Prashant Kumar

University of Surrey · Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Particulate matter (PM) resuspension from indoor surfaces is one of the leading causes of occupant exposure to PM. It has been recognized as a main source of indoor air pollution by many field studies. This review article explores the mechanisms and effects of single and multiple influential factors on PM resuspension, distribution characteristics,...

Scientific evidence sustains PM2.5 particles' inhalation may generate harmful impacts on human beings' health; therefore, their monitoring in ambient air is of paramount relevance in terms of public health. Due to the limited number of fixed stations within the air quality monitoring networks, development of methodological frameworks to model ambie...

Low-cost sensors (LCSs) for measuring air pollution are increasingly being deployed in mobile applications, but questions concerning the quality of the measurements remain unanswered. For example, what is the best way to correct LCS data in a mobile setting? Which factors most significantly contribute to differences between mobile LCS data and thos...

Background: Children spend significant amounts of time at school, making the school environment a potentially important contributor to air quality exposure. Aim: The SAMHE project has a dual aim: 1) to develop and test a bespoke citizen science framework for collecting environment and indoor air quality data in classrooms, alongside contextual dat...

Tropospheric ozone threatens human health and crop yields, exacerbates global warming, and fundamentally changes atmospheric chemistry. Evidence has pointed toward widespread ozone increases in the tropo-sphere, and particularly surface ozone is chemically complex and difficult to abate. Despite past successes in some regions, a solution to new cha...

The health and academic performance of children are significantly impacted by air quality in classrooms. However, there is a lack of understanding of the relationship between classroom air pollutants and contextual factors such as physical characteristics of the classroom, ventilation and occupancy. We monitored concentrations of particulate matter...

Background: Poor air quality is associated with poor health. Little attention is given to the complex array of environmental exposures and air pollutants that affect mental health during the life course. Aims: We gather interdisciplinary expertise and knowledge across the air pollution and mental health fields. We seek to propose future research...

The knowledge derived from successful case studies can act as a driver for the implementation and upscaling of nature-based solutions (NBS). This work reviewed 547 case studies to gain an overview of NBS practices and their role in reducing the adverse impact of natural hazards and climate change. The majority (60 %) of case studies are situated in...

The sustainability of life on Earth is under increasing threat due to human-induced climate change. This perilous change in the Earth's climate is caused by increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily due to emissions associated with burning fossil fuels. Over the next two to three decades, the effects of cli...

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are a major disruptor in both the source areas where they occur and at distant locations. This critical review aims to address the question of whether mitigation and adaptation measures have been or can be implemented and what is the optimal scale of their implementation to negate the impacts of SDS in Eastern Mediterrane...

Background Spread of SARS-CoV2 by aerosol is considered an important mode of transmission over distances >2 m, particularly indoors. Objectives We determined whether SARS-CoV2 could be detected in the air of enclosed/semi-enclosed public spaces. Methods and analysis Between March 2021 and December 2021 during the easing of COVID-19 pandemic restr...

Providing children with a clear understanding of climate change drivers and their mitigation is crucial for their roles as future earth stewards. To achieve this, it will be necessary to reverse the declining interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in schools in the UK and other countries, as STEM skills will b...

Residential solid fuel combustion has increased because of rising energy costs but little is known about the emission characteristics of unregulated pollutants such as ultrafine particles (UFPs). This review aims to characterise the emissions and chemical composition of UFPs, build an understanding of the particle number size distribution (PSD), as...

We compared various pollutant concentrations (PM1, PM2.5, PM10, PNC, BC) at four different urban microenvironments (MEs) in London (Indoor, IN; Traffic Intersection, TI; Park, PK; and Street Canyon, SC). The physico-chemical characteristics of particles were analysed, and the respiratory deposition doses (RDD) were estimated. Field measurements wer...

A series of wind tunnel experiments were conducted in the University of Surrey's Environmental Flow wind tunnel with a 1:50 scale of a typical London street canyon to assess the exposure of cyclists riding in a group to the emissions of polluting vehicles. A propane source emitted from an Ahmed body was used to model a car exhaust and a fast flame...

Background: Air pollution exposure has a detrimental effect on children who spend more than 17% of their weekdays inside a school building. The purpose of this study is to look into the effects of particulate matter (PM) and toxic gases on health of the school children. Method: To evaluate the impact of air pollution, 250 students (on average 20 st...

We report up to -86% decrease of exhaled CO2 levels due to SNV within a sub-group of well-instructed students using “engineered” visual-acoustic signalling schemes, and a decrease ranging from -15% to -40% of the mean and time-integrated excess CO2 on the full dataset (including non-instructed students) over a total observation window of 5 months a...

The aim of this guide is to translate scientific research into easy-to-implement precautionary measures and actions adoptable by homeowners, builders, and regulatory bodies to reduce human exposure to in-kitchen pollution in LMIC homes. This document offers 10 generic and 10 specific recommendations for three target audiences: homeowners, builder...

We have modeled the transmission of coronavirus 2019 in the isolation room of a patient suffering from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. An adaptive mesh computational fluid dynamics model was used for simulation of three-dimensional spatial distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the room....

Low-cost sensors (LCS) for measuring air pollution are increasingly being deployed in mobile applications but questions concerning the quality of the measurements remain unanswered. For example, what is the best way to correct LCS data in a mobile setting? Which factors most significantly contribute to differences between mobile LCS data and higher...

Nature-based solutions (NbS) can be beneficial to help human communities build resilience to climate change by managing and mitigating related hydro-meteorological hazards (HMHs). Substantial research has been carried out in the past on the detection and assessment of HMHs and their derived risks. Yet, knowledge on the performance and functioning o...

Localised vehicular fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions in an urban canyon can influence the energy performance of a building ventilation system at roof level. This paper examines the energy demands of air filtration through an air handling unit (AHU) located in different positions and orientations on a building rooftop. A series of 3D numeri...

Indoor, airborne, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is a key infection route. We monitored fourteen different indoor spaces in order to assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. PM2.5 and CO2 concentrations were simultaneously monitored in order to understand aerosol exposure and ventilation conditions. Average PM2.5 concentrations were highest in the u...

Many primary schools in the UK are situated in close proximity to heavily-trafficked roads, yet long-term air pollution monitoring around such schools to establish factors affecting the variability of exposure is limited. We co-designed a study to monitor particulate matter in different size fractions (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), gaseous pollutants (NO2, O3...

Unlabelled: Infectious diseases (e.g., coronavirus disease 2019) dramatically impact human life, economy and social development. Exploring the low-cost and energy-saving approaches is essential in removing infectious virus particles from indoors, such as in classrooms. The application of air purification devices, such as negative ion generators (i...

A naturally-ventilated operational classroom was instrumented at 18 locations to assess spatial variations of classroom air pollution (CRAP), thermal comfort and ventilation indicators under 10 different scenarios (base scenario without air purifier (AP); three single AP scenarios; three scenarios with two APs at same locations; three scenarios wit...

In the twenty-first century, megacities around the world are vulnerable to climate change, and its effect on urban mortality is exacerbated by extreme heat events (EHE) and urban heat islands (UHI). Since climate projections tend to exclude the EHE and UHI, their impact on urban health and urban mortality could be underestimated. This present study...

The onset of the second wave of COVID-19 devastated many countries worldwide. Compared with the first wave, the second wave was more aggressive regarding infections and deaths. Numerous studies were conducted on the association of air pollutants and meteorological parameters during the first wave of COVID-19. However, little is known about their as...

Underground railway systems are recognised spaces of increased personal pollution exposure. We studied the number-size distribution and physico-chemical characteristics of ultrafine (PM0.1), fine (PM0.1–2.5) and coarse (PM2.5–10) particles collected on a London underground platform. Particle number concentrations gradually increased throughout the...

Experiments were conducted in an UK inter‐city train carriage with the aim of evaluating the risk of infection to the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus via airborne transmission. The experiments included in‐service CO2 measurements and the measurement of salt aerosol concentrations released within the carriage. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the carria...

Students spend nearly one third of their typical day in the school environment, where they may be exposed to harmful air pollutants. A consolidated knowledge base of interventions to reduce this exposure is required for making informed decisions on their implementation and wider uptake. We attempt to fill this knowledge gap by synthesising the exis...

In-kitchen air pollution is a leading environmental issue, attributable to extensive cooking, poor ventilation and the use of polluting fuels. We carried out a week-long monitoring of CO2, temperature and relative humidity (RH) in five low-income residential kitchens of 12 global cities (Dhaka, Chennai, Nanjing, Medellín, São Paulo, Cairo, Sulayman...

Accurate calibration of low-cost gas sensors is, at present, a time consuming and difficult process. Laboratory calibration and field calibration methods are currently used, but laboratory calibration is generally discounted due to poor transferability, and field methods requiring several weeks are standard. The Enhanced Ambient Sensing Environment...

The onset of the second wave of COVID-19 devastated many countries worldwide. Compared with the first wave, the second wave was more aggressive regarding infections and deaths. Numerous studies were conducted on the association of air pollutants and meteorological parameters during the first wave of COVID-19. However, little is known about their as...

The concern about air pollution in urban areas has substantially increased worldwide. One of its main components, particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5), can be inhaled and deposited in deeper regions of the respiratory system, causing adverse effects on human health, which are even more harmful to children. In this se...

Evolving Anthropocene epoch wields significant influence in altering atmospheric carbon, which affects the carbon cycle, leading to climate change. Understanding the carbon stock, fate, and transport across ecosystems is essential in determining India's carbon budget, hitherto, unavailable. In this study, we have analysed the stock, source, distrib...

A number of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) are being used around the world in order to address various hydrometeorological hazards as a more environmentally friendly alternative to hard structures. Such a solution has been created in the Spercheios river basin in Central Greece, which is susceptible to heavy rainfall and river bank overflow due to fl...

The air quality of a city can be assessed by applying a computational modelling approach. However, one of the most critical issues faced while running air quality models is based on the meteorological model setup, which can significantly affect simulations over a coastal urban area with complex terrain. Thus, this study evaluates the performance of...

Several research studies have ranked indoor pollution among the top environmental risks to public health in recent years. Good indoor air quality is an essential component of a healthy indoor environment and significantly affects human health and well-being. Poor air quality in such environments may cause respiratory disease for millions of pupils...

Air pollutants influence the morphological, physiological, and biochemical status of plants, and their impacts vary substantially among different species and cultivars. Current review synthesises published literature on the assessment of air pollution impacts on vegetation, with a specific focus on chronicling and summarizing scientific methods tha...

In UK urban areas, due to ease of accessibility and convenience, many schools are located close to main busy roads. This often results in pollution hotspots around schools due to on-road vehicular pollutant emissions, especially during drop-off and pick-up times of students to and from schools. As well as being exposed to air pollutants in the scho...

This study aims to evaluate the performance of different regression models on predicting and forecasting indoor air quality (IAQ) inside smart homes, where IAQ is controlled by low-cost sensors (LCSs). To do this, the LCSs first have to be evaluated for their performance, e.g. inside the Envilution ® Chamber (Omidvarborna et al., 2020), and later a...

Air pollution causes 65,000 premature deaths across the Middle East and North Africa every year, where 99% of the population is exposed to pollution that exceeds World Health Organization standards. Nevertheless, studies on the issue are limited. Greater Cairo is the largest megacity in the region where commuters are exposed to excessive pollution....

Objectives: Design, develop, test and evaluate the performance of an integrated bespoke unit by employing a joint execution of smart sensing technology and IoT in smart homes. @AirPollSurrey @GuildfordLL @pk_shishodia Pollution Guardian

There is ongoing and rapid advancement in approaches to modelling the fate of exhaled particles in different environments relevant to disease transmission. It is important that models are verified by comparison with each other using a common set of input parameters to ensure that model differences can be interpreted in terms of model physics rather...

Heavy metals are persistent and bio-accumulative, and pose potential risk to human health and ecosystem. We reviewed the current state of heavy metal contamination, the ecotoxicological and human health risk of heavy metals reported in urban road dust from various cities in different continents (Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and Australia). We com...

Regular use of incense and earthen lamps in temples leads to the release of particulate matter (PM), airborne flecks, and gaseous pollutants. Similarly, the cremation of dead bodies using timber and other accessories such as incense, organic chemicals containing carbon, and clothes generates air pollutants. It is currently unclear how much emission...

Many dispersion models are available to simulate the mass concentrations of particulate matter in an urban environment. Still, fewer are capable of simulating the effect of green infrastructure (GI) on the airborne nanoparticles represented by total particle number concentration (ToNC). We developed an integrated approach capable of simulating the...

The elderly population is relatively vulnerable to air pollution and thermal stress due to their low mobility and high prevalence of chronic disorders. Appropriate green infrastructure (GI) deployment can improve both the indoor and outdoor air quality and thermal environments of elderly care centres (ECCs), yet a systematic review on this topic ar...

A link between outdoor pollution of particulate matter (PM) and the mortality from COVID-19 disease has been reported. The potential interaction of SARS-CoV2 emitted from an infected subject in the form of droplets or as an aerosol with PM[Formula: see text] (PM of 2.5 [Formula: see text]m or less in aerodynamic diameter) may modulate SARS-CoV2 rep...

Poor ventilation and polluting cooking fuels in low-income homes cause high exposure, yet relevant global studies are limited. We assessed exposure to in-kitchen particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) employing similar instrumentation in 60 low-income homes across 12 cities: Dhaka (Bangladesh); Chennai (India); Nanjing (China); Medellín (Colombia); Sã...

Nature-based Solutions function as an umbrella concept for ecosystem-based approaches that are an alternative to traditional engineering solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction. Their rising popularity is explained partly by their entailing additional benefits (so called co-benefits) for the environment, society, and economy. The few existing framewo...

The importance of selecting appropriate air pollution monitoring sites in a city is vital for accurately reporting air quality, enhancing the quality of high-resolution modelling and informing policy to implement measures to deliver cleaner air in the urban environment. COVID-19 restrictions impacted air quality in urban centres worldwide as reduce...

There is ongoing and rapid advancement in approaches to modelling the fate of exhaled particles in different environments relevant to disease transmission. It is important that models are verified by comparison with each other using a common set of input parameters to ensure that model differences can be interpreted in terms of model physics rather...

During the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns, road traffic volumes reduced significantly leading to reduced pollutant concentrations and noise levels. Noise and the air pollution data during the lockdown period and loosening of restrictions through five phases in 2021 are examined for a school site in the United Kingdom. Hourly and daily av...