Streamlining or watering down? Assessing the 'smartness' of policy and standards for the promotion of low and zero carbon homes in England 2010-15

The knowledge and enforcement problems faced by governments in defining traditional ‘command and control’ regulation are well known. Significant legal scholarship offers alternative models of ‘smart,’ ‘responsive’ environmental regulation, emphasising the need for policy instrument mixes, including the vital role of voluntary, industry-led sustainability standards. Yet, as is being increasingly recognised, these contributions leave open the need for detailed, qualitative evaluation of instrument mixes as a complement to primarily quantitative cost-benefit analyses that predominate in regulatory impact assessments by governments. Addressing this need, this paper evaluates policy and standards for low and zero carbon homes in England during the Coalition government (2010-2015) when the ecological modernisation discourse of the previous New Labour government became subsumed by a deregulation agenda. Our study, incorporating 70 stakeholder interviews, suggests that, in supplier-driven markets such as housing in England, a ‘smart’ mix of mandatory and voluntary standards requires a strong, central role for government in setting national, mandatory standards and supporting their delivery. There is an important potential supplementary role for voluntary tools and local authority discretion, though our study highlights problems that can arise when such different instruments promote diverging roadmaps towards a policy goal

Unraveling the Phylogenetic Relationships of the Eccoptochilinae, an Enigmatic Array of Ordovician Cheirurid Trilobites

The Cheiruridae are a diverse group of trilobites and several subfamilies within the clade have been the focus of recent phylogenetic studies. This paper focuses on the relationships of one of those subfamilies, the Ordovician Eccoptochilinae. We analyze sixteen species from six genera within the traditionally defined group, using the pilekiid Anacheirurus frederici as an outgroup. To assess the monophyly of the Eccoptochilinae seven sphaerexochine species, Kawina arnoldi, Sphaerexochus arenosus, S. atacius, S. latifrons, S. mirus, S. parvus, and S. scabridus were included in the analysis as well. The results of this analysis show that the genus Eccoptochile represents a paraphyletic grade and species traditionally assigned to Parasphaerexochus and Skelipyx plot within Pseudosphaerexochus. Also, representative species of Sphaerexochinae plot within the traditionally defined Eccoptochilinae, suggesting Eccoptochilinae itself is paraphyletic. To resolve this, we propose all species of Pseudosphaerexochus be placed within Sphaerexochinae and Eccoptochilinae be restricted to a monotypic Eccoptochile clavigera.This research was supported by NSF DEB-0716162

Pharmacological analysis and structure determination of 7-methylcyanopindolol–bound b1-adrenergic receptor

Comparisons between structures of the b1-adrenergic receptor (AR) bound to either agonists, partial agonists, or weak partial agonists led to the proposal that rotamer changes of Ser5.46, coupled to a contraction of the binding pocket, are sufficient to increase the probability of receptor activation. (RS)-4-[3 (tertbutylamino)-2-hydroxypropoxy]-1H-indole-2 carbonitrile (cyanopindolol) is a weak partial agonist of b1AR and, based on the hypothesis above, we predicted that the addition of a methyl group to form 4-[(2S)-3 (tert-butylamino)-2-hydroxypropoxy]-7-methyl-1H-indole-2 carbonitrile (7-methylcyanopindolol) would dramatically reduce its efficacy. An eight-step synthesis of 7- methylcyanopindolol was developed and its pharmacology was analyzed. 7-Methylcyanopindolol bound with similar affinity to cyanopindolol to both b1AR and b2AR. As predicted, the efficacy of 7-methylcyanopindolol was reduced significantly compared with cyanopindolol, acting as a very weak partial agonist of turkey b1AR and an inverse agonist of human b2AR. The structure of 7-methylcyanopindolol–bound b1AR was determined to 2.4-Å resolution and found to be virtually identical to the structure of cyanopindolol-bound b1AR. The major differences in the orthosteric binding pocket are that it has expanded by 0.3 Å in 7-methylcyanopindolol–bound b1AR and the hydroxyl group of Ser5.46 is positioned 0.8 Å further from the ligand, with respect to the position of the Ser5.46 side chain in cyanopindololbound b1AR. Thus, the molecular basis for the reduction in efficacy of 7 methylcyanopindolol compared with cyanopindolol may be regarded as the opposite of the mechanism proposed for the increase in efficacy of agonists compared with antagonists

Singlet fission efficiency in tetracene-based organic solar cells

Singlet exciton fission splits one singlet exciton into two triplet excitons. Using a joint analysis of photocurrent and fluorescence modulation under a magnetic field, we determine that the triplet yield within optimized tetracene organic photovoltaic devices is 153% ± 5% for a tetracene film thickness of 20 nm. The corresponding internal quantum efficiency is 127% ± 18%. These results are used to prove the effectiveness of a simplified triplet yield measurement that relies only on the magnetic field modulation of fluorescence. Despite its relatively slow rate of singlet fission, the measured triplet yields confirm that tetracene is presently the best candidate for use with silicon solar cells.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC0001088)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant 1122374

A proof-of-concept Bitter-like HTS electromagnet fabricated from a silver-infiltrated (RE)BCO ceramic bulk

A novel concept for a compact high-field magnet coil is introduced. This is based on stacking slit annular discs cut from bulk rare-earth barium cuprate ((RE)BCO) ceramic in a Bitter-like architecture. Finite-element modelling shows that a small 20 turn stack (with a total coil volume of <20 cm3) is capable of generating a central bore magnetic field of >2 T at 77 K and >20 T at 30 K. Unlike resistive Bitter magnets, the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) Bitter stack exhibits significant non-linear field behaviour during current ramping, caused by current filling proceeding from the inner radius outwards in each HTS layer. Practical proof-of-concept for this architecture was then demonstrated through fabricating an uninsulated four-turn prototype coil stack and operating this at 77 K. A maximum central field of 0.382 T was measured at 1.2 kA, with an accompanying 6.1 W of internal heat dissipation within the coil. Strong magnetic hysteresis behaviour was observed within the prototype coil, with ≈30% of the maximum central field still remaining trapped 45 min after the current had been removed. The coil was thermally stable during a 15 min hold at 1 kA, and survived thermal cycling to room temperature without noticeable deterioration in performance. A final test-to-destruction of the coil showed that the limiting weak point in the stack was growth-sector boundaries present in the original (RE)BCO bulk

Microstructure and Composition of Primary and Recycled Single Grains of YBCO, GdBCO-Ag, and SmBCO-Ag Bulk Superconductors

The widespread use of single grain RE-Ba-Cu-O [(RE)BCO] bulk superconductors, where RE is typically Sm, Gd or Y, is, in part, limited by the relatively high costs of precursor powders and the low success rate of the manufacturing process. Both these problems can be addressed by recycling primary-processed grains in which the initial growth process has failed in some way. Key to the use of recycled grains in practical applications is an assurance that their properties and performance are not inferior to those of primary grown grains. In this work we describe the differences between the growth process, microstructure and properties of primary and recycled (RE)BCO single grains. We observe that the mechanism of growth is the same for both primary and recycled single grain samples in all three RE-based systems investigated. In the recycling process additional liquid-rich phase powder is provided beneath a failed sample, whereby this liquid phase infiltrates upwards and contributes a sufficient concentration of additional RE species at the growth front to enable samples to grow relatively easily in the form of single grains by producing a more uniform composition at the growth front, which leads directly to an increased tolerance to the presence of Ag and Ce-rich agglomerates. Importantly, we observe that the recycled samples have a much more uniform composition, and therefore exhibit more uniform superconducting properties, than single grain samples fabricated by a primary grown process.We acknowledge the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC grant ref. EP/K02910X/1) for financial support.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via https://doi.org/ 10.1111/jace.1431

From Sensors to Silencers: Quinoline- and Benzimidazole-Sulfonamides as Inhibitors for Zinc Proteases

Derived from the extensive work in the area of small molecule zinc(II) ion sensors, chelating fragment libraries of quinoline- and benzimidazole-sulfonamides have been prepared and screened against several different zinc(II)-dependent matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The fragments show impressive inhibition of these metalloenzymes and preferences for different MMPs based on the nature of the chelating group. The findings show that focused chelator libraries are a powerful strategy for the discovery of lead fragments for metalloprotein inhibition

Anthracene Diphosphate Ligands for CdSe Quantum Dots; Molecular Design for Efficient Upconversion

Quantum dot (QD)-sensitized photon upconversion follows a multi-step energy transfer process from the QD to transmitter ligand to a soluble annihilator. Using a novel 10-R-anthracene-1,8-diphosphoric acid (R = octyl, 2-hexyldecyl, phenyl) ligand with high binding affinity for CdSe QD surfaces, we demonstrate a photon upconversion process that is limited by the transmitter to annihilator transfer efficiency. Using 1H NMR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that these bidentate diphosphate ligands rapidly and irreversibly displace two carboxylate ligands. These ligands mediate energy transfer from the photoexcited QDs to a triplet annihilator (1,10-diphenylanthracene), producing overall photon upconversion quantum efficiencies as high as 17%, the highest for QDs with no shells. Transient absorption spectroscopy shows that the anthracene dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) ligand supports a 3.4 fold longer triplet state lifetime compared to 9-anthracene carboxylic acid (299.9 ± 9.5 vs 88.2 ± 2.1 μs), increasing the probability of energy transfer

Elaboration of tetra-orthogonally-substituted aromatic scaffolds towards novel EGFR-kinase inhibitors

Nitration of three regioisomers of bromo-fluorobenzaldehyde proceeds regioselectively, notably with H2SO4/HNO3 at 0 °C. The thereby synthesized tetrasubstituted aromatics, endowed with orthogonal substituents, can be elaborated via Pd-catalysed coupling, reduction and reductive amination reactions. As a test-case, these compounds were converted into EGFR inhibitors related to Gefitinib, whose activity was rationalised by docking studies