Bus Rides Research Articles

Founders: Maurice Beresford

Maurice Beresford died on 15 December 2005. To rank the founding fathers of landscape studies would be invidious but, as Chris Taylor says below, he was the last survivor of the Triumvirate, with Herbert Finberg and William Hoskins, who brought a landscape dimension to local history. His influence over fifty years was immense, partly because of his teaching role in a major provincial university, partly because of his gregarious and academically generous nature and long-term involvement with learned societies and the Wharram Percy project, but perhaps most of all through his publications. What made those exceptional was that, during a prolific writing career, he defined and published seminal works on several entirely different aspects of what we would today call the historic environment: deserted (or 'lost', as he first termed them) medieval villages; new towns of the Middle Ages; and urban suburbs, especially those of Leeds. These were landscapes he knew intimately, not just through historic maps, tax returns and judicial records, but from tramping over and through them, often after train and bus rides or a hitched lift – the lot of the non-driver in the austerity years of the late 1940s and 1950s. Both editors knew him well; he was stimulating, encouraging, polymathic, and completely sure of the significance of his life's work – he loved to be praised, and he deserved it. Rather than commission a single piece reviewing his academic work (the newspaper obituaries gave due prominence to other aspects of his life, notably his work as social philanthropist) we thought it better – given his influence and range of interests – instead to ask a number of friends and colleagues to say how Maurice Beresford had influenced their subject, and them personally.

The Racialization of Leisure: Comments on Stodolska's Discrimination Model

Four years ago I was invited to travel with the Allman Brothers Band for part of their summer tour through the Midwest. After just a couple of days of all-night bus rides, groggy mornings, and long...

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN TRAFFIC-RELATED PM2.5 CONCENTRATIONS AND EXHALED NITRIC OXIDE IN A PANEL OF OLDER ADULTS

ISEE-130 Introduction: Previous studies have shown that collection of nitric oxide (NO) samples from expired air may represent a noninvasive measure of lower airway inflammation. To investigate the potential impacts of traffic-related particles on sub-clinical lung inflammation, we examined the associations between particulate exposures and the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) in a panel of senior citizens exposed to elevated levels of traffic-related pollutants during a series of bus trips. Methods: Breath samples of FENO were collected from 44 non-smoking subjects 18-hours after participation in a field trip. Each field trip involved two one-hour trips aboard a diesel bus and approximately three hours for lunch and an activity such as a movie. Subjects participated in approximately four trips, spaced about once every 3-weeks. Room air samples were also collected at each session to correct for possible sample contamination. All FENO samples were analyzed within 24-hours of collection using chemiluminescence. Particulate exposures were assessed using two mobile carts that followed the subjects throughout each field trip. Exposure measurements included continuous readings of fine particle mass (PM2.5), ultra-fine, fine, and coarse particle counts, and black carbon. Carbon monoxide and nitric oxide concentrations were also measured continuously during the bus rides. Ambient concentrations of gases, particle mass and number, and meteorological parameters were available from a local USEPA Supersite. Results: Longitudinal analyses indicated that an inter-quartile increase (8.7 μg/m3) in the average concentration of PM2.5 during the previous day’s field trip was associated with an increased FENO of 1.5 ppb (95% CI: 0.54 - 2.5 ppb) after controlling for subject, time trend, day of week, hour of day, room NO levels, and apparent temperature. An inter-quartile increase (72 pt/cc) in a component of fine particle counts also produced a statistically significant increase in FENO (1.3 ppb, 95% CI: 0.25 - 2.4 ppb). Other particulate measures were generally associated with increases in FENO of the same magnitude, although none met statistical significance. On average, the changes observed in this study represent an approximate 10% change in the mean FENO of the cohort. Discussion: These results suggest that exposures to traffic-related air pollution may lead to airway inflammation as measured by FENO. These sub-clinical inflammatory changes may represent an important mechanistic step in the pathogenesis of cardiopulmonary effects induced by air pollution. These findings may also have important public health significance to commuters as the exposures in this study represent typical highway driving and time spent in indoor metropolitan locations.

AIR POLLUTION AND INFLAMMATORY MARKERS IN BLOOD

ISEE-22 Introduction: The adverse cardiovascular health effects of air pollution may be caused in part by systemic inflammation triggered by oxidative stress to the lungs. Recent studies have suggested that these associations may be strongest for traffic-related particles. In order to examine the associations between traffic-related particles and systemic inflammation, we conducted a study in which a panel of senior citizens was exposed to elevated traffic-related pollutant exposures through a series of bus trips. Methods: Repeated blood samples were collected from forty-four non-smoking participants living at one of four suburban independent senior living facilities. Blood samples were obtained between April and June of 2002, approximately 18-hours after study subjects participated in a field trip that included two hours aboard a diesel bus. Each subject participated in approximately four field trips, about once every 3-weeks. Blood samples were analyzed for red and white cell parameters using a CBC with differential analyses. Samples were also tested for interleukin-6, c-reactive protein, intracellular adhesion molecule–1, fibrinogen, and von willebrand’s factor. Particulate exposures of the participants were assessed using two mobile carts that followed the subjects throughout each field trip. Micro-environmental exposure measurements included continuous readings of fine particle mass (PM2.5), ultra-fine, fine, and coarse particle counts, and black carbon. Carbon monoxide and nitric oxide concentrations were also measured continuously during the bus rides. These exposure measures were supplemented with ambient air concentrations of gases, particle mass and number, and meteorological parameters measured at a local USEPA-funded Supersite. Results: Among the 138 blood samples analyzed, levels of circulating inflammatory markers were found to be comparable to the values reported by previous studies. Evaluation of the air monitoring data indicates that the bus trips successfully elevated hourly exposures above levels observed at the residence facilities and central site. The mean hourly black carbon concentration during the bus trip periods was 3,400 (SD: 1,200) ng/m3 as compared to mean hourly concentrations of 350 (SD: 450) ng/m3 during facility periods and 750 (SD: 370) ng/m3 at the Supersite during times concurrent with the bus trip. Measures of PM2.5 and particle counts were also substantially elevated during periods when subjects were aboard the bus. The impacts of these micro-environmental changes on circulating inflammatory markers will be presented using the results of longitudinal mixed models.

Medical performance management

Medical performance management

Challenging Writer's Block: How Experienced Authors Make Time to Wirte

Challenging Writer's Block: How Experienced Authors Make Time to Wirte

EDITOR’S MESSAGE: Technology, Bus Rides, and the Digital Divide

The articles in this themed issue, “Literacy in a High Tech World,” offers thoughtful, insightful, and powerful ways to connect students to analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what they read, write, and create on and through technology.