A system for measuring thermal activation energy levels in silicon by thermally stimulated capacitance

One method being used to determine energy level(s) and electrical activity of impurities in silicon is described. The method is called capacitance transient spectroscopy (CTS). It can be classified into three basic categories: the thermally stimulated capacitance method, the voltage-stimulated capacitance method, and the light-stimulated capacitance method; the first two categories are discussed. From the total change in capacitance and the time constant of the capacitance response, emission rates, energy levels, and trap concentrations can be determined. A major advantage of using CTS is its ability to detect the presence of electrically active impurities that are invisible to other techniques, such as Zeeman effect atomic absorption, and the ability to detect more than one electrically active impurity in a sample. Examples of detection of majority and minority carrier traps from gold donor and acceptor centers in silicon using the capacitance transient spectrometer are given to illustrate the method and its sensitivity

Strategic Plan Presentation 2023-2028

A presentation of the strategic planning process, timeline, mission, vision, principles, goals, requirements and next step

Los Proyectos de La Gamba: Gender Issues in Rural Sustainable Development Projects in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica

The University of Kansas has long historical connections with Central America and the many Central Americans who have earned graduate degrees at KU. This work is part of the Central American Theses and Dissertations collection in KU ScholarWorks and is being made freely available with permission of the author through the efforts of Professor Emeritus Charles Stansifer of the History department and the staff of the Scholarly Communications program at the University of Kansas Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship.In 1992 at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), Costa Rica pledged to make a political commitment to incorporate the sustainability of the environment into the socioeconomic development of the country. Costa Rica and various governments and non-governmental organizations at UNCED, agreed to use the document, Agenda 21, to design sustainable development programs. My field research in the community of La Gamba, Costa Rica, examines two smallscale rural sustainable development projects in a campesino community. The first project promotes the sustainability of an endangered animal called the Tepezcuintle, which the community uses as a potential source of income and protein. The second project involves a medicinal plant garden that provides the community with medicines, soaps, and shampoos. I utilize an analytical framework that examines the extent to which the projects are achieving sustainability according to the guidelines suggested in Agenda 21 for sustainable development programs. In addition, I examine the extent of women's participation in these projects based on the mandates pertaining to gender equality stated in Agenda 21. Moreover, my thesis explicates what the rural participants think about their projects, how they view sustainable development programs, and what suggestions they have for improving their projects

File-sharing Among College Students: Moral and Legal Implications

This study was designed to explore the phenomenon of college students who illegally file-share.The main research question was, “What are the experiences of college students who file-share and what are their perspectives on the moral and legal implications for doing so?”Data were collected from six students using interviews, focus groups, and online communication. This study revealed five themes common to the students in the study.The first theme, Old School Morality vs. Contemporary Morality, revealed that the college students in this study saw a contemporary issue like file-sharing differently then they did other moral issues.The second theme, Absurdity of Buying vs. Benefits of Free, explained how college students found it absurd to pay for files when they knew they could get them for free.The third theme, Malicious Intent vs. No Harm Done, revealed that the students did not see file-sharing the same as stealing because they were not intending to hurt anyone.The fourth theme, Repercussions vs. Everyone Does It, showed that the students were unable to internalize the consequences or repercussions of their file-sharing behavior.The fifth theme, Prolonging Needs vs. Satisfying Needs, explained that students file-share because they value the immediacy and convenience of it.In conclusion, this study revealed that college students did not see file-sharing as a moral dilemma and were unable to internalize the legal side of file-sharing

A study of the development of organized religion in Jefferson County, Tennessee (1785-1950)

The present work is concerned with the organized expression of religious feeling in one Tennessee county. It attempts to trace the historical development of religious organization in its geographic setting and to discover some of the social, political, and economic factors which have influenced the direction of development. It also seeks evidence as to the influence which organized religion has exerted on development in directions not usually associated with religion. Limitations of time and space prevented exploration in minute detail of many historical points of much interest. As points of reference for help in evaluation of materials and conclusions an effort was made to keep in mind the following phases of the subject: The broad outline of the historical development of religious organization. The relatice importance of religious organization in the total pattern of development. Evidences of the place of religious motivation in social processes. The way in which denominational configuration of the county has developed. Significant interplay of forces within denominational groups. The influence of geography on religious development, as to both general outline and denominational pattern. Social factors affecting religious development The place of religious history in the social studies

Genetic parameters estimated at receiving for circulating cortisol, immunoglobulin G, interleukin 8, and incidence of bovine respiratory disease in feedlot beef steers

Citation: Cockrum, R. R., Speidel, S. E., Salak-Johnson, J. L., Chase, C. C. L., Peel, R. K., Weaber, R. L., . . . Enns, R. M. (2016). Genetic parameters estimated at receiving for circulating cortisol, immunoglobulin G, interleukin 8, and incidence of bovine respiratory disease in feedlot beef steers. Journal of Animal Science, 94(7), 2770-2778. doi:10.2527/jas2015-0222Bovine respiratory disease complex (i.e., shipping fever and bacterial bronchopneumonia) is a multifaceted respiratory illness influenced by numerous environmental factors and microorganisms. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is just one component of BRD complex. Because BRD is moderately heritable, it may be possible to reduce the incidence of BRD through genetic selection. The objectives of this study were to determine the heritability and associative genetic relationships among immune system traits (i.e., cortisol, total IgG, IgG isotypes, and IL-8) in cattle monitored for BRD incidence. At an average of 83 d after weaning (219 d age and mean = 221.7 kg [SD 4.34]), crossbred Bos taurus steer calves (n = 2,869) were received at a commercial feedlot in southeastern Colorado over a 2-yr period. At receiving, jugular blood samples were collected at 212 (yr 1) and 226 d (yr 2) of age for immune trait analyses. The BRD phenotype was defined as a binomial variable (0 = no and 1 = yes) and compared with immune system traits measured at receiving (prior to illness onset). An animal identified as BRD positive exhibited ? 2 clinical signs (i.e., eye or nasal discharge, cough, lethargy, rapid breathing, acute interstitial pneumonia, or acute upper respiratory syndrome and/or a rectal temperature > 39.7°C). Heritability and genetic correlation estimates for categorical variable BRD, cortisol, IgG, IgG1, IgG2, and IL-8 were estimated from a sire model using ASREML. Heritability estimates were low to moderate for BRD (0.17 ± 0.08), cortisol (0.13 ± 0.05), IgG (0.15 ± 0.05), IgG1 (0.11 ± 0.05), IgG2 (0.24 ± 0.06), and IL-8 (0.30 ± 0.06). A moderate negative genetic correlation was determined between BRD and cortisol (rg = ?0.19 ± 0.32). Moderate positive correlations were found between BRD with IgG (0.42 ± 0.28), IgG1 (0.36 ± 0.32), and IL-8 (rg = 0.26 ± 0.26). Variation in the BRD phenotype and immune system traits suggested herd health improvement may be achieved through genetic selection. © 2016 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved

Investigating how the MES Chromatin Regulators Protect Germline Immortality in C. elegans

The germline has the amazing power and the tremendous responsibility to create anentirely new organism and control the information that gets transmitted to offspring. 2 unique properties grant the germline this power: totipotency and immortality. How the germline acquires and maintains these properties are burning questions. The primordial germ cells (PGCs) must launch and maintain a germline-appropriate gene expression program to acquire and protect germ fate. Chromatin regulation or DNA packaging is one mechanism that can tackle this challenge by allowing PGCs to selectively ‘turn on’ genes that encode germline-appropriate RNAs. How chromatin regulation impacts gene expression in PGCs is poorly understood. In C. elegans, the MES chromatin regulators are required maternally for germline development in offspring. MES-2, MES-3, and MES-6 form the worm version of the H3K27 histone methyltransferase (HMT) Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), and MES-4 is an H3K36 HMT. The essential role of PRC2 in ensuring germline survival and immortality in C. elegans is to repress genes on the X chromosome. MES-4’s role has not yet been determined and is far more puzzling. An attractive model is that MES-4 instructs PGCs to express germline genes by transmitting an epigenetic ‘memory of germline’ from parent germlines to offspring PGCs. The focus of my thesis was testing this model using a combination of genetics, transcriptomics, and microscopy. I found that neither MES-4 or its specific role in transmitting a memory of germline are required for PGCs to launch a germline program and develop into a healthy germline. Instead, MES-4’s critical role in protecting germline survival and immortality is repressing X genes, similar to PRC2’s role. This encouraged me to test whether MES- 4 and PRC2 cooperate to repress the same X genes in PGCs. I indeed found this to be the case. I also identified the THAP transcription factor LIN-15B as a major driver of X mis-expression and germline death in mes-4 mutants. Together my findings answered how the MES chromatin regulators protect germline immortality, and raised interesting follow-up questions, such as how do MES-4 and LIN-15B balance levels of X-chromosome expression in PGCs? My thesis work is one of the many testaments to the power of transcriptomics to study gene regulation at the whole-genome scale. However, many researchers who seek to embrace transcriptomics face the hurdle or ‘activation energy’ to get started. I led and published a major effort by the Strome lab to provide such researchers with a launchpad into transcriptomics; I discussed foundations, best practices, and commonly used strategies, and I summarized available resources

A cunning hand and a cultured mind: An examination of high school graduates who completed an integrated technical and academic program

The problem of this study was to compare selected characteristics of students who completed an integrated curriculum of technical and academic studies with students who completed either an academic, a technical, or a general curriculum. The researcher analyzed changes in participation, select demographics, academic achievement and post-secondary plans of students in the integrated curriculum against the other three curricula. The changes were measured across a seven-year time frame—1993 to 2000. The results were: 1. The integrated curriculum had the greatest percentage increase of students of the four curriculum categories from 1993 to 2000. 2. When considering change across the time, the integrated curriculum had the greatest percentage increase for both genders, in four out of the five ethnic divisions, and for students participating in English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs. For students participating in the Free or Reduced Price Meals (FARMS) program, the integrated curriculum had the second greatest percentage increase. 3. Findings from statistical analysis revealed that when Grade Point Average (GPA), Academic Grade Point Average (AGPA), and SAT scores were used as benchmarks, students in an integrated curriculum were academically competitive with students from the academic curriculum. This holds true across the selected demographic categories. 4. Students in the integrated curriculum are planning to attend post-secondary institutions in increasing numbers and the numbers are comparable to students in the academic curriculum. A summary of recommendations included: (a) efforts should be directed at determining the present attitudes and perceptions held by educators, parents, and students toward technical education; (b) additional research studies should be conducted on the particular type of technical programs completed by students in an integrated program; (c) additional research studies should be conducted to determine why all students, but ESOL or FARMS participants in particular, continue to stay in the general or technical curriculum; and (d) additional research studies should be conducted to determine why high-level students are taking the integrated curriculum