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Sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was employed to study the speciation of sulfur in raw coal, ash by-product and fine particulate matter from a small coal-burning boiler. By means of least square analysis of the XANES spectra, the major organic and inorganic sulfur forms were quantitatively determined. The results show that about 70% of the sulfur in raw coal is present as organic and a minor fraction of the sulfur occurs as other forms: 17% of pyrite and 13% of sulfate. While in bottom ash, fly ash, and PM(2.5), the dominant form of sulfur is sulfate, with the percentage of 80,79 and 94, respectively. Moreover, a number of other reduced sulfur including thiophenic sulfur, element sulfur and pyrrhotite are also present. During coal combustion, most of organic sulfur and pyrite were oxidized and released into the atmosphere as SO(2) gas, part of them was converted to sulfate existing in coal combustion by-products, and a small part of pyrite was probably reduced to elemental sulfur and pyrrhotite. The results may provide information for assessing the pollution caused by small boiler and developing new methods for the control of SO(2) pollution.

In order to further understand the sources of PM2.5 in Shanghai air, the synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microprobe at the BL-4A Beamline of Photon Factory of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan, was applied to analyze the individual PM2.5 particles collected from Shanghai air in the winter of 2007. Eight categories of emission sources were recognized in these individual particles. The source identification shows that most of the analyzed PM2.5 particles are derived from vehicle exhaust and metallurgical emissions. This suggests that the important emission sources of PM2.5 in Shanghai air would be vehicle exhaust and metallurgical activities.

The impact of coal-burning emission on sulfur in camphor leaves was investigated using Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and synchrotron radiation technique X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The PIXE results show that the sulfur concentrations in the leaves collected at the polluted site are significantly higher than those in controls. The Sulfur XANES spectra show the presence of organic (disulfides, thiols, thioethers, sulfonates and sulfoxides) and inorganic sulfur (sulfates) in the leaves. The inorganic sulfur in the leaves of camphor tree polluted by coal combustion is 15% more than that of the control site. The results suggest that the long-term coal-burning pollution resulted in an enhanced content of the total sulfur and sulfate in the leaves, and the uptake of sulfur by leaves had exceeded the metabolic requirement of plants and the excess of sulfur was stored as SO(4)(2-). It can monitor the sulfur pollution in atmosphere.

In this paper, a Ritt-Wu's characteristic set method for ordinary difference systems is proposed, which is valid for any admissible ordering. New definition for irreducible chains and new zero decomposition algorithms are also proposed.

In order to explore the interaction between the expression of ZnT3 (Zinc Transporter 3) mRNA (Messenger Ribonucleic Acid) and the concentration of elemental zinc in mouse brain, zinc distribution in brain was determined by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) technique and a ZnT3 mRNA expression in tissue was examined by the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method.The results show that the zinc concentration is not evenly distributed in brain slices. Its concentrations in cerebral cortex and hippocampus are nearly 5-10 times higher than those in other positions. A corresponding relation is that ZnT3 mRNA in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and testis has higher abundant degree, but it is not examined out in other tissues. Furthermore, the results promote that ZnT3 facilitates the accumulation of zinc in synaptic vesicles and may play an important role in structuring of vesicular zinc pool.

A magneto-optical chip of Fe-(Co6Ag94) granular films was fabricated by using of combinatorial Fe ions implanting into co-sputtered Co6Ag94 films and 16 units with different Fe content were prepared via binary masking scheme. The structures and surface morphologies of as-prepared and annealed Fe-Co6Ag94 films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy respectively. It reveals that the Co, Fe and FeCo granules precipitate, grow and then form nanoparticles embedded in the Ag matrix during annealing. In addition, the measurement of the magneto-optic polar Kerr effect shows that Kerr rotation increases with increasing Fe content, which contributes to the magnetic moment. Precipitation and growth of the magnetic granules during annealing also increase the Kerr rotation due to the size effects. Further, Mossbauer study confirms that the formation of granules with certain size plays a principal role in the enhancement of magneto-optic polar Kerr effect. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In order to evaluate the evolution of contamination we collected river water and sediment samples in the every spring season since 1998. The elemental analysis of water and sediment samples was performed by PIXE using the 3X2 MeV NEC Tandem accelerator at the Taipei Institute of Physics. The characterization of alpha- and beta-radioactive levels for water and sediment samples was performed by a BH1216, low background radioactivity instrument at the Shanghai Institute of Nuclear Research. The PIXE results showed that the elemental contents of Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zn and Pb in river water gradually decreased with the rising tide. At high tide, their concentrations were minimum and then increased toward the ebb tide. The analysis also demonstrated that the radioactivity of water samples had been gradually decreasing year by year. It was found that the decreasing rate of alpha-radioactivity was a little quicker than that of beta-radioactivity. Further aspects of environmental data evaluation and assessment are also discussed.

This note deals with the scanning of femoral head slices from both normal and osteoporosis subjects using synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) microprobe technique. The sample preparation and experimental apparatus are described in detail. The quantitative computerized tomography (QCT) of elemental distribution, such as Ca, P, K, Fe, Zn, Sr and Pb in bone slice tissue including cartilage, substantial compact and substantial spongy, is investigated. Combined with the correlation between P, K, Zn, Sr and Ca, the loss way of minerals and the physiological functions of some metal elements in bone are also discussed.