In this study we investigate the e ect of varying the ratio of false-positive and false-negative misclassi cation costs on the sensitivity and selectivity of binary predictions of exceedences of atmospheric pollutants. This allows us to determine a window of values for this ratio for which it is worthwhile making de nite rather than probabilistic predictions. The support vector machine provides...

BACKGROUND The respiratory tract is a major target of exposure to air pollutants, and respiratory diseases are associated with both short- and long-term exposures. We hypothesized that improved air quality in North Carolina was associated with reduced rates of death from respiratory diseases in local populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed the trends of emphysema, asthma, and pneumonia...

Bacterial biosensors are simple, cost-effective and efficient analytical tools for detecting bioavailable heavy metals in the environment. This work presents the design, construction and calibration of a novel whole-cell fluorescent biosensory device that, simultaneously and with high sensitivity, reports the presence of toxic mercury, lead, cadmium and/or gold ions in aqueous samples. This bio...

This review presents a brief overview of the health effects and exposures of two criteria pollutants--ozone and particulate matter--and two toxic air pollutants--benzene and formaldehyde. These pollutants were selected from the six criteria pollutants and from the 189 toxic air pollutants on the basis of their prevalence in the United States, their physicochemical behavior, and the magnitude of...

nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide gases together with dust are known as the major pollutants arising during the blasting operations using the ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (anfo) explosive at the sungun surface mine, located in the northwest of iran. the pollutants were monitored during some blasting operations at the mine. it was concluded that the gases and dust clouds initially went up to the ...

The Urban Forest Effects-Deposition model (UFORE-D) was developed with a component-based modeling approach. Functions of the model were separated into components that are responsible for user interface, data input/output, and core model functions. Taking advantage of the component-based approach, three UFORE-Dapplicationswere developed: a base application toestimatedry deposition at anhourly ti...

Water is a renewable resource but yet finite. Its sustainable usage and the maintenance of a good quality are essential for an intact environment, human life and a stable economy. Emerging technologies aim for a continuous monitoring of water quality, overcoming periodic analytical sampling, and providing information on the current state of inshore waters in real time. So does the here presente...