Dendritic receptors designed to bind polyanions in both organic and aqueous media

This paper reports the synthesis of dendrons containing a spermine unit at their focal point. The dendritic branching is based on L-lysine building blocks, and has terminal oligo(ethyleneglycol) units on the surface. As a consequence of the solubilising surface groups, these dendrons have high solubility in solvents with widely different polarities (e.g., dichloromethane and water). The protonated spermine unit at the focal point is an effective anion binding fragment and, as such, these dendrons are able to bind to polyanions. This paper demonstrates that polyanions can be bound in both dichloromethane (using a dye solubilisation assay) and in water (competitive ATP binding assay). In organic media the dendritic branching appears to have a pro-active effect on the solubilisation of the dye, with more dye being solubilised by higher generations of dendron. On the other hand, in water the degree of branching has no impact on the anion binding process. We propose that in this case, the spermine unit is effectively solvated by the bulk solvent and the dendritic branching does not need to play an active role in assisting solubility. Dendritic effects on anion binding have therefore been elucidated in different solvents. The dendritic branching plays a pro-active role in providing the anion binding unit with good solubility in apolar solvent media.

Tunable gold nanoparticles shape and size in reductive and structuring media containing protic ionic liquids

Herein, a facile method was developed for preparing high concentration of monodispersed gold nanoparticles (NPs) at room temperature from gold(III) chloride by using different media based on N,N-dimethylformamide or water solutions containing a protic ionic liquid (PIL), namely, the octylammonium formate or the bis(2-ethyl-hexyl)ammonium formate, based on which both PILs were used as redox-active structuring media. The formation of gold NPs in these systems was then characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. From these investigations, it appears that the structure and aggregation pathway of PILs in selected solvents affect strongly the formation, growth, the shape, and the size of gold NPs. In fact, by using this approach, the shape-/ size-controlled gold NPs (branched and spherical) can be generated under mild condition. This approach suggests also a wealth of potential for these designer nanomaterials within the biomedical, materials, and catalysis communities by using designer and safer media based on PILs.

Dye adsorption onto mesoporous materials: PH influence, kinetics and equilibrium in buffered and saline media

Mesoporous materials were used as adsorbents for dye removal in different media: non-ionic, buffered and saline. The mesoporous materials used were commercial (silica gel) as well as as-synthesised materials (SBA-15 and a novel mesoporous carbon). Dye adsorption onto all the materials was very fast and the equilibrium was reached before 1h. The pH has a significant influence on the adsorption capacity for the siliceous materials since the electrostatic interactions are the driving forces. However, the influence of the pH on the adsorption capacity of the carbonaceous material was lower, since the van der Waals interactions are the driving forces. The ionic strength has a great impact on the siliceous materials adsorption capacity, being their adsorption capacity in a buffered medium six times higher than the corresponding to a non-ionic medium. Nevertheless, ionic strength does not influence on the dye adsorption on the mesoporous carbon. Overall, the as-synthesised carbon material presents a clear potential to treat dye effluents, showing high adsorption capacity (q_e≈200mg/g) in all the pH range studied (from 3 to 11); even at low concentrations (C_e≈10mg/L) and at short contact times (t_e<30min).

Burkholderia cepacia complex epidemiology in persons with cystic fibrosis from Australia and New Zealand

The Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) is a group of significant opportunistic respiratory pathogens which affect people with cystic fibrosis. In this study, we sought to ascertain the epidemiology and geographic species distribution of 116 Bcc isolates collected from people with CF in Australia and New Zealand. We performed a combination of recA-based PCR, amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR on each isolate. Each Burkholderia cenocepacia isolate was also screened by PCR for the presence of the B. cepacia epidemic strain marker. One hundred and fourteen isolates were assigned to a species using recA-based PCR and ARDRA. B. cenocepacia, B. multivorans and B. cepacia accounted for 45.7%, 29.3% and 11.2% of the isolates, respectively. Strain analysis of B. cenocepacia revealed that 85.3% of the isolates were unrelated. One related B. cenocepacia strain was identified amongst 15 people. Whilst full details of person-to-person contact was not available, all patients attended CF centres in Queensland (Qld) and New South Wales (NSW). Although person-to-person transmission of B. cenocepacia strains has occurred in Australia, the majority of CF-related Bcc infections in Australia and New Zealand are most likely acquired from the environment.

Old truths and new politics:Does truth commission 'publicness' impact democratization?

This article analyzes the relationship between truth and politics by asking whether the 'publicness' of a truth commission - defined by whether it has public hearings, releases a public report, and names perpetrators - contributes to democratization. The article reviews scholarship relevant to the potential democratizing effects of truth commissions and derives mechanisms that help explain this relationship. Work from the transitional justice field as well as democratization and political transition more generally is considered. Using a newly-constructed Truth Commission Publicness Dataset (TCPD), the analysis finds that even after statistically controlling for initial levels of democracy, democratic trends in the years prior to a commission, level of wealth, amnesties and/or trials, the influence of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and different cutoff points for measuring democratization across a number of models, more publicness predicts higher levels of democracy years after the commission has finished its work. The more public a truth commission is, the more it will contribute to democratization. The finding that more public truth commissions are associated with higher levels of democratization indicates particular strategies that policymakers, donors, and civil society activists may take to improve prospects for democracy in a country planning a truth commission in the wake of violence and/or government abuse. © The Author(s) 2012.

AfterImage:for baroque flute and fixed media

Commissioned by Sonic Arts Network and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with funds from ACGB for Eleanor Dawson (flute)

Facts, Hacks and Turbines: Media Analysis of Irish Wind Energy

Wind energy projects face increasing opposition from host communities throughout the western world. Governments have responded in a range of ways, including enhanced local control over consenting (England), reform of planning regulations (Australia) or community ownership (Denmark). However, there is no effective mechanism for monitoring levels of social acceptance and thus, no means of evaluating the effectiveness of these approaches. There have been attempts to understand how social framing of wind energy in the media (e.g. Van de Velde et al 2010, Barry and Ellis, 2008, Hindmarsh 2014), highlighting how this changes over time. However, no research has focussed on Ireland and critically, none have examined whether this can help monitor overall levels of social acceptance. In order to explore this, this paper will present a media analysis of wind energy in the Republic of Ireland, which witnessed a rapid increase in wind energy capacity and has the highest energy penetration of wind in the world (19%). However, this has been accompanied by increasing public opposition and (assumed) declining levels of social acceptance.

This paper will describe the results of analysing over 8000 articles on wind energy that have appeared in three Irish newspapers. These are assessed through historical-diachronic (over time) and comparative –synchronic (differences between newspapers) analyses (Carvalho 2007) to highlight changing trends in framing wind energy and changing concerns over wind energy in Ireland. The paper will consider whether such media analysis could form a tool for monitoring the trends in social acceptance of wind energy.

Notions of Conflict and 'New' Citizens' Inclusion:Post-Cosmopolitan Contestations in Germany

This chapter argues that there is a gap between symbolic exclusion from the national community when it comes to the inclusion of new German citizens of Turkish or Kurdish background, and a broad claim to be a cosmopolitan society, at large. While focusing on narratives of minority key political activists in Berlin, and analysing individual stories on the background of contemporary populist xenophobic debates and hate crime of the 1990s, the chapter illustrates both, individual success and vulnerability due to institutionalised forms of anti- Muslim and anti-Turks segments in Germany.