Digital Commons Network^™

Proposed Charlotte To Atlanta High-Speed Passenger Rail Line: An Economic, Infrastructural, And Developmental Analysis In The Upstate Of South Carolina, Ian C. Macurda, Kimberly Whitehead

SC Upstate Research Symposium

This research paper is an in-depth analysis of the high-speed passenger rail line proposed between Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA and its impact on the economy, infrastructure, and future development of the Upstate of South Carolina. Currently, passenger rail service between Charlotte and Atlanta is offered on Amtrak at late hours throughout the night on its long-distance passenger rail line The Crescent from New York City, NY to New Orleans, LA. The train is often delayed and is operating at a deficit for Amtrak, like most of their long-distance routes. Traffic on Interstate 85 through the Upstate is another issue …

Yellotas: A Unique Yellow Serradella Cultivar With Potential For Permanent Pasture Environments, G. Martin, Rowan W. Smith, E. J. Hall, Matthew Newell, R. Haling, R. C. Hayes

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Yellow serradella (Ornithopus compressus L.) has been identified as a priority self-regenerating annual legume species for permanent pasture environments in south-eastern Australia. However, most yellow serradella genotypes exhibit high levels of hard seed and slow rates of hard seed breakdown, which reduces regeneration density in the years following the year of sowing . One cultivar, Yellotas, exhibits a much faster rate of hard seed breakdown and has been identified as one of only a handful of cultivars of that species with promising persistence in permanent pasture environments. In addition, this cultivar is substantially easier to de-hull than other cultivars …

Leveraging The Power Of The Internet To Enhance Development And Overcome Poverty In Africa, Bernard Ngalim

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper explores the internet’s transformative potential in combating poverty in Africa and enhancing development by enabling the exchange of goods and services. The paper aims to demonstrate how new technologies empower individuals, entrepreneurs, and communities to surpass historical limitations and drive economic growth within and beyond the continent. The study focuses on a few key areas. First, it examines the impact of enhanced digital connectivity and access on economic opportunities and poverty reduction in Africa, including initiatives to promote digital literacy. Second, it investigates e-commerce platforms' growth and capacity to connect African entrepreneurs and businesses with regional and global …

Is Colonialism Episodal Or An Epoch? Understanding Africa’S Retrogressing Progression, Henrietta Oshokunofa

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

After the end of colonialism in Africa, there have been concerted efforts to decolonise Africa by mopping out the vestiges of exploitation, divide-and-rule system, oppression, and dehumanization, among others that characterised the period. Following its succession of an era that witnessed the mass migration of African descent from Africa to the Americas, colonialism was nothing short of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade save for the natural resources exploitation that differentiated it. With post-colonialism being around for almost as long as colonialism, it is yet to demonstrate any significant development in the different sectors of their societies despite gaining independence peacefully through …

From ‘Economic Objectives’ To Constitutional Protection: A Path To Entrenching The Right To Development In The Legal Framework Of The Gambia, Maria Saine, Basiru Bah

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The 1997 Constitution of The Gambia offers minimal protection of economic rights that are essential in the realization of the right to development. The justiciable provisions of the bill of rights in Chapter IV of the Constitution are largely of civil and political rights in nature. Chapter XX of the Constitution outlines several objectives to guide State policy and law formulation as well as law enforcement. However, these principles are non-justiciable in nature, leaving the general population without judicially enforceable human rights despite years of economic deprivation.

The status of economic rights and the resultant neglect in investing towards realization …

Advancing Access To Justice In Sub- Saharan Africa And Latin America: Innovative Strategies And Methods., Adaobi Egboka

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Access to justice in sub-Saharan Africa is a priority for many stakeholders who aim to support communities that have been impacted by Africa's history of colonization. Ensuring access to justice for all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic background or cultural heritage, is essential for upholding human rights, promoting social cohesion, and supporting sustainable development throughout the continent. NGOs and other justice actors have actively provided access to justice in many countries but have relied on donor funding for their services. However, donor funding is decreasing in many regions, and governments are increasingly closing civic spaces, making it challenging for NGOs …

Examining Postcolonial Structures Of Corporate Power Through The Lens Of Development Induced Projects In Africa, Janet Gbam, Oyeniyi Abe

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper examines the relationships between socio-economic inequalities of power, race, wealth engendered by corporate structure, and domination in post-colonial Africa. In Africa, the drive towards infrastructural development and economic growth has increasingly led to the displacement of local populations by TNCs. This intractable challenge confines the experiences of Indigenous people, their decolonial imaginations, to an unwarranted historicizing parochialism. However, corporate power and structure - the weapons that enforce it, the knowledge institutions that legitimize it, the financial institutions that operationalize it - continues to sever indigenous peoples from their properties, including land, water, rivers and natural resources. The colonial …

African Right To Identity As A Right To Development: A Media Right Agenda, Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj, Gift Oluwatosin Olalusi, Olawale Olaleye

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The Right to Development is still a highly contested concept in academic and political circles. However, it is evident that irrespective of the divide of the debate, all known declarations including the United Nations, the UN Millennium Declaration, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights among others are yet to have a lasting impact on the liberation and the overall development of Africa and African descent. Hence, in order to find solutions around the right to development from the African perspective, this paper aims to reconcile the divergent views on the right to development and propose a …

The Right To Development In Transboundary Water Context: The Case Of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), Halifet Ayemohammed Yusuf

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is Africa's largest hydroelectric developmental project, which has been under construction for the past decade in Ethiopia. With the potential to generate over 6000 megawatts of power, this dam has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life in Ethiopia and other countries in the region. It also presents a significant opportunity for regional cooperation and development in the Nile basin. However, this project has been fraught with tension between Ethiopia and its neighbors as it affects their access to water resources. Another important reason is the distribution of the Nile water share …

Judicial Activism As A Pathway To Environmental Justice In Africa’S Mining Industry: The Case Of Nigeria And South-Africa, Onyekachi Eni Dr, Dr. Ngozi Chinwa Ole

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Africa’s mining industry embodies the tension between socio-economic development, and environmental protection. On account of their abundant mineral resource endowments, Nigeria and South-Africa constitute Africa’s mining hub with the attendant environmental burdens evident in the distortion of natural environmental equilibrium, disruption of ecosystem services and dislocation of the people from their cultural moorings contrary to extant global and regional instruments on development and human rights. Notwithstanding the negative externalities of mining, the incidence of poverty and the absence of basic amenities in many mining communities often combine to frustrate the effort of mining-affected persons to obtain redress for the violation …

The Superpowers’ Competition In The Global South: A Historical Perspective, Guljannat Huseynli

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

Abstract The history of superpowers' competition in the Global South is a complex and multifaceted topic involving the economic, political, and military interests of powerful nations in the developing world. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how superpowers have competed for influence in the Global South from the colonial era to the present day. The paper begins by examining the economic, cultural, and political aspects of different types of colonialism in the example of the US, USSR, and China. This focus shows how their motives have evolved over time. It then looks at the ways in which …

Sustainable Development Goals Within Canadian Universities, Kavanagh S.A Lambert

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created for all countries by the United Nations in 2015 with the aim of transforming the world for the better. Each country is responsible for working towards achieving these SDGs. Within Canada, fifteen research universities known as the U-15 make up the majority of private-sector research and innovation. About 65% of these U-15 institutions have developed their own SDG report/plan, illustrating a high level of initiative and involvement when it comes to the SDGs. Research indicates that as countries continue to improve their efforts towards the SDGs, there will be a need for …

Design Disciplines In The Age Of Climate Change: Systemic Views On Current And Potential Roles, Håkan Edeholt, Jomy Joseph

DRS Biennial Conference Series

After working several years with industrial design as a tool for the kind of radical systemic change, climate change arguably requires; it now seems timely to discuss the systemic obstacles that make such a shift so hard to implement. Much at odds with current discourse, the article defends current design disciplinary skills by focusing on the tension between what designers tend to do for sustaining the present system vs. what designers could do to support transition to a radically different system and why the latter is so hard to achieve but still so urgently required. With the overarching question – …

A Nurse Leader Residency Program: Improving Leadership Competencies, Melanie Stanton

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Ballad Health nurse leaders received little nursing leadership education or competency development before beginning their leadership roles; yet they are crucial to improve quality, safety, cost, patient experience, and team member engagement. Competency development is linked to improved nurse leader confidence, job satisfaction, and retention. Additionally, the organization is experiencing a shortage of prepared internal candidates to fill vacant nurse manager positions. The organization’s Chief Nursing Council (CNC) questioned if a leadership development program could improve new and aspiring nurse managers' leadership competency. The CNC aimed to improve nurse leader competency by implementing and measuring the effectiveness of an evidence-based …

Developmental Staging And Morphological Comparisons Of Four Fern Gametophyte Species From The Santa Monica Mountains, Tristan Furlong

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The fern life cycle alternates between two distinct phases: a diploid sporophyte phase consisting of the “adult” fern, and a haploid gametophyte phase. Early events and changes in gametophyte development can have considerable consequences in the morphologies of these different fern species and may facilitate the various adaptive strategies employed by the gametophytes in their different habitats. This study investigates early developmental events in the gametophytes of four different fern species found in the Santa Monica Mountains, Adiantum jordanii (chaparral understory, summer deciduous sporophyte), Woodwardia fimbriata (riparian stream), Dryopteris arguta (chaparral understory, evergreen), and Pentagramma triangularis (chaparral understory, resurrection sporophyte). …

Bridging The Gap Between Muscle And Bone: Examining Tendon Identity And Development, Amel Sassi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Tendons are fibrous connective tissues that connect skeletal muscle to bone. Functioning primarily to facilitate locomotion, these tissues are rich with collagen and other minor collagens and proteoglycans. Nevertheless, with over 4000 tendons in the human body, the molecular pathways that define different tendons remain largely unknown. As such, the clear distinction between tendon identity, particularly at the genetic level has yet to be fully established. Similarly, molecular pathways involved in tendon developments remain to be fully elucidated. Despite the important role of tendons in motor coordination and posture, a number of areas in tendon development and identity have yet …

A Participatory Assessment Of The Development Needs Of Semi‐Sedentary Pastoralists In Kenya, George A. Keya, M. Muga, M. Okoti, A. Adongo, M. Ngutu, D. Mbuvi, F. Wayua, M. Shibia

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Flight Model Development Of The Agu Remote Innovative Cubesat Alert System - Arica, Yasuyo Hata, Takanori Sakamoto, Motoko Serino, Maomao Duan, Tomoya Watanabe, Yuki Gouma, Hikaru Takahashi, Yuki Ueda, Yuto Nagamine, Teruaki Enoto, Yuuki Wada, Yoichi Yatsu

Small Satellite Conference

We present the flight model development of the 1U CubeSat, AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system (ARICA), which is scheduled to be launched in the Japanese fiscal year 2021 as the JAXA Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2 project. The main goal of ARICA is to demonstrate the real-time alert system of the transient astronomical sources using commercial satellite network devices. The development of the flight components has been finished in April 2021. The thermal vacuum test was conducted at the end of April 2021. The vibration and shock tests were performed in May 2021. We are currently in the final stage …

Development Project Overview For Mep Engine Propulsion System For Small Satellites, Ahmad Al-Hawasli, Graeme Aston

Small Satellite Conference

Ball Aerospace (Ball) and the Electric Propulsion Laboratory, Inc. (EPL) are in partnership to develop a high specific impulse electric propulsion system. The propulsion system is based on EPL’s Magneto-gradient Electrostatic Plasma 650-Watt (MEP 650) engine technology. The goal of the MEP 650 project is to develop a flight-like, engineering model (EM) MEP 650 system that can meet future Ball Small Satellite (SmallSat) mission requirements. These requirements are met by an engine that operates at a discharge power of 650 W in self-heating mode, attains a specific impulse of 1,500 seconds, a thrust of 29 mN, and processes about 7.0 …

Test System Development For A Novel Plasma Propulsion Device, Charlie Clark, Thomas Clayson, Mark Stokes, James Bass, David Salmon, H. Eshbaugh, S. D. K. Theocharous, C. K. Stavrou

Small Satellite Conference

The Magdrive: A next generation in-space electric propulsion system based on the generation of super dense plasma and magnetic plume confinement. The system offers high levels of thrust, along with variable specific impulse that allows the user to achieve the high thrust required for responsive, rapid manoeuvres, or the efficient high specific impulse for long duration thrusts, all with one device.

A Tunacan Water-Based Thruster For Cubesats: System Development And Qualification, Marco Pavan, Roman Zakharov, Ivan Timofeev, Gleb Philin, Pavel Savin, Vladimir Fedorov

Small Satellite Conference

Governments and industries developed an increasing interest towards CubeSats and Small Satellites for commercial and scientific missions, however the general absence of propulsion capabilities is limiting the market potential. Electric propulsion systems are generally associated with low thrust and high power requirements, while cold gas thrusters are inefficient because of the low Specific Impulse (lsp). SteamJet Space Systems has developed a very compact, low pressure, water powered electrothermal thruster able to provide a high level of thrust, using less than 20W of power and with a specific impulse in excess of 170 s.

Lunar Icecube: Development Of Thermal Management System, Boris Yendler, Benjamin K. Malphrus, Nathan Fite

Small Satellite Conference

Design of a thermal control system for Lunar IceCube faced several challenges. Firstly, components have vastly different requirements for operational temperature range and heat dissipation. Secondly, the spacecraft does not have enough external surface to reject waste heat by traditionally designed thermal control system. Thirdly, integration of components into a single thermal control system represents a challenge due to several factors: namely, thermal interference between components due to high packing density; incompatibility of some components which are made by different vendors.

The paper discusses a successful solution of the mentioned above problems. It shows that customization of thermal control systems …

Lessons Learned From The Development And Flight Of The First Miniature Tethered Electrodynamics Experiment (Mitee-1), George Li, Liam Spence, Mitchel Miller, Maya Pandya, Nick Stankey, Allison Hancock, Raymond Lu, Christopher Park, Anish Rajesh, Alex Beloiu, Brian Gilchrist

Small Satellite Conference

The Miniature Tether Electrodynamics Experiment (MiTEE) CubeSat team is a technological advancement project intended to evaluate technology for Electrodynamic Tether (EDT) propulsion on very small pico- and femto-satellite platforms. MiTEE is demonstrating this through a series of missions starting with MiTEE-1, a 3U CubeSat designed to characterize the electron current collection behavior of a biased, simulated picosat mounted at the end of a 1-meter deployable boom. In addition, a miniaturized Langmuir probe electronics board was flown to characterize the ambient plasma environment. MiTEE-1 was launched successfully with Virgin Orbit’s Launch Demo 2 flight on NASA’s 20th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites …

Mobility And Development: Iranian Perspective, Hossein Badripour

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Perceptions About Expatriate Leaders In Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organizations: Elevating Local Voices, Seth Diemond

Thinking Matters Symposium

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the perceptions that Tanzanian employees hold about white, expatriate leadership of non-governmental organizations working on children’s issues in Tanzania, East Africa. In Tanzania, foreign non-profit organizations, commonly referred to locally as NGOs, work to address various global issues. Many NGOs are led by white, expatriate leaders while staffed by local, black, Tanzanians. Through interviews with Tanzanian staff, this study helps determine whether the presence of white, expatriate leadership of NGOs in Tanzania is truly an effective approach to development as perceived by local staff. Interviews were conducted virtually with five Tanzanian …

Art Gallery In Presevo, Jetesa Qerimi, Lulzim Beqiri

UBT International Conference

The main function of art galleries is the promotion of fine arts. Different arts are considered as drawings, pictures, figurines, wires or installation art. Young artists dream of displaying their artwork in the gallery because it is a way to start building their career. Art worshipers visit art galleries and explore the artworks exhibited. If the artwork is good, it will gain recognition and there will be an opportunity for the artist to be well-known. Art galleries have two classifications: the exclusive and open audience. Exclusive art galleries are held for the private purpose of promoting and selling works of …

Development Of An Antenna Positioner For S- And X-Band Ground Segment, Kerry Clapham, Chris Hann, Robin Mcneill

Small Satellite Conference

Through careful engineering and a little serendipity we have designed and built a commercial-grade 3.7 m S/X- band antenna, positioning system, full predictive ACU and scheduler from a mix of surplus and cheaply sourced parts. The predictive ACU is ready for commercialisation.

The Development And Application Of The F Prime Magicdraw Plug-In User Handbook, Trent Rich

Small Satellite Conference

F Prime is an open-source framework developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to facilitate software development for small-scale flight systems. In addition to providing a suite of tools for software development, F Prime enables the modeling and generation of flight software through a MagicDraw plug-in. Systems modeling methodologies, such as Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), leverage modeling languages, such as SysML, and tools, such as MagicDraw, to capture and maintain system design. However, these methodologies typically neglect software, capturing only the system hardware and behavior. For CubeSat projects, it is desired to develop …

Development Of A Low-Cost Multi-Camera Star Tracker For Small Satellites, Hongrui Zhao, Michael Lembeck

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents a novel small satellite star tracker that uses multiple low-cost cameras to achieve viable attitude determination performance. The theoretical analysis of the star detectability improvement by stacking images from multiple cameras is presented. An image processing algorithm is developed to combine images from multiple cameras with various focal lengths, principal point offsets, distortions, and misalignments. The star tracker also implements other algorithms including the region growing algorithm, the intensity weighted centroid algorithm, the geometric voting algorithm for star identification, and the singular value decomposition algorithm for attitude determination. A star tracker software simulator is used to test …

Cislunar Explorers: Lessons Learned From The Development Of An Interplanetary Cubesat, Aaron Zucherman, Kelly Jawork, Aaron Buchwald, Abhinav Naikawadi, Charlie Robinson, Eashaan Kumar, Elliot Kann, George Orellana, Michael Zakoworotny, Oren Alon, Sydney Rzepka, Van Adams, Curran Muhlberger, Mason Peck

Small Satellite Conference

The Cislunar Explorers mission is a pair of ~3U nanosatellites (named Hydrogen and Oxygen) launching as a single 6U CubeSat as part of NASA’s Artemis-1 mission on the Space Launch System (SLS). The two spacecraft will demonstrate technologies increasing the reach, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of interplanetary smallsats. These innovations include water electrolysis propulsion, multi-body optical navigation, passive spin-stabilization, and the operation of femtosatellites beyond low earth orbit. Cislunar Explorers also serves as a pathfinder for demonstrating the utility and versatility of water for future In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on space missions. Critical subsystems complement each other to reduce the …