WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health最新文献

{"title":"Vibration Assessing Model: Comparison Between Methods","authors":"G. Degan, Dario Lippiello, S. Lorenzetti, M. Pinzari","doi":"10.2495/EHR130061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR130061","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of blasting operations is rock fragmentation. It provides an appropriate rock material granulation or size that is suitable for loading and transportation. However, the blasting process and usage of explosives remain a potential source of numerous human and environmental hazards. The aim of this paper is, first of all, to provide models (and models comparison) concerning one of the major environmental issues related to blasting operations in mining and civil engineering projects: ground vibration propagation. The study displays an assessment of ground vibrations caused by blasting experiments at a whinstone quarry. The vibration source is the blasting of a fixed quantity of explosive burden (200 Kg of an Ammonium Nitrate Slurry Watergel – Tutagex 110, fragmented in 8 different parallel blast holes with a fixed 2 meter spacing). The primary goal of this study was to estimate the peak particle velocity (PPV) of the vibration, in order to protect the dwelling area adjacent to the quarry. Based on the data obtained from field measurements, a new equation was proposed: to achieve this objective we use geostatistical modelling, the branch of statistics that studies the phenomena that are developed on space-based, starting from the information derived from the sampling. The decision to describe the phenomenon with geostatistical modelling stems from having a limited number of samples and a vibration source difficult to repeat, which makes the geostatistics suitable for this purpose. In fact, it is often used to study phenomena characterized by a limited availability of samples. The final goal is the comparative analysis between the results obtained by the geostatistical equation and common empirical predictors currently used in blasting practice. The analysis of the comparison between these two approaches shows that the geostatistical tool seems to be suitable to the purposed scope.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133803917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characteristics of the particulate matter in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia","authors":"A. Modaihsh, M. Mahjoub","doi":"10.2495/EHR130121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR130121","url":null,"abstract":"Increased concern about the impact of the so-called particulate matter on air quality and public health has occurred in recent years. This concern is based on the increased knowledge on the impact the smallest particles have on human health. The primary goal of this study is to carry out a comprehensive characterization of Riyadh bio-aerosol and aerosol samples of PM1, and PM2.5 and provide the scientific background for the further control of air pollution at Riyadh and to develop effective strategies to reduce the ambient concentrations of PM and reduce the deposition of this pollutant to the city. Real time ambient air quality was monitored at Riyadh airport. Mass concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 and 10 μm in diameter, respectively) for January–April were measured. The concentrations of coarse (PM10), and fine (PM2.5) particulate matter were measured using a Grimm model EDM 365 aerosol spectrometer. Measurement of particulate matter concentrations were obtained at time intervals ranging from 1 s to 60 min. Measurement of particulates was done via laser-light scattering. The counts from each size classification are then converted to mass by a well-established equation. Results indicated that temporal variation observed either for PM10 or PM2.5. was associated mainly with the dust events. There is no significant temporal variation of influential metrological parameters. The ratio between PM10 and PM2.5 were found to be 0.25. Statistical analysis has shown a strong positive correlation between them.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127195457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The licensing of a laboratory for manipulating radionuclides in Brazil","authors":"D. Bonotto, B. Tessari, G. Girello, V. R. Roveratti","doi":"10.2495/EHR130031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR130031","url":null,"abstract":"Radionuclides take a major role in guidelines of environmental agencies/national organizations of countries worldwide. In Brazil, CNEN-Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear is responsible for managing all subjects related to nuclear energy in the country. Thus, laboratories employing radionuclides for the development of their activities must submit a “Radioprotection Plan” to CNEN in order to get an operation license. Such plan must indicate that the laboratory is exempt of risks to the people involved and designed to fit all related environmental aspects. This was the case of LABIDRO-Hydrochemical and Isotopes Laboratory that belongs to IGCE-Geosciences and Exact Sciences Institute from UNESP – the University of the State of Sao Paulo “Julio de Mesquita Filho”, located at Rio Claro city, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The total monthly activity of the radionuclides utilized during the laboratorial activities held at LABIDRO corresponds to 0.01 μCi. This paper describes all information provided by LABIDRO in order to get the CNEN license. The LABIDRO plan also showed the expected radioactive waste released when the experiments take place and CNEN decided that it fits the guidelines established by Brazilian legislation. Therefore, LABIDRO received its license for utilizing radionuclides, which is valid until September 2016.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"90 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114265260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Food Hygiene Challenges In Older People:Intergenerational Learning As A Health Asset","authors":"H. Wythe, C. Wilkinson, J. Orme, L. Meredith, E. Weitkamp","doi":"10.2495/EHR130181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR130181","url":null,"abstract":"Older people are more at risk of contracting foodborne infections, however the majority remain well despite the physical, social and cognitive challenges of older age. Future healthcare strategies targeting older people can be informed by exploring the food history and current context of their lives and what 'assets' they employ to successfully consume ‘safe’ food in the home. Phase I: Socio-demographic, health and asset related data collection through a researcher completed questionnaire i) at 4 Age-UK lunch clubs ii) at a North Hertfordshire District Council community centre lunch club and iii) via a 3UA webpage in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. 50 respondents recruited via self-selection. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. Phase II: 15 semi-structured interviews conducted via purposive sampling from the questionnaire cohort, and 3 interviews with sheltered housing staff in Buckinghamshire. Qualitative data analyzed using a Grounded Theory approach with NVivo software. Mean age: 79 years (SD 8.9) from 62-99 years. 19 Male (38%), 31 female (62%). Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 10cm scale for reporting subjective health: mean 6.8cm. 80% lived independently alone, either in their own homes or in sheltered accommodation. Exploring the reported belief that ‘food hygiene didn’t exist’ during the childhood years of this population and theoretical development of concepts surrounding whether adult food hygiene practices were hidden and non-verbalized as viewed by children, or unnecessarily in times of a simplified food chain between producer and consumer. Adapting to modern food products has required the acquirement of new food hygiene knowledge and skills, with evidence that this knowledge is now being passed from the younger generation to the elder along with food provision. \u0000Keywords: Older people, food hygiene, health, assets, learning, family.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"147 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122699206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inverse dynamic model of the pupil muscle plant in the simulation of response to sound, stimuli and hippus","authors":"E. S. Gómez, H. R. Cruz","doi":"10.2495/EHR110351","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110351","url":null,"abstract":"The model developed by Usui and Hirata was used to simulate the pupil response to a light stimulus based on autonomic nervous activity, such as sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. This model was recreated in SIMULINK finding that it did not consider the limitations of the pupil in frequency which Stark was reported. The pupil acts as a lowpass filter with a cut-off frequency of 1.5 Hz approximately. These conditions are generated by the unidirectional rate sensitivities. Then, considering this fact, the original model by placing the output of the lowpass filter of -20 dB/decade was modified, which there certain changes are regarding the response of the model by filtering high frequencies, and a delay by the filter. To obtain the pupil dynamic response induced by sound stimulation, the hippus and flickering of practice mode was using conventional (NTSC) and high speed videoculography thus, to determine sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, in order to recreate such behaviour the Hirata-Usui model was used with a few modification.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"169 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114155634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological effects of underwater destruction of detonators in Lake Ormtjärn, Sweden: the impact from lead","authors":"B. Liljedahl, U. Qvarfort, R. Berglind, J. Sjöström","doi":"10.2495/EHR110261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110261","url":null,"abstract":"After the Second World War, dumping in lakes was a rational way to solve the security problem with the extensive amount of unused, aging ammunition. Most commonly the ammunition was dumped in sealed boxes or as pieces. In some cases the ammunition was deliberately detonated when dumped. In Ormtjarn, a small lake in central Sweden, very high levels of lead (1900 mg/kg dry weight Pb) were detected in the sediments indicating a possible need for remediation. The lead was expected to originate from years of underwater destruction of about 1.5 million detonators containing lead azide. The lake is unique in the sense that the lead levels are among the highest in Sweden, the boundary is well defined and that no other source of pollutant is present in the lake. It is also the only known major site for underwater destruction of detonators in freshwaters in Sweden. The aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental impact from underwater destruction of detonators containing lead azide in this natural forest lake. Samples were taken of sediment, bottom water, surface water, bottom fauna and littoral and was analysed for Pb and physical parameters in order to investigate if a possible effect on biota could be demonstrated from the heavily polluted sediment. Acute toxicity of sediment was determined with a mouse cell assay. Results showed high to very high lead content (1500-2000 mg/kg dry weight) in sediment down to 25 cm depth evenly distributed over the whole lake. Water showed low levels (surface water) to high levels (bottom water) of Pb. Disturbance on bottom fauna was observed for BQI-index but none for O/Cindex. No effect on littoral fauna was found. Acute toxicity was low for bottom","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123882123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Respiratory toxicity of Aspergillus versicolor: the most common indoor mould in Slovakia.","authors":"E. Piecková, M. Hurbánková, Erna, Mária Majorošová, Z. Kova, íková, D. Pangallo","doi":"10.2495/EHR110131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110131","url":null,"abstract":"A mould Aspergillus versicolor clearly dominates in damp and mouldy indoor environments under Slovak dwelling/public building conditions (up to 1/3 of all isolates during the last decade’s surveys). Nearly all of its isolates are able to synthesize a mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (detected by LC/MS-MS), that showed severe in vitro as well as in vivo toxic potential in animal experiments (after intratracheal instillation to rats). In vitro toxicity of complex chloroformextractable endoand exometabolites of 10 indoor, and related outdoor, A. versicolor isolates from a heavily mouldy kids’ fashion store in Slovakia with complaints from the occupants of irritation of their airways has been evaluated by a bioassay with tracheal organ cultures of one-day old chicks (20 microg of toxicants per mL of cultivation medium). In the in vivo experiments, respiratory toxicity of the same metabolite mixtures was tested in Wistar rats during three days. The inflammatory and cytotoxic biomarkers were then analyzed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Searching for the fungus possible source, molecular epidemiological study of the isolates was performed using RAMP PCR. Strains colonizing the indoor walls of the shop were the highest correlated to the outdoor airborne ones (Pearson correlation 97%). While indoor airborne isolates correlated to the strains growing on retailed clothes at the levels of 90 or 86% according to Pearson. All micromycetes produced secondary metabolites that ceased ciliary beating in tracheal epithelium in the organ cultures already in 24 hrs of the activity, i.e. in the sense of the method used, they belong to strong toxicants. Two of the isolates tested also produced extrolites without toxic effects detectable by the method. The metabolites also showed certain cytotoxic Environmental Health and Biomedicine 135 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3525 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health, Vol 15, © 2011 WIT Press doi:10.2495/EHR110131 and inflammation-inducing effects that were in concentration depending on the animal experiments. It has been proven that toxin production in fungi depends not only on the species but may vary between every single isolate as well. The most important outcome of the study is that microscopic filamentous fungi present in the dwelling indoor environment under Slovak (Central European) building/housing conditions might produce compounds even with the potential to damage the airways of occupants, while children remain the most vulnerable population.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116516250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vegetation fires and release of radioactivity into the air","authors":"F. Carvalho, João M. Oliveira, M. Malta","doi":"10.2495/EHR110011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110011","url":null,"abstract":"Naturally-occurring radionuclides, such as those of the uranium and thorium series, as well as artificial radionuclides, are accumulated in plants generally in low concentrations. Summer vegetation fires release these natural and man-made radionuclides into the atmosphere. Concentrations of uranium isotopes 238 U, 235 U, 234 U, 232 Th, 230 Th, 226 Ra, 210 Pb and","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127696635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identification of landmarks on lower limb joint from CT images for kinematics studies. A totally semi-automatic procedure","authors":"M. Giorgi, B. Innocenti, L. Labey, A. Audenino, C. Bignardi","doi":"10.2495/EHR110361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110361","url":null,"abstract":"The identification of an accurate, reliable and patient specific coordinate system for a bone is fundamental to analyze the kinematics of a human joint. The accuracy in the localization of anatomical landmarks of joint surfaces is extremely important because even a small variation in their positions could induce a high variation in the definition of anatomical axes and further on the kinematics output. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a semi-automatic, accurate, and reproducible routine able to identify the position of anatomical landmarks on joint surfaces. This routine, starting form a CT of a femoral bone, used as input, is able to identify semi-automatically the femoral head and the medial and lateral distal femoral condyles. Moreover it allows the identification of the following anatomical landmarks: the Femoral Hip Center (FHC), the Femoral Medial Epicondyle (FME) and the Femoral Lateral Epicondyle (FLE). From these points a standard coordinate system of the femur is univocally determined according to previous literature works. Compared to other commercial process, extensive used in this field, one peculiarity of this routine is that it is not necessary to generate the 3D model of the joint in order to define the anatomical landmarks. Usually, to generate a 3D lower limb model, with the commercial process, 4 to 5 hours are needed, with this approach we can significantly reduce this time. To validate the routine we analyze ten different CT of lower limbs. Two different tests were performed. The first test was performed to verify and check the output geometry of the model; the second test was aimed to estimate the repeatability and reproducibility of the procedure. For such task five different operators identified for each model the three anatomical landmarks, three times each. The Intra-Class Correlation coefficient (ICC) values (intra and inter) obtained for the landmarks were always higher than 0.996. Comparing the results obtained with this routine with the results obtained using largely used commercial software we found a significant reduction of the error as regards the evaluation of landmarks in terms of inter and intra-observer variability. For example, in the worst condition, on the identification of the femoral lateral condyle point (FLE), the same operator found an average and maximum distance between the real point and the landmark found of respectively 3.5 and 8.8 mm with the use of the commercial software and of respectively 0.8 and 0.9 mm with the use of our routine","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128283758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiscale comparison of air quality modeling for an ozone occurrence during the 1996 Paso Del Norte Ozone Campaign","authors":"D. Lu, R. S. Reddy, R. Fitzgerald, W. Stockwell, Q. L. Williams, P. Tchounwou","doi":"10.2495/EHR110051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2495/EHR110051","url":null,"abstract":"An air quality modeling has been applied to investigate an ozone event occurring during the period of 1996 Paso del Norte Ozone Campaign. An examination of model sensitivity to horizontal grid resolutions has been performed. The modeling results show that grid resolution evidently influences the simulations of ozone formation, dispersion, transportation and structural distribution. The 36-, 12-, 4- and 1-km models captured the diurnal variation of surface ozone, but with a few hours lag for simulated peak ozone. The coarser the spatial resolution of the model, the more the peak ozone lag occurs. All models underpredicted the peak ozone concentration where the 1-km model produced the best while the 36km model yielded the worst. This study suggests that the problems of maximum ozone underprediction and minimum ozone overprediction can be mitigated by increasing the spatial resolution of the model. Compared to fine models, coarse models provided rather simple and smooth structures with many detailed and complex structures being lost. The frequency distribution analysis also revealed that the high ozone event occurring over the complex terrain area such as El Paso, TX can hardly be captured by using coarse spatial resolution models, and the high resolution model (i.e., grid spacing is no greater than 4-km) is necessary.","PeriodicalId":370021,"journal":{"name":"WIT Transactions on Biomedicine and Health","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124445810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}