During the past 50 years, air pollution has become a growing problem throughout the Intermountain West because of increases in personal vehicle ownership and usage. Scientists continue to design interventions to improve air quality by encouraging people to reduce their personal vehicle miles of travel (VMT). However, results of these interventions have only seen modest reductions in VMT because of some methodological and measurement issues. To address these limitations, a 14-week driving reduction intervention was conducted in Cache County, Utah. This intervention employed a prizebased contingency management system within a single-subject, A-B-A withdrawal research design that rewarded participants with prizes if they were able to reduce their VMT below their baseline mean. The VMT was measured each day with an in-car GPS electronic tracking device. Results of this intervention indicate both short- and long-term reductions in VMT as a result of the treatment. Specifically, 6 of the 10 participants showed a statistically significant reduction from the baseline to the intervention stage and maintenance of this reduction during the return-to-baseline stage. The other four participants exhibited a similar pattern but their change in vehicle miles of travel was not statistically significant. Interaction effects were not found between the quo;Choose Clean Airquo; social marketing campaign, gas prices, temperature, and PM 2.5 levels. Despite some problems with the transmission and recording of VMT data, this intervention provides further evidence for the application of prize-based contingency management systems to the reduction of a problematic behavior or encouragement of proenvironmental or pro-social behaviors. The in-car GPS devices improved VMT data collection and quality of the data but hardware and software improvements are still needed to prevent data loss. Further replication is necessary to determine the efficacy of driving reduction intervention that employs prize-based contingency management systems at the community or group level. Future research should also test the possible demographic differences between those that respond favorably to this type of intervention and those that do not, and the differences between prize delivery systems (immediate versus delayed) and prize magnitude (low- versus high-dollar amounts) on driving behaviors.

Cache County and the Wasatch Front, Utah have persistently experienced some of the nation’s worst air quality over the past decade. Elevated PM2.5 concentrations during wintertime “red air day” episodes frequently exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). We investigate the possible effects of two different economic policies in controlling these regional problems. Adapting a model originally developed to calculate the social investment necessary to control nationwide disease outbreaks, we estimate an optimal preventative capital stock (for example, investment in public transportation) of between $4.1 million and $14.1 million to control red air day episodes in Cache County, and $133 million to $1.6 billion dollars to control such episodes in the Wasatch Front. Further, we find that a seasonal gasoline tax rate of roughly $8 per gallon is necessary for policy makers in the Wasatch Front to impose at the pump if their goal is to maintain concentrations below the NAAQS on average during a typical winter-inversion season. This rate is roughly $2 more than the rate calculated for Cache County in a previously published study.

Alors que la rhinite a un fort impact sur la santé publique, chez l’adulte, il n’existe pas de définition standardisée de la rhinite dans les études épidémiologiques. De plus, les facteurs environnementaux de la rhinite sont mal connus et, en particulier, il existe très peu d'études sur les effets à long terme de la pollution atmosphérique sur la rhinite chez l'adulte. Pour combler ces lacunes, nous avons utilisé les données de deux études épidémiologiques multicentriques européennes ayant des données détaillées sur la santé respiratoire et d'exposition annuelle individuelle à la pollution atmosphérique. Nos résultats ont montré que pour mieux caractériser la rhinite, il faut considérer l’ensemble des caractéristiques des symptômes nasaux, les comorbidités et la sensibilisation allergique, et ne pas limiter la maladie à une question ou à un test de sensibilisation allergique. Nous n'avons trouvé aucune association entre la pollution atmosphérique à long terme et l'incidence de la rhinite, mais nous avons montré que l'exposition à long terme à la pollution était associée à une augmentation de la sévérité de la rhinite, soulignant le besoin de contrôler les niveaux de pollution atmosphérique. / Whereas rhinitis has an important public health impact, in adults there is no standardized definition of rhinitis in epidemiological studies. Furthermore, environmental factors of rhinitis are barely known, and in particular, there are very few studies on the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on rhinitis in adults. To fill these gaps, we used data from two European multicentre epidemiological studies with extensive data on respiratory health and individual estimated exposures to long-term air pollution. Our findings showed that to better characterize rhinitis, one need to consider together all the characteristics of the nasal symptoms, the comorbidities and the allergic sensitization, and not to restrict the disease to one question or one allergic sensitization test. We found no association between long-term air pollution and incidence of rhinitis, but we showed that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated to an increased severity of rhinitis, emphasising that air pollution needs to be controlled.

Thesis. 1975. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Meteorology. / Bibliography: leaf 94. / M.S.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第21362号 / 工博第4521号 / 新制||工||1704(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 高野 裕久, 教授 米田 稔, 准教授 上田 佳代 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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