Abstract. The hygroscopic properties of atmospheric aerosols are highly relevant for the quantification of radiative effects in the atmosphere, but also of interest for the assessment of particle health effects upon inhalation. This article reports measurements of aerosol particle hygroscopicity in the highly polluted urban atmosphere of Beijing, China in January 2005. The meteorological conditions corresponded to a relatively cold and dry atmosphere. Three different methods were used: 1)

It is known that intensive training and expertise are associated with functional and structural neuroadaptations. Most studies, however, compared experts with nonexperts; hence it is, specifically for sports, unclear whether the neuroplastic adaptations reported are sport-specific or sport-general. Here we aimed at investigating sport-specific adaptations in professional handball players and ballet dancers by focusing on the primary motor and somatosensory grey matter (GM) representation of hands and feet using voxel-based morphometry as well as on fractional anisotropy (FA) of the corticospinal tract by means of diffusion tensor imaging-based fibre tractography. As predicted, GM volume was increased in hand areas of handball players, whereas ballet dancers showed increased GM volume in foot areas. Compared to handball players, ballet dancers showed decreased FA in both fibres connecting the foot and hand areas, but they showed lower FA in fibres connecting the foot compared to their hand areas, whereas handball players showed lower FA in fibres connecting the hand compared to their foot areas. Our results suggest that structural adaptations are sport-specific and are manifested in brain regions associated with the neural processing of sport-specific skills. We believe this enriches the plasticity research in general and extends our knowledge of sport expertise in particular.

Abstract. This paper presents hygroscopicity measurements of aerosol particles in the urban atmosphere of Beijing carried out in January 2005. Therefore, three different methods were used: 1) Combining Humidifying Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (H-DMPS) and Twin Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (TDMPS) measurements; 2) Hygroscopicity Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA) technique; 3) Calculating hygroscopic growth factors on the basis of a solubility model quantified by Micro Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) samples. Particle number size distributions from H-DMPS and TDMPS were evaluated to derive size-resolved descriptive hygroscopic growth factors (DHGF) of 30–400 nm particles at relative humidities (RH) of 55%, 77% and 90%. The atmospheric particles in Beijing were rather hydrophobic, with a maximum growth factor in the accumulation mode around 1.40 (±0.03) at 90% RH. The descriptive hygroscopic growth factors decreased significantly towards the lower measurement limit (1.04 (±0.15) at Dp=30 nm). A good agreement was found between the DHGFs and the H-TDMA-derived hygroscopic growth factors in the accumulation mode (100–400 nm), the DHGFs underestimated the values from the H-TDMA in the Aitken mode (<100 nm) by up to 0.1 at 90% RH. The calculation of hygroscopic growth factors based on the measured chemical composition showed that different modes of combining the inorganic ions caused a variation in growth factor of 0.1 at 90% RH. The solubility model was able to reproduce the size-dependent trend in the growth factor found by the other methods. In two cases of ion-dominated aerosol, the composition-derived growth factors tended to agree (±0.05) or underestimate (up to 0.1) the values measured by the other two methods. In the case of the organic-dominated aerosol, the reverse was true, with an overestimation of up to 0.2. The results shed light on the real experimental and methodological uncertainties that are still connected with the determination of hygroscopic growth factors.

Flood loss models for residential buildings are developed based on 3D city models and remote sensing data. These multi-variable predictive models are validated using empirical data. 3D city models are readily available for urban areas and as standardized data they ease the spatial transfer of loss models. Building vulnerability information is embedded into virtual 3D city models to support flood risk sensitive urban planning.

The influence of absorbing aerosol on atmospheric conditions in Europe is simulated for a summer and a winter period with a regional model. Depending on the fraction of elemental carbon the effects of radiation are determined. Absorbing aerosol increases the average solar heating rate for the summer case by 2.5 × 10−6–4.4 × 10−6 K s−1(20%–46%) within the boundary layer. Due to the heating by absorbing substances an average decrease of the total cloud cover (summer: 1.0%, winter: 0.7%) is found. This semi‐direct radiative effect causes mainly positive forcing near the surface and at the top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA). Significant negative correlations (summer: −0.7, winter: −0.4) between the aerosol optical depth and the direct radiative forcing (DRF) are determined at the surface. At the TOA the DRF pattern is influenced by the surface albedo and the cloud fraction. A general decrease of 2m temperatures is simulated when using absorbing aerosol compared to an aerosol‐free troposphere (summer: −0.14 K, winter: −0.10 K) over land surface.