Pedestrian road crossing behavior (PEROB): Development and psychometric evaluation

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a theory-based questionnaire to measure road crossing attitudes and potentially risky pedestrian behavior.

Methods: A cross-sectional validation study was carried out on a total sample of 380 young adults aged 18 to 25 years who live in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected from January 27 to May 20, 2015, using a self-administered structured pool of 76 items that was developed from research on the theory of planned behavior. A panel of subject-matter experts evaluated the items for content validity index and content validity ratio, and the questionnaire was pretested. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to test construct validity. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses were done to assess internal consistency and stability of the scale.

Results: From the initial 76 items, 38 items were found to be appropriate for assessing the pedestrian road crossing behavior (PEROB) of young adults in Tehran. A 9-factor solution revealed an exploratory factor analysis that jointly accounted for 63.8% of the variance observed. Additional analyses also indicated acceptable results for the internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha value ranging from 0.67 to 0.88 and ICC values ranging from 0.64 to 0.96.

Conclusions: This psychometric evaluation of a self-administered instrument resulted in a reliable and valid instrument to assess young adult pedestrians' self-reported road crossing attitudes and behaviors in Tehran. Further development of the instrument is needed to assess its applicability to other road users, particularly older pedestrians.     

An observational study of child safety seat use in an international safe community: Tehran,Iran

Objective: Despite strong evidence of the effectiveness of child safety seats in reducing injuries, the use of these devices in some communities is still rare. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of child safety seat use and the factors influencing its use in the safe community of Tehran.

Methods: This roadside observational study was conducted in 2015 and 2,178 personal cars with a child under 12 years aboard were observed on Tehran's streets in regard to use of child safety seats. Other variables such as the gender of the driver, driver's age group, type of street, region of municipality, time of day, and day of the week were also collected.

Results: Prevalence of child safety seat use was 4.3% and was significantly higher among women drivers, on freeways, and in municipal regions 1, 4, and 7.

Conclusions: The prevalence of child safety seat use in Tehran as a most populous member of the international safe community was very low and most children commuted in insecure situations in the vehicle. Therefore, it is proposed that plans should be made to increase the use of child safety seats in international safe communities.     

Spatial assessment of groundwater quality in Guna Tana landscape

This study focuses on investigating the quality of groundwater for irrigation and drinking water purposes. Spatial distribution of physicochemical and microbiological parameters was assessed from samples collected from springs, hand‐dug wells, and boreholes found the Guna Tana landscape. A total of 70 samples were considered for physical, chemical, and bacteriological water quality determination. The results revealed that most of the groundwater quality index (WQI) values lie between good and excellent. The maximum, minimum, mean, and standard deviation of each water quality parameter were prepared for evaluating groundwater quality. According to the WQI values, more than 83% of the water samples were classified as excellent water for drinking. More than 92% of the water samples showed low sodium hazards for irrigation and about 48% and 46% of the water samples were classified as within the excellent and good water classes for irrigation based on their electrical conductance levels. Therefore, the groundwater that is found in the Guna Tana landscape could be used for drinking and irrigation purposes without any advanced treatment.     

Postural assessment in pen-and-paper-based observational methods and their associated health effects: a review

Introduction. This review describes standardized ergonomics assessment based on pen-and-paper observational methods for assessing ergonomics risk factors. Objective. The three main objectives are to analyze published pen-and-paper observational methods, to extract and understand the risk levels of each method and to identify their associated health effects. Methodology. The authors searched scientific databases and the Internet for materials from 1970 to 2013 using the following keywords: ergo, posture, method, observational, postural angle, health effects, pain and diseases. Postural assessments of upper arms, lower arms, wrists, neck, back and legs in six pen-and-paper-based observational methods are highlighted, extracted in groups and linked with associated adverse health effects. Results. The literature reviewed showed strengths and limitations of published pen-and-paper-based observational methods in determining the work activities, risk levels and related postural angles to adverse health effects. This provided a better understanding of unsafe work postures and how to improve these postures. Conclusion. Many pen-and-paper-based observational methods have been developed. However, there are still many limitations of these methods. There is, therefore, a need to develop a new pen-and-paper-based observational method for assessing postural problems.     

Design and cognitive evaluation of 6 dynamic lane departure warning symbols

Objective: Lane departure, caused by inattention, distraction, drowsiness, or any unusual driver behavior, is a typical risk threatening the driver as well as other road users. Accurate perception of such situations through effective warnings would help drivers to avoid serious consequences. With regard to critical functions of warning symbols for risk communication, the present study focused on providing effective and easily perceivable symbols, compatible with human cognitive capabilities. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to design and cognitively appraise 6 newly designed dynamic symbols, candidates for a new type of lane departure warning system.

Methods: Simplicity, familiarity, concreteness, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness were the major assessment criteria, defining cognitive features by the earlier researchers in the field. A total number of 187 driving license applicants, with a mean age of 20.58 years (SD = 3.20), participated in the present survey. The participants rated cognitive features of the 6 dynamic symbols along a 0–100 scale.

Results: Significant main effect of the element factor type of the designed symbols on rating cognitive features revealed that the existence of car element was the best predictor for illustrating lane departure. The interaction of both element factor and location of element factor significantly affected the ratings. However, the location of element factor did not solely have any strong effect on the ratings. The results also demonstrated that semantic closeness received the highest overall mean score across symbols (M = 61.80), especially within the symbols that include the car element (M = 75.67). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the average ratings of the cognitive features, despite the fact that a significant correlation was found between cognitive features.

Conclusion: The most considerable result of the current study was the match between the symbol with the highest ratings and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-related icon in appearance. Because previous studies demonstrated a strong correlation between comprehension scores of the symbol and both semantic closeness and meaningfulness, high-level comprehensibility of the best ranked symbol is expected.     

Genotoxicity of ferric oxide nanoparticles in Raphanus sativus: Deciphering the role of signaling factors, oxidative stress and cell death

We have studied the genotoxic and apoptotic potential of ferric oxide nanoparticles(Fe_2O_3-NPs) in Raphanus sativus(radish).Fe_2O_3-NPs retarded the root length and seed germination in radish.Ultrathin sections of treated roots showed subcellular localization of Fe_2O_3-NPs,along with the appearance of damaged mitochondria and excessive vacuolization.Flow cytometric analysis of Fe_2O_3-NPs(1.0 mg/m L) treated groups exhibited 219.5%,161%,120.4% and 161.4% increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS),mitochondrial membrane potential(ΔΨm),nitric oxide(NO) and Ca2+influx in radish protoplasts.A concentration dependent increase in the antioxidative enzymes glutathione(GSH),catalase(CAT),superoxide dismutase(SOD) and lipid peroxidation(LPO) has been recorded.Comet assay showed a concentration dependent increase in deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA) strand breaks in Fe_2O_3-NPs treated groups.Cell cycle analysis revealed 88.4% of cells in sub-G1 apoptotic phase,suggesting cell death in Fe_2O_3-NPs(2.0 mg/m L) treated group.Taking together,the genotoxicity induced by Fe_2O_3-NPs highlights the importance of environmental risk associated with improper disposal of nanoparticles(NPs) and radish can serve as a good indicator for measuring the phytotoxicity of NPs grown in NP-polluted environment.     

Spatial variance and assessment of nitrogen dioxide pollution in major cities of Pakistan along N5-Highway

This paper discusses the findings of the first car MAX-DOAS (multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy) field campaign (300 km long) along the National Highway-05 (N5-Highway) of Pakistan conducted on 13 and 14 November, 2012. The main objective of the field campaign was to assess the spatial distribution of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) columns and corresponding concentrations along the N5-Highway from Islamabad to Lahore. Source identification of NO₂ revealed that the concentrations were higher within major cities along the highway. The highest NO₂ vertical column densities (NO₂ VCDs) were found around two major cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore. This study also presents a comparison of NO₂ VCDs measured by the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) and car MAX-DOAS observations. The comparison revealed similar spatial distribution of the NO₂ columns with both car MAX-DOAS and satellite observations, but the car MAX-DOAS observations show much more spatial details. Maximum NO₂ VCD retrieved from car MAX-DOAS observations was up to an order of magnitude larger than the OMI observations in urban areas.     

The nexus of environment-related technologies and consumption-based carbon emissions in top five emitters: empirical analysis through dynamic common correlated effects estimator

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Climate action got attention from the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although a large number of studies are investigating...     

Multi-objective conflict resolution optimization model for reservoir’s selective depth water withdrawal considering water quality

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper develops a multi-objective conflict resolution simulation-optimization model based on a leader-follower game to resolve conflicts between...