Reducing the healthcare costs of urban air pollution: the South African experience

Air pollutants often have adverse effects on human health. This paper investigates and ranks a set of policy and technological interventions intended to reduce such health costs in the high population density areas of South Africa. It initially uses a simple benefit-cost rule, later extended to capture sectoral employment impacts. Although the focus of state air quality legislation is on industrial pollutants, the most efficient interventions were found to be at household level. These included such low-cost interventions as training householders to place kindling above rather than below the coal in a fireplace and insulating roofs. The first non-household policies to emerge involved vehicle fuels and technologies. Most proposed industrial interventions failed a simple cost-benefit test. The paper's policy messages are that interventions should begin with households and that further industry controls are not yet justifiable in their present forms as these relate to the health care costs of such interventions.     

Using GIS to Generate Spatially Balanced Random Survey Designs for Natural Resource Applications

Sampling of a population is frequently required to understand trends and patterns in natural resource management because financial and time constraints preclude a complete census. A rigorous probability-based survey design specifies where to sample so that inferences from the sample apply to the entire population. Probability survey designs should be used in natural resource and environmental management situations because they provide the mathematical foundation for statistical inference. Development of long-term monitoring designs demand survey designs that achieve statistical rigor and are efficient but remain flexible to inevitable logistical or practical constraints during field data collection. Here we describe an approach to probability-based survey design, called the Reversed Randomized Quadrant-Recursive Raster, based on the concept of spatially balanced sampling and implemented in a geographic information system. This provides environmental managers a practical tool to generate flexible and efficient survey designs for natural resource applications. Factors commonly used to modify sampling intensity, such as categories, gradients, or accessibility, can be readily incorporated into the spatially balanced sample design.     

Development of SuperSmart Grids for a more efficient utilisation of electricity from renewable sources

If Europe is serious about reaching its target to keep global mean temperature increase below 2 °C, it must strive for a 100% renewable electricity system by 2050. The SuperSmart Grid approach combines what is often perceived as two exclusive alternatives: wide area power generation and decentralised power generation. We argue that by combining these, in fact, complementary measures, it is possible to address the crucial issue of renewable generation—fluctuating supply—in a comprehensive as well as in a technologically and economically viable manner. Thus, the SuperSmart Grid simultaneously can contribute to energy security, climate security, social security, and national security.     

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome in association with a balanced reciprocal translocation involving chromosomes 3 and 5

We present a case report on a fetus with multiple malformations, diagnosed by ultrasound at 20 weeks' gestation. From the combination of intrauterine growth retardation and limb abnormalities that were observed, the most likely diagnosis was considered to be Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). Following counselling, the mother opted to terminate the pregnancy. Chromosome analysis of cultured amniotic fluid cells showed a karyotype of 46,XX,t(3;5)(q21;p13). Postmortem examination of the baby confirmed the presence of features consistent with a diagnosis of CdLS. This case provides a report of a definitive diagnosis of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, suspected on the basis of ultrasound imaging and confirmed by amniocentesis findings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biodynamics of steering wheel induced facial trauma

The present study was undertaken to determine the impact biomechanics of the facial skeleton secondary to steering wheel loading. Because of the particular relevance of the zygomatic bony complex in facial trauma during motor-vehicle accidents, tests were conducted by impacting the zygoma using a vertical drop impact test system. Zygoma was impacted once onto either soft or rigid wheel surfaces at velocities of up to 6.7 m/s. Peak impact forces at the cadaver zygoma were computed from the generalized force and deformation histories using matrix transformation principles. Structural abnormalities were assessed using pre- and post-test plain radiography, two-and three-dimensional computed tomography, and defleshing techniques. At impact velocities of 1.7 to 6.7 m/s, the human cadaver zygoma did not exhibit clinically significant fractures if the peak force was below 1335 N for the soft wheel interface and 1153 N for the rigid wheel interface. Consequently, to mitigate facial injuries due to unsupported rim impact, the data from the present study suggests that the peak dynamic force should be kept within these limits.     

Contribution of tobacco smoke to environmental benzene exposure in Germany

The concentrations of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) constituents including benzene were measured in the living rooms of 10 nonsmoking households and 20 households with at least one smoker situated in the city and suburbs of Munich. In the city, the median benzene levels during the evening, when all household members were at home, were 8.1 and 10.4 μg/m³ in nonsmoking and smoking homes, respectively. The corresponding levels of 3.5 and 4.6 μg/m³ were considerably lower in the suburbs. Median time-integrated 1-week benzene concentrations in the city were 10.6 μg/m³ in nonsmoking homes and 13.1 μg/m³ in smoking homes. In the suburbs, the corresponding values were 3.2 and 5.6 μg/m³. While the benzene concentrations in nonsmoking homes located in the city were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in suburban nonsmoking households, no difference was found between smoking and nonsmoking households located either in the city or in the suburbs. Individual exposures to benzene and to specific markers for tobacco smoke of all household members (82 nonsmokers and 32 smokers) were determined by questionnaire, personal monitoring, and biomonitoring. Within the city, the benzene exposure determined by personal samplers was 11.8 μg/m³ for nonsmokers living in nonsmoking homes and 13.3 μg/m³ for nonsmokers in smoking homes. The corresponding values for nonsmokers living in the suburbs were 5.9 and 6.9 μg/m³, respectively. Neither difference was statistically significant. Nonsmokers living in nonsmoking households in the city had significantly higher exposure to benzene compared to their counterparts living in the suburbs (personal samplers: 11.8 vs 5.9 μg/m³, p < 0.001; benzene in exhalate: 2.4 vs. 1.1 μg/m³, p < 0.05; trans,trans-muconic acid excretion in urine: 92 vs. 54 μg/g creatinine, p < 0.05). Nonsmokers from all households with smokers were significantly more exposed to benzene than nonsmokers living in the nonsmoking households (personal samplers: 13.2 vs. 7.0 μg/m³, p < 0.05; benzene in exhalate: 2.6 vs. 1.8 μg/m³, p < 0.01; trans,trans-muconic acid excretion in urine: 73 vs. 62 μg/g creatinine), but the contribution of ETS to the total benzene exposure was relatively low compared to that from other sources. Analysis of variance showed that at most 15% of the benzene exposure of nonsmokers living in smoking homes was attributable to ETS. For nonsmokers living in nonsmoking households benzene exposure from ETS was insignificant.