Your search

Graphene oxide (GO)/MnO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by adding KMnO4 in a solution of water and ethanol (3:1), containing 10 mg of GO. Brown precipitates were obtained after a continuous stirring for 1 hr. The precipitates were then washed with deionized water (DI) water and dried to obtain the MnO2-GO nanocomposites. Pure MnO2 was also synthesized using the same method without GO for the comparison. X-ray diffraction pattern confirm δ-MnO2 type of MnO2 with birnessite type MnO2 structure. The TEM images show the average diameter of MnO2 nanorods as 15 nm. Electrochemical characterizations were carried out in an aqueous solution of 3M KOH. Charge-discharge studies were carried out between 1A/g to 20 A/g current range. The MnO2-GO nanocomposites showed improved electrochemical performances. The capacitance of MnO2 and MnO2-GO electrodes was found to be as 300 F/g, and 350 F/g, respectively at a current of 0.5 A/g. © 2019 Materials Research Society.

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the orientation learning needs of adjunct clinical faculty as they transition from expert clinicians to novice educators. Background: Schools of nursing are increasingly using adjunct clinical faculty because of the nurse faculty shortage. Retention is a concern. Method: This descriptive quantitative study used the Needs Assessment Survey for Topic Inclusion in a Guide to Orientation. Adjunct clinical faculty rated the level of importance of orientation topics and if they received needed information. Results: The majority of topics were found to be rated very important or important. Several items deemed very important or important were either not discussed or not sufficiently discussed in orientation. Conclusion: The information obtained demonstrates the vast amount of information that adjunct clinical faculty want and need in an orientation. © 2019 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

We report results of speckle-interferometric monitoring of visual hierarchical systems using the newly commissioned instrument NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet and Stellar Speckle Imager at the 3.5 m WIYN telescope. During one year, 390 measurements of 129 resolved subsystems were made, while some targets were unresolved. Using our astrometry and archival data, we computed 36 orbits (27 for the first time). Spectro-interferometric orbits of seven pairs are determined by combining positional measurements with radial velocities measured, mostly, with the Center for Astrophysics digital speedometers. For the hierarchical systems HIP 65026 (periods 49 and 1.23 yr) and HIP 85209 (periods 34 and 1.23 yr) we determined both the inner and the outer orbits using astrometry and radial velocities and measured the mutual orbit inclinations of 11.°3 ± 1.°0 and 12.°0 ± 3.°0, respectively. Four bright stars are resolved for the first time; two of those are triple systems. Several visual subsystems announced in the literature are shown to be spurious. We note that subsystems in compact hierarchies with outer separations less than 100 au tend to have less eccentric orbits compared to wider hierarchies. © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) vector pathogenic trypanosomes (Trypanosoma spp.) in sub-Saharan Africa. These parasites cause human and animal African trypanosomiases, which are debilitating diseases that inflict an enormous socio-economic burden on inhabitants of endemic regions. Current disease control strategies rely primarily on treating infected animals and reducing tsetse population densities. However, relevant programs are costly, labor intensive and difficult to sustain. As such, novel strategies aimed at reducing tsetse vector competence require development. Herein we investigated whether Kosakonia cowanii Zambiae (Kco_Z), which confers Anopheles gambiae with resistance to Plasmodium, is able to colonize tsetse and induce a trypanosome refractory phenotype in the fly. Kco_Z established stable infections in tsetse's gut and exhibited no adverse effect on the fly's survival. Flies with established Kco_Z infections in their gut were significantly more refractory to infection with two distinct trypanosome species (T. congolense, 6% infection; T. brucei, 32% infection) than were age-matched flies that did not house the exogenous bacterium (T. congolense, 36% infected; T. brucei, 70% infected). Additionally, 52% of Kco_Z colonized tsetse survived infection with entomopathogenic Serratia marcescens, compared with only 9% of their wild-type counterparts. These parasite and pathogen refractory phenotypes result from the fact that Kco_Z acidifies tsetse's midgut environment, which inhibits trypanosome and Serratia growth and thus infection establishment. Finally, we determined that Kco_Z infection does not impact the fecundity of male or female tsetse, nor the ability of male flies to compete with their wild-type counterparts for mates. We propose that Kco_Z could be used as one component of an integrated strategy aimed at reducing the ability of tsetse to transmit pathogenic trypanosomes.

As its title suggests, this Focus draws our attention to the shift in perspective brought about by environmental history, compared to the more traditional approaches of history of science. Here human knowledge of and interaction with animals are understood as part of a historically variable system that encompasses both the human realm and its environment, a system in which the various components interact and shape each other dynamically.

While social support is critical in helping intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors heal and build hope, social isolation is a frequent experience for survivors. For survivors residing in domestic violence (DV) emergency shelters, the isolation from social supports is often exacerbated by shelter rules and policies. This study uses a 20th century feminist framework to understand the ways in which social support networks are maintained and/or strained when survivors reside in DV emergency shelters. Among this sample of 76 survivors, 40 participants identified family members as their support system, with siblings and mothers most frequently identified, and 14 participants identified friends as their social support. Prior to entering the DV shelter, survivors reported that their support networks provided encouragement and motivation along with emotional support, financial and material support, and support with children. Participants spoke about the process of informing their support systems of the transition into a DV shelter, the positive and negative impacts of the transition on their support system, and the roles that frequent telephone calls and texts played in maintaining their support networks. Participants reported positive impacts of residing in a DV shelter including improved emotional and physical health, strengthened emotional relationships, and improved physical and emotional resource provision. For those participants reporting negative experiences, they frequently identified logistical barriers, including the inability to receive visitors at the shelter, the distance between them and their friends and family, and strict rules around curfew and child care. Our findings invite researchers and practitioners to consider further examination of best practices around programming that supports survivors in maintaining social supports while residing in shelter programs

Proceedings of the XXXVIII and XXXIX International Symposium of the International Association for Social Work with Groups, New York City, New York, USA, June 15-18, 2016 and June 7-10 2017

Quantitative consumer research has long been the backbone of consumer psychology producing insights with peerless validity and reliability. This new book addresses a broad range of approaches to consumer psychology research along with developments in quantitative consumer research. Experts in their respective fields offer a perspective into this rapidly changing discipline of quantitative consumer research. The book focuses on new techniques as well as adaptations of traditional approaches and addresses ethics that relate to contemporary research approaches. The text is appropriate for use with university students at all academic levels. Each chapter provides both a theoretical grounding in its topic area and offers applied examples of the use of the approach in consumer settings. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter to test student learning. Topics covered are quantitative research techniques, measurement theory and psychological scaling, mapping sentences for planning and managing research, using qualitative research to elucidate quantitative research findings, big data and its visualization, extracting insights from online data, modeling the consumer, social media and digital market analysis, connectionist modeling of consumer choice, market sensing and marketing research, preparing data for analysis;, and ethics. The book may be used on its own as a textbook and may also be used as a supplementary text in quantitative research courses.

Though various authors have refined and described the concept of compassion fatigue (CF), the overarching features, predisposing factors, and potential consequences remain relatively consistent. Available literature demonstrates that caregivers caring for patients who are chronically ill and/or traumatized are at highest risk for developing CF. Potential consequences for unmitigated CF include physical, emotional, and work-related consequences, all of which can have negative effects on the quality and safety of care and degree of engagement with one’s employer. CF is further exacerbated by exposure to cumulative, unresolved stress and neglect of one’s own emotional needs over time. Caregivers must be knowledgeable on CF’s risk factors, symptoms, and management strategies to decrease its incidence and negative impacts. This article details the creation, execution, and evaluation of an evidence-based practice change project implemented with the goal of increasing knowledge needed to prevent, identify, and alleviate CF in high-risk nurses. The project involved a series of educational workshops containing information on CF’s risk factors, symptoms, and consequences, with a strong emphasis on self-awareness, self-care, and stress management. Pre- and postknowledge tests showed a significant increase in knowledge was achieved via the workshops, and qualitative surveys indicated a high level of participant satisfaction with the program contents, format, and impact.

This article explores how individuals reflect on their digital experiences of actualizing fantasies to make sense of their everyday actions, particularly in the context of video gaming. Our study takes a qualitative approach to understanding the context of materializing consumer fantasies, as initially experienced and actualized in video games, and how these fantasies are transformed into material reality, through an investigation of an illustrative case of mass street protests, the 2013 Gezi Protests in Turkey. The findings suggest that digital virtual experiences in video games have obvious manifestations in the material world, as consumers travel on the borders of reality, moving back and forth into the liminoid terrain of the digital virtual, and provide a deeper understanding of how the blurred boundaries between the virtual and material are established in practice.

This study examined whether personality variables would account for political preferences during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election using a demographically diverse sample of participants (N = 897). Study A revealed participants' ratings of their own personality and emotions were weakly associated with political preferences, but their ratings of candidates' personality showed robust associations, and were far more predictive of voting intention than all of the demographic variables, political affiliation, and racial attitudes combined. In Study B, linguistic analysis of narratives revealed words reflective of liberal values were correlated with positive evaluations of Clinton's personality, whereas words reflective of conservative values and “populist” sentiment were correlated with positive evaluations of Trump's personality, suggesting appraisals of candidates may be associated with values. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adi Ophir has suggested that the political realm is an order of evils, producing and managing regular forms of suffering and violence rather than eliminating them. Thus, the political is always to some extent a corrupted order of justice. Emmanuel Levinas’ work presents in its focus on the face-to-face relationship a means of rethinking how to make the political more open to compassionate justice. Though Levinas himself doesn’t sufficiently take on this question, I argue that his work facilitates a way of thinking about commiserative shame that provides a means to connect the face-to-face to its potential effects in the political sphere. If such shame isn’t ignored or bypassed, it produces an unsettling relation to the other that in its adversity motivates a kind of responsibility and care for the other that can alter the public sphere.

Areal precipitation estimation directly affects the accuracy of reservoir runoff inflow forecasts and flood dispatching decision-making. Because of the heterogeneous spatial and temporal precipitation distributions in large basins, inadequate precipitation stations normally have a negative impact on forecast accuracy. Using the Panjia-kou reservoir runoff inflow forecast as the research subject, this paper adopts the Thiessen polygon block, square grid computing, and DEM (digital elevation model) methods to estimate average regional areal precipitation. Based on the estimation, a model for the Panjia-kou reservoir runoff forecast is developed. The results indicate that different areal precipitation estimation methods have significantly different effects on the accuracy of the reservoir runoff inflow forecast. When the average regional precipitation estimation from the DEM method is used as an input to the model, the simulation results are accurate and are much better than those from the other two average regional precipitation estimation methods.

My story began when I was 49 years young and told I had Stage IV colorectal cancer. That was almost 12 years ago, and today I am one of the fortunate ones—not only has it been almost 12 more years of living, but my oncologist has used the word “cured”. Like most cancer patients and …

The article explores the practical uses of Eastern Orthodox indulgences as certificates of absolution with a dual function (as mnemonic tools and as public certificates of good standing with the church) in the early modern period. © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2018

This special issue takes up urgent questions about how we education scholars might think and do policy and methodology in what has come to be known as the post-truth era. The authors in this special issue grapple with questions about the roles and responsibilities of educational researchers in an era in which research and policy have lost their moorings in T/truth. Collectively they reconceptualize educational research and policy in light of post-truths, anti-science sentiment, and the global rise of right-wing populism. At the same time we editors wonder whether post-truth is given a bad rap. Could post-truth have something productive to offer? What does post-truth open up for educational research and policy? Or, is the real issue of this special issue a collective despair of our own insignificance and obsolescence in the wake of post-truth. Whatever we editors and authors aimed to do, this special issue will not be heard by post-truth adherents and partisans. Perhaps its only contribution is encouragement to stay with the troubles of a post-truth era, even as we despair the consequences of our research and policy creations. © 2018, Arizona State University. All rights reserved.

A wheelchair basketball showcase was hosted at a state university in New England. Student surveys revealed that the event had a positive effect on students’ views of both individuals with disabilities and adapted sports. Using Allport’s (1954) contact theory as a lens, the author demonstrates how the event met the four positive features that Allport believed should be present in order to reduce negative feelings toward another group: (a) equal status between the groups, (b) common goals, (c) intergroup cooperation and (d) the support of authorities. This exploratory study argues that adapted sports can be an effective method to positively impact stereotypical views of people with disabilities.Subscribe to PALAESTRA

Background: Older adults often report difficulty hearing in background noise which is not completely attributable to peripheral hearing loss. Although age-related declines in cognition and hearing in back-ground noise occur, the underlying age-related changes in processing of auditory stimuli in background noise has yet to be fully understood. The auditory P300 has the potential to elucidate the effects of age on auditory and cognitive processing of stimuli in background noise, but additional research is warranted. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate age-related differences in cognitive processing of auditory stimuli by evoking the auditory P300 at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Research Design: A two-group, repeated measures study design was used. Study Sample: A convenience sample of 35 participants, 15 older adults (mean age of 66.4 yr) and 20 younger adults (mean age of 21.1 yr), participated in the study. All participants had negative otologic and neurological histories. Data Collection and Analysis: The auditory P300 was evoked using an oddball paradigm with 500 (frequent) and 1000 Hz (target) tonal stimuli in quiet and in the presence of background noise at +20, +10, and 0 SNRs. P300 amplitudes and latencies were measured in each condition for every participant. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted for the amplitude and latency measures of the P300 for each group. Results: Results from this study demonstrated P300 latencies were significantly longer in older adults in noise at the most challenging condition (0 SNR) compared with the quiet condition and between the +10 SNR and 0 SNR conditions. Although older adults had significantly longer P300 latencies compared with younger adults, no significant group by listening condition interaction existed. No significant P300 amplitude differences were found for group, noise, or group x listening condition interactions. Conclusions: Results provide evidence that auditory cortical processing, regardless of age, is poorer at more difficult SNRs. However, results also demonstrate that older adults perform significantly poorer than younger adults. This supports the notion that some degree of age-related decline in synchronous firing and rate of transmission of the auditory cortical neurons contributing to the auditory P300 exists. Studies are needed to further understand the impact of noise on auditory cortical processing across populations.