[A method for resolving spectra shift in the urban air quality monitoring system (DOAS)].

In the urban air quality monitoring system, there is spectra shift which is caused by environment factors on the optical part (temperature and optic fiber position), or by the self-change of Xe-lamp. Relative spectra shift will occur if the shift of lamp-spectrum and air-spectrum is inconsistent which has direct influences on the accuracy of the measurement results. So the match of wavelength between lamp-spectrum and air-spectrum should be considered when we retrieve pollutants concentration measurement of trace gas in the atmosphere through DOAS method. Based on the study of the unique structures for Xe-lamp emitting spectrum, a method for the calibration of two signal spectra using Xe-lamp emitting peak and least square fitting is given. The results show that, the impact of spectrum shift can be reduced by this method for retrieving results.

[Observational study of atmospheric HONO in summer of Beijing].

The concentration of HONO, NO2, O3 and other atmospheric pollutants were observed continuously by using differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) from 2007-08-14 to 2007-08-24 in Beijing, China. Diurnal variation characteristics of HONO and NO2 were analyzed. The HONO levels originated from the nocturnal direct emission were discussed. And the correlation between the heterogeneous formation of HONO and its related factors (BC, RH, and so on) was studied. The results showed that HONO had two peaks at about 01:00 and 06:00, respectively, while two peaks of NO2 concentrations appeared at about 01:00 and 07:00. The highest HONO(em)/HONO ratio of 31.3% was observed at about 20:00 between 19:00 to 07:00, and the average ratio was 15%. Good correlation of HONO(corr)/NO2 ratio with BC and RH at night was obtained. The correlation suggested that heterogeneous NO2 to HONO conversion processes may occur on BC surfaces by reaction with absorption water, and the average nighttime conversion frequency from NO2 into HONO (HONO/NO2) was calculated about 0.8% x h(-1). At the same time, the results showed that heterogeneous formation of HONO was increased with RH and inhibited at RH > 80%, and the hypothesis was further supported by detailed analysis of selected case.

[Observational study of black carbon aerosol during straw-burning period].

Black carbon aerosol (BC) has been measured at three sites in Hefei City during May and June, 2007. Analyzing these real-time BC data, the concentration characters and the sources of black carbon aerosol can be found. The average concentrations of BC in normal period and straw-burning period are 4.85 microg/m3 and 8.38 microg/m3, respectively. The significant difference shows that the straw-burning is one of the main sources. The correlation coefficients between daily average concentration of BC and PM10 is 0.74, while the values of BC/PM10 in normal period and straw-burning period are 4.7% and 7.9%, respectively. Through comparing to the BC concentration during straw-burning period in 2004, the results indicated that pollution of BC has reduced after straw-burning was forbidden by the government.

[Retrieval of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with differential optical absorption spectroscopy].

Differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique has been used to measure trace gases in the atmosphere by their strongly structured absorption of radiation in the UV and visible spectral range, e. g. SO2, NO2, O3 etc. However, unlike the absorption spectra of SO2 and NO2, the analysis of aromatic compounds is difficult and strongly suffers from the cross interference of other absorbers (Herzberg bands of oxygen, ozone and sulfur dioxide), especially with relatively low concentrations of aromatic compounds in the atmosphere. In the present paper, the DOAS evaluation of aromatic compounds was performed by nonlinear least square fit with two interpolated oxygen optical density spectra at different path lengths and reference spectra of ozone at different temperature and SO2 cross section to correct the interference from absorbers of O2, O3 and SO2. The measurement of toluene, benzene, (m, p, o) xylene and phenol with a DOAS system showed that DOAS method is suitable for monocyclic aromatic compounds monitoring in the atmosphere.

Immunogenicity of SARS inactivated vaccine in BALB/c mice.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious infectious threat to public health. To create a novel trial vaccine and evaluate its potency, we attempted to generate a SARS inactivated vaccine using SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) strain F69 treated with formaldehyde and mixed with Al(OH)3. Three doses of the vaccine were used to challenge three groups of BALB/c mice. We found that the mice exhibited specific IgM on day 4 and IgG on day 8. The peak titers of IgG were at day 47 in low-dose group (1:19,200) and high-dose group (1:38,400) whereas in middle-dose group (1:19,200), the peak was at day 40. On day 63, the IgG levels reached a plateau. Neutralization assay demonstrated that the antisera could protect Vero-E6 cells from SARS-CoV's infection. Analysis of the antibody specificity revealed that the mouse antisera contained a mixture of antibodies specifically against the structure proteins of SARS-CoV. Furthermore, the mouse antisera conferred higher amount of antibodies against protein N, polypeptide S4 and S2 than those of proteins M and 3CL. These findings suggest that the inactivated SARS-CoV could preserve its antigenicity and the inactivated vaccine can stimulate mice to produce high levels of antibodies with neutralization activity. Results also suggest that polypeptides originating from protein N or S might be a potential target for the generation of a recombinant SARS vaccine.