scholarly journals Contribution of Urban Forests to the Ecosystem Service of Air Quality in the City of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1249
Author(s):  
Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte ◽  
Claudia Caballero González ◽  
Leonardo Cortés Rodríguez ◽  
Ulises Javier Jáuregui-Haza ◽  
Agustín García-García

A survey on pollutants that affect air quality was carried out at 27 points in the city of Santo Domingo, National District. The removal of air pollutants was estimated in relation to the city’s forest cover; using the iTree Canopy software. A principal components analysis and a correlation analysis was also performed to identify the association of these variables. The results show that the average percentage of green infrastructure in the sampling points was 26%. Also, positive correlation was identified between the presence of NO2 and SO2 at the sampling points. It was observed that the higher the presence of forest cover, the higher the concentration of CO and the lower the presence of pollutants. Although five hot spots were defined in terms of air pollution levels in the National District, the study does not show conclusive results regarding the relationship between green infrastructure and air quality in Santo Domingo. Results show that urban planning for environmental quality requires inter-institutional coordination, permanent ecological quality monitoring, and coordinated public policies to establish adequate indicators comparable to the World Health Organization standards.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cartaxo ◽  
Ilsa Valois ◽  
Vladimiro Miranda ◽  
Marcia Costa

Manaus, a city of more than two million people, suffers problems arising from strong sunlight and aggravated by several factors, such as traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions generated by evaporation and burning of fuel. The present study examined Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) emissions in an urban area of the city using different methodologies. CO and NO2 were measured using automated and passive analyzers, respectively. Meanwhile, direct monitoring of these pollutants was performed in vehicular sources in the vicinity of sampling locations. Results showed that levels of carbon monoxide vary over time, being higher during peak movement of vehicles. NO2 values have exceeded the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), and monitoring at source showed high levels of CO and NO2 emissions to the atmosphere.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Ankit Sikarwar ◽  
Ritu Rani

Abstract In India, a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 has been implemented on 25 March 2020. The lockdown restrictions on more than 1.3 billion people have brought exceptional changes in the air quality all over the country. This study aims to analyze the levels of three major pollutants: particulate matter sized 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and 10 μm (PM10), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) before and during the lockdown in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities. The data for PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations are derived from 38 ground stations dispersed within the city. The spatial interpolation maps of pollutants for two times are generated using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) model. The results indicate decreasing levels of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations in the city by 93%, 83%, and 70% from 25 February 2020 to 21 April 2020 respectively. It is found that one month before the lockdown the levels of air pollution in Delhi were critical and much higher than the guideline values set by the World Health Organization. The levels of air pollution became historically low after the lockdown. Considering the critically degraded air quality for decades and higher morbidity and mortality rate due to unhealthy air in Delhi, the improvement in air quality due to lockdown may result as a boon for the better health of the city’s population.


Author(s):  
Md. Sultan Mahmud ◽  
Rony Basak

Noise pollution is a silent villain as it’s quite easy for being ignored by us. Urban areas are more exposed to this deadly agenda as the density of population and their belongings are excessive in there. This study differentiated noise levels of Sylhet City Corporation, a growing city of Bangladesh into different types according to the land use purpose of the city like residential, silent etc. One hundred and sixty-eight noise level readings, taken at 14 different positions during the morning, afternoon, evening, and night of selective weekdays which are categorized as busy days, typical days and weekends were utilized for this research. Results put the average noise level readings in the city centers at between 45 dB(A) and 95 dB (A), dissented from the permissible limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as national standardization organization: Department of Environment (DOE) in all the land use types, with the highest noise pollution levels recorded for transportation, commercial and silent typed areas. The result of the one-way ANOVA test completed where the dependent variable was noise and the independent variable was land use types uncovers a factually huge mean noise levels over the study area (F (4,115) = 9.52, p = 1.1079). Tukey’s HSD method also carried away which showed the uneven difference of noise levels between the land types. The study represents noise pollution auditing, and the immediate needs to control urban noise pollution with convenient and effective policies some of which is recommended at the end of the study.


Author(s):  
Ankit Sikarwar ◽  
Ritu Rani

Abstract In India, the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 has been implemented on 25 March 2020. The lockdown restrictions on more than 1.3 billion people have brought exceptional changes in the air quality all over the country. This study aims to analyze the levels of three major pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, and NO2) before and during the lockdown in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities. The data for PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations are derived from 38 ground stations dispersed within the city. The spatial interpolation maps of pollutants for two times are generated using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) model. The results indicate the lowering of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 concentrations in the city by 93%, 83%, and 70% from 25 February 2020 to 21 April 2020 respectively. It is found that before one month of the lockdown the levels of air pollution in Delhi were critically high and far beyond the guideline values set by the World Health Organization. The levels of air pollution are historically low after the lockdown. Considering the critically degraded air quality for decades and higher morbidity and mortality rate due to unhealthy air in Delhi, the improvement in air quality due to lockdown may result as a boon for the better health of the city’s population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Rizo Maestre ◽  
Víctor Echarri-Iribarren ◽  
Antonio Galiano-Garrigós

The majority of scientific agencies in the field of medicine and health, including the World Health Organization, consider radon gas a very harmful element for humans. This element, in its gaseous state, is radioactive and is present in almost all land in which buildings are implanted, especially in granitic soils, which present higher levels of radon gas. Nongranitic soils have traditionally been considered to have low radon levels. In addition to the contributions made by this article, it is very relevant that there are many countries, including Spain, in which the technical codes for their construction regulations do not include the maximum radon dose that a building can hold so that it is not harmful to humans nor do they hold the measures necessary to remedy excessive accumulation. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate the need for ventilation in buried works. To do this, a comparison is made between two railway tunnels in the urban fabric of the city of Alicante: one of them is in operation (Benacantil Mount) and the other is in the excavation phase (Serra Grossa). When underground railway installations are planned, they are equipped with large air ventilation systems due to the pollutants generated by ground exposure. These mechanical systems consist of suction turbines that expel the air to the outside. Research shows that radon gas is an indicator of an area’s air quality. In addition, ventilation in railway tunnels (mechanical and natural) allows for air renewal and improves the air quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Rizo-Maestre ◽  
Víctor Echarri-Iribarren ◽  
Raúl Prado-Govea ◽  
Francisco Pujol-López

The infrastructure of the Británica warehouses in Alicante is a very important industrial architectural element in the history of Spain, although it is unknown to almost all of the inhabitants of the city. The former fuel refinery is located in the Serra Grossa Mountains and served much of the country until 1966. This research is based on the plans of the city of Alicante to convert a historical element, the Británica warehouses, into a unique tourist site. Currently, the network of storage domes in this facility, which has an approximate footprint of 20,000 m 2 and domes approximately 20 m high, is in a state of neglect, and there are neighborhood initiatives for its rehabilitation to become a cultural or tourist site. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the quality of the indoor air. Radon gas is analyzed as a control element for future refurbishment of the facility. Alicante is a nongranite area and therefore is not very susceptible to generation of radon gas indoors, but the conditions of a buried and poorly ventilated space make the site appropriate for analysis. Most scientific agencies in the field of medicine and health, including the World Health Organization, consider radon gas to be very harmful to humans. This element in its gaseous state is radioactive and is present in almost all the land in which the buildings are implanted, with granitic type soils presenting higher levels of radon gas. Nongranitic soils have traditionally been considered to have low radon levels. The city of Alicante, where the installation is located, is a nongranitic area and therefore is not very susceptible to generating radon gas in buildings, but the conditions of buried and poorly ventilated places make the site appropriate for analysis to support air quality control and decision-making.


Author(s):  
Tuo Zhang ◽  
Maogang Tang

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has provided a distinct opportunity to explore the mechanisms by which human activities affect air quality and pollution emissions. We conduct a quasi-difference-in-differences (DID) analysis of the impacts of lockdown measures on air pollution during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Our study covers 367 cities from the beginning of the lockdown on 23 January 2020 until April 22, two weeks after the lockdown in the epicenter was lifted. Static and dynamic analysis of the average treatment effects on the treated is conducted for the air quality index (AQI) and six criteria pollutants. The results indicate that, first, on average, the AQI decreased by about 7%. However, it was still over the threshold set by the World Health Organization. Second, we detect heterogeneous changes in the level of different pollutants, which suggests heterogeneous impacts of the lockdown on human activities: carbon monoxide (CO) had the biggest drop, about 30%, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) had the second-biggest drop, 20%. In contrast, ozone (O3) increased by 3.74% due to the changes in the NOx/VOCs caused by the decrease in NOx, the decrease of O3 titration, and particulate matter concentration. Third, air pollution levels rebounded immediately after the number of infections dropped, which indicates a swift recovery of human activities. This study provides insights into the implementation of environmental policies in China and other developing countries.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (18) ◽  
pp. 5543
Author(s):  
Michael Piameu ◽  
Philippe Nwane ◽  
Wilson Toussile ◽  
Konstantinos Mavridis ◽  
Nadja Christina Wipf ◽  
...  

Previous studies have indicated widespread insecticide resistance in malaria vector populations from Cameroon. However, the intensity of this resistance and underlying mechanisms are poorly known. Therefore, we conducted three cross-sectional resistance surveys between April 2018 and October 2019, using the revised World Health Organization protocol, which includes resistance incidences and intensity assessments. Field-collected Anopheles gambiae s.l. populations from Nkolondom, Nkolbisson and Ekié vegetable farms in the city of Yaoundé were tested with deltamethrin, permethrin, alpha-cypermethrin and etofenprox, using 1× insecticide diagnostic concentrations for resistance incidence, then 5× and 10× concentrations for resistance intensity. Subsamples were analyzed for species identification and the detection of resistance-associated molecular markers using TaqMan® qPCR assays. In Nkolbisson, both An. coluzzii (96%) and An. gambiae s.s. (4%) were found together, whereas only An. gambiae s.s. was present in Nkolondom, and only An. coluzzii was present in Ekié. All three populations were resistant to the four insecticides (<75% mortality rates―MR1×), with intensity generally fluctuating over the time between mod-erate (<98%―MR5×; ≥98%―MR10×) and high (76–97%―MR10×). The kdr L995F, L995S, and N1570Y, and the Ace-1 G280S-resistant alleles were found in An. gambiae from Nkolondom, at 73%, 1%, 16% and 13% frequencies, respectively, whereas only the kdr L995F was found in An. gambiae s.s. from Nkolbisson at a 50% frequency. In An. coluzzii from Nkolbisson and Ekié, we detected only the kdr L995F allele at 65% and 60% frequencies, respectively. Furthermore, expression levels of Cyp6m2, Cyp9k1, and Gste2 metabolic genes were highly upregulated (over fivefold) in Nkolondom and Nkolbisson. Pyrethroid and etofenprox-based vector control interventions may be jeopardized in the prospected areas, due to high resistance intensity, with multiple mechanisms in An. gambiae s.s. and An. coluzzii.


2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (16) ◽  
pp. 2137-2160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniella S. Battagello ◽  
Guilherme Dragunas ◽  
Marianne O. Klein ◽  
Ana L.P. Ayub ◽  
Fernando J. Velloso ◽  
...  

Abstract The highly infective coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel strain of coronaviruses – the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – discovered in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan (Hubei Province, China). Remarkably, COVID-19 has rapidly spread across all continents and turned into a public health emergency, which was ultimately declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in early 2020. SARS-CoV-2 presents similar aspects to other members of the coronavirus family, mainly regarding its genome, protein structure and intracellular mechanisms, that may translate into mild (or even asymptomatic) to severe infectious conditions. Although the mechanistic features underlying the COVID-19 progression have not been fully clarified, current evidence have suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may primarily behave as other β-coronavirus members. To better understand the development and transmission of COVID-19, unveiling the signaling pathways that may be impacted by SARS-CoV-2 infection, at the molecular and cellular levels, is of crucial importance. In this review, we present the main aspects related to the origin, classification, etiology and clinical impact of SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, here we describe the potential mechanisms of cellular interaction and signaling pathways, elicited by functional receptors, in major targeted tissues/organs from the respiratory, gastrointestinal (GI), cardiovascular, renal, and nervous systems. Furthermore, the potential involvement of these signaling pathways in evoking the onset and progression of COVID-19 symptoms in these organ systems are presently discussed. A brief description of future perspectives related to potential COVID-19 treatments is also highlighted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Nazzal ◽  
Samer Chinder

In Lebanon, the social connections are undeniable and crucial. However, meeting places remain private such as houses, restaurants, malls, and beach resorts. This is mainly due to the shortage of public spaces in Lebanon resulting from lack of planning, regulations and awareness around the right to the city and the importance of public spaces. In main cities where land prices are so expensive, common practice has prioritized the use of land in real estate development, thus trumping other uses such as public and communal spaces.In the late 1990s, Lebanon saw the emergence of malls, which have arguably acted as alternatives to public spaces. Malls, with their wealth of food courts, restaurants, cinemas, and play areas, have become the new downtown for a portion of the Lebanese population. They are also considered safe, which is another important factor.In 2015, the percentage of green spaces in Lebanon has decreased to less than 13%. While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 9m2 of green space per capita (UN-HABITAT, 2016), Beirut has only 0.8m2.


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