Real-time organic aerosol chemical speciation in the indoor environment using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Understanding the sources and composition of organic aerosol (OA) in indoor environments requires rapid measurements, since many emissions and processes have short timescales. However, real-time molecular-level OA measurements have not been reported indoors. Here, we present quantitative measurements, at a time resolution of five seconds, of molecular ions corresponding to diverse aerosol-phase species, by applying extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS) to indoor air analysis for the first time, as part of the highly instrumented HOMEChem field study. We demonstrate how the complex spectra of EESI-MS are screened in order to extract chemical information and investigate the possibility of interference from gas-phase semivolatile species. During experiments that simulated the Thanksgiving US holiday meal preparation, EESI-MS quantified multiple species, including fatty acids, carbohydrates, siloxanes, and phthalates. Intercomparisons with Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer suggest that EESI-MS quantified a large fraction of OA. Comparisons with FIGAERO-CIMS shows similar signal levels and good correlation, with a range of 100 for the relative sensitivities. Comparisons with SV-TAG for phthalates and with SV-TAG and AMS for total siloxanes also show strong correlation. EESI-MS observations can be used with gas-phase measurements to identify co-emitted gas- and aerosol-phase species, and this is demonstrated using complementary gas-phase PTR-MS observations.     

The mirror effect and mixture signal detection theory.

The mirror effect for word frequency refers to the finding that low-frequency words have higher hit rates and lower false alarm rates than high-frequency words. This result is typically interpreted in terms of conventional signal detection theory (SDT), in which case it indicates that the order of the underlying old item distributions mirrors the order of the new item distributions. However, when viewed in terms of a mixture version of SDT, the order of hits and false alarms does not necessarily imply the same order in the underlying distributions because of possible effects of mixing. A reversal in underlying distributions did not appear for fits of mixture SDT models to data from 4 experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardiovascular and neurohumoral responses to behavioral challenge as a function of race and sex.

Cardiovascular and hormonal responses to a structured interview, an electronic video game, a cold pressor test, and exercise on a bicycle ergometer were assessed in 83 normotensive Black and White men and women (aged 25–44 yrs). Black Ss showed significantly greater diastolic blood pressure (DBP) responses than White Ss during the cold pressor test, which were not accounted for by an increase in plasma catecholamines. Exercise produced reliably greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases in Black women than in Black men or White women. Men showed significantly greater SBP and DBP changes than women during the video game. The pattern of physiological reactivity elicited by challenge may be related to the Ss' race and sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A formal model of the software test process

A novel approach to model the system test phase of the software life cycle is presented. This approach is based on concepts and techniques from control theory and is useful in computing the effort required to reduce the number of errors and the schedule slippage under a changing process environment. Results from these computations are used, and possibly revised, at specific checkpoints in a feedback-control structure to meet the schedule and quality objectives. Two case studies were conducted to study the behavior of the proposed model. One study reported here uses data from a commercial project. The outcome from these two studies suggests that the proposed model might well be the first significant milestone along the road to a formal and practical theory of software process control.     

Continuation methods: Theory and applications

This paper surveys in a tutorial fashion theoretical and applications aspects of the confirmation method for the solution of large scale system engineering problems. The continuation method is motivated and defined. The existence of the method is formulated in terms of degree theory a la Algebraic Topology. Examples are given throughout the paper and applications to engineering and economic problems are cited and described.     

居民区雷电保护系统的试验:火箭触发雷电和电流冲击发生器试验数据的比较(英文)

We present a comparison of data obtained during testing of lightning protective system of a residential structure in rocket-triggered lightning experiment at the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing(ICLRT)at Camp Blanding,Florida,and current surge generator experiment at Rzeszow University of Technology in Poland.Three different configurations of LPS were tested in Poland with the dc grounding resistances of the entire system 4.09 Ω(LPS 1a),1.65 Ω(LPS 1b),and 2.88 Ω(LPS 2).For LPS 1a with three ground rods the value of the peak current entering the electrical circuit neutral was about 56% of the injected current peak,and for LPS 1b with two additional ground rods and two 5 m long buried horizontal conductors it was about 16%.For LPS 2 with five ground rods interconnected by a buried loop conductor this ratio was 21%.The current waveshapes in the ground rods differed from the injected current waveshapes and the current waveshapes in other parts of the test system,especially,for poorer-grounding LPS 1a.The surge-generator results are consistent with those of triggered-lightning experiments at Camp Blanding,Florida(DeCarlo et al.,2008 [2]).     

Apportionment of primary and secondary organic aerosols in southern California during the 2005 study of organic aerosols in riverside (SOAR-1)

Ambient sampling was conducted in Riverside, California during the 2005 Study of Organic Aerosols in Riverside to characterize the composition and sources of organic aerosol using a variety of state-of-the-art instrumentation and source apportionmenttechniques. The secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass is estimated by elemental carbon and carbon monoxide tracer methods, water soluble organic carbon content, chemical mass balance of organic molecular markers, and positive matrix factorization of high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer data. Estimates obtained from each ofthese methods indicate that the organic fraction in ambient aerosol is overwhelmingly secondary in nature during a period of several weeks with moderate ozone concentrations and that SOA is the single largest component of PM1 aerosol in Riverside. Average SOA/OA contributions of 70-90% were observed during midday periods, whereas minimum SOA contributions of approximately 45% were observed during peak morning traffic periods. These results are contraryto previous estimates of SOAthroughout the Los Angeles Basin which reported that, other than during severe photochemical smog episodes, SOA was lower than primary OA. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.     

Hard x-ray monochromator with milli-electron volt bandwidth for high-resolution diffraction studies of diamond crystals

We report on design and performance of a high-resolution x-ray monochromator with a spectral bandwidth of ΔE(X) ? 1.5 meV, which operates at x-ray energies in the vicinity of the backscattering (Bragg) energy E(H) = 13.903 keV of the (008) reflection in diamond. The monochromator is utilized for high-energy-resolution diffraction characterization of diamond crystals as elements of advanced x-ray crystal optics for synchrotrons and x-ray free-electron lasers. The monochromator and the related controls are made portable such that they can be installed and operated at any appropriate synchrotron beamline equipped with a pre-monochromator.     

Field-deployable, high-resolution, time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer

The development of a new high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) is reported. The high-resolution capabilities of this instrument allow the direct separation of most ions from inorganic and organic species at the same nominal m/z, the quantification of several types of organic fragments (CxHy, CxHyOz, CxHyNp, CxHyOzNp), and the direct identification of organic nitrogen and organosulfur content. This real-time instrument is field-deployable, and its high time resolution (0.5 Hz has been demonstrated) makes it well-suited for studies in which time resolution is critical, such as aircraft studies. The instrument has two ion optical modes: a single-reflection configuration offers higher sensitivity and lower resolving power (up to approximately 2100 at m/z 200), and a two-reflectron configuration yields higher resolving power (up to approximately 4300 at m/z 200) with lower sensitivity. The instrument also allows the determination of the size distributions of all ions. One-minute detection limits for submicrometer aerosol are <0.04 microg m(-3) for all species in the high-sensitivity mode and <0.4 microg m(-3) in the high-resolution mode. Examples of ambient aerosol data are presented from the SOAR-1 study in Riverside, CA, in which the spectra of ambient organic species are dominated by CxHy and CxHyOz fragments, and different organic and inorganic fragments at the same nominal m/z show different size distributions. Data are also presented from the MIRAGE C-130 aircraft study near Mexico City, showing high correlation with independent measurements of surrogate aerosol mass concentration.     

A homotopy method for eigenvalue assignment using decentralized state feedback

This paper addresses the following problem. Given an interconnected systemMcomposed ofNsubsystems of the formA_{i} + B_{i}K_{i},i = 1,..., N , (A_{i}, B_{i}), a controllable pair, and where the off diagonal blocks ofMlie in the image of the appropriate Bi, then is it possible to arbitrarily assign the characteristic polynomial ofMby a suitable selection of the characteristic polynomials ofA_{i} + B_{i}K_{i}? Moreover, is it possible to compute the appropriate characteristic polynomials of theA_{i} + B_{i}K_{i}(or equivalently construct the Ki) needed to do so? The first question is answered by constructing a mappingF: R^{n} rightarrow R^{n}which maps a prescribed set ofnof the feedback gains (elements ofK_{i}, i=1,...,N) to thencoefficients of the characteristic polynomial ofM. The question then becomes, given ap in R^{n}, doesF(x) = phave a solution? The answer is found by constructing a homotopyH: R^{n}x[O.1] rightarrow R^{n}whereH(x,1)= F(x)andH(x,0)is some "trivial" function. Degree theory is then applied to guarantee that there exists anx(t)such thatH(x(t), t) = pfor alltin [0,1]. The parameterized Sard's theorem is then utilized to prove that (with probability 1)x(t)is a "smooth" curve, and hence can be followed numerically fromx(0)tox(1)by the solution of a differential equation (Davidenko's method).