Much has been written about theory and practice in the law, and the tension between practitioners and theorists. Judges do not cite theoretical articles often; they rarely "apply" theories to particular cases. These arguments are not revisited. Instead the Essay explores the working and interaction of theory and practice, practitioners and theorists. The Essay starts with a story about solving a legal issue using our intellectual tools - theory, practice, and their progenies: experience and "gut." Next the Essay elaborates on the nature of theory, practice, experience and "gut." The third part of the Essay discusses theories that are helpful to practitioners and those that are less helpful. The Essay concludes that practitioners theorize, and theorists practice. They use these intellectual tools differently because the goals and orientations of theorists and practitioners, and the constraints under which they act, differ. Theory, practice, experience and "gut" help us think, remember, decide and create. They complement each other like the two sides of the same coin: distinct but inseparable.

Of Theory and Practice

Energy storage devices that can deliver high powers have many applications, including hybrid vehicles and renewable energy. Much research has focused on increasing the power output of lithium batteries by reducing lithium-ion diffusion distances, but outputs remain far below those of electrochemical capacitors and below the levels required for many applications. Here, we report an alternative approach based on the redox reactions of functional groups on the surfaces of carbon nanotubes. Layer-by-layer techniques are used to assemble an electrode that consists of additive-free, densely packed and functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The electrode, which is several micrometres thick, can store lithium up to a reversible gravimetric capacity of approximately 200 mA h g(-1)(electrode) while also delivering 100 kW kg(electrode)(-1) of power and providing lifetimes in excess of thousands of cycles, both of which are comparable to electrochemical capacitor electrodes. A device using the nanotube electrode as the positive electrode and lithium titanium oxide as a negative electrode had a gravimetric energy approximately 5 times higher than conventional electrochemical capacitors and power delivery approximately 10 times higher than conventional lithium-ion batteries.

High-Power Lithium Batteries from Functionalized Carbon Nanotube Electrodes

Fouling release coatings: a nontoxic alternative to biocidal antifouling coatings.

Surface modification of TiO2 nano-particles with silane coupling agent and investigation of its effect on the properties of polyurethane composite coating

Recent developments and applications of protective silicone coatings: A review of PDMS functional materials

Adhesion performance of an epoxy clear coat on aluminum alloy in the presence of vinyl and amino-silane primers

Effect of TiO2 on the mechanical and adhesion properties of RTV silicone elastomer coatings

Surface analysis and anti-graffiti behavior of a weathered polyurethane-based coating embedded with hydrophobic nano silica

Titania nano-sized particles were treated by various amounts of tetraethyl orthosilicate precursor. The extent of grafting was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy techniques, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray fluorescence and zeta potential measurements. Sedimentation behaviour of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in aqueous solutions was evaluated visually and using a separation analyser. Photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles was studied by photo-activated degradation reaction of Rhodamine B dyestuff in aqueous solutions. The results showed that grafted particles had acquired enhanced dispersion stability and lower photocatalytic activity in aqueous solutions. Untreated TiO2 dispersions settled rapidly and sedimentation completed within 24 h through the coagulation mechanism, whereas that of the silica-treated nanoparticles, depending on the silica content, showed different degrees of stability by flocculation mechanism. Photodebleaching of Rhodamine B in the presence of treated nanoparticles is evident by weaker intensity of UV absorption peak of 554 nm due to lowering concentration of Rhodamine B accompanied with the blue shift in UV absorption peaks. However, untreated TiO2 nanoparticles showed only weaker intensity of UV absorption peak. Copyright c © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mohsen Mohseni

Papers

Adhesion performance of an epoxy clear coat on aluminum alloy in the presence of vinyl and amino-silane primers

Effect of TiO2 on the mechanical and adhesion properties of RTV silicone elastomer coatings

Surface analysis and anti-graffiti behavior of a weathered polyurethane-based coating embedded with hydrophobic nano silica

Silane grafting of TiO2 nanoparticles: dispersibility and photoactivity in aqueous solutions

Fast switching and high contrast electrochromic device based on PEDOT nanotube grown on ZnO nanowires