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Introduction: Benzene is one of the pollutants in the shoe home industry that can cause cancer among the workers. The present research aimed to analyze the relationship between exposure to benzene and spmA (s-phenylmercapturic Acid) in the urine of shoe-making home industry workers in Surabaya. Methods: This was an observational study using an analytical research method where the total number of respondents in the sample was 10. The concentration of benzene was measured using Gas Chromatography-FID (Flame Ionization Detector). The data collection technique was descriptive analysis for each variable from among the worker’s characteristics. The analysis of the relationship between the level of spmA in their urine and the worker’s characteristics was performed using regression tests while the analysis of the relationship between the level of benzene in the air and the levels of workers’ spmA was performed using the Spearman correlation test. Results: The benzene I levels in the work environment were found to be between 0.06 ppm - 53.8 ppm. The average spmA was 6.68 μg/g creatinine. The p value of the relationship between the variable levels of benzene and the levels of spmA was 0.879 with a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.056. Conclusion: The mean concentration of benzene in the air at the 6 point uptake was over the threshold. Based on the results of the spmA examination, the mean value of spmA was below the threshold value. The test results on the level of benzene in the air and the spmA indicate a very weak relationship.

Aims: The aim of this publication is to explore occupational exposure trends from biological monitoring data collected over a period of more than 20 years. The data is stored within the HSE database, which holds more than 950,000 results from 120,000 workers in 8,000 companies. The data were collated for all biological monitoring results for lead, mercury, benzene, and hexamethylene diisocyanate exposures where there have been some regulatory drivers within the reported time period of the data searched.Methods: Relevant results from sample analysed were extracted from the database and categorised by year from 1996 to the end of 2019 for individual blood lead results and individual urine results for mercury, benzene, and hexamethylene diisocyanate. Results were classed by broad occupational sector where possible. Data were reported graphically by analytical biomarker result (as 90th percentile (P90)) and number of samples per year as well as with overall summary statistics. To look at longer-term trends, results were also evaluated as P90 over 6-year periods.Results: In the period 1996–2019, 37,474 blood lead, 11,723 urinary mercury, 9,188 urinary S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA, benzene metabolite) and 21,955 urinary hexamethylene diamine (HDA, metabolite of hexamethylene diisocyanate, HDI) samples were analysed and reported. Over the time period the blood lead concentrations saw the P90 reduce from 53 μg/dl 1996) to 24 μg/dl in 2019; the P90 urinary mercury levels reduced from 13.7 μmol/mol creatinine to 2.1 μmol/mol creatinine and the P90 urinary SPMA levels reduced from 133.7 μmol/mol creatinine to 1.7 μmol/mol creatinine. For HDI the P90 results reduced from 2 µmol HDA/mol creatinine in 1996–2000 to 0.7 in 2005–2010 but levels have since increased to 1.0 µmol HDA/mol creatinine (2016–2019).Conclusion: There is strong evidence of reductions in exposure of GB workers to lead, benzene and mercury from the data presented here. These reductions may reflect the impact of national, regional and global regulatory action to reduce exposures however, the loss of high exposure industries (from either GB as a whole or just this dataset i.e., samples are being sent elsewhere) and the increase in automation or substitution also need to be considered as potential factors. The results for HDI show that whilst interventions can reduce exposures significantly, such initiatives may need to be refreshed at intervals to maintain the reductions in exposure. We have observed that exposures move between sectors over time. Waste and recycling (lead, mercury) and tunnelling through contaminated land (benzene) were sectors or tasks associated with significant exposures and may be increasingly areas of concern.

Lattice-based cryptography (LBC) is one of the promising post-quantum candidates which offers good security and performance. The most time consuming operations in LBC is the polynomial multiplication, which can be performed through widely explored algorithms like schoolbook polynomial multiplication algorithm (SPMA) and Number Theoretic Transform (NTT). However, Karatsuba algorithm with better complexity compared to SPMA, is not widely studied for FPGA implementation of LBC. In this brief, we proposed an optimized SPMA-Karatsuba (SK) architecture with novel technique to implement the negacyclic convolution. The proposed architecture is more than 2.09 × faster in expense of 96.06% additional hardware resources compared to the state-of-the-art SPMA architecture. This shows that the combination of SPMA and Karatsuba algorithm can produce hardware architecture with higher speed yet maintain balanced area-time efficiency compared to SPMA-only architecture. This is especially useful for developing IoT edge nodes or gateway devices that require high speed but able to tolerate some additional hardware area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • SPMA was confirmed as the best biomarker of benzene, even at very low levels of exposure. • Cigarette smoking was confirmed as an important confounding factor for the benzene biomarkers. • The GSTT1 but not GSTM1 genotype significantly modulates the urinary levels of SPMA. • Toluene exposure, even at low concentrations, inhibits benzene metabolism to SPMA. Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of various factors that modulate the metabolism of benzene, including smoking habits, metabolic genotype of GST and co-exposure to toluene, on the levels of three biomarkers, i.e. urinary benzene (UB), S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) and t,t -muconic acid (t,t -MA), in 146 refinery workers exposed to low levels of air benzene (AB) in the range <1.5–529.2 μg/m3 (mean value 32.6 μg/m3). The study confirmed the validity of SPMA as a good biomarker of benzene exposure even at low levels of exposure. It was also confirmed that cigarette smoking is the main confounding factor when assessing biological monitoring data of occupational exposure to AB. Our data indicate that the GSTT1, but not the GSTM1 genotype, significantly increases the urinary levels of SPMA, even at low levels of exposure. It is not known, though, whether subjects with a GSTT1 "null" genotype may be more susceptible to the effects of benzene. Finally, environmental toluene appears to inhibit the metabolism of benzene to SPMA even at low concentrations, also resulting in an underestimation by SPMA levels of the actual exposure of workers to benzene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The main aim of this study was to assess the biological uptake of benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for subjects exposed to fresh crude oil released at sea. Methods The study included 22 subjects participating in an 'oil-on-water' field trial in the North Sea. Over 2 consecutive days, there were six releases with two different types of fresh crude oils. Exposed subjects (n = 17) were either located in small, open-air boats downwind and close to the released oil (<50 m) or on the main deck of two large vessels further from the released oil (100–200 m). Subjects assumed to be unexposed (n = 5) were located indoors on the command bridge of either vessel. Full-shift personal benzene exposure was monitored with passive thermal desorption tubes (ATD-tubes) packed with Tenax TA and subsequent gas chromatographic analysis. Urine samples were collected before and after work-shift on both days and analyzed for urinary markers of benzene [(S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA)] and PAHs [1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH)]. Information about the use of personal protective equipment, smoking habits, location, work tasks, and length of work-shift were recorded by a questionnaire. Results Subjects located in the small boats downwind and close to the released oil were exposed to relatively high concentrations of benzene (arithmetic mean = 0.2 ppm, range 0.002–1.5 ppm) compared to the occupational exposure limits (OELs) for 8 h (1 ppm) and 12 h (0.6 ppm). Although respirators were available to all exposed subjects, SPMA was detected in post-shift urine (0.5–3.3 µmol mol−1) of five exposed subjects reporting not wearing respirators, all located in the small boats downwind and close to the released oil. For exposed subjects wearing respirators (n = 12), the post-shift urinary SPMA was below the detection limit (0.8 µmol mol−1) even when the benzene exposure exceeded the OELs. Urinary levels of PAH were within the reference range of what is considered as background levels (<0.4 µmol mol−1). Conclusions During the initial stages of a bulk oil spill at sea, when the evaporation of benzene is at its highest, it is important to use appropriate respirators to prevent biological uptake of benzene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context:Urinary S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) and benzene (U-Ben) are usually measured at the end of the work shift (ES), although their kinetic of elimination is not clearly known. Objective:To investigate SPMA and U-Ben elimination 16 h after the ES, in 93 coke production workers exposed to low benzene concentrations. Materials and methods:Airborne benzene (A-Ben) was measured by passive samplings, while SPMA, U-Ben, methyl-tert-butyl ether (U-MTBE), cotinine (U-Cot) and creatinine were determined on urine samples collected at ES and before the beginning of the next work shift (next BS). Results:Median A-Ben concentrations were 17.2 µg/m3in the personal and 34.7 µg/m3in the stationary samplings. SPMA was always detectable, whereas U-Ben was below the limit of quantification in 26.7% of the ES and 35.6% of the next BS samples, and U-MTBE in more than the 80.0% of the samples. At both the sampling times, SPMA and U-Ben showed a positive dependence on personal A-Ben, as well as on creatinine and U-Cot values. Discussion and conclusion:SPMA and U-Ben at the next BS were dependent on the exposure to low benzene concentrations suffered in the previous work shift, prompting a reconsideration of the urine sampling time recommended by the American Conference Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been known that metabolism of benzene is necessary for its toxicity. The purpose of our study is to investigate the effect of diallyl trisulfide (DATS) on attenuating cytopenia in peripheral blood introduced by benzene through regulating benzene metabolism in rats. We established benzene poisoning model with benzene (1.3 g/kg), while the DATS treatment groups were treated with DATS plus benzene (15 or 30 mg/kg) for 28 days, respectively. The results of blood parameters and concentration of metabolites of benzene (t, t-MA and SPMA) determination in urine showed that DATS could effectively attenuate the cytopenia induced by benzene through regulating benzene metabolism. Western blot and chemical method were used to detect the activities and protein expression levels of enzymes CYP2E1 and GSTT1 in liver and enzymes MPO and NQO1 in bone marrow were tested. The results suggested that the inhibition of bioactivation in liver and bone marrow catalyzed by CYP2E1 and MPO and the activation of detoxification catalyzed by GSTT1 and NQO1 might be the critical mechanism, through which DATS modulated benzene metabolism to prevent benzene-induced cytopenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The target of this paper is to analyze the impact of variation in antenna radiation pattern on the performance of Single Path Multiple Access (SPMA) in urban/dense-urban environment. For this study, an extended 3GPP antenna model, and 3D building data from an urban area of Helsinki city is used. The simulations are performed at 28 GHz frequency using “sAGA” a MATLAB based 3D ray tracing tool. The variables considered for the series of simulations are Front to Back Ratio (FBR), Side Lobe Level (SLL), and Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) of an antenna in horizontal and vertical plane. Network performance is compared in terms of metrics like signal strength, SINR, and capacity. This paper also presents the spectral efficiency and power efficiency analysis. The performance of SPMA was found susceptible to the change in antenna radiation pattern, and the simulation results show a significant impact of radiation pattern on the capacity gain offered by SPMA. Interestingly, SPMA was found a fairly power efficient solution with respect to the traditional macro cellular network approach. However, the level of power efficiency heavily depends upon the antenna beamwidth and on other beam parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of mobile networks has been extremely fast during the last decade. However, the advancements in the technological ways of improving the system capacity are not enough for the data revolution we have witnessed in the last couple of years, and for the data traffic forecast made by the professionals for the next decade. Several recent technological enhancements may double the network capacity, or may even increase the system capacity 5-10 times, but still it is far away from the expected 'need for a thousandfold more capacity'. The fifth Generation (5G) of mobile networks with a slogan of thousandfold more capacity has compelled the research community to think in an 'Innovative Way' and to think 'Outside the box'. The aim of this article is first to show the limitations of recent technology solutions for the future demands, and thus to highlight the need for more innovative breakthrough solutions. The excellence of centralized macro sites is argued as a principal capacity layer instead of micro cells, small cells, or femto cells. Moreover, it is also argued that an ultimate need for innovative antenna solutions for macro sites is required instead of traditional antenna array technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, remote‐controllable actuators for circuit breaker (CB) have attracted attention for the smart grid electric power system. In this study, diverse kinds of remote‐controllable electromagnetic actuator for CB are precisely investigated to give a guideline for the selection of the effective actuator according to numerous voltage level of CB. In case of a low‐voltage level of CB, the separated permanent‐magnet actuator (SPMA) is verified in this research as the most suitable actuator through the comparison with diverse electromagnetic actuators. The SPMA is designed for the 225AF moulded case CB by using the proposed optimisation method, which the authors termed as a multi‐step optimisation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the performance of single path multiple access (SPMA) and discusses the performance comparison between higher order sectorization and SPMA in a macrocellular environment. The target of this paper is to emphasize the gains and significance of the novel concept of SPMA in achieving better and homogeneous SIR and enhanced system capacity in a macrocellular environment. This paper also explains the algorithm of SIR computation in SPMA. The results presented in this paper are based on sophisticated 3D ray tracing simulations performed with real world 3D building data and site locations from Seoul, South Korea. Macrocellular environment dominated with indoor users was considered for the research purpose of this paper. It is found that by increasing the order of sectorization, SIR along with spectral efficiency degrades due to the increase in inter-cell interference. However, as a result of better area spectral efficiency due to increased number of sectors (cells), the higher order sectorization offers more system capacity compared to the traditional 3-sector site. Furthermore, SPMA shows an outstanding performance and significantly improves the SIR for the individual user over the whole coverage area, and also remarkably increases the system capacity. In the environment under consideration, the simulation results reveal that SPMA can offer approximately 424 times more system capacity compared to the reference case of 3-sector site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused work-exposure to particulate matter ≤ 10 µm (PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and biological monitoring of major VOCs (BTEX) to observe the significant effects of traffic related pollutants on respiratory and hematological systems of workers engaged in two occupational settings, petrol pumps and traffic areas of Kolkata metropolitan city, India. PM10was assessed by personal sampling and particle size distribution by 8-stage Cascade Impactor. VOCs were analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and five urinary metabolites, trans trans- mercapturic acid (tt-MA), S-phenyl mercapturic acid (SPMA), hippuric acid (HA), mandelic acid (MA) and methyl hippuric acid (MHA) of VOCs, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX) by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Pulmonary functions test (PFT) was measured Spirometrically. ∂-aminoleavulinic acid (ALA) and porphobilinogen (PBG) in lymphocytes were measured spectrophometrically following column chromatographic separation. High exposure to PM10, having 50% of particles, ≤ 5.0 µm in both the occupational settings. Exposure to toluene was highest in petrol pumps whereas benzene was highest (104.6 ± 99.0 μg m−3) for traffic police personnel. Workplace Benzene is found many fold higher than the National ambient standard. Air-benzene is correlated significantly with pre- and post-shift tt-MA (p < 0.001) and SPMA (p < 0.001) of exposed workers. Blood cell counts indicated benzene induced hematotoxicity. ALA and PBG accumulation in lymphocytes indicated alteration in heme-metabolism, especially among traffic police. Significant reduction of force exploratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) of fuel fillers are observed with increased tt-MA and SPMA. Study revealed PFT impairments 11.11% (6.66% restrictive and 2.22% obstructive and combined restrictive and obstructive type, each) among petrol pumps and 8.3% obstructive type among traffic police. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

and thermal-responsive smart polymer, enabling controllable wettability according to different temperature and light conditions, was developed in this paper. The 3-(3′,3′-dimethyl-6-nitrospiro-[chromene-2,2′-indolin]-1′-yl) propyl methacrylate (SPMA) and N -isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) by 2,2′-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) were grafted on the surface of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to induce free radical polymerization. The SPMA isomerizes from a colorless, hydrophobic spiropyran (SP) form to a deep purple, hydrophilic merocyanine form (MCMA) upon UV-light. The wettability of poly(N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) is sensitive to temperature, showing hydrophobicity above the low critical solution temperature (LCST) and hydrophilicity below LCST. Furthermore, the addition of SPMA has realized the significant reversible wettability synergistic with PNIPAAm. The reversible wettability can be controlled by selectively applying single or both factors of light and temperature. Thus, practical application of the above controllable wettability can be greatly expanded. When the polymer is transferred from 40 °C (>LCST)-visible light to 10 °C (

In this study, a novel permanent magnetic actuator (PMA) termed a separated permanent magnetic actuator (SPMA) is proposed. The efficiency of the proposed SPMA is significantly higher than a conventional PMA because of its innovative structure, with which the magnetic flux path is efficient and the holding forces can be designed independently taking the unique values of each load into consideration. Hence, the SPMA is smaller in size and lower in cost than the conventional PMA. For the SPMA, a characteristic analysis and design method using a two‐dimensional finite element method, an equivalent circuit, an equation of motion and a time difference method is suggested in this study to save time and reduce the costs incurred because of the experimental trial and error deign. The SPMA was designed and prototyped such that the usefulness of the SPMA for application to a vacuum circuit breaker and the reasonableness of the suggested characteristic analysis and design method were confirmed by the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this publication is to explore occupational exposure trends from biological monitoring data collected over a period of more than 20 years. The data is stored within the HSE database, which holds more than 950,000 results from 120,000 workers in 8,000 companies. The data were collated for all biological monitoring results for lead, mercury, benzene, and hexamethylene diisocyanate exposures where there have been some regulatory drivers within the reported time period of the data searched. Methods: Relevant results from sample analysed were extracted from the database and categorised by year from 1996 to the end of 2019 for individual blood lead results and individual urine results for mercury, benzene, and hexamethylene diisocyanate. Results were classed by broad occupational sector where possible. Data were reported graphically by analytical biomarker result (as 90th percentile (P90)) and number of samples per year as well as with overall summary statistics. To look at longer-term trends, results were also evaluated as P90 over 6-year periods. Results: In the period 1996-2019, 37,474 blood lead, 11,723 urinary mercury, 9,188 urinary S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA, benzene metabolite) and 21,955 urinary hexamethylene diamine (HDA, metabolite of hexamethylene diisocyanate, HDI) samples were analysed and reported. Over the time period the blood lead concentrations saw the P90 reduce from 53 μg/dl 1996) to 24 μg/dl in 2019; the P90 urinary mercury levels reduced from 13.7 μmol/mol creatinine to 2.1 μmol/mol creatinine and the P90 urinary SPMA levels reduced from 133.7 μmol/mol creatinine to 1.7 μmol/mol creatinine. For HDI the P90 results reduced from 2 µmol HDA/mol creatinine in 1996-2000 to 0.7 in 2005-2010 but levels have since increased to 1.0 µmol HDA/mol creatinine (2016-2019). Conclusion: There is strong evidence of reductions in exposure of GB workers to lead, benzene and mercury from the data presented here. These reductions may reflect the impact of national, regional and global regulatory action to reduce exposures however, the loss of high exposure industries (from either GB as a whole or just this dataset i.e., samples are being sent elsewhere) and the increase in automation or substitution also need to be considered as potential factors. The results for HDI show that whilst interventions can reduce exposures significantly, such initiatives may need to be refreshed at intervals to maintain the reductions in exposure. We have observed that exposures move between sectors over time. Waste and recycling (lead, mercury) and tunnelling through contaminated land (benzene) were sectors or tasks associated with significant exposures and may be increasingly areas of concern., 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 Morton, Sams, Leese, Garner, Iqbal and Jones.)

Energy efficient smart windows that automatically regulate the transmission of solar energy are one of the most promising ways to reduce energy consumption in buildings. However, current thermochromic smart windows based on Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) only focus on the modulation of solar light through the phase transition of the material, while the contribution in UV modulation and energy storage are weak. Herein, we report a liquid thermo-responsive smart window Poly (NIPAm- co -SPMA 7%) with UV resistance, light modulation and energy storage constructed by self-assembled amphiphilic block copolymer nanoparticles dispersed in water. Poly (NIPAm- co -SPMA 7%) smart window has excellent thermal response solar modulation (T lum, 20°C = 90.07% and ΔT sol = 87.59%), excellent energy absorption and storage capacity in aqueous solution, and strong absorption of UV light. In addition, this liquid smart window has a simple structure, good uniformity and scalability, which opens up a new way for energy-saving smart windows. • The smart window exhibits excellent thermal response solar modulation (T lum, 20°C = 90.07% and ΔT sol = 87.59%). • Combining UV resistance and light modulation extends the range of applications for smart windows. • Liquid-filled smart window exhibits excellent reversibility and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The oxidized guanine derivatives excreted into urine, products of DNA and RNA oxidation and repair, are used as biomarkers of oxidative damage in humans. This study aims to evaluate oxidative damage in gasoline pump attendants occupationally exposed to benzene. Benzene is contained in the gasoline but it is also produced from traffic and from smoking. (2) Methods: Twenty-nine gasoline pump attendants from two major cities of Saudi Arabia and 102 from Italy were studied for urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua), 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo), 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine (8-oxoGuo), and S-phenyl-mercapturic acid (SPMA) for benzene exposure and urinary cotinine for smoking status assessment by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Airborne benzene was also assessed in the Italian group by gas-chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). (3) Results: The results suggest that high levels of benzene exposure can cause an accumulation of SPMA and bring about the formation of the oxidation biomarkers studied to saturation. At low exposure levels, SPMA and oxidation biomarker levels were correlated among them and were associated with the smoking habit. (4) Conclusions: The study confirms the association between benzene exposure and the excretion of nucleic acid oxidation biomarkers and enhances the importance of measuring the smoking habit, as it can significantly influence oxidative damage, especially when the exposure levels are low.

Background: There is evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) are sensitive to environmental stressors, including tobacco smoke. On the other hand, miRNAs are involved in immune regulation, such as regulatory T (Treg) cell differentiation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between prenatal tobacco smoke exposure, miRNAs, and Treg cell numbers., Methods: Within a prospective mother-child study (Lifestyle and Environmental Factors and Their Influence on Newborns Allergy Risk), we analyzed the expression of miR-155 and miR-223 together with Treg cell numbers in maternal blood during pregnancy, as well as in cord blood (n = 441). Tobacco smoke exposure was assessed based on questionnaire answers and maternal urine cotinine levels. Additionally, the concentration of smoking-related volatile organic compounds was measured in dwellings of study participants., Results: Both maternal and cord blood miR-223 expressions were positively correlated with maternal urine cotinine levels. An association was also found between maternal miR-223 expression and indoor concentrations of benzene and toluene. High miR-223 expression was associated with lower Treg cell numbers in maternal and cord blood. Furthermore, children with lower Treg cell numbers at birth had a higher risk of atopic dermatitis during the first 3 years of life. The concentration of the toluene metabolite S-benzylmercapturic acid in maternal urine was associated with decreased cord blood, but not maternal blood, miR-155 expression. A relationship between miR-155 expression and Treg cell numbers was not found., Conclusions: For the first time, we show that maternal tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy correlates with the level of miRNA-223 expression in blood, with an effect on children's cord blood Treg cell numbers and subsequent allergy risk., (Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)