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The secondary, substitute habitats are becoming more important for the survival of many valuable plant species, including medicinal plants—for example, bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. The aim of the conducted research is to compare the ability of A. uva-ursi to accumulate heavy metals in leaves from railways (anthropogenic substitute habitat) and the natural habitats (pine forests). We measured the concentration of five heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in plant material and in the soil. The bioaccumulation factor was also calculated. Moreover, we measured biotic factors including A. uva-ursi height and abundance, along with the plant diversity indices, in the investigated plots. The presented results reveal that (1) none of the parameters concerning the content of the selected heavy metals described in the currently applicable legal acts were exceeded, (2) A. uva-ursi does not show the potential for heavy metal accumulation, except for zinc and partially mercury, (3) its individuals in the natural habitats are lower, (4) the abundance (percentage cover) of A. uva-ursi is the lowest in the natural habitat, and (5) the value of the Shannon–Wiener diversity index is the highest in the vegetation patches with A. uva-ursi developed in natural habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited information regarding implant and prosthetic survival after osseous microvascular free flap (OMFF). This case series aims to describe the placement of short and extra short implants in osseous microvascular free flaps to support prostheses, and present an up to 40-month retrospective follow-up. Short and extra short dental implants were placed in six fibula free flaps (FFF) and in two microvascular deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) flaps. In total, 27 short and extra short dental implants have been placed into two different types of free flaps. Kaplan–Meyer (K-M) survival analyses were performed to evaluate the survival and success outcomes of implants and prostheses. Out of the eight patients reconstructed with free flap, five were rehabilitated with prostheses, one patient has a temporary prosthesis, and two patients are in the process of prosthetic rehabilitation. Twenty-seven implants were followed up for up to 40 months, and K-M analyses showed 100% implant survival probability (95% confidence interval: 100%), while the implant success probability was 91.0% (95% confidence interval: 68.6–97.7%). Short and extra short dental implants placed in OMFF presented high survival and success rates in a retrospective case series after up to 40 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-resolved spectroscopic and electron–ion coincidence techniques are essential to study dynamic processes in materials or chemical compounds. For this type of analysis, it is necessary to have detectors capable of providing, in addition to image-related information, the time of arrival for each individual detected particle ("x, y, time"). The electronics capable of handling such sensors must meet requirements achievable only with time-to-digital converters (TDC) with a resolution on the order of tens of picoseconds and the use of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to manage data acquisition and transmission. This study introduces the design and implementation of an innovative TDC based on two FPGAs working symbiotically with different tasks: the first (AMD/Xilinx Artix® 7) directly implements a TDC, aiming for a temporal precision of 12 picoseconds, while the second (Intel Cyclone® 10) manages the acquisition and connectivity with the external world. The TDC has been optimized to operate on eight channels (+ sync) simultaneously but is potentially extendable to a greater number of channels, making it particularly suitable for coincidence measurements where it is necessary to temporally correlate multiple pieces of information from various measurement systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a concept of architecture and ontology layouts for the development of multiagent model-based predictive control systems. The presented architecture provides guidelines to simplify the development of agent-based systems and improve their maintainability. The proposed multiagent system (MAS) layout is split into multiple subsystems that include agents dedicated to performing assigned tasks. MAS implementation was prepared which can use provided algorithms and actuators and can react to changes in its environment to reach the best available control quality. An example of MAS based on the proposed architecture is shown in the application of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration control in a laboratory-activated sludge setup with a biological reactor. For that application, MAS incorporates agent-based controllers from the boundary-based predictive controllers (BBPC) family. Presented experiments prove the flexibility, resilience, and online reconfiguration ability of the proposed multiagent system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcium plays central roles in numerous biological processes, thereby, its levels in the blood are under strict control to maintain homeostatic balance and enable the proper functioning of living organisms. The regulatory mechanisms ensuring this balance can be affected by pathologies such as cancer, and as a result, hyper- or hypocalcemia can occur. These states, characterized by elevated or decreased calcium blood levels, respectively, have a significant effect on general homeostasis. This article focuses on a particular form of calcium metabolism disorder, which is hypercalcemia in neoplasms. It also constitutes a summary of the current knowledge regarding the diagnosis of hypercalcemia and its management. Hypercalcemia of malignancy is estimated to affect over 40% of cancer patients and can be associated with both solid and blood cancers. Elevated calcium levels can be an indicator of developing cancer. The main mechanism of hypercalcemia development in tumors appears to be excessive production of parathyroid hormone-related peptides. Among the known treatment methods, bisphosphonates, calcitonin, steroids, and denosumab should be mentioned, but ongoing research promotes progress in pharmacotherapy. Given the rising global cancer prevalence, the problem of hypercalcemia is of high importance and requires attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the derivation and analysis of a poroelasticity model in a domain with fracture represented by a codimension‐one manifold. The system of saturated flow and linear elasticity both in the rock matrix and in the fracture coupled through an appropriate interface condition is obtained from a continuum description by integration and semi‐discretization in the normal direction of the fracture. The existence and uniqueness of a weak solution are proved with the help of an iterative splitting, whose convergence rate is analyzed. The analysis is complemented by a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vascular Access is the property of Canadian Vascular Access Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recently, a machine learning approach to Monte-Carlo simulations called Neural Markov Chain Monte Carlo (NMCMC) is gaining traction. In its most popular form, it uses neural networks to construct normalizing flows which are then trained to approximate the desired target distribution. In this contribution, we present a new gradient estimator for the Stochastic Gradient Descent algorithm (and the corresponding PyTorch implementation) and show that it leads to better training results for the -4 model. For this model, our estimator achieves the same precision in approximately half of the time needed in the standard approach and ultimately provides better estimates of the free energy. We attribute this effect to the lower variance of the new estimator. In contrary to the standard learning algorithm, our approach does not require estimation of the action gradient with respect to the fields, thus has the potential of further speeding up the training for models with more complicated actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WA Herbarium at the University of Warsaw houses a collection of plants created in 1717 by Matthew Ernest Boretius. They were gathered in former East Prussia, near Angerburg, now Węgorzewo (Poland). It is the oldest plant collection from this part of Europe. Boretius compiled the herbarium as a collection of all the surrounding plants, but their folk names (Polish and German) recorded in the herbarium confirm the ethnobiological or ethnopharmaceutical importance of some species. We identified bryophyte species and checked the accuracy of their original identifications recorded in the herbarium. We provided their Latin (scientific, pre-Linnaean) nomenclature together with German and Polish vernacular names. We contextualised this information within the history of the medicinal use of bryophytes around 1717, when the plant collection was created. We also investigated whether the specimens could have come from Northeastern Poland. Mosses and liverworts from the herbarium were identified nomenclaturally (by means of their original scientific polynomial names written on herbarium sheets) and taxonomically. The herbarium holds two species and one subspecies of liverwort and 27 species and one variety of moss. The accuracy of the original identifications was assessed, with a particular focus on the species considered medicinal at the time. We found that bryophytes were poorly known in the time of Boretius, which was the last period in bryology before the introduction of magnifying devices into this science (this crucial step was made by Dillenius in 1741). The vernacular names used in the herbarium were recorded for Marchantia polymorpha and Polytrichum commune—the only two species with confirmed medicinal use by the year 1717. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medicina Pro Praxi is the property of SOLEN sro and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mosses (Bryophyta), particularly species of the genus Sphagnum, which have been used for centuries for the treatment of skin diseases and damage, are still not explored enough in terms of their use in cosmetics. The purpose of this study was to determine the antioxidant properties of water–ethanol extracts from four selected species of the genus Sphagnum (S. girgenshonii Russow, S. magellanicum Brid., S. palustre L., and S. squarrosum Crome) and their impact on the expression of genes encoding key enzymes for the functioning of the skin. In this study, the effects of Sphagnum extracts on the expression of genes encoding tyrosinase, collagenase, elastase, hyaluronidase and hyaluronic acid synthase in human dermal fibroblasts were determined for the first time in vitro. The extracts inhibited tyrosinase gene expression and showed antioxidant activity. The experiment showed an increase in the expression of some genes encoding collagenase (MMP1) or hyaluronidase (HYAL2, HYAL3 and HYAL4) and a decrease in the hyaluronan synthase (HAS1, HAS2 and HAS3) genes expression by the tested extracts. The obtained results suggest that using extracts from the tested Sphagnum species in anti-aging cosmetics does not seem beneficial. Further studies are needed to clarify their impact on the skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In [1], we performed the first complete computation of the back-to-back inclusive dijet cross-section in Deeply Inelastic Scattering (DIS) at small xBj to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the Color Glass Condensate effective field theory (CGC EFT). We demonstrate here that for dijets with relative transverse momentum P⊥ and transverse momentum imbalance q⊥, to leading power in q⊥/P⊥, the cross-section for longitudinally polarized photons can be fully factorized into the product of a perturbative impact factor and the non-perturbative Weizsäcker-Williams (WW) transverse momentum dependent (TMD) gluon distribution to NLO accuracy. The impact factor can further be expressed as the product of a universal soft factor which resums Sudakov double and single logs in P⊥/q⊥ and a coefficient function given by a remarkably compact analytic expression. We show that in the CGC EFT the WW TMD satisfies a kinematically constrained JIMWLK renormalization group evolution in rapidity. This factorization formula is valid to all orders in Qs/q⊥ for q⊥, Qs ≪ P⊥, where Qs is the semi-hard saturation scale that grows with rapidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate the satisfaction level of parents from telemedicine use in the long-term follow-up of children operated for craniosynostosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: A cross-sectional 9-question survey analysis using Qualtrics survey software. Setting: An institutional study carried out at a national, tertiary level academic center in the Slovak Republic. Patients: All patients operated for non-syndromic and syndromic craniosynostosis in our department, who participated in the virtual postoperative follow-up consultations from March 23, 2020, through July 2, 2021, were included in our series. They were enrolled 498 patients, with the parents of 256 children being responding to the survey. Interventions: The survey remained open until July 16, 2021, two weeks after the last virtual consultations. It was delivered to the parents by e-mail to generate closed 5-point Likert scale responses. Results: Overall, 72.3% of parents were satisfied with the telemedicine program, and 67.2% found it convenient. Collectively, 89.1% reported that the received instructions were helpful to them. However, only 18.7% of them answered that they would prefer telemedicine consultations in the future. Conclusion: The results of this study showed a high satisfaction from the parents during the virtual follow-up of children operated for craniosynostosis. However, despite their positive experience with telemedicine, the vast majority of parents stated that they would prefer in-person visits in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved understanding of an ovary's structures is highly desirable to support advances in folliculogenesis knowledge and reproductive medicine, with particular attention to fertility preservation options for prepubertal girls with malignant tumors. Although currently the golden standard for structural analysis is provided by combining histological sections, staining, and visible 2D microscopic inspection, synchrotron radiation phase-contrast microtomography is becoming a new challenge for three-dimensional studies at micrometric resolution. To this aim, the proper use of contrast agents can improve the visualization of internal structures in ovary tissues, which normally present a low radiopacity. In this study, we report a comparison of four staining protocols, based on iodine or tungsten containing agents, applied to bovine ovarian tissues fixed in Bouin's solution. The microtomography (microCT) analyses at two synchrotron facilities under different set-ups were performed at different energies in order to maximize the image contrast. While tungsten-based agents allow large structures to be well identified, Iodine ones better highlight smaller features, especially when acquired above the K-edge energy of the specific metal. Further scans performed at lower energy where the setup was optimized for overall quality and sensitivity from phase-contrast still provided highly resolved visualization of follicular and intrafollicular structures at different maturation stages, independent of the staining protocol. The analyses were complemented by X-ray Fluorescence mapping on 2D sections, showing that the tungsten-based agent has a higher penetration in this type of tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the workflow of the detection centre of stealthy attacks on industrial installations that generate an increase in energy consumption. Such long-lasting, undetected attacks on industrial facilities make production more expensive and less competitive or damage the installation in the long term. We present the concept of the remote detection system of cyberattacks directed at maliciously changing the controlled variable in an industrial process air conditioning system. The monitored signals are gathered at the PLC-controlled installation and sent to the remote detection system, where the discrepancies of signals are analysed based on the Control Performance Assessment indices. The results of performed tests prove the legitimacy of the adopted approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PERCIVAL detector is a CMOS imager designed for the soft X-ray regime at photon sources. Although still in its final development phase, it has recently seen its first user experiments: ptychography at a free-electron laser, holographic imaging at a storage ring and preliminary tests on X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. The detector performed remarkably well in terms of spatial resolution achievable in the sample plane, owing to its small pixel size, large active area and very large dynamic range; but also in terms of its frame rate, which is significantly faster than traditional CCDs. In particular, it is the combination of these features which makes PERCIVAL an attractive option for soft X-ray science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operational retrievals of tropospheric trace gases from space-borne spectrometers are based on one-dimensional radiative transfer models. To minimize cloud effects, trace gas retrievals generally implement a simple cloud model based on radiometric cloud fraction estimates and photon path length corrections. The latter relies on measurements of the oxygen collision pair (O 2 –O 2) absorption at 477 nm or on the oxygen A-band around 760 nm to determine an effective cloud height. In reality however, the impact of clouds is much more complex, involving unresolved sub-pixel clouds, scattering of clouds in neighbouring pixels, and cloud shadow effects, such that unresolved three-dimensional effects due to clouds may introduce significant biases in trace gas retrievals. Although clouds have significant effects on trace gas retrievals, the current cloud correction schemes are based on a simple cloud model, and the retrieved cloud parameters must be interpreted as effective values. Consequently, it is difficult to assess the accuracy of the cloud correction only based on analysis of the accuracy of the cloud retrievals, and this study focuses solely on the impact of the 3D cloud structures on the trace gas retrievals. In order to quantify this impact, we study NO 2 as a trace gas example and apply standard retrieval methods including approximate cloud corrections to synthetic data generated by the state-of-the-art three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC. A sensitivity study is performed for simulations including a box cloud, and the dependency on various parameters is investigated. The most significant bias is found for cloud shadow effects under polluted conditions. Biases depend strongly on cloud shadow fraction, NO 2 profile, cloud optical thickness, solar zenith angle, and surface albedo. Several approaches to correct NO 2 retrievals under cloud shadow conditions are explored. We find that air mass factors calculated using fitted surface albedo or corrected using the O 2 –O 2 slant column density can partly mitigate cloud shadow effects. However, these approaches are limited to cloud-free pixels affected by surrounding clouds. A parameterization approach is presented based on relationships derived from the sensitivity study. This allows measurements to be identified for which the standard NO 2 retrieval produces a significant bias and therefore provides a way to improve the current data flagging approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcriptome-wide analysis of RNA-binding partners is commonly achieved using UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP). Individual-nucleotide-resolution CLIP (iCLIP)enables identification of the specific position of the protein–RNA interaction. In addition to RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), microRNA (miRNA)–mRNA interactions also play a crucial role in the regulation of gene expression. Argonaute-2 (Ago2) mediates miRNA binding to a multitude of mRNA target sites, enabling the identification of miRNA–mRNA interactions by employing modified Ago2-CLIP protocols. Here, we describe an Ago2-specific CLIP protocol optimized for the use of small quantities of cell material, targeting endogenous Ago2 while avoiding possible methodological biases such as metabolic labeling or Ago2 overexpression and applying the latest advances in CLIP library preparation, the iCLIP2 protocol. In particular, we focus on the optimization of lysis conditions and improved radioactive labeling of the 5′ end of the miRNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) cloud structures may impact atmospheric trace gas products from ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) sounders. We used synthetic and observational data to identify and quantify possible cloud-related bias in NO 2 tropospheric vertical column density (TVCD). The synthetic data were based on high-resolution large eddy simulations which were input to a 3D radiative transfer model. The simulated visible spectra for low-earth-orbiting and geostationary geometries were analysed with standard retrieval methods and cloud correction schemes that are employed in operational NO 2 satellite products. For the observational data, the NO 2 products from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) were used, while the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) provided high-spatial-resolution cloud and radiance data. NO 2 profile shape, cloud shadow fraction, cloud top height, cloud optical depth, and solar zenith and viewing angles were identified as the metrics being the most important in identifying 3D cloud impacts on NO 2 TVCD retrievals. For a solar zenith angle less than about 40 ∘ the synthetic data show that the NO 2 TVCD bias is typically below 10 %, while for larger solar zenith angles the NO 2 TVCD is low-biased by tens of percent. The horizontal variability of NO 2 and differences in TROPOMI and VIIRS overpass times make it challenging to identify a similar bias in the observational data. However, for optically thick clouds above 3000 m, a low bias appears to be present in the observational data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the concept of boundary-based predictive controller (BBPC) as an effective tool to control industrial processes with on--off actuator, for which the control goal is defined to keep the process output within the desired range. An example use of BBPC is shown in application to control of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the laboratory activated sludge setup with biological reactor. It is suggested how to identify dynamical parameters of the proposed DO concentration model and how to provide adaptability required to ensure desired control performance in the presence of significant changes of process load disturbance. Practical implementation in programmable logic controller in the form of a general purpose library function block is also presented. Experimental comparison with conventional on–off controller shows robustness and superiority of the proposed BBPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Klinická Mikrobiologie a Infekční Lékařství is the property of TRIOS, spol. sr.o. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Postovulatory aging is a process occurring in the mature (MII) oocyte leading the unfertilized ones to apoptosis. The optimal time window of fertility for different mammalian species after oocytes maturation depends on its timeliness: the higher the time elapsed from the accomplishment of the MII stage, the lower are the chances of fertilization and of development of a viable embryo. In the in vitro fertilization, the selection of competent oocytes for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is mostly made by the visual inspection of the MII oocyte morphology, which does not allow to determine the oocyte postovulatory age. On the other hand, more specific tests usually involve some kind of staining, thus compromising the viability of the oocyte for reproductive purposes. Hence, the need of a noninvasive analysis of oocyte aging to improve the success rate of in vitro fertilization procedures. Here, we exploit atomic force microscopy to examine the evolution of the mechanical properties of mouse oocytes during in vitro postovulatory aging. Three hours before the occurrence of any visual morphological feature related to degradation, we observe a sudden change of the mechanical parameters: the elastic modulus doubles its initial value, while the viscosity decreases significantly. These mechanical variations are temporally correlated with the release of the cortical granules, investigated by fluorescence microscopy. Interestingly, the oocyte mechanics correlates as well with the yield of embryo formation, evaluated up to the blastocyst formation stage. These results demonstrate that minimally invasive mechanical measurements are very sensitive to the aging of the oocyte and can be used as a label‐free method to detect the age of the postovulatory oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The spread of invasive bryophytes in Central Europe started in the 2nd half of the twentieth century. However, still it is not known which climatic and land-use factors shape their potential niche. Objectives: We aimed to develop regional-scale species distribution models based on climate, land-use, and distance to the earliest records (propagule pressure proxy) for Campylopus introflexus and Orthodontium lineare in Poland to test whether country-scale models will reveal differences in habitat suitability among regions. Methods: We assessed the importance of bioclimatic variables, CORINE Land Cover types, and distance from previous introduction sites in country-scale species distribution models for two invasive bryophytes: C. introflexus and O. lineare. We collected species distribution data in Poland and we developed MaxEnt models in 2.5' resolution (~ 5 km). Results: Climatic variables had total importance of < 10%, land-use-related variables of 33.5% and 17.1%, and propagule pressure of 56.8% and 75.6%, for C. introflexus and O. lineare, respectively. The most important land-use types were coniferous forests and urban areas. Western and southern Poland provides more sites suitable for colonization, covering 11.2% and 19.0% of the country. Actual range saturation is 11.8% and 5.9%, respectively, indicating the early stage of studied species invasions. Conclusions: We provided species distribution models for invasive bryophytes, accounting for climatic, land-use, and introduction history variables. The impact of anthropogenic land-use types indicated the importance of disturbance as the driver of studied species invasion. This is important for early detection, spread prevention, and management of studied species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Klinická Mikrobiologie a Infekční Lékařství is the property of TRIOS, spol. sr.o. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Retrievals of trace gas concentrations from satellite observations are mostly performed for clear regions or regions with low cloud coverage. However, even fully clear pixels can be affected by clouds in the vicinity, either by shadowing or by scattering of radiation from clouds in the clear region. Quantifying the error of retrieved trace gas concentrations due to cloud scattering is a difficult task. One possibility is to generate synthetic data by three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer simulations using realistic 3D atmospheric input data, including 3D cloud structures. Retrieval algorithms may be applied on the synthetic data, and comparison to the known input trace gas concentrations yields the retrieval error due to cloud scattering. In this paper we present a comprehensive synthetic dataset which has been generated using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC (Monte Carlo code for the phYSically correct Tracing of photons In Cloudy atmospheres). The dataset includes simulated spectra in two spectral ranges (400–500 nm and the O2 A-band from 755–775 nm). Moreover it includes layer air mass factors (layer-AMFs) calculated at 460 nm. All simulations are performed for a fixed background atmosphere for various sun positions, viewing directions and surface albedos. Two cloud setups are considered: the first includes simple box clouds with various geometrical and optical thicknesses. This can be used to systematically investigate the sensitivity of the retrieval error on solar zenith angle, surface albedo and cloud parameters. Corresponding 1D simulations are also provided. The second includes realistic three-dimensional clouds from an ICON large eddy simulation (LES) for a region covering Germany and parts of surrounding countries. The scene includes cloud types typical of central Europe such as shallow cumulus, convective cloud cells, cirrus and stratocumulus. This large dataset can be used to quantify the trace gas concentration retrieval error statistically. Along with the dataset, the impact of horizontal photon transport on reflectance spectra and layer-AMFs is analysed for the box-cloud scenarios. Moreover, the impact of 3D cloud scattering on the NO2 vertical column density (VCD) retrieval is presented for a specific LES case. We find that the retrieval error is largest in cloud shadow regions, where the NO2 VCD is underestimated by more than 20 %. The dataset is available for the scientific community to assess the behaviour of trace gas retrieval algorithms and cloud correction schemes in cloud conditions with 3D structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early October 2020, northern Europe experienced an episode with poor air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM). At several sites in Norway, recorded weekly values exceeded historical maximum PM 10 concentrations from the past 4 to 10 years. Daily mean PM 10 values at Norwegian sites were up to 97 µgm-3 and had a median value of 59 µgm-3. We analysed this severe pollution episode caused by long-range atmospheric transport based on surface and remote sensing observations and transport model simulations to understand its causes. Samples from three sites in mainland Norway and the Arctic remote station Zeppelin (Svalbard) showed strong contributions from mineral dust to PM 10 (23 %–36 % as a minimum and 31 %–45 % as a maximum) and biomass burning (8 %–16 % to 19 %–21 %). Atmospheric transport simulations indicate that Central Asia was the main source region for mineral dust observed in this episode. The biomass burning fraction can be attributed to forest fires in Ukraine and southern Russia, but we cannot exclude other sources contributing, like fires elsewhere, because the model underestimates observed concentrations. The combined use of remote sensing, surface measurements, and transport modelling proved effective in describing the episode and distinguishing its causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the information on the distribution of the moss Bryum gemmiferum R. Wilczek & Demaret in Poland. The first species site from southern Poland was published, but further research and revision of the herbarium materials provided information about its occurrence in different parts of the country. Currently, this species is known in 20 locations. A brief discussion about its ecology, taxonomy, and geographical distribution is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operational retrievals of tropospheric trace gases from space-borne spectrometers are based on one-dimensional radiative transfer models. To minimize cloud effects, trace gas retrievals generally implement Lambertian cloud models based on radiometric cloud fraction estimates and photon path length corrections. The latter relies on measurements of the oxygen collision pair (O2-O2) absorption at 477 nm or on the oxygen A-band around 760 nm. In reality however, the impact of clouds is much more complex, involving unresolved sub-pixel clouds, scattering of clouds in neighboring pixels and cloud shadow effects, such that unresolved three-dimensional effects due to clouds may introduce significant biases in trace gas retrievals. In order to quantify this impact, we study NO2 as a trace gas example, and apply standard retrieval methods including approximate cloud corrections to synthetic data generated by the state-of-the-art three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC. A sensitivity study is performed for simulations including a box-cloud, and the dependency on various parameters is investigated. The most significant bias is found for cloud shadow effects under polluted conditions. Biases depend strongly on cloud shadow fraction, NO2 profile, cloud optical thickness, solar zenith angle, and surface albedo. Several approaches to correct NO2 retrievals under cloud shadow conditions are explored. We find that air mass factors calculated using fitted surface albedo or corrected using the O2-O2 slant column density can partly mitigate cloud shadow effects. However, these approaches are limited to cloud-free pixels affected by surrounding clouds. A parameterization approach is presented based on relationships derived from the sensitivity study. This allows identifying measurements for which the standard NO2 retrieval produces a significant bias, and therefore provides a way to improve the current data flagging approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) cloud structures may impact atmospheric trace gas products from ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) sounders. We used synthetic and observational data to identify and quantify possible cloud-related bias in NO2 tropospheric vertical column densities (TVCD). The synthetic data were based on high-resolution large eddy simulations which were input to a 3D radiative transfer model. The simulated visible spectra for low-earth orbiting and geostationary geometries were analysed with standard retrieval methods and cloud correction schemes that are employed in operational NO2 satellite products. For the observational data the NO2 products from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) were used while the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) provided high spatial resolution cloud and radiance data. Cloud shadow fraction, cloud top height, cloud optical depth, solar zenith and viewing angles, were identified as the metrics being the most important in identifying 3D cloud impacts on NO2 TVCD retrievals. For a solar zenith angle less than about 40#176; the synthetic data show that the NO2 TVCD bias is typically below 10 %. For larger solar zenith angles both synthetic and observational data often show NO2 TVCD bias on the order of tens of %. Specifically, for clearly identified cloud shadow bands in the observational data, the NO2 TVCD appears low-biased when the cloud shadow fraction > 0.0 compared to when the cloud shadow fraction is zero. For solar zenith angles between 50-60#176;, about 16 % of TROPOMI pixels with high quality value NO2 TVCD retrievals, were found to be impacted by cloud effects larger than 20 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrievals of trace gas concentrations from satellite observations are mostly performed for clear regions or regions with low cloud coverage. However, even fully clear pixels can be affected by clouds in the vicinity, either by shadowing or by scattering of radiation from clouds in the clear region. Quantifying the error of retrieved trace gas concentrations due to cloud scattering is a difficult task. One possibility is to generate synthetic data by three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer simulations using realistic 3D atmospheric input data, including 3D cloud structures. Retrieval algorithms may be applied on the synthetic data and comparison to the known input trace gas concentrations yields the retrieval error due to cloud scattering. In this paper we present a comprehensive synthetic dataset which has been generated using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC. The dataset includes simulated spectra in two spectral ranges (400-500nm and the O2A-band from 755-775nm). Moreover it includes layer air mass factors (layer-AMF) calculated at 460nm. All simulations are performed for a fixed background atmosphere for various sun positions, viewing directions and surface albedos. Two cloud setups are considered: The first includes simple box-clouds with various geometrical and optical thicknesses. This can be used to systematically investigate the sensitivity of the retrieval error on solar zenith angle, surface albedo and cloud parameters. Corresponding 1D simulations are also provided. The second includes realistic three-dimensional clouds from an ICON large eddy simulation (LES) for a region covering Germany and parts of surrounding countries. The scene includes cloud types typical for central Europe such as shallow cumulus, convective cloud cells, cirrus, and stratocumulus. This large dataset can be used to quantify the trace gas concentration retrieval error statistically. Along with the dataset the impact of horizontal photon transport on reflectance spectra and layer-AMFs is analyzed for the box-cloud scenarios. Moreover, the impact of 3D cloud scattering on the NO2 vertical column density (VCD) retrieval is presented for a specific LES case. We find that the retrieval error is largest in cloud shadow regions, where the NO2 VCD is underestimated by more than 20%. The dataset is available for the scientific community to assess the behavior of trace gas retrieval algorithms and cloud correction schemes in cloud conditions with 3D structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early October 2020, northern Europe experienced an episode with poor air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM). At several sites in Norway, maximum recorded values for weekly averaged PM10 concentrations from the past 4 to 10 years were exceeded. Daily mean PM10 values at Norwegian sites were up to 97 μg m-3 and had a median value of 59 μg m-3. We analysed this severe pollution episode caused by long-range atmospheric transport based on on-line and off- line surface and remote sensing observations and transport model simulations to understand its causes. Samples from three sites in mainland Norway and the Arctic remote station Zeppelin (Svalbard) showed strong contributions from mineral dust to PM10 (23-36 % as a minimum and 31-45 % as a maximum) and biomass burning (8-16 % - 19-21 %). Atmospheric transport simulations indicate that Central Asia was the main source region for mineral dust observed in this episode. The biomass burning fraction can be attributed to forest fires in Ukraine and southern Russia, but we cannot exclude other sources contributing as well. The combined use of remote sensing, high quality measurements and transport modelling proved effective in describing the episode and distinguishing its causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue (SI) of I Plants i is devoted to medicinal and cosmetic plants. The results shows that this species may be a promising source of antimicrobials for plant crop protection, including, e.g., the organic cultivation of medicinal plants. The proposed topics in the current SI included five areas: (1) natural plant resources in particular regions and countries, (2) plant protection, (3) searching for new medicinal and cosmetic species or their properties, (4) ethnobotany as a source of information about medicinal and cosmetic plants, and (5) human impact on the environment and medicinal and cosmetic plants. [Extracted from the article]

Background: There is a multitude of protocols of treatment of cleft lip and palate (CLP) worldwide differing in number of operations, surgical techniques, and timings of surgeries. Despite, facial appearance in subjects with CLP is rarely ideal and residual stigmata are easy to notice in many patients irrespective of the protocol. The prospective controlled investigations are optimal for comparing effectiveness of treatment protocols. Because prospective studies are very challenging to perform in CLP field, it is reasonable to retrospectively assess different surgical protocols to identify the promising ones and then to test them in a prospective way. Methods: Our objective was to assess the nasolabial appearance in a preadolescent Slavic population with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) by using the 0-200 numeric scale with reference photographs. Patients treated in Warsaw, Poland (n = 32), Prague, Czech Republic (n = 26) and Bratislava, Slovakia (n = 17) were included in this retrospective study. Each cleft center used a unique surgical protocol. Two panels of professional raters (n = 7) and laypeople (n = 10) scored blindly the nasolabial esthetics on cropped frontal and profile images with cropped reference photograph present on the same slide. Intra-and inter-rater agreement was assessed with Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation coefficients, t-tests, and Bland-Altman plots. Inter-group differences were evaluated with one-way ANOVA and regression analysis. Results: The agreement within and between raters was acceptable. We found that patients treated in Warsaw, Prague, and Bratislava showed comparable nasolabial appearance on frontal and profile photographs when judged by both professional raters (p > 0.05) and laypeople (p > 0.05). Regression analysis did not identify influence of gender, group (i.e., Warsaw, Prague, and Bratislava), age at lip repair, surgeon, and age at photographic assessment on esthetic outcome (p > 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that none of the surgical protocols showed superiority to produce good nasolabial appearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Poland, Hedwigia ciliata (Hedw.) P. Beauv., an obligatory epilithic moss species, has in recent years also been observed on the bark of trees. In this paper, we describe 25 recently identified sites in which epiphytic H. ciliata has been observed, and provide a plausible explanation to account for this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the distribution and habitat conditions of Riccietum fluitantis Slavnić 1956 (Lemnetea minoris class) in oxbow lakes of south-western Poland. During research done in 2000–2018, 11 localities of this community were found. The main threats to Riccietum fluitantis in oxbow lakes in south-western Poland are changes in water levels and physicochemical properties. Problems associated with distinguishing Riccietum fluitantis are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atropa belladonna L. is a rare and threatened plant in Silesia Province. The paper lists its stations and gives information about their conservation status. Atropa belladonna is known from about 60 stations here, 24 of which were confirmed after 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains information about 99 species and one variety of mosses from the Beskid Sądecki range, of which 36 species (e.g. Anomodon attenuatus, Neckera pennata, Zygodon rupestris) are protected by law and 10 (e.g. Neckera besseri, Syntrichia virescens, Tomentypnum nitens) are threatened in Poland. Eleven species (Aloina rigida, Bryum rubens, Cirriphyllum crassinervium, Eucladium verticillatum, Fissidens rufulus, Guembelia longirostris, Schistidium lancifolium, Schistidium papillosum, Sphagnum russowii, Thamnobryum neckeroides, Tortula modica) are first records for this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Atmospheric turbulence and in particular its effect on tracer dispersion may be measured by cameras sensitive to the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) sunlight by sulfur dioxide (SO2), a gas that can be considered a passive tracer over short transport distances. We present a method to simulate UV camera measurements of SO2 with a 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer model which takes input from a large eddy simulation (LES) of a SO2 plume released from a point source. From the simulated images the apparent absorbance and various plume density statistics (centre-line position, meandering, absolute and relative dispersion, and skewness) were calculated. These were compared with corresponding quantities obtained directly from the LES. Mean differences of centre-line position, absolute and relative dispersions, and skewness between the simulated images and the LES were generally found to be smaller than or about the voxel resolution of the LES. Furthermore, sensitivity studies were made to quantify how changes in solar azimuth and zenith angles, aerosol loading (background and in plume), and surface albedo impact the UV camera image plume statistics. Changing the values of these parameters within realistic limits has negligible effects on the centre-line position, meandering, absolute and relative dispersions, and skewness of the SO2 plume. Thus, we demonstrate that UV camera images of SO2 plumes may be used to derive plume statistics of relevance for the study of atmospheric turbulent dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the Drell–Yan dilepton production using the transverse momentum dependent parton distributions evolved with the Catani–Ciafaloni–Fiorani–Marchesini–Kwieciński (CCFM-K) equations in the single loop approximation. Such equations are obtained assuming angular ordering of emitted partons (coherence) for x ∼ 1 and transverse momentum ordering for x ≪ 1 . This evolution scheme also contains the Collins–Soper–Sterman (CSS) soft gluon resummation. We make a comparison with a broad class of data on transverse momentum spectra of low mass Drell–Yan dileptons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present theoretical predictions for selected differential cross sections for the process p p → t t ¯ B at the LHC, where B can be a Higgs (H), a Z or a W boson. The predictions are calculated in the direct QCD framework up to the next-to-next-leading logarithmi accuracy and matched to the complete NLO results including QCD and electroweak effects. Additionally, results for the total cross sections are provided. The calculations deliver a significant improvement of the theoretical predictions, especially for the t t ¯ H and the t t ¯ Z production. In these cases, predictions for both the total and differential cross sections are remarkably stable with respect to the central scale choice and carry a substantially reduced scale uncertainty in comparison with the complete NLO predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]