Mass balance soil ingestion estimating methods and their application to inhabitants of rural and wilderness areas: A critical review

Quantitative soil ingestion studies employing a mass balance tracer approach have been used to provide a defensible means to estimate soil ingestion for human health risk assessments. Past studies have focused on soil ingestion in populations living in urban/suburban environments. There is a paucity of reliable quantitative soil ingestion data to support human health risk assessments of other lifestyles that may be predisposed to ingesting soil, such as agricultural workers or indigenous populations following traditional lifestyles. The results of a preliminary analysis of sampling and analytical variability that would result from assessing activities typical of populations in rural or wilderness areas and conducted over wide areas show that approximately 225 subject days would be required to detect a difference of 20 mg/d in soil ingestion. Given the typically small populations in these areas, future soil ingestion studies should be focused on specific activities with a high potential for soil ingestion.     

Estimation of temporal changes in oxidation rates of sulphides in copper mine tailings at Laver, Northern Sweden

Tailings containing pyrrhotite were deposited in an impoundment at a copper mine at Laver, Northern Sweden, which operated between 1936 and 1946. Since then the oxidation of sulphides has acidified recipient water courses and contaminated them with metals. Measurements from surface water sampled in 1993, 2001 and 2004-05 from a brook into which the tailing impoundment drains indicate that the amounts of sulphide-associated elements such as Cu, S and Zn released into the brook have decreased over time, while pH has increased. The mass transport of S in the brook during 1993 and 2001 corresponded well with the amount of S estimated to be released from the tailings by oxidation. Secondary precipitates such as covellite and gypsum, which can trap sulphur, were shown in earlier studies to be present in only low amounts. The annual release of elements from the tailings was estimated from the volume of tailings assumed to oxidise each year, which depends on movement of the oxidation front with time. The results indicate that the oxidation rate in the tailings has decreased over time, which may be due to the increased distance over which oxygen needs to diffuse to reach unoxidised sulphide grains, or their cores, in the tailings.     

波长光强分束器与光谱导数的实现

根据光谱导数原理，设计了波长光强分束器，它能对光束实现光强和波长的空间分离，获得满足一阶光谱导数条件的两束光。开发了一种双光束双波长导数光谱技术，在物理上实现了光谱求导。使用波长光强分束器获得两束满足一阶光谱导数条件的光束，互补调制该两束光到同一个光电探测器进行差分，探测器输出差分信号到计算机进行处理，扫描波长从而获得光谱的一阶导数。实验验证了系统的可行性，并测出氙灯发射谱的导数光谱，发现其分辨率和光谱的精细结构都比其发射谱好。     

Majority and minority carrier traps in monocrystalline CulnSe2

Electron and hole traps in Bridgman-grown monocrystalline CuInSe₂ were investigated by carrying out deep level transient spectroscopy measurements on homojunctions, Al-CuInSe₂ (p-type), and Au-CuInSe₂ (n-type) Schottky junctions. Three hole trap levels and two electron trap levels were observed on these devices. Effects of oxygen and etching on the electron trap level at 182 ±15 meV from the conduction band edge were specifically studied. It was found that the election trap densities in the homojunctions prepared using the CuInSe₂ samples treated in NH₂NH₂ solution, which absorbes oxygen atoms in the samples, were larger than the electron trap densities in the homojunctions prepared using untreated samples. Moreover, the electron trap densities in the homojunctions after prolonged heat treatment in O₂ were less than that without prolonged heat treatment. The results thus suggested that oxygen atoms in CuInSe₂ can reduce the electron trap density of p-type CuInSe₂. The effects of chemical etching on these electron traps were also studied. The excess indium atoms in the CuInSe₂ were considered to affect the electron traps.     

Effects of temperature and pressure in oxynitridation kinetics on Si(100) with N2O gas

We have investigated oxynitridation of Si(100) surfaces with nitrous oxide (N₂O) gas in a wide range of substrate temperatures (600–1000 °C) and N₂O pressures (10⁻²–10² Pa). The growth rate and atomic composition of the oxynitride layer have been measured by in situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The surface morphology of the oxynitride layer has been also observed by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that in higher N₂O pressure (>1 Pa) regime, the nitridation reaction is suppressed by the oxide layer, which quickly forms on the surface. On the other hand, in lower pressure (<1 Pa) and higher substrate temperature (>900 °C) regime, the nitridation reaction strongly occurs because of the active oxidation (etching reaction), which causes the surface roughness. It is found by argon-ion-sputtering measurements that the nitride layer locally exists only near the surface at the reduced N₂O pressure. We discuss qualitatively the oxynitridation kinetics and the effective condition for growing the oxynitride layer.     

EPR and Raman study of silicon layers obtained by gas detonation spraying

We demonstrate availability of gas detonation deposition spraying (GDS) to obtain silicon layers that can be used for production of solar cells. Silicon powder remaining as secondary raw material of silicon and/or silicon production is used during GDS. To study defects and structural perfection of initial powders and obtained layers, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Raman spectroscopy are used. It is shown that one part of EPR spectra displays resonances originating from different nearest-neighbor configurations of silicon dangling bonds, whereas an increase of the total number of paramagnetic defects in GDS silicon layer is related to the rise of conduction electrons or electrons filled band tail states. Thermal annealing of layers in hydrogen ambience further reduces the number of silicon dangling bonds owing to their passivation. Based on the results of X-ray diffraction, EPR and Raman spectroscopy it is assumed that the GDS Si layers are composed of randomly oriented and partially oxidized monocrystalline silicon grains. It is found that optical and photoelectric properties of the layers obtained indicate a possibility to apply them for solar cells production.     

Band alignment in organic light emitting diodes - On the track of thickness dependent onset voltage shifts

In this paper we report on an unclear effect in the IV characteristics of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). When the thickness of the emitter layer based on a modified phenyl carbozole triplet host material (TH) in the device is increased, a significant shift of the onset voltage to higher values can be noticed. The voltage shift is not observed if the TH is substituted by an isomer with only minor variation of the molecular structure. In a previous publication we could already show that an electric interface field is necessary to describe the onset voltage behaviour. To find the origin of this interface field in the present publication the two isomers are characterized and the band alignment at the interfaces to the emitter layer is investigated using photoelectron spectroscopy. The interface energy diagrams have been measured on stepwise prepared model interfaces. A further simplification of the bipolar to a hole only device stack proofs, that band bending at the hole injecting interface to the TH layer is the origin of the interface field. In contrast an entire flat band situation is measured in case of the device using the other isomer showing no onset voltage shift.     

Thermal stability of devices with molybdenum oxide doped organic semiconductors

We demonstrate the thermal stability of transition-metal-oxide (molybdenum oxide; MoO₃)-doped organic semiconductors. Impedance spectroscopy analysis indicated that thermal deformation of the intrinsic 1,4-bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N′-phenylamino]-4,4′-diamine (NPB) layer is facilitated when the MoO₃-doped NPB layer is deposited on the intrinsic NPB layer. The resistance of the intrinsic NPB layer is reduced from 300 kΩ to 3 kΩ after thermal annealing at 100 °C for 30 min. Temperature-dependent conductance/angular frequency–frequency (G/w-f-T) analysis revealed that the doping efficiency of MoO₃, which is represented by the activation energy (E_a), is reduced after the annealing process.     

新型光电子源离子迁移谱在检测四氯化碳中的应用

紫外光电离源是离子迁移谱中最重要的电离源之一,常被用来电离有机物,产生正离子。利用紫外光照射金属表面产生电子作为离子源,建立了一套光电子源离子迁移谱仪,由于卤化物具有较强的吸附电子能力,该装置可以应用于卤化物的检测。使用CCl4样品,得到了该装置的离子峰强度、半峰宽、分辨率随迁移管电场、离子门脉宽、离子门电压的变化关系,并进行了简单的理论分析。兼顾离子峰强度与分辨率,得到了优化的实验参数,在该参数下测量了CCl4的检测限达到4 ppb,线性范围跨越2个数量级。