Design, construction and testing of an air-cycle refrigeration system for road transport

The environmental attractions of air-cycle refrigeration are considerable. Following a thermodynamic design analysis, an air-cycle demonstrator plant was constructed within the restricted physical envelope of an existing Thermo King SL200 trailer refrigeration unit. This unique plant operated satisfactorily, delivering sustainable cooling for refrigerated trailers using a completely natural and safe working fluid. The full load capacity of the air-cycle unit at -20 °C was 7,8 kW, 8% greater than the equivalent vapour-cycle unit, but the fuel consumption of the air-cycle plant was excessively high. However, at part load operation the disparity in fuel consumption dropped from approximately 200% to around 80%. The components used in the air-cycle demonstrator were not optimised and considerable potential exists for efficiency improvements, possibly to the point where the air-cycle system could rival the efficiency of the standard vapour-cycle system at part-load operation, which represents the biggest proportion of operating time for most units.

Application of static charge transfer within an ionic-liquid force field and its effect on structure and dynamics

The effects of linear scaling of the atomic charges of a reference potential on the structure, dynamics, and energetics of the ionic liquid 1,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride are investigated. Diffusion coefficients that span over four orders of magnitude are observed between the original model and a scaled model in which the ionic charges are +/- 0.5 e. While the three-dimensional structure of the liquid is less affected, the partial radial distribution functions change markedly-with the positive result that for ionic charges of +/- 0.7 e, an excellent agreement is observed with ab initio molecular dynamics data. Cohesive energy densities calculated from these partial-charge models are also in better agreement with those calculated from the ab initio data. We postulate that ionic-liquid models in which the ionic charges are assumed to be +/- 1 e overestimate the intermolecular attractions between ions, which results in overstructuring, slow dynamics, and increased cohesive energy densities. The use of scaled-charge sets may be of benefit in the simulation of these systems-especially when looking at properties beyond liquid structure-thus providing on alternative to computationally expensive polarisable force fields.

Sorption behavior of cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solution on different types of activated carbons

The effect of dye molecular charges on their adsorption from solution was investigated by using different types of activated carbon adsorbents. Two types of model systems were used representing cationic and anionic dyes. Screening investigations using single point tests were used throughout the study. Cationic dyes, of which Methylene Blue is an example, showed a higher adsorption tendency towards activated carbon over anionic dyes represented by an ate-type reactive compound. Of the number of activated carbons tested, only one of the adsorbents showed an exception to this behavior, and a good relation was observed between Methylene Blue capacity and activated carbon performance. The high capacity of cationic dyes in comparison to anionic dyes was also evident in the results obtained by a preliminary kinetic study carried out on the selected systems. Surface net charge of activated carbon and the nature of attractions between the molecules were suggested to be one of the reasons attributed for this behavior.

Monkey mountain as a megazoo: analysing the naturalistic claims of “wild monkey parks” in Japan

In Japan yaen koen or ‘wild monkey parks’ are popular visitor attractions that show free-ranging monkey troops to the paying public. Unlike zoos, which display animals through confinement, monkey parks control the movements of the monkeys through provisioning. The parks project an image of themselves as ‘natural zoos’, claiming to practice a more authentic form of wild animal display than that practiced by the zoo. This article critically evaluates the monkey park’s claim by examining park management of the monkeys. The monkey park’s claim to display ‘wild monkeys’ is shown to be questionable because of the way that provisioning changes monkey behaviour. Against the background of human encroachment onto the forest habitat of the monkey, the long-term effect of provisioning is to sedentarize what were nomadic monkeys and to turn the ‘wild monkey park’ into a megazoo.

Human Dignity and judicial Interpretation of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights was pivotal in popularizing the use of 'dignity' or 'human dignity' in human rights discourse. This article argues that the use of 'dignity', beyond a basic minimum core, does not provide a universalistic, principled basis for judicial decision-making in the human rights context, in the sense that there is little common understanding of what dignity requires substantively within or across jurisdictions. The meaning of dignity is therefore context-specific, varying significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and (often) over time within particular jurisdictions. Indeed, instead of providing a basis for principled decision-making, dignity seems open to significant judicial manipulation. increasing rather than decreasing judicial discretion. That is one of its significant attractions to both judges and litigators alike. Dignity provides a convenient language for the adoption of substantive interpretations of human rights guarantees which appear to be intentionally, not just coincidentally. highly contingent on local circumstances. Despite that, however, I argue that the concept of 'human dignity' plays an important role in the development of human rights adjudication, not in providing an agreed content to human rights but in contributing to particular methods of human rights interpretation and adjudication.

New Irish speakers and the ‘gaelicisation’ of Belfast

New Irish speakers in Belfast play a crucial, complex part in the revitalization and change of both the city and Irish within Northern Ireland. This paper examines the role of new Irish speakers in transforming Belfast, whose emergence from a post-conflict period involves a reassessment of communal cultural expressions. Markers of ethno-national identity are bitterly contentious locally, and yet increasingly celebrated, in line with international trends, as high status cultural forms and potentially profitable tourist attractions. Irish in Belfast currently occupies an ambiguous position: divisive enough for a sign reading ‘Happy Christmas’ in Irish to be experienced as an insult by some city councillors, yet a secure enough part of the establishment for a neighbourhood to be officially rebranded as the Gaeltacht Quarter.
When, how and where new Irish speakers use the language in Belfast has implications for the relationship of Irishness to the Northern Irish state and for the place of Belfast within regional frameworks across the UK, Ireland and Europe. Adult learners and young people exiting Irish medium education have an impact on life in Belfast beyond its small population of Irish speakers. Urbanisation fuelled by new speakers, which shifts the balance of Irish language resources and speakers away from traditional rural Gaeltacht areas and towards cities, also has implications for the language itself. Recent increase in new Irish speakers in Belfast is due to expansion in the Irish-medium sector as well as to adult learners, whose decisions contribute to the school expansion.
Urbanisation, multilingualism and intergenerational shift combine in Belfast to produce new linguistic norms. Moreover, in a minority language community where hierarchies of ‘authenticity’ are weighted towards the rural and the native speaker, where the rural and the native have traditionally been conflated, and where indigeneity is a central concept to contested nationalisms, the emergence of a self-confident, youthful Irish speaking community in Northern Ireland’s biggest city involves a recalibration of the qualities signifying ‘gaelicness’. As students, professionals, hobbyists and activists, new Irish speakers in Belfast occupy a vital position at the crux of changing ideas about place, language and identity.

Belfast Soundwalks

The Belfast Soundwalks project, led by Professor Pedro Rebelo and co-ordinated by Dr Sarah Bass (Sonic Arts Research Centre) in collaboration with Belfast City Council (BCC), aims to use sonic art to engage the public through the development of a locative mobile phone app. Targeting both tourists and citizens of the city, this project aims to sonically enhance the experience of a number of areas of the city, including destinations that may not traditionally be accessed as attractions by visitors and/or disregarded or undervalued by local residents. The project will bring together a number of sonic artists/composers who will create approximately ten soundwalks around the city, while liaising with BCC to distribute the resulting app to the public in line with their tourism and cultural strategy. The project is centred on the development of smart phone apps which provide unique listening experiences associated with key places in the city. The user’s location in the city is tracked through GPS which triggers sound materials ranging from speech to environmental sound and abstract imagined sound worlds. Additionally, local community groups will be consulted in order to evaluate and reflect upon the effectiveness of the soundwalks.

The project builds on the success of the Literary Belfast app and aims to further strengthen links between Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast City Council through facilitating the dissemination of an art form not widely experienced by the general public. Through the newly created Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, directed by Professor John Thompson we are articulating this project with Queen’s consortium partners, Newcastle University and Durham University.

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