Ecological Barrier Deterioration Driven by Human Activities Poses Fatal Threats to Public Health due to Emerging Infectious Diseases

The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)and concerns about several other pandemics in the 21st century have attracted extensive global attention.These emerging infectious diseases threaten global public health and raise urgent studies on unraveling the underlying mechanisms of their transmission from animals to humans.Although numerous works have intensively discussed the cross-species and endemic barriers to the occurrence and spread of emerging infectious diseases,both types of barriers play synergistic roles in wildlife habitats.Thus far,there is still a lack of a complete understanding of viral diffusion,migration,and transmission in ecosystems from a macro perspective.In this review,we conceptualize the ecological barrier that represents the combined effects of cross-species and endemic barriers for either the natural or intermediate hosts of viruses.We comprehensively discuss the key influential factors affecting the ecological barrier against viral transmission from virus hosts in their natural habitats into human society,including transmission routes,contact probability,contact frequency,and viral characteristics.Considering the significant impacts of human activities and global industrialization on the strength of the ecological barrier,ecological barrier deterioration driven by human activities is critically analyzed for potential mechanisms.Global climate change can trigger and expand the range of emerging infectious diseases,and human disturbances promote higher contact frequency and greater transmission possibility.In addition,globalization drives more transmission routes and produces new high-risk regions in city areas.This review aims to provide a new concept for and comprehensive evidence of the ecological barrier blocking the transmission and spread of emerging infectious diseases.It also offers new insights into potential strategies to protect the ecological barrier and reduce the wide-ranging risks of emerging infectious diseases to public health.

Synergistic promotion of particulate matter reduction and production performance via adjusting electrochemical reactions in the zinc electrolysis industry

Heavy particulate matter (PM) pollution and high energy consumption are the bottlenecks of hydrometallurgy, especially in the electrolysis process. Therefore, an urgent need is to explore PM reduction methods with production performance co-benefits. This study presents three PM reduction methods based on controlling operating parameters, i.e., lowering electrolyte temperature, H2SO4 concentration, and current density of the cathode. The optimized conditions were also investigated using the response surface methodology to balance the PM reduction effect and Zn production. The results showed that lowering electrolyte temperature is the most efficient, with an 89.0% reduction in the PM generation flux (GFPM). Reducing H2SO4 concentration led to the minimum side effects on the current efficiency of Zn deposition (CEZn) or power consumption (PC). With the premise of non-deteriorating CEZn and PC, GFPM can be reduced by 86.3% at the optimal condition (electrolyte temperature = 295 K, H2SO4 = 110 g/L, current density = 373 A/m^(2)). In addition, the reduction mechanism was elucidated by comprehensively analyzing bubble characteristics, electrochemical reactions, and surface tension. Results showed that lower electrolyte temperature inhibited the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and compressed gas volume. Lower H2SO4 concentration inhibited the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and reduced electrolyte surface tension. Lower current density inhibited both OER and HER by decreasing the reaction current. The inhibited gas evolutions reduced the microbubbles’ number and size, thereby reducing GFPM. These results may provide energy-efficient PM reduction methods and theoretical hints of exploring cleaner PM reduction approaches for industrial electrolysis.

大气“霾化学”:概念提出和研究展望

大气污染是人类面临的重大环境挑战。我国大气污染具有高度的复合污染特征,其形成过程既有高强度的颗粒物均相成核现象,又有多介质非均相致霾过程,同时耦合了强的大气氧化性以及O3污染,是不同于洛杉矶光化学烟雾和伦敦烟雾的新型“霾化学”烟雾污染。“霾化学”区别于并突破现有的理论认识,是解析我国典型多介质复合污染环境下PM2.5成因以及PM2.5与O3污染间非线性复杂关系,综合研究气、液、固多介质非均相过程的大气污染化学。研究“霾化学”过程对精准控制我国乃至其他国家大气复合污染意义重大。本文提出和总结了大气“霾化学”概念,并对“霾化学”理论的完善和发展进行了展望。

A spectrometer for measuring particle size distributions in the range of 3 nm to 10 μm

A spectrometer combining electrical mobility sizing and aerodynamic sizing was developed to measure aerosol size distributions in the range of 3 nm to 10 μm. It includes three instruments which cover different size ranges （a nano scanning mobility particle sizer （NSMPS, 3 - 60 nm）, a regular scanning mobility particle sizer （RSMPS, 40 - 700nm）, and an aerodynamic particle sizer （APS, 550nm- 10 μm））. High voltage and sheath flow of the NSMPS and RSMPS were supplied using two home-built control boxes. A LabVIEW program was developed for spectrometer automatic operation. A linear inversion method was applied to correct particle multiple charging effects and to integrate data from the three instruments into a wide-range size distribution. Experi- ments were conducted to compare distributions in the overlap size ranges measured by three instruments. Good agreement between the NSMPS and RSMPS was achieved after correcting for the difference in counting efficiencies of the two particle counters. Aerodynamic size distribu- tions reported by the APS were converted to mobility size distributions by applying an effective density method. Distributions measured by the RSMPS and APS were consistent in the overlap size range of 550 - 700 nm. A full spectrum in the size range of 3nm to 10~tm was demonstrated by measuring aerosol generated using a mixture of different sized polystyrene latex spheres.

Hygroscopicity of particles generated from photooxidation of α-pinene under diferent oxidation conditions in the presence of sulfate seed aerosols

Smog chamber experiments were conducted to investigate the hygroscopicity of particles generated from photooxidation of α-pinene/NOx with different sulfate seed aerosols or oxidation conditions. Hygroscopicity of particles was measured by a tandem differential mobility analyzer （TDMA） in terms of hygroscopic growth factor （Gf）, with a relative humidity of 85%. With sulfate seed aerosols present, Gf of the aerosols decreased very fast before notable secondary organic aerosols （SOA） formation was observed, indicating a heterogeneous process between inorganic seeds and organic products might take place as soon as oxidation begins, rather than only happening after gas-aerosol partition of organic products starts. The final SOA-coated sulfate particles had similar or lower Gf than seed-free SOA. The hygroscopicity of the final particles was not dependent on the thickness but on the hygroscopicity properties of the SOA, which were influenced by the initial sulfate seed particles. In the two designed aging processes, Gf of the particles increased more significantly with introduction of OH radical than with ozone. However, the hygroscopicity of SOA was very low even after a long time of aging, implying that either SOA aging in the chamber was very slow or the Gf of SOA did not change significantly in aging. Using an aerosol composition speciation monitor （ACSM） and matrix factorization （PMF） method, two factors for the components of SOA were identified, but the correlation between SOA hygroscopicity and the proportion of the more highly oxidized factor could be either positive or negative depending on the speciation of seed aerosols present.

Continuous and comprehensive atmospheric observations in Beijing:a station to understand the complex urban atmospheric environment

Due to profound impact on climate and human health,air quality has attracted attention from all levels of the civil society.The key step in the provision of required tools for the society to tackle the complex air quality problem is to characterize it in a comprehensive manner with a long-term perspective.Here,we describe a continuous and comprehensive observation station and its accompanying state-ofthe-art instrumentation that was established to investigate the complex urban atmospheric environment in a rapidly developing Chinese Megacity.The station,located in downtown Beijing,aims to study air quality by identifying the major atmospheric pollutants and key processes determining their formation and loss mechanisms.A few hundreds of parameters are continuously measured with the state-of-the-art instruments,including trace gas concentrations,aerosol particle size distributions,and mass concentrations,covering aerosol particle chemical composition from molecules to micrometer-sized aerosol particles.This produced long-term,comprehensive big data with around 1�10^(11)bytes per year.In this paper,we provide an overview on the facilities of the station,the instrumentation used,the workflow of continuous observations and examples of results from 2018 to 2019 and a basis for establishing a modern long-term,comprehensive atmospheric urban observation station in other megacities.

Suggestion on further strengthening ultra-low emission standards for PM emission from coal-fired power plants in China

China has established the largest clean coal-fired power generation system in the world by accomplishing the technological transformation of coal-fired power plants(CFPPs)to achieve ultra-low emission.The potential for further particulate matter(PM)emission reduction to achieve near-zero emission for CFPPs has become a hotspot issue.In this study,PM emission from some ultra-low emission CFPPs adopting advanced air pollutant control technologies in China was reviewed.The results revealed that the average filterable particulate matter(FPM)concentration,measured as the total particulate matter(TPM)according to the current national monitoring standard,was(1.67±0.86)mg/m^(3),which could fully achieve the ultra-low emission standard for key regions(5 mg/m^(3)),but that achieving the near-zero emission standard was difficult(1 mg/m^(3)).However,the condensable particulate matter(CPM),with an average concentration of(1.06±1.28)mg/m^(3),was generally ignored during monitoring,which led to about 38.7%underestimation of the TPM.Even considering both FPM and CPM,the TPM emission from current CFPPs would contribute to less than 5%of atmospheric PM_(2.5) concentrations in the key cities and regions in China.Therefore,further reduction in FPM emission proposed by the near-zero emission plan of CFPPs may have less environmental benefit than emission control of other anthropogenic sources.However,it is suggested that the management of CPM emission should be strengthened,and a national standard for CPM emission monitoring based on the indirect dilution method should be established for CFPPs.Those measurements are helpful for optimal operation of air pollutant control devices and continuously promoting further emission reduction.

Bioaerosol: A Key Vessel between Environment and Health

Airborne transmission of infectious diseases has become a topic of intense debate since the outbreak of COVID-19.This special issue entitled“Bioaerosol,Environment and Health”is organized in an effort to develop a better understanding of the roles bioaerosols play between environment and health.Bioaerosols are generally described as airborne microorganisms with fragments and particulate matter of biological origin such as virus,bacteria,and fungal spores.These small biological particles can affect human health by causing infectious diseases,acute toxic reactions,and allergies.

Six-day measurement of size-resolved indoor fluorescent bioaerosols of outdoor origin in an office

Indoor airborne bioaerosols of outdoor origin play an important role in determining the exposure of humans to bioaerosols because people spend most of their time indoors. However, there are few studies focusing on indoor bioaerosols originating from outdoors. In this study, indoor versus outdoor size-resolved concentrations and particle asymmetry factors of airborne fluorescent bioaerosols in an office room were measured continuously for 6 days （144 h） using a fluorescent bioaerosol detector. The windows and door of this room were closed to ensure that there was only air infiltration; moreover, any human activities were ceased during sampling to inhibit effects of indoor sources. We focused on fine particles, since few coarse particles enter indoor environments, when windows and doors are closed. Both indoor and outdoor fluorescent bioaerosol size distributions were fit with two-mode lognormal distributions （indoor R2 = 0.935, outdoor R2 = 0.938）. Asymmetry factor distributions were also fit with lognormal distributions （indoor R2 = 0.992, outdoor R2 = 0.992）. Correlations between indoor and outdoor fluorescent bioaerosol concentrations show significant concentration-attenuation and a time lag during the study period. A two-parameter, semi-empirical model was used to predict concentrations of indoor fluorescent bioaerosols of outdoor origin. The measured and predicted concentrations had a linear relationship for the studied size fractions, with an R2 for all size fractions of larger than 0.83.

Chemical characteristics and sources of water-soluble organic aerosol in southwest suburb of Beijing

PM2.5 filter sampling and components measurement were conducted in autumn and winter from 2014 to 2015 at a suburban site(referred herein as "LLH site") located in the southwest of Beijing.The offline aerosol mass spectrometry(offline-AMS) analysis and positive matrix factorization(PMF) were applied for measurement and source apportionment of watersoluble organic aerosol(WSOA).Organic aerosol(OA) always dominated PM2.5 during the sampling period,especially in winter.WSOA pollution was serious during the polluted period both in autumn(31.1 μg/m3) and winter(31.9 μg/m3),while WSOA accounted for 54.4%of OA during the polluted period in autumn,much more than that(21.3%) in winter.The oxidation degree of WSOA at LLH site was at a high level(oxygen-to-carbon ratio,O/C=0.91)and secondary organic aerosol(SOA) contributed more mass ratio of WSOA than primary organic aerosol(POA) during the whole observation period.In winter,coal combustion OA(CCOA) was a stable source of OA and on average accounted for 25.1% of WSOA.In autumn,biomass burning OA(BBOA) from household combustion contributed 38.3% of WSOA during polluted period.In addition to oxygenated OA(OOA),aqueous-oxygenated OA(aq-OOA) was identified as an important factor of SOA.During heavy pollution period,the mass proportion of aq-OOA to WSOA increased significantly,implying the significant SOA formation through aqueous-phase process.The result of this study highlights the concentration on controlling the residential coal and biomass burning,as well as the research needs on aqueous chemistry in OA formation.

Measurement of atmospheric nanoparticles:Bridging the gap between gas-phase molecules and larger particles

Atmospheric nanoparticles are crucial components contributing to fine particulate matter(PM_(2.5)),and therefore have significant effects on visibility,climate,and human health.Due to the unique role of atmospheric nanoparticles during the evolution process from gas-phase molecules to larger particles,a number of sophisticated experimental techniques have been developed and employed for online monitoring and characterization of the physical and chemical properties of atmospheric nanoparticles,helping us to better understand the formation and growth of new particles.In this paper,we firstly review these state-of-the-art techniques for investigating the formation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles(e.g.,the gas-phase precursor species,molecular clusters,physicochemical properties,and chemical composition).Secondly,we present findings from recent field studies on the formation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles,utilizing several advanced techniques.Further-more,perspectives are proposed for technique development and improvements in measuring atmospheric nanoparticles.

Back to Science in Searching for SARS-CoV-2 Origins

In recent decades,emerging and re-emerging human-infecting pathogens have been represented as huge threats to public health and have become a global concern(1).After outbreaks of two coronaviruses(CoVs),severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus(SARS-CoV)and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV),severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)became the first-known pandemic hastening CoV with tremendous wrecking to the world(2).The origin tracing of these emerging pathogens is of great significance in infectious disease prevention and control(3–4).The origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive after the more than 3-year pandemic,though scientists around the world are making great efforts.From the experience of studying many other infectious pathogens,origin tracing is systematic and time-consuming work.The supposed origins of many infectious pathogens are still in debate,including SARS-CoV and human immunodeficiency virus,etc(5).

An optimized two-step derivatization method for analyzing diethylene glycol ozonation products using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry

The ozonation of hydroxyl compounds （e.g., sugars and alcohols） gives a broad range of products such as alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic adds. This study developed and optimized a two-step derivatization procedure for analyzing polar products of aldehydes and carboxylic acids from the ozonation of diethylene glycol （DEG） in a non-aqueous environment using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Experiments based on Central Composite Design with response surface methodology were carried out to evaluate the effects of derivatization variables and their interactions on the analysis. The most desirable derivati- zation conditions were reported, i.e., oximation was performed at room temperature overnight with the o-（2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl） hydroxyl amine to analyte molar ratio of 6, silylation reaction temperature of 70℃, reaction duration of 70 min, and N,O-bis（trimethylsilyl）- trifluoroacetamide volume of 12.5 μL. The applicability of this optimized procedure was verified by analyzing DEG ozonation products in an ultrafine condensation particle counter simulation system.