UCI studies delve into air pollution...

UCI studies delve into air pollution causes

UC Irvine is studying the cause and effects of air pollution and

has several research projects underway on the issue.

Large Scale Forest Fires is one such project designed to study how

forest fires create large concentrations of ozone with effects that

can range from eye irritation to the worsening of preexisting lung

conditions like asthma.

Also looking into chronic lung disease and the effects of

pollution is a project on freeway exhaust, which uses mice previously

exposed to asthma-like allergens and placing them at varying

distances from congested freeway interchanges.

Dust is another pollutant that can add to global warming and

causes environmental problems. With the expansion of the world’s

deserts and the recent dust storms in China’s Gobi Desert, dust has

become an ever-growing concern, researchers say.

While everyone is affected by air pollution, scientists are

studying whether children face even greater risks. Because they

breathe in more air per pound than adults and their airways are more

efficient in trapping pollutants, children can be affected nine times

more than adults, said Robert Plalen, director of UCI’s Air Pollution

Health Effects Laboratory, in a press release.

UCI symposium will focus on graph drawing

UC Irvine’s Department of Information and Computer Science is

co-sponsoring the 10th International Symposium on Graph Drawing from

Monday through Wednesday

The conference will present recent research on ways of visualizing

networks and other combinatorial graphs, which can be used in various

applications for telecommunications, circuit design, the Internet,

social networks and statistics.

The event will run from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily and will include

guest speakers in the afternoon.

It will be held at the Atrium Hotel, across from the John Wayne

Airport at 18700 MacArthur Blvd.

Newport Beach library marks author’s birth

Move over Elvis. The 100th anniversary of author John Steinbeck’s

birth will be celebrated at the Newport Beach Central Library in

September and October through a photo exhibit, book discussions, film

screenings and a library scavenger hunt for children.

A discussion of “The Grapes of Wrath” will kick off the

celebration from 9:15 to 11 a.m. Sept. 11. A photo exhibit, titled

“Steinbeck, His Life and Times,” will begin Sept. 15 and run through

Oct. 31.

Information: (949) 717-3801.

-- Todd Karella