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This study aims to provide analyses of the levels of airborne particulate matter (PM) using a two-pronged approach that combines data from in situ Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks with remotely sensed aerosol optical depth (AOD). Our approach involved setting up a network of custom-designed PM sensors that could be powered by the electrical grid or solar panels. These sensors were strategically placed throughout the densely populated areas of North Texas to collect data on PM levels, weather conditions, and other gases from September 2021 to June 2023. The collected data were then used to create models that predict PM concentrations in different size categories, demonstrating high accuracy with correlation coefficients greater than 0.9. This highlights the importance of collecting hyperlocal data with precise geographic and temporal alignment for PM analysis. Furthermore, we expanded our analysis to a national scale by developing machine learning models that estimate hourly PM 2.5 levels throughout the continental United States. These models used high-resolution data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-16) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) dataset, along with meteorological data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF), AOD reanalysis, and air pollutant information from the MERRA-2 database, covering the period from January 2020 to June 2023. Our models were refined using ground truth data from our IoT sensor network, the OpenAQ network, and the National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) network, enhancing the accuracy of our remote sensing PM estimates. The findings demonstrate that the combination of AOD data with meteorological analyses and additional datasets can effectively model PM 2.5 concentrations, achieving a significant correlation coefficient of 0.849. The reconstructed PM 2.5 surfaces created in this study are invaluable for monitoring pollution events and performing detailed PM 2.5 analyses. These results were further validated through real-world observations from two in situ MINTS sensors located in Joppa (South Dallas) and Austin, confirming the effectiveness of our comprehensive approach to PM analysis. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated the national standard for PM 2.5 to 9 μg/m 3, a move aimed at significantly reducing air pollution and protecting public health by lowering the allowable concentration of harmful fine particles in the air. Using our analysis approach to reconstruct the fine-time resolution PM 2.5 distribution across the entire United States for our study period, we found that the entire nation encountered PM 2.5 levels that exceeded 9 μg/m 3 for more than 20% of the time of our analysis period, with the eastern United States and California experiencing concentrations exceeding 9 μg/m 3 for over 50% of the time, highlighting the importance of regulatory efforts to maintain annual PM 2.5 concentrations below 9 μg/m 3.

This paper describes and demonstrates an autonomous robotic team that can rapidly learn the characteristics of environments that it has never seen before. The flexible paradigm is easily scalable to multi-robot, multi-sensor autonomous teams, and it is relevant to satellite calibration/validation and the creation of new remote sensing data products. A case study is described for the rapid characterisation of the aquatic environment, over a period of just a few minutes we acquired thousands of training data points. This training data allowed for our machine learning algorithms to rapidly learn by example and provide wide area maps of the composition of the environment. Along side these larger autonomous robots two smaller robots that can be deployed by a single individual were also deployed (a walking robot and a robotic hover-board), observing significant small scale spatial variability.

The stratosphere holds a variety of particulates like polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and sulphate aerosols which catalyse chemical reactions. These reactions cause changes in the composition of the stratosphere, including the redistribution of active chlorine which might lead to ozone destruction. As a result during recent years a lot of effort has been directed towards the quantification of the uptake of trace gases like ClONO2, HCl, etc. into these particulates. However, it has been observed that many of the two and three dimensional models used in such studies are constrained by the lack of adequate rate constant data. This paper describes a theoretical approach to estimate the reaction rate constants for 23 gases on both types of polar stratospheric clouds (type I and II). It is found that for gases like N2O5, ClONO2 and HCl, diffusional uptake is important and contributes significantly to the heterogeneous reaction rate. A complete Lennard-Jones calculation is used to accurately compute the trace gas diffusion coefficients.

The stratosphere holds a variety of particulates like polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and sulphate aerosols which catalyse chemical reactions. These reactions cause changes in the composition of the stratosphere, including the redistribution of active chlorine which might lead to ozone destruction. As a result during recent years a lot of effort has been directed towards the quantification of the uptake of trace gases like ClONO2, HCl, etc. into these particulates. However, it has been observed that many of the two and three dimensional models used in such studies are constrained by the lack of adequate rate constant data. This paper describes a theoretical approach to estimate the reaction rate constants for 23 gases on both types of polar stratospheric clouds (type I and II). It is found that for gases like N2O5, ClONO2 and HCl, diffusional uptake is important and contributes significantly to the heterogeneous reaction rate. A complete Lennard-Jones calculation is used to accurately compute the trace gas diffusion coefficients.

Black pod rot, caused by Phytophthora palmivora , is a devastating disease of Theobroma cacao L. (cacao) leading to huge losses for farmers and limiting chocolate industry supplies. To understand resistance responses of cacao leaves to P. palmivora , Stage 2 leaves of genotypes Imperial College Selection 1 (ICS1), Colección Castro Naranjal 51 (CCN51), and Pound7 were inoculated with zoospores and monitored for symptoms up to 48 h. Pound7 consistently showed less necrosis than ICS1 and CCN51 48 h after inoculation. RNA-Seq was carried out on samples 24 h post inoculation. A total of 24,672 expressed cacao genes were identified, and 2,521 transcripts showed induction in at least one P. palmivora -treated genotype compared to controls. There were 115 genes induced in the P. palmivora -treated samples in all three genotypes. Many of the differentially expressed genes were components of KEGG pathways important in plant defense signal perception (the plant MAPK signaling pathway, plant hormone signal transduction, and plant pathogen interactions), and plant defense metabolite biosynthesis (phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, α-linolenic acid metabolism, ethylene biosynthesis, and terpenoid backbone biosynthesis). A search of putative cacao resistance genes within the cacao transcriptome identified 89 genes with prominent leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains, 170 protein kinases encoding genes, 210 genes with prominent NB-ARC domains, 305 lectin-related genes, and 97 cysteine-rich RK genes. We further analyzed the cacao leaf transcriptome in detail focusing on gene families-encoding proteins important in signal transduction (MAP kinases and transcription factors) and direct plant defense (Germin-like, ubiquitin-associated, lectin-related, pathogenesis-related, glutathione-S-transferases, and proteases). There was a massive reprogramming of defense gene processes in susceptible cacao leaf tissue after infection, which was restricted in the resistant genotype Pound7. Most genes induced in Pound7 were induced in ICS1/CCN51. The level of induction was not always proportional to the infection level, raising the possibility that genes are responding to infection more strongly in Pound7. There were also defense-associated genes constitutively differentially expressed at higher levels in specific genotypes, possibly providing a prepositioned defense. Many of the defense genes occur in blocks where members are constitutively expressed at different levels, and some members are induced by Ppal infection. With further study, the identified candidate genes and gene blocks may be useful as markers for breeding disease-resistant cacao genotypes against P. palmivora ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Baruah, Ali, Shao, Lary and Bailey.)

The "science-softCon UV/Vis + Photochemistry Database" (www.photochemistry.org) is a large and comprehensive collection of EUV-VUV-UV-Vis-NIR spectral data and other photochemical information assembled from published peer-reviewed papers. The database contains photochemical data including absorption, fluorescence, photoelectron, and circular and linear dichroism spectra, as well as quantum yields and photolysis related data that are critically needed in many scientific disciplines. This manuscript gives an outline regarding the structure and content of the "science-softCon UV/Vis + Photochemistry Database". The accurate and reliable molecular level information provided in this database is fundamental in nature and helps in proceeding further to understand photon, electron and ion induced chemistry of molecules of interest not only in spectroscopy, astrochemistry, astrophysics, Earth and planetary sciences, environmental chemistry, plasma physics, combustion chemistry but also in applied fields such as medical diagnostics, pharmaceutical sciences, biochemistry, agriculture, and catalysis. In order to illustrate this, we illustrate the use of the UV/Vis + Photochemistry Database in four different fields of scientific endeavor., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Background: Numerous interventions have tried to improve healthcare workers' hand hygiene compliance. However, little attention has been paid to children's and their visitors' compliance., Aim: To test whether interactive educational interventions increase children's and visitors' compliance with hand hygiene., Methods: This was a cluster randomised study of hand hygiene compliance before and after the introduction of educational interventions. Observations were compared for different moments of hygiene and times of the day. Qualitative data in the form of questionnaire-based structured interviews were obtained., Findings: Hand hygiene compliance increased by 24.4% ( P < 0.001) following the educational interventions, with children's compliance reaching 40.8% and visitors' being 50.8%. Compliance varied depending on which of the five moments of hygiene was observed ( P < 0.001), with the highest compliance being 'after body fluid exposure' (72.7%). Responses from questionnaires showed educational interventions raised awareness of the importance of hand hygiene (69%, 57%) compared to those who had not experienced the educational intervention (50%)., Conclusion: Educational interventions may result in a significant increase in children's and visitors' hand hygiene ( P < 0.001)., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2019.)

Drought can negatively impact pod production despite the fact that cacao production usually occurs in tropical areas having high rainfall. Polyamines (PAs) have been associated with the response of plants to drought in addition to their roles in responses to many other stresses. The constitutive and drought inducible expression patterns of genes encoding enzymes involved in PA biosynthesis were determined: an ornithine decarboxylase (TcODC), an arginine decarboxylase (TcADC), an S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (TcSAMDC), a spermidine synthase (TcSPDS), and a spermine synthase (TcSPMS). Expression analysis using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (QPCR) results showed that the PA biosynthesis genes were expressed in all plant tissues examined. Constitutive expression of PA biosynthesis genes was generally highest in mature leaves and open flowers. Expression of TcODC, TcADC, and TcSAMDC was induced with the onset of drought and correlated with changes in stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, photosystem II efficiency, leaf water potential and altered emission of blue-green fluorescence from cacao leaves. Induction of TcSAMDC in leaves was most closely correlated with changes in water potential. The earliest measured responses to drought were enhanced expression of TcADC and TcSAMDC in roots along with decreases in stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and photosystem II efficiency. Elevated levels of putrescine, spermidine, and spermine were detected in cacao leaves 13days after the onset of drought. Expression of all five PA associated transcripts was enhanced (1.5-3-fold) in response to treatment with abscisic acid. TcODC and TcADC, were also responsive to mechanical wounding, infection by Phytophthora megakarya (a causal agent of black pod disease in cacao), the necrosis- and ethylene-inducing protein (Nep1) of Fusarium oxysporum, and flower abscission. TcSAMDC expression was responsive to all stresses except flower abscission. TcODC, although constitutively expressed at much lower levels than TcADC, TcSAMDC, TcSPDS, and TcSPMS, was highly inducible by the fungal protein Nep1 (135-fold) and the cacao pathogen Phytophthora megakarya (671-fold). The full length cDNA for ODC was cloned and characterized. Among the genes studied, TcODC, TcADC, and TcSAMDC were most sensitive to induction by drought in addition to other abiotic and biotic stresses. TcODC, TcADC, and TcSAMDC may share signal transduction pathways and/or the stress induced signal induction pathways may converge at these three genes leading to similar although not identical patterns of expression. It is possible altering PA levels in cacao will result in enhanced tolerance to multiple stresses including drought and disease as has been demonstrated in other crops.

To study the effect of ultraviolet (UV) light on the development of age-related cataract, a community-based cross-sectional study was undertaken in two villages in the mountainous Northern Areas of Pakistan. The relative UV light exposure was calculated by the UK Universities Global Atmospheric Modelling Program using the variables direct sunlight hours per day, latitude and ground reflectivity. A total of 797 subjects (410 men, 387 women) over the age of 40 years from both villages were examined for the presence of cataract. The prevalence of cataract increased with age (p < 0.001) and was significantly higher in women at all ages (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the overall prevalence of cataract between the two villages. The male population in each village was subdivided into those who worked predominantly indoors and those who worked predominantly outdoors. All women worked outdoors. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of cataract between the male outdoor workers in the two villages. The indoor workers in the village with higher UV light exposure (Hunza) had a significantly higher cataract prevalence (p < 0.001) than the indoor workers in the village with lower UV light exposure (Nomol). In the village with lower UV light exposure (Nomol), the male outdoor workers had a significantly higher prevalence of cataract than the male indoor workers (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of cataract between the male indoor and outdoor workers in the village with higher UV light exposure (Hunza). Overall, these results are not strongly supportive of UV light being of major importance in cataractogenesis, but they are consistent with a saturation model of UV light as a risk factor for cataract formation.

Five trained, fasted male cyclists rode a cycle ergometer three times at 50% of VO2max for 180 min. Using a balanced order, double-blind procedure, subjects were given either a solution containing polylactate (PL: 80% polylactate, 20% sodium lactate, in 7% solution with water), glucose polymer (GP: multidextrin in 7% solution with water), or control (C: water sweetened with aspartame) 5 min before exercise and at 20-min intervals during exercise. Venous blood samples were taken at rest and at 20-min intervals during exercise. In general, PL and GP rendered similar results except that pH and bicarbonate (HCO3-) were higher in PL. There were no differences between treatments in perceived exertion, sodium, potassium, chloride, lactate, heart rate, oxygen consumption, rectal temperature, or selected skin temperatures. These data show that polylactate may help maintain blood glucose and enhance blood buffering capacity during prolonged exercise and could be a useful component in an athletic fluid replacement beverage.

The pathology and treatment of 19 patients with acquired ventricular septal defects (VSD's) secondary to myocardial infarction are presented. A new method of repair is described: suturing the free right ventricular wall against the VSD to support the friable septum on the right side in continuity with the patch on the left side of the septum. This removes the force of the left ventricle contraction from the patch and septum to the healthy right ventricle wall. Distal cardiac amputation was also used in several instances. The hospital survival rate was 64 per cent. The late functional and hemodynamic results were excellent.