Global land cover trajectories and transitions.

Global land cover (LC) changes threaten sustainability and yet we lack a comprehensive understanding of the gains and losses of LC types, including the magnitudes, locations and timings of transitions. We used a novel, fine-resolution and temporally consistent satellite-derived dataset covering the entire Earth annually from 1992 to 2018 to quantify LC changes across a range of scales. At global and continental scales, the observed trajectories of change for most LC types were fairly smooth and consistent in direction through time.

How efficiently can HEPA purifiers remove priority fine and ultrafine particles from indoor air?

More than 1 million premature deaths in Asia annually are estimated to be associated with indoor air quality. HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter air purifiers (APs) are widely used in urban Chinese residences by the growing middle class, as public awareness of air pollution increases. Currently, understanding of how particle size affects particle removal is inconsistent, and the rate at which different particle types are removed remains largely unknown.

'When the walls come tumbling down': The role of intergroup proximity, threat, and contact in shaping attitudes towards the removal of Northern Ireland's peace walls.

Institutional structures of segregation typically entrench social inequality and sustain wider patterns of intergroup conflict and discrimination. However, initiatives to dismantle such structures may provoke resistance. Executive proposals to dismantle Northern Ireland's peace walls by 2023 provide a compelling case study of the nature of such resistance and may thus provide important clues about how it might be overcome.

Particulate Matter Measurement Indoors: A Review of Metrics, Sensors, Needs, and Applications.

Many populations spend ∼90% of their time indoors, with household particulate matter being linked to millions of premature deaths worldwide. Particulate matter is currently measured using particle mass, particle number, and particle size distribution metrics, with other metrics, such as particle surface area, likely to be of increasing importance in the future. Particulate mass is measured using gravimetric methods, tapered element oscillating microbalances, and beta attenuation instruments and is best suited to use in compliance monitoring, trend analysis, and high spatial resolution measurements.

Parallel lives: Intergroup contact, threat, and the segregation of everyday activity spaces.

Although intergroup contact can reduce prejudice, opportunities to experience such contact are often constrained by systems of segregation. Work on this problem has focused on divisions entrenched within institutions of residence, education, and employment. Our research employed a complementary approach, which treated segregation as the outcome of individuals' movements over time within everyday life spaces.

Quantifying the exposure of humans and the environment to oil pollution in the Niger Delta using advanced geostatistical techniques.

The Niger Delta is one of the largest oil producing regions of the world. Large numbers and volumes of oil spills have been reported in this region. What has not been quantified is the putative exposure of humans and/or the environment to this hydrocarbon pollution.

A network-based approach for estimating pedestrian journey-time exposure to air pollution.

Individual exposure to air pollution depends not only upon pollution concentrations in the surrounding environment, but also on the volume of air inhaled, which is determined by an individual's physiology and activity level. This study focuses on journey-time exposure, using network analysis in a GIS environment to identify pedestrian routes between multiple origins and destinations throughout the city of Lancaster, North West England. For each segment of a detailed footpath network, exposure was calculated accounting for PM2.

Effectiveness of green infrastructure for improvement of air quality in urban street canyons.

Street-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) and particulate matter (PM) exceed public health standards in many cities, causing increased mortality and morbidity. Concentrations can be reduced by controlling emissions, increasing dispersion, or increasing deposition rates, but little attention has been paid to the latter as a pollution control method. Both NO(2) and PM are deposited onto surfaces at rates that vary according to the nature of the surface; deposition rates to vegetation are much higher than those to hard, built surfaces.

Effect of traffic pollution on respiratory and allergic disease in adults: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Background: Epidemiological research into the role of traffic pollution on chronic respiratory and allergic disease has focused primarily on children. Studies in adults, in particular those based on objective outcomes such as bronchial hyperresponsiveness, skin sensitisation, and lung function, are limited.

Methods: We have used an existing cohort of 2644 adults aged 18-70 living in Nottingham, UK, for whom baseline health and demographic data were collected in 1991 and computed two markers of exposure to traffic: distance between the home and nearest main road and modelled outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration at the home location.