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Development of high-performance, low-cost catalysts for electrochemical water splitting is key to sustainable hydrogen production. Herein, ultrafast synthesis of carbon-supported ruthenium-copper (RuCu/C) nanocomposites is reported by magnetic induction heating, where the rapid Joule's heating of RuCl₃ and CuCl₂ at 200 A for 10 s produces Ru-Cl residues-decorated Ru nanocrystals dispersed on a CuCl_x scaffold, featuring effective Ru to Cu charge transfer. Among the series, the RuCu/C-3 sample exhibits the best activity in 1 m KOH toward both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with an overpotential of only -23 and +270 mV to reach 10 mA cm^-2, respectively. When RuCu/C-3 is used as bifunctional catalysts for electrochemical water splitting, a low cell voltage of 1.53 V is needed to produce 10 mA cm^-2, markedly better than that with a mixture of commercial Pt/C+RuO₂ (1.59 V). In situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements show that the bifunctional activity is due to reduction of the Ru-Cl residues at low electrode potentials that enriches metallic Ru and oxidation at high electrode potentials that facilitates the formation of amorphous RuO_x. These findings highlight the unique potential of MIH in the ultrafast synthesis of high-performance catalysts for electrochemical water splitting.

Graduate students face inconsistent guidance, creating a divide between those well-supported and those left missing crucial information. It’s challenging to provide support since they are publishing and making choices at different times.

A report of findings from a research project on backlogs and processing practices in UC Libraries, presented at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the Society of California Archivists. The Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries has been an influential resource for archivists nationwide since its publication in 2012. This research project seeks to understand the Guidelines' impact on backlogs, collection management policies, and day-to-day archival practices over the last dozen years across the UC Libraries, by taking a fresh look at current practices, collections, and perspectives. Our research will assess how the Guidelines' strategies for managing materials, accessioning, and processing have or have not been effective. A forthcoming article in the Journal of Western Archives summarizes our findings.

The OLAC Unified Best Practices Guide brings together and aligns Best Practices for Cataloging DVD-Video and Blu-ray Discs Using RDA and MARC21, Best Practices for Cataloging Objects Using RDA and MARC 21, Best Practices for Cataloging Streaming Media Using RDA and MARC21, and Best Practices for Cataloging Video Games Using RDA and MARC21.  This is intended for use with the Original RDA Toolkit.  There is an accompanying document of full MARC examples.

Examples of MARC 21 catalog records to accompany the OLAC Best Practices for Cataloging DVD-Video and Blu-ray Discs, Objects, Streaming Media, and Video Games Using the Original RDA Toolkit and MARC 21

Graduate students report many barriers and challenges to publishing in an increasingly competitive environment. They also face a hidden curriculum around publishing practices, which can disproportionately disadvantage first generation students. In this paper, we present preliminary results from a subset of our one-on-one, peer-to-peer interviews with graduate students representing disciplines across campus. We conducted applied thematic analysis by coding interview transcripts and identifying major themes. We will share what we have learned focusing on what topics libraries can teach that will best guide students in their publishing efforts.

The Reparative Archival Description Project was a two-year long effort to audit and revise the archival description in UCSC Library’s finding aids to identify, contextualize, and remediate language that is racist, oppressive, culturally insensitive, outdated, or coded in ways that harm or obscure marginalized people and communities.

archives, born-digital, access, attorney-client privilege, copyright, sensitive, donor agreement, FERPA, GDPR, HIPAA, confidentiality, personal, PII, privacy