Near-ground Effect of Height on Pollen Exposure

The effect of height on pollen concentration is not well documented and little is known about the near-ground vertical profile of airborne pollen. This is important as most measuring stations are on roofs, but patient exposure is at ground level. Our study used a big data approach to estimate the near-ground vertical profile of pollen concentrations based on a global study of paired stations located at different heights. We analyzed paired sampling stations located at different heights between 1.5 and 50m above ground level (AGL). This provided pollen data from 59 Hirst-type volumetric traps from 25 different areas, mainly in Europe, but also covering North America and Australia, resulting in about 2,000,000 daily pollen concentrations analyzed. The daily ratio of the amounts of pollen from different heights per location was used, and the values of the lower station were divided by the higher station. The lower station of paired traps recorded more pollen than the higher trap. However, while the effect of height on pollen concentration was clear, it was also limited (average ratio 1.3, range 0.7–2.2). The standard deviation of the pollen ratio was highly variable when the lower station was located close to the ground level (below 10m AGL). We show that pollen concentrations measured at >10m are representative for background near-ground levels

The first step in creating national Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) guidelines - a questionnaire

peer reviewed[No abstract available

Dialogical PISA: correct answers are all alike, every incorrect answer is incorrect in its own way

Why do students give incorrect answers in PISA? What are the reasons for giving incorrect answers? Do all incorrect answers reflect only the lack of competence or might even a competent child make a mistake? The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of these issues. In the current investigation, we selected six students who responded incorrectly to one PISA question in mathematics or science when they solved it individually. Then, we analyzed their understanding of the PISA task and their reasoning about it through a dialogical problem solving in triads to identify why they made an incorrect answer. Moreover, we tried to determine how the shared peer interaction might change the understanding and reasoning of the child and enable her/him to solve the task. The results of this study illustrate the differences between incorrect answers reflecting lack of competence and those incorrect answers, which appear for some other reasons. Based on the dialogical problem solving approach, we analyzed these two types of incorrect answers and the reasoning trajectories behind them

Electrochemical decolorization of CI Acid Orange 3 in the presence of sodium chloride at iridium oxide electrode

The electrocatalytic degradation of C.I. Acid Orange 3 from simulated wastewater by indirect electrochemical oxidation using an IrOx electrode was investigated. The effects of different operating parameters on the rate of dye decolorization were studied. The influences of mixing, electrolyte concentration, applied current, and initial dye concentration were examined. The change in dye concentration was followed by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, while the formation of reaction intermediates was established using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy showed a decrease of the absorption peak at 374 nm during the electrolysis and the appearance of a new absorption maximum at 460 nm. The decolorization reaction can be followed only at 460 nm. Four intermediate products (two mono- and two dichlorinated) were detected. At the end of the study, a phytotoxicity assay was performed to determine the effectiveness of the applied method. The results showed that the applied electrochemical treatment of C.I. Acid Orange 3 leads to a decrease in phytotoxicity from 53 to 28%

Effect of Height on Pollen Sampling in Relation to Pollen Exposure at Ground Level

Pollen monitoring networks around the world are mainly based on rooftop-located stations on buildings. Thus, measured airborne pollen levels could be different from ground level, where most allergic individual reside. Until now, the effects of height of sampling on pollen concentration are not well documented. The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyse these effects using a large number of twin sampling stations. Pollen data from 45 twin-stations Hirst-type volumetric spore traps were analyzed, with a maximum distance of 5km between the twin traps, from 25 different locations. To compare the effect of height, the mean of the daily ratio of the amounts of pollen registrered at different heights was used. The values of the lowest station were divided by the higher station. Stations between 1.5m and 50 agl were considered. The results showed that the traps at lower height registered generally higher pollen concentration (average pollen ratio higher than 1), although the behaviour of the ratio differed per pollen type. For instance, both Poaceae and Betula showed that as the height differenc eincreased, the pollen ratio was higher up to a certain height difference when the ratio stabilizes (around 1.5). On the other hand, the standard deviation of the pollen ratio was greater for the traps closer to ground level. Therefore the height difference is a factor which explains the pollen ratio in conjunction with other variables such as the minimum height of the lower trap or the distance between the spore traps. These findings are highly relevant to clinical practice, as the relationship between pollen exposure at ground level and monitored airborne pollen concentrations at roof-top elvel are determined. Thus, the optimal pollen monitoring height could be optimized based on these result