Center for Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Development (CETSD)

The study investigates the discrepancies between WRF-Chem modelled and on-field measured water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) and trace metals in under-researched non-attainment Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian cities, Alwar and Amritsar. PMF-PSCF analysis concluded that in Alwar, sources included Secondary Inorganic Aerosols (SIA) and Coal Combustion (32 % in winter) and Crustal Emissions (27 % in summer), while in Amritsar, Brake and Tyre Abrasion (28 % in winter) and Crustal Emissions (68 % in summer) were predominant. A comprehensive health impact assessment using the U.S. EPA risk assessment model revealed that despite lower PM2.5 concentrations in Alwar compared to Amritsar, carcinogenic risks were notably higher, exceeding those observed in Tier 1 cities like Delhi. WRF-Chem model simulations, while insightful, underestimated concentrations of several ionic and metallic species. The limitations of these models highlight the need for more detailed and updated emission inventories, with finer temporal and spatial resolutions, to improve model accuracy in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian cities. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd

Accounting for nearly 5% of the global gross domestic product, the construction industry significantly contributes to environmental pollution, emitting a broad range of hazardous pollutants, including particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Individuals spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where the air quality is heavily influenced by construction and demolition (C&D) activities that are carried out within or adjacent to residences. Despite regulatory interventions in the early 21st century emphasizing the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ), the contribution of C&D activities to indoor pollution remains largely underexplored, particularly to seasonal variations, extended renovation periods, and the release of case-specific pollutants. This review bridges knowledge gaps by examining the correlation between construction activities, pollutant emissions, health risks, and the efficacy of existing regulations. Key investigations include the impact of infrastructural inefficiencies and improper ventilation on IAQ, seasonal pollutant variations, and the disproportionate exposure risks faced by vulnerable populations, such as women and workers. The literature suggests that prolonged exposure prompts sick-building syndrome and ailments such as compromised immunity, bronchial allergy, asthma, and lung cancer. A survey-based data collection and analysis were conducted to gather and refine residents' practical insights across India, contributing to the development of an IAQ index. This tailored index, ranging from 22 to 100, is designed for indoor environments, incorporating building-specific and occupancy-related factors. In the long term, the index can provide actionable insights for administrators and communities to mitigate IAQ risks effectively, promoting healthier indoor environments by providing a quantitative measure of the health risks associated with exposure to poor indoor air quality in the absence of a pollutant dataset. The study enables individual households to take measures to retrofit indoor spaces by upgrading to better-quality materials or modifying the design of the building to reduce health risks and improve air exchange. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

The experimental verification of multipartite entangled states is essential for advancing quantum information processing. Entanglement witnesses (EWs) provide a widely used and experimentally accessible approach for detecting genuinely multipartite entangled states. In this work, we theoretically derive the entanglement witness for the four-qubit Dicke state and experimentally evaluate it on two distinct IBM 127-qubit Quantum Processing Units (QPUs), namely ibm_sherbrooke and ibm_brisbane. A negative expectation value of the witness operator serves as a sufficient condition for confirming genuine multipartite entanglement. We report the maximum (negative) values of the witness achieved on these QPUs as and, corresponding to two different state preparation protocols. Additionally, we theoretically investigate the effect of various noise channels on the genuine entanglement of a four-qubit Dicke state using the Qiskit Aer simulator. We show the behavior of the EW constructed under the assumption of Markovian and non-Markovian amplitude damping and depolarizing noises, bit-phase flip noise, and readout errors. We also investigate the effect of varying thermal relaxation time on the EW, depicting a bound on the time required for successful generation of a Dicke State on a superconducting QPU. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Biometeorology research continues to grow and accelerate in terms of productivity (papers produced, studies conducted, etc.) as well as its direct impact on society and policy. Simultaneously, the scientific community is increasingly acknowledging that research has predominantly focused on the Global North. Additionally, work conducted in the Global South often follows extractive practices that primarily advance the careers and scientific knowledge of researchers from the Global North, offering minimal benefit to the communities studied in the Global South. This short communication intends to serve as a call to the biometeorology community to work collaboratively across continents to understand the current knowledge of biometeorology research in the Global South in addition to identifying the gaps, challenges, and opportunities of conducting grounded research in the Global South led by Global South researchers to support societies equitably. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.