Hasbro, Mattel Toy Suppliers Slammed In Labor Report

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide. Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.CLW_2015_Report_China_hasbro_mattel.pdf: 206 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

A Physical-Chemical Study of the Stability and Kinetic Effects of Metal Ion Complexes in Solution

Abstract Not Provided

Nanoparticle Catalytic Enhancement of Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane for Hydrogen Production

The U.S. produces 5559.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, of which 21% is produced by industrial processes. Steam reforming, an industrial process that accounts for 95% of all hydrogen production in industry, produces 134.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide or around 11% of the total carbon dioxide produced by industry. This carbon dioxide is then either emitted or goes through a sequestration process that accounts for 75% of the plant\u27s operational costs. An alternative reaction to steam reforming is dry reforming, which utilizes carbon dioxide rather than emitting it and can be used in conjunction with current steam reforming to remove costs associated with sequestration. Dry reforming is not used in industry due to its higher energy requirements and lower catalyst life due to carbon deposition. To reduce energy requirements and extend the life of the dry reforming catalyst, nanostructured heterogenous metals and ceramics made from an electrospinning process and graphene nanoscrolls made through a bulk electrochemical method are proposed as a catalyst and highly sensitive chemiresistive sensors to monitor precise gas quantities within the reaction without the need for extra energy supplied to them. This dissertation explores the use of nanostructured heterogeneous metals and nonmetals as more resilient catalysts and supports for the dry reforming technique. To reduce the energy required for dry reforming, catalysts were fabricated through an electrospinning process and used nickel as the primary catalyst due to its high activity and low cost. Iron was used within the nanofibers to create a redox side reaction to decrease the solid carbon formation on the surface of the catalysts showing higher reactivity after 15 hours of reaction. Electrospun magnesium aluminate spinels ceramics were studied as a support and found to have excellent stability and reactivity, achieving an 83% lower apparent activation energy than nickel catalysts alone. To reduce coking on the surface of the catalyst, graphene nanoscrolls were fabricated using a scalable electrochemical exfoliation technique and used as supports in the dry reforming reaction to nickel nanoparticles. They were found to have similar properties to carbon nanotube supports reported in previous literature and a 30% lower coking amount than traditional nickel catalysts after 15 hours and 12% lower apparent activation energy than traditional nickel catalysts. Finally, to be able to precisely monitor gas evolution, the electrospun metal nanofibers and graphene nanoscrolls were used as sensing elements in a polyaniline doped gas sensor. These sensors were tested at room temperature with methane, ethanol gas and acetone gas and found to have responses over 100% higher than polyaniline alone. Combined, catalytic nanofibers and graphene nanoscroll supports have been shown to lower the apparent activation energy requirements and resist carbon deposition induced deactivation on the catalyst while allowing for a passive sensing material, offering a pathway forward towards an economically viable dry reforming process

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA): A Genetic Linkage?

Neurodegenerative motor neuron disorders (MNDs) have devastating effects. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), for example, is a debilitating and sometimes lethal disease in children. SMA is monogenic, autosomal recessively inherited disorder caused by a loss-of-function mutation of surviving motor neuron 1 (SMN1). SMN2 is an identical copy of this gene and produces abbreviated transcripts without exon 7 though some full transcripts are produced that ameliorate the disease. Previous clinical trials for this disease have not produced consistent results. However, in a recent cross-sectional study, biomarkers for SMA (BforSMA), protein candidates and metabolite markers were identified (Finkel et al., 2012). These markers can be used for clinical assessment, identification of molecular pathways, and may guide response to treatment. Clinical trials of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), another motor neuron disorder, have been uniformly disappointing without the benefit of a full understanding of ALS’s mechanisms. Numerous theories attempt to explain ALS’s selectivity for motor neuron degeneration, but none are conclusive. One hypothesis, gem depletion, emerges from the studies of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) transgenic mice that have been discovered to contain low levels of SMN, thereby potentially linking SMA and ALS. Furthermore, SMN1 and SMN2 are seen as risk factors for ALS (Andersen & Al-Chalabi, 2011). Biomarker identification may also help in identifying ALS’s pathogenesis and pathophysiology as it has begun to do for SMA. ALS and SMA may be more similar than previously thought. Both MNDs may interact in a variety of genetic and mechanistic pathways unknown at present. If so, this may serve to link seemingly disparate crippling diseases, and thereby promote efforts by government agencies and pharmaceutical companies to pursue research and development for these “orphan” diseases