Time–activity relationships to VOC personal exposure factors

Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Atmospheric Environment
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Series
Series number
Volume
40
Issue / Number
29
Pages / Duration
5685-5700
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Elsevier
Place of publication / Event location
Amsterdam
Edition
Version
Programming language
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Practice partner / Client
Abstract
Social and demographic factors have been found to play a significant role in differences between time–activity patterns of population subgroups. Since time–activity patterns largely influence personal exposure to compounds as individuals move across microenvironments, exposure subgroups within the population may be defined by factors that influence daily activity patterns. Socio-demographic and environmental factors that define time–activity subgroups also define quantifiable differences in VOC personal exposures to different sources and individual compounds in the Expolis study. Significant differences in exposures to traffic-related compounds ethylbenzene, m- and p-xylene and o-xylene were observed in relation to gender, number of children and living alone. Categorization of exposures further indicated time exposed to traffic at work and time in a car as important determinants. Increased exposures to decane, nonane and undecane were observed for males, housewives and self-employed. Categorization of exposures indicated exposure subgroups related to workshop use and living downtown. Higher exposures to 3-carene and a-pinene commonly found in household cleaning products and fragrances were associated with more children, while exposures to traffic compounds ethylbenzene, m- and p-xylene and o-xylene were reduced with more children. Considerable unexplained variation remained in categorization of exposures associated with home product use and fragrances, due to individual behavior and product choice. More targeted data collection methods in VOC exposure studies for these sources should be used. Living alone was associated with decreased exposures to 2-methyl-1-propanol and 1-butanol, and traffic-related compounds. Identification of these subgroups may help to reduce the large amount of unexplained variation in VOC exposure studies. Further they may help in assessing impacts of urban planning that result in changes in behavior of individuals, resulting in shifts in the patterns of exposure experienced by the population.
Keywords
Volatile organic compounds, Determinants of exposure, Time–activity patterns, Socio-demographic factors, Population subgroups
Project
Event
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Exhibition end date
Conference start date
Conference end date
Date of the last check
ISBN
ISSN
1352-2310
0004-6981
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
No
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Closed
License
Citation
Edwards, R. D., Schweizer, C., Llacqua, V., Lai, H. K., Jantunen, M., Bayer-Oglesby, L., & Künzli, N. (2006). Time–activity relationships to VOC personal exposure factors. Atmospheric Environment, 40(29), 5685–5700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.04.057