Common Cause: An Oral History of the World War II Home Front

In excerpts drawn from Musselman Library\u27s Oral History Archive, the World War II years are recalled by dozens of the men and women—adults, teenagers, children—who endured them on the home front. The home front experience was by turns exhilarating, fearsome, depressing, and banal. Some civilians had it relatively easy, while others had it hard. Righteous confidence was offset by looming uncertainty, patriotism was often buttressed by bigotry, and the joys of victory and reunion were shadowed by irreplaceable losses. In this volume, the speech of ordinary citizens in extraordinary times is augmented by abundant illustration, much of it in color—photographs, posters, artifacts, and other evocations of a past that still fascinates us. Through word and image, in tones of humor, warmth, anger, and sadness, Common Cause brings back the unique features of American life at that time, and the daily reality of being a nation at war.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1149/thumbnail.jp

Encounters with Eisenhower: Personal Reminiscences Collected to Mark the 125th Anniversary of the Birth of Dwight D. Eisenhower

The general who orchestrated the greatest amphibian invasion in history, and led Allied forces in the great crusade to crush Adolf Hitler’s armies, subsequently became a popular two-term president of the United States. In the annals of American success stories, it’s hard to beat the life that Dwight D. Eisenhower made. Yet this heroic figure was also a “natural man,” as one of the contributors to this volume of personal reminiscences suggests. Lady Dill was referring to Eisenhower’s humanity and lack of pretense. Unlike other leading figures of his day—including a certain five-star general who orchestrated the American island-hopping campaign in the Pacific Theatre during World War II—Eisenhower was relatable to the average man or woman, whatever his or her status, standing, or role. [excerpt]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1080/thumbnail.jp

Stabilization of Polystyrene by Friedel-Crafts Chemistry: Effect of Position of Alcohol and the Catalyst

Polystyrene has been copolymerized with 4-vinylbenzyl alcohol, 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)styrene, and 4-(3-hydroxypropyl)styrene and it has been shown that thermal cross-linking of these copolymers is dependent upon the alcohol content. When the alcohol content is low, no thermal cross-linking is observed. When various phosphate esters are present as catalysts with these low alcohol content copolymers, cross-linking is observed at temperatures of about 250°C but not at lower temperatures. Cross-linking enhances the thermal stability of the copolymers. Studies of the thermal stability of the copolymers and their blends with the catalysts have been performed using thermogravimetric analysis and thermogravimetric analysis coupled to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. There is little difference in the thermal stability of all three copolymers and their blends with the catalysts

Effects of Spin on High-Energy Radiation from Accreting Black Holes

Observations of jets in X-ray binaries show a correlation between radio power and black hole spin. This correlation, if confirmed, points towards the idea that relativistic jets may be powered by the rotational energy of black holes. In order to examine this further, we perform general-relativistic radiative transport calculations on magnetically arrested accretion flows, which are known to produce powerful jets via the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism. We find that the X-ray and gamma-ray emission strongly depend on spin and inclination angle. Surprisingly, the high-energy power does not show the same dependence on spin as the BZ jet power, but instead can be understood as a redshift effect. In particular, photons observed perpendicular to the spin axis suffer little net redshift until originating from close to the horizon. Such observers see deeper into the hot, dense, highly-magnetized inner disk region. This effect is largest for rapidly rotating black holes due to a combination of frame dragging and decreasing horizon radius. While the X-ray emission is dominated by the near horizon region, the near-infrared radiation originates at larger radii. Therefore, the ratio of X-ray to near-infrared power is an observational signature of black hole spin.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, added panel in Figure 4 showing viewing angle dependence and extended the discussion in Section 4, accepted for publication in Ap

Polybutadiene Cross-Linked With Various Diols – Effect On Thermal Stability

The relationship between cross-linking and thermal stability as related to polybutadiene is the focus of current research. Cross-linked polybutadienes have been prepared using various diols as the cross-linking agent. Cross-linked polymers have been characterized by gel content, swelling ratios, infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. These polymers are not highly cross-linked, as seen by gel content and swelling ratios, and cross-linking does not have a large effect on the onset temperature of the degradation. Nonetheless, extensive formation of a non-volatile residue occurs