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The analysis of acetate acrylic and acrylic copolymers systems is described. Much useful information is rapidly obtained by infra‐red spectrophotometry and pyrolysis gas chromatography, however quantitative analyses generally require the polymer material to be cleaved by chemical means with subsequent identification of the fragments by gas chromatography.

The examination and identification of solvents and binder resins in particular has been discussed in detail previously. It is the sole purpose of this section to indicate the means available for obtaining these substances from finished paints in such a way as to facilitate their analysis. For example, the ASTM (15) has published a standard procedure for examining the solvent portion of paints by direct injection on to a GC. In this case, so as to prevent blockage of the column by the resin and pigment components, the sample was injected either via a glass injection port sleeve or on to a glass wool plug positioned in the heated injection port. Hence solvent analysis could be carried out without the need to apply any preliminary separation procedures. If however, both solvent and binder resin are to be examined then a procedure for separating these constituents must be applied.

The requirement to test paint arises at every stage in the development and manufacture of coatings though the exact nature of the test procedure varies widely. For example, in the development of a formulation it will be necessary to evaluate changes in the decorative and protective properties of the coating on its substrate, whilst once the product is in production quality control testing will be required. This typically involves rapid evaluation of liquid and dried paint samples to check for conformation to preset limits. A very wide range of techniques are used in these forms of testing though, in general, the equipment and procedures involved are familiar to all paint technologists and include apparatus such as viscometers, glossmeters, colorimeters, hardness testers and artificial weathering machines.

Within the vast framework of the mature coatings industry are numerous areas where profitable specialty coatings are required. Each year several score of these are announced in the developed countries which have paint industries.

The direct comparison of similar polymers was achieved by a technique of differential GPC which, according to Runyon provided a simple yet sensitive technique that was relatively insensitive to operational variables. In this procedure the ‘standard’ polymer was dissolved in THF or an alternative suitable solvent, and the solution was used as the eluent in the GPC.

In order to examine satisfactorily certain substances by gas chromatography they must first of all be converted into suitable derivatives with volatilities much greater than those of the parent compounds. In this class of materials are the fatty acids associated with the triglyceride oils used in alkyd resin manufacture, along with the polycarboxylic acids and polygols which are also used for this purpose. It can generally be expected that compounds containing polar functional groups that are capable of hydrogen‐bond formation will, when these are converted into suitable derivatives, be much more volatile than the parent compounds on account of the loss of these secondary bonds. It is this increased volatility which enables the substances to be successfully analysed by gas chromatography at temperatures which do not cause their thermal degradation.

Certain elements of Hayek’s work are prominent precursors to the modern field of complex adaptive systems, including his ideas on spontaneous order, his focus on market processes, his contrast between designing and gardening, and his own framing of complex systems. Conceptually, he was well ahead of his time, prescient in his formulation of novel ways to think about economies and societies. Technically, the fact that he did not mathematically formalize most of the notions he developed makes his insights hard to incorporate unambiguously into models. However, because so much of his work is divorced from the simplistic models proffered by early mathematical economics, it stands as fertile ground for complex systems researchers today. I suggest that Austrian economists can create a progressive research program by building models of these Hayekian ideas, and thereby gain traction within the economics profession. Instead of mathematical models the suite of techniques and tools known as agent-based computing seems particularly well-suited to addressing traditional Austrian topics like money, business cycles, coordination, market processes, and so on, while staying faithful to the methodological individualism and bottom-up perspective that underpin the entire school of thought.

This paper aims to present the basic assumptions for creation of social lasers and attract attention of other researchers (both from physics and socio-political science) to the problem of modeling of Stimulated Amplification of Social Actions (SASA).

The model of SASA and its analysis are based on the mathematical formalism of quantum thermodynamics and field theory (applied outside of physics).

The presented quantum-like model provides the consistent operational model of such complex socio-political phenomenon as SASA.

The model of SASA is heavily based on the use of the notion of social energy. This notion has not yet been formalized.

Evidence of SASA (“functioning of social lasers”) is rapidly accumulating, from color revolutions to such democratically structured protest actions as Brexit and the recent election of Donald Trump as the President of the USA. The corresponding socio-political studies are characterized by diversity of opinions and conclusions. The presented social laser model can be used to clarify these complex socio-political events and even predict their possibility.

SASA is the powerful source of social instability. Understanding its informational structure and origin may help to stabilize the modern society.

Application of the quantum-like model of laser technology in social and political sciences is really a novel and promising approach.

A number of entropy models of social systems have been developed recently. Unfortunately, the complementarity of these approaches remains largely unanalysed, due to terminological and conceptual differences among them. There is an urgent need for a meta‐theoretical framework that will facilitate the analysis and comparison of all social entropy models. System entropy analysis (SEA), as presented here, is designed to fill this need. It is a second‐order, meta‐analytic tool which analyses each approach in terms of its major concepts, its basic units of analysis, its definition and measurement of entropy, and its specification of microstates and macrostates. First discusses the need for SEA, and then specifies its structure. Concludes with an application of SEA to the comparison and integration of three entropy approaches: synergetics, complexity theory and social entropy theory (SET).