"Healthy" eye in office-like environments

Eye irritation symptoms, e.g. dry eyes, are common and abundant symptoms reported in office-like environments, e.g. aircraft cabins. To improve the understanding of indoor related eye symptomatology, relevant knowledge from the ophthalmological and indoor environmental science literature has been merged. A number of environmental (relative humidity, temperature, draft), occupational (e.g. visual display unit work), and individual (e.g. gender, use of cosmetics, and medication) risk factors have been identified, which are associated with alteration of the precorneal tear film (PTF); these factors may subsequently exacerbate development of eye irritation symptoms by desiccation. Low relative humidity including reduced atmospheric pressure further increases the water evaporation from an altered PTF; in addition, work with visual display units may destabilize the PTF by lower eye blink frequency and larger ocular surface. Results from epidemiological and clinical studies support that relative humidity >40% is beneficial for the PTF. Only few pollutants reach high enough indoor concentrations to cause sensory irritation of the eyes, while an altered PTF may exacerbate their sensory effect. Sustained low relative humidity causes impairment of the PTF, while its stability, including work performance, is retained by low gaze and intermittent breaks.     

The costs of secondary sexual characters in the lekking great snipe (Gallinago media)

Summary Recent studies of the lekking great snipe (Gallinago media) have shown that male mating success increases with display rate and the amount of white on the tail. An obvious question then arises: what is setting the limits to male display rate and to the evolution of even whiter tails? In this study the costs of these two traits are considered. In the case of the white on the tail, almost no predation was observed during the display period. However, predation on the winter grounds and/or during migration cannot be ruled out. Males differed in the amount of white on the tail between years. It is suggested that increasing the amount of white is costly, though the reason for this is still unknown. In the case of display rate, it is shown that predation cannot be a considerable cost, again because of the near absence of predation on the leks. Instead, it is shown that male displays are energetically costly. The daily energy expenditure of displaying males was estimated to be on average 4 times the basal metabolic rate, which is close to the supposed maximum sustainable work load for birds. Furthermore, males lost on average 1.8 g per h (1.7% of the body mass) which is about 7.2 g (6.8%) during a night of display activity. Males do gain some weight during the day when no displays are performed but loose on average 9 g during an 11-day period in the early part of the breeding season. These results indicate that high energetic demands set the limits to male display performance and that males do not have to trade off the benefit of attracting females by their displays against a cost of attracting predators. Offprint requests to: J. Höglund     

OH-initiated oxidation of DMS/DMSO: reaction products at high NOx levels

Dimethylsulphide (DMS) gas phase oxidation with OH radicals was investigated by long path FT-IR spectroscopy and by ion chromatography (IC) and HPLC-MS2 to quantify the reaction products and evaluate heterogeneous processes. The experiments were performed considering two different NOx (NO2+NO) levels. The initial concentration of NO2 was varied from 24 ppbV (NOx=1 ppmV) to 953 ppbV (NOx=10 ppmV). Photolysis of H2O2 was used as the OH-radical source. SO2, dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), dimethylsulphone (DMSO2), methanesulphonic acid (MSA), methanesulphinic acid (MSIA) and methane sulphonyl peroxynitrate (MSPN) were identified as the main sulphur-containing products. The results indicate that higher NOx levels play a significant role in the chemistry of CH3S(O)x radical, influencing both the SO2/MSPN ratio and the amount of the sulphur species in the condensed phase, and that the NO2/NO ratio could influence the trends in the molar yields of the different products. For this reason the NOx content results a limiting parameter when on measure DMS in atmospheric environment.     

Secondary ozonides of substituted cyclohexenes: a new class of pollutants characterized by collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry using negative chemical ionization

Recent studies indicate that secondary ozonides of cyclic alkenes are formed in atmospheric reactions and may be relatively stable. The secondary ozonides (SOZs) of cyclohexene (1), 1-methylcyclohexene (2), 4-isopropyl-1-methylcyclohexene (3) and 4-isopropenyl-1-methylcyclohexene (limonene) (4) have been characterized by rapid gas chromatography electron ionization (EI), negative and positive chemical ionization (CI: ammonia, isobutane and methane) and collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectrometry. Both EI and positive CI spectra were found unsuitable for reproducible analysis. However, negative CI showed stable (M−H)⁻ ions with minor fragmentation. CID of the (M−H)⁻ ions resulted in simple and reproducible fragmentation patterns for all four SOZs with loss of m/z 18, 44 and 60, tentatively assigned as H₂O, CO₂ and C₂H₄O₂ or CO₃, respectively. Thus, negative CI-MS–MS in combination with rapid gas chromatography is the preferred method for identification of secondary ozonides of cyclohexenes.     

Comparison of airborne and terrestrial gamma spectrometry measurements - evaluation of three areas in southern Sweden

The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) has been conducting airborne gamma spectrometry measurements of natural radioactivity in Sweden for more than 40 years. Today, the database covers about 80% of the country’s land surface. This article explores the first step of putting this data into use in radioactive source search at ground level. However, in order to be able to use the airborne background measurements at ground level, SGU data must be validated against terrestrial data. In this work, we compare the SGU data with data measured by a portable backpack system. This is done for three different areas in southern Sweden. The statistical analysis shows that a linear relationship and a positive correlation exist between the air and ground data. However, this linear relationship could be revealed only when the region possessed large enough variations in areal activity. Furthermore, the activity distributions measured show good agreement to those of SGU. We conclude that the SGU database could be used for terrestrial background assessment, given that a linear transfer function is established.     

A chemical mechanism for dry deposition—the role of biogenic hydrocarbon (Terpene) emissions in the dry deposition of O3, SO2 and NOx in forest areas

Terpenes react quite rapidly with ambient ozone and lead via ozonides to highly oxidizing radicals and consecutive products forming aerosols. In the presence of SO₂ sulphur containing compounds, mainly as sulphate, are formed. By means of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and by comparison with known spectra the main products of the reaction of ß‐pinene (as a model compound) with ozone and sulphur dioxide could be identified.

Reaction of terpenes with NO₃‐radicals, which build up in the atmosphere at night‐time, leads to the formation of organic nitrates that form aerosols. The kinetics as well as the products of the reaction between NO₃‐radicals and ß‐pinene have been studied by FTIR and MS.     

Accounting for large-scale factors in the study of understory vegetation using a conditional logistic model

Local-scale and large-scale factors can affect the presence of a species of understory vegetation in the forest. Local-scale factors may be the influence of surrounding trees, while climate and latitude are typically considered large-scale factors. A model for the presence of a species needs to take into account both scales. A conditional logistic model is proposed for those studies where only the local-scale factors are of interest and that avoids estimating the large-scale parameters. Conditioning is carried out by the number of quadrats in the plot where the vegetation is found. As the latter is a sufficient statistic for the large-scale factors, a model free from these parameters is obtained. Data gathered in the permanent sample plots of the 1985–1986 National Forest Inventory of Finland is used for illustration, where the local-scale factor of interest is the influence of the trees, quantified by an index based on the size and location of the trees. The model fitted to Vaccinium vitis-idaea showed a significant and positive influence of Scots pine on the presence of this species, while for Calamagrostis arundinacea, a decrease in the odds ratio was observed due to the influence of Norway spruce.     

Unsaturated dicarbonyl products from the OH-initiated photo-oxidation of furan, 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran

This study presents the application of O-(2,3,4,5,6)-pentafluorobenzyl-hydroxylamine hydrochloride (PFBHA) on-fibre derivatisation Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) to the sampling and quantification of the unsaturated 1,4-dicarbonyl products obtained in the photo-oxidation of furan, 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran with HONO: butenedial, 4-oxo-2-pentenal and 2-methylbutenedial, respectively. The use of Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) is also considered and the advantages of the combined use of both methodologies is discussed. The 1,4 unsaturated dicarbonyl products sampled by SPME were quantified by GC-FID.The experiments were carried out in the EUPHORE outdoor simulation chambers. The results confirm that 1,4-dicarbonyls are the main products of the OH-initiated oxidation of furan and its methylated derivatives, a fact with environmental implications. Molar yields of (1.09 ± 0.41) and (0.90 ± 0.36) were obtained in two experiments of furan photo-oxidation. The yields of 4-oxo-2-pentenal and methylbutenedial were estimated to be (0.60 ± 0.24) and (0.83 ± 0.33) respectively, assuming the same SPME response factor as for butenedial. Furthermore, the unsaturated 1,4-dicarbonyls have also been identified in the chemical characterisation of the aerosols formed in the reactions. The yield of aerosols quantified were (8.5 ± 0.8)% in the photo-oxidation of furan, (1.85 ± 0.18)% in the photo-oxidation of 2-methylfuran and (5.5 ± 0.5)% in the photo-oxidation of 3-methylfuran, at the following concentrations of their precursors: 829 ± 249 ppbV and 748 ± 224 (in two furan experiments), 633 ± 190 in the 2-methylfuran and 641 ± 192 ppbV in the 3-methylfuran experiment.     

Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus distribution in particle size-fractionated separated pig and cattle slurry

Solid liquid separation of animal slurry is a method to reduce the excess nutrient loads from intensive livestock production. Five different separation technologies (sedimentation, centrifugation, pressurized filtration, polymer flocculation and drainage, and iron chloride addition + polymer flocculation and drainage) were applied to pig and cattle slurry in a laboratory study. Separation efficiencies of mass, dry matter (DM), N, and P were measured. Particle size fractionation of the solid fractions was performed by subjecting them to wet fractionation and C, organic N (N(org)), and P contents were subsequently measured. Chemical pretreatment with polymer before gravity drainage separated DM, total N, and P from raw pig and cattle slurry with the highest efficiencies. Sedimentation and centrifugation separated P from pig and cattle slurries with higher simple separation efficiencies (0.77 and 0.70, respectively) compared with pressurized filtration (0.15 and 0.37). Pressurized filtration transferred the lowest masses (14 and 18%) to the solid fractions. Solid fractions from pig slurry generally contained higher concentrations of P and C compared with cattle slurry solid fractions. The majority of C in solid fractions was present in particles > 25 microm, whereas N and P were present in larger proportions in particles < 25 microm. Chemical pretreatment increased the capture of smaller N(org)- and P-rich particles into larger particles between 25 and 1000 microm.