Extrusion - back to the future: using an established technique to reform automated chemical synthesis

YesHerein, the benefits which extrusion can provide for the automated continuous synthesis of organic compounds are highlighted. Extrusion is a well-established technique that has a vital role in the manufacturing processes of polymers, pharmaceuticals and food products. Furthermore, this technique has recently been applied to the solvent-free continuous synthesis of co-crystals and coordination compounds including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). To date, a vast amount of research has already been conducted into reactive extrusion (REX), particularly in the polymer industry, which in many cases has involved organic transformations, however, it has not received significant recognition for this. This review highlights these transformations and discusses how this previous research can be applied to the future of organic compound manufacture.EPSRC (EP/L019655/1

Goodbye to Projects? Working paper 1: Annotated bibliography on livelihood approaches and development interventions.

YesThis paper is one in a series of working papers prepared under a research project on Goodbye to Projects? The Institutional Impacts of a Livelihood Approach on Projects and Project Cycle Management. This is a collaborative project between the Bradford Centre for International Centre for Development (BCID) with the Economic and Policy Research Centre (EPRC), Uganda; Khanya ¿ managing rural change, South Africa; and, the Institute for Development Management (IDM), Tanzania. The project is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under their Economic and Social Research Programme (ESCOR).Department for International Developmen

The Rise of the Austrian Freedom Party in the 1990s: A Culturalist Approach

NoDer Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über unterschiedliche wissenschaftliche Erklärungsansätze zum bemerkenswerten Aufstieg der FPÖ Jörg Haiders in den 1990er Jahren. Daran anschließend werden einige kulturelle und historische Aspekte, die von anderen Ansätzen nicht beachtet wurden, welche aber einen wesentlichen politischen Hintergrund für Haiders Erfolg bildeten, beleuchtet. Es wird argumentiert, dass die FPÖ eine ausgesprochen erfolgreiche Strategie verfolgte, indem sie ein auf traditionellen und antimodernen Werten basierendes österreichisches Identitätskonzept (re-)konstruierte. Besonders deutlich wurde dies im aggressiven ¿Kulturkampf¿, den die FPÖ gegen KünstlerInnen und Personen des kulturellen Lebens Mitte der neunziger Jahre führte. Haiders Version des rechten Populismus erwies sich deswegen als besonders erfolgreich, weil sie einen in der österreichischen Gesellschaft nach 1945 stark verankerten Parochialismus politisch zu instrumentalisieren vermochte

The US Rejection of the Composite Protocol: A Huge Mistake Based on Illogical Assessments

Ye

Article XII: Settlement of Disputes

Ye

PDE-based Facial Animation: Making the Complex Simple

YesDirect parameterisation is among the most widely used facial animation techniques but requires complicated ways to animate face models which have complex topology. This paper develops a simple solution by introducing a PDE-based facial animation scheme. Using a PDE face model means we only need to animate a group of boundary curves without using any other conventional surface interpolation algorithms. We describe the basis of the method and show results from a practical implementation.EPSR

Investment Climate in China: province estimates

YesThis paper uses a large firm-level survey to assess differences in performance across regions. A panel data analysis is conducted to explain both productivity and profitability across firms in terms of firm and industry characteristics. Regional dummies are included to pick up additional location-specific impacts and the size of these dummies is used to rank provinces. Province performance is then examined in terms of geography, infrastructure, the policy environment and aspects of the investment climate with the conclusion that the latter plays a major part in explaining provincial differences in performance

Bactericidal action of positive and negative ions in air

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the use of air ionisers to control of the spread of airborne infection. One characteristic of air ions which has been widely reported is their apparent biocidal action. However, whilst the body of evidence suggests a biocidal effect in the presence of air ions the physical and biological mechanisms involved remain unclear. In particular, it is not clear which of several possible mechanisms of electrical origin (i.e. the action of the ions, the production of ozone, or the action of the electric field) are responsible for cell death. A study was therefore undertaken to clarify this issue and to determine the physical mechanisms associated with microbial cell death. In the study seven bacterial species (Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium parafortuitum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, Burkholderia cenocepacia, Bacillus subtilis and Serratia marcescens) were exposed to both positive and negative ions in the presence of air. In order to distinguish between effects arising from: (i) the action of the air ions; (ii) the action of the electric field, and (iii) the action of ozone, two interventions were made. The first intervention involved placing a thin mica sheet between the ionisation source and the bacteria, directly over the agar plates. This intervention, while leaving the electric field unaltered, prevented the air ions from reaching the microbial samples. In addition, the mica plate prevented ozone produced from reaching the bacteria. The second intervention involved placing an earthed wire mesh directly above the agar plates. This prevented both the electric field and the air ions from impacting on the bacteria, while allowing any ozone present to reach the agar plate. With the exception of Mycobacterium parafortuitum, the principal cause of cell death amongst the bacteria studied was exposure to ozone, with electroporation playing a secondary role. However in the case of Mycobacterium parafortuitum, electroporation resulting from exposure to the electric field appears to have been the principal cause of cell inactivation. The results of the study suggest that the bactericidal action attributed to negative air ions by previous researchers may have been overestimated

An evaluation of the Amblyopia and Strabismus Questionnaire using Rasch analysis

noPURPOSE. To evaluate whether the Amblyopia and Strabismus Questionnaire (A&SQ) is a suitable instrument for the assessment of vision-related quality-of life (VR-QoL) in individuals with strabismus and/or amblyopia. METHODS. The A&SQ was completed by 102 individuals, all of whom had amblyopia, strabismus, or both. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate the usefulness of individual questionnaire items (i.e., questions); the response-scale performance; how well the items targeted VR-QoL; whether individual items showed response bias, depending on factors such as whether strabismus was present; and dimensionality. RESULTS. Items relating to concerns about the appearance of the eyes were applicable only to those with strabismus, and many items showed large ceiling effects. The response scale showed disordered responses and underused response options, which improved after the number of response options was reduced from five to three. This change improved the discriminative ability of the questionnaire (person separation index increased from 1.98 to 2.11). Significant bias was found between strabismic and nonstrabismic respondents. Separate Rasch analyses conducted for subjects with and without strabismus indicated that all A&SQ items seemed appropriate for individuals with strabismus (Rasch infit values between 0.60 and 1.40), but several items fitted the model poorly in amblyopes without strabismus. The AS&Q was not found to be unidimensional. CONCLUSIONS. The findings highlight the limitations of the A&SQ instrument in the assessment of VR-QoL in subjects with strabismus and especially in those with amblyopia alone. The results suggest that separate instruments are needed to quantify VR-QoL in amblyopes with and without strabismus

Goodbye to Projects? ¿ A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) in Uganda

Approaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support.This paper `A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture in Uganda¿ is the fourteenth in the series of project working papers.Department for International Developmen