Big and little Meccano

The emergence of the mechanical bond during the past 25 years is giving chemistry a fillip in more ways than one. While its arrival on the scene is already impacting materials science and molecular nanotechnology, it is providing a new lease of life to chemical synthesis where mechanical bond formation Occurs as a consequence of the all-important templation Orchestrated by molecular recognition and self-assembly. The way in which covalent bond formation activates noncovalent bonding interactions, switching on molecular recognition that leads to self-assembly, and the template-directed synthesis of mechanically interlocked molecules-of which the so-called catenanes and rotaxanes may be regarded as the prototypes-has introduced a level of integration into chemical synthesis that has not previously been attained jointly at the supramolecular and molecular levels. The challenge now is to carry this I vel of integration during molecular synthesis beyond relatively small molecules into the realms of precisely functionalized extended molecular Structures and superstructures that perform functions in a collective manner as the key sources of instruction, activation, and performance in multi-component integrated Circuits and devices. These forays into organic chemistry by a scientific nomad are traced through thick and thin from the Athens of the North to the Windy City by Lake Michigan with interludes on the edge of the Canadian Shield beside Lake Ontario, in the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, on the Plains of Cheshire beside the Wirral, in the Midlands in the Heartland of Albion, and in the City of Angels beside the Peaceful Sea. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Return of the 'Angry Woman': authenticating female physical action in contemporary cinema

In 1999, Elizabeth Hills pointed up the challenges that physically active women on film still posed, in cultural terms, and in relation to certain branches of feminist theory . Since then, a remarkable number of emphatically active female heroes have appeared on screen, from 'Charlie’s Angels' to 'Resident Evil', 'Aeon Flux', and the 'Matrix' and 'X-Men' trilogies. Nevertheless, in a contemporary Western culture frequently characterised as postfeminist, these seem to be the ‘acceptable face’ – and body – of female empowerment: predominantly white, heterosexual, often scantily clad, with the traditional hero’s toughness and resolve re-imagined in terms of gender-biased notions of decorum: grace and dignity alongside perfect hair and make-up, and a body that does not display unsightly markers of physical exertion. The homogeneity of these representations is worth investigating in relation to critical claims that valorise such air-brushed, high-kicking 'action babes' for their combination of sexiness and strength, and the feminist and postfeminist discourses that are refracted through such readings. Indeed, this arguably ‘safe’ set of depictions, dovetailing so neatly with certain postfeminist notions of ‘having it all’, suppresses particular kinds of spectacles in relation to the active female body: images of physical stress and extension, biological consequences of violence and dangerous motivations are all absent. I argue that the untidy female exertions refused in popular “action babe” representations are now erupting into view in a number of other contemporaneous movies – 'Kill Bill' Vols 1 & 2, 'Monster', and 'Hard Candy' – that mark the return of that which is repressed in the mainstream vision of female power – that is, a more viscerally realistic physicality, rage and aggression. As such, these films engage directly with the issue of how to represent violent female agency. This chapter explores what is at stake at a representational level and in terms of spectatorial processes of identification in the return of this particularly visceral rendering of the female avenger.

Eye candy for the blind: re-introducing Lyotard's Acinema into discourses on excess, motion and spectacle in contemporary Hollywood

Jean-François Lyotard's 1973 essay ‘Acinema’ is explicitly concerned with the cinematic medium, but has received scant critical attention. Lyotard's acinema conceives of an experimental, excessive form of film-making that uses stillness and movement to shift away from the orderly process of meaning-making within mainstream cinema. What motivates this present paper is a striking link between Lyotard's writing and contemporary Hollywood production; both are concerned with a sense of excess, especially within moments of motion. Using Charlie's Angels (McG, 2000) as a case study – a film that has been critically dismissed as ‘eye candy for the blind’ – my methodology brings together two different discourses, high culture theory and mainstream film-making, to test out and propose the value of Lyotard's ideas for the study of contemporary film. Combining close textual analysis and engagement with key scholarship on film spectacle, I reflexively engage with the process of film analysis and re-direct attention to a neglected essay by a major theorist, in order to stimulate further engagement with his work.

Brytmånens utformning vid trädfällning - Jämförande studier av böjmotstånd och gångjärnseffekt : Designing felling hinge in tree felling - Comparative studies of bending resistance and hinge effect

Vid trädfällning med motorsåg sparar man en så kallad brytmån som skall fungera som ett gång¬järn när trädet fälls. Om brytmånen går av tidigt finns en risk att trädet faller okontrolle¬rat. De rekommendationer som finns säger att brytmånens bredd skall göras proportionell mot trädets diameter. Genom att teoretiskt och praktiskt undersöka vilka krafter brytmånen utsätts för och vad den håller för har det varit möjligt att dra vissa slutsatser om hur en bra brytmån skall se ut. Ett viktigt resultat är att en bred brytmån (över 30-40 mm) är mycket trög att böja och inte fungerar i det avseendet att den går av redan vid små böjningar. Teoretiska be¬räkningar och praktiska försök visar att en relativt smal brytmån håller för belastningen vid rakt motlut även på stora träd. Som ny rekommendationen föreslås att brytmånens bredd inte bör vara mer än 30 mm. Av försöken kan man också dra slutsatsen att frusen ved är stel och brister tidigt, varför svår¬fällda träd inte bör fällas när veden är fryst.A felling hinge is used when felling trees by help of chain saw. If the hinge breaks early in the fall of the tree there is a great risk that the tree will fall without control. Present recommenda¬tions in Sweden say that the thickness of the felling hinge shall be made in proportion to the stem diameter. By use of theoretical and practical examinations of the forces stressing the felling hinge, and the strength of the wood itself, it has been possible to draw conclusions regarding the correct design of a felling hinge. One important result is that a thick felling hinge (over 30-40 mm) is very hard to bend and does not work well as it looses most of its strength already at a small forward bending angel. Theoretical calculations and practical tests show that a relatively narrow felling hinge will manage very well the forces when felling trees with lean opposite to the felling direction even for large trees. Our new recommendation is that the thickness of the felling hinge in normal Swedish conditions should not exceed 30 mm. Through the studies it can also be seen that frozen, brittle wood breaks at small bending angels. For that reason particularly difficult trees not should be felled when the wood is frozen.

Nutidens Änglar : En studie av änglar och hur de framställs i vår tid

This bachelor’s thesis examines contemporary views on Angels and how two modern writerson the subject introduce these beings. Presenting a comparison between the two modernwriters, and also, as a context, contrasting them to some more traditional biblical as well assome modern Christian material, some of the beliefs surrounding Angels are discussed. Thecontemporary views and beliefs are analyzed through a model on how globalization affectspopular religion of today.

Foundation evidence of the relationship between entrepreneurs, financial issues and financial advisers

In this study financial advisers’ relative influence on entrepreneurs’ decisions have been investigated. Financial advisers are advisers, included in entrepreneurs’ discussion networks, with whom entrepreneurs discuss financial issues. The concept of financial adviser includes a range of different people with different functions, irrespective of whether these people provide the entrepreneur with finance or not. It may include people such as venture capitalists, business angels, bankers, accountants, advocates or management advisers. Based on follow-up surveys completed in relation to the Danish participation in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), it was found that financial advisers only play a minor role in the two early phases of the entrepreneurial process before the venture is actually started. Entrepreneurs might have relationships with financial advisers in these stages, but only few of them are included in the discussion network. It was further revealed that the ties between financial advisers and entrepreneurs often are weaker than the ties entrepreneurs have with others in their discussion network. Two practical implications for financial advisers emerged from the study. First, they need to re-consider their role in the early phases of the entrepreneurial process in order to increase their influence and benefit from the co-operation. Second, they need to find a way to create a closer relationship with the entrepreneurs they advise.

Australia's informal venture capitalists : an exploratory profile

In Australia, as elsewhere, finding and acquiring equity capital is one of the major problems facing start-up or growing entrepreneurial ventures. The informal venture capital market, comprising high net worth non-institutional private equity investors (or 'business angels') provides risk capital directly to new and growing businesses and has been shown to be considerably more significant than institutional providers as a source of finance for entrepreneurial businesses. Building upon research undertaken internationally, this study generated and evaluated data resulting from an investigation of 36 carefully screened Australian business angels. It focused upon three primary research questions: (i) Who are Australia's informal venture capitalists (business angels)? (ii) How do they behave? (iii) What are their investment criteria? The study initiates Australian angel research into the developing international continuum of informal venture capital research and can serve as the generator of empirically testable hypotheses for future research and theory development.

An exploratory survey of Australia's informal venture capitalists : a predicate to theory building in the context of international angel research

In Australia, as it is all over the world, finding and acquiring equity capital is one of the major problems facing entrepreneurs who are starting or growing entrepreneurial ventures. The informal venture capital market, made up of high net worth non-institutional private equity investors (or ‘business Angels’) provides risk capital directly to new and growing businesses and has been shown to be considerably more significant than institutional providers as a source of finance for entrepreneurial businesses. Building upon and comporting with Angel research undertaken overseas, this study generated and evaluated data resulting from an investigation of Australian business Angels which focused upon three primary research questions: (i) Who are Australia's Informal Venture Capitalists (Business Angels)? (ii) How do they behave? (iii) What are their investment criteria? Analysis of answers resulting from a survey of 36 carefully screened respondents produced a descriptive profile, depicted in twelve key graphs, of Australian Angels' identifying characteristics, patterns of investment behaviour and investment criteria. The study initiates Australian Angel research into the developing international continuum of formal Angel research and can serve as the generator of empirically sensible hypotheses for future research and theory development.

An exploratory investigation of informal venture capitalists in Singapore

The paper presents a tentative profile of Singapore’s informal venture capitalists (business angels) resulting from case analysis of 29 investee businesses. The inquiry closely referenced the research designs of previous international studies of business angels, but with due regard to the cultural distinctions of Western and Singapore societies, developed its own methodology and survey instrument. While application of inferential statistical techniques is not possible, results of the investigation find their value in their ability to underpin structured hypotheses for future research and the challenge they deliver to traditional ways of thinking about capital provision to new ventures in the Singapore environment.

Sublime Wong Kar-wai

In the films of Wong Kar-wai one finds a double or parallel sensing of the sublime. Numerous characters are seen to experience perceptual moments of unbounded terror, where they are faced with the weight, enormity or formlessness of objects, things, and natural phenomena that they cannot initially or fully comprehend. These ‘textual’ sublime moments are simultaneously rendered receptively, experientially sublime through the way Wong Kar-wai conjures up a series of refracted, defamiliarised images of heightened intensity, such as bejeweled juke boxes, incandescent lampshades, thick waterfalls, and wispy cigarette smoke rising. Such awesome images are of artifice and nature, conjoined, blurred, or delineated, so that the sublime moment is of the postmodern moment, irrational and irregular, and ‘monstrous’ because of it. In the films of Wong Kar-wai, character and viewer become aligned in a process of identification in which each recognizes their mortality, and inadequacy, in the face of such dazzling, incomprehensible moments that trace across the retina of the eye. The pleasure and the pain of this is something that I will explore in this paper, using such sublime films as Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, 2046, and Blueberry Nights, to illustrate my arguments.

Adhesion performance of polymer nanofibres under shear loading

Geckos have extraordinary wall-climbing ability because of the millions of hairs with micro/nano fibrillar structures on their feet. Mimicking gecko's feet is of scientific and engineering importance for development of physical adhesion materials and devices. The design of gecko-inspired physical adhesives seems to be geometry dominated. In this study, Finite Element Method (FEM) has been used to analyse the vertical peel-off force of polyporpylene (PP) nanofibres having different fibre dimensions, inclining angels and contact areas on a flat glass substrate. It has been found that the main parameters affecting the frictional adhesion are fibre diameter and fibre aspect ratio, the inclining angle between the fibre and the substrate surface, and the intimate contact areas. Our analysis has shown that PP nanofibres with a diameter of less than 200nm can generate less peel-off force than fibres of larger diameters, indicating more stable adhesion with the glass substrate for thinner fibres. A bent fibre with more intimate contact area can bear more shear force than a straight fibre with less contact area. Also, under the same shear loading, fibres with an inclining angle of less than 30° provide a low peel off force.

Intimacy and making : thinking constellations of consciousness and the movements of invention

This paper takes up the three terms - creativity, consciousness and intimacy - and positions them as possible ‘ultimate terms’. Inquiring into the use of these terms to garner approval, status or power within cultural contexts, the paper attempts to unpack them, and simultaneously to seek out any structural similarities in the ways that they operate. The term ‘creativity’ is deconstructed via a Derridean framework, wherein ‘inventiveness’ is posited as a more rigorous alternative in most cases. Consciousness is read closely in relation to its association with notions of awareness and ‘enlightenment’. And ‘intimacy’ is playfully explored as an alternative term for enlightenment, a manoeuvre which brings to the fore some structural assumptions about that which intimacy might comprise. The assumption of intimacy as a spatially-dependent notion is also interrogated. The paper contends that intimacy may involve an unsettling of spatial assumptions proper, and therefore not be simply a function of closeness or distance. It draws on Serres’ notion of the angel as messenger and as analogy for the preposition, indicator of position, but occupant of none. Finally an example from art practice is offered, one that arguably performs the terms intimacy and creativity at once: an epistolary adventure in poetry and photographs, called The Post Project.

The site of 'becoming' - music and adolescence as liminal spaces in a selection of young adult fictions

Both the experience of music (Boyce-Tillman 2009, DeChaine 2002) and that of adolescence (Bettis and Adams 2005, Bradford 2013, Meyer and Land 2005) have been described as "liminal spaces" - that is, spaces in which transformation of those involved can occur. This paper will examine three texts with an implied young adult audience - Marion's Angels (K. M. Peyton, 1979, later republished as Falling Angels), The Bamboo Flute (Gary Disher, 1992), and The Carbon Diaries 2017 (Saci Lloyd, 2009) - to demonstrate how engagement with music assists the young adult protagonist with negotiating certain necessary developmental tasks of adolescence.