Nanoscale Charge Balancing Mechanism in Alkali Substituted Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate Gels

Alkali-activated materials and related alternative cementitious systems are sustainable material technologies that have the potential to substantially lower CO$_2$ emissions associated with the construction industry. However, the impact of augmenting the chemical composition of the material on the main binder phase, calcium-silicate-hydrate gel, is far from understood, particularly since this binder phase is disordered at the nanoscale. Here, we reveal the presence of a charge balancing mechanism at the molecular level, which leads to stable structures when alkalis (i.e., Na or K) are incorporated into a calcium-silicate-hydrate gel, as modeled using crystalline 14{\AA} tobermorite. These alkali containing charge balanced structures possess superior mechanical properties compared to their charge unbalanced counterparts. Our results, which are based on first-principles simulations using density functional theory, include the impact of charge balancing on the optimized geometries of the new model phases, formation energies, local bonding environments, bulk moduli and diffusion barriers of the alkali atoms within the crystals

Commending Religion to All around Us: Baptist Church Discipline, 1780-1850

In 1818, a letter signed “B.” was sent to The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer. The letter, titled “Things to be set in order in the churches,” stated that the Baptists’ “moral and social habits, including [their] general intercourse with the world, must be such, as to commend religion to all around us.” While all religions fashion themselves pure and saintly, B., and his Baptist contemporaries, truly believed that their discipline and social habits, not just their internal piety, made them the world’s saviors. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, American Baptist congregations were flourishing. In 1740, there were still only sixty Baptist congregations, but their numbers steadily grew into a strong and sustainable denomination. Baptist leaders coupled revolutionary democratization with strict rules and unfaltering discipline to create a system of beliefs that attracted converts. Discipline, the system of rules and punishments used by a church, prescribed the proper behavior for a church member and set up processes by which members were verbally reprimanded, suspended, and expelled from the church. Discipline can be found in all Christian denominations, but the Baptist’s democratic organization gave discipline a distinctive role in their churches: not only was it used to dictate proper roles to believers, discipline attracted and controlled members through its strictness, safeguarded democracy, kept members in the church, and maintained authority in the hands of Baptist leaders, a problem that other denominations, such as the Methodists, failed to address during this period

Relationship versus Transactional Marketing in the Service Industry

Undergraduate research varies from major to major, offering valuable insight toward understanding more about what one is studying. This study focused on relationship versus transactional marketing in the service industry and the impact that building relationships has on making a sale. The aim of this study was to conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses in order to identify patterns regarding the correlation between building relationships and closing a sale. This objective was accomplished in this study. A sample population of consumers was obtained from a proprietary database from a collection of research obtained during my internship with Company X. The data was analyzed to determine if there was a correlation between building relationships with consumers and making a sale. Existing Company X customers and non-existing customers were equally examined. As a result, this study contributed to the field of marketing by determining if building relationship results in a higher number of closed sales

Lauren Claire White, Oboe

Sonatine pour hautbois et piano / Maurice Ravel, transcription by David Walter; Concerto in C Major for Oboe and Orchestra KV 314 / W. A. Mozart; Trio pour piano, hautbois, et basson / Francis Poulen

Lauren Claire White, Oboe

Six Études Pour Hautbois / Giles Silvestrini; Cantata No. 202 / Johann Sebastian Bach; Oboe Quartet in F minor, KV 370 / W. A. Mozart; Fantaisie Pastorale pour Hautbois et Piano, Op. 37 / Eugène Bozz

The positioning of school-based teacher educators as partners in initial teacher education

White, E. & Dickerson, C. (2016), 'The positioning of school-based teacher educators as partners in initial teacher education', in Proceedings of the 41st ATEE Annual Conference - Educating the Best Teachers: a Challenge for Teacher Education, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 22-24 August 2016, FONTYS, University of Applied Sciences.Downloa