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Luminescent core-isolated solvent-free liquids as a soft material platform for optical gas sensing
No full textSolvent-free functional molecular liquids have attracted great interest as a new class of stimuli-responsive soft materials, yet their potential as optical gas sensors remains unexplored. Conventionally, luminescent organic molecules are employed in combination with a solid support or matrix. However, their performance in chemical sensing and optoelectronic devices is often hindered by adverse phenomena such as aggregation, concentration quenching, and photodegradation. In this study, we employ a strategy to isolate and wrap a phosphorescent Pt(ii)-porphyrin core with bulky yet flexible branched alkyl chains, resulting in a solvent-free liquid at room temperature that demonstrates excellent properties for sensing oxygen (O2) gas. Compared to reference material composed of Pt(ii)-tetraphenylporphyrin and a highly gas-permeable polymer matrix, our Pt(ii)-porphyrin liquid shows comparable sensitivity (I0/I100 = 75 ∼ 90), better linearity, and greater photostability in its O2-responsive phosphorescence. This is attributed to the high homogeneity and gas solubility of the liquids, as well as to the shielding of luminescent-core units by bulky alkyl chains. The liquid nature of the materials allows for ratiometric sensing, where the compatibility of a phosphorescent Pt(ii)-porphyrin liquid (O2-sensitive) and a fluorescent alkyl-pyrene liquid (O2-insensitive) enables reproducible monitoring of O2 concentration without specific calibration. Indeed, these results highlight the significant benefits of core-isolated luminescent liquids in diverse sensing applications
National chemical societies and the formation of early global networks, ca. 1890-1914
No full textHistorians suggesting an early phase of globalisation in the decades before the First World War have pointed to new specialist learned societies as among the agents in the process. This paper explores the international dimensions of national chemical societies in this era of empires. During the nineteenth century, national chemical societies were established in many countries. Four of the earliest and largest – the [British] Chemical Society (founded 1841), the Société Chimique de France (1857), the Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft (1867), and the American Chemical Society (1876) – recruited numerous members living abroad, so that, by the early twentieth century, such “extra-national” members – members, that is, who lived outside the state in which the society was based – constituted a substantial share of their memberships. Our paper examines this phenomenon. It argues that an analysis of extra-national members can help us chart the spread of chemistry around the globe. It considers whether the extra-national memberships of these chemical societies can be seen as constituting early, overlapping global networks of individuals, based on their common membership of leading societies
Early Years Essentials: Linking Theory to Provision in the Early Years
No full textEarly Years Essentials offers a wealth of evidence-based strategies and ideas to enhance the learning and development of young children. Linked to the EYFS framework and drawing on a wide range of case studies from across the sector, it shows what excellent provision looks like in practice alongside summaries of key research.
Each chapter includes a ‘pondering question’ which offers the reader the opportunity to reflect on their own knowledge, as well as providing a framework to consider how to enhance their own teaching skills. Covering all aspects of early years practice, the chapters include:
The indoor and outdoor learning environment
Observation, planning, and assessment
Working with parents and carers
The prime and specific areas of learning
Adult-child interactions
The characteristics of effective learning
Inclusion and diversity
Child and practitioner wellbeing
Including reflective questions and key takeaways in every chapter, this essential text will support student and practitioner knowledge and understanding of how the EYFS principles can be effectively embedded into best practice
Artificial Intelligence in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Care: A Discussion Paper
Get PDFPurpose
The number of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer has increased over the past 30 years. Fundamental to this process has been the combined contribution from nursing and other health care professionals.
Methods
The authors discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies to support the care of AYAs with cancer in the United Kingdom. Two innovative projects are highlighted: (1) the development of a living lab and (2) a virtual clinical placement for undergraduate nursing students, currently being undertaken through higher education institutions and a cancer association in the United Kingdom that will embrace AI and digital technologies for the care delivery for young people with cancer.
Results
Evidence suggests AYAs with cancer face specific vulnerability in the social domain; fragile employment, finance, delayed education, and lost personal relationships remain a substantial problem. To combat these social inequalities, case 1 specifically focuses on these social aspects to build a community and combat the challenges and barriers experienced. Case 2 addresses the challenges of ensuring undergraduate nurses have exposure to AYAs with cancer to encourage more qualified nurses to have an interest in this area of care and seek a professional career within this specialty moving forward.
Conclusions
The discourse presented here sets the foundations for future (applied) research, ensuring that future practitioners and educators are equipped with the skills and knowledge pertaining to the integration and use of AI and eHealth technologies in the clinical environment.
Implications for Nursing Practice: This discussion paper presents two examples of the use of AI and technologies in AYA cancer care for nurses and other health care professionals. These examples are from work that is currently being developed and rolled out throughout the United Kingdom
English Language: The Basics
No full textThis lively and engaging book traces English’s remarkable journey from a small, local language to the global resource it is today.
The book follows the story of English from its earliest origins, through its growth and expansion over the last 1,500 years, to the part it plays in twenty-first century society. Along the way, the book explores the language’s complex ties to cultural identity, literature and politics. It tracks its evolving relationship with technology – from the invention of the printing press to the rise of artificial intelligence – and explains how it became the global lingua franca across almost every field of international activity.
Concise, clear and informative, the book offers an ideal introduction for anyone curious about the English language: how it developed, how it is used today, and what role it will likely play in the future of global communication
The Quiet Resourcefulness of <i>Falderos</i>: Embodied Salesmanship in Motion
No full textThis paper advances a posthumanist approach to interaction by examining faldear—a pervasive yet analytically neglected form of ambulant vending in Buenos Aires’ underground trains and, more broadly, in public transport across the Global South. Drawing on video-ethnographic fieldwork, the study shows how falderos/as transform the moving, enclosed space of the carriage into a site of livelihood through embodied, materially distributed sales practices.
The analysis challenges speech-centred analyses of (sales) interactions in language and communication research. It demonstrates that rather than principally relying on speech, falderos/as mainly orchestrate transactions through bodily movement, tactile product placement, and the spatial choreography of proximity and attention. Products themselves function as communicative agents—capable of redirecting attention, mediating social distance, and organizing temporal coordination within a mobile ecology.
By tracing how these workers’ agency circulates through bodies, objects, and movement, the paper frames faldear as a materially mediated, emplaced and culturally embedded livelihood practice, extending sensory and object-mediated interaction to the contingencies of hidden economies. In doing so, the paper redefines how communicative agency in economic interaction can be theorised, positioning faldear as a relevant case for rethinking language, labour, and embodiment in motion
Religious toleration, peace and the docutube method: integrating filmmaking in religious and moral education
Get PDFThis article explores an example of how filmmaking can be used as a pedagogic tool in religious and moral education. Considering changing ways in which young people use digital technology to learn and communicate, this article introduces and critically evaluates a pedagogic method and resources developed as part of the RETOPEA (‘Religious Toleration and Peace’) project. This aims to support young people’s active learning about religious diversity in the past and present through the process of making short documentary-style films (so-called ‘docutubes’). This article discusses the findings of the evaluation of this method in a range of formal and informal educational settings in the UK as well as eight other European countries and Jordan. Taking into account practical and ethical considerations, it investigates how the multisensory and collaborative process of filmmaking can actively and critically engage young people in thinking about religious diversity, toleration and peace in the past and present. It explores how educational approaches involving filmmaking can support the development of key skills, including critical thinking, team-working and communication skills, needed to navigate a world in which the way information is shared is increasingly dominated by digital technology
Navigating the boundary between ‘normative’ and ‘non‐normative’ collective action: A British case study of the removal of a public statue associated with racism
No full textPsychological research typically distinguishes between normative (e.g., peaceful protests, petitions) and non‐normative (e.g., property destruction, riots) collective action. This binary framework has proved useful in exploring the psychological factors that shape different forms of collective action. However, recent critiques suggest it oversimplifies the fluid, contested, and context‐dependent nature of collective protest. Our paper develops these critiques through qualitative analysis of walking interview accounts and courtroom transcripts of an event occurring at a 2020 Black Lives Matter rally in the city of Bristol, UK. During this event, a public statue of Edward Colston (1636‐1721), a 17th century slaver, was toppled, defaced, and thrown in the River Avon, and four protestors were subsequently charged with, then acquitted of, criminal damage. Implications for conceptualising and investigating collective action are explored and the importance of recovering the situated meanings and consequences of local understandings of normative and non‐normative action emphasised
From North–South to South–South Cooperation: China’s Role in Renewable Energy Development in Africa
No full textThis chapter examines renewable energy financing and development in Africa through the lens of South-South Cooperation, focusing on China's expanding role. The chapter argues that China's renewable energy investments in Africa operate through distinctive financing mechanisms and technology transfer dynamics that challenge conventional development models. It demonstrates that governance structures and institutional capacities fundamentally shape investment outcomes differently under South-South Cooperation compared to North-South Cooperation. Furthermore, host-country policies and institutional frameworks are decisive in determining the effectiveness of renewable investments, particularly regarding technology transfer and capacity building. The chapter ultimately contends that Africa's energy transition requires strategic integration of South-South Cooperation strengths with the inclusivity and sustainability principles of North-South Cooperation, offering pathways for leveraging international partnerships to achieve sustainable development goals