Looking back at slow employment growth

An analysis of slower-than-normal employment growth in the post-1991 economic recovery, examining trends at both the state and national level and finding a widespread weakness in the rate of job addition in growing industries, rather than an unusually high job deletion rate in contracting industries.Employment (Economic theory) ; Economic conditions - United States

Impact of an improved neutrino energy estimate on outflows in neutron star merger simulations

Binary neutron star mergers are promising sources of gravitational waves for ground-based detectors such as Advanced LIGO. Neutron-rich material ejected by these mergers may also be the main source of r-process elements in the Universe, while radioactive decays in the ejecta can power bright electromagnetic post-merger signals. Neutrino-matter interactions play a critical role in the evolution of the composition of the ejected material, which significantly impacts the outcome of nucleosynthesis and the properties of the associated electromagnetic signal. In this work, we present a simulation of a binary neutron star merger using an improved method for estimating the average neutrino energies in our energy-integrated neutrino transport scheme. These energy estimates are obtained by evolving the neutrino number density in addition to the neutrino energy and flux densities. We show that significant changes are observed in the composition of the polar ejecta when comparing our new results with earlier simulations in which the neutrino spectrum was assumed to be the same everywhere in optically thin regions. In particular, we find that material ejected in the polar regions is less neutron rich than previously estimated. Our new estimates of the composition of the polar ejecta make it more likely that the color and timescale of the electromagnetic signal depend on the orientation of the binary with respect to an observer's line-of-sight. These results also indicate that important observable properties of neutron star mergers are sensitive to the neutrino energy spectrum, and may need to be studied through simulations including a more accurate, energy-dependent neutrino transport scheme.Comment: 19p, 17 figures, Accepted by Phys.Rev.

CONDUCTING POLYMER MICROSTRUCTURES AND COMPOSITES FOR SUPERCAPACITORS

Increasing power demands associated with electronic devices, transportation and renewable energy systems require new energy storage technologies with higher specific capacitance, faster charge-discharge rates and long-term cycle stability. Supercapacitors offer an alternative to conventional batteries and capacitors, with the potential to deliver high energy and power density. Of the different materials used as electrodes, electrochemically conducting polymers (ECPs) have emerged as a low cost alternative with tremendous synthetic and structural versatility. The focus of our research is to utilize various processing and synthesis methods to increase the performance of ECP electrodes by controlling ion-transport and electron transfer processes. First, we show how to synthesize ECP microtubes with tunable dimensions using stainless steel mesh substrates with varying wire diameters and spacing. Second, we investigated the use of polymer dopants to directly affect key performance metrics. For example, we integrated poly(4-styrene sulfonic acid), a known proton conductor, to increase the ion transport within the polymer structures. We also investigated the use of lignin, a non-conductive polymer with moderate redox activity, to improve the redox capacitance of the ECP film. Through this work, we demonstrate how electrode composition and morphology influence key metrics of polymer electrodes to design new materials for high-energy supercapacitors

Accelerator mass spectrometry 14C determination in CO2 produced from laser decomposition of aragonite

Author Posting. © John Wiley & Sons, 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 22 (2008): 3443-3449, doi:10.1002/rcm.3745.Determination of 14C in aragonite (CaCO3) decomposed thermally to CO2 using an yttrium‐aluminum‐garnet doped neodymium laser is reported. Laser decomposition accelerator mass spectrometer (LD‐AMS) measurements reproduce AMS determinations of 14C from conventional reaction of aragonite with concentrated phosphoric acid. The lack of significant differences between these sets of measurements indicate that LD‐AMS radiocarbon dating can overcome the significant fractionation that has been observed during stable isotope (C and O) laser decomposition analysis of different carbonate minerals. The laser regularly converted nearly 30% of material removed to CO2 despite being optimized for ablation, where laser energy breaks material apart rather than chemically altering it. These results illustrate promise for using laser decomposition on the front‐end of AMS systems that directly measure CO2 gas. The feasibility of such measurements depends on 1. the improvement of material removal and/or CO2 generation efficiency of the laser decomposition system and 2. the ionization efficiency of AMS systems measuring continuously flowing CO2.This work was funded on a competitive basis by the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Technology Innovation Award of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

An Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Career Orientation of Federal Civilian Engineers

This study was conducted to analyze the factors that affect the career orientation of federal civilian engineers at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. One hundred and sixty-seven scientists and engineers from several engineering divisions were surveyed regarding turnover intentions. Based on literature reviews in the area of turnover with this particular population, a model was developed containing several factors related to intent to remain in the organization. Results indicated that this model predicts the turnover intention with 87.5 percent accuracy. Findings are interpreted in light of ongoing efforts on an organization-wide basis to introduce change in the Center's culture through a quality management program. Keywords: Career orientation, Job satisfaction turnover. (sdw)Naval Avionics Center, Civilian Personnel Departmenthttp://archive.org/details/analysisoffactor00robeN0016389WR90118NAApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Polymer-nanocarbon composites, methods of making composites, and energy storage devices including the composite

Embodiments of the present disclosure, in one aspect, relate to composites including a carbon nanomaterial having a redox-active material, such as a polymer containing redox groups, disposed on the carbon nanomaterial, methods of making the composite, methods of storing energy, and the like

New data-based analysis tool for functioning of Natural Flood Management measures reveals multi-site time-variable effectiveness

Thanks to the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation Scholars Programme for funding MR to do this research. MW received funding from the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Sciences Analytical Services Division (JHI- D2-2) which enabled his contributions and supported the collection of wider hydrometric datasets in the Tarland catchment. JG and MW acknowledge funding from NERC (NE/ P010334/1) and Chivas Brothers (Glenlivet). In relation to Tarland, we wish to acknowledge the MacRobert Estate, local landowners and Carol Taylor and Helen Watson for their assistance with fieldwork. For Glenlivet, we wish to acknowledge Dr Ronald Daalmans, staff at the Glenlivet distillery and Dr Jessica Fennell and Dr Eva Loerke for their assistance with fieldwork. We would like to thank Dr Paul Quinn in relation to Belford. We are grateful to Prof Keith Beven who provided constructive comments that helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.Peer reviewe