Analyzing Digital Vector Waveforms of 0–3000 Hz Magnetic Fields for Health Studies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bowman, Joseph D. ; Krieg EF ; Miller CK ; Song RG
• Description:
  To improve the assessment of magnetic field exposures for occupational health studies, the Multi wave (R) System III (MW3) was developed to capture personal exposures to the three-dimensional magnetic field vector B(t) in the 0-3000 Hz band. To process hundreds of full-shift MW3 measurements from epidemiologic studies, new computer programs were developed to calculate the magnetic field's physical properties and its interaction with biological systems through various mechanisms (magnetic induction, radical pair interactions, ion resonance, etc.). For automated calculations in the frequency domain, the software uses new algorithms that remove artifacts in the magnetic field's Fourier transform due to electronic noise and the person's motion through perturbations in the geomagnetic field from steel objects. These algorithms correctly removed the Fourier transform artifacts in 92% of samples and have improved the accuracy of frequency-dependent metrics by as much as 3300%. The output of the MwBatch software is a matrix of 41 exposure metrics calculated for each 2/15s sample combined with 8 summary metrics for the person's full-period exposure, giving 294 summary-exposure metrics for each person monitored. In addition, the MwVisualizer software graphically explores the magnetic field's vector trace, its component waveforms, and the metrics over time. The output was validated against spreadsheet calculations with pilot data. This software successfully analyzed full-shift MW3 monitoring with 507 electric utility workers, comprising over I million vector waveforms. The software's output can be used to test hypotheses about magnetic field biology and disease with biophysical models and also assess compliance with exposure limits. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Electricity Electromagnetic Phenomena Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Magnetic Fields Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: ELF Magnetic Fields Biological-effects Biological-monitoring Biological-systems Biophysics Computer Programs Electrical-workers Electromagnetic-absorption Electromagnetic-energy Electromagnetic-fields Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Exposure Assessment Magnetic-fields Magnetic-properties Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Statistical-analysis Work-areas Work-environment Work-intervals Work-operations Worker-health Workplace-monitoring Workplace-studies

  More +
• ISSN:
  0197-8462
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  391-405
• Volume:
  31
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037055
• Citation:
  Bioelectromagnetics 2010 Jul; 31(5):391-405
• Contact Point Address:
  Joseph D. Bowman, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  jbowman@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing ; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Bioelectromagnetics
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6f465a3802640a3892a036135923bcdccbb151f0139793046ebbd064e98d0e47b9bd78cd1f4e868d53992ff82e428147797cc0678b06c0bde879d2bb198258ec
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188216/cdc_188216_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 274.85 KB ]