Search all library resources

Transparency and secrecy : a reader linking literature and contemporary debate

In Transparency and Secrecy, Suzanne Piotrowski organizes the literature on governmental openness within a useful, original framework. The presentation of contemporary cases, original documents, study questions, and class material makes the reader readily accessible to students.Gaining access to government information is a perpetual concern of citizens. This is due in large part to the relationship between transparency and the issues of ethics, corruption, administrative malfeasance, and accountability. The last few years have proven that governmental transparency is a burgeoning academic subfield spurred on by contemporary political events and attention generated by the popular press. This reader addresses the topics of governmental transparency and secrecy and includes original discussion, classic readings, and primary source documents. Transparency and Secrecy is organized according to a theoretical model fully developed in the introduction. Governmental transparency is the degree to which access to government information is available through various channels. These avenues of access to information include governments proactively releasing information, freedom-of-information type requests, open meetings, and whistleblowing and leaks. The reader addresses each of these components as well as values that compete with openness such as privacy, security, and efficiency. The chapter discussion sections begin with the presentation of cases to make the material relevant to students. The cases together with the review of the literature help readers understand how each aspect of transparency is relevant to contemporary public policy debates. The discussion sections include a brief summary of the included articles and place these readings within the scholarship at large. Integrative study questions, suggested class projects, recommendations for case studies, movies, and supplemental reading all make Transparency and Secrecy ideal for classroom adoption.

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection

Using anisotropic, low yield stress carbon nanotube/conjugated polymer gels as a carbon nanotube alignment method [electronic resource]

Due to their unique electronic properties, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are attractive for applications in the electronics industry. SWNTs have great potential as transparent electrodes, transistors, or supercapacitors. However, one major challenge is the electrical resistance that is observed in SWNT network films despite the extraordinary electrical conductivity of individual SWNTs. This resistance is mainly attributed to the resistance occurring at tube-tube junctions. One proposed method to lower this resistance is to reduce the density of junctions in a film by aligning the nanotubes. There have been many studies attempting to align carbon nanotubes including utilizing chemical vapor deposition on quartz, embedding SWNTs in liquid crystals, spincoating, and using concentration dependent self-alignment. However, none of these methods are ideal. Some are too costly and/or have a low throughput while others are not scalable or have poor density control. A new alignment method has been developed in this project that is solution processable, easily scalable to large areas, and is compatible with different substrates. The versatility of this method is shown by producing conductive carbon nanotube thin films and fibers. This alignment method involves forming aligned SWNT domains in solution, similar to a lyotropic liquid crystal. However, these dispersions are aligned gels with very low yield stresses on the order of a few pascals. Thus, low stresses can be used to uniformly align a SWNT film. The gels are formed using a conjugated polymer, regioregular poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as a dispersant. The P3HT wraps around the SWNTs. In chlorinated, aromatic solvents, such as 1, 2-dichlorobenzene (oDCB), the polymer interacts with multiple SWNTs to form an interconnected network, which is the basis for gel formation. A simple shearing force can subsequently align the SWNTs. The level of alignment can be systematically varied using this method. We use this to correlate the transparent electrode performance of single-walled carbon nanotube films with the level of partial alignment. We have found that the transparent electrode performance improves with increasing levels of alignment and in a manner slightly better than what has been previously predicted. To form continuous fibers and conductive films, in situ polymerization of conductive polymers has been added to this process. Pyrrole or EDOT is added to SWNT/polythiophene composite dispersions. This is then injected into a ferric chloride in ethanol solution to form either polypyrrole or PEDOT. The resulting fibers are found to be very conductive, reaching 173 S/cm, but relatively weak. Further study is needed to improve the mechanical properties. Thin films with in situ polymerized conductive polymer have an improved conductivity of an order of magnitude reaching 3,275 S/cm. These films can be used as transparent electrodes in organic electronics.

Guest blogger: Stephanie Castaneda Perez '23 (University Archives student intern)