Air Quality Consultants (United Kingdom)

The interaction of organic aerosols with water vapor plays a crucial role in cloud processes but is still challenging to fully elucidate due to its complexity. Recently, we developed a water uptake methodology for particles collected on Teflon filters, enabling the quantification of both chemical composition and hygroscopicity of the same sample. In this study, the hygroscopicity of organic compounds with varying functionalities collected on Teflon filters was quantified, including dicarboxylic acids (malonic, glutaric, succinic), multifunctional dicarboxylic acids (tartaric, citric), sugars (glucose, levoglucosan), and a polyol (meso-erythritol) at three relative humidities (RHs: ≈84%, 90%, and 97%). The hygroscopicity parameter (κ) was derived and compared to previous studies. A regression model was developed that predicts κ as a function of physicochemical properties (O/C ratio, number of carbons, and ring oxygen (O*)), which may facilitate the use of Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to predict hygroscopicity in ambient samples.

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), are crucial in every building for the well being of the occupants. While these equipments take care of the air quality with exhausting polluted air out and bringing fresh air in, they can let a polluant in: noise. Noise can have non-physical effects like disturbed sleep, cognitive problems or even influences on heart diseases. Recent developments in the acoustic field shown the use of metamaterials that can reduce noise while keeping good ventilation. The sonic crystals, disposed in a certain pattern following the Bragg's law, can be tuned to reduce noise on a wide frequency band. The design of an air vent, known as a metacage, was made by using open source numerical simulations. Based on a numerical plan and optimization methods, this study's goal was to find the optimal solution for the HVAC to reduce noise while minimizing ventilation loss. Following the simulations results, the metacage generated was 3D printed for validation in the laboratory, showing the corroboration with the simulations. The final results show third-octave bands with a TL peak over 10dB and an average of 3dB for all the others bands up to 10kHz. All this while keeping minimal ventilation loss.

Short food supply chain (SFSCs) initiatives have developed throughout Europe as an alternative to the long industrialized chains characterizing the contemporary global food industry. They are often driven by small‐scale actors belonging to different phases of the chain (producers, retailers, consumers) and rooted in specific territorial contexts. Innovative organizational models of SFSCs are attracting interest in the academic field (Jarosz, 2008, Khan and Prior, 2010, Aubry and Kebir, 2013) and beyond (RUAF, 2015). This work contributes to the debate with a focus on the logistics of SFSCs in urban and peri‐urban areas across Europe, specifically on the role of local intermediaries in facilitating connections between urban consumers and peri‐urban and rural farmers. The structure of three small/medium enterprises (SMEs) acting as local SFSC intermediaries has been analyzed by a research network involving researchers and entrepreneurs in a mutual learning process. The aim was to identify the main business objectives of local intermediaries in SFSCs, the elements that from the SMEs point of view characterize SFSCs and their vision of sustainability. A simple theoretical model has been developed to look at leadership of SFSCs in urban and peri‐urban areas. The research process provided interesting insight into the contribution that qualitative research can give to SMEs’ reflection on their organizational model (Zakic et al., 2014).

Eutrophication is an important problem, especially in semi-enclosed sea like the Adriatic Sea, a part of the Mediterranean Sea. A series of undesirable events occured in the Adriatic Sea in the past decades: invasions of jellyfish and other species, hypertrophic formations of mucilagenous aggregates, an increased frequency of toxic dynoflagellate appearance. It has been discussed that the atmospheric input of pollutants to the Mediterranean Sea is of the same order of magnitude as the riverine input for many species. It is also well known that precipitation is a very efficient scavenger of pollutants. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contribution of atmospheric pollution to the eutrophication of the Adriatic. For that purpose, inorganic nitrogen atmospheric input considered as wet deposition of NO3 -N and NH4 + -N ions was investigated. Nitrate and ammonium concentrations in daily precipitation samples at three stations (two coastal and one on the island), for the 2001−2010 period were analysed. The Adriatic coast is under the combined influence of local, regional and longdistance pollution sources. Yearly wet deposition of 1−2 g N/m 2 significantly contribute to ecological imbalance and eutrophication. The Adriatic is ecologically very sensitive, because of its geographic position, complex orography, specific meteorological conditions and number of pollution sources. Predominant airflow is from the land to the sea. The precipitation amount is high in the area of the highest air pollution, which results in high wet deposition.

A regulatory requirement exists for pipeline companies to maintain noise control policies and procedures for compressors and compressor stations. The Pipeline Industry requires guideline� to help individual companies to prepare such policies and procedures. This report contains a series of standardized Guidelines that could be used by gas transmission companies to develop their own specifications for noise control, applicable for new compressor package design as well as existing compressor station retrofit. The context of the work is to identify each party's responsibilities towards achieving the intended results, which should inherently lead to more successful noise control projects. The specification strategy is to maintain traditional vendor/sub-vendor roles between compressor packagers and component manufacturers. The content of the Guidelines request guaranteed acoustical performance for compressor packages, supported by field performance testing for certification of compliance to guarantees. This can be achieved during the specification process by having the purchaser establish specific design criteria, and be pre-establishing field performance testing methods.