Flow and dispersion of traffic-emitted pollutants were studied in a generic urban neighborhood for various avenue-tree layouts by employing 3D steady RANS simulations with the realizable k-ε turbulence model. In comparison to the tree-free situation quantitative and qualitative changes with flow reversal in the wind field were observed. Low to moderate increases (<13.2%) in the neighborhood-averaged pollutant concentration were found at pedestrian level. An approximately 1% increase in the neighborhood-averaged concentration was obtained with each percent of the street canyon volumes being occupied by vegetation for occupation fractions between 4 and 14%. The overall pattern of concentration changes relative to the tree-free situation was similar for all avenue-tree layouts. However, pronounced locally restricted decreases or increases in concentration (-87 to +1378%) occurred. The results indicate the necessity to account for existing or planned avenue-trees in neighborhood scaled is dispersion studies. Their consideration is prerequisite for reliable urban air quality assessment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.10.015 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China.
Inspired by classical works, when constructing local relationships in point clouds, there is always a geometric description of the central point and its neighboring points. However, the basic geometric representation of the central point and its neighborhood is insufficient. Drawing inspiration from local binary pattern algorithms used in image processing, we propose a novel method for representing point cloud neighborhoods, which we call Point Cloud Local Auxiliary Block (PLAB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Urban Health
January 2025
Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Neighborhoods or residential environments have physical and social attributes which may contribute to inequalities in the overweight and obesity pandemic. We examined the longitudinal associations of baseline neighborhood-level income and racial residential segregation (using the Gi* statistic: low, medium, high) with changes in body mass index (BMI in kg/m), using geocoded data from 1821 civil servants in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, followed-up for approximately 13 years (baseline wave 1: 1999, wave 2: 2001-2002, wave 3: 2006-2007, wave 4: 2012-2013). Linear mixed effects models using BMI measured in all four study waves were performed, accounting for gender, race, length of residence, education and time-dependent age, and per capita family income.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSSM Popul Health
March 2025
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Background: In population health research, rurality is often defined using broad population density measures, which fail to capture the diverse and complex characteristics of rural areas. While researchers have developed more nuanced approaches to study neighborhood and area effects on health in urban settings, similar methods are rarely applied to rural environments. To address this gap, we aimed to explore dimensions of contextual heterogeneity across rural settings in the US.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Ethn Subst Abuse
January 2025
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
Unlabelled: The large majority (over 70%) of American Indian adolescents who reside in cities rather than tribal lands or rural areas report relatively earlier onset of substance use and more harmful associated health effects, compared to their non-Native peers.
Objective: This study investigated multilevel ecodevelopmental influences on empirically derived patterns of substance use among urban American Indian adolescents.
Method: Data came from 8th, 10th, and 12th grade American Indian adolescents ( = 2,407) in metropolitan areas of Arizona.
Cancer Causes Control
January 2025
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, State University of New York at Buffalo, 265 Farber Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA.
Purpose: Historical redlining, a 1930s-era form of residential segregation and proxy of structural racism, has been associated with breast cancer risk, stage, and survival, but research is lacking on how known present-day breast cancer risk factors are related to historical redlining. We aimed to describe the clustering of present-day neighborhood-level breast cancer risk factors with historical redlining and evaluate geographic patterning across the US.
Methods: This ecologic study included US neighborhoods (census tracts) with Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) grades, defined as having a score in the Historic Redlining Score dataset; 2019 Population Level Analysis and Community EStimates (PLACES) data; and 2014-2016 Environmental Justice Index (EJI) data.
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