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Recently the EPA collaborated with the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) for the Risk eLearning webinar three-part series on “Using GIS Tools to Analyze, Compute, and Predict Pollution“.

This final session focused on Community Engagement and included a presentation by one of our trainees, Andy Larkin, entitled Making models personal: increasing the impact of atmospheric pollutant models by predicting pollutant levels at Android and iPhone locations.

Over 110 people participated on the webinar. Andy provided an outstanding overview of the mobile app he developed and included future directions and needs.

Presenting as part of this Risk eLearning Series let us demonstrate how GIS chips in smartphones could be used to provide personalized information about air quality. ~Andy Larkin

View webinar archive online
For presentation abstracts and the first two GIS webinars, go to the SRP Risk eLearning webpage.

Key points from Larkin’s presentation

Smartphones are one of the newest methods available for collecting location-based information. There are currently more than one billion active smartphone users in the world (source: CBSNews.com).
Smartphones can identify a person’s location and pollutant models can predict pollution levels at a given location. By linking smartphones with pollutant models, it is hypothesized that multiple pollutants can be predicted at smartphone locations. Geographical constraints are based on the constraint of the underlying pollutant models, and can conceivably cover the extent of the entire world.
Sampling and retaining locations at regular intervals can provide a well documented past of predicted pollutant levels at smartphone locations. Input from the smartphone user about intended future locations can potentially be used to predict pollutant levels at future locations.
Sampling data acquired from a group representative of the population can be used to make inferences about spatial and temporal trends regarding pollution level conditions for the entire population
To test the proof of principle that smartphones can be linked with environmental maps, Larkin created PM2.5, PM10, and ozone hourly forecast maps for the state of Oregon. Maps forecast predicted exposure levels at air monitoring stations using Seasonal Integrated Moving Average (SIMA) time series models. Forecasts at air monitoring stations are then interpolated to cover the entire state using universal Kriging for PM2.5 and PM10, and inverse distance weighing for ozone. These modeling methods were chosen because they can be validated and evaluated using prediction errors.
The future in personal monitoring is combining complementary technologies.

Step 1: The smartphone determines its location and current time, and sends the information to a cloud storage database as a .csv file

Step 2: After location values are sent to the cloud storage database, the predicted pollutant concentrations for all models within the database are determined for the given latitude and longitude coordinates

Step 3: Predicted pollutant values and the original information are then returned to the smartphone in a .csv file format

By Steven O’Connell (Student, Project 4)

SOConnell_SRPPost — Steven O’Connell sampling at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site

In the past few years, our Center has been conducting research to learn more about oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs). OPAHs are one of the degradation products of parent PAHs. OPAHs are studied because they are present in the environment and pose an unknown hazard to human health.

Although OPAHs have been measured in several samples all over the world, most analyses contained only a handful of OPAHs or used methods that may be inaccurate. To address some of the analytical challenges measuring OPAHs, I was involved in a multi-year study: An Analytical Investigation of 24 Oxygenated-PAHs (OPAHs) using Liquid and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Why is there a focus now on OPAHs?

Focus on this class of compounds has really increased in the last few years, although it’s interesting to note that there were reports of some of these compounds in the 1970’s and earlier. There are several reasons researchers want to study these compounds. OPAHs seem to be found in similar concentrations to the highly studied parent PAHs in a variety of samples ranging from diesel exhaust to urban air. Additionally, not a lot is known about the toxicity of these compounds, although early evidence suggests that they may be on par with PAHs. That’s why the OPAH research of students Andrea Knecht and Britton Goodale in Dr. Robert Tanguay’s Lab (Project 3) has been so important.

Why measure OPAHs at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site?

It makes a lot of sense to try and measure OPAHs at Portland Harbor Superfund. PAHs have been responsible for remediation at some sites for years now, and are the precursors of OPAHs. In some cases, remediation approaches employ ultra violet (UV) light to try and degrade PAHs and thereby cleanup that site. However, it is possible that PAHs could degrade to OPAHs during the process. If no one is monitoring the products of this UV treatment, the site could remain hazardous. That’s why Norman Forsberg’s upcoming paper and Marc Elie’s work with ultra violet light in the Anderson laboratory (Project 4) is so interesting.

What still needs to be understood?

The formation and concentration of these compounds in the environment at contaminated sites are poorly understood. It is important to continue three areas of research that have been going on at OSU.

Detection: If the compounds are not present, then there’s less to worry about.

Good times with lab mates when Steven O’Connell (right) first started working in the Anderson lab.
Toxicity: Addresses concerns over compounds that are detected in environmental samples.
Processes by which OPAHs are made or degraded.

With that knowledge, it will become easier to understand potential risks with this compound class.

Why is this paper important in advancing the science?

My paper is very analytical. If you watch the television series Bones, I would be most like Hodgins, except there would be less talk of “particulates” and more talk of cleaning instrumentation. But seriously, by providing two methods on very different instrumentation to measure over 20 OPAHs, I provided a helpful platform for other scientists to use and build upon to measure this compound class in a variety of applications.

By Leah Chibwe, Project 5 Trainee

This past summer, through the KC Donnelly Externship Award Supplement, I conducted a collaborative research project at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel-Hill with Dr. Mike Aitken and Dr. Jun Nakamura.

Screen Shot 2013-10-25 at 2.42.10 PM — **Leah Chibwe**

The objective of my time at UNC was to learn the DT40 bioassay based on chicken cell lines and use it asses the toxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soil after bioremediation. Though I was quite excited about the opportunity, I was initially intimidated about leaving the familiarity of the chemistry lab at Oregon State University (OSU) and flying cross country to immerse myself in the unfamiliar (and very sterile!) world of cells and assays. It was a definite humbling learning experience; working with living cells taught me just how much of a virtue patience is –something that has helped me develop personally and as a researcher.

The KC Donnelly Externship created a platform on which we were able to combine analytical chemistry, biological and environmental engineering, and toxicology to address a shared concern. I was really inspired by the integration of the different ideas and mindsets from the various fields as we developed this project.

Before the externship, I was analyzing PAHs in remediated soil samples. At UNC, I learned about the DT40 assay and actually got to see how a lab-scale bioreactor (meant to simulate ex situ bioremediation) operated. I feel I now have a better understanding of how bioremediation works and the toxicity concerns often associated with PAHs. The experience has really added more depth to my research at OSU.

The externship was a very intense three months, but I really believe it was a pivotal moment in my development as an environmental health scientist; and has made me more appreciative of my research project. I also just had a great time interacting with everyone at the UNC Superfund Research Program (SRP).

On Oct. 16^th, Dr. Paul Slovic visited Oregon State University to share and discuss issues related to risk communication with graduate students enrolled in the TOX 507/607 seminar. This term the seminar is co-lead by the Superfund Research Center’s Research Translation Core and Training Core.

Dr. Slovic, a founder and President of Decision Research, studies human judgment, decision making, and risk analysis. His research and expertise fit nicely with this term’s seminar focus on training students to communicate science and risk effectively to audiences outside of academia.

Some key points came out of the Q and A session with Dr. Slovic.

1) The importance of message framing.

After you publish a scientific paper, focus on how you will frame that information to the public. How can you help your audience conceptualize the bottom line of the research? The facts never speak for themselves, which is why scientists need to “frame” their messages to the public.

All information is conveyed with a frame. Framing in science and risk communication can be viewed as positive or negative depending on who the audience is and what kind of information is

being presented. There is rarely neutral framing. For that reason, it is important to have a clear message thoughtfully framed to invoke a desirable response by your audience.

Create messages that resonate with your audience.

2) The role of emotions and uncertainty.

Understand that risk perception comes from our gut feelings. How you share information makes a difference, creates an image, and impacts a person’s perception of risk.

Our emotions are often tied to our motivation, positive or negative. Information will lack meaning if it does not invoke emotion.

If something is uncertain, people can interpret it the way that they want. (Example: When scientists began sharing studies that cigarette smoking caused cancer, the tobacco industry wanted to cultivate doubt, so they could keep their profits.). With certain topics, industry and others want to emphasize the unknowns and cast doubt.

When research studies are not definitive, help the public understand the strengths and limitations of that study. Frame the information so it is not biased, focusing on what the science predicts and the implications of that prediction.

Be sure to present the data the best you can if you think people are distorting the data.

3) Visuals make research real and relevant.

Visual images are more powerful than statistics. Visuals help the mind process information. Make your research real and relevant by using visuals that invoke emotion and foster scientific understanding.

slovicgroup — Discussion with Dr. Paul Slovic in the TOX 507/607 seminar on Oct. 16, 2013

Find and share this seminar’s highlights and related articles on Twitter with hashtag #TOX607

Resources

Decision Research: http://www.decisionresearch.org/
The Risks and Advantages of Framing Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5842/1168.2.full
Gap between science and media revisited: Scientists as public communicators: http://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_3/14102.full
AAAS Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers: http://communicatingscience.aaas.org/
Translating your Research: An Investigator Communication Workshop: https://www.nwabr.org/sites/default/files/pagefiles/SpeakerTrngManual_NWABR_FINAL.doc
Mendeley group sharing on the science of science communication: http://www.mendeley.com/groups/3334441/scioscicomm/papers/

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Tag Archives: training

Making Models Personal – Air Quality, Smartphones, and Human Health

Focusing on Chemicals with Unknown Human Health Impacts

Reflection on an Externship Training Opportunity

Dr. Paul Slovic Discusses Risk Perception with Graduate Students

1) The importance of message framing.

2) The role of emotions and uncertainty.

3) Visuals make research real and relevant.

Resources

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