Boston College

About: Boston College is a education organization based out in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 9749 authors who have published 25406 publications receiving 1105145 citations. The organization is also known as: BC.

Stable iridium dinuclear heterogeneous catalysts supported on metal-oxide substrate for solar water oxidation

Abstract: Atomically dispersed catalysts refer to substrate-supported heterogeneous catalysts featuring one or a few active metal atoms that are separated from one another. They represent an important class of materials ranging from single-atom catalysts (SACs) and nanoparticles (NPs). While SACs and NPs have been extensively reported, catalysts featuring a few atoms with well-defined structures are poorly studied. The difficulty in synthesizing such structures has been a critical challenge. Here we report a facile photochemical method that produces catalytic centers consisting of two Ir metal cations, bridged by O and stably bound to a support. Direct evidence unambiguously supporting the dinuclear nature of the catalysts anchored on α-Fe2O3 is obtained by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC-STEM). Experimental and computational results further reveal that the threefold hollow binding sites on the OH-terminated surface of α-Fe2O3 anchor the catalysts to provide outstanding stability against detachment or aggregation. The resulting catalysts exhibit high activities toward H2O photooxidation.

NHC‐Cu‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydroboration of Acyclic and Exocyclic 1,1‐Disubstituted Aryl Alkenes

Abstract: New chiral bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene—copper complexes (I) promote the enantioselective hydroboration of acyclic alkenes (II)/(V) and exocyclic 1,1-disubstituted alkenes (VII).

Rational choice, situated action, and the social control of organizations

Abstract: The legal and administrative apparatus responsible for the social control of organizations relies extensively on the deterrent effects of punishment. This strategy presumes a rational choice model of organizational misconduct that decontextualizes decisionmaking, emphasizing consequences while ignoring how preferences are formed. I raise three challenges to the rational choice/ deterrence model of social control: (1) research and theory on decisionmaking, (2) a sociological paradigm that situates individual action in a structure/ culture/agency nexus that influences interpretation, meaning, and action at the local level, and (3) an analysis of the Challenger launch decision at NASA as situated action, showing how structure, culture, and history shaped preferences and choice. These challenges suggest a need to reorient regulatory activity toward the social context of decisionmaking. I conclude with a research agenda to explore the relationship between situated action, preference formation, and rational choice. Management decisions in the business world that value competitive and economic success more highly than the well-being of workers, consumers, or the general public so often have come to public attention that today's most widely accepted model of corporate criminality portrays managers of profit-seeking organizations as "amoral calculators" whose illegal actions are motivated by rational calculation of costs and opportunities (Kagan & Scholz 1984). Driven by pressures from the competitive environment, managers will violate the law to attain desired organizational goals unless the anticipated legal penalties (the expected costs weighed against the probability of delaying or avoiding them) exceed additional benefits the firm could gain by violation. The amoral calculator model locates the cause of business misconduct in the calculations of individual decisionmakers. It reflects the logic of sociological rational choice theory (Hechter 1987; Friedman & Hechter 1988; Cook & Levi 1990; J. S. Coleman 1990a; Hechter & Kanazawa 1997), but with one important distinction. When decisionmakers' calculations of costs and benefits are tainted by self-interest, economics, or politics so that intentional wrongdoing and/or harm result, their calculation becomes amoral. The amoral calculator model also has wide acceptance as an explanation for the misconduct of other types of organizations that violate laws, administrative rules, and regulations. Though not corporate profit seekers, to survive, all organizations must compete for scarce resources (Pfeffer & Salancik 1978; Vaughan 1983:54-66). Competition for scarce resources encourages research institutions to falsify data in order to win grants and prestige; universities to violate NCAA recruiting regulations in order to guarantee winning athletic teams; police departments to violate the law to make arrests that bring recognition and funding; political parties and governments to commit illegalities to secure national and international power. In response to competitive pressures emanating from the external environment, according to the amoral calculator model, individuals attempt to achieve organization goals through violative behavior. The linchpin of the model's applicability to a variety of organizations is the violative behavior itself: Because laws, rules, or administrative regulations forbid the behavior and carry penalties, decisions to violate appear to be imbued with intent, calculation of costs and benefits, and some degree of forethought about harmful consequences. Punishment is considered an important tool for the social control of organizations because of institutionalized beliefs that the ultimate cause of organizational offending is rational actors who will include the costs of punishment in their calculations and be deterred from violative behavior. Most certainly, the legal and administrative apparatus for the social control of organizations utilizes diverse approaches (e. …

Physically founded phonon dispersions of few-layer materials and the case of borophene

Abstract: By building physically sound interatomic force constants, we offer evidence of the universal presence of a quadratic phonon branch in all unstrained 2D materials, thus contradicting much of the existing literature. Through a reformulation of the interatomic force constants (IFCs) in terms of internal coordinates, we find that a delicate balance between the IFCs is responsible for this quadraticity. We use this approach to predict the thermal conductivity of Pmmn borophene, which is comparable to that of , and displays a remarkable in-plane anisotropy. These qualities may enable the efficient heat management of borophene devices in potential nanoelectronic applications.IMPACT STATEMENT The newly found universality of quadratic dispersion will change the way 2D-material phonons are calculated. Predicted results for borophene shall become a fundamental reference for future research on this material.