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Sol–gel reaction conditions that enable the growth of one-dimensional (1D) anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures from fluorine-doped indium tin oxide (FTO) substrates are described. The generation of these linear nanostructures is achieved using acetic acid (HOAc) and titanium isopropoxide (Ti(OiPr)4) in anhydrous heptane in the absence of an external bias or template. The procedure requires the functionalization of base-treated substrates with Ti-oxide nucleation sites, which serve as a foundation for the growth of linear Ti-oxide macromolecules. Calcination of these macromolecules at 450 °C under an ambient atmosphere produce uniform films of randomly oriented anatase TiO2 nanowires. The nucleation and growth processes are both acutely sensitive to the relative molar ratio (R) of HOAc to Ti(OiPr)4. Optimal surface coverage of the nucleation sites is observed when the R value utilized for the nucleation phase (denoted Ri) is equal to 1.3. The highest quality nanowire films were obtained when the R value employed during the gelation phase (denoted Rf) was held between 8.5 and 14. Characterization of the films by electron microscopy revealed a uniform film of disordered anatase TiO2 nanowires with high aspect ratios. The dimensions of the nanostructures correspond to lengths of ca. 1–10 μm and widths of 54 ± 10 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques demonstrate that the anatase nanowires are a linear arrangement of crystallites ranging in size from 13 to 19 nm. A systematic evaluation of how reaction conditions (e.g., solvent volume, stoichiometry of reagents, substrate base treatment) affect the generation of these TiO2 films is presented.

The synthesis of a 2-monobrominated dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]phosphole has opened the access to a series of highly luminescent π-conjugated oligomers that link two dithienophosphole units via a variety of aromatic spacers. The nature of the linking mode was found to have a significant impact on the photophysical properties of the system as a whole, either considerably improving the molar absorptivity of the new extended chromophores, or providing luminescent materials with red-shifted emission features and substantial photoluminescence quantum yields.

The title compound, [Pd2I4(C34H24P2)2]·3CHCl3, was obtained from the direct reaction of PdI2 with 1,4-bis­[(diphenyl­phosphan­yl)ethyn­yl]benzene. The dimer complex mol­ecule is centrosymmetric, with each PdII atom in a slightly distorted square-planar coordination geometry.

Les AA. se penchent sur la theorie de la dynamique du systeme d'acteurs (actor-system dynamics - ASD) en presentant un apercu reactualise de cette theorie. Ils presentent toute une serie de concepts essentiels pour la description de la dynamique et la construction du modele dans l'analyse du systeme social. Ensuite ils decrivent plusieurs concepts cle de l'ASD en relation avec le capitalisme en tant que systeme social dynamique et complexe.

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 5 (3), ISSN:0948-3349, ISSN:1614-7502

Inflation at a very high rate, or even at a moderate rate for a long period of time, is closely linked to socio-political breakdown. It is not surprising, therefore, that inflation is increasingly viewed in Western countries as a major, if not the major, challenge of the 1980's. This is particularly the case where, as now in so many countries, high inflation rates are associated with below capacity production and rather high unemployment rates, a combination which economic theory has difficulty explaining. Economic theory and political leaderships seem powerless to deal with the situation or at least to come up with a coherent policy which promises to slow down the rate of price increase. In this context, the Scandinavian Institutes for Administrative Research have initiated a long-term, comparative and multi-disciplinary project' to study inflationary processes in their concrete social structural and institutional settings in a number of industrialized countries (thus far, preliminary studies have been initiated in Belgium, England, France, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Switzerland).2 The point of departure of the project is the proposition that inflation is the result of institutionalized societal confiicts over the distribution of income and wealth. The state, unable to resolve these conflicts, accommodates them through an expansion of the money supply at a rate in excess of what is necessary to finance the actual production of marketable resources. In this perspective, inflation is a societal phenomenon which can be effectively described and analyzed only by including along with 'economic variables and relationships' political and sociological variables and relationships. In other words, there is no 'economics' as such, but social economics, political economics, economic politics, and, ultimately, social system analysis.

In this paper, we introduce a theoretical perspective based on the concept of relational control, the exercise of control over social relationships. The paper focuses on three of the principal ways human agents structure cooperation and conflict among persons and groups: through control of interaction and organizational opportunities, control of differential payoffs or outcomes of interaction, and control over cultural and ideological orientations of actors in relation to one another. We consider divide-and-rule strategies used to structure noncooperative or conflictive social relationships. The role of the state in regulating management/labor relationships in industrialized or industrializing societies is examined to illustrate the structuring of more cooperative relationships. Parallels to the analysis of international relations are suggested.

Technology has become the new central factor in the debate about development. The means to achieve development (which, it is assumed, must necessarily be in the image of a few industrialized countries, whether of the West or the East) is conceptualized simply as the transfer of technology, regardless of the certain mismatch between imported, culturally determined, technology and the historically given structural and institutional frameworks of the importing societies. On the international level, transferred technology tends to create dependency; on the national level, it leads to distortions and undesirable developments. This paper explicates the relationship between technology and social systems, and discusses its implications for development strategies.

This paper proposes a systems framework for the analysis of economic exchange and development. Exchange is examined in the context of a social system in which actors have differential control over resources and different action opportunities and positions in a structure of social relationships. Exchange activities in a social system have ramifications in different spheres (economic and non‐economic) of social life. We focus on those ramifications which relate to social differentiation in terms of power‐unequal or differentiated action capabilities and different structural positions of actors in the social system of interaction. This perspective on exchange leads to the consideration of factors important to the emergence and maintenance of systemic, uneven development of action capabilities and to unequal dependency relationships among actors in a social system. In sum, what we wish to do in this paper is to develop a more systematic model that indicates the mechanisms whereby initial imbalances of the sort mentioned above generate social processes‐non‐economic as well as economic‐which tend to institutionalize the imbalances and perpetuate them in a self‐reinforcing manner.

Inflation, Politics, and Social Change : Institutional and Theoretical Crisis in Contemporary Economy-and-Society

Forecasters can sometimes exert influence over the events they are predicting. This paper explores the possibilities for such an internal validation of forecasts in the financial markets. Internal forecast validation comes from model multiplicity and from an unequal closeness of actors to the price determination process. The predictive success of a forecaster's model depends on his closeness to traders. A trader's model in turn may differ from the forecaster's model if he does not adopt the forecaster's predictions. In contrast, the economic theoretician assumes that there exists an objective (or true) model of the market that is also adopted by all market participants. But this model may be unidentifiable. The surprisingly low forecast accuracy of experts in the case of the financial markets is usually investigated from the perspective of model monopoly. The recognition of model multiplicity, where some models are held by actors that are more proximate to the price determination process than others, may resolve this conundrum. This approach, however, also points to the inability to determine forecast accuracy when internal validation is involved.

Over the last decade it has become increasingly clear that energy forecasts have been used for partisan purposes. Through energy models and forecasts, industrial, political and administrative interests compete for cognitive and methodological hegemony. We have termed this integration of modelling and politics the ‘scientific negotiation of energy futures’. This article presents core elements of a sociopolitical and institutional perspective with which to analyse the generation of assumptions that underlie energy models and forecasts. We focus on the factors that shape the choice of data, functional forms and modelling methodologies. We point to the filters of professional orientation and organizational structures that give every forecast an inherent cognitive bias. We stress the legitimation function of forecasts in political decision making. These factors are illustrated with a comparative analysis of energy modelling and forecasting over the last 20 years in the UK, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, and FR Germany, and a discussion of the IIASA world energy model.

SummaryPromises are one of the oldest human-specific psychological mechanisms fostering cooperation and trust. Here, we study the neural underpinnings of promise keeping and promise breaking. Subjects first make a promise decision (promise stage), then they anticipate whether the promise affects the interaction partner's decision (anticipation stage) and are subsequently free to keep or break the promise (decision stage). Findings revealed that the breaking of the promise is associated with increased activation in the DLPFC, ACC, and amygdala, suggesting that the dishonest act involves an emotional conflict due to the suppression of the honest response. Moreover, the breach of the promise can be predicted by a perfidious brain activity pattern (anterior insula, ACC, inferior frontal gyrus) during the promise and anticipation stage, indicating that brain measurements may reveal malevolent intentions before dishonest or deceitful acts are actually committed.

A number of instruments are being adapted for use off small vessels. These devices will help to implement time series study of coastal biology and sedimentation response to seasonal and interannual climatic change in an area off Guaymas, Mexico. The capabilities include: 1) digitally recorded vertical profiles of conductivity, temperature, oxygen and light transmission 2) collection of a contamination free water sample at depth for calibration and water chemistry 3) collection of a fully integrated water sample from 50 meters to the surface for phytopiankton and nutrients 4) vertical net sampling from 150 meters to the surface for pooplankton estimation 5) moored collection of particle flux at depth 6) measurement of current velocity and direction (see T. Hedricka and J. C. Boyils this volume) 7) collection of an undisturbed surface sediment sample.

The extraordinary reactivity of carbenoids towards electrophilic as well as nucleophilic reagents awards them for a central importance in organic chemistry. Their unusual bonding situation has been the subject of several theoretical studies'. Having shown in previous reports' that phosphoranyl carbenoids are significantly stabilized by incorporation of the carbenoid center in delocalized n-systems, we succeeded in isolating the first stable bromo. chloro and fluoro-lithio carbenoids 21-c.

Background The presence of social support has been associated with decreased stress responsiveness. Recent animal studies suggest that the neuropeptide oxytocin is implicated both in prosocial behavior and in the central nervous control of neuroendocrine responses to stress. This study was designed to determine the effects of social support and oxytocin on cortisol, mood, and anxiety responses to psychosocial stress in humans. Methods In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 37 healthy men were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test. All participants were randomly assigned to receive intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) or placebo 50 min before stress, and either social support from their best friend during the preparation period or no social support. Results Salivary free cortisol levels were suppressed by social support in response to stress. Comparisons of pre- and poststress anxiety levels revealed an anxiolytic effect of oxytocin. More importantly, the combination of oxytocin and social support exhibited the lowest cortisol concentrations as well as increased calmness and decreased anxiety during stress. Conclusions Oxytocin seems to enhance the buffering effect of social support on stress responsiveness. These results concur with data from animal research suggesting an important role of oxytocin as an underlying biological mechanism for stress-protective effects of positive social interactions.

Transitions to Alertnative Energy Systems attempts to understand, through a series of case studies, the roles of technical and social entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and other change-agents in the development of alternative energy technologies (solar, wind, geothermal, wood, peat, and heat pumps). The book indicates, the introduction of a new technology requires more than simply showing technical and economic feasibility to guarantee success. Also of major importance are sociopolitical elements, including public perceptions of a new technology (as affected by marketing strategies), the influence of monopolistic industries (e.g., through political lobbying efforts), the inclinations of politically powerful individuals and institutions, and the degree of change required from traditional systems.