A high-flow (10 L/min) nanoparticle respiratory deposition (NRD) sampler was designed and evaluated to facilitate lower limits of quantification (LOQ) for metal nanoparticles than a low-flow (2.5 L/min) version. The high-flow NRD consists of an inlet, impactor stage, diffusion stage, and a final filter. For the impactor stage, three nozzle sections each containing 12 nozzles were designed from theory to achieve a cut-off diameter (d50) of 300 nm. Various depths of 37-mm-diameter foam cylinders were tested for the diffusion stage to obtain a collection efficiency curve similar to the deposition of nanoparticles in the human respiratory tract, the nanoparticulate matter (NPM) criterion. The objective for the final filter was a collection efficiency of near 100% with minimal pressure drop. The collection efficiencies by size and pressure drop were measured for all components. The impactor stage with one of the nozzle plates had a d50 of 305 nm. The collection efficiency for the foam with a depth of 7 cm adjusted for presence of the impactor was the closest match to the NPM curve with a R2 value of 0.96. Chemical analysis of the metal content for foam media affirmed that the high-flow NRD would require less sampling time to meet LOQs than the 2.5 L/min NRD. The final filter with a modified support pad had a collection efficiency near 100%. The overall pressure drop of the sampler 4.4 kPa (17.5 in. H2O) limits its ability to operate with available belt-mounted personal sampling pumps, although modifications to the sampler design could eliminate this constraint.

Steel industry is a highly polluted industry and one of the most important stationary sources in Kaohsiung City. The steel manufacturing process could emit a huge amount of particles, such as the sintering process, the blast furnace operation, and the raw material handling process. Suspended particles emitted from steel industry could deteriorate ambient air quality and cause adverse effects on human health. In order to understand the impact of steel industry on ambient air quality in Siaogang District and to identify potential pollution sources, this study selected a integrated steel manufacturing plant located at Siaogang District to conduct a sampling protocol of suspended particulate matter (PM) at ambient sites (A1~A5) and sensitive sites (S1~S5) from July 2011 to March 2012. The size distribution of suspended particles in four seasons was measured with PM10 high-volume samplers, dichotomous samplers, and MOUDI for 3 days (24 hours for single sampling), and dustfall samplers for one month, to investigate the spatial distribution and temporal variation of PM concentration. After sampling, the physicochemical properties of PM, including mass concentration, particle size distribution, dustfall concentration, water-soluble ionic species, metallic elements, and carbonaceous contents, were further analyzed. Field measurement of ambient PM showed that the averaged ambient PM10 concentration (53.54 - 203.56 £gg/m3) were higher than sensitive sites (55.06 - 140.07 £gg/m3) and the averaged ambient PM2.5 concentration of ambient (23.10 - 120.21£gg/m3) were higher than sensitive sites (12.52 - 65.62 £gg/m3). No matter ambient or sensitive sites, it showed a tendency of lower concentration in summer, indicating that concentration variation of PM10 and PM2.5 were highly affected by meteorological factors (such as wind direction, wind speed, and relative humidity) in Siaogang District. Furthermore, a t-test result showed that ambient and sensitive sites have similar pollution sources since the p-values were in significantly different. Chemical analysis of PM results showed that the most abundant water-soluble ionic species of PM at the ambient and sensitive sites were secondary inorganic aerosols (SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+) and [NO3-]/[SO42-] showed that ionic species were mainly emitted from stationary sources. Fe, Al, K and Ca were the major metallic elements of this study, and the major pollution sources contain industries, traffics, and road dusts. Additionally, the raw material handling process was the major pollution source of PM. Correlation analysis of OC and EC showed that PM at ambient and sensitive sites were originated from primary sources, such as vehicles, industries, road dusts, and human activities. Results obtained from PCA and CMB receptor modeling showed that both PM2.5 and PM10 highly correlated with wind direction in different season and the major pollution sources were industry pollution (including petroleum refineries, power plants, waste incinerators, consistent operating steel mills and electric arc furnace steel mills, etc.), followed by local traffics and derivative. Furthermore, marine aerosols were one of the important pollution sources at sensitive sites (S1, S4, and S5) where close to the ocean.

This study investigated the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere at the surrounding area of an oil storage and pumping station from March to June, 2001. The influence of operation condition of storage and pumping station as well as meteorological factors on the distribution of VOCs was also investigated. In this study, a sampling network including six sites around the boundary of the oil storage and pumping station and one site at a nearby village was established for the sampling of VOCs near ground level. Air samples were collected by a carbontrap 300 multi-bed stainless steel sampling tube and were desorbed by a thermal desorption unit (TDU). The desorbed VOCs samples were then analyzed by a gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID). In addition, hydrocarbons (both methane and non-methane hydrocarbons) and meteorological condition including wind speed and wind direction were detected automatically in order to correlate with the concentration of VOCs. Results from field measurement indicated that up to twelve VOCs were detected in the atmosphere, which quite consisted with the composition of stored oil including petroleum crude oil, aviation turbine fuel, 95 unleaded gasoline, and naphtha. Major VOCs observed at the surrounding area of the oil storage and pumping station were benzene and toluene, however, in most cases high boil-point organic compounds were also detected. It suggested that the nearby village could not be solely affected by VOCs emitted from oil storage tanks but also from other local sources such as steel plating plants. Furthermore, meteorological condition played an important role on the dispersion of fugitive VOCs at the surrounding area. For instance, the concentration of VOCs at the downwind sites were generally higher than that at the upwind sites while northern and northwestern winds blew in late Spring. Besides, toluene to benzene concentration ratios (T/B) ranged from 1.5 to 2.1 during the southwestern wind period in Summer, which were higher than those (T/B£1.5) during the northern and northwestern wind periods in late Spring. It suggested that the nearby village as a sensitive location could be much more easily affected by local traffics than the oil storage and pumping station during the summer time since T/B ratios were approximately 2.0 in the tail gas exhausted from automobiles. From the viewpoint of health risk assessment, the location with highest potential risk at the surrounding area of the oil storage and pumping station was the floating oil tank zone which required better operation strategies of the oil storage and pumping station for the protection of ambient air quality.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Geomatics, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-134)

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Notre Dame, 2005. / Thesis directed by Ke-Hai Yuan for the Department of Psychology. "October 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-63).

The Gulf of Finland is the most eutrophied water body in the Baltic Sea, which is mainly caused by nutrient loads produced by human activities in its surrounding cities. In order to solve this environmental problem, a computational model based on the understanding the relations between eutrophication, water quality and sediments is needed to forecast the water quality variance in response to the natural and anthropogenic influences. A precise water quality model can be useful to assist the policy making in the Gulf of Finland, and even for the whole Baltic Sea. Kiirikki model, as one of these models describing the water quality of Baltic Sea in response of water quality variance, is a sediment and ecosystem based model, treating different sub-basins and layers as boxes. This study aims to assess the parameters’ sensitivity level on the scale of the Gulf of Finland. Firstly, the Morris sampling strategy is applied to generate economic OAT (One factor At a Time) samples before screening 50 out of 100 trajectories with distance as large as possible. In order to assess their sensitivity, index and indicator are needed. EE (elementary effect) is adopted to be the assessment index and four core eutrophication indicators from HELCOM 2009a are to be analyzed. By comparing the (σ,μ) and (σ,μ*) plots of each parameters’ EE values (σ is standard deviation, μ is mean value and μ* is the absolute mean value), some parameters are identified as potential sensitive parameter, such as the minimum biomass of cyanobacteria (Cmin), critical point of CO2 flux (CCr), the optimal temperature for detritus phosphorous mineralization (Toptgamma), maximum loss rate of algae (RAmax), optimal temperature for the growth of other algae (ToptmuA), Coefficient for temperature limiting factor for the growth of cyanobacteria (aTmuC), half-saturation coefficient of radiation for cyanobacteria (KIC) and so on. In contrast, the other parameters are ruled out as having very low values in terms of σ, μ and μ*. This is because the feature of Morris sampling strategy makes it easier to achieve high variance of the outputs, resulting into generally higher σ. Therefore, further investigation with different strategies is needed after the initial screening of the non-sensitive parameters in this study.

No description available.

Este trabalho propõe o uso de microfrascos de polipropileno adaptados a um forno de microondas focalizadas como um procedimento alternativo para a preparação de amostras. O pré-tratamento de amostras em microfrascos digestores agrega algumas características importantes como aumento da freqüência analítica, pequena massa de amostra e baixo consumo de reagentes. A eficiência do sistema de digestão foi verificada com o desenvolvimento de metodologia para a determinação de cobre, ferro, manganês, selênio e zinco em cabelo por espectrometria de absorção atômica com atomização por chama ou eletrotérmica em forno de grafite. Os elementos selecionados são essenciais para os seres humanos e são indicadores nutricionais e do bom funcionamento enzimático. O sistema de digestão é constituído de um forno de microondas focalizadas e um tubo de vidro com 30 cm de comprimento e 4 cm de largura, ao qual são colocados quatro ou cinco microfrascos de polipropileno com capacidade para respectivamente 4,0 mL e 2,0 mL. Esses microfrascos foram adaptados a um suporte de Teflon® e fixado a uma haste de vidro, facilitando a introdução e retirada do interior do tubo de vidro. O sistema proposto possibilitou uma drástica redução no tempo de preparo de amostra e melhor eficiência de decomposição (menor teor de carbono residual) em comparação com os procedimentos convencionais. O sistema \"quase fechado\" associado a baixas temperaturas atingidas evitou perdas de elementos por volatilidade, além de apresentar uma ótima homogeneidade de aquecimento entre os microfrascos. A exatidão da metodologia foi verificada através de ensaios de recuperação da análise de um material de referência certificado (IAEA-086) e da análise de amostra com adição e recuperação dos analitos apresentando recuperações de 90 a 103%. / In this work the use of polypropylene vials adapted at focused m1crowaves, as alternative method for sample preparation is proposed. The sample pre-treatment in digestion vials include some desirable characteristics like increase of analytical frequency, low sample mass and low reagents consumption. To check the efficiency of the digestion system the development of a methodology for copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc determination using graphite furnace or flame atomic absorption spectrometry was performed. The selected elements are essential for human individual, nutritional indicators and required for enzymatic working. The digestion system is constituted of a focused microwave oven, a glass tube with 30 cm length and 4 cm width, where are setting four or five polypropylene vials with capacity for 4.0 mL and 2.0 mL, respectively, through a Teflon® support assisted by glass haste. The proposed system allowed a drastic reduction of sample preparation time and improved the decomposition efficiency (lower carbon residual content) comparing with conventional methods. The \"almost closed\" system associated with the low temperature avoids elements losses and improve heating homogeneity among the vials. The accuracy of the methodology was ascertained through good recoveries for a certificate reference material (IAEA-086) analysis and good recovery of spiked sample analysis, presenting recovery 90 to 103%.

Este trabalho propõe o uso de microfrascos de polipropileno adaptados a um forno de microondas focalizadas como um procedimento alternativo para a preparação de amostras. O pré-tratamento de amostras em microfrascos digestores agrega algumas características importantes como aumento da freqüência analítica, pequena massa de amostra e baixo consumo de reagentes. A eficiência do sistema de digestão foi verificada com o desenvolvimento de metodologia para a determinação de cobre, ferro, manganês, selênio e zinco em cabelo por espectrometria de absorção atômica com atomização por chama ou eletrotérmica em forno de grafite. Os elementos selecionados são essenciais para os seres humanos e são indicadores nutricionais e do bom funcionamento enzimático. O sistema de digestão é constituído de um forno de microondas focalizadas e um tubo de vidro com 30 cm de comprimento e 4 cm de largura, ao qual são colocados quatro ou cinco microfrascos de polipropileno com capacidade para respectivamente 4,0 mL e 2,0 mL. Esses microfrascos foram adaptados a um suporte de Teflon® e fixado a uma haste de vidro, facilitando a introdução e retirada do interior do tubo de vidro. O sistema proposto possibilitou uma drástica redução no tempo de preparo de amostra e melhor eficiência de decomposição (menor teor de carbono residual) em comparação com os procedimentos convencionais. O sistema \"quase fechado\" associado a baixas temperaturas atingidas evitou perdas de elementos por volatilidade, além de apresentar uma ótima homogeneidade de aquecimento entre os microfrascos. A exatidão da metodologia foi verificada através de ensaios de recuperação da análise de um material de referência certificado (IAEA-086) e da análise de amostra com adição e recuperação dos analitos apresentando recuperações de 90 a 103%. / In this work the use of polypropylene vials adapted at focused m1crowaves, as alternative method for sample preparation is proposed. The sample pre-treatment in digestion vials include some desirable characteristics like increase of analytical frequency, low sample mass and low reagents consumption. To check the efficiency of the digestion system the development of a methodology for copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc determination using graphite furnace or flame atomic absorption spectrometry was performed. The selected elements are essential for human individual, nutritional indicators and required for enzymatic working. The digestion system is constituted of a focused microwave oven, a glass tube with 30 cm length and 4 cm width, where are setting four or five polypropylene vials with capacity for 4.0 mL and 2.0 mL, respectively, through a Teflon® support assisted by glass haste. The proposed system allowed a drastic reduction of sample preparation time and improved the decomposition efficiency (lower carbon residual content) comparing with conventional methods. The \"almost closed\" system associated with the low temperature avoids elements losses and improve heating homogeneity among the vials. The accuracy of the methodology was ascertained through good recoveries for a certificate reference material (IAEA-086) analysis and good recovery of spiked sample analysis, presenting recovery 90 to 103%.