Siyu Chen

As the least expensive category of high-slope roofing in the U.S., shingles are found on the roofs of about 80% of U.S. homes, and constitute about 80% of this market. Shingles are also among the least reflective high-slope roofing products, with few cool options on the market. The widespread use of cool roofs in the two warmest U.S. climate zones could reduce annual residential cooling energy use in these zones by over 7%. This project targets the development of high-performance cool shingles with initial solar reflectance at least 0.40 and a cost premium not exceeding US$0.50/ft². Phase 1 of the current study explored three approaches to increasing shingle reflectance. Method A replaces dark bare granules by white bare granules to enhance the near-infrared reflectance attained with cool pigments. Method B applies a white basecoat and a cool-color topcoat to a shingle surfaced with dark bare granules. Method C applies a visually clear, NIR-reflecting surface treatment to a conventionally colored shingle. Method A was the most successful, but our investigation of Method B identified roller coating as a promising top-coating technique, and our study of Method C developed a novel approach based on a nanowire mesh. Method A yielded red, green, brown, and black faux shingles with solar reflectance up to 0.39 with volumetric coloration. Since the base material is white, these reflectances can readily be increased by using less pigment. The expected cost premium for Method A shingles is less than our target limit of $0.50/ft², and would represent less than a 10% increase in the installed cost of a shingle roof. Using inexpensive but cool iron oxide pigments to volumetrically color white limestone synthesized from sequestered carbon and seawater appears to offer high albedo at low cost. In Phase 2, we plan to refine the cool shingle prototypes, manufacture cool granules, and manufacture and market high-performance cool shingles.

© 2016 American Physical Society.An extreme magnetoresistance has recently been observed in several nonmagnetic semimetals. Increasing experimental and theoretical evidence indicates that the XMR can be driven by either topological protection or electron-hole compensation. Here, by investigating the electronic structure of a XMR material, YSb, we present spectroscopic evidence for a special case which lacks topological protection and perfect electron-hole compensation. Further investigations reveal that a cooperative action of a substantial difference between electron and hole mobility and a moderate carrier compensation might contribute to the XMR in YSb.

INTRODUCTION: The well-being of romantic relationships often depends on the degree to which partners are able to sacrifice their own interests to meet each other’s needs when necessary. While enacted sacrifices are not always beneficial, one’s willingness to sacrifice (WTS) has been consistently linked to greater relationship satisfaction and personal well-being. One factor that may contribute to WTS is mindfulness, the non-reactive and non-judgmental attention to and awareness of present-moment experiences. Mindfulness is known to predict several positive relationship outcomes (e.g., relationship quality, forgiveness). Accordingly, mindfulness may promote WTS through lower relationship ambivalence (RA; the extent to which one holds simultaneously positive and negative attitudes towards one’s partner/relationship) and higher commitment (the extent to which one intends to persist in one’s relationship). Prior research has demonstrated that mindfulness is negatively correlated with general attitudinal ambivalence and positively correlated with relationship commitment. Commitment, while being negatively linked to ambivalence, is also a robust predictor of pro-relationship behaviours, including sacrifice. However, no prior study has systematically investigated the cross-sectional or longitudinal links between these variables in tandem. AIM: Guided by the interdependence theory and theoretical models of mindfulness and relationships, this thesis investigates the link between mindfulness and WTS and examines whether RA and commitment uniquely or jointly mediate this link. METHOD: Studies 1-2 used an exploratory-confirmatory approach to investigate whether RA and/or commitment may mediate the mindfulness-WTS association in response to hypothetical scenarios. Studies 3-6 tested whether experimentally enhanced mindfulness predicted greater hypothetical (Study 3, 6) and actual (Studies 4-5) WTS through RA and commitment. Study 7 was a 5-week longitudinal study investigating the prospective effect of mindfulness on hypothetical WTS through RA and commitment. RESULTS: Studies 1-2 both revealed a significant indirect association between higher mindfulness and greater WTS, which occurred sequentially through lower RA and then higher commitment. This serial mediation model was replicated in Study 3, but not in Study 4-7. Although the links involving mindfulness and those involving WTS were more tenuous across studies, RA was consistently negatively linked to commitment in all studies. DISCUSSION: This research provides mixed evidence for the notion that mindfulness predicts WTS in relationships. The inconsistent findings across the experimental studies also illuminate the possibility that the factors that precede individuals’ hypothetical versus actual WTS may be different. Results from the longitudinal study further suggest that the links between mindfulness, RA, commitment, and WTS may sometimes be overestimated from cross-sectional data. The consistent RA-commitment association introduces promising directions for future relationship studies. Taken together, these findings offer novel insight into interdependence theory and models of mindfulness and relationships by outlining and explaining the somewhat limited and inconsistent prospective influence of mindfulness on WTS.

Using the theoretical perspective of market stakeholders, we analyze the impact of external innovations from upstream enterprises, downstream enterprises, and competitors on the exports of private enterprises. By using data from the China Industrial Enterprises Database, we find that external innovations from upstream suppliers, downstream customers and horizontal competitors show positive impacts on the export propensity, intensity and scale for private enterprises. The results of a heterogeneity analysis indicate that the positive relationships between the external innovations of stakeholders and the exports of private enterprises are stable in different factor-intensive industries. In addition, while the exports of private enterprises are positively correlated with their external innovations in the eastern and central regions, this relationship is not significant in the western region. Further, the mechanism analysis confirms that enterprise innovation played an important mediating role for the external innovations of stakeholders to promote the exports of private enterprises. This study provides useful policy implications for enhancing the export competitiveness of private enterprises.

This study offers a close reading of China’s Van Goghs, a documentary that tells the personal story of Zhao Xiaoyong, a painter-worker making his living by replicating masterpieces in a Chinese art village. Taking the cinematic representation of Zhao’s pilgrimage as a starting point, this study explores how the meaning of authenticity is negotiated through the interplay between aesthetic value and market value in the global flow of cultural products. Through a cross-disciplinary exchange between film, tourism, urban studies and creative labor studies, this study investigates the on-screen portrayal of places, people and power relations as a means to investigate the spatial, social and political implications of Zhao’s journey. Situating the protagonist’s quest for authenticity in Shenzhen’s transition from a labor-intensive economy to a knowledge-based economy, this study sheds light on the intersection between identity, mobility, and creativity at the time of capitalization, urbanization and globalization.