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In this study, 2-methacryloxyethyl phenyl phosphate (MEPP), a phosphorus-containing flame retardant, was synthesised via the esterification of phenyl dichlorophosphate (PDCP) with 2-hydroxyethyl ethylene methacrylate (HEMA), followed by hydrolysis. A two-stage bulk polymerisation process prepared MEPP/methyl methacrylate (MEPP/MMA) copolymers containing various amounts of MEPP. The condensed-phase and volatized products produced at various temperatures during the thermal degradation of MEPP/MMA copolymer were monitored by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA/FT-IR). Finally, we propose the possible mechanisms for the thermal degradation of MEPP/MMA copolymer according to the analytical results of the condensed-phase and volatilized products.

Previous studies in Peru have identified apparent mismatches between people’s perceptions of their wellbeing and indicators of their material welfare. This paper draws on primary data from relatively poor localities in Central Peru to investigate these further. We first present estimates of respondents’ household income, expenditure and poverty status. This data is then compared with individual responses to a standard happiness question. We find people are generally happier in rural areas even though poverty in incidence there is greater. Additional data on different distinct aspects of subjective wellbeing is then used to explain the apparent paradox. We find rural respondents are more satisfied with the place where they live and progress in raising a family, while those in urban areas have higher material and related aspirations which they find hard to fulfil.

We prepared a series of multiwalled carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites with two types of tube. One was plasma-modified with maleic anhydride and the other was modified with acid and the same plasma treatment. The morphology of the modified multiwalled carbon nanotube was observed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The surface structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optimum conductivity of multiwalled carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites with specific ratios was of the order of 10−3 S/cm for a total MWCNT content of 2.0 and 2.5 wt%.

A series of polyimide-based nanocomposites containing modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (mCNT) has been prepared. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) were modified by plasma treatment and maleic anhydride was grafted onto them. After plasma modification, the mCNT showed good dispersal in the polyimide matrix and imparted excellent mechanical properties. The mechanical properties, including Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation, were improved with increasing added mCNT content in the range 0.01–0.5 wt.%. DMA measurements clearly showed that the glass transfer transition temperature ( T g ) increased with increasing mCNT content. In addition, the electrical conductivities of the mCNT/polyimide nanocomposites exceeded 10 −4 S/cm. These results indicate that the mCNTs incorporated into the polyimide matrix not only provided a path for electron transfer, but also effectively reinforced the polyimide matrix.

A series of plasma-modified carbon nanotubes with maleic anhydride (mCNT) based on polyimide (mCNT/PI) nanocomposites were prepared by a two-step method. The mCNT/PI nanocomposites exhibit excellent thermal properties owing to mCNT and its good dispersion in the polyimide matrix. The TEM patterns were proved to show dispersed behavior of mCNT in the PI matrix. By using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermogravimetric with infrared spectra (TGA–IR), we discuss the kinetic behavior during the degradation of nanocomposites. Then Ozawa and Kissinger's theorems were calculated based on the relationship between activation energy and mCNT content.

The security of natural gas supply is an important issue for all EU countries due to the regionâ€Ââ„¢s heavy dependence on imported supply sources and in light of energy demand for gas that is continuously increasing. Discussions have emphasised strategies for securing the supply at the macro level, e.g. diversification in supply sources, increase in storage capacity, etc. By contrast, consumersâ€Ââ„¢ demand for the reliability of gas supply is rarely investigated. Hence this study was conducted to examine the economic implications associated with the security of gas supply directly to domestic consumers. Based on the choice experiment approach, household surveys were conducted in France, Italy and the UK. The results confirmed that the degree of the economic impact of a disruption of gas supply to domestic consumers was a function of the duration of a supply disruption and the season in which a supply cut would take place, as well as other preferences of consumers. The willingness to pay to secure per unit of gas consumption, or alternatively the costs of gas unsupplied, was estimated at between €2.65/cubic metre and €41.48/cubic metre across three different European countries.

This paper reviews the environmental record of the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia since the fall of the Berlin Wall, with a focus on areas of key concern to public policy at the present time. With the impacts of environment on public health being given the highest priority, we examined several associated health indicators at the national level, as well as looking at important environmental issues at the local level. In this respect, we focus on environmental problems related to air and water quality, land contamination, and solid waste management. Despite showing a highly differentiated performance across the region, the results suggest that inadequate environmental management seen in several of the transition countries in the past 20 years has put people’s health and livelihood under huge threats. Moreover, this paper looks at the development of policy responses and resources, i.e. environmental expenditures, in these countries, during the process of transiting from centrally planned economies to market-based one. Similarly, we identify various degrees of progress across the region. The findings reinforce the need for better coherence between national environmental expenditure and international environmental assistance, as well as the actual enforcement of national regulations and international agreements in those non-EU transition countries.

This chapter explores empirically the relationship between indicators of economic wellbeing (principally household income) and subjective wellbeing (SWB). Past research indicates that at low levels of income the relationship between economic and subjective indicators of wellbeing is positive and strong (e.g., Veenhoven, 1991; Diener et al., 1999; Hirata, 2001). However, economic indicators, such as income, usually explain only a low proportion of the interpersonal variation in SWB: a correlation coefficient of 0.45, in their study of slum dwellers in Calcutta, being the highest encountered in the literature by Biswas-Diener and Diener (2001). Such research has also mostly been restricted to using standard measurses of global happiness or satisfaction with life (Frey and Stutzer, 2002a; 2002b; Kingdon and Knight, 2006), and this chapter points beyond this toward analysis of the relationship between economic indicators and a eudaimonic view of wellbeing based on satisfaction with achievement of locally defined goals. We start with a brief review of existing literature linking economic indicators and SWB in Peru. Section 4.2 then presents data on household income, expenditure, and head count poverty incidence in each of the seven research sites. Section 4.3 analyzes the relationship between household economic indicators and reported happiness of a subsample of adults belonging to the same households.

This book reports and rationalizes the state-of-the-art concerning the social costs of electricity generation. Social costs are assessed by adding to the private generation costs, the external costs associated with damages to human health, the environment, crops, materials, and those related to the consequences of climate change. The authors consider the evolution of these costs up to 2030 for major electricity generating technologies and, using these estimates, evaluate policy options for external cost internalization, providing quantitative scenarios by country and primary fuel for 2010, 2020 and 2030. While mainly focusing on European countries, the book also examines the situation in key emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Turkey.