scholarly journals UV Index for Public Health Awareness Based on OMI/NASA Satellite Data at King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Abdullah Addas ◽  
Mahmoud Ragab ◽  
Ahmad Maghrabi ◽  
S. M. Abo-Dahab ◽  
Eman F. El-Nobi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Uv Radiation ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Uv Index ◽  
Solar Uv Radiation ◽  
King Abdulaziz University ◽  
Solar Uv

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) is essential for good health and formation of vitamin D while overexposure poses a risk to public health. Therefore, it is important to provide information to the public about the level of solar UV radiation. The ultraviolet index (UVI) is used to help avoid the negative effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on humans and to optimize individual exposure. There is limited ground measurement of solar UV radiation, but satellite Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMIs) satellite products with a spatial resolution of 1 ° × 1 ° can be used to create UV index climatology at local noon time. In this study, we utilize OMI satellite products collected over the campus of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) (21.5° North and 39.1° East), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to estimate changes in exposure to UV over a period of 15 years (2004-2020). The results indicate a significantly increasing trend in UV index over this period. Between 2004 and 2020, daily “extreme” UV ( UVI > 11 , as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO)) occurred on 46.60% of days. The frequency of low UVI ( UVI < 2 ) was only about 0.06%. These results imply dangerous exposure levels to solar UV radiation on the KAU campus and call for safety measures to increase awareness and decrease direct exposure; for example, by implementing the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general guidelines.

Pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Saudi Arabia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Ahmed Awaji
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
World Health ◽  
Difficulty Breathing ◽  
Control And Prevention

Introduction Most cases of COVID-19 coronavirus infection occurred in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of December 2019 in the form of acute pneumonia. COVID-19 virus infects people of all ages. The most affected elderly people with underlying medical conditions. This may cause various symptoms such as fever, difficulty breathing, lung infection, coughing and sneezing. Aim The aim of the present study to highlight the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Method A search was conducted using the relevant keywords to retrieve the studies conducted in Saudi Arabia regarding COVID-19. The search was by Google Scholar, Pub MED, and Twitter. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic carries multiple-risk, and public health groups, such as the United States' Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), are monitoring the pandemic and posting updates on their website. These groups have also made recommendations on disease prevention and treatment, and according to the Saudi Centres for Disease Control, they have also included the necessary public health measures for mandatory reporting by calling a certain number and through the e-health monitoring network.

scholarly journals Ground-Based Solar UV Radiation Monitoring Technique Using Photocell

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-189
Author(s):  
Paribesh Koirala ◽  
Raj K Tripathee ◽  
Nitesh Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Embedded System ◽  
Uv Radiation ◽  
Radiation Monitoring ◽  
Programming Technique ◽  
Uv Index ◽  
Solar Uv Radiation ◽  
Monitoring Technique ◽  
Solar Uv ◽  
Photo Voltaic ◽  
Voltaic Cell

This paper presents Solar UV radiation monitoring technique using a photo voltaic cell. The data obtained by such technique can be used to calculate the UV index and measure risk of UV exposure. UV irradiance at the surface is affected by the solar elevation, total ozone, clouds, aerosol, surface albedo etc. This paper presents results from the designed instrument to evaluate the UV index. The data obtained from such method will have benefit in installation, maintenance, data transfer and operational cost. This paper highlights the development and initial validation of standard UV data along with the portable embedded device for personalized UV monitoring which is based on a novel programming technique, photo Voltaic Cell as UV sensor, and a microcontroller PIC16F877A. This portable personalized UV monitoring device just provides the tentative UVI as it does not take the depth of ozone layer into account. Rough estimation of UVI can be obtained with such embedded system. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jie.v8i3.5943 JIE 2011; 8(3): 177-189

scholarly journals Validation of satellite-based noontime UVI with NDACC ground-based instruments: influence of topography, environment and overpass time

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Brogniez ◽  
Frédérique Auriol ◽  
Christine Deroo ◽  
Antti Arola ◽  
Jukka Kujanpää ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Uv Radiation ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Urban Site ◽  
Uv Index ◽  
Solar Uv Radiation ◽  
The North ◽  
Solar Noon ◽  
Solar Uv ◽  
New Processing ◽  
Satellite Instruments

Abstract. Spectral solar UV radiation measurements are performed in France using three spectroradiometers located in very different sites. One is installed in Villeneuve d’Ascq, in the north of France (VDA). It is an urban site in a topographically flat region. Another instrument is installed in Observatoire de Haute Provence, in the French Southern Alps (OHP). It is a rural mountainous site. The third instrument is installed in Saint-Denis, Reunion Island (SDR). It is a coastal urban site on a small mountainous Island in the Southern tropics. The three instruments are affiliated to the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and carry out routine measurements to monitor the spectral solar UV radiation and enable derivation of UV index (UVI). The ground-based UVI values observed at solar noon are compared to similar quantities derived from OMI/Aura and GOME-2/Metop-A satellite measurements for validation of these satellite-based products. The present study concerns the period 2009–September 2012, date of the change of OMI data processing. UVI products from the old (v1.2) and new (v1.3) versions of OMI are used to assess the improvement of the new processing. On average, estimates from satellite instruments always overestimate surface UVI at solar noon. Under cloudless conditions the satellite-derived estimates of UVI compare satisfactorily with ground-based data: the median relative bias is less than 8 % at VDA and 4 % at SDR for both OMI-v1.3 and GOME-2, and about 6 % for OMI-v1.3 and 2% for GOME-2 at OHP. Correlation between satellite-based and ground-based data is better at VDA and OHP (about 0.99) than at SDR (0.96) for both spatial instruments. For all sky conditions the median relative biases are much larger, with large dispersion for both instruments at all sites (VDA: about 12 %; OHP: 9 %; SDR: 11 %). Correlation between satellite-based and ground-based data is still better at VDA and OHP (about 0.95) than at SDR (about 0.73) for both satellite instruments. These results are explained considering the time of overpass of the two satellites, which is far from solar noon, preventing a good estimation of the cloud cover necessary to a good modelling of the UVI. Site topography and environment are shown to have a non-significant influence. At VDA and OHP, OMI-v1.3 shows a significant improvement with respect to v1.2 that did not account for absorbing aerosols.

scholarly journals The Arab region’s contribution to global COVID-19 research: Bibliometric and visualization analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sa’ed H. Zyoud
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Global Research

Abstract Background At the global level and in the Arab world, particularly in low-income countries, COVID-19 remains a major public health issue. As demonstrated by an incredible number of COVID-19-related publications, the research science community responded rapidly. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the growing contribution of the Arab world to global research on COVID-19. Methods For the period between December 2019 and March 2021, the search for publications was conducted via the Scopus database using terms linked to COVID-19. VOSviewer 1.6.16 software was applied to generate a network map to assess hot topics in this area and determine the collaboration patterns between different countries. Furthermore, the research output of Arab countries was adjusted in relation to population size and gross domestic product (GDP). Results A total of 143,975 publications reflecting the global overall COVID-19 research output were retrieved. By restricting analysis to the publications published by the Arab countries, the research production was 6131 documents, representing 4.26% of the global research output regarding COVID-19. Of all these publications, 3990 (65.08%) were original journal articles, 980 (15.98%) were review articles, 514 (8.38%) were letters and 647 (10.55%) were others, such as editorials or notes. The highest number of COVID-19 publications was published by Saudi Arabia (n = 2186, 35.65%), followed by Egypt (n = 1281, 20.78%) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), (n = 719, 11.73%). After standardization by population size and GDP, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Lebanon had the highest publication productivity. The collaborations were mostly with researchers from the United States (n = 968), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 661). The main research lines identified in COVID-19 from the Arab world are related to: public health and epidemiology; immunological and pharmaceutical research; signs, symptoms and clinical diagnosis; and virus detection. Conclusions A novel analysis of the latest Arab COVID-19-related studies is discussed in the current study and how these findings are connected to global production. Continuing and improving future collaboration between developing and developed countries will also help to facilitate the sharing of responsibilities for COVID-19 in research results and the implementation of policies for COVID-19.

(Mis)Information on Digital Platforms: Lessons from Twitter and Sina Weibo in the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Kreps
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Sina Weibo ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Relative Prevalence

BACKGROUND Misinformation about COVID-19 has presented challenges to public health authorities during pandemics. Understanding the prevalence and type of misinformation across contexts offers a way to understand the discourse around COVID-19 while informing potential countermeasures. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to study COVID-19 content on two prominent microblogging platform, Twitter, based in the United States, and Sina Weibo, based in China, and compare the content and relative prevalence of misinformation to better understand public discourse of public health issues across social media and cultural contexts. METHODS A total of 3,579,575 posts were scraped from both Weibo and Twitter, focusing on content from January 30th, 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and February 6th, 2020. A 1% random sample of tweets that contained both the English keywords “coronavirus” and “covid-19” and the equivalent Chinese characters was extracted and analyzed based on changes in the frequencies of keywords and hashtags. Misinformation on each platform was compared by manually coding and comparing posts using the World Health Organization fact-check page to adjudicate accuracy of content. RESULTS Both platforms posted about the outbreak and transmission but posts on Sina Weibo were less likely to reference controversial topics such as the World Health Organization and death and more likely to cite themes of resisting, fighting, and cheering against the coronavirus. Misinformation constituted 1.1% of Twitter content and 0.3% of Weibo content. CONCLUSIONS Quantitative and qualitative analysis of content on both platforms points to cross-platform differences in public discourse surrounding the pandemic and informs potential countermeasures for online misinformation.

scholarly journals Biologically effective doses of ambient solar-UV radiation in Indonesia and Japan

2000 ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuo Munakata ◽  
Santoso Cornain ◽  
Ketut Mulyadi ◽  
Masamitsu Ichihashi ◽  
Joedo Prihartono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Uv Radiation ◽  
Solar Uv Radiation ◽  
Solar Uv ◽  
Effective Doses
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document