The effect magazine advertisements have on women Essay

The effect magazine advertisements have on women - Essay Example In today’s world, Magazines are considered to be trendy, cool and fashionably sensitive.Magazines come in all shapes, sizes and colours addressing and covering a variety of topics and issues. Men and women often tend to carry a magazine with them to pass their time. Today, we have magazines covering the latest fashion, Hollywood scandal, the glitz and the glamour of celebrity lifestyles, sports and fitness, just to name a few! The ‘magazine business’ is a multi million dollar business simply because it is affordable and also produced on a monthly basis in general. Although men and women buy and read magazines, it is indeed safe to say that most if not all magazines covet the â€Å"perfect woman† to adorn its pages, sell its products and lure customers to take the bait.In this paper we will look at how popular magazines focus on spreading the image that in order for a woman to look beautiful, she must look a certain way and follow a particular style. We will examine the consequences and effects that this has had on women, look at why there is such a great demand for scantily clad women and why does sex sell so quick!We will also look at why Caucasian women are more in demand to pose for magazines and be their glamour girls more than any other race in the world.I will conclude this paper by examining the cause and effects that magazines have on women and how can one be wise enough not to be snared or captured by the glitz and the glamour that these magazines so readily display! display! Magazines: Their Powers of Persuasion One of the strongest forces that magazines use is 'The power of persuasion'. The power of persuasion goes to work on the reader as soon they pick up the magazine. It was Gloria Steinem who said "Most women's magazines simply try to mold women into bigger and better consumers". And that's the reason why we see magazines such as 'Cosmopolitan', 'Vogue' 'Glamour' etc having celebrities and models adorn their pages and promote their products. Through them they convey to the world, that in order to be like them and look like them you must follow them. Most magazines encourage its readers to go on diets to make them look thinner, try plastic surgery so that they can fix any 'flaws' that they have and urge you to try their beauty secrets and vitamin pills so that you can not only look good but also feel good! These magazines make sure they feature a list of their products that will help you achieve your goal! The power of persuasion works through the medium of suggestion and this is one of the biggest reasons why Magazines have such a tremendous impact on the world at large! Magazines: The Pictures they Paint The front covers of most magazines have pictures of celebrities and models that are scantily clad and in a pose that is both suggestive as well as provocative. On the front pages are alluring captions which act as powerful tools of persuasion and immediately go to work on the readers mind. The November issue of Cosmopolitan has the words "Get a sexy Bod" in bold letters on its front page, Vogue has Jennifer Aniston on its front cover with a bold lettered caption "The Shape Issue" and Muscle Mag has wwe diva Candice Michelle on its cover to promote fitness and subtly suggest how one can and should have a body like Candice. The message that is being sent across to every woman through these magazines is very subtle but yet perfectly clear. They suggest that if you want to look glamorous, be in sync with the latest style and be the center of attention, you must do whatever it takes, buy whatever it

English Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English Education - Essay Example An interesting dimension to this trend in education is how students choose their schools. One would find, for instance, that parents take a greater role in their children’s schooling, especially in regard to university and skills education, in their desire for a better life and chances for their children. For example, Doria, (2005) talked about the case of Australia: A â€Å"factor that influences students to study in Australia is that the country is comparatively safe, it has a clean environment, and living here is affordable.† (20) Students are swayed by attractive university marketing, say, one that promotes the high quality of education and the relative appearance of the school campuses. Scholarship offerings, which the U.S.A. is known for, is also important factor in the students’ choices of schools. (Doria 2005, 9- 20) Another issue in studying abroad concerns immigration opportunities. For parents, if their children study, say, in Australia, there is a possibility of obtaining Australian citizenship for all families and that, in itself, is a worthy return for the investment. In addition, many students look for career opportunities by studying abroad where they can develop their mental abilities, cultural perspective and in learning another language. Some of them want to get away from restrictive customs (Doria 2005, 19). The result of this new phenomenon in education is that overseas students are forcing changes in the curricula of universities by requiring emphasis on the methodology of teaching, special programmes and also result in confronting the slowing down of communication classes due to language-skill and cultural barriers. In preserving the quality of education including improving the standard of English courses, universities have to focus on developing teacher abilities and changing styles of educational

France increasingly eclipsing Spain as the favorite destination for UK Essay

France increasingly eclipsing Spain as the favorite destination for UK property buyers to invest - Essay Example If you thought the overseas property market is dying due to the recent financial upheavals, then think again. The most-recent and the biggest-ever study of overseas holiday homeowners has revealed that in spite of price falls ranging from ten percent in France to fifty percent in Spain, the number of Britons purchasing homes in other European countries has actually increased in course of the recent recession. In 2006 for instance, some 385,000 Britons owned holiday homes in other European countries, a figure that has since increased tremendously to as high as 430,000 by 2010 (Avella, 2004). Reflecting travel and tourism trends, investments in long haul holiday destinations like Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, which generally offers warm climates enable holiday home owners to benefit from longer visiting seasons and therefore, longer rental periods. Correspondingly, holiday homeowners have been taking advantage of the short-term letting in the year-round city-break market (Keller, & Bieger, 2008). However, compared to inland nation and urban locations, it is beach holiday destinations that seem to attract most second home investment. Motivated both by the letting potential and their own holiday plans, over half of UK overseas properties owners have bought homes in coastal areas as can be demonstrated by the graph below. Due to this changing environment in the property market in Europe, we are going to explore the attractiveness of a number of countries in terms of overseas property investment. In this case, we will focus on three European countries namely; France, Italy, and Spain. ... currently, we will be able to advice our clients on those countries (Italy, France, and Spain) on whether to continue holding on to their property investment or to sell them. Sample Framework: In coming up with appropriate information to help ascertain which among France, Italy, and Spain is a better property investment destination at the moment, we will be required to ask property investor in UK a number of a question on each of these countries and score them on a 5-point Likert Scale before using a Frequency distribution as a quantitative technique to draw a conclusion. Sample Size and Technique: The sample of this research will be a total of ten property investors residing in UK. The research will make use a number of sampling techniques namely; a. Random sampling; questionnaires will be issued at random to people who have properties in all or any of the three countries (Italy, France, and Spain), something that is expected to ensure that each property investor residing in the UK is accorded an equal chance of participating in the research. b. Convenient sampling; because of the difficulty that might be involved in identifying a UK citizen who is not only conversant but also up-to-date with overseas property investment, it might be a bit difficult to achieve randomness in this research. However, in order to bypass this handicap it therefore becomes necessary to issue a questionnaire or hold an interview with any UK property investor that the researcher bumps on, which is a measure that will help the researcher achieve randomness in this research. c. Purposive sampling; because of the complexity of some of the issues, reaction of some research questions will require the input of particular property investor. This therefore calls for an approach that will see to it

The effect magazine advertisements have on women Essay

The effect magazine advertisements have on women - Essay Example In today’s world, Magazines are considered to be trendy, cool and fashionably sensitive.Magazines come in all shapes, sizes and colours addressing and covering a variety of topics and issues. Men and women often tend to carry a magazine with them to pass their time. Today, we have magazines covering the latest fashion, Hollywood scandal, the glitz and the glamour of celebrity lifestyles, sports and fitness, just to name a few! The ‘magazine business’ is a multi million dollar business simply because it is affordable and also produced on a monthly basis in general. Although men and women buy and read magazines, it is indeed safe to say that most if not all magazines covet the â€Å"perfect woman† to adorn its pages, sell its products and lure customers to take the bait.In this paper we will look at how popular magazines focus on spreading the image that in order for a woman to look beautiful, she must look a certain way and follow a particular style. We will examine the consequences and effects that this has had on women, look at why there is such a great demand for scantily clad women and why does sex sell so quick!We will also look at why Caucasian women are more in demand to pose for magazines and be their glamour girls more than any other race in the world.I will conclude this paper by examining the cause and effects that magazines have on women and how can one be wise enough not to be snared or captured by the glitz and the glamour that these magazines so readily display! display! Magazines: Their Powers of Persuasion One of the strongest forces that magazines use is 'The power of persuasion'. The power of persuasion goes to work on the reader as soon they pick up the magazine. It was Gloria Steinem who said "Most women's magazines simply try to mold women into bigger and better consumers". And that's the reason why we see magazines such as 'Cosmopolitan', 'Vogue' 'Glamour' etc having celebrities and models adorn their pages and promote their products. Through them they convey to the world, that in order to be like them and look like them you must follow them. Most magazines encourage its readers to go on diets to make them look thinner, try plastic surgery so that they can fix any 'flaws' that they have and urge you to try their beauty secrets and vitamin pills so that you can not only look good but also feel good! These magazines make sure they feature a list of their products that will help you achieve your goal! The power of persuasion works through the medium of suggestion and this is one of the biggest reasons why Magazines have such a tremendous impact on the world at large! Magazines: The Pictures they Paint The front covers of most magazines have pictures of celebrities and models that are scantily clad and in a pose that is both suggestive as well as provocative. On the front pages are alluring captions which act as powerful tools of persuasion and immediately go to work on the readers mind. The November issue of Cosmopolitan has the words "Get a sexy Bod" in bold letters on its front page, Vogue has Jennifer Aniston on its front cover with a bold lettered caption "The Shape Issue" and Muscle Mag has wwe diva Candice Michelle on its cover to promote fitness and subtly suggest how one can and should have a body like Candice. The message that is being sent across to every woman through these magazines is very subtle but yet perfectly clear. They suggest that if you want to look glamorous, be in sync with the latest style and be the center of attention, you must do whatever it takes, buy whatever it

France increasingly eclipsing Spain as the favorite destination for UK Essay

France increasingly eclipsing Spain as the favorite destination for UK property buyers to invest - Essay Example If you thought the overseas property market is dying due to the recent financial upheavals, then think again. The most-recent and the biggest-ever study of overseas holiday homeowners has revealed that in spite of price falls ranging from ten percent in France to fifty percent in Spain, the number of Britons purchasing homes in other European countries has actually increased in course of the recent recession. In 2006 for instance, some 385,000 Britons owned holiday homes in other European countries, a figure that has since increased tremendously to as high as 430,000 by 2010 (Avella, 2004). Reflecting travel and tourism trends, investments in long haul holiday destinations like Caribbean, Asia, and Africa, which generally offers warm climates enable holiday home owners to benefit from longer visiting seasons and therefore, longer rental periods. Correspondingly, holiday homeowners have been taking advantage of the short-term letting in the year-round city-break market (Keller, & Bieger, 2008). However, compared to inland nation and urban locations, it is beach holiday destinations that seem to attract most second home investment. Motivated both by the letting potential and their own holiday plans, over half of UK overseas properties owners have bought homes in coastal areas as can be demonstrated by the graph below. Due to this changing environment in the property market in Europe, we are going to explore the attractiveness of a number of countries in terms of overseas property investment. In this case, we will focus on three European countries namely; France, Italy, and Spain. ... currently, we will be able to advice our clients on those countries (Italy, France, and Spain) on whether to continue holding on to their property investment or to sell them. Sample Framework: In coming up with appropriate information to help ascertain which among France, Italy, and Spain is a better property investment destination at the moment, we will be required to ask property investor in UK a number of a question on each of these countries and score them on a 5-point Likert Scale before using a Frequency distribution as a quantitative technique to draw a conclusion. Sample Size and Technique: The sample of this research will be a total of ten property investors residing in UK. The research will make use a number of sampling techniques namely; a. Random sampling; questionnaires will be issued at random to people who have properties in all or any of the three countries (Italy, France, and Spain), something that is expected to ensure that each property investor residing in the UK is accorded an equal chance of participating in the research. b. Convenient sampling; because of the difficulty that might be involved in identifying a UK citizen who is not only conversant but also up-to-date with overseas property investment, it might be a bit difficult to achieve randomness in this research. However, in order to bypass this handicap it therefore becomes necessary to issue a questionnaire or hold an interview with any UK property investor that the researcher bumps on, which is a measure that will help the researcher achieve randomness in this research. c. Purposive sampling; because of the complexity of some of the issues, reaction of some research questions will require the input of particular property investor. This therefore calls for an approach that will see to it

Target (TGT) and J.C. Penny (JCP) Research Essay Example for Free

Target (TGT) and J.C. Penny (JCP) Research Essay Over the next couple of months, I will be conducting research on Target (TGT) and J.C. Penny (JCP). The reason for this is so that I may give my insight on which company I feel will be the most desirable one for Celash, Byrne Moovon (CBM). Using detailed financial statements on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as data available on each of the companies web sites, Foundations of Financial Management With Time Value of Money, course book, Interpretation of Financial Statements, and The Value Line Investment Survey, make a recommendation as to which of the two is the most desirable acquisition and at what price. Company Profiles Target has: †¢1,797 stores in the United States †¢124 stores in Canada †¢37 distribution centers †¢361,000 team members worldwide †¢online business at target.com †¢global locations in India and Canada As a publicly-owned, U.S.-based company, Target has a global presence with a headquarters location in India and sourcing offices around the world. In addition, the company operates a credit card segment that offers branded proprietary credit card products and rewards programs. (Corporate Information) 1) Overview: Company Overview | | Headquarters: | Minneapolis | NYSE Trade Symbol: | TGT | 2012 Revenue: $73,301Million| Number of Stores: | 1,755 | Number of Associates: | 350,000 | To link to view Target’s 2012 10k annual report is: https://corporate.target.com/_media/TargetCorp/annualreports/content/download/ pdf/Annual-Report.pdf?ext=.pdf . On the report you will be able to see the growth in revenue that Target has obtained within the past 5 years. Below is a copy of the chart. The annual book value per share from 2008-2012 are as follows: The current annual ratios as well as the past years are as follows: The profit margin on sales from 2008-2012 for Target are as follows: J.C. Penny â€Å"J. C. Penney (JCP) is one of the nations major clothing and home furnishing retailers. The company is experiencing a revival towards becoming Americas preferred retail destination for unmatched style, quality and value. Across 1,100 stores and at their web site jcp.com, customers will discover an inspirational shopping environment that features the most sought after collections of private, national and exclusive brands and attractions.†(4) To be America’s shopping destination for discovering great styles at compelling prices is the vision of J.C. Penny. The goals of the company include: To win with their * Customers Build deeper, more enduring customer relationships * Associates Increase associate engagement and retention * Shareholders Deliver industry-leading financial performance Company Overview | | Headquarters: | Plano, TX | NYSE Trade Symbol: | JCP | 2012 Revenue: | 17.26billion | Number of Stores: | 1,108 | Number of Associates: | 150,000 | To link to view J.C. Penny 2012 10k annual report is: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1166126/000116612613000016/jcp-20130202x10k.htm The annual book value per share from 2008-2012 are as follows: The current annual ratios as well as the past years are as follows: The profit margin on sales from 2008-2012 for J.C. Penny are as follows: 20082009201020112012 5.59%3.09%1.43%2.19%-0.88% Here you can also follow this link, http://target.knoji.com/compare-vs/jcpenney/ , to see a comparison chart between target and J.C. Penny. Both Target and J.C. Pennies have similar goals. Throughout the next couple of months I will research these two companies to provide evidence on which company will be the best one to go with. REFERENCES PAGE 1.Stanley B. Block, Geoffrey A. Hirt and Bartley R. Danielson (2011), Foundations of Financial Management With Time Value of Money, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 14th edition. 2.Benjamin Graham and Spencer Meredith. (1998). Interpretation of Financial Statements, Harper Business. 3.http://pressroom.target.com/corporate 4.http://www.jcpenney.net/about-us.aspx 5.http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Book_Value_Per_Share/2008 6.http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Current_Ratio 7.http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Target_(TGT)/Data/Net_Margin/2008?ref=chart 8.http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/J.C._Penney_(JCP)/Data/Book_Value_Per_Share 9.http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/J.C._Penney_(JCP)/Data/Current_Ratio 10.http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=JCP

La-Mg-Ni Based Alloys

La-Mg-Ni Based Alloys Abstract: Degradation behaviors of La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloys were studied. The results indicate that severe pulverization and corrosion are important factors leading to the capacity deterioration. However, it is puzzled that corrosion of the electrochemical cycled alloys is aggravated, which is inconsistent with the result that La2MgNi9 present poor cycling stability andalso the assumption that alloy with high Mg content is easy to be corroded. Then, the intrinsic anti-corrosion and anti-pulverization characteristics were mainly focused in the first part of this work. Immersion experiments demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are more easily to be corroded. The intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance of the three alloys presents an improved trend which is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. However, the intrinsic anti-pulverization ability just presents an inverse trend, which is closely related to mechanical property of the phase structures. LaNi5 with the highest hardness is easy to crack, but the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 is more resistant to crack formation and spreading, suggesting a possibility to improve the anti-pulverization ability by adjusting the phase constitution. In general, the weaker corroded extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. As to La4MgNi19 which possesses excellent intrinsic anti-corrosion resistant, enhancement of the anti-pulverization ability is the key issue to improve the cycling stability. 1 Introduction Superlattice La-Mg-Ni based hydrogen storage alloys have received substantial attentions over the last decade because the excellent electrochemical performances used in nickel/metal hydride (Ni/MH) battery [1-5]. Up to now, A2B7 type alloys have been successful developed for the practical use [3]. However, AB2 and AB3 type alloys present poor cycling stability though the theoretical discharge capacities are higher than A2B7 type alloys [6-8]. In addition, A5B19 type alloys have been reported to possess good electrochemical performances, but they still need improvement to meet the practical application, especially on the cycling stability in the long-term reversible cycles [9-10]. It is well accepted that electrochemical capacity decrease of the metal hydride electrodes is caused by both the physical and chemical degradation [11-12]. In La-Mg-Ni system, factors affecting the capacity degradation were emphasized on pulverization and corrosion during the charge/discharge cyclings [13-17]. Corrosion leads to damage and disappearance of the phases which possess considerable hydrogen storage capacity. It has been reported that La-Mg-Ni alloys are easily to be corroded into La(OH)3 and Mg(OH)2 [13-15]. And these kinds of corrosion products are loose and passive which cannot protect the matrix for further corrosion [15-16]. Severe pulverization of La-Mg-Ni alloys during cycling had also been reported in many works [13-17]. Pulverization makes fresh surface of the electrodes alloys continuously exposed to the electrolyte and dramatically improves development of corrosion. Liu et al. classified the degradation process of the La-Mg-Ni-Co alloy into three stages: the pul verization and Mg oxidation stage, the Mg and La oxidation stage and the oxidation and passivation stage [14]. In addition, capacity degradation of the metal hydrides is closely related to the structural changes during absorption/desorption cycling. Our previous works demonstrated that transformation from crystallinity to amorphous viz. hydrogen induced amorphization (HIA) of La-Mg-Ni alloys occurred during the hydrogenation cycles and remarkably worsens both the gas-solid and electrochemical storage performances [18-19]. Understanding of the degradation mechanisms is the precondition for improvement of the cycling stability of the La-Mg-Ni based alloys. Several compounds including AB2, AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type phase exist in this system, and the alloys usually present multi-phase microstructure. Though quiet a number of efforts have been applied on the degradation characters of the La-Mg-Ni based alloys, these works mainly focused on the overall capacity deterioration behaviors of the alloys. Diversity of the degradation characteristics of various compounds in this system is also lacking. In the present study, degradation mechanisms of three typical La-Mg-Ni alloys: La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 have been systematically investigated. In the first part of this work, corrosion and pulverization behaviors of the alloys, especially the intrinsic characteristics of the AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type La-Mg-Ni phases during absorption/desorption cycling were generated. In a following paper, HIA and its in fluence on the hydrogen storage properties are discussed. 2 Experimental materials and methods 2.1 Alloy preparation The as-cast La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy was prepared by induction levitation melting under argon atmosphere. The as-cast alloys were remelted twice for homogeneity. Appropriate excess of Mg was added in order to compensate for the evaporative loss of Mg during melting. Then the as-cast La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloys were annealed at 1143, 1173 and 1193 K respectively for 6 h protected in argon atmosphere. 2.2 Characterization The sample was fine polished and then etched using a mixed etchant (including water, ethanol, acetic acid, picric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid) at 343K. Then metallographic microstructure of the alloys was observed using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM: Olympus-OLS4000). Phase constitution of the alloys was also characterized by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM: FEI-Qanta 400) under backscatter electron mode (BSE) applied on the unetched samples. The chemical composition of various phases was studied by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) equipped in the SEM. Crystal structures of the alloys were measured by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD: Bruker-D8 Advance) with Cu KÃŽÂ ±1 radiation. Micro-morphologies and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) were applied by means of a transmission electron microscopy (TEM: JEOL-2100 and FEI-F20) to examine the microstructural and crystallographic information. TEM samples were firstly crushed the bulk into fine powder , and then ultrasonic dispersion was performed in ethanol for 1800 s. Several drops of the mixed liquid were laid on a carbon membrane support on the copper grid, and dried in a vacuum oven. Particle size of the cycled alloys was tested by a laser particle size analyzer (Malvern-Mastersizer 3000) where the alloy particles were dispersed by absolute alcohol. Oxygen content of the electrochemical cycled and immersed alloys was performed on a nitrogen/oxygen tester (NCS-ON3000). Before the oxygen test, samples were immersed in deionized water for 24 h, then washed using absolute alcohol twice to remove the residual KOH, and dried in a vacuum drying oven. 2.3 Hydrogen storage properties Gas-solid cycling and PCT isotherm measurement were carried out by Suzuki -2SDWIN PCT system at 303K (Sieverts type). Before the PCT analysis, sample was activated as follow: evacuated at 473 K for 2 h, placed to 303K, hydrogenated under 3Mpa H2 (Purity 99.999%) pressure for 5 h, evacuated at 573 K for 2 h again. Each cycle consists of absorption at 2MPa for 600s and desorption by evacuating at 298K for 1200 s. For the electrochemical measurement, the alloy particles (40-50 µm) were mixed with carbonyl nickel powder in a weight ratio of 1:5 and cold pressed to form a pellet about 1g firstly. The pellets were then packed in a Ni foam substrate spot-welded with a Ni strip. The simulated three-electrode cell including a working electrode (metal hydride), a counter electrode (NiOOH/Ni(OH)2) and a reference electrode (Hg/HgO) was installed. Before electrochemical test, the alloy metal hydride electrode was immersed in 6 M KOH aqueous solution for 1d. The measurement to get the maximum capacity and cycling stability was to charge at current density of 105 mA/g for 4h followed by a rest of 10min, then discharged at the same current density to the cut-off voltage of -0.6 V. 3 Results and discussions 3.1 Microstructure and hydrogen storage performances LSCM and BSE micrographs of the three alloys are shown in Fig.1. Four contrasts can be detected in the La2MgNi9 alloy. The chemical quantitations of various contrast from EDS analysis are listed in Table 1, from which the four phases are speculated to be (La,Mg)Ni2, (La,Mg)Ni3, (La,Mg)2Ni7 and LaNi5. Five crystal structures including CaCu5-type, MgCu4Sn-type, PuNi3-type, Ce2Ni7-type and Gd2Co7-type are identified in XRD profile of the La2MgNi9 alloy, as shown in Fig.2. The structural parameters and phase abundance are refined and listed in Table 2. The results are in consistent with the metallographic observation that the main phase is (La,Mg)Ni3, then (La,Mg)Ni2and (La,Mg)2Ni7, but content of LaNi5 is rare. In case of the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy, metallographic and XRD characterization indicate that (La,Mg)Ni2disappears, (La,Mg)5Ni19 emerges and LaNi5 increases with elevation of the B-side stoichiometry. The main phase of the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy is (La,Mg)2Ni7 and (La,Mg)5Ni19 respectively, and the structural parameters and phase abundance are also listed in Table 2. Fig.3 displays P-C-Tcurves of the alloys, and the detailed data are given in Table 3. Theoretically, hydrogenation capability increases with reduction of the B-side stoichiometry in the La-Mg-Ni based alloys. However, the maximum hydrogen absorption content of the La2MgNi9 alloy is slightly lower than the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. It is ascribed to the fact that some (La,Mg)Ni2 which can hardly absorb and desorb hydrogen at room temperature [8], existing in the La2MgNi9 alloy. The three alloys have analogic hydrogen absorption plateau. But both the desorption pressure and the reversible hydrogen capacity elevate with increase of the B-side stoichiometry of the three alloys. Reversible hydrogen capacity of the AB3-typed La2MgNi9 alloy is only 1.15 wt%, and the hysteresis effect is more evident than the other alloys. Electrochemical discharge curves and performances of the alloys are shown in Fig.4 and Table 3 respectively. Discharge capacities of the La2MgNi9 and La4MgNi19 alloy are lower than the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. The lower discharge capacity of La2MgNi9 is due to the weak reversible hydrogen storage capacity. As to the La4MgNi19 alloy, it is attributed to high abundance of LaNi5 which is unsuited for the electrochemical application without alloying [20]. Furthermore, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 presents better cycling stability than the other two alloys. Capacity retention after 100 cycles of the La2MgNi9 alloy is similar with that of the La4MgNi19 alloy. 3.2 Degradation characteristics after electrochemical cycling From morphology and EDS results of the alloys, it is clear that pulverization and corrosion have occurred after electrochemical cycling by 100 times (only La2MgNi9 alloy presents in Fig.5). XRD analysis shows that La(OH)3, Mg(OH)2 and La2O3 appear in the cycled alloys, as displayed in Fig.6. Likewise, morphology and SAED analysis of TEM confirm existence of La(OH)3 combined with La2O3 (stick-like), Mg(OH)2 (needle-like) and MgO (particles), which are marked with 1, 2 and 3 respectively as illustrated in Fig.7. The results are in consistent with the other literature studied on the corrosion products of a La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy [21]. Detailed determinations of TEM are provided in the supplementary information (Fig.S1-S3). In addition, size and amount of La(OH)3 and La2O3 are obvious than that of Mg(OH)2 and MgO, indicating that corrosion of La is significant in the electrochemical environment. Mg(OH)2 and MgO are close to the alloy surface but very loose. It agrees well with the previous works that corrosion products of Mg are gel-type and cannot form a solid protection layer for further corrosion [15-16]. Compared among the three alloys, it is noteworthy that corrosion productions of the La2MgNi9alloy are less than the other alloys (see in Fig.6). Identically, oxygen contents of the electrochemical cycled alloys follow the order that La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, indicating that the corroded extent are aggravated (see in Fig.8). It is puzzled that the result is inconsistent with the electrochemical performances that La2MgNi9 possesses poor cycling stability. It also disagrees with the consideration that high Mg content is harmful to the corrosion resistance in La-Mg-Ni based alloys [22-24]. In order to comprehend this fact further, the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance of the three alloys was investigated next. 3.3 The intrinsic anti-corrosion properties To avoid impacts of pulverization on the corrosion behaviors, the alloy particles with the same diameter (around 40 ÃŽÂ ¼m) were immersed in KOH solution at 60  °C for 15 d. Then the morphology, phase structure and oxygen content were measured for characterization of the intrinsic corrosion behaviors. SEM micrographs and EDS analysis of the alloy particles illustrate that severe corrosion occurred after immersion, the typical results are shown in Fig.9 (only La2MgNi9 alloy particles are given here). Compared to the electrochemical cycled alloys, the stick-like products which have been confirmed as composite of La(OH)3 and La2O3, are remarkable in the immersed samples which is due to aggravated corrosion at higher temperature. XRD profiles identify that the corrosion products are mainly La(OH)3, but La2O3 cannot be detected in the immersed alloys, as shown in Fig.10. Coincidently, SAED by TEM found that the stick-shaped phase is single-phase La(OH)3, as shown in Fig.11. The result suggests that La2O3 transforms to La(OH)3 during evolution of the corrosion process. Besides, Mg(OH)2 and MgO are also found existing in the immersed samples, and their morphologies are same with that in the electrochemical cycled alloys. However, Mg(OH)2can only be detected in La2MgNi9 from the identifications of XRD, indicating that corrosion of Mg is violent in La2MgNi9. Fig.12 is the oxygen contents of the immersed alloys, from which severity of corrosion of the three alloys are La2MgNi9 > La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 > La4MgNi19. To provide detailed information of the relationship between the corrosion behaviors and phase constitution, immersion test applied on the massive samples has also been studied (the condition is same with that of the powder samples). Fig.13 shows the SEM-BSE micrographs of the immersed samples (only La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy are present here). Obviously, the corroded extent is inhomogeneous which is considered to be caused by differences of the anti-corrosion capabilities of the various phases. EDS analysis on two regions with diverse corrosion grades (as marked with 1 and 2 in Fig.13) shows no Mg but less O existing in region 1. Whereas, more Mg and O are detected in region 2 with severe corroded extent than region 1. Likewise, EDS-mapping indicates that the region possessing more Mg presents richer O, as shown in Fig.14. Similar result is more evident in the as-cast alloys, which is attributed to the inhomogeneous chemical composition and microstructure of the as-cast alloy, details can b e seen in the supplementary (Fig. S4 and S5). The aforementioned results demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are easy to be corroded in the alkaline solution. It has been well demonstrated that Mg solubility in La-Mg-Ni alloys follows the order that (La,Mg)Ni2> (La,Mg)Ni3 > (La,Mg)2Ni7 > (La,Mg)5Ni19 > LaNi5 [25]. Thus the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistances of various phases in the La-Mg-Ni system are considered to be according with the inverse trend. This result is in agreement with several works where AB2and AB3 type La-Mg-Ni alloys have suffered serious corrosion after electrochemical experiments [8, 23-24]. The tendency is also exactly identical with that the anti-corrosion resistance is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. La2MgNi9 presents worse anti-corrosion capability because contents of the Mg-rich (La,Mg)Ni2and(La,Mg)Ni3 arehigher thanthe other two alloys. However, trend of the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance is opposite to the corrosion extent of the three alloys after electrochemical cyclings. Concern to the fact that corrosion extent of the electrode alloys is also closely related to severity of pulverization during the electrochemical charge/discharge process, the pulverization properties of the alloys are carefully characterized then. 3.4 The intrinsic anti-pulverization properties In order to avoid influence of the additives in the electrochemical test on characterization of the intrinsic pulverization behaviors, the alloys are gaseous hydrogenated and dehydrogenated for 30 cycles. Morphology observation indicates that remarkable pulverization has occurred where decrease of the particle size and emergence of cracks can be seen clearly in the cycled alloys, as shown in Fig.15 (only La2MgNi9 alloy are present here). Then the particles sizes before (Sb) and after (Sa) cycling are measured and the size retention is calculated by Sb/Sa. It (Fig.16) shows that severity of pulverization for the three alloys are La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, which is just contrary to the tendency of the corrosion extent after the immersion experiment. Combined with the results of the intrinsic anti-corrosion and pulverization characterization, we can conclude that the weaker corrosion extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. It has been well accepted that pulverization is induced by the cell volume expansion upon hydrogen absorption [11-12]. Thus, large volume change leads to severe pulverization. Unfortunately, exact measurement of the volume expansion in the present work is difficult due to the multi-phase microstructure. Instead, we summarize the volume changes according to other experimental works where microstructures of these alloys are all sing-phase to ensure the accuracy as far as possible. Based on the data as listed in Table 4, there is no regular trend for the volume changes among the various structures in La-Mg-Ni system. And, no special relationship between the reported volume expansion data and the pulverization performances in the present work can be found. Besides, pulverization is believed to depend on the mechanical properties of the alloys [11-12]. Alloys with the more ductile character are more resistant to pulverization than the brittle materials. Usually, hydrogen storage alloys ar e hard and brittle, thus measuring ductility directly is difficult. Alternatively, Vickers hardness has been used to evaluate the preference of pulverization for the hydrogen storage alloys. And, previous works have found an almost inverse relationship between Vickers hardness and the pulverization rate [11-12, 30], suggesting the availability of Vickers hardness measurement on characterization of the anti-pulverization ability. Fig.17 gives indentations of the various phases in La2MgNi9 and La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. Evolution of Vickers hardness can be seen in Fig.18. It presents a linear relation between the Vickers hardness and B-side stoichiometry of the structures, which also agrees well with the pulverization behaviors of the alloys. Obviously, the mechanical property is an important factor affecting the anti-pulverization ability in the La-Mg-Ni phases. It is found that hardness differences of the AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type phase are small. Under low loading of the hardness test, micro-cracks can hardly be observed in all the above three phases. Since the test force increase, micro-cracks can be seen in all these phases, but there is no obvious difference between them. Differently, LaNi5 is the hard phase, but hardness of (La,Mg)Ni2 is far more lower than the other phases. To comprehend more understanding on the crack formation of various phases, a massive sample with a polished surface was partial charged by electrochemical method, and the morphology and distribution of crack was observed. To highlight character of the hard and soft phase, the as-cast La2MgNi9 alloy was selected for the high abundance of LaNi5 and (La,Mg)Ni2. Microstructure characteristics of the as-cast La2MgNi9 alloy are given in the supplementary (Fig.S6-S7). As shown in Fig.19, quite a number of cracks can be observed in the sample which is only charged for 10 min. Most of the cracks exist in LaNi5 with the darkest contrast in the BSE image. One reason is that LaNi5 is the catalytic phase that primarily charged in the La-Mg-Ni system [31-32]. More importantly, it also ascribes to the brittle character of LaNi5 which agrees well with the above result that the hard phase is easy to crack formation. It is noteworthy that cracks are often stopped in front of (La,Mg)Ni2. Obviously, the soft phase is more resistant to crack formation and able to prevent the crack spreading. Similar result has been reported in other literatures where ductile secondary phases are believed to be beneficial to the cycling stability [33]. According to the above results, we can conclude that La4MgNi19 alloy is easy to pulverization as the high abundance of the hard phases LaNi5 and (La,Mg)5Ni19. As to La2MgNi9, little LaNi5 but existence of the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 and (La,Mg)Ni3 make it more resistant to crack emergence. These findings enlighten a way to improve the anti-pulverization ability by introduction appropriate abundance and distribution of soft secondary phases. 4 Conclusions In the present study, corrosion and pulverization behaviors of three typical La-Mg-Ni alloys: La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 have been systematically investigated. All the alloys present multi-phase microstructure with (La,Mg)Ni3, (La,Mg)2Ni7and (La,Mg)5Ni19 as the main phase respectively. La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 possesses better electrochemical properties among the three alloys. It is found that pulverization and corrosion with the main product La(OH)3, combined with La2O3, Mg(OH)2 and MgO, have occurred after the electrochemical cycling. The overall corrosion extent of the electrochemical cycled alloys follow the order that La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19. Immersion test demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are easy to be corroded in the alkaline solution. The intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance are found to be La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, which is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. However, the intrinsic anti-pulverization ability just presents an inverse tre nd that La2MgNi9 > La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 > La4MgNi19. It is found that the mechanical property is an important factor affecting the anti-pulverization ability. Vickers hardness elevates with increase of the B-side stoichiometry of the various phases, which agrees well with the pulverization behaviors of the alloys. Furthermore, LaNi5 with the highest hardness is found to be easy to crack formation, but the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 is more resistant to crack formation and able to prevent the crack spreading. The weaker corrosion extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. 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