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Improved efficiency of medical imaging probe
No full textThe Peacock Group has developed a new MRI imaging probe with the potential to drastically improve the identification of disease compared to the current standard. This new design uses a miniature protein which binds to an active metal. MRI is a technique commonly used in hospitals to look inside the body without the need for invasive surgery. Contrast agents can be injected to allow for easier diagnosis of disease. Factors affecting contrast agents:
1.Rate of tumbling (peptide length)
2.Association with wate
Doing cold smarter
No full textCold has been much neglected in the energy debate. Governments are developing strategies and policies to green everything from electricity to transport to heat, but the energy and environmental impacts of cooling have so far been largely ignored. This is a serious oversight, since making things cold is energy intensive and can be highly polluting, and demand for cooling in all its forms is booming worldwide – especially in developing countries. According to one projection, by the end of this century global demand for air conditioning alone could consume the equivalent of half our worldwide electricity generation today – and most of the increase will come in developing markets. The ‘greening’ of cold is clearly an urgent global problem – but it may also offer Britain a massive business opportunity.
Cold may have been ignored but is vitally important to many aspects of modern life. An effective cold chain, for example, is essential for tackling problems such as food
waste, food security, water conservation and public health. Cooling is also critical for many less obvious but essential functions: data centres couldn’t operate without it, nor for example MRI scanners in medicine or superconductors in power electronics. Cooling also provides modern levels of comfort in hot countries – and can make the difference between some regions being habitable or not.
At the same time, vast amounts of cold are wasted – for instance during the regasification of LNG – which could in principle be recycled to satisfy some of this demand and start to reduce the environmental damage caused by cooling. Such a system-level approach – which starts by asking what energy services we need, and what is the least damaging way to provide them, rather than accepting existing practices as a fait accompli – has recently been coined the ‘Cold Economy’. It is clear the Cold Economy could unleash a wide range of innovative clean cold technologies and provide energy resilience, economic growth and environmental benefits, but there is an urgent need to develop a system-level analysis of this problem and the potential solutions to inform both industry and policymakers. The Birmingham Policy Commission: Doing Cold Smarter was convened to start this work
Refworks worksheet
Get PDFThis resource supports the 'Assessment, marking and feedback' module of the University of Birmingham’s PG Cert., created as part of the JISC/HEA-funded DELILA project; it also stands alone for any user wanting to get started . This workbook covers aspects of Refworks, including exporting references from Medline, how to use the Pubmed filter, and how to manually add references. It also includes how to create in text citations and reference lists using when using Refworks with Word. Worked examples and exercises are included in the workbook
Effectiveness of Different Transition Metal Dispersed Catalysts for In-Situ Heavy Oil Upgrading
No full textUltradispersed particles of size less than 100 nm for in situ catalytic upgrading have been reported to outperform the augmented catalytic upgrading achieved by incorporating pelleted refinery catalyst to the horizontal production well of the THAI process. Hydroconversion of heavy oil was carried out in a stirred batch reactor at 425˚C, 50 bar (initial H2 pressure), 900 rpm and 60 min reaction time using a range of unsupported transition metal (Mo, Ni and Fe) catalysts. The effect of metal nanoparticles (NPs) was evaluated in terms of product distribution, physical properties and product quality. The produced coke and recovered catalysts were also studied. The levels of API gravity and viscosity of the upgraded oils observed with the NPs was approximately 21˚API and 108 cP compared with thermal cracking alone (24˚API and 53.5 cP), this moderate upgrade with NPs is due to the lack of cracking functionality offered by supports such as zeolite, alumina or silica. However, it was found that the presence of dispersed NPs significantly suppressed coke formation 4.4 wt% (MoS2), 5.7 wt% (NiO) and 6.8 wt% (Fe2O3) compared to 12 wt% obtained with thermal cracking alone. The results also showed that with dispersed unsupported metal NPs in sulfide form the middle distillate (177-343 ˚C) of the upgraded oil was improved particularly MoS2 which gave 50 wt% relative to 43 wt% (thermal cracking) and 28 wt% (feed oil). The middle distillate yields for Fe2O3 and NiO are 47 wt% and 49 wt%, respectively. Hence, iron and nickel-based unsupported NPs showed similar activity when compared to MoS2. The cost and availability of iron-based catalysts compared to Ni and Mo counterpart for heavy oil upgrading are advantages that may justify its preference. Furthermore, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that introducing dispersed catalysts to the upgrading helped to produce sponge-type coke which could be used as industrial fuel compared to shot-type obtained upon thermal cracking
Reduction of aerobic and lactic acid bacteria in dairy desludge using an integrated compressed CO and ultrasonic process
No full textJones-Roberts solitons: rarefaction pulses
No full textDataset to support the article:
Meyer, N. et.al.
Jones-Roberts solitons defeating the snaking instability
Submitted to Nature Physics, March 2016
Jones Roberts solitons - rarefaction pulses.
Dynamics of rarefaction pulses after triangular imprint
Building character through youth social action: research report
No full textThis report is the culmination of research carried out between March-December 2014 with youth social action providers and young people.
The purpose of the report is to explore the link between character, virtues and youth social action. Through textual analysis of youth social action providers’ websites and communications, interviews with senior leaders of these providers, as well as young people who experience their programmes, this research aimed at a better understanding of the link between character development and youth social action.
This research has been undertaken with considerable input from interested stakeholders since its inception – in particular, members of Step Up To Serve’s crosssector Data and Quality Assurance group and the sub-group on character. These groups have provided invaluable advice in shaping this project. In addition, the initial findings from this research were presented at a consultation held at St George’s House, Windsor, in September 2014 (Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, 2014a). Representatives from government departments, education, academia, and the voluntary and corporate sectors participated and their comments have also informed this report
Supplementary data for The Structures and Magnetic Properties of FexCo1 xSb2O4 and MnxCo1 xSb2O4, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1
Get PDFMnxCo1-xSb2O4 and FexCo1-xSb2O4 have been synthesised for 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 and their structures and magnetic properties examined. For all compounds, neutron powder diffraction (NPD) data reveal a canted AFM structure that changes gradually from C-type (x = 0) to A-type (x = 1). This transition corresponds to a gradual rotation of the moments through 90o, from ±[001] to ± [100]. It is primarily caused by a change in the relative magnitudes of the three types of magnetic exchange that exist between cations. Within a given chain, direct exchange promotes an antiferromagnetic ground state for the two cations and 90o superexchange that favours ferromagnetic order. Between chains, antiferromagnetic order is preferred. However, the observed magnetic moments (from NPD) are significantly lower than expected except for the end-members of the series; this suggests that incomplete magnetic order is present. Magnetic susceptibility data also suggest complex magnetic behaviour except for the end-member compounds. The complex magnetic features appear to originate from composition inhomogeneity, local magnetic order in the chains of octahedra being dependent on small clusters of the same transition metal ion and the delicate energy balance that clearly exists between the two ordered configurations in the mid-composition region where x is near to 0.5
Aft-oven removed from Klaus at Mount Wilson in 2015 December
No full textThe aft cell-oven, magnet, and detectors were removed from spectrometer-K (``Klaus'') and returned to Birmingham. The tower was shutdown over the winter and will reopen in spring 2016
The role of water source in high Arctic stream biodiversity: a study from Northeast Greenland
No full textAim: To identify how different water sources affect stream biodiversity through altering stream habitat conditions. This will allow us to predict how climate change will alter Arctic stream ecosystems in the future
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