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dings of this study suggest the RLPMs could be an especially applaudable form of perceptual markings as they are relatively effective in the long-term and are multifunctional in intervening speed, distance, headway, and crash risk. This study also emphasizes the challenge of more field tests and observations on the long-term performance of the perceptual markings, and the thorough considerations of the visual perception mechanism behind the markings to achieve an alternative solution to the long-term issue.

In-vehicle telematics monitoring systems that provide driver feedback have been identified as a promising intervention to influence driver behaviours and reduce the growing burden of road injury. The current study was undertaken to assess the effect of driver feedback alone and feedback plus financial incentives on driving behaviours (speeding, hard acceleration and hard braking).

A pragmatic randomised trial was undertaken over a 28-week observational period. Drivers were recruited and randomly allocated to one of three groups namely, driver feedback, driver feedback plus incentives and a control group. The feedback group received a weekly summary of their driving performance via SMS text message and access to more detailed feedback via an online dashboard or smartphone application. The feedback plus financial incentive group received the feedback but lost financial incentives for risky driving behaviour above a threshold.

A total of 174 drivers completed at least one driving trip during the study peri important and statistically significant reductions in risky driving behaviours.

This study adds to our understanding of the potential effects of feedback and financial incentives. Findings suggest that, while feedback alone may be insufficient to motivate behaviour change, combining feedback with financial incentives can deliver potentially important and statistically significant reductions in risky driving behaviours.Whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis in tuberculosis allows the prediction of drug-resistant phenotypes, identification of lineages, and to better understanding of the epidemiology and transmission chains. Nevertheless the procedure has been scarcely assessed in Mexico, in this work we analyze by WGS isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis circulating in Jalisco, Mexico. Lineage and phylogenetic characterization, drug resistant prediction, "in silico" spoligotyping determination, were provided by WGS in 32 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates. Lineage 4 (L4), with 28 isolates (87%) and eleven sublineages was dominant. Forty SNPs and INDELs were found in genes related to first-, and second-line drugs. Eleven isolates were sensitive, seven (22%) were predicted to be resistant to isoniazid, two resistant to rifampicin (6%) and two (6%) were multidrug-resistant tuberuclosis. Spoligotyping shows that SIT 53 (19%) and SIT 119 (16%) were dominant. Four clonal transmission complexes were found. This is the first molecular epidemiological description of TB isolates circulating in western Mexico, achieved through WGS. L4 was dominant and included a high diversity of sublineages. It was possible to track the transmission route of two clonal complexes. The WGS demonstrated to be of great utility and with further implications for clinical and epidemiological study of TB in the region.Given the limitations of conventional vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) systems, a novel vacuum ultraviolet/graphite carbon nitride (VUV/g-C3N4) system with high adaptability to varying environmental conditions was developed. Compared with conventional VUV and UV/g-C3N4 systems, the VUV/g-C3N4 system demonstrates a much higher ability for the efficient degradation of chlorophenols (CPs). In particular, the VUV/g-C3N4 system exhibits outstanding performance even at low pH and high concentrations of humic acid and SO42-. Alkaline conditions and the presence of HCO3- can further promote CP removal. In addition, the feasibility of the VUV/g-C3N4 system was verified by its stable operation in both river water and tap water. Selleckchem Pterostilbene Unlike conventional photochemical systems relying on •OH, the dominant reactive species for CP degradation by the VUV/g-C3N4 system was identified to be •O2-. This study conclusively provided a novel system for the efficient photocatalytic treatment of pollutants.Aureobasidium pullulans laccase was immobilized via cross-linked enzyme aggregate (CLEA) and deployed in bisphenol-A (BPA) removal. The immobilization and BPA removal processes were mathematically modeled. The CLEA-treated BPA was evaluated for phytotoxicity. The optimum conditions for CLEA resulting in the highest immobilization yield were ammonium sulfate (60% w/v), glutaraldehyde (30 mM), pH (4.5), time (6 h) and temperature (45 °C). The CLEA retained about 56% of its activity after twelve catalytic cycles. The optimum pH and temperature of the laccase CLEA were 5.5 and 60 °C respectively. The SEM indicated that the laccase CLEA was type II (unstructured). The data obtained from the heat inactivation kinetics and thermodynamic characterization indicated that the CLEA was stable to heat denaturation than the free enzyme. The kinetic parameters obtained for the CLEA with ABTS as substrate were 101.3 µM, 2.94 µmols-1 mg-1 and 0.03 dm3 s-1 mg-1 for the Km, Kcat and Kcat/Km respectively. The optimum conditions for BPA removal using the CLEA were temperature (30 °C), time (2 h), CLEA (1.0 mg) and BPA concentration (40 mg/L). After the 7th cycle, BPA removal by the laccase CLEA was 63 ± 2.3%. From the germination index values obtained, the CLEA-treated BPA solution showed no phytotoxicity to germinated S. bicolor seeds compared to the untreated (BPA-only) solutions.As typic priority pollutants in the marine environment, heavy metals can be accumulated in the human body leading to serious environmental and health problems. The metal regulatory elements (MREs) have been identified to be the main functional parts for the response to heavy metals. To develop a convenient biological monitoring tool for the detection of heavy metals in the oceans, we generated a transgenic marine medaka line Tg(OmMT eGFP) with a truncated metallothionein promoter, which was only 193 bp and drove the expression of eGFP. After Tg(OmMTeGFP) embryos were treated with four different heavy metals and different concentrations, the results showed that the expression level of eGFP was consistent with that of the endogenous mt. The transgenic embryos are very sensitive to Hg2+, and the fluorescence could be induced in the 0.0002 μM concentration, which is far lower than the primary water standard. The expression level of eGFP and mt showed a dose-dependent manner to heavy metals concentration. Taken together, the newly established marine medaka is a sensitive, efficient, and convenient tool for monitoring heavy metal pollution in the environment, especially seawater.Carbon-encapsulated Fe nanocomposites (Fe@C), obtained by pyrolysis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), can activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to remove emerging contaminants (ECs). Unfortunately, the current MOFs-derived catalysts always inevitably produce more iron-oxide compounds that unfavorable for PMS activation. In this work, according to the thermogravimetric curve of Fe(II)-MOF-74, to discuss the role of pyrolysis temperature on the structural characteristics of Fe@C. The results demonstrated that Fe@C-4 could obtain abundant coordinately unsaturated metal sites and exhibited the best activation performance. Radical-quenching experiments and EPR measurements confirm that the generated sulfate radical (SO4-˙) and singlet oxygen (1O2) only degraded approximately 35% of TBBPA. Meanwhile, negatively charged complex intermediates formed by the weak interaction between Fe@C-4 and PMS was proposed as the dominant reactive species, and approximately 65% of TBBPA was degraded. This work optimizes the synthesis strategy and mechanism of Fe@C and provides a methodological reference for the design of Fe-based catalysts.Microbial bioremediation has gained attention as a cheap, efficient, and sustainable technology to manage the increasing environmental pollution. Since microorganisms in nature are not evolved to degrade pollutants, there is an increasing demand for developing safer and more efficient pollutant-scavengers for enhanced bioremediation. In this review, we introduce the strategies and technologies developed in the field of synthetic biology and their applications to the construction of microbial scavengers with improved efficiency of biodegradation while minimizing the impact of genetically engineered microbial scavengers on ecosystems. In addition, we discuss recent achievements in the biodegradation of fastidious pollutants, greenhouse gases, and microplastics using engineered microbial scavengers. Using synthetic microbial scavengers and multidisciplinary technologies, toxic pollutants could be more easily eliminated, and the environment could be more efficiently recovered.Nanoplastics are an emerging topic and have attracted increasing attention due to their widespread existence and potential toxicity on living organisms. The challenges of analytical methods for nanoplastics hinder the deeper understanding of toxicological effects and risk assessment of nanoplastics. In this work, a custom-built electromagnetic heating pyrolyzer was coupled to mass spectrometry for the rapid analysis of nanoplastics. Nanoplastics/microplastics were collected on the heat-resisting filter papers, then directly decomposed into gaseous products in the pyrolyzer and analyzed by mass spectrometry. The polystyrene nanoparticles were used to verify the performance of mass-traced quantification, and recoveries of 106-121% and precision of 9% were obtained. As a proof-of-principle experiment, the saline solution packed by polypropylene infusion bottles was aged for simulating indoor sunlight storage, where nanoplastics/microplastics were analyzed. The abundance models of nanoplastics/microplastics in the saline infusion bottle with aging time were assessed from both quality and quantity, for the first time. Results showed that nanoplastics/microplastics in medical infusion products could be generated under indoor sunlight exposure, which needs more attention due to the potential health risks. The proposed electromagnetic heating pyrolysis-mass spectrometry could be a promising method for assessing nanoplastics/microplastics.Waste-derived biochar has been emerged as promising catalysts to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of organic contaminants. Herein, passion fruit shell derived biochar (PFSC) was prepared by a one-pot pyrolysis method and used as a metal-free catalyst to activate PMS for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC). The batch experiments indicated that the pyrolysis temperature could influence the efficiency of PFSC for the activation of PMS. In the PFSC-900 (prepared at 900 °C)/PMS system, the degradation rate of TC can reach 90.91%. The quenching test and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra revealed that the high catalytic performance of PFSC-900/PMS system was mainly attributed to the non-free radical reaction pathway containing a carbon bridge, and the TC degradation was controlled primarily by singlet oxygen-mediated oxidation. Moreover, the carboxyl group of ketones and the graphite-N atoms on PFSC-900 are the possible active sites of the non-free radical pathway including direct electron transfer or the formation of O2•-/1O2.