Overestimation of self-reported driving exposure: Results from the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study

Objectives: The accuracy of self-reported driving exposure has questioned the validity of using self-reported mileage to inform research questions. Studies examining the accuracy of self-reported driving exposure compared to objective measures find low validity, with drivers overestimating and underestimating driving distance. The aims of the current study were to (1) examine the discrepancy between self-reported annual mileage and driving exposure the following year and (2) investigate whether these differences depended on age and annual mileage.

Methods: Two estimates of drivers’ self-reported annual mileage collected during vehicle installation (obtained via prestudy questionnaires) and approximated annual mileage driven (based upon Global Positioning System data) were acquired from 3,323 participants who participated in the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study.

Results: A Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that there was a significant difference between self-reported and annual driving exposure during participation in SHRP 2, with the majority of self-reported responses overestimating annual mileage the following year, irrespective of whether an ordinal or ratio variable was examined. Over 15% of participants provided self-reported responses with over 100% deviation, which were exclusive to participants underestimating annual mileage. Further, deviations in reporting differed between participants who had low, medium, and high exposure, as well as between participants in different age groups.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that although self-reported annual mileage is heavily relied on for research, such estimates of driving distance may be an overestimate of current or future mileage and can influence the validity of prior research that has utilized estimates of driving exposure.     

室内空气和灰尘中全(多)氟烷基化合物的研究进展

全(多)氟烷基化合物(per(poly)fluoroalkyl substances,PFASs)在环境各个介质及人体样品中广泛被检出,近年,在室内空气和灰尘中也普遍发现PFASs.研究表明,室内空气中PFASs的含量普遍高于室外空气,室内空气和灰尘中的PFASs可能是室外空气的污染来源及人体暴露源,因此室内环境中PFASs成为环境领域的又一个研究热点.但目前为止,我国还没有开展室内空气中PFASs的相关研究,室内灰尘中PFASs的研究也相对较少.本文就室内空气和灰尘中PFASs的采样与分析方法、污染现状、来源分析及人体暴露等4个方面进行了综合阐述,以期为我国室内环境中PFASs的研究提供参考.     

Analysis of the Trend and Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in an Urban Area (4 pp)

Background, Aim and Scope Air quality is an field of major concern in large cities. This problem has led administrations to introduce plans and regulations to reduce pollutant emissions. The analysis of variations in the concentration of pollutants is useful when evaluating the effectiveness of these plans. However, such an analysis cannot be undertaken using standard statistical techniques, due to the fact that concentrations of atmospheric pollutants often exhibit a lack of normality and are autocorrelated. On the other hand, if long-term trends of any pollutant’s emissions are to be detected, meteorological effects must be removed from the time series analysed, due to their strong masking effects. Materials and Methods The application of statistical methods to analyse temporal variations is illustrated using monthly carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations observed at an urban site. The sampling site is located at a street intersection in central Valencia (Spain) with a high traffic density. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain. It is a typical Mediterranean city in terms of its urban structure and climatology. The sampling site started operation in January 1994 and monitored CO ground level concentrations until February 2002. Its geographic coordinates are W0°22′52″ N39°28′05″ and its altitude is 11 m. Two nonparametric trend tests are applied. One of these is robust against serial correlation with regards to the false rejection rate, when observations have a strong persistence or when the sample size per month is small. A nonparametric analysis of the homogeneity of trends between seasons is also discussed. A multiple linear regression model is used with the transformed data, including the effect of meteorological variables. The method of generalized least squares is applied to estimate the model parameters to take into account the serial dependence of the residuals of this model. This study also assesses temporal changes using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko (KZ) filter. The KZ filter has been shown to be an effective way to remove the influence of meteorological conditions on O₃ and PM to examine underlying trends. Results The nonparametric tests indicate a decreasing, significant trend in the sampled site. The application of the linear model yields a significant decrease every twelve months of 15.8% for the average monthly CO concentration. The 95% confidence interval for the trend ranges from 13.9% to 17.7%. The seasonal cycle also provides significant results. There are no differences in trends throughout the months. The percentage of CO variance explained by the linear model is 90.3%. The KZ filter separates out long, short-term and seasonal variations in the CO series. The estimated, significant, long-term trend every year results in 10.3% with this method. The 95% confidence interval ranges from 8.8% to 11.9%. This approach explains 89.9% of the CO temporal variations. Discussion The differences between the linear model and KZ filter trend estimations are due to the fact that the KZ filter performs the analysis on the smoothed data rather than the original data. In the KZ filter trend estimation, the effect of meteorological conditions has been removed. The CO short-term componentis attributable to weather and short-term fluctuations in emissions. There is a significant seasonal cycle. This component is a result of changes in the traffic, the yearly meteorological cycle and the interactions between these two factors. There are peaks during the autumn and winter months, which have more traffic density in the sampled site. There is a minimum during the month of August, reflecting the very low level of vehicle emissions which is a direct consequence of the holiday period. Conclusions The significant, decreasing trend implies to a certain extent that the urban environment in the area is improving. This trend results from changes in overall emissions, pollutant transport, climate, policy and economics. It is also due to the effect of introducing reformulated gasoline. The additives enable vehicles to burn fuel with a higher air/fuel ratio, thereby lowering the emission of CO. The KZ filter has been the most effective method to separate the CO series components and to obtain an estimate of the long-term trend due to changes in emissions, removing the effect of meteorological conditions. Recommendations and Perspectives Air quality managers and policy-makers must understand the link between climate and pollutants to select optimal pollutant reduction strategies and avoid exceeding emission directives. This paper analyses eight years of ambient CO data at a site with a high traffic density, and provides results that are useful for decision-making. The assessment of long-term changes in air pollutants to evaluate reduction strategies has to be done while taking into account meteorological variability     

Study on Assessing Economic Vulnerability of Small Island Regions

The main purpose of this study is to assess economic vulnerability of small island development regions as part of their sustainability constraints. By combining economic and environmental time series data, we assessed a composite index of economic vulnerability which is constructed from three exogenous variables, namely economic exposure, economic remoteness, and economic impact of environmental and natural disasters. We used the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan as the case studies for this paper.The results indicated that using a gross island products based valuation index, Kikaijima is the most vulnerable island in the Amami Islands with a composite economic vulnerability index (CEVI) value of 0.678, while by using a per capita based index, Okinoerabujima is considered the most vulnerable island with a CEVI value of 0.680. From the results we also revealed that smaller islands have relative higher vulnerability than the bigger one, which also confirms some previous country-level vulnerability studies.However, it is matter of fact that some islands that have relatively high vulnerability also have good economic performance as shown by their per capita income. In this regard, it can be argued that the success of these small islands could have been achieved in spite of and not because of their inherent vulnerability conditions as an indicator of sustainability constraint. Regarding these findings, we also examined a comparison between vulnerability results and the preliminary concept of an island's resilience in order to capture another perspective on sustainability assessment in a small island region.     

基于遥感尾气监测的柴油车气态污染物排放因子计算方法研究

采用遥感尾气测试系统实测了柴油车在实际道路工况下的CO、HC和NO排放特征,修正了排放因子的计算方法,并与车载排放测试系统（PEMS）实测结果进行了验证,获得了实测车辆的CO、HC和NO排放因子.测试结果显示,在各种遥感监测的工况下柴油车尾气中均含有较高浓度的氧气,未考虑氧气影响的燃烧方程反演获得的各污染物体积浓度计算值与PEMS实测值的偏差较大,且氧气浓度越大,偏差越大.经过氧气修正的燃烧方程反演计算的尾气浓度与PEMS实测值吻合度大幅提升,适用于实际工况下遥感检测车辆尾气的反演计算.修正算法得到CO、HC和NO的排放因子离散性较小,精确度较高,可以为量化柴油车尾气排放贡献提供科学依据.     

临沂市区主要大气污染物的污染特征及其对居民健康的影响

大气污染是全球性的公共环境健康问题.本研究基于临沂市区2015年6种大气污染物（PM_2.5、PM₁₀、SO₂、NO₂、CO、O₃）的逐日监测数据,分析了污染物的污染特征及其与气象因子的相关性,通过构建广义相加模型,模拟分析了单个污染物与居民呼吸、循环系统疾病门诊人次的暴露-反应关系.结果表明,PM_2.5和PM₁₀是临沂市区首要大气污染物,NO₂和SO₂次之,O₃和CO浓度较低;除O₃外,其它5种污染物之间呈显著正相关,与风速、温度、相对湿度3个气象因子呈负相关,浓度水平冬季高、夏季低;O₃与温度呈显著正相关.对于呼吸系统疾病,单个污染物每增加10 μg·m^-3（CO每增加0.1 mg·m^-3）的最大效应情况是：PM₁₀、SO₂、NO₂、CO均在当天（lag0）使得门诊人次分别增加0.36%、1.77%、1.29%、0.69%,PM_2.5和O₃分别在累积滞后6 d（lag05）和单日滞后3 d（lag3）使得门诊人次分别增加0.6%和1.07%;对于循环系统疾病,单个污染物每增加10 μg·m^-3（CO每增加0.1 mg·m^-3）的最大效应是：PM_2.5、PM₁₀均在累积滞后5 d（lag04）使得门诊人次分别增加0.72%、0.80%,SO₂、NO₂均在累积滞后6 d使得门诊人次分别增加3.55%、3.54%,CO和O₃则分别在当天和单日滞后3 d使得门诊人次分别增加0.77%、1.39%.对于呼吸、循环系统疾病,PM_2.5、PM₁₀、CO、O₃对男性的影响均大于女性,SO₂则反之;NO₂对男性呼吸系统和女性循环系统影响较大.大气污染物对少年（7~17岁）呼吸系统和对中年（41~65岁）循环系统影响较大.临沂市区6种大气污染物存在不同程度的污染,对居民呼吸、循环系统疾病均有不同程度的影响,且存在性别和年龄的差异.     

内质网应激在氟暴露致小鼠睾丸损伤中的作用

探讨了内质网应激在亚慢性氟暴露致小鼠睾丸损伤中的作用及分子机制.选用健康初断乳ICR雄性小鼠30只,随机分为对照组（C）、低氟组（LF）和高氟组（HF）,分别饮用自来水、5、30 mg·L^-1氟化钠水溶液90 d.亚慢性氟暴露结束后,以睾丸脏器系数、睾丸组织氧化/抗氧化酶和形态结构、精子质量、睾丸细胞凋亡、葡萄糖调节蛋白78（GRP78）、CCAAT/增强子结合蛋白同源蛋白（CHOP）、半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶12（CASPASE-12）、半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶3（CASPASE-3）为观测点.结果表明,与对照组比,LF组和HF组LDH、SOD、T-AOC活性下降,MDA含量上升,HF组GSH-PX活性下降,差异有统计学意义（p<0.05或p<0.01）;LF组可见细胞层次减少、间隙变大,成熟精子数量减少,HF组细胞溶解、层次紊乱,空泡化严重,少见成熟精子;LF组和HF组小鼠的精子活力降低,HF组小鼠精子数量下降,畸形率上升,差异有统计学意义（p<0.05或p<0.01）;LF组和HF组睾丸细胞凋亡指数上升,差异有统计学意义（p<0.01）;LF组和HF组Grp78、Caspase-12、Caspase-3基因表达水平上升,差异有统计学意义（p<0.05或p<0.01）.结果提示,除氧化应激以外,Caspase-12和Caspase-3基因表达异常可能是氟暴露致小鼠睾丸细胞凋亡异常的分子机制之一.     

左炔诺孕酮对稀有鮈鲫脂质代谢的干扰效应

为探究孕激素左炔诺孕酮（LNG）对鱼类脂质代谢的影响,将刚孵化的稀有鮈鲫仔鱼置于0.8和6.5ng/L LNG暴露6个月至性成熟,考察其生长指标、肝脏组织病理学变化、脂质和脂蛋白含量及脂质代谢相关基因的表达情况.结果显示：（1）0.8,6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低70dph稀有鮈鲫的体重和肥满度,且6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低180dph雌、雄鱼的体长或体重;（2）0.8,6.5ng/L LNG暴露导致180dph成鱼肝脏出现细胞空泡、肝细胞肿胀等损伤;（3）0.8,6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低180dph雌鱼肝脏中甘油三酯、胆固醇的含量,且6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低雌鱼血浆中甘油三酯的含量,但对雄鱼肝脏及血浆的脂质含量无显著影响;（4）0.8,6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低180dph雌鱼肝脏中脂肪酸合成酶基因（fasn） mRNA的表达水平,且6.5ng/L LNG暴露显著降低180dph雄鱼肝脏中fasn及乙酰辅酶A羧化酶基因（acaca） mRNA的表达水平.由此可见,LNG长期低剂量暴露可抑制稀有鮈鲫的生长、诱导肝细胞损伤、引起肝脏和血浆脂质含量发生性别差异性变化,并影响肝脏中脂质代谢相关基因的表达,表明LNG在低浓度下可干扰稀有鮈鲫的脂质代谢,提示LNG对鱼类种群具有较高的潜在生态风险.     

Fas/FasL途径在氟暴露致PC12细胞凋亡中的作用

为了探讨Fas/FasL途径在氟暴露致PC12细胞凋亡中的作用及其机制,采用含20、40、80、160mg/L NaF培养液处理PC12细胞.结果表明,所有剂量NaF处理12、24、36、48h,PC12细胞活性升高;上述不同剂量NaF处理24h后,与对照组比,PC12细胞的活性氧水平、细胞凋亡率、细胞内Fas/FasL信号转导通路Fas和FasL、Caspase8、FADD、Caspase3基因和蛋白表达水平均呈显著上升（P < 0.05）,而Bid基因和蛋白表达水平显著下降（P < 0.05）,且呈氟暴露剂量依赖性.结果提示Fas/FasL途径在氟暴露致PC12细胞凋亡中起重要作用,其中FADD可能是Fas/FasL凋亡途径中的重要靶分子.