Abstract: Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations were used to evaluate the air quality before and after the infrastructural change of an important traffic artery in Mortsel, Antwerp (Belgium). During the reconstruction works two pairs of traffic lanes were reduced to one in each direction. Two sampling campaigns were conducted: the first one before the works in 2003 and the second one in 2005, after the road works were finished. Sampling was performed on a weekly base with the use of passive diffusion tubes on the streets, and also indoors in nearby houses. The samples were analyzed by ion chromatography, from which data the NO2 concentrations in air could be calculated. These results were compared with NO2 values from the air monitoring station 42R801 of the Flemish Environment Agency in Borgerhout, Antwerp. On the base of different NO2 concentrations, correlated well with the traffic density, sampling locations were classified into three groups as follows: 1) heavily polluted (heavy traffic); 2) moderately polluted (medium traffic); or 3) less polluted (low traffic density). Sampling sites located further from the road works, enclosed to the group less polluted, showedthe lowestNO2 concentrations. The highestNO2 levelwas found for the locations close to reconstructionworks, which belonged to the group heavily polluted. The contribution of NO2 was at the samelevel before and after the roadworks. During the first campaign it ranged from30±7 µg/m3 to 71±11 µg/m3 and during the second sampling itwas between 36±17 µg/m3 and 73±17 µg/m3. These modernizationworks had no impact on preventing the traffic-related pollutant as NO2 and as a consequence no significant effect on the air quality in the studied region. It has been proven that the impact of traffic on the air quality is unmistakably high and simply reduction of the number of the traffic lanes, intended to discourage the traffic flow, had apparently no environmentally advantageous effect

Abstract: Air pollution caused by the lime production industry has become a serious problem with potential effects to human health, especially in developing countries. Colombo is a city included in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (capital of Parana State) in South Brazil. In Colombo city, a correlation has been shown between the lime production and the number of persons who need respiratory treatment in a local hospital, indicating that the lime industry can cause deleterious health effects in the exposed workers and population. This research was conducted to deal firstly with the characterization of the size distribution and chemical compositions of particles emitted from lime manufacturing and subsequently to assess the deposition rate of inhaled dolomitic lime aerosol particles in the human respiratory tract. The elemental chemical composition and particle size of individual atmospheric particles was quantitatively elucidated, including low-Z components like C, N and 0, as well as higher-Z elements, using automated electron probe microanalysis. Information concerning the bulk composition is provided by energy-dispersive X-ray detection. The majority of the respirable particulate matter identified was composed of aluminosilicates, Ca-Mg oxides, carbon-rich particles, mixtures of organic particles and Ca-Mg carbonates, soot and biogenic particles. In view of the chemical composition and size distribution of the aerosol particles, local deposition efficiencies in the human respiratory system were calculated, revealing the deposition of CaO center dot MgO at extrathoracic, tracheobronchial and pulmonary levels. The results of this study offer evidence to the threat of the fine and coarse particles emitted from dolomite lime manufacturing, allowing policy-makers to better focus their mitigation strategies in an effective way, as well as to the dolomite producers for the purpose of designing and/or implementing improved emission controls.