Engineering Commons^™

Us Residential Building Air Exchange Rates: New Perspectives To Improve Decision Making At Vapor Intrusion Sites, Rivka Reichman, Elham Shirazi, Donald G. Colliver, Kelly G. Pennell

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Vapor intrusion (VI) is well-known to be difficult to characterize because indoor air (IA) concentrations exhibit considerable temporal and spatial variability in homes throughout impacted communities. To overcome this and other limitations, most VI science has focused on subsurface processes; however there is a need to understand the role of aboveground processes, especially building operation, in the context of VI exposure risks. This tutorial review focuses on building air exchange rates (AERs) and provides a review of literature related building AERs to inform decision making at VI sites. Commonly referenced AER values used by VI regulators and practitioners do not …

Assessment Of Intra-Urban Traffic-Related Air Pollution On Asthmatic Children's Exposure At Schools In The Paso Del Norte Region, Amit Ugamraj Raysoni

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Traffic-related air pollution can be a major public health concern in any urban area. This problem is compounded in the Paso del Norte region that has experienced rapid economic growth, and a substantial number of people living in close vicinity of major roadways. The desert surroundings, arid weather, frequent temperature inversions, heavy border traffic at the international ports of entry between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, and poorly maintained vehicle fleet further exacerbates this problem. A growing body of air quality and epidemiologic research has discerned the linkage between traffic emissions and respiratory disorders.

Initial health investigations in the Paso …

Assessing Annual And Seasonal Spatial Variability Of Ambient Pm10 Using Linear Regression Analysis In A United States-Mexico Urban Sprawl, Mario Ivan Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As air quality issues grow progressively in the consciousness of the global community, stakeholders are pressing for epidemiologic studies of air pollution. The effects of chronic exposure to ambient air pollution remain a difficult challenge due to its substantial small-scale spatial variation. Recent approaches to assess intra-urban exposure have employed the use of proximity-based assessment, interpolation methods, emission-meteorological models, dispersions models, and land-use regression (LUR) models.

This thesis assesses the spatial variability of ambient particulate matter (PM10) obtained by five self-governing models for the area of El Paso. Using multiple linear regression analysis five regression-based equations were developed to predict …