Young adult conservation jobs and worker health

Decades of research studies demonstrate links between healthy environment, healthy lifestyles, and healthy people. This study evaluated the correlations between young adult conservation workers' perceived stress, personal effectiveness, and nature experience using quantitative and qualitative social science methods. The study cohort numbered nearly 300 individuals serving on small crews for an entire year, and were dispersed across Washington State (USA) to participate in conservation projects in rural to urban landscapes. Pre- and post-test surveys, using validated measures of perceived stress, health dimensions, and personal resiliency, were further informed by mid-year, field-based interviews. Overall, the young adults expressed fatigue with the physical work but were quite healthy when compared to national benchmarks. They indicated a reduction in perceived stress, and indicated social function influences based on the conservation work. Conclusions address the importance and implications of expanding this work opportunity to a more diverse cohort and future research needs.     

控制环境与健康风险:美国环境标准制度功能借鉴

传统观念下,环境与健康分属两个不同领域,美国作为最早遭遇环境与健康问题的国家,经过多年努力,形成了建立以保障公共健康为核心的环境标准体系和环境与健康风险评估框架,实现了对环境与健康风险的有效控制。美国对环境污染物的界定主要取决于其对公共健康的影响,将污染物分为普遍及对公共健康危害较大的污染物、一些污染范围较小或对公共健康危害较小的污染物两类,且采取不同的标准制定方法。在标准制定方面,主要是将有关科学共识转化为可执行的环境标准。为了避免环境标准的不确定性带来的不利影响,建立了包括科学论证、公开透明、周期性审查等较为严格的环境标准制定程序。美国赋予环境标准制度以控制环境与健康风险的功能,并通过建立以保障公共健康为核心的环境标准体系,实现对环境与健康风险有效控制的执法路径,对解决中国目前存在的环境标准价值缺失、体系割裂、内容缺失等问题,实现环境标准的功能再造具有较强的借鉴意义。     

煤矿环境噪声对居民健康影响的调查

参照国家环境噪声标准,在西山官地矿,选择了噪声在５０ｄＢ（Ａ）以下两类居民区,对１６岁上的居民选２５６名为本次调查对象。监测结果,户外最７５ｄＢ（Ａ）,均超过国家规定标准。在５０ｄＢ（Ａ）以上的环境下生活、工作和学习的居民神经系统和听力均有不同程度的损伤,而且损伤程度与居住年限有密切关系。神衰阳性率１０年以上者,５０ｄＢ（Ａ）以上３４．２８％,５０ｄＢ（Ａ）以下为１３．５５％。语频听损检出率５０ｄ     

长江岳阳段水环境健康风险评价

为研究长江岳阳段水环境污染对人体健康产生的危害风险,根据2008-2012年长江岳阳段水质监测数据,采用美国环境保护署(USEPA)推荐的水环境健康风险评价模型,对长江岳阳段通过饮用水途径引起的水环境健康风险进行了评价。结果表明:总健康风险在1.64×10-5~2.25×10-5a-1之间,平均为1.91×10-5a-1,均低于国际辐射防护委员会(ICRP)推荐的最大可接受风险水平5×10-5a-1,对照水环境健康风险等级划分标准,长江岳阳段水环境健康风险为较低健康风险;化学致癌物质健康风险AsCd、平水期丰水期枯水期,非致癌物质健康风险氟化物CuNH3-NZn、枯水期丰水期平水期;总健康风险主要来自化学致癌物质,其中As为主要风险污染物,因此化学致癌物质尤其是As应作为风险决策管理的重点对象。     

Water quality indices appraisal and health risk assessment of nitrate,mercury and lead in water distribution network: A case study of Robat Karim in Tehran,Iran

Groundwater is a basic source of drinking water supply for urban and rural areas. This is especially the case for communities located in arid and semi-arid regions that rely on groundwater for drinking purposes. The present study set out to assess the potential health impacts of water impurities and to investigate the qualitative status of drinking water in Robat Karim rural areas, located in southwest Tehran, Iran. A total of 66 samples were collected from the water distribution network of 11 villages (33 sampling points, on two occasions) during September 2020 and were tested in terms of the most common quality parameters such as pH, mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), chloride (Cl^–), chlorate (ClO₃^–), nitrite (NO₂^–), nitrate (NO₃^–), and flouride (F^–). Multiple methods and indexes including water quality index (WQI), hazard quotient (HQ), and hazard index (HI), were worked out to assess the quality of water and health risk assessment of NO₃^– Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺. The results revealed that 33% and 90% of sampling sites have significantly high nitrate and total hardness (TH) concentrations, exceeding the maximum permissible limits set by World Health Organization (WHO; 50 and 200 mg/L, respectively). Furthermore, five sampling points exhibited poor WQIs mainly related to NO₃^– and TH. HQ values higher than 1 for nitrate were noticed in most sampling locations. Except for one sampling point, the HQ obtained for Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺ were below 1 indicating no obvious health hazard. This study represents that children and infants are at higher risk of chronic toxicity by excess NO₃^– intake. The health hazard that is yet imposed on the community by NO₃^– necessitates regular monitoring of drinking water, the use of advanced technologies to purify water or otherwise alternative resources should be proposed.     

Quantification,characteristics, and distribution of microplastics released from waste burning furnaces and their associated health impacts

Although investigation of microplastics (MPs) present in air environment has been intensively carried out, quantification, characteristics, and distribution of MPs released from the waste burning furnace (WBF) has been missing in literature. The aim of this study was to characterize the presence of MPs released from WBFs and analyze their associated health impacts. The examined locations were at two WBFs (nominated as TPS1 and TPS2) in Sidoarjo, Indonesia. MPs were collected using a 9 cm diameter glass beaker for a period of 8 h at two different sampling points, which are 3 and 15 m from each WBF. Several characteristics of MPs in terms of the number of particles, size, shape, color, and polymer type were comprehensively characterized. This study found that the obtained MPs were of fiber type and in the range of 46–77 and 41–59 particles at TPS1 and TPS2, respectively. In general, the polymer types of MPs were, respectively, cellophane and polytetrafluoroethylene at TPS1 and TPS2. Moreover, it was estimated that about 1.9–2.3 MPs can enter the human body via inhalation. This study offers a pilot examination of MPs released from WBF and findings from this study are crucial to provide new knowledge as a basis to carefully regulate the use of WBF particularly that are located closely to local community.     

中国居民饮用水镉暴露非致癌风险的年龄分层权重

饮水是人体镉(Cd)暴露的重要途径,为了定量表征中国居民饮用水镉暴露风险,通过文献调研收集我国3类主要饮用水类型的镉浓度数据.利用回归模型获得不同年龄段人群饮水暴露参数分布模式.基于概率方法评价不同水体和不同人群由于饮用水镉暴露造成的非致癌风险.结果发现,3种类型水体镉浓度存在显著差异.自来水、未处理的地下水和地表水源...     

一种基于改进的一致性算法数据融合技术

在重大工程结构健康监测中,随着研究对象复杂程度的提高,往往需要获得大量观测数据才能对结构进行有效的评估,因此采用多种或多个传感器进行测量已成为必然趋势。数据融合技术就是将多个传感器的测量结果进行综合处理,从而得出比单个传感器更为准确可靠的结果。本文基于一致性算法,提出一种改进的多传感器数据融合技术,该数据融合技术属于数据级融合,它克服了一致性算法中两传感器在测量精度不同时置信距离不同的缺点,并对支持矩阵进行模糊化处理,避免了人为定义阈值而产生的主观误差。文中通过算例,验证了此方法可获得较好的结果,并且能够有效地减小由于扰动因素造成的测量数据的变化。