The vegetation of disused railway lines in the Durham area

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Effect of air pollution controls on black smoke and sulfur dioxide concentrations across Ireland

During the 1980s Ireland experienced severe pollution episodes, principally because of domestic coal burning. In 1990, the Irish government introduced a ban on the marketing, sale, and distribution of coal in Dublin. They extended the ban to Cork in 1995 and to ten other communities in 1998 and 2000. We previously reported declines in particulate (black smoke [BS]) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations in Dublin following the 1990 coal ban. We now explore and compare the effectiveness of these sequential bans in 1990, 1995, 1998, and 2000. Daily BS and total gaseous acidity (502) measurements were compiled between 1980 and 2004. We calculated descriptive statistics for the pre-ban (5 yr before ban) and post-ban (5 yr after ban) periods for BS and SO2 concentrations and for season-specific periods. Mean BS levels fell in all centers post-ban compared with the pre-ban period, with decreases ranging; from 4 to 35 mu g.m(-3) (-45 to -70%). These reductions were smallest in the summer and largest in the winter. These BS, reductions were sustained in all centers until the end of the study period. We observed no clear pattern in SO2 changes associated with the coal bans. The 1990, 1995, 1998, and 2000 Irish coal sale bans resulted in immediate and sustained decreases in particulate levels in centers, with the largest declines in the winter. In contrast, we did not observe consistent declines in total acidity as a measure of SO2. It may be that coal was not the major source. of SO2. Simple legislation was very effective at improving ambient air quality in Irish cities with varying populations, geography/topography, and meteorological conditions

A methodology for projecting sparse populations and its application to remote Indigenous communities

© 2020, The Author(s). A new method is proposed for generating projections for sparse populations by locality, age cohort and gender. An adaptation of the cohort replacement method, the approach uses a Tobit model with varying censoring limits to model population changes by cohort. As an applied example, projections are generated for 2016 Indigenous populations in communities in regional and remote Australia, and then compared to actual 2016 Census population counts. We argue the approach has considerable potential, with the model performing well in out-of-sample projection while offering projections at a much finer-grained level of disaggregation than currently available to planners and policy-makers

d-Fold Partition Diamonds

In this work we introduce new combinatorial objects called $d$--fold partition diamonds, which generalize both the classical partition function and the partition diamonds of Andrews, Paule and Riese, and we set $r_d(n)$ to be their counting function. We also consider the Schmidt type $d$--fold partition diamonds, which have counting function $s_d(n).$ Using partition analysis, we then find the generating function for both, and connect the generating functions $\sum_{n= 0}^\infty s_d(n)q^n$ to Eulerian polynomials. This allows us to develop elementary proofs of infinitely many Ramanujan--like congruences satisfied by $s_d(n)$ for various values of $d$, including the following family: for all $d\geq 1$ and all $n\geq 0,$ $s_d(2n+1) \equiv 0 \pmod{2^d}.$Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures; v2: added a new result concerning Eulerian polynomials and several subsequent congruences for $s_{d}(n)$, and corrected a mistake in the proof of Proposition 1.

Association of Air Pollution with Increased Incidence of Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias Recorded by Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillators

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated a consistent link between sudden cardiac deaths and particulate air pollution. We used implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) records of ventricular tachyarrhythmias to assess the role of air pollution as a trigger of these potentially life-threatening events. The study cohort consisted of 203 cardiac patients with ICD devices in the Boston metropolitan area who were followed for an average of 3.1 years between 1995 and 2002. Fine particle mass and gaseous air pollution plus temperature and relative humidity were measured on almost all days, and black carbon, sulfate, and particle number on a subset of days. Date, time, and intracardiac electrograms of ICD-detected arrhythmias were downloaded at the patients’ regular follow-up visits (about every 3 months). Ventricular tachyarrhythmias were identified by electrophysiologist review. Risk of ventricular arrhythmias associated with air pollution was estimated with logistic regression, adjusting for season, temperature, relative humidity, day of the week, patient, and a recent prior arrhythmia. We found increased risks of ventricular arrhythmias associated with 2-day mean exposure for all air pollutants considered, although these associations were not statistically significant. We found statistically significant associations between air pollution and ventricular arrhythmias for episodes within 3 days of a previous arrhythmia. The associations of ventricular tachyarrhythmias with fine particle mass, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and black carbon suggest a link with motor vehicle pollutants. The associations with sulfate suggest a link with stationary fossil fuel combustion sources

Suspected association of ventricular arrhythmia with air pollution in a motorbike rider: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Premature ventricular complexes are to some extent a normal finding in healthy individuals and the prevalence increases with age and is more common in men. Premature ventricular complexes can occur in association with a variety of stimuli, and a lesser known cause is the association between air pollution and ventricular arrhythmias.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A previously healthy man started to ride a lightweight motorbike in heavy traffic. A few weeks later he was admitted to hospital with premature ventricular complexes in bigeminy, which decreased after a few days when he was not exposed to exhaust fumes. A few weeks later he started using the motorbike again and the same symptoms developed once more, only to subside when he stopped riding in heavy traffic.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Studies have shown an association between air pollution and premature ventricular complexes and other kinds of arrhythmias. The mechanism may be changes in cardiac autonomic function, including heart rate and heart rate variability. Air pollution should be considered when patients present with arrhythmias and no other causes are found.</p

Stress and Decline in Woody Plants

Woody plant stress has many causes that might ultimately lead to plant decline. Tree and shrub degeneration is often referred to as a “complex,” meaning the condition is usually caused by multiple factors. Typically, one or more primary stresses cause deterioration of plant health, followed by secondary pathogens and/or insects that further decline or destroy plants. Determining causes of decline requires careful examination of plants and growing sites, as well as knowledge of site history. Nevertheless, diagnoses may be difficult, as the original cause(s) of plant stress may be obscure or no longer present