Understanding the Interconnectivity Between Intersection Traffic Congestion, Hospital Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality, and Patients' Health for Smart Cities

Status: Ongoing

Funding Agency: Camden Health Research Initiative

Abstract: 

The research team will conduct a comprehensive laboratory experiment on types of airway cells at the select study location. Studying these cells is critical as they are responsible for asthma pathogenesis. The data collected for hospital indoor air quality coupled with laboratory experiment on airway cells will allow for developing initial models to estimate indoor air quality and patient health. Traffic simulation techniques and estimation of vehicle emission at the intersection will be employed to generalize the models so that they can be used at any intersections. The primary model input parameter will be the traffic congestion and hospital location. The developed models will help health community to better understand the influence of hospital location on health of patients. The seed funding will be utilized to develop initial data sets and formulate first iteration of mathematical and simulation models. The research team will utilize outcomes of this project to seek funding from National Institute of Health (NIH) and other potential funding agencies to conduct nationwide study that will shape the standards of the future smart cities.

The research team has identified a location in Camden, New Jersey that will serve as a study site for the proposed seed funding. The team will focus on three objectives: 1) the impacts of indoor air quality on the asthma patients; 2) the impacts of outdoor air quality on the asthma patients; and 3) the impacts of traffic congestions on indoor air quality of the hospital building. The research team will utilize various regression analysis and machine learning based methods to develop the first set of models to estimate the impact of traffic congestions on indoor air quality and patient health.

Investigators: Dr. Jagadish Torlapati, PhD., Dr. Yusuf Mehta, PhD.

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