Inderscience Publishers articles

Apoptosis: the way for science centres to thrive

The concept of apoptosis is suggested to be a useful metaphor for the management of modern science centres. The key idea is that an organisation which is aiming at helping people to learn should itself behave as a learning organism. As an example, the networked Exploratorium is described in its stage of development in 2001. Constant change within a permanent structure is its permanent mode of existence. Benefits and some drawbacks of this approach are discussed.

Keywords: science centres, apop

Feb. 1, 2004

The retail dominance of supermarkets in Australia: a growing geography of pseudo–foods and its implications for obesity

Drawing on the work of Winson (2004), this case study identifies the large percentages of 'pseudo foods' (beverages containing high levels of sugars and fats) on the shelves of two major supermarkets in Melbourne, Australia. The shelving space devoted to unhealthy foods in the supermarkets surveyed is estimated at around 40%. The methodology used for the case study involved the mapping of supermarket shelf space with the assistance of a qualified surveyor. The argument is made that the geography

Sep. 1, 2011

An equity approach to contractor assignment in post-disaster debris disposal operations

Disaster debris cleanup typically accounts for nearly one-third of the total cost of post-disaster recovery. In the USA, state and local municipalities rely on federal financial assistance administered by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Ineffective decision-making and allocation of resources can severely strain financial resources and cause social and political unrest. In addition to obvious objectives such as cost minimisation and FEMA suggestions related to contractor lo

Jul. 3, 2013

Oxidation of antiepileptic drug oxcarbazepine stimulated by thermally activated persulfate

Oxcarbazepine (OXC) is widely used nowadays due to its similar therapeutic effects of carbamazepine (CBZ) but with fewer side effects. The prescribed consumption of OXC has increased significantly in some countries, and its environmental pollutions have become a major concern. This paper firstly reported the degradation of OXC by heat-activated persulfate. Effects of temperature, dosage of persulfate and pH on the oxidation of OXC were examined. OXC degradation followed a pseudo-first-order

Sep. 1, 2014

UPNT: uniform projection and neighbourhood thresholding method for motif discovery

Motif discovery is a significant problem in Bioinformatics. According to the complexity of most signals in biologic sequences, there are no extremely good models or dependable algorithms to solve this problem. This paper introduces the Uniform Projection and Neighbourhood Thresholding (UPNT) algorithm, which is based on two efficient strategies: Uniform Projection and Neighbourhood-based Thresholding. In the UPNT algorithm, the policy of uniform projection leads to

Feb. 5, 2008