Toxicology and environmental risk analysis

Risk-based decision-making increasingly has global dimensions, extending from the international management of chemical risks to the sustainable development of our planet. Environmental risk analysis is firmly based on toxicological sciences with input from other public health disciplines. Increasing understanding of how the human genotype and phenotype affects absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of xenobiotics (compounds foreign to a living organism), is providing insight into answers to the oldest human question about disease: ‘Why me?’ The risk paradigm components of hazard assessment, dose–analysis, exposure assessment, risk characterization, risk management, and risk communication, and the toxicological concepts on which they are based, have proven durable in approaching increasingly complex environmental hazards. Newer approaches to managing risk, such as the precautionary principle, and newer challenges, such as nanotechnology and genetically modified organisms, necessitate further systematic thinking on how best to protect human health and the environment.

RISIKO PAJANAN BAHAN PENCEMAR TERHADAP PEKERJA PENGECATAN MOBIL DI PT.STEELINDO MOTOR KOTA PADANG

Car painting work is one of the jobs that are at great risk of impaired lung function. Paint particles consist of hazardous chemicals such as cadmium, chromium, plumbum, mercury, acrylic resin, isocyanate, and toluene solvents. These materials when proven to enter the respiratory tract can cause lung function disorders. The purpose of this study is to identify hazards, analyze dose-response, analyze exposure and analyze the risk characterization of pollutants. This research is descriptive by analyzing environmental health risks to pollutants around the work environment. The population is all sanding, picking, and painting workers totaling 21 people which become sample. The instruments used in this study were low volume air sampler (LVAS), thermo hygrometers, anemometers, scales, and checklists for observing activity patterns. Data analysis uses stages in environmental risk analysis. Respondents smoke at work as much as 47.6%, and do not use APD 71.4%. Pollutants that exceed the quality standard are dust (0.1538 μg / m3), and Cd (0.0025 μg / m3). RQ value (life time) > 1 for all exposure materials, which means that agent risk is not safe after 30 years of work. Management needs to manage risks such as reducing concentration, exposure time, and frequency of exposure to safe limits by managing risk through a technological approach, socioeconomic approach, and an institutional approach.

Riesgos socioambientales derivados de la pérdida de servicios ecosistémicos: el caso de Ecatepec de Morelos, Estado de México

This paper was originated in an investigation carried out in the Municipality of Ecatepec de Morelos in the period from October 2019 to March 2020, and which served as support for the update of the Municipal Urban Development Plan 2020 for the same municipality. The purpose is to recognize the socio-environmental factors that drive the construction of human settlements in ecological conservation areas and that, in the medium term, alter the surrounding ecosystems and increase their vulnerability to geological and hydrometeorological phenomena. Through an environmental risk analysis methodology, the socio-environmental impacts generated by irregular settlements on ecological conservation areas are analyzed, as the houses are located in areas of high slope, it makes them more vulnerable to the phenomena mencioned. Even these areas are accessible to certain sectors of the population, in terms of rent or purchase of housing, such practices are usually illegal, and bring with them the deterioration of the existing natural vegetation, in addition to the loss of ecosystem services derived from the unplanned urban growth. These invasions correspond to a permanent process that includes complex variables, such as the deterioration of the quality of life, economic insufficiency to satisfy needs and in a synergistic way, generates social problems such as insecurity and violence.

Key performance indicators for turboelectric distributed propulsion

PurposeRecent advancements in electrified transportation have been necessitated by the need to reduce environmentally harmful emissions. Accordingly, several aviation organisations and governments have introduced stringent emission reduction targets for 2050. One of the most promising technologies proposed for achieving these targets is turboelectric distributed propulsion (TeDP). The objective of this study was to explore and identify key indicators for enhancing the applicability of TeDP in air transportation.Design/methodology/approachAn enhancement valuation method was proposed to overcome the challenges associated with TeDP in terms of technological, economic and environmental impacts. The result indicators (RIs) were determined; the associated performance indicators (PIs) were analysed and the key RIs and PIs for TeDP were identified. Quantitative measurements were acquired from a simulated TeDP case study model to estimate the established key PIs.FindingsIt was determined that real-world TeDP efficiency could be enhanced by up to 8% by optimising the identified key PIs.Originality/valueThis study is the first to identify the key PIs of TeDP and to include a techno-economic environmental risk analysis (TERA) based on the identified key PIs. The findings could guide developers and researchers towards potential focus areas to realise the adoption of TeDP.