The Cyprus Institute

About: The Cyprus Institute is a other organization based out in Nicosia, Cyprus. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Aerosol & Environmental science. The organization has 418 authors who have published 1252 publications receiving 32586 citations.

So2 and hcho over the major cities of kazakhstan from 2005 to 2016: influence of political, economic and industrial changes

Abstract: Satellite observations of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for tropospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) column mass densities (CMD) are analyzed for the period 2005–2016 over the atmosphere of Kazakhstan. Regarding SO2 the major hot spots relate to regions with high population and large industrial facilities. Such an example is the city of Ekibastuz that hosts the biggest thermal power plants in the country and exhibits the higher SO2 CMD at national level. The annual average CMD in Ekibastuz reaches 2.5 × 10−5 kg/m2, whereas for the rest of the country respective values are 6 times lower. Other hotspots, mostly urban conglomerates such as Almaty and Nur-Sultan, experience high CMDs of SO2 in particular years, such as 2008. One of the main reasons for this behavior is the financial crisis of 2008, forcing the application of alternate heating sources based on cheap low-quality coal. Regarding HCHO, an oxygenated Volatile Organic Compound (VOC), the main hot spot is noticed over the city Atyrau, the oil capital of the country where two massive oil fields are located. The highest HCHO CMD (9 × 1015 molecules/cm2) appears in the summertime due to secondary production as a result of the photo-oxidation of VOCs emitted by industrial sectors, oil refinery plants and vehicles. Strongly elevated HCHO amounts are also observed in Nur-Sultan in 2012 that could be due to the residential coal combustion and vehicle exhaust under poor winter dispersion conditions. Significant reductions in HCHO observed between 2012 and 2015 can be attributed to two significant measures implemented in the country in 2013 that aimed at the improvement of air quality: the introduction of the emission trading system (ETS) for greenhouse gases and Euro-4 standards for new vehicles entering the national vehicle fleet.

A journey of over 200 years: early studies on wootz ingots and new evidence from Konasamudram, India

Abstract: Recent new evidence emerged from the crucible steel production site of Konasamudram, Telangana, India. A hoard of 60 crucible steel ingots from this site offers a unique opportunity to study details of the early large-scale production of this fabled material, beginning with a detailed documentation of the weights and sizes of 45 of them. Historically, Konasamudram has been an important pre-modern crucible steel manufacturing and trading centre in India, as reported by Persian and European travelogues, and may have been the source of many of the early ingots studied during the past 200 years. The aim of this work is to present a dimensional analysis of these ingots and interpret the data in the context of earlier studies, to address questions of consistency in manufacturing, standardization of weights and other physical attributes. The newly-discovered ingots show considerable uniformity in shape, size and weights, indicative of a single production event during the heydays of crucible steel making, while the ingots previously reported in the literature vary much more widely.

Insight into single-element nobel metal anisotropic silver nanoparticle shape-dependent selective ROS generation and quantification

Abstract: The biocidal action mechanism of single element noble metal anisotropic nanoparticles has remained a perplexing challenge. Herein, we investigated the photogenerated anisotropic AgNP ROS production kinetics and each ROS species' direct impact on Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Three shapes (Triangular, Cubes, Rods) of AgNP with excellent morphology were fabricated via plasmon mediated synthesis. The results demonstrated a distinct bactericidal capacity of each NP shape where Ag-Tri outperformed Ag-Cub and Ag-Rod by displaying complete bacterial mutilation at a very low dose of 18 μg mL−1 for the shortest exposure time of 180 min. In contrast, Ag-Cub needed 66.6% higher NP concentration, while Ag-Rod was unable to achieve complete bacterial mutilation. In contrast to O2˙−, (Ag-Tri 69 ± 3.2, Ag-Cub 72 ± 2.9, Ag-Rod 68.5 ± 3.7 μM), the amount of ˙OH production was considerably lower (Ag-Tri 11 ± 1.6, Ag-Cub 10.4 ± 1.9, Ag-Rod 11.3 ± 2.2 μM), while 1O2 remained undetected for all NP shapes. Moreover, antimicrobial activity of selective ROS species revealed O2˙− as a dominant species among ROS. However, O2˙− was not found as a decisive factor in microbial mutilation. SEM images affirmed the significance of the specific geometrical shape and its resultant attachment to bacterial surface to be of paramount significance. The sharp-tip morphology with high-atom density active {111} facets played a pivotal role in physically deteriorating bacterial cells. Ag-Tri morphology in synchronization with ROS species assisted its wedging into the bacterial cell, translating into superior and multifaceted antibacterial performance.

Comment on "Global risk of radioactive fallout after major nuclear reactor accidents" by Lelieveld et al. (2012)

Abstract: now at: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V., Berliner Strase 130, 14467 Potsdam, GermanyCorrespondence to: J. Lelieveld (jos.lelieveld@mpic.de)Received: 26 June 2012 – Published in Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.: 3 August 2012Revised: 14 October 2012 – Accepted: 21 November 2012 – Published: 3 January 2013In the above mentioned article we assessed the worldwiderisk of exposure to radioactivity due to the atmospheric dis-persion of gases and particles following severe nuclear ac-cidents, using particulate