Purdue University

About: Purdue University is a education organization based out in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Heat transfer. The organization has 73219 authors who have published 163563 publications receiving 5775236 citations. The organization is also known as: Purdue & Purdue-West Lafayette.

Families that work: Policies for reconciling parenthood and employment

Abstract: Families That Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment. Janet C. Gornick and Marcia K. Meyers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2003. 392 pp. ISBN 0-87154-356-7. $39.95 (cloth). This book begins with the phrase "imagine a world," which aptly describes the authors' aim. The "world" that Janet Gornick and Marcia Meyers imagine is a "dual-earner-dual-carer" U.S. society, a "fully gender-egalitarian, economically secure, caring society" (p. 4). They acknowledge the enormous magnitude of transformation that would be required for such an end vision to be achieved, but point out that without a clear end vision, such a transformation would be impossible. Gornick and Meyers propose that a dual-earner-dual-carer society can be achieved through three key changes: 1) Shifting several hours per week of men's time from paid work to care for children, and a smaller number of women's hours from home to paid work 2) Creating new employment arrangements to allow men and women to take time for parenting without excessive financial or advancement penalties in the workplace 3) Reducing standard working hours and expanding paid family leave and public funding for child care Although not given a great deal of space in the book, I was intrigued by Gornick and Meyers's analysis of tension among three discourses about work and family. Advocates for children tend to favor policies such as child tax credits and maternity leaves that make it easier for mothers to stay at home with young children, temporarily opting out of the labor market. Discourse about work-family conflict tends to favor policies that make it easier for women to be workers and parents simultaneously, such as part-time work, job sharing, and flexible schedules. Feminists emphasize the pursuit of gender equality by improving access to high-quality nonparental care for children and access to high-quality jobs for women. The problem with each of these solutions, according to Gornick and Meyers, is that they pit gender equality against the interests of children, in each case sacrificing one interest in favor of the other, and in all cases sidestepping the need for change in men's behavior. The dual-earner-dual-carer vision is an effort to simultaneously pursue both goals by transforming both men's and women's roles. Much of the book is devoted to articulating shortcomings in U.S. policies relative to other industrialized nations in North America or Europe. While the theme is familiar, the book includes an expansive, data-driven, and clear articulation of the evidence, drawing on national data sets and the content of specific regulations in several countries. For example, the U.S. spends $650 per child and 0.5% of its GDP on children, less than half the amounts allocated by countries in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Policy data are juxtaposed with an embarrassing litany of poor outcomes for children in the United States relative to their peers in other countries: high rates of low birth weight and mortality among infants, low achievement scores in science and math and high levels of television watching among school children, and high rates of teen pregnancy. …

Scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy: application to biology and technology

Abstract: The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM) are scanning probe microscopes capable of resolving surface detail down to the atomic level. The potential of these microscopes for revealing subtle details of structure is illustrated by atomic resolution images including graphite, an organic conductor, an insulating layered compound, and individual adsorbed oxygen atoms on a semiconductor. Application of the STM for imaging biological materials directly has been hampered by the poor electron conductivity of most biological samples. The use of thin conductive metal coatings and replicas has made it possible to image some biological samples, as indicated by recently obtained images of a recA-DNA complex, a phospholipid bilayer, and an enzyme crystal. The potential of the AFM, which does not require a conductive sample, is shown with molecular resolution images of a nonconducting organic monolayer and an amino acid crystal that reveals individual methyl groups on the ends of the amino acids. Applications of these new microscopes to technology are demonstrated with images of an optical disk stamper, a diffraction grating, a thin-film magnetic recording head, and a diamond cutting tool. The STM has even been used to improve the quality of diffraction gratings and magnetic recording heads.

The community Noah land surface model with multiparameterization options (Noah-MP): 2. Evaluation over global river basins

Abstract: [1] The augmented Noah land surface model described in the first part of the two-part series was evaluated here over global river basins Across various climate zones, global-scale tests can reveal a model's weaknesses and strengths that a local-scale testing cannot In addition, global-scale tests are more challenging than local- and catchment-scale tests Given constant model parameters (e g, runoff parameters) across global river basins, global-scale tests are more stringent We assessed model performance against various satellite and ground-based observations over global river basins through six experiments that mimic a transition from the original Noah LSM to the fully augmented version The model shows transitional improvements in modeling runoff, soil moisture, snow, and skin temperature, despite considerable increase in computational time by the fully augmented Noah-MP version compared to the original Noah LSM The dynamic vegetation model favorably captures seasonal and spatial variability of leaf area index and green vegetation fraction We also conducted 36 ensemble experiments with 36 combinations of optional schemes for runoff, leaf dynamics, stomatal resistance, and the β factor Runoff schemes play a dominant and different role in controlling soil moisture and its relationship with evapotranspiration compared to ecological processes such as the β factor, vegetation dynamics, and stomatal resistance The 36-member ensemble mean of runoff performs better than any single member over the world's 50 largest river basins, suggesting a great potential of land-based ensemble simulations for climate prediction

Evaluation of Various Turbulence Models in Predicting Airflow and Turbulence in Enclosed Environments by CFD: Part 2—Comparison with Experimental Data from Literature

Abstract: Numerous turbulence models have been developed in the past two decades, and many of them can be used in predicting airflows and turbulence in enclosed environments. It is important to evaluate the generality and robustness of the turbulence models for various indoor airflow scenarios. This study evaluated the performance of eight turbulence models, potentially suitable for indoor airflow, in terms of accuracy and computing cost. These models cover a wide range of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approaches, including Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modeling, hybrid RANS and large-eddy simulation (or detached-eddy simulation [DES]), and large-eddy simulation (LES). The RANS turbulence models tested include the indoor zero-equation model, three two-equation models (the RNG k-∊, low Reynolds number k-∊, and SST k-ω models), a three-equation model ( model), and a Reynolds-stress model (RSM). The investigation tested these models for representative airflows in enclosed environments, such as forced con...

Friendship Quality and Social Development

Abstract: A high-quality friendship is characterized by high levels of prosocial behavior, intimacy, and other positive features, and low levels of conflicts, rivalry, and other negative features. Friendship quality has been assumed to have direct effects on many aspects of children's social development, including their self-esteem and social adjustment. Recent research suggests, however, that friendship quality affects primarily children's success in the social world of peers. Friendship quality could also have indirect effects, by magnifying or diminishing the influence of friends on each other's attitudes and behaviors. Having high-quality friendships may lessen children's tendencies to imitate the behavior of shy and withdrawn friends, but little evidence supports the hypothesis that high-quality friendships magnify friends’ influence.