Exogenous Nitric Oxide Involved in Subcellular Distribution and Chemical Forms of Cu^(2+) Under Copper Stress in Tomato Seedlings

Nitric oxide（NO）,a bioactive signaling molecule,serves as an antioxidant and anti-stress agent under abiotic stress.A hydroponics experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sodium nitroprusside（SNP）,a NO donor,on tomato seedlings exposed to 50 μmol L-1CuCl 2.The results show that copper is primarily stored in the soluble cell sap fraction in the roots,especially after treatment with Cu＋SNP treatment,which accounted for 66.2% of the total copper content.The copper concentration gradually decreased from the roots to the leaves.In the leaves,exogenous NO induces the storage of excess copper in the cell walls.Copper stress decreases the proportion of copper integrated with pectates and proteins,but exogenous NO remarkably reverses this trend.The alleviating effect of NO is blocked by hemoglobin.Thus,exogenous NO is likely involved in the regulation of the subcellular copper concentrations and its chemical forms under copper stress.Although exogenous NO inhibited the absorption and transport of excess copper to some extent,the copper accumulation in tomato seedlings significantly increased under copper stress.The use of exogenous NO to enhance copper tolerance in some plants is a promising method for copper remediation.

Comparison of Two Methods in Determining the Composition Distribution of SBS Copolymers

The comparison of the determination of chemical composition distributions of butadiene-styrene copolymers, obtained by the formula method and experimental method of GPC, is given in this paper. The relative error of average composition was shown to be less than 5%. The formula method was found to be a more convenient and time-saving approach in the characterization of the copolymer composition distribution.

Size distribution of chemical elements and their source apportionment in ambient coarse, fine, and ultrafine particles in Shanghai urban summer atmosphere

Ambient coarse particles （diameter 1.8-10 μm）, fine particles （diameter 0.1-1.8 μm）, and ultrafine particles （diameter 〈 0.1 μm） in the atmosphere of the city of Shanghai were sampled during the summer of 2008 （from Aug 27 to Sep 08）. Microscopic characterization of the particles was investigated by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （SEM/EDX）. Mass concentrations of Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, and Pb in the size-resolved particles were quantified by using synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence （SRXRF）. Source apportionment of the chemical elements was analyzed by means of an enrichment factor method. Our results showed that the average mass concentrations of coarse particles, fine particles and ultrafine particles in the summer air were 9.38 ± 2.18, 8.82 ± 3.52, and 2.02 ± 0.41 μg/m3, respectively. The mass percentage of the fine particles accounted for 51.47% in the total mass of PM10, indicating that fine particles are the major component in the Shanghai ambient particles. SEM/EDX results showed that the coarse particles were dominated by minerals, fine particles by soot aggregates and fly ashes, and ultrafine particles by soot particles and unidentified particles. SRXRF results demonstrated that crustal elements were mainly distributed in the coarse particles, while heavy metals were in higher proportions in the fine particles. Source apportionment revealed that Si, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, Rb, and Sr were from crustal sources, and S, Cl, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, and Pb from anthropogenic sources. Levels of P, V, Cr, and Ni in particles might be contributed from multi-sources, and need further investigation.

Subcellular distribution and chemical form of Pb in hyperaccumulator Arenaria orbiculata and response of root exudates to Pb addition

Solution culture was conducted in order to understand accumulation characteristics and chemical forms of Pb in Arenaria orbiculata （A. orbiculata） and the response of root exudates to Pb addition. The results showed that： 1） Pb contents in the shoot and root of A. orbiculata increased with increasing in Pb concentrations in solution. 2） The contents of Pb chemical forms under Pb addition followed as： HAc extractable fraction＇（FriAC）〉 HC1 extractable fraction （FHcl）〉 NaCl extractable fraction （FNacl） 〉 ethanol-extractable fraction （FE） 〉 water extractable fraction （Fw）. 3） Increased Pb level in the medium caused increases in Pb contents in the four subcellular fractions of shoots and roots, with most accumulation in FIV （Fraction ＇IV, sbluble fraction） in shoots and FI （Fraction I, cell wall fraction） in roots. 4） Contents of soluble sugar and free amino acid of root exudates increased with increasing Pb concentration in solution. Significantly positive correlations between Pb and contents of soluble sugar and free amino acid were observed. 5） With Pb concentrations in solution, low molecular weight organic acids （LMWOAs） contents followed the tendency： tartaric acid 〉 acetic acid 〉 malic acid 〉 citric acid. Significantly positive correlation was observed between Pb and citric acid contents. The results indicate that soluble sugars, free amino acid and citric acid in root exudates of A.orbiculata facilitate the absorption and accumulation of Pb, which exist in NaCl-, HCI- and HAc- extractable Pb forms, FI and FIV fractions, resulting in tolerance of A.orbiculata to Pb.

Comparative Study of Decomposition of CCl_4 in Different Atmosphere Thermal Plasmas

Decomposition of carbon tetrachloride was studied theoretically in the most commonly used thermal plasma atmosphere such as H2, N2, O2 and water steam. A code developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration （NASA） was adopted to calculate the chemical equilibrium distribution and energy consumption of the decomposition of CC;4 in the H2, N2, O2 and water steam atmosphere thermal plasma respectively, with a temperature range of 500 K to 5000 K. In the neutral condition （H2, N2, atmosphere） formation of solid carbon was observed and in the oxygen-atmosphere （O2 and water steam） solid carbon formation disappeared through controlling the ratio of C/O. This indicates that the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） is impossible theoretically. The energy consumption in the N2 atmosphere was much higher than that in the H2, O2 and water steam atmosphere at 1500 K.

Occurrence of estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals concern in sewage plant effluent

The purpose of this study was to give a worldwide overview of the concentrations of typical estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals （EDCs） in the effluent of sewage plants and then compare the concentra- tion distribution of the estrogenic EDCs in ten countries based on the survey data of the estrogenic EDCs research. The concentrations of three main categories （totally eight kinds） of estrogenic EDCs including steroidal estrogens （estrone （El）, estradiol （E2）, estriol （E3） and 17a- ethynylestradiol （EE2））, phenolic compounds （nonylphe- nol （NP） and bisphenol A （BPA）） and phthalate esters （dibutyl phthalate （DBP） and dibutyl phthalate （2- ethylhexyl） phthalate （DEHP）） in the effluents of sewage plants reported in major international journals over the past decade were collected. The statistics showed that the concentration distributions of eight kinds of EDCs were in the range of ng·L^-1 to μg·L^-1. The concentrations of steroidal estrogens mainly ranged within 50.00 ng. L-1, and the median concentrations of El, E2, E3 and EE2 were 11.00, 3.68, 4.90 and 1.00 ng·L^-1, respectively. Phenolic compounds and phthalate esters were found at pg. L-1 level （some individual values were at the high level of 40.00 μg·L^-1）. The median concentrations of BPA, NP, DBP and DEHP were 0.06, 0.55, 0.07 and 0.88 μg·L^-1, respectively. The concentrations of phenolic compounds and phthalate esters in the effluents were higher than that of steroids estrogens. The analysis of the concentration in various ten countries showed that steroids estrogens, phenolic compounds and phthalate esters in sewage plant effluents were detected with high concentration in Canada, Spain and China, respectively.

Chemical characteristics of size-resolved aerosols in winter in Beijing

Size-resolved aerosols were continuously collected by a Nano Sampler for 13 days at an urban site in Beijing during winter 2012 to measure the chemical composition of ambient aerosol particles. Data collected by the Nano Sampler and an ACSM（Aerodyne Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor） were compared. Between the data sets,similar trends and strong correlations were observed,demonstrating the validity of the Nano Sampler. PM10 and PM2.5concentrations during the measurement were 150.5 ± 96.0 μg/m3（mean ± standard variation）and 106.9 ± 71.6 μg/m3,respectively. The PM2.5/PM10 ratio was 0.70 ± 0.10,indicating that PM2.5dominated PM10. The aerosol size distributions showed that three size bins of 0.5–1,1–2.5 and 2.5–10 μm contributed 21.8%,23.3% and 26.0% to the total mass concentration（TMC）,respectively. OM（organic matter） and SIA（secondary ionic aerosol,mainly SO42-,NO3-and NH4＋） were major components of PM2.5. Secondary compounds（SIA and secondary organic carbon） accounted for half of TMC（about 49.8%） in PM2.5,and suggested that secondary aerosols significantly contributed to the serious particulate matter pollution observed in winter. Coal burning,biomass combustion,vehicle emissions and SIA were found to be the main sources of PM2.5. Mass concentrations of water-soluble ions and undetected materials,as well as their fractions in TMC,strikingly increased with deteriorating particle pollution conditions,while OM and EC（elemental carbon） exhibited different variations,with mass concentrations slightly increasing but fractions in TMC decreasing.

Origin of strong solid solution strengthening in the CrCoNi-W medium entropy alloy

Solid solution strengthening is one of the most conventional strategies for optimizing alloys strength,while the corresponding mechanisms can be more complicated than we traditionally thought specifically as heterogeneity of microstructure is involved.In this work,by comparing the change of chemical distribution,dislocation behaviors and mechanical properties after doping equivalent amount of tungsten(W)atoms in CrCoNi alloy and pure Ni,respectively,it is found that the alloying element W in CrCoNi alloy resulted in much stronger strengthening effect due to the significant increase of heterogeneity in chemical distribution after doping trace amount of W.The large atomic scale concentration fluctuation of all elements in CrCoNi-3W causes dislocation motion via strong nanoscale segment detrapping and severe dislocation pile up which is not the case in Ni-3W.The results revealed the high sensitivity of elements distribution in multi-principle element alloys to composition and the significant consequent influence in tuning the mechanical properties,giving insight for complex alloy design.

Mixture of Oxides with Different Valence States in Nanotubes

Oxide nanotubes with different diameters and lengths were fabricated on the biomedical Ti2448 alloy by anodic oxidation in neutral electrolyte. Similar to oxide nanotubes fabricated on pure titanium and its alloys, the as-grown nanotubes on Ti2448 also exhibit gradually changing chemical distribution along the direction of tube growth. Furthermore, several kinds of oxides with different valence states （MxOy） are formed simultaneously for each alloying element M, while their volume fractions vary gradually along the tube-growth direction. The findings of this study would provide insight into the effect of valence states on the desired nanotube properties and help develop ways to enhance the properties of the preferred oxide.

Haze insights and mitigation in China: An overview

The present article provides an overview of the chemical and physical features of haze in China, focusing on the relationship between haze and atmospheric fine particles, and the formation mechanism of haze. It also summarizes several of control technologies and strategies to mitigate the occurrence of haze. The development of instruments and the analysis of measurements of ambient particles and precursor concentrations have provided important information about haze formation. Indeed, the use of new instruments has greatly facilitated current haze research in China. Examples of insightful results include the relationship between fine particles and haze, the chemical compositions and sources of particles, the impacts of the aging process on haze formation, and the application of technologies that control the formation of haze. Based on these results, two relevant issues need to be addressed： understanding the relationship between haze and fine particles and understanding how to control PM2.5.