The analysis of concrete structures including the effects of warping restraint

Imperial Users onl

A continuous Wick rotation for spinor fields and supersymmetry in Euclidean space

We obtain a continuous Wick rotation for Dirac, Majorana and Weyl spinors $\psi \to \exp ({1\over 2} \theta \gamma^4 \gamma^5)\psi$ which interpolates between Minkowski and Euclidean field theories.Comment: Proceedings of the String conference held at Imperial College, London, July 1996. 9 pages, Late

Parish rationalisation : A case study of the effects the clustering of three Catholic parishes has had on the Religious Education Curricula of the parish primary schools

The study sets out to examine the impact of the clustering on the relationship between the individual school and the Parish Priest, on the relationship between the individual schools, and on the relationship between the schools and their parish communities. It seeks to propose findings and recommendations to assist similar initiatives in Australia and beyond

Synthesis and Evaluation of New Ligands for Gallium Radiolabelling

A series of N3O3 triaza-tricarboxylate hexadentate ligands, based on the 6-amino-1,4-diazepine scaffold, has been designed and synthesised. An investigation of the suitability of these ligands towards application in 68Ga-PET has been conducted, with particular focus on the efficiency and efficacy of radiolabelling. Subsequently, selectivity for Ga(III) over other relevant cations has been studied, along with exploration of the kinetics of radiolabelling, stability and in vivo behaviour of the radiolabelled complexes in healthy rats. The four best candidates quantitatively radiolabel within three minutes at room temperature over the pH range 4 – 7, to give a single 68Ga-radiolabelled species which is sufficiently stable for in vivo application. As a result, these compounds are very promising candidates for use as ligands in 68Ga-PET. Decoration of the AMPED scaffold amine functionalities yielded a series of chelators, which allowed the 68Ga-radiolabelling properties of this family of ligands to be investigated. The ligands have a mixture of acyclic and cyclic properties, which facilitated rapid binding of the metal and formation of a stable complex. Synthetic details and 1H NMR solution state properties are described. With respect to radiolabelling, the best ligands were those with the least sterically demanding exocyclic amine substituents. However, ligands featuring a mono-alkylated exocyclic amine were prone to internal lactamisation under acidic conditions, which rendered these compounds ineffectual as ligands for 68Ga. The synthesis and radiochemical evaluation of an additional series of ligands, featuring a modified core structure, designed to inhibit the lactamisation reaction and promote ‘pre-organisation’ of the ligand donors were undertaken. The synthetic methodology developed allows for selective functionalisation of the different amine groups of the ring. Modification of the AMPED core by substitution of the tertiary methyl group for a phenyl moiety increased the steric bulk close to exocyclic amine, which inhibited internal lactamisation. Critically, the methyl-for-phenyl substitution does not have a detrimental effect on the complexation properties. Finally a study was undertaken of the radiolabelled complex speciation, using NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The presence of multiple radiolabelled complex species was attributed to the formation of kinetically trapped complexes of differing stability. The relative population of the two major ligand conformations is controlled by the relative steric demand of the substituents at the quaternary site. The exocyclic amine is subject to protonation (pKa 5.7), and therefore the relative population of the ligand conformers is pH dependent over the range 3 – 7. By substituting the methyl group for a more sterically demanding phenyl group, the population of the ligand conformation favouring fast and stable gallium binding was increased

Recovery of Polyphenols from Brewer’s Spent Grains

peer-reviewedThe recovery of antioxidant polyphenols from light, dark and mix brewer’s spent grain (BSG) using conventional maceration, microwave and ultrasound assisted extraction was investigated. Total polyphenols were measured in the crude (60% acetone), liquor extracts (saponified with 0.75% NaOH) and in their acidified ethyl acetate (EtOAc) partitioned fractions both by spectrophotometry involving Folin–Ciocalteu reagent and liquid-chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods. Irrespective of the extraction methods used, saponification of BSG yielded higher polyphenols than in the crude extracts. The EtOAc fractionations yielded the highest total phenolic content (TPC) ranging from 3.01 ± 0.19 to 4.71 ± 0.28 mg gallic acid equivalent per g of BSG dry weight. The corresponding total polyphenols quantified by LC-MS/MS ranged from 549.9 ± 41.5 to 2741.1 ± 5.2 µg/g of BSG dry weight. Microwave and ultrasound with the parameters and equipment used did not improve the total polyphenol yield when compared to the conventional maceration method. Furthermore, the spectrophotometric quantification of the liquors overestimated the TPC, while the LC-MS/MS quantification gave a closer representation of the total polyphenols in all the extracts. The total polyphenols were in the following order in the EtOAc fractions: BSG light > BSG Mix > BSG dark, and thus suggested BSG light as a sustainable, low cost source of natural antioxidants that may be tapped for applications in food and phytopharmaceutical industries

Competent women, subliminal group hierarchies and executive leadership

Objective: We analysed the experiences of successful executive women leaders to ascertain how they attained appointments to roles as high as the C-suite and boardroom. Theoretical focus: Sociologists use ‘status characteristics theory’ (SCT) to explain the influence of status beliefs based on salient characteristics, such as gender, on the assessment of a person’s competency in group task situations (Berger et al. 1980). SCT suggests women can elevate their position from their stereotypically assigned place in the subliminal group hierarchy by shortening the path of relevance (Berger et al. 1980) between perceptions of their gender and their competence to perform a leadership role. Research question: What strategies do successful executive women use to overcome subliminal, gender-influenced assessments of their leadership competency? Method: In 2016, we interviewed 25 women who held positions within the executive suite and/or on the Board of Australian companies and government departments. A thematic analysis adhering to a ‘contextualist’ approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was applied to examine the participants’ responses. Major conclusions: The women demonstrated their competence via two overarching strategies: active demonstrations with associated internal dialogues. Under these two strategies sit four sets of mirror-imaged tactics: balanced career choices; outcome driven; image management; and leveraged relationships. Combined, these inputs reflect physical and mental manoeuvres women have used to achieve shortened paths of relevance, suggesting that they reconfigured the cognitive, stereotypical status assessment of being less competent than the men in the group, to being viewed as a person capable of an executive leadership role