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Dealloying Behavior of NiCo and NiCoCu Thin Films
Get PDFPorous metals and alloys, such as those fabricated via electrochemical dealloying, are of interest for a variety of energy applications, ranging from their potential for enhanced catalytic behavior to their use as high surface area supports for pseudocapacitor materials. Here, the electrochemical dealloying process was explored for electrodeposited binary NiCo and ternary NiCoCu thin films. For each of the four different metal ratios, films were dealloyed using linear sweep voltammetry to various potentials in order to gain insight into the evolution of the film over the course of the linear sweep. Electrochemical capacitance, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to examine the structure and composition of each sample before and after linear sweep voltammetry was performed. For NiCo films, dealloying resulted in almost no change in composition but did result in an increased capacitance, with greater increases occurring at higher linear sweep potentials, indicating the removal of material from the films. Dealloying also resulted in the appearance of large pores on the surface of the high nickel percentage NiCo films, while low nickel percentage NiCo films had little observable change in morphology. For NiCoCu films, Cu was almost completely removed at linear sweep potentials greater than 0.5 V versus Ag/AgCl. The linear sweep removed large Cu-rich dendrites from the films, while also causing increases in measured capacitance
An Analysis of Cultural Prejudice and its Impact on Education
No full textGender inequality is a global issue. Women are still treated as inferior in both developed and developing nations. This can be caused by longstanding cultural prejudice that perpetuates gender stereotypes. Literature has found that an increase in educational opportunities leads to female empowerment, but is unclear in what ways and does not clearly define empowerment. This research design seeks to explore the factors that link education to empowerment and what the concept of empowerment means in a developed country such as the United States
Applying Editorial Processes to Streamline Manuscript Publication
No full textNearly every scholarly journal has a different corresponding set of requirements or formatting expectations required for submissions – this can make it exceedingly difficult to prepare a manuscript in a timely fashion. Similarly, after a publication denies a submitted manuscript, a nearly complete revision is often required in order to resubmit the manuscript to a new publication. After spending months or even years on a project, it can be frustrating to see progress slowed in the pre-publication phase. In order to decrease such potential frustrations and increase the pace at which a publication is prepared, a variety of editing and processing tools were examined and employed. One program found to be useful, Mendeley, was used to simplify the work needed to change referencing style in the manuscripts. Another program, Fiji (an image processing program), was used to simplify the image fluorescence quantitation of cells in preparation for data interpretation. Both programs were relatively easy to learn, free to download, and could be employed in future manuscript preparations to reduce the amount of time spent on style and formatting revisions
Division and Fall: Modernity, Confessionalism, and the Church Struggle in the Third Reich
No full textGermany, with its rich Protestant heritage, has a special place in the history of modern Christianity. As the birthplace of the Reformation, Germany was the spot of much debate, turmoil, and violence surrounding the beginning and spread of Protestantism. It was also where some of the most important developments in Christian history took place, and it was home to a thriving, advanced culture where faith, the humanities, art, and the sciences all flourished. All of this changed when Germany experienced a political collapse after the disastrous First World War. Hitler’s ascent to power and the rise of the Nazi regime wreaked catastrophe on Germany’s historic culture, with all of its intellectual and moral achievements. As Nazi ideology began to invade the evangelical Protestant churches, many Christian theologians and pastors put up a fierce resistance. What resulted became known as the Kirchenkampf, or “church struggle.” Despite their efforts, the leaders of the evangelical Protestant factions in Germany were unable to prevent the Nazis from co-opting nearly an entire society for their murderous aims. This inability was the result of infighting motivated by differing worldviews among rival Protestant bodies. This paper analyzes the religious and cultural conditions that prevented the Protestant groups in Germany from cooperating against the Nazis. It does this by examining the various groups’ historic attitudes toward confessions (official statements of faith) and toward modernity. Its findings were that as adherence to confessions strengthened, acceptance of modernity weakened. Differences in confessionalism arose from different concepts of the purpose of confessions, and differing ideas of God’s relationship with the Church. Questions of faith identity, rather than questions of individual doctrinal points, dominated Protestant debates in Germany about a proper theological response to the Nazi regime
Embodying Hope: The Impact of Hopeful Thinking on Cardiovascular, Psychological, and Linguistic Indicators
No full textPast research has identified a relationship between self-regulatory processes and parasympathetic nervous system function (Geisler, Vennewald, Kubiak, & Weber, 2010). Self-regulation relates to hope in that each can involve motivation, finding pathways toward a goal, and practicing self-control (Vohs & Schmeichel, 2002). Hope has received attention for its mental health benefits, but its connections with psychophysiology have not been explored experimentally. In this study, we examined the impact of hopeful thinking on cardiovascular, psychological, and linguistic indicators. Sixty undergraduate students participated in an incomplete repeated measures experiment with three imagery conditions. Participants first thought about a specific, personal hoped-for outcome (e.g., academic, professional, relational) and then imagined their hoped-for outcome being fulfilled, remaining unfulfilled, and a neutral control condition. Changes in blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) were analyzed. Following each trial, participants completed self-report measures of hope, flourishing, and subjective emotion. Hope-fulfilled imagery was positively related to positive emotions (joy, gratitude, peace) and inversely related to negative emotions (sadness, anger), ps \u3c .001. Participants also reported greater levels of flourishing in the hope-fulfilled condition. Linguistic analyses indicated that participants used more hopeful, social, positive emotion, and benefit-finding language in the hope-fulfilled condition (ps \u3c .004). The main effect of imagery condition was not statistically significant for the physiological measures. However, an interaction of trait hope and imagery condition revealed that for participants with high trait hope, HF-HRV was negatively impacted by the hope-unfulfilled condition (p = .018). Results demonstrated that hopeful thinking prompted increased state hope, flourishing, positive mood, and positive language whereas hopeless thinking induced opposite effects. Furthermore, hopeless thinking appeared to come with a cardiac cost (i.e., decreased HF-HRV) for people with high trait hope. Provided that goals are appropriate, imagining hopes fulfilled yields emotional benefits and buffers cardiac response for high hope people
Estimation Precision in a Quantile Regression Model
No full textQuantile regression provides a method for estimating quantiles of a distribution while incorporating covariate information. If distributional assumptions are placed on the distribution of the response variable, an asymptotic variance estimate for the estimators can be obtained. This is done for a variety of distributions and comparisons are made to equivalent simple linear regression models
Identified Post-Discharge Nursing Interventions for Mothers and Newborns
No full textTransitions of care for patients discharged from the hospital to their home environment have not been thoroughly studied. Post-discharge telephone calls are a method of maintaining contact with patients during the first 24-72 hour period after discharge, allowing for beneficial transitions of care interventions to occur. The purpose of this study is to investigate themes of post-discharge interventions implemented through a post-discharge telephone call for recently discharged mothers and newborns. Boykin and Schoenhoefer’s Nursing as Caring Theory supports the research project and emphasizes the importance of nurses making patients feel cared for and known. This can be facilitated through post-discharge phone calls. Data regarding the nature of implemented nursing interventions was gathered through a retrospective chart review of post-discharge call questionnaires. The sample size, eighty-eight patient chart reviews, was selected using G*Power 3.1.5. and taking into account the Chi-Square test. There is limited generalizability of the findings from this study because all of the data were gathered from a community hospital in West Michigan. In addition, interventions done by nurses were not always clearly identified on the post-discharge call questionnaire. Implications could be that further education for nurses is needed emphasizing the importance of documenting post-discharge interventions. In addition, persistence is needed in calling patients until they are reached because it was found that a number of patients only received a voice message and were never successfully contacted
The Effects of a Junk Food Diet on the Prefrontal Cortex: Behavioral and Protein Analyses
No full textObesity is a growing epidemic with over one third of the U.S. adult population being obese. While homeostatic mechanisms play a role in obesity, it is becoming clear that overconsumption is often influenced by areas of the brain involved in reward and executive functions, such as working memory, decision-making and inhibitory control. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is central to these functions and integrates information from multiple brain areas involved in processing interactions with food. PFC circuitry has been shown to influence self-control mechanisms in response to hedonic feeding, the drive to obtain reward beyond homeostatic need through eating. Impaired functioning of the PFC leads to deficits in executive control, including working memory. We hypothesize that consumption of a “junk-food” diet will disrupt PFC pathways involved in hedonic feeding. To examine the effects of a junk-food diet on the PFC, we utilized Sprague-Dawley rats to perform behavioral and protein analyses. Following a high fat diet, rats underwent working memory tests including spontaneous alternation and the Morris Water Maze. Western blotting was conducted on PFC tissue to examine the protein expression levels of mGluR2/3, CRF-1 receptor, and BDNF. Activation of mGluR2/3 increases the extracellular levels and turnover of dopamine in the PFC, leading to neuroadaptations in reward processing and executive control. CRF-1 receptors play a role in stress response and the regulation of food intake and are found in considerable concentrations in the PFC. Through thermogenic and appetite-reducing mechanisms, the downstream effects of CRF-1 receptors have been shown to contribute to weight and fat loss. BDNF attenuates changes in synaptic plasticity to restore learning and memory impairments induced by a high-fat diet. Protein levels and behavioral analysis of junk-food effects will direct further research in the mechanisms involved in the onset and development of obesity and its effects on PFC function
Implicit Desires vs. Explicit Standards: What Matters More for Partnering Behaviors?
No full textMost research on mate selection has focused on people’s self-reported (explicit) measures of mate criteria, which are assumed to guide partnering decisions and behaviors (Buss et al., 2001; Fletcher et al., 1999). However, while some evidence has found that greater correspondence between mate standards and partner characteristics predicts greater relationship satisfaction (Eastwick, Finkel, & Eagly, 2011), other work has found little connection between people’s reported mate criteria and the partners they select. This discrepancy may be explained by the conscious inaccessibility of some attitudes influencing partnering behaviors. In the present study, we examined whether (a) implicit measures of mate criteria are distinct from explicit standards, and (b) implicit and explicit preferences uniquely predict current and future relationship choices and evaluations. Unmarried undergraduate students (n=203) completed three SC-IATs (Karpinski & Steinman, 2006), representing three major trait dimensions: attractiveness/vitality, warmth/trustworthiness, and status/resources. Participants also completed a questionnaire assessing their self-reported mate standards, relationship evaluations, and partner’s characteristics. Participants were contacted 7-10 months later and invited to complete questionnaires similar to that used at T1. Results revealed a negative correlation between implicit and explicit preferences for attractiveness/vitality (r=-.15, p\u3c .05) and no significant correlations for warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources. Regression analyses showed different ways that implicit and explicit standards predicted relationship evaluations. For warmth/trustworthiness, greater correspondence between people’s explicit preferences and their partner’s traits predicted greater relationship satisfaction (p\u3c .01) and lower ambivalence (p\u3c .05), whereas greater implicit preference-partner fit predicted greater perceived partner fit (p\u3c .01) and relationship commitment (p\u3c .10). Neither implicit nor explicit preference-partner fit on status/resources predicted relationship evaluations. For attractiveness/vitality, gender moderated the associations: explicit preference-partner correspondence predicted men’s evaluations, but implicit preference-partner correspondence predicted women’s evaluations. Preliminary follow-up analyses provided suggestive evidence that implicit preferences at T1 may also have implications for people’s relational evaluations of later-formed relationships
Do Families Choose Segregation? The Impact of Local Education Market Composition on School Segregation
No full textRecent school choice policies have raised important questions about the potential unintended consequences of competition among schools. This paper investigates the effect of the composition of a local education market as characterized by the number and type of schools nearby and the subsequent levels of segregation in each of the schools. Variation in preferences, values, and resources lead individual families to choose different types of schools, such as private, public and charter, for their student. I predict that these motivating factors will be consistent within racial groups, for example Hispanics attending Catholic schools in higher proportions due to the correlation between their race and religious preferences. Using panel data on K-12 schools in the US including precise geographic location, I estimate the impact on a given school’s racial composition of nearby schools. This research accounts for endogenous school location decisions by controlling for observable time-varying school characteristics as well as time-invariant unobservables through school fixed effects. This empirical analysis will provide policymakers with more information about how the composition of a local education market influences the segregation levels of schools in that market