Well-being achievement in Pacific Asia

The world has undergone rapid and tremendous change in recent decades. While many nations have achieved ever-higher per capita incomes, and higher well-being according to traditional measures, they have also experienced profound internal change. This change has lead to widespread concerns regarding social exclusion, human security, levels of personal satisfaction and happiness. Other countries have faired much less well, as according to many well-being measures they are worse off than they were 10 or 20 years ago. Life expectancies, for example, have fallen dramatically in many countries and are likely to fall substantially in others. The incidence of income poverty is higher today in many countries than it was ten years ago. Worldwide, more than a billion people currently live on less than one dollar per day. Social science research on living standards, human well-being and quality of life has come a long way over recent years, altering in response to changing global conditions, new research priorities, new conceptualisations and improved data resources. Twenty five years ago, national well-being achievement comparisons relied very heavily, and in some circles exclusively, on measures of income per capita. The same exercise would today be based a range of indicators, including summary measures of human well-being such as the well-known Human Development Index (UNDP, 2005). This is consistent with the commonly accepted view that human well-being is best treated as a multidimensional concept along the lines advocated by Sen (1985, 1993), Stewart (1985), Doyal & Gough (1991), Ramsay (1992), Cummins (1996), Narayan et al. (2000) or Nussbaum (2000) and others, as summarised in Alkire (2002). This view tends not to reject the relevance of income based or economic measures per se, simply positing that there is more to well-being achievement than simply increasing incomes. The widespread acceptance that well-being is multidimensional has more recently been accompanied by another important recognition. This relates not so much to current levels of well-being, but to the likelihood of declines in future levels. This recognition has spawned a rapidly growing literature on what is now termed as ‘vulnerability’. The vulnerability literature has primarily been concerned with the likelihood of individuals falling below the poverty line, be it defined in terms of income, consumption or health. Among the influential early vulnerability studies are Ravallion (1998), Jalan & Ravallion (1998) and Dercon & Krishnan (1999), each of which distinguished between transient and chronic poverty.

Chemiluminescence detection with water-soluble iridium(III) complexes containing a sulfonate-functionalised ancillary ligand

The chemiluminescence from four cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes containing an ancillary bathophenanthroline-disulfonate ligand exhibited a wide range of emission colours (green to red), and in some cases intensities that are far greater than the commonly employed benchmark reagent, [Ru(bpy)3](2+). A similar complex incorporating a sulfonated triazolylpyridine-based ligand enabled the emission to be shifted into the blue region of the spectrum, but the responses with this complex were relatively poor. DFT calculations of electronic structure and emission spectra support the experimental findings.

An investigation for improved home energy management

 Increasing household energy consumption and increasing primary energy cost urged to improve home energy efficiency. Improved energy management can suggest the ways to improve home energy efficiency. Various home appliances are the prime cause to the increased power demand. Appliance's energy rating information helps to develop awareness and reduce energy consumption. Load shifting can help to reduce overall cost of used energy bill by shifting peak time load to off-peak time. However most of the present appliances remains in standby mode (active or passive) for a significant part of the day, and load shifting cannot reduce the total energy consumption. Therefore investigation is required to identify any possible scopes to improve energy management at home. This paper investigated several home appliances and monitored daily time of use power consumption. It was found that by controlling standby power from a daily home load of 4.482 kWh, power demand can be reduced 12.56% moreover energy related greenhouse gas (GHG) emission can be reduced 133.08kg/year.

High performance liquid chromatography with two simultaneous on-line antioxidant assays : evaluation and comparison of espresso coffees

The antioxidant profiles of various espresso coffees were established using HPLC with UV-absorbance detection and two rapid, simultaneous, on-line chemical assays that enabled the relative reactivity of sample components to be screened. The assays were based on (i) the colour change associated with reduction of the 2,2´-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•); and (ii) the emission of light (chemiluminescence) upon reaction with acidic potassium permanganate. Results from the two approaches were similar and reflected the complex array of antioxidant species present in the samples. However, some differences in selectivity were observed. Chromatograms generated with the chemiluminescence assay contained more peaks, which was ascribed to the greater sensitivity of the reagent towards minor, readily oxidisable sample components. The three coffee samples produced closely related profiles, signifying their fundamentally similar chemical compositions and origin. Nevertheless, the overall intensity and complexity of the samples in both UV absorption and antioxidant assay chromatograms were aligned with the manufacturers description of flavour intensity and character.