5,171 research outputs found
The health effects of air pollution in Delhi, India
No full textThe authors report the results of a time-series study of the impact of particulate air pollution on daily mortality in Delhi. They find: a) A positive, significant relationship between particulate pollution and daily nontraumatic deaths as well as deaths from certain causes (respiratory and cardiovascular problems) and for certain age groups. b) In general, these impacts are smaller than those estimated for other countries, where on average a 100-microgram increase in total suspended particulates (TSP) leads to a 6-percent increase in nontraumatic mortality. In Delhi, such an increase in TSP is associated with a 2.3-percent increase in deaths. c) The differences in magnitudes of the effects are most likely explained by differences in distributions of age at death and cause of death, as most deaths in Delhi occur before the age of 65 and are not attributed to causes with a strong association with air pollution. d) Although air pollution seems to have less impact on mortality counts in Delhi, the number of life-years saved per death avoided is greater in Delhi than in US cities -- because the age distribution of impacts in these two places varies. In the United States particulates have the greatest influence on daily deaths among persons 65 and older. In Delhi, they have the greatest impact in the 15-to-44 age group. That means that for each death associated with air pollution, on average more life-years would be saved in Delhi than in the United States. Large differences in the magnitude of effects do call into question the validity of the"concentration-response transfer"procedure. In that procedure, concentration-response relationships found for industrial countries are applied to cities in developing countries with little or no adjustment, to estimate the effects of pollution on daily mortality.Demographics,Public Health Promotion,Montreal Protocol,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Air Quality&Clean Air,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Montreal Protocol,Demographics,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Systems Development&Reform
Respon Pemberian Pupuk Organik Cair Air Cucian Beras Terhadap Pertumbuhan dan Produksi Tanaman Selada Hijau (Lactuca Satvia L.)
No full textTanaman selada (Lactuca satvia L) adalah salah satu sayuran daun yang memiliki nilai ekonomi tinggi di Indonesia dan mempunyai manfaat yang baik bagi konsumennya. Penggunaan pupuk organik diharapkan lebih optimal dalam bidang pertsnian saat ini, mengingat dampak pengunaan pupukorganik sehingga terjadinya kerusakan tanah dan pencemaran lingkungan dengan meningkatnya residu bahan kimia di dalam tanah, yang berakibat menurunnya produktivitas lahan. Penelitian ini yaitu: 1. Untuk mengetahui pengaruh penyiraman Pupuk Organik Cair POC limbah air cucian beras terhadap pertumbuhan tanaman selada (Lactuca satvia L). 2. Untuk mengetahui dosis yang lebih efektif dalam pemberian Pupuk Organik Cair POC limbah air cucian beras terhadap peningkatan hasil produksi tanaman selada (Lactuca satvia L)
Occupational injuries and stressors among Canadian air medical health care professionals in rotor-wing programs
No full textIntroduction: Air medical health care providers work in a unique environment that may affect occupational injury rates and patterns. Despite this knowledge, little high-quality evidence exists regarding occupational injuries specifically incurred by air medical health care professionals. We sought to characterize the epidemiology of occupational injuries experienced by Canadian rotor-wing health care providers.
Methods: A survey was sent to the 4 rotor-wing programs in Canada. All crewmembers participating directly in patient care were asked to complete the survey detailing any acute occupational injuries sustained within the previous year. A series of both open- and closed-ended questions was used to collect participant demographics and information regarding any injuries sustained.
Results: One hundred and six (40.6%) participants completed the survey. Three hundred and thirty acute injuries were reported. Hand lacerations and leg contusions were most prevalent (31 and 24 individuals incurred these injuries, respectively). Acute back injuries were also prevalent with 25 (23.6%) participants reporting at least one back injury. Overall, an injury rate of 3.2 injuries per person per year was reported. Lifting was cited as a common factor in injury (30 cases). Most injuries required little treatment, with only 17 needing physician intervention, and only 6 required more than 1 week off work.
Conclusion: Injuries among Canadian air medical crews are common, but fortunately, the majority are minor. Specific injury prevention strategies may focus on stretcher design, cabin ergonomics, and extremity protective equipment.Foundation for Air Medical Researc
Pengujian Pupuk Organik Cair Limbah Cangkang Telur Ayam Ras pada Pertumbuhan dan Produksi Tanaman Terung Ungu (Solanum melongena L)
No full textPengujian Pupuk Organik Cair Limbah Cangkang
Telur Ayam Ras Pada Pertumbuhan dan Produksi Tanaman Terung Ungu
(Solanum melongena L.).Skripsi. Di bawah bimbingan Gusmeizal, selaku Ketua
Pembimbing dan Ellen L. Panggabean, selaku Anggota Pembimbing.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat pengaruh pemberian pupuk organik cair
limbang cangkah telur ayam ras pada pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman terung
ungu (Solanum melongena L.), yang dilaksanakan di Kebun Percobaan Fakultas
Pertanian Universitas Medan Area, Jalan Kolam No.1 Medan Estate, Kecamatan
Percut Sei Tuan dengan ketinggian 12 m dpl, topografi datar dan jenis tanah
alluvial. Penelitian ini dimulai dari bulan April sampai dengan Juli 2017.
Rancangan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini Rancangan Acak Kelompok
(RAK) Non Faktorial dengan perlakuan faktor pemberian pupuk organik caik
limbah cangkang telur yang terdiri dari 5 taraf perlakuan, yakni :P0= tanpa pupuk
organik cair dari cangkang telur; P1=pemberian pupuk organik caik dari cangkang
telur dengan konsentrasi 50 ml/l air; P2=pemberian pupuk organik caik dari
cangkang telur dengan konsentrasi 100 ml/l air; P3=pemberian pupuk organik caik
dari cangkang telur dengan konsentrasi 150 ml/l air dan P4 = pemberian pupuk
organik caik dari cangkang telur dengan konsentrasi 200 ml/1 air.Penelitian ini
dilaksanakan dengan ulangan sebanyak 5 ulangan.
Parameter yang diamati dalam penelitian ini adalah tinggi tanaman (cm), jumlah
daun (helai), umur berbunga (hari), jumlah cabang primer (cabang), jumlah
buah/sampel (buah), produksi/sampel(g) dan produksi/plot (kg). Adapun hasil
yang telah diperoleh dari penelitian ini adalah pemberian pupuk organik cair dari
cangkang telur berpengaruh nyata terhadap semua parameter yang diamati.Testing of Organic Fertilizer Liquid Raw Egg Chicken
Egg Shell on the Growth and Production of Purple Eggplant (Solanum melongena
L.) Thesis. Under the guidance of Gusmeizal, as the Chief Counselor and Ellen L.
Panggabean, as the Advisors.
The aim of this research is to see the effect of organic livestock liquid fertilizer
and eggplant egg production (Solanum melongena L.), conducted in Experiment
Garden of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Medan Area, Jalan Lapangan
No.1 Medan Estate, Percut District Sei Tuan with a height of 12 m above sea
level, flat topography and alluvial soil type. This study starts from April to July
2017.
The design used in this study Randomized Block Design (RAK) Non Factorial
with the treatment of organic fertilizer cct fertilizer application factor consisting of
5 treatment levels, namely: P0 = without organic liquid fertilizer from eggshell;
P1 = application of organic fertilizer caik from eggshell with concentration 50 ml
/ 1 water; P2 = application of organic fertilizer caik from eggshell with
concentration of 100 ml / 1 water; P3 = application of organic fertilizer cilang
from eggshell with concentration of 150 ml / l water and P4 = application of
organic fertilizer from eggshell with concentration 200 ml / 1 water. This study
was conducted with 5 repetitions.
The parameters observed in this study were plant height (cm), number of leaf
(strands), flowering age (day), number of primary branches (branch), number of
fruit / sample (fruit), production / sample (g) and production / plot (kg). The
results obtained from this research is the provision of liquid organic fertilizer from
the eggshell significantly affect all parameters observed
Respon Pertumbuhan dan Produksi Tanaman Petsai (Brassica Chinensis L.) Terhadap Pemberian Limbah Air Kelapa Tua dan Pemberian Pupuk Kandang Kelinci
No full textPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui respon pertumbuhan dan produksi
tanaman petsai (Brassica chinensis L.) terhadap pemberian limbah air kelapa tua
dan pupuk kandang kelinci, yang dilaksanakan di Kebun Percobaan Fakultas
Pertanian Universitas Medan Area, Jalan Kolam No. 1 Medan Estate, Kecamatan
Percut Sei Tuan dengan ketinggian 12 m dpl, topografi datar dan jenis tanah
alluvial. Penelitian ini dimulai dari bulan November sampai dengan Desember
2017.
Rancangan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini Rancangan Acak Kelompok
(RAK) Faktorial, dengan faktor perlakuan : 1) Faktor pemberian pupuk organik
cair air kelapa (A) yang terdiri dari 4 taraf perlakuan, yakni : A0 = tanpa POC air
kelapa (kontrol), A1 = konsentrasi 50% per liter atau 500 ml/l air, A2 = konsentrasi
75% per liter atau 750 ml/l air, A3 = konsentrasi 100% per liter atau 1000 ml/l air;
dan 2) Faktor pemberian pupuk kandang kelinci (K) terdiri dari 4 taraf, yaitu :
K0 = tanpa pupuk kotoran kelinci (kontrol), K1 = dosis 5 ton/ha atau 0,5 kg/plot,
K2 = dosis 10 ton/ha atau 1 kg/plot, dan K3= dosis 15 ton/ha atau 1,5 kg/plot.
Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan ulangan sebanyak 4 ulangan.
Parameter yang diamati dalam penelitian ini adalah tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun,
bobot per tanaman sampel, bobot tanaman per plot, bobot jual per plot dan bobot
akar per plot. Adapun hasil yang diperoleh dari penelitian ini adalah pemberian
pupuk kandang sapi berpengaruh nyata terhadap pertumbuhan dan produksi
tanaman petsai, dimana pemberian dengan dosis 0.75 kg/plot dapat diterapkan
dalam budidaya tanaman petsai. Sedangkan pemberian limbah air kelapa tua dan
interaksi antara kedua faktor perlakuan berpengaruh tidak nyata terhadap
pertumbuhan dan produksi tanaman petsai.This study aims to determine the response of growth and production of
Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis L.) to the provision of old coconut water
waste and rabbit manure, which was carried out at the Experimental Garden of the
Faculty of Agriculture, Medan Area University, Jalan Kolam No. 1 Medan Estate,
Percut Sei Tuan District with a height of 12 m above sea level, flat topography
and alluvial soil type. This research starts from November to December 2017.
The design used in this research was Factorial Randomized Block Design
(RBD), with treatment factors: 1) Factors of giving coconut water liquid organic
fertilizer (A) consisting of 4 levels of treatment, namely: A0 = without POC
coconut water (control), A1 = 50% concentration per liter or 500 ml / l water, A2
= concentration 75% per liter or 750 ml / l water, A3 = concentration 100% per
liter or 1000 ml / l water; and 2) Factors of rabbit manure (K) consist of 4 levels,
namely: K0 = without rabbit manure (control), K1 = dose 5 tons / ha or 0.5 kg /
plot, K2 = dose 10 tons / ha or 1 kg / plot, and K3 = dose of 15 tons / ha or 1.5 kg
/ plot. This research was carried out with 4 replications.
Parameters observed in this study were plant height, number of leaves,
weight per sample plant, plant weight per plot, selling weight per plot and root
weight per plot. The results obtained from this study is the provision of cow
manure has a significant effect on the growth and production of Chinese cabbage,
where the administration of 0.75 kg / plot can be applied in the cultivation of
Chinese cabbage. While the provision of old coconut water waste and the
interaction between the two treatment factors had no significant effect on the
growth and production of Chinese cabbage
Improving air quality in metropolitan Mexico City : an economic valuation
No full textMexico City has for years experienced high levels of ozone and particulate air pollution. In 1995-99 the entire population of the Mexico City metropolitan area was exposed to annual average concentrations of fine particulate pollution (particulates with a diameter of less than 10micrometers, or PM10) exceeding 50 micrograms per cubic meter, the annual average standard in both Mexico and the United States. Two million people were exposed to annual average PM10 levels of more than 75 micrograms per cubic meter. The daily maximum one-hour ozone standard was exceeded at least 300 days a year. The Mexico Air Quality Management Team documents population-weighted exposures to ozone and PM10 between 1995 and 1999, project exposures in 2010, and computes the value of four scenarios for 2010: A 10 percent reduction in PM10 and ozone. A 20 percent reduction in PM10 and ozone. Achievement of ambient air quality standards across the metropolitan area. A 68 percent reduction in ozone and a 47 percent reduction in PM10 across the metropolitan area. The authors calculate the health benefits of reducing ozone and PM10 for each scenario using dose-response functions from the peer-reviewed literature. They value cases of morbidity and premature mortality avoided using three approaches: Cost of illness and forgone earnings only (low estimate). Cost of illness, forgone earnings, and willingness to pay for avoided morbidity (central case estimate). Cost of illness, forgone earnings, willingness to pay for avoided morbidity, and willingness to pay for avoided mortality (high estimate). The results suggest that the benefits of a 10 percent reduction in ozone and PM10 in 2010 are about 1.49 billion annually. In each case the benefits of reducing ozone amount to about 15 percent of the total benefits. By estimating the magnitude of the benefits from air pollution control, the authors provide motivation for examining specific policies that could achieve the air pollution reductions that they value. They also provide unit values for the benefits from reductions in ambient air pollution (for example, per microgram of PM10) that could be used as inputs into a full cost-benefit analysisof air pollution control strategies.Montreal Protocol,Public Health Promotion,Global Environment Facility,Air Quality&Clean Air,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Montreal Protocol,Air Quality&Clean Air,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Global Environment Facility,Transport and Environment
Air Quality, Infant Mortality, and the Clean Air Act of 1970
No full textWe examine the effects of total suspended particulates (TSPs) air pollution on infant health using the air quality improvements induced by the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). This legislation imposed strict regulations on industrial polluters in nonattainment' counties with TSPs concentrations exceeding the federal ceiling. We use nonattainment status as an instrumental variable for TSPs changes to estimate their impact on infant mortality changes in the first year that the 1970 CAAA was in force. TSPs nonattainment status is associated with sharp reductions in both TSPs pollution and infant mortality from 1971 to 1972. The greater reductions in nonattainment counties near the federal ceiling relative to the attainment' counties narrowly below the ceiling suggest that the regulations are the cause. We estimate that a one percent decline in TSPs results in a 0.5 percent decline in the infant mortality rate. Most of these effects are driven by a reduction in deaths occurring within one month of birth, suggesting that fetal exposure is a potential biological pathway. The results imply that roughly 1,300 fewer infants died in 1972 than would have in the absence of the Clean Air Act.
Estimating the health effects of air pollutants : a method with an application to Jakarta
No full textTo develop efficient strategies for pollution control, it is essential to assess both the costs of control and the benefits that may result. These benefits will often included improvements in public health, including reductions in both morbidity and premature mortality. Until recently, there has been little guidance about how to calculate the benefits of air pollution controls and how to use those estimates to assign priorities to different air pollution control strategies. The author describes a method for quantifying the benefits of reduced ambient concentrations of pollutants (such as ozone and particulate matter) typically found in urban areas worldwide. The author then applies the method to data on Jakarta, Indonesia, an area characterized by little wind, high population concentration (8 million people), congested roads, and ambient air pollution. The magnitude of the benefits of pollution control depend on the level of air pollution, the expected effects on health of the pollutants (dose-response), the size of the population affected and the economic value of these effects. The results for Jakarta suggest that significant benefits result from reducing exposure to both outdoor and indoor air pollutants. For example, if annual concentrations of particulate matter were reduced to the midpoint of the World Health Organization guideline (and former U.S. ambient standard), the estimates indicate a reduction per year of 1,400 premature deaths (with a range of 900 to 1,900), 49,000 emergency room visits, 600,000 asthma attacks, 7.6 million restricted activity days (including work loss), 124,000 cases of bronchitis in children, and 37 million minor respiratory symptoms. In the case of Jakarta, the methodology suggests that reducing exposure to lead and nitrogen dioxide should also be a high priority. An important consequence of ambient lead pollution is a reduction in learning abilities for children, measured as I.Q loss. Apart from that, reducing the proportion of respirable particles can reduce the amount of illness and premature mortality. Clearly, air pollution represents a significant public health hazard to residents of Jakarta and other cities consistently exposed to high levels of air pollution, such as Bangkok, Mexico City, and Santiago, Chile.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Montreal Protocol,Air Quality&Clean Air,Environmental Economics&Policies,Pollution Management&Control
Entrainment temporal evolution across stably and unstably stratified vapor/clear air interfaces
No full textWarm clouds as stratocumuli swathe a significant part of earth’s surface and play a major role in the global dynamics of atmosphere by strongly reflecting incoming solar radiation so that an accurate representation of their dynamics is important in large-scale analyses of atmoshperic flows [Wood 2012].The mixing and entrainment processes at the cloud top have been identified as fundamental to determine the internal structure of warm clouds, so that a clear and complete understanding of their physics is required [Gerber et al 2013]. The aim of this work is to study some of the basic phenomena which occur at a stratified interface focusing on the smallest scales of the flow which influence. These scales are important to understand the global dynamic of clouds, as pointed out by Malinowski et al (2013). To achieve the results, a campaign of high-resolution simulation of the local transport through a dry/moist air were performed by the means of Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) using our home produced computational code that implements a de-aliased pseudospectral Fourier-Galerkin spatial discretization and an explicit low storage fourth order Runge-Kutta time integration scheme [Iovieno et al 2001]. We consider the interface between clear air and moist air in a 6m × 6m × 12m parallelepipedic domain coupling two homogeneous and isotropic turbulent regions with different kinetic energy that interact through a mixing layer. The energy ratio is of the same order of the ones measured in warm clouds (see, e.g., [Malinowski et al 2013]) and, furthermore, it allows us to compare our results with experiments on shearless mixing (see [Veeravalli & Warhaft 1989, Tordella & Iovieno 2011]) in absence of any stratification. For each simulation two interfaces have been obtained, one in highly stably stratified condition, and one in unstable condition. The dynamics of interfaces is analyzed through an initial temperature perturbation located across one of the vapor/clear air interfaces thus generating a local stable layer; the water vapor is treated as a passive scalar. The level of stratification is quantified with the Froude number. For the stable cases, the Froude numbers considered ranges from 12.7 (weak stratification) to 0.6 (intense stratification), while for the unstable cases Fr^2 ranges from -250 to -16. In both stable and unstable cases the evolution of the system can be split in two different phases. In the first one, the buoyancy terms are negligible, and there are no significant differences with respect to a non-stratified case. As the system evolves, the effect of stratification becomes relevant (as soon as the stratification is intense). About the unstable case layer we observe a high intermittency and an intense growth rate of the layer, which becomes overdiffusive in the case Fr^2 = −16. In particular, the entrainment, after an initial decay, asimptotically always shows a positive growth rate. Here, for reason of space, we give details about the stably stratified layer which presents a more complex dynamics associated to the onset of a pocket very low turbulent kinetic energy. It can be observed the onset of a sub-layer characterized by the presence of low values of kinetic turbulent energy. At about 8 time scales, we observe the 8% of the energy in the wapor cloud and the 50% of the kinetic energy in the clear-air region. A similar trend was also observed in the LES cloud topped boundary layer simulations carried out by using Deardoff TKE model (NCAR group) and by using the ARAP TKE model (WVU group) [Moeng et al 1996]. The presence of such sublayer induces the formation of two local interfaces. Both of these interfaces present an intermittent behavior, and the entrainment (flux of dry air into the moist one) is blocked; the velocity of the moist air front can be considered a characteristic parameter, since the entrainment of clear air is responsible of the growth of the cloud [Mellado 2010, Moeng 2000]. As a consequence, the entrainment of clear air is confined to a thin interfacial layer. Also the dissipative terms inside the pit becomes relatively more important compared to the kinetic energy, making the pit deeper and deeper with respect to the external regions
The air we breathe
No full textAir pollution has been associated with respiratory ill health for centuries and in recent years much research effort has gone into quantifying the risks and elucidating the mechanisms. Respiratory disease, mostly of the airways is second only by a narrow margin, to cardiovascular disease as the commonest reason for admission to hospital. In this article the author describes the health risks associated with air pollution specifically with asthma as being the commonest respiratory disease in Malta.peer-reviewe
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