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Over the last decade, technological advancements have been made available and applied in a wide range of applications in several work fields, ranging from personal to industrial enforcements. One of the emerging issues concerns occupational safety and health in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and, in more detail, it deals with how industrial hygienists could improve the risk-assessment process. A possible way to achieve these aims is the adoption of new exposure-monitoring tools. In this study, a systematic review of the up-to-date scientific literature has been performed to identify and discuss the most-used sensors that could be useful for occupational risk assessment, with the intent of highlighting their pros and cons. A total of 40 papers have been included in this manuscript. The results show that sensors able to investigate airborne pollutants (i.e., gaseous pollutants and particulate matter), environmental conditions, physical agents, and workers’ postures could be usefully adopted in the risk-assessment process, since they could report significant data without significantly interfering with the job activities of the investigated subjects. To date, there are only few “next-generation” monitors and sensors (NGMSs) that could be effectively used on the workplace to preserve human health. Due to this fact, the development and the validation of new NGMSs will be crucial in the upcoming years, to adopt these technologies in occupational-risk assessment.

In the last years, the issue of exposure assessment of airborne pollutants has been on the rise, both in the environmental and occupational fields. Increasingly severe national and international air quality standards, indoor air guidance values, and exposure limit values have been developed to protect the health of the general population and workers; this issue required a significant and continuous improvement in monitoring technologies to allow the execution of proper exposure assessment studies. One of the most interesting aspects in this field is the development of the “next-generation” of airborne pollutants monitors and sensors (NGMS). The principal aim of this review is to analyze and characterize the state of the art and of NGMS and their practical applications in exposure assessment studies. A systematic review of the literature was performed analyzing outcomes from three different databases (Scopus, PubMed, Isi Web of Knowledge); a total of 67 scientific papers were analyzed. The reviewing process was conducting systematically with the aim to extrapolate information about the specifications, technologies, and applicability of NGMSs in both environmental and occupational exposure assessment. The principal results of this review show that the use of NGMSs is becoming increasingly common in the scientific community for both environmental and occupational exposure assessment. The available studies outlined that NGMSs cannot be used as reference instrumentation in air monitoring for regulatory purposes, but at the same time, they can be easily adapted to more specific applications, improving exposure assessment studies in terms of spatiotemporal resolution, wearability, and adaptability to different types of projects and applications. Nevertheless, improvements needed to further enhance NGMSs performances and allow their wider use in the field of exposure assessment are also discussed.

Over the last 20 years, the Kirk R. Smith research group at the University of California Berkeley—in collaboration with Electronically Monitored Ecosystems, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, and other academic institutions—has developed a suite of relatively inexpensive, rugged, battery-operated, microchip-based devices to quantify parameters related to household air pollution. These devices include two generations of particle monitors; data-logging temperature sensors to assess time of use of household energy devices; a time-activity monitoring system using ultrasound; and a CO2-based tracer-decay system to assess ventilation rates. Development of each system involved numerous iterations of custom hardware, software, and data processing and visualization routines along with both lab and field validation. The devices have been used in hundreds of studies globally and have greatly enhanced our understanding of heterogeneous household air pollution (HAP) concentrations and exposures and factors influencing them.

In this preliminary study, we compared daytime blood pressure (BP) measurements performed by a commercially available cuffless—and continual—BP monitor (Aktiia monitor, Neuchâtel, Switzerland) and a traditional ambulatory BP monitor (ABPM; Dyasis 3, Novacor, Paris, France) from 52 patients enrolled in a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program (Neuchâtel, Switzerland). Daytime (9am–9pm) systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP from 7-day averaged data from Aktiia monitor were compared to 1-day averaged BP data from ABPM. No significant differences were found between the Aktiia monitor and the ABPM for SBP (μ ± σ [95% confidence interval]: 1.6 ± 10.5 [−1.5, 4.6] mmHg, P = 0.306; correlation [ R 2 ]: 0.70; ± 10/ ± 15 mmHg agreements: 60%, 84%). Marginally non-significant bias was found for DBP (−2.2 ± 8.0 [−4.5, 0.1] mmHg, P = 0.058; R 2 : 0.66; ±10/±15 mmHg agreements: 78%, 96%). These intermediate results show that daytime BP measurements using the Aktiia monitor generate data comparable to that of an ABPM monitor.

This study evaluated the accuracy of a variety of home upper-arm oscillometric blood pressure monitors (BPMs) from 448 participants against the FDA-certified XYZ110 auscultatory device using simultaneous measurements. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the key findings of the study. Device performance was evaluated referencing international standards (ISO 81060-2:2013), where a mean absolute difference of ≤5 mmHg was defined as \"Accurate.\" In addition, survey questionnaires completed by a subset of participants were analyzed to provide supplementary insights. A total of 448 consecutive outpatient clinical patients attending a routine clinical visit with their BPMs (male 215 and female 233) were eligible to participate in this study. The overall mean age of the participants was 62.35±12.59 years. Most of the BPMs included in this study were of the Omron brand (79.69%, n = 357), followed by Yuwell (5.8%, n = 26) and others. 76.32% of systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements and 69.89% of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measurements from BPMs exhibited differences of ≤5 mmHg compared to the reference calibrator. 70.89% (n = 318) were accurate in measuring SBP, and 60.27% (n = 270) were accurate in measuring DBP. Our study revealed that over 20% of BPMs exhibited discrepancies of more than 5 mmHg compared to a reference calibrator. Overall, the Omron U30, HEM-7211, and U10 models demonstrated relatively higher accuracy in blood pressure measurements. Regular patient to patient validation of BPMs is crucial to ensure accurate measurements for daily use.

X‐ray gas monitors (XGMs) are operated at the European XFEL for non‐invasive single‐shot pulse energy measurements and average beam‐position monitoring. The underlying measurement principle is the photo‐ionization of rare gas atoms at low gas pressures and the detection of the photo‐ions and photo‐electrons created. These are essential for tuning and sustaining self‐amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) operation, machine radiation safety, and sorting single‐shot experimental data according to pulse energy. In this paper, the first results from XGM operation at photon energies up to 30 keV are presented, which are far beyond the original specification of this device. Here, the Huge Aperture MultiPlier (HAMP) is used for single‐shot pulse energy measurements since the standard X‐ray gas monitor detectors (XGMDs) do not provide a sufficient signal‐to‐noise ratio, even at the highest operating gas pressures. A single‐shot correlation coefficient of 0.98 is measured between consecutive XGMs operated with HAMP, which is as good as measuring with the standard XGMD detectors. An intra‐train non‐linearity of the HAMP signal is discovered, and operation parameters to mitigate this effect are studied. The upper repetition rate limit of HAMP operation at 2.25 MHz is also determined. Finally, the possibilities and limits for future XGM operation at photon energies up to 50 keV are discussed. The operation of X‐ray gas monitors at the European XFEL at hard photon energies up to 30 keV is described, and the possibilities and limitations for future operation up to 50 keV are discussed.

BackgroundLow-cost sensors have the potential to democratize air pollution information and supplement regulatory networks. However, differentials in access to these sensors could exacerbate existing inequalities in the ability of different communities to respond to the threat of air pollution.ObjectiveOur goal was to analyze patterns of deployments of a commonly used low-cost sensor, as a function of demographics and pollutant concentrations.MethodsWe used Wilcoxon rank sum tests to assess differences between socioeconomic characteristics and PM2.5 concentrations of locations with low-cost sensors and those with regulatory monitors. We used Kolomogorov–Smirnov tests to examine how representative census tracts with sensors were of the United States. We analyzed predictors of the presence, and number of, sensors in a tract using regressions.ResultsCensus tracts with low-cost sensors were higher income more White and more educated than the US as a whole and than tracts with regulatory monitors. For all states except for California they are in locations with lower annual-average PM2.5 concentrations than regulatory monitors. The existing presence of a regulatory monitor, the percentage of people living above the poverty line and PM2.5 concentrations were associated with the presence of low-cost sensors in a tract.SignificanceStrategies to improve access to low-cost sensors in less-privileged communities are needed to democratize air pollution data.

This lecture covers the fundamental aspects of the measurement of beam losses including their use for beam diagnostic and safety issues. The detailed functionality and detection principle of various common beam loss monitors are also presented, with a focus on their intrinsic sensitivity.

By dividing asymmetrically, stem cells can generate two daughter cells with distinct fates. However, evidence is limited in mammalian systems for the selective apportioning of subcellular contents between daughters. We followed the fates of old and young organelles during the division of human mammary stemlike cells and found that such cells apportion aged mitochondria asymmetrically between daughter cells. Daughter cells that received fewer old mitochondria maintained stem cell traits. Inhibition of mitochondrial fission disrupted both the age-dependent subcellular localization and segregation of mitochondria and caused loss of stem cell properties in the progeny cells. Hence, mechanisms exist for mammalian stemlike cells to asymmetrically sort aged and young mitochondria, and these are important for maintaining sternness properties.

Due to their affordability, compact size, and moderate accuracy, low-cost sensors have been studied extensively in recent years. Different manufacturers employ different calibration methodologies and provide users with calibration factors for their models. This study assessed the performance of nine low-cost PM monitors (AirVisual, Alphasense, APT, Awair, Dylos, Foobot, PurpleAir, Wynd, and Xiaomi) in a chamber containing a well-defined aerosol. A GRIMM and a SidePak were used as the reference instruments. The monitors were divided into two groups according to their working principle and data reporting format, and a linear correlation factor for the PM 2.5 mass concentration measurement was calculated for each monitor. Additionally, the differences between the mass concentrations reported by the various monitors and those measured by the reference instruments were plotted against their average before and after user calibration to demonstrate the degree of improvement possible with calibration. Bin-specific calibration was also performed for monitors reporting size distributions to demonstrate coincidence errors that could bias the results. Since monitors designed for residential use often display the air quality index, typically illustrating it with a simplified, color-coded index, the color schemes of various monitors were evaluated against the U.S. EPA regulation to determine whether they could convey the overall air quality accurately and promptly. Although these residential monitors indicated the air quality moderately well, their differing color schemes made the evaluation difficult and potentially inaccurate. Altogether, the tested monitors offer low-cost sensors in packages that are convenient for use and ready for deployment without additional assembly. However, to improve the accuracy of the measurements, user-defined calibration for the target PM source is still recommended.