scholarly journals A tale of four cities: A semantic analysis comparing the newspaper coverage of air pollution in Hong Kong, London, Pittsburgh, and Tianjin from 2014 to 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52
Author(s):  
Tongxin Sun ◽  
Bu Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Word Count ◽  
The Public ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry

A computer-aided semantic analysis (using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count [LIWC]) examined how newspaper coverage of air pollution from 2014 to 2017 may affect the public agenda in four cities—Hong Kong, London, Pittsburgh, and Tianjin. Results show that after controlling for the real-time air quality, the agenda-setting effect was found in Hong Kong, London, and Pittsburgh, but not Tianjin. Tianjin’s reports also contained more future-framed words but fewer present-framed words than other cities.

scholarly journals Key Concerns and Drivers of Low-Cost Air Quality Sensor Use

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 584
Author(s):  
Priyanka Nadia deSouza
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Data Visualization ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pollution Monitoring ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
User Reviews ◽  
Air Pollution Monitoring ◽  
The Public

Low-cost sensors are revolutionizing air pollution monitoring by providing real-time, highly localized air quality information. The relatively low-cost nature of these devices has made them accessible to the broader public. Although there have been several fitness-of-purpose appraisals of the various sensors on the market, little is known about what drives sensor usage and how the public interpret the data from their sensors. This article attempts to answer these questions by analyzing the key themes discussed in the user reviews of low-cost sensors on Amazon. The themes and use cases identified have the potential to spur interventions to support communities of sensor users and inform the development of actionable data-visualization strategies with the measurements from such instruments, as well as drive appropriate ‘fitness-of-purpose’ appraisals of such devices.

scholarly journals Development of a 3D Real-Time Atmospheric Monitoring System (3DREAMS) Using Doppler LiDARs and Applications for Long-Term Analysis and Hot-and-Polluted Episodes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Hung Lam YIM
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Vertical Wind ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Atmospheric Monitoring

Heatwaves and air pollution are serious environmental problems that adversely affect human health. While related studies have typically employed ground-level data, the long-term and episodic characteristics of meteorology and air quality at higher altitudes have yet to be fully understood. This study developed a 3-Dimensional Real-timE Atmospheric Monitoring System (3DREAMS) to measure and analyze the vertical profiles of horizontal wind speed and direction, vertical wind velocity as well as aerosol backscatter. The system was applied to Hong Kong, a highly dense city with complex topography, during each season and including hot-and-polluted episodes (HPEs) in 2019. The results reveal that the high spatial wind variability and wind characteristics in the lower atmosphere in Hong Kong can extend upwards by up to 0.66 km, thus highlighting the importance of mountains for the wind environment in the city. Both upslope and downslope winds were observed at one site, whereas downward air motions predominated at another site. The high temperature and high concentration of fine particulate matter during HPEs were caused by a significant reduction in both horizontal and vertical wind speeds that established conditions favorable for heat and air pollutant accumulation, and by the prevailing westerly wind promoting transboundary air pollution. The findings of this study are anticipated to provide valuable insight for weather forecasting and air quality studies. The 3DREAMS will be further developed to monitor upper atmosphere wind and air quality over the Greater Bay Area of China.

scholarly journals REAL-TIME ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS TO IMPROVE HEALTH IN THE SENSING CITY

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B2 ◽  
pp. 729-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Marek ◽  
M. Campbell ◽  
M. Epton ◽  
M. Storer ◽  
S. Kingham
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
Actual Usage

The opportunity of an emerging smart city in post-disaster Christchurch has been explored as a way to improve the quality of life of people suffering Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is a progressive disease that affects respiratory function. It affects 1 in 15 New Zealanders and is the 4th largest cause of death, with significant costs to the health system. While, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD, long-term exposure to other lung irritants, such as air pollution, chemical fumes, or dust can also cause and exacerbate it. Currently, we do know little what happens to the patients with COPD after they leave a doctor’s care. By learning more about patients’ movements in space and time, we can better understand the impacts of both the environment and personal mobility on the disease. This research is studying patients with COPD by using GPS-enabled smartphones, combined with the data about their spatiotemporal movements and information about their actual usage of medication in near real-time. We measure environmental data in the city, including air pollution, humidity and temperature and how this may subsequently be associated with COPD symptoms. In addition to the existing air quality monitoring network, to improve the spatial scale of our analysis, we deployed a series of low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) air quality sensors as well. The study demonstrates how health devices, smartphones and IoT sensors are becoming a part of a new health data ecosystem and how their usage could provide information about high-risk health hotspots, which, in the longer term, could lead to improvement in the quality of life for patients with COPD.

scholarly journals Real Time Air Quality Index from Various Locations

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-372
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Air Quality Index ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data

The surveys regarding air pollution shows that there has been a hasty growth due to the emission of fuels and exhaust gases from factories. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has been launched to note the contemporary status of the air quality. The intent of AQI is to aid every individual know how the regional air quality will make an impact on them. The Environmental Protection Agency assess the AQI for five major air pollutants namely Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground-level ozone (O3), particle pollution (PM10, PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulphur dioxide (SO2). The intent of the project is to congregate real-time Air Quality Index from distinct monitoring stations across India, analysing the data and reporting on it. Collect the real-time data using the API key provided by Open Government Data (OGD) platform India. This is done by making use of Microsoft Business Intelligence (MSBI) and Power BI Tools to transform, analyse and visualize the data. This project can be utilized to develop various programs like Ozone today in Europe and in mobile applications which acts as an alert system that can protect people from air pollution.

scholarly journals Evidence on the Impact of Winter Heating Policy on Air Pollution and Its Dynamic Changes in North China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Wang ◽  
Yongtao Li ◽  
Mahfuzul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Impact

Environmental pollution, especially air pollution, is an alarming issue for the public, which is extensively debated among academic scholars. During the winter heating season, “smog” has become somewhat a normal phenomenon to local residents’ livelihood in northern China. Based on the daily air pollution data of regional cities in China from 2014 to 2016, and using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), the study finds that winter heating makes the air quality worse in the northern part of China. With the start of the winter heating, it increases the Air Quality Index (AQI) by 10.4%, particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) by 9.77%, particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) by 17.25%, CO by 9.84%, NO2 by 5.23%, and SO2 by 17.1%. Furthermore, dynamic changes demonstrate that air quality has gradually improved due to a series of heating policy changes implemented by the central government in recent years. Specifically, from 2014 to 2016, major indicators measuring the air pollution decrease dramatically, such as AQI by 92.36%, PM10 by 91.24%, PM2.5 by 84.06%, CO by 70.97%, NO2 by 52.76%, and SO2 by 17.15%.

scholarly journals Praying for Blue Skies: Artistic Representations of Air Pollution in China

Modern China ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 009770042096728
Author(s):  
Thomas Johnson ◽  
Kathinka Fürst
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Artistic Representations ◽  
Restrictive Environment

This article examines how artists have engaged with the issue of air pollution in Beijing, where poor air quality has become a serious public health matter. Artists have utilized various mediums including performance art, photography, and painting to represent smog. Through generating media and online attention this work has contributed to a relatively vibrant “green public sphere” (Yang and Calhoun, 2007) of air pollution discourse. In contrast to much resistance in China that relies upon making specific claims to government officials, artistic expression bypasses the authorities and appeals instead to public opinion. Artists utilize ambiguity to portray air pollution in novel ways that subtly question the structures that produce and sustain it. In this way, artists can challenge popular perceptions of smog and raise public awareness, thus intensifying support for policies that tackle smog. Yet art can also embody deep frustration at the powerlessness that artists, and the public more widely, experience when confronted by severe air pollution. Art therefore serves both as a form of activism and as an expression of curtailed agency in a politically restrictive environment.

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