INHALABLE AND RESPIRABLE DUST CONCENTRATION OF SOILED STONE, METAL AND CERAMIC ARTEFACT INSIDE NATIONAL MUSEUM MALAYSIA

Airborne particulate matter is a key indicator of air pollution brought into the air by a variety of natural and human activities. As it can travel in distances and suspended in the atmosphere, it affects human health and museum artefact. The primary idea of this paper is to discuss the mass concentration of airborne particulates matter in terms of inhalable and respirable dust from the stone, metal and ceramic display showcase. The fluctuation of temperature and relative humidity, the museum cleaning activity, the usage of HVAC system and construction activity affect the soiling defect of stone, metal and ceramic artefact. The approach selected to collect primary data for this research is by conducting case study at the National Museum of Malaysia. Personal air sampling was conducted using Casella 7-Holes and Cyclone sampler head. Results revealed high abundances of inhalable dust at stone and ceramic artefact both in Galley A and B. This study is beneficial towards the Jabatan Muzium Malaysia (JMM), Department of Environment (DOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) by emphasising that reducing air pollution will reduce soiling defect of the museum artefact. Thus, it can reduce government expenses to the museum management towards cleaning procedure for the damaged artefact.

INHALABLE AND RESPIRABLE DUST CONCENTRATION OF SOILED STONE, METAL AND CERAMIC ARTEFACT INSIDE NATIONAL MUSEUM MALAYSIA

Airborne particulate matter is a key indicator of air pollution brought into the air by a variety of natural and human activities. As it can travel in distances and suspended in the atmosphere, it affects human health and museum artefact. The primary idea of this paper is to discuss the mass concentration of airborne particulates matter in terms of inhalable and respirable dust from the stone, metal and ceramic display showcase. The fluctuation of temperature and relative humidity, the museum cleaning activity, the usage of HVAC system and construction activity affect the soiling defect of stone, metal and ceramic artefact. The approach selected to collect primary data for this research is by conducting case study at the National Museum of Malaysia. Personal air sampling was conducted using Casella 7-Holes and Cyclone sampler head. Results revealed high abundances of inhalable dust at stone and ceramic artefact both in Galley A and B. This study is beneficial towards the Jabatan Muzium Malaysia (JMM), Department of Environment (DOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) by emphasising that reducing air pollution will reduce soiling defect of the museum artefact. Thus, it can reduce government expenses to the museum management towards cleaning procedure for the damaged artefact.

Mass Concentration of Airborne Particulates in Selected Museums at Kuala Lumpur and Perak Darul Ridzuan

Indoor pollutants gives harmful effects to human health and became the main cause of the cultural heritage deterioration. The research focuses on the airborne particulates at the indoor of the museum galleries. Equipment used to sample inhalable dust was the 7-hole sampler and the Cyclone sampler for sample respirable dust. The results show that mass concentrations at selected location were exceeding the limit of safety Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Malaysia standard limit for TSP and PM10 in 8 hours sampling. Thus, it is important to control the level of contaminants within the buildings for safety purposes. Keywords : Air Pollution ; Airborne Particulates ; Indoor ; Human Health ; Cultural Heritage. eISSN 2514-751X © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/aje-bs.v4i15.25

INHALABLE AND RESPIRABLE DUST FROM COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT

Among the anthropogenic air pollutant that lead to the global warming, this research focuses on the inhalable dust and respirable dust that comes from the emissions of coal. Recently, the demand of electricity supply in Malaysiais raising and leads to the diversification of its resources towards the non-renewable energy. Coal-fired power plant emission had been recognized as one of the manmade sources of particulate matter. 8-hours personal particulate matter sampling had been done at a coal-fired power plant with 7-hole sampler at 2 L/min air flow and cyclone sampler at 2.2 L/min air flow. This study found that 96.78 % of the result from total inhalable dust exceeds the PM10DOE Malaysia standard of 0.15mg/m3. The percentage ratio of respirable towards total inhalable dust is 50.25%. Further analysis showed that as the temperature increases, the particulate matter concentration also increases. It is believed that the smaller particles offer higher degree of human health risk. The particulate from coal with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micron and lesser can be deposited into deeper part of lung and provide adverse health impact towards the public or residence of surrounding coal-fired power plant location area, generally and coal-fired power plant workers, in specific.

COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT AIRBORNE PARTICLES IMPACT TOWARDS HUMAN HEALTH

The explosion of global warming and climate change occurs parallel to the raise rise of earth development. These phenomena happen due to the deterioration of atmospheric environment rooted from human activity. Ranges of air pollutants had been discovered. However, this research focuses on airborne particles in particular that comes from the emissions of coal. Recently, Malaysia electricity demand is raising and leads to the diversification of its sources towards the non-renewable energy. Manjung coal-fired power plant emission had been recognised as one of the potential anthropogenic sources of airborne particles. 8-hours airborne particles sampling had been done at Manjung Power Plant in March and July 2011 with 7-hole sampler at 2 L/min air flow and cyclone sampler at 2.2 L/min airflow. This research found that total inhalable dust exceeds 96.78 %; PM10 standard of 0.15mg/m3.This study also found that the percentage ratio of respirable towards total inhalable dust is 33.49%. This study also found that, as the temperature increases, the airborne particles concentration also increases. It is believed that the smaller offers particulate higher degree of illness. Thus, it is believed, the airborne particles dissemination from its sources is affected by the climate of an environment. Whichcan be deposited into deeper part of lung and provide adverse health impact towards the public or residence of surrounding coal-fired power plant neighbourhood area, generally and coal workers, specifically.

Evaluation of Air Sampling and Detection Methods to Quantify Airborne Ascospores of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Detection and quantification of airborne ascospores as a component of the Sclerotinia rot of carrot (SRC) forecast model is currently accomplished using the blue plate test (BPT), which uses Sclerotinia semiselective medium (SSM). A quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay was developed to reduce the time to specifically quantify ascospores of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum from air samples collected using a Burkard Multi-Vial Cyclone Sampler. The qPCR assay was highly sensitive and detected DNA from 0.5 to 5 × 104 ascospores within a linear range (R2 = 0.99). The qPCR assay was used to quantify ascospores of S. sclerotiorum in air samples collected over three growing seasons. Initial SRC disease was observed 8 and 34 days following detection of 9.5 and 2 ascospores m–3 of air, respectively. Results from air samples collected using an Andersen N6 Sampler and the qPCR assay were compared with the BPT. Ascospore counts from a Burkard Sampler coupled with the qPCR assay and the BPT followed similar trends. In general, fewer ascospores were detected and bioaerosol sampling efficiency was low using an Anderson Sampler. Three days were required to confirm the number of ascospores using SSM in the BPT and with an Andersen Sampler, whereas results from a Burkard Sampler coupled with the qPCR assay can provide results within 5 h of air sampling. The choice of method will depend on the available resources.

Detection of Airborne Lactococcal Bacteriophages in Cheese Manufacturing Plants

ABSTRACTThe dairy industry adds starter bacterial cultures to heat-treated milk to control the fermentation process during the manufacture of many cheeses. These highly concentrated bacterial populations are susceptible to virulent phages that are ubiquitous in cheese factories. In this study, the dissemination of these phages by the airborne route and their presence on working surfaces were investigated in a cheese factory. Several surfaces were swabbed, and five air samplers (polytetrafluoroethylene filter, polycarbonate filter, BioSampler, Coriolis cyclone sampler, and NIOSH two-stage cyclone bioaerosol personal sampler) were tested. Samples were then analyzed for the presence of twoLactococcus lactisphage groups (936 and c2), and quantification was done by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Both lactococcal phage groups were found on most swabbed surfaces, while airborne phages were detected at concentrations of at least 103genomes/m3of air. The NIOSH sampler had the highest rate of air samples with detectable levels of lactococcal phages. This study demonstrates that virulent phages can circulate through the air and that they are ubiquitous in cheese manufacturing facilities.