Synthesis, characterization and comparative OFET behaviour of indenofluorene-bithiophene and terthiophene alternating copolymers

The synthesis of alternating copolymers of tetraalkylindenofluorene with bithiophene and terthiophene using Suzuki polycondensation route is reported. We report on the optical and electrochemical properties of these copolymers. AFM analysis of the microscopic morphology of thin deposits showed that the copolymer with terthiophene units produced the more ordered films, with well-defined fibrillar structures, resulting from highly-regular dense packing due to strong π-π interchain interactions, in contrast to the amorphous bithiophene copolymer. Upon testing these materials in FETs the terthienyl copolymers displayed the higher charge mobilities among the studied compounds, with values of over 10-4 cm2 V-1 s-1 being obtained.

Energy price-induced and exogenous technological change : Assessing the economic and environmental outcomes

In this paper, we distinguish between factor/output substitution and shifts in the production technology frontier. Our model includes the by-products of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions where the function requires the simultaneous expansion of good outputs and reductions in emissions. We estimate a directional output distance function for 80 countries over the period 1971-2000 to measure the exogenous and oil price-induced technological change. On average, we find substantial oil price-induced technological progress at the world level when long-term oil prices are rising, although the growth rate is more volatile in developed countries than in developing countries. The results also show that developed countries experience higher exogenous technological progress in comparison with developing countries, and the gap between the two has increased during the period of our study.

A story about being engaged in research : buzzing bees, small business and Australian unfair dismissal laws

Protection for employees from unfair dismissal (UFD) has been around in Australia under various guises for 30 years or so (Chapman, 2006). Labour standards, and particularly ILO Convention 158 (Convention Concerning Termination of Employment at the Initiative of the Employer 1982), underpin the adoption of a particular form of federal statutory UFD regime which first appeared in the 1993 reforms to the Industrial Relations Act 1998 (Commonwealth). Its existence, however, has not been uncontroversial, and the meaning, operation, scope and remedies have attracted attention over time. In fact, the first reforms to the federal UFD regime were undertaken under the Keating Labor government three months after they were enacted (Chapman, ibid.). Further reforms were made by the incoming Howard Liberal-national coalition government through the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Commonwealth) (WRA), and arguably these reforms continued down the ‘contraction’ path (ibid.).

Achieving transparency in carbon labelling for construction materials – Lessons from current assessment standards and carbon labels

The construction industry is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions. Manufacturing of raw materials, such as cement, steel and aluminium, is energy intensive and has considerable impact on carbon emissions level. Due to the rising recognition of global climate change, the industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Carbon labelling schemes are therefore developed as meaningful yardsticks to measure and compare carbon emissions. Carbon labelling schemes can help switch consumer-purchasing habits to low-carbon alternatives. However, such switch is dependent on a transparent scheme. The principle of transparency is highlighted in all international greenhouse gas (GHG) standards, including the newly published ISO 14067: Carbon footprint of products – requirements and guidelines for quantification and communication. However, there are few studies which systematically investigate the transparency requirements in carbon labelling schemes. A comparison of five established carbon labelling schemes, namely the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme, the CarbonFree (the U.S.), the CO2 Measured Label and the Reducing CO2 Label (UK), the CarbonCounted (Canada), and the Hong Kong Carbon Labelling Scheme is therefore conducted to identify and investigate the transparency requirements. The results suggest that the design of current carbon labels have transparency issues relating but not limited to the use of a single sign to represent the comprehensiveness of the carbon footprint. These transparency issues are partially caused by the flexibility given to select system boundary in the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to measure GHG emissions. The primary contribution of this study to the construction industry is to reveal the transparency requirements from international GHG standards and carbon labels for construction products. The findings also offer five key strategies as practical implications for the global community to improve the performance of current carbon labelling schemes on transparency.

Efficiently capturing large, complex cultural heritage sites with a handheld mobile 3D laser mapping system

Accurate three-dimensional representations of cultural heritage sites are highly valuable for scientific study, conservation, and educational purposes. In addition to their use for archival purposes, 3D models enable efficient and precise measurement of relevant natural and architectural features. Many cultural heritage sites are large and complex, consisting of multiple structures spatially distributed over tens of thousands of square metres. The process of effectively digitising such geometrically complex locations requires measurements to be acquired from a variety of viewpoints. While several technologies exist for capturing the 3D structure of objects and environments, none are ideally suited to complex, large-scale sites, mainly due to their limited coverage or acquisition efficiency. We explore the use of a recently developed handheld mobile mapping system called Zebedee in cultural heritage applications. The Zebedee system is capable of efficiently mapping an environment in three dimensions by continually acquiring data as an operator holding the device traverses through the site. The system was deployed at the former Peel Island Lazaret, a culturally significant site in Queensland, Australia, consisting of dozens of buildings of various sizes spread across an area of approximately 400 × 250 m. With the Zebedee system, the site was scanned in half a day, and a detailed 3D point cloud model (with over 520 million points) was generated from the 3.6 hours of acquired data in 2.6 hours. We present results demonstrating that Zebedee was able to accurately capture both site context and building detail comparable in accuracy to manual measurement techniques, and at a greatly increased level of efficiency and scope. The scan allowed us to record derelict buildings that previously could not be measured because of the scale and complexity of the site. The resulting 3D model captures both interior and exterior features of buildings, including structure, materials, and the contents of rooms.

Three-dimensional off-design numerical analysis of an organic Rankine cycle radial-inflow turbine

Optimisation of organic Rankine cycles(ORCs for binary cycle applications could play a major role in determining the competitiveness of low to moderate renewable sources. An important aspect of the optimisation is to maximise the turbine output power for a given resource. This requires careful attention to the turbine design notably through numerical simulations. Challenges in the numerical modelling of radial-inflow turbines using high-density working fluids still need to be addressed in order to improve the turbine design and better optimise ORCs. Thispaper presents preliminary 3D numerical simulations of a high-density radial-inflow ORC turbine in sensible geothermal conditions. Following extensive investigation of the operating conditions and thermodynamic cycle analysis, therefrigerant R143a is chosen as the high-density working fluid. The 1D design of the candidate radial-inflow turbine is presented in details. Furthermore, commercially-available software Ansys-CFX is used to perform preliminary steady-state 3D CFD simulations of the candidate R143a radial-inflow turbine for a number of operating conditions including off-design conditions. The real-gas properties are obtained using the Peng–Robinson equations of state.The thermodynamic ORC cycle is presented. The preliminary design created using dedicated radial-inflow turbine software Concepts-Rital is discussed and the 3D CFD results are presented and compared against the meanline analysis.

Psychological effects upon exposure to polyhalogenated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans

Thirty workers who had been exposed to combustion products for several years due to testing of flame retarding qualities of building materials and 30 controls from the same facility were investigated. Concentrations found in samples taken from different places of the facility were up to 14,660 μg/kg for polybrominated dibenzofurans and up to 67.1 μg/kg for polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Physical examination, routine laboratory parameters, and blood fat concentrations of PCDDs and PCDFs revealed normal findings. Neurotoxic symptoms showed a weak tendency of overrepresentation among the exposed workers. The frequency of neurobehavioural symptoms increased significantly with trait anxiety independent of exposure to combustion products. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.

A/Effective connections : mobility, technology and well-being

This article investigates the significance of internet communication technologies for mediating affect in ways that help promote feelings of well-being among recently arrived migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD) in Australia. It is based on a qualitative study that focuses on the internet's communicative capabilities for maintaining kinship ties in homeland countries, and for forging new connections in the host city of Brisbane during the early re-settlement period. Through the experience of ‘presence’ and affective communities, it emphasizes the ways in which visually mediated interaction helps to combat feelings of social isolation and loneliness. The study finds that internet use is creating new forms of sociality among migrants and plays a key role in the re-settlement period. It highlights the importance of publicly available computers and training for migrants.

Olfactomedin-4 regulation by estrogen in the human endometrium requires epidermal growth factor signaling

Olfactomedin-4 (OLFM-4) is an extracellular matrix protein that is highly expressed in human endometrium. We have examined the regulation and function of OLFM-4 in normal endometrium and in cases of endometriosis and endometrial cancer. OLFM-4 expression levels are highest in proliferative-phase endometrium, and 17 beta-estradiol up-regulates OLFM-4 mRNA in endometrial explant cultures. Using the luciferase reporter under control of the OLFM-4 promoter, it was shown that both 17 beta-estradiol and OH-tamoxifen induce luciferase activity, and epidermal growth factor receptor-1 is required for this estrogenic response. In turn, EGF activates the OLFM-4 promoter, and estrogen receptor-alpha is needed for the complete EGF response. The cellular functions of OLFM-4 were examined by its expression in OLFM-4-negative HEK-293 cells, which resulted in decreased vimentin expression and cell adherence as well as increased apoptosis resistance. In cases of endometriosis and endometrial cancer, OLFM-4 expression correlated with the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor-1 and estrogen receptor-alpha (or estrogen signaling). An increase of OLFM-4 mRNA was observed in the endometrium of endometriosis patients. No change in OLFM-4 expression levels were observed in patients with endometrial cancer relative with controts. In conclusion, cross-talk between estrogen and EGF signaling regulates OLFM-4 expression. The role of OLFM-4 in endometrial tissue remodeling before the secretory phase and during the predisposition and early events in endometriosis can be postulated but requires additional investigation. (Am J Pathol 2010, 177:2495-2508: DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2010.100026

Saliva as an emerging biofluid for clinical diagnosis and applications of MEMS/NEMS in salivary diagnostics

Saliva as a biological fluid is gaining wider acceptance for diagnosing diseases. The growing interest in saliva as a biological fluid is due to its noninvasiveness, ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and multiple sample collection possibilities as well as minimal risk to health care professionals of contracting infectious organisms such as HIV and Hep B. However, the clinical translation of saliva is hampered by our lack of understanding of the biomolecular transportation from blood into saliva, the diurnal variations of biomolecules present in saliva, and relatively low levels of analytes (100th to a 1000th fold less than in blood). We provide information on the current status of salivary research, salivary diagnostics empowered by nanotechnology, and future prospects in this emerging field of saliva diagnostics.

Obesity and hypertension have differing oxidant handling molecular pathways in age-related chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in ageing is a burden on health systems worldwide. Rat models of age-related CKD linked with obesity and hypertension were used to investigate alterations in oxidant handling and energy metabolism to identify gene targets or markers for age-related CKD. Young adult (3 months) and old (21–24 months) spontaneously-hypertensive (SHR), normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Wistar rats (normotensive, obese in ageing) were compared for renal functional and physiological parameters, renal fibrosis and inflammation, oxidative stress (hemeoxygenase-1/HO-1), apoptosis and cell injury (including Bax:Bcl-2), phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of oxidant and energy sensing proteins (p66Shc, AMPK), signal transduction proteins (ERK1/2, PKB), and transcription factors (NF-κB, FoxO1). All old rats were normoglycemic. Renal fibrosis, tubular epithelial apoptosis, interstitial macrophages and myofibroblasts (all p < 0.05), p66Shc/phospho-p66 (p < 0.05), Bax/Bcl-2 ratio (p < 0.05) and NF-κB expression (p < 0.01) were highest in old obese Wistars. Expression of phospho-FoxO/FoxO was elevated in old Wistars (p < 0.001) and WKYs (p < 0.01). SHRs had high levels in young and old rats. Expression of PKB, phospho-PKB, ERK1/2 and phospho-ERK1/2 were significantly elevated in all aged animals. These results suggest that obesity and hypertension have differing oxidant handling and signalling pathways that act in the pathogenesis of age-related CKD

OHS inspectors and psychosocial risk factors: Evidence from Australia

Legislation giving prominence to psychosocial risk factors at work has changed the role of government occupational health and safety (OHS) inspectors in many countries. Yet little is known about how inspectorates have responded to these changes. Between 2003 and 2007 an Australian study was undertaken on OHS standards, entailing detailed documentary analysis, interviews with 36 inspectorate managers and 89 inspectors, and observations made when researchers accompanied inspectors on 120 typical workplace visits. Our study found that general duty provisions in OHS legislation clearly incorporated psychosocial hazards and inspectorates had introduced guidance material, pursued campaigns and increased interventions in this area. However, the regulatory framework remained narrow (focused on bullying/harassment, occupational violence and work stress) and workplace visits revealed psychosocial hazards as a marginal area of inspectorate activity. These findings were reinforced in interviews. While aware of psychosocial hazards inspectors often saw the issue as problematic due to limited training, resourcing constraints, deficiencies in regulation and fears of victimisation amongst workers. In order to address these problems a number of changes are required that recognize the distinctiveness of psychosocial hazards including their ‘invisibility’. Notable here are revisions to regulation (both general duty provisions and specific codes), the development of comprehensive guidance and assessment tools to be used by inspectors, greater use of procedural enforcement, and enhanced inspectorate resourcing and training. There is also a need to recognize complex inter-linkages between psychosocial hazards and the industrial relations context.

The impact of a congestion pricing exemption on the demand for new energy efficient vehicles in Stockholm

As governments seek to transition to more efficient vehicle fleets, one strategy has been to incentivize ‘green’ vehicle choice by exempting some of these vehicles from road user charges. As an example, to stimulate sales of Energy-Efficient Vehicles (EEVs) in Sweden, some of these automobiles were exempted from Stockholm’s congestion tax. In this paper the effect this policy had on the demand for new, privately-owned, exempt EEVs is assessed by first estimating a model of vehicle choice and then by applying this model to simulate vehicle alternative market shares under different policy scenarios. The database used to calibrate the model includes owner-specific demographics merged with vehicle registry data for all new private vehicles registered in Stockholm County during 2008. Characteristics of individuals with a higher propensity to purchase an exempt EEV were identified. The most significant factors included intra-cordon residency (positive), distance from home to the CBD (negative), and commuting across the cordon (positive). By calculating vehicle shares from the vehicle choice model and then comparing these estimates to a simulated scenario where the congestion tax exemption was inactive, the exemption was estimated to have substantially increased the share of newly purchased, private, exempt EEVs in Stockholm by 1.8% (+/- 0.3%; 95% C.I.) to a total share of 18.8%. This amounts to an estimated 10.7% increase in private, exempt EEV purchases during 2008 i.e. 519 privately owned, exempt EEVs.

Polymer-mediated synthesis of γ-Fe2O3 nano-particles

Nano-particles of γ-Fe2O3 were synthesized by reacting polyethylene oxide–FeCl3 complex with NH4OH. These were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron miscroscopy (SEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and transmision electron microscopy (TEM). The average particle size was found to be 10 nm, as determined from the line broadening of the main XRD peak. The crystalline phase was a spinel-type tetragonal structure, which was confirmed from the electron diffraction pattern. The zero field cooled magnetization of samples with varying γ-Fe2O3 content as a function of temperature was measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer. The magnetization curves show a peak at low temperature (15 K) corresponding to the blocking temperature TB. The value of TB was found to decrease with decreasing particle size. The magnetization measurements with respect to field at 5 and 170 K confirmed the transition from superparamagnetic to spin-glass state at TB, as evidenced from the remanence and hysteresis. These results can be explained on the basis of Néel's theory of superparamagnetism as applied to nano-particles.

Comparing the effectiveness of education and technology in reducing wood smoke pollution: A field experiment

This study describes a field experiment assessing the effectiveness of education and technological innovation in reducing air pollution generated by domestic wood heaters. Two-hundred and twenty four households from a small regional center in Australia were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: (1) Education only – households received a wood smoke reduction education pack containing information about the negative health impacts of wood smoke pollution, and advice about wood heater operation and firewood management; (2) SmartBurn only – households received a SmartBurn canister designed to improve combustion and help wood fires burn more efficiently, (3) Education and SmartBurn, and (4) neither Education nor SmartBurn (control). Analysis of covariance, controlling for pre-intervention household wood smoke emissions, wood moisture content, and wood heater age, revealed that education and SmartBurn were both associated with significant reduction in wood smoke emissions during the post-intervention period. Follow-up mediation analyses indicated that education reduced emissions by improving wood heater operation practices, but not by increasing health risk perceptions. As predicted, SmartBurn exerted a direct effect on emission levels, unmediated by wood heater operation practices or health risk perceptions.