•Air Quality Decision making can be supported by a clear overall framework and by computer tools that integrate the most relevant aspects of the problem.•The proposed decision framework represents a ...general methodology to design Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) systems aimed at the implementation of effective Air Quality Plans (AQP).•It integrates the most recent scientific developments in impact evaluation and social acceptance.•An extensive survey across European countries shows that the degree of adoption of these approaches needs to be fostered.
Decision making in the field of air quality and greenhouses gases reductions can nowadays be supported by a clear overall framework and by computer tools that integrate the most relevant aspects of the problem. This approach is particularly important at local scale since new general rules on emission abatement at European level can only marginally modify the most critical hotspots and may be very costly. This paper adapts the general Drivers, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses (DPSIR) scheme proposed by the European Environment Agency to the specific case of local air quality policies and shows how the most recent scientific developments in impact evaluation and social acceptance can be integrated. The proposed decision framework represents a general methodology to design Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) systems aimed at the implementation of effective Air Quality Plans (AQP). An extensive survey across European countries shows the current degree of adoption of these approaches.
In recent years, increscent emissions in the city of Beijing due to expanded population, accelerated industrialization and inter-regional pollutant transportation have led to hazardous atmospheric ...pollution issues. Although a number of anthropogenic control measures have been put into use, frequent/severe haze events have still challenged regional governments. In this study, a hybrid population-production-pollution nexus model (PPP) is proposed for air pollution management and air quality planning (AMP) with the aim to coordinate human activities and environmental protection. A fuzzy-stochastic mixed quadratic programming method (FSQ) is developed and introduced into a PPP for tackling atmospheric pollution issues with uncertainties. Based on the contribution of an index of population-production-pollution, a hybrid PPP-based AMP model that considers employment structure, industrial layout pattern, production mode, pollutant purification efficiency and a pollution mitigation scheme have been applied in Beijing. Results of the adjustment of employment structure, pollution mitigation scheme, and green gross domestic product under various environmental regulation scenarios are obtained and analyzed. This study can facilitate the identification of optimized policies for alleviating population-production-emission conflict in the study region, as well as ameliorating the hazardous air pollution crisis at an urban level.
Display omitted
•A population-production-pollution nexus (PPP) is built for an comprehensive AMP plan.•An effective PPP-AMP manner can plan human-environment sustainably.•A fuzzy-stochastic mixed quadratic method can handle uncertainty in PPP-AMP system.•Results can support adjusting current policy to dispose atmospheric crisis.•Results can support a sustainable production mode with mitigation scheme.
•Integrated Assessment Modelling was used for selecting cost-efficient emission abatement measures.•Scenario and optimization approaches were applied to Brussels and Porto urban areas, ...respectively.•The selection of abatement measures to be included in the modelling is one of the most challenging tasks.
Air pollution Integrated Assessment Models (IAM) can be used for determining how emissions should be reduced to improve air quality and to protect human health in a cost-efficient way. The application of IAM is also useful to spread information to the general public and to explain the effectiveness of proposed Air Quality Plans. In this paper, the application of the RIAT+ system to determine suitable abatement measures to improve the air quality at a regional/local level is presented for two European cases: the Brussels Capital Region (Belgium) and the Porto Urban Area (Portugal). Both regions are affected with PM10 or NO2 concentrations that exceed the limit values specified by the European Union legislation. To properly assess air quality abatement measures a surrogate model was used, allowing the implementation of an efficient optimization procedure. This model is derived in both cases through a set of simulations performed using a Chemistry Transport Model fed with different emission reduction scenarios. In addition, internal costs (due to the implementation of emission reduction measures) and external costs (due to population exposure to air pollutant concentrations) of policy options were considered. The application of this integrated assessment modelling system in scenario (Brussels case) and optimization (Porto) modes contributes to identifying some advantages and limitations of these two approaches and also provides some guidance when urban air quality has to be assessed.
This study aimed to produce thermosensitive liposomes (TSL) by applying the quality by design (QbD) concept. In this paper, our research group collected and studied the parameters that significantly ...impact the quality of the liposomal product. Thermosensitive liposomes are vesicles used as drug delivery systems that release the active pharmaceutical ingredient in a targeted way at ~40-42 °C, i.e., in local hyperthermia. This study aimed to manufacture thermosensitive liposomes with a diameter of approximately 100 nm. The first TSLs were made from DPPC (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphocholine) and DSPC (1,2-dioctadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) phospholipids. Studies showed that the application of different types and ratios of lipids influences the thermal properties of liposomes. In this research, we made thermosensitive liposomes using a PEGylated lipid besides the previously mentioned phospholipids with the thin-film hydration method.
Air quality management is a serious challenge, especially in middle-income countries, where resources are limited and there are widely varying geographical, meteorological and economic conditions. In ...this study, air quality data obtained in the period January–April, from 2012 to 2019, were compared with the results obtained in 2020, to assess the impact of urban mobility restrictions on the emission sources and air quality in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The results provided a clear indication of the impact of vehicle emissions in different areas of the city and also showed the contribution of other sources (largely industrial and biogenic). The results showed that the sharp reduction in traffic flow was not effective in reducing levels of the main pollutants, particulate matter and ozone. Furthermore, the restrictive measures showed that, although previous emission inventories provided evidence that vehicular emissions are the main source of pollutants, improving air quality requires the control of both stationary and mobile sources, and an awareness of meteorological and transport factors, which have a considerable impact on ozone precursor levels and the shift in the ozone production regime. The different conditions within the city were assessed, as well as the pollutant emissions that affected each area and a list of necessary measures has been compiled. The results may help local authorities to fully assess the situation and take appropriate action. The approach adopted here could be extended to other cities with similar features, particularly in countries where complete emission inventories and modelling results are not available and there is limited funding for research and environmental management.
•Transport restrictions did not result in air quality improvement.•Air quality management requires the assessment of stationary and mobile sources.•Ozone and PM2.5 are critical for air quality.•Ozone levels highly depend on meteorological parameters.
The requirements of a liposomal formulation vary depending on the pharmaceutical indication, the target patient population, and the corresponding route of administration. Different preparation ...methods require various material attributes (MAs) (properties and characteristics of the components) and process parameters (PPs) (settings of the preparation method). The identification of the quality target product profile for a liposome-based formulation, the critical quality attributes of the liposomes, and the possible MAs and PPs that may influence the key characteristics of the vesicles facilitates pharmaceutical research. Researchers can systematise their knowledge by using the quality by design (QbD) approach. The potential factors that influence the quality of the product can be collected and studied through a risk assessment process. In this paper, the requirements of a liposome formulation prepared via the thin-film hydration preparation technique are presented; furthermore, the possible factors that have an impact on the quality of the final product and have to be considered and specified during the development of a liposomal formulation are herein identified and collected. The understanding and the application of these elements of QbD in the pharmaceutical developments help to influence the quality, the achievements, and the success of the formulated product.
The quality of MR-Spectroscopy data can easily be affected in in vivo applications. Several factors may produce signal artefacts, and often these are not easily detected, not even by experienced ...spectroscopists. Reliable and reproducible in vivo MRS-data requires the definition of quality requirements and goals, implementation of measures to guarantee quality standards, regular control of data quality, and a continuous search for quality improvement.
The first part of this review includes a general introduction to different aspects of quality management in MRS. It is followed by the description of a series of tests and phantoms that can be used to assure the quality of the MR system. In the third part, several methods and strategies used for quality control of the spectroscopy data are presented. This review concludes with a reference to a few interesting techniques and aspects that may help to further improve the quality of in vivo MR-spectra.
Secondary pollutants (such as PM10) derives from complex non-linear reactions involving precursor emissions, namely VOC, NOx, NH3, primary PM and SO2. Due to difficulty to cope with this complexity, ...Decision Support Systems (DSSs) are essential tools to help Environmental Authorities to plan air quality policies that fulfill EU Directive 2008/50 requirements in a cost-efficient way. To implement these DSSs the common approach is to describe the air quality indices using linear models, derived through model reduction techniques starting from deterministic Chemical Transport Model simulations. This linear approach limits the applicability of these surrogate models, and while these may work properly at coarse spatial resolutions (continental/national), where average values over large areas are of interest, they often prove inadequate at sub national scales, where the impact of non linearities on air quality are usually higher.
The objective of this work is to identify air quality models able to properly describe the relation between emissions and air quality indices, at a sub national scale. In this context, artificial neural networks, identified processing long-term simulation output of a 3D deterministic multi-phase modelling system, are used to describe the non-linear relations between the control variables (precursor emissions reduction) and a pollution index. These models can then be used with a reasonable computing effort to solve a multi-objective (air quality and emission reduction costs) optimization problem, that requires thousands of model runs and thus would be unfeasible using the original process-based model. A case study of Northern Italy is presented.
► Decision Support Systems are essential tools to plan effective air quality policies. ► A multi-objective problem is solved to reduce secondary pollution exposure and costs. ► Nonlinear surrogate models assess the emission reduction impact on air quality. ► Local conditions are essential to define the surrogate model structure.
Purpose: The aim of this study is to obtain a diagnosis regarding the implementation of QMS (Quality Management System) according to ISO 9001 in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of ...Angola.Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted through a questionnaire proposed to survey selected 55 institutions. Fifty completed questionnaires were received, representing the sample of this work. The statistical analysis SPSS version 22.0 for Windows was used for the treatment of the data.Findings: The results of the study show that of the 50 Angolan HEIs surveyed, only 20% of them have the Quality Management System implemented. As main benefits of the implementation of the QMS in HEIs of Angola, we can highlight: Improvement of the quality of teaching; Improvement of student satisfaction; Improvement of confidence of students and other stakeholders; Improvement in student assessment; Improvement of teacher competences.Research Limitation/implication: The main limitation of the study lies in the fact that of the 50 Angolan HEIs referred, only 20% of them have the Quality Management System implemented, which shows that there is still much work to be done in this area.Originality/Value of paper: Higher education in Angola has had an evolution in terms of demand and access. Due to the quantitative development of higher education in Angola, it is necessary to be accompanied by qualitative growth, which implies the reinforcement of the need for quality management.
This reprint entitled "Nanomedicine Based Drug Delivery Systems: Recent Developments and Future Prospects" contains 14 articles in total. This includes one editorial, ten research articles, and three ...review articles. All articles are associated with nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems for the solubility, bioavailability, and therapeutic enhancement of active drug molecules. In recent years, there has been a tremendous amount of research on nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems. This reprint has brought together prominent scientists who have explored a diverse range of applications of nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems. I believe that further clinical and toxicological studies on both animal and human models are still required to explore the complete potential and commercial exploitation of nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems. The diverse and critical perspectives within this reprint provide sufficient information on the development, characterization, and evaluation of nanomedicine-based drug delivery systems.
PDF
