Computer Modelling as an Aid to Forest and Woodland Restoration

Reclamation of terrestrial ecosystems tends to be focussed on two main land uses, mining and degraded agricultural or forested lands. Modelling has great potential to assist in both situations. The aim of many restoration programs is to restore biodiversity and a self-sustaining, fully functional ecosystem, which is intimately linked with the return of the plants, the vertebrates and, particularly, the invertebrate fauna, whose presence plays a pivotal role in most ecosystem functions and processes. A thorough understanding of these plant-fauna associations is essential if restoration is to succeed. It could also equip us with the knowledge to decide how minimalistic our information needs can be when modelling progress with restoration, for instance: by quantifying certain biophysical parameters; these plus certain vegetation indices; or by both plus a range of faunal attributes. As well as streamlining the restoration monitoring process, this could lead to the enhancement of the conservation value of the restoration, and a clear understanding of the ecological links between flora and fauna would also help develop bioindicators as components of completion criteria schedules. Using Western Australian bauxite mining in the Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest as a case study, this paper reviews rehabilitation prescriptions and trends in development of plant assemblages, invertebrate colonization and litter decomposition, and applies a systems dynamic modelling approach model to test assumptions regarding the evolution of plant-fauna assemblages in time and assess whether it is feasible to predict temporal changes in the rehabilitation of this ecosystem. Secondly, in relation to efforts to purchase and rehabilitate land to reconnect remnant woodland vegetation close to the south coast of Western Australia, network analysis and multi-level simulations are applied in order to decide the best locations to acquire land and to restore it in order to optimise connectivity

Investigations into free tropospheric new particle formation in the central Canadian arctic during the winter/spring transition as part of TOPSE

In this paper, we investigate the role of in situ new particle production in the central Canadian sub-Arctic and Arctic as part of the TOPSE experiment. Airborne measurements conducted primarily in the free troposphere were made from 50° to 90°W longitude and 60° to 85°N latitude during the period from February to May 2000. Data pertinent to this paper include 3–4 nm diameter (Dp) particles, ultrafine condensation nuclei (Dp \u3e 3 nm), fine particles (0.2 \u3c Dp \u3c 3 μm), and the possible nucleation precursor, sulfuric acid, and its precursor, sulfur dioxide. For data averaged over this period, most species showed little evidence for a latitudinal trend. Fine aerosol number concentrations, however, showed a slight increase with latitude. The evolution of various species concentrations over the period of the study show that fine particles also had a consistent temporal trend, increasing at all altitudes from February to May, whereas sulfur dioxide at the surface tended to peak in late March. Ultrafine condensation nuclei and 3–4 nm particles showed no temporal trends. Little evidence for in situ new particle production was observed during the study, except for one atypical event where SO2concentrations were 3.5 ppbv, 2 orders of magnitude higher than typical levels. This paper cannot address the question of whether the observed condensation nuclei were produced in situ by a low particle production rate or transported from lower latitudes

Potential Key Factors, Policies, and Barriers for Rooftop Agriculture in EU Cities: Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, and Paris

The main objective of this study is to contribute a framework and to provide an overview of potential key factors, policies, and barriers associated with the integration of rooftop urban agriculture (RUA), building on stakeholders' perspectives in four European cities (Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, and Paris). The research was developed in two phases, namely, a workshop and a survey of stakeholders involved in RUA from the four cities. Education, environmental, research, technological innovation, food production, and social factors play an important role in implementing RUA. Productive spaces, cultural values, social cohesion, social rural-urban links, and the high cost of urban land are highlighted as factors that “promote” RUA. In contrast, the cost of water and pollution are major contextual factors that constrain RUA. Policies related to food trade and urban planning are those that most limit RUA development. Major architectural and technical barriers related to the limits on building heights, historical buildings, a lack of specific building codes, building design and roof accessibility were identified. The high cost of infrastructure and policies that prohibit RUA product sales emerged as economic constraints. Major differences among the cities studied included the perceived effect of urban policies on RUA diffusion as well as the perceived relevance of economic and pollution factors. This study revealed that extensive dissemination and the development of appropriate information about RUA are needed. The creation of new regulations, as well as modifications to urban and building codes to support RUA, is also envisaged. This approach will consider a more flexible land-use policy that allows agriculture to take place in cities as well as marketing frameworks for RUA products. For future studies, it would be useful to apply the framework developed in this study to a larger sample. A study is also needed to confirm hypothetical differences between cities

Intercomparisons of airborne measurements of aerosol ionic chemical composition during TRACE-P and ACE-Asia

As part of the two field studies, Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) and the Asian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-Asia), the inorganic chemical composition of tropospheric aerosols was measured over the western Pacific from three separate aircraft using various methods. Comparisons are made between the rapid online techniques of the particle into liquid sampler (PILS) for measurement of a suite of fine particle a mist chamber/ion chromatograph (MC/IC) measurement of fine sulfate, and the longer time-integrated filter and micro-orifice impactor (MOI) measurements. Comparisons between identical PILS on two separate aircraft flying in formation showed that they were highly correlated (e.g., sulfate r2 of 0.95), but were systematically different by 10 ± 5% (linear regression slope and 95% confidence bounds), and had generally higher concentrations on the aircraft with a low-turbulence inlet and shorter inlet-to-instrument transmission tubing. Comparisons of PILS and mist chamber measurements of fine sulfate on two different aircraft during formation flying had an r 2 of 0.78 and a relative difference of 39% ± 5%. MOI ionic data integrated to the PILS upper measurement size of 1.3 mm sampling from separate inlets on the same aircraft showed that for sulfate, PILS and MOI were within 14% ± 6% and correlated with an r 2 of 0.87. Most ionic compounds were within ±30%, which is in the range of differences reported between PILS and integrated samplers from ground-based comparisons. In many cases, direct intercomparison between the various instruments is difficult due to differences in upper-size detection limits. However, for this study, the results suggest that the fine particle mass composition measured from aircraft agree to within 30–40%

Equine cheek tooth extraction: Comparison of outcomes for five extraction methods

BACKGROUND: Post-operative complications are reported for all methods of equine cheek tooth extraction but not all methods carry the same risks. An outcome comparison for commonly used methods is needed so that clinicians can make informed treatment decisions. OBJECTIVES: We conducted a side-by-side comparison of five cheek tooth extraction methods, comparing types and incidence of complications among oral extraction, tooth repulsion (three surgical approaches) and lateral buccotomy techniques. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective clinical study using hospital medical records. METHODS: Medical records of all horses undergoing cheek tooth extraction between 1997 and 2013 were reviewed. Logistic regression was used to determine the likelihood of various post-operative complications, comparing oral extraction, tooth repulsion by maxillary and mandibular trephination or maxillary sinus bone flap, and lateral buccotomy. RESULTS: The study included 137 horses and 162 cheek teeth extractions. Oral extraction was successful in 71% of patients in which it was attempted. Oral extraction (n = 55) had the lowest incidence of complications (20%) and repulsion by sinus bone flap (n = 20) the highest (80%). Complication rates for repulsion by maxillary (n = 19) and mandibular trephination (n = 28), and extraction by lateral buccotomy (n = 15) were 42, 54 and 53%, respectively. Cheek tooth repulsion by sinus bone flap significantly increased the odds of damage to adjacent teeth, post-operative sinusitis, damage to alveolar bone, delayed alveolar granulation and orosinus fistulation. Repulsion by maxillary trephination significantly increased the odds of superficial incisional surgical site infection; and extraction by lateral buccotomy significantly increased the odds of facial nerve neuropraxia. Post-operative pyrexia was more common in all repulsion methods. MAIN LIMITATIONS: Some clinically relevant differences may have been missed due to small group numbers in several categories. CONCLUSIONS: Oral extraction was associated with fewer post-operative complications than any other methods. Standing oral extraction remains the preferred choice, and recent surgical advances promise to further improve its success rate

The SPOrt Project: Cosmological and Astrophysical Goals

We present the cosmological and astrophysical objectives of the SPOrt mission, which is scheduled for flying on the International Space Station (ISS) in the year 2002 with the purpose of measuring the diffuse sky polarized radiation in the microwave region. We discuss the problem of disentangling the cosmic background polarized signal from the Galactic foregrounds.Comment: 10 pages; 5 PS figures; requires aipproc2.cls, aipproc2.sty, epsfc.tex; to appear in Proc. of ``3K Cosmology'', Rome 5-10 Oct. 199

Association between Outdoor Air Pollution and Childhood Leukemia: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: A causal link between outdoor air pollution and childhood leukemia has been proposed, but some older studies suffer from methodological drawbacks. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic reviews have summarized the most recently published evidence and no analyses have examined the dose-response relation. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the extent to which outdoor air pollution, especially as resulting from traffic-related contaminants, affects the risk of childhood leukemia. METHODS: We searched all case-control and cohort studies that have investigated the risk of childhood leukemia in relation to exposure either to motorized traffic and related contaminants, based on various traffic-related metrics (number of vehicles in the closest roads, road density, and distance from major roads), or to measured or modeled levels of air contaminants such as benzene, nitrogen dioxide, 1,3-butadiene, and particulate matter. We carried out a meta-analysis of all eligible studies, including nine studies published since the last systematic review and, when possible, we fit a dose-response curve using a restricted cubic spline regression model. RESULTS: We found 29 studies eligible to be included in our review. In the dose-response analysis, we found little association between disease risk and traffic indicators near the child's residence for most of the exposure range, with an indication of a possible excess risk only at the highest levels. In contrast, benzene exposure was positively and approximately linearly associated with risk of childhood leukemia, particularly for acute myeloid leukemia, among children under 6 y of age, and when exposure assessment at the time of diagnosis was used. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide showed little association with leukemia risk except at the highest levels. DISCUSSION: Overall, the epidemiologic literature appears to support an association between benzene and childhood leukemia risk, with no indication of any threshold effect. A role for other measured and unmeasured pollutants from motorized traffic is also possible. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4381

Satellite-detected tropospheric nitrogen dioxide and spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Northern Italy

Following the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) last December 2019 in China, Italy was the first European country to be severely affected, with the first local case diagnosed on 20 February 2020. The virus spread quickly, particularly in the North of Italy, with three regions (Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna) being the most severely affected. These three regions accounted for >80% of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases when the tight lockdown was established (March 8). These regions include one of Europe's areas of heaviest air pollution, the Po valley. Air pollution has been recently proposed as a possible risk factor of SARS-CoV-2 infection, due to its adverse effect on immunity and to the possibility that polluted air may even carry the virus. We investigated the association between air pollution and subsequent spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection within these regions. We collected NO2 tropospheric levels using satellite data available at the European Space Agency before the lockdown. Using a multivariable restricted cubic spline regression model, we compared NO2 levels with SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence rate at different time points after the lockdown, namely March 8, 22 and April 5, in the 28 provinces of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. We found little association of NO2 levels with SARS-CoV-2 prevalence up to about 130 μmol/m2, while a positive association was evident at higher levels at each time point. Notwithstanding the limitations of the use of aggregated data, these findings lend some support to the hypothesis that high levels of air pollution may favor the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection

Assessment of greenhouse emissions of the green bean through the static enclosure technique

: Urban green installations are extensively promoted to increase sustainable and accessible food production and simultaneously improve the environmental performance and liveability of city buildings. In addition to the multiple benefits of plant retrofitting, these installations may lead to a consistent increase in biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) in the urban environment, especially indoors. Accordingly, health concerns could limit the implementation of building-integrated agriculture. In a building-integrated rooftop greenhouse (i-RTG), throughout the whole hydroponic cycle, green bean emissions were dynamically collected in a static enclosure. Four representative BVOCs, α-pinene (monoterpene), β-caryophyllene (sesquiterpene), linalool (oxygenated monoterpene) and cis-3-hexenol (LOX derivate), were investigated in the samples collected from two equivalent sections of a static enclosure, one empty and one occupied by the i-RTG plants, to estimate the volatile emission factor (EF). Throughout the season, extremely variable BVOC levels between 0.04 and 5.36 ppb were found with occasional but not significant (P > 0.05) variations between the two sections. The highest emission rates were observed during plant vegetative development, with EFs equivalent to 78.97, 75.85 and 51.34 ng g-1 h-1 for cis-3-hexenol, α-pinene, and linalool, respectively; at plant maturity, all volatiles were either close to the LLOQ (lowest limit of quantitation) or not detected. Consistent with previous studies significant relationships (r ≥ 0.92; P < 0.05) were individuated within volatiles and temperature and relative humidity of the sections. However, correlations were all negative and were mainly attributed to the relevant effect of the enclosure on the final sampling conditions. Overall, levels found were at least 15 folds lower than the given Risk and LCI values of the EU-LCI protocol for indoor environments, suggesting low BVOC exposure in the i-RTG. Statistical outcomes demonstrated the applicability of the static enclosure technique for fast BVOC emissions survey inside green retrofitted spaces. However, providing high sampling performance over entire BVOCs collection is recommended to reduce sampling error and incorrect estimation of the emissions

The Green Bank Northern Celestial Cap Pulsar Survey II: The Discovery and Timing of Ten Pulsars

We present timing solutions for ten pulsars discovered in 350 MHz searches with the Green Bank Telescope. Nine of these were discovered in the Green Bank Northern Celestial Cap survey and one was discovered by students in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory program in analysis of drift-scan data. Following discovery and confirmation with the Green Bank Telescope, timing has yielded phase-connected solutions with high precision measurements of rotational and astrometric parameters. Eight of the pulsars are slow and isolated, including PSR J0930$-$2301, a pulsar with nulling fraction lower limit of $\sim$30\% and nulling timescale of seconds to minutes. This pulsar also shows evidence of mode changing. The remaining two pulsars have undergone recycling, accreting material from binary companions, resulting in higher spin frequencies. PSR J0557$-$2948 is an isolated, 44 \rm{ms} pulsar that has been partially recycled and is likely a former member of a binary system which was disrupted by a second supernova. The paucity of such so-called `disrupted binary pulsars' (DRPs) compared to double neutron star (DNS) binaries can be used to test current evolutionary scenarios, especially the kicks imparted on the neutron stars in the second supernova. There is some evidence that DRPs have larger space velocities, which could explain their small numbers. PSR J1806+2819 is a 15 \rm{ms} pulsar in a 44 day orbit with a low mass white dwarf companion. We did not detect the companion in archival optical data, indicating that it must be older than 1200 Myr.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure