Acrylonitrile adducts and related systems

The coordination chemistry of acrylonitrile (ACN) has-been studied with the long term view of modifying the reactivity of ACN to a Lewis acid. The first chapter of this work is a review of CAN coordination and organometallic chemistry up to July 1979 together with a comprehensive tabular summary of the literature. The coordination of ACN with relatively hard Lewis acids such as SnCl(_4), TiCl(_4), ZnCl(_2), etc., has been shown to occur via the C≡N lone pair and the repulsive interactions between ACN (as well as acetonitrile, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and tetrahydrofuran) and GeCl(_4) and SiCl(_4) have been demonstrated by vapour pressure/composition studies. The stereochemistry of the solid adducts SnCl(_4)L(_2) where L = MeCN, Ch(_2)CHCN, Bu(^2), NC(CH(_2))(_n)CN (n = 1-4), 1,4 C(_6)H(_4)(CN)(_2), THF, Me(_2)SO and tetrahydrothiophene was investigated binuclear quadrupole resonance and infra-red spectroscopy. The hydrostannation of nitriles by HCl and SnClg has-been shown to yield β cyanoethyl tin trichloride with ACN but dimeric salts with an amidinium structure with alkyl and aryl nitriles. Finally the stoichiometric dimerization of ACN to solely adiponitrile by cobalt chloride and an electropositive metal (M = M.g, Mn, Zn) in a variety of solvents has been investigated and several plausible mechanisms proposed

Guidance histories of selected pupils of a minority group in the intermediate grades

What are the behaviors and actions of selected discipline problems among the colored children of the intermediate grades in the elementary school, and what methods and techniques are used by the staff of the elementary school in meeting and attempting to solve the problems? The purpose of this study was: (1) To make a study of discipline cases over a stated period of time.; (2) To describe the development of counseling methods as related to the behavior patterns of the pupils studied.; (3) To attempt to discover what are both the immediate and underlying causes of the behavior problems of the pupils studied.; (4) To show in what ways the various school and community agencies are employed to give assistance with problem cases.; (5) To record the various school-pupil, pupil-pupil, pupil-home and intra-school relationships that occur in the handling of the pupils studied.; (6) To present suggested methods in the collecting and recording of data concerned with the pupils who were studied.; (7) To provide a basis for further guidance and counseling planning by the teachers and administrators of the Roosevelt School, Stockton, California

Controlled Local Properties in the Same Part with Sintaflex A New Elastomer Powder Material for the SLS Process

A new powder material for the SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) process was recently released. The material is a result of fruitful research programs involving industry and university. The well known and widely used DuraFom™ (PA12) and theCastForm™ (PS) SLS-materials were developed by the same team. In the search for new powder materials many properties of the candidate polymer, e.g. the pulverization, the laser absorption and sintering parameters have to be tuned carefully. Previous Elastomer options materials were poor in strength, detailing, and long-term use. The new product overcomes most of the known deficits. It open completely new practices in many branches like: automotive, house appliances, office equipment, foot ware, medical, and many more. The Sintaflex has a Shore hardness variability 45-75 A and Elongation up to around 300%. The attainable yield strength range is 1.3 - 4.2 MPa. The resolution on the SLS part is up to 0.6 mm. It is positioned in good agreement compared with other commonly used injection plastics. Furthermore, the appeal of all SFF process beside geometry and complexity is thought in varying locally the mechanical properties. Some published patents make suggestions in this direction. The new material, due to the particular properties range in function of the sintering parameter, allows first time to realize this wish. The generated part has controlled variable local properties; a new and unique opportunity opens for the SLS process. The paper describes the basic material properties. Further the main sintering parameters are describes and indications on machine settings are given. RP (Rapid Prototyping) applications and the recent practical experience are illustrated. Distinctive examples of local variable properties in the same part and given limits are shown. Some conclusions are stated.Mechanical Engineerin

A critical analysis of the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem on transformational entrepreneurship

Previous research suggests that the entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) support factors are critical for the systemic development of micro, small. and medium enterprises (MSMEs). However, there is limited understanding of how MSME owner's/manager’s characteristics impact their perspectives of the EE support factors for business development. This study addresses this research gap to adopt a coherent approach to understand the EE in supporting MSMEs to achieve transformational entrepreneurship (TE), which builds sustainable businesses for long-term societal benefits. The MSMEs characteristics alongside the EE factors were tested with 576 MSMEs in Nigeria. The MSME owner's/manager’s characteristics were positively correlated to their perspective of EE support factors (access to finance, markets, resources, and policies and regulations), which were inadequate. The findings will assist theory and practice development to understand and focus on the EE discussed in the context of TE in Nigeria, offering potential insights for similar developing economies. </p

Examining the perceived value of extracurricular enterprise activities in relation to entrepreneurial learning processes

This study contributes towards increased understanding of the perceived value of extracurricular enterprise activities from an entrepreneurial learning perspective. Past decades have witnessed a global increase in the provision of enterprise and entrepreneurship education alongside a growing suite of extracurricular enterprise activities. However, there is a paucity of research examining how entrepreneurial learning might be understood in the context of these activities. The study draws on an empirical study of student and educator participants across 24 United Kingdom (UK) universities using semi-structured surveys and in-depth interviews. Three main learning theories drawn from the entrepreneurial learning literature; experiential, social and self-directed learning provided a conceptual framework to frame the research phenomenon. Findings posit that extracurricular enterprise activities provide perceived value in the experiential and social learning opportunities afforded for students. However, these activities are restricted in enabling the experiential learning cycle to be completed due to limited reflection opportunities. Positioning these extracurricular activities outside the main curriculum also empowers participants to self-direct aspects of their learning and develop their autonomous learning capabilities.The existing literature focuses upon the entrepreneurial learning processes of established entrepreneurs rather than latent and nascent entrepreneurs within a Higher Education (HE) setting. The limited literature examining HE entrepreneurial learning does so by concentrating upon entrepreneurial learning resulting from in-curricular activities. This study offers novel insights into students entrepreneurial learning processes, highlighting the importance of experiential, social and self-directed learning opportunities to the entrepreneurial learning process and the perceived value of extracurricular activities as a platform for these types of learning

Extracurricular Enterprise Activities as a Vehicle for Entrepreneurial Learning: Examining Experiential, Social and Self-directed Learning Outcomes

This paper critically examines the value of extracurricular enterprise activity from a student and educator perspective at United Kingdom (UK) universities. Extracurricular activities are a popular facet of enterprise education and studies note an increase in recent years of provision of extracurricular enterprise activities across European universities (Rae et al., 2012; Lilischkis et al., 2015). The research aims to examine the benefits of participation in extracurricular enterprise activities and in particular the benefits to students’ entrepreneurial learning processes. Thus, this research addresses the following research questions: 1. What benefits, learning or otherwise, may be attainable from Higher Education (HE) student engagement in extracurricular enterprise activities? 2. How may engagement in extracurricular enterprise activities enhance students’ entrepreneurial learning processes? This paper addresses the conference theme – ‘Research, policy and practice: Collaboration in a disparate world’ by examining the advancement of individuals’ entrepreneurial learning processes through engagement in collaborative activities. This study adopted an inductive methodological approach to explore themes emergent from the data rather than to predict or explain through hypotheses (Berger and Luckmann, 1967; Booth et al., 2009). A semi-structured survey (n=55), administered to students at a national conference themed on extracurricular enterprise activity, contained qualitative questions regarding what types of extracurricular enterprise activities respondents had participated in and what they felt they had gained from participation. A total of 26 in-depth interviews were also conducted, 23 with student participants and three with enterprise educators, to ascertain the perceived value of participation in extracurricular enterprise activities to students’ entrepreneurial learning processes. In relation to research question one, it was found that each participant was unique in the combination of benefits they gained from engaging in extracurricular enterprise activities but there were commonalities identified under the six themes of: skills development, knowledge acquisition, personal growth, development of social capital, venture creation/growth and enhanced employability. These benefits ranged from intrinsic, such as a growth in self-belief, to extrinsic such as an enhanced CV. They also ranged across the spectrum of the venture creation process from ideation to business registration. In relation to research question two, the data was reviewed in accordance with established theoretical framing for the examination of entrepreneurial learning processes; experiential and social learning theory (Taylor and Thorpe, 2004; Politis, 2005; Cope et al., 2007; Pittaway et al., 2015). It was found that prior links posited in the literature between entrepreneurial learning and experiential learning were supported in the data but the role of reflection was found to be diminished as limited opportunities to reflect upon learning may hinder abstract conceptualization processes. Links already posited in the literature between 2 social learning theories and entrepreneurial learning were also confirmed; entrepreneurial learning was seen to be enacted alone but also in groups whereby participants observed others to enhance their entrepreneurial learning, modelling behaviours, and collaborating in a ‘community of practice’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991). For policy and practice, findings contribute to ongoing debate regarding the value of enterprise education and in particular extracurricular activities (Lilischkis et al., 2015; Johannisson, 2016; Arranz et al., 2017; Nabi et al., 2017). This research contributes significant empirical knowledge to the limited understanding of how extracurricular enterprise activities may positively enhance students’ entrepreneurial learning processes. Prior studies have focused upon mapping the extracurricular enterprise activities available at universities and gathering an educator perspective of potential benefits (Rae et al., 2012; Lilschkis et al., 2015; Vanevenhoven and Drago, 2015). This research moves beyond mapping activities to contribute empirical evidence of how HE students’ entrepreneurial learning processes may be enhanced by engagement in extracurricular enterprise activities and also offers valuable insight into the student perspective of these activities. This research also has value in enhancing the theoretical conceptualisation of entrepreneurial learning within a HE setting. A conceptual framework confirms the importance of the experiential and social learning activities afforded by participation in extracurricular enterprise activities but also provides a novel contribution in positioning the self-directed nature of these activities as key to developing students’ autonomous learning capabilities. Such findings have important implications for enterprise educators in their design and delivery of extracurricular enterprise activities

The Application of Cloud Computing to the Creation of Image Mosaics and Management of Their Provenance

We have used the Montage image mosaic engine to investigate the cost and performance of processing images on the Amazon EC2 cloud, and to inform the requirements that higher-level products impose on provenance management technologies. We will present a detailed comparison of the performance of Montage on the cloud and on the Abe high performance cluster at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Because Montage generates many intermediate products, we have used it to understand the science requirements that higher-level products impose on provenance management technologies. We describe experiments with provenance management technologies such as the "Provenance Aware Service Oriented Architecture" (PASOA).Comment: 15 pages, 3 figur

An exploration of the role and contribution of entrepreneurship centres in UK higher education institutions

This study evaluates current and future roles of UK entrepreneurship centres (ECs) within Higher Education institutions. Literature suggests current activity in entrepreneurship education is strongly associated with the contribution of ECs. However, ECs experience resource limitations and high stakeholder's expectations, leading to a proliferation of aims, roles and identity issues. The study evaluates five UK EC using evidence from a range of stakeholders within each centre. The study considers the strategic direction of ECs, their aim and roles, resourcing and the leadership role they adopt. The study assesses the role ECs are fulfilling in the promotion of entrepreneurship and the resource constraints limiting future development. The need for EC identity and community contribution are identified as a determinant of success. This study offers novel insight into factors influencing EC behaviour and future strategy, which will be of value for UK HEI and Entrepreneurship educators

Occupational exposure risk to radiation in open cast artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Western Kenya

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASSGM) is practiced at open-cast gold mines in Western Kenya. Mining is still going on in deep mines, with huge tailings littering the workplace for most miners. This mining exercise brings to the surface myriad radioactive materials from the earth’s crust, which pose physical and radiation hazards to miners. The aim of this study was to determine occupational exposure to radiation at artisanal gold mining sites. Four sites were studied for a period of six months. Environmental radiation exposure levels were measured using the Geiger Mueller tube (GMT) model; PHYWE, whereas thermoluminescent dosimeter badges (TLB) 802A were used to record personal radiation exposure levels. d-Orbital Limited Company provided UD-716AGL, used to read the radiation levels from the TLB. Exposure levels were reported in terms of monthly skin, eye, and body exposures. Results revealed an increase in counts per minute with an increase in depth in a range of 19.83 ± 3.87 to 27.83 ± 2.10 and a mean of 23.62 ± 5.17 cpm. Personal effective radiation exposure doses for the skin, eye and body were 0.19 ± 0.01, 0.19 ± 0.01 and 0.18 ± 0.015 for two sites in Western Kenya, whereas those in Nyanza had 0.27 ± 0.01, 0.27 ± 0.01 and 0.25 ± 0.05 mSv on skin, eye and body. The maximum dose threshold limit was estimated at 1.67 mSv per month. There was no significant difference in the radiation exposure of the eye, skin, and body between the sites as indicated by χ2 = 2.0 and p = 0.157 (at p&lt;0.05) with df = 1. The study revealed that workers are exposed to ionising radiation, but the measured levels were within safe limits