Search results for "Environmental Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 609 documents
Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic pollution in 10 European cities (APHEKOM network).
2013
AD; International audience; Recent epidemiological research suggests that near road traffic-related pollution may cause chronic disease, as well as exacerbate related pathologies, implying that the entire “chronic disease progression” should be attributed to air pollution, no matter what the proximate cause was. We estimated the burden of childhood asthma attributable to air pollution in 10 European cities by calculating the number of cases of 1) asthma caused by near road traffic-related pollution, and 2) acute asthma events related to urban air pollution levels. We then expanded our approach to include coronary heart diseases in adults.Derivation of attributable cases required combining c…
Importance of ligand speciation in environmental research:A case study
2001
The speciations of EDTA and DTPA in process, waste and river waters are modelled and simulated, specifically to the mode of occurrence in the pulp and paper mill effluents and subsequently in receiving waters. Due to relatively short residence times in bleaching process and waste water treatment and slow exchange kinetics, it is expected that the thermodynamic equilibrium is not necessarily reached. Therefore, the initial speciation plays a key role. As such, the simulations have been extended to the process waters of the pulp and paper industry taking into account estimated average conditions. The results reveal that the main species are; Mn and Ca complexes of EDTA and DTPA in pulp mill p…
Long-term phenological data set of multi-taxonomic groups, agrarian activities, and abiotic parameters from Latvia, northern Europe
2021
A phenological data set collected by citizen-scientists from 1970 to 2018 in Latvia is presented, comprising almost 47,000 individual observations of eight taxonomical groups, in addition to agrarian activities and abiotic parameters, covering in total 159 different phenological phases. These original data published offline in annual issues of the Nature and History Calendar (in Latvian, Dabas un vēstures kalendārs) have been digitized, harmonized and geo-referenced. Overall, the possible use of such data is extensive, as phenological data are excellent bioindicators for characterising climate change and can be used for the elaboration of adaptation strategies in agriculture, forestry, and …
Assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil of a Natural Reserve (Isola delle Femmine) (Italy) located in front of a plant for the …
2009
Isola delle Femmine Natural Reserve is a very little isle about 15 km from the centre of Palermo, in front of a plant for the production of cement and about 600 m from coast. In the present research, profiles soil PAHs were obtained for 16 sites within the reserve and for 8 stations on the rural soil taken as reference. summation Sigma PAHs, in the soil of investigated area, ranged from 35 to 545 microg/kg. With the aim to find the origin of PAHs in the soil of Isola delle Femmine, we compare the distribution of single analytes in the investigated area with those of the reference rural area (Monte Raffo Rosso), with those of atmospheric urban particulate collected at Palermo along with repo…
Uncertainty in urban stormwater quality modelling: The influence of likelihood measure formulation in the GLUE methodology
2009
In the last years, the attention on integrated analysis of sewer networks, wastewater treatment plants and receiving waters has been growing. However, the common lack of data in the urban water-quality field and the incomplete knowledge regarding the interpretation of the main phenomena taking part in integrated urban water systems draw attention to the necessity of evaluating the reliability of model results. Uncertainty analysis can provide useful hints and information regarding the best model approach to be used by assessing its degrees of significance and reliability. Few studies deal with uncertainty assessment in the integrated urban-drainage field. In order to fill this gap, there ha…
Quantifying the health impacts of outdoor air pollution: useful estimations for public health action
2013
According to WHO,1 health impact assessment (HIA) is A combination of procedures, methods and tools used to evaluate the potential health effects of a policy, programme or project. Using qualitative, quantitative and participatory techniques, HIA aims to produce recommendations that will help decision makers and other stakeholders make choices about alternatives and improvements to prevent disease/injury, and to actively promote health. The typical procedural steps in HIA include screening, scoping, assessment of health effects, recommending alternatives and mitigations, reporting and monitoring.2 Each step helps predict or foresee potential effects of policy decisions on a population's hea…
Toward a holistic environmental impact assessment of marble quarrying and processing: proposal of a novel easy-to-use IPAT-based method.
2016
Marble is a natural dimension stone that is widely used in building due to its resistance and esthetic qualities. Unfortunately, some concerns have arisen regarding its production process because quarrying and processing activities demand significant amounts of energy and greatly affect the environment. Further, performing an environmental analysis of a production process such as that of marble requires the consideration of many environmental aspects (e.g., noise, vibrations, dust and waste production, energy consumption). Unfortunately, the current impact accounting tools do not seem to be capable of considering all of the major aspects of the (marble) production process that may affect th…
Residential Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution during Pregnancy and Anthropometric Measures at Birth in a Multicenter Cohort in Spain
2011
Background: A growing body of research suggests that prenatal exposure to air pollution may be harmful to fetal development. We assessed the association between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and anthropometric measures at birth in four areas within the Spanish Children’s Health and Environment (INMA) mother and child cohort study. Methods: Exposure to ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and benzene was estimated for the residence of each woman (n = 2,337) for each trimester and for the entire pregnancy. Outcomes included birth weight, length, and head circumference. The association between residential outdoor air pollution exposure and birth outcomes was assessed with linear regress…
Radionuclides in wastewater treatment plants: monitoring of Sicilian plants.
2015
Three Sicilian wastewater treatment plants were monitored to assess the occurrence and the behaviour of radionuclides. Two sampling campaigns (screening and long-term) were carried out during which liquid and solid samples have been analysed. It was found that 131I mostly occurred in the samples analysed during the screening campaign (43% of the analysed samples contained 131I). High 131I specific activity was found in the mixed liquor, recycled sludge and dehydrated sludge samples. This finding was mainly due to the tendency of 131I to be associated with solid particles. During the long-term sampling campaign an influence of the sludge retention time (SRT) on the 131I behaviour was found. …
Illustration of constrained composition statistical methods in the interpretation of radionuclide concentrations in the moss Pleurozium schreberi.
2013
In this work we have used moss Pleurozium schreberi as a bioindicator of radioactive materials in environment. The following radionuclides were determined in moss samples: (137)Cs, (40)K, (210)Pb, (212)Pb, (214)Pb, (214)Bi, (231)Th, (235)U and (228)Ac, but not all of them in each sample. The highest activity concentrations were found for naturally occurring (210)Pb, (40)K and the artificial isotope (137)Cs. Activities of radioisotopes were recalculated into mass concentrations and the statistical methods intended for constrained data processing were used. Analysis of our results showed at most a weak relationship between radioisotope mass concentrations in moss. It was supposed that concent…