Troublesome youth groups, gangs and knife carrying in Scotland

"... the research reported here set out to: Provide an overview of what is known about the nature and extent of youth gang activity and knife carrying in a set of case study locations; Provide an in-depth account of the structures and activities of youth gangs in these settings; Provide an in-depth account of the knife carrying in these settings; Offer a series of recommendations for interventions in these behaviours based on this evidence." - exec. summary

Resolving the brainstem contributions to attentional analgesia

Previous human imaging studies manipulating attention or expectancy have identified the periaqueductal gray (PAG) as a key brainstem structure implicated in endogenous analgesia. However, animal studies indicate that PAG analgesia is mediated largely via caudal brainstem structures, such as the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) and locus coeruleus (LC). To identify their involvement in endogenous analgesia, we used brainstem optimized, whole-brain imaging to record responses to concurrent thermal stimulation (left forearm) and visual attention tasks of titrated difficulty in 20 healthy subjects. The PAG, LC, and RVM were anatomically discriminated using a probabilistic atlas. Pain ratings disclosed the anticipated analgesic interaction between task difficulty and pain intensity (p < 0.001). Main effects of noxious thermal stimulation were observed across several brain regions, including operculoinsular, primary somatosensory, and cingulate cortices, whereas hard task difficulty was represented in anterior insular, parietal, and prefrontal cortices. Permutation testing within the brainstem nuclei revealed the following: main effects of task in dorsal PAG and right LC; and main effect of temperature in RVM and a task × temperature interaction in right LC. Intrasubject regression revealed a distributed network of supratentorial brain regions and the RVM whose activity was linearly related to pain intensity. Intersubject analgesia scores correlated to activity within a distinct region of the RVM alone. These results identify distinct roles for a brainstem triumvirate in attentional analgesia: with the PAG activated by attentional load; specific RVM regions showing pronociceptive and antinociceptive processes (in line with previous animal studies); and the LC showing lateralized activity during conflicting attentional demands. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention modulates pain intensity, and human studies have identified roles for a network of forebrain structures plus the periaqueductal gray (PAG). Animal data indicate that the PAG acts via caudal brainstem structures to control nociception. We investigated this issue within an attentional analgesia paradigm with brainstem-optimized fMRI and analysis using a probabilistic brainstem atlas. We find pain intensity encoding in several forebrain structures, including the insula and attentional activation of the PAG. Discrete regions of the rostral ventromedial medulla bidirectionally influence pain perception, and locus coeruleus activity mirrors the interaction between attention and nociception. This approach has enabled the resolution of contributions from a hub of key brainstem structures to endogenous analgesia

An assessment of financial viability of recycled carbon fibre in automotive applications

Carbon fibre (CF) recycling has been demonstrated to achieve reductions in environmental impacts compared to virgin CF production, but there is limited understanding of the financial viability of recycling and reutilisation of recycled CF (rCF). In this work, cost analysis and identification of market opportunities for rCF are performed by evaluating the cost of recycling, composite manufacture, and applications in automotive industry. Cost impacts of using rCF as a substitute for conventional materials and competitor lightweight materials are assessed over the full life cycle, including in-use implications. Recovery of CF can be achieved at $5/kg and less across a wide range of process parameters, approximately 15% of the cost of producing virgin carbon fibre. The life cycle cost results show that rCF composites, especially aligned rCF composites, give substantial cost reductions relative to virgin CF composites and even steel and aluminium

Comparative LCA of different graphene production routes

This study is an LCA of three graphene production routes: electrochemical exfoliation of graphite rods, chemical oxidation and subsequent chemical or thermal reduction and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Different processes for each route are analysed and their cradle-to-gate LCA is presented. A comparative LCA of the least impacting processes for each route is also presented showing that the chemical oxidation process followed by thermal reduction is the least impacting to produce large quantities of graphene when lab equipment is used to its full potential.A prospective LCA on a likely commercial scale of the least impacting processes is also presented and shows that almost all processes benefit from a scale-up activity and that the least impacting material route remains the chemical oxidation followed by thermal reduction. An optimistic scenario in which all electricity comes from renewable sources is also presented. While this last scenario promotes the more energy intensive processes, the least impacting technology to produce large quantities of graphene remains the chemical oxidation followed by thermal reduction

2015-2016 Sanctuary Series March 16, 2016

Watch video of the performance here.https://spiral.lynn.edu/sanctuary_series/1000/thumbnail.jp

Environmental and financial performance of mechanical recycling of carbon fibre reinforced polymers and comparison with conventional disposal routes

Recovering value from carbon fibre reinforced polymers waste can help to address the high cost and environmental burden of producing carbon fibres, but there is limited understanding of the cost and environmental implications of potential recycling technologies. The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and financial viability of mechanical recycling of carbon fibre composite waste. Life cycle costing and environmental assessment models are developed to quantify the financial and environmental impacts of alternative composite waste treatment routes, comparing landfilling, incineration with energy recovery, and mechanical recycling in a UK context. Current Landfill Tax results in incineration becoming the lowest cost composite waste treatment option; however, incineration is associated with high greenhouse gas emissions as carbon released from composite waste during combustion exceeds CO2 emissions savings from displacing UK electricity and/or heat generation, resulting in a net greenhouse gas emissions source. Mechanical recycling and fibre reuse to displace virgin glass fibre can provide the greatest greenhouse gas emissions reductions of the treatment routes considered (−378 kg CO2 eq./t composite waste), provided residual recyclates are landfilled rather than incinerated. However, this pathway is found to be unfeasible due to its high cost, which exceeds £2500/t composite waste ($3750/t composite waste). The financial performance of mechanical recycling is impaired by the high costs of dismantling and recycling processes; low carbon fibre recovery rate; and low value of likely markets. To be viable, carbon fibre recycling processes must achieve near-100% fibre recover rates and minimise the degradation of fibre mechanical properties to enable higher value applications (e.g., virgin carbon fibre displacement). On-going development of carbon fibre recovery technologies and composite manufacturing techniques using recycled carbon fibres leading to improved material properties is therefore critical to ensuring financial viability and environmental benefit of carbon fibre reinforced polymer recycling

Multiplexed genotyping of ABC transporter polymorphisms with the Bioplex suspension array

We have developed and validated a consolidated bead-based genotyping platform, the Bioplex suspension array for simultaneous detection of multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the ATP-binding cassette transporters. Genetic polymorphisms have been known to influence therapeutic response and risk of disease pathologies. Genetic screening for therapeutic and diagnostic applications thus holds great promise in clinical management. The allele-specific primer extension (ASPE) reaction was used to assay 22 multiplexed SNPs for eight subjects. Comparison of the microsphere-based ASPE assay results to sequencing results showed complete concordance in genotype assignments. The Bioplex suspension array thus proves to be a reliable, cost-effective and high-throughput technological platform for genotyping. It can be easily adapted to customized SNP panels for specific applications involving large-scale mutation screening of clinically relevant markers

Research and Realization of High-Power Medium-Voltage Active Rectifier Concepts for Future Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Generation

This paper describes the research and development of a 3kV active rectifier for a 4MW aerospace generator drive system demonstrator. The converter is fed by a multi-phase high speed/high frequency, permanent magnet generator. The main aim of the work is to demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of a MW-class generator system meeting future hybrid-electric propulsion requirements. A concept with multiple and isolated three-phase systems feeding different power buses is proposed to meet the availability requirements. Multiple converters (one for each three-phase system) are connected in series and/or in parallel to achieve the rated power and DC link voltage. This paper describes the key design concepts and the development and testing of the converter to meet the challenging application requirements. Reduced power tests are carried out on a full scale 4 MW converter prototype, validating the proposed design. The work represents a step forward in terms of voltage, power, and output frequency, with respect to the state of the art

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model