A project aimed at developing and collecting in a web platform (https://webnir.eu) a set of operational tools designed to give support to prevention practitioners has been launched in June 2017. This was part of a collaborative research, initially entrusted by INAIL (Italian Workers' Compensation Authority - Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Physical Agents Laboratory) to CNR-IFAC ("Nello Carrara" Institute for Applied Physics of the Italian National Research Council). The project is constantly evolving and currently involves other public institutions: - "Scientific Hospitalization and Care Institute" Policlinico San Matteo; - Italian National Institute of Health; - Environmental Protection Agency of Lazio; - Local Health Authority of Tuscany. The WebNir tools are dedicated to the activity of assessing and reducing risk from exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and artificial optical radiation (ROA), with particular reference to workers with active implantable medical devices (AIMD). Currently, available tools allow to: - display standardised intervention procedures for certain classes of occupational EMF sources; - analyse EMF regulations, visualise the trend of their limit values as a function of frequency and time, and calculate exact values at specified frequencies and/or time intervals; - plot and compare the frequency-dependent trends of two or more regulatory limits; - determine the respect distance from an EMF source by interpolation of measured data along a straight line, at progressively increasing distances; - evaluate and compare exposure to the electric field and magnetic flux density near power lines; - evaluate the magnetic flux density generated by any configuration of conductors, choosing from a wide variety of geometries; - process a sequence of measurements of the perceived magnetic field in the case of movement of a subject in a magnetostatic field and determine relevant radiation protection indices; - analyse in the time domain a properly sampled waveform in the low or intermediate frequency range and calculate weighted peak indices relevant to applicable regulations; - load, recognise, and process data files of measurements in the time or frequency domain originating from any type of instrumental chain; - calculate the shielding effectiveness of an ideal screen; - estimate the induced voltage at the input of a pacemaker exposed to EMF; - generate interactive graphs to dynamically display compliance with EMF-related operating procedures. While the interface of these tools is a web page, the computational load is divided between the user's computer and the server platform that deploys the applications. Therefore, for applications not requiring particularly sophisticated mathematical tools, the computational part is developed in JavaScript (fully resident on the user's machine) or in PHP. Conversely, when the use of advanced scientific libraries was necessary (like for digital filtering or Fourier transform), the computational program was implemented in Python, using the WSGI (WebService Gateway Interface) protocol to enable communication between the user interface and the Python code. It turned out to be very convenient to use the JSON (Java Script Object Notation) exchange format both to send and receive data in client-server communication and to import and export data to the various user interfaces. The portal is still under development. In addition to refining existing programs and implementing new ones, also based on the needs of the other co-involved units of the project, a program is being developed that will allow for an evolution of the current state. This will make it possible to produce a multilingual responsive website that, in addition to supporting all the libraries already employed within WebNir, performs keyword-based searches on the site and related documents. Meanwhile, upcoming applications will already be developed in both Italian and English.
WebNir: Web-based tools for assessing occupational exposure to Non-Ionizing Radiation
Moreno Comelli;Daniele Andreuccetti;Nicola Zoppetti;
2022
Abstract
A project aimed at developing and collecting in a web platform (https://webnir.eu) a set of operational tools designed to give support to prevention practitioners has been launched in June 2017. This was part of a collaborative research, initially entrusted by INAIL (Italian Workers' Compensation Authority - Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Physical Agents Laboratory) to CNR-IFAC ("Nello Carrara" Institute for Applied Physics of the Italian National Research Council). The project is constantly evolving and currently involves other public institutions: - "Scientific Hospitalization and Care Institute" Policlinico San Matteo; - Italian National Institute of Health; - Environmental Protection Agency of Lazio; - Local Health Authority of Tuscany. The WebNir tools are dedicated to the activity of assessing and reducing risk from exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and artificial optical radiation (ROA), with particular reference to workers with active implantable medical devices (AIMD). Currently, available tools allow to: - display standardised intervention procedures for certain classes of occupational EMF sources; - analyse EMF regulations, visualise the trend of their limit values as a function of frequency and time, and calculate exact values at specified frequencies and/or time intervals; - plot and compare the frequency-dependent trends of two or more regulatory limits; - determine the respect distance from an EMF source by interpolation of measured data along a straight line, at progressively increasing distances; - evaluate and compare exposure to the electric field and magnetic flux density near power lines; - evaluate the magnetic flux density generated by any configuration of conductors, choosing from a wide variety of geometries; - process a sequence of measurements of the perceived magnetic field in the case of movement of a subject in a magnetostatic field and determine relevant radiation protection indices; - analyse in the time domain a properly sampled waveform in the low or intermediate frequency range and calculate weighted peak indices relevant to applicable regulations; - load, recognise, and process data files of measurements in the time or frequency domain originating from any type of instrumental chain; - calculate the shielding effectiveness of an ideal screen; - estimate the induced voltage at the input of a pacemaker exposed to EMF; - generate interactive graphs to dynamically display compliance with EMF-related operating procedures. While the interface of these tools is a web page, the computational load is divided between the user's computer and the server platform that deploys the applications. Therefore, for applications not requiring particularly sophisticated mathematical tools, the computational part is developed in JavaScript (fully resident on the user's machine) or in PHP. Conversely, when the use of advanced scientific libraries was necessary (like for digital filtering or Fourier transform), the computational program was implemented in Python, using the WSGI (WebService Gateway Interface) protocol to enable communication between the user interface and the Python code. It turned out to be very convenient to use the JSON (Java Script Object Notation) exchange format both to send and receive data in client-server communication and to import and export data to the various user interfaces. The portal is still under development. In addition to refining existing programs and implementing new ones, also based on the needs of the other co-involved units of the project, a program is being developed that will allow for an evolution of the current state. This will make it possible to produce a multilingual responsive website that, in addition to supporting all the libraries already employed within WebNir, performs keyword-based searches on the site and related documents. Meanwhile, upcoming applications will already be developed in both Italian and English.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
