ALBERT

Description: The objective of this study is to characterize the vibration responses of a handheld workpiece and the hand–arm system, which is an important step toward identifying and developing effective methods and technologies for controlling the vibration exposures to workers performing the grinding of handheld workpieces. This study established a method for measuring the vibration responses of the entire workpiece–hand–arm system; the vibration exposure of a worker holding and pressing a typical workpiece against a sanding belt or grinding wheel in order to shape the workpiece was simulated. This method was applied to measure the apparent mass and vibration transmissibility of the system under two different feed forces (15 N and 30 N) and six simulated grinding interfaces with different stiffness values. A major resonance was observed in each transmissibility spectrum of the workpiece, which was correlated with the major resonance of the impedance of the entire system. This resonant frequency depended primarily on the workpiece mass and the grinding interface stiffness, but the hand–arm system could substantially affect the resonance magnitude. The feed force also significantly affected the resonance frequency and magnitude. While increasing the feed force increased the overall vibration transmissibility on the hand–arm system, the transmissibility with respect to the workpiece was not significantly affected by the interface conditions. The implications of the results are discussed.

Description: The function of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) depends on the availability of ammonia substrate and the supply of oxygen. The interactions and evolutions of AOA and AOB communities along ecological gradients of substrate availability in complex environment have been much debated, but rarely tested. In this study, two ecosystems of maize and rice crops under different fertilization regimes were selected to investigate the community diversification of soil AOA and AOB in response to long-term field fertilization and flooding management in an acid soil. Real-time quantitative PCR of amoA genes demonstrated that the abundance of AOA was significantly stimulated after conversion of upland to paddy soils, while slight decline of AOB populations was observed. DGGE fingerprints of amoA genes further revealed remarkable changes in community compositions of AOA in paddy soil when compared to upland soil. Sequencing analysis revealed that upland soil was dominated by AOA within the soil group 1.1b lineage, while the marine group 1.1a lineage predominated AOA communities in paddy soils. Irrespective of upland and paddy soils, long-term field fertilizations led to higher abundance of amoA genes of AOA and AOB than control treatment that received no fertilization, whereas archaeal amoA gene abundances outnumbered their bacterial counterpart in all samples. Phylogenetic analyses of amoA genes showed that Nitrosospira cluster 3-like AOB dominated bacterial ammonia oxidizers in both paddy and upland soils, regardless of fertilization treatments. The results of this study suggest that the marine group 1.1a AOA could be better adapted to low-oxygen environment than AOA ecotypes of the soil group 1.1b lineage, and implicate that long-term flooding as the dominant selective force driving the community diversification of AOA populations in the acid soil tested.

Description: The vibrotactile perception threshold measurement technique is used to diagnose sensory neuropathy of the hand. The vibration perception threshold of a human finger could be most sensitive in the vicinity of one or more of its resonant frequency. The purpose of the present study is to investigate, theoretically, the effects of deformation (compression) on the free vibration behaviour of fingertips. An in-plane finite element model of the fingertip tissue has been formulated on the basis of the anatomical structure and the nonlinear elastic material properties of the soft tissue. The vibration modes of a fingertip model have been analyzed under different deformation states. Our results show that the modal vibration characteristics of the fingertip are deformation-dependent; the eigenfrequencies of the fingertip increase with the increasing preload. The present study suggests, from a theoretical point of view, that the static deformation state will influence the vibration modes and thus the perception threshold of fingertips.

Description: Aerosol hygroscopicity and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity under clean conditions and polluted events are investigated based on size-resolved CCN and aerosol chemical composition observations during the Aerosol-CCN-Cloud Closure Experiment (AC3Exp) campaign conducted at Xianghe, China in summer 2013. About 14–22% of aerosol particles during the campaign are of externally mixed CCN-inactive particles that cannot serve as CCN under atmospheric typical supersaturation (SS) of ∼0.4%. A high sensitivity of Maximum activation fractions (MAF) to SS under polluted conditions has been observed. The pollutants can cause a maximum MAF decrease of 25–30% (at SS = 0.08%). Hygroscopicity parameter kappa (κ) are about 16–35% lower under polluted conditions than under clean conditions for particles in accumulation size range (80–180 nm); however, for particles in nucleation or Aitken size range (30–60 nm), κ is slightly higher under polluted conditions. A non-parallel observation (NPO) CCN closure study shows low correlation coefficient between estimated and observed CCN number concentrations (NCCN). About 30–40% uncertainties in NCCN prediction are associated with the changes of particle composition. A case study shows that CCN activation ratio (AR) increased with the increase of condensation nuclei (CN) number concentrations (NCN) in relatively clean days. In the case, AR exhibited good correlation with κchem, which is calculated from chemical volume fractions, due to particles mainly composed of soluble inorganics. On the contrary, AR declined with increase of NCN during polluted events when particles composed mostly of organics. Meanwhile, AR is closely related to f44, which is the fraction of total organic mass signal at m/z 44 and closely associated with particle organic oxidation level. Our study highlights the importance of aerosols chemical composition on determining the activation properties of aerosol particles, underlining the importance of long-term observation of CCN under different atmospheric environments, especially those with heavy pollution and high CN number concentrations.

Description: The function of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) depends on the major energy-generating compounds (i.e., ammonia and oxygen). The diversification of AOA and AOB communities along ecological gradients of substrate availability in a complex environment have been much debated but rarely tested. In this study, two ecosystems of maize and rice crops under different fertilization regimes were selected to investigate the community diversification of soil AOA and AOB upon conversion of an upland field to a paddy field and long-term field fertilization in an acid soil. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction of ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) genes demonstrated that the abundance of AOA was significantly stimulated after conversion of upland to paddy soils for more than 100 yr, whereas a slight decline in AOB numbers was observed. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis fingerprints of amoA genes further revealed remarkable changes in the community compositions of AOA after conversion of aerobic upland to flooded paddy field. Sequencing analysis revealed that upland soil was dominated by AOA within the soil group 1.1b lineage, whereas the marine group 1.1a-associated lineage predominated in AOA communities in paddy soils. Irrespective of whether the soil was upland or paddy soil, long-term field fertilization led to increased abundance of amoA genes in AOA and AOB compared with control treatments (no fertilization), whereas archaeal amoA gene abundances outnumbered their bacterial counterparts in all samples. Phylogenetic analyses of amoA genes showed that Nitrosospira cluster-3-like AOB dominated bacterial ammonia oxidizers in both paddy and upland soils, regardless of fertilization treatment. The results of this study suggest that the marine group 1.1a-associated AOA will be better adapted to the flooded paddy field than AOA ecotypes of the soil group 1.1b lineage, and indicate that long-term flooding is the dominant selective force driving the community diversification of AOA populations in the acid soil tested.

Description: Aerosol hygroscopicity and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity under background conditions and during pollution events are investigated during the Aerosol-CCN-Cloud Closure Experiment (AC3Exp) campaign conducted at Xianghe, China in summer 2013. A gradual increase in size-resolved activation ratio (AR) with particle diameter (Dp) suggests that aerosol particles have different hygroscopicities. During pollution events, the activation diameter (Da) measured at low supersaturation (SS) was significantly increased compared to background conditions. An increase was not observed when SS was 〉 0.4%. The hygroscopicity parameter (κ) was ~ 0.31–0.38 for particles in accumulation mode under background conditions. This range in magnitude of κ was ~ 20%, higher than κ derived under polluted conditions. For particles in nucleation or Aitken mode, κ ranged from 0.20–0.34 for background and polluted cases. Larger particles were on average more hygroscopic than smaller particles. The situation was more complex for heavy pollution particles because of the diversity in particle composition and mixing state. A non-parallel observation CCN closure test showed that uncertainties in CCN number concentration estimates ranged from 30–40%, which are associated with changes in particle composition as well as measurement uncertainties associated with bulk and size-resolved CCN methods. A case study showed that bulk CCN activation ratios increased as total condensation nuclei (CN) number concentrations (NCN) increased on background days. The background case also showed that bulk AR correlated well with the hygroscopicity parameter calculated from chemical volume fractions. On the contrary, bulk AR decreased with increasing total NCN during pollution events, but was closely related to the fraction of the total organic mass signal at m/z 44 (f44), which is usually associated with the particle's organic oxidation level. Our study highlights the importance of chemical composition in determining particle activation properties and underlines the significance of long-term observations of CCN under different atmospheric environments, especially regions with heavy pollution.