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Universidad de Huelva

UniversityHuelva, Spain

Research output, citation impact, and the most-cited recent papers from Universidad de Huelva (Spain). Aggregated across the NobleBlocks index of 300M+ scholarly works.

Total works
18.0K
Citations
647.0K
h-index
229
i10-index
12.9K
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Universidad de HuelvaUniversity of Huelva

Top-cited papers from Universidad de Huelva

Fluorescent Dyes and Their Supramolecular Host/Guest Complexes with Macrocycles in Aqueous Solution
Roy N. Dsouza, Uwe Pischel, Werner M. Nau
2011· Chemical Reviews1.1Kdoi:10.1021/cr200213s

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVReviewNEXTFluorescent Dyes and Their Supramolecular Host/Guest Complexes with Macrocycles in Aqueous SolutionRoy N. Dsouza†, Uwe Pischel*‡, and Werner M. Nau*†View Author Information† School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, D-28759 Bremen, Germany‡ Centro de Investigación en Química Sostenible (CIQSO) and Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Química Física y Química Orgánica, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen s/n, E-21071 Huelva, SpainW.M.N.: e-mail, [email protected]; telephone, +49 421 200 3233; fax, +49 421 200 3229. U.P.: e-mail, [email protected]; telephone, +34 959 21 9982; fax, +34 959 21 9983.Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 12, 7941–7980Publication Date (Web):October 7, 2011Publication History Received10 June 2011Published online7 October 2011Published inissue 14 December 2011https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cr200213shttps://doi.org/10.1021/cr200213sreview-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 2011 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views23664Altmetric-Citations972LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Dyes and pigments,Fluorescence,pH,Phosphates,Reaction products Get e-Alerts

A New Supervised Method for Blood Vessel Segmentation in Retinal Images by Using Gray-Level and Moment Invariants-Based Features
D. Marín, Arturo Aquino, M. E. Arias, J.M. Bravo
2010· IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging935doi:10.1109/tmi.2010.2064333

This paper presents a new supervised method for blood vessel detection in digital retinal images. This method uses a neural network (NN) scheme for pixel classification and computes a 7-D vector composed of gray-level and moment invariants-based features for pixel representation. The method was evaluated on the publicly available DRIVE and STARE databases, widely used for this purpose, since they contain retinal images where the vascular structure has been precisely marked by experts. Method performance on both sets of test images is better than other existing solutions in literature. The method proves especially accurate for vessel detection in STARE images. Its application to this database (even when the NN was trained on the DRIVE database) outperforms all analyzed segmentation approaches. Its effectiveness and robustness with different image conditions, together with its simplicity and fast implementation, make this blood vessel segmentation proposal suitable for retinal image computer analyses such as automated screening for early diabetic retinopathy detection.

Surface tension of the most popular models of water by using the test-area simulation method
Carlos Vega, Enrique de Miguel
2007· The Journal of Chemical Physics824doi:10.1063/1.2715577

We consider the calculation of the surface tension from simulations of several models of water, such as the traditional TIP3P, SPC, SPC/E, and TIP4P models, and the new generation of TIP4P-like models including the TIP4P/Ew, TIP4P/Ice, and TIP4P/2005. We employ a thermodynamic route proposed by Gloor et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 123, 134703 (2005)] to determine the surface tension that involves the estimate of the change in free energy associated with a small change in the interfacial area at constant volume. The values of the surface tension computed from this test-area method are found to be fully consistent with those obtained from the standard mechanical route, which is based on the evaluation of the components of the pressure tensor. We find that most models do not reproduce quantitatively the experimental values of the surface tension of water. The best description of the surface tension is given by those models that provide a better description of the vapor-liquid coexistence curve. The values of the surface tension for the SPC/E and TIP4P/Ew models are found to be in reasonably good agreement with the experimental values. From the present investigation, we conclude that the TIP4P/2005 model is able to accurately describe the surface tension of water over the whole range of temperatures from the triple point to the critical temperature. We also conclude that the test area is an appropriate methodological choice for the calculation of the surface tension not only for simple fluids, but also for complex molecular polar fluids, as is the case of water.

Coinage Metal Catalyzed C−H Bond Functionalization of Hydrocarbons
M. Mar Díaz‐Requejo, Pedro J. Pérez
2008· Chemical Reviews750doi:10.1021/cr078364y

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVReviewNEXTCoinage Metal Catalyzed C−H Bond Functionalization of HydrocarbonsM. Mar Díaz-Requejo and Pedro J. Pérez*View Author Information Laboratorio de Catálisis Homogénea, Departamento de Química y Ciencia de los Materiales, Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen 21007-Huelva, Spain* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 8, 3379–3394Publication Date (Web):August 13, 2008Publication History Received7 February 2008Published online13 August 2008Published inissue 1 August 2008https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cr078364yhttps://doi.org/10.1021/cr078364yreview-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 2008 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views11297Altmetric-Citations696LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Catalysts,Functionalization,Hydrocarbons,Ligands,Metals Get e-Alerts

The flipped voltage follower: a useful cell for low-voltage low-power circuit design
R.G. Carvajal, J. Ramírez‐Angulo, Antonio J. López‐Martín, A. Torralba +3 more
2005· IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I Fundamental Theory and Applications692doi:10.1109/tcsi.2005.851387

In this paper, a basic cell for low-power and/or low-voltage operation is identified. It is evidenced how different versions of this cell, coined as "flipped voltage follower (FVF)" have been used in the past for many applications. A detailed classification of basic topologies derived from the FVF is given. In addition, a comprehensive list of recently proposed low-voltage/low-power CMOS circuits based on the FVF is given. Although the paper has a tutorial taste, some new applications of the FVF are also presented and supported by a set of simulated and experimental results. Finally, a design example showing the application of the FVF to build systems based on translinear loops is described which shows the potential of this cell for the design of high-performance low-power/low-voltage analog and mixed-signal circuits.

Copper-catalysed azide–alkyne cycloadditions (CuAAC): an update
Estela Haldón, M. Carmen Nicasio, Pedro J. Pérez
2015· Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry572doi:10.1039/c5ob01457c

The reactions of organic azides and alkynes catalysed by copper species represent the prototypical examples of click chemistry. The so-called CuAAC reaction (copper-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition), discovered in 2002, has been expanded since then to become an excellent tool in organic synthesis. In this contribution the recent results described in the literature since 2010 are reviewed, classified according to the nature of the catalyst precursor: copper(I) or copper(II) salts or complexes, metallic or nano-particulated copper and several solid-supported copper systems.

Detecting the Optic Disc Boundary in Digital Fundus Images Using Morphological, Edge Detection, and Feature Extraction Techniques
Arturo Aquino, M. E. Arias, D. Marín
2010· IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging521doi:10.1109/tmi.2010.2053042

Optic disc (OD) detection is an important step in developing systems for automated diagnosis of various serious ophthalmic pathologies. This paper presents a new template-based methodology for segmenting the OD from digital retinal images. This methodology uses morphological and edge detection techniques followed by the Circular Hough Transform to obtain a circular OD boundary approximation. It requires a pixel located within the OD as initial information. For this purpose, a location methodology based on a voting-type algorithm is also proposed. The algorithms were evaluated on the 1200 images of the publicly available MESSIDOR database. The location procedure succeeded in 99% of cases, taking an average computational time of 1.67 s. with a standard deviation of 0.14 s. On the other hand, the segmentation algorithm rendered an average common area overlapping between automated segmentations and true OD regions of 86%. The average computational time was 5.69 s with a standard deviation of 0.54 s. Moreover, a discussion on advantages and disadvantages of the models more generally used for OD segmentation is also presented in this paper.

Sustainable Management of Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Global Research Trends
Emilio Abad‐Segura, Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar, Juan C. Infante-Moro, Germán Ruipérez García
2020· Sustainability515doi:10.3390/su12052107

Digital transformation in the education sector has implied the involvement of sustainable management, in order to adapt to the changes imposed by new technologies. Trends in global research on this topic have been analyzed and studied, during the 1986–2019 period. To achieve this purpose, a bibliometric study of 1590 articles from the Scopus database has been applied. The results provided data on the scientific productivity of authors, journals, institutions, and countries that contribute to the development of this research area. The evidence reveals an exponential trend, with special interest in the last five years. The main categories are Social Sciences and Environmental Science. The most productive journal is Sustainability. The author with more articles is Mulder, from The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The most productive institution is Delft University of Technology. The USA is the country with the most academic publications and international collaborations in its studies. The main keywords used in the articles are “sustainability”, “sustainable development”, “higher education”, “innovation”, “technology”, “environmental technology”, “technological development”, and “environmental management”. Global research has followed a growing trend, with optimal publication levels in recent years.

Compassion fatigue, burnout, compassion satisfaction and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the COVID‐19 health crisis in Spain
María Dolores Ruiz‐Fernández, Juan Diego Ramos‐Pichardo, Olivia Ibáñez‐Masero, José Cabrera‐Troya +2 more
2020· Journal of Clinical Nursing514doi:10.1111/jocn.15469

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate compassion fatigue (CF), burnout (BO), compassion satisfaction (CS) and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health crisis in Spain. BACKGROUND: Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare professionals have had to deal with traumatic and complex situations in the work context. In these particularly stressful situations, many professionals may develop CF or BO, which puts them at risk for mental health problems. DESIGN: Cross-sectional online survey. METHODS: A total of 506 healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) who were working in healthcare centres during the COVID-19 pandemic participated. CF, CS and BO were assessed with the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire, and perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-14. Socio-demographic and occupational variables were also analysed. Data were collected during the period of the highest incidence of cases and highest mortality rates due to COVID-19 in Spain. This article adheres to the STROBE guidelines for the reporting of observational studies. RESULTS: Physicians had higher CF and BO scores, while nurses had higher CS scores. Perceived stress scores were similar in both occupations. Professionals working in specific COVID-19 units and in emergency departments had higher CF and BO scores, while levels of CS and perceived stress were similar regardless of the workplace. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Despite the health crisis situation and its implications for healthcare professionals, the levels of CF and BO have remained moderate/high. However, CS seems to be increasing, especially among nurses, possibly due to their motivation to relieve suffering and due to their perceived social recognition. It is necessary to implement interventions that help improve CS and prevent BO and CF among professionals in the long term.

The importance of perceived trust, security and privacy in online trading systems
Juan Carlos Roca, Juan José García Machado, Juan José de la Vega
2009· Information Management & Computer Security508doi:10.1108/09685220910963983

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test an augmented technology acceptance model (TAM) in the online financial trading context. This research aims to investigate how e‐investors are influenced by perceived trust, security, and privacy jointly with traditional TAM constructs. Design/methodology/approach – The research examines e‐investors' behavioral intention to use online dealers' and stockbrokers' services. The model suggests that perceived trust jointly with perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are important antecedents of intentions; the hypotheses are statistically tested using structural modeling. Findings – The results from this study suggest that perceived trust, usefulness and ease of use are important issues in online trading systems. The findings suggest that online financial dealers and stockbrokers must improve the security of the online system since e‐investors form perceptions about its perceived security and when these perceptions are confirmed, their trust is enhanced and consequently they are more likely to use these online services particularly if the financial information is useful for their purposes. Research limitations/implications – The findings of the present study have various implications for research as well as practice. First, perceived trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are critical to the success of an online trading system. Second, perceived privacy did not influence users' beliefs in trust. Since perceived trust and perceived usefulness are the most important antecedents of behavioral intention, managers can increase e‐investors' usage intention by improving their beliefs in how the online trading system can enhance their performance and effectiveness using a system with enough security mechanisms. The major limitation is that trust is examined as a single‐dimension construct. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first that has empirically tested the link between trust, security, privacy, usefulness, ease of use and behavioral intention in the online trading context.

Towards a climate-dependent paradigm of ammonia emission and deposition
Mark A. Sutton, Stefan Reis, Stuart N. Riddick, U. Dragosits +4 more
2013· Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences506doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0166

Existing descriptions of bi-directional ammonia (NH3) land-atmosphere exchange incorporate temperature and moisture controls, and are beginning to be used in regional chemical transport models. However, such models have typically applied simpler emission factors to upscale the main NH3 emission terms. While this approach has successfully simulated the main spatial patterns on local to global scales, it fails to address the environment- and climate-dependence of emissions. To handle these issues, we outline the basis for a new modelling paradigm where both NH3 emissions and deposition are calculated online according to diurnal, seasonal and spatial differences in meteorology. We show how measurements reveal a strong, but complex pattern of climatic dependence, which is increasingly being characterized using ground-based NH3 monitoring and satellite observations, while advances in process-based modelling are illustrated for agricultural and natural sources, including a global application for seabird colonies. A future architecture for NH3 emission-deposition modelling is proposed that integrates the spatio-temporal interactions, and provides the necessary foundation to assess the consequences of climate change. Based on available measurements, a first empirical estimate suggests that 5°C warming would increase emissions by 42 per cent (28-67%). Together with increased anthropogenic activity, global NH3 emissions may increase from 65 (45-85) Tg N in 2008 to reach 132 (89-179) Tg by 2100.

Overview of BioCreative II gene mention recognition
Larry Smith, Lorraine Tanabe, R. Ando, Cheng-Ju Kuo +4 more
2008· Genome biology488doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-s2-s2

Nineteen teams presented results for the Gene Mention Task at the BioCreative II Workshop. In this task participants designed systems to identify substrings in sentences corresponding to gene name mentions. A variety of different methods were used and the results varied with a highest achieved F1 score of 0.8721. Here we present brief descriptions of all the methods used and a statistical analysis of the results. We also demonstrate that, by combining the results from all submissions, an F score of 0.9066 is feasible, and furthermore that the best result makes use of the lowest scoring submissions.

A Gold Catalyst for Carbene‐Transfer Reactions from Ethyl Diazoacetate
Manuel R. Fructos, Tomás R. Belderraín, Pierre de Frémont, Natalie Scott +3 more
2005· Angewandte Chemie International Edition451doi:10.1002/anie.200501056

Approaching El Dorado: A gold catalyst has been discovered that transfers a carbene unit from ethyl diazoacetate to aromatic substrates (see scheme) as well as olefins, amines, and alcohols. The insertion of carbene units into the CH bonds of the aromatic ring of benzene, toluene, and styrene is a novel reaction. R=H, CH3, CHCH2; IPr=1,3-bis(diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene. Supporting information for this article (general experimental procedures and product characterization data) is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2002/2005/z501056_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

Impact of Microalgae-Bacteria Interactions on the Production of Algal Biomass and Associated Compounds
Juan Luis Fuentes, Inés Garbayo, María Cuaresma, Zaida Montero +2 more
2016· Marine Drugs440doi:10.3390/md14050100

A greater insight on the control of the interactions between microalgae and other microorganisms, particularly bacteria, should be useful for enhancing the efficiency of microalgal biomass production and associated valuable compounds. Little attention has been paid to the controlled utilization of microalgae-bacteria consortia. However, the studies of microalgal-bacterial interactions have revealed a significant impact of the mutualistic or parasitic relationships on algal growth. The algal growth, for instance, has been shown to be enhanced by growth promoting factors produced by bacteria, such as indole-3-acetic acid. Vitamin B12 produced by bacteria in algal cultures and bacterial siderophores are also known to be involved in promoting faster microalgal growth. More interestingly, enhancement in the intracellular levels of carbohydrates, lipids and pigments of microalgae coupled with algal growth stimulation has also been reported. In this sense, massive algal production might occur in the presence of bacteria, and microalgae-bacteria interactions can be beneficial to the massive production of microalgae and algal products. This manuscript reviews the recent knowledge on the impact of the microalgae-bacteria interactions on the production of microalgae and accumulation of valuable compounds, with an emphasis on algal species having application in aquaculture.

Molecules with a sense of logic: a progress report
Joakim Andréasson, Uwe Pischel
2014· Chemical Society Reviews427doi:10.1039/c4cs00342j

In this tutorial review, the most recent developments in the field of molecular logic and information processing are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the report of progress in the concatenation of molecular logic devices and switches, the design of memory systems working according to the principles of sequential logic, the mimicking of transistors, and the research on photochromic platforms with an unprecedented degree of functional integration. Furthermore, a series of achievements that add up to the conceptual diversity of molecular logic is introduced, such as the realization of highly complex and logically reversible Toffoli and Fredkin gates by the action of DNAzymes or the use of a multifluorophoric platform as a viable approach towards keypad lock functions.

Smart molecules at work—mimicking advanced logic operations
Joakim Andréasson, Uwe Pischel
2009· Chemical Society Reviews423doi:10.1039/b820280j

Molecular logic is an interdisciplinary research field, which has captured worldwide interest. This tutorial review gives a brief introduction into molecular logic and Boolean algebra. This serves as the basis for a discussion of the state-of-the-art and future challenges in the field. Representative examples from the most recent literature including adders/subtractors, multiplexers/demultiplexers, encoders/decoders, and sequential logic devices (keypad locks) are highlighted. Other horizons, such as the utility of molecular logic in bio-related applications, are discussed as well.

Characterization and intercomparison of aerosol absorption photometers: result of two intercomparison workshops
Thomas Müller, Bas Henzing, Gerrit de Leeuw, Alfred Wiedensohler +4 more
2011· Atmospheric measurement techniques409doi:10.5194/amt-4-245-2011

Abstract. Absorption photometers for real time application have been available since the 1980s, but the use of filter-based instruments to derive information on aerosol properties (absorption coefficient and black carbon, BC) is still a matter of debate. Several workshops have been conducted to investigate the performance of individual instruments over the intervening years. Two workshops with large sets of aerosol absorption photometers were conducted in 2005 and 2007. The data from these instruments were corrected using existing methods before further analysis. The inter-comparison shows a large variation between the responses to absorbing aerosol particles for different types of instruments. The unit to unit variability between instruments can be up to 30% for Particle Soot Absorption Photometers (PSAPs) and Aethalometers. Multi Angle Absorption Photometers (MAAPs) showed a variability of less than 5%. Reasons for the high variability were identified to be variations in sample flow and spot size. It was observed that different flow rates influence system performance with respect to response to absorption and instrumental noise. Measurements with non absorbing particles showed that the current corrections of a cross sensitivity to particle scattering are not sufficient. Remaining cross sensitivities were found to be a function of the total particle load on the filter. The large variation between the response to absorbing aerosol particles for different types of instruments indicates that current correction functions for absorption photometers are not adequate.

The mathematics teacher’s specialised knowledge (MTSK) model*
José Carrillo, Nuria Climent, Miguel Montes, Luis Carlos Contreras González +4 more
2018· Research in Mathematics Education387doi:10.1080/14794802.2018.1479981

This paper presents the Mathematics Teacher’s Specialised Knowledge (MTSK) model. It acknowledges earlier contributions to understanding and structuring teachers’ knowledge, in particular, the special debt owed to Shulman’s notion of pedagogical content knowledge and to Ball and collaborators’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT), influential for the specialised nature of one of its sub-domains. The authors’ research with teachers has led them to explore the characteristics of MKT and to refine the descriptors relating to its sub-domains, a task which has underlined the difficulty involved in unambiguously delimiting the boundaries which separate these. As a result, and taking into consideration a broader view of the specialised nature of the teacher’s mathematical knowledge, the authors propose a framework which, whilst respecting the major domains of Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge, regards the specialisation in respect of mathematical knowledge as a property which is inherent to the model and extends across all sub-domains.

Test-area simulation method for the direct determination of the interfacial tension of systems with continuous or discontinuous potentials
Guy J. Gloor, George Jackson, Felipe J. Blas, Enrique de Miguel
2005· The Journal of Chemical Physics383doi:10.1063/1.2038827

A novel test-area (TA) technique for the direct simulation of the interfacial tension of systems interacting through arbitrary intermolecular potentials is presented in this paper. The most commonly used method invokes the mechanical relation for the interfacial tension in terms of the tangential and normal components of the pressure tensor relative to the interface (the relation of Kirkwood and Buff [J. Chem. Phys. 17, 338 (1949)]). For particles interacting through discontinuous intermolecular potentials (e.g., hard-core fluids) this involves the determination of delta functions which are impractical to evaluate, particularly in the case of nonspherical molecules. By contrast we employ a thermodynamic route to determine the surface tension from a free-energy perturbation due to a test change in the surface area. There are important distinctions between our test-area approach and the computation of a free-energy difference of two (or more) systems with different interfacial areas (the method of Bennett [J. Comput. Phys. 22, 245 (1976)]), which can also be used to determine the surface tension. In order to demonstrate the adequacy of the method, the surface tension computed from test-area Monte Carlo (TAMC) simulations are compared with the data obtained with other techniques (e.g., mechanical and free-energy differences) for the vapor-liquid interface of Lennard-Jones and square-well fluids; the latter corresponds to a discontinuous potential which is difficult to treat with standard methods. Our thermodynamic test-area approach offers advantages over existing techniques of computational efficiency, ease of implementation, and generality. The TA method can easily be implemented within either Monte Carlo (TAMC) or molecular-dynamics (TAMD) algorithms for different types of interfaces (vapor-liquid, liquid-liquid, fluid-solid, etc.) of pure systems and mixtures consisting of complex polyatomic molecules.

New considerations for PM, Black Carbon and particle number concentration for air quality monitoring across different European cities
Cristina Reche, Xavier Querol, Andrés Alástuey, Mar Viana +4 more
2011· Atmospheric chemistry and physics382doi:10.5194/acp-11-6207-2011

Abstract. In many large cities of Europe standard air quality limit values of particulate matter (PM) are exceeded. Emissions from road traffic and biomass burning are frequently reported to be the major causes. As a consequence of these exceedances a large number of air quality plans, most of them focusing on traffic emissions reductions, have been implemented in the last decade. In spite of this implementation, a number of cities did not record a decrease of PM levels. Thus, is the efficiency of air quality plans overestimated? Do the road traffic emissions contribute less than expected to ambient air PM levels in urban areas? Or do we need a more specific metric to evaluate the impact of the above emissions on the levels of urban aerosols? This study shows the results of the interpretation of the 2009 variability of levels of PM, Black Carbon (BC), aerosol number concentration (N) and a number of gaseous pollutants in seven selected urban areas covering road traffic, urban background, urban-industrial, and urban-shipping environments from southern, central and northern Europe. The results showed that variations of PM and N levels do not always reflect the variation of the impact of road traffic emissions on urban aerosols. However, BC levels vary proportionally with those of traffic related gaseous pollutants, such as CO, NO2 and NO. Due to this high correlation, one may suppose that monitoring the levels of these gaseous pollutants would be enough to extrapolate exposure to traffic-derived BC levels. However, the BC/CO, BC/NO2 and BC/NO ratios vary widely among the cities studied, as a function of distance to traffic emissions, vehicle fleet composition and the influence of other emission sources such as biomass burning. Thus, levels of BC should be measured at air quality monitoring sites. During morning traffic rush hours, a narrow variation in the N/BC ratio was evidenced, but a wide variation of this ratio was determined for the noon period. Although in central and northern Europe N and BC levels tend to vary simultaneously, not only during the traffic rush hours but also during the whole day, in urban background stations in southern Europe maximum N levels coinciding with minimum BC levels are recorded at midday in all seasons. These N maxima recorded in southern European urban background environments are attributed to midday nucleation episodes occurring when gaseous pollutants are diluted and maximum insolation and O3 levels occur. The occurrence of SO2 peaks may also contribute to the occurrence of midday nucleation bursts in specific industrial or shipping-influenced areas, although at several central European sites similar levels of SO2 are recorded without yielding nucleation episodes. Accordingly, it is clearly evidenced that N variability in different European urban environments is not equally influenced by the same emission sources and atmospheric processes. We conclude that N variability does not always reflect the impact of road traffic on air quality, whereas BC is a more consistent tracer of such an influence. However, N should be measured since ultrafine particles (<100 nm) may have large impacts on human health. The combination of PM10 and BC monitoring in urban areas potentially constitutes a useful approach for air quality monitoring. BC is mostly governed by vehicle exhaust emissions, while PM10 concentrations at these sites are also governed by non-exhaust particulate emissions resuspended by traffic, by midday atmospheric dilution and by other non-traffic emissions.