Transforming Power Relationships: Leadership, Risk, and Hope. IHS Political Science Series No. 135, May 2013

Chronic communal conflicts resemble the prisoner’s dilemma. Both communities prefer peace to war. But neither trusts the other, viewing the other’s gain as its own loss, so potentially shared interests often go unrealized. Achieving positive-sum outcomes from apparently zero-sum struggles requires a kind of riskembracing leadership. To succeed leaders must: a) see power relations as potentially positive-sum; b) strengthen negotiating adversaries instead of weakening them; and c) demonstrate hope for a positive future and take great personal risks to achieve it. Such leadership is exemplified by Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk in the South African democratic transition. To illuminate the strategic dilemmas Mandela and de Klerk faced, we examine the work of Robert Axelrod, Thomas Schelling, and Josep Colomer, who highlight important dimensions of the problem but underplay the role of risk-embracing leadership. Finally we discuss leadership successes and failures in the Northern Ireland settlement and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The pyrolysis of acetylene and related compounds

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Development of probability of detection data for structural health monitoring damage detection techniques based on acoustic emission

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques have been developed as a cost effective alternative to currently adopted Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods which have well understood levels of performance. Quantitative performance assessment, as used in NDT, needs to be applied to SHM techniques to establish their performance levels as a basis for technique comparison and also as a requirement for practical aerospace application according to set regulations. One such measurand is Probability of Detection (POD). This paper reports experiments conducted to investigate the location accuracy of the Acoustic Emission (AE) system in monitoring events from HsuNielson and fatigue crack AE sources as a route to establish the POD of AE in SHM. It was found that fatigue crack tips could be located at 90% POD within 10 mm accuracy

SOLVENT MEDIATED ELECTRON TRANSFER IN C-CLAMP SHAPED MOLECULES

The role of solvent in mediating the electronic coupling between an electron donor and acceptor is investigated. The temperature dependent electron transfer rate constants in two C-clamp shaped Donor-Bridge-Acceptor (DBA) molecules are used to evaluate the electronic coupling between the donor and acceptor sites. By varying the solvent, it is demonstrated that the donor-acceptor electronic couping is strongly dependent on both the electronic nature and the position of the intervening medium. An experimental strategy that utilizes the semiclassical treatment of electron transfer together with a molecular based solvation model is introduced and shown to be a reliable way of determining the magnitude of the electronic coupling. The results demonstrate a strong dependence of the electronic coupling on the relative energy between the donor excited state energy and the intervening structure's LUMO energy. An observation consistent with electron mediated 'superexchange.' In addition, the dependence of the electron transfer rate on solvent position is evaluated. These results are consistent with a temperature dependent electronic coupling mechanism

Transforming Power Relationships: Leadership, Risk and Hope

Chronic communal conflicts resemble the prisoner’s dilemma. Both communities prefer peace to war. But neither trusts the other, viewing the other’s gain as its own loss, so potentially shared interests often go unrealized. Achieving positive-sum outcomes from apparently zero-sum struggles requires a kind of risk-embracing leadership. To succeed leaders must: a) see power relations as potentially positive-sum; b) strengthen negotiating adversaries instead of weakening them; and c) demonstrate hope for a positive future and take great personal risks to achieve it. Such leadership is exemplified by Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk in the South African democratic transition. To illuminate the strategic dilemmas Mandela and de Klerk faced, we examine the work of Robert Axelrod, Thomas Schelling, and Josep Colomer, who highlight important dimensions of the problem but underplay the role of risk-embracing leadership. Finally we discuss leadership successes and failures in the Northern Ireland settlement and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer Observations of the Prototypical Starburst Galaxy M82

We present results from XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer observations of the prototypical starburst galaxy M82. These high resolution spectra represent the best X-ray spectra to date of a starburst galaxy. A complex array of lines from species over a wide range of temperatures is seen, the most prominent being due to Lyman-alpha emission from abundant low Z elements such as N, O, Ne, Mg and Si. Emission lines from Helium-like charge states of the same elements are also seen in emission, as are strong lines from the entire Fe-L series. Further, the OVII line complex is resolved and is seen to be consistent with gas in collisional ionization equilibrium. Spectral fitting indicates emission from a large mass of gas with a differential emission measure over a range of temperatures (from 0.2 keV to 1.6 keV, peaking at 0.7 keV), and evidence for super-solar abundances of several elements is indicated. Spatial analysis of the data indicates that low energy emission is more extended to the south and east of the nucleus than to the north and west. Higher energy emission is far more centrally concentrated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS accepte

Performance Analysis of Internally Geared Positive Displacement Machines

Internally geared positive displacement machines consist of an externally lobed inner rotor rotating inside an internally lobed outer rotor. The rotors can have a constant profile along their length and rotate about parallel axes. Relative to the axis of rotation, the lobes of the rotors can either be straight (as found in conventional gerotor type machines), or helical (as previously proposed by the authors). In either case, the profiles must be specified in order to maintain continuous contact points between the rotors to maintain sealed working chambers. The use of stationary ported plates located at both end faces of the rotors enables periods when fluid is able to enter and leave the machine to be controlled. Shaping of the ports allows compression or expansion to occur within the working chambers formed by the lines of continuous contact between the two rotors. This paper explores the effects of geometrical parameters such as rotor profiles, helical rotor wrap angle and built-in volume ratio, on the isentropic and volumetric efficiency for internally geared machines operating as compressors

Multi-Variable Optimisation Of Wet Vapour Organic Rankine Cycles With Twin-Screw Expanders

A multi-variable optimisation program has been developed to investigate the performance of Wet Organic Rankine Cycles for low temperature heat recovery applications. This cycle model contains a detailed thermodynamic model of the twin-screw expander, and the methods used to match the operation of the expander to the requirements of the cycle are described. The capability of the cycle model has been demonstrated for the case of heat recovery from a source of pressurized hot water at 120°C. There are two main findings from the paper. Firstly, power output can be increased by up to 50% by correct selection of the expander inlet and discharge conditions, compared to the case with dry vapour admission. Secondly, the maximum power output occurs at an expander inlet dryness of around 20%, but for lower dryness fractions the gain in net power output falls off due to the decreasing pressure ratio required to maintain good expander efficiency

Comparison of organic rankine cycle systems under varying conditions using turbine and twin-screw expanders

A multi-variable optimization program has been developed to investigate the performance of Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs) for low temperature heat recovery applications using both turbine and twin-screw expanders when account is taken of performance variation due to changes in ambient conditions. The cycle simulation contains thermodynamic models of both types of expander. In the case of the twin-screw machine, the methods used to match the operation of the expander to the requirements of the cycle are described. The performance of turbine expanders in a superheated ORC has been modelled using correlations derived from operational data for single stage reaction turbines to predict the turbine efficiency at "off-design" conditions. Several turbine configurations have been considered including variable nozzle area and variable speed. The capability of the cycle model has been demonstrated for the case of heat recovery from a steady source of pressurized hot water at 120 °C. The system parameters are optimised for a typical operating condition, which determines the required size of heat exchangers and the expander characteristics. Performance at off-design conditions can then be optimized within these constraints. This allows a rigorous investigation of the effect of air temperature variation on the system performance, and the seasonal variation in net power output for the turbine and twin-screw ORC systems. A case study is presented for a low temperature heat recovery application with system electrical power output of around 100 kWe at design conditions. The results indicate that similar overall performance can be achieved for ORC systems using either type of expander

Aryl Phosphoramidates of 5-Phospho Erythronohydroxamic Acid, A New Class of Potent Trypanocidal Compounds

RNAi and enzymatic studies have shown the importance of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGDH) in Trypanosoma brucei for the parasite survival and make it an attractive drug target for the development of new treatments against human African trypanosomiasis. 2,3-O-Isopropylidene-4-erythrono hydroxamate is a potent inhibitor of parasite Trypanosoma brucei 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGDH), the third enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway. However, this compound does not have trypanocidal activity due to its poor membrane permeability. Consequently, we have previously reported a prodrug approach to improve the antiparasitic activity of this inhibitor by converting the phosphate group into a less charged phosphate prodrug. The activity of prodrugs appeared to be dependent on their stability in phosphate buffer. Here we have successfully further extended the development of the aryl phosphoramidate prodrugs of 2,3-O-isopropylidene-4-erythrono hydroxamate by synthesizing a small library of phosphoramidates and evaluating their biological activity and stability in a variety of assays. Some of the compounds showed high trypanocidal activity and good correlation of activity with their stability in fresh mouse blood