scholarly journals Long-Term eBC Measurements with the Use of MAAP in the Polluted Urban Atmosphere (Poland)

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 808
Author(s):  
Natalia Zioła ◽  
Barbara Błaszczak ◽  
Krzysztof Klejnowski
Keyword(s):  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Pollutant Dispersion ◽  
Urban Atmosphere ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
Remedial Actions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
Absorption Photometer

In recent years, black carbon (BC) has been gaining more attention due to the diversity of anthropogenic sources and the harmful effects on human health, environment, and climate. In this paper, for the first time in Poland, the results of long-term measurements of eBC concentrations (2009–2020) at the urban background station in Zabrze (southern Poland) are presented. A Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) was used, which enables the measurement of eBC concentration in fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The mean concentration of eBC over the 11-year period (3.82 μg·m−3) was higher compared to the values recorded at most European urban stations. Annual averaged eBC levels showed a downward trend and clear seasonal variations, which was caused mainly by changes in the intensity of anthropogenic emissions. The impact of meteorological parameters, in particular air temperature and wind speed, which determine the intensity of emissions and the conditions of pollutant dispersion, was not without significance. The work additionally attempts to assess the possible impact of remedial actions carried out in Zabrze over the last decade. The results showed that modernization in industry and heating and maintenance of green areas potentially had the most important impact on the decline in eBC concentrations.

First year of real-time VOC measurements at the SIRTA facility (Paris region, France): diurnal and seasonal variabilities, impact of lockdowns on air quality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leïla Simon ◽  
Valérie Gros ◽  
Jean-Eudes Petit ◽  
François Truong ◽  
Roland Sarda-Esteve ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Seasonal Variability ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
First Year ◽  
Good Representation ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Paris Region ◽  
The Impact

<p>Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have direct influences on air quality and climate. They also play a key role in atmospheric chemistry, as they are precursors of secondary pollutants, such as ozone (O<sub>3</sub>) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA).</p><p>Long-term datasets of in-situ atmospheric measurements are crucial to characterize the variability of atmospheric chemical composition. Online and continuous measurements of O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub> and aerosols have been achieved at the SIRTA-ACTRIS facility (Paris region, France), since 2012. Regarding VOCs, they have been measured there for several years thanks to bi-weekly samplings followed by offline Gas Chromatography analysis. However, this method doesn’t provide a good representation of the temporal variability of VOC concentrations. To tackle this issue, online VOC measurements using a Proton-Transfer-Reaction Quadrupole Mass-Spectrometer (PTR-Q-MS) have been started in January 2020.</p><p>The dataset acquired during the first year of online VOC measurements is analyzed, which gives insights on VOC seasonal variability. The additional long-term datasets obtained from co-located measurements (O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, aerosol physical and chemical properties, meteorological parameters) are also used for the sake of this study.</p><p>Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the year 2020 notably comprised a total lockdown in France in Spring, and a lighter one in Autumn. Therefore, a focus can be made on the impact of these lockdowns on the VOC variability and sources. To this end, the diurnal cycles of VOCs considered markers for anthropogenic sources are carefully investigated. Results notably indicate that markers for traffic and wood burning sources behave quite differently during the Spring lockdown in comparison to the other periods. A source apportionment analysis using positive matrix factorization allows to further document the seasonal variability of VOC sources and the impacts on air quality associated with the lockdown measures.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluating the impact of long-term exposure to fine particulate matter on mortality among the elderly

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (29) ◽  
pp. eaba5692 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Wu ◽  
D. Braun ◽  
J. Schwartz ◽  
M. A. Kioumourtzoglou ◽  
F. Dominici
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Current Standards

Many studies link long-term fine particle (PM2.5) exposure to mortality, even at levels below current U.S. air quality standards (12 micrograms per cubic meter). These findings have been disputed with claims that the use of traditional statistical approaches does not guarantee causality. Leveraging 16 years of data—68.5 million Medicare enrollees—we provide strong evidence of the causal link between long-term PM2.5 exposure and mortality under a set of causal inference assumptions. Using five distinct approaches, we found that a decrease in PM2.5 (by 10 micrograms per cubic meter) leads to a statistically significant 6 to 7% decrease in mortality risk. Based on these models, lowering the air quality standard to 10 micrograms per cubic meter would save 143,257 lives (95% confidence interval, 115,581 to 170,645) in one decade. Our study provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of the link between long-term PM2.5 exposure and mortality, even at levels below current standards.

The decline and rise of class voting? From occupation to culture in Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian McAllister ◽  
Toni Makkai
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Social And Cultural Capital ◽  
Class Voting ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Economic Assets ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Conventional wisdom has long held that class is declining as an influence on voting. More recently, new conceptions of class, focusing on the ownership of economic assets and the possession of social and cultural capital, have challenged this view. This article evaluates these arguments in two ways. First, we examine trends in the impact of traditional measures of class on the vote in Australia from the 1960s to the present day. Second, using a 2015 national survey that measures different aspects of class voting, we assess for the first time the relative effects on the vote of occupation, assets, and social and cultural capital. The results show that while occupation has declined and is now unimportant, the ownership of both assets and cultural capital are major influences on the vote. We argue that the impact of class on the vote has not declined, but rather transformed itself in new and different ways, which has important long-term implications for party support.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Nicos Hadjinicolaou's “Art Centers and Peripheral Art” (1982)

ARTMargins ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-118
Author(s):  
Terry Smith
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Political Art ◽  
Book Art ◽  
Hard Edge ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Change in the history of art has many causes, but one often overlooked by art historical institutions is the complex, unequal set of relationships that subsist between art centers and peripheries. These take many forms, from powerful penetration of peripheral art by the subjects, styles and modes of the relevant center, through accommodation to this penetration to various degrees and kinds of resistance to it. Mapping these relationships should be a major task for art historians, especially those committed to tracing the reception of works of art and the dissemination of ideas about art. This lecture, delivered by Nicos Hadjinicolaou in 1982, outlines a “political art geography” approach to these challenges, and demonstrates it by exploring four settings: the commissioning of paintings commemorating key battles during the Greek War of Independence; the changes in Diego Rivera's style on his return to Mexico from Paris in the 1920s; the impact on certain Mexican artists in the 1960s of “hard edge” painting from the United States; and the differences between Socialist Realism in Moscow and in the Soviet Republics of Asia during the mid-twentieth century. The lecture is here translated into English for the first time and is introduced by Terry Smith, who relates it to its author's long-term art historical quest, as previously pursued in his book Art History and Class Struggle (1973).

scholarly journals Latent Antigen Vaccination in a Model Gammaherpesvirus Infection

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (17) ◽  
pp. 8283-8288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Usherwood ◽  
Kimberley A. Ward ◽  
Marcia A. Blackman ◽  
James P. Stewart ◽  
David L. Woodland
Keyword(s):  
Latent Infection ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Murine Gammaherpesvirus ◽  
Latently Infected ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Infected Cells ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

ABSTRACT Vaccines that can reduce the load of latent gammaherpesvirus infections are eagerly sought. One attractive strategy is vaccination against latency-associated proteins, which may increase the efficiency with which T cells recognize and eliminate latently infected cells. However, due to the lack of tractable animal model systems, the effect of latent-antigen vaccination on gammaherpesvirus latency is not known. Here we use the murine gammaherpesvirus model to investigate the impact of vaccination with the latency-associated M2 antigen. As expected, vaccination had no effect on the acute lung infection. However, there was a significant reduction in the load of latently infected cells in the initial stages of the latent infection, when M2 is expressed. These data show for the first time that latent-antigen vaccination can reduce the level of latency in vivo and suggest that vaccination strategies involving other latent antigens may ultimately be successfully used to reduce the long-term latent infection.

scholarly journals The Grain Market between the Reigns of Alexey Mikhailovich and Catherine the Great: Was there a ‘Price Revolution’?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Mustafin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Grain Market ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Regions Of Russia ◽  
Grain Prices

The author of this article attempts to reveal and systematise archival data on grain prices in Russia between the 1650s and 1700s and analyse their dynamics by comparing them with data for the eighteenth century. The study is based on a wide range of archival sources from the funds of the RSAAA (RGADA), CSA of Moscow (TsGA of Moscow), DM NLR (OR RNB), and SFI CANNR (GKU TsANO). The data from these sources make it possible to construct time series describing rye and oat price dynamics in the northern and central non-black earth regions of Russia. The author substantiates the homogeneity and reliability of the data received and determines the real prices. The resulting numbers make the author doubt the “price revolution” in eighteenth-century Russia. Throughout the eighteenth century, the average real prices remained below the level of the 1660s and 1670s. Only in the 1790s did prices briefly exceed this level. Overall, the Russian grain market was characterised by long-term price fluctuations. The author aims to explain this dynamic by analysing supply and demand in the grain market. More particularly, for the first time in the historiography, the author examines the connection between Russian grain prices and yield in the second half of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is established that in most cases, the relationship between these indicators was direct: as grain yield increased, prices did too. The article explains this seeming paradox. The data published by the author help not only to estimate the impact of various factors on grain prices during the period in question, but also solve practical tasks regarding various price indicators in grain equivalents.

Do frequent acquirers outperform in cross-border acquisitions? A study of Indian companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-514
Author(s):  
Samta Jain ◽  
Smita Kashiramka ◽  
P.K. Jain
Keyword(s):  
Operating Performance ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Acquisition Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Acquisition Period ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Acquiring Firms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) on the financial and operating performance of acquiring firms from emerging economies in the long-term; the acquiring firms have been segregated into frequent (multiple) and first-time (single) acquirers based on their prior cross-border experience. The intent is to identify if overseas activities bring over and above advantage to multiple acquirers in terms of enhanced financial synergies and reduced costs, motivating them to engage in sequential international transactions. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses the impact of CBAs announced and completed during 2004–2013 by Indian companies listed on the NIFTY 500 index. The post-acquisition financial and operating performance of Indian cross-border acquirers has been compared with their pre-acquisition performance. The average performance over three-years immediately preceding the acquisition year constitutes the benchmark for the post-acquisition performance. The post-acquisition period includes a year of integration followed by three successive post-integration years. Therefore, in operational terms, the research period extends from 2001–2017. The long-term performance of frequent (multiple) and first-time (single) Indian acquirers has been investigated comprehensively using a set of 16 financial ratios. The performance has been assessed using the secondary data collected from financial statements of acquiring companies; the financial statements and the list of CBAs by Indian companies have been obtained from Thomson Reuter’s EIKON database. Findings The financial and operating performance of frequent as well as first-time acquirers have depicted a similarly deteriorating trend during the post-acquisition period. These findings indicate that the international expansion of Indian companies is not guided by synergy creation potential and may be pushed by the overconfidence or over-optimism and agency conflicts of managers. This, perhaps, indicates that firms are being imprudent in investing free cash flows available with them. Originality/value The study is the first of its kind. No study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has analysed the performance of acquiring firms by segregating them into frequent and first-time acquirers using accounting measures of performance. More so, an extensive analysis of the long-term financial and operating performance of acquiring companies is rare to come across in the extant literature.

Mindful Self-Care for Earlier Schooling

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-41
Author(s):  
Jacquelynne Anne Boivin ◽  
Theresa Melito-Conners
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Public Schooling ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Emotional Competencies ◽  
Mindfulness Practices ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

This chapter explores the role that mindful self-care practices play in helping students transition into attending school for the first time. Self-care practices are described in this chapter based on a thorough review of the literature focusing on the benefits for young students in early childhood educational settings. A thorough review of the literature has provided insight into five areas that address the following topics: (1) defining the concept of mindful self-care, (2) the impact of mindfulness practices on self-care, (3) the significance of modeling in learning to be self-cared, (4) benefits of self-care in the early childhood transitionary period, (5) long-term benefits of implementing self-care skills as socio-emotional competencies in early childhood, (6) implications for earlier public schooling, (7) educating starting at birth.

Oliver E. Williamson,

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Whitford
Keyword(s):  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Antitrust Policy ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Policy Analysts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

This chapter comments on Oliver Williamson’s 1975 book,Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications, a critical analysis of how firms operate in markets. Williamson describes a new way of understanding markets and hierarchies by using the term “New Institutional Economics” for the first time. This chapter examines Williamson’s approach and the impact of his book, first by discussing his arguments about markets and hierarchies in relation to what policy analysts sometimes call “the politics of ideas”. It then considers Williamson’s particular interest in antitrust policy as well as his thesis about transaction cost economics. Finally, it evaluates the implications of Williamson’s research for the long-term development of a politics of ideas about firms in markets.

scholarly journals SPORT

Neurosurgery ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. S57-S63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atman Desai ◽  
Perry A. Ball ◽  
Kimon Bekelis ◽  
Jon Lurie ◽  
Sohail K. Mirza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Stenosis ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Bodily Pain ◽  
Long Term Outcomes ◽  
Nerve Root Injury ◽  
Lumbar Spinal ◽  
Incidental Durotomy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Abstract BACKGROUND: Incidental durotomy is a familiar encounter during surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis. The impact of durotomy on long-term outcomes remains a matter of debate. OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of durotomy on the long-term outcomes of patients in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT). METHODS: The SPORT cohort participants with a confirmed diagnosis of spinal stenosis, without associated spondylolisthesis, undergoing standard, first-time, open decompressive laminectomy, with or without fusion, were followed up from baseline at 6 weeks, and 3, 6, and 12 months and yearly thereafter at 13 spine clinics in 11 US states. Patient data from this prospectively gathered database were reviewed. As of May 2009, the mean follow-up among all analyzed patients was 43.8 months. RESULTS: Four hundred nine patients underwent first-time open laminectomy with or without fusion. Thirty-seven of these patients (9%) had an incidental durotomy. No significant differences were observed with or without durotomy in age; sex; race; body mass index; the prevalence of smoking, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension; decompression level; number of levels decompressed; or whether an additional fusion was performed. The durotomy group had significantly increased operative duration, operative blood loss, and inpatient stay. There were, however, no differences in incidence of nerve root injury, mortality, additional surgeries, or primary outcomes (Short Form-36 Bodily Pain or Physical Function scores or Oswestry Disability Index) at yearly follow-ups to 4 years. CONCLUSIONS: Incidental durotomy during first-time lumbar laminectomy for spinal stenosis did not impact long-term outcomes in affected patients.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document