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Nanoelectrochemistry at liquid/liquid interfaces for analytical, biological, and material applications
No full textHerein, we feature our recent efforts toward the development and application of nanoelectrochemistry at liquid/liquid interfaces, which are also known as interfaces between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES). Nanopipets, nanopores, and nanoemulsions are developed to create the nanoscale ITIES for the quantitative electrochemical measurement of ion transfer, electron transfer, and molecular transport across the interface. The nanoscale ITIES serves as an electrochemical nanosensor to enable the selective detection of various ions and molecules as well as high-resolution chemical imaging based on scanning electrochemical microscopy. The powerful nanoelectroanalytical methods will be useful for biological and material applications as illustrated by in situ studies of solid-state nanopores, nuclear pore complexes, living bacteria, and advanced nanoemulsions. These studies provide unprecedented insights into the chemical reactivity of important biological and material systems even at the single nanostructure level
Highly Soluble Lithium Nitrate-Containing Additive for Carbonate-Based Electrolyte in Lithium Metal Batteries
No full textWhile lithium nitrate (LiNO3) is widely utilized as an electrolyte additive in ether-based electrolytes for stable lithium deposition, use of LiNO3 in conventional carbonate-based electrolytes is very limited due to the poor solubility of LiNO3 in the carbonate-based electrolytes. Herein, a new LiNO3-containing electrolyte additive which is very soluble in carbonate-based electrolytes, 1-trimethylsilyl imidazole lithium nitrate adduct (TMSILN), has been synthesized by a simple method. The electrochemical performance is significantly improved in Li/Li and NCM622/Li cells with TMSILN additive containing electrolyte. Our extensive investigations reveal that the deposited lithium metal in the TMSILN additive-containing electrolyte has a circular morphology with a very thin (∼5 nm) surface film containing lithium nitrate decomposition products such as Li3N and LiNxOy. The improved electrochemical performance can be ascribed to the favorable features of the SEI and morphology of the deposited lithium in the presence of the TMSILN additive
Market-driven Pressures and Institutional Biases at a University: A Review of the TV series The Chair
Get PDF“The Chair” is a series that explores important contemporary issues such as cancel culture, institutional racism, sexism, and ageism in the context of a university setting. The series follows the story and struggles of Professor Ji-Yoon Kim, the first woman, and an Asian-American, to be appointed chair of the English department at the elite Pembroke University, as she tries to protect the employment of a young African-American female professor and to raise her adopted daughter as a harried single parent. This media review essay examines the themes and issues addressed in this TV series, including the challenges faced by women and the ways in which traditional models of education may be inadequate for engaging and retaining the interest of younger generations. The review essay suggests that this TV series could serve as a starting point for considering how issues of bias, cultural shifts, and commercial pressures play out in a university setting, and encourages further exploration and discussion of these important topics
Probing the Interactions of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids of Various Chain Lengths with Human Serum Albumin: Calorimetric and Spectroscopic Investigations
No full textDespite an exponential increase in PFAS research over the past two decades, the mechanisms behind how PFAS cause adverse health effects are still poorly understood. Protein interactions are considered a significant driver of bioaccumulation and subsequent toxicity from re-exposure; however, most of the available literature is limited to legacy PFAS. We utilized microcalorimetric and spectroscopic methods to systematically investigate the binding between human serum albumin (HSA) and perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) of varying chain lengths and their nonfluorinated fatty acid (FA) counterparts. The results reveal the optimal chain length for significant PFCA-HSA binding and some fundamental interactions, i.e., the polar carboxylic head of PFCA is countered by ionizable amino acids such as arginine, and the fluorocarbon tails stabilized by hydrophobic residues like leucine and valine. Additionally, fluorine’s unique polarizability contributes to PFCA’s stronger binding affinities relative to the corresponding fatty acids. Based on these observations, we posit that PFCAs likely bind to HSA in a “cavity-filling” manner, provided they have an appropriate size and shape to accommodate the electrostatic interactions. The results reported herein widen the pool of structural information to explain PFAS bioaccumulation patterns and toxicity and support the development of more accurate computational modeling of protein-PFAS interactions. TOC graphic created with Biorender.com
Academic Women\u27s Studies: An Institutional Failure for Scholarship on Violence Against Women
Get PDFPoverty and Commercial Surrogacy in India: An Intersectional Analytical Approach
Get PDFThe destination and source countries for commercial surrogacy match world patterns of inequality. India, Nepal, Thailand, Mexico, and Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy, moving the market to other less-developed countries in South Africa and South America. India had a commercial surrogacy boom until exploitative factors led to the passage of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill in 2019, which banned the practice. This paper examines surrogacy\u27s monetary, health, and emotional effects on 45 surrogate mothers in Gujarat State, India. The study revealed that a majority (63%) of the very poor women remained very poor post-surgery. Surrogate mothers in poor households had to do at least two surrogacies to be able to buy a property. After surrogacy, some poor households (16%) slipped deeper into poverty and became destitute. The physical effects of surrogacy on the women\u27s bodies were multiple. One-third of the very poor women\u27s health was severely affected. All surrogate mothers reported emotional problems post-surrogacy, and their family members experienced them as well. The poorest of the poor suffered the worst physical effects of surrogacy. This study reveals that the assumption that surrogacy provides income for the very poor surrogate mothers is false
The Pornography Industry\u27s Disinformation Campaign on Addiction Recovery Resources
Get PDFAs pornography became increasingly popular online, many unsuspecting consumers reported adverse effects. These included sexual dysfunctions, such as lack of response with real partners, delayed ejaculation, erectile difficulties, and sexual compulsivity. Some pornography consumers began congregating in online self-help portals (forums and websites) to assist one another in quitting or reducing problematic pornography use. The popularity of the self-help resources and their potential to dampen the profits of a lucrative industry resulted in disinformation campaigns run by individuals connected to the pornography industry. In this article, I examine how a paper containing significant inaccuracies about the people organising the online recovery forums passed the peer-review process while failing to disclose the author’s conflicts of interest. The author of the case study has documented affiliations with a major pornography company, MindGeek (the owner of Pornhub). Somehow, it passed peer review, lending it a false halo of credibility. Pornography industry-connected individuals then repeatedly exploited it, for example, on social media and Wikipedia, to discredit pornography self-help recovery resources
Fit for purpose? Taking a closer look at the UK’s Online Media Literacy Strategy
Get PDFNow more than ever, media literacy is essential as we navigate our daily lives (Mesquita-Romero et al., 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how we need to frequently navigate media spaces filled with changing, and not always credible, information (Austin et al., 2021). Media literacy affects our habits as well as our social connections (Hobbs, 2021). This short opinion piece from two educators in the field provides an exploration of the Online Media Literacy Strategy (OMLS) published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, UK, in 2021. The aim of the OMLS was to predict how media literacy may evolve in our society. This paper gives a brief introduction to the OMLS and offers three critiques, which educators may find useful, namely the undersold role of schools, the negative connotations of seeing ‘media literacy’ as solely a way of navigating online harms, and the negative perception of social media (SM). The concept of SM as being ‘production-positive’ is pitched
Shake it Off: Negotiations suspended, but hope simmering, after a lack of consensus at the fifth intergovernmental conference on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction
Get PDFThe process for formulating a new treaty for ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) has been long. Since informal discussions began in 2004, the international community has devoted nearly 20 years to setting the agenda, circumscribing the issue areas, and negotiating the terms of a legally binding BBNJ instrument. The fourth and fifth inter-governmental conferences (IGCs), which both occurred in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, were supposed to be the last. But despite major movement, altered modalities, and three versions of the draft treaty texts circulated during IGC-5, another round of negotiations ended without consensus on a new agreement. This paper explores the relationships between the pace and content of the emerging treaty, on the one hand, and the dynamics of process, interests, power, and ideology, on the other. After an overview of the negotiation format and apparent progress, subsequent sections consider in turn the issue areas of marine genetic resources (MGRs), area-based management tools, including marine protected areas (ABMTs/MPAs), environmental impact assessments (EIAs), and capacity building and transfer of marine technology (CBTMT). Institutional arrangements and cross cutting issues are also highlighted as key areas where obstacles remain, but where there is simmering hope
