A Qualitative Exploration of Work Values and Job Satisfaction Among Sign Language Interpreters

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of work values on job satisfaction among sign language interpreters due to an increased risk of burnout. A phenomenological approach was utilized to understand the experiences of nine participants through semi-structured interviews. Results revealed six themes: (1) Autonomy, (2) Altruism, (3) Relationships, (4) Achievement, (5) Safety-Comfort, and (6) Status. Empowerment was found to be encompassed within the themes of Altruism and Relationships. Results of this study were consistent with the Theory of Work Adjustment and Demand-Control Theory and were largely consistent with previous work values research. These results point to the importance of balancing autonomy in the workplace, achievement over time, and giving back to the community. Participants provided descriptions of the uniqueness of sign language interpreters’ work lives that can be used to support greater job satisfaction for these professionals who support the deaf people they serve and empower. Also included is a list of recommendations to help interpreters explore personal job satisfaction

Nuclear Mixing Meters for Classical Novae

Classical novae are caused by mass transfer episodes from a main sequence star onto a white dwarf via Roche lobe overflow. This material forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf. Ultimately, a fraction of this material spirals in and piles up on the white dwarf surface under electron-degenerate conditions. The subsequently occurring thermonuclear runaway reaches hundreds of megakelvin and explosively ejects matter into the interstellar medium. The exact peak temperature strongly depends on the underlying white dwarf mass, the accreted mass and metallicity, and the initial white dwarf luminosity. Observations of elemental abundance enrichments in these classical nova events imply that the ejected matter consists not only of processed solar material from the main sequence partner but also of material from the outer layers of the underlying white dwarf. This indicates that white dwarf and accreted matter mix prior to the thermonuclear runaway. The processes by which this mixing occurs require further investigation to be understood. In this work, we analyze elemental abundances ejected from hydrodynamic nova models in search of elemental abundance ratios that are useful indicators of the total amount of mixing. We identify the abundance ratios $\Sigma$CNO/H, Ne/H, Mg/H, Al/H, and Si/H as useful mixing meters in ONe novae. The impact of thermonuclear reaction rate uncertainties on the mixing meters is investigated using Monte Carlo post-processing network calculations with temperature-density evolutions of all mass zones computed by the hydrodynamic models. We find that the current uncertainties in the $^{30}$P($p$,$\gamma$)$^{31}$S rate influence the Si/H abundance ratio, but overall the mixing meters found here are robust against nuclear physics uncertainties. A comparison of our results with observations of ONe novae provides strong constraints for classical nova models

A Place for Education

https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/isuhistorybook/1000/thumbnail.jp

Giant Electron-hole Charging Energy Asymmetry in Ultra-short Carbon Nanotubes

Making full usage of bipolar transport in single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) transistors could permit the development of two-in-one quantum devices with ultra-short channels. We report on clean $\sim$10 to 100 nm long suspended SWCNT transistors which display a large electron-hole transport asymmetry. The devices consist of naked SWCNT channels contacted with sections of SWCNT-under-annealed-gold. The annealed gold acts as an n-doping top gate which creates nm-sharp barriers at the junctions between the contacts and naked channel. These tunnel barriers define a single quantum dot (QD) whose charging energies to add an electron or a hole are vastly different ($e-h$ charging energy asymmetry). We parameterize the $e-h$ transport asymmetry by the ratio of the hole and electron charging energies $\eta_{e-h}$. We show that this asymmetry is maximized for short channels and small band gap SWCNTs. In a small band gap SWCNT device, we demonstrate the fabrication of a two-in-one quantum device acting as a QD for holes, and a much longer quantum bus for electrons. In a 14 nm long channel, $\eta_{e-h}$ reaches up to 2.6 for a device with a band gap of 270 meV. This strong $e-h$ transport asymmetry survives even at room temperature

Evaluating Physical and Cultural Methods to Improve Weed Management in Organic Vegetables

Effectively managing weeds in organic vegetable production continues to be challenging and costly. Cultivation, often referred to as physical weed control (PWC), is foundational for organic farmers; however, efficacy tends to be low and highly variable. Additionally, some crops are slow to germinate, and thus have poor competitive ability against weeds and high mortality from cultivation. This can result in high costs for hand-weeding labor, abundant seed rain into the soil, and a recurring, often increasing, weed problem. These challenges may be addressed by “stacking” tools to increase weed control efficacy, integrating targeted seedbank management strategies to reduce the germinable weed seedbank, and characterizing crop cultivar early growth traits to better understand crop tolerance to different tool mechanisms. ii Chapter one reviews weed management from the perspective of small-scale organic vegetable farms and the unique challenges they face. Weed control objectives, such as minimizing weed seed rain and reducing labor costs, seed- and seedling-focused management like tarping and hand-tool options, and future research needs for small-scale farms are discussed. Chapter two assesses a weed management systems experiment combining tool stacking with seedbank management and how these practices can affect weed control efficacy and the germinable weed seedbank, respectively. Tool stacking helped increase efficacy and lower weed seedling densities during the growing season, while seedbank management reduced the germinable weed seedbank and contributed to higher crop yields in bush bean and table beet. Chapter three builds upon the previous chapter by examining how tool stacking can be used with the Terrateck Double Wheel Hoe, a unique hand tool. The effects of single tools and tool stacking on crop mortality and weed control efficacy were examined in bush bean and table beet. Tool stacking increased weed control efficacy in both crops, and although stacking did not result in higher crop mortality in bush bean, table beet mortality was high. Chapter four assesses the concept of “cultivation tolerance” with nine carrot cultivars, selected to represent large, average, and relatively small plants. Root and shoot characteristics were measured in greenhouse experiments, and carrot mortality and yield from cultivation were measured in field experiments. Few differences in early growth characteristics were found at two-true leaves, and unexpectedly, no differences in cultivar mortality were detected in the field

Pressurised calcination-atmospheric carbonation of limestone for cyclic CO2 capture from flue gases

A study was carried out to investigate the CO2 capture performance of limestone under atmospheric carbonations following pressurised calcination. A series of tests was carried out to study the role of pressurised calcination using a fluidised bed reactor. In this investigation, calcination of limestone particles was carried out at three levels of pressure: 0.1 MPa, 0.5 MPa, and 1.0 MPa. After calcination, the capture performance of the calcined sorbent was tested at atmospheric pressure. As expected, the results indicate that the carbonation conversion of calcined sorbent decreases as the pressure is increased during calcination. Pressurised calcination requires higher temperatures and causes an increase in sorbent sintering, albeit that it would have the advantage of reducing equipment size as well as the compression energy necessary for CO2transport and storage, and an analysis has been provided to give an assessment of the potential benefits associated with such an option using process software.EPSR

Traffic jams and intermittent flows in microfluidic networks

We investigate both experimentally and theoretically the traffic of particles flowing in microfluidic obstacle networks. We show that the traffic dynamics is a non-linear process: the particle current does not scale with the particle density even in the dilute limit where no particle collision occurs. We demonstrate that this non-linear behavior stems from long range hydrodynamic interactions. Importantly, we also establish that there exists a maximal current above which no stationary particle flow can be sustained. For higher current values, intermittent traffic jams form thereby inducing the ejection of the particles from the initial path and the subsequent invasion of the network. Eventually, we put our findings in the broader context of the transport proccesses of driven particles in low dimension