Add your research to RADAR now!

Single sheet describing a simple way for academics to add their research to RADAR

Thermal oscillations in the decomposition of organic peroxides: Identification of a hazard, utilization, and suppression

The purpose of this research is to identify and characterize oscillatory thermal instability in organic peroxides that are used in vast quantities in industry and misused by terrorists. The explosive thermal decompositions of lauroyl peroxide, methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, and triacetone triperoxide are investigated computationally, using a continuous stirred tank reactor model and literature values of the kinetic and thermal parameters. Mathematical stability analysis is used to identify and track the oscillatory instability, which may be violent. In the mild oscillatory regime it is shown that, in principle, the oscillatory thermal signal may be used in microcalorimetry to detect and identify explosives. Stabilization of peroxide thermal decomposition via Endex coupling is investigated. It is usually assumed that initiation of explosive thermal decomposition occurs via classical (Semenov) ignition at a turning point or saddle-node bifurcation, but this work shows that oscillatory ignition is also characteristic of thermoreactive liquids and that Semenov theory and purely steady state analyses are inadequate for identifying a thermal hazard in such systems

Let's get ahead with research. Simply add it to RADAR - the Research Archive for Oxford Brookes

A leaflet aimed at staff at Oxford Brookes who want to know how to add their research to RADAR. The first section tells you how to get started, followed by reasons why you should do this, what material and which versions should be placed on RADAR, what RADAR will do once the material is there

Preferences, Choice, Goal Attainment, Satisfaction:That’s Life?

We make choices to achieve an objective. The objective is defined by an individual’s preferences. Subject to constraints, the objective is approached or achieved. Is this a good characterization of life? To answer this question we weaken one of the most basic assumptions of economics: individuals know their preferences. Instead we assume that an individual’s preferences are shaped and reshaped by his environment, experiences, expectations, and by exogenous events. In this model of individual self-discovery, preferences emerge, evolve, and change. These redefinitions change the future course of the individual’s life and reinterpret his past. They characterize a life lived.Identity, Preferences, Choice, Life

Alternative methods to examine hospital efficiency: Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analysis

There has been increasing interest in the ability of different methods to rank efficient hospitals over their inefficient counterparts. The UK Department of Health has used three cost indices to benchmark NHS Trusts. This study uses the same dataset and compares the efficiency rankings from the cost indices with those obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Cost Frontier Analysis (SCF). The paper concludes that each method each has particular strengths and weaknesses and potentially measure different aspects of efficiency. Several specifications should be used to develop ranges of inefficiency to act as signalling devices rather than point estimates. There appears to be a large amount of random ‘noise’ in the study which suggests that there are not truly large efficiency differences between Trusts, and savings from bringing up poorer performers would in fact be very modest.efficiency

How to add a RADAR resource to Moodle using the PLATO plagiarism tutorial as an example.

A 2-page guide that explains how to add a link to the PLATO plagiarism tutorial in a Brookes Virtual course. This document is intended for COURSE DESIGNERS ONLY

Sentencing in fraud cases

This monograph examines the reasons for recent reforms to the legislative framework for fraud, forgery and identity offences in NSW, and makes comparisons with Commonwealth and interstate provisions in light of the objective of national consistency. The increase in maximum penalties evinces a clear intention by Parliament that the courts are to treat these crimes as serious and that harsher sentences are to be imposed. This study: examines the reasons for the reforms sets out the legislative framework for fraud, forgery and identity offences in NSW makes comparisons with Commonwealth and interstate provisions in light of the objective of national consistency concludes with a discussion of the applicable sentencing principles in such cases. The fraud, forgery and identity offences in NSW are to be prosecuted summarily unless an election is made to proceed on indictment. Early indications that lower numbers of offences are being sentenced in the District Court than in the Local Court seem to confirm that the bulk of these offences will be dealt with summarily, but may also reflect that major frauds often take considerable time to detect and then prosecute

The evolution of RADAR

PowerPoint slides from a presentation by Steve Burholt and Rowena Rouse at the Equella Customer Advisory Board in March 2013 in London. The slides show how the RADAR repository at Oxford Brookes University has evolved to include an eclectic mix of resources