Mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle and crashes among university students

Objective: Motorcycle crashes are a significant road safety challenge, particularly in many low- and middle-income countries where motorcycles represent the vast majority of their vehicle fleet. Though risky riding behaviors, such as speeding and riding under the influence of alcohol, have been identified as important contributors to motorcycle crashes, little is understood about the effect of using a mobile phone while riding on motorcycle crash involvement. This article investigates crash involvement among motorcycle riders with risky riding behaviors, particularly using a mobile phone while riding.

Methods: Data were obtained from an online survey of university students’ risky riding behaviors in Vietnam administered between March and May 2016 (n?=?665).

Results: Results show that 40% of motorcycle riders reported to have experienced a crash/fall and nearly 24% of motorcycle riders indicated that they had been injured in a crash/fall. Effects of mobile phone use while riding on safety of motorcycle riders are highlighted. Specifically, more frequent use of a mobile phone for texting or searching for information while riding is associated with a higher chance of being involved in a crash/fall. The results also show that drink riding is associated with a higher chance of being injured.

Conclusions: Overall this article reveals significant safety issues of using a mobile phone while riding a motorcycle, providing valuable insight for designing education and publicity campaigns.     

Sustainability assessment of coastal ecosystems: DPSIR analysis for beaches at the Northeast Coast of Vietnam

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The Northeastern coastal zone of Vietnam possesses high biodiversity and rich ecosystems like coral reefs, seagrasses, beaches and mangroves. It also...     

Calling,texting, and searching for information while riding a motorcycle: A study of university students in Vietnam

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of calling, texting, and searching for information while riding a motorcycle among university students and the influences of sociodemographic characteristics, social norms, and risk perceptions on these behaviors.

Methods: Students at 2 university campuses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the 2 largest cities in Vietnam, were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Data collection was conducted during March and May 2016.

Results: There were 741 respondents, of whom nearly 90% of students (665) were motorcycle riders. Overall prevalence of mobile phone use while riding is 80.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 77.9–83.9%) with calling having a higher level of prevalence than texting or searching for information while riding: 74% (95% CI, 70.7–77.3%) vs. 51.7% (95% CI, 47.9–55.5%) and 49.9% (95% CI, 46.1–53.7%), respectively. Random parameter ordered probit modeling results indicate that mobile phone use while riding is associated with gender, motorcycle license duration, perceived crash risk, perceived risk of mobile phone snatching, and perceptions of friends' mobile phone use while riding.

Conclusions: Mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle is highly prevalent among university students. Educational programs should focus on the crash and economic risk of all types of mobile phone use while riding, including calling, texting, and searching for information. In addition, they should consider targeting the influence of social norms and peers on mobile phone use while riding.     

Ecologically based management of rodents in the real world: applied to a mixed agroecosystem in Vietnam.

Rodents cause significant damage to lowland irrigated rice crops in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. A four-year study was conducted in 1999-2002 to examine the effectiveness of applying rodent control practices using the principles of ecologically based pest management. Four 100-150 ha study sites adjacent to villages were selected and farmers on two treated sites were asked to follow a set of rodent management practices, while farmers on the untreated sites were asked not to change their typical practices. Farmers on the treated sites were encouraged to use trap-barrier systems (TBS's; 0.065-ha early planted crop surrounded by a plastic fence with multiple capture traps; one TBS for every 10-15 ha), to work together over large areas by destroying burrows in refuge habitats soon after planting (before the rats reestablish in the fields and before the onset of breeding), synchronizing planting and harvesting of the their rice crops, cleaning up weeds and piles of straw, and keeping bund (embankment) size small (<30 cm) to prevent burrowing. A 75% reduction in the use of rodenticides and plastic barrier fences (without traps or an early crop) was achieved on treated sites. The abundance of rodents was low after implementation of the management practices across all sites. There was no evidence for an effect of treatment on the abundance of rodents captured each month using live-capture traps, and no difference in damage between treatments or in yields obtained from the rice crops. Therefore, ecologically based rodent management was equally effective as typical practices for rodent management. Farmers on the treated sites spent considerably less money applying rodent control practices, which was reflected in the comparative increase in the partial benefit:cost of applying ecologically based rodent management from 3:1 on treated sites and untreated sites prior to the implementation of treatments to 17:1 on treated sites in the final year of the project.     

The effect of aniline on photochemical reactions in atmospheric and synthetic air samples

The inhibitory effect of aniline in photochemical smog reactions was studied using actual Toronto air samples. An aniline concentration of 0.81 pphm had negligible effect in a light traffic air sample containing negligible NO, whereas 20 pphm in a heavy traffic sample caused a 70% decrease in the oxidant dosage, a 50% decrease in the NO₂ peak and a four-fold increase in the NO half-life. In experiments with propylene in synthetic mixtures, the half-life of propylene was increased from 144 min. to 192 min. by the present of 20 pphm of aniline. In addition, a thirty-fold increase in condensation nuclei was produced following a one hour induction period. A chemical mechanism is proposed which is consistent with these results. Although the condensation nuclei detected may be too small to produce light scattering, they may be retained in the lung. In addition they may grow in size. These consequences do not favour the use of aniline as an inhibitor in photochemical smog.     

Comparison of two photochemical modeling systems in a tropical urban area

Two photochemical smog modeling systems, UAM-V/ SAIMM (the Variable-Grid UAM/Systems Applications International Mesoscale Model) and CHIMERE/ECMWF (European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast), are applied to the same tropical domain (Bangkok Metropolitan Region) and the same episode (January 13-14, 1997) to evaluate their relative performance using the same anthropogenic emission database (emission database available at the Pollution Control Department [PCD] 1997). Ozone (O3) produced by both models meets U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) suggested prediction criteria of mean normalized bias error and mean normalized gross error on January 14 but none on January 13. Both models are tested with various modified databases of precursors emissions from the PCD original database. Performance of UAM-V is the best when using the modified emission data with volatile organic compound (VOC), NOx, and CO mobile source emission reduced by 50%, 50%, and 20% from the original database. CHIMERE suggests a similar emission database except for the VOC emission, which is a reduction by 40% from the original PCD mobile source emission. Spatial and temporal variations of O3, CO, NOy (total reactive nitrogen), and Ox (NO2+O3) predicted by both model systems using the modified     

Comparative study on water-soluble inorganic ions in PM2.5 from two distinct climate regions and air quality

Recently, air quality has significantly improved in developed country, but that issue is of concern in emerging megacity in developing country.In this study, aerosols and their precursor gas were collected by NILU filter pack at two distinct urban sites during the winter and summer in Osaka, Japan and dry and rainy seasons in Ho Chi Minh City(HCMC),Vietnam.The aims are to investigate the contribution of water-soluble inorganic ions(WSIIs) to PM_(2.5), thermodynamic characterization and possible formation pathway of secondary inorganic aerosol(SIA).The PM_(2.5) concentration in Osaka(15.8 μg/m~3) is lower than that in HCMC(23.0 μg/m~3), but the concentration of WSIIs in Osaka(9.0 μg/m~3) is two times higher than that in HCMC(4.1 μg/m~3).Moreover, SIA including NH_4~+, NO_3~-and SO_4~(2-)are major components in WSIIs accounting for 90% and 76%(in molar) in Osaka and HCMC,respectively.Thermodynamic models were used to understand the thermodynamic characterization of urban aerosols.Overall, statistical analysis results indicate that very good agreement(R~2 0.8) was found for all species, except for nitrate aerosol in HCMC.We found that when the crustal species present at high amount, those compositions should be included in model calculation(i.e.in the HCMC situation).Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of NH_4~+– NO_3~-– SO_4~(2-)system.A possible pathway to produce fine nitrate aerosol in Osaka is via the homogeneous reaction between NH_3 and HNO_3, while nonvolatile nitrate aerosols can be formed by the heterogeneous reactions in HCMC.     

Bacterial community succession during the enrichment of chemolithoautotrophic arsenite oxidizing bacteria at high arsenic concentrations

To generate cost-effective technologies for the removal of arsenic from water, we developed an enrichment culture of chemolithoautotrophic arsenite oxidizing bacteria (CAOs) that could effectively oxidize widely ranging concentrations of As(III) to As(V). In addition, we attempted to elucidate the enrichment process and characterize the microbial composition of the enrichment culture. A CAOs enrichment culture capable of stably oxidizing As(III) to As(V) was successfully constructed through repeated batch cultivation for more than 700 days, during which time the initial As(III) concentrations were increased in a stepwise manner from 1 to 10-12 mmol/L. As(III) oxidation activity of the enrichment culture gradually improved, and 10-12 mmol/L As(III) was almost completely oxidized within four days. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis showed that the dominant bacteria in the enrichment culture varied drastically during the enrichment process depending on the As(III) concentration. Isolation and characterization of bacteria in the enrichment culture revealed that the presence of multiple CAOs with various As(III) oxidation abilities enabled the culture to adapt to a wide range of As(III) concentrations. The CAOs enrichment culture constructed here may be useful for pretreatment of water from which arsenic is being removed.