Chapter 3 Appendices

3.1 1. Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)

Analysis Plan

Working Title:

Overview/Purpose:

General Scientific Question(s):

Specific Scientific Question(s) (e.g. hypotheses):

Outcomes of Interest:

Predictors of Interest:

Potential Confounders or Adjustment Variables:

Other Data Specifics (e.g. time period, subgroup):

Data request (date, number):

Type of Analysis: Hypothesis testing Estimation Hypothesis screening Modeling
Hypothesis generating/exploratory Method evaluation Descriptive Analysis Approach and Special Issues:

List of Tables: (or note location of draft tables)

Plan of Action:

Responsibilities and deadlines: Paper outline Initial analyses Introduction Methods Results Discussion Tables and Figures Follow up analyses Final Draft

Names and roles (authors, co-authors, Data Core staff):

Revision History:

3.2 2. List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

  • CAP: Criteria Air Pollutant
  • CC: Coordinating Center
  • C-CAR: Center for Clean Air Research
  • COOP: Cooperative Station
  • CRAN: Comprehensive R Archive Network
  • DMDA: Data and Materials Distribution Agreement
  • EAC: Exposure Assessment Core
  • EC/OC – Elemental carbon and organic carbon
  • FIPS: Federal Information Processing Standards
  • FRM: Federal Reference Method
  • GIS: Geographic Information System
  • HAP: Hazardous Air Pollutant
  • HEI: Health Effects Institute
  • IMPROVE: Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments
  • LAC: Light Absorption Coefficient
  • LOD: Limit of Detection
  • MAIDS: MESA Air Intermediate Data Server
  • MESA: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis
  • µg/m3 – micrograms per cubic meter
  • NAAQS: National Ambient Air Quality Standards
  • NEI: National Emissions Inventory
  • NDVI: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
  • NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • NO: Nitrogen oxide
  • NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • NO2: Nitrogen dioxide
  • NOX: Oxides of nitrogen, including NO2 and NO
  • NPACT: National Particle Components Toxicity
  • O3: Ozone
  • PM: Particulate matter
  • PM2.5 – Particulate matter <= 2.5 µg in diameter
  • PM10: Particulate matter <= 10 µg in diameter
  • POC: Parameter Occurrence Code
  • ppm: parts per million
  • ppb: parts per billion
  • QA: Quality Assurance
  • QC: Quality Control
  • S: Sulfur
  • SAP: Statistical Analysis Plan
  • Se: Selenium
  • Si: Silicon
  • SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
  • SO2: Sulfur dioxide
  • SPCS: State Plane Coordinate System
  • STN: Speciation Trends Network
  • VOC: Volatile Organic Compound
  • XRF: X-ray fluorescence
  • WBAN: Weather Bureau Army Navy
  • WHI - OS: Women’s Health Initiative - Observational Study

3.3 3. Referenced Documents and Code Locations

3.4 4. Suggested Citations

3.5 5. Known Data Quality Issues

Issue Extent of Data Affected Expected Resolution Overlapping polygons in land use shapefiles (>100% land use totals) Locations along the coast of NC (primarily Sisters and WHI locations) Manually fix shapefiles Because the Oregon truck routes were determined by a different method than the rest of the US, truck route line lengths are doubled along A1 highways Locations near A1 highways in Oregon (i.e. Sisters, WHI, AQS monitors) Manually fix shapefiles Distance to city hall calculations not correctly implemented in psql

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3.6 6. Quick Reference for Averaged Exposure Variable Names

Analysts may consider exposure periods ranging from a single day or week prior to an exam up to a number of years. Some may consider multiple exposure periods. Standard naming conventions help distinguish these different exposure periods quickly and easily. The set formats for these variable names are:

  • <pollutant>_<model>_<t1>_<t2>_<interval>_<reference>_<weighting>
  • <pollutant>_<model>_<e1>_<e2>_<rounding>_<reference>_<weighting>
  • <pollutant>_<model>_<yymm1>_<yymm2>_<weighting>
  • <pollutant>_<model>_year_<year>_<weighting>
  • MET_<meteorology>_<t1>_<t2>_<interval>_<reference>_<weighting>

A table of the options that appear between brackets is included below. Characters without brackets appear as literals.

Pollutants include all of the gases, elements, and PM sizes that have been mentioned throughout this document. Models include both very sophisticated spatio-temporal models as well as ‘simple’ models such as ‘nearest monitor’ for PM2.5. The numbers t1 and t2 indicate the span of the averaging period, while ‘interval’ indicates the units of time to which t1 and t2 refer. Much of time, analysts are interested in a particular event, such as an exam, a stroke, or a diagnosis of disease. This is the reference point. Finally, some analysts will need the exposure averaged or weighted by the locations where participants actually lived. Others will need the average at a particular location over the entire time period, regardless of whether the participant lived at that location during the entire time period. Meteorological measurements can be averaged over similar time frames and will have similar names to indicate the averaging period. However, ‘weighting’ will not be indicated, as there is only one meteorological time series in each study area.