Using a UAS-mounted sensor to allow for a rapid response to areas that may be difficult to reach or potentially dangerous to human health can increase the situational awareness of first responders of an aircraft crash site through the remote detection, identification, and quantification of airborne hazardous materials.The primary purpose of this research was to evaluate the remote sensing viability and application of integrating existing commercial-off-theshelf (COTS) sensors with small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology to detect potentially hazardous airborne contaminants in emergency leak or spill response situations.By mounting the personal photoionization detector (PID) with volatile organic compound VOC sensor technology on UAS platforms, the needed information may be obtained at an optimum range and resolution without needlessly exposing a human to possible adverse conditions.

End-of course evaluations have been frequently used to assess teaching effectiveness and influence critical decisions about faculty contract renewal, future course assignment, tenure and promotion in higher education.This quantitative study sought to determine whether there are differences in student perceptions of faculty performance based on gender or faculty status (full-time vs. adjunct) in an online higher education environment.It also sought to answer these questions: 1) Do adjunct faculty tend to grade more leniently than full time faculty, and as such, do adjunct faculty receive higher evaluation ratings than full time faculty, who may be more stringent in grading?2) Do student evaluation scores differ depending on the course being evaluated?3) Does gender or faculty status impact student response rates?Survey responses from a total of 683 sections associated with 24 courses were analyzed from the March 2018 to January 2019 timeframe.Due to the broad range of class sizes and differences between faculty characteristics, the variances for each comparison sample were observed to be significantly different using Levene's test for equal variances.Thus, the Mann-Whitney test for two variables and the Kruskal-Wallis test for evaluation of significant difference between more than two variables were used on the data.While other literature and personal anecdotes may indicate that gender bias exists, this study did not indicate that gender bias is occurring in online higher education courses taught for the time period studied, suggesting gender neutrality.

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or “vaping”) has seen an unprecedented increase worldwide. Vaping has been promoted as a beneficial smoking cessation tool and an alternative nicotine delivery device that contains no combustion by-products. However, nicotine is highly addictive, and the increased use of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes among teens and individuals who are not in need of smoking cessation may lead to overall greater nicotine dependence in the population. Furthermore, available research indicates that vaping solutions and their emissions may contain much more than just nicotine, including aerosolized flavorings, propylene glycol (PG), and other intentional and unintentional contaminants. These materials could present undefined potential health hazards to both e-cigarette users and bystanders, the full extent of which is not well understood at this time. Whereas e-cigarette usage and exposures may lower some or most of the risks associated with conventional cigarette use, the health effects of nicotine and aerosol exposures from e-cigarettes are not well understood. Research indicates that vaping aerosols are not benign, especially for nearby people in areas with limited ventilation and people with compromised health conditions. In addition, e-juice liquids have already been responsible for an increase in accidental poisonings in children. Because the magnitude of health and safety hazards that vaping may present to nonusers remains unclear, it is prudent to manage and control vaping in indoor locations where smoking is currently restricted. Based on a review of current scientific information, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) recommends that e-cigarettes should be considered a source of aerosols, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulates in the indoor environment that have not been thoroughly characterized or evaluated for health risk or safety.

Nicotine from electronic cigarette aerosol will deposit on surfaces immediately after vaping, but how long deposited nicotine will persist on various surfaces is unknown. This work exposed glass and terrycloth (cotton) materials to electronic cigarette aerosols for 1 hr, assessed the initial nicotine sorption, and characterized surface persistence over a 72-hr period. Exponential decay of surface concentration was observed for both materials. Terrycloth had higher initial nicotine deposition and retained nicotine substantially longer than glass. Residual nicotine concentrations persisted on both surface types for 72 hr. Statistical modeling predicted surface concentrations to reach background levels after 4 and 16 days for glass and terrycloth, respectively. Nicotine persistence was long enough to pose a potential thirdhand nicotine exposure risk, and reactions to produce tobacco-specific nitrosamines may be possible from nicotine deposition from electronic cigarette aerosols, but further study is needed.

Exposure to elevated levels of ozone have been reported to be associated with complaints of discomfort such as dry mouth, eye irritation and dryness, nasal irritation coughing, and headaches.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established regulatory requirements in 1980 to limit cabin ozone levels to no more than 0.25 parts per million (ppm) at any time or 0.1 ppm averaged over a 3-hour interval for any flight over four hours in length.The FAA also published an Advisory Circular (AC), AC 120-38, to provide guidance to air carriers on how to comply with these then new ozone regulations.Methods of compliance include the use of catalytic converters, or ozone filters, designed to remove ozone, utilizing statistical methods to prove that ozone concentrations will not exceed limits for the carrier's route structure and flight planning to avoid areas of reported high concentrations of ozone.The calculations used to determine cabin ozone concentration from manufacturer's filter efficiency data and ozone levels are to be based on published ozonesonde data found in the AC 120-38 or an equivalent data set.Unfortunately, the published ozonesonde data in the AC 120-38 are outdated and the AC does not point to any other data source that is acceptable to the FAA to conduct the required statistical analysis.In addition, once compliance is shown, no followup measurements are required to ensure that ozone levels remain below these required levels.Actual ozone concentrations have been measured in the aircraft by several researchers that exceed these regulatory levels.Finally, FAA ozone regulations and AC 120-38 do not address cumulative effects of ozone exposure to crewmembers over multiple flights and do not offer any protection against ozone exposure for crewmembers on non-passenger carrying flights.A revision of federal regulations to afford protection to all crewmembers, account for cumulative effects, and updated compliance methods that rely on current ozonesonde data and periodic ozone monitoring should be accomplished to ensure crewmembers are not subjected to ozone levels that could potentially result in serious health concerns.