The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO): Overview of pilot measurements on ecosystem ecology, meteorology, trace gases, and aerosols

The Amazon Basin plays key roles in the carbon and water cycles, climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and biodiversity. It has already been changed significantly by human activities, and more pervasive change is expected to occur in the coming decades. It is therefore essential to establish long-term measurement sites that provide a baseline record of present-day climatic, biogeochemical, and atmospheric conditions and that will be operated over coming decades to monitor change in the Amazon region, as human perturbations increase in the future. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) has been set up in a pristine rain forest region in the central Amazon Basin, about 150 km northeast of the city of Manaus. Two 80 m towers have been operated at the site since 2012, and a 325 m tower is nearing completion in mid-2015. An ecological survey including a biodiversity assessment has been conducted in the forest region surrounding the site. Measurements of micrometeorological and atmospheric chemical variables were initiated in 2012, and their range has continued to broaden over the last few years. The meteorological and micrometeorological measurements include temperature and wind profiles, precipitation, water and energy fluxes, turbulence components, soil temperature profiles and soil heat fluxes, radiation fluxes, and visibility. A tree has been instrumented to measure stem profiles of temperature, light intensity, and water content in cryptogamic covers. The trace gas measurements comprise continuous monitoring of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ozone at five to eight different heights, complemented by a variety of additional species measured during intensive campaigns (e.g., VOC, NO, NO2, and OH reactivity). Aerosol optical, microphysical, and chemical measurements are being made above the canopy as well as in the canopy space. They include aerosol light scattering and absorption, fluorescence, number and volume size distributions, chemical composition, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, and hygroscopicity. In this paper, we discuss the scientific context of the ATTO observatory and present an overview of results from ecological, meteorological, and chemical pilot studies at the ATTO site. © Author(s) 2015

Salalens and Salans derived from 3‐Aminopyrrolidine: Aluminium Complexation and Lactide Polymerisation

In this paper a series of 7 salalen ligands based on an aminopyrrolidine backbone have been prepared and characterised. Several systems have been reduced to the salan ONNO type-ligand. All ligands have been complexed to Al III with Al(1–7)Me, Al(2a)(OiPr) and Al(7a)Me being characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In general the Al III centres are best described as being in a trigonal bipyramidal geometry. The solution and solid-state structures are discussed. All complexes have all been trialled for the production of PLA from rac-lactide, the salalen complexes had a preference for heterotactic PLA (P r = 0.71), whereas the salan had a more isotactic bias (P m = 0.72). In all cases PLA with low dispersities and predictable molecular weights were prepared. The activity of the two classes of ligands is compared with the salan complexes appearing to be significantly more active than the salalen systems. </p

Factors Influencing Admission Decisions in Skilled Nursing Facilities: Retrospective Quantitative Study

BackgroundOccupancy rates within skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in the United States have reached a record low. Understanding drivers of occupancy, including admission decisions, is critical for assessing the recovery of the long-term care sector as a whole. We provide the first comprehensive analysis of financial, clinical, and operational factors that impact whether a patient referral to an SNF is accepted or denied, using a large health informatics database. ObjectiveOur key objectives were to describe the distribution of referrals sent to SNFs in terms of key referral- and facility-level features; analyze key financial, clinical, and operational variables and their relationship to admission decisions; and identify the key potential reasons behind referral decisions in the context of learning health systems. MethodsWe extracted and cleaned referral data from 627 SNFs from January 2020 to March 2022, including information on SNF daily operations (occupancy and nursing hours), referral-level factors (insurance type and primary diagnosis), and facility-level factors (overall 5-star rating and urban versus rural status). We computed descriptive statistics and applied regression modeling to identify and describe the relationships between these factors and referral decisions, considering them individually and controlling for other factors to understand their impact on the decision-making process. ResultsWhen analyzing daily operation values, no significant relationship between SNF occupancy or nursing hours and referral acceptance was observed (P>.05). By analyzing referral-level factors, we found that the primary diagnosis category and insurance type of the patient were significantly related to referral acceptance (P<.05). Referrals with primary diagnoses within the category “Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System” are least often denied whereas those with diagnoses within the “Mental Illness” category are most often denied (compared with other diagnosis categories). Furthermore, private insurance holders are least often denied whereas “medicaid” holders are most often denied (compared with other insurance types). When analyzing facility-level factors, we found that the overall 5-star rating and urban versus rural status of an SNF are significantly related to referral acceptance (P<.05). We found a positive but nonmonotonic relationship between the 5-star rating and referral acceptance rates, with the highest acceptance rates found among 5-star facilities. In addition, we found that SNFs in urban areas have lower acceptance rates than their rural counterparts. ConclusionsWhile many factors may influence a referral acceptance, care challenges associated with individual diagnoses and financial challenges associated with different remuneration types were found to be the strongest drivers. Understanding these drivers is essential in being more intentional in the process of accepting or denying referrals. We have interpreted our results using an adaptive leadership framework and suggested how SNFs can be more purposeful with their decisions while striving to achieve appropriate occupancy levels in ways that meet their goals and patients’ needs

The lung function score and its components as predictors of overall survival and chronic graft-vs-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation

Aim To retrospectively assess if the modified lung function score (LFS) and/or its components, forced expiratory volume within the first second (FEV1) and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide corrected for hemoglobin level (cDLCO), predict overall survival (OS) and chronic graft-vs-hostdisease (cGvHD). Methods We evaluated 241 patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) at the University of Regensburg Transplant Center between June 1998 and July 2005 in relation to their LFS, FEV1 and cDLCO, before and after HSCT. Results Decreased OS after allo-HSCT was related to decreased pre-transplantation values of FEV1<60% (P = 0.040), cDLCO<50% of predicted value (P = 0.025), and LFS≥III (P = 0.037). It was also related to decreased FEV1 at 3 and 12 months after HSCT (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively) and increased LFS at 3 and 12 months after HSCT (P = 0.028 and P = 0.002, respectively), but not to changes of cDLCO. A higher incidence of cGvHD was related to decreased FEV1 at 6, 12, and 18 months (P = 0.069, P = 0.054, and P = 0.009, respectively) and increased LFS at 12 months (P = 0.002), but not to changes in cDLCO. Conclusions OS was related to both LFS and FEV1, but cGvHD had a stronger relation to FEV1 than to cDLCO or LFS. FEV1 alone offered more information on the outcome after allo-HSCT than LFS or cDLCO, suggesting limited value of LFS for the patients’ assessment after allo-HSCT

Finding the Sweet Spot of Photocatalysis – A Case Study using Bipyridine-based CTFs

Covalent Triazine Frameworks (CTFs) are a class of Porous Organic Polymers which attracts continuously growing interest because of their outstanding chemical and physical properties. However, the control of extended porous organic frameworks’ structures at the molecular scale for a precise adjustment of their properties has hardly been achieved so far. Here, we present a series of bipyridine-based CTFs synthesized through polycondensation, in which the sequence of specific building blocks is well controlled. The reported synthetic strategy allows to tailor the physicochemical features of the CTF materials, including nitrogen content, apparent specific surface area and opto-electronic properties. Based on a comprehensive analytic investigation, we demonstrate a direct correlation of the CTF bipyridine content with the material features such as specific surface area, bandgap, charge separation and surface wettability with water. The entirety of those parameters dictates the catalytic activity as demonstrated for the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The material with the necessary balance between opto-electronic properties and highest hydrophilicity enables HER production rates of up to 7.2 mmol·h-1·g-1 under visible light irradiation and in the presence of a platinum co-catalyst

Pyrene and Bipyridine-based Covalent Triazine Framework as Versatile Platform for Photocatalytic Solar Fuels Production

The ability to molecularly engineer materials may be one of the most powerful tools in favor of high performing heterogeneous catalysts. Porous organic polymers stand out as photocatalysts due to their high chemical stability, outstanding optoelectronic properties and their easy and tunable syntheses. In photocatalysis, the insertion of photosensitizing π-extended molecules into a molecularly well-defined donor-acceptor junctions is supposed to increase the cata-lytic activity, but yet remain experimentally underdeveloped. Here, we present a pyrene-based Covalent Triazine Framework (CTF) synthesized through a polycondensation approach, which was designed to contain a molecularly defined pyrene-triazine-bipyridine donor-acceptor-acceptor triad as the repetition unit of the CTF. The CTF is an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution from water reaching a production rate of 61.5 mmolH2/h/gcat. Moreover, the same CTF can easily be used as porous macroligand for an organometallic Rh complex to efficiently catalyze the carbon dioxide photoreduction into formic acid under visible light

Africa and China: a strategic partnership?

Relations between Africa and China have increased over the years and become more dominated by China's economic interests. With an annual growth rate of 8-9 per cent, and a booming economy, China's dependency on accessing natural resources is a top priority and has accordingly expanded its horizons. Africa, with all its seemingly unlimited natural resources, is an ideal partner. In addition, the African continent as a whole offers a potential market for China's low-value manufactured commodities. This paper is an attempt to present an overview of contemporary Sino-African relations and the state of trade relations, with special emphasis on natural resources and the export market for Chinese products and investments in Afric