Potential significance of photoexcited NO2 on global air quality with the NMMB/BSC chemical transport model

Atmospheric chemists have recently focused on the relevance of the NO2* + H2O → OH + HONO reaction to local air quality. This chemistry has been considered not relevant for the troposphere from known reaction rates until nowadays. New experiments suggested a rate constant of 1.7 × 10−13 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, which is an order of magnitude faster than the previously estimated upper limit of 1.2 × 10−14 cm3 molecule−1 s−1, determined by Crowley and Carl (1997). Using the new global model, NMMB/BSC Chemical Transport Model (NMMB/BSC-CTM), simulations are presented that assess the potential significance of this chemistry on global air quality. Results show that if the NO2* chemistry is considered following the upper limit kinetics recommended by Crowley and Carl (1997), it produces an enhancement of ozone surface concentrations of 4–6 ppbv in rural areas and 6–15 ppbv in urban locations, reaching a maximum enhancement of 30 ppbv in eastern Asia. Moreover, NO2 enhancements are minor (xemissions are present; however, differences are small in most parts of the globe

Experimental evaluation of a UWB-based cooperative positioning system for pedestrians in GNSS-denied environment

Cooperative positioning (CP) utilises information sharing among multiple nodes to enable positioning in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments. This paper reports the performance of a CP system for pedestrians using Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) technology in GNSS-denied environments. This data set was collected as part of a benchmarking measurement campaign carried out at the Ohio State University in October 2017. Pedestrians were equipped with a variety of sensors, including two different UWB systems, on a specially designed helmet serving as a mobile multi-sensor platform for CP. Different users were walking in stop-and-go mode along trajectories with predefined checkpoints and under various challenging environments. In the developed CP network, both Peer-to-Infrastructure (P2I) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) measurements are used for positioning of the pedestrians. It is realised that the proposed system can achieve decimetre-level accuracies (on average, around 20 cm) in the complete absence of GNSS signals, provided that the measurements from infrastructure nodes are available and the network geometry is good. In the absence of these good conditions, the results show that the average accuracy degrades to meter level. Further, it is experimentally demonstrated that inclusion of P2P cooperative range observations further enhances the positioning accuracy and, in extreme cases when only one infrastructure measurement is available, P2P CP may reduce positioning errors by up to 95%. The complete test setup, the methodology for development, and data collection are discussed in this paper. In the next version of this system, additional observations such as the Wi-Fi, camera, and other signals of opportunity will be included

Optical interference study of physiological fluids transportation through semipermeable membranes

Recently much attention has been given to investigation of the mechanism of transportation through biological membranes [1,2,3]. The hitherto results have enabled a construction of a membrane model and assessment of the effect of external factors on the mechanism of transportation. The achievements have been used to design new forms of therapeutic substances and their dosage and to propose a production technology of synthetic membranes widely used e.g. in dialysis

Cost-effective real-time metabolic profiling of cancer cell lines for plate-based assays

A fundamental phenotype of cancer cells is their metabolic profile, which is routinely described in terms of glycolytic and respiratory rates. Various devices and protocols have been designed to quantify glycolysis and respiration from the rates of acid production and oxygen utilization, respectively, but many of these approaches have limitations, including concerns about their cost-ineffectiveness, inadequate normalization procedures, or short probing time-frames. As a result, many methods for measuring metabolism are incompatible with cell culture conditions, particularly in the context of high-throughput applications. Here, we present a simple plate-based approach for real-time measurements of acid production and oxygen depletion under typical culture conditions that enable metabolic monitoring for extended periods of time. Using this approach, it is possible to calculate metabolic fluxes and, uniquely, describe the system at steady-state. By controlling the conditions with respect to pH buffering, O2 diffusion, medium volume, and cell numbers, our workflow can accurately describe the metabolic phenotype of cells in terms of molar fluxes. This direct measure of glycolysis and respiration is conducive for between-runs and even between-laboratory comparisons. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we characterize the phenotype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines and measure their response to a switch of metabolic substrate and the presence of metabolic inhibitors. In summary, the method can deliver a robust appraisal of metabolism in cell lines, with applications in drug screening and in quantitative studies of metabolic regulation

Direct observation of light focusing by single photoreceptor cell nuclei

The vertebrate retina is inverted with respect to its optical function, which requires light to pass through the entire tissue prior to detection. The last significant barrier for photons to overcome is the outer nuclear layer formed by photoreceptor cell (PRC) nuclei. Here we experimentally characterise the optical properties of PRC nuclei using bright-field defocusing microscopy to capture near-field intensity distributions behind individual nuclei. We find that some nuclei efficiently focus incident light confirming earlier predictions based on comparative studies of chromatin organisation in nocturnal and diurnal mammals. The emergence of light focusing during the development of mouse nuclei highlights the acquired nature of the observed lens-like behaviour. Optical characterisation of these nuclei is an important first step towards an improved understanding of how light transmission through the retina is influenced by its constituents. (C) 2014 Optical Society of Americ