As you can see from my poster, my proposal concerns the issue of traffic related air pollution in the city of Chicago.

For several years, emissions of gases from motor vehicles have caused various health

problems, because of its concentrations of harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide and

sulfur dioxide, which causes diseases such as asthma and bronchitis. Due to the

continuous mobilization of urban cities seen in several studies and confirmed by the

Environmental Protection Agency, and the World Health Organization, this problem is

worsening, causing more health problems. One place where this problem may hold true

is the city of Chicago where limited research has occurred. It’s puzzling why there’s

little research in this city, as I found studies concerning the same issue being conducted in

other similar urban cities, NY, and even a smaller cities like Harris County Texas. So

that’s the main reason why I conducted my research in this city, so that people can

recognize and be more aware of the impact that the emissions from vehicles can have on

them. In this study I will be observing the effects of exposing rats to Chicago specific air

pollution over a period of one year (and I’ll go more into this in a second).

AIMSAnd my main aims or goals for this study is to determine the severity of the air pollution

on respiratory health, by first conducting my study on the rats, and analyzing the results,

seeing from that the possible impact on the health of those living in the city of Chicago.

METHODS

To obtain samples, air-sampling canisters will be utilized, which sucks up the air using a

vacuum gauge. These samples will be analyzed for its levels of NO2 and SO2 utilizing a

widely used method called gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which

uses a mechanism to identify different substances and their amounts in a sample.

Multiple samples from Chicago will be taken, and upon gaining the air samples

(six samples in total, with each can capable of holding six liters), two separate

environments will be created in a laboratory, in a large tank. Each ventilated tank will

contain 20 rats, however one will be exposed, for a reasonable daily amount of time, to

the samples obtained (the experimental group), and the effects of that air on health will be

observed. The other tank will contain 20 rats, unexposed to the traffic related air

pollution from Chicago. This is the control group. Observations on health will be done

at the end of each week by monitoring each of the rats’ respirations rates from both of the

cages. Being that an average rat’s respiration rate is about 85 breaths per minute, any

deviations from this rate will likely suggest a negative change in health of that rat. The

greater the deviation, the more severe the effect most likely is.

After a period of one full year, the observations and experiment will cease and the

results of the two cages will be compared and analyzed. As gathered from other

experiments, the results will likely yield the conclusion that the rats in the experimental

group will be less healthy than the rats in the control group due to exposure to the air

pollution, and will probably have a higher respiration rate than the control group, because

their lungs are working harder to obtain oxygen from the air. As, seen with other studies,

development of diseases occurred due to exposure to TRAP, and it can be concluded that

the same results will occur in this study (Patel et al. 2011; Wendt et al. 2014).