Background and Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic-therapeutic prob-lem of pelvic recurrence of rectum cancer, highlighting current surgical standards and the possi-ble role of the minimally invasive approach. This retrospective analysis of our surgical case study wishes to enter this debate while suggesting a possible line of action, based on the site of recur-rence. Materials and Methods: We examined, retrospectively, all the patients diagnosed, between 2008 and 2018, with cancer of the rectum at the "Pietro Valdoni" Department of Surgery and monitored their follow-up for 5 years. The sample consisted of 368 patients with rectal neoplasm, 136 females and 232 males, with an average age of 65.8 (ranging from 37 to 86). In 103 of the cases, the neo-plasm was located in the upper rectum (28%), in 119 cases in the middle rectum (32.3%), in 102 cases in the lower rectum (27.7%), in 31 cases (8.4%) at the level of the right/sigma junction and in 13 cases it was not possible to define the site with certainty (3.5%). Results: We examined all patients diagnosed with cancer of the rectum between 2008 and 2018 at the "Pietro Valdoni" Department of Surgery retrospectively and monitored their follow-up for 5 years. The sample consists of 368 patients with rectal neoplasm, 136 females and 232 males. Conclusions: The discussion remains open as to which approach is best at surgical level, whether laparoscopic, robotic or open-air. Our experience informs us that the most dangerous site remains on the anastomotic site.

Reinforcement learning is used for air combat problems in recent years, and the idea of curriculum learning is often used for reinforcement learning, but traditional curriculum learning suffers from the problem of plasticity loss in neural networks. Plasticity loss is the difficulty of learning new knowledge after the network has converged. To this end, we propose a motivational curriculum learning distributed proximal policy optimization (MCLDPPO) algorithm, through which agents trained can significantly outperform the predictive game tree and mainstream reinforcement learning methods. The motivational curriculum learning is to help the agent gradually improve their combat ability by observing the agent's unsatisfactory performance and providing corresponding rewards as a guide. Additionally, a complete tactical maneuver is encapsulated based on existing air combat knowledge, and through the flexible use of these maneuvers, some tactics beyond human knowledge can be realized. In addition, we designed an interruption mechanism for the agent to increase the frequency of decision-making when the agent faces an emergency. When the number of threats the agent receives changes, the current action will be interrupted to reacquire observations and make decisions again. Using the interruption mechanism can significantly improve the ability of the agent. To simulate actual air combat better, we built an air combat environment based on digital twin technology to create an air combat engine core such as missiles and radars. Based on this environment, we develop a distributed intelligent training system that employs Redis as the cache and obtains the data generated in the distributed environment through a multi-threaded TCP/IP protocol, which significantly increases the training data throughput and helps the agent accelerates convergence. The experimental results demonstrate that the agent can fully exploit the situational information to make reasonable decisions and affords air combat tactical adaption, verifying the effectiveness of the algorithmic framework proposed in this paper.

Modern commercial air travel connects disparate human populations with the global airline industry transporting up to 4.5 billion passengers annually in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. While such connections are convenient for commerce and tourism, air travel networks can also be efficient distributors of infectious diseases such as influenza, SARS-CoV-1, hemorrhagic fevers, and more recently SARS-CoV-2 and monkeypox. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health agencies used multi-layered control strategies including pre-departure testing and vaccination requirements, masking, post-arrival testing, and quarantine to manage the risk of COVID-19 transmission associated with air travel. Simultaneously, the surveillance of aircraft wastewater emerged as a promising new data source to screen for SARS-CoV-2 infections, including newly emergent lineages, among international air travelers. Herein, we review the potential of aircraft wastewater for public health surveillance. The known contributing population and flight itinerary combined with the highly concentrated waste stream and convenient sampling during routine lavatory servicing make aircraft wastewater a strategic opportunity for unintrusive surveillance of the global fluxes of human pathogens. We estimate for the cases of fecal- or urine-shed pathogens, sampling from 3,500 and 1,250 flights per week, respectively, would be required to survey 10% of all global long-haul flight passengers. In the case of the United States, achieving 10% coverage of all international arrivals would require sampling from 925 and 322 flights per week, respectively. Aircraft wastewater surveillance could also be integrated with network and infectious disease models to better inform traditional public health control measures during emerging epidemics. Given the tremendous potential for public good and the massive economic costs of epidemics, governments should consider international collaboration to create a global aircraft wastewater surveillance system.

Substantial reductions of the human and economic activities like road traffic for several months in 2020 were one of the consequences of the Coronavirus disease. This unprecedented change in urban metabolism also affected temperature and air pollutants. This study investigates the effects of the first COVID-19 lockdown over 43 cities in Europe. It determines the influence of anthropogenic activities on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as on land surface temperature (LST), and the surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII), using satellite, modelled, and mobility data. Our findings show that there are great temporal and spatial differences and distinct patterns between the cities regarding the magnitude of change of the variables under study. In general, the results indicate a significant decrease in NO2 concentrations in most of the studied cities compared to the reference period 2015-2019. However, reductions could not be attributed to mobility changes like less traffic at transit stations, contrary to the results of previous studies. O3 levels increased during the first lockdown mainly influenced by the decreasing NO2 concentrations. The PM pattern was inconsistent over time and space. Similar as the NO2 results, no relation to the altered mobility behavior was found. No clear signal could be detected for LST and the SUHII, likely due to dominating meteorological influences. Therefore, single city case studies may be misleading.

Keywords:

Accurate estimation of vehicle emissions is essential and can be helpful in the decision-making process. Thanks to calculation methods, it is possible to accurately estimate the emissions that result from driving a car and to determine their impact on, for example, the health of pedestrians who are on the pavement near an arterial road. Recent years have seen an increase in the use and importance of emission models, as well as vehicle traffic simulation models. Increasingly, emission models are being combined with traffic simulation models, as it is not practical to actually measure the on-road emissions of an entire fleet of vehicles over a given stretch of road. This paper provides an overview of the selected work on the topic of emission modelling and vehicle traffic simulation models. The models are distinguished according to their respective scales of accuracy, i.e., micro, meso, and macro. Selected work combining emission and traffic simulation models is also presented, as well as development trends in the field. In particular, the paper also highlights the fact of proper calibration of vehicle traffic simulation models in order to obtain the most reliable vehicle emissions results from computational models. The review of the works carried out may be helpful for future projects concerning the use of simulation tools for transport and environmental decision-makers in the area of arterial roads.

The research aims to improve some of the physical and hydro-physical properties of some Vertisols in the southern region (part of the eastern Houran Plateau) in Sweda Governorate at the south of Syria. Using different quantities of volcanic ash, soil samples were collected from the Al-Thahallah village from a depth of (0-30) cm, The experiment was designed according to the complete random design with one factor that represents the ash quantity (1.25, 2.5, 5) %, with three replicates for each treatment in addition to the control treatment a0. The experiment was carried out within the plastic pots during agricultural season 2018/2019, in which the wheat of the Sham variety 3 were cultivated as a cover plant. The results showed that the addition of volcanic ash at the quantity of 5% led to a significant increase in the infiltration rate by (328.60) %,%, where the filtration rate increased from 0.42 cm/hr -1 to 1.80 cm.h-1, as well as for each of the air porosity by (89) % and the volume of infiltrate water by (40) %, compared with the control. The above-mentioned addition also resulted in a decrease in both dry bulk density, total soil porosity and volumetric swelling coefficient by (18.60, 5.80, 314) % Respectively, compared to the control. The addition also contributed to the reduce in the weighted moisture content when saturation and the field capacity, at the level of significance of 5%. The research recommends adding volcanic ash to the soil at a quantity of 5%, and adding enhancements with volcanic ash at various levels such as organic waste.

Several studies have identified a relationship between air pollution and depression, particularly in relation to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. However, the strength of this association appears to be moderated by variables such as age, gender, genetic vulnerability, physical activity and climatic conditions, and has not been assessed at a cross-national level to date. The current study examines the association between the prevalence of depression in each country, based on the most recent Global Burden of Disease Study data, and the average national level of PM2.5 based on the World Health Organization’s database. The observed associations were adjusted for age, gender, level of physical activity, income, education, population density, climate, and type of depression. It was observed that there was a modest but significant positive correlation between PM2.5 level and the prevalence of depression even after adjusting for the above confounders. This association was more marked above a certain threshold and applied chiefly to major depressive episodes. These findings are of significant public health importance in terms of preventive strategies aimed at reducing the population-level burden of depression.

Ion Transport Membrane (ITM) is a well-developed technology for producing O₂ by separating air in its membrane. To decrease energy loss in air separation unit and to increase the overall efficiency of a power generation unit ITM is added with the gasification unit in this model. Ceramic materials are generally used to make ion transport membrane that produces oxygen by conducting oxygen ions at specified temperature. Potential advantages can be gained by integrating ITM technology with power generation units as 99% pure oxygen is produced from ITM. A salient comparison between ITM air separator combined with IGCC and cryogenic air separator combined with IGCC is done in this paper where the total power generation cycle remains same for both cases excluding the air separation units (ITM and cryogenic). Using ITM air separator is more beneficial compared to cryogenic air separation as ITM technology helps to improve IGCC overall efficiency and also reduces plant auxiliaries than that of power generation systems integrated with cryogenic.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is strongly associated with tobacco smoking and it is the increasing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The prevalence of COPD among never smokers varies widely across regions, areas, and nations. COPD in smokers has been extensively explored worldwide, however, COPD in non-smokers is under-explored and there is limited data available on non-smoking COPD. We determined the role of environmental pollution and biomass fuel exposure in COPD patients who were non-smokers. We evaluated the clinical profile of non-smokers with COPD in a retrospective observational study. 180 non-smoker COPD patients were selected from the year 2016-to 2018. We found that many patients with COPD are non-smokers and the incidence is higher among the rural population, suggesting that non-smoking COPD is evolving rapidly due to biomass smoke and other environmental pollutant exposures.

Road vehicles are a large contributor to Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) pollution. The routine road-side monitoring stations, however, may underrepresent the severity of personal exposure in urban areas, because long-term average readings cannot capture the effects of momentary, high peaks of air pollution. While numerical modelling tools historically have been used to propose an improved distribution of monitoring stations, ultra-high resolution Computational Fluid Dynamics models can further assist the relevant stakeholders in understanding the important details of pollutant dispersion and exposure at local level. This study deploys a 10 cm-resolution CFD model to evaluate actual high peaks of personal exposure to NOx from traffic, by tracking the gases emitted from the tailpipe of moving vehicles being dispersed towards the roadside. The investigation shows that a set of four Euro 5-rated diesel vehicles travelling at constant speed may generate momentary road-side concentrations of NOx as high as 1.25 mg/m3, with 25% expected increase for doubling the number of vehicles and approximately 50% reduction when considering Euro 6-rated vehicles. The paper demonstrates how the numerical tool can be used to identify the impact of measures to reduce personal exposure, such as protective urban furniture, as traffic patterns and environmental conditions change.

Aircraft emissions represent a relevant amount of human induced CO2. Globally, up to 2.5 per cent of such emissions stem from the aviation industry. In order to investigate the effects within the atmosphere, realistic flight profiles are necessary to provide quantitatively tangible values of emissions. The flight profiles and the according fuel consumption can be calculated by using waypoints from flight plans and Base of Aircraft Data (BADA). This paper presents an approach to refine the fuel consumption by integrating the passenger load into the calculation. Since effects of emissions have to be assessed on a greater scale, such as on the European air traffic network, the presented approach provides cost functions for CO2 emissions for different aircraft types and load factors. The cost functions were derived by means of regression analyses of BADA based calculated flight profiles with a step size of one second. The calculations are based on real historic traffic scenarios of several days. The derived aircraft specific fuel burn coefficients enable a simple and efficient integration of CO2 estimations depending on the flight distance, load factor and aircraft type. This can be applied to large traffic scenarios to also study different set-ups such as travel restrictions, other disruptions or an alteration in the traffic system as a whole. In order to enable the assessment of further aspects of such changes to the European air traffic system at large and to foster reproducibility and comparability of related studies, we provide further general-purpose cost estimation functions for several important key characteristics. Besides fuel consumption, we develop cost estimations for air navigation fees and maintenance for conventional aircraft. Those functions are also provided for the design concept of a short-range all-electric aircraft. This propeller aircraft features game-changing technologies such as active laminar flow control, active load alleviation and advanced materials and structure concepts. The approaches discussed in this paper will focus on the generic aspects of aircraft related costs, which can be derived from general available data. For the sake of reproducibility, the results will be made publicly available.

Research have been conducted in many countries around the world to assess air quality during COVID-19 pandemic, especially during lockdown period, some of these studies found an increase or decrease in some pollutants. This paper investigates the impact of COVID-19 on seven air pollutants (i.e., PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂, O₃, SO₂, H₂S, CO) from the period January 2020 to December 2020 in the State of Kuwait. Kuwait is a desert country located in the north-eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, and the northeast of the Arabian Gulf (Persian as it is sometimes called). Several analytical methods were conducted, such as spatial analysis (spatial interpolation) to study the distribution of the studied variables. The data was also statistically analysed (time series analysis - Kernel density) to study the temporal changes. The analysis also included applying air quality index to the data. We found that concentrations for the pollutants decreased during the pandemic due to the decrease of anthropogenic sources including such as traffic and petroleum activities, but the concentration for PM_2.5 increased, mostly because of the transported dust coming with the northwest winds prevailing in Kuwait from the Arabian deserts and Iraq.

The vehicular technology has integrated many features in the system, which enhances the safety and comfort of the user. Among these features, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the only feature that maintains the set cabin air temperature (CAT). The user’s command drives the set CAT, and the thermostat provides feedback to the HVAC to maintain the set CAT. The CAT is increased by extracting the heat from the engine surface produced by the fuel combustion, whereas the CAT is reduced by the known processes of the air conditioning system (ACS). Therefore, the CAT driven by the user’s command may not be optimal, and estimating the optimal CAT is still unsolved. In this work, the user was allowed to input a range for CAT instead of a single value. Optimal HVAC criteria were defined, and the CAT was estimated by performing iterative analysis in the user-selected range satisfying the criteria. The HVAC criteria were defined based on two measurable parameters: air conditioning refrigerant fluid pressure (ACRFP) and engine surface temperature (EST) empirically defined as the vector CATOP. In this article, a NARX DL model by mapping the vehicle-level vectors (VLV) to predict the CATOP in real-time using field data obtained from a 2020 Cadillac CT5 test vehicle. Utilising the DL model, CATOP for future time steps were predicted by varying the CAT in the definite range and applying HVAC criteria. Thus, an optimal set CAT was estimated, corresponding to the optimal CATOP defined by the HVAC criteria. We performed the validation of the DL model for multiple datasets using traditional statistical techniques, namely, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values, first-order derivatives (FOD), and root-mean-square error (RMSE).

Background: this RCT assesses the 18 months clinical outcomes after regenerative therapy of periimplantitis lesions using either an electrolytic method (EC) to remove biofilms or a combination of powder spray and electrolytic method (PEC). Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients (24 implants) suffering from periimplantitis were randomly treated by EC or PEC followed by augmentation and submerged healing. Probing pocket depth (PPD), Bleeding on Probing (BoP), suppuration and standardized radiographs were assessed before surgery (T0), 6 months after augmentation (T1), 6 (T2) and 12 (T3) months after replacement of the restoration. Results: Mean of PPD changed from 5.8 ± 1.6 mm (T0) to 3.1 ± 1.4 mm (T3). While BoP and suppuration at T0 was 100 % BoP decreased at T2 to 36.8 % and at T3 to 35.3 %. Suppuration could be found 10.6% at T2 and 11.8% at T3. Radiologic bone level measured from the implant shoulder to the first visible bone to implant contact was 4.9 ± 1.9 mm at me-sial and 4.4 ± 2.2 mm at distal sites (T0) and 1.7 ± 1.7 mm and 1.5 ± 17 mm at T3. Conclusions: Significant radiographic bone fill and improvement of clinical parameters were demonstrated 18 months after therapy.

TRPOMI instrument aboard Sentinel-5P is a relatively new, high-resolution source of information about atmosphere composition. One of the primary atmospheric trace gases that we can observe through it is nitrogen dioxide. By now, we were using the chemical weather model (GEM-AQ) as a mean for estimating nitrogen dioxide concentration on a regional scale. Although well established in atmospheric science, the GEM-AQ simulations were always based on emission data, which in the case of the energy sector were reported by stack owners. In this paper, we attempted to compare the TROPOMI and GEM-AQ derived VCDs over Poland with a particular focus on large point emitters. We also checked how cloudy conditions influence TROPOMI results. Finally, we tried to link the NO2 column number densities with surface concentration using boundary layer height as an additional explanatory variable

The concept of this prototype is to create a cold air film layer, in indoor side of the window. The function of this extra cold air layer is to increase the amount of window resistance and decrease its U-Value. It provide air film layer by using the same concept of desert cooler or wind catcher. They both bring the hot air from outside then let it go throw straw miost with cold water. After hot air move through straw, it would become cold, thus increase the window resistance and decrease the haet gian, therefore, decrease the cooling load. So, this window model works by heating the air in air room by sun radiation, then after a while, air pressure will rise and its volume will increase then it will impulse to wet hay, and become cold. Then there is fins to guide air flow to its correct direction, thus inner side of window will become cold, not like other type of window which when temperature rise, the inner side of window become hot. So, this window prevents heat transition and creare regenereted trubouland air flim in the inner side of the window. Using calculation to find air film characteristics and WINDOW7.7 software to calculate heat gain through window, shows that it is expected from this prototype to reduce heat gain by 6.85 % for double glazed clear window.

Today, air quality is one of the global concerns that governments are facing. One of the main air pollutants is the particulate matter (PM) that affects human health. This article presents the modeling of a purification system by means of negative air ions (NAIs) for air pollutant removal, using computational intelligence methods. The system uses a high voltage booster output to ionize air molecules from stainless steel electrodes; its particle-capturing efficiency reaches up to 97%. With two devices (5 x 2 x 2.5 cm), 2 trillion negative ions are produced per second, and the particulate matter (PM 2.5) can be reduced from 999 to 0 mg / m3 in a period of approximately 5 to 7 minutes (in a 40 x 40 x 40 cm acrylic chamber). This negative ion generator is a viable and sustainable alternative to reduce polluting emissions, with beneficial effects on human health.

Understanding the relationships between land cover/urban structure patterns and air pollutants is key to sustainable urban planning and development. In this study, we employ a mobile monitoring method to collect PM_2.5 and BC data in the city of Philadelphia, PA during the summer of 2019 and apply the Structure of Urban Landscapes (STURLA) methodology to examine relationships between urban structure and atmospheric pollution. We find that, while PM_2.5 and BC vary by STURLA class, many of the differences in pollutant concentrations between classes are not significant. However, we also find that the proportions in which STURLA components are present throughout the urban landscape can be used to predict urban air pollution. Among frequently sampled STURLA classes, gpl hosted the highest PM_2.5 concentrations on average (16.60 _± 4.29 µg/m³), while tgbwp hosted the highest BC concentrations (2.31 _± 1.94 µg/m³). Furthermore, STURLA combined with machine learning modeling was able to correlate PM_2.5 (R²= 0.68, RMSE 2.82 µg/m³) and BC (R² = 0.64, RMSE 0.75 µg/m³) concentrations with the urban landscape and spatially interpolate concentrations where sampling did not take place. These results demonstrate the efficacy of the STURLA methodology in modeling relationships between air pollution and land cover/urban structure patterns.

Air pollution contributes to a critical environmental problem in various towns and cities. With the emergence of the smart cities concept, appropriate methods to curb associated with exposure to pollutants must have been a portion of appropriate urban development policy. This study presents a technologically driven air quality solution in smart cities to advertise energy-efficient and cleaner sequestration in these areas. It aims to address the issue of how to integrate the data-based strategies and artificial intelligence into efficient public sector pollution management in smart cities as a core part of the smart city definition. Exploratory research has been used in 152 smart cities, and environmental experts contributed to this study. It further addresses the technical criteria for implementing such a framework that the public administration uses to prepare the renovation of public buildings, minimize energy use and costs, and link these smart police stations to monitor air pollution as a part of integrated cities. Such a digital transition in resource management will increase public governance's energy performance, a higher standard of operation, and a healthier environment.

Recently, we have witnessed a booming development of composites and multi-dopant metal oxides to be employed as novel photocatalysts. Yet the practical application of photocatalysis for environmental purposes is still elusive. Concerns about the unknown fate and toxicity of nanoparticles, unsatisfactory performance in real conditions, mass transfer limitations and durability issues have so far discouraged investments in full-scale applications of photocatalysis. Herein, we provide a critical overview of the main challenges that are limiting large-scale application of photocatalysis in air and water/wastewater purification. We then discuss the main approaches reported in the literature to tackle these shortcomings, such as the design of photocatalytic reactors that retain the photocatalyst, the study of degradation of micropollutants in different water matrices, and the development of gas-phase reactors with optimized contact time and irradiation. Furthermore, we provide a critical analysis of research-practice gaps such as treatment of real water and air samples, degradation of pollutants with actual environmental concentrations, photocatalyst deactivation, and cost and environmental life-cycle assessment.

: During the period of COVID-19, the Chinese government implemented a series of actions to prevent the spread of the virus. It is noticed that these preventive actions have generated positive effects on air pollution in Wuhan and Beijing. And, due to the differences in city functions, geographic locations, meteorological conditions, and preventive action details between the two cities, noticeable difference is observed on how they reduced air pollution. This unfortunate incident has become a social sample for studying the industrial and livelihood activities impact on air pollution, otherwise would be highly impossible. This paper starts from observing data from NASA's real-time fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and NO2, and comparing the air pollution in this special time domain with previous years. It is discovered that both PM2.5 and NO2 have been reduced in Wuhan, while only NO2 has significant reduction in Beijing, during the COVID-19 responses. This suggests that the human activity suppression by the COVID-19 control yields different effects on different pollutants and in different cities. Possible reasons for such effects are analysed by considering the public health control levels as well as the pollutant migration, industrial activities, and the weather conditions.

As air traffic demand grows, robust, data-driven anomaly detection methods are required to ensure that aviation systems become safer and more efficient. The terminal airspace is identified as the most critical airspace for both individual flight-level and system-level safety and efficiency. As such, developing data-driven anomaly detection methods to analyze terminal airspace operations is paramount. With the expansion of ADS-B technology, open-source flight tracking data has become more readily available to enable larger-scale analyses of aircraft operations. This paper makes a distinction between spatial metrics in ADS-B trajectory data and energy metrics derived from ADS-B trajectory data. Motivated by the limited number of approaches that simultaneously consider both spatial and energy metrics, this paper introduces the concepts of spatial anomalies and energy anomalies. In particular, it proposes a novel, unified framework for detection of spatial and energy anomalies in ADS-B trajectory data (and associated derived metrics). The framework consists of three main parts - a data processing procedure, a spatial anomaly detection method, and an energy anomaly detection method. The framework is demonstrated utilizing four months of ADS-B trajectory data associated with arrivals at San Francisco International Airport, and the relationship between the spatial and energy anomalies in this terminal airspace is explored. The results that stem from the implementation of this framework indicate that if an aircraft is spatially not conforming to an identified set of air traffic flows representing standard spatial operations, then this aircraft is more likely to experience non-conformance to standard operations in its energy metrics. Aviation operators, such as air traffic controllers, may benefit from this observation, as it may factor into decision-making in instances where there is the potential to instruct an aircraft to spatially deviate from standard operations. Additionally, this research revealed underlying differences between trajectories that are spatially nominal yet energy-anomalous and those trajectories that are spatially anomalous and energy-anomalous. Focusing solely on energy anomaly detection does not provide insight into potential spatial-related decisions that may have been made to result in off-nominal energy behavior.

Air conditioning system of electric vehicles has new change as the internal combustion engine is being replaced with electrified AC motor. With large amount of batteries installed at the bottom of frame, the conventional compressor which is belt-driven can be removed and another AC motor can play the role for air conditioning in electric vehicles. From this change, the system efficiency would be improved since it is possible to control the electrified compressor independently from traction system in contrast with the belt-driven compressor. As a result, by applying the electrified compressor for air conditioning system, the whole system can achieve better efficiency and longer driving distance, which is most important in electric vehicles. In this paper, 3-phase interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) was designed using lumped-parameter model and finite element method.

Air pollution has become the world’s single biggest environmental health risk of the past decade, causing about 7 million yearly deaths worldwide. One of the dominant air pollutants is fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a product of combustion. Exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with decreased lung function, impaired immunity, and exacerbations of lung disease. Accumulating evidence suggests that many of the adverse health effects of PM2.5 exposure are associated with lung inflammation and oxidative stress. While the physical structure and surface chemistry of PM2.5 are surrogate measures of particle oxidative potential, little is known about their contributions to negative health effects. In this study, we used functionalized carbon black particles as surrogates for atmospherically aged combustion formed soot to assess the effects of PM2.5 surface chemistry in lung cells. We exposed the BEAS-2B lung epithelial cell line to different soot at a range of concentrations, and assessed cell viability, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Our results indicate that exposure to soot with varying particle surface composition results in differential cell viability rates, expression of pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress genes, and protein carbonylation. We conclude that particle surface chemistry, specifically oxygen content, in soot modulates lung cell inflammatory and oxidative stress responses.

The present study investigates the relationship between the transmission of COVID-19 infections and climate indicators in Dhaka City, Bangladesh, using coronavirus infections data available from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Bangladesh. The Spearman-ranked correlation test was carried out to study the association of seven climate indicators, including humidity, air quality, minimum temperature, precipitation, maximum temperature, mean temperature and wind speed with the COVID-19 outbreak in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. The study found that, among the seven indicators, only three indicators (air quality, minimum temperature and average temperature) have a significant relationship with new COVID-19 cases. The results of this paper will give health regulators and policymakers valuable information to lessen the COVID-19 infection in Dhaka and other countries around the world.

A new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have determined a pneumonia outbreak in China (Wuhan and Hubei) on December 2019. While pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical intervention strategies are strengthened worldwide, the scientific community has been studying the risk factors associated with SARS-Cov-2, to enrich epidemiological information. For a long time, before the industrialized era, air pollution has been a real and big health concern and it is today a very serious environmental risk for many diseases and anticipated deaths in the world. It has long been known that air pollutants increasing the invasiveness of pathogens for humans by acting as a carrier and making people more sensitive to pathogens through a negative influence on the immune system. Based on scientific evidences, the hypothesis that air pollution, resulting from a combination of factors such as meteorological data, level of industrialization as well as regional topography, can acts both as an infection carrier as a harmful factor of the health outcomes of COVID-19 disease has been raised recently. This hypothesis is turning in scientific evidence, thanks to the numerous studies that have been launched all over the world. With this review, we want to provide a first unique view of all the first epidemiological studies relating the association between air pollution and SARS-CoV-2. Major findings are consistent, highlighting the important contribution of air pollution on the COVID-19 spread and with a less extent also PM₁₀.

This review chronicles the indirect transmission method which seems to be overlooked by most people and makes attempts to clearly document the various transmission ways with a hope that such information may strengthen the knowledge base of researchers towards methods of eradicating the pandemic. Current knowledge of transmission and exposure of SARS-CoV-2 has been explained. Various researchers have put forward different ways of exposure and transmission. Literature does not reveal whether the indirect transmission route is the dominant one. However total lockdown could be a veritable means to reduce both direct and indirect transmission routes. In many countries where the indirect transmission has been reduced, the scourge of the virus is less. The work creates awareness on the need to watch out for those routes of transmissions that may not be popular and suggested key knowledge gaps that needs to filled.

In the present paper, a measure of the influence of irregularities of the underlying surface (for instance, the real terrain profile) on the dynamics of air flow is estimated. It is shown that these irregularities significantly perturbing the pressure, density, velocity and temperature of air flow; for perturbed pressure, density, velocity and temperature of air flow the closed formulas in the Fourier integral form are obtained. In addition, in the present paper, it is proved that due to these perturbations, at a certain altitude of the atmosphere some surface of the "sturdy wall" form appears, on which the vertical and horizontal components of the air flow velocity become infinitesimal and infinitely large, respectively.

This retrospective study evaluates the effect of a telemedicine program developed in the central Catalan region in lowering the environmental footprint by reducing the emission of atmospheric pollutants thanks to a reduction in the number of hospital visits involving journeys by road. Between January 2018 and June 2019 a total of 12,322 referrals were made to telemedicine services in the primary care centers, avoiding a total of 9,034 face-to-face visits. In total, the distance saved was 192,682 km, with a total travel time savings of 3,779 hours and a total fuel reduction of 11,754 liters with an associated cost of €15,664. This represents an average reduction of 3,248.3 g of carbon dioxide, 4.05 g of carbon monoxide, 4.86 g of nitric oxide and 3.2 g of sulphur dioxide. This study confirms that telemedicine reduces the environmental impact of atmospheric pollutants emitted by vehicles, reducing the number of journeys made for face-to-face visits and can contribute to environmental sustainability.

Microplastics (of size < 5mm) pollution in our environment is of current concern by researchers, public media and non-governmental organizations. Implications by their presence in aquatic and soil ecosystems have been well studied and documented, but less attention has been paid on airborne microplastics (MPs). Studies concerning airborne microplastics started from 2016 and only a few (n=7) have been published till date. Although, studies may increase in the following years, since air is very important for human survival. Microplastics have been observed in atmospheric fallouts in indoor and outdoor environments using a sampling or vacuum pump, rain sampler and/or particulate fallout collector. Identification and quantification have been carried out by visual, spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques. Factors such as meterological, climatic and anthropogenic influence the distribution and movement of airborne MP. Human exposure may be through inhalation or dermal route with their potential biopersistence and translocation. Ingestion may cause localized inflammation and cancer due to responses by the immune cells, especially in individuals with compromised metabolism and poor clearance mechanisms. Ecological risks involve possible contamination of the ecosystem through a dynamic relationship of MPs in soil, water and air forming a MP contamination cycle. The present review aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of current knowledge or information regarding microplastics in air, identifies gap in knowledge and give suggestions for future research.

The purpose of this study is to assess the concentration-response relations between conjunctivitis and exposure to ambient ozone. This retrospective study includes emergency department (ED) visits for conjunctivitis in Edmonton, Canada, for the period April 1992–March 2002. Daily average levels of ozone (range: 1.2–50.9, ppb), of temperature, and of relative humidity were estimated and used for the period of the study. For each of the considered exposure lags, (from 0 to 9 days), six different models were fitted to estimate the concentration-response function. The goodness of fit was assessed using the Akaike information criterion. During the period of the study, 17,211 ED visits for conjunctivitis were recorded and used. For all subjects together, a positive statistically significant association was obtained for the exposure lagged by 5 days. For female subjects, lags 1, 3, and 9 had positive statistically significant associations (lag 2 had negative associations). For male subjects, only lag 5 had a positive statistically significant association. The estimated non-linear concentration-response functions for the considered groups (all, males, females) and lags, revealed the associations along the exposure levels. The fitted shapes are described by algebraic functions and may have various forms. The estimated functions are useful to determine the risk associated with exposure to ground-level ozone.

Air quality has been a major concern throughout the world, Nigeria inclusive. The monitoring of air quality involves indoor and outdoor air quality. In this study, our concern was on indoor air quality. The aim of this study was to assess the air quality of residential homes (17), classrooms (3), hospitals (2), offices (5), Shops (2), and laboratories (5) in Akure, Nigeria in terms of formaldehyde (HCHO), total volatile organic compound (TVOC), Particulate matter (PM_1.0; PM_2.5, and PM₁₀). A Multifunction Air Detector was used for the assessment using the manufacturers’ procedures and the locations were identified using a Mini GPS. The results revealed as follows: HCHO (0.001-0.030 mg/m³), TVOC (0.003-362 mg/m³), PM_1.0 (004-014 µg/m³), PM_2.5 (006-020 µg/m³), and PM₁₀ (006-022 µg/m³). The results obtained were below the 24 h pollution recommended standards (0.1 mg/m³- HCHO; TVOC; 10-20 μ/m³ PM) of EPA and WHO. Statistically, there were correlations within the pollutants and weather. The Indoor air quality (IAQ) depicted the areas as ‘good,’ and toxicity potential (TP) were below unity. Although the locations looked safe, it is recommended that constant monitoring of the indoors should be ensured and proper ventilation should be provided.

Rapid urbanization, increasing population and increased industrialization to cater to demands of the growing population has imposed upon us a huge environmental cost. The significantly deteriorated air quality across the globe is associated with a direct and indirect impact on public health. While associated disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, heart failures are well documented, less is known about the biological basis of the process. We hypothesize that the worsening air quality may likely impact common systemic inflammatory processes, thus driving communicable and non-communicable diseases alike.Receptor mediated entry of particulate matter (PM2.5) results in activation of signaling cascades which culminate in production of inflammatory chemokine and cytokine responses, traversing through the blood mediating impacting not only on other organs but also dysbiosis of microflora. For the purpose of the review we choose tuberculosis (TB) as a model for communicable infectious disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as a marker for non-communicable disorder. The increasing prevalence of these co-morbidities and the burdening of public health systems justifies this example. However the hypothesis may be applicable to other inflammation driven disorders also.

An important aspect of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a greater emphasis on reducing the health impacts of urban ambient air pollution (AAP) in developing countries. Meanwhile, the burden of disease attributable to AAP in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is growing, yet estimates of its impact in the region are likely underestimated due to a lack of air quality monitoring, the paucity of epidemiological studies, and important population vulnerabilities in the region. The lack of studies in the SSA region also represents an important global health disparity and environmental justice issue because thousands of air pollution health effects studies have been conducted in Europe and North America rather than in some of the most polluted regions of the world, such as SSA. In this review, we synthesize all of the ambient air pollution epidemiological studies that have been conducted in SSA to date. We highlight the gaps in AAP epidemiological studies conducted in different sub-regions of SSA and provide methodological recommendations for future environmental epidemiology studies addressing AAP in the SSA region.

In this paper, we tackle air quality forecasting by using machine learning approaches to predict the hourly concentration of air pollutants (e.g., Ozone, PM_2.5 and Sulfur Dioxide). Machine learning, as one of the most popular techniques, is able to efficiently train a model on big data by using large-scale optimization algorithms. Although there exists some works applying machine learning to air quality prediction, most of the prior studies are restricted to small scale data and simply train standard regression models (linear or non-linear) to predict the hourly air pollution concentration. In this work, we propose refined models to predict the hourly air pollution concentration based on meteorological data of previous days by formulating the prediction of 24 hours as a multi-task learning problem. It enables us to select a good model with different regularization techniques. We propose a useful regularization by enforcing the prediction models of consecutive hours to be close to each other, and compare with several typical regularizations for multi-task learning including standard Frobenius norm regularization, nuclear norm regularization, ℓ_2,1 norm regularization. Our experiments show the proposed formulations and regularization achieve better performance than existing standard regression models and existing regularizations.

In the context of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking, in order to achieve low carbon emissions and promote the efficient utilization of wind energy, hydrogen energy as an important energy carrier is proposed to mix hydrogen and natural gas to form hydrogen enriched compressed natu-ral gas (HCNG). It is also injected into the natural gas pipeline network to realize the transmission and utilization of hydrogen energy. At the same time, the participation of demand response is considered, the load peak and trough period is adjusted, and large-scale consumption of renewa-ble energy and the reduction of carbon emissions are realized. First of all, a fine model of hydro-gen production and hydrogen use equipment is established to analyze the impact of adding hy-drogen mixing on the economy and low-carbon of the system. With green certificates and demand response, the utilization rate of hydrogen energy is improved to further explore the energy utiliza-tion rate and emission reduction capacity of the system. Secondly, on the basis of modeling, the optimal scheduling strategy is proposed with the sum of energy purchase cost, equipment opera-tion cost, carbon emission cost, wind curtailment cost and green certificate income as the lowest objective function. Considering the constraints such as hydrogen blending ratio and flexible load ratio of the pipeline network, a low-carbon economic scheduling model of hydrogen mixed natu-ral gas was established. The model was linearized and solved by using MATLAB and CPLEX solver. By comparing different scenarios, the superiority of the model and the effectiveness of the strategy are verified.

Addressing the pressing challenge of global warming, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector is a critical imperative. Battery and fuel-cell electric vehicles have emerged as promising solutions for curbing emissions in this sector. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for typical passenger vehicles, heavy duty trucks and city buses using either proton-exchange membrane fuel cells or Li-ion batteries with different cell chemistries. To ensure accuracy, we supplemented existing studies with data from the literature, particularly for the recycling phase, as database limitations were encountered. Our results highlight that fuel cell and battery systems exhibit large emissions in the production phase. Recycling can significantly offset some of these emissions, but a comparison of the technologies examined revealed considerable differences. Overall, battery electric vehicles consistently outperform fuel cell electric vehicles regarding absolute greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, we recommend prioritizing battery electric over fuel cell vehicles. However, deploying fuel cell electric vehicles could become attractive in a hydrogen economy scenario where other factors, e. g. the conversion and storage of surplus renewable electricity via electrolysis, become important.

Multi-rotor drones, a kind of unmanned equipment which is widely used in military, commercial consumption and other fields, has been developed very rapidly in recent years. However, their short flight time has hindered the expansion of their application range. This can be addressed by utilizing hydrogen fuel cells, which exhibit high energy density, strong adaptability to ambient temperature, and no pollution emissions, as the power source. Accordingly, the application of hydrogen fuel cells as the power source in multi-rotor drones is a promising technology that has attracted significant research attention. This paper summarizes the development process of hydrogen fuel cell mul-ti-rotor drones and analyzes the key obstacles that need to be addressed for the further development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones, including structural lightweight, hydrogen storage methods, energy management strategies. Additionally, prospects for the future development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones are presented.

This article presents an experimental study focused on the impact of supplementing pure gasoline (E0) with bioethanol, gradually increasing the biofuel concentration up to 70% (E10, E50, and E70). The research was conducted in two phases: In the first phase (Part I), the engine's operation involved varying engine speeds (n = 2000 rpm, n = 2500 rpm) and adjusting throttle openings (15%, 20%, 25%) to analyze changes in brake torque, thermal efficiency, and ecological indicators. The second phase (Part II) aimed to complement and clarify the study data. Here, the engine was maintained at a constant speed (n = 2000 rpm) and brake torque (MB = 80 Nm) while altering ignition timing. The findings revealed that increasing the bioethanol concentration up to 70% led to modest enhancements in engine brake torque and thermal efficiency. However, the most significant impact was observed in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and incomplete combustion byproducts. The study also established that achieving higher thermal efficiency requires compensating for the extended ignition delay phase resulting from bioethanol addition by advancing ignition timing. Nevertheless, this approach is constrained by the escalating emissions of carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. These findings provide valuable insights into optimizing the balance between bioethanol supplementation, engine performance, and environmental sustainability in spark ignition engines.

Renewable jet fuel (RJF) production has been recognized as a promising approach for reducing the aviation sector's carbon footprint. Over the last decade, commercial production of RJF has piqued the interest of airlines and governments around the world. However, RJF production can be challenging due to its dispersed supply resources. Furthermore, the production of RJF is more costly compared to producing conventional jet fuel. In this study, using a mixed integer linear program (MILP), we design an RJF supply chain network in which we obtain an optimized configuration of the supply chain and determine operational decisions required to meet RJF demand at airports. To accelerate commercialization of RJF production, we considered four different monetary incentive programs, which could cover the supply chain’s costs. This study is validated by employing the model to design an RJF supply chain in the Midwestern US. Results from this study are promising as they show the supply chain can achieve commercialization with partial financial coverage from the incentive programs. Based on the findings of this study, policymakers can devise policies to commercialize RJF production and accelerate its adoption by industry.

Excess energy from photosynthesis can be collected through biophotovoltaic platforms to generate green electrical power. This research evaluated the in-situ performance of different CAM (Crassulaceae acid metabolism) plants from Calama city located in the Atacama Desert for energy recovery as biophotovoltaic cell (BPV) using AISI 316L and Cu as electrodes. The species evaluated were Aloe perfoliata, Cereus jamacaru, Austrocylindropuntia subulata, Agave potatorum, Malephora crocea, and Kalanchoe daigremontiana. The results indicate that K. daigremontiana can be used as in-situ BFV because it has a maximum cell potential of 0.248 V and a minimum of 0.139 V with a recurrence close to 89% in the ranges [0.2 - 0.25] V. This is one of the few investigations that evaluate the potential of native CAM plants as BFV energy sources, providing new knowledge for the development of sustainable alternatives for horticultural crop production systems.

The proton conductivity, phase composition and mechanical properties of (1-x)CsH2PO4–x fluoropolymer electrolytes (x-mass fraction, x=0-0.3) have been investigated firstly and discussed. UPTFE and PVDF-based polymers (F2M, F42, SKF26) with the high mechanical properties and thermal stability have been chosen as a fluoropolymer additive. According the XRD data, a monoclinic CsH2PO4 (P21/m) phase is retained in all compositions of the polymer electrolytes studied. The conductivity of (1-x)CsH2PO4-x fluoropolymer in the high-temperature phase decreases by approximately one order of magnitude compared with the pure CsH2PO4 for x~0.15-0.20. The size and shape of CsH2PO4 particles and their distribution have been shown to affect significantly the proton conductivity and mechanical properties of the membranes. The thin-film composite systems were produced by various methods of the obtaining salt particles, their mixing and applying to a polymer matrix. The uniform distribution of particles in the polymer systems with the size of ~300 nm was achieved by a pretreatment of the suspension in a bead mill. CsH2PO4-based mechanically strong membranes with the thickness ~50–100 μm were obtained for the soluble fluoropolymers (F2M, F42, SKF26). With an increase in the mass fraction of the polymer the ability of the membranes to resist the plastic deformation and the mechanical strength increases and comparable to the best low temperature membranes. The proton-conducting membranes (1-x)CsH2PO4 – x fluoropolymer with the optimal combination of the conductivity, mechanical and hydrophobic properties are promising for use in solid acid fuel cells.

In this contribution, we make an attempt to write a theoretical proposal for designing an eco friendly thermal power plant which runs with cold nuclear fusion technology at a temperature of (1500 to 2000) deg.C. In our recently published papers, we have proposed a clear cut mechanism for understanding and implementing cold nuclear fusion technique pertaining to fusion of hydrogen with metals of mass numbers starting from 50. In this context, we would like to stress the point that, fusion of hydrogen under controllable temperature and pressure can be understood as a phenomenon of fusing neutron to the nucleus of the base atom. Part of isotopic nuclear binding energy difference of final and base atomic nuclides can be seen in the form of safe thermal energy of the order of (1 to 3) MeV per atom against 200 MeV released in nuclear fission of one Uranium atom. Due to increased heaviness and weak interaction, sometimes fused neutron splits into proton and electron. Proton seems to be retained by the base atom’s nuclear core and electron seems to join with the electronic orbits of the base atom. In this way, increased mass of base atomic nuclide helps in eco friendly production of thermal energy in large quantity. For this purpose we consider Iron-56 as a fuel. In a simplified view, under strong nuclear attractive forces, Iron-56 absorbs hydrogen atom as a neutron and by emitting 1MeV equivalent thermal energy transforms to Iron-57. Thus, one gram of Iron-56 can generate 1000MJ of heat with 50% efficiency. In a shortcut approach, by bombarding powder and semi-liquid forms of Iron-56 with direct neutrons coming from neutron source, our proposal can be tried, understood and verified experimentally.

Economic development and population growth lead to increased production of chicken manure (CM), which is a problematic organic waste for its amount, environmental threats, and moisture content. There are different ways of CM, namely anaerobic digestion, composting, combustion, and direct land spreading. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is another emerging way, however. In this study, the HTC of CM was performed to produce energy-rich material called hydrochar (HC). The effects of HTC temperature (180, 240, 300 C) and process time (30, 90, 180 min) were summarized. Proximate and ultimate analysis, as well as heating values (HHV, LHV), have been performed both on raw CM and derived HC. Additionally, the process performance has been examined. The obtained results show that HTC is a feasible method for CM disposal and valorization. Although process time did not influence considerably fuel properties of CM, higher temperature led to significantly higher HHV, reaching 23,880.6734.56 Jg-1 at 300 C and 180 min with an improvement of 8,329 Jg-1 compared with raw CM (15,551.67 Jg-1). The process conducted at 240 C in 30 min has been specified as the most favorable, due to the highest energy gain of HC and relatively low energy consumption.

Uganda possesses natural rainforests that serve enormous environmental ecosystems and biodiversity services. Moreover, the country is known for its various tropical rainforest hardwoods, birds, and animal species. Over the years, the trend in the natural forest land has declined at an alarming rate; hence need to investigate the possible drivers. The loss of such biodiversity and ecosystems risks desertification and extreme climatic condition. As the world moves towards Zero Deforestation 2030, understanding the determinants of deforestation and forest degradation is paramount. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to understand the impact and relationships between net forest conversion, energy emission, agriculture, and forest production of Roundwood. We used data from FAO for the period 2004-2016. Using the ADF and KPSS test, we checked for the unit root presence in the variables. Also, the study used two different regression models: multiple linear regression and dynamic linear model. To analyze the determinants of deforestation, we used net forest conversion in Uganda. There was 94 % variation in the dependent variable (Net Forest conversion). The outcome of the dynamic linear regression showed that agriculture and energy emission positively impact net forest conversion. Based on our findings, this study recommended the modernization of agriculture by the government of Uganda to stop cutting down the forests on a big scale. Also, the study suggested that the government strictly legislate Roundwood and wood fuels/charcoal and firewood to reduce huge dependency on forests toward Zero-Deforestation by 2030. If well-structured and implemented, government policies could solve the unnecessary over dependency on the rainforest, the heart of the region's climatic conditions.

This review summarises the main numerical models of fuel droplet heating and evaporation (DHE) in combustion engines across the different scales by accessing the nano/micro, meso and macroscopic fluid elements. The phenomena of multi-physics, multi-scale and multi-phase fluid flow and heat transfer are fully investigated when the fuel droplet (dodecane) is heating and evaporated into a background gas (nitrogen) crossing the liquid-vapour (LV) interface, kinetic region (i.e., Knudsen layer) and the bulk regions of liquid and gas in terms of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, kinetic theory modelling (i.e., direct numerical solutions of Boltzmann equations) and convectional fluid dynamics approach, respectively. The evaporation coefficient of fuel evaporating molecules and their velocity distributions at the LV interface derived from MD simulations formulate a new kinetic boundary condition (KBC). Moreover, a novel kinetic model considering the inelastic collision between fuel molecules alongside the new KBC enables us to describe the non-equilibrium gas dynamics of fuel vapour and gas mixture in Knudsen layer (KL). Heat and mass flux analysis of the fuel droplet under combustion engine conditions can be accurately assessed by implementing the inelastic collision between fuel molecules in KL and a temperature-dependent evaporation coefficient at the LV interface into DHE. The surface temperature of fuel droplet and its evaporation time, which play a significant role in resolving the ignition delay and hence the combustion phasing in engines, can also be well estimated. The multi-scale modelling of fuel DHE will make significantly potential input into the cleaner engine targeting the low-carbon emissions and enhance the capability of the existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers.

Nuclear fission technologies have the potential to play a significant role in the energy mix of a net-zero and sustainable society. However, to achieve the sustainability goal two significant challenges remain: efficient and sustainable fuel usage and the minimisation of long term nuclear waste. Civil nuclear molten salt systems and technologies offer the opportunity to address both, delivering future reactors at scale for efficient and effective power production and nuclear waste burnup. Potentially, both objectives could be fulfilled in one reactor system, which could significantly improve sustainability indices. In addition, demand driven development of a significantly reduced fuel cycle with enhanced proliferation resistance offers further potential for improvement. To achieve these goals, a transformative approach for salt clean-up during molten salt reactor operation is proposed in this work, by concentrating on the detection and removal of key neutron poisoning elements which prevent the reactor from long-term operation. This work also demonstrates the importance of the effective integration of physics, reactor design and chemistry when systems modelling in achieving these system development goals.

The building sector of most tropical countries still use predominantly primary biomass as the principal fuel. This has adverse effects like CO2 emission and deforestation and is associated with issues like poverty, ill-health, and low standard of living. Therefore, energy policies try to improve on the efficiency of firewood and charcoal end-use technologies, to palliate the negative effects. In this research, the global change assessment model (GCAM) is used, to investigate the impact of efficiency improvement on the energy consumption pattern of the building sector of developing countries. The aim of the study is to provide empirical data that would better inform policymakers on the effects of modernizing these primary fuels. The study developed three scenarios with different levels of efficiency improvements. The results show that efficiency improvement rather increases primary biomass consumption and CO2 emission. However, there is a fall in the consumption of traditional biomass in the second half of the modelling period. The increase in biomass-based fuels consumption was seen to be linked to their affordability. Therefore, policymakers need not only elaborate policies that improve biomass efficiency, but also introduce and motivate other clean cooking fuels like butane, biogas, and electricity.

Three-dimensional structure of six closely related hydrogenases from purple bacteria has been modeled by combining template-based and ab initio modeling approach. The results lead to conclusion that there should be 4Fe3S-cluster in the structure of these enzymes. Thus, these hydrogenases could drive attention for exploring their oxygen tolerance and practical applicability in hydrogen fuel cells. Analysis of 4Fe3S-cluster's microenvironment showed intragroup heterogeneity. Possible function of the C-terminal part of the small subunit in membrane binding has been discussed. Comparison of the built models with existing hydrogenases of the same subgroup (membrane-bound oxygen-tolerant hydrogenases) has been carried out. Analysis of intramolecular interactions in the large subunits showed statistically reliable differences in number of hydrophobic interactions and number of ionic interactions. Molecular tunnels were mapped in the models and compared with structures from PDB. Protein-protein docking showed that these enzymes could exchange electrons in oligomeric state, which is important for oxygen-tolerant hydrogenases. Molecular docking with model electrode compounds showed mostly the same results as with hydrogenases from E.coli, H. marinus, R. eutropha, S. enterica; some interesting results were shown in case of HupSL from Rba. sphaeroides and Rvx. gelatinosus.

Alternative fuel vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, support the imperative to decarbonise the transport sector, but are not yet at a stage in their development where they can successfully compete with conventional fuel vehicles. This paper examines the influence of knowledge and persuasion on the decision to adopt or reject alternative fuel vehicles, underpinned by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory. A household questionnaire survey was undertaken with respondents in the Sutton Coldfield suburb of the United Kingdom city of Birmingham. This suburb was previously identified as having a strong spatial cluster of potential early adopters of alternative fuel vehicles. The results confirm that among respondents the knowledge of alternative fuel vehicles was limited and perceptions have led to the development of negative attitudes towards them. The reasons largely relate to three problems: purchase price, limited range, and poor infrastructure availability. The majority of respondents have passively rejected alternative fuel vehicles, such that they have never given consideration to adoption. This confirms that a concerted effort is required to inform the general public about alternative fuel vehicles.

Air quality and environmental fairness have always been an area of prime interest across the globe. The significance low-cost air quality sensing and practices spikes during the time of pan-demic and epidemics when the air becomes a threat to living beings especially human beings. The gradual innovation and enrichment in low-cost air quality sensing sensors, nodes or devices, and systems are exponentially increasing for the last three decades. This work reviews the major contributions in a) low-cost scalable air quality assessment; b) low-cost air quality sensors, sensing approaches and technologies; c) low-cost state-of-the-art gas sensors fabrication methods (MEMS and CMOS); d) low-cost gas sensors measurement configurations and assemblies; and e) low-cost air quality sensors calibration and testing systems. A systematic review of past work with a goal to assist end-users, public health facilities, state agencies, researchers, scientists and air quality protection agencies has been rendered in this work. Starting from sensors electrodes to IoT based mobile smart nodes; all have been introduced in this article.

Reducing atmospheric emissions through the introduction of circular economy principles is one of the current tasks of sustainable regional development. The research purpose is to study the impact of the actions taken by Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) in order to reduce air pollution, and basing on it, to evaluate the forming potential of the circulating economy in one of the biggest regions of Kazakhstan in which KPO is operating. Oil and gas production activities of the company is related to air pollution of the region. The study was conducted using methods of econometric modeling, statistical and comparative analyses. The study’s value is determined by its interdisciplinary approach, which made it possible to combine environmental and economic criteria for sustainable regional development with the features of emissions and waste management technologies in industry. Studying the work experience and analyzing the impact of KPO on the development of the region in the period 2012-2022 made it possible to construct a matrix of the restorative potential of the circular economy of the region. A model for the formation of a circular economy is proposed, which is based on the introduction of innovations, investments in environmental protection, the use of the best available technologies for reinjecting gas into the reservoir, increasing energy efficiency, recycling of waste, which made it possible to significantly (2.2 times) reduce the amount of air pollution in region. According to the forecast model (2024-2028), it was determined that in case of maintaining independent indicators’ certain dynamic of development, the level of atmospheric emissions by KPO could be reduced by 2 times. The results of the scientific work contain statements proving that further researches on the problems of reducing atmospheric pollution within the framework of the formation of a circular economy are quite perspective and promising. The results of the study might be interesting and used when implementing measures to manage air quality in the region by managers, heads of organizations, state and local authorities, and researchers interested in promoting the ESG concept of sustainable development.

A vast amount of non-biodegradable waste is generated during mining and processing operations of dimensional stones such as marble. This, over the years has become a global nuisance by damaging the environment through means of more than one. Therefore it has become necessary to find a technique to safely dispose or reuse marble waste. This paper reviews the impact of replacement of the conventional materials by marble waste was studied in terms of fresh, mechanical and durability properties of concrete. The air pollution caused by the dust generated in the process of crushing and extracting marble can cause serious problems to the general physiological functions of plants and it affects human life as well. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to assess the air quality of areas with marble factories and areas without marble factories, where the concentration of particulate matter in terms of total suspended particles (TSP) was determined. This paper also reviews some eco-innovation options considering the pollution caused, consumption of water and electricity and the disposal of marble waste and their waste.

This study presented a centrifuge-based method for determining hydraulic properties in growing media, offering insights into water dynamics in growth substrates. The objectives of this study were to test the practical applicability of the centrifuge method as a quick test for a wide range of growing media, ii) to compare a simple substitution method to describe the bulk density of growing media with results of the standard method, and iii) to give a recommendation under which conditions the centrifuge quick test could serve as a replacement for the standard method. Methods involved centrifugation and correlation analyses. Results showed good agreement between the centrifuge and DIN methods, with notable compression effects at lower pF stages. The method's rapidity (2 days vs. up to 8.5 days) and correlation with standard methods highlight its potential for practical applications. Limitations, such as compression effects, were noted, emphasizing the need for careful interpretation. Overall, the centrifuge method provided a valuable tool for research and substrate development. This study contributes to refining measurement techniques in growth substrates, encouraging ongoing research in water dynamics in growing media.

With cities experiencing faster warming rates than their surroundings and two-thirds of the global population projected to be living in urban areas by 2050, studies that help to describe in detail the spatial temperature patterns in the urban environment have the potential to address concerns regarding cities’ livability. The goal of this research was to examine the spatial pattern of temperature across multiple small to medium-sized cities in the state of Iowa, a relatively rural state. The study utilized mobile temperature sensors to collect air temperature data at a high temporal and spatial resolution in ten urban areas in Iowa during the afternoon, evening, and night on days exceeding 32°C from June to September 2022. Using a Random forest algorithm, and independent variables derived from aerial imagery and LiDAR data, we created predicted surface temperature models that demonstrated R² coefficients ranging from 0.879 to 0.997 with a majority of the temperature models reaching a R² higher than 0.95. These strong modeling results and derived highly detailed raster spatial data supports recent research which help explain the influence of morphometric features on temperature patterns in the urban environment. This study expands on previous research by investigating multiple small to medium sized cities in Iowa.

Recognizing the critical impact of environmental factors on individuals, this study explores the relationship between environmental indoor pollutants (PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and CO₂) and students' basic emotional responses based on Ekman’s categorization. Conducted in a secondary school in Spain, it integrates IoT and image processing technologies to monitor air quality and emotions in real-time. Participants included 76 secondary school students and three teachers, with data collected over two months. The results showed significant correlations between PM levels and negative emotions such as anger and disgust, while CO₂ levels were associated with both negative and positive emotions, including happiness. Regression models demonstrated that environmental variables significantly predict basic emotions, highlighting the influence of indoor air quality. These findings emphasize the need for proactive air quality management in educational settings to enhance learning environments and support students' emotional well-being.

Brewers’ spent grain (BSG) is the major by-product of beer production (70-80% moisture) and the feasibility of its application in foodstuffs depends primarily on its drying. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of physical separation with or without ultrasound application on color, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity, proximate composition, total dietary fibers, and particles size distribution of BSG powders. From wet BSG (W), two processes, without (A) or with (B) ultrasound, encompassing pressing, convective air-drying, sieving, fraction separation, and milling were evaluated. Powders A1, A2, B1 and B2 were generated. The total color difference compared with W increased throughout both processes, ranging from 1.1 (B1 x A1) to 5.7 (B1 x A2). No significant difference was observed for TPC, while lower antioxidant activity (ABTS+) was observed for process B powders, especially for B2, likely due to the release of antioxidant compounds to the liquid during pressing after ultrasound application. Nevertheless, process B powders showed higher content of total dietary fiber (p < 0.05). In conclusion, process B, with ultrasound application, may be interesting for further extraction of soluble fibers. However, the developed process A may be feasible for industrial and craft brewers, and further studies regarding the effect of their application in foods should be encouraged.

Graphene-based materials (GBMs) are a prospective material of choice for rechargeable battery electrodes because of their unique set of qualities, which include tunable interlayer channels, high specific surface area, and strong electrical conductivity characteristics. The market for commercial rechargeable batteries is now dominated by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), however issues with organic electrolyte safety, high lithium pricing, and limited lithium resources have hindered LIB development. Zinc-based rechargeable batteries have emerged as a viable substitute for rechargeable batteries due to their affordability, safety, and improved performance. This review article explores recent developments in the synthesis and advancement of GBMs for rechargeable zinc‐air batteries (ZABs), and common graphene-based electrocatalyst types. An outlook on the difficulties and probable future paths of this extremely promising field of study is provided at the end.

The use of low cost sensors has dramatically increased in recent years in all the engineering sectors. In the field of buildings and automotive, low cost sensors open very interesting perspectives, because they allow to monitor temperature and humidity distributions together with air quality, in a widespread and punctual way and allow control of all energy parameters. The main issue still open remains the validation of the measurements. In this work, we propose an innovative approach to verify the measurements given by some low-cost systems built ad hoc for automotive applications. Two independent low-cost measurement systems have been set to measure Particulate air Matter (PM) concentration, TVOC concentration, CO2 concentration, formaldehyde concentration, air temperature, relative humidity, pressure, air flow velocity and GPS position. These systems have been calibrated by the comparison with standard and certified sensors used by the regional authority of Emilia-Romagna region (ARPAE, Italy) for characterising the air-quality. The innovation of this approach lies in both the in-field comparison of low-cost and high quality sensors and the use of proper conversion approaches for mass concentration measurements. A quantitative analysis of the sensors performance is given, with a focus on effects of time-granularity, relative humidity, mass conversion from particle counts and size detection response. The results show that the low-cost sensors measurements of air temperature, relative humidity and particle number concentration are in a good agreement with high quality sensors measurements, with a strong impact of relative humidity on performance indicators. Overall, a good quality and consistency of the data among the sensors has been achieved.

Studies carried out have revealed that every day around three thousand and twelve people lose their lives in the world due to traffic accidents and poor air quality. Large cities, with their millions of inhabitants and vehicles, face many problems relating to vehicular traffic. In 2015 the speed limit was modified on several roads in the city of São Paulo-Brazil. However, in 2017 the speed limits were increased again, but not on all previous routes. This study analyzed the impact of this change on the number of accidents and pollutant concentrations, over a period of ten years, comparing the periods before and after the implementation of the measure, using real data collected and provided by the authorities of the city and the state transit and environmental companies, on more than forty routes and two nearby air quality stations. The results show a clear reduction in the number of accidents without victims on the roads of the city of São Paulo starting in 2010. However, the restrictive measures imposed by government officials may have contributed to the decrease in the number of accidents, but the number of fatalities has not changed much. Air pollution has not improved substantially with speed changes, as new speed increases have been linked to new episodes of congestion. The average number of fatalities due to accidents has been increasing since 2010 and accidents are becoming more serious. The application of a general linear statistical model (GLM) estimated the impact of the speed reduction policy in terms of the number of injuries avoided per month: 43.4 and 14.1 on other roads and on Pinheiros marginal, respectively. The results highlight the need for a constant data collection by the authorities in cities with high vehicle traffic. The important temporal time trend in terms of reduction of injuries but not in terms of fatalities and air quality, shows the need to apply joint public policies, not only speed reduction, but also the use of new technologies and raising drivers’ awareness of the problem.

Iron tailings are solid waste generated after the mining of iron mines, which have caused serious damage to the surrounding ecology and environment and have attracted widespread attention. By analyzing the formation causes, main components, and environmental effect mechanisms of iron tailings, the article systematically elaborates on the degree and mechanism of the harm of iron tailings to water bodies, atmosphere, soil, and ecosystems, and evaluates its impact on human health and sustainable development of society. On this basis, specific prevention and control measures have been proposed to reduce iron tailings emissions, realize resource recycling, and restore ecosystems. Research shows that iron tailings containing heavy metals can widely pollute the environment through dissolution and migration, and have significant biological toxicity effects. The research results can provide a theoretical reference for decision-making departments to formulate scientific and reasonable iron tailings disposal and ecological protection policies. It is recommended to strengthen specific research on the infiltration of toxic and harmful components in tailings in the future, and develop efficient and stable solidification technology, and vegetation-microbial joint restoration models to further reduce the ecological and environmental risks of iron tailings.

Acute and chronic respiratory diseases impose a significant economic and health burden. Distal small airway assessment requires invasive procedures such as a bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage. The Particles in Exhaled Air (PExA) device provides a non-invasive means of assessing small airways; it captures distal airway particles sized around 0.5-7m and contains particles of respiratory tract lining fluid (RTLF) that originate during airway closure and opening. The PExA device can measure particle count and mass according to particle size. Subsequent capture of particles in a thin membrane enables application of various analytical methods to assess a broad range of biomolecules including phospholipids, proteins, inflammatory profile, and other metabolites to characterise inflammation and diseases processes such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome, lung cancer, and more recently acute infections such as COVID-19. PExA analysis provides a promising alternative to traditional investigative methods in the assessment, diagnosis, and management of respiratory conditions. By evaluating specific biomarkers in the RTLF associated with airway inflammation, PExA may offer a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the molecular-level changes in the small airways of patients with acute and chronic lung diseases.

Background: Asthma is a widespread chronic respiratory disease that poses a significant public health challenge. The current study investigated the associations between air pollution and asthma severity among individuals residing near the Sohar industrial port (SIP) in Oman. Despite the presence of multiple major industrial complexes in Oman, limited knowledge regarding their impact on respiratory health is accredited. Hence, the primary objective of this study is to offer valuable insights into the respiratory health consequences of industrial air pollution in Al Batinah North. Methods: The state health clinics' records for patient visits related to asthma were collected for the timeframe spanning 2014 to 2022. Exposure was defined as the distance from SIP, Majan Industerial Area (MIA) and Sohar Industerial Zone (SIZ) to determine high, intermediate, and low exposure zones (12 km, respectively). Exposure effect modifications by age, gender, and smoking status were also examined. Results: The conducted cross-sectional study of 410 patients (46.1% males and 53.9% females) living in over 17 areas around SIP revealed that 73.2% of asthmatics were under 50 years old, with severity significantly associated with closeness to the port. Risk ratios were estimated to be (RR:2.42; CI95%: 1.01–5.78), (RR:1.91; CI95%: 1.01–3.6), and (RR:1.68; CI95%: 0.92–3.09) for SIP, MIP and SIZ areas, respectively, compared to the control area. Falaj Al Qabail (6.4 km) and Majees (6 km) had the highest number of asthma patients (N. 69 and N. 72), and highest percentages of severe asthma cases among these patients (28% and 24%) with significant risk ratios (RR:2.97; CI95%: 1.19–7.45 and RR:2.55; CI95%: 1.00–6.48), correspondingly. Moreover, severe asthma prevalence peaked in the 25-50 age group (RR:2.05; CI95%: 1.26–3.33), and this linkage between asthma and age was much more pronounced in males than females. Smoking and exposure to certain contaminant (dust and smoke) increased also the risk of severe asthma symptoms, but their effects were less important in the high risk zone, suggesting much more important risk factor. A neural network model accurately predicted asthma risk (94.8% accuracy), with proximity to Sohar Industrial Port as the most influential predictor. Conclusion: The study highlights the High asthma burden near Sohar Industrial Port, linked to port proximity and smoking and wind direction as major risk factors. These findings inform vital public health policies to reduce air pollution and improve respiratory health in the region, prompting national policy review.

Decarbonization of air mobility requires the decarbonization of its energy. While biofuels will play an important role, other low carbon energy carriers based on electricity are considered: battery electrification, liquid hydrogen (LH₂) or eFuel, a hydrogen-based energy carrier. Each energy carrier has its own conversion steps and losses and its own integration effects with the aircraft. These combinations lead to different energy requirements and must be understood to compare their cost and CO₂ emissions. Since they are all electricity-based, this study compares these energy carriers using the well to rotor methodology when applied to a standard Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) air mobility mission. This novel approach allows one to understand that the choice of the energy carrier dictates the propulsive system architecture, leading to integration effects with the aircraft which can significantly change the energy required, from 400 to 2665 kWh for the same mission. These deviations lead significant differences in CO₂ emissions and costs. Battery electrification is impacted by the battery manufacturing but has the lowest electricity consumption. It is an optimum solution but only until the battery weight can be lifted. In all scenarios eFuel is more efficient than LH₂. We conclude that carrying the most efficient molecule in an aircraft pays the extra energy cost spent on the ground. Finally, we found that for each of these energy carriers, it is the electricity carbon intensity and price which will dictate the cost and CO₂ emissions of an air mobility mission.

The air transport industry has experienced important transformations over the last decades, despite its continuous global trend of growth. After air transport liberalization process, the present market situation depicts a reduced number of large hub & spoke airlines and an important number of so-called low-cost carriers (LCC). One may wonder why airlines that were once thriving and profitable before liberalization have disappeared, some even recently amid an expansion in demand. To answer that question and others related to it, this paper proposes a management model focused on the airline business, putting in relation the main variables defining the business behavior of an airline. The lessons learned from the past, and the solutions gathered from the model related with, will provide a sound basis to address the new challenges for the next years to come, as it is the case of the new environmental regulations focused on the air transport decarbonization.

The Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) is a cost-effective alternative to conventional MBR, where the synthetic membrane is replaced by the “cake layer”, an accumulation of the biological suspension over a surface of inert low-cost support, caused by a suction force. Under optimized conditions, the cake layer reveals easy to remove and quick to form again, resulting a “dynamic membrane”. The permeate of SFD MBR has chemo-physical characteristics comparable to those of conventional MBR. In this paper, two nylon meshes with a pore-size of 20 and 50 µm respectively were tested in a bench scale SFD MBR where a periodic air mass load (AML) was supplied tangential to the filtration surface to maintain filtration effectiveness. The SFD MBR equipped with the 20 µm nylon mesh coupled to 5 min of AML every 4 hours showed the best performance both ensuring a permeate with turbidity values always below 3 NTU and revealing no critical fouling. A benchmark test, conducted in the same experimental time, with identical operating conditions, and the only difference of a suction break (relaxation) instead of the AML. This latter test produced a permeate of very good quality, but it needed frequent mesh cleanings, showing that a periodic AML coupled with the use of a 20 µm mesh can be a good strategy for long term operation of SFD MBR.

The presented work is aimed at studying the gas transport characteristics of polymeric hollow-fibre gas separation membranes. Such materials as: polysulfone (PSF), polyphenylene oxide (PFO), polyetherimide (PEI), polyetherimide with polyimide (PEI+PI) were studied on the example of air mixture separation. The values of the permeances of pure gases O2 and N2 and the mixed permeances of oxygen and nitrogen during air separation were obtained. Mathematical models of the gas separation process built on the basis of these values show significant discrepancies. To obtain a gas mixture with 95 mol.% nitrogen from air, taking into account the mixture permeance, 15.8% more PSF membrane area is required than taking into account the permeance of pure gases. For a PPO membrane this value is 13.9%, for PEI 19.8% less area is required, and for PEI+PI 15.9% less. In the design of industrial or semi-industrial membrane installations, such discrepancies can lead to significant errors, including technical and economic ones.

This article examines air sampling as an environmental surveillance strategy for early pathogen detection and offers a preliminary comparison of air and wastewater surveillance. Air sampling involves collecting bioaerosols to analyze the microbial composition of the air, utilizing techniques like PCR and metagenomic sequencing. Air sampling appears especially promising for detecting respiratory pathogens and highly transmissible pandemic agents, as these spread primarily via aerosols and droplets. The article details various air sampling techniques, their efficiency, and practical considerations, categorizing them into filtration, impaction, impingement, electrostatic precipitation, and condensation methods. It also explores the composition of airborne microbes, emphasizing the low concentration of viral nucleic acids and the challenges this poses for metagenomic sequencing. The selection of sampling locations, including indoor environments and airplanes, is discussed as critical for effective pathogen detection. Finally, the article contrasts air and wastewater sampling, concluding that while both methods should ideally be explored as layered defenses, air sampling does not collectively appear more promising than wastewater sampling.

This study determined the temporal variation of PM2.5 in ambient air in Thohoyandou and further assessed the associated health risks. The levels of PM2.5 were quantified for a period of 1 year (April 2017-April 2018) using the gravimetric method. There was no significant difference (P-value = 0.18) in concentrations of both PM2.5 samples collected during weekdays (11.29 µg.m-3) and weekends (9.86 µg.m-3). However, higher concentrations of PM2.5 were measured in spring and the lowest was measured in summer. The cancer risk obtained for PM2.5 (2.21 × 10−5, 3 × 10-4, and 5 × 10-4 for infants, children, and adults respectively) in the outdoor air of Thohoyandou has exceeded the limit values by the USEPA and WHO, implying a significant risk for the whole population. For non-carcinogenic risks, the HQ values were 2.60, 4.81, and 2.60 for infants, children, and adults respectively. The HQ value &gt;1 indicates a non-carcinogenic risk to the residents in Thohoyandou and a higher risk to children. Moreover, PM2.5 in Thohoyandou is responsible for 0.15% and 0.13% of deaths resulting from cardiovascular disease and lung cancer respectively for adults above 30 years. PM2.5 is causing adverse health effects in Thohoyandou as deduced from the health risk assessment. Therefore, it is recommended that further epidemiological studies be conducted in Thohoyandou to estimate the burden of disease due to exposure to particulate matter and suitable controlling policies be arranged to reduce particulate matter.

An algorithm is proposed for discriminating the fatigue state of air traffic controllers based on ap-plying multispeech feature fusion using an FSVM to voice data, and for extracting eye-fatigue-state discrimination features based on PERCLOS eye data. For the speech algorithm and an eye-fatigue index, a new controller fatigue-state evaluation index based on the entropy weight method is proposed based on decision-level fusion of fatigue discrimination results for speech and the eyes. Experimental results show that the fatigue-state recognition accuracy rate was 84.81% for the fatigue state evaluation index, which was 3.36% and 1.86% higher than those for speech and eye assessments, respectively. The comprehensive fatigue evaluation index provides important reference values for controller scheduling and mental-state evaluations.

This article describes the impact of restricting the air intake in industrial 250 m3 WEMCO flotation cells at Los Pelambres concentrator. The influence of this air restriction on the hydrodynamic and metallurgical performance of this type of machine was evaluated. The experiments were conducted in single flotation cells and in entire rougher banks. In all cases, the gas holdup was measured to estimate the effectiveness of the obstruction system to decrease the air concentration. In single cells, axial profiles for solid percentage and particle size were evaluated. In addition, a mass balance was conducted to assess the copper recovery and concentrate features. In individual cells, the air restriction led to a decrease in the gas holdup. However, this slight change was enough to obtain a more stable froth zone and a better solids suspension. The latter was observed as a higher P80 below the pulp-froth interface, a less diluted pulp at this level, a slightly higher Cu recovery, and a coarser concentrate product. A mineralogical analysis of the concentrate sample also showed the presence of coarser liberated Cu-sulfide particles. The results in single cells suggested an improvement in the recovery of coarse particles by a more intense solids suspension. The air intake was also restricted in 3 rougher banks to assess the impact of the air obstruction on the overall performance of the respective circuit. Eleven out of fourteen cells were operated with air restriction, which led to a significant recovery improvement of 0.9%-1.6% (absolute) with a 95% confidence level. Size-by-size mass balances were also conducted for the rougher circuits, which proved that the recovery improvements were justified by the simultaneous increase in the recovery of coarse and fine particles. Thus, a restriction of the air intake showed that the decrease in the gas holdup (and in the bubble surface area flux) was compensated by a better solids suspension and a higher turbulence in the impeller. The former promotes the recovery of coarse particles, whereas the latter improves the interaction between bubbles and fine particles. Further developments are being made to implement a regulatory control strategy to control the air intake in self-aspirated flotation cells, and to use this approach for optimizing industrial flotation banks.

It is a challenging problem that air-written Arabic letters has received a lot of attention in the past decades when compared to commonly spoken languages like English languages. To fill this gap, we propose a strong model that brings together machine learning (ML) and optical character recognition (OCR) methods. The model applied several ML methods, (i.e., Neural Networks (NN), Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), with deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) such as VGG16, VGG19, and SqueezeNet for effective feature extraction. Our study utilizes the AHAWP dataset, which consists of varied writing styles and variations in hand signs, to train and evaluate the model. Preprocessing systems are applied to improve data quality by reduction bias. Besides, OCR methods are combined into our model to sequestrate individual letters from continuous air-written gestures and refine recognition results. Results of this study show that the proposed model has achieved the extreme accuracy of 88.8% using NN with VGG16. This study presents an inclusive approach that combines ML, deep CNNs, and OCR methods to address the issue of Arabic in air writing recognition research.

The educational and play-related activities of children are proceeded mainly indoors in a kin-dergarten. The exposure of children to high concentrations of PM2.5 and CO2 indoors have leaded to various harmful effects and negatively impact educational outcomes in a kindergarten. Therefore, this study presents a numerical model of CO2 and PM2.5 concentration based on two classrooms in a kindergarten. Using this numerical model, we present different scenarios of oper-ating mechanical ventilation and air purifiers in kindergartens with the aim of optimizing for reducing the concentrations of CO2 and PM2.5. We found that the amount of ventilation required to maintain good air quality, per child, was approximately 20.4 m3/h. However, we also found that as the amount of ventilation increased, so did the concentration of indoor PM2.5; we found that this issue can be resolved through the use of a high-grade filter (i.e., a MERV 13 grade filter with a collection efficiency of 75%). This study provides a scientific basis for reducing PM2.5concentrations in kindergartens, while keeping CO2 levels low.

The participation of civil society is essential for environmental health policies to be effective. The objective of this study was to know the perceptions of government officials, members of civil society, and academics about environmental health problems and its governance in Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. In the region there is a strong citizen movement that defends the moorland ecosystem (paramo) as source of drinking water, of large-scale mining projects. A multi-method study was carried out including the review of newspaper and scientific articles, a citizen survey, and interviews and focus groups with identified key stakeholders. The findings indicate that government officials prioritize their actions on issues related to air and water pollution and environmental education. In contrast, citizens prioritize water availability from the moorland ecosystem. There are some advances in the management of environmental health, mainly related to greater citizen awareness. The participation of civil society in the environmental health governance must be enforced to broaden the issues of interest and prioritize the activities in the short- and long-term policy planning. An experience between high school students and the academy that measures air pollutants can be the first meeting point with government officials in the pathway to improve the environmental governance in the territory.

This study aims to report the clinical signs, therapy, necropsy, and histopathological findings of airsacculitis caused by enterobacteria and the occurrence of the superfamily Diplotriaenoidea eggs in the feces of Megascops choliba in the Amazon Biome. A tropical screech owl nestling was rescued and admitted for hand-rearing. The animal was bred for five months. The feed was based on Zophobas morio larvae and thawed chicken breast meat with vitamin and mineral supplements. On the 37th day of hacking training for release, the owl showed weakness, lack of appetite, regurgitation, cachexia, dyspnea, ruffled feathers, dry feces in the vent and peri cloaca, and diarrhea. The parasitological examination showed eggs of the Diplotriaenoidea superfamily in the feces. The therapy was with oxytetracycline (48 mg/kg), sulfamethoxazole (48 mg/kg), mebendazole (25 mg/kg), potenay (0.5 ml/kg), sodium chloride 0.9% (50 ml /kg) and mercepton (5ml/kg). However, after five days of starting the treatment, the bird died. At necropsy, prominence of the keel, pieces of undigested food in the oral cavity and proventriculus, intestinal gas, and thickened and turbid air sacs were found. The microbiological analysis of air sacs identified Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter aerogenes. Histopathological examination showed heterophilic bacterial airsacculitis.This study aims to report the clinical signs, therapy, necropsy, and histopathological findings of the first case of airsacculitis caused by enterobacteria and eggs of the superfamily Diplotriaenoidea in M. choliba in the Amazon Biome. The bird was admitted without clinical signs, had been hospitalized for observation for five months, and had started the rehabilitation process for release 37 days before it started to show signs of weakness, lack of appetite, cachexia, dyspnea, ruffled feathers, vomiting, and dry feces. Therapy with oxytetracycline (48 mg/kg), sulfamethoxazole (48 mg/kg), mebendazole (25 mg/kg), potenay (0.5 ml/kg), sodium chloride 0.9% (50 ml /kg) and mercepton (5ml/kg), however, after five days of starting the treatment, the bird died. At necropsy, prominence of the keel, pieces of food in the oral cavity and proventriculus, thickened air sacs, intestine with firm stools, and the presence of gas, hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly were observed. The parasitological examination showed eggs of the Diplotriaenoidea superfamily. The microbiological analysis identified Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter aerogenes. Histopathological examination showed heterophilic bacterial airsacculitis. The diagnosis was confirmed through clinical signs, necropsy findings, and parasitological, microbiological, and histopathological examination results.

Previous research via cell experiments has shown that ultrafine particles (UFPs, particles less than 100 nm) emitted from Three-Dimensional desktop printers (3D printers) had cytotoxicity. However, a few particles from different filaments and their cytotoxicity combinations have been tested. Here we quantify emissions of UFPs and use Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) from one commercially available filament extrusion desktop 3D printer utilizing three different filaments by controlled experiments. A549 cells were exposed at the ALI to UFPs generated by a working 3D printer for an average of 45 minutes and 90 minutes. Twenty-four hours after exposure, cells were analyzed for percent cytotoxicity grown on the 24-well ALI insert (LDH assay). UFP exposure resulted in decreased cell viability (significantly increased LDH levels). The result shows that Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) has the most significant particle emission. ALI exposures enable in vitro testing of mixtures of particles such as UFP from a 3D printer. ABS is the only filament with a significant difference compared with the HEPA control in 90 minutes of exposure (p-value &lt;0.05). ABS and PETG we used during the experiment presented a significant difference compared with the HEPA control in 45 minutes of exposure.A screening analysis of potential exposure to these products in a typical environment suggests caution should be used when operating many printer and filament combinations in poorly ventilated spaces or without the aid of combined gas and particle filtration systems.

This study aims to report the clinical signs, therapy, necropsy, and histopathological findings of the first case of airsacculitis caused by enterobacteria and eggs of the superfamily Diplotriaenoidea in M. choliba in the Amazon Biome. The bird was admitted without clinical signs, had been hospitalized for observation for five months, and had started the rehabilitation process for release 37 days before it started to show signs of weakness, lack of appetite, cachexia, dyspnea, ruffled feathers, vomiting, and dry feces. Therapy with oxytetracycline (48 mg/kg), sulfamethoxazole (48 mg/kg), mebendazole (25 mg/kg), potenay (0.5 ml/kg), sodium chloride 0.9% (50 ml /kg) and mercepton (5ml/kg), however, after five days of starting the treatment, the bird died. At necropsy, prominence of the keel, pieces of food in the oral cavity and proventriculus, thickened air sacs, intestine with firm stools, and the presence of gas, hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly were observed. The parasitological examination showed eggs of the Diplotriaenoidea superfamily. The microbiological analysis identified Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter aerogenes. Histopathological examination showed heterophilic bacterial airsacculitis. The diagnosis was confirmed through clinical signs, necropsy findings, and parasitological, microbiological, and histopathological examination results.

A better understanding of background tropospheric ozone delivers multiple benefits. Robust estimates of regional background ozone assist policy makers to understand the limits to reducing ozone by controlling anthropogenic emissions alone and assist in characterising changes in the atmospheric environment and its composition. Long time series of background ozone measurements can also help quantify the influence of human activity on the global and regional atmosphere. Background tropospheric ozone measurements representative of continental air masses are however scarce in Australia, limiting our knowledge of background atmospheric composition. Here we use k-means clustering to identify a cluster of measurements from the long-term monitoring station at Oakdale, NSW which are likely to be representative of background air. The cluster is associated with NOx-limited air masses of continental origin. From this analysis we estimate background ozone representative of Eastern Australia. We find recent (2017-2022) mean ozone mixing ratios of 28.5 ppb and identify a statistically significant (α=0.05) trend in the mean of +1.8 (1.0 – 2.8) ppb/decade. Our methods demonstrate that some long-term monitoring stations within or near urban areas can provide suitable conditions and datasets for regional Global Atmosphere Watch monitoring.

Air pollution is an important factor affecting human health and daily life. Chinese government is making vigorous efforts to control air pollution. The upgrading of industrial structure is a problem-solving tool in environment and economic growth cases. This paper aims to explore the relationships among environmental regulation, the upgrading of industrial structure and air pollution. The PVAR (Panel Vector Auto Regression) model and moderation effect model has been used to conduct empirical analysis based on panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2020. The results of analysis indicate (1) the environmental regulation can significantly reduce the air pollution, but the deterioration of air quality could not effectively influence environmental regulations. (2) The upgrading of industrial structure can weaken the air pollution and air pollution hinders the upgrading of industrial structure. (3) With the improvement of environmental regulation, the industrial structure is constantly upgraded, but the upgrading of the industrial structure has a negative effect on the improvement of environmental regulation. (4) The upgrading of industrial structure can positively moderate the influence of environmental regulation on air pollution.

The aim of the research presented here is to assess the magnitude of the burden of health limitations resulting from air pollution on the world's economies. This burden was determined by the estimated number of premature years of life lost (YLLs) or health lost (YLDs) due to air pollution-related diseases in the working-age population. Attention was drawn to the problem of existing inequalities in the global burden of national economies with different income levels. The hypothesis of a persistently high level of inequality was verified on the basis of an analysis of the convergence process in a group of 204 countries over the period 1990-2019. The results obtained indicate a strong variation in the level of health constraints caused by air pollution. The analysis of the catch-up process of the least advantaged countries (highest level of health constraints due to air pollution) did not show a positive convergence effect in the study group.

Nowadays Air-Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) in combination with a Photovoltaic (PV) installation are a very promising option for a necessary and urgent energy transformation in European Union (EU). It is extremely important to develop solutions that will help maximize the use of energy generated from renewable energy sources (RES). Such issues include the problem of insufficient use of generated electricity in PV on-grid microinstallations in residential buildings. This paper's aim is to analyze the results of one-year-round operation of a PV array grid-connected hybrid installation with ASHP for domestic hot water (DHW) preparation in a residential building in Cracow, Poland in the context of increasing self-consumption (SC) of PV energy. Models of systems are built and simulated in Transient System Simulation Tool 18 (TRNSYS) software. Simulations were carried out for different scenarios involving different building electricity consumption profiles, PV system capacity and specified runtime management of ASHP. The novelty of this study lies in the evaluation of the impact of a certain range of conditions on the energy performance of the system, in particular on SC. The results showed that the use of ASHP, with specified runtime management, results in an increase in monthly SC values from 7 to 18%, and annual SC values up to 13%. Also determining the appropriate size of the used PV system depending on whether it is present ASHP in the installation is crucial to increase the value of the SC parameter. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the potential benefits of PV panels and ASHP operating together, in particular on SC values.

In this case study, we describe a well-resourced private school system that implemented COVID-19 mitigation measures based on public health expert guidance as well as the lessons learned from this process. Avenues is a 10-year-old private school with campuses in NYC, São Paulo, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley, as well as online, which offers education at sixteen grades: 2 early learning years, followed by a pre-kindergarten–grade 12 school. We describe the mitigation measures Avenues implemented. We compare COVID-19 case prevalence at the school to the reported case prevalence in New York City, as reported by the New York State Department of Health. We compare the school's indoor air quality (IAQ) to ambient IAQ measures reported in the literature. The school's COVID-19 transmission mitigation measures successfully reduced the prevalence of COVID-19 among its students, staff, and faculty. The school also established a consistent high level of IAQ through various ventilation mechanisms. The school received positive parent and community feedback on the policies and procedures it established, with many parents commenting on the high level of communication and trust established by the school. This successful school reopening provides useful data for school closure and reopening standards to prepare for future pandemic and epidemic events.

Brassica vegetables has demonstrated many health benefits over the years due to its composition of phenolic, flavonoid, and glucosinolate content. However, these bioactive molecules can be easily depleted during gastronomic operations. Therefore, a sustainable method which improves the phenolic content and antioxidant activity is required at large for the processors and consumers. Thermal processing has demonstrated as a method to improve the phenolic content and antioxidant status of Brassica vegetables. In the current study four different thermal processing methods, including freeze drying, sauteing, steam and air frying, were employed for five different Brassica vegetables, including kale, broccoli sprout, brussels sprout, red cabbage, and green cabbage. Total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant activities were assessed using radical scavenging activity (DPPH and ABTS•+), reducing power (FRAP), and chelating ability of the metal ions. Among tested, air frying at 160oC for 10 minutes showed the highest TPC, TFC, and antioxidant activity of the Brassica vegetables, while sautéing showed the lowest. Steam treatment was preferred over the freeze-drying treatment. Within the vegetables tested, both kale and broccoli sprout contained higher antioxidants properties in most processing treatment employed. Results also indicated that there is a strong correlation between TPC, TFC, and the antioxidant activity (p<0.05). This study indicates that air frying could be a choice of sustainable thermal processing method for improving biomolecules for Brassica vegetables.

The goal of this study is to develop a global analysis, based on data from 2015 to 2022, that clarifies the impact of containment policies (e.g., lockdown and quarantine) for Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) on the air pollution between countries of different continents. In this context, average changes of CO, NO2, SO2, O3, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations based on measurements at ground level in January, February, and March for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 are compared with average values of 2015-2018 period between 300 cities of 19 countries in 5 continents. Results show that the maximum reduction in pollutant concentrations during this period is given by: CO (-4,367.5%) in France, NO2 (-150.5%) in China and Australia, SO2 (-154.1%) in Israel, O3 (-94.1%) in China, PM2.5 (-41.4%) in Germany and PM10 (-157.4%) in Turkey. Findings reveal that the effects of containment policies on air quality vary significantly between countries depending on different geographical characteristics of regions. This study has main environmental policy implications because it clarifies the critical role of severe control measure to reduce air pollution and support sustainable environment and development.

Natural convection is intensively explored, especially in a valley-shaped trapezoidal enclosure, because of its broad presence in both technical settings and nature. This study deals with a trapezoidal cavity, which is initially filled with linearly stratified air. Though the side walls remain adiabatic, the bottom wall is heated, and the top wall is cooled. For the stratified fluid (air), the temperature of the fluid adjacent to the top and the bottom walls is the same as that of the walls. Natural convection in the trapezoidal cavity is simulated in two dimensions using numerical simulations, by varying Rayleigh numbers (Ra) from 100 to 108 with constant Prandtl number, Pr = 0.71, and aspect ratio, A = 0.5. According to numerical results, the development of transient flow within the enclosure owing to the predefined conditions for boundary may be categorized into three distinct stages: early, transitional, and steady or unsteady. The flow characteristics at each of the three phases and the impact of the Rayleigh number on the flow’s growth are stated in this study. In addition, heat transfer through the bottom and the top surfaces is described in this study.

Over the years, researchers have been studying the effect of weather and context data on the transport mode choice. The majority of these works are based on survey data, however the accuracy of their findings relies on how respondents give accurate and honest answers. In this paper, the potential of using GPS trajectories as an alternative to travel surveys in studying the impact of weather and context data on transport mode choices is investigated in Beijing city. In the analysis, we apply both descriptive and statistical models such as the MNL and MNP models. Our findings indicate that temperature has the most prominent effect among weather conditions. For instance, for temperatures greater than 25 °C, the walking share increases by 27% and the bike share reduces by 21%, which is line with the results from several survey studies. In addition, the evidence of government policy on transport regulation is revealed when the air quality becomes hazardous as people are encouraged to use environmentally friendly travel mode choices such as the bike instead of the bus and car, which are known CO2 emitters. Moreover, due to a series of traffic restrictions introduced by the Beijing government during the 2008 summer Olympics, a decrease of 17.5% in the car share and an increase of 13% and 10% in the walking and bus shares, respectively are observed. These findings provide a scientific basis for effective transport regulation and planning purposes.

The Particulate Matter (PM), particles of variable but small diameter could penetrate the respiratory system via inhalation, causing respiratory and/or cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to evaluate the association of environmental particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon (BC) with respiratory health and physical activity in users traveling by transportation modes over four roads in Bogotá. This was a mixed-method study, in 300 healthy participants, based on a convergent parallel design. Including a descriptive qualitative component focused on asserting the individual perception of air pollution by semi-structured interviews and a cross-sectional study measuring the individual exposure to PM2.5 and BC to evaluate the pulmonary function by spirometry. The analysis included concurrent triangulation and a Poisson regression. This study provides integration of air pollution exposure variables and respiratory health effects in different transport microenvironments. To our knowledge, this is the first mixed-methods study focused on PM2.5, BC, and respiratory health effects in a city above 2.000 meters above sea level.

The concentration of total suspended particles (TSP) and nanoparticles (PM0.1) over Hat Yai city, Songkhla province, southern Thailand was measured in 2019. Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were evaluated by carbon aerosol analyzer (IMPROVE-TOR) method. Thirteen trace elements including Al, Ba, K, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Ti, Pb, and Zn were evaluated by ICP-OES. Annual average TSP and PM0.1 mass concentrations were determined to be 58.3 ± 7.8 and 10.4 ± 1.2 µg/m3, respectively. The highest levels of PM occurred in the wet season with the corresponding values for the dry seasons being lower. The annual average OC/EC ratio ranged from 3.8 - 4.2 (TSP) and 2.5 - 2.7 (PM0.1). The char to soot ratios were constantly less than 1.0 for both TSP and PM0.1, indicating that land transportation is the main emission source. A principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that road transportation, industry, and biomass burning are the key sources of these particles. However, PM arising from Indonesian peatland fires causes an increase in the carbon and trace element concentrations in southern Thailand. The findings make useful information for air quality management and strategies for controlling this problem, based on a source apportionment analysis.

This study examines the relation between ambient air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits due to certain infectious diseases in Toronto, Canada. The National Ambulatory Care Reporting System database was used to draw the corresponding health cases. Daily data on ED visits, ambient air pollution concentration levels, and weather conditions during the period from April 2004 to December 2015 (4,292 days in total) were linked together and used in statistical models. Six air pollutants (fine particulate matter PM2.5, CO, NO2, SO2, ozone O3 as a daily average, and ozone O3-8 hour ozone, as a maximum eight hour average) were investigated. In addition, the Air Quality Health Index (combining NO2, O3, and PM2.5) was also considered. The time-stratified case-crossover technique was applied in the study design. Conditional Poisson models were created using the daily counts of ED visit data. The considered factors, air pollutants and weather, were lagged by the same number of days, from 0 to 14. In the period of the study 339,644 ED visits were identified; 177,619 for females and 162,025 for males. For each air pollutant 270 models were realized (15 lags x 18 strata). Ambient air pollution concentrations lagged by 2, 3, and 5 days have the highest impact on ED visits, with 34, 32, and 35 positive associations, respectively. For all patients and an increase in a one interquartile range (IQR=1.2 ppb) of sulphur dioxide, the following values of the relative risks (RR) were estimated: RR=1.005 (95% confidence interval: 0.998, 1.013), 1.008 (1.001, 1.016), 1.009 (1.001, 1.016), 1.011 (1.004, 1.019), 1.007 (0.987, 1.028), and 1.009 (1.002, 1.016) for lags from 0 to 5, respectively. The results suggest that exposures for certain air pollutants (mainly CO, O3, and SO2) in urban environment affect the number of ED visits related to infectious diseases.

Air pollution is now considered to be the world’s largest environmental health threat accounting for millions of deaths globally each year. The social group that is particularly exposed to the harmful effects of air pollution is the children. A daily route to school can constitute an important component of children’s physical activity, but air pollution can pose a threat to their health. Numerous studies have proved high loads of PM can be effectively reduced by vegetation. Little is however known, whether vegetation can also reduce PM during the leaf dormancy period. In this study, we investigated the role of trees in PM removal on children’s routes to schools during winter. We investigated walking routes to selected schools in Warsaw, by examining the adjacent vegetation and PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations and the presence of local black-smoke-belching stoves. We found that proximity to local CHP emitters had the strongest impact on pollution on the way to schools, while not finding a significant relationship between dense greenery and PM loads. Even more, the highest density of vegetation along walking routes tended to stimulate higher PM concentrations. The results obtained show the poor performance of tree canopy in reducing PM loads during winter.

Ukraine is an associate member of the European Union and in the coming years it is expected that all the data and services already used by European Union countries will become available for Ukraine. An important program, which is the basis for building European monitoring services for Smart Cities, is the Copernicus program. The two most important services of this program are Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). CLMS provides important information on Land Use in Europe. In the context of Smart Cities, the most valuable one is the Urban Atlas service, which is related to local CLMS services and provides a detailed digital city plan in vector form, which is segmented into small functional areas classified by the CORIN nomenclature. The Urban Atlas is a geospatial layer with high-resolution, which is built for all European cities with a population of more than 100,000 that combines high-resolution sat-ellite data, city segmentation by blocks and functional areas, important city infrastructure, etc. This product is used as a basis for city planning and obtaining analytics on the most important indicators of city development including air quality monitoring. For Ukraine, such geospatial products are not provided under the Copernicus program. It is important to start work on its development and implementation as early as possible, so that when the first city atlas appears, Ukraine will be ready to work with it together with the European community. This requires preparing the basis for na-tional research and training national stakeholders and users to use this product. To make this happen it’s necessary to have national geospatial product, which can be used as an analogue of the city atlas. In this article authors analyzed the existing methods of air quality assessment and assessment of the SDG indicator 11.6.2 achieving for European cities, based on which the indicator 11.6.2 for Ukraine for 5 years was evaluated for the first time. The obtained results are analyzed and the values of indicator 11.6.2 for Ukraine are compared with European countries.

Background: Particulate matter and urban air pollution affect the human body and can lead to death. Epidemiological studies should consider the exposure to pollutants and the diverse responses of individuals depending on their sensitivity to the pollutants. Methods: In this study, air pollution measurements were obtained hourly at measuring stations operated by the national and local governments to increase the reliability of the measured values. A β-ray absorption method was used to analyze the measurements of fine dust and determine the particulate matter content. Results: The air pollution data were log-converted to enable the comparison of data from different time periods. The comparison was made, focusing on the period of Seoul's fine dust policy. As a result, the cancer incidence rate also decreased after the policy. The data on individual characteristics were obtained from a survey of Seoul citizens conducted from 2015 to 2016 and using indicators such as the quality of life and social trust of Seoul citizens. Concludions: The survey on the living environment and residence indicated that 80% of the heads of households were men. Women had a greater dissatisfaction than men with the residential, economic, and social environments. The survey questions on well-being were related to the internal and external environment such as air pollution, noise, and fine dust.

Clairton, Pennsylvania, is home to the largest coke works facility in the United States (US). On 24 December 2018, a large fire occurred at this facility and damaged pollution control equipment. Although repairs were not completed for several months, production continued at pre-fire capacity and daily emissions increased by 24 to 35 times, with multiple exceedances of monitored levels of outdoor air pollution (OAP). The aim of this study was to objectively evaluate the impact of this industrial incident and resultant OAP exceedances on asthma morbidity. We assessed pre-fire and post-fire rate ratios (RR) of outpatient and emergency department (ED) visits for asthma exacerbations among nearby adult residents. Pre-fire versus post-fire RRs increased for both visit types: RR = 1.82 (95% CI: 1.30, 2.53; p < 0.001) and 1.84 (95% CI: 1.05, 3.22; p = 0.032) for outpatient and ED visits, respectively. Additionally, total visit rates increased on days with OAP exceedances: RR = 2.47 (95% CI: 1.52, 4.01; p < 0.0001), 1.58 (95% CI: 1.00, 2.48; p = 0.048) and 1.79 (95% CI: 1.27, 2.54; p = 0.001) for PM_2.5, SO₂, and H₂S exceedance days, respectively. These results show a near doubling of acute visits for asthma exacerbations in nearby adult residents during this industrial incident and underscore the need for prompt remediation and public notification of OAP exceedances to prevent adverse health impacts.

Smart air filters are beneficial to provide highly efficient particle removal, treat multiple contaminants simultaneously and conserve energy during air filtration processes. Herein, a type of self-supporting smart air filter (SSSAF) was fabricated by sandwiching the VOC-responsive PZT/PVDF electrospun membrane with two metal mesh electrodes. Besides the high filtration efficiency for sub-micron particles, the SSSAF showed good responses to pressure drop in the range of 0 to 500 Pa via the electroactivity of PZT/PVDF membrane. In addition, the SSSAF achieved VOC sensing function via the swelling properties of PZT/PVDF membrane in organic vapors, demonstrated by its signal to 50 to 200 ppm ethanol gases. The SSSAF based nanogenerator was employed to harvest wind energy, which was further applied to inhibit bacterial growth without the need of additional power input. The results provide new insight into development of all-in-one smart air filters.

Forests constitute a key component of the Earth system but the sustainability of the forest reserves in the semi-arid zone is a real concern since its vegetation is very sensitive to the climate fluctuation. The understanding of the mechanisms for the interaction vegetation-climate is poorly studied in the context of African Sahel. In this study, the characteristics of the vegetation response to the fluctuations of precipitation and temperature is determined for the forest reserve of Fina. Rainfall estimates, air temperature and NDVI are used to establish the lag correlations between fluctuations of vegetation and climate variables at both seasonal and interannual bases. Results shows increasing tendency of NDVI started from the 1990s coinciding the recovery of the rainfall from the 1980s drought and the obtained correlation(r=0.66) is statistically significant (pvalue<0.01). The strongest responses of vegetation to rainfall and temperature fluctuations were found after 30 and 15 days, respectively. Moreover, at shorter time lag (e.g. 15 days) more pronounced vegetation responses to both rainfall and temperature were found in agricultural dominated land while at longer time lag (e.g. 30 days) stronger response was observed in Bare dominated land. The vegetation response to the climate fluctuation is modulated by the land use/cover dynamics. Keywords: NDVI, Rainfall, Air temperature, vegetation response, Fina Forest Reserve, Mali.

This paper provides an open dataset of measured energy use, solar energy production, and building air leakage data from a 328 m² (3,531 ft²) all-electric, zero energy commercial building in Virginia, USA. Over two years of energy use data were collected at 1-hour intervals using circuit-level energy monitors. Over six years of solar energy production data were measured at 1-hour intervals by 56 microinverters. The building air leakage data was measured post-construction per ASTM-E779 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization and the United States Army Corps (USACE) Building Enclosure Testing procedure; both pressurization and depressurization results are provided. The architectural and engineering (AE) documents are provided to aid researchers and practitioners in reliable modelling of building performance. The paper describes the data collection methods, cleaning, and convergence with weather data. This dataset can be employed to predict, benchmark, and calibrate operational outcomes in zero energy commercial buildings.

The worldwide spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has ubiquitously impacted many aspects of life. As vaccines continue to be manufactured and administered, limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 will rely more heavily on the early identification of contagious individuals occupying reopened and increasingly populated indoor environments. In this study, we investigated the utility of an impaction-based aerosol sampling system with multiple nucleic acid collection media. Heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 was utilized to perform bench-scale, short-range aerosol, and room-scale aerosol experiments. Through bench-scale experiments, AerosolSense Capture Media (ACM) and nylon flocked swabs were identified as the highest utility media. In room-scale aerosol experiments, consistent detection of aerosol SARS-CoV-2 was achieved at a concentration equal to or greater than 0.089 genome copies per liter of room air (gc/L) when air was sampled for eight hours or more at less than one air change per hour (ACH). Shorter sampling periods (~75 minutes) yielded consistent detection at ~31.8 gc/L of room air and intermittent detection down to ~0.318 gc/L at (1 and 6+ ACH respectively). These results support further exploration in real-world testing scenarios and suggest the utility of indoor aerosol surveillance as an effective risk mitigation strategy in occupied buildings.

For the first time, it is shown that inhaled ambient air-dust particles settled in the human lower respiratory tract induce lung calcification. Chemical- and mineral compositions of pulmonary calcium precipitates in the lung right lower-lobe (RLL) tissues of 12 individuals who lived in Upper Silesia Conurbation in Poland and who had died from causes not related to lung disorder were determined by transmission- and scanning electron microscopy. Whereas calcium salts in lungs are usually reported as phosphates, calcium salts precipitated in RLL are almost exclusively carbonates, i.e. Mg-calcite and calcite. These constitute 37% of 1652 mineral particles examined. Mg-calcite predominates in the submicron size range with the MgCO3 content up to 50 mol%. Magnesium plays a significant role in the lung mineralization, a fact so far overlooked. The calcium phosphate (hydroxyapatite) content in RLL is negligible. The predominance of carbonates is explained by increased CO2 fugacity in RLL. Carbonates enveloped inhaled mineral-dust particles, including uranium-bearing oxides, quartz, aluminosilicates, and metal sulfides. Three possible pathways for the carbonates precipitation on the dust particles are postulated: (1) precipitation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) followed by its transformation to calcite; (2) precipitation of Mg-ACC followed by its transformation to Mg-calcite; (3) precipitation of Mg-free ACC causing a localized relative enrichment in Mg ions and subsequent heterogeneous nucleation and crystal growth of Mg-calcite. The actual number of inhaled dust particles may be significantly greater than observed because of the masking effect of the carbonate coatings. There is no simple correlation between smoking habit and lung calcification.

A probe of a patient, seeking help in an emergency ward of a French hospital in late December 2019 because of Influenza like symptoms, was retrospectively tested positive to COVID-19. Despite the early appearance of the virus in Europe, the prevalence and virulence appeared to be low for several weeks, before the spread and severity of symptoms increased exponentially, yet with marked spatial and temporal differences. Here, we compare the possible linkages between peaks of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and the sudden, explosive increase of hospitalizations and mortality rates in the Swiss Canton of Ticino, and the Greater Paris and London regions. We also discuss the influence of Saharan dust intrusions on the COVID-19 outbreak observed in early 2020 on the Canary Islands. We find that high PM2.5 concentrations – possibly favored by air temperature inversions or Saharan dust intrusions – are not only modulating but even more so boosting severe outbreaks of COVID-19. We conclude that the overburdening of the health services and hospitals as well as the high over-mortality observed in various regions of Europe in spring 2020 can be linked to peaks of PM2.5 and likely particular weather situations that have favored the spread and enhanced the virulence of the virus. In the future, we recommend to monitor not only the prevalence of the virus, but also to consider the occurrence of weather situations that can lead to sudden, very explosive COVID-19 outbreaks.