Airborne chemicals in the indoor environment arise from a wide variety of sources such as burning fuels and cooking, construction materials and furniture, environmental tobacco smoke as well as outdoor sources. To understand the contribution of exhaled e-cigarette aerosol to the pre-existing chemicals in the ambient air, an indoor air quality study was conducted to measure volatile organic compounds (including nicotine and low molecular weight carbonyls), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamines and trace metal levels in the air before, during and after e-cigarette use in a typical small office meeting room. Measurements were compared with human Health Criteria Values, such as indoor air quality guidelines or workplace exposure limits where established, to provide a context for potential bystander exposures. In this study, the data suggest that any additional chemicals present in indoor air from the exhaled e-cigarette aerosol, are unlikely to present an air quality issue to bystanders at the levels measured when compared to the regulatory standards that are used for workplaces or general indoor air quality.

Provide a brief description about what the study adds (50-100 words). Several factors potentially influencing particle behaviour after exhalation of e-cigarette aerosols or emitted during smoking conventional cigarettes were studied; Differences in particle size between those exhaled following use of e-cigarettes and those emitted during smoking of conventional cigarettes were observed; E-cigarette particle concentrations decreased rapidly following exhalation due to evaporation; The removal of particles following smoking conventional cigarettes was much slower and was dependent upon the room ventilation rate.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) carried out at 300 K together with reflectivity measurements performed from 5 to 300 K are used to determine the temperature dependence of the refractive index of hexagonal GaN films between 360 and 600 nm. The refractive index is well described with a Sellmeier dispersion law and its variation with temperature is given. Below the band gap, the three excitonic features (labelled A, B and C) appearing in the reflectivity spectra are analysed within a multi-polariton model which includes the spatial dispersion. The transition energy, broadening parameter and oscillator strength are derived. The temperature dependence of A and B broadening parameters is analysed.

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There has been rapid growth in the use of electronic cigarettes (“vaping”) in Europe, North America and elsewhere. With such increased prevalence, there is currently a debate on whether the aerosol exhaled following the use of e-cigarettes has implications for the quality of air breathed by bystanders. Conducting chemical analysis of the indoor environment can be costly and resource intensive, limiting the number of studies which can be conducted. However, this can be modelled reasonably accurately based on empirical emissions data and using some basic assumptions. Here, we present a simplified model, based on physical principles, which considers aerosol propagation, dilution and extraction to determine the potential contribution of a single puff from an e-cigarette to indoor air. From this, it was then possible to simulate the cumulative effect of vaping over time. The model was applied to a virtual, but plausible, scenario considering an e-cigarette user and a non-user working in the same office space. The model was also used to reproduce published experimental studies and showed good agreement with the published values of indoor air nicotine concentration. With some additional refinements, such an approach may be a cost-effective and rapid way of assessing the potential exposure of bystanders to exhaled e-cigarette aerosol constituents.