Estimation of local and external contributions of biomass burning to PM2.5 in an industrial zone included in a large urban settlement

A total of 85 PM2.5 samples were collected at a site located in a large industrial zone (Porto Marghera, Venice, Italy) during a 1-year-long sampling campaign. Samples were analyzed to determine water-soluble inorganic ions, elemental and organic carbon, and levoglucosan, and results were processed to investigate the seasonal patterns, the relationship between the analyzed species, and the most probable sources by using a set of tools, including (i) conditional probability function (CPF), (ii) conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF), (iii) concentration weighted trajectory (CWT), and (iv) potential source contribution function (PSCF) analyses. Furthermore, the importance of biomass combustions to PM2.5 was also estimated. Average PM2.5 concentrations ranged between 54 and 16 μg m−3 in the cold and warm period, respectively. The mean value of total ions was 11 μg m−3 (range 1–46 μg m−3): The most abundant ion was nitrate with a share of 44 % followed by sulfate (29 %), ammonium (14 %), potassium (4 %), and chloride (4 %). Levoglucosan accounted for 1.2 % of the PM2.5 mass, and its concentration ranged from few ng m−3 in warm periods to 2.66 μg m−3 during winter. Average concentrations of levoglucosan during the cold period were higher than those found in other European urban sites. This result may indicate a great influence of biomass combustions on particulate matter pollution. Elemental and organic carbon (EC, OC) showed similar behavior, with the highest contributions during cold periods and lower during summer. The ratios between biomass burning indicators (K+, Cl−, NO3−, SO42−, levoglucosan, EC, and OC) were used as proxy for the biomass burning estimation, and the contribution to the OC and PM2.5 was also calculated by using the levoglucosan (LG)/OC and LG/PM2.5 ratios and was estimated to be 29 and 18 %, respectively

Search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO–Virgo run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC–2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate

Adsorption of 2,2′-bipyridyl onto sepiolite, attapulgite and smectite group clay minerals from anatolia: The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of surface and intercalated species.

The adsorption of 2,2-bipyridyl by natural sepiolite, attapulgite, hectorite, saponite and natural and ion exchanged (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn or Sn) bentonites has been investigated by FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy. Spectroscopic results indicate that most of the adsorbed molecules are coordinated to either exchangeable cations (in the case of smectite group clays) or Lewis acidic centres (in the case of sepiolite and attapulgite) as bidentate ligands. The formation of monoanionic surface species has also been detected, to a relatively small extent. No physisorbed surface species has been observed. XRD patterns and UV-visible spectra of the samples are also recorded for additional information

Global Dynamics, Domestic Coalitions and a Reactive State: Major Policy Shifts in Post-War Turkish Economic Development

The main objective of this study is to propose an analytical framework to explain the major policy shifts that has characterized post-war Turkish economic development; divided into four phases, starting respectively in 1950, 1960, 1980, and 2001. Its main contribution is to incorporate external and internal factors into this framework within a broadly political economy perspective, attaching particular significance to the role of economic crises in moving from one phase to the other. While the role of external agents is identified as the main factor behind policy shifts, the role of domestic coalitions in support of policy regime in each phase is also recognized. Drawing attention to the role of state in the impressive recent growth of countries such as China, India, and Ireland, the paper argues that there is still room for the state taking on a developmental role. The paper recommends that Turkey follows a similar path by improving state capacity not only with respect to its regulatory role but also in more developmental spheres, encompassing its redistributive and transformative role on the basis of a domestically-determined industrialization strategy.Publisher's Versio