21793 research outputs found
Sort by
Kindness is the Smallest Thing in the World
Get PDFKindness is the Smallest Thing in the World is a record of lived time in poetry format. Each of its forty entries were written in chronological time to be left unedited with the intention of building a feeling journey that could account for itself, and, so, show itself. On paper, it loosely tells the story of a seed that encounters hidden knowledge of its own being, and must go through multiple iterations of its own growth and fall to situate itself in community and kinship. Along the way, poems question concepts like the self, self expression, the exponential development of civilization, selfishness, natural spaces, climate change, nostalgic stories, community and isolation, treating them more like potential mirrors to move on from each time than any tangible or outward reality. In this way, Kindness is the Smallest Thing in the World is inspired by the work of William Blake and by The Odyssey
Bad Spirit
No full textIn Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Arachne challenges Minerva to a weaving contest and creates a tapestry that depicts the indiscretions of the gods, a record of human suffering. Minerva, offended, beats Arachne with her boxwood shuttle and destroys her tapestry; when Arachne hangs herself in protest, Minerva transforms her into a spider.
We know a little more about spiders than they used to, and it seems that if you sweep away a spider’s web, you may damage its memory as well as its home. The web serves, in some ways, as an extension of the spider’s mind. Although the research is inconclusive, as an image it encapsulates my interests: how to understand both embodiment and suffering, extended/embodied cognition in the face of impossible force, and the problems of trauma and memory.
In approaching these problems, my work is in conversation with Julia Kristeva’s essay “The Powers of Horror,” in its engagement with objects, substances, and experiences that evoke discomfort and disgust (spiders and insects, viscera, hair, etc.). The central conflict of an avoidant lyric speaker encountering that which is uncontainable and leaking affect under that pressure is the at the centre of the project
Sex(ting) Education: Analysing Quebec education concerning young people’s digital sexual media production
Get PDFYoung people have faced a history of moral panics concerning their presence online, and a recently reported increase in teenage sexting has intensified these fears. As a result, responses from stakeholders have told young people that their exploration of sexuality, particularly mediated
through digital technology, is wrong, often correlating their behaviours with deviance and illegality. Yet, providing agency to young people in their sexual media production enables teenagers to communicate their sexual desires. As use of digital technology continues to accelerate among the youth sector, we must understand that mediating one’s sexual life will be included in its use.
This thesis project explores how Quebec police departments attempt to educate young people (eighteen years and younger) regarding the practice of sexting, primarily the sharing of nude photographs. This project investigates Quebec’s sexting campaigns “SEXTing is PORN,” and “SEXTO,” developed to shape adolescent access to digital sexual information. Campaign material is examined through situational analysis to identify discursive ideas of sexting presented in these pieces of media, the collection of stakeholders involved in the creation of these messages,
and the potential absence of positions within these discourses of teenage sexting. Overall, this research finds that the campaigns under study rely on police and government organizations framing teenage sexting as child pornography. Without expressing alternative positions, young people are left unequipped to deal with challenges they may face and may be scared to reach out in fear of legal repercussions
American Press Coverage of the Assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich Romanov, 1905
Get PDFOn February 17, 1905, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich Romanov, uncle of the reigning Tsar Nicholas II and the former Governor General of Moscow, was assassinated on the grounds of the Kremlin. His murder occurred at a time when revolutionary violence, which was sporadic in the years preceding 1905, quickly began to intensify in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 22, 1905. What often gets overlooked in analyses of the turbulent 1905 Revolution is Sergei, and this thesis seeks to return the spotlight to him and uncover how the American press reported on his death in the context of the burgeoning revolution. As such, my thesis fits into a new wave of scholarship that considers the 1905 Revolution as a transnational phenomenon. American newspapers, which fortunately had access to foreign correspondents stationed in Russia who were no longer impeded by Russian censorship laws by this time, broke the news of the assassination the day following the bombing – but what did they write about it? Better yet, to what extent did they grasp that the assassination of the Grand Duke was part of a larger revolutionary phenomenon, if at all? This thesis examines news reports printed by five American newspapers about the assassination and its aftermath over a period of three months – from the day after the bomb exploded to the day after the assassin was executed – and finds that the press recognized from the outset that the bombing was not an isolated incident, but part of a planned revolutionary campaign against the autocracy. Moreover, an analysis of news reports about Sergei’s assassination demonstrates how quickly his story was supplanted by other news stories about revolutionary violence
Design and Testing of a Complete Heart Soft Robotic Compression Device
Get PDFCurrent strategies for cardiac contraction compensation show the potential of soft robotic sleeves as an alternative for cardiac assist devices. Development, testing, and validation of new implantable medical devices always require experiments for approval. The need for clinical trials or in vivo tests can be minimized by proposing a new beating heart phantom. The rationale behind this study is the design and fabrication of a soft robotic cardiac compression device, simulation of the heartbeat in a silicone heart phantom, and flow measurement in an aorta model. Here, we create a silicone heart and an aorta phantom based on the MRI data by brushing silicone on their 3D-printed molds. Discovering the best commercially available actuator components is one of the objectives of this work, wherein the most effective combination of the tube and the expandable sleeve is provided in detail. The main parameter for evaluation of cardiac function is fractional shortening, which is higher than 25% in a healthy heart, therefore, we used that as the reference for choosing the best possible actuator elements. Three surgical valves and one lifelike valve are placed in the heart model to mimic realistic flow conditions. Both normal and cardiomyopathy conditions are modeled, and an aortic flow assessment is performed. After optimization of the setup, the direct flow assessment of the aorta represents the peak aortic flow of
20.42 l/min. A stroke volume of more than 65 ml, a cardiac output of 4.05 l/min, and an ejection fraction of 50% can be generated with this model. While, in cardiomyopathy simulation, the missing contraction at the specific regions results in a reduction in aortic flow, ejection fraction, and cardiac output
Improving the sustainability of coal SC in both developed and developing countries by incorporating extended exergy accounting and different carbon reduction policies
Get PDFIn the age of Industry 4.0 and global warming, it is inevitable for decision-makers to change the way they view the coal supply chain (SC). In nature, energy is the currency, and nature is the source of energy for humankind. Coal is one of the most important sources of energy which provides much-needed electricity, as well as steel and cement production. This manuscript-based PhD thesis examines the coal SC network as well as the four carbon reduction strategies and plans to develop a comprehensive model for sustainable design. Thus, the Extended Exergy Accounting (EEA) method is incorporated into a coal SC under economic order quantity (EOQ) and economic production quantity (EPQs) in an uncertain environment. Using a real case study in coal SC in Iran, four carbon reduction policies such as carbon tax (Chapter 5), carbon trade (Chapter 6), carbon cap (Chapter 7), and carbon offset (Chapter 8) are examined. Additionally, all carbon policies are compared for sustainable performance of coal SCs in some developed and developing countries (the USA, China, India, Germany, Canada, Australia, etc.) with the world's most significant coal consumption. The objective function of the four optimization models under each carbon policy is to minimize the total exergy (in Joules as opposed to Dollars/Euros) of the coal SC in each country. The models have been solved using three recent metaheuristic algorithms, including Ant lion optimizer (ALO), Lion optimization algorithm (LOA), and Whale optimization algorithm (WOA), as well as three popular ones, such as Genetic algorithm (GA), Ant colony optimization (ACO), and Simulated annealing (SA), are suggested to determine a near-optimal solution to an exergy fuzzy nonlinear integer-programming (EFNIP). Moreover, the proposed metaheuristic algorithms are validated by using an exact method (by GAMS software) in small-size test problems. Finally, through a sensitivity analysis, this dissertation compares the effects of applying different percentages of exergy parameters (capital, labor, and environmental remediation) to coal SC models in each country. Using this approach, we can determine the best carbon reduction policy and exergy percentage that leads to the most sustainable performance (the lowest total exergy per Joule). The findings of this study may enhance the related research of sustainability assessment of SC as well as assist coal enterprises in making logical and measurable decisions
Modelling, Design Optimization, and Experimental Characterization of Miniaturized Pneumatic Artificial Muscles
Get PDFMiniaturized pneumatic artificial muscles (MPAMs) are actuators designed to replicate the actuation behaviour of natural muscles. Their unique characteristics, including a high power-to- weight ratio, flexibility, compatibility with the human environment, and compact size, make them widely used in diverse applications. However, MPAMs face a significant challenge in terms of their low force output, which hinders their overall performance. Enhancing their force generation capability while maintaining their compact dimensions is crucial for improving their efficiency.
The present thesis focuses on the design optimization, fabrication, and modelling of an MPAM to maximize its force output while ensuring compatibility with small-scale applications. To this end, a formal design optimization problem is formulated to determine the optimal sizes of MPAMs, with the objective of maximizing their blocked force under geometrical constraints. A comprehensive force model is derived, considering key parameters that influence the response behaviour of MPAMs, which serves as the objective function for maximization. To investigate the importance of various correction terms added to the simple force model of the MPAMs, two optimization formulations varying in their objective functions and vectors of design variables have been defined. One formulation considers the effects of energy stored in the braided sleeving and optimizes the parameters related to braid strands, while the other excludes these factors. To identify the optimal design, a hybrid optimization algorithm is employed, combining a stochastic-based algorithm with gradient-based algorithms. This approach allows for the identification of the global optimum while also examining the effects of different optimization algorithms on the results.
Next, two MPAMs are fabricated using the dimensions obtained from the optimization procedure. The first sample utilizes Ecoflex-50 as the bladder material, while the second sample incorporates a mixture of PDMS and Ecoflex-30. The aim is to compare the performance of the MPAMs
iii
fabricated with different materials for their bladders. An experimental setup is subsequently designed to conduct quasi-static tests on each sample to measure their generated blocked force and contraction under various pressures as well as validate the theoretical results obtained from the optimization process.
Finally, the hysteresis loops obtained from loading and unloading each sample under specific pressures are analyzed to derive correction terms that account for the nonlinear behaviour of MPAMs and the friction between their components. Different theoretical and empirical approaches are assessed to determine the most accurate correction terms. The resulting force model enables accurate predictions of force and contraction outputs under various inlet pressures.
Overall, this study contributes significantly to the design optimization of MPAMs, offering potential applications in diverse fields, including soft robotics and medical devices. The combination of theoretical modelling, optimization techniques, fabrication, and experimental tests provides essential guide for the comprehensive understanding of MPAM’s performance and its potential for practical implementation
Daily Unmet Interpersonal Needs Among Adolescents At Lower and Higher Risk for Suicidal Ideation & The Moderating Role of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia
Get PDFThe Interpersonal Theory of Suicide posits that unmet interpersonal needs of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness are associated with the onset and severity of suicidal ideation. Research to date has largely examined the between-person associations of unmet interpersonal needs with suicide risk. Still, unmet interpersonal needs have been shown to vary significantly over time among adult clinical populations, yet little is known about the daily predictors and emotional impacts of this variability among adolescents at lower and higher risk for suicidal ideation. This dissertation sought to examine the day-to-day variability in unmet interpersonal needs and explore the risk factors for, and emotional consequences of, within-person fluctuations in unmet interpersonal needs among a sample of fifty-five adolescents with and without major depressive disorder (MDD), considered at higher- and lower-risk for suicidal ideation, respectively. The first study examined the day-to-day variability in unmet interpersonal needs and between- and within-person associations with emotional pain. The results of this study demonstrated that adolescents at higher risk for suicidal ideation had greater frequency, severity, and variability in unmet interpersonal needs. Nonetheless, adolescents at lower and higher risk for suicidal ideation both reported greater emotional pain on days when they reported greater perceptions of unmet interpersonal needs than usual for them. The second study sought to examine whether respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a physiological index of emotion regulation in social situations, moderated the within-person fluctuations in unmet interpersonal needs in response to negative social interactions. Results from this study demonstrated that participants reported more unmet interpersonal needs on days when they reported more negative social interactions. Among higher-risk adolescents, higher RSA was associated with less daily burdensomeness compared to their counterparts with lower RSA, especially on days with fewer negative social interactions. Taken together, these studies demonstrated that adolescents at lower and higher risk for suicidal ideation exhibit similar risk factors for and emotional outcomes of within-person fluctuations in unmet interpersonal needs. Thus, the longitudinal processes via which risk for unmet interpersonal needs and suicidal ideation is accrued across these two groups may be a matter of degree rather than kind
The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Test of the Resilience of ESG Practices for Small-Cap Firms in the United States
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has had severe consequences for economies across the globe, causing panic across economies and triggering high levels of uncertainty among investors. Small-cap equities absorbed enormous damage as a result. In the United States, the Russell 2000 dropped by 41.6%. ESG practices have often been found to offer downside risk protection in times of crisis due to their insurance function, and the evidence found in this paper is consistent with this view. This paper uses a sample of small-cap firms to examine this relationship at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (11 March 2020) and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic (8 November 2021). This study finds that small-cap firms with higher ESG ratings perform better than those with low ESG ratings in the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods. However, ESG ratings are found only to drive performance in the former period
On Bézier Curves and Surfaces
Get PDFThe Bézier curve is a continuous parametric curve that is used in numerous applications, such as automobile design and road design. I begin by surveying the fundamental properties of the Bézier curve and provide a variety of examples and calculations. I also survey, but more succinctly, the notion of the Bézier surface, which also has numerous applications in computer-aided design software, such as aircraft design. I end by presenting the special types of points that a cubic Bézier curve (with four control points) can have. The configuration of planar control points that I present can be used by computer engineers to produce various shapes with respect to the necessary design requirements and to minimize fluctuations of the curve itself