The effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on life on Earth have continuously been the subject of research. Over-exposure to UV radiation is harmful, but small amounts of exposure are required for good health. It is, therefore, crucial for humans to optimise their own UV exposure and not exceed UV levels that are sufficient for essential biological functions. Exceeding those levels may increase risk of developing health problems including skin cancer and cataracts. Smartphones have been previously investigated for their ability to detect UV radiation with or without additional devices that monitor personal UV exposure, in order to maintain safe exposure times by individuals. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the current state of smartphones' use in UV radiation monitoring and prediction. There are four main methods for UV radiation detection or prediction involving the use smartphones, depending on the requirements of the user: devoted software applications developed for smartphones to predict UV Index (UVI), wearable and non-wearable devices that can be used with smartphones to provide real-time UVI, and the use of smartphone image sensors to detect UV radiation. The latter method has been a growing area of research over the last decade. Built-in smartphone image sensors have been investigated for UV radiation detection and the quantification of related atmospheric factors (including aerosols, ozone, clouds and volcanic plumes). The overall practicalities, limitations and challenges are reviewed, specifically in regard to public education. The ubiquitous nature of smartphones can provide an interactive tool when considering public education on the effects and individual monitoring of UV radiation exposure, although social and geographic areas with low socioeconomic factors could challenge the usefulness of smartphones. Overall, the review shows that smartphones provide multiple opportunities in different forms to educate users on personal health with respect to UV radiation.
Sport is an integral and enduring part of many societies, such as Australia. Participation in outdoor sports, such as tennis, comes with a very real risk of dangerous solar ultraviolet exposure which can result in erythema (sunburn), serious conditions such as skin cancer, including melanoma, and eye conditions such as cataracts and pterygium. This study remotely assesses the effective ultraviolet exposures in response to the increased sun safety awareness at a major summertime tennis tournament in Australia. The assessment only uses publicly accessible data and information. It was found that tournament organizers have effectively adopted sun‐safe protocols into the uniform policy that the court officials (judges and ball kids) are mandated to follow. The combination of sun‐participant geometry and the photoprotection provided by uniforms significantly reduced the ambient ultraviolet exposure, which was recorded to be as high as 9.9 SED h−1, to just 1.0 and 0.5 SED h−1 for ball kids and judges, respectively, compared to up to 2.0 SED h−1 for players. Even though caution is needed against complacency with sun safety, with the need for the court officials and the players to still apply sunscreen, the court officials provided persistent visual role modeling of sun‐safe behaviors.
This research reports the first time the sensitivity, properties and response of a smartphone image sensor that has been used to characterise the photobiologically important direct UVB solar irradiances at 305nm in clear sky conditions at high air masses. Solar images taken from Autumn to Spring were analysed using a custom Python script, written to develop and apply an adaptive threshold to mitigate the effects of both noise and hot-pixel aberrations in the images. The images were taken in an unobstructed area, observing from a solar zenith angle as high as 84° (air mass=9.6) to local solar maximum (up to a solar zenith angle of 23°) to fully develop the calibration model in temperatures that varied from 2°C to 24°C. The mean ozone thickness throughout all observations was 281±18 DU (to 2 standard deviations). A Langley Plot was used to confirm that there were constant atmospheric conditions throughout the observations. The quadratic calibration model developed has a strong correlation between the red colour channel from the smartphone with the Microtops measurements of the direct sun 305nm UV, with a coefficient of determination of 0.998 and very low standard errors. Validation of the model verified the robustness of the method and the model, with an average discrepancy of only 5% between smartphone derived and Microtops observed direct solar irradiances at 305nm. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of using the smartphone image sensor as a means to measure photobiologically important solar UVB radiation. The use of ubiquitous portable technologies, such as smartphones and laptop computers to perform data collection and analysis of solar UVB observations is an example of how scientific investigations can be performed by citizen science based individuals and groups, communities and schools.
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