Monitoring of atmospheric lead from the Dalbergia sissoo treewas undertaken at Lucknow urban centre of the Ganga Plain, India.Atotal of 26 leaf samples were collected in spring, monsoon and winter seasons from 16 sampling sites and was analysed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry method. Lead concentrations were low in spring season, increased in monsoon to winter seasons and range from 2.1 to 28.2 μg/g (dry wt.). This accumulative response of lead in the tree leaves is directly linked with the exposure time of automobile emission that is considered to be the predominant source for it. Highway localities show higher lead concentrations by a factor of 2 as compared to urban localities. Highest concentration was recorded at Sitapur Road (National Highway No. 24) in winter season. A linear quantitative relationship between urban air-lead levels and lead-in-the Dalbergia sissoo leaves is used to infer the qualitative assessment of present day atmospheric lead pollution. Reported results suggest a drastic reduction in mean lead concentration in Lucknow urban air from 1.32μg/m3 in 1994 to 0.19μg/m3 in 2002. Similarly, mean lead concentration in the tree leaves during winter season also dropped from 17.9 μg/g in 1994 to 8.1 μg/g in 2004. Despite of increasing urban population, urban area, vehicle population and traffic density, the introduction of unleaded-petrol (vehicular fuel) keeps lead level in the urban environment of Lucknow much lower than the past. Like Lucknow, other urban centres of the Ganga Plain are also on way to the exponential increase in pressure of urbanization. An appropriate urban public transport planning is required to provide healthy atmospheric environment for millions of people especially future young generation. 相似文献
Palaeoclimatic scenario projecting annual temperature and annual precipitation is firstly formalized with data available and speculations for the southwest part of the North China Plain (35- 37°N, 115-119°E) during the last 25000 years. Then, with three regression equations relating annual runoff to annual precipitation and derived with data of modern hydrological and meteorological records, values of annual runoff are calculated in terms of the corresponding values of annual precipitation from this palaeoclimatic scenario for this region during this temporal interval. These results indicate that runoff is the most during 8000-3000a B.P. and the least during 25000-12000 a B. P.; runoff occurring during 12000-8000 a B.P. and during 3000-0 a B.P. is less than the one occurring during 8000-3000 a B.P. and more than the one occurring during 25000-12000 a B. P.; and the runoff occurring during 25000-12000 a B. P., 12000-8000 a B. P., and 3000-0 a B.P. is respectively 43, 46 and 66 percent of the one occurring during 8000-3000 a B.P. Values of bankfull discharge for palaeochannels of the Yellow River flowing in this region during the same interval are calculated from available estimates of slope of stream-bed of these palaeochannels with a regression equation relating bankfull discharge to slope of stream-bed and ratios of bankfull-discharge are further calculated from these values for different groups of palaeochannel formed during different time spans embraced in this interval. To conduct a cross-check, these values and ratios of bankfull-discharge are compared to the corresponding values and ratios of runoff occurring during roughly the same time spans. The same direction and similar relative magnitude of changes of the surface water occurring in this region during the last 25000 years are indicated by these comparisons. 相似文献
Objective: Traffic injuries are becoming one of the most important challenges of public health systems. Because these injuries are mostly preventable, the aim of this study is to evaluate the four main high-risk behaviors while driving.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample from the population of Mashhad, Iran, in 2014. A checklist and a previously validated questionnaire for the transtheoretical stages of change model (TTM) were used for data collection. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 11.5 software with P <.05 statistically significant.
Results: Totally 431 individuals were included with a mean age of 30 ± 11.3 years. Forty-three percent (183) were male. The TTM model revealed that participants were mostly in pre-actional phases regarding not using a cell phone while driving (80%), fastening the driver's seat belt (66%), front seat belt (68%), and rear seat belt (85%) The penalty was a protective factor only for using cellphone (odd ratio [OR] = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68–0.98). Lower education (OR = 0.12, 95% CI, 0.01–0.94) and male gender (OR = 0.35, 95% CI, 0.14–0.83) were indicative of lower rates of fastening the front and rear seat belts.
Conclusion: The stages of change model among study participants is a proper reflection of the effectiveness of the current policies. More serious actions regarding these high-risk behaviors should be considered in legislation. 相似文献