Effects of vegetation management on the composition and diversity of the insect community at Tianjin Binhai International Airport, China.

The vegetation community affects the composition and diversity of the insect community in grasslands. To explore the effects of vegetation management on insect community abundance and diversity, regular mowing of the vegetation was conducted, and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and ryegrass (Lolium perenne) were exclusively planted at Tianjin Binhai International Airport. A total of 1886 insects were collected, representing 8 orders, 23 families, and 29 species; Acrididae (Orthoptera), Coccinellidae (Coleoptera), and Chironomidae (Diptera) were the dominant taxa. The abundance and biomass of insects in the turf areas were significantly lower than those in the control area and were reduced by 45.8 and 48.5% in the ryegrass area, respectively. In all areas, insect abundance and biomass peaked in summer, and the abundance of individuals and taxa decreased as the temperature decreased. Greater diversity and richness were found in summer compared with the other two seasons, and the turf areas had lower diversity and richness indices than the control areas in spring and summer. Our results suggest that the abundance, biomass and diversity of insects can be effectively decreased by artificial regulation of grassland vegetation at the airport, the planting of a single turfgrass - specifically ryegrass had the greatest effect. The present study provides a theoretical basis for the ecological control of insects at the airport.

Characterization of aircraft emissions and air quality impacts of an international airport.

Beijing Capital International Airport (ZBAA) is the world's second busiest airport. In this study, the emissions of air pollutants from aircraft and other sources at ZBAA in 2015 were estimated using an improved method, which considered the mixing layer height calculated based on aircraft meteorological data relay (AMDAR), instead of using the height (915m) recommended by ICAO. The yearly emissions of NOx, CO, VOCs, SO2, and PM2.5 at the airport were 8.76×103, 4.43×103, 5.43×102, 4.80×102, and 1.49×102ton/year, respectively. The spatial-temporal distribution of aircraft emissions was systematically analyzed to understand the emission characteristics of aircraft. The results indicated that NOx was mainly emitted during the take-off and climb phases, accounting for 20.5% and 55.5% of the total emissions. CO and HC were mainly emitted during the taxi phase, accounting for 91.6% and 92.2% of the total emissions. Because the mixing layer height was high in summer, the emissions of aircraft were at the highest level throughout the year. Based on the detailed emissions inventory, four seasons simulation using WRF-CMAQ model was performed over the domain surrounding the airport. The results indicated that the contribution to PM2.5 was relatively high in winter; the average impact was about 1.15µg/m3 within a radius of 1km around the airport. Meanwhile, the near surroundings and southwest areas of the airport are the most sensitive to PM2.5.

Aircraft Noise Reduction Strategies and Analysis of the Effects.

In this study, six aircraft noise reduction strategies including the optimization of aircraft type, regulation of night flight number, optimization of flight procedure, modification of operating runway, land use planning and installation of sound insulation windows were proposed to alleviate the harmful impact of aircraft noise on the local area and population near Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (BIA) in China. The effects of all proposed strategies except for land use planning and sound insulation windows were simulated and analyzed using CadnaA software. The results indicate that these noise reduction strategies have their own advantages and each of them can serve as an effective noise reduction measure for different applications. For instance, the replacement of noisy aircraft with low-noise aircraft can simultaneously reduce the area and population exposed to a high noise level, while the optimization of flight procedure can only reduce the population exposed under relatively low noise levels (70 ≤LWECPN ≤ 75 dB). Nevertheless, the modification of operating runway is more effective in reducing the population suffering under high noise levels (LWECPN > 85 dB). Among these strategies, reducing the number of night flights is found to be most effective in reducing the overall noise-exposed area and population. Additionally, with the assistance of noise mapping, proper land use planning was suggested according to national standards, and the installation of sound insulation windows with different sound reduction grades can be determined for different areas impacted by the aircraft noise of BIA. It is believed that the results of this study can be applied as a reference in selecting suitable noise reduction strategies to improve the acoustic environment of a specific airport.

Optimizing airport slot scheduling problem using optimization algorithms.

The primary objective of airport management worldwide is always to make it easier to provide transportation services and minimize latency. This could be accomplished by controlling the movement of travelers through the airport's different checkpoints for passports, baggage handling, customs, and both departure and arrival lobbies. As one of the biggest passenger terminals around the world and among the most attractive destinations for visitors during the Hajj pilgrimage, this paper concentrates on enhancing the movement of travelers in the King Abdulaziz International Airport's pilgrimage station in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Several optimization methods are used to better schedule the phases within the airport terminals as well as the assignment of arriving flights to vacant airport portals. These include the differential evolution algorithm (DEA), harmony search algorithm, genetic algorithm (GA), flower pollination algorithm (FPA), and black widow optimization algorithm. The findings demonstrated the potential sites for the development of airport stages, which may assist decision-makers in improving operational efficiency in the future. The simulation results showed that GA was more efficient in most of the experiments than the alternative algorithms for small population sizes in terms of the quality of the solutions obtained and the convergence rates. In contrast, DEA performed better in the larger population sizes. The outcomes also showed that FPA performed better than its rivals in identifying the optimal solution in terms of the overall duration of passenger waiting time.

Long-term monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewage samples from specific public places and STPs to track COVID-19 spread and identify potential hotspots.

Coronavirus pandemic started in March 2020 and since then has caused millions of deaths worldwide. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be used as an epidemiological surveillance tool to track SARS-CoV-2 dissemination and provide warning of COVID-19 outbreaks. Considering that there are public places that could be potential hotspots of infected people that may reflect the local epidemiological situation, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was analyzed by RT-qPCR for approximately 16 months in sewage samples from five public places located in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil: the sewage treatment plant of Confins International Airport (AIR), the main interstate bus terminal (BUS), an upscale shopping centre (SHC1), a popular shopping centre (SHC2) and a university institute (UNI). The results were compared to those of the influent sewage of the two main sewage treatment plants of Belo Horizonte (STP1 and STP2). Viral monitoring in the STPs proved to be an useful regional surveillance tool, reflecting the trends of COVID-19 cases. However, the viral concentrations in the samples from the selected public places were generally much lower than those of the municipal STPs, which may be due to the behaviour of the non-infected or asymptomatic people, who are likely to visit these places relatively more than the symptomatic infected ones. Among these places, the AIR samples presented the highest viral concentrations and concentration peaks were observed previously to local outbreaks. Therefore, airport sewage monitoring can provide an indication of the regional epidemiological situation. For the other places, particularly the UNI, the results suggested a greater potential to detect the infection and trace cases especially among employees and regular attendees. Taken together, the results indicate that for a regular and permanent sentinel sewage surveillance the sewage from STPs, AIR and UNI could be monitored.

Noise Mapping, Prevalence and Risk Factors of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss among Workers at Muscat International Airport.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a common occupational hazard and a major cause of deafness among airport workers. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate the various risk factors related to hearing loss. PURPOSE: the purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence and risk factors of NIHL among Muscat International Airport airside workers. METHOD: Their daily noise exposure level at the airport was measured, and the time-weighted average (TWA) was calculated for each airside department. A cross-sectional study design involving 312 workers from the eight departments of the airport was chosen and the prevalence of NIHL among workers was assessed. The study participants then completed a self-administered questionnaire that covered their socio-demographic characteristics, occupational exposure history and the health-related risk factors of NIHL. RESULTS: The TWA recorded for the workers was above the accepted limit in some departments, namely, cabin appearance, ramp, line maintenance and hangar. The prevalence of NIHL among participants was 21.79% (n = 68). Of these 68 participants with NIHL, 22.30% were exposed to job-related high noise levels. NIHL was common among participants aged 40 or above (57.35%, n = 39) and high school degree holders (29.60%, n = 29), as well as those who were exposed to higher noise levels (84.89%, n = 191) or who did not wear their hearing protection devices (HPDs) regularly (53.65%, n = 125). CONCLUSION: around a quarter of our study participants who were exposed to high noise levels suffer from NIHL.

The profile of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 under the Quarantine Act in a designated hospital near an international airport in Japan.

The Japanese Government has implemented quarantine measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals testing positive at the airport's quarantine office were lodged either in a designated hotel or hospital under the Quarantine Act. The aim of this study is to describe the management of patients with COVID-19 admitted under the Quarantine Act and to evaluate its impact on medical resources. Data were retrospectively collected, including demographics, comorbidities, status at admission, clinical condition, treatment, outcomes, status at discharge, duration of hospitalization, and the cost of hospitalization for all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at this facility under the Quarantine Act between January 2020 and April 2021. A total of 48 patients (39 males, 9 females; median age: 38.5 years) with COVID-19, half (52.1%) of which were Japanese, were hospitalized under the Quarantine Act. The majority (87.5%) of the patients lived or planned to stay outside of Chiba Prefecture. The most frequent time of admission was 9 PM-1 AM. Hypoxia on admission was observed in 10 (20.8%) patients and oxygen therapy was provided to 8 (16.7%). One patient died due to respiratory failure. The median duration of hospitalization was 11 days. The total cost of hospitalization was 82,705,289 yen (approximately $760,000), which was covered by public funds. Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 under the Quarantine Act were younger and less severely ill than inpatients with COVID-19 from among the general population in Japan (according to a COVID-19 registry), but consumed a significant amount of medical resources at this hospital. An efficient system to manage patients with COVID-19 in designated hotels should be created and indications for hospitalization should be determined.

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Bird strike accidents mainly occur in the airport area. Reducing bird activities through bird repeller equipment is one of the main measures to prevent bird strike. In this study, two bird species with high-risk, pigeon (Columba livia domestica) and kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), were selected as the subjects and the gas gun and directional acoustic bird repeller were selected as the evaluation objects in Shenyang Taoxian International Airport. This study aimed to examine the behavioral responses of birds at different distances during the normal operation of these equipment to explore their effective distance and effects. The results showed that the vigilant and escape behaviors of pigeons and kestrels at 10 m and 30 m away from the gas gun bird repeller which were significantly higher than those of the control, while the number of these behaviors at 50 m away was not significantly different from that of the control. Pigeons and kestrels at 50 m and 100 m away from the directional acoustic bird repeller could significantly increase their vigilant and escape behaviors, whereas the repeller could significantly cause kestrels to increase their vigilant behavior at 300 m away. We concluded that the effective bird expel distance of the gas gun was 30 m, and the directional acoustic bird repeller could effectively expel to 300 m, and that the effect of the directional acoustic bird repeller on birds was stronger than the gas gun. Our results could provide a reference for the introduction and rational use of bird expel equipment in the airports.

Project execution obstacles: a case of King Abdulaziz Airport in Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of this research is to examine the causes of delay in airport projects in general and the King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) of Saudi Arabia in particular. The KAIA is the most strategic and busiest airport of Saudi Arabia, which transports millions of pilgrims from two hundred countries to perform Hajj and Umrah in Makkah. In general, more than 50% of construction projects fail on one more area. Our method of research is empirical based on the analysis of responses received from seventy-one respondents to our survey questions. We shall also synthesize literature that utilizes previous research and case studies on aviation and public project failures. We believe that this research will be valuable in ascertaining and mitigating direct causes for the numerous project delays in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Occupational Characteristics in the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta Variant in Nanjing, China: Rethinking the Occupational Health and Safety Vulnerability of Essential Workers.

The risk of contracting COVID-19 varies by occupation. Clarifying the occupational disparity in the infection risk is crucial to the prevention and control of the epidemic in the workplace. In late July, some new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among cleaners working in Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, China. The infected cases rapidly increased and spread to many domestic cities in the following days. The present study traces the brief reports of epidemiological investigations among the confirmed cases released by the Nanjing government from 20 July to 2 August, and offers a descriptive analysis on the occupational distribution of these cases. Cleaners and other staff working in the airport were found to make up more than 40% of all cases. The overwhelming majority of the cleaner cases were confirmed in the first 7 days. The present study statistically ascertains that the airport cleaners were the initial sufferers and transmitters in this outbreak. They experienced occupational health and safety vulnerability on both individual and contextual levels, including workplace hazards, workplace safety policies, and lack of awareness and empowerment. Effective protection for essential workers and the strict surveillance of occupational health in the workplace is urgently needed.

Characterization of volatile organic compounds and the impacts on the regional ozone at an international airport.

In this study, the measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was conducted at Beijing Capital International Airport (ZBAA) and a background reference site in four seasons of 2015. Total concentrations of VOCs were 72.6 ±â€¯9.7, 65.5 ±â€¯8.7, 95.8 ±â€¯11.0, and 79.2 ±â€¯10.8 µg/m3 in winter, spring, summer, and autumn, respectively. The most abundant specie was toluene (10.1%-17.4%), followed by benzene, ethane, isopentane, ethane, acetylene, and n-butane. Seasonal variations of VOCs were analyzed, and it was found that the highest concentration occurring in summer, while the lowest in spring. For the diurnal variation, the concentration of VOCs in the daytime (9:00-15:00) was less than that at night (15:00-21:00) obviously. Ozone Formation Potential (OFP) was calculated by using Maximum Incremental Reactivity (MIR) method. The greatest contribution to OFP from alkenes and aromatics, which accounted for 27.3%-51.2% and 36.6%-58.6% of the total OFP. The WRF-CMAQ model was used to simulate the impact of airport emissions on the surrounding area. The results indicated that the maximum impact of VOCs emissions and all sources emissions at the airport on O3 was 0.035 and -23.8 µg/m3, respectively. Meanwhile, within 1 km from the airport, the concentration of O3 around the airport was greatly affected by airport emitted.

Analysing passenger network changes: The case of Hong Kong.

Passenger throughput at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has shown steady growth since its opening. Various aspects relating to HKIA have been studied in prior literature. This paper investigated changes in HKIA's passenger network for the period of 2001-2012 and used the gravity model to examine the key factors explaining its passenger traffic flows. The findings suggested that HKIA's passenger network has changed significantly and expanded to many new different destinations. Two regions (East Asia and Southeast Asia) were the most important markets for HKIA, and most key destinations connected by Hong Kong showed healthy growth. Nine factors could explain passenger traffic flows between Hong Kong and its key destinations: Hong Kong GDP per capita, GDP per capita of destinations connected by HKIA, distance, airport hub status of the destination airport, tourist destinations connected by HKIA, numbers of passenger airlines in service, bilateral trade flows, speaking a common language and having strong cultural/colonial links with Hong Kong, and the route presence of Cathay Pacific.

[Study on cyfluthrin resistance and its mechanisms of Anopheles sinensis in Nanchang frontierport].

OBJECTIVE: To study the cyfluthrin resistance and potential mechanisms of Anopheles sinensis in Nanchang Chang-bei International Airport, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. METHODS: The resistance levels of the local An. sinensis were detected by WHO drug resistance bioassay. During the bioassay, the dying mosquitos were classed as sensitive mosquitos, and the survival ones were classed as resistant mosquitos. The P450 monooxygenase activity and glutathione S-transferase activity were detected and compared between the two groups. At the same time, the death time of each sensitive mosquito was recorded, and the correlations between the death time and the P450 monooxygenase activity and glutathione S-transferase activity were analyzed, respectively. RESULTS: The bioassay mortality of the local An. sinensis was 59.5%. The differences of the P450 monooxygenase activities among the resistant mosquitos, sensitive mosquitos and laboratory sensitive mosquitos had statistical significances (F =151.89, P < 0.01), the resistant mosquitos > sensitive mosquitos > laboratory sensitive mosquitos. The differences of glutathione s-transferase activities among the three groups had no statistical significance (F = 0.72, P = 0.49). There existed positive correlation between the mosquito death time and the P450 monooxygenase activity, and the regression equation was y = 79.479 +1.512x with the correlation coefficient of 0.88, while there was no correlation between the mosquito death time and the glutathione S-transferaseactivity. CONCLUSIONS: The An. sinensis in Nanchang Changbei International Airport has been resistant to cyfluthrin, and the promotion of P450 monooxygenase activity maybe one of the reasons for the resistance.

Plane down in the city: Operation Crash and Surge.

This article is about the experiences gained from the largest full-scale exercise ever conducted in the State of Florida, specifically regarding the Orlando International Airport (MCO) venues. The exercise was centred on an airplane crashing into a hotel just outside of MCO property. The scenario clarified details regarding Incident Command and the unique jurisdictional responsibilities associated with a large-scale mass casualty incident. There were additional challenges with airline operations, walking wounded, and information sharing that provided valuable experiences toward enhancing emergency operations. This article also outlines information gained by the MCO "go team" that traveled to San Francisco following the crash of Asiana flight 214. This real-life incident shone a light on many of the strengths and opportunities found throughout the MCO exercise and this article shows the interrelationship of both of these invaluable experiences.