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Using data from a variety of sources, land use and vegetation in Texas were mapped with a spatial resolution of approximately 1km. Over 600 classifications were used to characterize the land use and land cover throughout the state and field surveys were performed to assign leaf biomass densities, by species, to the land cover classifications. The total leaf biomass densities associated with these land use classifications ranged from 0 to 556g/m2, with the highest assigned total and oak leaf biomass densities located in central and eastern Texas. The land cover data were used as input to a biogenic emissions model, GLOBEIS2. Estimates of biogenic emissions of isoprene based on GLOBEIS2 and the new land cover data showed significant differences when compared to biogenic isoprene emissions estimated using previous land cover data and emission estimation procedures. For example, for one typical domain in eastern Texas, total daily isoprene emissions increased by 38% with the new modeling tools. These results may ultimately affect the way in which ozone and other photochemical pollutants are modeled and evaluated in the state of Texas. Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.

The impact of partial and full COVID lockdowns in 2020 on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in Kuwait was estimated using data extracted from the Directions API of Google Maps and a Python script running as a cronjob. This approach was validated by comparing the predictions based on the app to measuring traffic flows for 1 week across four road segments considered in this study. VMT during lockdown periods were compared to VMT for the same calendar weeks before the pandemic. NOx emissions were estimated based on VMT and were used to simulate the spatial patterns of NOx concentrations using an air quality model (AERMOD). Compared to pre-pandemic periods, VMT was reduced by up to 25.5% and 42.6% during the 2-week partial and full lockdown episodes, respectively. The largest reduction in the traffic flow rate occurred during the middle of these 2-week periods, when the traffic flow rate decreased by 35% and 49% during the partial and full lockdown periods, respectively. The AERMOD simulation results predicted a reduction in the average maximum concentration of emissions directly related to VMT across the region by up to 38%, with the maximum concentration shifting to less populous residential areas as a result of the lockdown., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

A rise in the disinfection of spaces occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as an increase in people wearing facial coverings. Hydrogen peroxide was among the recommended disinfectants for use against the virus. Previous studies have investigated the emissions of hydrogen peroxide associated with the disinfection of spaces and masks; however, those studies did not focus on the emitted byproducts from these processes. Here, we simulate the disinfection of an indoor space with H 2 O 2 while a person wearing a face mask is present in the space by using an environmental chamber with a thermal manikin wearing a face mask over its breathing zone. We injected hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the space and utilized a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) to measure the primary disinfectant (H 2 O 2 ) and a Vocus proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Vocus PTR-ToF-MS) to measure the byproducts from disinfection, comparing concentrations inside the chamber and behind the mask. Concentrations of the primary disinfectant and the byproducts inside the chamber and behind the mask remained elevated above background levels for 2-4 h after disinfection, indicating the possibility of extended exposure, especially when continuing to wear the mask. Overall, our results point toward the time-dependent impact of masks on concentrations of disinfectants and their byproducts and a need for regular mask change following exposure to high concentrations of chemical compounds., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Growth in unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) in the United States has increased airborne emissions, raising environmental and human health concerns. To assess the potential impacts on air quality, we deployed instrumentation in Karnes City, Texas, a rural area in the middle of the Eagle Ford Shale. We measured several episodes of elevated Cl 2 levels, reaching maximum hourly averages of 800 ppt, the highest inland Cl 2 concentration reported to date. Concentrations peak during the day, suggesting a strong local source (given the short photolysis lifetime of Cl 2 ) and/or a photoinitiated production mechanism. Well preproduction activity near the measurement site is a plausible source of these high Cl 2 levels via direct emission and photoactive chemistry. ClNO 2 is also observed, but it peaks overnight, consistent with well-known nocturnal formation processes. Observations of organochlorines in the gas and particle phases reflect the contribution of chlorine chemistry to the formation of secondary pollutants in the area. Box modeling results suggest that the formation of ozone at this location is influenced by chlorine chemistry. These results suggest that UOGD can be an important source of reactive chlorine in the atmosphere, impacting radical budgets and the formation of secondary pollutants in these regions.

Mask wearing and bleach disinfectants became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bleach generates toxic species including hypochlorous acid (HOCl), chlorine (Cl 2 ), and chloramines. Their reaction with organic species can generate additional toxic compounds. To understand interactions between masks and bleach disinfection, bleach was injected into a ventilated chamber containing a manikin with a breathing system and wearing a surgical or KN95 mask. Concentrations inside the chamber and behind the mask were measured by a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) and a Vocus proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (Vocus PTRMS). HOCl, Cl 2 , and chloramines were observed during disinfection and concentrations inside the chamber are 2-20 times greater than those behind the mask, driven by losses to the mask surface. After bleach injection, many species decay more slowly behind the mask by a factor of 0.5-0.7 as they desorb or form on the mask. Mass transfer modeling confirms the transition of the mask from a sink during disinfection to a source persisting >4 h after disinfection. Humidifying the mask increases reactive formation of chloramines, likely related to uptake of ammonia and HOCl. These experiments indicate that masks are a source of chemical exposure after cleaning events occur.

Continuous monitoring systems, consisting of multiple fixed sensors, are increasingly being deployed at oil and gas production sites to detect methane emissions. While these monitoring systems operate continuously, their efficiency in detecting emissions will depend on meteorological conditions, sensor detection limits, the number of sensors deployed, and sensor placement strategies. This work demonstrates an approach to assess the effectiveness of continuous sensor networks in detecting infinite-duration and fixed-duration emission events. The case studies examine a single idealized source and a group of nine different sources at varying heights and locations on a single pad. Using site-specific meteorological data and dispersion modeling, the emission detection performance is characterized. For these case studies, infinite-duration emission events are detected within 1 h to multiple days, depending on the number of sensors deployed. The percentage of fixed-duration emission events that are detected ranged from less than 10% to more than 90%, depending on the number of sources, emission release height, emission event duration, and the number of sensors deployed. While these results are specific to these case studies, the analysis framework described in this work can be broadly applied in the evaluation of continuous emission monitoring network designs.

In recent years, ozone pollution in China has been shown to increase in frequency and persistence despite the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) decreasing steadily. Open crop straw burning (OCSB) activities are extensive in China and emit large amounts of trace gases during a short period that could lead to elevated ozone concentrations. This study addresses the impacts of OCSB emissions on ground-level ozone concentration and the associated health impact in China. Total VOCs and NOx emissions from OCSB in 2018 were 798.8 Gg and 80.6 Gg, respectively, with high emissions in Northeast China (31.7%) and North China (23.7%). Based on simulations conducted for 2018, OCSB emissions are estimated to contribute up to 0.95 µg/m 3 increase in annual averaged maximum daily 8-hour (MDA8) ozone and up to 1.35 µg/m 3 for the ozone season average. The significant impact of OCSB emissions on ozone is mainly characterized by localized and episodic (e.g., daily) changes in ozone concentration, up to 20 µg/m 3 in North China and Yangtze River Delta region and even more in Northeast China during the burning season. With the implementation of straw burning bans, VOCs and NOx emissions from OCSB dropped substantially by 46.9%, particularly over YRD (76%) and North China (60%). Consequently, reduced OCSB emissions result in an overall decrease in annual averaged MDA8 ozone, and reductions in monthly MDA8 ozone could be over 10 µg/m 3 in North China. The number of avoided premature death due to reduced OCSB emissions (considering both PM 2.5 and ozone) is estimated to be 6120 (95% Confidence Interval: 5320-6800), with most health benefits gained over east and central China. Our results illustrate the effectiveness of straw burning bans in reducing ozone concentrations at annual and national scales and the substantial ozone impacts from OCSB events at localized and episodic scales., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Comparisons of observation-based emission estimates with emission inventories for oil and gas production operations have demonstrated that intermittency in emissions is an important factor to be accounted for in reconciling inventories with observations. Most emission inventories do not directly report data on durations of active emissions, and the variability in emissions over time must be inferred from other measurements or engineering calculations. This work examines a unique emission inventory, assembled for offshore oil and gas production platforms in federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the United States, which reports production-related sources on individual platforms, along with estimates of emission duration for individual sources. Platform specific emission rates, derived from the inventory, were compared to shipboard measurements made at 72 platforms. The reconciliation demonstrates that emission duration reporting, by source, can lead to predicted ranges in emissions that are much broader than those based on annual average emission rates. For platforms in federal waters, total emissions reported in the inventory for the matched platforms were within ∼10% of emissions estimated based on observations, depending on emission rates assumed for nondetects in the observational data set. The distributions of emissions were similar, with 75% of platform total emission rates falling between 0 and 49 kg/h for the observations and between 0.59 and 54 kg/h for the inventory., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Emission rates were estimated for >100 oil and gas production sites with significant liquid-handling equipment (tank battery sites) in the Permian Basin of west Texas. Emission estimates based on equipment counts and emission factors, but not accounting for large uninventoried emission events, led to ensemble average emission rates of 1.8-3.6 kg/h per site. None of the site-specific emission estimates for individual sites, based on equipment counts, exceeded 10 kg/h. On-site drone-based emission measurements led to similar emission estimates for inventoried sources. Multiple aircraft measurement platforms were deployed and reported emissions exceeding 10 kg/h at 14-27% of the sites, and these high-emission rate sites accounted for 80-90% of total emissions for the ensemble of sites. The aircraft measurement systems were deployed asynchronously but within a 5 day period. At least half of the sites with emission rates above 10 kg/h detected by aircraft had emissions that did not persist at a level above 10 kg/h for repeat measurements, suggesting typical high-emission rate durations of a few days or less for many events. The two aircraft systems differed in their estimates of total emissions from the ensembles of sites sampled by more than a factor of 2; however, the normalized distributions of emissions for sites with emission rates of >10 kg/h were comparable for the two aircraft-based methods. The differences between the two aircraft-based platforms are attributed to a combination of factors; however, both aircraft-based emission measurement systems attribute a large fraction of emissions to sites with an emission rate of >10 kg/h.

Di(2-ethylhexhyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a widely used plasticizer that has adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. However, data about its stocks, flows, emission rates, as well as ecological risks are generally unknown in China, one of the world's largest producers of chemicals including DEHP, limiting sound management of chemicals. Herein, dynamic material flow analysis, coupled with a multimedia environmental model and ecological risk analysis, was performed to fill the data gap about DEHP in China mainland from 1956 to 2020. Results indicate that the in-use stocks of DEHP increased from 6.54 × 10 6 kg in 1956 to 8.40 × 10 9 kg in 2020. With growth in the emission rates, DEHP concentrations in air, soil, water, and sediment kept increasing from 1956 to 2010, which declined after 2010 and regrew after 2015. Sediment was a main sink of DEHP with the highest ecological risk quotient of >10 after 1999, necessitating measures for controlling the risk, for example, technology innovation to reduce DEHP emission rates, and substitution of DEHP with low-toxic alternatives. The coupled models that connect socio-economic data with ecological risk output may provide a systematic methodology for verification of the data necessary for risk control of chemicals.

In comparing observation based methane emission estimates for oil and gas well sites to routine emissions reported in inventories, the time scale of the measurement should match the time scale over which the inventoried emissions are estimated. Since many measurements are of relatively short duration (seconds to hours), a tool is needed to estimate emissions over these time scales rather than the annual totals reported in most emission inventories. This work presents a tool for estimating routine emissions from oil and gas well sites at multiple time scales; emissions at well sites vary over time due to changes in oil and gas production rates, operating practices and operational modes at the sites. Distributions of routine emissions (expected and inventoried) from well sites are generally skewed, and the nature and degree to which the distributions are skewed depends on the time scales over which emissions are aggregated. Abnormal emissions can create additional skew in these distributions. At very short time scales (emissions aggregated over 1 min) case study distributions presented in this work are both skewed and bimodal, with the modes depending on whether liquid storage tanks are flashing at the time of the measurement and whether abnormal emissions are occurring. At longer time scales (emissions aggregated over 1 day) distributions of routine emissions simulated in this work can have multiple modes if short duration, high emission rate events, such as liquid unloadings or large abnormal emissions, occur at the site. Multiple applications of the methane emission estimation tool (MEET), developed in this work, are presented. These results emphasize the importance of developing detailed emission inventories, which incorporate operational data, when comparing measurements to routine emissions. The model described in this work supports such comparisons and is freely available., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following competing financial interest(s): This work was supported by the Collaboratory to Advance Methane Science (CAMS), a group of companies operating facilities in the natural gas supply chain., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ozone formation due to episodic industrial emissions was modeled for the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) region in Texas. A total of more than 1000 synthetic emission scenarios were modeled, accounting for different sources, emission magnitudes, emission compositions, duration and timing of the emission events, meteorology at the time of the emissions, and location of the emission source. Episodic emissions consistent with the characteristics of flaring resulted in the greatest amount of ozone formation. An index, based on incremental reactivity, for characterizing the ozone formation potential of flaring emissions was developed using the synthetic scenarios and was applied to the ~4500 flares that report emissions in the state of Texas. The flares with the highest ranking index in the HGB were identified and additional modeling was performed on the ozone formation potential of these flares. If these flares are modeled with their annual average emission rates, the maximum increase in maximum daily 8-h average ozone (MDA8) formation associated with flaring emissions is <1 ppb. If, however, it is assumed that emissions from flaring are episodic, rather than continuous, and temporal patterns consistent with previous data collection on flare emission variability in the HGB are applied, MDA8 enhancements associated with flaring emissions are >10 ppb for multiple scenarios. This analysis suggests that, for flares emissions that have high ozone formation potential, the temporal patterns of flare emissions should be accounted for in developing ozone mitigation plans., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following competing financial interest(s): This work was supported by the 8-Hour Coalition, a group of companies operating facilities, including flares, in the Houston area. One of the authors (DTA) has served and is serving on the Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board; in this role, he is a paid Special Governmental Employee; DTA has current research support from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Gas Technology Institute's Collaboratory to Advance Methane Science, the National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy (NICE), ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Environmental Defense Fund. He has also worked on air quality projects that have been supported by oil and gas producers and Environmental Defense Fund. DTA has done work as a consultant for multiple companies, including British Petroleum, Cheniere, Eastern Research Group, ExxonMobil, KeyLogic, and SLR International. Ling Huang has also served as a consultant, through Ramboll, to multiple companies., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Recent attention to methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure has increased interest in comparing measurements with inventory emission estimates. While measurement methods typically estimate emissions over a few periods that are seconds to hours in length, current inventory methods typically produce long-term average emission estimates. This temporal mis-alignment complicates comparisons and leads to underestimates in the uncertainty of measurement methods. This study describes a new temporally and spatially resolved inventory emission model (MEET), and demonstrates the model by application to compressor station emissions - the key facility type in midstream natural gas operations The study looks at three common facility measurement methods: tracer flux methods for measuring station emissions, the use of ethane-methane ratios for source attribution of basin-scale estimates, and the behavior of continuous monitoring for leak detection at stations. Simulation results indicate that measurement methods likely underestimate uncertainties in emission estimates by failing to account for the variability in normal facility emissions and variations in ethane/methane ratios. A tracer-based measurement campaign could estimate emissions outside the 95% confidence interval of annual emissions 30% of the time, while ethane/methane ratios could be mis-estimated by as much as 50%. Use of MEET also highlights the need to improve data reporting from measurement campaigns to better capture the temporal and spatial variation in observed emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Daniel Zimmerle reports financial support was provided by Collaboratory to Advance Methane Science. David T Allen reports a relationship with Exxon Mobil Upstream Research Company that includes: funding grants. David T Allen reports a relationship with National Institute for Clean and low Carbon Energy (NICE) that includes: funding grants. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with Chevron Inc. that includes: funding grants. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with BP Plc that includes: funding grants. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with The Environmental Partnership (API) that includes: funding grants. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with Renewable Natural Gas Coalition that includes: funding grants. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with Environmental Defense Fund that includes: funding grants. David T Allen reports a relationship with Eastern Research Group that includes: funding grants. Felipe Cardoza-Saldana reports a relationship with Exxon Mobil Upstream Research Company that includes: employment. Daniel Zimmerle reports a relationship with Colorado Air Quality Enterprise Board, as Colorado State Agency that includes: board membership. Over the past five years, multiple authors have also worked on methane emission measurement projects that have been supported by multiple natural gas producers, developers of leak detection solutions, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Multiple co-authors have been active the funded research projects declared by the Corresponding Author (Zimmerle) and co-Author (Allen)., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nucleation of organic acids (OAs) and H 2 SO 4 is an important source for new particle formation in the atmosphere. However, it is still unclear whether organic acids can produce nanoparticles independent of H 2 SO 4 . In this study, 3-methyl-1,2,3-butanetricarboxylic acid (MBTCA) was adopted as a model of OAs. Pathways of clustering from MBTCA, ammonia and ions (NH 4 + and NO 3 - ) to form a 1.9 nm nucleus were investigated by quantum chemical calculation and kinetic modeling. Results show recombination of charged clusters/ions plays an essential role in the nucleation processes. Cluster formation rates increase by a factor of 10 3 when NH 3 increases from 2.6 × 10 8 molecules·cm -3 (under clean conditions) to 2.6 × 10 11 molecules·cm -3 (under polluted conditions), as NH 3 can stabilize MBTCA clusters and change ion compositions from H 3 O + to NH 4 + . Although the proposed new mechanism cannot compete with H 2 SO 4 -NH 3 -H 2 O or H 2 SO 4 -OA nucleation currently, it may be important in the future with the decline of SO 2 concentration., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Open biomass burning (OBB) plays an important role in air pollution and climate change by releasing short-term but intensive amounts of particulate matter and gaseous air pollutants. During past years, policies with respect to prohibition on open straw burning have been issued in China in order to mitigate the air pollution problems and the effectiveness of these straw burning bans in different regions remains to be evaluated. In this study, open crop straw burning (OCSB) emissions during 2010-2018 were analyzed based on a commonly used emission inventory with high spatial and temporal resolution. High emissions concentrated over Northeast China (31.8% of national total PM 2.5 emissions in 2018), East China (24.0%), and North China (16.6%). Simulations based on an integrated meteorology-air quality modeling system and an exposure-response function show that OCSB emissions could increase monthly PM 2.5 concentration by as much as 10 μg/m 3 during burning seasons in Northeast China and were associated with 4741 premature deaths in 2018. Spatial heterogeneities were observed with respect to the trends of OCSB emissions during 2010-2018. In East China, North China, and Central China, OCSB emissions showed a general declining trend since 2013 while an opposing increasing trend was observed in Northeast China with peak emissions in 2017. Comparing 2013 (before intensive implementation of straw burning bans) and 2018 (after), national total PM 2.5 emissions from OCSB activities decreased by 46.9%, ranging from -14.1% to +70% depending on the specific regions. Northeast China is the only region that showed higher OCSB emissions in 2018 compared to 2013, probably associated with the relatively delayed implementation of the straw burning bans. Avoided number of premature deaths due to reduced OCSB emissions was estimated to be 4256 on a national scale, with most health benefits gained in East and Central China. Results from this study demonstrate the importance of OCSB contribution to PM 2.5 concentrations and spatial heterogeneities exist in terms of the effectiveness of the straw burning bans in reducing OCSB emissions and gained health benefits., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Gas-phase nitrous acid (HONO) is a major precursor of hydroxyl radicals that dominate atmospheric oxidizing capacity. Nevertheless, pathways of HONO formation remain to be explored. This study unveiled an important CO 2 -catalysis mechanism of HONO formation, using Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations and free-energy samplings. In the mechanism, HCO 3 - formed from CO 2 hydrolysis reacts with NO 2 dimers to produce HONO at water surfaces, and simultaneously, itself reconverts back to CO 2 via intermediates OC(O)ONO - and HOC(O)ONO. A flow system experiment was performed to confirm the new mechanism, which indicated that HONO concentrations with CO 2 injections were increased by 29.4-68.5%. The new mechanism can be extended to other humid surfaces. Therefore, this study unveiled a previously overlooked vital role of CO 2 that catalyzes formation of HONO and affects atmospheric oxidizing capacity.

Chlorine radical plays an important role in the formation of ozone and secondary aerosols in the troposphere. It is hence important to develop comprehensive emissions inventory of chlorine precursors in order to enhance our understanding of the role of chlorine chemistry in ozone and secondary pollution issues. Based on a bottom-up methodology, this study presents a comprehensive emission inventory for major atomic chlorine precursors in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China for the year 2017. Four primary chlorine precursors are considered in this study: hydrogen chloride (HCl), fine particulate chloride (Cl - ) (Cl - in PM 2.5 ), chlorine gas (Cl 2 ), and hypochlorous acid (HClO) with emissions estimated for twelve source categories. The total emissions of these four species in the YRD region are estimated to be 20,424 t, 15,719 t, 1556 and 9331 t, respectively. The emissions of HCl are substantial, with major emissions from biomass burning and coal combustion, together accounting for 68% of the total HCl emissions. Fine particulate Cl - is mainly emitted from industrial processing, biomass burning and waste incineration. The emissions of Cl 2 and HClO are mainly associated with usage of chlorine-containing disinfectants, for example, water treatment, wastewater treatment, and swimming pools. Emissions of each chlorine precursor are spatially allocated based on the characteristics of individual source category. This study provides important basic dataset for further studies with respect to the effects of chlorine chemistry on the formation of air pollution complex in the YRD region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The methane emission intensity (methane emitted/gas produced or methane emitted/methane produced) of individual unconventional oil and gas production sites in the United States has a characteristic temporal behavior, exhibiting a brief period of decrease followed by a steady increase, with intensities after 10 years of production reaching levels that are 2-10 times the 10 year production-weighted average. Temporal patterns for methane emission intensity for entire production regions are more complex. Historical production data and facility data were used with a detailed basin-wide methane emission model to simulate the collective behavior of tens of thousands of wells and associated midstream facilities. For production regions with few to no new wells being brought to production, and existing wells having reached a mature stage, as in the Barnett Shale production region in north central Texas, the methane emission intensity gradually increases, as natural gas production decreases faster than emissions decrease, following the general pattern exhibited by individual wells. In production regions that are rapidly evolving, either with large numbers of new wells being put into production or with the introduction of source-specific regulations, the behavior is more complex. In the Eagle Ford Shale, which has had both a large number of new wells and the introduction of source-specific regulations, the methane emission intensity stays within relatively narrow bounds but the distribution of sources varies. As source distributions vary, basin-wide propane-to-methane and ethane-to-methane emission ratios vary, impacting methods used in source attribution.

Atmospheric emissions from oil and gas production operations are composed of multiple hydrocarbons and can have large variations in composition. Accurate estimates of emission compositions are needed to estimate the fate and impacts of emissions and to attribute emissions to sources. This work presents a database, constructed with empirical data and thermodynamic models, that can be queried to estimate hydrocarbon compositions from emission sources present at oil and gas production sites. The database can be searched for matches using between two and seven well parameters as query inputs (gas-to-oil ratio, API gravity, separator pressure, separator temperature, methane molar fraction in produced gas, ethane molar fraction of produced gas, and propane molar fraction in produced gas). Database query performance was characterized by comparing returns from database queries to a test data set. Application of the database to well parameters for tens of thousands of wells in the Barnett, Eagle Ford, and Fayetteville production regions demonstrates variations in emission compositions. Ethane to methane ratio varies by more than an order of magnitude from well to well and source to source. VOC to methane ratios are comparable in variability to ethane to methane ratios for most emission sources, but have a higher variability for emissions from flashing of liquid hydrocarbon tanks.

Population health is changing the focus of nursing practice as nurses are challenged to focus on health promotion and education for communities rather than limiting their practice to restorative care for individual acute care patients. This new focus is necessary to improve knowledge of maternal and infant health among vulnerable populations. One particularly vulnerable population is members of Old Order Mennonite communities, who frequently rely on self-trained local midwives in the community for home births and home remedies when caring for their infants. Providing evidence-based education to members of this isolated population can be a challenge because they do not typically access information outside of the community. The purpose of this article is to share the process of developing, publishing, and disseminating a culturally sensitive infant care manual for an Old Order Mennonite community using a community-based participatory model and to highlight the impact nursing outreach can have on improving health knowledge., (Copyright © 2020 AWHONN. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many recent studies have reported methane emissions from oil and gas production regions, often reporting results as a methane emission intensity (methane emitted as a percentage of natural gas produced or methane produced). Almost all of these studies have been instantaneous snapshots of methane emissions; however, total methane emissions from a production site and the methane emission intensity would be expected to evolve over time. A detailed site-level methane emission estimation model is used to estimate the temporal evolution of methane emissions and the methane emission intensity for a variety of well configurations with and without emission mitigation measures in place. The general pattern predicted is that total emissions decrease over time as production declines. Methane emission intensity shows complex behavior because production-dependent emissions decline at different rates and some emissions do not decline over time. Prototypical uncontrolled wet gas wells can have approximately half of their emissions over a 10 year period occur in the first year; instantaneous wellsite methane emission intensities range over a factor of 3 (0.62-2.00%) in the same period, with a 10 year production weighted-average lifecycle methane emission intensity of 0.79%. Including emission control in the form of a flare can decrease the average lifecycle methane emission intensity to 0.23%. Emissions from liquid unloadings, which are observed in subsets of wells, can increase the lifecycle methane emission intensity by up to a factor of 2-3, between 1.2 and 2.3%, depending on the characteristics of the unloadings. Emissions from well completion flowbacks raise the average lifecycle methane emission intensity from 0.79 to 0.81% for flowbacks with emission controls; for flowbacks with uncontrolled emissions, lifecycle methane emissions increase to 1.26%. Dry gas and oil wells show qualitatively similar temporal behavior but different absolute emission rates.

It has been revealed that iodine species play important roles in atmospheric new particle formations (NPFs) in pristine coastal areas. However, it is unclear whether other atmospheric species, such as NH 3 , for which the levels in coastal areas of China are >2.5 × 10 10 molecules·cm -3 are involved in the NPFs of iodine species, although NH 3 has been proved to promote particle formation of H 2 SO 4 . Via high-level quantum chemical calculations and atmospheric cluster dynamic code simulations, this study unveiled new mechanisms of nucleation, in which NH 3 mediates the formation of iodine particles by assisting hydrolysis of I 2 O 5 or reacting with HIO 3 . The simulated formation rates of iodine-ammonia clusters via the new mechanisms are much higher than those simulated via sequential addition of HIO 3 with subsequent release of H 2 O, under the condition that NH 3 concentrations are higher than 10 10 molecules·cm -3 . The new mechanisms can well explain the observed cluster formation rates at a coastal site in Zhejiang of China. The findings not only expand the current understandings of the role of NH 3 in NPFs but also highlight the importance of monitoring and evaluating NPFs via the iodine-ammonia cluster pathway in the coastal areas of China and other regions worldwide.

Power plant emissions have a significant impact on air quality, and a frequent assumption made in estimating impacts is to assume annual or monthly average emission rates. This study investigates the impact, on predicted ambient concentrations, of assuming annual average emissions, compared to resolving emissions on an hourly basis (base case). A case study of emissions from power plants in Kuwait, for the year 2014, is presented. In Kuwait, power plants operate on a mix of natural gas, gas oil, crude oil, and heavy fuel oil, and the type of fuel used varies on an hourly basis. Because of this fuel variability, a fuel switching strategy was also simulated in this work, replacing high sulfur fuels with natural gas during hours with high predicted SO 2 concentrations. Emissions estimates were combined with an air quality dispersion model to simulate the temporal variability and spatial dispersion of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in Kuwait, for a one-year episode. The results indicate that emission averaging and fuel switching operations result in lower area-wide annual maximum SO 2 concentrations compared to the base case (1747 μg/m 3 , 1063 μg/m 3 , 616 μg/m 3 for base case, annual average emissions and fuel switching scenarios, respectively). The number of receptor sites recording daily exceedances of the SO 2 standard for annual average emissions were one seventh of those predicted for hourly averaged emissions and 92% lower for the fuel switching scenario. For NO 2 , while the overall number of exceedances of air quality criteria was much lower than for SO 2 , the numbers of exceedances were also predicted to be lower using annual averaged emissions compared to the base case. These results document the importance of using emission estimates that capture hourly variability over annually averaged emissions, particularly in locations such as Kuwait where multiple fuels are used in power production., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Spatially resolved emission inventories were used with an atmospheric dispersion model to predict ambient concentrations of methane, ethane, and propane in the Eagle Ford oil and gas production region in south central Texas; predicted concentrations were compared to ground level observations. Using a base case inventory, predicted median propane/ethane concentration ratios were 106% higher (95% CI: 83% higher-226% higher) than observations, while median ethane/methane concentration ratios were 112% higher (95% CI: 17% higher-228% higher) than observations. Predicted median propane and ethane concentrations were factors of 6.9 (95% CI: 3-15.2) and 3.4 (95% CI: 1.4-9) larger than observations, respectively. Predicted median methane concentrations were 7% higher (95% CI: 39% lower-37% higher) than observations. These comparisons indicate that sources of emissions with high propane/ethane ratios (condensate tank flashing) were likely overestimated in the inventories. Because sources of propane and ethane emissions are also sources of methane emissions, the results also suggest that sources of emissions with low ethane/methane ratios (midstream sources) were underestimated. This analysis demonstrates the value of using multiple light alkanes in attributing sources of methane emissions and evaluating the performance of methane emission inventories for oil and natural gas production regions.

Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a multisystemic disorder, the pathology being driven by recurrent inflammation particularly during a vaso-occlusive crisis. GlycA, a composite measure of protein glycation, is a sensitive biomarker for disorders associated with vascular inflammation. We determined the utility of GlycA as a biomarker of inflammation in SCD., Methods: Stored plasma samples from patients with SCD recruited to two clinical studies were analyzed. One study encompasses 488 patient samples with SCD (HbSS, HbSβ 0 and HbSC) at steady state and 52 race-matched, healthy controls. The other study included paired plasma samples during steady state and acute pain crisis from (HbSS) patients with SCD. Plasma GlycA was measured using a proton NMR on the Vantera ® Clinical Analyzer. We performed analysis comparing patients with SCD, healthy controls, and paired samples analysis., Results: The mean plasma GlycA level was lower in SCD compared with healthy controls (324.6 ± 70.4 μmol/L vs. 386.3 ± 74.6 μmol/L, P < 0.0001). Within the same patient, mean plasma GlycA during acute pain crisis was lower than steady state, although the difference was not significant (300.5 ± 36.3 μmol/L vs 314.2 ± 34.8 μmol/L, P = 0.020). Plasma GlycA correlated inversely with serum LDH (P = 0.009)., Conclusion: GlycA is not a suitable biomarker of inflammation in SCD. We surmise that its signal is confounded by hemolysis leading to a depletion of haptoglobin, one of the major plasma proteins included in the composite NMR signal. Hemolysis is further exacerbated during an acute pain crisis, hence the lower GlycA levels in crisis compared to steady state., (© 2018 The Authors. International Journal of Laboratory Hematology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Methane emissions from the U.S. oil and natural gas supply chain were estimated by using ground-based, facility-scale measurements and validated with aircraft observations in areas accounting for ~30% of U.S. gas production. When scaled up nationally, our facility-based estimate of 2015 supply chain emissions is 13 ± 2 teragrams per year, equivalent to 2.3% of gross U.S. gas production. This value is ~60% higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inventory estimate, likely because existing inventory methods miss emissions released during abnormal operating conditions. Methane emissions of this magnitude, per unit of natural gas consumed, produce radiative forcing over a 20-year time horizon comparable to the CO 2 from natural gas combustion. Substantial emission reductions are feasible through rapid detection of the root causes of high emissions and deployment of less failure-prone systems., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)

Surface tension and specular neutron reflectivity measurements have been used, for the first time to systematically study both the interfacial structure and composition of monolayers of the soluble surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate containing a low-dose, poorly water soluble drug, testosterone enanthate. Modelling of the specular neutron reflectivity data suggests that the hydrophobic testosterone enanthate was adsorbed in the C12 hydrophobic tail region of the surfactant monolayer, regardless of the concentration of surfactant at the interface and whether or not additional drug was added to the interface. The location of the hydrophobic drug in the tail region of the surfactant monolayer is supported by the results of classical, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. The thickness of the surfactant monolayer obtained, in the presence and absence of drug, using molecular dynamics simulations was in good agreement with the corresponding values obtained from the specular neutron reflectivity measurements. The stoichiometry of surfactant:drug at the air-water interface at sodium dodecyl sulfate concentrations above the critical micelle concentration was determined from specular neutron reflectivity measurements to be approximately 3 : 1, and remained constant after the spreading of further testosterone enanthate at the interface. Significantly, this stoichiometry was the same as that obtained in the micelles from bulk solubilisation studies. Important insights into the preferred location of drug in surfactant monolayers at the air-water interface as well as its effect on the structure of the monolayer have been obtained from our combined use of experimental and simulation techniques.

A series of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations were performed for investigating the interactions between three different testosterone-based compounds (testosterone (T), testosterone propionate (TP) and testosterone enanthate (TE)) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and ammonium dodecyl sulphate (ADS) monolayers, which vary only in the sodium or ammonium counterions used to neutralise the sulphate headgroup. These simulations were used to investigate how the structural and interfacial properties of the monolayer were affected by changing the number of drug molecules present per monolayer, and the chemical nature of the surfactant counterions and the testosterone-based compounds. Our results show that the structure of the interfacial water layer is affected by the change of the counterion but not the chemistry of the drug molecules. As a result of the difference in their chemical structure, the T, TP and TE drug molecules prefer different locations and orientations within the monolayers. Finally, we observed that the hydration of the drug molecules encapsulated within the ADS monolayers is significantly less than when they are encapsulated within the SDS monolayers. Understanding the role that the counterion and the chemistry of the drug molecules play in these systems provides us with a detailed description of the interactions that cause ADS micelles to encapsulate significantly less drug molecules than SDS micelles, which we have recently observed experimentally.

A gridded inventory for emissions of methane, ethane, propane, and butanes from oil and gas sources in the Barnett Shale production region has been developed. This inventory extends previous spatially resolved inventories of emissions by characterizing the overall variability in emission magnitudes and the composition of emissions at an hourly time resolution. The inventory is divided into continuous and intermittent emission sources. Sources are defined as continuous if hourly averaged emissions are greater than zero in every hour; otherwise, they are classified as intermittent. In the Barnett Shale, intermittent sources accounted for 14-30% of the mean emissions for methane and 10-34% for ethane, leading to spatial and temporal variability in the location of hourly emissions. The combined variability due to intermittent sources and variability in emission factors can lead to wide confidence intervals in the magnitude and composition of time and location-specific emission inventories; therefore, including temporal and spatial variability in emission inventories is important when reconciling inventories and observations. Comparisons of individual aircraft measurement flights conducted in the Barnett Shale region versus the estimated emission rates for each flight from the emission inventory indicate agreement within the expected variability of the emission inventory for all flights for methane and for all but one flight for ethane.

In recent years, the field of nanotechnology has become increasingly prevalent in the disciplines of science and engineering due to it's abundance of application areas. Therefore, the ability to study and characterize these materials is more relevant than ever. Despite the wealth of simulation and modeling studies of nanoparticles reported in the literature, a rigorous description of the interface of such materials is rarely included in analyses which are pivotal to understanding interfacial behavior. We propose a novel method for constructing the continuous intrinsic surface of nanoparticles, which has been applied to a model system consisting of a sodium dodecyl sulfate micelle in the presence of testosterone propionate. We demonstrate the advantages of using our continuous intrinsic surface definition as a means to elucidate the true interfacial structure of the micelle, the interfacial properties of the hydrating water molecules, and the position of the drug (testosterone propionate) within the micelle. Additionally, we discuss the implications of this algorithm for future work in the simulation of nanoparticles. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Effectively mitigating methane emissions from the natural gas supply chain requires addressing the disproportionate influence of high-emitting sources. Here we use a Monte Carlo simulation to aggregate methane emissions from all components on natural gas production sites in the Barnett Shale production region (Texas). Our total emission estimates are two-thirds of those derived from independent site-based measurements. Although some high-emitting operations occur by design (condensate flashing and liquid unloadings), they occur more than an order of magnitude less frequently than required to explain the reported frequency at which high site-based emissions are observed. We conclude that the occurrence of abnormal process conditions (for example, malfunctions upstream of the point of emissions; equipment issues) cause additional emissions that explain the gap between component-based and site-based emissions. Such abnormal conditions can cause a substantial proportion of a site's gas production to be emitted to the atmosphere and are the defining attribute of super-emitting sites., Competing Interests: Four co-authors (D.Z.-A., R.A.A., D.R.L. and S.P.H.) work for Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a non-profit organization funded by philanthropic contributions, which does not accept donations from the oil/gas industry in accordance with its corporate donations policy (). The other co-authors were lead investigators in separate projects focused on quantifying methane emissions from the U.S. natural gas supply chain, sponsored in part by EDF (D.T.A., A.J.M. and D.J.Z.), companies in the oil and gas industry (D.T.A., A.J.M. and D.J.Z.) and the US Department of Energy (A.J.M. and D.J.Z.). One author (D.T.A.) has served as a paid Special Governmental Employee, while chair of the EPA's Science Advisory Board, and has consulted for multiple companies, including Eastern Research Group, ExxonMobil and Research Triangle Institute. Another author (S.P.H.) serves as a paid Special Governmental Employee, while serving on the EPA's Science Advisory Board.

A series of molecular dynamics simulations have been conducted in order to study the specific ion effects of Li + , Na + , Cs + and NH 4 + cations on dodecyl sulfate (DS - ) monolayers. Varying the counterion had no appreciable effect on the structure of the surfactant molecules within the different monolayers. However, the different counterions have a significant effect on the interfacial properties of the monolayer. In particular, we have investigated to what extent each of the counterions is dehydrated when interacting with the DS - headgroup, the specific interactions between the counterions and the headgroup and the salt bridging of the headgroups caused by each counterion. The NH 4 + ions are found to directly compete with water molecules to form hydrogen bonds with the DS - headgroup and as a result the ammonium dodecyl sulfate monolayer is the least hydrated of any of those studied. The Cs + ions are strongly bound to the headgroup and weakly hydrated, such that they would prefer to displace water in the DS - hydration shell to interact with the headgroups. In the case of the Li + ions, they interact almost as strongly with the DS - headgroups as the Na + ions, but are generally less hydrated than the Na + ions and consequently the lithium dodecyl sulfate monolayers are less hydrated than the sodium dodecyl sulfate monolayers. Therefore, by changing the counterion, one can modify the interfacial properties of the surfactant monolayer, and thus affect their ability to encapsulate poorly water soluble drug molecules, which we discuss further in the manuscript.

Unlabelled: The energy supply infrastructure in the United States has been changing dramatically over the past decade. Increased production of oil and natural gas, particularly from shale resources using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, made the United States the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas in 2014. This review examines air quality impacts, specifically, changes in greenhouse gas, criteria air pollutant, and air toxics emissions from oil and gas production activities that are a result of these changes in energy supplies and use. National emission inventories indicate that volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from oil and gas supply chains in the United States have been increasing significantly, whereas emission inventories for greenhouse gases have seen slight declines over the past decade. These emission inventories are based on counts of equipment and operational activities (activity factors), multiplied by average emission factors, and therefore are subject to uncertainties in these factors. Although uncertainties associated with activity data and missing emission source types can be significant, multiple recent measurement studies indicate that the greatest uncertainties are associated with emission factors. In many source categories, small groups of devices or sites, referred to as super-emitters, contribute a large fraction of emissions. When super-emitters are accounted for, multiple measurement approaches, at multiple scales, produce similar results for estimated emissions. Challenges moving forward include identifying super-emitters and reducing their emission magnitudes. Work done to date suggests that both equipment malfunction and operational practices can be important. Finally, although most of this review focuses on emissions from energy supply infrastructures, the regional air quality implications of some coupled energy production and use scenarios are examined. These case studies suggest that both energy production and use should be considered in assessing air quality implications of changes in energy infrastructures, and that impacts are likely to vary among regions., Implications: The energy supply infrastructure in the United States has been changing dramatically over the past decade, leading to changes in emissions from oil and natural gas supply chain sources. In many source categories along these supply chains, small groups of devices or sites, referred to as super-emitters, contribute a large fraction of emissions. Effective emission reductions will require technologies for both identifying super-emitters and reducing their emission magnitudes.

Unlabelled: Accurate estimates of biogenic emissions are required for air quality models that support the development of air quality management plans and attainment demonstrations. Land cover characterization is an essential driving input for most biogenic emissions models. This work contrasted the global Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product against a regional land cover product developed for the Texas Commissions on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) over four climate regions in eastern Texas, where biogenic emissions comprise a large fraction of the total inventory of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and land cover is highly diverse. The Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) was utilized to investigate the influences of land cover characterization on modeled isoprene and monoterpene emissions through changes in the standard emission potential and emission activity factor, both separately and simultaneously. In Central Texas, forest coverage was significantly lower in the MODIS land cover product relative to the TCEQ data, which resulted in substantially lower estimates of isoprene and monoterpene emissions by as much as 90%. Differences in predicted isoprene and monoterpene emissions associated with variability in land cover characterization were primarily caused by differences in the standard emission potential, which is dependent on plant functional type. Photochemical modeling was conducted to investigate the effects of differences in estimated biogenic emissions associated with land cover characterization on predicted ozone concentrations using the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx). Mean differences in maximum daily average 8-hour (MDA8) ozone concentrations were 2 to 6 ppb with maximum differences exceeding 20 ppb. Continued focus should be on reducing uncertainties in the representation of land cover through field validation., Implications: Uncertainties in the estimation of biogenic emissions associated with the characterization of land cover in global and regional data products were examined in eastern Texas. Misclassification between trees and low-growing vegetation in central Texas resulted in substantial differences in isoprene and monoterpene emission estimates and predicted ground-level ozone concentrations. Results from this study indicate the importance of land cover validation at regional scales.

The combined emissions and air quality impacts of electricity generation in the Texas grid and natural gas production in the Eagle Ford shale were estimated at various natural gas price points for the power sector. The increased use of natural gas in the power sector, in place of coal-fired power generation, drove reductions in average daily maximum 8 h ozone concentration of 0.6-1.3 ppb in northeastern Texas for a high ozone episode used in air quality planning. The associated increase in Eagle Ford upstream oil and gas production nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions caused an estimated local increase, in south Texas, of 0.3-0.7 ppb in the same ozone metric. In addition, the potential ozone impacts of Eagle Ford emissions on nearby urban areas were estimated. On the basis of evidence from this work and a previous study on the Barnett shale, the combined ozone impact of increased natural gas development and use in the power sector is likely to vary regionally and must be analyzed on a case by case basis.

Rationale: Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) have markers of chronic inflammation, but the mechanism of inflammation and its relevance to patient survival are unknown., Objective: To assess the relationship between iron, inflammation, and early death in SCD., Methods and Results: Using peripheral blood mononuclear cell transcriptome profile hierarchical clustering, we classified 24 patients and 10 controls in clusters with significantly different expression of genes known to be regulated by iron. Subsequent gene set enrichment analysis showed that many genes associated with the high iron cluster were involved in the toll-like receptor system (TLR4, TLR7, and TLR8) and inflammasome complex pathway (NLRP3, NLRC4, and CASP1). Quantitative PCR confirmed this classification and showed that ferritin light chain, TLR4, and interleukin-6 expression were >100-fold higher in patients than in controls (P<0.001). Further linking intracellular iron and inflammation, 14 SCD patients with a ferroportin Q248H variant that causes intracellular iron accumulation had significantly higher levels of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein compared with 14 matched SCD patients with the wild-type allele (P<0.05). Finally, in a cohort of 412 patients followed for a median period of 47 months (interquartile range, 24-82), C-reactive protein was strongly and independently associated with early death (hazard ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-5.2; P<0.001)., Conclusions: Gene expression markers of high intracellular iron in patients with SCD are associated with markers of inflammation and mortality. The results support a model in which intracellular iron promotes inflammatory pathways, such as the TLR system and the inflammasome, identifying important new pathways for additional investigation., (© 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.)

Methane emissions from liquid unloadings were measured at 107 wells in natural gas production regions throughout the United States. Liquid unloadings clear wells of accumulated liquids to increase production, employing a variety of liquid lifting mechanisms. In this work, wells with and without plunger lifts were sampled. Most wells without plunger lifts unload less than 10 times per year with emissions averaging 21,000-35,000 scf methane (0.4-0.7 Mg) per event (95% confidence limits of 10,000-50,000 scf/event). For wells with plunger lifts, emissions averaged 1000-10,000 scf methane (0.02-0.2 Mg) per event (95% confidence limits of 500-12,000 scf/event). Some wells with plunger lifts are automatically triggered and unload thousands of times per year and these wells account for the majority of the emissions from all wells with liquid unloadings. If the data collected in this work are assumed to be representative of national populations, the data suggest that the central estimate of emissions from unloadings (270 Gg/yr, 95% confidence range of 190-400 Gg) are within a few percent of the emissions estimated in the EPA 2012 Greenhouse Gas National Emission Inventory (released in 2014), with emissions dominated by wells with high frequencies of unloadings.

Emissions from 377 gas actuated (pneumatic) controllers were measured at natural gas production sites and a small number of oil production sites, throughout the United States. A small subset of the devices (19%), with whole gas emission rates in excess of 6 standard cubic feet per hour (scf/h), accounted for 95% of emissions. More than half of the controllers recorded emissions of 0.001 scf/h or less during 15 min of measurement. Pneumatic controllers in level control applications on separators and in compressor applications had higher emission rates than controllers in other types of applications. Regional differences in emissions were observed, with the lowest emissions measured in the Rocky Mountains and the highest emissions in the Gulf Coast. Average methane emissions per controller reported in this work are 17% higher than the average emissions per controller in the 2012 EPA greenhouse gas national emission inventory (2012 GHG NEI, released in 2014); the average of 2.7 controllers per well observed in this work is higher than the 1.0 controllers per well reported in the 2012 GHG NEI.

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the structural and dynamic properties of the solubilization process of testosterone propionate (TSTP) within sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles. We observed that the TSTP spontaneously adsorb onto the SDS micelles and preferentially reside among the polar head groups of the SDS molecules. We found that the SDS micelle is slightly aspherical in size and has a surface area of ∼170 Å(2)/molecule, while the SDS+TSTP micelle is more aspherical and has a surface area of ∼156 Å(2)/molecule. The structural properties of the interior of the SDS micelle and the hydration of the SDS headgroup are largely undisturbed by the presence of the TSTP. However, there seems to be a correlation between the location of the TSTP molecules and the location of Na(+) counterions on the surface of the SDS micelle. Additionally, we also observe that the TSTP molecules diffuse on the surface of the SDS micelle and try to organize themselves such that they are approximately equidistant from one another.