1,223 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Biomedical Community and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
YesNegotiations to find a legally binding way to strengthen
the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)
of 1972 [1]are in danger of failing. The crisis was precipitated
during the current round of talks, now in its final
week in Geneva, when the US, alone amongst the negotiating
States, rejected the text of a protocol that has taken
six and a half years to negotiate
An optimised scalable synthesis of H2O@C60and a new synthesis of H2@C60
New high-yielding synthetic routes to the small-molecule endofullerenes H2O@C60, D2O@C60 and H2@C60 are described. The use of high temperatures and pressures for the endohedral molecule incorporation are avoided. A new partial closure step using PPh3, and final suturing using a novel Diels–Alder/retro-Diels–Alder sequence are amongst the advances reported
The fission yeast FANCM ortholog directs non-crossover recombination during meiosis
Peer reviewedPostprin
1D nanomaterials 2012
This is the final version of the article. Available from Hindawi Publishing Corporation via the DOI in this record
Analytic Examples, Measurement Models and Classical Limit of Quantum Backflow
We investigate the backflow effect in elementary quantum mechanics - the
phenomenon in which a state consisting entirely of positive momenta may have
negative current and the probability flows in the opposite direction to the
momentum. We compute the current and flux for states consisting of
superpositions of gaussian wave packets. These are experimentally realizable
but the amount of backflow is small. Inspired by the numerical results of Penz
et al (M.Penz, G.Gr\"ubl, S.Kreidl and P.Wagner, J.Phys. A39, 423 (2006)), we
find two non-trivial wave functions whose current at any time may be computed
analytically and which have periods of significant backflow, in one case with a
backwards flux equal to about 70 percent of the maximum possible backflow, a
dimensionless number , discovered by Bracken and Melloy
(A.J.Bracken and G.F.Melloy, J.Phys. A27, 2197 (1994)). This number has the
unusual property of being independent of (and also of all other
parameters of the model), despite corresponding to an obviously
quantum-mechanical effect, and we shed some light on this surprising property
by considering the classical limit of backflow. We discuss some specific
measurement models in which backflow may be identified in certain measurable
probabilities.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Minor revisions. Published versio
Recommended from our members
Preventing Biological Threats: What You Can Do.
yesThe outbreak of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 has underlined the risks posed by
outbreaks of highly virulent and deadly diseases, whether caused naturally,
accidentally or deliberately. It also emphasised the responsibility of all those engaged
in the life sciences, whether in government, industry or academia, to ensure that
research is done safely and securely.
This book, Preventing Biological Threats, is intended to raise awareness and
knowledge of biological security of everyone active in the life sciences, ranging from
those engaged in research to those engaged in management and policy-making, both
nationally and internationally. The advances in biotechnology over the past decades
and in the future have brought and will bring significant benefits to humankind,
animals and plants -- however, these advances also bring risks that we need to be
aware of and ensure that they cause no harm.
The continuing debate about the potential danger of carrying out ‘Gain-of-Function’
experiments with highly pathogenic viruses such as avian influenza has brought the
problem of biological security to the attention of many within but also beyond the life
science community. It also has left some of them wondering what biological security
is and how it can be incorporated into the life sciences. What steps should be taken to
ensure that these and other dual use research activities are not misused?
It is being increasingly recognised that biosecurity and biosafety are not only relevant
to activities within a laboratory, but also extend to the effects that these activities can
have outside the laboratory if they result in accidental outbreaks of diseases in
humans, animals or plants.
The international basis for the prevention of the hostile misuse of life sciences is the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention which this year, on 26 March 2015, has
been in force for forty years. The Convention was the first treaty to prohibit the
development and possession of an entire category of weapons. At this moment 173
States Parties have ratified the Convention (and the Convention has a further 9
Signatories). At the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention in 2011, of which I was President, the States Parties agreed on
the need for all those engaged in the life sciences to be involved as key stakeholders
in the protection of their work from hostile misuse, and therefore on the importance of
broad biosecurity education.
This book with its 21 chapters addresses the need for biosecurity education, in six
sections on the history of threats and responses; scientists, organisations and
biosecurity; biosecurity and law enforcement; states and biosecurity; and biosecurity
and active learning. It is a significant and welcome step forward both in its integrated
content and the active learning focus in the associated Team Based Learning
exercises. I am convinced that this approach will help all those engaged in the life
sciences - in government, industry or academia – to become more aware of
biosecurity and of their responsibilities for it.
It is therefore a great pleasure to commend the authors and editors for their work and
the Governments of Canada, Jordan and the United Kingdom for their funding and
involvement in the production of this book under the Global Partnership.
Ambassador Paul van den IJsse
High purity nanoparticles exceed stoichiometry limits in rebox chemistry: the nano way to cleaner water
A potentially cheaper and more effective way of cleaning wastewater has been discovered by scientists
at Nazarbayev University and the University of Brighton researching nanotechnology [1]. It is well
established that when particles are reduced to the nanoscale unexpected effects occur. Silver, for example,
interacts with mercury ions in a fixed ratio of atoms (stoichiometry), typically 2:1, which presents a limit
that has never been exceeded. In this project we used an alternative chemical procedure based on modified
quartz sand to immobilise silver nanoparticles (NPs) with control over their size. We found that when the
size of the silver NPs decreased below 35 nm the amount of mercury ions reacting with silver increased
beyond the long-held limit and rose to a maximum of 1:1.2 for 10 nm sized silver
- …