“Contrived”: The Voting Rights Act Pretext for the Trump Administration’s Failed Attempt to Add a Citizenship Question to the 2020 Census

A Pretext . . . For What? In March 2018, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the Trump Administration would add a question to the 2020 census asking the citizenship status of all persons in the United States. The question, Secretary Ross asserted, would generate “complete and accurate [citizenship] data” that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could use to better enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA)—a law that sometimes requires states and localities to draw districts in which voters of color make up a majority of the voting age population (so-called “majority-minority” districts)

Application of Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction for Determination of Chloro-Organic Compounds in Sewage Samples

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) has been optimized and applied to the determination of the volatile halogenated compounds (VHCs) and semi-volatile halogenated compounds (SVHCs). Three types of SPME fiber coated with different stationary phases (PDMS–100 μm, CAR/PDMS-75 μm, PDMS/DVB–65 μm) were used to examine their extraction efficiencies for the compounds tested. Experimental parameters such as the selection of SPME coatings, extraction time, and addition of salts were studied. The carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (CAR/PDMS) fiber appears to be the most suitable for the determination of VHCs. Analytical parameters such as linearity, limit of detection, and precision were also evaluated. Application of ECD detector for the determination of VHCs and SVHCs allows their determination on the low concentration level, ranging from 0.005 to 0.8 μg/L−1. The HS-SPME-GC/ECD procedure gave good analytical precision expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) (ranged from 5.08% to 8.07%) for a concentration level of 5 μg/L−1 and good linearity (r2 > 0.98) in a wide calibration range. The applied HS-SPME-GC/ECD method was found to be a quick and effective technique for the determination of microtrace amounts of volatile and semi-volatile halogenated compounds in samples containing high amounts of various organic compounds

Predicting the glass transition temperature and viscosity of secondary organic material using molecular composition

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) accounts for a large fraction of submicron particles in the atmosphere. SOA can occur in amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states depending on chemical composition, relative humidity (RH), and temperature. The phase transition between amorphous solid and semi-solid states occurs at the glass transition temperature (Tg). We have recently developed a method to estimate Tg of pure compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms (CHO compounds) with molar mass less than 450 g mol−1 based on their molar mass and atomic O : C ratio. In this study, we refine and extend this method for CH and CHO compounds with molar mass up to ∼ 1100 g mol−1 using the number of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. We predict viscosity from the Tg-scaled Arrhenius plot of fragility (viscosity vs. Tg∕T) as a function of the fragility parameter D. We compiled D values of organic compounds from the literature and found that D approaches a lower limit of ∼ 10 (±1.7) as the molar mass increases. We estimated the viscosity of α-pinene and isoprene SOA as a function of RH by accounting for the hygroscopic growth of SOA and applying the Gordon–Taylor mixing rule, reproducing previously published experimental measurements very well. Sensitivity studies were conducted to evaluate impacts of Tg, D, the hygroscopicity parameter (κ), and the Gordon–Taylor constant on viscosity predictions. The viscosity of toluene SOA was predicted using the elemental composition obtained by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), resulting in a good agreement with the measured viscosity. We also estimated the viscosity of biomass burning particles using the chemical composition measured by HRMS with two different ionization techniques: electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI). Due to differences in detected organic compounds and signal intensity, predicted viscosities at low RH based on ESI and APPI measurements differ by 2–5 orders of magnitude. Complementary measurements of viscosity and chemical composition are desired to further constrain RH-dependent viscosity in future studies

Predicting the glass transition temperature and viscosity of secondary organic material using molecular composition

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) accounts for a large fraction of submicron particles in the atmosphere. SOA can occur in amorphous solid or semi-solid phase states depending on chemical composition, relative humidity (RH), and temperature. The phase transition between amorphous solid and semi-solid states occurs at the glass transition temperature (Tg). We have recently developed a method to estimate Tg of pure compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms (CHO compounds) with molar mass less than 450 g mol−1 based on their molar mass and atomic O : C ratio. In this study, we refine and extend this method for CH and CHO compounds with molar mass up to ∼ 1100 g mol−1 using the number of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. We predict viscosity from the Tg-scaled Arrhenius plot of fragility (viscosity vs. Tg∕T) as a function of the fragility parameter D. We compiled D values of organic compounds from the literature and found that D approaches a lower limit of ∼ 10 (±1.7) as the molar mass increases. We estimated the viscosity of α-pinene and isoprene SOA as a function of RH by accounting for the hygroscopic growth of SOA and applying the Gordon–Taylor mixing rule, reproducing previously published experimental measurements very well. Sensitivity studies were conducted to evaluate impacts of Tg, D, the hygroscopicity parameter (κ), and the Gordon–Taylor constant on viscosity predictions. The viscosity of toluene SOA was predicted using the elemental composition obtained by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), resulting in a good agreement with the measured viscosity. We also estimated the viscosity of biomass burning particles using the chemical composition measured by HRMS with two different ionization techniques: electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI). Due to differences in detected organic compounds and signal intensity, predicted viscosities at low RH based on ESI and APPI measurements differ by 2–5 orders of magnitude. Complementary measurements of viscosity and chemical composition are desired to further constrain RH-dependent viscosity in future studies

The Graduate School WATERS - WATer, Ecosystems, Resources in Societies – in Montpellier

International audienc

Winter and Spring Characterization of Particulate and Dissolved Organic Matter in the Danube-Black Sea Mixing Zone.

Abstract not availableJRC.H-Institute for environment and sustainability (Ispra