We have assessed diurnal profiles of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pPAHs) in Bogota, Colombia using photoelectric aerosol sensors (PAS). PAS instruments were located close to a congested avenue to assess exposure to pedestrians, bike riders, drivers, and passengers. PAS signals during weekdays were significantly larger than during weekends, observing a similar pattern to traffic. During two different periods of analysis, it was found that meteorological conditions drive differences in PAS concentrations. An aethalometer was collocated with one PAS device to observe the relationship between PAS signals and black carbon (BC) concentration. We found a significant correlation between PAS signals and BC, suggesting that pPAHs and BC are products of the same source. Two PAS devices were located at different heights to assess vertical dispersion of pollutants. Our results suggest that pPAH loadings may diminish with height possibly due to a street canyon effect in the area. An assessment of exposure indicates that during rush hours, people are exposed to particulate matter enriched with pPAHs emitted from mobile sources. Measures should be implemented to reduce emission from vehicles on the road in order to protect public health.

The instability of climate and its human-induced change lead to relocation of affected people who become 'climate refugees'. Bangladesh, being one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change events, especially water-related climatic hazards (floods, droughts, cyclones, etc), is in the frontline of global warming-driven mass migrations. To study climate refugees in Dhaka, one of the largest, most densely populated and fastest-growing polluted megacities, we used a population-based integrated home visiting survey, interviews with mothers, home-based surveillance, and household environmental monitoring. Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost due to diarrhea and asthma attacks among climate refugee and non-climate refugee children under 5 years of age were quantified. The results conclusively showed that, compared with the non-climate refugees community, climate refugees showed a substantial increase of diarrhea and asthma which lead to 18,697 and 1069-folds higher DALYs loss. Moreover, used as an input to an epidemiological analysis, DALYs lost due to diarrhea and asthma showed significant changes with Odds Ratio (OR) ranges of 4.6-9.5 and 3.4-5.8, respectively in the climate refugees community for some statistically selected predictors. It is concluded that household environmental exposure (water and indoor air quality) had significant adverse effects on children's health among climate refugees. This suggests that public health policies should be oriented not only towards reduction in environmental diseases, but also towards affecting elimination of exposure of children. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

OBJECTIVE:Assessing the risk to health by inhaling particles and particle-bound PAH during daily commuting along a high traffic flow route/corridor in Bogotá.METHODS:A van was equipped with a PAS2000 photo-electric sensor for real-time measurement of particle-bound PAH and a Dust Trakfor monitoring PM10 concentration; it drove along typical commuting routes in the city. Exposure to particles and particle-bound PAH was assessed by using an inhalation intake model.RESULTS:A similar trend was observed for both PM10 and PAH concentration, indicating that traffic was the same source for both contaminants. Extreme PM10 and PAH inhalation concentrations were recorded every time direct bus and microbus emissions were measured by the van. Inhalation model results indicated that exposure was significantly greater when using a venues having mixed traffic use (i.e. buses, microbuses, passenger vehicles, motorcycles) compared to using roads where the TransMilenio system (articulated buses) had been implemented.CONCLUSIONS:The results may support evaluating bus drivers, commuters and bike users' exposure to toxic compounds in the city.

The ventilation performance of a street in Bangkok, Thailand, was investigated by performing measurements and conducting a CFD analysis. We focused on a street that was covered by an elevated train station. It was shown that the ventilation efficiency varied drastically depending on the angle between the street and the wind direction. When the wind direction was parallel to the street, the elevated structure had a negative influence, which created higher pollutant concentrations than in locations without elevated structures. However, when the wind direction was perpendicular to the street, the pollutant concentrations in the two situations were similar. Using a CFD analysis and ventilation performance indexes, it was shown that the elevated structure directed the wind flow and enhanced the ventilation efficiency, which positively affected ventilation performance. These kinds of knowledge can lead us to optimize city planning including high-rise buildings with high ventilation efficiency.

© 2012 Hoshiko et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Temporal Variation of Particle Size Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons at Different Roadside Air Environments in Bangkok, Thailand

This paper reviews the outcome of field exercise ‘Oasis unit’ under a new postgraduate educational initiative named “Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders” (APIEL). The Oasis unit was conducted in the Heihe River basin located in the arid northwest part of China. The influence of field-oriented environmental leadership education on the development of environmental leaders was examined throughout the program. The questionnaire including leadership skills, style, and education was used to carry out a survey administered to two groups divided on the basis of field oriented educational experience. The survey compared the results of both group to evaluate how field-oriented education influenced leadership development.

Field monitoring was conducted in Bangkok to investigate the situation of traffic emission exposure of roadside pedestrians. From a viewpoint of actual exposure of pedestrians, short-term variations of air pollutant levels are significant, however, such data have been limited until recently. Hence, time-series data of traffic flows, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons monitored by real-time photoelectric aerosol sensors and vehicle exhaust detected as uncomfortable odor to pedestrians were obtained at very fine time resolution and their short-term peak patterns were analyzed by spectral analysis. Furthermore, conditions of the peak exposure occurrences and interrelations of those temporal variations were discussed

To reduce the health risk to pedestrians, urban ventilation has becomes increasingly important to reduce the concentrations of car exhaust emissions. In this study, the ventilation performance of a street in Bangkok, Thailand, was investigated by performing measurements therein. As a result, the influence of elevated structures was shown. It was also observed that the density of exhaust gas is a simple function of the wind speed and traffic volume when the wind is blowing parallel to the street. However, the ventilation efficiency varied drastically depending on the angle between the street and the wind direction when the wind direction was not stable.

In recent years, most stationary sources of air pollution have been removed from urban areas; however, mobile sources are currently the direct causes of air pollution–related health problems. In particular, in the complex configurations of city buildings, the wind becomes stagnant in street canyons, which leads to higher levels of air pollution inside these areas. In this chapter, the health risks due to exposure to vehicular emissions in street canyons are discussed using a case study of field measurement and risk assessment in the street canyons of Bangkok, Thailand. The pollutants of focus are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), one of the major hazardous air pollutants from vehicular emissions. Environmental standards have not been introduced in most of the countries, and information on PAH pollution is still lacking in Asian developing countries, where the population densities and levels of traffic pollution are reported to be very high, particularly in the large cities. This chapter also includes a literature review on PAHs. The Bangkok case study of field measurement and risk assessment was conducted for roadside residents who live in possible hot spots of traffic air pollution. The field measurements provide detailed information on PAH levels, such as the diurnal variations and seasonal variations in concentrations, taking influential factors of traffic and wind conditions into consideration. The results of the risk assessment suggested that Bangkok roadside residents in the street canyons are exposed to significant levels of health risk due to PAH exposure.

An education program called Asian Program for Incubation of Environmental Leaders (APIEL) was established in 2008 by the University of Tokyo. The need arises to equip the students with a wide knowledge base and practical skills related to global and regional environmental issues. This paper explores an integral framework for environmental leadership education, and show how this framework has been used to conduct one of the APIEL field exercises in the Heihe River basin, Northwestern Arid China. The framework was developed by modifying Ken Wilber’s 4-quadrant approach. Our conclusion is that the use of an integral approach is effective in not only understanding environmental issues of complexity, but also development and management of environmental leadership education programs.