Public perception of air pollution sources across Europe

Air pollution is one of the primary concerns of our society for its effect on human health and the environment. Among the policy measures that can be put in place to limit air pollutant emissions, end-of-pipe technologies and/or regulatory instruments may be implemented through legislative acts. Also, equally important are behavioural measures, requiring citizens’ active involvement. The success of any measure to limit pollutant emissions requires the acceptance by the citizens that, in turn, implies a correct perception of the main pollutant emission drivers. We present here the comparison between the public perception of air pollution sources and the real-world situation through a survey carried out in seven European countries and involving 16 101 respondents. Our study shows a dramatic underestimation of the contribution of the agri-food sector to air pollution. This result is common to all respondents in the seven countries examined and only to a small extent depends on gender, age and socio-economic status of the respondents.     

Numerical simulation of far-field blast loads arising from large TNT equivalent explosives

Large TNT equivalent explosions usually arise from accidents occurring during the transportation, storage, and manufacturing of chemicals relevant to process industries. The blast wave generated by the explosion will spread and interact with the surrounding factories and storehouses, damaging the building structures within several kilometers and causing significant casualties and property losses. This study aims to develop an efficient numerical simulation method to predict blast loads to estimate the consequences of accidents involving far-field free air bursts or surface burst explosions. Before its interaction with the interested target, a blast wave is generated in the numerical model by specifying the initial and boundary conditions of the disturbed air. Based on empirical data of incident overpressure, an explicit formula to calculate the air particle velocity is derived from the governing equations of a perfect inviscid gas. A simplified path line method is proposed to calculate the air density. The proposed method is applied to the LS-DYNA CESE solver to simulate the blast loads on building structures in the far field. Validations against empirical data and experiments indicate that the proposed method is sufficiently accurate for engineering applications and, through a case study, presents a more efficient performance than the LOAD_BLAST_ENHANCED (LBE) and mapping methods.     

Institutional quality,financial development and sustainable economic growth among lower income countries

This article postulates strong endogenous relationships in lower income countries between institutional quality, financial development and sustained economic growth. These associations were investigated using the vector-error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality method for a sample of 79 countries from 2005 to 2022. The findings show that (1) these variables reinforce each other in the short run. (2) In the long run, both institutional quality and financial development can fuel economic growth. (3) The positive effect of institutional quality on economic growth is greater than that of financial development. Policy implications of these findings are that careful attention should be paid to co-development policies to enhance the institutional quality and the financial system in these economies. Policies should also consider economic growth strategies to enable sustainable economic growth rates.     

Investigation of long-term river water quality variations using different urbanization indices and assessment of common scientific perspectives of urbanization on water quality

This study investigated the water quality variation spanning 30 years (1986–2017) in 16 catchments of Hong Kong against different urbanization indices, namely, built area fraction; population; and product of population and built area fraction. Pearson correlations of three different periods of time (1988–1990, 1998–2000, and 2015–2017) indicated that water quality trends were dependent on the urbanization index. Total solids, nitrite-nitrogen, total phosphorus, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and flow rate had significant deteriorative trends (Pearson r > 0.5 and p < 0.05) with population and product of built area and population. Results also interpreted that built area fraction and product of built area and population were the worst and best indices that represented urbanization and/or its impacts, respectively. Mann-Kendall test for the entire 30 year period showed that water quality had improved with time with respect to certain water quality parameters (e.g., dissolved oxygen, ammoniacal nitrogen and total suspended solids). The results portrayed that although the urbanization of catchments had increased with time, the river water quality with respect to many parameters showed signs of improvement and the legislative measures implemented seemed to be effective in controlling pollution.     

衡阳市区和衡山背景站臭氧浓度变化规律的对比分析

选取衡阳市区和衡山背景站臭氧自动监测数据,分析两地的臭氧污染特征。对空气质量的优良率情况、臭氧作为首要污染物的变化情况、臭氧浓度的日变化特征、典型时段的浓度变化特征、臭氧浓度的月际变化特征和臭氧与PM_(2.5)的关联情况等进行了分析。结果表明,多云及阴雨天气时,衡阳市区的臭氧浓度日变化幅度大于衡山背景站。夏季,衡阳市区和衡山背景站的臭氧浓度的日变化特征规律差异较大,臭氧浓度分布比较分散,前者为典型的单峰形,后者则波动平缓。冬季,日变化幅度不大,但衡阳市区的臭氧浓度明显低于衡山背景站。衡山背景站和衡阳市区的臭氧基本同步变化,但日均值高于衡阳市区。     

地表水环境遥感监测关键技术与系统

介绍了地表水环境遥感监测的关键技术与系统及其典型应用,其代表性机理模型和应用示范成果主要来自于中国科学院遥感与数字地球研究所的高光谱遥感团队在最近几年中取得的一些研究进展,主要包括建立了基于改进双峰法的水体分布自动化遥感提取方法,实现了简单、高效和高精度的水体提取；提出了大型湖泊长时序水量估算方法,并以青藏高原湖区为例,重建了典型湖泊面积、水位和水量序列；发展了基于“软分类”的典型内陆水体叶绿素a浓度反演方法,构建了基于生物光学模型的高度浑浊水体悬浮物浓度遥感反演半解析方法,提高了反演方法的区域和季节适用性；构建了基于水色指数的大范围湖库营养状态和透明度遥感监测方法,实现了全球大型湖库营养状态遥感监测,以及全国大型湖库透明度遥感监测；在此基础上,开发了地表水环境遥感监测系统,提高了水环境遥感监测效率,促进了卫星遥感在水环境监测中的高精度业务化应用。     

基于SHERPA的环境空气质量减排情景模拟评估

分析了SHERPA综合评价模型的基本原理和主要建模理念,重点介绍了其在环境空气质量减排情景模拟评估方面的作用,以及在排放源与受体关系(SRR)方面的处理方法,比较了其与欧盟常用的其他情景模拟模型的优缺点。SHERPA模型的特点是空间灵活性较好,对于任何给定地点,可以快速评估不同地区对该研究地点空气质量的影响。SHERPA模型的3个主要功能为污染物来源分析、决策支持和情景模拟。基于SHERPA模型对法国环境空气中PM_(2.5)、PM_(10)和NO_2年均浓度进行污染来源分析、决策支持分析和减排情景模拟评估,展示了模型在环境治理措施优先级筛选和政府间联合治理措施协调建议方面的功能和作用,以期为中国环境空气质量预测预报、环境质量管理措施的制定和成效评估等环境服务与管理工作提供借鉴。     

Toward harmonizing prospective effectiveness assessment for road safety: Comparing tools in standard test case simulations

Abstract

Objective: With the overall goal to harmonize prospective effectiveness assessment of active safety systems, the specific objective of this study is to identify and evaluate sources of variation in virtual precrash simulations and to suggest topics for harmonization resulting in increased comparability and thus trustworthiness of virtual simulation-based prospective effectiveness assessment.

Methods: A round-robin assessment of the effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems was performed using an array of state-of-the-art virtual simulation tools on a set of standard test cases. The results were analyzed to examine reasons for deviations in order to identify and assess aspects that need to be harmonized and standardized. Deviations between results calculated by independent engineering teams using their own tools should be minimized if the research question is precisely formulated regarding input data, models, and postprocessing steps.

Results: Two groups of sources of variations were identified; one group (mostly related to the implementation of the system under test) can be eliminated by using a more accurately formulated research question, whereas the other group highlights further harmonization needs because it addresses specific differences in simulation tool setups. Time-to-collision calculations, vehicle dynamics, especially braking behavior, and hit-point position specification were found to be the main sources of variation.

Conclusions: The study identified variations that can arise from the use of different simulation setups in assessment of the effectiveness of active safety systems. The research presented is a first of its kind and provides significant input to the overall goal of harmonization by identifying specific items for standardization. Future activities aim at further specification of methods for prospective assessments of the effectiveness of active safety, which will enhance comparability and trustworthiness in this kind of studies and thus contribute to increased traffic safety.     

The deflectors influence on flow complexity,bed morphology,sediment transport and water quality of urban lotic waters - A laboratory study

In this laboratory study different combinations of bed (sand, pebble gravel [gravel], and a mix of sand and gravel) and flow (typical and overtopping) were experimented with to investigate the impact of porous deflectors in flow diversity, water quality, and fish performance in prismatic open channels. Deflectors changed the gradually varied flow to a rapidly varied flow, as a sudden change in the water depth was observed at the deflectors, and this change was large for smooth beds. With the presence of gravel, the scouring near the downstream deflector was almost twice that of the sand bed, and with the scouring at its own upstream deflector, irrespective of whether the flow was typical or overtopping. This behavior was a result of sand mobilization due to shear stress and sand mobilization aided gravel transport. The mixed bed showed less gravel movement compared to the gravel-only bed. The percentage of sediment washed out was minor for all bed scenarios, indicating that sediment transport was local. Relative to the sand bed without deflectors (representing a typical urban canal), deflectors resulted in reduced and improved water quality (in terms of sediment load) for sand, and mixed bed, respectively. The fishes found refuge and were comfortable in the pool areas created by deflectors unlike in channels without deflectors where they showed exhaustion.     

Assessment of deep aquifer groundwater quality in a geographically unique climatic region of Southern Western Ghats,India using water quality indices

Water quality index (WQI) models are generally used in hydrochemical studies to simplify complex data into single values to reflect the overall quality. In this study, deep groundwater quality in the Chittur and Palakkad Taluks of the Bharathapuzha river basin of Kerala, India, was assessed by employing the WQI method developed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). The assessment of overall water quality is indispensable due to the specific characteristics of the study area, such as geography, climate, over-drafting, and prevalent agricultural practices. Forty representative samples were collected from the study area for monsoon (MON) and pre-monsoon (PRM) seasons. The results showed a general increase of contents from MON to PRM. The major cations were spread in the order Ca²⁺>Na+>Mg²⁺>K⁺ and the anions HCO₃⁻>Cl⁻>CO₃²⁻ based on their relative abundance. Among various parameters analysed, alkalinity and bicarbonate levels during MON were comparatively high, which is indicative of carbonate weathering, and 90% of the samples failed to meet the World Health Organization (WHO, 2017)/Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, 2012) drinking water guidelines. The CCME WQI analysis revealed that nearly 50% of the samples during each season represented good and excellent categories. The samples in the poor category comprised 10% in MON and 15% in PRM. The overall WQI exhibited 15% of poor category samples as well. The spatial depiction of CCME WQI classes helped to expose zones of degraded quality in the centre to eastward parts. The spatial and temporal variations of CCME WQI classes and different physicochemical attributes indicated the influence of common factors attributing to the deep groundwater quality. The study also revealed inland salinity at Kolluparamba and Peruvamba stations, where agricultural activities were rampant with poor surface water irrigation.