Interactive public broadcasting: reflecting and improving practice

This research study has been carried out for the purpose of thoroughly examining and evaluating "liNE 1088 ", an interactive live cultural / informational TV programme, on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CYBC, the State Channel of Cyprus), of which I am the researcher and presenter. The CYBC, as a public service institution, is the only TV channel in Cyprus to offer programmes of this kind on a regular basis. At this point in time, especially now that Cyprus has joined the ED, the people of Cyprus need to be educated and informed on many matters that concern them, especially those which are relevant to the multicultural dimensions of Europe, and the many ways in which they affect their life. The aim of the project is to examine ways and forms of improving the TV programme "LINE 1088" in order to maximise the viewers' participation in the programme in accordance with the EU's directives on public broadcasting. The objectives of the study have been, mainly through an extensive audience research, to ascertain the strong points and the shortcomings of the programme as a whole, to what extent it meets the expectations of its audience, as well as how its overall quality may be improved. For this research a "mixed method" approach was adopted in order to collect data., using quantitative and qualitative research techniques. For the purpose of achieving validity, I used multiple data collection techniques and a range of sources of information namely four different kinds of surveys: literature review, existing viewing pools and the review of five transcripts with findings from one research technique checked against the findings from the research of another type. The results of the project led to a set of recommendations for the overall improvement of my programme as well as to a working model (pro to-type), for the CYBC which could fit into a more global picture of broadcasting and thus motivate society to become more actively concerned with cultural socialisation A working model which should not be static, but embody the time dimension and gradually become polymorphic. This vision should have as broad a range as possible. This working model could become a manual for public television and contribute to cultural development and to a society of active citizens. The project is the product of lifelong research, learning and experience in the media and in culture. Being the fIrst of its kind in Cyprus it will, I hope, contribute to a new body of knowledge in this field and will also become a valuable tool in a wider context

What is really in the economic partnership agreements for the Southern African region? A perspective from Botswana’s beef export markets

The signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) nations dominated the multilateral trade agenda in late 2007 and early 2008. While the Caribbean nations signed the full EPAs, some of the African countries only singed interim agreements with the EU and a number of West African countries chose not to sign any EPA. Using the case of Botswana’s export markets, especially in agriculture, it is argued that the interim Southern African Development Community (SADC) EPA, which was signed by Botswana and her neighbours, with the exception of South Africa, may have been economically sensible in protecting Botswana’s rural poor, at least in the short run. By tracing trade flows from the border to specifically poor sectors of the country, the importance of the beef exports sector to the poor and rural communities was found. The potential effects on the most significant exports of tariff bands associated with preferential agreements with the EU were found to be most beneficial in comparison to the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the South Africa-EU Trade Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) tariff bands. But it is also argued that the EPA will most likely have far reaching long run costs on regional economic development and institutional integration, within the SADC and Southern African Customs Union (SACU).Botswana, economic partnership agreements, European Union, exports, beef,

Toughening and stiffening of starch food extrudates through the addition of cellulose fibres and minerals

Pet food, one of the largest type of commercial packaged foods, continuously sets new challenges, amongst them the possibility to enhance palatability via adjusting product composition. This will optimise texture perception across consumer groups of diverse chewing capabilities, as well as improve food oral breakdown efficiency with further impact on metabolic health and nutrient bioavailability in the digestive process. Our aim is to pioneer new methods of controlling texture by answering longstanding questions such as the impact of nutrients on the mechanical properties of foods. The impact of cellulose fibres and minerals on the fracture toughness and stiffness properties of starch food extrudates is investigated for the first time through employing tensile tests and two fracture toughness tests namely Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) and cutting, on four different compositions. Fibres alone are found to increase stiffness (stiffening) and toughness (toughening) whereas minerals decrease stiffness (softening) with a minor influence on toughness. Interestingly, fibres and minerals combined maximise toughening at 28% compared to pure starch, due to the synergistic effect of fibre-matrix de-bonding and fibre breakage mechanisms at the crack tip. These new results indicate that texture can be significantly altered through the addition of minerals and short fibres. Such information is critical in the design of products that need to satisfy both nutritional and textural criteria

A numerical model for predicting the time for crack initiation in wood panel paintings under low-cycle environmentally induced fatigue

Determining the storage and display conditions for historical panel (wood) paintings requires a balance between ensuring the painting's preservation whilst also considering the energy consumption associated with climate control. The latter has become very important due to the need to lower the carbon footprint of museums and historical houses. In order to address this need, we have developed numerical models based on finite element analysis to simulate the initiation of two types of potential damage in panel paintings, namely interfacial and channelling cracks in the oil paint layer, under cyclically varying relative humidity. These models are based on our case study at Knole House (National Trust), Kent. Using known data for the past environment in which the paintings within the Brown Gallery at Knole House have been exposed, the ambient RH variation was approximated by three cycles, i.e., annual, biannual, and monthly varying cycles. Four RH cases, one containing all three cycles and each of the other three cases containing just two of the three cycles, were applied as boundary conditions to simplified geometries of the panel paintings in an effort to investigate the effects of the frequency and the amplitude of the variation on the possibility of cracking in the painting. The models need several material parameters as input which are not all available. Therefore, the study also includes some parametric studies to determine possible variations in the crack initiation. According to the model predictions, the channelling crack initiates slightly earlier than the interfacial crack. The crack initiation time in an uncontrolled environment (containing all three RH cycles) predicted by the model is approximately 120 years which empirically is a realistic estimate. Furthermore, the annual RH cycle (high amplitude and low frequency) has the most significant effect on the crack initiation. By removing the annual variation from the RH cycle, the initiation of both channelling and interfacial cracks can be postponed significantly, from approximately 120 years to over 400 years

3,3′-Diphenyl-1,1′-[2,2′-oxybis(2,1-phenyl­ene)]diurea N,N-dimethyl­formamide disolvate

In the structure of the title compound, C26H22N4O3·2C3H7NO, one of the DMF solvent mol­ecules is disordered over two sets of positions in a 0.5:0.5 ratio. In the 1,1′-[2,2′-oxybis(2,1-phenyl­ene)]bis­(3-phenyl­urea) mol­ecule, the two diphenyl­urea segments are linked via an ether O atom and are inclined at an angle of 53.80 (4)° to one another. In the crystal structure, classical N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link each mol­ecule to two DMF solvent mol­ecules and these aggregates form columns down a through C—H⋯π inter­actions. Additional C—H⋯O inter­actions link the main mol­ecule and the solvent mol­ecules, forming columns of independent zigzag chains along b

A micromechanical based finite element model approach to accurately predict the effective thermal properties of micro-aerated chocolate

Micro-aeration is a method to modify the sensorial attributes of chocolate but also affects the material properties of chocolate, which in turn, determine its material response during manufacturing and oral processes. This study aims to define the effect of micro-aeration on the thermal properties of chocolate by considering the changes of chocolate microstructure due to micro-aeration. Micro-aeration was found to alter the chocolate microstructure creating a layer of a third phase at the porous interfaces, which is argued to consist of cocoa butter of higher melting properties. A multiscale Finite Element Model is developed, which was confirmed by macroscale heat transfer measurements, to parametrically simulate the structural changes of micro-porous chocolates at the microscale level and estimate their effective properties, such as thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. The developed multiscale computational model simulates the porous chocolate as a two-phase (chocolate- pores) or three-phase material (chocolate-cocoa butter layer- pores). The investigation identified a new, complex transient thermal mechanism that controls the behaviour of micro-aerated chocolate during melting and solidification. The results showed a maximum 13% reduction of keff and 15% increase of Cpeff with 15% micro-aeration resulting to a slower transient heat transfer through the micro-aerated chocolate. The reason is that the micro-aerated chocolate can store a larger amount of thermal energy than its solid counterpart. This effect slows down the transient heat transfer rate in the chocolate and modifies melting/solidification rate and impacts sensorial attributes during oral processing and cooling during manufacturing

A methodology for the use of alkyd paint in thermally aged easel painting reconstructions for mechanical testing

For the preservation of painted cultural heritage on wooden substrates, it is important to understand the fracture mechanisms in the multilayer system of which they are constructed and how the environment plays a role in the composites’ physical properties. Past research has investigated the material response of each constituent layer but much more needs to be done to represent the heterogeneous composite structure of easel paintings. In recent years fracture mechanics concepts have been applied to glue and glue/chalk multilayers. However, few experiments have been conducted on multilayers that include oil paint, due to its very long, and impractical drying time, which can be a few years up to decades depending on the type of study. The paper presents a methodology for the use of thermally aged alkyd paint in easel painting reconstructions for mechanical testing, specifically as a substitute for naturally aged traditional linseed oil paint. Elastic and failure properties of the paint have been obtained from environmentally-controlled tensile tests on thin free-film samples. To obtain the characteristic properties of increased elastic modulus and reduced ductility, a thermal ageing protocol has been experimentally developed. The results are compared with data from the published literature, theoretical models and with 30-year-old samples of cold-pressed linseed oil lead white paint tested within this research work. The final methodology provides the research community with a viable way to produce samples that can be used to understand the behaviour of a (simplified) but complete multilayer system

Destructive and non-destructive mechanical characterisation of chocolate with different levels of porosity under various modes of deformation

Chocolate exhibits a complex material response under the varying mechanical loads present during oral processing. Mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and fracture stress are linked to sensorial attributes such as hardness. Apart from this link with hardness perception, these mechanical properties are important input parameters towards developing a computational model to simulate the first bite. This study aims to determine the mechanical properties of chocolate with different levels of micro-aeration, 0–15%, under varying modes of deformation. Therefore, destructive mechanical experiments under tension, compression, and flexure loading are conducted to calculate the Young’s modulus, yield, and fracture stress of chocolate. The values of Young’s modulus are also confirmed by independent ultrasonic mechanical experiments. The results showed that differences up to 35% were observed amongst the Young’s modulus of chocolate for different mechanical experiments. This maximum difference was found to drop with increasing porosity and a negligible difference in the Young’s modulus measurements amongst the different mechanical experiments is observed for the 15% micro-aerated chocolate. This phenomenon is caused by micro-pores obstructing the microscopic inelastic movement occurring from the early stages of the material’s deformation. This work provides a deeper understanding of the mechanical behaviour of chocolate under different loading scenarios, which are relevant to the multiaxial loading during mastication, and the role of micro-aeration on the mechanical response of chocolate. This will further assist the food industry’s understanding of the design of chocolate products with controlled and/or improved sensory perception