Purple State Research Articles

Vis‐NIR Modulation in a Dynamically Reversible Single C‐pBPV Biopolymer Electrolyte for Sustainable Systems in Electrochromism

AbstractIn the pursuit of sustainable technology, the synthesis of a novel biopolymer, C‐pBPV, through the polymerization of carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC‐Na) and viologen (BPV), with ammonium persulfate as an initiator is presented. This groundbreaking process not only promises an eco‐friendly approach but also opens avenues for advanced applications in electrochromic devices (ECDs), particularly in smart windows, displays, and beyond. Departing from conventional multi‐layered approaches, the study underscores the significance of a single‐layer material. C‐pBPV serves both as an electro‐chrome and an electrolyte, making it a compelling material for ECDs. It is used to create a gel‐based electrochromic device G1 with exceptional bistable properties. Following, a systematically controllable device, G2 is accomplished, to enhance color‐switching capabilities by adding vitamin C as an electron mediator. Both devices exhibited outstanding electrochromic properties, showcasing dual‐band absorption in the Vis‐NIR region, with color transitions from transparency to a striking purple state at low voltages. Embracing an all‐in‐one layer configuration, this study set the stage for next‐generation smart windows that not only regulate solar light for energy conservation but also pioneer a more compact, user‐friendly design, prioritizing visual comfort, sustainability, and a tailored user experience.

Fertility Rates in Red and Blue States: Before and After COVID-19

The fertility rate is a common measure of population growth or decline. Before the pandemic, the U.S. fertility rate steadily declined and dropped an additional 4 percent in 2020, the year the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the U.S. Fertility rates in 2021 rebounded 1 percent from the rate in 2020, but did not move in tandem across all states. This study aims to determine how fertility rates changed one year before, during, and after the pandemic between red states and blue states that voted, respectively, for the Republican or Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections. Fertility rates were, on average, significantly higher all three years in red states than in either blue states or purple states, namely states that changed color from red to blue between 2016 and 2020.

The politics of COVID-19: Differences between U.S. red and blue states in COVID-19 regulations and deaths

The study investigated infection variables and control strategies in 2020 and 2021 and their influence on COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with a particular focus on comparing red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states. The analysis reviewed cumulative COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 by year, state political affiliation, and a priori latent factor groupings of mitigation strategies (lockdown days in 2020, mask mandate days, vaccination rates), social demographic variables (ethnicity, poverty rate), and biological variables (median age, obesity). Analyses first identified possible relationships between all assessed variables using K-means clustering for red, blue, and purple states. Then, a series of regression models were fit to assess the effects of mitigation strategies, social, and biological factors specifically on COVID-19 deaths in red and blue states. Results showed distinct differences in responding to COVID infections between red states to blue states, particularly the red states lessor adoption of mitigation factors leaving more sway on biological factors in predicting deaths. Whereas in blue states, where mitigation factors were more readily implemented, vaccinations had a more significant influence in reducing the probability of infections ending in death. Overall, study findings suggest politicalization of COVID-19 mitigation strategies played a role in death rates across the United States.

Capturing the Aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision in Google Search Results across the U.S.

How do Google Search results change following an impactful real-world event, such as the U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 24, 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade? And what do they tell us about the nature of event-driven content, generated by various participants in the online information environment? In this paper, we present a dataset of more than 1.74 million Google Search results pages collected between June 24 and July 17, 2022, intended to capture what Google Search surfaced in response to queries about this event of national importance. These search pages were collected for 65 locations in 13 U.S. states, a mix of red, blue, and purple states, with respect to their voting patterns. We describe the process of building a set of circa 1,700 phrases used for searching Google, how we gathered the search results for each location, and how these results were parsed to extract information about the most frequently encountered web domains. We believe that this dataset, which comprises raw data (search results as HTML files) and processed data (extracted links organized as CSV files) can be used to answer research questions that are of interest to computational social scientists as well as communication and media studies scholars.

Red State, Blue State, Purple State; Higher and Increasing Blue COVID-19 Anxiety Rate.

The present study investigated COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CAS) scores for participants from blue states, red states, and purple states across 276 days ranging from April 18, 2020 to January 23, 2021. The CAS scores increased with knowing and caring for an individual with COVID-19, following social distancing guidelines, hours talking and thinking about COVID-19, hypochondria, neuroticism, depression, anxiety, stress, negative PANAS, and time, whereas they decreased with positive PANAS. More importantly, the CAS scores were higher for participants from blue states than for participants from purple states, and the positive relation between CAS scores and time was only significant for participants from blue states. We connected media events that occurred concurrently for high CAS scores overall and for high CAS scores for participants from blue states. The spikes in CAS ratings occurred along with COVID-19 contagion, partisan reactions to protests for slain African Americans (e.g., George Floyd), and the 2020 presidential election.

Thermo- and electrochromic smart window derived from a viologen-tethered triazolum based poly(NIPAmn-TEG-BPV) electrolyte to enhance building energy efficiency and visual comfort

In this work, we synthesized by facilely incorporating a modified asymmetric viologen onto the triazole moiety of a phase-changing monomer [poly(NIPAmn-TEG)] via quaternization to produce dual-responsive material [poly(NIPAmn-TEG-BPV)]. However, most chromic material-based smart windows have responded to only one stimulus, but studies on dual-responsive windows are to be given more attention due to the many opportunities in terms of utility and activity that they offer. Whereas here in our work apart from being electrochromic, the material is thermochromic as well, switching from clean to opaque at when heated from 25 to 32 °C as a result of phase transformation, attaining >84.7 % optical contrast (ΔT) in the visible range (650 nm). Similar results were obtained while switching from a clear state to a purple state at an applied potential of ∼ 2.5 V which gave an optical contrast of (ΔT) >89.6 % (550 nm). A coloration speed of 8.1 s and bleaching speed of 26.1 s were attained by the poly(NIPAmn-TEG-BPV) with a coloration efficiency of 346 cm2C−1 and cyclic stability of >500 cycles. The synergistic effect of its thermochromic and electrochromic response when stimulated simultaneously, showed a transparent state to a cloudy blue state and gave high (ΔT) >91.05 % with full absorption of the entire visible solar spectrum resulting to a truly blue opaque state that is ideal for building façade requiring absolute privacy.

Photoswitchable lanthanide-doped core-multishell nanoparticles for tunable triple-mode information encryption and dynamic anti-counterfeiting patterns

Photoresponsive luminescent materials with high-capacity information storage and multilevel anti-counterfeiting capability are attracting much interest in many fields including information encryption and anti-counterfeiting. Herein, a class of novel photoswitchable upconversion luminescent nanoparticles (PUCNPs) with core-multishell structure that shows switchable dual-colored emission is described. The PUCNPs is successively built up from lanthanide-doped NaYF4 nanoparticles and a photochromic spiropyrane (SP) monomer by grafting of poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-SPMA) on the nanoparticles via surface reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The as-prepared PUCNPs with triple-mode optical features displayed green upconversion luminescence under a 980 nm laser, red downconervsion fluorescence and purple color under a 365 nm UV light irradiation and turning off, respectively. Furthermore, they enable dynamic reversible changes in color between colorless and purple states with 365 nm UV and white light stimuli. Their potential in complex information encryption and dynamic anti-counterfeiting patterns is described and its great potential in data storage, and rewritable optical materials is foreseen.

Reversible Solvatochromism of Polydiacetylenes Based on Extensively Hydrogen-Bonded Tubular Arrays

Since the pioneering discovery by Wagner, polydiacetylenes (PDAs) and their solvatochromic properties (typically blue-to-red or purple transitions) have been the subject of extensive research efforts. Without exception, PDAs have been found to undergo irreversible solvent-induced color changes, and no cases exist in which initial blue states of the PDAs are regenerated after solvent removal. Herein, we describe the first example of a reversibly solvatochromic PDA that is derived from a macrocyclic diacetylene (MCDA) containing four carboxylic acid moieties. Infrared spectroscopic studies confirmed the synergetic interplay of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions to control the reversibility. The weak intramolecular hydrogen bonds allowed a solvent-induced distortion of the PDA backbone (purple state) by releasing unpolymerized monomers, while the strong and networked intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions ensured the rigidity of the tubular channels and served as the driving forces for the recovery of the initial conformation (blue state).

A Conversation

A Conversation

Brownfields in Purple States: An Analysis of the Equity of Redevelopment Outcomes Under the Brownfield Program and Voluntary Cleanup Programs in Colorado and Ohio

The proliferation of underutilized, derelict, and contaminated properties following a nationwide decline of industrial production has created a unique policy problem. Powerful liability schemes under Superfund made property owners, developers, and lenders hesitant to engage in transactions involving real estate that is contaminated or perceived as contaminated. Adoption of Federal and state policy to address these “Brownfields” in the 1990s and 2000s has attempted to promote redevelopment by limiting liability of involved parties and providing grant funding. This research hypothesizes that “environmental justice communities” have significantly lower likelihood of receiving benefit-maximizing redevelopment projects under both Federal and state-level voluntary cleanup programs. A multinomial logistic regression model considering past use of the site, socioeconomic status of the surrounding census tract and its composite urban sprawl score, and Republican control of the district containing the brownfield were used to assess the probability of a hierarchy of redevelopment outcomes.

Red, blue and purple states of mind: Segmenting the political marketplace

John Jost (2017 – this issue) provides a thoughtful review of the literature in political psychology that speaks to important distinctions between conservatives and progressives. I use his essay as a point of departure to accomplish three goals: a) further elaborate on the left/right segmentation scheme, identifying other portions of the political market that are less brand loyal and therefore more persuadable; b) offer preliminary suggestions based on consumer psychology perspectives on how voter attitudes and behaviors might be nudged by political candidates and campaigns; and c) identify some areas in which the fields of political and consumer psychology might profitably benefit from cross-pollination of theories, approaches and evidence.

The Cumulative Effects of Televised Debates on Voters’ Assessments of Candidates across Red, Blue, and Purple Political Battlegrounds in the 2012 American Presidential Election

This study examines the effects of televised presidential debates across different geopolitical contexts in American campaigns and elections, and echoes the series of studies that the authors examined in the previous election cycles. The geopolitical color of states filters newly incoming political information, and their partisan color enhances the tone of political messages in voters` perception within their geopolitical boundaries. The current study confirmed that voters in blue states became more distinctively favorable toward a Democrat candidate over a Republican candidate in proportion to the accumulated debate exposure, and vice versa for red states. In purple states, the distinctive favorability between two major party candidates became more apparent, and the changes were inversely related with increased debate exposures.

Purple California: Politics and Regional Realities in the Golden State

For decades, academics and observers alike have characterized California as being two separate states with those living in Northern California being socially and politically very different from the citizens of Southern California. More recently, pundits, professors, and politicos have argued that California no longer has a pronounced north-south divide, but rather an inland and coastal division has emerged due to demographic changes that produced a political and geographic partition. Proponents of this inland/coastal view argue that it looks like the liberal blue state and conservative red state divide where the California coast has politically realigned to look like New York while the inland valleys and deserts now look like Texas or the South. Taking advantage of over 60 years of statewide electoral data along with time-series public opinion data, this paper argues that the notion of ‘two Californias’ is incorrect. Electoral records reveal that California has not turned into a state with deep political-geographic divisions. It is firmly a purple state with regions and localities that are pragmatic and rarely show party line voting and one-sided political behavior. While elite level politicians and organizations may present polarized choices and options and candidates that seemingly lead to occasional electoral results that make regions appear drastically different, greater nuance and a broader analysis of the historical trends reveal a purple California, not red or blue regions in the Golden State.

RAFT polymerization and dually responsive behaviors of terpyridine-containing PNIPAAm copolymers in dilute solutions

Introduction of new components is an effective way to gain new functionalities and to regulate the properties of responsive polymers. In the present work, a RAFT polymerization approach to terpyridine-containing poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm) copolymers was developed and the dually responsive behavior of the obtained polymer to temperature variation and metal ions in dilute solutions were investigated. By utilizing RAFT polymerization, the molecular weight polydispersity index of the polymer can be reduced compared with the traditional free radical polymerization method. Due to the coexistence of thermosensitive component and terpyridine, the synthesized polymer is thermosensitive and metal ion sensitive. Further titration investigation revealed that this polymer may be utilized as a water-soluble and colorimetric sensor for Fe2+ and Fe3+ and the obvious color change from a colorless state to a purple state makes the polymer a potential sensor to detect Fe2+ and Fe3+ macroscopically by naked eye. Overall, the terpyridine-containing poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) copolymers may enrich the family of terpyridine-containing polymers and provide some clues for developing new multi-responsive and multi-functional polymers.

Purple States in the 2016 Presidential Election

According to the U.S. Constitution, the outcomes of American presidential elections are determined by the Electoral College, within which each state is awarded its electoral voters on the basis of ...

Photopatternable Electrochromic Materials from Oxetane Precursors

Conjugated thiophenoazomethine triads containing an acid sensitive oxetane group were prepared. The solution processable monomers were immobilized on glass and ITO coated glass substrates by photoacid induced cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) of the oxetane moiety. Photolithography using a photoacid generator and photosensitizer were used to pattern an electroactive polymer. Micro- and macroscale patterns ranging between 20 μm and 50 mm were possible with the electrochromic materials. The photopolymerized azomethine remained electroactive, and it could be repeatedly switched electrochemically between its neutral (mauve, λmax=535 nm) and oxidized (blue, λmax=585 nm) states without degradation. The electrochromic properties were evaluated in a simulated device where the colors were successfully cycled between blue (oxidized) and purple (neutral) states with applied biases of +0.6 V and -0.6 V vs Fc/Fc+ under ambient conditions without significant color fatigue or degradation.

Colorado Politics and Policy: Governing a Purple State by Thomas E Cronin and Robert D. Loevy (review)

Colorado Politics and Policy: Governing a Purple State by Thomas E Cronin and Robert D. Loevy (review)

Was it a Wave? What does it Mean?

AbstractIn the instant analysis that followed, pundits dubbed the 2014 midterms an election “wave” for the Republican Party. Our article argues that “wave” is one of the most abused terms in American political discourse. Although political waves do exist, our article argues that they come in a variety of shapes, are created by a constellation of factors beyond anti-incumbency, and can have a number of different effects on the next national election cycle. Our analysis shows that the 2014 wave (if there was a wave in the ocean) was neither as large as pundits suggested nor as politically impactful as some spinners have claimed. Elections are determined by terrain and climate, both of which favored Republicans in 2014. Republicans captured or defended Senate seats where they should have in nine deep-red states. Focusing on gubernatorial and Senate campaigns in seven purple states, we see that Republicans won eight out of the 12 contests and five out of the nine most competitive contests. Although there has been an immense amount of attention to turnout, our analysis demonstrates that Republican victories were sometimes due to turnout, sometimes due to performance among independents, and sometimes due to a combination of these factors. This mixed picture complicates the analysis of the Republican victories, suggesting that the Rising American Electorate (youth, minorities, women) will not simply carry the Democrats to victory in 2016, and that anti-Obama public opinion alone will not be enough to deliver the White House to Republicans. It also provides yet more evidence that there is not a one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to campaign focus and targeting.

Towards multichromatic electrochromes from ambipolar conjugated azomethines

A series of conjugated azomethines end-capped with phenylamides and consisting of different aromatic cores of varying π-donor strength were prepared. Their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated to assess the suitability of the azomethines as electrochromic materials. The azomethines were found to undergo both electrochemical oxidation and reduction in the window of −1.60 and +1.35 V vs. Ag/Ag+. The color of the ambipolar compounds could be dramatically changed when switched between their reduced, neutral, and oxidized states. The color of the different states was contingent on the π-donor strength of the central aromatic unit. The largest spectral difference of 350 nm between the reduced and oxidized states was observed when the central aromatic group was 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT). The colors detectable by the eye for this EDOT derivative were blue, red, and bleached for the reduced, neutral, and oxidized states, respectively. The multichromatic azomethine was used as an electrochromic layer in a functioning device. The proof-of-concept ambipolar electrochromic device could be repeatedly switched between its orange (neutral) and purple (reduced) states. The device could also be switched to its oxidized (bleached) state.

A new blue light emitting and electrochromic polyfluorene derivative for display applications

A novel blue emitting and electro-chromic conjugated copolymer based on 9,9′dioctylfluorene (F8) and spiro(fluorene-9,9′-xanthene) (SFX) has been prepared. Optical, photophysical and electrochemical characterizations are given for the synthesized polymer; poly[spirofluorene-co-9,9′dioctylfluorene] P(F8-SFX). Switching of the corresponding polymer between yellow and purple states is demonstrated, and blue emission with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinate at (0.19, 0.15) is obtained from PLED device. The addition of a thin polymer interlayer ((F8)0.5–(TFB)0.5) is further investigated to maintain color purity. Furthermore, all polymer electrochromic device (ECD) based on P(F8-SFX) and poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was constructed. Spectroelectrochemistry and switching ability of the device were also investigated by UV–vis spectroscopy.