Roadside Areas Research Articles

Seasonal changes and respiratory deposition flux of PM2.5 and PM10 bound metals in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Due to rapid urbanization and fast economic development, aerosol pollution is a serious environmental issue, especially in Bangladesh. Based on bioaccessibility and respiratory deposition doses (RDD), health risks of PM2.5 and PM10 bound 15 (fifteen) metals were investigated at fourteen urban sites (roadside, marketplace, industrial, and commercial areas). Sampling campaigns were conducted over four seasons (winter, summer, rainy, and autumn) from December 2020 to November 2021. A beta attenuation mass analyzer measured particulate matter concentrations in ambient air. The metals in PM fractions were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The airborne trace metals (Cd, As, Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni) with high enrichment factors indicate anthropogenic sources. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) categorized these elements as originating from automobile exhaust, industrial emissions, and solid waste/coal combustion, whereas the geologic elements came from earth crust/soil dust. During the winter, most of the air mass trajectories arrived from India across the land (82%) and Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP) region to the sampling sites, which may have aided in the transport of pollutants. The deposition flux of metals illustrated that compared to PM2.5, PM10 deposited a higher amount of metals in the upper airways (81.96%).In comparison, PM2.5 accumulates more elevated amounts of metals in alveolar regions (11.77%), due to the ability of fine particles to penetrate deeper into the lower pulmonary region. Among age groups, an adult inhales a higher amount of metals than a child, on average 0.103 mg and 0.08 mg of metals per day via PM2.5, respectively. Acute health impacts are caused by the deposited cancer-causing metals in alveolar tissue, which circulates through the bloodstream and affects several organs. Prolonged exposure to these carcinogenic metals poses significant health risks.

Multivariate Urban Air Quality Assessment of Indoor and Outdoor Environments at Chennai Metropolis in South India

The present study examines indoor and outdoor environmental particulate matter and gaseous pollutants in order to evaluate the urban air quality, the sources and pathways of pollutants, and its impact on Chennai megacity, South India. A total number of 25 air conditioner filter particulate matter samples collected from residential buildings, schools, colleges, commercial shopping malls, and buildings near urban highways were studied for indoor air quality. Similarly, outdoor air quality assessments have been done in various parts of the Chennai metropolis, including the Manali-Industrial area, the Velachery-Residential site, and the Alandur Bus Depot, as well as collected air quality data sets from the Central Pollution Control Board at continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations. The suspended atmospheric particles where the highest concentration (47%) occurred were mostly located in the roadside environments followed by commercial areas (42%), which indicates the increase in air pollution in the roadside areas. Further, environmental magnetism and ecological risk indices were studied from the collected data set. The study predicts that the air pollutants were predominantly from anthropogenic sources, such as vehicle emissions, effluents from power plants, abrasion of tires, steelworks, burning of fossil fuels and construction materials, etc. As a result, the current study suggests 68% of indoor pollutants were from the anthropogenic input, 18% from the pedogenic origin, and 14% from high heavy metal pollution at the sampling sites. This indicates that raising the ventilation rate via mechanical components significantly enhances the indoor air quality. These findings might be valuable in improving urban air quality, reducing traffic-related pollutants, and improving environmental quality.

Assessment of Arsenic Contamination in Groundwater and Associated Human Health Risk

Drinking water contamination by arsenic (As) is of significant concern due to its potential cause of cancer and arsenicosis. In this study, out of the 200 samples (n = 200), the mean As concentrations ranged from below detection limit (BDL) to 3.30, 4.81, 4.42 and 3.85 µg L−1 in small residential, roadside, industrial and household areas, respectively. From 200 total samples, 9% of the groundwater samples showed As levels higher than the WHO safe guideline limit of 10 μg L−1. Human health risk was assessed using average daily intake (ADD), hazard quotient (HQ) and cancer risk (CR) values which were found to be greater than the recommended values by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (1.0 and 10−6) for health risk assessment. The CR were ranged from 0–5.7 × 10−1, 4.0 × 10−1, 2.0 × 10−1 and 1.0 × 10−1 in small residential areas for children, adolescents, males and females, respectively. In roadside areas, the values ranged from 0–2.8 × 10−1, 4.0 × 10−1, 2.0 × 10−1 and 2.8 × 10−1 for children, adolescents, males and females, while 0–5.9 × 10−1, 4.1 × 10−1, 2.1 × 10−1 and 1.6 × 10−1 in industrial areas and 0–8.0 × 10−1, 2.91 × 10−1, 2.6 × 10−1 and 3.9 × 10−1 were calculated in household sites. All the CR values were found to be exceeding the US-EPA limit (10−6) recommending that the people in the study area are more prone to carcinogenic risk. Overall, it was concluded that due to presence of As in drinking water, these areas tend to be at higher cancer risks. To provide safe drinking water for the people living in these As-affected areas, urgent remedial and management steps are required.

Assessment of recreational and tourist attractiveness of roadside territories

Problem. Currently, many roads and their infrastructure have been severely damaged by hostilities. In the post-war development of Ukraine, especially transport infrastructure, much attention should be paid to the restoration and construction of recreational facilities in roadside areas to ensure short-term and long-term recreation of drivers and passengers. Not many studies have been devoted to the problems of providing tourist and recreational potential with transport and recreational infrastructure in Ukraine. Basically, researchers pay attention to the characteristics of the transport complex of Ukraine in terms of the development of the roads themselves. Thus, it is necessary to determine the principles of selection of territories for the development of recreational facilities along highways in the restoration and development of post-war Ukraine. Goal. The aim of the work is to develop criteria and principles for assessing roadside areas in terms of the need and possibility of locating tourist and recreational infrastructure. Methodology. Analytical research methods were used to determine the approaches of foreign countries to the location of tourist and recreational facilities on highways. Determining the most attractive roadside areas for tourist and recreational infrastructure is based on the developed criteria and methodological approach to scoring the requirements of vacationers. Results. The main highways, which are tourist and recreational routes for Ukrainian and foreign vacationers, are characterized. The tourist and recreational infrastructure and its influence on the development of recreational business in the state are determined. The principles of location of recreational facilities in roadside areas abroad are analyzed. Recreational requirements of traveling tourists are revealed. Criteria and principles for assessing roadside areas for the construction of recreational facilities have been developed. Originality. Criteria and methodological approach for assessing the most attractive roadside areas for tourist and recreational infrastructure have been developed. The main priorities are suggested that should be the basis of tourism and recreation policy of the state in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. Practical value. The use of the proposed methodological approach to determining the most attractive areas for the construction of tourist and recreational infrastructure will help avoid chaotic construction of roadside space and unmotivated alienation of agricultural land.

Evaluation of potential toxic heavy metal contamination in soil, fly ash, vegetables and grain crops along with associated ecological and health risk assessment of nearby inhabitants of a thermal power station in Jharkhand (India).

The present study aimed to evaluate the potential toxic heavy metal (PTHM) concentrations and associated ecological and health risk of nearby inhabitants (child and adult populations) of the Bokaro thermal power station (BTPS), Jharkhand, India. The fly ash containing PTHMs is released from the thermal power plant and contaminates the soil of the nearby agricultural area, roadside area and residential area. Furthermore, PTHMs cause ecological risk as well as carcinogenic health effects in adults. Inhabitants are exposed to PTHMs through exposure pathways (for instance, direct ingestion, dermal contact and air inhalation), and PTHMs were examined in this study by calculating the estimated daily intake (EDI). The contamination factor (Cf) of Cd exceeded the threshold value throughout the study area, whereas the Cf of Hg was observed higher only in roadside soil (RSS). The geoaccumulation index (Igeo) of Cd was higher in the top soil of agricultural soil (AS) (7.39) and RSS (9.38). The level of PTHMs was monitored slightly higher in the topsoil of RSS. The ecological risk index (Eri) was detected to be the highest in RSS (1628.9). The permissible limit of Cd (0.05mgkg-1) and Pb (0.1mgkg-1) for all sampled vegetables and grain crops was surpassed. The transfer factor (TF) of the studied vegetables and grain crops was in the order of Cd > Cr > Pb > Hg > As. The results of the present study concluded that the hazard quotient (HQ) values for all PTHMs analysed in soil throughout the study area were < 1, which indicates that the child population was within the safe limit. However, the adult population was at a high risk of non-carcinogenic health effects due to increased permissible limits of Cd, Pb and Cr in vegetables and grain crops whereas the target carcinogenic risk (TCR) of Pb and Cr was higher and indicated that there may be a health risk of cancer in adults.

Potential Ecological Distributions of Urban Adapters and Urban Exploiters for the Sustainability of the Urban Bird Network

The bird community in urban areas indicates the species-specific adaptability to urban conditions such as the increase in man-made habitats. Urban adapters and urban exploiters, two groups that make up most of the urban birds, were assessed to determine their suitable habitat and explain their distribution, as well as to determine the environmental predictors for the two bird groups assemblages in Depok, one of Jakarta’s satellite cities. We used the point-count method to survey the birds in three habitat types, green spaces, residentials, and roadside, and then we used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) to analyze the species distribution modeling. We also the predicted habitat distributions for the urban adapters and urban exploiters based on several environmental predictors. Our results suggest that both urban adapters and urban exploiters were abundant in residential areas. Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) and cave swiflets (Collocalia linchi) were the most common species in all three habitat types. On average, canopy cover was most extensive in green spaces followed by residential and roadside areas. Urban exploiters were likely to have a high suitability extent compared to urban adapters. The distributions of both groups were affected by the distance to perennial water, then by land function for the urban adapters, and distance to patches for the urban exploiters. The presence of urban adapters and urban exploiters in residential areas suggests that home gardens supported critical habitats when green spaces were unavailable.

Accumulation Detection of Cadmium in some land-use soil of Baghdad city, Iraq

This study aims to detect cadmium accumulation in the soil of Baghdad. Twenty soil samples were collected randomly during November 2020 to cover the study area, emphasizing the nature of each area (agricultural, commercial, industrial, residential, roadside, and waste dumping sites). All soil samples were subjected to geochemical analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry (ASS) to determine the concentration of cadmium in Baghdad soil. The laboratory data was utilized to design the spatial analysis map using Arc GIS 10.4.1 to investigate the spatial distribution of cadmium. The results demonstrated that the total content of cadmium in the study area ranged from 0.121to 1.78 mg/kg. All results of cadmium concentrations are within the allowable limits of WHO (3 mg/kg), and the mean concentration of cadmium according to the type of land use is shown by the following decreasing order: roadside &gt; agricultural areas &gt; residential areas &gt; industrial areas &gt;waste dumping site&gt; commercial. In addition, the spatial analysis map showed the accumulation of cadmium concentration on the Al-Karkh side than on the Al-Rissafa side of Baghdad city. A comparison between cadmium concentration in the soil of some land- use for the current study and cadmium concentration in previous studies showed that the concentration of cadmium decreased from previous years, except roadside sites recorded a higher cadmium concentration than the cadmium concentration of roadside areas according to [12].

Meteorological dependence, source identification, and carcinogenic risk assessment of PM2.5-bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in high-traffic roadside, urban background, and remote suburban area.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-022-00821-2.

On the empirical association between spatial agglomeration of commercial facilities and transportation systems in Japan: A nationwide analysis

Understanding the impact of transport systems on the spatial agglomeration of urban facilities is critical for urban and transport planning. Recent studies show three separate mechanisms, including matching, sharing, and trip chaining on the agglomeration of commercial facilities, but little is known about which of these mechanisms is dominant and how its dominance varies across transport systems. Aiming at empirically investigating the mechanisms, we first calculate a simple agglomeration index for 69 Japanese cities and then explore the association between the index and city-level characteristics (including transport) using a decision tree analysis. The results confirm that (1) cities with larger areas and higher train shares experience agglomeration, presumably through matching and/or trip chaining, while cities with smaller areas have less agglomeration despite high train shares; and (2) car-dependent cities experience agglomeration, presumably through sharing, particularly by agglomerating in their residential and roadside areas. These findings indicate that effective agglomeration forces vary across transport systems.

Health Risk Assessment on Exposure to PM2.5-bound PAHs from an Urban-industrial Area in Rayong City, Thailand

BACKGROUND: A city's industrial area's air quality has become a major priority. PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most common pollutants in urban-industrial area, and can be linked to health problems.&#x0D; AIM: This study aims to 1) investigate PM2.5 and PAHs emitted from roadside area (RS) and industrial estate (IE) in Rayong city 2) assess the inhalation of PM2.5 and PAHs on the human health of the age group.&#x0D; METHODS: PM2.5-bound PAHs were investigated and thier carcinogenic risk was evalued in this study. PM2.5 samples were collected on quartz filters contained in a mini-volume air sampler and analyzed for PAHs by GC-MS.&#x0D; RESULTS: The average PM2.5 concentrations at RS and IE were 43.3±26.8 and 40.4±21.7 µg/m3, while the values of total PAHs in both sites were 1.68±1.53 and 1.34±1.22 ng/m3, respectively. However, it was found that the PM2.5 and PAHs values were not significantly different (p&gt;0.05). The results revealed that the individual lifetime cancer risk (Ric) of PM2.5 values for children and adults at both sites indicated acceptable cancer risk (10-6 to10-4). According to the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values of PAHs for different age groups, exposure to PAHs in PM2.5 through the inhalation pathway was a negligible (&lt;10-6).&#x0D; CONCLUSION: As a result, the PM2.5 concentrations have substantial implications for Rayong city’s environmental management and protection, relating to car emissions and coal combustion.

Evaluation of the roadside soil of the P72 highway by the content of heavy metals and arsenic

Introduction. The paper presents studies on the assessment of the level of pollution by motor vehicles of the soil of the roadside territory of the new section of the reconstructed highway. Materials and methods. The object of the study was the soil of the roadside territory of the new section of the highway of regional significance “Vladimir-Murom-Arzamas” (P72). The registration number in the territory of the Vladimir region is 17P-1. Results. It was found that with the launch of a new section of the reconstructed highway, the roadside area was found to be significantly contaminated with heavy metals and arsenic due to the impact of gas-air emissions of passing vehicles. Gas-air emissions of motor vehicles increase the content of technogenic magnetite particles in the soil, which increase the magnitude of the magnetic susceptibility of soils. Aggregation of heavy metals (HM) by magnetite particles and their sorption contributes to the accumulation of hm in the soil of the roadside area. When moving away from the highway, the content of heavy metals and arsenic in the soil of the roadside area decreases. The indicator of accumulation of HM and arsenic in the soil of the roadside area increases in the series: Zn → Ni → As → Cu → Pb. By the end of the year of operation of the new section of the reconstructed highway, the excess of the MPC for lead and arsenic was revealed, and the content of Zn and Cu in the roadside soil is close to the values of the MPC. Limitations. The limitations of the study are related to the remoteness of sampling points relative to the roadway and a small number of reference sites, which limits the possibilities of a broader interpretation of the data obtained. Conclusion. To prevent the current dangerous trend, it is necessary to manage sanitary and hygienic monitoring of the soil of the roadside area exposed to constant exposure and accumulation of HM, in order to detect exceedances of the MPC and UEC and take measures to protect these territories.

ASSESSMENT OF SOLID WASTES IN DIFFERENT AREAS OFKHANYAN, HOOGHLY, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

The present study was aimed at the assessment of the stray waste available in different areas of Khanyan village highlighting the college campus. Observations of solid wastes in the three landmark areas station, roadside areas and college campus revealed the presence of at least 57different types of wastes that varied in relative abundance and weight. Although linked to different origin and shape, the weight of the solid wastes varied to a considerable extent ranging from 0.06 to 209.3 g. The total solid wastes were divided into 6 major categories depending on their sources. The pollutants were again classified according to their origin. At present, no treatment is provided to these solid wastes in this village. More than 90% of the total wastes are directly disposed in an unsatisfactory manner without providing earth cover. This method of dumping can lead to soil as well as ground water pollution. The problem of pollution to some extent can be solved by awareness and with the help of the local people.

Characteristics of airborne PM1.0 and associated chemical constituents at a roadside area in Korea

Despite the severity of health impacts caused by particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 1.0 μm (PM1.0), corresponding data have been poorly documented compared to that of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) or ≤ 10 μm (PM10). In this study, the characteristics of PM1.0 and its chemical species (black carbon [BC], SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, and 16 metals) were investigated in the roadside area of Daejeon. The mean PM1.0 concentration was 19.9 ± 5.50 μg m-3 (range of 6.86–34.7 μg m-3) near a road with high traffic density during a 3-month period in the fall/winter of 2019. The mean concentrations (± SD and range) of BC, NO3-, and SO42- in PM1.0 were 4.89 ± 4.21 (1.26–8.23), 4.21 ± 1.39 (1.76–9.78), and 4.30 ± 1.10 (1.16–7.03) μg m-3, respectively. Strong relationships between PM1.0 and major species such as BC, SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+ were observed with correlation coefficients of 0.52–0.96. After evaluating the factors affecting PM1.0 concentrations using a positive matrix factorization model, six source types were revealed: secondary aerosol (54.1%), vehicle exhaust (21.2%), re-suspended soil-road dust (9.6%), fossil fuel combustion (9.1%), biomass burning (3.3%), and industrial activities (2.6%).

Evaluation of soils of the roadside territory area of the federal highway on the maintenance of heavy metals, arsenic and fluoride ions

Introduction. A hygienic assessment of the fluoride ions, heavy metals (HM) and arsenic content in the soils of the roadside area of the Ryazan-Volgograd highway was carried out. Materials and methods. The assessment was obased on the results of soil sampling from 11 sites over the Ryazan-Volgograd highway along its entire length at distances of 20 and 50 m from the roadbed. To assess the impact of vehicles on roadside soil pollution and exclude industrial sources of pollution, soil samples were taken outside settlements and industrial zones of cities. Results. The content of water-soluble fluorine in the studied soils was found to vary in the range significantly lower than the values of the maximum permissible concentration. With distance from the highway, the concentration of fluorine in the soil decreases, indicates its aerogenic origin. According to sanitary standards, its content corresponds to the permissible level. The accumulation index of HM and arsenic in the soil of the roadside area increases in the order: As → Ni → Zn →Pb → Cu. Cu has the maximum accumulation index, which varies from 1.24 to 4.34, depending on the soil types of the roadside territory. The accumulation of such pollutants as Pb, Zn was noted in the roadside areas represented by southern chernozems and dark chestnut residual calcareous soil types. The highest hazard coefficients are related to As on southern chernozems; Cu and Ni - on gray forest soils of the roadside territory of the federal highway. Limitations. The limitations of the study are associated with one-time sampling and a small number of reference sites, which limits the possibilities of a broader interpretation of the data obtained to determine trends in soil pollution of roadside areas. Conclusion. With the same technogenic load on the roadside area caused by the movement of passing motor vehicles, the self-cleaning ability of different soil types can differ significantly. On those parts of the roadside area where heavy metals are accumulating, it is necessary to organize constant environmental and hygienic monitoring and carry out measures for soil remediation.

Trench Fires Resulting from Accidental Releases from Tanker Trucks: Assessing the Thermal Effect on Roadside Territory

The risk posed by spill and subsequent fire during road transportation of flammable liquid is considered in the paper. Attention is paid to a pool fire than can occur in roadside terrain. Circumstances and road situations increasing the likelihood of a spill and fire accident are analysed. The problem under study is an assessment of thermal radiation induced by a roadside pool fire. This study applied a pool fire model known as a trench fire to a roadside situation. The trench fire is considered to be a likely type of a pool fire due to presence of roadside ditches and other oblong low areas along the road. The estimation of the thermal radiation from trench fires is carried out in the deterministic way due to actual lack of systematic uncertainty modelling related to pool fires. Deterministic models developed for estimating the radiation of pool and trench fires are presented and illustrated by a transportation case study. The case study reveals that the thermal radiation emitted by a trench fire can endanger objects positioned in the intermediate vicinity to the road. Further spread of fire into more distant locations is possible only through the domino effect. Incorporation of the thermal radiation models into a transportation risk assessment is discussed in brief. Findings of this study are viewed as knowledge that can be used for refining the estimation of risk posed by transportation of hazardous materials.

Ambient acidic ultrafine particles in different land-use areas in two representative Chinese cities

The adverse effects of acidic ultrafine particles (AUFPs) have been widely recognized in scientific communities. However, a handful of studies successfully acquired the concentrations of AUFPs in the atmosphere. To explore the AUFPs pollution, six extensive measurements were for the first time conducted in the roadside, urban and rural areas in Hong Kong, and the urban area in Shanghai between 2017 and 2020. The concentrations of AUFPs and UFPs, and the proportions of AUFPs in UFPs were obtained. The concentration of UFPs was the highest at the roadside site, followed by the urban site and the rural site, while the proportion of AUFPs in UFPs showed a contrary trend. The difference, on one hand, indicated the potential transformation of AUFPs from non-acidic UFPs during the transport and aging of air masses, and on the other hand, suggested the minor contribution of anthropogenic sources to the emission of AUFPs. In addition, the urban area in Hong Kong suffered from heavier pollution of UFPs and AUFPs than that in Shanghai. As for size distribution, the proportion of AUFPs in UFPs peaked in the size range of 35–50 nm and 50–75 nm in roadside and urban area, respectively. In rural area, the peak was observed in the size range of 5–10 nm, which might indicate the stimulation of new particle formation with the AUFPs as seeds. Furthermore, in the urban areas of Hong Kong and Shanghai, no significant difference was found for the geometric mean diameters of UFPs and AUFPs (p > 0.05). At last, the sulfuric acid proxy was positively correlated with the proportions of AUFPs in UFPs but not well correlated with the AUFPs levels. The results suggested the important roles of interaction between sulfuric acid vapor and non-acidic UFPs in AUFPs formation. Due to the significant reduction of sulfur dioxide in China during the last decade, the pollution of AUFPs in urban areas was alleviated.

PM2.5‐Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Nitrated PAHs (NPAHs) and Oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) in Typical Traffic‐Related Receptor Environments

AbstractPM2.5‐bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrated PAHs (NPAHs) and oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) around roadside, port and airport areas were investigated to evaluate the impacts of vehicle, ship and aviation emissions on PAHs and their derivatives in relevant receptor environments. The PAHs concentrations in fuels increased in the following order: jet fuel &lt; heavy fuel oil for vessel &lt; automobile diesel fuel. However, the average mass ratio concentrations of PM2.5‐bound PAHs in roadside, port and airport areas were 42.9, 158.7 and 260.4 μg/g, respectively. The low PAHs concentrations in fuel were relevant to the high PAHs emissions. The composition of the molecular species showed that 5‐ and 6‐rings PAHs were dominated in roadside area, while 3‐ and 4‐rings PAHs were major proportions in port and airport areas. The average mass ratio concentrations of PM2.5‐bound NPAHs and OPAHs concentrations in roadside, port and airport areas were 23.5 and 115.2, 4.8 and 39.9, and 26.4 and 284.2 μg/g, respectively. The different variation tendencies between PAHs and their derivates, dominant individual NPAHs, diagnostic ratios of NPAH isomers and principal component analysis revealed that primary emission was the major contributor to NPAHs and OPAHs in three receptor environments, and secondary formation played non‐negligible roles in NPAHs formation in roadside and airport areas. In addition, 9‐nitroanthracene (9‐NAnt) and anthraquinone (ATQ) were found to be the indicatory compounds for traffic emission. Taken together, these results may provide a basic information for assessing the impact of traffic emission sources on PAC emissions to the related receptor environment.

Spatiotemporal variations of carbon dioxide (CO2) at Urban neighborhood scale: Characterization of distribution patterns and contributions of emission sources

• Spatiotemporal distributions were analyzed for urban CO 2 concentration via field study. • CO 2 in urban neighborhoods exhibited notable daily and seasonal variations. • The CO 2 showed a gradual decrease in roadside, residential, and green space areas. • Random Forest and eXtreme Gradient Boosting were used for source contribution analysis. • Traffic source had the largest contribution to the CO 2 followed by green space. The gradual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations has attracted worldwide attention for its strong relationships with global climate change. Considerable efforts are being undertaken to characterize spatiotemporal variations of CO 2 at a city, regional and national level, aiming at providing pipelines for carbon emission reduction. However, there is scarce knowledge of how CO 2 at the urban neighborhood scale is produced and distributed in the context of time and space, which is useful to accurately target source contributions from the ground up and reduce carbon emissions at a fine-grained scale. In this study, mobile measurements of CO 2 concentrations were made in a 2 km × 2 km urban area covering different land use types to separately characterize the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of CO 2 in roadside, residential and green space areas. The results show that CO 2 concentrations in the late afternoon (Local time, UTC+8, LT 17–18) were higher than those at noon (LT 11–12), and that CO 2 concentrations in winter were higher than those in summer. The roadside areas exhibited the highest CO 2 concentration level of 452.66 ± 20.59 ppm, followed by residential areas (436.34 ± 27.02 ppm) and green space areas (428.98 ± 20.49 ppm). The result indicates that traffic sources brought more carbon emissions and contributed to a significant increase in CO 2 concentrations, while urban greenery caused more carbon absorptions and reduced CO 2 concentrations. This can be further confirmed by the observations that CO 2 concentrations in the roadside neighborhood showed a strong positive correlation (R 2 = 0.86) with ambient traffic flow. Then two machine learning models, i.e., Random Forest and eXtreme Gradient Boost, were developed to quantify the individual contribution from different carbon emission sources to the CO 2 distributions, including traffic flow, greening rate, and domestic energy consumption. The results show that traffic-related carbon emissions were the most important influencing factor and accounted for approximately 60% of ambient CO 2 concentrations, followed by greening rate (20%) and domestic energy consumption (10%). These findings can provide insights into spatiotemporal distributions and source contributions of CO 2 in urban neighborhoods and show huge potentials for reducing urban carbon emissions at a fine-grained scale.

Enriching Roadside Safety Assessments Using LiDAR Technology: Disaggregate Collision-Level Data Fusion and Analysis

Fatalities and serious injuries still represent a significant portion of run-off-the-road (ROR) collisions on highways in North America. In order to address this issue and design safer and more forgiving roadside areas, more empirical evidence is required to understand the association between roadside elements and safety. The inability to gather that evidence has been attributed in many cases to limitations in data collection and data fusion capabilities. To help overcome such issues, this paper proposes using LiDAR datasets to extract the information required to analyze factors contributing to the severity of ROR collisions on a localized collision level. Specifically, the paper proposes a new method for extracting pole-like objects and tree canopies. Information about other roadside assets, including signposts, alignment attributes, and side slopes is also extracted from the LiDAR scans in a fully automated manner. The extracted information is then attached to individual collisions to perform a localized assessment. Logistic regression is then used to explore links between the extracted features and the severity of fixed-object collisions. The analysis is conducted on 80 km of roads from 10 different highways in Alberta, Canada. The results show that roadside attributes vary significantly for the different collisions along the 80 km analyzed, indicating the importance of utilizing LiDAR to extract such features on a disaggregate collision level. The regression results show that the steepness of side slopes and the offset of roadside objects had the most significant impacts on the severity of fixed-object collisions.

Assessment of essential minerals and toxic trace metals in blended raw honey, soil, leaf and flower samples harvested from different locations of Kannad Taluka of Aurangabad District

The concentrations of eight essential minerals Ca, Cr, Co Cu, Fe, Mn, Ag, Zn and five toxic trace metals As, Cd, Pb, Hg and Ni were determined in blended raw honey, soil, leaf and flowers harvested from different locations of Kannad taluka. Result reveals that all honey samples from the agricultural and roadside area were contaminated with toxic trace metals. The honey samples harvested from forest areas have no or lower concentrations of toxic trace metals than the permissible limits set by Indian standards (2010). The concentrations of these metals in honey samples investigated do not pose any serious concern to human health except for honey harvested from the roadside area. Hence, the honey produced from Kannad taluka can be considered nutritionally safe and represents good quality. The present data also indicate that the levels of toxic trace metals in honey are comparatively more in roadway areas than in agricultural and forest areas. The essential minerals in soil, leaf and flower samples are comparatively more in agricultural areas than roadway and forest areas. The toxic trace metals are more on roadway sides than in agricultural and forest areas.