A single crystal chemical vapour deposition diamond soft X-ray spectrometer

A 2 mm width by 2 mm breadth by 0.5 mm thick electronic grade single crystal diamond grown via chemical vapour deposition was configured as a metal–semiconductor–metal X-ray detector. The detector was electrically characterised before it was connected to a bespoke charge-sensitive preamplifier of low-noise. An 55Fe radioisotope X-ray source was used to illuminate the detector with soft (5.9 keV and 6.49 keV) X-rays. The detector and preamplifier were temperature controlled and operated at 20 °C. The energy resolution (full width at half maximum) of the diamond spectrometer was 2.48 keV at 5.9 keV. Shaping time noise analysis conducted on the X-ray spectra found dielectric noise to be the largest electronic noise contribution for all but the shortest of shaping times, when series white noise dominated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of a diamond detector’s spectroscopic photon counting response to soft (< 10 keV) X-rays

Service Excellence Library Project: Improving student and researcher access to teaching and learning resources

This paper describes a project aimed at making library book management processes more efficient in terms of time and staff resources. The ultimate aim was to improve access to a university library’s teaching and learning resources for students and academics alike while maintaining the high levels of library service already established. The paper describes how the Lean Six Sigma approach to process improvement was applied at the main library of a major Australian research university, a large library of over two million items. Advocates of the Lean Six Sigma approach to process reengineering have wondered whether it is applicable to the complex educational sector or whether it would be feasible to implement the approach in the sector. The success of this first completed Lean Six Sigma project at a major Australian research university shows that Lean Six Sigma approaches to process improvement can work in a university setting, leading to lasting improvements in efficiency. This paper describes the research used to measure and analyse the pre-existing process used for library returns and demonstrates how a 52% reduction in the number of individual process steps involved was achieved. This means that library books and journals are now returned to shelves, on average, point eight (0.8) of a day earlier than they previously were. With a book cycle of about ten days, from initial lending to final return to shelves, this roughly equates to an eight percent improvement in the availability of these teaching and learning resources. It is interesting to speculate that to achieve the same eight percent increase in availability of resources through an acquisitions program would involve buying 160,000 extra copies of books and journal issues. At an average book cost of $30 each this would be a substantial total. A conclusion of this project is that applying a business oriented philosophy involving Lean Six Sigma techniques to a university is a viable and effective strategy to improve the pace and quality of efficiency improvements in such settings.Clive R. Boddy, Nicole Stones, Richard Clark, Simon Bodie, Mark Williams, John Williams & Susan Stuar

Distinguishing Financialization from Neoliberalism

This article contends that neoliberalism and financialization, although sharing much in common, are not synonymous developments. Not only do strongly financialized nations display structural, economic differences, they are also directed by alternative economic epistemologies, cultures and practices. The argument is made by examining the financialization of the UK economy since the mid-1970s. This shift was not simply part of a broad transition away from Keynesianism and towards free market fundamentalism. It was also one very much guided by the particular economic paradigm, discursive practices and devices of the City of London as financial elites took up influential positions in the Thatcher government. The discussion and case example highlight five epistemological elements specific to finance: the creation of money in financial markets, the transactional focus of finance, the centrality of financial markets to economic management, the orthodoxy of shareholder value, and the intense microeconomic approach to financial calculation. Such elements, in conjuction with neoliberalism’s reliance upon finance-blind neoclassical economics, lies at the cultural and epistemological distinction between fiancialization and neoliberalism. Identifying such distinctions opens up new possibilities for understanding financialization, elites, and the neoliberal condition that brought about the financial crash of 2007-08, as well as the political and economic crises that have followed

Skin and skeletal system lesions of european pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) from natural habitats

Water pollution is known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of plastron, carapace and skin diseases of turtles. In this study, a total of 150 European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) of different age and both sexes, originating from natural habitats in Serbia, were examined for morphological changes of the skin, plastron, carapace and skeletal system. The turtles were taken out from their natural habitats in Lake Ludas, Lake Palic and Lake Tresetiste. After artificial hibernation, they were subjected to detailed examination, sampled and treated, and finally returned into their natural habitat. Biopsies from the skin and shell were subjected to histopathological examination and microbiological analysis. X-ray scanning was also performed to detect changes in the skeletal system. Macroscopic changes of the skin, most frequently degenerative, inflammatory or neoplastic diseases, were diagnosed in 49.33% of the turtles examined. Dermatitis of different origin and form was the most prominent histopathological finding (28.00%). In the plastron, inflammatory and degenerative processes were frequently found. Osteopathy and mechanical injuries were the dominant findings. Macroscopic changes of the plastron, carapace and skeletal system were diagnosed in 67.33% of the turtles examined. Using X-ray scanning, generalised osteopathy, anomalies and malformations of different aetiology were also diagnosed on the tail and legs. Microbiological examinations showed the presence of a variety of bacterial and fungal agents, either primary pathogens or potential polluters, which invaded the skin and shell, or were present in cloacal swab samples. Bacterial infection was diagnosed in 76.66% of the turtles, first of all in those with skin and shell necrosis. Mycoses were diagnosed in 33.33% of the animals