The Synthesis of a π-Extended Tetrathiafulvalene Porphyrin for MOF Formation and Use in Solar Cells

With the purpose of creating a conjugated system for potential experiments in solar cell applications, the first π-extended TTF (ExTTF) porphyrin with a functionalizable handle (carboxylic ester) was synthesized. The overall yield was 0.249%. This compound will then be incorporated into a 2-D metalorganic framework using zinc and bispyridine as the linkers. Assuming the synthesis of this sheet will later be successful, it can be tested for its redox properties using CV and its absorption properties to assess its feasibility in a solar cell. It is believed that these sheets of ExTTF porphyrin and zinc will have long-lived charge separated states when paired with C60 and will improve the efficiency of solar cells.Chemistr

Learning more from crossing levels: Investigating agility at three levels of the organization

Scholars have tried to explain how organizations can build agile teams by only looking at one level of analysis. We argue in this short paper that lessons can be learned from organizational science results explaining variance on three different abstraction levels of organizations. We suggest agility needs to be explained from organizational (macro), the team (meso), and individual (micro) levels to provide useful and actionable guidelines to practitioners. We are currently designing such studies and hope that they will eventually result in validated measurements that can be used to prevent companies from investing in the wrong areas when trying to move towards more agility

The celestial e-sphere

The Celestial E-Sphere originally came from an idea from Dr. Bob Lambourne who expressed a desire for a Celestial Sphere that you could see from outside, rather like the desk-top spheres that you can buy. There was some discussion about the possibility of modifying the open source of Stellarium, a very popular planetarium package, but this was perceived as probably being very complex. The final impetus came when using the Sky Maps tool of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey website, shown below

NO ESCAPE FROM POLITICS FOUR TESTS FOR A SUCCESSFUL FISCAL INSTRUMENT IN THE EURO AREA. Bertelsmann Stiftung Policy Paper No. 220 26 March 2018

With his proposal for a euro area budget, Emmanuel Macron has put a common fiscal instrument back at the center of the euro area reform debate. The discussion about whether or not the euro area needs more fiscal integration may be older than the currency union itself, but there is good reason to believe that the coming months will be a critical juncture for European fiscal policy. This policy paper makes two contributions to the debate. We start out by arguing that a common fiscal instrument is desirable. We suggest that proponents and opponents of fiscal integration alike should take heed of the unprecedented role the European Central Bank (ECB) played in safeguarding the stability of the euro area and facilitating its recovery. In our view, the more ill-at-ease one feels with the scale of the ECB measures, the stronger the case for joint fiscal policy becomes. From this perspective, alleviating the excessive dependence on monetary policy is a key rationale for developing a common fiscal instrumen

Strong and Weak Interpretations in Translating Chinese Poetry

Are classical Chinese and modern Chinese one language, or two? Is translating classical Chinese poetry the same as or different from translating modern Chinese poetry? I have earlier argued that modern Chinese poetry is in some ways a translation of premodern Chinese poetics through the filter of international poetics—but if this is the case, then should translation of classical and modern poetry into English be more similar than they are? Looking at Lydia Liu’s notion of the “supersign” alongside my experiences translating contemporary poets Ouyang Jianghe and Xi Chuan as well as Tang dynasty poet Li Shangyin, I discuss what I call “weak interpretations” and “strong interpretations” and how they play out in the translational alignment of classical and modern Chinese poetry with poetry in English today

3-D immersive screen experiments

We are currently piloting a range of computer simulated science experiments as 3-D virtual environments. These are rendered on a PC in 3-D and use photographs of specic parts of the actual apparatus as textures to add realism to the simulation. In particular, photographs are used to represent the consequential views of an experiment. These particular views may also be animated depending on the state of the experiment. The work combines the photographic approach of the Interactive Screen Experiments (ISEs) with the advantages of a fully simulated 3-D environment where the user can interact with the apparatus in a more natural and intuitive way. The potential advantages are that users can quickly adapt to the environment and in particular the controls. They gain realistic views of the physicality of the experiment as they are not just seeing it from a particular viewpoint, but from wherever they see t to place themselves within the experiment's scene. They are immersed in the experiment in a way that mitigates some of the objections to online as opposed to real laboratory experimentation. It is also the case that the results of an initial calibration or setup carry over into the main part of the experiment. This is perceived as an extremely important teaching element of Physics practicals as the user learns that care in setting up an experiment is an essential part of being able to get good results. Furthermore there is no need to represent scales, read-outs or controls as separate parts of the interface; these can all be rendered at their correct physical positions within the experiment. The rst of these experiments based on the use of a diffraction grating has been fully implemented and has been evaluated with a Physics A level class. The application and its evaluation will be presented. A more complicated experiment using a spectrometer has also been modelled which raises issues of complexity. These issues will also be discussed