Jiří Kalina

Seasonality and indoor/outdoor relationships of flame retardants and PCBs in residential air

This study is a systematic assessment of different houses and apartments, their ages and renovation status, indoors and outdoors, and in summer vs. winter, with a goal of bringing some insight into the major sources of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and their variability. Indoor and outdoor air concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and novel flame retardants (NFRs) were determined at 17-20 homes in Czech Republic in winter and summer. Indoor concentrations were consistently higher than outdoor concentrations for all compounds; indoor/outdoor ratios ranged from 2-20, with larger differences for the current use NFRs than for legacy PCBs. Seasonal trends differed according to the use status of the compounds: the PCBs had higher summer concentrations both indoors and outdoors, suggesting volatilization as a source of PCBs to air. PBDEs had no seasonal trends indoors, but higher summer concentrations outdoors. Several NFRs (TBX, PBT, PBEB) had higher indoor concentrations in winter relative to summer. The seasonal trends in the flame retardants suggest differences in air exchange rates due to lower building ventilation in winter could be driving the concentration differences. Weak relationships were found with building age for PCBs, with higher concentrations indoors in buildings built before 1984, and with the number of electronics for PBDEs, with higher concentrations in rooms with three or more electronic items. Indoor environments are the primary contributor to human inhalation exposure to these SVOCs, due to the high percentage of time spent indoors (>90%) combined with the higher indoors levels for all the studied compounds. Exposure via the indoor environment contributed ∼96% of the total chronic daily intake via inhalation in summer and ∼98% in winter.

Integration of R Statistical Environment into ICT Infrastructure of GMP and GENASIS

The Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) was established as a tool for providing a worldwide overview of Stockholm Convention (SC) compliance by monitoring and evaluation of SC 22 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) concentration levels and their trends. In order to evaluate a dataset on POPs concentrations from the initial GMP campaign, it was essential to use advanced statistical methods which are not incorporated in commonly used database languages. Instead of a complete realization of these methods in the main programming language, in which the application is developed, this language was used only as an interface to the server version of the powerful statistical software R. The involvement of the R language into the environmental pollution data assessment infrastructure of the Global Environmental Assessment Information System (GENASIS) adopted for the GMP data makes easier to avoid disambiguities in data analysis and brings a powerful tool for advanced statistical analysis and visualization of GMP and GENASIS data.

Conceptual Model Enhancing Accessibility of Data from Cancer–Related Environmental Risk Assessment Studies

This paper proposes conceptual model which can be used to facilitate the discovery, integration and analysis of environmental data in cancer-related risk studies. Persistent organic pollutants were chosen as a model because of their persistence, bioaccumulation potential and genotoxicity. Part dealing with cancer risk is primarily focused on population-based observations encompassing a wide range of epidemiologic studies, from local investigations to national cancer registries. The proposed model adopted multilayer hierarchy working with characteristics of given entities (POPs, cancer diseases as nomenclature classes) and couples “observation – measurement” as content defining classes. The proposal extends formally used taxonomy applying multidimensional set of descriptors including scores of measurement validity and precision. This solution has the potential to aid multidisciplinary data discovery and knowledge mining. The same structure of descriptors used for environmental and cancer part enables the users to integrate different data sources recognizing their methodical origin, time & space coordinates and validity.

Semantics Annotations of Ontology for Scenario: Anthropogenic Impact and Climate Change Issues

The synthesis of existing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pollution monitoring databases with epidemiological data is considered for identifying some impacts of POPs on human health. This task requires new, rich, data, services and models discovery capabilities from a multitude of monitoring networks and web resources. The FP7 project TaToo (Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework) is setting up a semantic web solution to close the discovery gap that prevents a full and easy access to web resources. The use of TaToo tools together with software GENASIS and SVOD is discussed as TaToo validation scenario for anthropogenic impact and global climate change influence on POPs trajectory. This paper contains the first propose of POPs and cancer domain ontology intended for TaToo framework.

Global Environmental Assessment Requires Global Functional Searching Engines: Robust Application of TaToo Tools

The synthesis of existing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pollution monitoring databases with epidemiological data is considered for identifying some impacts of POPs on human health. This task requires new, rich, data, services and models discovery capabilities from a multitude of monitoring networks and web resources. The FP7 project TaToo (Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework) is setting up a semantic web solution to close the discovery gap that prevents a full and easy access to web resources. The use of TaToo tools together with software GENASIS and SVOD is discussed as TaToo validation scenario for anthropogenic impact and global climate change influence on POPs trajectory.

Three Levels of R Language Involvement in Global Monitoring Plan Warehouse Architecture

Three different options for involving R statistical software in the infrastructure of the data warehouse and visualization tool of the Global Monitoring Plan for persistent organic pollutants are presented, all differing in their demands with respect to data transfer rates, numbers of concurrently connected users, total amounts of data transferred, and the possibilities of repeating statistical calculations within a short period. After the development stage, two of these options were used at different levels of the system, demonstrating the specificity of their use and enabling the deployment of the powerful features of R statistical software by a system created using conventional programming languages.

Characterizing spatial diversity of passive sampling sites for measuring levels and trends of semivolatile organic chemicals

Passive air sampling of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) is a relatively inexpensive method that facilitates extensive campaigns with numerous sampling sites. An important question in the design of passive-sampling networks concerns the number and location of samplers. We investigate this question with the example of 17 SVOCs sampled at 14 background sites across the Czech Republic. More than 200 time series (length 5-11 years) were used to characterize SVOC levels and trends in air between 2003 and 2015. Six polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 6 polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 5 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) at 14 sites were assessed using data from the MONET passive sampling network. Significant decreases were found for most PCBs and OCPs whereas hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and most PAHs showed (mostly insignificant) increases. Spatial variability was rather low for PCBs and OCPs except for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and rather high for PAHs. The variability of the SVOC levels and trends depends on characteristics of the sites including their remoteness, landscape, population, and pollution sources. The sites can be grouped in distinct clusters, which helps to identify similar and, thereby, potentially redundant sites. This information is useful when monitoring networks need to be optimized regarding the location and number of sites.

GMP Data Warehouse – a Supporting Tool of Effectiveness Evaluation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is multilateral environmental agreement focused on selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for which the contracting Parties must adopt measures to eliminate or reduce their production and use or minimise the unintentional releases. One of the tools for the effectiveness evaluation of the Stockholm Convention is Global Monitoring Plan for Persistent Organic Pollutants (GMP) – a project that aims to collect global data on POPs concentrations in selected environmental matrices. This paper introduces an information system GMP Data Warehouse, which was developed in order to provide user-friendly tools for the collection, storage, analyses and visualisation of data from international POPs monitoring activities.

Modelling and Forecasting Waste Generation – DECWASTE Information System

The DECWASTE forecasting waste generation information system is presented. It is based on Annexes I, II and III of Regulation (EC) No 849/2010 amending Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the European Council on waste (WSR). DECWASTE forecasts the quantity of waste generated for each waste category listed in Section 2(1) of Annex I of the WSR at the Czech national level. Its multi-linear regression forecasting model is based on environmental as well as economic and social predictors. These models use historical data of the waste information system (ISOH) of the Czech Environmental Information Agency and sets of indicators (predictors) integrated into forecasting models. The methodology consisted in adjusting predictors of the forecasting models into a Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework and their sensitivity analysis enables their choice into forecasting models and their verification using appropriate data. DECWASTE supports decisions made by the Ministry of the Environment to improve the implementation of the national Waste Management Plan.

A negative correlation between mercury content in muscle and body weight in carp from uncontaminated ponds.

The relationship between body weight and total mercury content in the muscle of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) from 13 uncontaminated ponds in South and West Bohemia was investigated. In total, 215 three-years-old marketable carps and 26 samples of bottom sediment were analysed. Total mercury contents (THg) in muscle and sediments were determined using an single-purpose atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The correlation between body weight and mercury content in muscle was found to be negative and statistically significant (Pearson correlation: r(P) = -0.269, P < 0.001). THg content in muscle significantly decreased as the body weight of carp from uncontaminated ponds increased. This is likely due to the intensive weight gain of marketable carp.