Publications by authors named "Tara Ramani"

Background: Urban areas are hot spots for human exposure to air pollution, which originates in large part from traffic. As the urban population continues to grow, a greater number of people risk exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and its adverse, costly health effects. In many cities, there is a need and scope for air quality improvements through targeted policy interventions, which continue to grow including rapidly changing technologies.

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Commercial drivers are essential to the economic recovery, yet their work exposes them to many health and safety hazards. Research to improve driver health should be designed with an understanding of both the complex occupational environment and the risk management context. We present results from a small pilot study of driver health concerns and behaviors to illustrate concepts and frameworks from human health risk assessment and management that may assist in the design and translation of driver and other worker health research.

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Background: Prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is associated with adverse health effects in children. Valid exposure assessment methods with accurate spatial and temporal resolution across pregnancy is a critical need for advancing environmental health studies.

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify maternal PAH exposure in pregnant women residing in McAllen, Texas where the prematurity rate and childhood asthma prevalence rates are high.

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Introduction: Cities are the world's engines of economic growth, innovation, and social change, but they are also hot spots for human exposure to air pollution, mainly originating from road traffic. As the urban population continues to grow, a greater quantity of people risk exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP), and therefore also risk adverse health effects. In many cities, there is scope for further improvement in air quality through targeted urban policy interventions.

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Population groups vulnerable to adverse effects of traffic-related air pollution correspond to children, pregnant women and elderly. Despite these effects, literature is limited in terms of studies focusing on these groups and a reason often cited is the limited information on their mobility important for exposure assessment. The current study presents a method for assessing individual-level exposure to traffic-related air pollution by integrating mobility patterns tracked by global positioning system (GPS) devices with dynamics of air pollutant concentrations.

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Background: Asthma is one of the leading chronic airway diseases among children in the United States (US). Emerging evidence indicates that Traffic Related Air Pollution (TRAP), as opposed to ambient air pollution, leads to the onset of childhood asthma. We estimated the number of incident asthma cases among children attributable to TRAP in the contiguous US, for the years 2000 and 2010.

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The landfill gas (LFG) model is a tool for measuring methane (CH4) generation rates and total CH4 emissions from a particular landfill. These models also have various applications including the sizing of the LFG collection system, evaluating the benefits of gas recovery projects, and measuring and controlling gaseous emissions. This research paper describes the development of a landfill model designed specifically for Indian climatic conditions and the landfill's waste characteristics.

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