Plant bioactive determinations using flow analysis, chromatography with chemiluminescence detection

The development of rapid analytical methodologies for the determination of plant bioactives including antioxidants, amino acids and opium alkaloids was investigated using novel flow analysis and liquid chromatographic techniques. These methodologies were applied to the wine, food and pharmaceutical industries.

Adhesion of polymers

Most industrially applied polymer resins and composites have low surface free energy and lack polar functional groups on their surface, resulting in inherently poor adhesion properties. A strong research momentum to understand polymer adhesion in the last decade has been motivated by the growing needs of the automotive and aerospace industries for better adhesion of components and surface coatings. This paper reviews the recent research efforts on polymer adhesion with a special focus on adhesion mechanisms. It starts with an introduction to adhesion with explanatory notes on adhesion phenomena. Recent research on the adhesion mechanisms of mechanical coupling, chemical bonding and thermodynamic adhesion is then discussed. The area of adhesion promoters is reviewed with the focus on plasma and chemical treatments, along with direct methods for adhesion measurement. The topics of polymer blends and reactive polymerization are considered and the interactions with adhesion mechanisms are reported. The concluding section provides recommendations regarding future research on the contentious aspects of currently accepted adhesion mechanisms and on strategies for enhancing polymer adhesion strength.

Globalising water accounting : lessons from the globalisation of financial reporting

Water management is a matter of global concern. To underpin sound management of water scarcity and quality issues requires high quality, consistent, understandable and credible information. In a world first, accounting and water industry experts in Australia have developed a system of water accounting as an accounting sub-discipline, analogous to financial accounting to guide national and intra-national decision-making. With a conceptual framework and a Preliminary Australian Water Accounting Standard in place, Australia’s approach is being evaluated internationally within the water and mining industries. Its fate as a discipline will depend upon regulatory politics as well as the intellectual and practical rigour of the system and the rate of its adoption. In this paper, we explore the application to water accounting of regulatory theories that have been valuable to gaining an understanding of financial accounting standards development. We predict the international path of the water accounting a sub-discipline of accounting, as an outcome of political forces.

Sacred time after emigration : a study of the Holy Mother Festival in Zavoj

In Zavoj, a mountainous village in the Republic of Macedonia, the Day of the Holy Mother is the most significant day in the village's ritual calendar. The Day of the Holy Mother, like other holy days associated with saints, is a religious festival in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar; and Zavoj, like other villages, identifies with a particular holy day, in this case that of the Holy Mother. Festival is historically and etymologically linked to feast, a celebration in honour of gods, and the Day of the Holy Mother, like the two principal feasts in the Christian calendar, the Feast of Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and the Feast of Resurrection (Easter), is a religious celebration that includes a feast in honour of the saint, traditionally as a breaking of a fast. Importantly, many Zavoj emigrants return to the village for the festival on the Day of the Holy Mother. Over recent years both village and the festival have been transformed, due to large and continuing emigration and the demise of the resident peasant generation. This chapter will examine the changes in the festival, comparing that of 1988, when the village was inhabited, with that of 2007, when there were only a few people resident and by which time many of the peasant generation had passed on. As a result of emigration the village is emptied of its inhabitants, yet it remains the site of, and destination for, the continuity of the annual festival.

Three arguments against ‘soft innovation’: towards a richer understanding of cultural innovation

This paper critiques recent research on innovation in the cultural and creative industries. In particular, this paper examines Paul Stoneman’s idea of ‘soft innovation’ as a jumping off point for discussing theories of cultural innovation more broadly. Three critiques are advanced. Firstly, soft innovation is a theoretical perspective that has developed from neoclassical economics, and is therefore vulnerable to criticisms levelled at neoclassical explanations of economic behaviour. Secondly, the theory of soft innovation can be criticised for being contin- gently inaccurate: the observed reality of cultural industries and marketplaces may not reflect the theory’s premises. Thirdly, because soft innovation defines the significance of an innovation in terms of marketplace success, it implies that only high-selling cultural products are significant, a difficult claim to substantiate. This paper concludes by arguing that our understanding of innovation in the cultural sphere can benefit from a multi-disciplinary approach grounded in the full gamut of human creativity.

Machinability assessment of Ti-6Al-4V for aerospace applications

Titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is the most commonly used titanium alloy in the aerospace and biomedical industries due to its superior material properties. An experimental investigation has been carried out to evaluate the machinability of high performance aerospace alloys (Ti-6Al-4V) to determine their in service performance characteristics based on different machining strategies. Nearly 80-90% of the titanium used in airframes is Ti-6Al-4V. The experimental design consist of face milling Ti-6Al-4V at 12 different combinations of cutting parameters consisting of Depth Of Cut (DoC)- 1, 2 and 3 mm; speeds- 60 and 100 m/min; coolant on/off and at constant feed rate of 0.04mm/tooth. Post machining analysis consists of cutting force measurement, surface texture analysis and metallographic analysis. The future work consists of in-depth investigation into the phase transformational reactions during machining.

What do indigenous communities think of the CSR practices of mining companies?

This paper examines how one indigenous community in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) views the social responsibility initiatives of OK Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML). This mining operation has been controversial since its inception, and various operators of the mine have sought to engage the community and to undertake a number of CSR-related projects. Insights gained from four focus groups amongst the Ok Tedi River indigenous communities show that while some members of the community are satisfied with the company’s efforts at the macro level, many have reservations about the effectiveness of the programs at the micro level on the village and family unit. The implementation of CSR activities are slow and in many instances do not effectively address stakeholder concerns.