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Russian and Soviet Relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
No full textThis project seeks to explore the political history of the present-day Russian Federation in regard to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), following a historical path beginning with the Soviet Union. Primarily, this research seeks to develop a historical understanding of the adverse relationship between the former Soviet Union and NATO, and how their past has influenced the current precarious relationship between them. It will also examine the unlikely possibility of Russia, the successor nation of the Soviet Union, joining this western organization by looking at it through a historical perspective, as the USSR has had a historically negative relationship with NATO. Generally, this research will explore the relationship throughout the history of the former Soviet Union and NATO and how that has determined Russia’s negative attitude toward the organization in the present day
Minutes of the Meeting of the University Senate, September 15, 2022
No full text1. Informational Items: Senate Welcome by Provost Britt Rios-Ellis; ADA Compliance and University Senate eSpace; Academic Sustainability Update; SBRC + SPRC Update; Faculty Tenure and Promotion Update; OU Advance Update; Graduate School Modifications (Graduate Grading System Policy Modification for the OUWB School of Medicine); Undergraduate School Modifications (Communications Minor Program Modification, Modified Major in Chinese Major Program Modification); Provost Updates | 2. Roll Call | 3. Approval of the Minutes of May 19, 2022 | 4.Old Business | 5. New Business: Procedural Motion to staff Senate Standing Committees (1st reading); University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction charge modification (1st reading); Campus Development and Environment Committee charge modification (1st reading); Student Academic Support Committee charge modification (1st reading); Academic Standing and Honors Committee charge modification (1st reading); readmissions policy (1st reading) | 6. Good and Welfare
The Importance Of Legislative Mandates In The Implementation Of Restorative Practices
No full textThis dissertation research answered the following question:Is there a significant correlation between legal mandates to implement restorative practices and a reduction in suspensions in states with legal mandates compared to states without legal mandates? To answer this question, I used data available from the Civil Right DataCollection and The School Survey on Crime and Safety. A quantitative approach was taken to evaluate data using a repeated measures model in the CDC data and a crosstabulation for the SSOCS data. The findings indicate that states with mandated restorative practices have a higher reported use of restorative practices than states without a mandate. Additionally, the findings show that in states with a restorative practices mandate, suspensions decreased at a greater rate than in states without the mandate. Finally, the research showed that states with restorative practices mandates had higher rates of suspensions before the legal mandates were adopted than states that do not have a restorative practices mandate
Robust and Adaptive Lateral Controller for Autonomous Vehicles
No full textThis thesis addresses the problem of controlling the lateral motion of an autonomous vehicle in the presence of parametric uncertainties, disturbances, and hard nonlinearities in the steering system, such as backlash in gears, stiction, hysteresis, and dead zones. The lateral motion of an autonomous vehicle is controlled by two cascaded controllers, the trajectory tracking controller and the steering angle controller. This thesis focuses on the development of both controllers using robust and adaptive control techniques. Two control strategies are developed to control the electric power steering angle, sliding mode control and adaptive backstepping control. The limitation of sliding mode control is first addressed, which is the chattering phenomena, and then a proposed methodology is presented to solve it using variable gain sliding mode control. Self-aligning moment acts as disturbance on the steering system that the controller has to compensate for. A model-based approach to estimate it is first developed and its limitations are addressed, which is tire parameters dependence. Two other approaches are then developed to overcome these limitations, the first one is a sliding mode observer, and the second one is part of a backstepping controller. Two approaches are developed to control the vehicle lateral trajectory, non-adaptive backstepping and adaptive backstepping. The extended matching design procedure is used in the adaptive backstepping controller to avoid the overestimation problem. Road curvature must be accurately known by the controller to follow the planned trajectory. It is usually measured by a camera, but the quality of the measurement is affected by environmental factors. An adaptive law is developed to estimate the road curvature online as part of an adaptive backstepping controller. Two feedforward approaches are presented to compensate for road curvature, one is derived from steady state vehicle lateral dynamics, and another is based on estimating the transfer function dynamics from road curvature to steering angle. Road bank angle is a significant disturbance in vehicle lateral control systems. A vehicle lateral state and disturbance observer is developed to estimate the road bank angle and the vehicle side slip angle, which are expensive to measure in current road vehicles, using extended Kalman filter. The observer combines a dynamical vehicle model with two measurements from inexpensive sensors
Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating an Opioid-Sparing Thyroid/Parathyroid Anesthesia Protocol: A Quality Improvement Initiative
No full textThe recent scrutiny around opioid use and abuse in the United States has been alarming. As anesthesia providers, we are tasked with managing both acute and chronic pain in a variety of settings. A balanced, opioid-sparing technique has been demonstrated to be effective for a variety of different surgical procedures in the literature. In this paper, we discuss opioid-sparing anesthetics for patients undergoing thyroid and parathyroid surgery. This project was completed by doing a retrospective chart review before and after the implementation of an opioid-sparing protocol. The protocol was developed from an evidence-based literature review on the subject. Primary outcomes were evaluating the protocol’s effect on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), overall pain scores at multiple stages throughout the stay in PACU, respiratory depression, and total opioid dose in morphine-milligram equivalents (MME). Secondary outcomes were time spent in PACU and protocol compliance. A total of 30 patients meeting inclusion criteria received the protocol from November 2021 through February 2022. When compared to a similar pre-intervention cohort, those that received the protocol had significantly less PONV (10% in protocol group vs. 90% in pre-protocol group). Other outcomes that were analyzed had no statistical significance. Since thyroid/parathyroid surgeries are not associated with significant perioperative pain, an opioid-sparing anesthesia for these surgeries may decrease negative outcomes associated with opioid administration
2022-2023 Discover Your Future Magazine
No full textThis report shares career outcomes from OU’s recent graduates. Data is compiled from the First-Destination Survey, which is administered annually by Oakland University Career Services
Countering the Democratic Descent: Policy Proposals for Refining the American Experiment in Liberal Democracy and Addressing the Global Democratic Backslide
No full textAs the 21st century is increasingly defined by a precipitous decline in liberal democratic values, the United States faces a critical inflection point characterized by growing domestic polarization and a global democratic backsliding. This thesis argues that the continued deterioration of human rights (particularly political and civil rights) is not an inevitability of modern governance or geopolitical trends, but rather a consequence of failing international and domestic systems. Utilizing a strategic framework predicated on bringing governments up to PAR—Popular, Accountable, and Rights-regarding—this project proposes an “inside-out” strategy for the United States. Domestically, the project acts as a policy playbook for institutional revitalization through six key reforms: restructuring the Electoral College and voting systems, eliminating partisan gerrymandering, expanding Congress, transitioning to a multiparty system, and instituting a Universal Basic Income. These reforms are presented as essential mechanisms to mitigate the converging threats of economic inequality, executive overreach, and political polarization. On the global stage, the project advocates for a shift away from zero-sum ideological conflicts in favor of a new multilateralism built on cognitive empathy and peaceful coexistence. This thesis demonstrates that constructive engagement and a partial separation of human rights from Westernization can create a stable international order. Ultimately, by strengthening its own domestic capacity and integrity, the United States can lead a diverse community of nations toward a new global order rooted in mutual respect, coexistence, and universal PAR standards