高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱联用测定生物样品中的有机汞

建立了酸提取-高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱联用技术(HPLC-ICP-MS)测定生物样品中甲基汞、乙基汞、苯基汞等3种有机汞的分析方法。鱼肉和贝类样品经盐酸消解,苯萃取,硫代硫酸钠溶液反萃取后,采用醋酸铵/L-半胱氨酸缓冲盐及甲醇体系组成的流动相按一定比例进行梯度洗脱,经前处理的生物样品在液相色谱中经C18柱分离后,进入电感耦合等离子体质谱检测其甲基汞、乙基汞和苯基汞的浓度。3种有机汞化合物均在0.50~50.0μg/L范围内呈现良好的线性关系,线性相关系数(r)均大于0.9998。方法检出限为0.010~0.038mg/kg;3种有机汞样品加标的RSD均小于12.2%;两个水平的加标回收率在50.8~129%。     

捕集阱顶空-气相色谱/质谱法检测地表水中25种挥发性有机物

建立了捕集阱顶空-气相色谱/质谱法检测地表水中25种挥发性有机物的分析方法。采用正交实验设计对捕集阱顶空条件进行了优化,该方法相关系数0.995,加标回收率为90%~110%,方法检出限为0.08~0.39μg/L,相对标准偏差(n=7)为0.7%~4.8%,仪器检出限低于0.04μg/L。方法准确度和灵敏度较好,可以满足对地表水中25种挥发性有机物的检测要求。     

Heavy metal bioaccumulation in selected medicinal plants collected from Khetri copper mines and comparison with those collected from fertile soil in Haridwar,India

Heavy metal distribution in medicinal plants is gaining importance not only as an alternative medicine, but also for possible concern due to effects of metal toxicity. The present study has been focused on emphasizing the heavy metal status and bioaccumulation factors of V, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Se (essential metals) and Cr, Ni, Cd, As and Pb (potentially toxic metals) in medicinal plants grown under two different environmental conditions e.g., near to Khetri copper mine and those in fertile soils of Haridwar, both in India, using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (relative method) and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The copper levels in the medicinal plants from Khetri were found to be 3-4 folds higher (31.6–76.5 mg kg^?1) than those from Haridwar samples (7.40–15.3 mg kg^?1), which is correlated with very high copper levels (763 mg kg^?1) in Khetri soil. Among various heavy metals, Cr (2.60–5.92 mg kg^?1), Cd (1.47–2.97 mg kg^?1) and Pb (3.97–6.63 mg kg^?1) are also higher in concentration in the medicinal plants from Khetri. The essential metals like Mn (36.4–69.3 mg kg^?1), Fe (192–601 mg kg^?1), Zn (24.9–49.9 mg kg^?1) and Se (0.13–0.91 mg kg^?1) and potentially toxic metals like Ni (3.09–9.01 mg kg^?1) and As (0.41–2.09 mg kg^?1) did not show much variations in concentration in the medicinal plants from both Khetri and Haridwar. The medicinal plants from Khetri, e.g., Ocimum sanctum, Cassia fistula, Withania somnifera and Azadirachta Indica were found rich in Ca and Mg contents while Aloe barbadensis showed moderately high Ca and Mg. Higher levels of Ca-Mg were found to correlate with Zn (except Azadirachta Indica). The bioaccumulation factors (BAFS) of the heavy metals were estimated to understand the soil-to-plant transfer pattern of the heavy metals. Significantly lower BAF values of Cu and Cr were found in the medicinal plants from Khetri, indicating majority fraction of these metals are precipitated and were immobilized species unsuitable for plant uptake. Overall, Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) showed very high metal bioaccumulation.     

改进测定水中氨氮分子吸收光谱法的试验研究

水中氨氮含量是反应水质状况的重要指标。文章对测定水中氨氮气相分子吸收光谱法(标准号HJ/T195-2005)进行了改进试验研究。第一,对氧化剂的配比进行了改进,使氨氮的测定范围扩展至100μg。第二,对标准HJ/T195-2005中直接使用亚硝酸钠标准溶液做标准曲线的处理方式也做了探讨。通过一系列对比实验认为,应用硫酸铵标准溶液做工作曲线更加准确合理。最后应用改进后的气相分子吸收光谱法和纳氏比色法或滴定法对多种实际废水样品进行同时测定。结果表明,改进后的气相分子吸收光谱法测定氨氮的范围更宽,灵敏度更高和准确度更好。     

Driving performance while using cell phones: an observational study

INTRODUCTION: Through spontaneous driving observations, this study sought to examine the impact of using a hands-free cell phone while driving on speed and safe gap keeping behaviors. The study also examined the association between the measure of disturbance created by using a cell phone and the driver's awareness of the disturbance. METHOD: Twenty-three male adults were observed while driving for an hour and a half each; drivers were unaware of being observed. During the session, each of the participants received a phone call, initiated by an associate of the observer. The experiment was divided into two periods during which the experimental parameters were monitored: 10 minutes during conversation on a cell phone and 10 minutes of non-conversation on a hands-free cell phone. After the experiment, the driver was questioned concerning the extent to which his/her driving was disturbed by the cell phone conversation. RESULTS: T-test for matched samples revealed that the gaps between the drivers' cars and those in front of them diminished when drivers were engaged in the cell phone conversations. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that drivers that had short conversations did not change their speed, while drivers who were engaged in long (over 16 minutes) conversations drove faster. No effect of drivers' awareness toward cell phone-related disturbance on actual driving behavior monitored in the present study was found.     

Study of metabolites from the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by bacterial consortium enriched from mangrove sediments

The PAH metabolites produced during degradation of fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene by a bacterial consortium enriched from mangrove sediments were analyzed using the on-fiber silylation solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combining with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method. Seventeen metabolites at trace levels were identified in different PAH degradation cultures based on the full scan mass spectra. In fluorene degradation cultures, 1-, 2-, 3- and 9-hydroxyfluorene, fluorenone, and phthalic acid were detected. In phenanthrene and pyrene degradation cultures, various common metabolites such as phenanthrene and pyrene dihydrodiols, mono-hydroxy phenanthrene, dihydroxy pyrene, lactone and 4-hydroxyphenanthrene, methyl ester, and phthalic acid were found. The detection of various common and novel metabolites demonstrates that SPME combining with GC–MS is a quick and convenient method for identification as well as monitoring the real time changes of metabolite concentrations throughout the degradation processes. The knowledge of PAH metabolic pathways and kinetics within indigenous bacterial consortium enriched from mangrove sediments contributes to enhance the bioremediation efficiency of PAH in real environment.     

TA-FTIR/MS用于硝酸铵及其混合物的热化学行为研究

为评价物料混合对危险化学品热化学行为的影响,采用热分析-红外/质谱联用技术(TA-FTIR/MS)研究硝酸铵、柠檬酸和蔗糖的混合物的热化学行为。通过对硝酸铵及其混合物的分解温度和分解过程中逸出气体的分析,发现硝酸铵、柠檬酸和蔗糖的混合物热分解温度分别降低至135℃和153℃,而硝酸铵与甲基纤维素的混合物分解温度与硝酸铵基本相同为201℃,且各混合体系的气相分解产物均有氮氧化物(NOX),H2O和CO2。结果表明,混合物受热后其中的硝酸铵首先分解为硝酸和氨气;酸性物质和还原性物质由于对硝酸的分解反应有催化作用,使得混合物的热稳定性下降。     

Nature apps: Waiting for the revolution

Apps are small task-orientated programs with the potential to integrate the computational and sensing capacities of smartphones with the power of cloud computing, social networking, and crowdsourcing. They have the potential to transform how humans interact with nature, cause a step change in the quantity and resolution of biodiversity data, democratize access to environmental knowledge, and reinvigorate ways of enjoying nature. To assess the extent to which this potential is being exploited in relation to nature, we conducted an automated search of the Google Play Store using 96 nature-related terms. This returned data on ~36 304 apps, of which ~6301 were nature-themed. We found that few of these fully exploit the full range of capabilities inherent in the technology and/or have successfully captured the public imagination. Such breakthroughs will only be achieved by increasing the frequency and quality of collaboration between environmental scientists, information engineers, computer scientists, and interested publics.     

Associations of trace elements in aerosol at the south Adriatic coast

We applied statistical methods to the data of a 5-year sampling period to characterize the features of trace elements in airborne particulate matter at the South Adriatic Coast. The analysis of surface soil samples was also performed. The data were processed by cluster analysis, enrichment factor determination and receptor rose statistics. It is shown that the principal element association consists of Fe, Mn and Ti originating from surface material resuspension. Hg and Se were shown to originate from more complex natural and anthropogenic processes. A strong emission source of Cd and Se was identified in the SSE direction.Selected article from the Regional Symposium on Chemistry and Environment Krusevac, Serbia, June 2003, organized by Dr. Branimir Jovancicevic.     

Bayesian analysis under ordered functions of parameters

Ordered parameter problems arise in a wide variety of real world situations and are dealt with extensively in the literature. Traditional frequentist methods for dealing with these problems are rather complicated theoretically, especially when sample sizes are small. Bayesian methods are not widely used because high dimensional numerical integration is often required. However, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods provide alternatives to such numerical integration and also deal with ordered parameter problems in a straightforward manner. Little is known about the situation where functions of parameters are ordered. Such problems may seem to be of little practical concern initially, but one can readily see their importance in situations where ordering is placed on the means and variances of several normal or Gamma populations. For the Gamma distribution we will present real examples where we will analyze monthly precipitation data from San Francisco, California and Oakland Mills, Iowa. For the San Francisco data we will simultaneously order both monthly precipitation means and variances. For the Iowa data we will place ordering on seasonal average while still estimating monthly means. Our results show that we would obtain sharper, more accurate inference when order restrictions are employed.