Cyanopyridinium-based ionic liquids and their mixtures for ethylene and ethane separation

The solubility of ethane and ethylene was determined in a series of cyanopyridinium ionic liquids known to form charge-transfer complexes with polyaromatic hydrocarbons to determine their potential to form specific interactions with the unsaturated gas. The solubilities of ethylene and ethane in 1-butyl-4-cyanopyridinium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide ([C44CNPy][NTf2]) and 1-butyl-3-cyanopyridinium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide ([C43CNPy][NTf2]) were measured using an isochoric saturation method. The mole fraction solubility of ethane in the ionic liquids ranged from 6.0 × 10–3 to 7.2 × 10–3 and from 7.5 × 10–3 to 9.9 × 10–3 for ethylene in [C43CNPy][NTf2] and [C44CNPy][NTf2] at 0.1 MPa and 313 K, respectively. The small preferential solubility of ethylene over ethane in the ionic liquids results in ideal ethylene separation selectivities between 1.2 and 1.4, which is in the same range as typical physisorbent ionic liquids of the same type and molecular weight, indicating that there is no significant preferential interaction between the ionic liquids and ethylene. The calculated thermodynamic properties of solvation reveal that the solvation of both gases is entropically driven. To promote cyanopyridinium–ethylene interactions and decrease the possibility of steric constrictions to the interactions, 1-butyl-4-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide ([C4C1Im][NTf2]) was added as diluent to [C44CNPy][NTf2]. This IL mixture was found to behave almost ideally based on isothermal titration nanocalorimetry results. The solubility of ethylene or ethane in the mixture was found to be the weighted average of the corresponding solubilities in the two pure ionic liquids, still indicating that no specific ethylene–ionic liquid interactions were formed. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the systems were performed and revealed that the slightly higher ethylene solubility in [C44CNPy][NTf2] is due to a slightly stronger association with this cation compared to the 3-isomer.<br/

Testate amoeba functional traits and indicator taxa are important tools for tracking peatland restoration effectiveness

Restoring degraded peatlands is vital for sustaining their capacity as carbon sinks and long-term carbon stores. Microbial assemblages serve as valuable indicators for monitoring environmental change and assessing the success of ecosystem restoration efforts. Testate amoebae are a group of unicellular shelled protists that are commonly used for Holocene palaeohydrological reconstruction in peatlands. While progress is being made, the use of testate amoebae for biomonitoring in peatland restoration is still in its early stages. The aim of this study is to assess testate amoebae response to restoration measures (drain blocking) across three lowland raised bogs in Northern Ireland. To accomplish this, Sphagnum samples were collected from each site using a before-after control-impact (BACI) experimental design. After peatland drainage ditches were blocked, subtle yet significant responses in testate amoebae were observed: (1) key unambiguous wet-indicator taxa became more abundant in samples adjacent to blocked dams; (2) a widespread increase in the abundance of taxa with sub-spherical tests was observed, most notably in samples near to blocked drains. The findings of this study demonstrate the reliable response of testate amoebae to wetter conditions across all sites after restoration. Functional trait analysis paired with an indicator-taxa based approach, demonstrate the value of testate amoebae as contemporary bioindicators for tracking peatland restoration success, even when detailed hydrological monitoring data is not available. However, testate amoebae should be used with some degree of caution for peatland biomonitoring until long-term assemblage-level response to restoration is better understood.<br/

Four decades of overdose prevention centres: lessons for the future from a realist review

Background: Overdose prevention centres (OPCs) are spaces where people can consume previously obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of staff who can intervene to prevent and manage overdose. They have been provided in Europe and elsewhere for nearly 40 years, initially in response to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. We can learn from their operation history to inform future developments in harm reduction services. Methods: We carried out a realist review of 391 documents, reported according to the RAMESES I guidelines, and carried out realist synthesis of these documents.Results: We present a full realist programme theory of OPCs, with a diagrammatic logic model, of how the contexts and mechanisms of OPCs combine to produce various outcomes for service users and their communities in different settings. Three specific causal pathways were evidenced through which OPCs produce their outcomes for particular groups in specific contexts of housing status, gender identity and ethnicity, and local drug markets, with frequency of use, legal and political contexts, and stigma as overlapping contextual factors. Key OPC interventions include the provision of a safe and hygienic consumption space, safe consumption education, timely overdose response, and protection from drug scene and gender-based violence. These can trigger the underlying mechanisms of safety, trust, social inclusion, engagement, autonomy, and empowerment when supported with health care and other services, including detoxification and opioid agonist treatment. The combinations of these contexts and mechanisms create important outcomes for individual service users, for the communities they live in, and for wider society. We also describe causal pathways that can lead to unintended, adverse outcomes. Conclusion: This review provides useful information for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers on how to implement and evaluate OPCs in future to maximise their benefits; an important task in the context of the ongoing public health crises of drug poisoning deaths in North America and the UK, and the possibility of increasing deaths from synthetic opioids in Europe and elsewhere. <br/

Gender as a structuring force in conflict and its aftermath: research on international intervention in Afghanistan

In this chapter, in line with the wider themes of the Handbook, I argue that in the presence or aftermath of conflict, violence, whether it be represented, threatened, or actual, can only be made sense of through the infrastructure of gender as a performative logic manifested in everyday ways. To explore this, with a particular focus on the two-decade long military and peacebuilding engagement with Afghanistan from 2001–2021, I highlight particular themes of my own work, and wider feminist research, namely masculinities in conflict and its aftermath, and gender as a structuring force. I seek to show how the complex entanglements between different actors, places, practices, and temporalities around conflict can only be fully elucidated through a feminist lens. At the same time, I reflect on the limitations and misappropriations of feminism in relation to Afghanistan and the need to come to terms with these in future research

Nanomaterial application for protein delivery in bone regeneration therapy

Bone fractures must undergo a complex healing process involving intricate cellular and molecular mechanisms. They require a suitable biological environment to restore skeletal stability and resolve inflammation. Scaffolds play a vital role in bone regeneration, thus reducing disease burden. Autologous bone graft represents the gold standard of therapy. However, its application is limited due to various reasons. Nanotechnology, in the form of nanomaterials and nano-drug delivery systems, has been proven to increase the potency of active substances in mimicking extracellular matrix (ECM), thereby providing physical support benefits and enhancing therapeutic effectiveness. Various materials, including protein, metal oxide, hydroxyapatite, and silica are modified with nanoparticle technology for the purposes of tissue regeneration therapy. Moreover, the properties of nanomaterials such as size, seta potential, and surface properties will affect their effectiveness in bone regeneration therapy. This review provides insights that deepen the knowledge of the manufacturing and application of nanomaterials as a therapeutic agent for bone regeneration

Untying surface chemistry and emulsion stability to construct multifunctional pickering emulsion SERS sensors for pretreatment-free quantitative analysis in bio-media

Plasmonic Pickering emulsions have immense potential as enhancing substrates in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Traditionally, the functional nanoparticles also act as the emulsion stabilizer, so that their surface chemistry is tied directly to emulsion stability. However, this has meant that adsorption of molecules to the plasmonic nanoparticles destabilizes the emulsion system, which severely limits the use of Pickering emulsions in SERS. Here, we used a dual-particle approach to create plasmonic Pickering emulsions, in which emulsion stability is maintained solely by one type of nanoparticle so that the other could be used to provide functionality without constraints to its surface properties. This allowed us to construct multiwalled carbon nanotubes-Au@Prussian blue Pickering emulsion SERS sensors with integrated internal standards and filtration functionalities, which enabled quantitative, biphasic and multiplex analysis of discrete molecules in serum. The synthetic approach used in this work can be readily extended to form Pickering emulsions carrying functional components with arbitrary surface functionalities, which paves the way for advanced applications in sustainability and healthcare.<br/

Immunomodulatory properties of an arabinan polysaccharide extracted from Sida cordifolia: isolation, characterization and in vitro mechanism of action

An arabinan polysaccharide of low molecular weight (SC-S50, 3.2 KDa) and a structurally-related high molecular weight arabinan (SC-P50, 66 KDa) were isolated from Sida cordifolia root. NMR spectroscopy revealed the two polysaccharides were structurally similar consisting of three motifs, the main one being an α-L-arabinofuranose disaccharide (A-(1 → 5)-D) in the linear backbone; the A unit is further substituted at O-2 and O-3 positions by α-L-arabinofuranose. The two minority motifs also consist of α-1 → 5 linked L-arabinofuranose disaccharide, but in contrast, the A unit is replaced by the E or F unit, which is substituted by α-L-arabinofuranose only at the O-2 or O-3 position. SC-S50 did not activate macrophages cells in vitro, but in contrast, SC-P50 potently stimulated nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 macrophages (EC50: 7.92 μg/mL). SC-P50 significantly increased pinocytosis (phagocytosis), cell proliferation and cytokine secretion (IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-8), with minimal cytotoxicity. SC-P50 was then screened in 12 human primary cell-systems simulating various human tissue and disease characteristics. In 10 of these cell systems SC-P50 increased the production of IL-8. Mechanism-of-action studies unpicked the receptors, intracellular signalling and metabolic responses underlying SC-P50's immunomodulatory actions. SC-P50 is a novel immunomodulatory plant-derived polysaccharide which should be evaluated for its ability to prevent/treat infection.<br/

Wisdom and emotions: towards a relational – sociological perspective

The study of wisdom has been growing exponentially over recent years. No longer seen in exclusively philosophical or theological terms, there is now a wide-ranging and multidisciplinary ‘science of wisdom’ emerging. The dominant approaches to wisdom currently seem to come from cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, education, and gerontology. Increasingly, there seems to be a shift towards the operationalization and measurement of wisdom where psychometric approaches, coupled with cognitive-psychological conceptualizations of wisdom and its elements (including emotion), are to the fore. However, it is puzzling that, given this growth, and the widespread, albeit often passing, acknowledgment of the importance of ‘social’ considerations within this literature, that the sociology of wisdom remains almost entirely absent from this emerging. The exception is the work of Ricca Edmondson (2005, 2013; Edmondson &amp; Wörner, 2019). Moreover, while the importance of emotion to the practice of wisdom is also widely acknowledged, from a sociological perspective, this treatment is often problematic. For instance, in most models where it is included as a dimension or component of wisdom, emotional life is reduced to ‘emotional regulation’ or ‘emotional intelligence’, or core emotions associated with wisdom, such as empathy, sympathy, and compassion, are often conflated, confused, or remain vague. In this paper, building on the sociocultural approach advocated by Edmondson, and arguing from specifically (emotions-) sociological perspective that draws on relational sociology, I aim to theoretically explore the practice of (practical) wisdom in terms of the ‘wise habitus’, the ‘wise situation’, and cultural, emotional, and symbolic capital

‘Throw a stone, you hit one of your own’: a qualitative exploration of community cohesion in an inner-city Belfast community

This paper draws on findings from the first wave of a 3-year qualitative longitudinal study focused on the lived experience of residents of the Market community in inner-city Belfast who are facing challenges connected with disadvantage, inequality and the legacy of conflict. Interviews were conducted with an overall sample of 61 children, young people and parents/guardians (n = 61). This cross-sectional analysis focuses on data from the adult cohort (n = 22). We used an integrated analytical approach complemented by a bioecological lens. Understanding related to the maintenance of resilience in difficult circumstances was explored through the themes, challenges to collective well-being, coping with collective adversity and negotiating boundaries, which revealed that community resilience was related to social capital and cohesion. The implications of these findings are relevant to those wishing to address chronic adversity in communities and indicate the importance of supporting the existing strengths of cohesion to foster the collective resilience of the community.<br/