Organic Mass Research Articles

The influence of recycled sludge sewage sludge on the morphological parameters of the species of Quercus robur L.

Petiolate oak is one of the main forest–forming species not only in the European part of Russia, but also in arid regions - in the Kamyshinsky district of the Lower Volga region, on the Terek, Tereklinsky and Kuma sands of the Nogai steppe, in the Astrakhan semi-desert, Samara and Orenburg regions. Its durability and stability allow us to recommend the cultivation of this species in plantings for various purposes. Protective forest plantations make changes in agricultural landscapes, having a large organic mass, redistributing biological potential. Accelerated growth, durability of trees in protective forest stands is determined, first of all, by the provision of species with nutrients. The modern strategy of agriculture based on chemicalization leads to an increase in erosion processes, and as a result, a decrease in the level of soil fertility. Recently, environmental "green" technologies have become very relevant, so there is a need to find new ways to solve the problems of soil degradation and fertility, search for effective non-traditional fertilizers and meliorants. The use of silt and bottom sediments in the creation of protective forest crops in the arid zone remains poorly studied, but is of great practical interest. It has been established that the use of disinfected sewage sludge gives a positive effect in the cultivation of oak seedlings, ensuring its need for the necessary nutrients. For the entire time of the experiment, the use of bottom sediments from the point "Sukhodol" showed the best result. Together with the growth of the apical shoots of the petiolate oak, the growth of phytomass, the rate of growth and development increased. Undemanding to soil conditions, the petiolate oak is quite capable of growing in ravine-girder and landscaping plantings on various types of soils. It is necessary to continue studying non-traditional fertilizers and meliorants, their composition, features and unique properties. Their introduction into agriculture will allow solving fundamental problems and issues of soil fertility (increasing phytomass reserves and preserving the fertile layer), the formation and maintenance of stability and productivity of agrobiocenoses.

Small contributions of dust to PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations measured downwind of Oceano Dunes

The Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA) is a large natural source of wind-driven dust emissions that primarily consist of particulate matter (PM) for which most of the mass is greater than 1 μm. The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (SLOAPCD) has targeted ODSVRA emissions to reduce exceedances of the state standard of 50 μg m−3 for PM smaller than 10 μm (PM10) at a coastal monitoring site located 1 mile downwind of the dune area. To evaluate the potential effectiveness of this abatement strategy, five sets of measurements were collected during the windy afternoons of high-wind months (May and October) from 2019 to 2021 to quantify the organic and elemental composition of PM10 and PM smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) samples. The five-campaign average afternoon PM2.5 composition relative to Beta Attenuation Monitor (BAM) concentrations included 14 ± 12% dust, 9 ± 9% sea salt, 4 ± 5% non-sea salt sulfate, and 8 ± 8% organic components, with the difference between BAM and the measured components contributing the remaining 66 ± 16% unidentified components. The high afternoon unidentified contribution was partially attributable to water, consistent with the increasing relative humidity during warm afternoons, since there was a lower unidentified contribution for overnight samples. The remaining unidentified components are consistent with prior measurements of semivolatile contributions of ammonium nitrate and organic compounds constituting >40% of PM2.5 in central California. The organic functional group signature in Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for PM2.5 was similar to previously reported ambient marine aerosol, consistent with a natural marine source for most of the organic mass concentration. For PM10, the dust fraction was 11 ± 8% of BAM PM10 concentration and increased to 14 ± 10% of BAM PM10 concentration during days in which hourly BAM PM10 concentration exceeded 140 μg m−3. There was no statistically significant difference (p»0.05) between dust, sea salt, sulfate, or organic PM2.5 fractions between weekend and weekday concentrations, similar to prior findings for the region. These results are consistent with national and state assessments of the good air quality of the region and suggest that semivolatile components may cause differences between BAM and gravimetric mass concentrations for sampling times shorter than 24 h. In addition, the results demonstrate that the regulated dust abatement implemented at ODSVRA is misapplied and unlikely to improve downwind air quality significantly, since ODSVRA and other nearby sandy areas contribute only 14% of BAM PM10 and have not been shown to include toxic components.

The Biogas Potential of Oxytree Leaves

This article describes the characteristics of th Oxytree (Paulownia) plant, both in terms of its impact on GHG emissions and its potential use to produce biofuel, i.e., biogas. The described research involved the physico-chemical and elemental analysis of the Oxytree leaf composition and its biogas efficiency depending on the harvesting method. Three different scenarios were considered: the freshest possible leaves—processed immediately after stripping from the living tree; after the first day of collection from pruned or harvested wood; after the first week of collection from pruned or harvested wood. The best results were achieved for the harvest of the freshest leaves—on average 430 m3/Mg (biogas) and 223 m3/Mg (methane) per dry organic mass. The highest yield of biogas in terms of fresh mass (FM) was obtained for leaves fallen and collected after 1 day—123 m3/Mg FM, and 59 m3/Mg FM (methane). Processing Oxytree leaves through anaerobic digestion will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of wood biomass production and is an additional source of renewable energy and fertilizer product.

Biological influence of nanotechnological j, se, s citrates in broiler chickens in the second period of rearing

The research was carried out on two groups of broilers ROOS-308, divided into control (1) and experimental (2) groups, in the conditions of industrial cultivation and daily addition to water of nanotechnological citrates J, Se, S for 24-48 days of fattening. The research was aimed to identify the complex combined biological action of nanotechnological citrates J, Se, S in broiler chickens under conditions of their use for 2-3 growing periods. The 7-day changes dynamics in body weight, survival and death rate of chickens, the mass of internal organs and its correlation to chicken body mass at the day 48, the technological slaughter period, were defined as study periods. Blood and internal organs samples were taken to determine biochemical parameters and study its development by mass and mass coefficients at the slaughter period. The corrective effect of nanotechnological J, Se, S citrates on the protein indicators and mineral metabolism, growth and development of the liver, stomach, spleen and thyroid gland of chicken was identified. There was an increase in body weight gain of broiler chickens by 4-4,5 % during growth periods with the use of J, Se, S citrates and 5,2 % for day 48 of life while the mortality decreased by 0,62 % during the study period (Group 1 – 1,64 %; Group 2 – 1,02 %). The average daily gain during 48 days in the control Group 1 was 59,6 g with a body weight of 2859 g and the experimental Group 2 – 62,72 % with body weight of 3009 g respectively.

Targeted PFAS analyses and extractable organofluorine – Enhancing our understanding of the presence of unknown PFAS in Norwegian wildlife

With the current possible presence of thousands of PFAS compounds in industrial emissions, there is an increasing need to assess the impacts of PFAS regulation of conventional PFAS on one hand and the exposure to emerging and yet unknown PFAS on the other. Today’s analytical methodologies using targeted approaches are not sufficient to determine the complete suite of PFAS present. To evaluate the presence of unknown PFAS, we investigated in this study the occurrence of an extended range of target PFAS in various species from the marine and terrestrial Norwegian environment, in relation to the extractable organofluorine (EOF), which yields the total amount of organofluorine. The results showed a varying presence of extractable fluorinated organics, with glaucous gull eggs, otter liver and polar bear plasma showing the highest EOF and a high abundance of PFAS as well. The targeted PFAS measurements explained 1% of the organofluorine for moose liver as the lowest and 94% for otter liver as the highest. PFCAs like trifluoroacetic acid (TFA, reported semi-quantitatively), played a major role in explaining the organic fluorine present. Emerging PFAS as the perfluoroethylcyclohexane sulfonate (PFECHS), was found in polar bear plasma in quantifiable amounts for the first time, confirming earlier detection in arctic species far removed from emission sources. To enable a complete organic fluorine mass balance in wildlife, new approaches are needed, to uncover the presence of new emerging PFAS as cyclic- or ether PFAS together with chlorinated PFAS as well as fluorinated organic pesticides and pharmaceuticals.

Improving safety of oil adjuvant-based vaccines

High adjuvant reactogenicity is the main limitation for increasing the effectiveness of vaccine therapy. The aim was to reduce the immunotoxicity effects of complete Freunds adjuvant (CFA) in warm-blooded animals. Materials and methods. The study examined Wistar rats by dividing animals into negative control (solvents); positive control (single subcutaneous CFA injection of 0.1 ml/200 g body weight (b.w.)); the minimum and maximum (per os administration of 1:4 citric and succinic acids in ratio of 17 and 88 mg/kg b.w. during 4 weeks after immunization of CFA) experiment. Body weight, hematological (complete blood count) and biochemical (hydroperoxides, malondialdehyde, catalase activity, mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity) parameters were dynamically investigated. At the end of the experiment, necropsy was performed and the relative internal organ mass coefficients were calculated. The spleen and connective tissue (knee joint) were examined histologically. The median, C25C75 quartiles, MannWhitney U-test were calculated. Results and discussion. it was found that parameters examined were within normal range in animals of negative control group. Immunization of warm-blooded animals with CFA was accompanied by transition of acute-to- chronic inflammatory reaction (week 3 and week 7, respectively). The total leukocyte count increased from 12.5 109 (negative control) up to 26.6 109/L (P = 0.01) on week 3 followed by its decline down to 19.2 109/L (P = 0.01) by week 7. Platelet count also increased significantly: from 506 109 (negative control) up to 656 109/L (P = 0.01, week 3) followed by decrease down to 610 109/L by week 7 (P = 0.01). Activation of lipid peroxidation was manifested by malondialdehyde (MDA) level elevated by 55.861.8% (P = 0.01); the general CFA-related toxic effect resulted in 11.7% weight loss (P = 0.01), spleen swelling and thymus reduction. Administration of antioxidant acids led to a dose-dependent decline in inflammation (leukocyte count at the minimum dosage 19.6 10920.9 109/L; at the maximum 16.6 10916.0 109/L), as well as normalized the platelet/leukocyte index up to 29.536.3 (positive control 24.6, negative control 40.5). The acid-related protective effect was also manifested as maintained body weight, activated catalase and inhibited lipid peroxidation. The therapeutic effect in alleviated degenerative changes in the spleen and connective tissue were revealed: reduced hemorrhagic focuses and swelling as well as preserved histoarchitectonics. Conclusion. The use of citric and succinic acids contributes to profoundly lowered CFA toxicity due to increased total antioxidant status, inhibited lipid peroxidation, improved mitochondrial metabolic activity, which ultimately lead to a decline in general systemic inflammation and allows to recommend such acids as immunoprotectors from oil adjuvant-coupled effects.

Bacillus subtilis-Fermented Amomum xanthioides Ameliorates Metabolic-Syndrome-Like Pathological Conditions in Long-Term HFHFD-Fed Mice.

In modern society, numerous metabolic disorders are widespread globally. The present study aimed to demonstrate whether Bacillus subtilis-fermented Amomum xanthioides (BSAX) exerts anti-metabolic disturbance effects compared with the ethyl acetate fraction of Amomum xanthioides (EFAX), a previously verified functional fraction. Mice fed with a high-fat, high-fructose diet (HFHFD) for 10 wk presented a typical model of metabolic dysfunction, and BSAX significantly attenuated a string of metabolic-syndrome-related pathological parameters, such as body, fat, organ mass, lipid markers (TGs, TC, free fatty acids), and glucose metabolism (glucose, insulin), without influencing appetite. Further, BSAX markedly lowered malondialdehyde (MDA) and ROS in the blood and restored antioxidative parameters (SOD, GSH, and CAT in liver tissue, and total bilirubin in serum) by elevating Nrf2 and HO-1. Moreover, BSAX noticeably restored gut microbiota diversity and normalized lipid-metabolism-associated proteins, including SREBP-1, p-AMPK, and PPAR-α. Generally, most metabolic parameters were improved by BSAX to a greater extent than EFAX, except for liver weight and hepatic TC. In conclusion, BSAX alleviates metabolic dysfunction by enhancing lipid metabolism and antioxidative capacity and is more effective than EFAX. Therefore, the application of high-yield, effective BSAX might be a promising approach for curing and preventing metabolic disorders.

PM2.5 source apportionment using organic marker-based chemical mass balance modeling: Influence of inorganic markers and sensitivity to source profiles

A Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) model has been applied to source apportionment of PM2.5 in the Chinese megacity of Chengdu. The study explored the sensitivity of the CMB model to the adoption of different organic source profiles, and to the use of organic markers only (OM-CMB), compared with using a combination of organic and inorganic markers (IOM-CMB). A comprehensive comparison of OM-CMB and IOM-CMB shows that PM2.5 mass concentrations from gasoline vehicles, diesel vehicles, industrial coal combustion, biomass burning, cooking, and SOA which shared same markers in the two methods are in fair to good agreement between the two methods, with the relative biases ranging from 2.2% to 17.3%. The average contributions of sulfate and nitrate sources are more sensitive to the choice of model because inorganic ions were not inputted directly into the OM-CMB. The temporal variations of PM2.5 contributions from sulfate, nitrate, SOA, gasoline vehicles, and biomass burning, characterized by unique markers and low collinearity, were in good agreement between the OM-CMB and IOM-CMB results with the Pearson's r above 0.91 (p < 0.01). However, resuspended dust estimates from OM-CMB had a relatively weak correlation with that from IOM-CMB (Pearson's r = 0.73, p < 0.01), due to the different tracers used. When replacing the source profile for industrial coal combustion with that for residential sources, the contributions of resuspended dust and residential coal combustion were higher, and the contributions of other sources were lower compared with the result for the industrial coal combustion. Different source profiles for gasoline vehicles showed considerable sensitivity of the model to the choice of source profile, even when using data from within a single emissions study. Our results emphasize the value of combining inorganic and organic tracers in minimizing error, and in using up-to-date locally-relevant source profiles in source apportionment of PM.

The effect of polystyrene foam in different doses on the blood parameters and relative mass of internal organs of white mice

Due to their durability, versatility and economy, plastic products are widely used in all spheres of human life. Despite the inertness of polymers, recent studies show the ability of microplastic to overcome natural tissue barriers, accumulate in the animal’s body, affect metabolism and change the intestinal microbiota, negatively affecting it. In a 42-day experiment, changes in the internal organs’ relative mass, blood biochemical and morphological parameters of white mice were established under the influence of different doses of polystyrene foam in their diet. Four groups of white mice consumed crushed polystyrene foam particles (10%, 1% and 0.1% by weight of the feed, control group without the addition of polystyrene foam). At the end of the experiment, the morphofunctional state of the internal organs was determined by the organ mass index and blood biochemical parameters. Adding crushed polystyrene foam to the feed in an amount of 1% causes a significant decrease in the mass index of the heart and stomach, 10% – only the heart, and 0.1% – does not affect this indicator. Polystyrene foam had a significant effect on blood biochemical parameters, regardless of the dose, causing an increase in the activity of aspartate aminotransferase against the background of a decrease in the activity of alkaline phosphatase. The content of total bilirubin, urea, urea nitrogen and cholesterol decreased, and the concentration of creatinine and total protein increased (due to the albumin fraction). The use of crushed polystyrene foam in mice did not cause significant changes in the blood morphological composition, except for a dose-dependent increase in the number of monocytes. In the future, it is planned to determine histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical changes in the organs of laboratory animals under the influence of plastic in a laboratory experiment.

Energy expenditure and body composition in a hibernator, the alpine marmot

Visceral organs and tissues of 89 free-living alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) shot during a population control program in Switzerland, were collected. Between emergence from hibernation in April to July, the gastrointestinal tract (stomach to colon) gained 51% of mass and the liver mass increased by 24%. At the same time, the basal metabolic rate (BMR), determined with a portable oxygen analyzer, increased by 18%. The organ masses of the digestive system (stomach, small intestine, caecum, large intestine) were all significantly correlated with BMR. Interestingly, the mass of abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) and of the remaining carcass (mainly skin and bones) were also significantly correlated with BMR. These results indicate that the gastrointestinal tract and organs involved in digestive function are metabolically expensive. They also show that it is costly to maintain even tissues with low metabolic rate such as WAT, especially if they are large. Heart and kidneys and especially brain and lungs did not explain a large proportion of the variance in BMR. Marmots increased the uptake of fat prior to hibernation, both by selective feeding and enhanced gastrointestinal capacity. Large fat reserves enable marmots to hibernate without food intake and to reproduce in spring, but at the cost of an elevated BMR. We predict that climate changes that disturb energy accumulation in summer, increase energy expenditure in winter, or delay the emergence from hibernation in spring, such as the occurrence of storms with increasing frequency, will increase mortality in alpine marmots.

Roles of Calcium Signaling in Gene Expression and Photosynthetic Acclimatization of Solanum lycopersicum Micro-Tom (MT) after Mechanical Damage.

A momentary increase in cytoplasmic Ca2+ generates an oscillation responsible for the activation of proteins, such as calmodulin and kinases, which interact with reactive oxygen species (ROS) for the transmission of a stress signal. This study investigated the influence of variations in calcium concentrations on plant defense signaling and photosynthetic acclimatization after mechanical damage. Solanum lycopersicum Micro-Tom was grown with 0, 2 and 4 mM Ca2+, with and without mechanical damage. The expression of stress genes was evaluated, along with levels of antioxidant enzymes, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation, histochemistry, photosynthesis and dry mass of organs. The ROS production generated by mechanical damage was further enhanced by calcium-free conditions due to the inactivation of the oxygen evolution complex, contributing to an increase in reactive species. The results indicated that ROS affected mechanical damage signaling because calcium-free plants exhibited high levels of H2O2 and enhanced expression of kinase and RBOH1 genes, necessary conditions for an efficient response to stress. We conclude that the plants without calcium supply recognized mechanical damage but did not survive. The highest expression of the RBOH1 gene and the accumulation of H2O2 in these plants signaled cell death. Plants grown in the presence of calcium showed higher expression of SlCaM2 and control of H2O2 concentration, thus overcoming the stress caused by mechanical damage, with photosynthetic acclimatization and without damage to dry mass production.

Anthropogenic and Biogenic Contributions to the Organic Composition of Coastal Submicron Sea Spray Aerosol.

The organic composition of coastal sea spray aerosol is important for both atmospheric chemistry and public health but remains poorly characterized. Coastal waters contain an organic material derived from both anthropogenic processes, such as wastewater discharge, and biological processes, including biological blooms. Here, we probe the chemical composition of the organic fraction of sea spray aerosol over the course of the 2019 SeaSCAPE mesocosm experiment, in which a phytoplankton bloom was facilitated in natural coastal water from La Jolla, California. We apply untargeted two-dimensional gas chromatography to characterize submicron nascent sea spray aerosol samples, reporting ∼750 unique organic species traced over a 19 day phytoplankton bloom experiment. Categorization and quantitative compositional analysis reveal three major findings. First, anthropogenic species made up 30% of total submicron nascent sea spray aerosol organic mass under the pre-bloom condition. Second, biological activity drove large changes within the aerosolized carbon pool, decreasing the anthropogenic mass fraction by 89% and increasing the biogenic and biologically transformed fraction by a factor of 5.6. Third, biogenic marine organics are underrepresented in mass spectral databases in comparison to marine organic pollutants, with more than twice as much biogenic aerosol mass attributable to unlisted compounds.

Aerosol Mass Spectral Profiles from NAMaSTE Field-Sampled South Asian Combustion Sources.

Unit mass resolution mass spectral profiles of nonrefractory submicron aerosol were retrieved from undersampled atmospheric emission sources common to South Asia using a "mini" aerosol mass spectrometer. Emission sources including wood- and dung-fueled cookstoves, agricultural residue burning, garbage burning, engine exhaust, and coal-fired brick kilns were sampled during the 2015 Nepal Ambient Monitoring and Source Testing Experiment (NAMaSTE) campaign. High-resolution peak fitting estimates of the mass spectra were used to characterize ions found within each source profile and help identify mass spectral signatures unique to aerosol emissions from the investigated source types. The first aerosol mass spectral profiles of dung burning, charcoal burning, garbage burning, and brick kilns are provided in this work. The online aerosol mass spectra show that organics were generally the dominant component of the nonrefractory aerosol. However, inorganic aerosol components including ammonium and chloride were significant in dung- and charcoal-fired cookstove emissions and sulfate compounds were major components of the coal-fired brick kiln emissions. Organic mass spectra from both the charcoal burning and zigzag brick kiln were dominated by nitrogen-containing ions thought to be from the electron ionization of amines and amides contained in the emissions. The mixed garbage burning emissions profiles were dominated by plastic combustion with very low fractions of organic markers associated with biomass burning. The plastic burning emissions were associated with enhanced organic signal at mass-to-charge (m/z) 104 and m/z 166, which could be useful fragment ion indicators for garbage burning in ambient aerosol profiles. Finally, a framework for the identification of emission sources using the unit mass resolution organic mass fractions at m/z 55 (f 55), m/z 57 (f 57), and m/z 60 (f 60) is proposed in this work. Plotting the ratio of f 55 to f 57 versus f 60 is found to be effective for the identification of emissions by the fuel type and even useful in separating emissions of similar source types. Although the sample size was limited, these results give further context to the aerosol and gas-phase emission factors presented in other NAMaSTE works and provide a critical reference for future aerosol composition measurements in South Asia.

Average Cloud Droplet Size and Composition: Good Assumptions for Predicting Oxidants in the Atmospheric Aqueous Phase?

Chemical models that describe the atmospheric multiphase (gas/aqueous) system often include detailed kinetic and mechanistic schemes describing chemical reactions in both phases. The present study explores the importance of properties including the chemical composition of droplet populations, such as pH value and iron present in only a few droplets, as well as droplet size and their distribution. It is found that the assumption of evenly distributed iron in all cloud droplets leads to an underestimate by up to 1 order of magnitude of OH concentrations in the aqueous phase, whereas the predicted iron(II)/iron(total) ratio is overestimated by up to a factor of 2. While the sulfate mass formed in cloud droplets is not largely affected by any of the assumptions, the predicted secondary organic aerosol mass varies by an order of magnitude. This sensitivity study reveals that multiphase chemistry model studies should focus not only on chemical mechanism development but also on careful considerations of droplet properties to comprehensively describe the atmospheric multiphase chemical system.

PP04 Presentation Time: 9:30 AM: 169Yb-Based High Dose Rate Intensity Modulated Brachytherapy for Focal Treatment of Prostate Cancer

<h3>Purpose</h3> Intensity-modulated brachytherapy (IMBT) is a developing application of brachytherapy where high-density metallic shields located inside the catheters are used to modulate radiations allowing the production of anisotropic dose distributions at each source dwell position. By rotating the shields during the treatment, the radiation is directed towards the tumour, resulting in better tumour conformity, while sparing the surrounding radiation-sensitive healthy tissues. This study compares conventional ¹⁹²Ir-based high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy to ¹⁶⁹Yb-based HDR IMBT for focal treatment of prostate cancer and evaluates less invasive IMBT plans that use fewer catheters. <h3>Materials and Methods</h3> RapidBrachyMCTPS, an in-house treatment planning system (TPS) that takes into consideration the different organs' tissue composition and mass densities, was used to conduct a retrospective dosimetric study for two patients previously treated with conventional ¹⁹²Ir-based focal HDR brachytherapy and 5 catheters. The initial HDR ¹⁹²Ir-based treatment plan was first simulated and optimized in RapidBrachyMCTPS, which utilizes Fast Mixed Integer Optimization (FMIO), followed by IMBT treatment plans using the AIM-Brachy's shielded ¹⁶⁹Yb source. Furthermore, dose distributions were investigated when decreasing the number of catheters down from 5 to 2 ensuring the same coverage of dose to the target volume to produce less invasive treatment plans. <h3>Results</h3> The resulting dosimetric indices calculated with RapidBrachyMCTPS and the clinical TPS were compared. For the same planning treatment volume (PTV) D₉₀ coverage, IMBT results show a reduction in the urethra D₁₀ for the first and second patients of 11.75% and 25.44% for 5 catheters, of 13.37% and 22.77% for 4 catheters, of 9.98% and 21.71% for 3 catheters and 8.68% and 25.13% for 2 catheters. A decrease in the rectum D_2cc by up to 27.44% and 0.77% for the first and second patients respectively were recorded. The decrease of the dose to the urethra resulted in an increase of the PTV V₁₅₀ between 2.05-4.41% for patient 1 and 11.53-17.00% for patient 2. Similarly, the PTV V₂₀₀ increased between 0.92-4.54% for patient 1 and 9.28-25.69% for the second patient. All dosimetric indices of interest are presented in Table 1. <h3>Conclusions</h3> IMBT has the potential to successfully deliver less invasive focal prostate brachytherapy treatments with reduced dose spillage in healthy tissues leading to fewer side effects improving patients' quality of life.

Impact of weak electromagnetic fields on the properties of coal substance

Purpose. To establish the regularities of the influence of magnetic fields on the peculiarities of changing the chemical and structural characteristics of the coal substance according to the size of microparticles enriched with vitrinite. To formulate a new system of views on the mechanisms of structural and functional transformations of coal substance under the influence of weak external fields. Methodology. The authors used an electric furnace heating up to 320 K that creates a pulsation magnetic field with a strength of up to 4,000 A/m to process dispersed samples of hard coal with a weak magnetic field. The methods of infrared spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance were used in the research. Findings. Experimental works were carried out to estimate the impact of weak fields on the state and properties of coal substance. It is shown that weak energy fields, and the electromagnetic one in particular, are able to reduce the energy barriers of reactions in coal substance due to spin-spin interaction, which leads to the activation of processes at the atomic-molecular level and interfacial interaction. Originality.It is experimentallyestablished that for coal micro-particles with sizes from 0.16 to 0.1 m, enriched with vitrinite, the coupling coefficient decreases after exposure to an external magnetic field, and for micro-particles with sizes less than 0.63 m, this indicator increases. Such changes are caused by the redistribution of hydrogen between aromatic and aliphatic components during free-radical reactions. Changes in the spectrum on vitrinite (0.160.10 mm), are more significant than on inertinite (0.063&lt;0.05 mm). At the same time, the external action of the electromagnetic field has caused the opposite consequences. It is shownthat magnetically stimulated chemical reactions occurring in the coal substance are aimed at the recombination of free radicals with active surface states of the organic mass of coal into stable gas molecules. The results of laboratory studies using the methods of electron magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy allow assuming that the changes in structural characteristics recorded during experiments with low-energy impacts can be considered as intermediatorsfor the matter transformation or changes in the state of coal in preparation for structural and functional transformations.For example, to the sorption interaction or destructive processes with methane generation. Practical values.The magnetic field effect can be used to develop new research methods for the study on elementary processes by electron spin resonance; control spin-dependent phase transitions. The use of magnetic resonance methods allows the usage of magnetically field effects in the form of basic tools for the research on structural defects. The results obtained will be a scientific ground for the development of methods for estimating the parameters of electromagnetic processes in coal to develop new technologies for the extraction and processing of hydrocarbon energy carriers.

Phase State and Relative Humidity Regulate the Heterogeneous Oxidation Kinetics and Pathways of Organic-Inorganic Mixed Aerosols.

Inorganic species always coexist with organic materials in atmospheric particles and may influence the heterogeneous oxidation of organic aerosols. However, very limited studies have explored the role of the inorganics in the chemical evolution of organic species in mixed aerosols. This study examines the heterogeneous oxidation of glutaric acid-ammonium sulfate and 1,2,6-hexanetriol-ammonium sulfate aerosols by hydroxyl radicals (OH) under varied organic mass fractions (forg) and relative humidity in a flow tube reactor. Coupling the oxidation kinetics and product measurements with kinetic model simulations, we found that under both low relative humidity (RH, 30-35%) and high RH conditions (85%), the decreased forg from 0.7 to 0.2 accelerates the oxidation of the organic materials by a factor of up to 11. We suggest that the faster oxidation kinetics under low-RH conditions is due to full or partial phase separation, with the organics greatly enriched at the particle outer region, while enhanced "salting-out" of the organics and OH adsorption caused by higher inorganics could explain the observations under high-RH conditions. Analysis of the oxidation products reveals that the dilution of organics by the inorganic salts and corresponding water uptake under high-RH conditions will favor alkoxy radical fragmentation by a factor of 3-4 and inhibit its secondary chain propagation chemistry. Our results suggest that atmospheric organic aerosol oxidation lifetime and composition are strongly impacted by the coexistent inorganic salts.

Organic enrichment in droplet residual particles relative to out of cloud over the northwestern Atlantic: analysis of airborne ACTIVATE data

Abstract. Cloud processing is known to generate aerosol species such as sulfate and secondary organic aerosol, yet there is a scarcity of airborne data to examine this issue. The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) was designed to build an unprecedented dataset relevant to aerosol–cloud interactions with two coordinated aircraft over the northwestern Atlantic, with aerosol mass spectrometer data used from four deployments between 2020–2021 to contrast aerosol composition below, in (using a counterflow virtual impactor) and above boundary layer clouds. Consistent features in all time periods of the deployments (January–March, May–June, August–September) include the mass fraction of organics and relative amount of oxygenated organics (m/z 44) relative to total organics (f44) increasing in droplet residuals relative to below and above cloud. Detailed analysis comparing data below and in cloud suggests a possible role for in-cloud aqueous processing in explaining such results; an intriguing aspect though requiring more attention is that only approximately a quarter of the cloud cases (29 of 110) showed higher organic mass fractions either below or above cloud. Of those 29 cases, the majority (25) showed higher organic mass fraction below cloud base where the cloud processing signature is presumably more evident as compared to above cloud. These results are consistent with the few past studies analyzing droplet residuals pointing to higher organic enrichment than in adjacent cloud-free areas. The data findings are important as other datasets (e.g., reanalysis) suggest that sulfate is both more abundant than organics (in contrast to this work) and more closely related to drop number concentrations in the winter when aerosol–cloud interactions are strongest. Here we show that organics are more abundant than sulfate in the droplet residuals and that aerosol interaction with clouds potentially decreases particle hygroscopicity due to the increase in organic:sulfate ratio for droplet residuals relative to surrounding cloud-free air. These results are important in light of the growing importance of organics over the northwestern Atlantic in recent decades relative to sulfate owing to the success of regulatory activity over the eastern United States to cut sulfur dioxide emissions.

Rare earth elements and yttrium in suspension-feeding bivalves (dog cockle, Glycymeris glycymeris L.): Accumulation, vital effects and pollution

Rare earth element (REE) and Y (REY) concentrations were determined in soft tissues and shells prepared from 9 to 93 years old dog cockles sampled alive from a marine site in NW Brittany, France. The concentrations shown by the different soft tissues and shells are extremely variable ranging from 9·10−5 to 10−1 × PAAS. The mantle is the organ with the highest concentrations, while the feet, the adductor muscles and the digestive glands display the lowest ones. Relative to the masses of the different organs, we show that the shell concentrates >85% of the REY contained in an animal, and the mantle, which represents less than 0.5% of the total animal mass (on a dry basis), contains 10% of the total REY. Organs accumulate REY throughout the life of the animal. REY concentrations in soft tissues increase by more than one order of magnitude in 90 years. The shells mirror the REY abundances of the mantle but are slightly less light-REE enriched than the latter. Furthermore, shells as well as feet and adductor muscles show a striking correlation between animal age and Ce/Ce* ratios. Ce/Ce* ratios evolve from 0.8 for animals aged ∼10 years to 1 for the oldest, with most of the variation during the first 25 years, indicating that Ce also accompanies biochemical reactions probably related to the growth or maturity of the animals.Soft tissues also show extremely variable positive Gd anomalies (Gd/Gd*= 1.04–1.94) which indicate environmental pollution by Gd based contrast agents (GBCA) used in medical imaging. Anomalies tend to be more important for organs poor in REY (like muscles and digestive glands). Low excesses of Gd, on the order of 1–3 ng/g (on a dry basis), account for these anomalies. There is no correlation between the age of the animals and the amount of anthropogenic Gd or Gd/Gd* ratios suggesting that GBCAs do not accumulate in the bivalve body on a long-term basis.

Effects of Atmospheric Aging Processes on Nascent Sea Spray Aerosol Physicochemical Properties.

The effects of atmospheric aging on single-particle nascent sea spray aerosol (nSSA) physicochemical properties, such as morphology, composition, phase state, and water uptake, are important to understanding their impacts on the Earth's climate. The present study investigates these properties by focusing on the aged SSA (size range of 0.1-0.6 μm) and comparing with a similar size range nSSA, both generated at a peak of a phytoplankton bloom during a mesocosm study. The aged SSAs were generated by exposing nSSA to OH radicals with exposures equivalent to 4-5 days of atmospheric aging. Complementary filter-based thermal optical analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and AFM photothermal infrared spectroscopy were utilized. Both nSSA and aged SSA showed an increase in the organic mass fraction with decreasing particle sizes. In addition, aging results in a further increase of the organic mass fraction, which can be attributed to new particle formation and oxidation of volatile organic compounds followed by condensation on pre-existing particles. The results are consistent with single-particle measurements that showed a relative increase in the abundance of aged SSA core-shells with significantly higher organic coating thickness, relative to nSSA. Increased hygroscopicity was observed for aged SSA core-shells, which had more oxygenated organic species. Rounded nSSA and aged SSA had similar hygroscopicity and no apparent changes in the composition. The observed changes in aged SSA physicochemical properties showed a significant size-dependence and particle-to-particle variability. Overall, results showed that the atmospheric aging can significantly influence the nSSA physicochemical properties, thus altering the SSA effects on the climate.