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Analysis of indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools usually reveals higher levels of pollutants than in outdoor environments. The aims of this study are to measure indoor and outdoor concentrations of NO2, speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbonyls at 14 elementary schools in Lisbon, Portugal. The investigation was carried out in May–June 2009. Three of the schools were selected to also measure comfort parameters, such as temperature and relative humidity, carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), total VOCs, and bacterial and fungal colony-forming units per cubic metre. Indoor concentrations of CO2 in the three main schools indicated inadequate classroom air exchange rates. The indoor/ outdoor (I/O) NO2 ratio ranged between 0.36 and 0.95. Atthethreemainschools,thetotalbacterialandfungal colony-forming units (CFU) in both indoor and outdoor air were above the advised maximum value of 500 CFU/m3 defined by Portuguese legislation. The aromatic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene andxylenes,followedbyethers,alcoholsandterpenes, were usually the most abundant classes of VOCs. In general, the indoor total VOC concentrations were markedly higher than those observed outdoors. At all locations, indoor aldehyde levels were higher than those observed outdoors, particularly for formaldehyde. The inadequate ventilation observed likely favours accumulation of pollutants with additional indoor sources.

We interpret here the variability of levels of carbonaceous aerosols based on a 12 yr database from 78 monitoring stations across Spain specially compiled for this article. Data did not evidence any spatial trends of carbonaceous aerosols across the country. Conversely, results show marked differences in average concentrations from the cleanest, most remote sites (around 1 μg m−3 of non-mineral carbon (nmC), mostly made of organic carbon (OC) with very little elemental carbon (EC), around 0.1 μg m−3; OC / EC = 12–15), to the highly polluted major cities (8–10 μg m−3 of nmC; 3–4 μg m−3 of EC; 4–5 μg m−3 of OC; OC / EC = 1–2). Thus, urban (and very specific industrial) pollution was found to markedly increase levels of carbonaceous aerosols in Spain, with much lower impact of biomass burning and of biogenic emissions. Correlations between yearly averaged OC / EC and EC concentrations adjust very well to a potential equation (OC = 3.37 EC0.326, R2 = 0.8). A similar equation is obtained when including average concentrations obtained at other European sites (OC = 3.60EC0.491, R2 = 0.7). A clear seasonal variability in OC and EC concentrations was detected. Both OC and EC concentrations were higher during winter at the traffic and urban sites, but OC increased during the warmer months at the rural sites. Hourly equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations at urban sites accurately depict road traffic contributions, varying with distance from road, traffic volume and density, mixing-layer height and wind speed. Weekday urban rush-hour EBC peaks are mimicked by concentrations of primary gaseous emissions from road traffic, whereas a single midday peak is characteristic of remote and rural sites. Decreasing annual trends for carbonaceous aerosols were observed between 1999 and 2011 at a large number of stations, probably reflecting the impact of the EURO4 and EURO5 standards in reducing the diesel PM emissions. This has resulted in some cases in an increasing trend for NO2 / (OC + EC) ratios as these standards have been much less effective for the abatement of NOx exhaust emissions in passenger diesel cars. This study concludes that EC, EBC, and especially nmC and OC + EC are very good candidates for new air quality standards since they cover both emission impact and health-related issues.

IntroductionA significant proportion of people attending Primary Care (PC) have anxiety-depressive symptoms and work-related burnout and there is a lack of resources to attend them. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this problem, particularly affecting healthcare workers, and digital tools have been proposed as a workaround.ObjectivesWe present the development, feasibility and effectiveness studies of chatbot (Vickybot) aimed at screening, monitoring, and reducing anxiety-depressive symptoms and work-related burnout in PC patients and healthcare workers.MethodsUser-centered development strategies were adopted. Main functions included self-assessments, psychological modules, and emergency alerts. (1) Simulation: HCs used Vickybot for 2 weeks to simulate different possible clinical situations and evaluated their experience. (3) Feasibility and effectiveness study: People consulting PC or healthcare workers with mental health problems were offered to use Vickybot for one month. Self-assessments for anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9) symptoms, and work-related burnout (based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory) were administered at baseline and every two weeks. Feasibility was determined based on the combination of both subjective and objective user-engagement Indicators (UEIs). Effectiveness was measured using paired t-tests as the change in self-assessment scores.Results(1) Simulation: 17 HCs (73% female; mean age=36.5±9.7) simulated different clinical situations. 98.8% of the expected modules were recommended according to each simulation. Suicidal alerts were correctly activated and received by the research team. (2) Feasibility and effectiveness study: 34 patients (15 from PC and 19 healthcare workers; 77% female; mean age=35.3±10.1) completed the first self-assessments, with 34 (100%) presenting anxiety symptoms, 32 (94%) depressive symptoms, and 22 (64.7%) work-related burnout. Nine (26.5%) patients completed the second self-assessments after 2-weeks of use. No significant differences were found for anxiety [t(8) = 1.000, p = 0.347] or depressive [t(8) = 0.400, p = 0.700] symptoms, but work-related burnout was significantly reduced [t(8) = 2.874, p = 0.021] between the means of the first and second self-assessments. Vickybot showed high subjective-UEIs, but low objective-UEIs (completion, adherence, compliance, and engagement).ConclusionsThe chatbot proved to be useful in screening the presence and severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms, in reducing work-related burnout, and in detecting suicidal risk. Subjective perceptions of use contrasted with low objective-use metrics. Our results are promising, but suggest the need to adapt and enhance the smartphone-based solution in order to improve engagement. Consensus on how to report UEIs and validate digital solutions, especially for chatbots, are required.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Antarctica includes different pristine environments dominated by extremophile microbial communities. Despite the ecological role importance of Antarctic microorganisms, some of them can represent interesting sources of bioproducts with potential industrial application. In the present study, we analysed the agarolytic and carrageenolytic activities of algicolous fungi from seven different macroalgal species of maritime Antarctica. After a selective isolation process, 44 fungal isolates were recovered and identified by biology molecular methods as belonging to the genera Antarctomyces, Beauveria, Cladosporium, Coprinellus, Doratomyces, Leucosporidiella, Metschnikowia, Penicillium, and Pseudogymnoascus. Rhodophyta macroalgae sheltered the fungi with the best potential for agarolytic and carrageenolytic activities. Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium sp., and Cladosporium sp. 2 simultaneously displayed the best carrageenolytic and agarolytic activities. Our results indicated that the Antarctic macroalgae shelter saprobe fungi that produce enzymes with the potential to degrade algal biomass and might release essential nutrients into the Antarctic Ocean. These agarolytic and/or carrageenolytic Antarctic fungi may also be useful in further industrial processes involving the biological extraction of agar and carrageenan, or their byproducts, to be used as substrates of third-generation bioethanol.

Archaea are widespread and abundant in many terrestrial and aquatic environments, and are thus outside extreme environments, accounting for up to 10% of the prokaryotes. Compared to bacteria and other microorganisms, however, very little is known about the abundance, diversity, and dispersal of archaea in the atmosphere. By means of DNA analysis and Sanger sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA (435 sequences) and amoA genes in samples of air particulate matter collected over 1 year at a continental sampling site in Germany, we obtained first insights into the seasonal dynamics of airborne archaea. The detected archaea were identified as Thaumarchaeota or Euryarchaeota, with soil Thaumarchaeota (group I.1b) being present in all samples. The normalized species richness of Thaumarchaeota correlated positively with relative humidity and negatively with temperature. This together with an increase in bare agricultural soil surfaces may explain the diversity peaks observed in fall and winter. The detected Euryarchaeota were mainly predicted methanogens with a low relative frequency of occurrence. A slight increase in their frequency during spring may be linked to fertilization processes in the surrounding agricultural fields. Comparison with samples from the Cape Verde islands (72 sequences) and from other coastal and continental sites indicates that the proportions of Euryarchaeota are enhanced in coastal air, which is consistent with their suggested abundance in marine surface waters. We conclude that air transport may play an important role in the dispersal of archaea, including assumed ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota and methanogens.

PurposeThis paper compares traditional and digital banks in nine categories of complaints and provides insights to improve complaint management performance.Design/methodology/approachA sample of the major Brazilian banks was defined, with four traditional and four digital banks. The grey relational analysis (GRA) method was applied as an analytical tool to compare the most frequent complaints of traditional and digital banks. The most critical complaints identified were considered to discuss potential improvements in complaint management using quality and service management system concepts.FindingsThe GRA method enabled the development of a ranking of nine complaint categories, considering the uncertainty involved in the data and differentiating between traditional and digital banks. The most critical complaint categories, regardless of business model, were “unauthorized charges” and “poor service,” which were ranked first and second in the frequency rankings. Traditional and digital banks differed the most in the complaint category “unfair charge,” ranking third and eighth in the rankings, respectively.Practical implicationsManagers from traditional and digital banks can improve complaint management performance by applying ISO 9001 and ISO 20000 concepts such as incident, problem, change, service level, availability, capacity, information technology service continuity and financial management.Social implicationsThe study's findings can help bank managers improve service levels in the face of technological competition. Improving these organizations is an important factor for developing countries such as Brazil.Originality/valueThis paper reveals the differences between two business models regarding complaint management. It also considers a methodological approach to include the uncertainty related to customers' perception and subjectivity inherent to complaints.

The monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs) levoglucosan, galactosan and mannosan are products of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses, and are found to be major constituents of biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles. Hence, ambient aerosol particle concentrations of levoglucosan are commonly used to study the influence of residential wood burning, agricultural waste burning and wildfire emissions on ambient air quality. A European-wide intercomparison on the analysis of the three monosaccharide anhydrides was conducted based on ambient aerosol quartz fiber filter samples collected at a Norwegian urban background site during winter. Thus, the samples' content of MAs is representative for BB particles originating from residential wood burning. The purpose of the intercomparison was to examine the comparability of the great diversity of analytical methods used for analysis of levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan in ambient aerosol filter samples. Thirteen laboratories participated, of which three applied high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC), four used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and six resorted to gas chromatography (GC). The analytical methods used were of such diversity that they should be considered as thirteen different analytical methods. All of the thirteen laboratories reported levels of levoglucosan, whereas nine reported data for mannosan and/or galactosan. Eight of the thirteen laboratories reported levels for all three isomers. The accuracy for levoglucosan, presented as the mean percentage error (PE) for each participating laboratory, varied from −63 to 20%; however, for 62% of the laboratories the mean PE was within ±10%, and for 85% the mean PE was within ±20%. For mannosan, the corresponding range was −60 to 69%, but as for levoglucosan, the range was substantially smaller for a subselection of the laboratories; i.e. for 33% of the laboratories the mean PE was within ±10%. For galactosan, the mean PE for the participating laboratories ranged from −84 to 593%, and as for mannosan 33% of the laboratories reported a mean PE within ±10%. The variability of the various analytical methods, as defined by their minimum and maximum PE value, was typically better for levoglucosan than for mannosan and galactosan, ranging from 3.2 to 41% for levoglucosan, from 10 to 67% for mannosan and from 6 to 364% for galactosan. For the levoglucosan to mannosan ratio, which may be used to assess the relative importance of softwood versus hardwood burning, the variability only ranged from 3.5 to 24 . To our knowledge, this is the first major intercomparison on analytical methods used to quantify monosaccharide anhydrides in ambient aerosol filter samples conducted and reported in the scientific literature. The results show that for levoglucosan the accuracy is only slightly lower than that reported for analysis of SO42- (sulfate) on filter samples, a constituent that has been analysed by numerous laboratories for several decades, typically by ion chromatography and which is considered a fairly easy constituent to measure. Hence, the results obtained for levoglucosan with respect to accuracy are encouraging and suggest that levels of levoglucosan, and to a lesser extent mannosan and galactosan, obtained by most of the analytical methods currently used to quantify monosaccharide anhydrides in ambient aerosol filter samples, are comparable. Finally, the various analytical methods used in the current study should be tested for other aerosol matrices and concentrations as well, the most obvious being summertime aerosol samples affected by wildfires and/or agricultural fires.

The main objective of this work is to extend the knowledge of indoor air quality by using a numerical tool to calculate the concentrations of pollutants in the indoor air of a classroom. The application of a numerical model allowed to quantitatively assess the impact of several proposed improvement measures, through the simulation of scenarios. The numerical model CONTAM was used to characterise the indoor air quality in a classroom of an elementary school, in terms of concentrations of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The results of the CONTAM simulations were compared to measurements performed during monitoring campaigns (SINPHONIE project). The simulated and measured carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide concentrations inside the classroom are in good agreement. Furthermore, for particulate matter, simulated values show a significant difference from measured values, which are higher overall. With the goal of maximising the indoor air quality of the classroom, several alternative scenarios were simulated. The door and windows of the classroom were opened or closed at different times for each scenario. The scenario promoting the best indoor air quality (i.e. with the lowest concentrations of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide) is the one in which the door is only open to allow students to get in and out of the room, and the window is kept half-open during the entire day.

The AIRUSE-LIFE+ project aims at characterizing similarities and heterogeneities in particulate matter (PM) sources and contributions in urban areas from southern Europe. Once the main PMx sources are identified, AIRUSE aims at developing and testing the efficiency of specific and non-specific measures to improve urban air quality. This article reports the results of the source apportionment of PM10 and PM2.5 conducted at three urban background sites (Barcelona, Florence and Milan, BCN-UB, FI-UB and MLN-UB), one suburban background site (Athens, ATH-SUB) and one traffic site (Porto, POR-TR). After collecting 1047 PM10 and 1116 PM2.5 24 h samples during 12 months (from January 2013 on) simultaneously at the five cities, these were analysed for the contents of OC, EC, anions, cations, major and trace elements and levoglucosan. The USEPA PMF5 receptor model was applied to these data sets in a harmonized way for each city. The sum of vehicle exhaust (VEX) and non-exhaust (NEX) contributes between 3.9 and 10.8 µg m−3 (16–32 %) to PM10 and 2.3 and 9.4 µg m−3 (15–36 %) to PM2.5, although a fraction of secondary nitrate is also traffic-related but could not be estimated. Important contributions arise from secondary particles (nitrate, sulfate and organics) in PM2.5 (37–82 %) but also in PM10 (40–71 %), mostly at background sites, revealing the importance of abating gaseous precursors in designing air quality plans. Biomass burning (BB) contributions vary widely, from 14–24 % of PM10 in POR-TR, MLN-UB and FI-UB, 7 % in ATH-SUB, to  <  2 % in BCN-UB. In PM2.5, BB is the second most important source in MLN-UB (21 %) and in POR-TR (18 %), the third one in FI-UB (21 %) and ATH-SUB (11 %), but is again negligible (< 2 %) in BCN-UB. This large variability among cities is mostly due to the degree of penetration of biomass for residential heating. In Barcelona natural gas is very well supplied across the city and is used as fuel in 96 % of homes, while in other cities, PM levels increase on an annual basis by 1–9 µg m−3 due to biomass burning influence. Other significant sources are the following. – Local dust, 7–12 % of PM10 at SUB and UB sites and 19 % at the TR site, revealing a contribution from road dust resuspension. In PM2.5 percentages decrease to 2–7 % at SUB-UB sites and 15 % at the TR site. – Industry, mainly metallurgy, contributing 4–11 % of PM10 (5–12 % in PM2.5), but only at BCN-UB, POR-TR and MLN-UB. No clear impact of industrial emissions was found in FI-UB and ATH-SUB. – Natural contributions from sea salt (13 % of PM10 in POR-TR, but only 2–7 % in the other cities) and Saharan dust (14 % in ATH-SUB, but less than 4 % in the other cities). During high pollution days, the largest sources (i.e. excluding secondary aerosol factors) of PM10 and PM2.5 are VEX + NEX in BCN-UB (27–22 %) and POR-TR (31–33 %), BB in FI-UB (30–33 %) and MLN-UB (35–26 %) and Saharan dust in ATH-SUB (52–45 %). During those days, there are also quite important industrial contributions in BCN-UB (17–18 %) and local dust in POR-TR (28–20 %).

This study deals with Particle Matter (PM) levels in the metropolitan area of Lisbon and shows that EU directive is exceeded in a systematic way, mainly due to the inner city traffic. Results show that it is important to develop an epidemiological study in Lisbon to find a possible association between PM levels, sources and morbidity. Some important issues related with a monitor's representation of regional, sub-regional, and local air pollution exposures to the population in the metropolitan area are highlighted. PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ total mass concentration measured in several places located in both centre of Lisbon and the outskirts are quite well correlated, mainly considering that two measuring methodologies (automatic and gravimetric) were used and areas with different classifications (urban and suburban) were analysed. However, the results imply that a source-oriented evaluation of PM health effects needs to take into account the uncertainty associated with spatial representativity of the species measured at a single sampling station. Temporal correlation across sampling stations, within relatively short separation distances, varied considerably for some important elements (Zn, Sb, Cu, As and Br), indicating that the precision of population exposure estimates for specific elements can vary depending on the species.