Bennett Freeman – investors and human rights

This post was contributed by Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Sustainability Research and Policy for Calvert Investments and a Trustee of the Institute for Human Rights and Business. Bennett also served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under President Clinton. Human rights have been a concern to certain investors – especially socially responsible and faith-based investors – for over three decades. The recent death of Nelson Mandela reminded us that South Africa divestment was the cause that crystallized – and galvanized – not only the power of investment to change the world but also the contribution that investors could make to the liberation of a people and nation from apartheid. That divestment movement had its echo in the face of another morally compelling human rights challenge on the same continent ten years ago, when the genocide in Darfur spurred divestment from companies supporting the government of Sudan

‘Science, History and Community: Bringing the Dinosaur Coast story to life’

Abstract The Dinosaur Coast Management Group (DCMG) is a not-for-profit organisation, formed in 2015, to protect and promote the dinosaur tracks of the Dampier Peninsula and to educate the public about their cultural and scientific importance, in particular, the work of palaeontologist Dr Steve Salisbury from the University of Queensland. With a broad body of research, local knowledge and a strong community of volunteers the DCMG is proactively putting research and local knowledge into practice. In this seminar Micklo and Wade will talk about the ongoing relationship between scientists, community and the dinosaur trackways, and how knowledge is being translated for the community through the development of simple and high-tech products. DCMG is raising the profile of the region’s ancient and rare dinosaur trackways and has become the local representative body for consultation on all things “dinosaur tracks”. DCMG’s future aspirations are to support enterprise and research through a world class Broome Dinosaur Coast Interpretive Centre and Dinosaur Coast Trail

NMR analogues of the quantum Zeno effect

We describe Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) demonstrations of the quantum Zeno effect, and discuss briefly how these are related to similar phenomena in more conventional NMR experiments.Comment: 8 pages including 4 figures; intended as a possible answer to Malcolm Levitt's question at the 2005 Magnetic Resonanace GRC: "What is the NMR analogue of the quantum Zeno effect?". In press at Physics Letters

Arbitrary precision composite pulses for NMR quantum computing

We discuss the implementation of arbitrary precision composite pulses developed using the methods of Brown et al. [Phys. Rev. A 70 (2004) 052318]. We give explicit results for pulse sequences designed to tackle both the simple case of pulse length errors and for the more complex case of off-resonance errors. The results are developed in the context of NMR quantum computation, but could be applied more widely.Comment: 16 pages elsart, no figures. In press at Journal of Magnetic resonanc

Pharmacists\u27 Role in Harm Reduction: A Survey Assessment of Kentucky Community Pharmacists\u27 Willingness to Participate in Syringe/Needle Exchange

Background: Pharmacists\u27 role in harm reduction is expanding in many states, yet there are limited data on pharmacists\u27 willingness to participate in harm reduction activities. This study assessed community pharmacists\u27 willingness to participate in one harm reduction initiative: syringe/needle exchange. Methods: In 2015, all Kentucky pharmacists with active licenses were emailed a survey that examined attitudes towards participation in syringe/needle exchange. Response frequencies were calculated for community pharmacist respondents. Ordinal logistic regression estimated the impact of community pharmacist characteristics and attitudes on willingness to provide clean needles/syringes to people who inject drugs and to dispose of used syringes/needles, where both dependent variables were defined as Likert-type questions on a scale of 1 (not at all willing) to 6 (very willing). Results: Of 4699 practicing Kentucky pharmacists, 1282 pharmacists responded (response rate = 27.3%); the majority (n = 827) were community pharmacists. Community pharmacists were divided on willingness to provide clean needles/syringes, with 39.1% not willing (score 1 or 2 of 6) and 30% very willing (score 5 or 6 of 6). Few were willing to dispose of used needles/syringes, with only 18.7% willing. Community pharmacists who agreed that pharmacists could have significant public health impact by providing access to clean needles expressed 3.56 times more willingness to provide clean needles (95% CI 3.06-4.15), and 2.04 times more willingness to dispose of used needles (95% CI 1.77-2.35). Chain/supermarket pharmacists (n = 485, 58.6% of community pharmacies) were 39% less likely to express willingness to dispose of used needles (95% CI 0.43-0.87) when compared with independent community pharmacists (n = 342, 41.4% of community pharmacies). Independent pharmacists reported different barriers (workflow) than their chain/supermarket pharmacist colleagues (concerns of clientele). Conclusions: Kentucky community pharmacists were more willing to provide clean needles than to dispose of used needles. Strategies to mitigate barriers to participation in syringe/needle exchange are warranted

Metallkomplexe mit biologisch wichtigen Liganden, LXV

Cp*Co(CO)I2 (Cp* = 5-C5Me5), [(6-arene)RuCl2]2 (arene = p-cymene, hexamethylbenzene), and [Cp*MCl2]2 (M = Rh, Ir) react with -amino amides and various peptide esters to give the N,O-chelate complexes [Cp*(I)Co - NH2C(H)(R1)C(NHR2)-O]+ (1), [(6-arene)(Cl)Ru - NH2C(H)(R1)C(NHR2)O]+ (2), and [CP*(Cl)M - NH2CH2C(NHR)O]+ (M = Rh, Ir) (5, in solution), respectively. In the solid state the ligands are 1N-bonded in 5. By deprotonation of the peptide bond in 2 and 5 the neutral N, N-chelate complexes (6-arene)(Cl)Ru - NH2C(H)(R1)C(O)-2 (6) and Cp*(Cl)M - NH2C(H)(R1)C(O)NR2 (M = Rh, Ir) (7) have been obtained. Glycinenitrile is 1-bonded in (6-p-cymene)(Cl)2Ru(NH2CH2CN) (3) and Cp*(Cl)2Rh(NH2CH2CN) (4). Double deprotonated triglycine methyl ester is a N,N,N-tridentate ligand in (6-C6Me6)Ru(NH2CH2C(O)NCH2C(O)-NCH2CO2Me) (8). The anions of L-asparagine and of aspartame (L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester) give the complexes 9-12 with tridentate O,N,O- or O,N,N-chelate ligands. The crystal structures of 1d (L = glyglyOEt), 5a (L = glycinamide), 6e (L = glyglyOEt), and 7k (L = glyglyglyOEt) have been determined by X-ray structural analysis