Articles

Monitoring and Analyzing Air Quality in Several Locations around Medan City Using IoT-Based Integrated Sensors

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This research is motivated by the importance of monitoring air quality in industrial and non-industrial areas, especially in the city of Medan, Indonesia. Increasing growth of the industrial sector and use of transportation can increase air pollution. Air pollution caused by emissions of harmful gases such as NO2 and CO, as well as microscopic particles such as PM2.5 has a significant impact on human health, especially causing respiratory and heart disease and premature death. The rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) technology can detect air quality and transmit sensor readings wirelessly via the internet to an Android or PC. This research aims to design an air quality monitoring tool related to the presence of dangerous gases NO2, CO and levels of microscopic particles PM2.5 with an integrated mics-6814 sensor and PMS5003 sensor based on IoT accurately and in real-time and analyze the results of air quality monitoring in research area. The research methodology involves measuring air quality parameters such as PM2.5, CO, NO2, temperature, and humidity using IoT-based integrated design tools. The research location consists of 3 points, namely around the industrial and residential areas of the Kawasan Industri Medan (KIM) Mabar, the Industrial Area in Tanjung Morawa, and the University of North Sumatra. Numerical data will be tabulated from the results of research carried out for 7 hours in 3 days based on the specified time. The results of this research show that the air quality monitoring system designed can measure temperature, humidity, PM2.5, NO2 and CO levels in real time and accurately. Air quality data collected at several research locations shows different trends. Overall, the air quality in the research area is in the healthy category, having no impact on the health of humans, animals and plants which is linked to Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup Dan Kehutanan Republik Indonesia. Suggestions for further research include selecting components that are more sensitive in detecting air quality and paying attention to environmental conditions which can reduce deviation values ​​from the sensor.

The Effects of Air Quality on Mental Health, and A Comparative Study of Teenagers Aged 12-18 During January and February in Lampang, Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya, and Bangkok

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Nowadays, populations around the world are suffering from mental health issues, especially depression, and the number is estimated to increase every year. Not only depression issues but also air pollution that is surging. Air pollution has been shown to affect people’s respiratory systems and may even have an impact on mental health, leading to various diseases, for instance depression and Alzheimer’s disease. These disorders tend to occur in people of all age groups and in all countries and regions. Interestingly, each area has different air qualities, which raises concern of its impact on mental health. To investigate this issue, a cross-sectional survey was performed focusing on teenagers aged 12-18 in three different provinces in Thailand to compare the effect of air quality on mental health. This survey used a questionnaire consisting of 34 questions to collect data from 629 individuals participating in this research. The data analysis was performed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) program. Our results display the mean score of mental health and air quality as 2.62 and 3.02, respectively, which states that there is an average rate of these 2 variables. Furthermore, the one-way ANOVA test comparing mental health levels in 3 residents shows no significant difference (p-value = 0.225), however, one-way ANOVA comparing the air quality shows a significant difference between the 3 provinces (p-value less than 0.001). We also conducted a t-test to compare the 2 variables between pupils who have underlying medical conditions and pupils who don’t have them. Unfortunately, we found no significant difference for mental health in pupils with and without medical conditions (p-value = 0.75) and for air quality in pupils with and without medical conditions (p-value = 0.52). Nevertheless, the correlation analysis obtained an r-value of 0.30, which indicates that the survey produced a weak positive correlation between mental health and air quality. This type of study is rarely conducted in Thailand, which means there will need to be more studies in this field. Regarding this research, it is apparent that air quality has an effect on mental health, so an open mind of caring for ourselves and others about this issue would be practical.

Phase Wise Variation of Criteria Pollutants across India during COVID-19 Lockdown

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The COVID-19 epidemic forced many countries around the world to lockdown completely. This occlusion influenced the atmospheric composition positively due to reduced anthropogenic activities. Recently, many studies across India have shown how the COVID-19 lockdown has affected air quality in different cities. However, these studies did not examine the phased percentage variation in air pollutant concentrations across different states of India. In this study, percentage variation in the concentration of five criteria pollutant, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO and Ozone were studied for 13 states across India during four phases of COVID-19 lockdown. A significant decrease in air pollutant levels was observed in all four phases, with phase 1 and phase 2 reporting a maximum decrease. PM10 and PM2.5, CO and NO2 showed a decrease in concentration in all states. Ozone showed a mixed response, with both increase and decrease recorded across states. During the COVID-19 lockdown period in India, AOD levels were reduced by 10.25%. This study will certainly help regulators set the guidelines and mitigation measures for appropriate control of air pollutants in different states in future.