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 first total synthesis of (+)-mucosin

The first total synthesis of (+)-mucosin has been completed allowing assignment of the absolute stereochemistry of the natural product. A zirconium induced co-cyclisation was utilised to install the correct stereochemistry of the four contiguous stereocentres around the unusual bicyclo[4.3.0]nonene core

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 $c_{bm} \approx 0.04$, 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 $\hbar$ (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

1D nanomaterials 2013

This is the final version of the article. Available from Hindawi Publishing Corporation via the DOI in this record.No abstrac

Progression and assessment in foreign languages at Key Stage 2

The teaching of primary languages has been increasing steadily, in response to the future entitlement for all Key Stage 2 (KS2) pupils aged 7-11 to learn a foreign language by 2010. However, there remain concerns about progression both within KS2 and through to secondary school and about how learners' progress is assessed. This paper presents findings on the issues of progression and assessment taken from case studies which formed part of a project funded by the then Department for Education and Skills (DfES), now the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). This project set out to evaluate 19 local authority (LA) Pathfinders in England that were piloting the introduction of foreign language learning at KS2 between 2003 and 2005. Findings revealed that there was inconsistency between schools, even within each LA Pathfinder, in the use of schemes of work and that assessment was generally underdeveloped in the majority of the Pathfinders. In order to set these findings in context, this paper examines the issues of progression and assessment in foreign language learning in England. Finally, it investigates the challenges English primary schools face in terms of progression and assessment in the light of the new entitlement and discusses implications for the future. Managing progression, both within KS2 and through to secondary school at KS3 (ages 11-14), is one of the key factors in determining the overall success of starting languages in primary school

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