Growth and Modification of Cluster-Assembled Thin Films

Thin film applications have become increasingly important in our search for multifunctional and economically viable technological solutions of the future. Thin film coatings can be used for a multitude of purposes, ranging from a basic enhancement of aesthetic attributes to the addition of a complex surface functionality. Anything from electronic or optical properties, to an increased catalytic or biological activity, can be added or enhanced by the deposition of a thin film, with a thickness of only a few atomic layers at the best, on an already existing surface. Thin films offer both a means of saving in materials and the possibility for improving properties without a critical enlargement of devices. Nanocluster deposition is a promising new method for the growth of structured thin films. Nanoclusters are small aggregates of atoms or molecules, ranging in sizes from only a few nanometers up to several hundreds of nanometers in diameter. Due to their large surface to volume ratio, and the confinement of atoms and electrons in all three dimensions, nanoclusters exhibit a wide variety of exotic properties that differ notably from those of both single atoms and bulk materials. Nanoclusters are a completely new type of building block for thin film deposition. As preformed entities, clusters provide a new means of tailoring the properties of thin films before their growth, simply by changing the size or composition of the clusters that are to be deposited. Contrary to contemporary methods of thin film growth, which mainly rely on the deposition of single atoms, cluster deposition also allows for a more precise assembly of thin films, as the configuration of single atoms with respect to each other is already predetermined in clusters. Nanocluster deposition offers a possibility for the coating of virtually any material with a nanostructured thin film, and therein the enhancement of already existing physical or chemical properties, or the addition of some exciting new feature. A clearer understanding of cluster-surface interactions, and the growth of thin films by cluster deposition, must, however, be achieved, if clusters are to be successfully used in thin film technologies. Using a combination of experimental techniques and molecular dynamics simulations, both the deposition of nanoclusters, and the growth and modification of cluster-assembled thin films, are studied in this thesis. Emphasis is laid on an understanding of the interaction between metal clusters and surfaces, and therein the behaviour of these clusters during deposition and thin film growth. The behaviour of single metal clusters, as they impact on clean metal surfaces, is analysed in detail, from which it is shown that there exists a cluster size and deposition energy dependent limit, below which epitaxial alignment occurs. If larger clusters are deposited at low energies, or cluster-surface interactions are weaker, non-epitaxial deposition will take place, resulting in the formation of nanocrystalline structures. The effect of cluster size and deposition energy on the morphology of cluster-assembled thin films is also determined, from which it is shown that nanocrystalline cluster-assembled films will be porous. Modification of these thin films, with the purpose of enhancing their mechanical properties and durability, without destroying their nanostructure, is presented. Irradiation with heavy ions is introduced as a feasible method for increasing the density, and therein the mechanical stability, of cluster-assembled thin films, without critically destroying their nanocrystalline properties. The results of this thesis demonstrate that nanocluster deposition is a suitable technique for the growth of nanostructured thin films. The interactions between nanoclusters and their supporting surfaces must, however, be carefully considered, if a controlled growth of cluster-assembled thin films, with precisely tailored properties, is to be achieved.

Efficacy of family mediation and the role of family violence: Study protocol

Background Family law reforms in Australia require separated parents in dispute to attempt mandatory family dispute resolution (FDR) in community-based family services before court attendance. However, there are concerns about such services when clients present with a history of high conflict and family violence. This study protocol describes a longitudinal study of couples presenting for family mediation services. The study aims to describe the profile of family mediation clients, including type of family violence, and determine the impact of violence profiles on FDR processes and outcomes, such as the type and durability of shared parenting arrangements and clients’ satisfaction with mediated agreements. Methods A mixed method, naturalistic longitudinal design is used. The sampling frame is clients presenting at nine family mediation centres across metropolitan, outer suburban, and regional/rural sites in Victoria, Australia. Data are collected at pre-test, completion of mediation, and six months later. Self-administered surveys are administered at the three time points, and a telephone interview at the final post-test. The key study variable is family violence. Key outcome measures are changes in the type and level of acrimony and violent behaviours, the relationship between violence and mediated agreements, the durability of agreements over six months, and client satisfaction with mediation. Discussion Family violence is a major risk to the physical and mental health of women and children. This study will inform debates about the role of family violence and how to manage it in the family mediation context. It will also inform decision-making about mediation practices by better understanding how mediation impacts on parenting agreements, and the implications for children, especially in the context of family violence.

Written Cancer Narratives : An Ethnomedical Study of Cancer Patients' Thoughts, Emotions and Experiences

Since the second half of the 20th century, cancer has become a dominant disease in Western countries, endangering people regardless of age, gender, race or social status. Every year almost eight million people die of cancer worldwide. In Finland every fourth person is expected to fall ill with cancer at some stage of his or her life. During the 20th century, along with rapid changes in the medical system, people s awareness of cancer has increased a great deal. This has also influenced the image of cancer in popular discourse over the past decades. However, from the scientific point of view there is still much that is unclear about the disease. This thesis shows that this is a big problem for ordinary people, as, according to culture-bound illness ideology, people need an explanation about the origin of their illness in order to help them cope. The main aim of this thesis is to examine the process of being ill with cancer from the patient s point of view, in order to analyse attitudes and behaviour towards cancer and its significance and culture-bound images. This narrative-based study concentrates on patients voicings , which are important in understanding the cancer experience and when attempting to make it more open within current cultural and societal settings. The Kun sairastuin syöpään ( when I fell ill with cancer ) writing competition organised by Suomen Syöpäpotilaat ry (the Finnish Cancer Patients Association), Suomen Syöpäyhdistys ry (the Finnish Cancer Union), and Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kansanrunousarkisto (the Finnish Literary Society Folklore Archive) was announced on the 1st of May 1994 and lasted until the 30th of September 1994. As a result, a total of 672 cancer narratives, totalling 6384 pages, were received, filled with experiences relating to cancer. Written cancer narratives form a body of empirical data that is suitable for content or textual analysis. In this thesis, content analysis is adopted in order to become familiar with the texts and to preselect the themes and analytical units for further examination. I use multiple perspectives in order to interpret cancer patients ideas and reasoning. The ethnomedical approach unites popular health beliefs that originated in Finnish folk medicine, as well as connecting alternative medicine, which patients make use of, with biomedicine, the dominant form of medicine today. In addition to this, patients narratives, which are composed of various structural segments, are approached from the folklorist s perspective. In this way they can be seen as short pathographies, reconstructions of self-negotiation and individual decision making during the illness process. Above all, cancer patients writing describe their feelings, thoughts and experiences. Factors that appear insignificant to modern medicine, overwhelmed as it is by medical technologies that concentrate on dysfunctional tissue within diseased bodies. Ethnomedical study of cancer patients writings gives access to the human side of cancer discourse, and combines both medical, and popular, knowledge of cancer. In my view, the natural world and glimpses of tradition are bound together with one general aim within cancer narratives: to tackle the illness and mediate its meanings. Furthermore, the narrative approach reveals that participants write with the hope of offering a different interpretation of the cancer experience, and thus of confronting culturally pre-defined images and ideologies.

What should I think; How should I feel? : The balancing of personal experiences and social norms in the outgroup attitude formation of youth

The present study focused on the associations between the personal experiences of intergroup contact, perceived social norms and the outgroup attitudes of Finnish majority and Russian-speaking minority youth living in Finland. The theoretical background of the study was derived from Allport s (1954) theory of intergroup contact (i.e., the contact hypothesis), social psychological research on normative influences on outgroup attitudes (e.g., Rutland, 2004; Stangor and Leary, 2006) and developmental psychological research on the formation of explicit (deliberate) and implicit (automatically activated) outgroup attitudes in adolescence (e.g., Barrett, 2007; Killen, McGlothlin and Henning, 2008). The main objective of the study was to shed light on the role of perceived social norms in the formation of outgroup attitudes among adolescents. First, the study showed that perceived normative pressure to hold positive attitudes towards immigrants regulated the relationship between the explicit and implicit expression of outgroup attitudes among majority youth. Second, perceived social norms concerning outgroup attitudes (i.e., the perceived outgroup attitudes of parents and peers) affected the relationship between intergroup contact and explicit outgroup attitudes depending on gender and group status. Positive social norms seem to be especially important for majority boys, who need both pleasant contact experiences and normative support to develop outgroup attitudes that are as positive as girls attitudes. The role of social norms is accentuated also among minority youth, who, contrary to majority youth with their more powerful and independent status position, need to reflect upon their attitudes and experiences of negative intergroup encounters in relation to the experiences and attitudes of their ingroup members. Third, the results are indicative of the independent effects of social norms and intergroup anxiety on outgroup attitudes: the effect of perceived social norms on the outgroup attitudes of youth seems to be at least as strong as the effect of intergroup anxiety. Finally, it was shown that youth evaluate intergroup contact from the viewpoint of their ingroup and society as a whole, not just based on their own experiences. In conclusion, the outgroup attitudes of youth are formed in a close relationship with their social environment. On the basis of this study, the importance of perceived social norms for research on intergroup contact effects among youth cannot be overlooked. Positive normative influences have the potential to break the strong link between rare and/or negative personal contact experiences and negative outgroup attitudes, and norms also influence the relationship between implicit and explicit attitude expression.

Leader - Follower Relations In An Intercultural Chinese Context - Personal, Interpersonal and Behavioural Influences and Impact on Work Contribution

The successful interaction between leaders and their followers is central to the overall functioning of a company. The increasingly multinational nature of modern business and the resulting multicultural and increasingly heterogeneous workforce imposes specific challenges to the development of high-quality work relationships. The Western multinational companies that have started operations in China are facing these challenges. This study examines the quality of leader-follower relationships between Western expatriate leaders and their Chinese followers as well as between Chinese leaders and their Chinese followers in Western-owned subsidiaries in China. The focus is on the influence of personal, interpersonal and behavioural factors (personality, values, cultural knowledge, perceived and actual similarity, interactional justice, and follower performance) and the work-related implications of these relationships (job attitudes and organisational citizenship behaviour). One interesting finding of this study is that Chinese followers have higher perceptions of their Western than their Chinese leaders. The results also indicate that Chinese and Western leaders’ perceptions of their followers are not influenced favourably by the same follower characteristics. In a similar vein, Chinese followers value different traits in Western versus Chinese leaders. These results, as well as the numerous more specific findings of the study, have practical implications for international human resource management and areas such as selection, placement and training. Due to the different effect of personal and interpersonal factors across groups, it is difficult to achieve the “perfect match” between leader and follower characteristics that simultaneously contribute to high-quality relationships for Chinese and Western leaders as well as for followers. However, the results indicate that the ability of organisations to enhance the quality of leader-follower relations by selecting and matching people with suitable characteristics may provide an effective means for organisations to increase positive job attitudes and hence influence work-related outcomes.

The Impact of Readily Detected- and Underlying Attributes on Social Integration in Cross-Cultural Settings

The benefits and drawbacks of homogeneity and heterogeneity have been debated at length. Whereas some researchers assert that heterogeneity is beneficial for groups that are engaged in complex problem solving, the other researchers emphasize the potential costs associated with diversity. The inconsistency is a result of the incomplete measurement of diversity and focus one or two types of diversity. Most research concentrates on the readily detected/visible characteristics, making the assumption that such characteristics are related to underlying attributes (e.g., attitudes and values). In many cases, the demographic characteristics do not covary perfectly with the psychological attributes. Thus both types of attributes need to be utilized to fully understand the impact of diversity. The present research with four essays takes into account both types of attributes and tests their impact on social integration in cross-cultural settings. The results indicate that: (1) readily detectable- and underlying attributes are not related; (2) diversity has overall a negative impact on social integration; (3) socio-cultural context potentially influences the salience of diversity; and (4) diversity and social integration influences the formation of social cognition in form of transactive memory directories. The limits of research and managerial implications are discussed.

Women, Management and Leadership - Naiset ja johtajuus : NASTA Women's Leadership Project Final Report

Leadership without the full participation of women not only excludes women individually and collectively, but is also a huge waste of talent, knowledge and expertise. And crucially, given the current state of society and the world, this aspect of gender inequality is likely to become even more important in the future. NASTA - Women’s Leadership: A Research and Education Development Project was established in 2005 as a national multi-university project mainly and generously funded by Finnish Ministry of Education. The project aims at producing new knowledge and increasing understanding about women’s leadership, as well as promoting women’s leadership through research, development of teaching, and public outreach. NASTA is a joint effort of three Finnish universities – Hanken School of Economics, University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics, and the Helsinki School of Economics (now part of Aalto University) – and has been coordinated by Hanken. This report presents research and activities conducted within and around the project. NASTA activities have been many and various. They have examined the position and experiences of women in relation to leadership, management, organisation and work more generally. They have sought new knowledge about gender and leadership, on women leaders’ values, attitudes and behaviour, as well as about values, attitudes and behaviour in relation to women’s leadership. NASTA activities have included teaching, student supervision, research theses, research projects, publishing, networking, seminars, meetings, an international conference, and knowledge transfer into other sectors of society. The first section of the book introduces NASTA joint projects, including web-based teaching material, a survey of gender staffing and teaching on gender in business schools, critical review of previous research literature, and new empirical research. The next section includes research articles on different aspects of gender, leadership and manage¬¬ment from more individual projects conducted by participating researchers and research groups linked to NASTA across the three universities. The final section includes short presentations of other research in progress. The appendix lists publications by NASTA members – journal articles, research reports, books, chapters, journal special issues, popular journal articles, magazine articles - and masters, licentiate and doctoral theses that have been produced. These matters of women, leadership and management are not simply academic concerns but urgent matters for practice, organisations, management, policy, and society more generally.

The Role of Electronic Word of Mouth in Shaping Consumer Attitudes

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in shaping consumer attitudes towards various products and services with concentration on the consumer attitude change. eWOM has long been proven to play an important role in influencing consumer attitudes and has been researched from a variety of perspectives. This study attempts to look deeper into the process of consumer attitude change by applying as the central theory of the study the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion by Petty and Cacioppo. In the processes of examining the background academic and empirical research the Internet and Web 2.0 are closely depicted in order to understand how throughout the past centuries technology allowed the rise of various mediums where consumers can not only share their opinions online about products and services but also communicate with other consumers. Manuel Castel’s Internet Galaxy, Gildin’s, Carl and Noland’s, Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler’s researches on eWOM are the central works that helped to shape both the theoretical and empirical parts of this study. The mixed method approach was chosen as a research method for this study. An online survey was conducted via the Surveymonkey.com platform and eight qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted. The results of the study show that central route queues as text quality and text argumentativeness are more prominent among the research subjects and the peripheral route queues: source credibility and source expertise did not show considerable significance. Also more experience and participation consumers have with user-rating websites and applications more inclined they are to elaborate on the central route cues and are more likely to search for opinions that they consider rational and credible. Also these respondents are less inclined to search for ratings that confirm their existing beliefs about products or services. Less experience/participation they have about eWOM more likely they are to search for reviews confirmatory to their own.

A Durable RuO2-Carbon-Supported Pt Catalyst for PEFCs: A Cause and Effect Study

As Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) are nearing the acceptable performance level for automotive and stationary applications, the focus on the research is shifting more and more toward enhancing their durability that still remains a major concern in their commercial acceptability. Hydrous ruthenium oxide (RuO2) is a promising material for pseudocapacitors due to its high stability, high specific-capacitance and rapid faradaic-reaction. Incorporation of carbon-supported RuO2 (RuO2/C) to platinum (Pt) is found to ameliorate both stability and catalytic activity of fuel cell cathodes that exhibit higher performance and durability in relation to Pt/C cathodes as evidenced by cell polarization, impedance and cyclic voltammetry data. The degradation in performance of Pt-RuO2/C cathodes is found to be only similar to 8% after 10000 accelerated stress test (AST) cycles as against similar to 60% for Pt/C cathodes after 7000 AST cycles under similar conditions. These data are in conformity with the Electrochemical Surface Area and impedance results. Interestingly, Pt-RuO2/C cathodes can withstand more than 10000 AST cycles with only a nominal loss in their performance. Studies on catalytic electrodes with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and cross-sectional field-emission scanning electron microscopy reflect that incorporation of RuO2 to Pt helps mitigating aggregation of Pt particles and improves its stability during long-term operation of PEFCs. (C) 2012 The Electrochemical Society. DOI: 10.1149/2.jes113440] All rights reserved.

From social to political. New forms of mobilization and democratization. Conference proceedings

In the recent evolution of contemporary social movements three phases can be identified. The first phase is marked by the labour movement and the systemic importance attributed to the labour conflict in industrial societies. This conflict has been interpreted as a consequence of the shortcoming of social integration mechanisms by Emile Durkheim, as a rational conflict by entrepreneurs’ and workers’ interests by Max Wener, and as a central class struggle for the transformation of society by Karl Marx. The second phase in this development was led by the new social movements of the post-industrial society of the 1960s and 1970s’ students, women and environmentalist movements. Two new analytical perspectives have explained these movements’ meaning and actions. Resource mobilization theory (McAdam and Tilly) has focuses on rational attitudes and conflicts. Actionalist sociology, in turn, has identified the new protagonists of social conflicts that replaced the labour movement in postindustrial societies. The third phase emerges in a world characterized by the ascendance of markets, the increasingly prominent role of financial capital flows, the closure of communities, and fundamentalism. In this context, human rights and pro-democratization movements constitute alternatives to global domination and the systemic conditioning of individual and groups.

Characteristics of the sportsmanship and unsportsmanlike conduct evaluation tools in youth sport

World Conference on Psychology and Sociology 2012

Defects Detection and Assessment in Concrete Surfaces

Aside from cracks, the impact of other surface defects, such as air pockets and discoloration, can be detrimental to the quality of concrete in terms of strength, appearance and durability. For this reason, local and national codes provide standards for quantifying the quality impact of these concrete surface defects and owners plan for regular visual inspections to monitor surface conditions. However, manual visual inspection of concrete surfaces is a qualitative (and subjective) process with often unreliable results due to its reliance on inspectors’ own criteria and experience. Also, it is labor intensive and time-consuming. This paper presents a novel, automated concrete surface defects detection and assessment approach that addresses these issues by automatically quantifying the extent of surface deterioration. According to this approach, images of the surface shot from a certain angle/distance can be used to automatically detect the number and size of surface air pockets, and the degree of surface discoloration. The proposed method uses histogram equalization and filtering to extract such defects and identify their properties (e.g. size, shape, location). These properties are used to quantify the degree of impact on the concrete surface quality and provide a numerical tool to help inspectors accurately evaluate concrete surfaces. The method has been implemented in C++ and results that validate its performance are presented.

Durability of similar self-compacting concrete batches produced in two different EU laboratories

The present study intends to evaluate the sensitivity of self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixtures, cast in two different laboratories of the European Union, with a focus on rheological parameters, mechanical characteristics and durability properties. Six SCC mixtures with different water-to-binder ratios and silica fume levels of cement replacement and two normally vibrated concrete (NVC) mixtures have been compared. It has been found that the reproducibility of similar mixtures is possible, when using different constituent materials that conform to the European Standards. Comparable rheological, mechanical and durability properties can be achieved. Open porosity and sorptivity appear to be more sensitive than chloride penetrability. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

‘All the places we were not supposed to go’: a case study of formative class and gender habitus in adventure climbing

This paper explores the origins of meaning in adventurous activities. Specifically, the paper reports on a study of 10 adventure climbers in the Scottish mountaineering community. The study explores how formative experiences have influenced engagement in adventure climbing. Work has been done on the phenomenology of adventure and how individuals interpret and find meaning in the activity—this paper goes a step further and asks where do these dispositions come from? Using Bourdieu’s ideas of field, habitus and forms of capital to frame these experiences in the wider social environment, early experiences are identified that, for the subjects of this study, provide a framework for their later adoption of the ‘adventure habitus’. Among these influences are mainstream education, adventure education in particular, as well as broader formative experiences relating to factors such as gender and class. In addition, the study suggests that accounts differ between males and females in terms of their attitudes and dispositions towards adventure. This may relate to their respective experiences as well as expanding opportunities for both males and females. However, while the ‘adventure field’ provides a context where women can develop transformative identities, these are nearly always subject to male validation.