Particulate matter sources on an hourly timescale in a rural community during the winter.

UNLABELLED: Particulate matter (PM) sources at four different monitoring sites in Alexandra, New Zealand, were investigated on an hourly timescale. Three of the sites were located on a horizontal transect, upwind, central, and downwind of the general katabatic flow pathway. The fourth monitoring site was located at the central site, but at a height of 26 m, using a knuckleboom, when wind conditions permitted. Average hourly PM10 (PM with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 microm) concentrations in Alexandra showed slightly different diurnal profiles depending on the sampling site location. Each location did, however feature a large evening peak and smaller morning peak in PM10 concentrations. The central site in Alexandra experienced the highest PM10 concentrations as a result of PM transport along a number of katabatic flow pathways. A significant difference in PM10 concentrations between the central and elevated sites indicated that a shallow inversion layer formed below the elevated site, limiting the vertical dispersion of pollutants. Four PM10 sources were identified at each of the sites: biomass combustion, vehicles, crustal matter, and marine aerosol. Biomass combustion was identified as the most significant source of PM10, contributing up to 91% of the measured PM10. Plots of the average hourly source contributions to each site revealed that biomass combustion was responsible for both the evening and morning peaks in PM10 concentrations observed at each of the sites, suggesting that Alexandra residents were relighting their fires when they rose in the morning. The identification of PM sources on an hourly timescale can have significant implications for air quality management. IMPLICATIONS: Monitoring the sources of PM10 on an hourly timescale at multiple sites within an airshed provides extremely useful information for air quality management. Sources responsible for observed peaks in measured diurnal PM10 concentration profiles can be easily identified and targeted for reduction. Also, hourly PM10 sampling can provide crucial information on the role meteorology plays in the development of elevated PM10 concentrations.

Identification of particulate matter sources on an hourly time-scale in a wood burning community.

Particulate matter (PM) sources at two different sites in a rural town in New Zealand were investigated on an hourly time-scale. Streaker samplers were used to collect hourly, size-segregated PM(10-2.5) and PM(2.5) samples that were analyzed for elemental content using ion beam analysis techniques. Black carbon concentrations were determined using light reflection and PM(10) concentrations were recorded using colocated continuous PM monitors. PM(10) concentrations at both sites displayed a diurnal pattern, with hourly PM(10) concentration maxima in the evening (7 pm-midnight) and in the morning (7-9 am). One of the monitoring sites experienced consistently higher average PM(10) concentrations during every hour and analysis indicated that katabatic flows across the urban area contributed to the increased concentrations observed. Source apportionment using positive matrix factorization on the hourly data revealed four primary PM(10) sources for each site: biomass burning, motor vehicles, marine aerosol and crustal matter. Biomass burning was the most dominant source at both sites and was responsible for both the evening and morning PM(10) concentration peaks. The use of elemental speciation combined with PM(10) concentrations for source apportionment on an hourly time-scale has never been reported and provides unique and useful information on PM sources for air quality management.

PIXE analysis of PM2.5 and PM(2.5-10) for air quality assessment of Islamabad, Pakistan: application of chemometrics for source identification.

A Gent sampler was used to collect 379 pairs of filters from Nilore, a suburban area of Islamabad city. The study was designed to assess the concentration variations of trace elements in fine and coarse particulate matter due to anthropogenic activities and naturally occurring events. Source identification was performed by applying MATLAB software for principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis (CA). The average fine and coarse particulate masses during the study period were 15.1 ± 11.9 and 37.3 ± 28.0 µg/m(3) respectively which complies with the 24-h air quality limits set by the government of Pakistan. The application of PCA to PM(2.5) data suggests the PM contribution from sources such as soil, automobile exhaust and coal combustion, road dust and wearing of tyres, wood combustion, biomass burning and fertilizers and fungicides whereas for the PM(2.5-10) data shows signatures of suspended soil, automobile exhaust, road dust and wearing of tyres, wood and biomass burning, refuse incineration, Ni smelter, fertilizers and fungicides are obtained. Cluster analysis of PM(2.5) and PM(2.5-10) datasets reveals that there are mainly three contributory pollution sources and these are suspended soil particles, automobile related sources and wood and coal combustion.

Urban air quality in the Asian region.

Over the past decade, member states of the Regional Co-operation Agreement (RCA), an intergovernmental agreement for the East Asia and Pacific region under the auspices of the IAEA with the assistance of international organizations and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have started to set in place policies and legislation for air pollution abatement. To support planning and evaluate the effectiveness of control programs, data are needed that characterizes urban air quality. The focus of this measurement program describe in this report is on size segregated particulate air pollution. Such airborne particulate matter can have a significant impact on human health and urban visibility. These data provide the input to receptor models that may permit the mitigation of these impacts by identification and quantitative apportionment of the particle sources. The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the measurements of concentrations and composition of particulate air pollution in two size fractions across the participating countries. For many of the large cities in this region, the measured particulate matter concentrations are greater than air quality standards or guidelines that have been adopted in developed countries.

28Si+ ion beams from Penning ion source based implanter systems for near-surface isotopic purification of silicon.

Modern computing technology is based on silicon. To date, a cost-effective and easy to implement method to obtain isotopically pure silicon is highly desirable for attaining efficient heat dissipation in microelectronic devices and for hosting spin qubits in quantum computing. We propose that it is possible to use a 28Si+ ion beam to obtain an isotopically pure near-surface region in wafer silicon. However, this requires a highly stable, high current, and isotopically pure 28Si ion beam. This work presents and discusses the instrumentation details and experimental parameters involved in generating this required ion beam. Silane is used as the precursor gas and is decomposed in a Penning ion source to generate a 28Si+ ion beam. The influence of key ion source parameters such as the gas flow rate, magnetic field strength, and anode voltage is presented. An isotopically pure 28Si+ ion beam with 10 ± 0.5 µA current on the target is obtained at the GNS Science 40 kV ion implanter. The beam was observed to be stable for at least 8 h and contains less than 700 ppm of other Si isotopes. This high current and high purity provides opportunities to explore efficient modification of the isotopic distribution in a native Si substrate at ambient temperature. The results highlight opportunities offered by using Penning ion source based low energy ion implanters for the synthesis of isotopically modified Si surface regions-a technique also applicable to other materials such as diamonds and diamond-like carbon.

A novel radial anode layer ion source for inner wall pipe coating and materials modification--hydrogenated diamond-like carbon coatings from butane gas.

We report a new ion source development for inner wall pipe coating and materials modification. The ion source deposits coatings simultaneously in a 360° radial geometry and can be used to coat inner walls of pipelines by simply moving the ion source in the pipe. Rotating parts are not required, making the source ideal for rough environments and minimizing maintenance and replacements of parts. First results are reported for diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings on Si and stainless steel substrates deposited using a novel 360° ion source design. The ion source operates with permanent magnets and uses a single power supply for the anode voltage and ion acceleration up to 10 kV. Butane (C4H10) gas is used to coat the inner wall of pipes with smooth and homogeneous DLC coatings with thicknesses up to 5 µm in a short time using a deposition rate of 70 ± 10 nm min(-1). Rutherford backscattering spectrometry results showed that DLC coatings contain hydrogen up to 30 ± 3% indicating deposition of hydrogenated DLC (a-C:H) coatings. Coatings with good adhesion are achieved when using a multiple energy implantation regime. Raman spectroscopy results suggest slightly larger disordered DLC layers when using low ion energy, indicating higher sp(3) bonds in DLC coatings. The results show that commercially interesting coatings can be achieved in short time.

Synthesis and structure of Na+-intercalated WO3(4,4-bipyridyl)0.5.

WO3(4,4-bipyridyl)0.5 was doped with Na+ by ion implantation so as to alter the electronic structure. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals layers of corner-shared WO5N octahedra linked by bipyridine. In the observed space group of Pbca, the fully-ordered bipyridyls form cages with Na+ disordered bimodally about the cage centre.