An upward spiral between gratitude and humility

In two experiments and one diary study, we examined the relationship between self- and other-oriented processes by considering how gratitude can influence humility and vice versa. Humility is characterized by low self-focus, secure sense of self, and increased valuation of others. Gratitude is marked by a sense that one has benefited from the actions of another. In the first experiment, participants who wrote a gratitude letter showed higher state humility than those who performed a neutral activity. In the second experiment, baseline state humility predicted the amount of gratitude felt after writing a gratitude letter compared to a neutral activity. Finally, in a 14-day diary study, humility and gratitude mutually predicted one another, even after controlling for the other’s prior level. Our results suggest that humility and gratitude are mutually reinforcing. </jats:p

Catalytic supercritical water gasification of plastics with supported RuO2:a potential solution to hydrocarbons-water pollution problem

Here we report on a potential catalytic process for efficient clean-up of plastic pollution in waters, such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (CPGP). Detailed catalytic mechanisms of RuO2 during supercritical water gasification of common polyolefin plastics including low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PP), have been investigated in a batch reactor at 450 °C, 60 min. All four plastics gave very high carbon gasification efficiencies (CGE) and hydrogen gasification efficiencies (HGE). Methane was the highest gas component, with a yield of up to 37 mol kg−1LDPE using the 20 wt% RuO2 catalyst. Evaluation of the gas yields, CGE and HGE revealed that the conversion of PS involved thermal degradation, steam reforming and methanation; whereas hydrogenolysis was a possible additional mechanism during the conversion of aliphatic plastics. The process has the benefits of producing a clean-pressurized methane-rich fuel gas as well as cleaning up hydrocarbons-polluted waters

Use of Colloidal Gold and Neutron Activation in Correlative Microscopic Labeling and Label Quantitation

Albumin was conjugated to 16 nm gold particles (Alb-Au16) and infused into anesthetized pigs to determine if plasma, tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid concentrations of gold could be quantitated by neutron activation (Au198). Additionally, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of lung and liver samples was evaluated for sites of gold distribution and morphological changes. The minimum concentration of gold detected by neutron activation ranged between 1.4 and 1.9 ppb (ng/gm of sample). No gold was detected in the plasma of pigs prior to Alb-Au16 infusion, while mean post infusion concentrations were 1.037 ± 0.69 ppm (μg/gm plasma, ±SD). The concentrations in the lung and liver were 274.4 ± 0.03 and 88.3 ± 0.04 ppm, respectively. There was no measurable Alb-Au16 in the BAL fluid. TEM showed gold particles within phagolysosomes in pulmonary and hepatic intravascular macrophages. No morphological changes were observed within the two populations of macrophages and no gold particles were observed within the alveolar space. Neutron activation of blood, tissue and BAL fluid samples from pigs administered intravenous Alb-Au16 was sensitive to the ppb concentration. The capability of neutron activation to detect very low concentrations of Au 198, combined with the freedom from contamination, make neutron activation an excellent technique for the study of the distribution and metabolism of a substance in vivo

On cardinal invariants and generators for von Neumann algebras

We demonstrate how virtually all common cardinal invariants associated to a von Neumann algebra M can be computed from the decomposability number, dec(M), and the minimal cardinality of a generating set, gen(M). Applications include the equivalence of the well-known generator problem, "Is every separably-acting von Neumann algebra singly-generated?", with the formally stronger questions, "Is every countably-generated von Neumann algebra singly-generated?" and "Is the gen invariant monotone?" Modulo the generator problem, we determine the range of the invariant (gen(M), dec(M)), which is mostly governed by the inequality dec(M) leq c^{gen(M)}.Comment: 22 pages; the main additions are Theorem 3.8 and Section

Liquid-gas phase transition in hot nuclei studied with INDRA

Thanks to the high detection quality of the INDRA array, signatures related to the dynamics (spinodal decomposition) and thermodynamics (negative microcanonical heat capacity) of a liquid-gas phase transition have been simultaneously studied in multifragmentation events in the Fermi energy domain. The correlation between both types of signals strongly supports the existence of a first order phase transition for hot nuclei.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Invited talk to Nucleus-nucleus 2003 Moscow June 200

Kinetic model for noncatalytic supercritical water gasification of cellulose and lignin

This article reports the first kinetics model for Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG) that describes the formation and interconversion of individual gaseous species. The model comprises 11 reactions, and it uses a lumping scheme to handle the large number of intermediate compounds. We determined numerical values for the rate constants in the model by fitting it to experimental data previously reported for SCWG of cellulose and lignin. We validated the model by showing that it accurately predicts gas yields at biomass loadings and water densities not used in the parameter estimation. Sensitivity analysis and reaction rate analysis indicate that steam-reforming and water–gas shift are the main sources of H 2 in SCWG, and intermediate species are the main sources of CO, CO 2 , and CH 4 . © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77986/1/12165_ftp.pd

Supercritical water gasification of RDF and its components over RuO2/γ-Al2O3 catalyst:new insights into RuO2 catalytic reaction mechanisms

Five samples including a composite refuse derived fuel (RDF) and four combustible components of municipal solid wastes (MSW) have been reacted under supercritical water conditions in a batch reactor. The reactions have been carried out at 450 °C for 60 min reaction time, with or without 20 wt% RuO2/gamma-alumina catalyst. The reactivities of the samples depended on their compositions; with the plastic-rich samples, RDF and mixed waste plastics (MWP), giving similar product yields and compositions, while the biogenic samples including mixed waste wood (MWW) and textile waste (TXT) also gave similar reaction products. The use of the heterogeneous ruthenium-based catalyst gave carbon gasification efficiencies (CGE) of up to 99 wt%, which was up by at least 83% compared to the non-catalytic tests. In the presence of RuO2 catalyst, methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide became the dominant gas products for all five samples. The higher heating values (HHV) of the gas products increased at least two-fold in the presence of the catalyst compared to non-catalytic tests. Results show that the ruthenium-based catalyst was active in feedstock steam reforming, methanation and possible direct hydrogenolysis of C-C bonds. This work provides new insights into the catalytic mechanisms of RuO2 during SCWG of carbonaceous materials, along with the possibility of producing high yields of methane from MSW fractions

Preregistration of secondary data analysis:A template and tutorial

Multivariate analysis of psychological dat