Environmental behaviour of iron and steel slags in coastal settings.

Iron and steel slags have a long history of both disposal and beneficial use in the coastal zone. Despite the large volumes of slag deposited, comprehensive assessments of potential risks associated with metal(loid) leaching from iron and steel by-products are rare for coastal systems. This study provides a national-scale overview of the 14 known slag deposits in the coastal environment of Great Britain (those within 100 m of the mean high-water mark), comprising geochemical characterisation and leaching test data (using both low and high ionic strength waters) to assess potential leaching risks.

Sources and controls of greenhouse gases and heavy metals in mine water: A continuing climate legacy.

Water pollution arising from abandoned coal mines, is second only to sewage as a source of freshwater pollution and in coalfield catchments mine water can be the dominant pollutant, with oxidised iron smothering the bed of receiving rivers. This study measured greenhouse gases in mine water outflows from sixteen sites across the Midland Valley in Scotland. Radiogenic and stable carbon isotopes measurements (ΔC and δC) were used to determine the sources of both methane (CH) and carbon dioxide (CO) produced within the flooded mine environment.

Microstructural analysis of slag properties associated with calcite precipitation due to passive CO mineralization.

CO mineralization in slag has gained significant attention since it occurs with minimal human intervention and energy input. While the amount of theoretical CO that can be captured within slag has been quantified based on slag composition in several studies, the microstructural and mineralogical effects of slag on its ability to capture CO have not been fully addressed. In this work, the CO uptake within legacy slag samples is analyzed through microstructural characterization.

Urban landscapes and legacy industry provide hotspots for riverine greenhouse gases: A source-to-sea study of the River Clyde.

There is growing global concern that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from water bodies are increasing because of interactions between nutrient levels and climate warming. This paper investigates key land-cover, seasonal and hydrological controls of GHGs by comparison of the semi-natural, agricultural and urban environments in a detailed source-to-sea study of the River Clyde, Scotland. Riverine GHG concentrations were consistently oversaturated with respect to the atmosphere.

Effect of Abandoned Housing Interventions on Gun Violence, Perceptions of Safety, and Substance Use in Black Neighborhoods: A Citywide Cluster Randomized Trial.

Importance: Structural racism has resulted in long-standing disinvestment and dilapidated environmental conditions in Black neighborhoods. Abandoned houses signal neglect and foster stress and fear for residents, weakening social ties and potentially contributing to poor health and safety.

Objective: To determine whether abandoned house remediation reduces gun violence and substance-related outcomes and increases perceptions of safety and use of outdoor space.

Image-Based Analysis of Weathered Slag for Calculation of Transport Properties and Passive Carbon Capture.

Weathering of silicate-rich industrial wastes such as slag can reduce emissions from the steelmaking industry. During slag weathering, different minerals spontaneously react with atmospheric CO to produce calcite. Here, we evaluate the CO uptake during slag weathering using image-based analysis.

Advancing health equity through integrated biology and population health research: A community-based sample cortisol feasibility and exploratory study.

Background: Community-based research inclusive of self-assessment and objective environmental metrics can be enhanced by the collection of biomarker data in unity toward assessing the health impacts of the totality of environmental stress driven by structural racism. Cortisol dynamic range (CDR), a measure of chronic stress burden, may underpin place-based connections to health, but a gap remains in elucidating community-based CDR methodology.

Purpose: To 1) assess the feasibility of cortisol collection and CDR measurement in a community-based study with home-based, participant-directed specimen collection, and 2) explore the association between CDR and other individual and environmental measures in a sample of predominantly Black participants.

The utilization of alkaline wastes in passive carbon capture and sequestration: Promises, challenges and environmental aspects.

Alkaline wastes have been the focus of many studies as they act as CO sinks and have the potential to offset emissions from mining and steelmaking industries. Passive carbonation of alkaline wastes mimics natural silicate weathering and provides a promising alternative pathway for CO capture and storage as carbonates, requiring marginal human intervention when compared to ex-situ carbonation. This review summarizes the extant research that has investigated the passive carbonation of alkaline wastes, namely ironmaking and steelmaking slag, mine tailings and demolition wastes, over the past two decades.

Early life lead exposure from private well water increases juvenile delinquency risk among US teens.

Early life exposure to environmental lead (Pb) has been linked to decreased IQ, behavior problems, lower lifetime earnings, and increased criminal activity. Beginning in the 1970s, limits on Pb in paint, gasoline, food cans, and regulated water utilities sharply curtailed US environmental Pb exposure. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of US children remain at risk.

Children drinking private well water have higher blood lead than those with city water.

Although the Flint, Michigan, water crisis renewed concerns about lead (Pb) in city drinking water, little attention has been paid to Pb in private wells, which provide drinking water for 13% of the US population. This study evaluates the risk of Pb exposure in children in households relying on private wells. It is based on a curated dataset of blood Pb records from 59,483 North Carolina children matched with household water source information.

Rifampicin and clarithromycin (extended release) versus rifampicin and streptomycin for limited Buruli ulcer lesions: a randomised, open-label, non-inferiority phase 3 trial.

Background: Buruli ulcer is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans infection that damages the skin and subcutis. It is most prevalent in western and central Africa and Australia. Standard antimicrobial treatment with oral rifampicin 10 mg/kg plus intramuscular streptomycin 15 mg/kg once daily for 8 weeks (RS8) is highly effective, but streptomycin injections are painful and potentially harmful.

Creating Safe And Healthy Neighborhoods With Place-Based Violence Interventions.

Violence is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States and abroad, with far-reaching consequences for individuals and communities. Interventions that address environmental and social contexts have the potential for greater populationwide effects, yet research has been slow to identify and rigorously evaluate these types of interventions to reduce violence. Several urban communities across the US are conducting experimental and quasi-experimental community-based research to examine the effect of place-based interventions on violence.

Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults: A Cluster Randomized Trial.

Importance: Neighborhood physical conditions have been associated with mental illness and may partially explain persistent socioeconomic disparities in the prevalence of poor mental health.

Objective: To evaluate whether interventions to green vacant urban land can improve self-reported mental health.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This citywide cluster randomized trial examined 442 community-dwelling sampled adults living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within 110 vacant lot clusters randomly assigned to 3 study groups.

Effect of Remediating Blighted Vacant Land on Shootings: A Citywide Cluster Randomized Trial.

To determine if remediating blighted vacant urban land reduced firearm shooting incidents resulting in injury or death. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in which we assigned 541 randomly selected vacant lots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 110 geographically contiguous clusters and randomly assigned these clusters to a greening intervention, a less-intensive mowing and trash cleanup intervention, or a no-intervention control condition. The random assignment to the trial occurred in April and June 2013 and lasted until March 2015.

Citywide cluster randomized trial to restore blighted vacant land and its effects on violence, crime, and fear.

Vacant and blighted urban land is a widespread and potentially risky environmental condition encountered by millions of people on a daily basis. About 15% of the land in US cities is deemed vacant or abandoned, an area roughly the size of Switzerland. In a citywide cluster randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effects of standardized, reproducible interventions that restore vacant land on the commission of violence, crime, and the perceptions of fear and safety.

Neighborhood Interventions to Reduce Violence.

Violence is a widespread problem that affects the physical, mental, and social health of individuals and communities. Violence comes with an immense economic cost to its victims and society at large. Although violence interventions have traditionally targeted individuals, changes to the built environment in places where violence occurs show promise as practical, sustainable, and high-impact preventive measures.

Metasomatism and the crystallization of zircon megacrysts in Archaean peridotites from the Lewisian complex, NW Scotland.

Zircon megacrysts are locally abundant in 1-40 cm-thick orthopyroxenite veins within peridotite host rocks in the Archaean Lewisian gneiss complex from NW Scotland. The veins formed by metasomatic interaction between the ultramafic host and Si-rich melts are derived from partial melting of the adjacent granulite-facies orthogneisses. The interaction produced abundant orthopyroxene and, within the thicker veins, phlogopite, pargasite and feldspathic bearing assemblages.

Does Mandatory Diversion to Drug Treatment Eliminate Racial Disparities in the Incarceration of Drug Offenders? An Examination of California's Proposition 36.

Objective: This paper addresses previous shortcomings in the literature on racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenders by taking advantage of a change in sentencing policy in California and a rich administrative dataset that is able to create a sample of comparable White and Black offenders.

Method: We use a nonparametric propensity weighting approach to identify similarly situated White and Black male offenders charged with drug-related offenses. We combine this approach with a difference-in-differences model to estimate the effect that a change in California sentencing law for convicted non-violent drug offenders had on racial disparities in prison and drug treatment dispositions.

Urban Blight Remediation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence.

Objectives: To determine if blight remediation of abandoned buildings and vacant lots can be a cost-beneficial solution to firearm violence in US cities.

Methods: We performed quasi-experimental analyses of the impacts and economic returns on investment of urban blight remediation programs involving 5112 abandoned buildings and vacant lots on the occurrence of firearm and nonfirearm violence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1999 to 2013. We adjusted before-after percent changes and returns on investment in treated versus control groups for sociodemographic factors.

Log::ProgramInfo: A Perl module to collect and log data for bioinformatics pipelines.

Background: To reproduce and report a bioinformatics analysis, it is important to be able to determine the environment in which a program was run. It can also be valuable when trying to debug why different executions are giving unexpectedly different results.

Results: Log::ProgramInfo is a Perl module that writes a log file at the termination of execution of the enclosing program, to document useful execution characteristics.

The Effect of a Sunday Liquor-Sales Ban Repeal on Crime: A Triple-Difference Analysis.

Background: This study investigates whether alcohol availability in state-run liquor stores affects crime nearby. In 2003, Pennsylvania repealed its Sunday alcohol-sales ban for a portion of its state-run liquor stores. We capitalize on this change in alcohol policy to assess the effect of alcohol availability on crime occurring within the vicinity of liquor stores that opened on Sundays in Philadelphia.

A Difference-In-Differences Study of the Effects of a New Abandoned Building Remediation Strategy on Safety.

Vacant and abandoned buildings pose significant challenges to the health and safety of communities. In 2011 the City of Philadelphia began enforcing a Doors and Windows Ordinance that required property owners of abandoned buildings to install working doors and windows in all structural openings or face significant fines. We tested the effects of the new ordinance on the occurrence of crime surrounding abandoned buildings from January 2011 to April 2013 using a difference-in-differences approach.

Linking Specialization and Seriousness in Criminal Careers.

Some research suggests that recidivistic criminal offending patterns typically progress in a stepping-stone manner from less to more serious forms of offending from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Whether the progression into more serious types of offending reflects patterns of crime specialization is a matter of debate. Using data from 449 adolescent offenders who were interviewed at six time points between adolescence and adulthood, we present a new method for measuring crime specialization and apply it to an assessment of the link between specialization and offense seriousness.