Search results for "Air Quality Index"
showing 10 items of 124 documents
Isolating the climate change impacts on air pollution-related-pathologies over Europe – A modelling approach on cases and costs
2019
Air pollution has important implications on human health and associated external costs to society, and is closely related to climate change. This contribution tries to assess the impacts of present (1996–2015) and future (2071–2100 under RCP8.5) air pollution on several cardiovascular and respiratory pathologies and to estimate the difference in the costs associated to those health impacts on European population. For that, air quality data from the WRF-Chem regional chemistry/climate modelling system is used, together with some epidemiological information from the European Commission. The methodology considered relies on the EVA exposure-response functions and economic valuation…
Regional and seasonal radiative forcing by perturbations to aerosol and ozone precursor emissions
2016
Abstract. Dedicated model simulations by four general circulation and chemistry-transport models are used to establish a matrix of specific radiative forcing, defined as the radiative forcing per unit change in mass emitted, as a function of the near-term climate forcer emitted, its source region, and the season of emission. Emissions of eight near-term climate forcers are reduced: sulphur dioxide, the precursor to sulphate aerosols; black carbon aerosols; organic carbon aerosols; ammonia, a precursor to nitrate aerosols; methane; and nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, the precursors to ozone and to secondary organic aerosols. The focus is on two source region…
Evolución de los riesgos ambientales en el contexto de la crisis económica. Informe SESPAS 2014
2014
ResumenNuestro objetivo es analizar el impacto de la crisis económica-financiera en los determinantes ambientales de la salud. La Organización Mundial de la Salud estima que entre un 13% y un 27% de la carga de enfermedad de los países podría prevenirse mejorando el medio ambiente. Los efectos son de mayor magnitud en poblaciones más vulnerables, en especial entre los más pobres. En la última década, la contaminación atmosférica exterior (el riesgo ambiental más relevante, en términos de salud, para la mayoría de los países europeos) se ha reducido moderadamente, sobre todo por las políticas europeas de reducción de emisiones y por la disminución de la actividad con la crisis económica. En …
Coping with uncertainty in the assessment of atmospheric pollution with lichen transplants
2019
In the assessment of atmospheric deposition using lichen transplants, coping with uncertainty is mandatory in cases of environmental forensics, when understanding whether an area is polluted or not, or tracing a given pollution source is of paramount importance. In this article, we have suggested a method based on the calculation of exposed-to-control ratios of element concentrations and on the quantification of the overall uncertainty associated with such calculation, which proved to be very robust and can be applied in most cases using a minimum of three replicates. The method allowed the selection of significantly accumulated elements i.e. those polluting the site under study, as well as…
Levels of Preservation for Cultural Heritage within an Open-air Museum
2018
In Sibiu, Romania, the Astra National Museum Complex includes an open-air museum with around 300 ethnographic monuments and a collection of almost 30,000 objects on display and in storage.Four cate...
Evaluation of working air quality by using semipermeable membrane devices
2008
Abstract It has been evaluated the use of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) as passive samplers of organophosphorus pesticides from air, in order to determine the contamination of working environments. Additionally, the use of SPMDs as portable samplers has been also considered. The analytical methodology for the determination of diazinon, chlorpyrifos-methyl, pirimiphos-methyl, chlorpyrifos and fenthion in SPMDs exposed to contaminated air was based on microwave-assisted extraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry determination. Limit of detection (LOD) values from 2 to 4 ng SPMD−1 and repeatability from 2 to 7% were obtained by using the aforementioned methodology. Theor…
Impacts of roundabouts in suburban areas on congestion-specific vehicle speed profiles, pollutant and noise emissions: an empirical analysis
2019
Abstract Increasing concern about global warming and air quality has meant an increasing use of energetic and environmental indicators in roundabout design. This research compares different suburban roundabouts in terms of traffic performance, pollutant and noise emissions through an integrated empirical assessment. Field measurements were carried out with a light duty vehicle in single-lane (SL), compact two-lane (CTL) and multi-lane (ML) roundabouts using Portable Emission Measurements Systems, On-Board Diagnostic scan tool and Sound Level Meter, to measure real-world exhaust emissions, engine activity and acoustic data, respectively. Afterwards, predictive discrete choice models that cor…
Unconventional Reducing Gases Monitoring in Everyday Places
2017
Abstract Air pollution, be it indoors or outdoors, is a major environmental health concern as it can lead to serious health effects, such as respiratory diseases, including asthma and lung cancer. Much progress has been made in Europe in improving outdoor air quality and limit values have been set for several pollutants. However, indoor air quality also requires attention because this is where we spend most of our time. Measurements at appropriate spatial and temporal scales are essential for understanding and monitoring heterogeneous environments with complex and highly variable emission sources, such as in urban areas. However, the costs and complexity of conventional air quality measurem…
A novel hybrid model for air quality index forecasting based on two-phase decomposition technique and modified extreme learning machine.
2017
The randomness, non-stationarity and irregularity of air quality index (AQI) series bring the difficulty of AQI forecasting. To enhance forecast accuracy, a novel hybrid forecasting model combining two-phase decomposition technique and extreme learning machine (ELM) optimized by differential evolution (DE) algorithm is developed for AQI forecasting in this paper. In phase I, the complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD) is utilized to decompose the AQI series into a set of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) with different frequencies; in phase II, in order to further handle the high frequency IMFs which will increase the forecast difficulty, variational mode decomposition (VM…
Air quality and relative humidity in commercial aircrafts: an experimental investigation on short-haul domestic flights
2013
Abstract Nowadays the achievement of a comfortable environment in aircraft cabins is a factor of paramount importance in air travel business competition; on the other hand, the need of reducing the propulsion fuel cost has driven the airline companies to adopt air handling systems that may reduce the levels of thermal comfort and air quality inside the cabins of commercial airliners. With the aim of contributing to a better knowledge of this matter, this paper reports the results of an experimental study upon the indoor air quality aboard commercial aircrafts for 14 domestic flights less than 1 h and half long. The parameters monitored were temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide …