EMISSION AND CHEMISTRY OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN WESTERN U.S. WILDIFRE SMOKE

Wildfires are a significant source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the western U.S., emitting hundreds to thousands of different species that play key roles in tropospheric oxidation, ozone production, and secondary organic aerosol formation. Many of these VOCs have only recently been identified and quantified in laboratory burning experiments. Consequently, little is known about their emissions from wildfires, which species are most important for plume OH oxidation chemistry, and how they evolve as smoke plumes age. This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of the emissions and chemistry of VOCs in wildfire smoke using detailed in situ measurements made during the summer 2018 Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen (WE-CAN) field campaign. WE-CAN sampled wildfire smoke across seven western states and is one of the most comprehensive field studies of smoke emissions and aging to date. During the campaign, VOCs were measured by four complementary instruments, which were all found to agree within their stated uncertainties for most co-measured species. Leveraging these measurements, we report emission factors (EFs) and emission ratios (ERs) for 161 VOCs measured from 24 individual fires (Permar et al., 2021). OH reactivity (OHR) was used to determine which species are most important for daytime plume OH chemistry, and therefore should be included in next generation atmospheric chemistry models. From this, the master chemical mechanism was determined to contain chemistry for most reactive species. However, ~50 % of the emitted VOC OHR is not currently implemented in the commonly used GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. Implementing chemistry for furan-containing species, butadienes, and biomass burning monoterpenes would greatly improve model representation (Permar et al., 2023). As smoke plumes age, formic acid was rapidly produced at rate of 2.7 ppb ppmCO-1 h-1, resulting in it and acetic acid become an increasingly important OH sink in aged smoke. GEOS-Chem generally underestimates their enhancement during WE-CAN, likely due to missing secondary production from wildfire and biogenic emissions. Collectively, this work significantly expands our understanding of western U.S. wildfire emissions while providing direction for future model and emission inventory development

From pulpit to fiction: an examination of sermonic texts and their fictive qualities

This thesis will argue that the authority and power of a ‘sermonic text’ is found in its fictive qualities. The term ‘sermonic text’ is chosen in preference to ‘sermon’ to indicate the distinction between the singular occasion of a preached sermon, and the consignment of this singularity to the permanent condition of a written text, that may be read on many occasions by readers separated by time and space. A sermonic text functions in the manner of a work of fiction and creates an event and space that forces a decision upon the reader. Within the text the reader is in a place where the Kingdom of God is about to happen and is happening. Consequently, the reader is forced to make a decision. Will he or she, “Go and do likewise,” or reject the Kingdom of God? This is possible because the sermonic text has what I describe as ‘fictive qualities.’ These qualities include setting the context in which the sermon is proclaimed which in turn creates a space and event for various ‘worlds’ to meet. Necessarily, a sermon, whether historical or in fiction, must be ‘preached’ in a particular place and at a particular time – e.g. Capernaum, the Rolls Chapel in London or the Whaleman’s Chapel in Moby-Dick. At the same time, the ‘sermonic text’ opens up a ‘space of literature’, which is universal, and of no specific time or place, but entertains the various worlds of the reader, the biblical narrative (e.g. the Jonah narrative in Father Mapple’s sermon) as well as the historical setting. Other fictive qualities include a dialogical relationship between the reader and the text and the capacity of time and place to be both specific and universal, temporal and eternal. Finally, the voice of the sermonic text has authority and authenticity because it is at once familiar in the human experience and, at the same time, set apart and distinct through a particular relationship with the divine

Soil autecology of the nitrogen-fixing microsymbiont, Frankia

The ability of the Frankia endophyte to infect its host plant may be markedly altered by changes in soil conditions. Plant bioassays showed lowering soil water potential caused significant declines in plant infection rates. Organic matter levels also influenced infection with soils containing zero and high levels of organic matter exhibiting the greatest root nodule formation. The highest infection rates of Frankia occurred at pH 6.0, although these levels were not significantly different within the range of the test. Addition of combined nitrogen to soils had a substantial positive effect on infection rates of Frankia endophyte;Presence of the actinorhizal host plant, or any plant cover, were unnecessary for maintaining viable, infective populations of the Frankia endophyte;Hyphal growth of Frankia occurred outside host plant root nodules under sterile soil conditions. No evidence of hyphal growth was found under natural soil conditions as measured by Fluorescent Antibody (FA) or Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent (ELISA) assays, however. Results suggest that the spore form of Frankia is predominant under natural conditions

Routine SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccination for all children

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented health and economic losses. Children generally present with less severe disease from this virus compared with adults, yet neonates and children with COVID-19 can require hospitalization, and older children can develop severe complications, such as the multisystem inflammatory syndrome, resulting in >1500 deaths in children from COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic. The introduction of effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in school-age children and adult populations combined with the emergence of new, more highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants has resulted in a proportional increase of infections in young children. Here, we discuss (1) the current knowledge on pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis in comparison with adults, (2) the data on vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in children, and (3) the benefits of early life SARS-CoV-2 vaccination