Case Study 2: Advising Governance Structures

This case study is part of the Movement Lawyering Roundtable Symposium. This symposium presents case studies of the often difficult ethical and tactical issues confronted by lawyers for social justice movements. These case studies were developed by the pairing of movement lawyers with legal ethicists and enriched by the discussions at the Movement Lawyering Ethics Roundtable. They seek to provide guidance to lawyers facing these recurrent issues. This issue also includes an essay entitled rebuilding the Ethical Compass of the Law and reading guides with selected bibliographies

Supercritical fluid coating of API on excipient enhances drug release

A process to coat particles of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) onto microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) excipient shows promise as a new way to dosage forms showing enhanced drug release. The process consists of a fluidized bed operated at elevated pressure in which API particles are precipitated from a Supercritical Anti-Solvent process (SAS). MCC particles were used as an excipient in the fluidized bed and collect the SAS-generated API particles. Naringin was selected as the model API to coat onto MCC. A number of operational parameters of the process were investigated: fluidization velocity, coating pressure, temperature, concentration of drug solution, drug solution flow rate, drug mass, organic solvent, MCC mass and size and CO2-to-organic solution ratio. SEM and SPM analyses showed that the MCC particle surfaces were covered with near-spherical nanoparticles with a diameter of approximately 100–200 nm, substantially smaller than the as-received API material. XRD showed that naringin changed from crystalline to amorphous during processing. The coated particles resulting from the SAS fluidized bed process have a higher loading of API, gave faster release rates and higher release ratios in comparison with those produced using a conventional fluidized bed coating process. The approach could be transferred to other industries where release is important such as agrochemical, cosmetic and food

Extreme Events Decision Making in Transport Networks: A Holistic Approach Using Emergency Scenarios and Decision Making Theory

This paper proposes a novel method to analyse decision-making during extreme events. The method is based on Decision-making Theory and aims at understanding how emergency managers make decisions during disasters. A data collection framework and an analysis method were conceptualized to capture participant’s behaviour, perception and understanding throughout a game-board simulation exercise, which emulates an earthquake disaster scenario affecting transport systems. The method evaluates the participant’s actions in order to identify decision-making patterns, strengths and weaknesses. A set of case studies has shown two typical patterns, namely: a) Support immediate rescue; b) Support lifelines recovery. Good decision-making practices regard to objective-oriented decision making, understanding of conflicting priorities and appropriate resource management. Weaknesses are associated with comprehending relationships between community/environment and projecting future scenarios. Overall, the case study’s results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method to analyse decision making during disasters

Moving beyond "the model" : a framework for integrating system dynamics into organizational policy making

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-121).by Donald A. Seville.M.S

TetAB46, a predicted heterodimeric ABC transporter conferring tetracycline resistance in Streptococcus australis isolated from the oral cavity.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the genes responsible for tetracycline resistance in a strain of Streptococcus australis isolated from pooled saliva from healthy volunteers in France. S. australis is a viridans Streptococcus, originally isolated from the oral cavity of children in Australia, and subsequently reported in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients and as a cause of invasive disease in an elderly patient. METHODS: Agar containing 2 mg/L tetracycline was used for the isolation of tetracycline-resistant organisms. A genomic library in Escherichia coli was used to isolate the tetracycline resistance determinant. In-frame deletions and chromosomal repair were used to confirm function. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by agar dilution and disc diffusion assay. RESULTS: The tetracycline resistance determinant from S. australis FRStet12 was isolated from a genomic library in E. coli and DNA sequencing showed two open reading frames predicted to encode proteins with similarity to multidrug resistance-type ABC transporters. Both genes were required for tetracycline resistance (to both the naturally occurring and semi-synthetic tetracyclines) and they were designated tetAB(46). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of a predicted ABC transporter conferring tetracycline resistance in a member of the oral microbiota

Portable Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) for Industrial Use

Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) has over the last decade become an established technique for studying the motion of particles in granular and fluid systems. Until recently, this technique was confined to use with medically-derived cameras that have fixed limits in terms of the size and position of the field of view. This provides some constraints on the geometry and scale of process equipment that can be viewed. Increasing demand for greater flexibility in the use of the PEPT technique - in larger process equipment and, more importantly, in industrial equipment in situ - has led to the development of the modular PEPT camera. This comprises a set of individual detectors, which can be arranged around the equipment in whatever configuration is appropriate to enable particle tracking. This paper reports the use of the modular camera to track particle motion on a 750mm diameter pressurised fluidised bed pilot plant reactor on an industrial plant. The results show how the technique can be used reliably on large scale equipment to measure quantities such as circulation time

Multiple Particle Tracking in a Fluidised Bed

Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) is a versatile method for following the motion of a single radioactive tracer particle in a fluidised bed. However, there are many applications in which it would be useful to be able to follow the motion of two or more particles simultaneously in cooperative motion. The tracers are labelled with different intensities of radiation and located by converging sequentially on centres of activity. Two 600&#;m polyethylene particles have been followed in a 15 cm diameter bed and their contact events studied

Rapid interrogation of the physical and chemical characteristics of salbutamol sulphate aerosol from a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI)

Individual micron-sized solid particles from a Salamols pharmaceutical inhaler are stably captured in air using an optical trap for the first time. Raman spectroscopy of the levitated particles allows online interrogation of composition and deliquescent phase change within a high humidity environment that mimics the particle’s travel from inhaler to lun