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In this study, the performance of two types of source apportionment models was evaluated by assessing the results provided by 40 different groups in the framework of an intercomparison organised by FAIRMODE WG3 (Forum for air quality modelling in Europe, Working Group 3). The evaluation was based on two performance indicators: z-scores and the root mean square error weighted by the reference uncertainty (RMSEu), with pre-established acceptability criteria. By involving models based on completely different and independent input data, such as receptor models (RMs) and chemical transport models (CTMs), the intercomparison provided a unique opportunity for their cross-validation. In addition, comparing the CTM chemical profiles with those measured directly at the source contributed to corroborate the consistency of the tested model results. The most commonly used RM was the US EPA- PMF version 5. RMs showed very good performance for the overall dataset (91% of z-scores accepted) while more difficulties were observed with the source contribution time series (72% of RMSEu accepted). Industrial activities proved to be the most difficult sources to be quantified by RMs, with high variability in the estimated contributions. In the CTMs, the sum of computed source contributions was lower than the measured gravimetric PM10 mass concentrations. The performance tests pointed out the differences between the two CTM approaches used for source apportionment in this study: brute force (or emission reduction impact) and tagged species methods. The sources meeting the z-score and RMSEu acceptability criteria tests were 50% and 86%, respectively. The CTM source contributions to PM10 were in the majority of cases lower than the RM averages for the corresponding source. The CTMs and RMs source contributions for the overall dataset were more comparable (83% of the z-scores accepted) than their time series (successful RMSEu in the range 25% - 34%). The comparability between CTMs and RMs va

Indoor school gyms are environments characterized by high concentrations of different airborne particulate and gaseous pollutants. In particular, like other naturally-ventilated school environments, in addition to indoor pollutants children can be exposed to sub-micron particles and gaseous pollutants emitted by outdoor sources and penetrating the building envelope; moreover, high concentrations of super-micron particles can be reached due to the resuspension phenomena related to the physical activity performed therein. The present paper aims to evaluate the effect of different ventilation methods (natural ventilation, manual airing) and the use of air purifiers in reducing the indoor concentrations of different airborne particles and gaseous pollutants in school gyms. To this end, an experimental campaign was performed in two naturally-ventilated school gyms in Barcelona (Spain) of different volumes and different distance to major urban roads. Indoor and outdoor measurements of particle number, black carbon and PM1 – 10 concentrations were performed as well as indoor measurements of CO2 and NO2 concentrations. The study revealed that the use of air purifiers with windows kept closed (natural ventilation) can lead to a significant reduction in terms of indoor-to-outdoor concentration ratios. In the smaller gym (air changes per hour of the purifiers, ACH, equal to 9.2 h− 1) the I/O ratios were reduced by 93% and 95% in terms of particle number and PM1 – 10, respectively; whereas in the larger school gym (ACH = 1.7 h− 1) the corresponding reductions were 70% and 84%. For manual airing scenarios, the effect of the air purifiers on outdoor-generated sub-micron particles is reduced; in particular, for low ACH values (i.e. ACH = 1.7 h− 1), the reduction is quite negligible (6%).

Global demand for mobility will grow from 44 trillion to 122 trillion passenger-kilometres by 2050, and freight demand will triple in that time increasing traffic emissions by 60%. With current innovation and policy measures we are ‘on course for a 3.2C temperature rise’, according to the 2019 UN Emissions Gap Report. Nothing short of revolutionary is required to address this emergency. However, there is hope: shared mobility and widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles could cut emissions by 73% and congestion by 24% if managed by appropriate policies. This paper presents a vision and a concept for future distributed management systems for complex multi-modal transport networks that exploit Multi Agent Systems (MAS) to support individual actors based on data collected from heterogeneous sources like vehicles, freight items, infrastructures, Global Positioning Systems (GPS); and simulations of the behaviour of the many different actors involved in the transport system. Event driven approaches are envisioned to react and respond to real-time events efficiently. The main objective is to identify the best optimization strategies to reduce traffic emissions and maximize the use of the public infrastructures and shared mobility. Motivations, expected impacts, and challenges are also discussed.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth cause of death from cancer worldwide mainly due to the high incidence of drug-resistance. During a screen for new actionable targets in drug-resistant tumours we recently identified p65BTK – a novel oncogenic isoform of Bruton's tyrosine kinase. Studying three different cohorts of patients here we show that p65BTK expression correlates with histotype and cancer progression. Using drug-resistant TP53-null colon cancer cells as a model we demonstrated that p65BTK silencing or chemical inhibition overcame the 5-fluorouracil resistance of CRC cell lines and patient-derived organoids and significantly reduced the growth of xenografted tumours. Mechanistically, we show that blocking p65BTK in drug-resistant cells abolished a 5-FU-elicited TGFB1 protective response and triggered E2F-dependent apoptosis. Taken together, our data demonstrated that targeting p65BTK restores the apoptotic response to chemotherapy of drug-resistant CRCs and gives a proof-of-concept for suggesting the use of BTK inhibitors in combination with 5-FU as a novel therapeutic approach in CRC patients. © 2019 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Building an identity and access management (IAM) system that satisfies business needs and can evolve over time with the ever-changing business environment, is always a challenging endeavour. This calls for the need of an ontology based adaptive IAM metamodel, which can adapt to and instantiated for different situations. To achieve this objective, the first step is to identify the relevant elements and their relationships for developing a detailed IAM ontology. Thus, this paper mainly focuses on the review of the available key models as a starting point for the identification of relevant elements and relationships for the development of the adaptable and yet generic metamodel for our industry research partner. This paper uses the graph modelling approach to present the identified elements and their relationship as an ontology, which can be used for developing the metamodel.