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Response of Large Diameter Offshore Wind Turbine Monopile Foundations to Extreme Event Loading Expected at U.S. Atlantic Coast Wind Energy Areas
Get PDFExtra-tropical (ETC) and tropical cyclones (TC) pose potential risks to offshore wind farms along the U.S. Atlantic coast, where the offshore wind energy industry is gaining momentum. This research aims to evaluate the stability of large diameter offshore wind turbine monopile foundations under these extreme conditions using the governing industry practice in IEC 61400-3-1. To quantify the risk at U.S. Atlantic coast wind energy areas (WEAs), the ETC and TC impact frequency and intensity are identified using the NHC Historical Hurricane Tracks Archive. Numerical simulations in Plaxis 3D are performed on foundations ranging from 8 to 12 meters in diameter embedded in medium dense sand. Storm conditions correspond to Saffir-Simpson category 1 through 4 wind speeds and associated metocean criteria. A database of foundation mudline rotation and deflection is presented for each storm intensity, turbine size and water depth. The anticipated monopile foundation stability is then predicted for each WEA
A Darwinian Feminist Analysis of Margaret Atwood\u27s The Handmaid\u27s Tale
Get PDFMargaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale presents a dystopian world in which women have lost all individualism and have been reduced to breeding machines. This paper analyzes the patriarchal characteristics of The Handmaid’s Tale by using a Darwinian feminist theory to understand the evolutionary psychological root of male control of women in the narrative. Additionally, this in-depth reading relies on David Geary’s analysis of male and female mating dynamics and Barbara Smuts’ study of the evolution of patriarchy in humans to further give evidence to the evolutionary root of Gilead’s patriarchy. The men of Gilead control women through creating a fundamentalist biblical society, eliminating economic and educational resources for women, forcing women into becoming surrogates, implementing uniforms, and instilling social isolation; each of these cultural changes can be further explained through Darwinian feminism
Innovation, Firm Life Cycle and the Dividend Payout Scale Effects on ETF Performance
Get PDFThis dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay, I introduce a new measure of the firm life cycle and compare its efficacy with the three existing life cycle proxies: ‘cashflow patterns’, ‘earned contributed capital mix’, and the firm’s public ‘age’. More specifically, I show that two groups of firms, similar in all respects except in their innovations efficiencies, will adopt different dividend policies regardless of their calendar age, earned income, or the cash flow patterns. I employ a large sample of US manufacturing firms spanning from 1973 to 2017. I find that more innovative firms pay lower dividends than the less innovative firms, irrespective of how we describe the life cycle stages. Besides, I perform a comprehensive cross-sectional look at the interrelations among various factors, including innovation output, growth, firm life cycle, and the dividend payout. I conclude that the intensity of innovation outputs has a direct relation with the firm\u27s growth rate, and that, in turn, affects the firm’s life cycle, and thereby its dividend policy.
In the second essay, I evaluate the returns to scale, tracking error, and the role of fund characteristics on the ETFs risk-return performance. I investigate the impact of asset base size growth on the risk-adjusted performance and on the tracking ability of ETFs to their benchmark indices. I use the quantile regression approach with survivorship biased free non-leveraged, non-active, equity-only ETFs sample for ten years. I find that the ‘universe of equity ETFs’ do not provide increasing returns to scale. The results show that the size has a more substantial negative impact on the highest performing quantiles of the ETF cluster. I also observe that the ‘illiquidity,’ ‘expense ratio,’ the ‘equal-weighted index composition’ among others are the main key drivers that exacerbate the inverse relationship between the size and the performance. However, the core blend style and the capitalization-weighted index composition have a positive effect. Finally, I conclude a negative relationship between the size and the tracking error. I document that the ‘illiquidity,’ ‘expense ratio,’ and ‘volatility’ have a positive relationship with the tracking error
Failures & Majesties
No full textFailures & Majesties is a collection of nine nonfiction essays that examines the tethers of human relationships, the ropes between us that fortify and fray. The collection represents the author\u27s cumulative body of work upon completion of her MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing at UNO
Job Approval Rating for Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards
Get PDFhe University of New Orleans’ Survey Research Center (SRC) conducted a statewide interactive voice response (IVR) survey of Louisiana voters on the topic of who they preferred in the 2020 presidential election. We also asked them about the Covid-19 virus. Survey respondents were randomly selected from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s voter file. However, not all registered voters were eligible for the poll. Only those registered voters who had voted at least once in the past ten statewide elections in Louisiana were selected for the sample. The sample of 755respondents was collected by telephone IVR on Thursday October 22, 2020 and yields a margin of error of +/- 3.6% with 95% confidence.
Readers should be cautious in making narrow inferences about sub-categorical cross tabulations of survey results. While a poll of 755 random respondents yields a +/- 3.6% margin of error, sub-categorical group samples by race, age, and gender are smaller than the total sample size, thus, leading to wider margins of error when they are reported in cross tabulations
The Career Advancement Narratives of Black Women Presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Get PDFThe purpose of this narrative study was to chronicle the career advancement journeys of the Black women who have been successful in ascending to the presidency in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Currently, only a small percentage of Black women serve as presidents of HBCUs. More specifically, there is literature suggesting that race and gender discrimination towards Black women is not confined by institution type, and that some of the same issues plaguing Black women in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), exist within HBCUs as well (Bonner, 2001; Gasman, 2007; Kennedy, 2012). Although many studies exist relative to the career advancement experiences of Black women in PWIs, there is a paucity of studies focusing on the experiences of Black women HBCU presidents. In an effort to convey the career advancement stories of Black women who have ascended to the HBCU presidency, narrative methods were used in this study. The author sought to answer the following research question: What are the storied career advancement experiences of Black women who have risen to the HBCU presidency?The findings revealed that Black women role models, mentoring and support systems, and a determination to succeed are beneficial to career success. Additionally, the findings indicate that Black women face sexism within HBCUs, PWIs, and within the community. In particular, the findings suggest that there is a Black male patriarchy existing in the HBCU, where few Black women serve in the role of president. Further findings show that there is also a difference in the treatment of Black women HBCU students, versus Black women HBCU leaders. Whereas the former is nurtured, while the latter\u27s competency and qualifications are called into question
Evolution of the Magnolia Growth Fault: An Evaluation of Cenozoic Activity, Plaquemines Parish, Southeastern Louisiana
No full textA geologic investigation of the Lake Hermitage area west of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana suggests an active, regional growth fault has caused rapid local subsidence. The Magnolia growth fault is a down-to-the-south, deep-seated listric fault bounded to the west and east by two salt diapirs. Evidence from 3D seismic data, well logs, and biostratigraphy, in addition to local geomorphology, suggests the fault has been active since the Miocene and is causing submergence of wetlands on the hanging wall side. To investigate whether a correlation exists between deep-seated growth faults and subsidence at this location, near-surface data including vibracores, radiocarbon dated organic material, and 2D CHIRP seismic were collected to examine whether motion of the Magnolia growth fault has contributed to local subsidence in the Holocene. A complete understanding of fault-induced subsidence in southern Louisiana is necessary to maximize the benefits of coastal management
Documenting West and Central African Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) Community Structures and their Vulnerability to Climate Change
Get PDFThe Guineo-Congolian (GC) region of West and Central Africa contains high levels of species richness (SR) and endemism. Within the GC region, the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) is an important biodiversity hotspot in part due to montane habitats that constitute important ‘sky islands’ refugia during warm periods of the Pleistocene glacial cycles. However, little is known about the diversity of many taxa in the GC region, especially for insects. The main goals of this dissertation are to: 1) document dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) species diversity across the GC region and assess the potential impacts of future climate change on species community composition, 2) examine the role that ‘sky islands’ may have played in driving the diversification of three common dung beetle species (Catharsius lycaon, Onthophagus fuscidorsis and Neosisyphus angulicollis) and 3) document dung beetle species diversity along an elevational gradient on Bioko, the largest oceanic island within the CVL. We used several non-parametric estimators and rarefaction to estimate SR at 23 sites across the GC region. We also adopted a Generalized Dissimilarity Matrix (GDM) modeling approach to predict patterns of beta diversity under present and future climate change. Additionally, we generated mitochondrial DNA sequence data from C. lycaon, O. fuscidorsis and N. angulicollis sampled across the CVL and surrounding lowlands to examine the role that ‘sky islands’ may have played in driving genetic differentiation. We recorded a total of 26,737 dung beetle specimens belonging to 188 species and 19 genera. The GDM results show that under current climate change, the wettest month and the driest quarter are the most important predictors of community composition and that under future climate change montane areas and forest-savanna transition zones across the GC region will experience the greatest shifts in species turnover. Evidence supports the ‘sky island’ hypothesis for all three focal species. Dung beetle SR decreased with increasing elevation on Bioko Island. Current dung beetle communities are likely greatly affected across the GC by defaunation and other anthropogenic activities. Future studies should examine the role of defaunation on dung beetle communities and the ecosystem services they provide
Visible-light-active disinfection of surface water coliform using silver/titanium dioxide/silver bromide(Ag/TiO2/AgBr) as photocatalyst
Get PDFAs human population becomes diverse, the need for sustainable, inexpensive, scalable, and decentralized water treatment technologies to supplement or replace conventional treatment methods are important, especially to satisfy the need of small, rural communities for safe drinking water. These challenges can be somewhat met with the use of semiconductor photocatalysis, especially if the process is driven by visible light energy. Visible-light-active (VLA) photocatalysis can be effectively applied in disinfection of drinking water. In comparison to traditional, energy-intensive, physical and chemical disinfection methods, VLA photocatalysis is capable of providing high disinfection efficiency with the use of cheaper energy, no harmful by-products, and no addition of chemicals. Doped with noble metals, some photocatalysts can be improved to react under visible light, producing in-situ reactive oxidative species (ROS) to disinfect water. In this thesis, experiments show that the noble metal based photocatalyst Ag/TiO2/AgBr is promising in neutralizing coliform bacteria under visible light
The State of Nonprofits in Southeast Louisiana: The Impact of COVID-19
Get PDFThe Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) in partnership with the University of New Orleans’ (UNO) Political Science Department undertook a study to gain insights on the impact the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having on nonprofit organizations located in Southeast Louisiana and to share this information as a resource to philanthropy, nonprofits, and civic leaders in our region. GNOF and UNO conducted online and phone surveys beginning March 23, 2020 through April 13, 2020 which targeted 501(c)3 public charities, excluding churches, foundations, and unique groups of larger nonprofits such as hospitals, universities, and charter schools. Our research examined ten essential questions facing these nonprofit organizations, which were grouped in the following categories: 1) baseline nonprofit data, 2) COVID-19’s impact on nonprofits, and 3) responses and resources to COVID-19 for nonprofit and partners