Volatile organic compounds in an urban environment: a comparison among Belgium,Vietnam and Ethiopia

The effects of urban and indoor air pollution on human health are a major environmental concern for all, but not much has been researched in the developing world. Specifically, quantitative data on the occurrence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – main contributors to air pollution – in Asia and Africa are scarce compared to the availability of data in the developed world. This paper presents one of the first studies focusing on the analysis and occurrence of VOCs in Vietnam and Ethiopia, which constitutes part of the novelty of this work. A spectrum of 34 VOCs was measured at eight different urban sites in Ghent (Belgium), Hanoi (Vietnam), Jimma and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) during three sampling campaigns from September 2008 to September 2010. Sampling was done in an active way by means of sorbent tubes filled with Tenax TA. The analysis was done by TD-GC-MS using internal standard calibration. Data were interpreted and compared in terms of (i) individual, subgroup and total VOCs concentration (TVOCs), (ii) indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) concentration ratios, (iii) source identification by diagnostic ratio and/or correlation coefficients, and (iv) ozone formation potential (OFP) at outdoor sites based on up-to-date maximum incremental reactivity (MIR). I/O concentration ratios varied between 0.2 and 30, with big differences noticed with respect to the type of VOC(s) considered and the type of outdoor sampling location. The highest TVOC concentrations were measured in street samples with maximum values of 54?µg/m³ in Ghent, 507?µg/m³ in Hanoi and 318?µg/m³ in Addis Ababa illustrating the large difference in ambient air quality levels. This is also reflected in the arithmetic mean OFP values (µg/m³) of 82, 1308 and 596 in Ghent, Hanoi and Addis Ababa, respectively. Results of this study could be helpful to support formulation of national policy with regard to ambient air quality.     

Fitting formula for the injection volume of a gas chromatograph for radio‐xenon sampling in the lower troposphere

GC is usually used for xenon concentration and radon removal in the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty. In a gas chromatograph, the injection volume is defined to calculate the column capacity. In this paper, the injection volume was investigated and a fitting formula for the injection volume was derived and discussed subsequently. As a consequence, the xenon injection volume exponentially decreased with the column temperature increased, but exponentially increased as the flow rate increased.     

Optimization of sampling frequency for routine river water quality monitoring

Sampling frequency is an important factor to be considered during the design of a water monitoring network,and the cost-effective selection of possible ways and means for the optimization of sampling frequency is still needed.This paper introduces water pollution index deviation ratio comparison(WPI DRC),a procedure for the optimization of sampling frequency for a routine river water quality monitoring system.Sampling frequency optimized using WPI DRC at monitoring station X5 in the mainstream of Xiangjiang River is compared with that established using the traditional Statistical Algorithm method.The result of comparison indicates that WPI DRC is more feasible than the traditional one.And then,the sampling frequencies for other 16 monitoring stations also have been optimized,and the results show the sampling frequencies of all the stations except that X4 are reduced,and there is no unacceptable difference between water quality evaluation results at 17 stations before and after the optimization.Therefore,it is concluded that WPI DRC is an effective optimization process with operable results,which can be used to fulfill the requirement of practical monitoring work.     

Application of accelerated heteronuclear single quantum coherence experiments to the rapid quantification of monosaccharides and disaccharides in dairy products

Monosaccharides and disaccharides are important dietary components, but if insufficiently metabolized by some population subgroups, they are also linked to disease patterns. Thus, the correct analytical identification, quantification, and labeling of these food components are crucial to inform and potentially protect consumers. Enzymatic assays and high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection are established methods for the quantification of monosaccharides and disaccharides that, however, require long measuring times (60–180 min). Accelerated methods for the identification and quantification of the nutritionally relevant monosaccharides and disaccharides d -glucose, d -galactose, d -fructose, sucrose, lactose, and maltose were therefore developed. To realize this goal, the NMR experiments HSQC (heteronuclear single quantum coherence) and acceleration by sharing adjacent polarization (ASAP)-HSQC were applied. Measurement times were reduced to 27 and 6 min, respectively, by optimizing the interscan delay and applying non-uniform sampling. The optimized methods were used to quantify d -glucose, d -galactose, d -fructose, sucrose, and lactose in various dairy products. Results of the HSQC and ASAP-HSQC methods are equivalent to the results of the reference methods in terms of both precision and accuracy, demonstrating that these methods can be used to correctly analyze nutritionally relevant monosaccharides and disaccharides in short times.     

Exposure to airborne formaldehyde: Sampling and analytical methods—A review

Air monitoring is the quantitative-qualitative assessment of the extent of pollutants. It is performed to ensure compliance with legislation and to evaluate control measures and mitigation solutions. There are numerous approaches to measure airborne formaldehyde (FA), ranging from passive sampling techniques to remote sensing devices. Research of sampling procedures and analytical methods was performed in a scientific database and on the web to offer a scenario of the devices and techniques that can be used to assess FA exposure. Moreover, in the design of FA assessment, some crucial aspects were considered, such as standard atmosphere generation for devices calibration. This review summarizes the tools and basics used in FA air monitoring, useful to organize a functional monitoring strategy for assessment of FA concentration levels. An insight into the sampling and analysis of FA is provided. Recent advances in solid sorbent technology allow analysts to use these devices coupled to chromatographic instruments. A comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of analytical methods (gas-/liquid-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry or UV detection, chromogenic, colorimetric, electrochemical determination) and sampling devices (impregnated papers, solid sorbents, liquid sorbents, bubblers, impingers, micro-impingers, denuder samplers, sealed bags, canisters) methods are illustrated. This survey found that a monitoring strategy should be planned considering the most appropriate methodology in terms of costs and practicability. Therefore, it is necessary to know the aspects that can make the chosen strategy suitable and valid for the exposure scenario under investigation.     

Siloxanes in Biogas: Approaches of Sampling Procedure and GC-MS Method Determination

A new approach of siloxane sampling based on impinger, micro-impinger, adsorption on active carbon, and direct TedlarBag methods followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for the analysis of three linear (L2–L4) and four cyclic (D3–D5) volatile methyl siloxanes (VMSs). Three kinds of organic liquid-medium characterized by different polarities, namely acetone, methanol, and d-decane as siloxanes trap were arranged in the experiment which is widely discussed below. Thus, the GC-MS equipped with SUPELCOWAX-10 capillary column was employed to perform monitoring of VMS content in the analyzed biogas samples originating from landfill, wastewater treatment plants, and agriculture biogas plants. In all samples that have undergone the analysis, cyclic and linear VMSs were found in quantities exceeding 107.9 and 3.8 mg/m³, respectively. Significant differences between siloxanes concentrations depending on biogas origin were observed. Moreover, the high range of linearity (0.1 to 70.06 mg/m³), low LoD (0.01 mg/m³), low LoQ (0.04 mg/m³), and high recovery (244.1%) indicate that the procedure and can be applied in sensitive analyses of silica biogas contaminants. In addition to the above, the impinger method of sampling performed better than active-carbon Tube and TedlarBag, particularly for quantifying low concentrations of siloxanes. Overall, the evaluation of sampling methods for biogas collection simplified the analytical procedure by reducing the procedural steps, avoiding the use of solvents, as well as demonstrated its applicability for the testing of biogas quality.     

Nonuniform sampling and maximum entropy reconstruction applied to the accurate measurement of residual dipolar couplings

Residual dipolar couplings (RDC) provide important global restraints for accurate structure determination by NMR. We show that nonuniform sampling in combination with maximum entropy reconstruction (MaxEnt) is a promising strategy for accelerating and potentially enhancing the acquisition of RDC spectra. Using MaxEnt-processed spectra of nonuniformly sampled data sets that are reduced up to one fifth relative to uniform sampling, accurate 13C'-13Calpha RDCs can be obtained that agree with an RMS of 0.67 Hz with those derived from uniformly sampled, Fourier transformed spectra. While confirming that frequency errors in MaxEnt spectra are very slight, an unexpected class of systematic errors was found to occur in the 6th significant figure of 13C' chemical shifts of doublets obtained by MaxEnt reconstruction. We show that this error stems from slight line shape perturbations and predict it should be encountered in other nonlinear spectral estimation algorithms. In the case of MaxEnt reconstruction, the error can easily be rendered systematic by straightforward optimization of MaxEnt reconstruction parameters and self-cancels in obtaining RDCs from nonuniformly sampled, MaxEnt reconstructed spectra.     

CCD抽样对傅里叶变换轮廓术的影响

从傅里叶变换轮廓术(FTP)原理入手,分析了傅里叶变换过程中频谱的产生,给出了CCD像元信号强度及其经抽样后的变形条纹的表达式,得出了变形条纹的傅里叶频谱式,其频谱是原连续函数的频谱在频域内的无限重复,即"频谱岛"。频谱中除了基频外,还产生了二级、三级等的高级频谱。给出了抽样条件及满足抽样条件的方法:当抽样频率与光栅基频的比值m>4时可以恢复物体的面形,反之不能;减小抽样间隔可以使m>4。给出了实验结果:当m=2.0883时,物体面形没有恢复;当m=16.6667时,物体面形得到了恢复。实验结果证明了理论分析的正确性。     

基于NI-DAQ的高采样实时数据绘制方法与实现

飞行试验实时监控中,对高采样数据通常采用曲线绘制进行分析与故障判断,这对数据绘制的实时性、精确性以及曲线长度等都提出了较高的要求。本文对基于NI-DAQ的曲线绘制方法进行了研究和软件设计,实现了客户端的高采样数据实时绘制与打印输出。结果证明,采用该方法绘制的参数曲线可以满足实时监控要求。     

Rapid Characterization of Molecular Diffusion by NMR Spectroscopy

An NMR‐based approach for rapid characterization of translational diffusion of molecules has been developed. Unlike the conventional method of acquiring a series of 2D ¹³C and ¹H spectra, the proposed approach involves a single 2D NMR spectrum, which can be acquired in minutes. Using this method, it was possible to detect the presence of intermediate oligomeric species of diphenylalanine in solution during the process of its self‐assembly to form nanotubular structures.