Nearby People Research Articles

Electronic cigarettes in the indoor environment.

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or "vaping") has seen an unprecedented increase worldwide. Vaping has been promoted as a beneficial smoking cessation tool and an alternative nicotine delivery device that contains no combustion by-products. However, nicotine is highly addictive, and the increased use of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes among teens and individuals who are not in need of smoking cessation may lead to overall greater nicotine dependence in the population. Furthermore, available research indicates that vaping solutions and their emissions may contain much more than just nicotine, including aerosolized flavorings, propylene glycol (PG), and other intentional and unintentional contaminants. These materials could present undefined potential health hazards to both e-cigarette users and bystanders, the full extent of which is not well understood at this time. Whereas e-cigarette usage and exposures may lower some or most of the risks associated with conventional cigarette use, the health effects of nicotine and aerosol exposures from e-cigarettes are not well understood. Research indicates that vaping aerosols are not benign, especially for nearby people in areas with limited ventilation and people with compromised health conditions. In addition, e-juice liquids have already been responsible for an increase in accidental poisonings in children. Because the magnitude of health and safety hazards that vaping may present to nonusers remains unclear, it is prudent to manage and control vaping in indoor locations where smoking is currently restricted. Based on a review of current scientific information, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) recommends that e-cigarettes should be considered a source of aerosols, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulates in the indoor environment that have not been thoroughly characterized or evaluated for health risk or safety.

Distribution of radon and risk assessment of its radiation dose in groundwater drinking for village people nearby the W-polymetallic metallogenic district at Dongpo in southern Hunan province, China

Radon in the household water (especially groundwater) which is an important source of indoor radon, has become a potential health hazard to residents. In this study, radon concentrations in groundwater sampled from five villages near Dongpo W-polymetallic metallogenic region were measured using RAD-7 detector with RAD H2O accessory, and the effect of regional geology and mineralization on radon concentration in groundwater was studied. In addition, we also estimated the radiation doses received by people via ingestion of radon in water and inhalation of the radon from the indoor air while using water. The results show that the radon concentration in groundwater samples varies from 1.29 Bq L−1 to 31.31 Bq L−1 with 10.47 Bq L−1 on average, and about 31.3% of the groundwater samples analyzed have a higher radon concentration than the maximum contaminant level of 11.1 Bq L−1 recommended by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The relatively high radon level in groundwater can be attributed to a relatively high uranium background produced by the magmatic activity and magmatic-hydrothermal system. The values of annual effective dose (AEDing) due to ingestion of radon in groundwater range from 0.002 mSv y−1 to 0.055 mSv y−1, 0.005 mSv y−1 to 0.11 mSv y−1 and 0.008 mSv y−1 to 0.188 mSv y−1 for adult, child and infant respectively. The values of annual effective dose due to the inhalation of radon released from water are 63.6, 15.4 and 3.8 times of those through the ingestion of radon in groundwater by the adults, children and infants, respectively. In addition, the values of estimated total annual effective doses are 0.020–0.480 mSv y−1, 0.017–0.406 mSv y−1 and 0.020–0.484 mSv y−1 for adult, child and infant, respectively. These values are much lower than the reference dose level of 1 mSv y−1 recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).

Measurement of Dioxin Emissions from a Small-Scale Waste Incinerator in the Absence of Air Pollution Controls.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran (PCDD/Fs) emissions from basic small-scale waste incinerators (SWI) may cause health risks in nearby people and are thus subject to stringent regulations. The aim of this study was to evaluate PCDD/F emission and reduction of a basic SWI in the absence of air pollution controls (APCs). The results indicated that the stack gas and fly ash presented average PCDD/F levels and emission factors of 3.6 ng international toxic equivalent (I-TEQ)/Nm3 and 189.31µg I-TEQ/t and 6.89 ng I-TEQ/g and 137.85µg I-TEQ/t, respectively, much higher than those from large municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI). PCDD/Fs congener fingerprints indicated that de novo synthesis played a dominant role in the low-temperature post-combustion zone and increased the presence of high-chlorine substituted congeners. On the basis of the emission factor 327.24 µg I-TEQ/t-waste, approximately 3000 g I-TEQ dioxins might be generated in total through basic SWIs and open burning. After refitting an SWI by adding activated carbon injection with a bag filter (ACI+BG), the PCDD/F emissions decreased to mean values of 0.042 ng I-TEQ/Nm3, far below the standard of 0.1 ng I-TEQ/Nm3, and the removal efficiency reached 99.13% in terms of I-TEQ. Therefore, it is entirely feasible to considerably reduce PCDD/F emissions by refitting basic SWI, which is positive for the future development of rural solid waste (RSW (RSW) disposal by SWI.

Alarm system design of young children being left on school bus based on pressure sensor array

One detecting method for young child being left on school bus based on the FSR (Force Sensing Resistor) sensor array was put forward and the alarm system was designed, which aimed at the frequent occurrence of safety accidents of young children being left on school bus in summer. Four square or circular FSR sensors were combined parallel together and placed on one seat of school bus as one module. Two strip shape FSR sensors were combined parallel together and placed on the ground between seats and on the aisle of school bus as one module. A certain number of modules placed on seats or aisle were combined parallel together and then connected with one input terminal of microcontroller. The resistance of each FSR module is inversely proportional to the pressure being applied. So, whether the young children were left on school bus alone or not can be detected by the resistance of the FSR module. To protect the FSR sensors were not damaged, the FSR sensors were wrapped in two soft silicone cushions. When the young children being left on the school bus alone was detected, the microcontroller would drive the speaker to play the alarm voice for warning the people nearby the school bus to recuse. The FSR sensors could detect the left child on the school bus accurately and the alarm system can warn timely. The detection method and the alarm system can be used for young children school bus to improving the safety of children riding.

Effect of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Leachate on Groundwater Quality in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Aims: This study was carried out to assess the effect of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) leachate on groundwater quality in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Cross-sectional study was conducted around two dumpsites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on leachates and borehole water.
 Study Design: Cross-sectional study of selected refuse dumpsite was conducted in Port Harcourt, Nigeria to assess the effect of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) leachate on groundwater quality in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The physicochemical parameters such as pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Nitrite ion, Phosphate ion, Sulphate ion, Chloride ion and heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, and Cu) were determined by standard protocol of APHA (2012). The samples were analysed by three quality tools/indices such as the Water Quality Index (WQI), Contamination Factor (CF) and Contamination Degree (CD).
 Results and Discussion: The result shows that some parameters in the borehole water did not meet the standards of World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Standards for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ), and most leachates and borehole water qualities near the un-engineered dumpsites are of poor quality. There was a decreasing trend in concentrations of hazardous contaminants from the leachate to nearby borehole water and eventually the distant borehole water. This shows that the leachates exert great effect on the concentrations of contaminants in the surrounding borehole waters and distant ones.
 Conclusion: It is concluded that there is an increase in risk to the borehole and public health that is reported near the unengineered dumpsites; which can spread to other region on bioaccumulation. The result indicated that the dumpsite leachate is producing many potent contaminants to the environment and to the people nearby.

Impacts of information from various sources on the evacuation decision-making process during no-notice evacuations in campus environment

This article studies the impacts of disaster- and evacuation-related information from various information sources on university campus community members’ evacuation decision-making process during no-notice evacuations. These information sources include emergency notification system (ENS) on campus, people nearby, and social networking services (SNS). A survey is conducted to address these questions using participants recruited from the West Lafayette Campus of Purdue University (United States of America), including students, staff and faculty members. Descriptive statistics and structural equation model estimation results show that information from sources with higher perceived credibility has a larger impact on participants’ evacuation-related decisions compared to those with lower ones. The study suggests the importance of increasing the credibility and number of followers of the SNS account used by ENS to enable the use of SNS as a complementary low-cost solution to more effectively disseminate disaster- or/and evacuation-related information to ensure that people’s actions enhance their safety.

Evaluating environmental permitting process duration: the case of clean water act Section 404 permits

Permits are a critical tool for ensuring that infrastructure projects provide the benefits they promise without harming nearby people or the environment. However, the environmental permitting process is complex, often resulting in long review times and increased administrative costs. Identifying ways to hasten permitting processes without compromising environmental rigor is important for enabling efficient and effective infrastructure regulation. This paper evaluates the relationship between permitting duration and characteristics of the projects, applicant organizations, and regulatory regime, using a novel dataset of US Clean Water Act permits. Longer review time was associated with projects proposed by a business (rather than state or federal agencies); using an engineering consultant; requiring some combination of environmental impact analysis, historic preservation, and/or endangered species review; and located in Arizona. Project type, agency workload, and socioeconomic characteristics did not correlate with review time.

Design of a Smart Safety Device for Women using IoT

Abstract Women safety has always been an issue even in these modern times with so much advancement in technology. Women are not safe anywhere and are most vulnerable when traveling alone into lonely roads and deserted places. Existing hand held safety devices for women require human intervention for activating the device such as pressing the button or shake the device etc after sensing the danger. We propose a solution which will try to overcome the disadvantages of the existing systems and also aim at providing false proof safety to women. The proposed work aims at designing an IoT based safety device that relies on providing security to women by fingerprint-based method of connectivity to the device and alerting nearby people and police when a women is not safe. An unsafe situation is sensedby fingerprint verification for a minute then it will automatically alert nearby people and police if the device senses no signal. Moreover, for first-hand safety, shockwave generator is also designed that women can use to attack the perpetrator. Additional features such as sending group messages, audio recording are also part of the proposed design. A mobile app is designed for women safety where safe locations from victim’s current location will be shown on the map so that women can reach the safe place from her current location.

Taxicab Tracking System with Cloud Data Logging using the Internet of Things

Riding in a taxicab is a common mode of public transportation. Due to its accessibility, it is very susceptible to robbery. The only security measure is the installation of the emergency light indicator at the top of the taxicab. This light indicator has problems on visibility and awareness. To address this problem, a tracking system which can send key information via Short Message Service (SMS) to the dedicated receiver is developed. Such information contains the driver’s location, car body and license numbers, and location coordinates with the utilization of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The system enables the user to track the coordinates and timing details using the Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The real time activities inside the taxicab can be retrieved using the camera through the Secure Digital (SD) card. During robbery, the nearby people can be alerted by triggering the toggle switch placed at the back of the steering wheel which then displays a blinking distress message —HELP at the top of the taxicab using a matrix display panel. To test the reliability of the system, the following experiments were conducted in three different locations within Cebu, Philippines: SMS delay test, reliability test of localized coordinates using Global Systems for Mobile (GSM), GPS repeatability test, camera capture test and data logging test. Experiment results verified that the designed system can effectively perform its desired functions. The integration of this system in taxicabs can alleviate and can help solve the robbery cases.

Study of the correction factors for aircraft noise façade measurements

Nowadays, society has the need for air transportation all around the world. The yearly increase in the number of passengers forces airports to operate to a maximum of their capacity. This leads to an augmentation of the fleet of each airline and consequently to an increase in aircraft noise emissions. Accordingly, procedures for measuring aircraft noise levels have been developed. There are international standards that specify how transport noise (aircraft, traffic and railroad) must be measured. ISO 1996-2 standard has an appendix called Annex B which specifies the reference position of the microphone to undertake the measurement, and simplified correction factors to use in case that the measurement must be located near a reflecting surface (3 dB) or directly over a reflecting surface (6 dB). A façade behaves like a reflecting surface and the correction factor to apply is relevant to the study of noise because with the reflections produced on the outside of a building, people nearby can be affected. Therefore, numerous studies verifying the correction factors of ISO 1996-2 Annex B have been performed on façades, particularly for traffic noise. Most of the findings from these studies demonstrate that features of the source-receiver geometry change the correction factor. However, this correction factor has not been tested yet for aircraft noise whose source-receiver geometry differs from that of traffic noise. This paper intends to test the correction factor for aircraft noise on façade. It also tries to determine which relationship can be found among the noise level at the reference position and features like the façade noise level, source-receiver geometry and flight type.

Sistem Pengelolaan Kawasan Ekowisata Gunung Gamalama di Pulau Ternate

Ecotourism is a form of special interest tourism activity that is a responsible travel to natural areas which conserve the environment and improve local people’s welfare by involving active participation of people nearby the area in form of sustainable management. This study focuses on management system of 3A (attractions, amenity, accessibility) and the promotion of community-based ecotourism nearby Gamalama Mountain. There are three sites of ecotourism observed. They are Batu Angus, Sulamadaha Beach, and Tolire Lake. The objectives of this study are: (1) To comprehend the management system of 3A (attractions, amenity, accessibility) and the promotion of community-based ecotourism in the three sites (Batu Angus, Sulamadaha Beach, Tolire Lake) nearby Gamalama Mountain. (2) To analyze the management system of 3A (attractions, amenity, accessibility) and the promotion of communitybased ecotourism in the three sites (Batu Angus, Sulamadaha Beach, Tolire Lake) located nearby Gamalama Mountain. The method of research is conducted through survey and in-depth interviews using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The data used in this research consist of primary and secondary data. The primary data sources from observation, in-depth interviews, and direct documentation. Secondary data is derived from documentation analysis that relates to the geographical position, vast of area, climate, topography, and demography. The results of this study presents that the management system of 3A (attractions, amenity, accessibility) and the promotion of community-based ecotourism in the three sites (Batu Angus, Sulamadaha Beach, Tolire Lake) have not been conducted optimally. It is caused by some factors such as limited human resources in the field of tourism, lack of funding, lack of cooperation among government, private and public sectors, as well as the lack of socialization on tourism awareness from Department of Culture and Tourism of Ternate that influence public’s low awareness of tourism.

Willingness to accept energy-saving measures and adoption barriers in the residential sector: An empirical analysis in Beijing, China

This paper investigates the public attitude toward and willingness to accept six energy-saving measures in the residential sector in Beijing, China. The qualitative results derived from questionnaires show that financial incentives and the desire to reduce energy consumption are the most significant factors driving the public to adopt the measures and that the unavailability of electric vehicle (EV) chargers is a crucial barrier to the promotion of EVs. The quantitative results indicate that socioeconomic variables have a greater impact on technical energy-saving measures than behavioral ones. Renters or individuals with a high risk preference have a lower willingness to accept energy-efficient air conditioners. The price of gasoline, convenience of EV chargers, EV policy package, and environmental concern can significantly influence willingness to purchase an EV. With regard to behavioral energy-saving measures, control of the heating system and the influence of nearby people (spillover effect) significantly increase the preference for closing windows when the heating is on. The public transportation convenience, high gasoline prices and the congestion charge have significant effects on residents’ willingness to use public transportation. Infrastructure upgrades to heating and transportation would remove adoption barriers and facilitate energy conservation. Price policies and preferential policies related to EVs could have a significant impact on household choice of transportation mode. Finally, increasing the public energy-saving awareness and environmental concern is recommended to facilitate the promotion of energy-saving options.

Harvesting Urban Honey with Modern Technology

This article looks at the new beekeeping technology of the Flow frame and how it benefits Urban Beekeepers. In spite of negative preconceived notions about new technology, the article compares the time, space, and energy requirements of the new technology as compared to the old technology. What makes a successful honey harvest is also discussed, along with how more people nearby can make the harvest easier and harder to manage.

An Automatic Multilevel Facial Expression Recognition System

Facial expression is one of the most natural way of human beings to communicate his-her internal feeling, to stress his-her words, to agree or disagree with the interlocutor, to regulate interaction with the environment and nearby people. This paper challenges the classification experiment run by human beings on the ADFES-BIV database, which is a recently introduced collection of videos expressing low, middle, and high intensity emotions. The proposed automatic system uses the Sparse Representation based Classifier and reaches the top performance of 80 % by considering the temporal information intrinsically present in the videos.

A Sensor-Assisted Emergency Guiding System: Sensor-Centric or User-Centric?

The goal of sensor-assisted emergency guiding systems is to guide people to exits as soon as possible in emergencies (e.g., fires in buildings). Sensors are deployed in a smart environment to monitor and detect hazards. Sensors collaborate with each other to compute guiding paths for people in case of emergencies. To achieve this goal, this paper focuses on the sensor-assisted guiding problem, which studies how to guide people to exits quickly. Thus, the sensor-assisted guiding problem is analyzed from two different aspects: the sensor-centric guiding problem and the user-centric guiding problem. The former is to find a guiding direction for each single sensor for evacuating people nearby, whereas the latter is to find a personalized guiding direction for each individual user. In other words, the number of guiding directions provided by each single sensor in the sensor-centric guiding problem is limited, whereas this constraint is relaxed in the user-centric guiding problem. This paper proves that the sensor-centric guiding problem is NP-hard. When the constraint is relaxed, a user-centric guiding system is more efficient. Then, this paper designs a localized user-centric guiding protocol, which allows each sensor to provide more than one guiding direction for personalized guiding. The key idea of the proposed protocol is to estimate the evacuation time in a distributed manner. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed solution can significantly reduce the evacuation time by 15% compared to typical sensor-centric approaches. Finally, the implemented prototype indicates that proposed protocol is lightweight and can work with real sensor platforms.

Atmospheric Sensors and Energy Harvesters on Overhead Power Lines.

We demonstrate the feasibility of using novel, small energy harvesters to power atmospheric sensors and radios simply attached to a single conductor of existing overhead power distribution lines. We demonstrate the ability to harvest the required power for operating multiple atmospheric and power-system sensors, together with short-range radios that could broadcast atmospheric sensor data to the cellphones of people nearby. Occasional long-range broadcasts of the data could also be made of both atmospheric and power-line conditions.

Post-Installation: Insight of coastal-area society in Hybrid Electric Power Systems (HEPS) of Pantai Baru, Yogyakarta

The Hybrid Electric Power Systems project is a pilot renewable energy project of the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology since 2010. Hybrid power (windmill and solar cell) was chosen because of their huge heat and wind potential in coastal area of Pantai Baru. Post-installation is critical, considering the existence of alternative energy was expected to bring changes in the life of coastal people nearby. Participatory Action Research (PAR) was the method used to do deeper exploration of the changes happened after the hybrid electric power installation in Pantai Baru. Coastal society had a bigger dependency on natural resources and secluded from any technology development, including the hybrid power itself. The use of PAR method reversed the top down logic by the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology with the bottom up logic, adjust the people’s needs which processed from the grassroots. This research was conducted in three years, using three approaches; exploration, reflection, and action. Through these approaches, it was possible for the researchers to understand the actual condition of coastal society and chose the women groups as the main informants as well as the main group which got the biggest benefits of the Hybrid Electric Power Systems (HEPS), they were capable of giving fast responses on the changes happened through the culinary, tourism, fishpond, etc. This condition emphasized both the central role of women and the knot of all dynamics of the HEPS installation. In conclusion, women groups positioned themselves as the transformation agent of the usage of this renewable energy around HEPS Pantai Baru. As the main beneficiaries, women groups had improved their capability to adapt. It increased the income, consumption level, etc. Despite the success of the adaptation, they were still failing their position as the agents and users of the renewable energy. Their existence was limited merely to objects/beneficiaries, instead of being the subjects/actors of the HEPS technology. This study is essential as a data baseline, prepare the policy of technology intervention as well renewable energy campaign.

Mobility-Aware and Congestion-Relieved Dedicated Path Planning for Group-Based Emergency Guiding Based on Internet of Things Technologies

This paper proposes a group-based framework with dedicated path planning for emergency guiding based on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The proposed framework can model the spatiotemporal mobility of indoor people to determine and relieve the congestion of corridors and exits. A dedicated path can be determined to provide the shortest evacuation time for each group of nearby people. The corridor and exit capacities, corridor lengths, clustering motion of a group, concurrent moving of different groups, and up-to-date distribution of group people are considered together to accurately estimate the evacuation time for each group. Based on the estimated evacuation time, evacuation load can be evenly distributed among corridors and exits to alleviate the congestion of all corridors and exits for minimizing total evacuation time. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated by conducting mathematical analysis and computer simulations, which outperforms existing schemes and can achieve the shortest evacuation time for group-based emergency guiding. In addition, an Android-based prototype with indoor IoT localization technologies is implemented to verify the feasibility of our framework.

“I Shut the Door”: Interactions, tensions, and negotiations from a location-based social app

Location-based social apps leverage mobile phones to provide face-to-face (FtF) social opportunities for physically proximate individuals, such as finding nearby people to socialize, date, or hook up. Prior work on dating and hookup apps has focused mostly on profiles and user goals, but this leaves open important questions of how, after constructing a profile, people use these apps to connect and realize their goals, and what these experiences are like. We report on 22 interviews with users of Grindr, a location-based social app for men who have sex with men. We examine interaction processes from viewing profiles to meeting up. Using the perspective of relational dialectics, we explore tensions around connecting with others, sharing information, and being predictable or novel. We find that profile presentations are flexible and subject to change, disinhibition challenges interaction and revealing goals, and social consequences increase through moving from profile browsing to meeting FtF.

Morality, sharing and change among the Ngaju people in Central Kalimantan

The article discusses the morality of sharing and how morality and values go hand in hand with certain forms of transfers among the Ngaju people in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. More precisely it examines interaction between a climate change mitigation project and the Ngaju Dayaks. Ngaju Dayaks living along the Kahayan River have practiced hunting, and gathering different forest products and shifting cultivation for centuries. Hunted game brought back to their community was shared with people nearby as well as some other forest products or rice harvest to the family or close kin. Ngaju also engaged in both market and non-market exchange. Earlier anthropological discussions on sharing treated sharing as a type of reciprocity, but more recently anthropologists have debated whether sharing is a transactional form in its own right or a part of reciprocal transactions. Sharing suggests and supports the values of autonomy and non-accumulation of wealth, while exchange creates dependencies and thus hierarchical relations. This article shows that sharing may acceptably turn into exchange in certain circumstances, which makes it a much more complicated and conflated concept than the idea of sharing as a completely separate transaction would suggest.