Covert action failure and fiasco construction: William Hague’s 2011 Libyan venture

In 2011 William Hague, then British Foreign Secretary, authorized a Special Forces team to enter Libya and attempt to contact rebels opposed to Muammar Gaddafi in the unfolding civil war. However, its members were detained by the rebels, questioned and ejected from the country. This article puts the literature on public policy failures into dialogue with that on covert action as a tool of foreign policy. It asks: why did this not develop into a fully-fledged policy fiasco when journalists and politicians alike judged it to have been a major error of judgement on Hague’s part? Using narrative analysis of the contemporary reporting of this incident, we argue that the government – possessing the advantage of information asymmetry accruing from operational secrecy – was ultimately able to win the battle of narratives in a frame contestation process. The study of information asymmetry can enhance the recently revivified research into foreign policy failures

Reflections on the Formation and Growth of the SURE Network: a National Disciplinary Network to Enhance Undergraduate Research in the Sciences

The Science Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Network is an academic network comprised of nine Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Ireland that seeks to enhance the profile of, and practices in, undergraduate research in the Sciences within the Technological Higher Education Sector. This paper presents the reflections of the network\u27s leaders on the formation and growth of the network over the period from 2015, just prior to its establishment, to 2020 when the network hosted its seventh undergraduate research conference, published its second undergraduate journal issue, and initiated a coordinated community of practice in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The paper presents the motivations of the leaders for establishing and joining the SURE network, their interpretation of how involvement in the network enhances practice in their own HEI, their reflections on how their own personal development was enhanced, their interpretation of the factors that have contributed to the success of the network, and the direction in which they see the network going in the future. The collective reflections of the leaders of the SURE Network, as presented in this paper, provide importance guidance for those seeking to establish similar academic networks, both in the area of undergraduate research and elsewhere

Replication of micro/nano-scale features by micro injection molding with a bulk metallic glass mold insert

The development of MEMS and Microsystems needs a reliable mass production process to fabricate micro components with micro/nano scale features. In our study, we used the micro injection molding process to replicate micro/nano scale channels and ridges from a Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) cavity insert. High density polyethylene (HDPE) was used as the molding material and Design of Experiment (DOE) was adopted to systematically and statistically investigate the relationship between machine parameters, real process conditions and replication quality. The peak cavity pressure and temperature were selected as process characteristic values to describe the real process conditions that material experienced during the filling process. The experiments revealed that the replication of ridges, including feature edge, profile and filling height, was sensitive to the flow direction; cavity pressure and temperature both increased with holding pressure and mold temperature; replication quality can be improved by increasing cavity pressure and temperature within a certain range. The replication quality of micro/nano features is tightly related to the thermomechanical history of material experienced during the molding process. In addition, the longevity and roughness of the BMG insert was also evaluated based on the number of injection molding cycles.Deposited by bulk import1/10/2013. SB

Towards nano-injection molding

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), having no limiting microstructure, can be machined or thermoplastically-formed with sub-micron precision while still retaining often-desirable metallic properties such as high compressive strength. These novel materials thus have enormous potential for use as multi-scale tools for high-volume manufacturing of polymeric MEMS and information storage devices. Here we show the manufacture of a prototype BMG injection molding tool capable of producing cm-long polymeric components, with sub-micron surface features.Enterprise Ireland(Grants CFTD/07/314 & CFTD/06/IT/335)University College DublinThe Chinese Scholarship CouncilDeposited by bulk import27/09/13 R

Bulk Metallic Glass Multiscale Tooling for Molding of Polymers with Micro to Nano Features : A Review

There is a growing demand for single-use disposable polymer devices with features at submicron scales. This requires resilient tooling which can be patterned to scales of the order of hundreds of nanometers. The requisite topology can be imparted to silicon, but it is too brittle to be of use in a die to mold thousands of plastic parts. The polycrystalline nature of tool steel means that it cannot be patterned with submicron detail. Some bulk amorphous alloys have the requisite mechanical properties to be viable as materials for such dies, and can be patterned—e.g., via embossing as a supercooled liquid into MEMS silicon or using focused ion beam (FIB)—with submicron features which may persevere over many thousands of molding cycles. The composition of the amorphous alloy must be carefully selected to suit the particular molding application (polymer/process). The state-of-the-art methodology is presented, along with results of our recent experimental investigations.Deposited by bulk import5/11/2013. SB