Microfabrication of high-performance aromatic polymers as nanotubes or fibrils by in situ ring-opening polymerisation of macrocyclic precursors

Melt-phase nucleophilic ring-opening polymerisation of macrocyclic aromatic ethers and thioethers at high temperatures within the cylindrical pores of an anodic-alumina membrane, followed by dissolution of the template, enables replication of the membrane's internal pore structure and so affords high-performance aromatic polymers with well-defined fibrillar or tubular morphologies.

A decade of research and development in disability, virtual reality and associated technologies: review of ICDVRAT 1996−2006

The International Conference (series) on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies (ICDVRAT) this year held its sixth biennial conference, celebrating ten years of research and development in this field. A total of 220 papers have been presented at the first six conferences, addressing potential, development, exploration and examination of how these technologies can be applied in disabilities research and practice. The research community is broad and multi-disciplined, comprising a variety of scientific and medical researchers, rehabilitation therapists, educators and practitioners. Likewise, technologies, their applications and target user populations are also broad, ranging from sensors positioned on real world objects to fully immersive interactive simulated environments. A common factor is the desire to identify what the technologies have to offer and how they can provide added value to existing methods of assessment, rehabilitation and support for individuals with disabilities. This paper presents a brief review of the first decade of research and development in the ICDVRAT community, defining technologies, applications and target user populations served.

Antoine de La Sale's 'La Sale': the cannonball and the prince's head

The elderly tutor La Sale's didactic treatise for his charges (dated 1451) includes an eye-witness account of the siege of Anjou-held Naples by the Aragonese in 1438. It narrates the accidental death (or miracle, depending on the perspective of the chroniclers) of the infante Pedro of Castille, brother of King Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon. This article explores how "La Sale", an adapted version of the Middle French translation of Valerius Maximus's 'Facta et dicta memorabilia', frames and skews the anecdote towards an exploration of the reliability and authority of the tutor-narrator.

Back from beyond the bid-ask spread: perspectives on liquidity

Research into the topic of liquidity has greatly benefited from the availability of data. Although bid-ask spreads were inaccessible to researchers, Roll (1984) provided a conceptual model that estimated the effective bid-ask prices from regular time series data, recorded on a daily or longer interval. Later data availability improved and researchers were able to address questions regarding the factors that influenced the spreads and the relationship between spreads and risk, return and liquidity. More recently transaction data have been used to measure the effective spread and researchers have been able to refine the concepts of liquidity to include the impact of transactions on price movements (Clayton and McKinnon, 2000) on a trade-by-trade analysis. This paper aims to use techniques that combine elements from all three approaches and, by studying US data over a relatively long time period, to throw light on earlier research as well as to reveal the changes in liquidity over the period controlling for extraneous factors such as market, age and size of REIT. It also reveals some comparable results for the UK market over the same period.

The DACCIWA project: dynamics-aerosol-chemistry-cloud interactions in West Africa

Massive economic and population growth, and urbanization are expected to lead to a tripling of anthropogenic emissions in southern West Africa (SWA) between 2000 and 2030. However, the impacts of this on human health, ecosystems, food security, and the regional climate are largely unknown. An integrated assessment is challenging due to (a) a superposition of regional effects with global climate change, (b) a strong dependence on the variable West African monsoon, (c) incomplete scientific understanding of interactions between emissions, clouds, radiation, precipitation, and regional circulations, and (d) a lack of observations. This article provides an overview of the DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) project. DACCIWA will conduct extensive fieldwork in SWA to collect high-quality observations, spanning the entire process chain from surface-based natural and anthropogenic emissions to impacts on health, ecosystems, and climate. Combining the resulting benchmark dataset with a wide range of modeling activities will allow (a) assessment of relevant physical, chemical, and biological processes, (b) improvement of the monitoring of climate and atmospheric composition from space, and (c) development of the next generation of weather and climate models capable of representing coupled cloud-aerosol interactions. The latter will ultimately contribute to reduce uncertainties in climate predictions. DACCIWA collaborates closely with operational centers, international programs, policy-makers, and users to actively guide sustainable future planning for West Africa. It is hoped that some of DACCIWA’s scientific findings and technical developments will be applicable to other monsoon regions.

Mycoflora and fumonisin contamination in Brazilian sorghum from sowing to harvest

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to characterise the mycoflora and the presence of fumonisin in sorghum grains, correlating the results with the environment and abiotic factors. RESULTS: Fifty samples (five collections of ten samples each) of sorghum were analysed. All samples were found to be contaminated with fungi, with higher frequencies of Cladosporium spp. (61.8%) and Helminthosporium spp. (33.4%). Fusarium verticillioides was isolated from 15.1% of the samples, with 38% of them being contaminated with fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) at levels ranging from 50 to 368.78 ng g(-1). Regarding abiotic factors, temperature, water activity and rainfall showed a positive correlation with the frequency of F. verticillioides and FB(1) production. There was a significant positive correlation between relative air humidity and FB(1) production. The results obtained from sexual crosses between standard F mating tester strains and the isolated strains confirmed that the strains isolated were F. verticillioides. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the decrease in F. verticillioides and fumonisin contamination occurred owing to atypical climatic factors during the period of sorghum cultivation, when there was any occurrence of rain and the level of water activity of grains did not reach 0.58. (C) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

Webbplats och grafisk profil för Falu Tank AB : samt teoretisk fördjupning inom webbdesign

I detta examensarbete har en webbplats skapats för Falu Tank AB med hjälp av Jennifer Flemings utvecklingsmodell, även framtagning av en logotyp och grafisk profil med tillhörande manual har ingått i examensarbetet. Falu Tank AB utför nytillverkning, rekonditionering samt kontroll av petroleumtankar. De erbjuder också oljeavskiljare, pumpöar och dubbelmantlade tankar. Arbetet har bestått av en bakgrundsundersökning på Falu Tank AB, samt litteraturstudier i webbdesign och grafisk profilering, med en teoretisk fördjupning inom webbdesign. Bra webbdesign innebär i första hand att sidan är välstrukturerad, enhetlig, lättnavigerad, användarvänlig och att den har en bra harmoni. Målet med webbplatsen var att den skulle vara funktionell, proffsig, och modern, med en passande design för att attrahera fler besökare. Jennifer Flemings utvecklingsmodell lämpade sig mycket väl vid utformningen av webbplatsen. Falu Tanks logotyp kändes gammal och intetsägande dessutom saknades en grafisk profil. Den framtagna profilen innefattar logotyp, färg och typografi, men även formgivning av visitkort, brevpapper och fakturor. Målet med den grafiska profilen var ett ge Falu Tank ett enhetligt, modernt och stilrent intryck inför kommande marknadsföring. Resultatet blev en stilren och tydlig grafisk profil med stark koppling till Falu Tank. (PDF1 - Rapport) (PDF2 - Bilagor) (PDF3 - Grafisk Manual)

The use of capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods in Swedish listed companies

In this paper Swedish listed companies’ use of capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods in 2005 and 2008 are examined. The relation between company characteristics and choice of methods is investigated and both within-country longitudinal and cross-country comparisons are made. Larger companies seem to have used capital budgeting methods more frequently than smaller companies. When compared to U.S. and continental European companies, Swedish listed companies employed capital budgeting methods less frequently. In 2005 the most common method for establishing the cost of equity was by asking the investors what return they required. By 2008 CAPM was instead the most utilised method, which could indicate greater sophistication. The use of project risk when evaluating investments also seems to have gained in popularity, while the use of company risk declined. Overall, the use of sophisticated capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation methods seem to be rising and the use of less sophisticated methods declining.

Detection and treatment of hypertension in rural Australia

Background: The inequity of cardiac health outcomes between metropolitan and rural areas is well documented. As hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor, we need to have a better understanding of how well it is detected and managed rural areas. This study reports on the prevalence, detection and treatment of hypertension in rural Australia.

Method: Three population stratified surveys were undertaken in the Greater Green Triangle. Three thousand three hundred and twenty adults aged 25–74 years were randomly selected, stratified by gender and 10-year age groups. Anthropometric, clinical and self-administered questionnaire data relating to chronic disease risk were collected in accordance with the WHO MONICA protocol. Blood pressure (BP) was measured by trained nurses and the questionnaire collected information on the history of hypertension and medications used for treatment.

Results: Information on BP measurement, medication and awareness was available on 1506 (45%) participants. Study found that one-third of participants had hypertension. Only 54% (95% CI 47–60) of male and 71% (65–77) of female participants with hypertension were aware of their condition. While only half of the participants with hypertension were treated, only half of these treated participants had their hypertension under control. Treatment and control of hypertension was more common in women (60%, 54–67 and 55%, 47–64) compared with men (42%, 36–49 and 35%, 26–44).

Conclusion: Results of our study suggest that detection and treatment of hypertension in rural is suboptimal, particularly in men. If cardiovascular outcomes are to improve in rural Australia, people need to be encouraged to have their blood pressure measured regularly and better systems for the management of hypertension in primary care are needed.