Research Conducted at University of North Carolina Has Updated Our Knowledge about Risk Management (Finely Resolved On-Road PM2.5 and Estimated…

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Research Conducted at University of North Carolina Has Updated Our Knowledge about Risk Management (Finely Resolved On-Road PM2.5 and Estimated Premature Mortality in Central North Carolina)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Current study results on Risk Management have been published. According to news reporting out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "To quantify the on-road PM2.5-related premature mortality at a national scale, previous approaches to estimate concentrations at a 12-km x 12-km or larger grid cell resolution may not fully characterize concentration hotspots that occur near roadways and thus the areas of highest risk. Spatially resolved concentration estimates from on-road emissions to capture these hotspots may improve characterization of the associated risk, but are rarely used for estimating premature mortality."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of North Carolina, "In this study, we compared the on-road PM2.5-related premature mortality in central North Carolina with two different concentration estimation approaches(i) using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to model concentration at a coarser resolution of a 36-km x 36-km grid resolution, and (ii) using a hybrid of a Gaussian dispersion model, CMAQ, and a space-time interpolation technique to provide annual average PM2.5 concentrations at a Census-block level (approximate to 105,000 Census blocks). The hybrid modeling approach estimated 24% more on-road PM2.5-related premature mortality than CMAQ. The major difference is from the primary on-road PM2.5 where the hybrid approach estimated 2.5 times more primary on-road PM2.5-related premature mortality than CMAQ due to predicted exposure hotspots near roadways that coincide with high population areas."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The results show that 72% of primary on-road PM2.5 premature mortality occurs within 1,000 m from roadways where 50% of the total population resides, highlighting the importance to characterize near-road primary PM2.5 and suggesting that previous studies may have underestimated premature mortality due to PM2.5 from traffic-related emissions."

For more information on this research see: Finely Resolved On-Road PM2.5 and Estimated Premature Mortality in Central North Carolina. Risk Analysis, 2017;37(12):2420-2434. Risk Analysis can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Risk Analysis - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S. Arunachalam, Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill, Inst Environm, Chapel Hill, NC 27517, United States. Additional authors for this research include W. Vizuete, M. Serre, L.P. Vennam, M. Omary, V. Isakov, M. Breen and S.Y. Chang.

Keywords for this news article include: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America, Risk Management, University of North Carolina.