Alien Registration- Brown, Richard C. (Corinna, Penobscot County)

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The application of measurement science to environmental analytical chemistry for air quality studies

Preface: Despite improvements in air quality over recent decades, the air we breathe still contains a variety of pollutants at levels that are harmful to human health and environmental sustainability. In particular, air pollution remains a serious problem in highly industrialised and developing countries. In developed countries pollutants such as particulates with their varying chemical compositions, and mercury vapour have emerged as more recent threats to air quality. As a result of these threats a number of international protocols, national and continental legislations is in place to limit the emissions of pollutants from various processes and their eventual concentration in ambient air. Many countries have therefore established air quality monitoring networks to measure the exposure of their populations to harmful substances in air and to assess compliance with relevant legislation and the effectiveness of abatement policies. Furthermore as the global nature and long range transport of pollutants such as mercury vapour is increasingly recognised, the case for international cooperation becomes even more pressing. In this context the requirement for a robust measurement science infrastructure becomes even more important in order to: Ensure measurement methods are appropriate and properly validated; Ensure measurement results are properly traceable to the SI system of units; Ensure the quality of the very large data sets produced by air quality studies. In particular it is clear that measurement science has a role to play in establishing SI traceability of measurement values in order to ensure that air quality data are: Comparable across measurement locations; Stable with reference to a fixed point, so trends over time may be properly gauged; Coherent, so that results made with different measurement methods are comparable. These requirements are not currently in place universally, and are especially lacking for emerging pollutants and such measurands as the chemical composition of particles and for mercury vapour. Therefore relevant stakeholders, often through government (UK Departments such as BIS and Defra) but also via other NGOs, UK Research Councils and industry, have funded work to address these deficiencies and put in place a measurement research infrastructure to underpin these scientific endeavours. The output of such research undertaken by the candidate forms the basis of this DSc submission. Following the award of BSc and PhD degrees from Imperial College the candidate, Dr Richard J. C. Brown, joined the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington in 2000 and has since worked on a variety of analytical chemistry problems such as pH metrology, electroanalytical chemistry, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, low reflectance surfaces (resulting in the much-publicised ‘NPL Super Black’) and complex data analysis techniques – making significant contributions to each. However his most important and substantial contributions over the last decade have focussed on the application of measurement science principles to environmental analytical chemistry for air quality studies. The candidate has published over 110 peer-reviewed papers during this period (not including refereed conference proceedings). He is NPL’s most prolific author of peer-reviewed papers over the last decade. He has also published over 55 non-peer reviewed works (including conference proceedings, NPL reports, and European and International Page 6 of 20 documentary standards) and has been a co-author on 8 European standards for air quality measurement which are now adopted across the European Union. This submission concentrates on the 21 most significant peer-reviewed publications over this period of time relating to the overarching theme of the application of measurement science to environmental analytical chemistry for air quality studies. The candidate’s role in all cases has been to lead the scientific research and the publication of results, lead authoring the majority of the papers. All the papers presented in this portfolio have been led and published by the candidate’s group either exclusively or with minor contributions from collaborators. The experimentally intensive nature of the work means that in most cases this has been delivered by NPL colleagues under the candidate’s direction and supervision. External contributions are highlighted in the relevant text. The candidate’s work in this area has already received substantial recognition via the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 34th SAC Silver Medal and the 2008 CITAC (Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry) award for the “Most Important Paper on Metrology in Chemistry”. Furthermore, the recent International Benchmarking of NPL’s science (similar to the RAE for universities) overseen by the Royal Society / Royal Academy of Engineering Panel which ensures the quality of NPL’s output, rated Dr Brown’s work as “Internationally Leading” (the top category) for both “Science Quality” and “Impact”. The candidate has also won numerous internal NPL awards for the quality of his work – a considerable achievement when this work is being compared across the whole of NPL’s output, most of which is physics-based. The 21 publications forming this submission are grouped according to sub-area, of which three are considered: ‘Mercury vapour measurement in ambient air’, ‘The chemical composition of particulate matter in ambient air’, and ‘Novel measurement and data analysis techniques’. (Publications considered particularly significant are marked: , next to the publication’s title.) All of these publications are peer-reviewed, and none of these papers has been used for the purpose of obtaining any other degree. For completeness the candidate’s full peer-reviewed publications list appears in the Annex to this submission following the reprints of the papers submitted for consideration. This provides access to other publications in the environmental analytical chemistry area not offered for examination here, and additionally gives an overview of the candidate’s simultaneous contributions to other scientific fields

Characterization of the Active Site and Insight into the Binding Mode of the Anti-angiogenesis Agent Fumagillin to the Manganese(II)-Loaded Methionyl Aminopeptidase from \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e

EPR spectra were recorded for methionine aminopeptidase from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I) samples (~2.5 mM) to which one and two equivalents of Mn(II) were added (the latter is referred to as [MnMn(EcMetAP-I)]). The spectra for each sample were indistinguishable except that the spectrum of [MnMn(EcMetAP-I)] was twice as intense. The EPR spectrum of [MnMn(EcMetAP-I)] exhibited the characteristic six-line g≈2 EPR signal of mononuclear Mn(II) with A av(55Mn)=9.3 mT (93 G) and exhibited Curie-law temperature dependence. This signal is typical of Mn(II) in a ligand sphere comprising oxygen and/or nitrogen atoms. Other features in the spectrum were observed only as the temperature was raised from that of liquid helium. The temperature dependences of these features are consistent with their assignment to excited state transitions in the S=1, 2 ... 5 non-Kramer’s doublets, due to two antiferromagnetically coupled Mn(II) ions with an S=0 ground state. This assignment is supported by the observation of a characteristic 4.5 mT hyperfine pattern, and by the presence of signals in the parallel mode consistent with a non-Kramers’ spin ladder. Upon the addition of the anti-angiogenesis agent fumagillin to [MnMn(EcMetAP-I)], very small changes were observed in the EPR spectrum. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry indicated that fumagillin was, however, covalently coordinated to EcMetAP-I. Therefore, the inhibitory action of this anti-angiogenesis agent on EcMetAP-I appears to involve covalent binding to a polypeptide component at or near the active site rather than direct binding to the metal ions

SOYBEAN TRADER: A MICROCOMPUTER SIMULATION OF INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE

Soybean Trader is a microcomputer simulation of international grain trading. The program uses the format of a graphics-oriented game to teach basic economic principles and to stimulate interest in agricultural trade. Profits from trading serve as a score, and competition is encouraged by ranking top scores in Trader's Hall of Fame. Results of tests with adult and youth audiences indicated that the program is an interesting and effective teaching tool.International Relations/Trade,

A Study of the Critical Uncertainty Contributions in the Analysis of PCBs in Ambient Air

The measurement of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in ambient air requires a complex, multistep sample preparation procedure prior to analysis by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Although routine analytical laboratories regularly carry out these measurements, they are often undertaken with little regard to the accurate calculation of measurement uncertainty, or appreciation of the sensitivity of the accuracy of the measurement to each step of the analysis. A measurement equation is developed for this analysis, and the contributory sources to the overall uncertainty when preparing calibration standards and other solutions by gravimetric and volumetric approaches are discussed and compared. For the example analysis presented, it is found that the uncertainty of the measurement is dominated by the repeatability of the GC-MS analysis and suggested that volumetric (as opposed to gravimetric) preparation of solutions does not adversely affect the overall uncertainty. The methodology presented in this work can also be applied to analogous methods for similar analytes, for example, those used to measure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, dioxins, or furans in ambient air

Investigation of mixed element hybrid grid-based CFD methods for rotorcraft flow analysis

Accurate first-principles flow prediction is essential to the design and development of rotorcraft, and while current numerical analysis tools can, in theory, model the complete flow field, in practice the accuracy of these tools is limited by various inherent numerical deficiencies. An approach that combines the first-principles physical modeling capability of CFD schemes with the vortex preservation capabilities of Lagrangian vortex methods has been developed recently that controls the numerical diffusion of the rotor wake in a grid-based solver by employing a vorticity-velocity, rather than primitive variable, formulation. Coupling strategies, including variable exchange protocols are evaluated using several unstructured, structured, and Cartesian-grid Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)/Euler CFD solvers. Results obtained with the hybrid grid-based solvers illustrate the capability of this hybrid method to resolve vortex-dominated flow fields with lower cell counts than pure RANS/Euler methods

Impacts of International Migration and Remittances on Source Country Household Incomes in Small Island States: Fiji and Tonga

We use original 2005 survey data from Fiji and Tonga on remittances and household income to estimate the combined impact of migration and remittances on the composition of household income. A two-stage methodology is followed. A variable for the predicted number of migrants in each household is generated to control for selectivity in migration. This variable is then used in a 3SLS remittances and income equation system. In neither country do we observe significant impacts on agricultural cash income, but, in relation to other income sources, including subsistence agriculture, wages and non-agricultural business activities, some significant and different effects are found, both positive and negative. These findings suggest that the duration and intensity of remittance-driven migration, and the structure of economic activity within a community are important in understanding the influences of migration and remittances on household resource allocation and production decisions and on the community's economic transformation

On the Optimum Sampling Time for the Measurement of Pollutants in Ambient Air

No measurement result of any kind is complete without an associated statement of uncertainty. In general, the aim is to minimise this measurement uncertainty to the extent that the measurement made is fit for purpose, or the uncertainty meets an acceptable level such as a “data quality objective”. This paper demonstrates how the sampling time used to measure a pollutant in ambient air over a given time period, particularly with automatic instruments, can affect the uncertainty of the measurement result. It is shown that the uncertainty of the overall result depends critically on how the precision characteristics of the measuring instrumentation vary with analyte abundance. An example of the determination of these characteristics for mercury vapour measurement and the conclusions that may be drawn about optimum sampling times to minimise uncertainty are presented. For situations where uncertainty is minimised by the use of long sampling periods, the implications of this strategy on the “information richness” of the data and on the detection of short-term episodes, as well as peak concentrations, are discussed