Green Synthesis of Magnetite Nanoparticles (via Thermal Decomposition Method) with Controllable Size and Shape

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with controllable size and shape were synthesized by the thermal decomposition method. In contrast to previously reported thermal decomposition methods, our synthesis method had utilized a much cheaper and less toxic iron precursor, iron acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3), and environmentally benign and non-toxic polyethylene oxide (PEO) was being used as the solvent and surfactant simultaneously. Fe3O4 nanoparticles of controllable size and shape were prepared by manipulating the synthesis parameters such as precursor concentrations, reaction durations and surfactants

How council mergers and reforms imperil local government democracy

Australia’s local government sector has been undergoing reform in recent decades. The result has been fewer and larger local governments and a reshaped role for elected members or councillors. But do councillors understand what this means for them

Editorial

The Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance is now co-edited and has a new look. Under the continued editorship of Prof. Alison Brown, the Centre for Local Government at the University of Technology, Sydney is pleased to partner with Cardiff University and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) to produce the journal. This new partnership will ensure the continued development of the journal as an important platform for local government researchers and practitioners to share knowledge and experience

Local Representation in Australia: A Review of the Legislation and Literature

ACELG has released a comparative study of political governance frameworks for local governments across Australia. The research, Local Representation in Australia - A Review of the Legislation and the Literature, seeks to understand the advantages, constraints and theoretical approaches to representative democracy across Australian local government in view of on-going reform processes. The project was undertaken in partnership with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). The CEO of the VLGA Maree McPherson said: “Local government is under constant pressure to improve, both from within the sector and from the community. Fostering improved understanding about the various models of political representation across this large and diverse sector is an important step toward enhancing local democracy across Australia." The research is presented in two volumes. The first is a national review of all local representative governance frameworks by legislation, plus relevant guidelines by the local government associations and state agencies. A companion report documents a Victorian perspective of working within such legislative frameworks based on interviews with councillors and senior staff from 18 different councils. In general, the review found there is a great deal of diversity across the nation as to how these themes are dealt with. There is relatively little in terms of thinking or research on how to determine the number of councillors, with further research required to understand the implications of the different approaches and in view of structural provisions. The picture is mixed across Australia in terms of voting, with a question remaining about the inter-relations between the differing approaches and implications for local representation. Descriptions of mayor and councillors’ roles vary in the legislation but what is perhaps most pertinent is the perception of elected representatives themselves of their role. More work needs to be done to understand the implications of the differences for local representation, particularly in a context of reform whereby the number of local governments and councillors is being reduced in view of financial sustainability and efficiency. Useful legislative summaries are included as attachments to the research

Preference of food saltiness and willingness to consume low-sodium content food in a Chinese population

OBJECTIVE: To compare the preference of food saltiness and the willingness to consume low‐sodium food among hypertensive older people, non‐hypertensive older people and non‐hypertensive young people in a Chinese population. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional study based on a quota sample. Three saltiness options (low‐sodium, medium-sodium and high‐sodium) of soup and bread were offered to each participant who rated the taste of each food on a 5‐point Likert scale. Then, the participants rated their willingness to consume the low-sodium content foods on a 5‐point Likert scale, given they were informed of the benefit of the low-sodium option. Generalised linear mixed model and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the data. SETTING: Elderly centres and community centres in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty hypertensive older people, 49 non‐hypertensive older people and 60 non-hypertensive young people were recruited from June to August 2014. Measurements: The tastiness score and the willingness score were the primary outcome measures. The Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Low Salt Consumption – Hong Kong population (CHLSalt‐HK) was also assessed. RESULTS: The tastiness rating of the high‐sodium option of soup was significantly lower than the medium‐sodium option (p<0.001), but there was no significant difference between the low‐sodium and the medium‐sodium options (p=0.204). For bread, tastiness rating of the low‐sodium option and the high‐sodium option were significantly lower than the medium‐sodium option (p<0.001 for both options). The tastiness score of soup did not have significant difference across the groups (p=0.181), but that of bread from the hypertensive older adults (p=0.012) and the non‐hypertensive older adults (p=0.006) was significantly higher than the non‐hypertensive young adults. Higher willingness rating to consume the low‐sodium option was significantly (p<0.001) associated with higher tastiness rating of the low-sodium option of soup and bread, and weakly associated with higher health literacy of low salt intake (soup: p=0.041; bread: p=0.024). Hypertensive older adults tended to be more willing to consume the low‐sodium option than non‐hypertensive older adults for soup (p=0.009), there was insignificant difference between non‐hypertensive older adults and non‐hypertensive young adults (p=0.156). For bread, there was insignificant difference in willingness rating to consume low‐sodium option (p=0.375). CONCLUSION: Older people are at a higher risk of hypertension, reduction of salt intake is important for them to reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases. There is room for reducing the sodium content of soup, while the sodium in bread should be reduced progressively. Improving the taste of low‐sodium food may help to promote reduction in dietary sodium intake.postprin

Higher Spin Black Holes from CFT

Higher spin gravity in three dimensions has explicit black holes solutions, carrying higher spin charge. We compute the free energy of a charged black hole from the holographic dual, a 2d CFT with extended conformal symmetry, and find exact agreement with the bulk thermodynamics. In the CFT, higher spin corrections to the free energy can be calculated at high temperature from correlation functions of W-algebra currents.Comment: 24 pages; v2 reference adde