Activity

Overall, when the PA and SA distribution mode was determined, the total airflow rate of 184 L/min was the optimal supply airflow rate. Under the same total airflow rate, the burning and emission performances were better when the primary and secondary airflows were similar, namely from 46 to 64. This study provided core information about stove air supply and distribution, which is essential to quantitatively determine the stove air supply mode to significantly improve stove performances. BACKGROUND Studies have reported increasing incidence rates of paediatric diabetes, especially among those aged 0-5 years. Epidemiological evidence linking ambient air pollution to paediatric diabetes remains mixed. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the association between maternal and early-life exposures to common air pollutants (NO2, PM2.5, O3, and oxidant capacity [Ox; the redox-weighted average of O3 and NO2]) and the incidence of paediatric diabetes in children up to 6 years of age. METHODS All registered singleton births in Ontario, Ca nada occurring between April 1st, 2006 and March 31st, 2012 were included through linkage from health administrative data. Monthly exposures to NO2, PM2.5, O3, and Ox were estimated across trimesters, the entire pregnancy period and during childhood. Random effects Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the relationships with paediatric diabetes incidence while controlling for important covariates. We also modelled the shape of concentration-response (CR) relationships. RESULTS There were 1094 children out of a cohort of 754,698 diagnosed with diabetes before the age of six. O3 exposures during the first trimester of pregnancy were associated with paediatric diabetes incidence (hazard ratio (HR) per interquartile (IQR) increase = 2.00, 95% CI 1.04-3.86). The CR relationship between O3 during the first trimester and paediatric diabetes incidence appeared to have a risk threshold, in which there was little-to-no risk below 25 ppb of O3, while above this level risk increased sigmoidally. No other associations were observed. CONCLUSION O3 exposures during a critical period of development were associated with an increased risk of paediatric diabetes incidence. Crown All rights reserved.A hydrothermal-annealing method was adopted to form nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel-supported molybdenum carbide (Mo2C/NGA) materials by using graphene oxide (GO), poly (propylene glycol) bis(2-aminopropyl ether) (D400 for short) and ammonium molybdate as precursors. The annealing temperature and GO/D400 wt ratio played an important role on the materials structure and electrocatalytic activity. When the annealing temperature reached to 800 °C, the Mo2C was formed as an active component and improved obviously the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. After introducing the appropriate amount of D400, the Mo2C/NGA material not only had a firm porous monolithic framework, but also presented an increasing HER activity. Further, the Mo2C/NGA-based microbial fuel cells-ammonia electrolysis cell (MFCs-AEC) coupled system was constructed and operated for higher hydrogen production. The coupled system produced hydrogen of 198 mL g-1Mo2C/NGA in simulated ammonia-rich wastewater. As using the actual landfill leachate wastewater as substrate, there was 79.2 mL g-1Mo2C/NGA of hydrogen production. All of these were attributed to the porous structure with an interconnected network and the nitrogen-doped structure of the NGA. BACKGROUND Perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) in serum are inversely associated with fetal growth. Small for gestational age (SGA) is a measure based on birth weight and gestational age at birth and represents a good indicator of fetal growth but it has been used only in a small number of studies. We examined the association between PFAS exposure and the risk of severe SGA in a PFAS contaminated area in the Veneto Region (North-East of Italy). METHODS A retrospective cohort study has been developed including all singleton live births reported in the Veneto Region Birth Registry between 2003 and 2018 to mothers living in the contaminated and in a control area. We estimated the association between mothers’ area of residence and severe SGA using crude RR (and 95% CI) and stepwise logistic regression, including all the maternal characteristics. RESULTS The study included 105,114 singleton live births. The occurence of severe SGA was 3.44% in the contaminated area and 2.67% in the control area. The multivariate analysis confirmed that living in the contaminated area significantly increased the odds of severe SGA (adjusted OR 1.27 (95% C.I. 1.16, 1.39)). CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that living in a contaminated area by PFAS plays a role in affecting fetal growth and support the hypothesis that PFAS exposure is a risk factor for SGA. Individual data on exposure are needed to confirm the direct association. Biochar amendment may be an effective solution of maintaining phosphorus (P) and sustaining agricultural production in salt affected soils. However, the behavior of P adsorption in salt-affected soils with nano-biochar (nB) amendment is unclear. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate the impacts of different levels of soil salinity amended with nB at rates of 0, 0.10%, 0.20%, and 0.50% (w/w) on the P adsorption isotherm and also, mechanisms of P adsorption by using spectroscopic analysis. click here The results showed that P adsorption increased with increasing soil salinity with or without nB addition. Under level of 120 mg P L-1, adsorption capacity of P increased from 992.8 mg kg-1 for high saline soil (S5) to 1144.0 mg kg-1 after treated with 0.20% nB. The results of P adsorption were agreed with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Fourier transform infrared analysis (FTIR) of nB showed that the surface of nB decorated with oxygenated functional groups which play an important role in the adsorption of P anions. Analyzes of FTIR and XRD indicated that the main adsorption mechanism for P adsorption on nB in salt affected soils was surface precipitation. Our findings suggest that the nano-biochar amendment in salt affected soils can be a promising enhancer for P adsorption.