Neil Edward Klepeis

San Diego State University | SDSU · Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health

Children are at risk for adverse health outcomes from occupant-controllable indoor airborne contaminants in their homes. Data are needed to design residential interventions for reducing low-income children's pollutant exposure. Using customized air quality monitors, we continuously measured fine particle counts (0.5 to 2.5 microns) over a week in l...

Interventions are needed to protect the health of children who live with smokers. We pilot-tested a real-time intervention for promoting behavior change in homes that reduces second hand tobacco smoke (SHS) levels. The intervention uses a monitor and feedback system to provide immediate auditory and visual signals triggered at defined thresholds of...

The current lack of empirical data on outdoor tobacco smoke (OTS) levels impedes OTS exposure and risk assessments. We sought to measure peak and time-averaged OTS concentrations in common outdoor settings near smokers and to explore the determinants of time-varying OTS levels, including the effects of source proximity and wind. Using five types of...

Residential natural gas cooking burners (NGCBs) can emit substantial quantities of pollutants and they are typically used without venting. Quantify pollutant concentrations and occupant exposures resulting from NGCB use in California homes. A mass balance model was applied to estimate time-dependent pollutant concentrations throughout homes and the...

To understand the potential exposure to tobacco smoke in Washoe County (Reno/Sparks), Nevada casinos by measuring air quality in smoking areas relative to non-smoking/non-gaming areas in which minors may be present. To act as a pilot study in community-based health research and policy campaigns by evaluating low-cost air monitors to measure persona...

We used an improved method to calculate PM2.5 concentrations from more than 9,000 outdoor and 4,000 indoor PurpleAir monitors in three Western states between 2017 and Sept. 8, 2021. We regressed indoor on outdoor PM2.5 for 650,000 indoor-outdoor pairs of monitors within 10 km of each other. The regression determined an infiltration factor for each...

Supplement to Calibration of Purpleair monitors in California, Oregon, Washingon

Large quantities of real-time particle data are becoming available from low-cost particle monitors. However, it is crucial to determine the quality of these measurements. The largest network of monitors in the United States is maintained by the PurpleAir company, which offers two monitors: PA-I and PA-II. PA-I monitors have a single sensor (PMS1003...

Large quantities of real-time particle data are becoming available from low-cost particle monitors. However, it is crucial to determine the quality of these measurements. The largest network of monitors in the United States is maintained by the PurpleAir company, which offers two monitors: PA-I and PA-II. PA-I monitors have a single sensor (PMS1003...

We have developed a service and web app to support Citizen Science air monitoring and promote smokefree casinos and multi-unit housing on California tribal lands

Few studies have examined the relative effectiveness of reinforcing versus aversive consequences at changing behavior in real-world environments. Real-time sensing devices makes it easier to investigate such questions, offering the potential to improve both intervention outcomes and theory. This research aims to describe the development of a real-t...

Cannabis use is increasing and cannabis is typically consumed by smoking. This study explored how indoor secondhand cannabis smoke (SCS) was associated with child health. As part of a larger trial, air particle monitors were placed in 298 homes of families with at least one cigarette smoker and one child under 14 years old in San Diego County, Cali...

Background Previous secondhand smoke (SHS) reduction interventions have provided only delayed feedback on reported smoking behaviour, such as coaching, or presenting results from child cotinine assays or air particle counters. Design This SHS reduction trial assigned families at random to brief coaching and continuous real-time feedback (intervent...

Adaptive behavioral interventions that automatically adjust in real-time to participants’ changing behavior, environmental contexts, and individual history are becoming more feasible as the use of real-time sensing technology expands. This development is expected to improve shortcomings associated with traditional behavioral interventions, such as...

Introduction: Exposure to fine particulate matter in the home from sources such as smoking, cooking, and cleaning may put residents, especially children, at risk for detrimental health effects. A randomized clinical trial was conducted from 2011 to 2016 to determine whether real-time feedback in the home plus brief coaching of parents or guardians...

PM2.5 exposure is associated with significant health risk. Exposures in homes derive from both outdoor and indoor sources, with emissions occurring primarily in discrete events. Data on emission event magnitudes and schedules are needed to support simulation-based studies of exposures and mitigations. This study applied an identification and charac...

Sample sizes for dichotomous variables used in graphical analysis. (DOCX)

Measure interview. (RTF)

Measure codebook. (RTF)

Sample sizes for categorical variables used in graphical analysis. (DOCX)

Raw data file in CSV format. (CSV)

Housing characteristics, particle generating- and ventilation-activities compared for the final analytic sample versus homes excluded for complete case analysis. (DOCX)

Variable names and codes in the raw data file. (DOCX)

Exposure to fine particles (≤2.5 microns) from any source can induce respiratory damage and exacerbate bronchitis and asthma. The substantial impact of cigarette smoking on indoor fine particle levels is well known, but the impact of marijuana smoking has not been described. That description is an essential first step toward understanding the publi...

Most casinos owned by sovereign American Indian nations allow smoking, even in U.S. states such as California where state laws restrict workplace smoking. Collaborations between casinos and public health workers are needed to promote smoke-free policies that protect workers and patrons from secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure and risks. Over se...

Real-time particle monitors are essential for accurately estimating exposure to fine particles indoors. However, many such monitors tend to be prohibitively expensive for some applications, such as a tenant or homeowner curious about the quality of the air in their home. A lower cost version (the Dylos Air Quality Monitor) has recently been introdu...

This presentation describes measurements of fine particles (PM-2.5) and ultrafine particles (UFP) in a large California tribal casino before a smoking ban as well as after the smoking ban was implemented. The results show that PM-2.5 mass concentrations decreased by 95% and UFP decreased by 91.5% after the smoking ban was implemented in this casino...

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Population Impact Assessment Modeling Framework (PIAMF) was expanded to enable determination of indoor PM2.5 concentrations and exposures in a set of 50,000 homes representing the US housing stock. A mass-balance model is used to calculate time-dependent pollutant concentrations within each home. The model...

Real-time sensing and computing technologies are increasingly used in the delivery of real-time health behavior interventions. Auditory signals play a critical role in many of these interventions, impacting not only behavioral response but also treatment adherence and participant retention. Yet, few behavioral interventions that employ auditory fee...

Unlabelled: As indoor smoking bans have become widely adopted, some U.S. communities are considering restricting smoking outdoors, creating a need for measurements of air pollution near smokers outdoors. Personal exposure experiments were conducted with four to five participants at six sidewalk bus stops located 1.5-3.3 m from the curb of two heav...

For an actively emitting source such as cooking or smoking, indoor measurements have shown a strong "proximity effect" within 1 m. The significant increase in both the magnitude and variation of concentration near a source is attributable to transient high peaks that occur sporadically-and these "microplumes" cause great uncertainty in estimating p...

Indoor sources can greatly contribute to personal exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5 mm in diameter (PM 2.5). To accurately assess PM 2.5 mass emission factors and concentrations, real-time particle monitors must be calibrated for individual sources. Sixty-six experiments were conducted with a common, real-time laser photometer (TSI SideP...

Few measurements of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in close proximity to a smoker are available. Recent health studies have demonstrated an association between acute (< 2 h) exposures to high concentrations of SHS and increased risk for cardiovascular and respiratory disease. We performed 15 experiments inside naturally-ventilated homes and 16...

Introduction From 2005 to 2010, the California’s Clean Air Project (CCAP) worked statewide to provide technical assistance on all aspects of secondhand smoke (SHS ). Beginning July 2010, the project continued its work with a narrower focus on an area of critical need, SHS exposure in tribal casinos. This presentation will focus on the multitude o...

Identifying and quantifying secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) that drifts between multiunit homes is critical for assessing exposure. Twenty-three different gaseous and particulate measurements were collected during controlled emissions from smoked cigarettes and six other common indoor source types in 60 single-room and 13 two-room experiments. We us...

h i g h l i g h t s < We monitored 5 multiunit homes with secondhand smoke (SHS) odor complaints. < We measured particle size, particle composition, and VOCs. < Logistic regression models correctly identified SHS in 8 smoke odor periods. < Chemical mass balance analysis produced estimates of SHS in 6 of the 8 periods. < Identification and quantific...

Background Nearly all California casinos currently allow smoking, which leads to potentially high patron exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke pollutants. Some argue that smoking restrictions or bans would result in a business drop, assuming > 50% of patrons smoke. Evidence in Nevada and responses from the 2008 California tobacco survey refute this...

The complex composition of secondhand smoke (SHS) provides a range of constituents that can be measured in environmental samples (air, dust and on surfaces) and therefore used to assess non-smokers' exposure to tobacco smoke. Monitoring SHS exposure (SHSe) in indoor environments provides useful information on the extent and consequences of SHSe, im...

Personal exposure to air pollutants can be substantially higher in close proximity to an active source due to non-instantaneous mixing of emissions. The research presented in this paper quantifies this proximity effect for a non-buoyant source in 2 naturally ventilated homes in Northern California (CA), assessing its spatial and temporal variation...

Tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) is a serious threat to child health. Roughly 40% of children worldwide are exposed to tobacco smoke, and the very young are often "captive smokers" in homes in which others smoke.The goal of this research project is to develop and evaluate an intervention to reduce young child tobacco smoke exposure. The objective of th...

The amount of light scattered by airborne particles inside an aerosol photometer will vary not only with the mass concentration, but also with particle properties such as size, shape, and composition. This study conducted controlled experiments to compare the measurements of a real-time photometer, the SidePak AM510 monitor (SidePak), with gravimet...

We sought all published or unpublished final reports of indoor and outdoor measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for commercial and tribal casinos in the US. This yielded data for 91 smoking casinos and 3 smoke-free casinos in 7 States: California (Jiang et al. 2010), Nevada (Achutan et al., 2009; York and Lee, 2010; Repace et al., in pre...

For modeling exposure close to an indoor air pollution source, an isotropic turbulent diffusion coefficient is used to represent the average spread of emissions. However, its magnitude indoors has been difficult to assess experimentally due to limitations in the number of monitors available. We used 30-37 real-time monitors to simultaneously measur...

Smoking bans often exempt casinos, exposing occupants to fine particles (PM(2.5)) from secondhand smoke. We quantified the relative contributions to PM(2.5) from both secondhand smoke and infiltrating outdoor sources in US casinos. We measured real-time PM(2.5), particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAH), and carbon dioxide (CO(2)) (as an...

We developed a physics-based data-supported model to investigate indoor pollutant exposure distributions resulting from use of natural gas cooking appliances across households in California. The model was applied to calculate time-resolved indoor concentrations of CO, NO2 and formaldehyde resulting from cooking burners and entry with outdoor air. E...

This presentation describes a study of indoor air quality and exposures for a California casino

An unintended consequence of indoor smoking restrictions is the relocation of smoking to building entrances, where non-smokers may be exposed to secondhand smoke, and smoke from outdoor areas may drift through entrances, exposing people inside. Tobacco smoke has been linked to numerous health effects in non-smokers and there is no safe level of sec...

There are few social justice issues more relevant to eliminating disparities than children's exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS). Over 50 years of research have highlighted the health hazards of SHS, especially for children in low-income populations. In the present study, we performed a pilot evaluation of an inexpensive SHS intervention uti...

Electrochemical sensors are commonly used to measure concentrations of gaseous air pollutants in real time, especially for personal exposure investigations. The monitors are small, portable, and have suitable response times for estimating time-averaged concentrations. However, for transient exposures to air pollutants lasting only seconds to minute...

Despite California's 1994 statewide smoking ban, exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) continues in California's Indian casinos. Few data are available on exposure to airborne fine particles (PM2.5) in casinos, especially on a statewide basis. We sought to measure PM2.5 concentrations in Indian casinos widely distributed across California, exploring d...

Data are lacking on human exposure to air pollutants occurring in ground-level outdoor environments within a few meters of point sources. To better understand outdoor exposure to tobacco smoke from cigarettes or cigars, and exposure to other types of outdoor point sources, we performed more than 100 controlled outdoor monitoring experiments on a ba...

Cited By (since 1996): 7 , Export Date: 4 February 2013 , Source: Scopus , The following values have no corresponding Zotero field: Author Address: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13699-5710, United States Author Address: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stan...

The air change rates of motor vehicles are relevant to the sheltering effect from air pollutants entering from outside a vehicle and also to the interior concentrations from any sources inside its passenger compartment. We made more than 100 air change rate measurements on four motor vehicles under moving and stationary conditions; we also measured...

This chapter is an introduction to the simulation of human exposure to air pollution by inhalation. It includes a review of basic inhalation exposure models, in which air concentrations are matched with individual human activity patterns. Since people spend most of their time inside buildings, and the modeling of indoor pollutant concentra- tions i...

We apply a simulation model to explore the effect of a house's multicompartment character on a nonsmoker's inhalation exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS). The model tracks the minute-by-minute movement of people and pollutants among multiple zones of a residence and generates SHS pollutant profiles for each room in response to room-specific...

In a companion paper, we used a simulation model to explore secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposures for typical conditions in residences. In the current paper, we extend this analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of physical mitigation approaches in reducing nonsmokers’ exposure to airborne SHS particulate matter in a hypothetical 6-zone house. M...

In this dissertation, I quantitatively explore parameters influencing residential exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS). I use a dynamic, multizone exposure simulation model to generate individual and population inhalation exposure metrics for carbon monoxide, particles, and nicotine, studying how SHS exposure changes in response to several ke...

Few books about the environment have generated as much heated debate as Bjørn Lomborg's 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World', published by Cambridge University Press in 2001. A flavor of the controversy can be gleaned from a series of reviews and rebuttals published in 'Scientific American' (Rennie 2002). In gener...

Cited By (since 1996): 46 , Export Date: 4 February 2013 , Source: Scopus , The following values have no corresponding Zotero field: Author Address: Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States Author Address: Indoor Environment Department, Lawrence Berkeley Natl. Laboratory, Berkel...

This paper derives the analytical solutions to multi-compartment indoor air quality models for predicting indoor air pollutant concentrations in the home and evaluates the solutions using experimental measurements in the rooms of a single-story residence. The model uses Laplace transform methods to solve the mass balance equations for two interconn...

This article reviews information on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) particles that is of potential interest to scientists and professionals involved in exposure or risk assessment, epi-demiology, or tobacco policy. It presents material on observed levels in common locations, physics and chemistry, dynamic be-havior, and methods for modeling and t...

Because size is a major controlling factor for indoor airborne particle behavior, human particle exposure assessments will benefit from improved knowledge of size-specific particle emissions. We report a method of inferring size-specific mass emission factors for indoor sources that makes use of an indoor aerosol dynamics model, measured particle c...