2-year field experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarošíková, Alice; Ettler, Vojtěch; Mihaljevič, Martin; Penížek, Vít; Matoušek, Tomáš; Culka, Adam; Drahota, Petr

    2018-06-01

    Dust emissions from copper smelters processing arsenic-bearing ores represent a risk to soil environments due to the high levels of As and other inorganic contaminants. Using an in situ experiment in four different forest and grassland soils (pH 3.2-8.0) we studied the transformation of As-rich (>50 wt% As) copper smelter dust over 24 months. Double polyamide bags with 1 g of flue dust were buried at different depths in soil pits and in 6-month intervals; then those bags, surrounding soil columns, and soil pore waters were collected and analysed. Dust dissolution was relatively fast during the first 6 months (5-34%), and mass losses attained 52% after 24 months. The key driving forces affecting dust dissolution were not only pH, but also the water percolation/retention in individual soils. Primary arsenolite (As 2 O 3 ) dissolution was responsible for high As release from the dust (to 72%) and substantial increase of As in the soil (to a 56 × increase; to 1500 mg kg -1 ). Despite high arsenolite solubility, this phase persisted in the dust after 2 years of exposure. Mineralogical investigation indicated that mimetite [Pb 5 (AsO 4 ) 3 (Cl,OH)], unidentified complex Ca-Pb-Fe-Zn arsenates, and Fe oxyhydroxides partly controlled the mobility of As and other metal(loid)s. Compared to As, other less abundant contaminants (Bi, Cu, Pb, Sb, Zn) were released into the soil to a lesser extent (8-40% of total). The relatively high mobility of As in the soil can be seen from decreases of bulk As concentrations after spring snowmelt, high water-extractable fractions with up to ∼50% of As(III) in extracts, and high As concentrations in soil pore waters. Results indicate that efficient controls of emissions from copper smelters and flue dust disposal sites are needed to prevent extensive contamination of nearby soils by persistent As. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Backscattering Moessbauer spectroscopy of Martian dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertelsen, P.; Madsen, M. B.; Binau, C. S.; Goetz, W.; Gunnlaugsson, H. P.; Hviid, S. F.; Kinch, K. M.; Klingelhoefer, G.; Leer, K.; Madsen, D. E.; Merrison, J.; Olsen, M.; Squyres, S. W.

    2005-01-01

    We report on the determination of the mineralogy of the atmospherically suspended Martian dust particles using backscattering 57 Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy on dust accumulated onto the magnets onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers. The spectra can be interpreted in terms of minerals of igneous origin, and shows only limited, if any, amounts of secondary minerals that may have formed in the presence of liquid water. These findings suggest that the dust has formed in a dry environment over long time in the history of the planet.

  4. Comparison of the CAS-POL and IOM samplers for determining the knockdown efficiencies of water sprays on float coal dust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seaman, Clara E; Shahan, Michael R; Beck, Timothy W; Mischler, Steven E

    2018-03-01

    Float coal dust, generated by mining operations, is distributed throughout mine airways by ventilating air designed to purge gases and respirable dust. Float coal dust poses an explosion hazard in the event of a methane ignition. Current regulation requires the application of inert rock dust in areas subjected to float coal dust in order to mitigate the hazard. An alternate method using water sprays, which have been effective in controlling respirable dust hazards, has been proposed as a way to control float coal dust generated on longwall faces. However, the knockdown efficiency of the proposed water sprays on float coal dust needs to be verified. This study used gravimetric isokinetic Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) samplers alongside a real-time aerosol monitor (Cloud Aerosol Spectrometer with polarization; CAS-POL) to study the effects of spray type, operating pressure, and spray orientation on knockdown efficiencies for seven different water sprays. Because the CAS-POL has not been used to study mining dust, the CAS-POL measurements were validated with respect to the IOM samplers. This study found that the CAS-POL was able to resolve the same trends measured by the IOM samplers, while providing additional knockdown information for specific particle size ranges and locations in the test area. In addition, the CAS-POL data was not prone to the same process errors, which may occur due to the handling of the IOM filter media, and was able to provide a faster analysis of the data after testing. This study also determined that pressure was the leading design criteria influencing spray knockdown efficiency, with spray type also having some effect and orientation having little to no effect. The results of this study will be used to design future full-scale float coal dust capture tests involving multiple sprays, which will be evaluated using the CAS-POL.

  5. Dust deposit in recirculation regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griemert, R.

    1985-03-01

    The present report shows investigations, which have been carried out in a closed duct at forward and backward facing steps. Distribution of fluid velocity and fluid fluctuations in and normal to main flow direction as well as the distribution of Reynolds shear stress have been measured. The mass transfer downstream of a backward facing step has been investigated as well. By using graphite-, copper-, tin- and rubber dust, conditions of deposition have been defined experimentally. A serie of photos shows the filling of a recirculation region downstream of a backward facing step with graphite dust. The present investigations allow to avoid deposition of dust in recirculation regions by selecting the fluid numbers in an appropriate way. (orig.) [de

  6. Computer tomography of large dust clouds in complex plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Killer, Carsten; Himpel, Michael; Melzer, André

    2014-01-01

    The dust density is a central parameter of a dusty plasma. Here, a tomography setup for the determination of the three-dimensionally resolved density distribution of spatially extended dust clouds is presented. The dust clouds consist of micron-sized particles confined in a radio frequency argon plasma, where they fill almost the entire discharge volume. First, a line-of-sight integrated dust density is obtained from extinction measurements, where the incident light from an LED panel is scattered and absorbed by the dust. Performing these extinction measurements from many different angles allows the reconstruction of the 3D dust density distribution, analogous to a computer tomography in medical applications

  7. Dust retaining properties of leaves of some tree species

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gusev, M I

    1960-05-01

    A study was made in Tashkent, Russia of the dust-retaining power of leaves of several tree species. Investigations were made in a park where these tree species were growing in close proximity, exposed to the effects of dust from the main city street and from the highway passing through the park. Observations on the dust-retaining power of leaves were made mostly during the summer and fall months. The dust-retaining power of leaves of different tree species varied with the dust concentration in the air. In the summer and fall when rains are scarce a steady accumulation of dust was observed on the surface of the leaves. 1 table.

  8. Regularities of dust formation during stone cutting for construction works

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.G. Lebedev

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available When cutting stone, a large amount of dust release, which is a mixture of small, mostly sharp, mineral particles. Shallow dry dust with inhalation causes the pathological changes in organs that are a consequence of infiltration of acute and solids particles. Despite the importance of this problem, the questions of dust generation during the various working processes and its fractions distribution are practically not considered. This determines the time of dust standing in the air and its negative impact on a person. Aim: The aim of this research is to study the process of dusting during stones cutting and dust distribution on fractions regularities and quantification of dust formation process in order to improve the production equipment, staff individual and collective safety equipment. Materials and Methods: Many types of cutting can be divided into two types - a “dry” cutting and cutting with fluid. During “dry” cutting a dust represents a set of micro-chips which are cut off by the abrasive grains. The size of such chips very small: from a micrometer to a few micrometers fraction. Thus, the size of chips causes the possibility of creating dust slurry with low fall velocity, and which is located in the working space in large concentrations. Results: The following characteristic dependences were obtained as a result of research: dependence of the dust fall from the size of the dust particles, size of dust particles from minute feeding and grain range wheel, the specific amount of dust from the number of grit abrasive wheel and the temperature of the dust particles from the feeding at wheel turnover. It was shown that the distribution of chips (dust by size will request of a normal distribution low. Dimensions of chips during cut are in the range of 0.4...6 μm. Thus, dust slurry is formed with time of particles fall of several hours. This creates considerable minute dust concentration - within 0.28∙10^8...1.68∙10^8 units/m3.

  9. High levels of antimony in dust from e-waste recycling in southeastern China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bi, Xiangyang; Li, Zhonggen; Zhuang, Xiaochun; Han, Zhixuan; Yang, Wenlin

    2011-01-01

    Environmental contamination due to uncontrolled e-waste recycling is an emerging global issue. Antimony (Sb) is a toxic element used in semiconductor components and flame retardants for circuit board within electronic equipment. When e-waste is recycled, Sb is released and contaminates the surrounding environment; however, few studies have characterized the extent of this problem. In this study, we investigated Sb and arsenic (As) distributions in indoor dust from 13 e-waste recycling villages in Guiyu, Guangdong Province, southeastern China. Results revealed significantly elevated concentrations of Sb (6.1-232 mg/kg) in dust within all villages, which were 3.9-147 times higher than those from the non e-waste sites, indicating e-waste recycling was an important source of Sb pollution. On the contrary, As concentrations (5.4-17.7 mg/kg) in e-waste dusts were similar to reference values from the control sites. Therefore, dusts emitted from e-waste recycling may be characterized by high Sb/As ratios, which may help identify the contamination due to the e-waste recycling activities. - Highlights: → Antimony and arsenic concentrations in dust from e-waste recycling were investigated. → E-waste recycling is an important emerging source of Sb pollution. → Sb/As ratios may help identify the e-waste contamination.

  10. High levels of antimony in dust from e-waste recycling in southeastern China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bi, Xiangyang, E-mail: bixy@cug.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China); Faculty of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China); Li, Zhonggen [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002 (China); Zhuang, Xiaochun [Faculty of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China); Han, Zhixuan [State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China); Faculty of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China); Yang, Wenlin [Faculty of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074 (China)

    2011-11-01

    Environmental contamination due to uncontrolled e-waste recycling is an emerging global issue. Antimony (Sb) is a toxic element used in semiconductor components and flame retardants for circuit board within electronic equipment. When e-waste is recycled, Sb is released and contaminates the surrounding environment; however, few studies have characterized the extent of this problem. In this study, we investigated Sb and arsenic (As) distributions in indoor dust from 13 e-waste recycling villages in Guiyu, Guangdong Province, southeastern China. Results revealed significantly elevated concentrations of Sb (6.1-232 mg/kg) in dust within all villages, which were 3.9-147 times higher than those from the non e-waste sites, indicating e-waste recycling was an important source of Sb pollution. On the contrary, As concentrations (5.4-17.7 mg/kg) in e-waste dusts were similar to reference values from the control sites. Therefore, dusts emitted from e-waste recycling may be characterized by high Sb/As ratios, which may help identify the contamination due to the e-waste recycling activities. - Highlights: {yields} Antimony and arsenic concentrations in dust from e-waste recycling were investigated. {yields} E-waste recycling is an important emerging source of Sb pollution. {yields} Sb/As ratios may help identify the e-waste contamination.

  11. Carbonaceous Components in the Comet Halley Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fomenkova, M. N.; Chang, S.; Mukhin, L. M.

    1994-01-01

    Cometary grains containing large amounts of carbon and/or organic matter (CHON) were discovered by in situ measurements of comet Halley dust composition during VEGA and GIOTTO flyby missions. In this paper, we report the classification of these cometary, grains by means of cluster analysis, discuss the resulting compositional groups, and compare them with substances observed or hypothesized in meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and the interstellar medium. Grains dominated by carbon and/or organic matter (CHON grains) represent approx. 22% of the total population of measured cometary dust particles. They, usually contain a minor abundance of rock-forming elements as well. Grains having organic material are relatively more abundant in the vicinity of the nucleus than in the outer regions of the coma, which suggests decomposition of the organics in the coma environment. The majority of comet Halley organic particles are multicomponent mixtures of carbon phases and organic compounds. Possibly, the cometary CHON grains may be related to kerogen material of an interstellar origin in carbonaceous meteorites. Pure carbon grains, hydrocarbons and polymers of cyanopolyynes, and multi-carbon monoxides are present in cometary dust as compositionally simple and distinctive components among a variety of others. There is no clear evidence of significant presence of pure formaldehyde or HCN polymers in Halley dust particles. The diversity of types of cometary organic compounds is consistent with the inter-stellar dust model of comets and probably reflects differences in composition of precursor dust. Preservation of this heterogeneity among submicron particles suggest the gentle formation of cometary, nucleus by aggregation of interstellar dust in the protosolar nebula without complete mixing or chemical homogenization at the submicron level.

  12. Recycling of steelmaking dusts: The Radust concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalkanen H.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Recycling of dusts and other wastes of steelmaking is becoming to a necessity of two reasons: due to high contents of iron oxides dusts are valuable raw material for steelmaking and tightening environmental legislation makes the landfill disposal of wastes more expensive. Fine dust fractions from various stages of steelmaking route contain besides iron and carbon heavy metals especially zinc and lead and heavy hydrocarbons that are acceptable neither for landfill disposal nor for recycling back to processes without any spe4cial treatments. Some theoretical and practical aspects concerning high temperature treatments of steelmaking dusts for removal of hazardous components and production of clean high iron raw material for recycling is discussed in this paper. The Radust technology developed at Koverhar steelwork in Finland for treatment of the most problematic fine fractions of blast furnace and oxygen converter dusts is shortly presented and discussed.

  13. The relaxation of plasmas with dust particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chutov, Yu.I.; Kravchenko, A.Yu.; Schram, P.P.J.M.

    1997-01-01

    Various parameters of relaxing plasmas with dust particles including the electron and ion energy distributions function are numerically simulated at various parameters of the dust particles using the PIC method and taking into account the dynamics of the dust particle charge without the assumption about the equilibrium of electrons and ions. Coulomb collisions are taken into account in the framework of the method of stochastic differential equations. The relaxation of bounded plasma clouds expanding into a vacuum as well as the relaxation of a uniform plasma, in which dust particles appear at some initial time, are investigated. The obtained results show that the relaxation of plasmas can be accompanied by a deviation of the ion distribution function from equilibrium as well as a change of the mean energy of electrons and ions because of the dependence of the collection of electrons and ions by dust particles on their energy. (author)

  14. Infrared astronomy and the galactic dust

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pecker, J.C.

    1977-01-01

    The existence, in the Galaxy, of small absorbing dust grains has been known for a long time, as they redden the light of stars located behind them, and obscure by amounts which can often even be several magnitudes... In the infrared, where absorption is smaller, one can see through the dust, while at the same time, one can observe the emission of cold dust clouds. After a brief review of technical developments, the reasons for studying the infrared, and the principles of diagnostics, are given. The analysis of the spectral features leads to identification of ice, graphite, and various silicates, as main constituents of the dust. In the fifth section, examples are given of the various sources that one meets when travelling in the Galaxy: protostars, cold and dilute, dense envelopes of young stars (cold or hot), dilute envelopes of not so young stars, and ejected clouds surrounding evolved objects... The simultaneous observation of dust, molecules and atoms, in the same regions, shows that the knowledge of the circumstellar dense regions might be of a great interest, in the study of the origin of life, and of the evolution of the Universe. (Auth.)

  15. WRF-Chem model simulations of a dust outbreak over the central Mediterranean and comparison with multi-sensor desert dust observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizza, Umberto; Barnaba, Francesca; Marcello Miglietta, Mario; Mangia, Cristina; Di Liberto, Luca; Dionisi, Davide; Costabile, Francesca; Grasso, Fabio; Gobbi, Gian Paolo

    2017-01-01

    In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate an intense Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over the Mediterranean in May 2014. Comparison of a simulation using a physics-based desert dust emission scheme with a numerical experiment using a simplified (minimal) emission scheme is included to highlight the advantages of the former. The model was found to reproduce well the synoptic meteorological conditions driving the dust outbreak: an omega-like pressure configuration associated with a cyclogenesis in the Atlantic coasts of Spain. The model performances in reproducing the atmospheric desert dust load were evaluated using a multi-platform observational dataset of aerosol and desert dust properties, including optical properties from satellite and ground-based sun photometers and lidars, plus in situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. This comparison allowed us to investigate the model ability in reproducing both the horizontal and the vertical displacement of the dust plume, as well as its evolution in time. The comparison with satellite (MODIS-Terra) and sun photometers (AERONET) showed that the model is able to reproduce well the horizontal field of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its evolution in time (temporal correlation coefficient with AERONET of 0.85). On the vertical scale, the comparison with lidar data at a single site (Rome, Italy) confirms that the desert dust advection occurs in several, superimposed "pulses" as simulated by the model. Cross-analysis of the modeled AOD and desert dust emission fluxes further allowed for the source regions of the observed plumes to be inferred. The vertical displacement of the modeled dust plume was in rather good agreement with the lidar soundings, with correlation coefficients among aerosol extinction profiles up to 1 and mean discrepancy of about 50 %. The model-measurement comparison for PM10 and PM2.5 showed a

  16. Beryllium dust generation resulting from plasma bombardment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doerner, R.; Mays, C.

    1997-01-01

    The beryllium dust resulting from erosion of beryllium samples subjected to plasma bombardment has been measured in PISCES-B. Loose surface dust was found to be uniformly distributed throughout the device and accounts for 3% of the eroded material. A size distribution measurement of the loose surface dust shows an increasing number of particles with decreasing diameter. Beryllium coatings on surfaces with a line of sight view of the target interaction region account for an additional 33% of the eroded beryllium material. Flaking of these surface layers is observed and is thought to play a significant role in dust generation inside the vacuum vessel. (orig.)

  17. Climate change and wind erosion by dust storms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wheaton, E.E.; Wittrock, V.

    1991-01-01

    Dust storms and their associated wind erosion are thought to be almost synonymous with drought. Dust storms have varying impacts including sandblasting and burying crops, wind erosion of soil, health effects and traffic accidents. A comparison of drought periods for southern Saskatchewan with dust storm frequencies for the period 1977-1988 revealed that the worst drought conditions coincided with the greatest April dust storm frequencies, with 1981 having the worst drought, and secondary spring droughts occurring in 1977, 1988, 1980 and 1982, and spring dust storm peaks occurring, in order of magnitude, in 1981, 1977, 1987, and 1982. An increase in atmospheric dust particles may lead to enhanced atmospheric subsidence and associated drought, and could be a positive feedback for drought intensity. Wind erosion potential may rise with rising temperature due to decreased vegetation cover, but the effect might be offset by rising precipitation

  18. Dust Removal Technology Demonstration for a Lunar Habitat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calle, C. I.; Chen, A.; Immer, C. D.; Csonka, M.; Hogue, M. D.; Snyder, S. J.; Rogriquez, M.; Margiotta, D. V.

    2010-01-01

    We have developed an Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS), an active dust mitigation technology with applications to solar panels, thermal radiators, optical systems, visors, seals and connectors. This active technology is capable of removing dust and granular material with diameters as large as several hundred microns. In this paper, we report on the development of three types of EDS systems for NASA's Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU). A transparent EDS 20 cm in diameter with indium tin oxide electrodes on a 0.1 mm-thick polyethylene terephtalate (PET) film was constructed for viewport dust protection. Two opaque EDS systems with copper electrodes on 0.1 mm-thick Kapton were also built to demonstrate dust removal on the doors of the HDU. A lotus coating that minimizes dust adhesion was added to one of the last two EDS systems to demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined systems.

  19. Impact of Middle Eastern dust storms on indoor and outdoor composition of bioaerosol

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soleimani, Zahra; Goudarzi, Gholamreza; Sorooshian, Armin; Marzouni, Mohammad Bagherian; Maleki, Heidar

    2016-08-01

    The presence of microbes in airborne aerosol particles, especially dust, is a major public health concern in desert regions. This study is the first of its kind to examine the effect of dust storms on indoor and outdoor microbial air quality at a hospital on the western side of Iran (city of Ahvaz), which is notorious for being highly vulnerable to dust emissions. Air samples were collected inside and outside of the hospital environment for six months, with the unique advantage of this study being that the region and duration of measurements allow for a clear comparison between dusty and normal days. On normal days, the average concentrations (outdoor/indoor) of bacteria and fungi were 423/329 cfu m-3 and 596/386 cfu m-3, respectively, which increased to 1257/406 cfu m-3 and 1116/550 cfu m-3 on dust event days. Indoor/Outdoor ratios for bacteria and fungi are lower on dust event days (0.26-0.60) versus normal days (0.44-0.95). Bacillus spp., Micrococcus spp., Streptomyces spp., and Staphylococcus spp. were the dominant bacteria both indoors and outdoors on normal and dust event days. Gram positive bacteria exhibited higher concentrations than Gram negative bacteria in both outdoor and indoor air samples as well as during both normal and dust event days. The data suggest that Gram positive bacteria are more resistant to undesirable outdoor conditions (e.g., high incident solar radiation) as compared to Gram negative ones. These results have implications for other populated arid regions where more stringent control of indoor air quality can greatly benefit public health.

  20. Dust-Plasma Interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosenberg, M.

    2010-01-01

    The objective of our theoretical research under this grant over the past 3 years was to develop new understanding in a range of topics in the physics of dust-plasma interactions, with application to space and the laboratory. We conducted studies related to the physical properties of dust, waves and instabilities in both weakly coupled and strongly coupled dusty plasmas, and innovative possible applications. A major consideration in our choice of topics was to compare theory with experiments or observations, and to motivate new experiments, which we believe is important for developing this relatively new field. Our research is summarized, with reference to our list of journal publications.