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In the engine of heavy trucks, the built-in fuel filter assumes the role of "lungs". The core of the filter, namely the fuel filter paper, acts as a filter for small impurities and separates oil and water. In order to be able to separate minute impurities from the fuel, in this study, we prepared a novel fuel oil filter paper with high efficiency and high dust holding capacity based on wet-laid forming by laminating PBT/PP two-component melt-blown nonwoven material and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)-doped cellulose wood fiber pulp with the fiber mesh combination forming technology. The effects of the CNC mixing ratio, surface density of melt-blown nonwoven material layer, surface density of cellulose wood pulp paper layer and calendaring pressure on the pore size and filtration performance of the composite samples were investigated, and the filtration efficiency of the composite samples on the tiny impurities in the fuel were also studied. The results showed that the novel composite fuel filter paper material prepared by the combined forming technology of fibrous web had high filtration efficiency and dust holding capacity, and the filtration efficiency of the composite samples could respectively reach 99.90% and 99.52% for particles larger than 14 μm and 4 μm in diameter in the fuel. At the same time, the dust holding capacity of the composite sample can reach up to 27.63 mgcm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To elucidate whether occupational noise exposure increases the mortality from ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, and if exposure to paper dust modified the risks. Methods: We studied 6686 workers from soft paper mills, with occupational noise exposure, < 85 dBA, 85–90 dBA and > 90 dBA, and high (> 5 mg/m3) exposure to paper dust. Person-years 1960–2019 were stratified according to gender, age, and calendar-year. Expected numbers of deaths were calculated using the Swedish population as the reference and standardized mortality ratios (SMR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were assessed. Results: SMR for IHD was 1.12 (95% CI 0.88–1.41) for noise < 85 dBA, 1.18 (95% CI 0.90–1.55) for 85–90 dBA, and 1.27 (95% CI 1.10–1.47) among workers exposed > 90 dBA. Joint exposure to high noise exposure and high exposure to paper dust resulted in slightly higher IHD mortality (SMR 1.39, 95% CI 1.15–1.67). SMR for ischemic stroke was 0.90 (95% CI 0.37–2.15) for noise < 85 dBA, 1.08 (95% CI 0.45–2.59) for 85–90 dBA, and 1.48 (95% CI 0.99–2.00) among workers exposed > 90 dBA. High noise exposure and high exposure to paper dust resulted in higher ischemic stroke mortality (SMR 1.83, 95% CI 1.12–2.98). Conclusion: Noise levels > 90 dBA was associated with increased IHD mortality. Combined exposures of noise and paper dust may further increase the risks. Our results do not provide support for a causal relationship for ischemic stroke. Residual confounding from smoking has to be considered. Workers need to be protected from occupational noise levels exceeding 90 dBA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Excessive paper dust during paper production may harm the workers’ respiratory health. We wanted to assess the inhalable paper dust levels and its determinants among paper industry workers.A study was conducted in Ethiopia to assess the level of personal inhalable paper dust exposure among four paper mills. A total of 150 samples were collected using the IOM sampler attached to Side Kick Casella pumps at a flow rate of 2 L/min. The samples were analyzed in Nemko Norlab, Norway. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to identify determinants of inhalable paper dust.The geometric mean of personal inhalable paper dust was 3.3 mg/m3 with 80% of the measurements exceeding the Swedish occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 2 mg/m3. The linear mixed-effects model showed that the level of dust was 28% higher when using high-speed than when using low-speed rewinding machines, while paper mills with an average of more than four machines per job group had 22% higher exposure than paper mills with a lower number of machines. Furthermore, working in packing and preparation was associated with higher dust exposure than in other areas.The dust exposure levels were above the Swedish OEL for 80% of the samples. This indicates that preventive measures should be established in the industry. The exposure model identified high-speed rewinding machines, a high number of machines, and work in preparation and packing as associated with high levels of paper dust exposure.Methods: Excessive paper dust during paper production may harm the workers’ respiratory health. We wanted to assess the inhalable paper dust levels and its determinants among paper industry workers.A study was conducted in Ethiopia to assess the level of personal inhalable paper dust exposure among four paper mills. A total of 150 samples were collected using the IOM sampler attached to Side Kick Casella pumps at a flow rate of 2 L/min. The samples were analyzed in Nemko Norlab, Norway. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to identify determinants of inhalable paper dust.The geometric mean of personal inhalable paper dust was 3.3 mg/m3 with 80% of the measurements exceeding the Swedish occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 2 mg/m3. The linear mixed-effects model showed that the level of dust was 28% higher when using high-speed than when using low-speed rewinding machines, while paper mills with an average of more than four machines per job group had 22% higher exposure than paper mills with a lower number of machines. Furthermore, working in packing and preparation was associated with higher dust exposure than in other areas.The dust exposure levels were above the Swedish OEL for 80% of the samples. This indicates that preventive measures should be established in the industry. The exposure model identified high-speed rewinding machines, a high number of machines, and work in preparation and packing as associated with high levels of paper dust exposure.Results: Excessive paper dust during paper production may harm the workers’ respiratory health. We wanted to assess the inhalable paper dust levels and its determinants among paper industry workers.A study was conducted in Ethiopia to assess the level of personal inhalable paper dust exposure among four paper mills. A total of 150 samples were collected using the IOM sampler attached to Side Kick Casella pumps at a flow rate of 2 L/min. The samples were analyzed in Nemko Norlab, Norway. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to identify determinants of inhalable paper dust.The geometric mean of personal inhalable paper dust was 3.3 mg/m3 with 80% of the measurements exceeding the Swedish occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 2 mg/m3. The linear mixed-effects model showed that the level of dust was 28% higher when using high-speed than when using low-speed rewinding machines, while paper mills with an average of more than four machines per job group had 22% higher exposure than paper mills with a lower number of machines. Furthermore, working in packing and preparation was associated with higher dust exposure than in other areas.The dust exposure levels were above the Swedish OEL for 80% of the samples. This indicates that preventive measures should be established in the industry. The exposure model identified high-speed rewinding machines, a high number of machines, and work in preparation and packing as associated with high levels of paper dust exposure.Conclusions: Excessive paper dust during paper production may harm the workers’ respiratory health. We wanted to assess the inhalable paper dust levels and its determinants among paper industry workers.A study was conducted in Ethiopia to assess the level of personal inhalable paper dust exposure among four paper mills. A total of 150 samples were collected using the IOM sampler attached to Side Kick Casella pumps at a flow rate of 2 L/min. The samples were analyzed in Nemko Norlab, Norway. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to identify determinants of inhalable paper dust.The geometric mean of personal inhalable paper dust was 3.3 mg/m3 with 80% of the measurements exceeding the Swedish occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 2 mg/m3. The linear mixed-effects model showed that the level of dust was 28% higher when using high-speed than when using low-speed rewinding machines, while paper mills with an average of more than four machines per job group had 22% higher exposure than paper mills with a lower number of machines. Furthermore, working in packing and preparation was associated with higher dust exposure than in other areas.The dust exposure levels were above the Swedish OEL for 80% of the samples. This indicates that preventive measures should be established in the industry. The exposure model identified high-speed rewinding machines, a high number of machines, and work in preparation and packing as associated with high levels of paper dust exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper dusting has recently been recognized as a significant issue in the hygiene tissue industry. This review considers the factors that may contribute to dusting and linting, as well as the challenges of evaluating dusting propensity. Examining both the paper and textile industries, several methods of dusting and linting assessment exist. This review describes the equipment, methodologies, targeted paper grades or materials, advantages, and disadvantages. Standards (if applicable) are also covered for each of the major methods. These existing methods were found to have various drawbacks, suggesting a need for an improved, standardized method and device. In conclusion, and to motivate future research, mechanisms of dust release are reviewed along with existing and possible solutions to combat the tissue-dusting problem. This paper outlines the importance of creating a repeatable, standard, and accurate testing procedure and methodology for dust particle characterization in the hygiene tissue industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper dusting, which occurs when a tissue web releases unbound and loosely bound fibers or filler particles during tissue-making or product manufacturing, has an overall negative impact, causing safety hazards, machine runnability difficulties, and product quality issues. To date, there are no well-established industry standards to quantify dusting/linting propensities in finished tissue products, thus evaluating the effectiveness of dust/lint control programs is challenging yet intriguing. This research aims to fill this gap by developing a methodology to characterize dusting in tissue papers. We have developed a device prototype (named the Tissue Dust Collector) and a methodology that together have been named the Tissue Dust Analysis System (TDAS), which aims at quantifying the propensity for tissue-grade paper products to generate dust/lint in a controlled and reproducible manner. Two samples, corresponding to commercial products with a low and high linting propensity, were tested using the proposed device and methodology, and the released particles were quantified and characterized. The device and methodology provided reproducible results for simulated consumer handling and product manufacturing scenarios. By changing the instrument's motor frequency, the force of agitation changes, mimicking/simulating consumer (60 strokes per min, spm) and producer/manufacturing (180 spm) handling scenarios (though manufacturing processes are much faster in practice). Particle counts at each level for each product showed reproducible values differentiable at different agitation levels. Adopting the proposed Tissue Dust Analysis System may help to characterize and understand the mechanisms behind dusting to create dust-control strategies that can alleviate this issue at its various sources or simply allow tissue paper manufacturers to compare and advertise their products based on dusting propensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To study respiratory effects of exposure to soft paper dust exposure, a relationship that is rarely studied. Methods: Soft tissue paper mill workers at a Swedish paper mill were investigated using a questionnaire and lung function and atopy screening. Spirometry without bronchodilation was performed with a dry wedge spirometer, and forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) were obtained and expressed as percent predicted. Exposure to soft paper dust was assessed from historical stationary and personal measurements of total dust, in addition to historical information about the work, department, and production. The impact of high exposure to soft paper dust (> 5 mg/m3) vs. lower exposure ≤ 5 mg/m3, as well as cumulative exposure, was analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Multivariate models were adjusted for smoking, atopy, gender, and body mass index. Results: One hundred ninety-eight current workers (124 male and 74 female) were included. There were significant associations between both cumulative exposure and years of high exposure to soft paper dust and impaired lung function. Each year of high exposure to soft paper dust was associated with a 0.87% decrease in FEV1 [95% confidence interval (CI) − 1.39 to − 0.35] and decreased FVC (− 0.54%, 95% CI − 1.00 to − 0.08) compared to the lower exposed workers. Conclusions: The present study shows that occupational exposure to soft paper dust (years exceeding 5 mg/m3 total dust) is associated with lung function impairment and increased prevalence of obstructive lung function impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The leather sector is currently under heavy threat to reduce environmental pollution problems associated with the generation of leather waste, especially in terms of public acceptance issues related to environmental welfare requirements. Leather waste must be disposed of in landfills, which has a significant environmental impact. The development of natural polymer/paper mill sludge-based leather replacements for the production of leather goods and footwear products is an alternative solution supported by the recycled leather industry. In this work, a study is carried out to prepare natural polymer leather sheet (NPLS) from leather waste (chrome shavings and buffing dust), paper mill sludge, and natural polymer [natural rubber latex (NRL)] by vacuum-pressure method, for their potential application in leather products industries. The NPLS was characterized by its physicochemical and mechanical properties. Various types of NPLS were produced by comprising different ratios of the NRL. Results portrayed that 300 mL w/v NRL significantly improved the physicochemical and mechanical properties of NPLS. Hence, the research has revealed a revolutionary idea of NPLS developed which is cost-effective, eco-friendly, and energy efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal solid waste (MSW) severely threatens human health and the ecological environment owing to its toxicity, mutagenic activity and carcinogenicity. The continuous increase in MSW together with stringent regulations makes sanitary disposal imperative. Waste sorting and recycling has been recognized as an efficient and economical treatment strategy. By analysing research data from 31 provinces between 2000 and 2017, the overarching goal of this work was to determine the characterizations and the compositions of MSW in China and then provide advices for sorting, transporting, storing and disposing of MSW. The results showed that the amount of MSW that was generated ranged from 0.08 to 2.34 kg d−1 ca−1 and averaged 0.73 kg d−1 ca−1 in China. The average bulk density, moisture content and the wet basis of the low calorific value of the MSW were 325 kg m−3, 50.3% and 4649 kcal kg−1. The MSW in China could be classified into four main categories, food waste, recycling waste, landfill waste and hazardous substances, and could be further classified into ten sub-categories. Overall, food waste was the most common and could be best managed via compost production. Bulk density was highly positively correlated with the ratio of the dust and bricks in all MSW and highly negatively correlated with the ratio of the food waste, metal, glass, plastic and rubber. The wet basis of the low calorific value was highly positively correlated with the ratio of the plastic and rubber, and the water content was highly positively correlated with the ratio of the food waste. Temporally, most of the components, especially waste paper and plastics, increased, while wood, dust and bricks decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the effects of extracts of paper dust (PD) on isolated guinea pig tracheal rings to characterize possible mechanisms by which paper dust acts on the respiratory system in workers employed in recycling paper mills. Steady-state characterization of the PD extract dose-response curve; Effect of capsaicin pretreatment on the contractile activity of PD extracts.

An edge-cloud computing collaborative dust concentration detection architecture is proposed for real-time operation of intelligent algorithms to reduce the warning delay. And, an end-to-end three-channel convolutional neural network (E2E-SCNN) method is proposed in the paper to facilitate intelligent monitoring and management of dust concentration in tobacco production workshops. This model, which includes three sub-networks-a local feature branch, a global feature branch, and a spatial feature branch, learns the detail texture, overall layout, and spatial distribution information of the input image respectively. A fusion of the three complementary features is performed at the end of the network for the final dust concentration regression prediction. The design, when compared with the single network structure that directly regresses the entire image, is shown to more fully represent the overall information of the image and enhance monitoring performance. A richly annotated image dataset of tobacco production workshops is constructed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The prediction error of E2E-SCNN is compared with existing image estimation algorithms, dual-channel networks, and other methods on this dataset using indicators such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and R 2 . It is shown by the results that excellent performance is achieved by the E2E-SCNN algorithm, significantly surpassing other comparison methods. The paper demonstrates that the accuracy and robustness of dust concentration prediction can be greatly improved by using a three-channel convolutional neural network spatial information monitoring framework. This achievement provides an effective means for dust supervision and governance during the tobacco production process and offers a technical route that can be referred to for image analysis tasks in other similar fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust is one of the environmental problems that directly affects the performance of solar energy systems. The goal of the present paper was to study and model the performance loss of a photovoltaic panel under the effect of dust deposition. The experiments were performed using two similar panels with and without dust deposition during 8 days in spring 2020, Ilam Township, Ilam, Iran. The voltage, current, and power loss were calculated under the effects of different dust deposition values. Different regression models were developed to predict performance loss of the panel with dust deposition. The results indicated that voltage, current, and power values decreased by 2.35–3.33%, 24.81–78.46%, and 26.57–79.18%, respectively, with increase of the deposited dust from 42.86 to 236.94 g.m−2. Based on the results, there was found that the quadratic models were better to predict the performance loss of the photovoltaic panel with accuracy of 64.16, 95.89, and 91.55% for voltage, current, and power loss, respectively. The developed models in the presented research can be used to predict the starting time of the cleaning process or fault diagnoses of photovoltaic panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy conversion performance of commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems is only 15–20 percent; moreover, a rise in working temperature mitigates this low efficiency. To enhance their performance and prevent damage, researchers test new technologies and integrate heat recovery devices with PV systems. Concentrated photovoltaic systems (CPVs) are especially vulnerable to high radiation levels. This paper explores novel cooling techniques for PV systems, an area that has not been extensively investigated before. The cooling methods are categorized into front-surface and back-surface cooling methods, offering a unique perspective on how to keep PV systems cool. Moreover, the paper delves into the advancements made in PV cooling systems and CPVs, shedding light on the cutting-edge developments in this field. The results demonstrate the profound impact of various operational factors, such as radiation and wind speed, on the selection of suitable cooling systems or heat recovery methods. These findings unveil the crucial importance of considering these factors when choosing cooling techniques, adding a compelling dimension to the research. For example, it was depicted that optical cooling techniques can enhance the performance of PV systems by up to 4.2% and the solar-to-heat conversion efficiency by up to 47%. Furthermore, this research ventures into uncharted territory by subjecting both the front and back sides of the PV module to active and passive cooling techniques under differing work conditions. The comprehensive list provided here exhaustively describes the advantages, disadvantages, and developments of each technique, revealing the novelty of the approaches explored in this paper. It was reported that back cooling techniques can decline the cell temperature of PV systems by up to 57.8% and grow the electrical and thermal efficiencies by up to 82.6% and 97.75%, respectively. The groundbreaking nature of this research lies in its ability to empower decision-makers to select the optimal cooling system based on specific requirements and environmental factors, thereby bridging the gap between theory and practical application. The paper also introduces a new concept of cooling using hydrogel, a 3D porous network structure that can enhance photovoltaic energy conversion and storage, and reviews two recent studies that demonstrated the effectiveness of hydrogel cooling methods for PV panels. Moreover, the paper discusses the issue of dust deposition and mitigation, which affects the performance and lifetime of PV modules, and evaluates various methods for cleaning or reducing dust on PV panels, such as manual, passive, self-cleaning, and mechanical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand-dust weather seriously reduces the acquisition effect of computer vision equipment. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a fast sand-dust video quality improvement method using simple color balance and dynamic guided filtering. Our method extracts all frames of the video and then processes each frame in two steps by using the parallel computing method. The first step is to quickly correct the color deviation of the frame by a simple color balance method while eliminating the influence of nonuniform illumination. The second step is to use guided filtering with dynamic adjustment of the penalty coefficient to eliminate the interference of noise to the frame, enhance the contrast and detailed information of the frame, and finally reassemble the processed frames into the video with improved quality. Through qualitative and quantitative comprehensive experiments on sand-dust videos, the experimental results are compared with the existing methods, which prove that our method has advantages in improving the quality of sand-dust videos. The contribution of the proposed method can be summarized as follows: 1) A color balance method combined with screen Poisson equation is proposed. Due to light scattering by sand dust, the illumination of video frames are uneven. Our color balance method can effectively solve the problem that the difference between the target and background is small and difficult to identify when there is insufficient illumination. 2) A strategy of dynamically adjusting the penalty coefficient of guided filtering is proposed. The experimental results show that our method can effectively solve the problem of edge blur in some frames when guided filtering processes sand-dust videos. 3) A method of using multicore parallel processing of video frames is proposed to improve the quality of sand-dust video quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy is a promising and sustainable natural resource that can be harnessed through solar harvesting devices such as photovoltaic (PV) cells and concentrating solar collectors. The efficiency of these systems can reach up to 23% and 70%, respectively. However, their performance is significantly affected by geographical and environmental factors, such as orientation, inclination angle, longitude, latitude, solar intensity, shade, wind, temperature, and dust accumulation. Among these factors, dust deposition is a major contributor to reduced efficiency, power production, and profitability of solar energy harvesting devices. Accumulated dust can decrease the efficiency of solar systems by more than 70% within a month, depending on their geographical location. The intensity and characteristics of dust, such as shape, size, meteorology, and type, vary worldwide and are determined by the system. Numerous studies have investigated the intensity of dust and various dust cleaning techniques with prospects and challenges to restore the performance of solar energy harvesting systems. This paper focuses on the intensity of dust around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It provides a detailed review of recent investigations into dust-cleaning techniques for solar energy harvesting systems for researchers, designers, and engineers in this field. Furthermore, it includes a techno-economic comparison of the techniques, which can aid in selecting the most suitable dust-cleaning technique for a particular geographic region based on technical and financial aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust pollution control is the basic guarantee of mine safety production, which has been widely concerned by scholars. Based on a total of 1786 publications collected by the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) from 2001 to 2021, this paper analyzes the spatial–temporal distribution characteristics, hot topics, and frontier trends of the international mine dust field during the past 20 years by using Citespace and VOSviewer knowledge graph technology. The research shows that the study of mine dust can be divided into three stages: initial period (2001 ~ 2008), stable transition period (2009 ~ 2016), and boom period (2017 ~ 2021). The journals and disciplines which belong to mine dust research mainly focus on environmental science and engineering technology. A stable core group of authors and institutions have been preliminarily formed in the dust research field. The main themes of the study contained the whole process of mine dust generation, transport, prevention, and control, as well as the consequences of disaster. At present, the hot research fields mainly focus on mine dust particle pollution, multi-stage dust prevention, and emission reduction technologies, and mine occupational protection, monitoring, and early warning. In the future, the research should focus on the mechanism of dust production and transportation, the theory of efficient prevention and control, the technology and equipment of precise prevention and control of dust, and the high-precision monitoring and early warning of dust concentration. Future research should be concerned with dust control in underground mines and deep concave open-pit mines with complicated and treacherous environments, and strengthen research institutions, interdisciplinary cooperation, and interaction so as to promote the integration and application of mine dust and automation, information, and intelligent technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the observation results with the single-mirror radio telescope RT-22 (PRAO, LPI) in the water vapor maser line at 22 GHz in the direction of dust clumps from the ATLASGAL and Bolocam large-scale blind surveys in the millimeter continuum. The aim of this paper is to search for masers in the water vapor line in previously unexplored sources and to study the variability of known masers. Observations of 140 sources resulted in the detection of maser emission at 22 GHz in six sources, and in four sources (ATLASGAL 016.987+00.981, 017.216+00.821, 018.701–00.229, and Bolocam 081.174–00.100) masers were detected for the first time. In two sources (ATLASGAL 034.195–0.592 and Bolocam 081.174–0.1), the water vapor line masers showed significant variability during the 8-month observation and follow-up program. Comparison of RT-22 observational data with archival data from the GBT‑100 telescope (US National Radio Astronomy Observatory) showed that 9 out of 140 sources show a significant change in the radiation flux density of masers: two sources changed from the category of masers with low brightness ( Jy) to the category bright (more than 10 Jy), and in seven relatively bright earlier (more than 3 Jy) masers, no radiation was detected. Significant changes in the characteristics of the maser emission may indicate changes in the environmental conditions in which the maser emission was produced, which is of interest for further study of maser-related processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological difficulties related with blasting operations have become increasingly significant. It is crucial to give due consideration to the evaluation of rock fragmentation and the threats posed by environmental effect of blasting (EEB). To address these challenges, numerous scholars have conducted extensive research employing various assessment techniques with the aim of mitigating risks and preventing the emergence of unfavorable EEB. The occurrence of EEB is prevalent during the excavation of hard rock, and it presents significant hazards to personnel safety, equipment integrity, and operational continuity. Therefore, conducting a systematic review of EEB is of utmost importance as it enables a comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors. Such an understanding plays a vital role in advancing EEB prediction and prevention methods. The careful selection of an appropriate EEB assessment method is a crucial aspect of blasting operations. However, there is a lack of comprehensive discussions on the applications of machine learning (ML) and optimization algorithms (OA) in addressing various EEB. Only a limited number of papers have briefly touched upon this topic. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to bridge this gap by conducting an analysis of global trends using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software from the year 2000 onwards. It comprehensively explores EEB classification and definition, encompassing air overpressure (AOp), ground vibration, dust, backbreak, flyrock, and rock fragmentation. Furthermore, the paper provides a compendium of the most recent ML and OA prediction techniques used to addresses EEB. Finally, the paper concludes by proposing future directions for exploring innovative approaches that combine data-driven ML techniques with knowledge-based or physics-based methods. Such integration has the potential to mitigate hazards during blasting operations and reduce the likelihood of unfavorable EEB occurrences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the impact dust accumulation for long-term on the performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules. It examines accumulation impact on the PV efficiency, their solar energy production, and their lifetime. The paper also discusses the various strategies for preventing dust accumulation, such as waterproof coatings, hydrophobic coatings, and anti-static coatings. Finally, the paper provides a comprehensive review in dust control and highlights potential future research directions. This review provides an in-depth analysis of PV behavior and its effect by dust accumulation and provides useful information for researchers and practitioners in the solar industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As was shown in papers [1, 2] and other studies of these authors, sublimation–dust activity in some primitive-type asteroids of the Main asteroid belt (MAB) correlates with the near-perihelion position of asteroids in orbit. These results suggest that activity of this kind is induced by the sublimation (cometary) mechanism, i.e., release of dust particles from the surface of evaporating ice-bearing layers. It is considered that these layers become bared due to collisions between asteroids in the MAB. However, collisions may also directly result in ejecting the dust matter (the impact mechanism). Here, we consider the both mechanisms. The frequency and effectiveness of impacts have been quantitatively estimated. It has been shown that the collision frequency of projectile asteroids (impactors), the kinetic energy of which is higher than (1−3) × 1010 J (sufficient to eject a significant amount of dust), with a target asteroid ~100 km across (by an example of asteroid 145 Adeona) is up to ~2 yr–1. For the characteristic time of dust activity assumed at 0.01 yr, we found that, at any given time moment, among ~300 MAB asteroids larger than 100 km in diameter, several asteroids may be active due to the impact mechanism action. It is noted that this estimate is consistent with observations. To make the cometary mechanism effective, the collisions should be more powerful (the characteristic energy is 1013 J) for excavating the ice-bearing layers over a sufficiently large area (up to 0.1 km2). The frequency of powerful collisions is low, but the regions of uncovered ice-bearing layers exist for a long time. Outbursts of solar activity and heating during the asteroid's passage along the perihelion part of the orbit may provide for the observed frequency of sublimation activity in large primitive asteroids of the MAB (there are about 200 of them). According to our model, approximately one large asteroid is active at any given time moment. Further observations are required to confirm this estimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the detailed studies of drilling cores from peat deposits of the Vydrino bog with a thickness of 4.4 m and an age of 13 100 cal. years. The peat is composed of fen, transitional, and raised types. The early-diagenetic transformations of peat sediments are considered, and the distribution of elements, the formation of authigenic minerals, and the chemical composition of bog waters are studied. The destruction of organic matter begins from the upper intervals of peat at the early diagenetics stage. Pyrograms do not have clearly defined high-temperature peaks, "rudiments" of the macromolecular structure of kerogen, which indicates a low degree of transformation of peat organic matter. The high abundance of organotrophic, ammonifying, nitrifying, and phosphate-mobilizing microorganisms, and the low abundance of Fe- and Mn-oxidizing microorganisms, and sulfate-reducing bacteria are revealed. The presence of organotrophic microorganisms throughout the section indicates that the biogeochemical processes of the carbon cycle span the entire peat sequence. The low S(II) content indicates the low intensity of sulfate reduction. The fen peat is characterized by the high contents of Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zr, La and anomalous contents of Cu, Zn, which is caused by the peatland formation under conditions of rich mineral nutrition. The ash part of the transitional peat demonstrates a decrease in the contents of Si, Fe, Sr, Br, K Si, Ca, Ba, Cu, Zn and La, which reflects the gradual weakening of the connection of the peat deposit with the underlying rocks. The near-surface horizon of raised peat is characterized by an increase in the contents of K, Mn, Zn, Hg, Pb and As, which is accompanied by an increase in atmospheric dust and anthropogenic impact on the bog ecosystem in the 20th and 21st centuries. The bog waters of the fen peat are characterized by the high contents of the main ions, Al, Fe, Mn, Sr, while the transitional peat shows a decrease in DOC, , , Al, Fe, Ni, Ca, Mg. The oligotrophic stage peat deposit layer is characterized by the development of Fe oxides and hydroxides, the presence of vivianite is noted for transitional peats, and the eutrophic stage layer includes rhodochrosite and sulfides of Fe, Cu, and Zn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The concentration of silica in occupational conditions is well defined and estimated around the world. Many countries in the world have developed air standards for occupational conditions based on the percent silica in ambient air. This is due to the pulmonary effect caused by silica yielding diseases like silicosis and pneumoconiosis. In India, occupational exposure to silica dust is regulated by Directorate General of Mine Safety (Tech.) (S&T) Circular No. 1 of 2004 Under Reg. 123 of Coal Mines Regulations, 1957 for any metal/non-metal mining operations estimated gravimetrically. As no silica standards are prescribed in India for non-occupational conditions, venturing into such analysis was well envisaged and perceived. Methodology: Air sampling was done at identified locations through high-volume samplers for 24 h, twice a week in pre-monsoon season (March to June) and the Whatman filter paper was sonicated at sufficient speed to isolate dust particles for energy dispersive X-ray. Results: The percentage of silica in "PM10" was found lowest in mining sites (15%), and highest in transportation sites (35%) and mid-value for mixed sites (24%). Thus, risk level gets magnified due to addition of finer dust generated in transportation and mixed sites than mining due to diesel driven vehicles. Burning of any fossil fuel generates high percentage of finer dust (< 2.5 µm). Conclusions: There should be proper prescribed standard for silica for non-occupational conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents numerical models of mean-motion resonances detected in the Quadrantid meteoroid stream consisting of particles of mass 0.003 to 0.03 g, which helps to prove the presence of the following mean-motion resonances: the 1:9 resonance with Venus, 1:5 resonance with Earth, 1:3 and 3:8 resonances with Mars, and 2:1,7:3, 9:4 resonances with Jupiter. Resonance particles create dust trails far from the Earth's orbit. Indeed, there is no observational support for resonant effects in the observed Quadrantid meteoroid stream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a numerical study of the equilibrium parameters of a one-dimensional chain consisting of three dust particles levitating in the electric fields of a gas-discharge plasma. A numerical model is considered in which the movement of dust particles is simulated with account for the action of the Coulomb repulsion force, external electric field, gravity, electrostatic force induced by a plasma space charge, and ion drag described analytically. The spatial distributions of the plasma space charge are compared with a potential around dust particles and the equilibrium structural parameters of a dust chain, depending on the fact whether the ion drag is taken into account analytically or not. It is shown that, when the ion drag is taken into account analytically, the dust chain as a whole is displaced in the direction of the ion flow. In this case, the distances between the dust particles turn out to be smaller than in the case where the ion drag is neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of flames propagating with an alternating-sign velocity in methane–air and coal dust–methane–air mixtures in a vertically located closed tube at coal dust concentrations of 0.10–0.42 kg/m3. The results of the study can be useful for developing combustion models and assessing dynamic and thermal effects during combustion of methane–air–coal dust mixtures in coal mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a long-term analysis of ambient PM10 concentrations measured at a background station in Spain, using backward trajectories generated with the HYSPLIT model, together with the identification of synoptic patterns and a fuzzy clustering analysis, to identify the sources present and evaluate their relationship with meteorological variables such as wind speed and direction, temperature, and atmospheric pressure. Ambient PM10 presented maximum values during the summer with mean concentrations of approximately 14 µg m−3 for August, and minimum values during the winter with concentrations of 6 µg m−3 for January. The daily cycle presented two peaks—one in the morning and another in the afternoon—with this variability being associated with transport emissions. African air masses reached the study site extending vertically at least up to 2500 m.a.g.l, with a frequency of 43.5%, and are associated to a mean ground PM10 concentration of 41.3 µg m−3. During the episodes of Saharan intrusions, high pressures with unclassified synoptic patterns (U) prevailed over the Iberian Peninsula. Local, European, maritime and intermittent contributions were the four main sources of pollutants identified through fuzzy clustering analysis. These intermittent contributions are associated with Saharan dust intrusions, with a long-term average PM10 concentration of 1.7 µg m−3, which represents an important contribution of 11.2%. These sources affect seasonal variations of PM10 background concentrations, and reach their maximum when the greatest contributions of desert dust occur—mainly during the spring–summer months. These results provide useful information for future comparisons and environmental monitoring of PM10 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the germanium loss caused by Fe(OH)3 colloid adsorption in the process of zinc oxide dust neutralization leaching was studied by using simulated solution. By comparing the conventional method and ultrasonic method, it was found that ultrasonic method could reduce the germanium loss by 69.24%. Characterization analysis showed that ultrasound could reduce the redox potential of the reaction system and inhibit the formation of Fe(OH)3 colloid. Promote Fe(OH)3 colloid in leaching quickly agglomerate, centrifugal separation will not remain in the centrifuge, reduce the Fe(OH)3 colloid in the centrifuge continuous adsorption of germanium. The ultrasonic efflux and mechanical action can destroy the colloidal surface, stripping the germanium adsorbed by Fe(OH)3 colloid and reducing the loss of germanium. The ultrasonic inhibition technology adopted in this study is green and environmentally friendly, which is of great significance to the efficient extraction of germanium and the development of germanium industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Lunar south pole region (SPR) has become the focus of future explorations due to its special illumination condition and the possible water ice in permanently shadowed craters around it. The Shackleton crater locates almost exactly at the Moon's south pole and has become the hottest destination for several landing missions, including the Chang'E-7 mission. However, people still know little about the electric potential and the dust environment around this crater. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to study the surface potential and the electrostatic dust transport around the crater. It is found that the crater's floor can be negatively charged due to the topographic shielding, and the surface potential is as low as −175 V on the leeward crater wall. Accordingly, a large number of charged dust grains can be emitted from the leeward crater wall, with a maximum height of about 10 km and a horizontal distance of about 40 km, which brings a local dust cloud around the crater. Both the topographic shielding and the local dust cloud are qualitatively verified by a numerical simulation, in which a typical dust density of 104−105 m−3 is found near the crater. Our results are important to the environmental assessment for future explorations near the crater. Furthermore, the results are helpful to understand the surface charging and the electrostatic dust transport on the other airless bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urbanization processes with growing vehicle numbers cause heavy metal pollution in street dust, and high populations in metropolitan cities are exposed to pollutants. This paper aims to monitor the spatial distribution of heavy metals and evaluate the concentrations via health risk assessment of HMs (Cu, Ni, Cd, Co, Pb, and Zn) that expose the inhabitants to health hazards. According to the results of the current study, sixty street dust samples were applied to the acid digestion technique and quantification by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The spatial distribution of the selected heavy metals in the street dust was investigated using the spatial analysis tool in ArcGIS 10.0 according to population density and land use. In the present study, we used hazard index and cancer risk methods to estimate the public health risk of the pollutants exposed to street dust in Ankara. The concentrations range of the elements in street dust over the study area ranged from 3.34–4.50, 31.69–42.87, 16.09–21.54, 42.85–57.55, 0.00–3.51, and 23.03–30.79, respectively. The overall decreasing order of mean concentration of metals was observed as follows: Pb > Cu > Ni > Co > Cd > Zn. Vehicle traffic and industrial activities seem to be the most critical anthropogenic sources responsible for dust pollution in the study area. The risk assessment of Pb and Ni exposure was the highest, and the hazard index values were 2.42E + 00 and 2.28E + 00 mg/kg/day for children. However, the effect on adults was 2.62E-01 and 2.37E-02 mg/kg/day, followed by inhalation and dermal contact with street dust was almost negligible. The decreasing concentration is modeled spatially along the western development corridor of the city. The risk to public health is high in areas with high densities close to the city center and the main artery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the chemistry of fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM10) aerosols sampled over a period of three years during 2018–2021 at a semi -arid tropical location in the rain shadow region of the peninsular India. The data is classified in to dry (December to May) and wet (June to November) periods. Scavenging effect due to rains have culminated in to less concentrations of both fine and coarse aerosols and their ionic components in the wet period. Significantly high concentrations of the crustal components such as Ca, Na, K and Mg from the local dust resulted in the alkaline pH in both dry and wet periods with Ca and Mg emerging as major neutralizing components. Overall, < 20% samples of both fine and coarse aerosols depicted acidic pH. Concentration of SO4 was comparatively more than NO3 indicating towards more presence of stationary sources (industrial/domestic emissions) than mobile (vehicular emissions) sources. Combustion generated and highly absorbing black carbon aerosols showed high concentration during the dry period. Local activities comprising residential, agricultural, vehicular and industrial emissions were the major sources of aerosols at Solapur however, the contribution from the distant sources were also found to contribute as inferred from the cluster analysis and concentration weighted trajectories (CWT). The observed abundances of the alkaline dust aerosols that could act as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei will have important implications on the studies related to cloud aerosol precipitation interaction over this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thermal diffusion of dusty fluids has valuable interference in various fields, including waste-water treatment, oil transportation, and power plant pipes. Dusty fluids are used in lots of industrial fields as a result of their improved heat transfer and heat management capabilities. These industries range from renewable energy systems to aerobic plastic sheet extrusion, manufacturing, and rolling and reaching metal sheet cooling. Results: The work embodied in this paper presents the analytical solution performed to predict the effects of thermal diffusion on dusty, viscous, incompressible fluid flows between two porous, parallel vertical plates with a heat source or a heat sink. The mathematical equations are solved by the separation of variables and Laplace transform techniques. The influence of temperature is investigated for various values of Prandtl number and heat source or heat sink parameters. Also, the influences of various coefficients like the thermal diffusion coefficient, Schmidt number, Prandtl number, and heat source or heat sink coefficient on the concentration are observed. The fluid velocity distribution is graphically obtained. The solutions are discussed and exhibited graphically. The influences of the thermal diffusion parameter and chemical reaction parameter on fluid and dust particles' velocities are examined. A parametric study on the effect of time on temperature and concentration is made. Conclusions: The exact expressions for temperature, concentration, and velocity variation for fluid and dusty particles are obtained analytically. The temperature is inversely proportional to both the Prandtl number Pr and the heat source or heat sink parameter H s . The concentration of the fluid is inversely proportional to the thermal diffusion parameter Td and the heat source or heat sink parameter H s . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic power generation is developing rapidly with the approval of The Paris Agreement in 2015. However, there are many dust deposition problems that occur in desert and plateau areas. Traditional cleaning methods such as manual cleaning and mechanical cleaning are unstable and produce a large economic burden. Therefore, self-cleaning coatings, which have unique mechanisms and high adaptability, have attracted wide attention in the photovoltaic industry and scientific community, especially the super-hydrophobic and super-hydrophilic coatings. The paper systematically reviewed the theory, materials, preparation, and applications of the super-hydrophobic and super-hydrophilic coatings on the photovoltaic modules. Super-hydrophobic materials such as organosilicon compounds, fluorinated polymers, and some inorganic materials are popular. TiO2 is widely used to prepare super-hydrophilic coatings on glass covers of photovoltaic panels due to its good photocatalytic activity. CVD-based surface treatment is suitable for preparing photovoltaic self-cleaning surfaces. These methods prepare self-cleaning surfaces by reacting gaseous substances with hot surfaces and depositing them on the surface. They are efficient but difficult to control accuracy. When applied to photovoltaic modules, it is crucial to consider the factors such as self-cleaning, transparency, anti-reflection, anti-icing, and durability. In future research, it is significant to improve the transparency, durability, and self-cleaning properties of coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lidar device as part of the meteorological complex of the ExoMars-2022 landing platform is designed to study Martian aerosol, the planetary boundary layer, and small-scale atmospheric turbulence. A miniature lidar based on a pulsed semiconductor laser and an avalanche photodiode in the photon counting mode will make it possible to obtain aerosol backscattering profiles along a vertical path from 10 to 1500 m during the day and from 15 to 10 000 m at night. In the passive mode, the sky brightness is measured in a narrow spectral range and in a narrow solid angle with a frequency of up to hundreds of hertz. The measured fluctuations can provide information about the turbulence of the daytime atmosphere and its relation to dust activity. In the paper we considered the scientific tasks of the experiment, the program of measurements on the surface of Mars and described in detail the components of the equipment and the features of their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts are increasingly interested in incorporating environmental and climate action into all projects. Mining projects face a broader range of environmental concerns. Since most mines nowadays rely on blasting operations, a considerable volume of dust is released into the atmosphere. The environmentally destructive mining practices contradict the principles of green and climate-smart mining and substantially impact the sustainability of mining communities. Estimating emissions and assessing risks associated with mine dust are critical components of blast design in mining projects. The main research objective is to model the monitored blast-induced dust emission in surface mines. In mining and civil projects, the rock engineering system (RES) is a common method for conducting risk analyses by considering causal–effect relationships between involve parameters in the system. However, conventional RES deals with uncertain and imprecise information. Therefore, the current study incorporates the Z-number theory with the conventional RES for presenting a reliability-based rock engineering system (RRES) to address erroneous and defective information resulting in uncertainty and to increment reliability of decision-makers. In fact, the novelty of this paper is integration of Z-number concept with RES. This approach is developed to evaluate the cause–effect relationship between effective parameters and distribution of blast-induced dust emission (DBID). Dealing with incomplete information is one of the most obvious main challenges of this research. The proposed approach eliminated the uncertainty of expert-based systems and increased the accuracy of modeling results, which is one of the main advantages of Z-number. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is carried out using the cosine amplitude method (CAM) to find the most influential parameter on the DBID. Based on obtained results, the vulnerability index (VI) was 49.08 regarding to recorded dust emission data in the Asgaeabad2 limestone mine located in Iran, which this value indicated that the ecological risk relevant to dust dispersion is medium to high. Results reveal that hole diameter (R), specific gravity (SG), and porosity (P) have high weights among the influential parameters. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the powder factor is the most influential parameter of DBID. The performance and accuracy level of the developed RRES model were compared with the statistical models using evaluation indicators, involving variance accounted for (VAF), coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute relative error (MARE), and balance relative error (BIAS). Obtaining the R2, MARE, VAF and BIAS values of (0.942, 0.022, 94.159, 1.086) and (0.751, 0.044, 75.075, 2.135) for the RRES and statistical model, respectively, showed the success of RRES in predicting and assessing risk value of dust emission due to bench blasting. Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed RRES is a reliable technique for both risk assessment and dust emission prediction. Clean blasting: dust emissions forecasting by reliability-based rock engineering system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several million dust devil events occur on Mars every day. These events last, on average, about 30 minutes and range in size from meters to hundreds of meters in diameter. Designing low-cost missions that will improve our knowledge of dust devil formation and evolution, and their connection to atmospheric dynamics and the dust cycle, is fundamental to informing future crewed Mars lander missions about surface conditions. In this paper we present a mission for a constellation of low orbiting Mars cubesats, each carrying imagers with agile pointing capabilities. The goal is to maximize the number of dust devil follow-up observations through real-time, on-board scheduling. We study scenarios where cubesats are equipped with a 2.5 degree boresight angle camera that accommodates twenty-one slew positions (including nadir). We assume a concept of operations where the cubesats autonomously survey the surface of Mars and can autonomously detect dust devils from their surface imagery. When a dust devil is detected, the constellation is autonomously re-tasked through an onboard distributed scheduler to capture as many follow-on images of the event as possible, so as to study its evolution. The cubesat orbits are propagated assuming two-body dynamics and the ground tracks and camera field of view are computed assuming a spherical Mars. Realistic inter-agent communication link opportunities are computed and included in our optimization, which allow for real-time event detection information to be shared within the constellation. We compare against a powerful "omniscient" oracle which has a priori knowledge of all dust devil activity to show the gap between predicted performance and the best possible outcome. In particular, we show that the communications are especially important for acquiring follow-up observations, and that a realistic distributed scheduling mechanism is able to capture a large fraction of all dust devil observations that are possible for a given orbit configuration, significantly outperforming a nadir-pointing heuristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The booming construction industry has led to many environmental and occupational health and safety problems. Construction dust caused irreversible damage to the health of frontline workers and polluted the surrounding air environment, which has attracted the attention of researchers and practitioners. In this study, to systematically sort and analyze the distribution of construction dust (CD) research, its hot areas, and the evolution of its fronts, papers with "construction dust" as the subject term in the Web of Science Core Collection Database since 2010 are visually analyzed using CiteSpace. The characteristics of these papers, including the quantity trend, quality, author group, affiliated institution type, and journal type, are summarized, and keyword co-appearance and paper co-citation knowledge maps are produced. The results show that (1) China is the backbone of CD research, and the research results account for a considerable proportion of the total. (2) Respiratory dust and atmospheric aerosols, marble dust, PM2.5, and other hot issues have always attracted international attention. And exposure assessment and spatial distribution were the main focuses in the study of CD. (3) The direction of CD research will explore in a more subtle and intelligent direction in the future, for example, monitoring and control equipment under the technical support of big data technology and machine learning and face recognition. By combining bibliometrics with a systematic review, we aim to analyze the research foci and future development direction deeply, providing scholars with a comprehensive view of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the real-time monitoring and early-warning capabilities for dust disasters in underground coal mine, this paper presents a novel WGAN-CNN-based prediction approach to predict the dust concentration at underground coal mine working faces. Dust concentration, wind speed, temperature, and methane concentration were collected as the original data due to their nonlinear relationship. The consistency between the generated and original data distributions was verified through PCA dimensionality reduction analysis. The predictive performance of this approach was assessed using five metrics (R2, EVS, MSE, RMSE, and MAE) and compared with three other algorithms (Random Forest Regressor, MLP Regressor, and LinearSVR). The findings indicate that a majority of the generated data falls within the distribution range of the real dataset, exhibiting reduced levels of volatility and dispersion. The R2 values of prediction results are all above 98%, and the MSE values are between 0.0007 and 0.0106. The proposed approach exhibits superior predictive accuracy and robust model generalization capabilities compared to alternative algorithms, thereby enhancing the real-time monitoring and early-warning level of dust disasters in underground coal mine. This will facilitate the realization of advanced prevention and control measures for dust disasters, showcasing a wide range of potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mars dust storms can significantly affect the radio communication link. In this paper, we proposed a predictive model based on Rayleigh theory. The attenuation of electromagnetic waves (EMWs) propagation in Martian dust storms is calculated using the model, in which the total dust optical depth, the charges carried by Mars dust particles, equivalent radius of Mars dust particles and the EMWs frequency are considered simultaneously. It is found that the charges enhance the absorption of EMWs by Martian dust storms, resulting in a significant attenuation of EMWs in Martian dust storms when at the UHF/S/X/Ka band. While at the Terahertz band, the attenuation is not affected by the charge carried on the dust particle, and the attenuation is more significant. The attenuation is positively related to the total dust optical depth. Furthermore, the attenuation range of EMWs in the Mars communication band of interest in a Martian dust storm was investigated. Our results provide a reference for EMWs propagation in Martian dust storms and it is important to the future Martian communication design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a global scale, the urban design of city centers is a topic of discussion concerning various aspects such development and its impact on public health. This research examines the health effects of urban agglomeration in city centers with compact, close development. In this work, the potentially toxic metals in street dust were studied by collecting and measuring street dust samples, measuring trace metal concentrations, and using index assessment, spatial analysis, correlation analysis, and health risk assessment models. Eskişehir, located in the part of Central Anatolia close to the Aegean region, west Türkiye, has been widely recognized as one of the most popular, known for having many narrow and old buildings in urban environments. The present paper investigates the atmospheric dust-related chemical speciation, urban environmental pollution, and human health risks in Eskişehir City by studying 66 dust samples collected at 11 points in the selected streets in August 2023. the study found that the concentrations of trace elements followed the order Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd > Cu. The primary source of these high levels is believed to be traffic-related contamination involving Cd, Pb, and Ni. The assessment of non-carcinogenic health risks has shown that the significant sources of potential toxic metals exposure for both children and adults are i) through ingestion and ii) dermal contact. The Hazard index (HI) for selected metals decreased in the order Cr > Pb > Ni > Cd > Cu for both children and adults without imposing possible non-carcinogenic risk (HI<1). On the contrary, Cr posed cancer risks above the safety threshold (> 10-4) through ingestion. Based on the available findings, Eskişehir still suffers from considerable environmental and ecological degradation and severe health risks due to street dust contamination. However, while high pollution was detected in the city center, where there is commercial land use, low values were observed in the region, rich with the water surface, bicycle paths, landscape design, and where traffic is slowed down. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anchor drilling operations generate massive airborne dust particles in the tunnel heading face that raises the pneumoconiosis morbidity and explosion risk. In this paper, a full-scale tunnel physical model is constructed to study the effect of the wind velocity and drilling site position on the airborne dust regional pollution scope based on the actual anchor drilling craft. The research indicates that the four extensive vortex areas keep the dust suspension at 14 m from the heading face and make the deposition dust particle refloat. The average respirable dust rate reaches the maximum value at section 5 m and presents a gradual decline as the dust particle migrates along the outlet direction. Raising the wind velocity contributes to alleviating the airborne dust pollution in the anchor drilling operation. As the wind velocity increases from 3 to 24 m/s, the high dust concentration area and number higher than 200 mg/m3 pose overall decrease trends, and the average dust concentration displays a linear decrease until 26.14–58.65 mg/m3 around the anchor worker head. Moving the drilling site positions closer to the exhaust air duct aggravates the airborne dust pollution in the front breathing zone. As the anchor drilling operation switches from the return air side to the supply air side, the dust concentration area ascends by 59.4–84.4% in the personnel respiratory space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the influence of different factors on particle deposition, four crucial factors, including particle size, wind speed, inclination angle, and wind direction angle (WDA), were considered, and the particle deposition concentration was used as the response variable for experimental research. In this paper, the Box‒Behnken design analysis method in the response surface method was used to conduct experiments. First, the element composition, content, morphology characteristics, and particle size distribution of dust particles were analyzed experimentally. The changes in wind speed and WDA were obtained through a month-long test measurement. Then, the effects of particle size (A), wind speed (B), inclination angle (C), and WDA (D) on the deposition concentration were examined utilizing a test rig. The test data were analyzed by using Design-Expert 10 software, and the results show that four factors have different degrees of influence on the particle deposition concentration, in which the inclination angle effect is the smallest. In the two-factor interaction analysis, the P values of AB, AC, and BC are all less than 5%, indicating that the correlation between the two-factor interaction term and the response variable is acceptable. In contrast, the correlation between the single-factor quadratic term and the response variable is weak. According to the analysis results of single-factor and double-factor interactions, the quadratic fitting formula of particle deposition influencing factors and deposition concentration was obtained, which could quickly and accurately calculate the variation trend of particle deposition concentration under different environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of realism in computer-generated images can be significantly enhanced by subtle visual cues. Among those, one can highlight the presence of dust on synthetic objects, which is often subject to temporal variations in real settings. In this paper, we present a framework for the generation of textures representing the accumulation of this ubiquitous material over time in indoor settings. It employs a physically inspired approach to portray the effects of different levels of accumulated dust roughness on the appearance of substrate surfaces and to modulate these effects according to the different illumination and viewing geometries. The development of its core algorithms was guided by empirical insights and data obtained from observational experiments which are also described. To illustrate its applicability to the rendering of visually plausible depictions of time-dependent changes in dusty scenes, we provide sequences of images obtained considering distinct dust accumulation scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On April 9, 2018, a massive rock avalanche hit the area of Karimabad, Hunza. Approximately 2Mm3 of rock mass detached from the source area and traveled a total of 4.88 km. The rock mass deposited along 2000 m length and destroyed the Ultar meadows. The avalanche killed three tourists and resulted in a vast dust cloud that engulfed the entire town of Karimabad in a few seconds. In this paper, we have analyzed the dynamic characteristics of the Ultar rock avalanche and subsequent airblast using a coupled three-dimensional discrete element modeling and computational fluid dynamics approach. Two-way coupling was carried out using an application programming interface that transferred the data between models to simulate the avalanche movement and induced airblast. We have also analyzed the formation and propagation of induced dust clouds based on field investigation, captured video, and climatic conditions. The study concludes that the Ultar rock avalanche's movement lasted 148 s. The average velocity of sliding material was found to be 26.35 m/s. The dynamics of induced airblast were studied along the entire runout path. The maximum velocity of generated airblast along different sections of the runout path was found to be 40 m/s and 35 m/s, respectively, whereas the relative pressure of the blast wave was found to be 0.6 kPa. Furthermore, the results revealed that a low-pressure dust cloud traveled a long distance due to the continuous fragmentation of the sliding material along a steep runout path. The induced dust cloud engulfed the entire town of Karimabad, Hunza, for several hours. This study is expected to help scientists further explore the dynamics of the airblast. It will also help understand the formation and propagation of dust clouds induced by rock avalanches involving excessive fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper mine road dust is the major source of dust in mine operations. The dust produced on the road surface is a great hazard to the workers. Aiming at the road dust of an open-pit mine, this paper conducts a physical and chemical analysis of a new type of chemical dust suppressant. It is prepared by using sodium polyacrylate as a binder, sodium carbonate as a moisture absorbent, polyethylene glycol as a water-retaining agent, and alkyl glycoside as a surfactant. Physical and chemical characteristics and dust suppression performance of dust suppressant were tested. The results show that the dust suppressant has a pH of 11.03, a viscosity of 18.5 mPa·s, and a surface tension of 28.1 mN/m. The content of heavy metal ions contained is less than the maximum concentration defined by "The norms for the integrated treatment of copper mine acidic waste water." Under the same temperature condition, the greater the humidity, the stronger the hygroscopicity. Especially when the humidity is 30%, the hygroscopic effect is contrary to water. The dust suppressant also has good anti-evaporation properties, and it could maintain a moisture content of 4% to 5% after being placed at room temperature for 10 days. Compared with water, the dust suppressant has better performance of wind erosion, water erosion, and compression resistance. Under the same conditions, the loss rate of water is 2 times that of the dust suppressant, and the pressure of the dust suppressant sample is about 3 times that of water. The dust suppressant has a much higher dust removal efficiency for all dust and respirable dust than water under the same conditions. Finally, the test results and mechanism of the dust suppression mechanism of the dust suppressant are described and analyzed, which shows that the dust suppressant studied in this paper has good performance and is suitable for road dust prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blast furnace casthouse is a typical heavy-polluting factory building of a steel enterprise. During the tapping process and the taphole opening, the dust concentration in the factory building's workroom can reach tens of thousands mg/m3. Over time, the air pollutants in the workplace can have unwanted consequences on employees' health. This paper selected a typical blast furnace tapping workshop. The flow, temperature, and soot concentration fields in the workshop are measured on site during tapping, and the distribution characteristics are obtained. The performance of the tapping smoke exhaust system is analyzed based on computational fluid dynamics. The findings are as follows: the concentration of PM2.5 in most of the work area was 80μg/m3, but the concentration reached 1mg/m3 near the slag ditch, which was heavy pollution. Because the opening and closing of doors and windows was unreasonable, it was difficult for the particulate matter to accumulate in the deep and middle of the plant discharge. The PMV of the worker's work area is about 3, and the waste heat removal efficiency is 4.2. Hence, this article's finding provides a scientific basis for optimizing the air distribution in the blast furnace cast house's workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust pollution is one of the most severe environmental issues in open pit mines, hindering green mining development. Open pit mine dust has characteristics of multiple dust-generating points, is irregular, influenced by climatic conditions, and has a high degree of distribution with a wide dispersion range in three dimensions. Consequently, evaluating the quantity of dust dispersion and controlling environmental pollution are crucial for supporting green mining. In this paper, dust monitoring above the open pit mine was carried out with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on board. The dust distribution patterns above the open pit mine were studied in different vertical and horizontal directions at different heights. The results show that the temperature changes less in the morning and more at noon in winter. At the same time, the isothermal layer becomes thinner and thinner as the temperature rises, which makes it easy for dust to spread. The horizontal dust is mainly concentrated at 1300 and 1550 elevations. The dust concentration is polarized at 1350–1450 elevation. The most serious exceedance is at 1400 elevation, with TSP (the concentration of total suspended particulate), PM10 (particulates with aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm), and PM2.5 (particulates with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) accounting for 188.8%, 139.5%, and 113.8%, respectively. The height is 1350–1450 elevation. Dust monitoring technology carried out by UAV can be applied to the study of dust distribution in the mining field, and the research results can provide reference for other open pit mines. It can also provide a basis for law enforcement part to carry out law enforcement, which has expanded and wide practical application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To optimize the stainless steel plant dust (SSD) reduction process for recovering valuable metals, a good kinetics understanding is required. In this paper, the thermodynamics of carbothermal reduction of SSD were analyzed. In addition, the non-isothermal kinetics of SSD carbothermal reduction, combined with thermogravimetric analysis, XRD, and SEM–EDS were studied by applying the Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) and Málek models. Thermodynamics and kinetic analysis results illustrate that below 950°C, the main reduction reaction is direct reduction between SSD and carbon. As the temperature increases, indirect reduction leads the reduction process of hematite due to CO formation. The reaction is highly temperature dependent and the reduction rate increases with temperature increments. The activation energy initially increased; it was 151.69 kJ/mol when the reduction rate (α) was 0.1. In the middle stage of the reaction, it slightly decreased from 343.76 kJ/mol when α ≥ 0.3, before continually increasing when α ≥ 0.6. The reduction process is a multistep reaction. The controlling step in the initial stage (α ≤ 0.2) is a shrinking core mode with the integral form 1 − (1 − α)3. As the reaction proceeds (0.2 ≤ α ≤ 0.6), the reduction is controlled by a chemical reaction expressed by (1 − α)−1 − 1. In the later stage (α ≥ 0.6), the reaction is a chemical reaction described by (1 − α)−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate pollution has become a major issue in developing countries including Pakistan. Aerosols are causing severe impacts on climate and human health. To understand the effects of aerosols on the environment and human health, we must first understand their optical and physical properties. In this paper, we used ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) retrieved ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) to analyze spatial and temporal distribution, annual and seasonal trends of absorbing aerosols, and their relationship with meteorological parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed) over Pakistan from October 2004 to December 2021. Significant spatiotemporal changes in UVAI values were found with high values in southern and central regions and low values in northern regions of Pakistan. The mean UVAI over Pakistan showed an increasing trend of 2.89% year−1. Seasonally, UVAI increases at the rate of 3.97% winter−1, 3.24% autumn−1, 0.81% summer−1, and 0.71% spring−1. A strong positive correlation of UVAI with precipitation and temperature (~ 0.6) is observed in the central and southern regions of Pakistan. A negative and positive correlation of −0.3223 and 0.4284 of UVAI with CO2 emissions and primary industry is observed in Pakistan, respectively. We also found potential sources of aerosols over major cities of Pakistan using the Hybrid Single Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. It determines that the dominant aerosols over Karachi are natural aerosols like sea salt and dust particles and anthropogenic aerosols are dominant over Lahore. Moreover, the natural and anthropogenic factors influencing absorbing aerosols are also discussed herein. Considering the outcomes of this study different methods would be used to reduce the concentration of particulate pollution like afforestation, efficient fuel energy consumption, promotion of public transport networks, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to expound on the present situation and potential risk of road dust heavy metals in major cities, a total of 114 literatures mainly over the past two decades, involving more than 5000 sampling sites in 61 cities of 21 countries, were screened through the collection and analysis of research papers. The concentration, sources, distribution, health risk, sample collection, and analytical methods of heavy metal research on road dust in cities around the world are summarized. The results show that Cd, Zn, and Cu in many urban road dusts in the world are higher than the grade II of the Chinese maximum allowable concentration of potentially toxic elements in the soil. Geo-accumulation index values show that Pb > Cd > Zn > Cu had the highest contamination levels. Hazard index assessment indicates Pb and Cr had the highest potential health risk, especially for children in which ingestion was found as the main exposure pathway. Moreover, through comparative analysis, it is found that some pollutants are higher in developed and industrialized cities and transport (53%) followed by industrial emissions (35%) provide the major contributions to the sources of heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of dust emissions from tracked vehicles traveling on unpaved roads is essential for environmental protection and vehicle performance maintenance. However, limited research on dust emissions from tracked vehicles with high precision results from the complex dust emission mechanism and the multitude of influencing factors of tracked vehicles. This paper presents a method for determining the dust emissions from tracked vehicles based on the similarity principle. Specifically, an experimental scheme for the scaling model of T90 tank is designed through the similarity analysis of dust emissions from tracked vehicles, which correlates the mass flow rate of dust emission with seven related variables (soil thickness, dust particle bulk density, dust average particle size, vehicle weight, track width, track landing length, and vehicle speed). The dimensionless empirical equations are obtained by multivariate nonlinear fitting of the experimental results. Furthermore, the applicability of empirical equations is validated experimentally to describe dust emissions from real tracked vehicles. The results show that the similarity principle is a better method to overcome the bottleneck of quantifying dust emissions from tracked vehicles. Meanwhile, the empirical equations derived from the scaling model are also applicable to describe the dust emissions from actual tracked military vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]