Community-led housing: the evolution of partnerships between CLTs and housing associations

Community land trusts (CLTs) have emerged as an alternative housing solution to localised problems of affordability. Being governed by volunteers, however, CLTs have benefitted from the support of housing associations that provide them with vital technical expertise. But there are also difficulties that come with these partnerships, explains Tom Moore

An interview with the American composer Steven Mackey

The article presents an interview with composer Steven Mackey, now celebrating twenty-five years as professor of composition at Princeton University, one of the leading universities in the USA. The interview discusses details of the composer’s education and career, and focuses on recent works

Cyclometallated iridium-carbazole complexes for OLED applications

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are a relatively new multi-disciplinary research area. Much of the interest generated by OLEDs is due to their commercial potential as market leaders in display technology and ambient lighting solutions. The advancement of materials used in OLED devices has driven synthetic chemists to produce a great variety of structures for use in devices. Current phosphorescent triplet emitters are based on heavy metal complexes either as a single unit or incorporated into a polymer backbone. This work presents the synthesis of ligands via a Suzuki cross-coupling methodology and their subsequent homoleptic tris-cyclometalated iridium complexes. Ligands are based on a carbazole-pyridyl structure with a substituent group on the pyridyl aimed at tuning the complexes' HOMO- LUMO gap to produce different wavelengths of emission. Several new synthetic strategies were employed in an attempt to simplify the synthesis of the ligands although it was found that the most efficient method was the original synthesis of these ligands as performed in the Bryce group. An electron donating group (EDG) or an electron withdrawing group (EWG) was added in attempts to blue shift or red shift the emission, respectively. The complexes are based on two parent systems (shown below) which give two series of functionalised complexes. Investigations were carried out into the photophysical properties of these phosphorescent triplet emitters to determine the extent to which the functionalisation altered the emission properties. Solution state phosphorescence emission studies demonstrated that the substituent EDG and EWG groups had a significant effect over the emission of the complex with shifts up to 54 nm within a series and a total range of emission covering between 504 and 637 nm; green to red emission. Solution cyclic voltammetric data are also reported. TD-DFT computations concurred with the current theories regarding the excited state of such complexes, in that the emission was occurring from a mixed MLCT/π-π(_*) transition. Preliminary device investigations demonstrated relatively low external quantum efficiencies due to a number of factors. It was also determined that the substituent group had a significant effect in shifting electroluminescence emission

The Bankruptcy Reform Act Of 2005

The new changes in the Bankruptcy Code make it significantly more difficult for a debtor to eliminate his obligations under Chapter 7.   Many filers will be required to pay some or all of their unsecured debts for a five year period by being forced into Chapter 13.  The Act also makes other modifications to filing requirements, exemption changes, and non-dischargeable debts which also tend to favor the creditor.  The changes make filing for Bankruptcy more expensive and may reduce the number of cases

Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects

By Christopher D. Stone. Los Altos, California: William Kaufman, Inc. 1974. Pp. xvii, 102. $6.95

UK government delays restriction of promotions on less‐healthy foods: Serious implications for tackling obesity

Regulations ensuring that the promotion and advertising of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt were restricted from October 2022 are now to be delayed by the UK Government. The delay of this policy is to be condemned because it will set back the anticipated improvement to population diets and obesity levels by postponing the expected transformation of retail food environments in-store and online. Governmental justifications for delaying these policies, the implementation of which was the responsibility of the UK food industry, can be perceived to reflect a short-sighted willingness to use the current economic circumstances to push the responsibility for obesity and dietary choices back into the court of the consumer. Delaying these polices will, yet again, leave public health and clinical practitioners tackling obesity with less-effective approaches focused on individual willpower and information provision