Narrow Results

Because of high traffic density, bad sanitary conditions and other human activities, the urban areas of Lahore have become highly polluted. Very simple and quick method for the survey of aerosol over a large area is described. Freefall aerosol settled on the tree leaves picked from roadside of twelve localities of Lahore was collected and analyzed for seventeen trace elements down to g/g level by particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE). The investigation shows that the cleaner residential areas have much less concentration of trace elements of anthropogenic origin. Lead (Pb) has been detected in the areas of heavy traffic and close to the factory area, however, it is difficult to trace its origin because the gasoline used in Pakistan is unleaded.

As the second part of a wide project, we have carried out a study of airborne particulates in Mexico City, collected during two time periods (from 7:00 to 11:00, and from 11:00 to 15:00 Hrs.), one day of every week between March 1988 and February 1990. Elemental concentrations were determined by Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) for elements Na to Pb, while soot content was measured by means of Laser Integrating Plate Method (LIPM). As expected, the concentrations show an increase during the months October to March, due to frequent thermal inversions and dry weather. Moreover, the pollutant levels are higher during earlier hours, while the soil and anthropogenic origin of the elements can be better determined for the mid-day period, as seen from the grouping in the respective dendograms.

Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected with eight-stage cascade impactors at five typical sites in Guangzhou. The samples were analyzed by the proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) technique. The mass concentrations and their size distributions for near 20 elements were obtained. Enrichment factors for coarse and fine modes of the elements were calculated. The sources of the elements and characteristics of atmospheric aerosols at Guangzhou were discussed; the results of mass concentrations for 15 elements in atmospheric aerosols were also compared with those in some other cities in China.

The need to establish the elemental concentration profile for a clean environment and for a healthy organism is emphasized. Through several examples it is shown how PIXE has gained importance in elemental analysis in the fields of Medicine, Biology and Environment. Studies have been done on cancerous tumors and other diseased tissues. Elemental concentrations of blood, hair, teeth and nails have been correlated to specific diseases and to environmental pollution. Also plants, algae, lichens and tree rings have been analyzed as bio-sensors. The PIXE routines in four laboratories in Latinamerica are described. Their main environmental applications are in atmospheric aerosols, tree rings, waste water and others.

Lead pollution present in atmospheric aerosols in the city of Buenos Aires was measured in 1989, using Heavy Ion PIXE. Since then, environmental conditions have changed significantly. The usage of unleaded gasoline was introduced, and the utilisation of compressed natural gas as car fuel has increased. Recently, a new sampling campaign of atmospheric aerosols has started, partly in collaboration with the Greenpeace Foundation. The present studies reveal that lead pollution in Buenos Aires has significantly decreased since 1989. The concentrations of other elements are determined as well.

In this work we deal with the optimal purification of polluted areas of shallow waters by means of the injection of clear water in order to promote seawater exchange. This problem can be formulated as a control constrained optimal control problem where the control is the velocity of the injected water, the state equations are the shallow water equations together with that modelling the contaminant concentration, and the cost function measures the total amount of injected water and the fulfilment of the water quality standards. We analyze the solutions of the optimal control problem and give an optimality condition in order to characterize them. We also discretize the problem by means of a characteristics-mixed finite element method, focusing our attention on both the discrete and the discretized adjoint systems, and propose an algorithm for the numerical resolution of the discrete optimization problem. Finally, we present numerical results for some computational experiments.

This article concentrates on the study of delay effect on a model of single species in a polluted closed environment. The cases of constant emission and instantaneous spill of a toxicant are considered in the model study. Sufficient criteria on persistence of the population are derived. Global attractivity condition for the positive equilibrium is obtained.

In this paper, a nonlinear mathematical model to study the effect of environmental pollution on resource biomass and human populations is proposed and analyzed. In modeling the system, it is considered that there is a limited budget to be spent on environmental cleanup and health policies. An optimal investment policy is also discussed using Pontryagin's Maximum Principle.

In this paper, we develop a nonlinear mathematical model that investigates the impact of mining activities and pollution on forest resources and wildlife population. It is assumed that concentration of pollutants grows in the environment at a constant rate and also augments due to different mining activities prevailing in the forest area. The model is formulated in terms of differential equations and analyzed using elements of stability theory and numerical simulation. The obtained results depict that both forest resources as well as wildlife population get very much affected, either directly or indirectly, due to mining activities and environmental pollution. It is being concluded that, in order to save forests, an ecological balance is required to be maintained among forest resources, forest-dependent wildlife population, mining activities and environmental pollution.

Pollution Threatens One of the World’s Eight Wonders.

Australian Doctors Remove Organs Without Consent.

High Performance Equipment to Enhance Agricultural Research.

Designer Baby to be Created to Save Sibling.

Roche Under Investigation for Guangdong Virus Scare.

China Bone Marrow Bank Seeks Donors in North East Province.

Japan Implements High Tech Solutions to Complement Medical Services.

The Psycho-Social Impact of Diabetes Mellitus Upon Patients.

Southern India Cities Poised for Fast Biotech Growth.

Medium-Sized Companies Increase Market Share by Pricing Strategy.

India Heads for Neutraceuticals Development.

HIV-2 Resurfaces in Japan.

Tissue-Eating Bacteria Claimed 30 Lives Since 2000.

Tracking Down Foreigners with AIDS.

IANZ Accredits First GM Lab in New Zealand.

Agresearch Participates in Global Bovine Genome Sequence Project.

Coin-sized Micro-needles Patch to deliver Insulin: An innovation by Shanghai University Scientists

Stem Cells Help Researchers Study The Effects of Pollution on Human Health

A Novel and Robust Muscle Activity Onset Detection Technique by Using an Unsupervised Electromyogram Learning Framework

Early Modern Humans and Neanderthals were close bedfellows

FANCD2 and REV1 Cooperate in the Protection of Nascent DNA Strands in Response to Replication Stress

Spiders' Foraging Strategies Have Cascading Effects on Litter Decomposition Rates

Yingli Announces Sale of 18.8 MW Solar Power Plant in the UK to NextEnergy Solar Fund

China's Award Winning Desertification Control in Kubiqi Desert

Earthquake Early Warning System for Nepal

Mechanical Coupling Mechanism of a Mechanical Force-sensing Channel Protein Discovered by IBP Scientists

Jiahui International Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital to Co-Develop Women's Health Center of Excellence in Shanghai

Big Grain1: The ‘Mr. BIG’ for Crops to Grow Bigger by Regulating Auxin Transport in Rice

When there is no Queen in the house, Asian Hive Bees Avoid Risky Foraging for Reproduction

UNICEF HK joins hands with Government to help Mothers sustain Breastfeeding

Fresenius Medical Care Springs into Action after Deadly Tianjin Explosion

WuXi NextCODE Selected as Genomics Platform for Singapore Precision Medicine Effort.

Chinese Scientists Reveal Why Giant Pandas and Red Pandas Evolve to Eat Bamboo.

Two Scientists Share China’s Top Science Award.

Vice Premier Liu Urged to Accelerate Innovation-driven Development in China.

New Study Analyses Biggest Threats to Southeast Asian Biodiversity.

Mercury Pollution May Worsen with Melting Glaciers.

Water Tower of Central Asia Keeps Shrinking.

China Donates Mobile Clinics to Kenya.

Global Exchange Program Looks to Spur Scientific Collaboration.

China Establishes Technological Cooperation with 158 Countries.

Scientists Discover Molecular Mechanism of Cancer Cell Metastasis in Melanoma.

HONG KONG NEWS – OrbusNeich Expands Portfolio with a Next Generation Coronary Scoring Balloon.

The following topics are under this section:

• A general framework for predictive maintenance of manufacturing systems
• A remote-controlled smart platform for organ repair
• COVID-19 and its genetic relationship with other coronaviruses
• East meets West: cancer therapy using acupuncture and electrochemistry
• A triple-function bismuth oxochromate photocatalyst
• AI enables whole-slide imaging for diagnosis of nasal polyps

For the month of September 2020, APBN dives into the world of 3D printing and its wide range of real-world applications. Keeping our focus on the topic of the year, the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore the environmental impact of the global outbreak as well as gain insight to the top 5 vaccine platforms used in vaccine development. Discover more about technological advancements and how it is assisting innovation in geriatric health screening.

This paper reviews the game-theoretic literature on collaborative environmental management. It begins with a survey of static models of international environmental agreements (IEAs), comparing their underlying assumptions and their results. Extensions of the basic model to allow for both adaptation and mitigation, and for transfer payments are considered. We review the various concepts of coalitional stability, such as internal and external stability and far-sighted stability in the noncooperative strand, and the gamma core concept in the cooperative strand. The network approach to cooperation building is reviewed. We next survey extensions of IEA theory to dynamic models with stock pollutants, allowing membership status to change over time. Finally, dynamic cooperative games of pollution with transfer payments that take place over time are discussed.

We formulate an overlapping generations model on optimal emissions with continuous age structure. We compare the noncooperative solution to the cooperative one and obtain fundamental differences in the optimal strategies. Also including an altruistic motive does not avoid the problem of the myopic noncooperative solution. Finally we define a time-consistent tax scheme to obtain the cooperative solution in the noncooperative case.

Air contamination, water waste, and radioactive contamination are significant environmental issues. Adequate supervision is needed to ensure economic sustainability through the preservation of a good society. Environmental tracking has become a Smart environment monitoring (SEM) system in recent times, with developments in the Internet of Things and the creation of advanced detectors. This situation evaluates substantial achievements and scientific studies on SEM, including air quality control, water management, radiation emissions, and agricultural practices. A Wireless sensor network and IoT integrated system for Smart environment monitoring (WSN-IoT-SEC) framework are proposed in this research. The analysis will be divided employing SEM techniques applications, and each aim will then be further studied in terms of the detectors, machine learning models, and classifiers operated. A systematic study was carried out based on the study’s evaluated results and patterns, indicating important suggestions and the SEM analysis’s influence. The researchers have discussed objectively how the advancements in mobile technologies, IoT, and wireless sensor networks allow the control of the atmosphere an intelligent monitoring device. Eventually, the concept of rigorous machine learning techniques has been proposed, denouncing techniques and developing appropriate WSN specifications.

Focusing on the escalation of environmental protests amid worsening pollution in rural China, this study examines the responses of grassroots authorities to environmental protests. Through an analysis of several cases, it reveals that grassroots leadership suppresses, mediates, and sometimes even leads these movements. Accordingly, I raise the following questions: (1) How does China’s grassroots leadership respond to environmental protests? (2) Why does it choose to lead them? To answer these questions, this study posits local cadres as actors intending to maximize their self-interest within conflicting incentives, reaching the conclusion that under certain conditions, leading a protest can be a better option for their cost-benefit considerations. I argue that the varying behaviors of local cadres are contingent upon two crucial factors: (1) the degree of economic benefits derived from polluting companies; and (2) the degree of social unrest resulting from environmental protests. These factors are pivotal in shaping the economic and political interests of local cadres that influence their responses toward environmental activism.

This paper explores the use of insurance and environmental management systems (EMSs) to prevent and control the risk of pollution. To assess this issue, a series of interviews with insurers was conducted to find out their opinions and attitudes on EMSs about insurance for pollution. The main scope of the research is composite insurance, public liability and EMSs, within the UK market. Insurers' believed that EMSs could theoretically help insureds and insurers, respectively, prevent and control, and assess and settle pollution. However, there is little evidence to support this assertion. Moreover, EMSs assess pollution incompletely from the insurers' point of view. Furthermore, insurers' initial assessment and post loss investigation of pollution are generally not well developed, and there is little knowledge about and poor recognition of EMSs. Economic, practical, legal and political issues hinder insurers' ability to respond positively to EMSs. Therefore, insurance and EMSs are insufficiently developed to play a lead role in lessening the risk of pollution.

This article attempts to adapt the Monte Carlo method to the quantitative risk management of environmental pollution. In this context, the feasibility of stochastic models to quantitatively evaluate the risk of chemical pollution is first discussed and then linked to a case study in which Monte Carlo simulations are applied. The objective of the case study is to develop a Monte Carlo scheme for evaluating the pollution in a lake environment. It is shown that the results can be of interest as they define the risk margins that are important to the sustainability of the ecosystem in general, and human health in particular. Moreover, assessing the environmental pollution with the help of the Monte Carlo method can be feasible and serve the purpose of investigating and controlling the environmental pollution, in the long and short terms.