Room-Temperature Alternative to the Arbuzov Reaction: The Reductive Deoxygenation of Acyl Phosphonates

The reductive deoxygenation of acyl phosphonates using a Wolff−Kishner-like sequence is described. This transformation allows direct access to alkyl phosphonates from acyl phosphonates at room temperature. The method can be combined with acyl phosphonate synthesis into a one pot, four-step procedure for the conversion of carboxylic acids into alkyl phosphonates. The methodology works well for a variety of aliphatic acids and shows a functional group tolerance similar to that of other hydrazone-forming reactions

\u27Invisible Whispering\u27: Instant Messaging in Meetings

We use Goffman’s characterization of front and backstage interaction practices to analyze how the use of instant messaging in both face-to-face and technology-mediated meetings alters the spatial, temporal, and social configurations of meetings. In an interview study of workers in two organizations, we found that workers used instant messaging during face-to-face meetings and telephone conference calls (1) to participate concurrently in front and backstage interactions, (2) to participate in multiple, concurrent, backstage conversations, and (3) to manage and influence front stage activities through concurrent backstage conversations. These interactions would be either physically impossible or socially constrained without the use of instant messaging. We draw on psychology, GSS, and communication studies to consider the implications for group work

Using SPIN to formalise Accounting Regulations on the Semantic Web

Spohr D, Cimiano P, McCrae J, O'Riain S. Using SPIN to formalise Accounting Regulations on the Semantic Web. Presented at the First International Workshop on Finance and Economics on the Semantic Web in conjunction with the 9th Extended Semantic Web Conference.The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has standardised nancial reporting and provide a machine-interpretable for- mat that makes nancial and business reports easier to access and con- sume. Leveraging XBRL with Open Linked Data for purposes such as multi-dimensional regulatory querying and investigation requires XBRL formalisation as RDF. This paper investigates the use of o-the-shelf Se- mantic Web technologies to formalise accounting regulations specied in XBRL jurisdictional taxonomies. Specically the use of the SPARQL In- ferencing Notation (SPIN) with RDF to represent these accounting reg- ulations as rule constraints, not catered for in the RDF abstract model is investigated. We move beyond previous RDF to XBRL transformations and investigate how SPIN enhanced formalisation enables inferencing of nancial statement facts associated with nancial reporting concepts and sophisticated consistency checks, which evaluate the correctness of reported nancial data with respect to the calculation requirements im- posed by accounting regulation. The approach illustrated through two use cases demonstrates the use of SPIN to meet central requirements for nancial data and regulatory modelling

From white elephant to Nobel Prize: Dennis Gabor’s wavefront reconstruction

Dennis Gabor devised a new concept for optical imaging in 1947 that went by a variety of names over the following decade: holoscopy, wavefront reconstruction, interference microscopy, diffraction microscopy and Gaboroscopy. A well-connected and creative research engineer, Gabor worked actively to publicize and exploit his concept, but the scheme failed to capture the interest of many researchers. Gabor’s theory was repeatedly deemed unintuitive and baffling; the technique was appraised by his contemporaries to be of dubious practicality and, at best, constrained to a narrow branch of science. By the late 1950s, Gabor’s subject had been assessed by its handful of practitioners to be a white elephant. Nevertheless, the concept was later rehabilitated by the research of Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University of Michigan, and Yury Denisyuk at the Vavilov Institute in Leningrad. What had been judged a failure was recast as a success: evaluations of Gabor’s work were transformed during the 1960s, when it was represented as the foundation on which to construct the new and distinctly different subject of holography, a re-evaluation that gained the Nobel Prize for Physics for Gabor alone in 1971. This paper focuses on the difficulties experienced in constructing a meaningful subject, a practical application and a viable technical community from Gabor’s ideas during the decade 1947-1957

Titanium silicalite-1 macrostructures for use in photocatalytic removal of organic pollutants from aqueous media

Commercial photocatalyst are in the form of nanopowders, causing aggregation, separation issues and loss of material upon regeneration. This work aims at developing free-flowing photocatalysts in the form of macroscopic beads, which are easily recoverable from solutions. In this study, hierarchically porous TS-1 macroscopic beads were prepared via the resin templating method. Characterisation of the beads was carried out using the following methods: XRD, Raman, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, SEM and EDX. Ti content of the beads was varied in the range of 1 to 7 wt.%, with corresponding surface areas of the beads produced ranging from 725 to 350 m2 g-1. The beads were comprised of a large amount of amorphous material, which was required in order to achieve a high level of mechanical stability in the beads. Evaluation of the photocatalytic activity of the TS-1 beads was carried out via first order degradation kinetics of MB dye under UV irradiation. MB concentrations during the photocatalytic process were determined by UV-vis spectroscopy. CristalACTiV™ PC500, a commercially available nano-anatase photocatalyst, was used as a reference material. The TS-1 beads displayed similar rates of MB degradation independent of the Ti content, but the rates of degradation were 1.2 to 1.5 times lower than CristalACTiV™ PC500. The macroscopic shape of the TS-1 beads allows for easy separation by decanting from exhausted MB solutions after UV irradiation and reuse in subsequent cycles of photocatalytic testing. Regeneration of the catalyst was not required and no appreciable loss of photocatalytic activity was observed in up to five cycles