Esterification and polyesterification in ionic liquids: towards the synthesis of highly functional polyesters from renewable resources

This thesis concerns the exploration of esterification and transesterification in ionic liquids (ILs) and the use of the knowledge produced by that exploration to inform the efficient synthesis of highly functional polyesters from renewable resources. The first part, Chapter 6, concerns the effect of solvents on acid catalysed esterification. It describes how solvents, including ILs, affect the rate of such reactions and rationalises this influence using Kamlet Taft solvent polarity descriptors. This chapter also touches on more fundamental questions about acidity in ILs and covers Brønsted and Lewis acids. The second part, Chapter 7, explores transesterification in a similar fashion. In this instance, acid, organic base and lipase enzyme are all explored as potential catalysts in ionic and molecular solvents. Again, Kamlet Taft solvent polarity descriptors are used to help rationalise solvent effects. Finally, Chapter 8, describes the use of ILs as solvents for polyesterification and polytransesterification. The relative solubilities of some renewable monomers are determined in a range of ILs and a number of different polycondensations are studied in ILs and molecular solvents considered most appropriate in each case. This Chapter seeks to reach a conclusion about the appropriateness of ILs as solvents for the synthesis of functional polyesters, and the reasons behind that conclusion

The Jurisdictional Difficulties of Defining Charter-School Teachers Unions Under Current Labor Law

As charter schools have flourished in form, they have also evolved in variety: parents can send their children to a trilingual immersion school or a school whose classes meet entirely online. The same flexibility that charters offer as an alternative to traditional public schools also makes them difficult to classify for purposes of labor law. When charter-school teachers form a union, it is not clear why the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and not a state labor analogue, should have jurisdiction over a charter-school labor dispute. And yet, the NLRB has asserted jurisdiction in most charter-school cases. This Note examines the NLRB’s test for determining whether the broad protections of the National Labor Relations Act apply to a group of workers in the context of charter-school employees. It proposes a more robust test for differentiating between charter schools for purposes of the Act, and it applies the test to two charter schools

On the timing between terrestrial gamma ray flashes, radio atmospherics, and optical lightning emission

On 25 October 2012 the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager (RHESSI) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellites passed over a thunderstorm on the coast of Sri Lanka. RHESSI observed a terrestrial gamma ray flash (TGF) originating from this thunderstorm. Optical measurements of the causative lightning stroke were made by the lightning imaging sensor (LIS) on board TRMM. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) detected the very low frequency (VLF) radio emissions from the lightning stroke. The geolocation from WWLLN, which we also assume is the TGF source location, was in the convective core of the cloud. By using new information about both RHESSI and LIS timing accuracy, we find that the peak in the TGF light curve occurs 230 $\mu$s before the WWLLN time. Analysis of the optical signal from LIS shows that within the uncertainties, we cannot conclude which comes first: the gamma emission or the optical emission. We have also applied the new information about the LIS timing on a previously published event by {\O}stgaard et al. (2012). Also for this event we are not able to conclude which signal comes first. More accurate instruments are needed in order to get the exact timing between the TGF and the optical signal

Would California Survive the MOVE Act?: A Preemption Analysis of Employee Noncompetition Law

Employers use noncompete clauses at all levels of employment, from executives to managers to delivery drivers. Such agreements allow employers to protect their business interests like trade secrets, customer contact lists, and investments in employee training. But restrictions on mobility could disproportionately impact low-wage employees. Moreover, enforcement of noncompetition agreements varies widely throughout the states, with some states favoring enforcement and other states, like California, broadly prohibiting noncompetition agreements. In 2015, United States Senators Chris Murphy and Al Franken introduced a bill that federally prohibits employers from requiring low-wage employees to enter into covenants not to compete, the Mobility and Opportunity for Vulnerable Employees (MOVE) Act. Although a statutory prohibition like California’s seems facially reconcilable with the MOVE Act, the scope of prohibitions encompassed by each statute are far apart. Therefore, if the MOVE Act or similar federal legislation were passed, it would preempt California law because the state’s broad prohibition would conflict with the Act’s balancing of employer and employee interests and would nullify the Act’s remedial structure

A Forgotten Sacrifice: Richard Gentry, Missouri Volunteers, and the Battle of Okeechobee

The Christmas Day 1837 battle at Lake Okeechobee was a crucial turning point of the Second Seminole War. Almost 30 percent of the American casualties in that engagement were volunteers from Missouri, forty men out of an effective volunteer force of 132. Among the dead was the volunteers’ commanding officer, Colonel Richard Gentry. While the battle’s American commander, Colonel Zachary Taylor, claimed a great victory, the clash was a disaster for the Missourians and, at that, was only the last in a series of difficult trials faced by the luckless regiment

The modeling, fabrication, and testing of an instantaneous torque measuring system

The purpose of this work was to obtain a measuring system to experimentally determine the instantaneous magnitude and frequency of the torques from zero to 2400 Hertz produced by a single phase motor. This paper explains the methods employed in designing and fabricating a measuring system and shows the results from tests using this equipment. It was found that a measuring system based on the determination of the instantaneous value of the stator\u27s reaction torques could be realized. Also, it was found that some simple methods of computation could be used to find the magnitudes of the frequency components comprising these instantaneous torques --Abstract, page ii

Polygamy is creepy, wrong, and sick! (however, I find it fascinating) : parasocial comparison, parasocial processing, parasocial contact hypothesis, and polygamy

This dissertation examined tolerance of polygamists as a result of exposure to television programming. Specifically, it looked at how audiences form attitudes toward the practice of polygamy and its participants in light of viewing its portrayals in popular television entertainment. Using historical research, semi-structured interviews, surveys of viewers and students, and an experiment, I explored the issue of tolerance among different types of Americans. The findings in these studies demonstrate that Americans never cared for polygamy and continue to find little appeal for its practice. Yet, we are captivated by television shows that focus on polygamy. Part of our habit of tuning in is related to how we process portrayals of individual polygamists; we compare ourselves with them, sometimes upwardly or downwardly, and may build parasocial bonds with them through our screens. I found strong support for the parasocial contact hypothesis, and argue that with positive portrayals over time, viewing individual characters in such shows could erode the sense of “divergence” we feel as a result of our unfamiliarity with the practice. On the other hand, negative and even mixed portrayals of polygamists can reinforce our existing stereotypes and prejudices

Principles of secondary algebra and their proof

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit