Synthesis of stereodefined 1-aryl(heteroaryl) substituted 1,2-bis(2-bromopyridin-3-yl)ethenes by selective tandem Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-coupling reactions

In this communication we show the preparation of stereodefined trisubstituted alkenes 2 can be achieved by sequential selective Suzuki-Miyaura reactions of 2-bromo-3-(2,2-dibromovinyl)pyridines. The potentiality of this strategy to obtain 5-aryl-1,10-phenanthrolines is also demonstrated

The Rudd government and national security: continuity or change in the war on terror?

A vast proportion of the national security architecture to fight the amorphous global ‘war on terror’, created after 9/11, remains untouched. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has expressed a commitment to ensuring that agencies such as the AFP and ASIO have the expertise, capacity and resources to collect and analyze the information needed to combat terrorism. Rudd has also identified a commitment to stop a terrorist attack while not compromising the integrity of democratic traditions and constitutional processes. This paper will address the tone and direction of the Rudd government’s approach to the problem of terrorism, examine proposed reform in key areas of national security legislation and explore the judicial mechanisms that are in place to assure that the security sector conducts its business in accordance with the law, national intelligence priorities and the protection of fundamental human rights

Trans Phenomenology: A Merleau-Pontian Reclamation of the Trans Narrative

Transgender identities have historically been faced with erasure by the cisgender community, particularly through being forced to use cisgender terminology to define their own non-conforming experiences. This systemic cisgender inscription upon transgender identity is seen clearly through Bernice Hausman’s medicalizing reading of transgender narratives, leading her to falsely conclude that transgender individuals perpetuate the cisgender binary. I argue that Hausman’s analysis denies trans individuals the right to speak for themselves, thus denying them the agency of creating their own narratives. In the wake of this particular form of gender violence, the transgender community must create their own method of narrative construction and analysis. By rereading gender into Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s discussion of sexuality, I create a trans phenomenology as a way to read and analyze trans narratives. Focusing on Merleau-Ponty’s description of sexuality as reciprocally reflecting existence through his case study of the “silent, heartbroken girl,” I argue that through narrative, we see that gender, too, reciprocally reflects existence. Applying this framework to rereadings of trans narratives, I not only show how gender is truly lived, but offer a uniquely positive account of transgender identity by focusing on individuals’ own descriptions of themselves, thereby reclaiming the trans narrative on trans terms

A Solitonic Approach to Holographic Nuclear Physics

We discuss nuclear physics in the Sakai-Sugimoto model in the limit of large number $N_c$ of colors and large 't Hooft coupling $\lambda$. In this limit the individual baryons are described by classical solitons whose size is much smaller than the typical distance at which they settle in a nuclear bound state. We can thus use the linear approximation outside the instanton cores to compute the interaction potential. We find the classical geometry of nuclear bound states for baryon number up to eight. One of the interesting features that we find is that holographic nuclear physics provides a natural description for lightly bound states when $\lambda$ is large. For the case of two nuclei, we also find the topology and metric of the manifold of zero modes and, quantizing it, we find that the ground state can be identified with the deuteron state. We discuss the relations with other methods in the literature used to study Skyrmions and holographic nuclear physics. We discuss $1/{N_c}$ and $1/\lambda$ corrections and the challenges to overcome to reach the phenomenological values to fit with real QCD.Comment: 47 pages, 7 figures. v2: typos correcte

Mindfulness : Extending Treatment for Early Onset Obsessive Compulsive Disorder / Tourettes Syndrome

Mindfulness is a categorical name for a group of techniques borrowed from ancient Buddhist practices that teach individuals to pay attention in the present moment. Recently, the technique has been applied successfully in several clinical populations to help individuals live with, or accept, some of the difficult-to-treat symptoms of their illnesses. This intervention study takes three specific techniques from the mindfulness literature and introduces them to a young male who had been diagnosed and has received evidence-based treatment for early onset obsessive compulsive disorder, comorbid with Tourette’s syndrome. Fourteen sessions, scheduled over eight weeks, occurred. Three measures of effectiveness were developed to gauge the ability of practicing mindfulness to relieve the individual’s depressive symptoms, a common side effect of living with an incurable disorder. The individual took a Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition before beginning the intervention, then, at two weeks, at four weeks and at eight weeks into the mindfulness practice. In addition, seven goals were created to assess the effectiveness of this intervention; five were based on clinical knowledge of the individual and two were related to the outcome research on mindfulness. The third measure of effectiveness came from the individual’s self-report data at the end of each session. Each session was predictable, practicing the same three techniques: (1). the facilitator began with a body scan; (2). the individual and the facilitator then listened to one piece of classical music; and (3). each session ended with conscious breathing. The results of this protocol are promising. This individual showed a reduction in depressive symptomology while practicing mindfulness meditation, achieved homeostasis or better on three of the five clinical and two outcome goals, and expressed personal benefit at the end of most sessions. Continued application with a young population will help to inform the practice of mindfulness with young people and will be able to bring this ancient practice into the twenty-first century classroom

Extended ‘Stop and Search’ Powers in Australia: A challenge for relations between police officers and citizens

This paper will provide an investigation, both theoretical and empirical, into the use of ‘stop and search’ powers in Australia. It will provide a detailed analysis of the legislation, its impact and the implications surrounding ‘stop and search’ powers in Western Australia and, in part, Victoria and the United Kingdom. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Perth, October 2011) has also provided a unique opportunity to study a range of special policing laws and potential problems

Accountability and Control: The Politics of Privatisation in WA

The virtues of privatizing security in Western Australia have been brought into question by the much publicized death of an Indigenous elder in Kalgoorlie at the beginning of 2008. Since that time, there have been a range of instances in WA (and nationally) where the management of prisoner security has been the subject of intense public debate. In this paper, we examine how a government has difficulty in maintaining control of a private company service when contracting it out, yet retains the ongoing responsibility for its success or failure and the exercise of due diligence. In the area of protecting persons and prisoner security, this includes a duty of care for all those in custody. Much research has attended to the need for private security in various locations, to prescriptions about what they do and to how the practices of security officers or firms should be held accountable. But given that public policies are devised and implemented within a political context where prisoner welfare is not usually afforded a high priority for government, how do we also ensure that looking after individuals in custody and prompting respect for certain standards retains a high place on the political agenda