The Terror Experts: Discourse, Discipline, and the Production of Terrorist Subjects at a University Research Center

This thesis examines the production and circulation of discourses related to (counter)terrorism at a university-affiliated terrorism and security studies research center in eastern Massachusetts. Drawing on participant observation, documentary analysis, and interviews with faculty and students at the research center, I suggest that expert discourses of (counter)terrorism at the center traffic in an archetypal construction of the terrorist that I call the “depoliticized radical.” This construction locates the root of terrorism in individual morality and psychology, tending to abstract the terrorist from the political conditions in which they enact violence. I further propose that the depoliticized radical functions as a boundary object in Star and Griesemer’s (1989) conception, serving the interests of both expert regimes that take the terrorist as a subject to be known and counterterror regimes that take the terrorist as a subject to be controlled and/or corrected. Through fine-grained case studies, I track the strategic deployment of the depoliticized radical by different actors at the center within distinctive professional contexts. My discussion of the practices by which actors at the center seek to consolidate their expertise within the contested fields of terrorism studies and security studies draws on and develops Gieryn’s (1983) concept of “boundary-work” as a rhetorical and theatrical strategy for demarcating legitimate from illegitimate knowledges. I conclude by contemplating the political stakes of terrorism expertise as a project of knowledge production that seeks to establish the terrorist as an archetypal subject to be both known and controlled

The Terror Experts: Discourse, Discipline, and the Production of Terrorist Subjects at a University Research Center

This thesis examines the production and circulation of discourses related to (counter)terrorism at a university-affiliated terrorism and security studies research center in eastern Massachusetts. Drawing on participant observation, documentary analysis, and interviews with faculty and students at the research center, I suggest that expert discourses of (counter)terrorism at the center traffic in an archetypal construction of the terrorist that I call the “depoliticized radical.” This construction locates the root of terrorism in individual morality and psychology, tending to abstract the terrorist from the political conditions in which they enact violence. I further propose that the depoliticized radical functions as a boundary object in Star and Griesemer’s (1989) conception, serving the interests of both expert regimes that take the terrorist as a subject to be known and counterterror regimes that take the terrorist as a subject to be controlled and/or corrected. Through fine-grained case studies, I track the strategic deployment of the depoliticized radical by different actors at the center within distinctive professional contexts. My discussion of the practices by which actors at the center seek to consolidate their expertise within the contested fields of terrorism studies and security studies draws on and develops Gieryn’s (1983) concept of “boundary-work” as a rhetorical and theatrical strategy for demarcating legitimate from illegitimate knowledges. I conclude by contemplating the political stakes of terrorism expertise as a project of knowledge production that seeks to establish the terrorist as an archetypal subject to be both known and controlled

An alternative synthesis of cycloalkyl-substituted CPA catalysts and application in asymmetric protonation reactions

LAM thanks the EPSRC (grant number EP/S027165/1) for postdoctoral funding.An alternative synthesis of cycloalkyl-substituted CPA catalysts is reported. A Negishi coupling offers improved yields and purity of the necessary 1,3,5-tri(cycloalkyl)benzenes. Limitations in the use of commercial organozinc reagents have been identified and a robust procedure for the preparation of these reagents is detailed. Similarly, a robust procedure for the key Kumada coupling is also provided. The route is demonstrated by preparation of three different tri(cycloalkyl)aryl-substituted CPAs and the utility of these catalysts in asymmetric protonation reactions is shown.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Arylboronic Acid Catalyzed C-Alkylation and Allylation Reactions Using Benzylic Alcohols

: The arylboronic acid catalyzed dehydrative Calkylation of 1,3-diketones and 1,3-ketoesters using secondary benzylic alcohols as the electrophile is reported, forming new C−C bonds (19 examples, up to 98% yield) with the release of water as the only byproduct. The process is also applicable to the allylation of benzylic alcohols using allyltrimethylsilane as the nucleophile (12 examples, up to 96% yield)

Patient Centered Diabetes Care

Design plays a marginal part in the discourse of diabetes care, mainly in visualizing the form and packaging of medical technologies. The authors however have a practice that advocates that design orientated solutions can add much needed dimensions to problems that have traditionally been the exclusive preserve of expert discourses. This position has for long been a validated and largely accepted approach in design’s engagement with sustainability issues. A similar approach in the area of medicine has been constructed by the authors and marks out a position of advocacy where the designer takes on agency to intervene on behalf of the user community. This position contains a healthy critique of the traditional approach of product design for manufacture while simultaneously amplifying a desire to intervene and make a substantial improvement in the quality of life of diabetics. This article first opens out contemporary diabetes care as a contested domain and then goes on to sketch out the key aspects of a design practice focussed upon delivering positive health outcomes in diabetes care. The specific context of discussion for this article is the practice of teaching in design studios where students of design listen to the voices of the individual diabetic and visualize ways for design to provide products and service solutions that transform the lived experiences of diabetics

Aryl Boronic Acid Catalysed Dehydrative Substitution of Benzylic Alcohols for C−O Bond Formation

We thank the University of St Andrews and the EPSRC for the award of a DTA studentship (S.E.-D.). We would also like to thank the EPSRC, University of St Andrews, and CRITICAT Centre for Doctoral Training for financial support [Ph.D. studentships to B.M.H, E.B.M and L.J.D; Grant code: EP/L016419/1]. J.E.T thanks the Leverhulme Trust for the award of an Early Career Fellowship (Grant code: ECF-2014-005).A combination of pentafluorophenylboronic acid and oxalic acid catalyses the dehydrative substitution of benzylic alcohols with a second alcohol to form new C-O bonds. This method has been applied to the intermolecular substitution of benzylic alcohols to form symmetrical ethers, intramolecular cyclisations of diols to form aryl-substituted tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran derivatives, and intermolecular crossed-etherification reactions between two different alcohols. Mechanistic control experiments have identified a potential catalytic intermediate formed between the arylboronic acid and oxalic acid.PostprintPeer reviewe

Asymmetric synthesis of heterocyclic chloroamines and aziridines by enantioselective protonation of catalytically generated enamines

L.A.M. and J.W.B.F. thank EPSRC for postdoctoral funding (EP/S027165/1; EP/R025754/1). J.W.B.F. thanks the Leverhulme Trust for postdoctoral funding (RPG-2018-362). M.W.A. thanks the University of St Andrews for a PhD studentship.We report a method for the synthesis of chiral vicinal chloroamines via asymmetric protonation of catalytically generatedprochiral chloroenamines using chiral Brønsted acids. The processis highly enantioselective, with the origin of asymmetry and catalystsubstituent effects elucidated by DFT calculations. We show theutility of the method as an approach to the synthesis of a broadrange of heterocycle-substituted aziridines by treatment of thechloroamines with base in a one-pot process, as well as the utility ofthe process to allow access to vicinal diamines.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Integration VS. Fragmentation of Knowledge Management, Organisational Learning and Innovation - Phase One of a Multi-phase Research Project

This paper represents the first phase of a study designed to investigate the degree of integration (or fragmentation) of key knowledge management (KM), organisational learning (OL) and innovation processes that exist within Australian organisations, and to increase our understanding of the costs, benefits, drivers, and barriers for such integration. A review of the literature provides a clear indication of the links between KM, OL, and innovation. For example, innovation, conceived by Drucker as an effort to purposely develop an organisation's economic or social potential, has been linked to OL, which Senge conceptualised as an effort to enhance an organisation's capacity for effective action. Similar links can be seen between OL and KM, where the primary distinction between the two concepts appears to lie only within the mental model of the practitioner; one who comes from an IT-related discipline tends to adopt a KM bias, whereas those with a foundation in organisational behaviour will tend towards OL

Chemoselective sequential click ligations directed by enhanced reactivity of an aromatic ynamine

Aromatic ynamines or N-alkynylheteroarenes are highly reactive alkyne components in Cu-catalyzed Huisgen [3 +2] cycloaddition (“click”) reactions. This enhanced reactivity enables the chemoselective formation of 1,4-triazoles using the representative aromatic ynamine N-ethynylbenzimidazole in the presence of a competing aliphatic alkyne substrate. The unique chemoselectivity profile of N-ethynylbenzimidazole is further demonstrated by the sequential click ligation of a series of highly functionalized azides using a heterobifunctional diyne, dispelling the need for alkyne protecting groups

Discovery of Soft-Drug Topical Tool Modulators of Sphingosine-1-phosphate Receptor 1 (S1PR1)

In order to study the role of S1PRs in inflammatory skin disease, S1PR modulators are dosed orally and topically in animal models of disease. The topical application of S1PR modulators in these models may, however, lead to systemic drug concentrations, which can complicate interpretation of the observed effects. We set out to design soft drug S1PR modulators as topical tool compounds to overcome this limitation. A fast follower approach starting from the drug ponesimod allowed the rapid development of an active phenolic series of soft drugs. The phenols were, however, chemically unstable. Protecting the phenol as an ester removed the instability and provided a compound that is converted by enzymatic hydrolysis in the skin to the phenolic soft drug species. In simple formulations, topical dosing of these S1PR modulators to mice led to micromolar skin concentrations but no detectable blood concentrations. These topical tools will allow researchers to investigate the role of S1PR in skin, without involvement of systemic S1PR biology