Rubber rampage: the era that produced vulcanized rubber

Kirmser Undergraduate Research Award - Individual Freshman category, grand prizeCitation: Hayes, R. (2013) Rubber rampage: the era that produced vulcanized rubber. Unpublished manuscript, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.Morgan, MorganRubber, a waterproof gum, was demanded by many in the early 1830’s. While useful as a waterproof, elastic fabric in its flexible state which is at room temperature, the rubber froze in the winter and turned sticky in the summer. During this era, many knew that whoever discovered the stable state would gain an abundant fortune. This is what Charles Goodyear achieved in 1839 by adding sulfur to the natural rubber; this process is now known as vulcanization. This scientific breakthrough revolutionized the automobile industry. Society had been using the iron wheel since 1000 BC which was an extremely rickety trail ride. The newly stabilized rubber absorbed the shock from the imperfections in the road in the form of a tire; thus, creating a more stable ride. This heighted the urge for the public to create gas powered vehicles. Everything about the discovery of rubber and vulcanization drove the automobile industry into the astounding business that it currently is

A study comparing students\u27 attitudes toward school in 2000 and in 1979

The purpose of this study was to compare students\u27 attitudes toward school in grade 4 and grade 10 in 1979 and 2000. The researcher analyzed the data gathered from the surveys of 47 students in grade 4 and 47 students in grade 10. The students surveyed attended a private elementary school (grade 4) and a public high school (grade 10), both located in southern New Jersey. The instrument used, the Student Sentiment Index, was analyzed by means of independent t-tests. The results of the 2000 implementation of the survey were then compared to the 1979 administration of the same survey. Results indicated students in grade 4 in 2000 have become significantly more positive toward school than students in grade 4 in 1979. Students in grade 10, however, were found not to have made any significant changes in attitude toward school. The researcher also noted that students in grade 4 and students in grade 10 in the year 2000 yielded significantly different survey results; students in grade 4 portrayed a more positive attitude toward school than students in grade 10. On the other hand, in 1979, there were no significant differences between students in grade 4 and students in grade 10

Bonuses and Non-Public Information in Publicly Traded Firms

The literature on relational incentive contracts suggests that firms may be able to condition payments to employees on information that is not available to those outside the firm. Given this, market participants may use the magnitude of such payments to infer the non-public information, which then may give firms a reason to choose wage payments strategically. We combine the literatures on relational incentive contracts (from labor economics) and signaling to financial markets (from finance) and examine equilibria of a signaling game in which payments from a firm to a manager convey information regarding the firm's future cash flows. Our model reveals how the nature of the firm's relationship with its manager is affected by the firm's incentive to choose wage payments strategically. We discuss implications of our model for firms' choices over the mix of compensation instruments for top executives, as well as possible effects of executive compensation disclosure rules.

Mapping and Restoration Inventory of Fringing Marsh Habitat in the Casco Bay Estuary, Project Report

During the spring and summer of 2007 a survey of the fringing marshes existing along the mainland coast of Casco Bay was commissioned by the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The work was performed by personnel supervised by the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve (WNERR) in Wells, Maine. A delineation of fringing marshes based on aerial photography was performed during the spring and early summer months. This delineation, based upon aerial imagery taken in 2003, identified approximately 1,160 marsh units along the mainland coast of Casco Bay (islands were omitted from this study). Later in the summer, after maturation of marsh vegetation, survey teams were dispatched in two separate efforts in support of the image-based identification. Boat transects were taken along representative shorelines and fringing marshes detected were marked at each end with a GPS point allowing an approximation of marsh location, and extent, to be recorded. Survey teams on foot visited a number of randomly-selected sample points and performed on-site measurement of marsh area (total, high marsh, low marsh, and major invasive patches), an estimate (based on elevation differences) of potential total marsh area after a forty centimeter (40 cm) rise in average sea level, and performed a \u27rapid assessment\u27 of marsh characteristics and degradation condition. Based on the estimated average fringing marsh area, there is approximately 41 hectares of marsh covering nearly 150 km of the mainland coastline of Casco Bay. While some marsh is very healthy, development and other factors have taken their toll. The average impact assessment score was 73% (100% would be a \u27perfect\u27 score, with no problems); the median was just slightly higher at 75%. The average degradation score was 0.17 (with unity, \u271\u27, being the worst possible 1 score and \u270\u27 the best); similarly, the median was slightly better at 0.15. The image-based identification performed well in identifying marshes. Based on 2007 \u27surface truth\u27 provided by the boat transects, the image delineation (from 2003 imagery) identified between 50% and 70% (depending on the radius of tolerance used to define detection of a single marsh) of the marshes. When changes to the marshes over time are considered, this reflects favorably on its use. The marshes identified can serve as a basis for further efforts to find, assess, improve, and protect marshes in Casco Bay

The influence of the Pinyin and Zhuyin writing systems on the acquisition of Mandarin word forms by native English speakers

journal articleThe role of written input in second language (L2) phonological and lexical acquisition has received increased attention in recent years. Here we investigated the influence of two factors that may moderate the influence of orthography on L2 word form learning: (i) whether the writing system is shared by the native language and the L2, and (ii) if the writing system is shared, whether the relevant grapheme-phoneme correspondences are also shared. The acquisition of Mandarin via the Pinyin and Zhuyin writing systems provides an ecologically valid opportunity to explore these factors

Novel second-language words and asymmetric lexical access

The lexical and phonetic mapping of auditorily confusable L2 nonwords was examined by teaching L2 learners novel words and by later examining their word recognition using an eye-tracking paradigm. During word learning, two groups of highly proficient Dutch learners of English learned 20 English nonwords, of which 10 contained the English contrast /ε/-æ/ (a confusable contrast for native Dutch speakers). One group of subjects learned the words by matching their auditory forms to pictured meanings, while a second group additionally saw the spelled forms of the words. We found that the group who received only auditory forms confused words containing /æ/ and /ε/ symmetrically, i.e., both /æ/ and /ε/ auditory tokens triggered looks to pictures containing both /æ/ and /ε/. In contrast, the group who also had access to spelled forms showed the same asymmetric word recognition pattern found by previous studies, i.e., they only looked at pictures of words containing /ε/ when presented with /ε/ target tokens, but looked at pictures of words containing both /æ/ and /ε/ when presented with /æ/ target tokens. The results demonstrate that L2 learners can form lexical contrasts for auditorily confusable novel L2 words. However, and most importantly, this study suggests that explicit information over the contrastive nature of two new sounds may be needed to build separate lexical representations for similar-sounding L2 words.peer-reviewe

“A Tale of Two Hospitals”: The Role of Place-Based Sensemaking in COVID-19 Communication for Rural and Urban Texas Hospitals

Rural and urban hospitals must respond differently to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, given their unique situations. In this study, we performed a rhetorical analysis of press releases from rural and urban hospitals in Texas to better understand the crisis communication strategies of the two hospital systems. Following previous literature on narrative sensemaking, place-based storytelling, and pre-crisis management, we found that the examined press releases used setting details to ground their health-related information in their specific communities. Such a strategy made the information accessible and attainable, but potentially reinforced place-based tensions and inequalities. Our study has implications for preventative sensemaking research as well as for crisis communicators attempting to better reach specific communities during a long-term, developing crisis

Production of Universal Red Blood Cells via Enzymatic Conversion

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion units are considered one of the most essential healthcare components in the world. In the United States alone, approximately 21 million transfusion units are required every year. Despite this high demand, RBC units are becoming increasingly scarce since only a fraction of eligible donors provide RBCs to for medical use. Additionally, RBC transfusions are limited to immune compatibility in patients, making it difficult to serve all patients with such a limited supply. This proposed design provides a method in which RBCs of any blood group can be converted into the universal blood type, O, to eliminate any concerns regarding blood type compatibility between donor and patient. This conversion process uses bacterial glycosidades to cleave the sugar groups on the surface of RBCs that defines our blood type. This process will help increase hospitals’ supply of readily usable RBCs for any situation while also providing a solution to hospitals’ struggle to use their blood bags before they expire. This proposal seeks to design a start-up scale plant that will both prepare the glysocidases needed for the treatment process and execute the conversion. This project design expects a production capacity of 200,000 tranfusion units of successfully converted RBCs per year and will be located in Medford, MA. With an initial investment of $25.6 million, the designs yields a a twelve-year net present value of$8,461,700 and has an investor’s rate of return of 21.73%. A limited twelve-year lifespan was chosen in an attempt to more accurately represent the lifespan of a start-up and to more strictly analyze its financial feasibility. The proposed project is forecasted to breakeven in early 2028, at the beginning of its eighth year of its operation, with a return on investment of 17.17%. With initial evidence of profitability, this project design is recommended. Furthermore, the financial analysis performed in this report limits the scope of this project to satisfying the blood demands of one major hospital in a metropolitan area. In reality, however, it is expected that the start-up will expand to other major hospitals or blood collecting organizations within the first several years of operation, further increasing its potential value. It should be noted, however, that investors exercise caution as the blood market has been in constant flux for the past seven years, making it difficult to predict how valuable RBC transfusion units will be compared to other blood components. The process should be executed only if an acceptable pricing can be established to sustain the large costs associated with guaranteeing endotoxin and contamination free products