Kathleen L. Purvis-Roberts

Determination of methylamines and trimethylamine-N-oxide in particulate matter by non-suppressed ion chromatography.

An ion chromatography method with non-suppressed conductivity detection was developed for the simultaneous determination of methylamines (methylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine) and trimethylamine-N-oxide in particulate matter air samples. The analytes were well separated by means of cation-exchange chromatography using a 3 mM nitric acid/3.5% acetonitrile (v/v) eluent solution and a Metrosep C 2 250 (250 mm x 4 mm i.d.) separation column. The effects of the different chromatographic parameters on the separation were also investigated. Detection limits of methylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, and trimethylamine-N-oxide were 43, 46, 76 and 72 microg/L, respectively. The relative standard deviations of the retention times were between 0.42% and 1.14% while the recoveries were between 78.8% and 88.3%. The method is suitable for determining if methylamines and trimethylamine-N-oxide are a significant component of organic nitrogen aerosol in areas with high concentration of these species.

After the Cold War: international politics, domestic policy and the nuclear legacy in Kazakhstan

Since Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbaev has repeatedly defined his presidency to the outside world in relation to the nuclear legacy. In lieu of making significant progress towards democratic reform, Nazarbaev has taken great pride in his efforts to close the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and to make Kazakhstan a ‘model non-proliferation state’ by ridding the country of nuclear weapons and enriched uranium. Domestic policy towards radiation victims is made within this larger foreign policy context. The same international players, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that have assisted with the removal of weapons and uranium have played a role in defining how Kazakhstan should deal with its radiation victims and contaminated territories. In particular, international ‘experts’ have helped to assess the current levels of environmental contamination, to evaluate the impact of radiation on human health and to develop social development programmes. For the radiation victims, however, the use of international expertise has tended to minimize the scope of the problem and, consequently, the government’s response to victims has been much less than one might expect, given the prominence of this issue in the national political discourse. This is particularly true when it comes to efforts to reduce radiation risks within rural areas. Further, radiation victims have also been disadvantaged due to a fundamental contradiction between the social policies that are developed to assist victims and the economic policies recommended by international development experts. This paper combines a political ecology approach with insights from the risk perception literature in order to analyse the domestic and foreign policies that have developed in response to the nuclear legacy in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. A political ecology approach is ideal for understanding the environmental and health consequences of nuclear testing due to its emphasis on the interaction between political and ecological processes and the interconnections between macro and micro levels of analysis. Unlike ecological problems associated with industrialization, the environmental and health problems associated with Central Asian Survey (December 2006) 25(4), 461–480

Effects of temperature on the formation of secondary organic aerosol from amine precursors

ABSTRACT Aerosol formation is directly influenced by meteorological properties such as temperature and relative humidity. This study examines the influence of temperature on the physical properties and chemical composition of the aerosol produced from radical oxidation of aliphatic amines. Aerosol formation for temperatures ranging from 10 to 40°C was investigated in dual 90 m3 indoor atmospheric chambers. Further, chemical and physical responses of aerosol formed at one temperature and then raised/cooled to another were investigated in detail. Around two to three times more aerosol formation occurred at 10°C than at 40°C. This has important implications for locations influenced by amine emissions during the winter months. Significant aerosol formation occurred with the oxidation of amines with nitrate radical (100–600 μg/m3) and consisted largely of amine nitrate salts. These reactions are important contributors to aerosol formation during the nighttime hours, when nitrate radical is the dominant oxidant and temperatures tend to be cooler. Solid/gas partitioning of amine nitrate salt aerosol was consistent with literature results. A novel, temperature dependent, mechanism describing peroxy and hydroperoxy radical reactions was observed in the trimethylamine with hydroxyl radical oxidation experiments. Copyright