Suchergebnisse

Using data spanning 70 years (1939–2008), we examine whether Kubitschek's planned creation of Brasília and its associated highway network had its intended effect of spreading development from Brazil's coast to its interior. Specifically, we test whether the spatial structure of the country's urban population and per capita GDP changed as a result of Brasília's inauguration in 1960. Uniquely amongst studies of Brasília's impacts, we use a 'spatial-difference-in-differences' approach, contrasting pre-Brasília with post-Brasília outcomes. We control for macroeconomic conditions, fixed city-specific factors, convergence forces, changing industrial structure and agglomeration impacts arising from proximity to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. We find a modest impact on population in the western coastal and western interior regions whose share of Brazil's urban population increased from 4.8% (1959) to 9.0% (2008); our spatial-difference-in-differences estimates show the impact to be statistically significant. We confirm per capita income convergence across regions, but we find no (descriptive or statistical) evidence of per capita income effects related to proximity to Brasília. Thus, even a massive development initiative such as Brasília's creation is estimated to have had only limited population impacts and zero per capita income impacts on the spatial structure of Brazil's economy outside of Brasília itself.

Wood is commonly used in residential combustion for heating purposes; however, it can be a major source of air pollutants, namely fine particles, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. Since 2004, the PM10 daily limit value has been surpassed in Portugal, and the European Commission has stated that plans and programs must be designed in order to reduce these levels. In Portugal, 18% of PM10 emissions are due to residential wood combustion, which may deeply impact the PM10 levels in the atmosphere. The main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of residential wood combustion on the air quality in Portugal. The air quality modelling system MM5/CHIMERE was applied over Portugal for a winter month, for the following three scenarios: the reference scenario, considering the actual emissions of PM10; scenario 1, where residential wood combustion emissions are not considered; and scenario 2, which takes into account a complete conversion from traditional fireplaces to certified appliances (with a 90% reduction in PM emissions). The residential wood combustion contribution to PM10 air quality concentration values during January 2007 ranges from 0 to 14 μg m−3, with a mean contribution of 10 μg m−3 in the Lisboa area and 6 μg m−3 in the Porto region. Concerning the legislated values, the area where the daily average limit value (50 μg m−3) is exceeded decreases by 46% in the simulation when residential combustion is not considered. The modelling results for scenario 2 are not significantly different from those for scenario 1. In summary, the regulation of the residential wood combustion sector is as an effective way to reduce the PM10 levels in the atmosphere as regards air quality plans and programs.

Angelika Varga has been supported by a European Union Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (254661), a Hungarian Social Renewal Operation Program (TÁMOP 4.1.2.E-13/1/KONV-2013-0010) and the Hungarian Brain Research program (KTIA_NAP_13-2-2014-0005) of the Hungarian Government. Agnes Jenes has been supported by a BJA/RCoA Project Grant. This work has also been supported, in part, by the BIOSS-2 Grant, Project A6. T

Jose Vicente Torres-Pérez was supported by the Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity, London, UK. Péter Sántha and Gábor Jancsó have been supported by the research grant K-101873 of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA). Peter Szucs, Angelika Varga and Miklós Sivadó have been supported by the KTIA_NAP_13–2–2014–0005 grant of the Hungarian Government. Peter Szucs has also been supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Joao Sousa-Valente was supported by the Fundaçao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal. Anna Andreou has been supported by the Migraine Trust, UK.

The main objective of this study is to contribute to the scientific knowledge regarding fire-fighters' exposure to smoke and its related health effects. Forest fire experiments were developed with an extensive number of measurements of individual exposure to smoke pollutants and of medical parameters for a group of fire-fighters. For the smoke exposure monitoring, ten fire-fighters from four different fire brigades were selected. The fire-fighters' individual exposure to toxic gases and particulate matter was monitored with portable devices, and their location in time was registered with GPS equipment. For all the monitored fire-fighters, air pollutant concentration values acquired during the fire experiments were beyond the limits recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), namely for PM2.5, CO and NO2. Daily averages of PM2.5 concentration values as high as 738 µg.m-3 were obtained, well above the recommended limit of 25 µg.m-3. In terms of CO, hourly averaged values higher than 73,000 µg.m-3 were monitored, clearly above the 30,000 µg.m-3 recommended by the WHO. The highest NO2 hourly averaged measured value was 4,571 µg.m-3, once again much higher than the recommended value of 200 µg.m-3. For VOCs, a maximum hourly average of 10,342 µg.m-3 was registered for one of the fire-fighters; however, due to the lack of recommended or legislated values it is not possible to establish a comparison. The medical tests conducted on the fire-fighters, before and after the exposure to smoke, also indicate a considerable effect on the measured medical parameters, in particular an expressive increase of CO concentration and a decrease of NO concentration in the exhaled air of the majority of the fire-fighters. ; published