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The Failure Of Westphalia: A Constructivist Examination Of Western And Middle Eastern Relations, Jayson Warren

Masters Theses

This thesis is not intended to be a dogmatic or pedantic endorsement of any one religion, ethic, or culture. To the contrary, it is the intent of the author to examine a number of competing ideas, philosophies, and belief systems in order to extrapolate their geopolitical implications and to pursue them to their logical (albeit sometimes inevitable) conclusions. Too often, any number of presuppositions at work within a given situation go overlooked and subsequently skew geopolitical analysis and resulting policy decisions. This thesis seeks to transcend mere opinion or speculation and achieve instead a framework of Constructivism for pragmatic comprehension …

The Influence Of Resin Rich Volumes On The Mechanical Properties Of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites, Grant Lewin

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Glass fibre composite plates were manufactured using several methods to promote increasing levels of fibre volume fraction (Vf), inversely leading to a lower residual resin content and theoretically smaller resin rich volumes (RRV). The aim of this project is to determine the effect of resin rich volumes on the mechanical properties tested and whether they scale with the increase in Vf. Five test plates were manufactured, the first using hand-lamination (HL) with three further plates produced using resin infusion (RI), with infusion occurring under consolidation pressures of 300, 600 and 900mbar. The fifth plate was infused under full vacuum, ~1000mbar …

End-Of-Life Recycling Options For Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymers, Shannon Hall

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This report covers the possible recycling options for end-of-life glass fibre reinforced polymers. Two forms (jigsaw and diamond bladed wet saw) of composite size reduction were compared to determine the most viable option. It was determined that the use of a jigsaw is essential due to its portability and low cost; being ≈36% less than the cost of the wet saw. Incineration with fibre recovery was performed at six different temperatures to determine which was the best to achieve complete resin decomposition. It was found that the most effective temperature, in terms of cost, burn-off time and effectiveness was 500°C. …

Factors Affecting The Quantity Of Social Interactions And Aggression In Captive Group Housed Asiatic Black Bears (Ursus Thibetanus), Lianne Ottewell

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This study observed a group of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) in a captive environment that differs greatly to standard zoological institutions. Rather than being housed alone or with one other, as is typical in captivity, two large groups of bears consisting of 24 individuals were observed in two different enclosures. Any instance of social behaviour was noted down, both positive and negative, to determine the extent to which social relationships form and whether these animals have the capacity to live in large groups, regardless of their supposed solitary nature. The results indicated that the duration of social interactions were …

Callosal Connectivity And Interhemispheric Bilateral Advantage: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study, Sophie Clarke

The Plymouth Student Scientist

There is wide acknowledgement that the cerebral hemispheres do not operate in isolation when processing complex visual stimuli (Singh, 2000; Schulte & Muller-Oehring, 2010). Patterns of interhemispheric communication are believed to be integral to such cognitive abilities, yet the circumstances under which communication takes place and the nature of information being processed is poorly understood. This experiment addresses the role of interhemispheric communication regarding inter-individual differences in underlying white matter (WM) relating to the matching facial identity. Several studies have already documented the role of WM in processing abilities such as with differences in gender, age and disease (Schulte & …

Parameterisation Of Intra Array Effects Around Wind Turbine Monopiles, Maxwell Needham

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Project II is a continuation of project I which studied the effects of wave incidence angle and current interaction around offshore Wind Turbine Monopiles. This report presents a brief recap of project I findings and objectives before identifying the experimental methodology used for lab testing, post processing and results analysis. Laboratory testing conducted in the Plymouth Coast basin used a 1:50 scale Monopile to replicate the prototype site and conditions of Scroby Sands Offshore Windfarm. Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) and Bed Shear Stress were measured across the wake region as part of this testing, enabling a number of conclusions to …

Fugro Seacore: Airlift Pump Modelling Proposal, Matthew Hobson

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This Project reviews options available to Fugro Seacore (fugro), an over water drilling contractor, for predicting the operability of Airlift pumps. This is particular a problem during projects conducted from Jack-Up Barges in areas with large tidal ranges. By reviewing literature and attempting to construct both mathematical and CFD models it is concluded that CFD is too complex for the speed of calculation Fugro require when tendering for projects. In literature a mathematical model is found however further work will be needed to ensure this can be applied to Fugro’s large scale pumps. This is because while Fugro operate in …

The Cowl - V.81 - N.11 - Dec 1, 2016

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 81, Number 11 - December 1, 2016. 24 pages.

Burmese Nationalism And Christianity In Myanmar: Christian Identity And Witness In Myanmar Today, Zam Khat Kham

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The dissertation first considers the historical and cultural settings of a rising Burmese nationalism that embraces Buddhism as an essential component and seeks to enforce a cultural homogenization known as “Burmanization” on all citizens of Myanmar. For the minority Christian church in Myanmar, this ardent and pervasive nationalism presents a serious challenge, for which the church has yet to present an adequate response. After evaluating the few efforts made by Christians to address the problems confronting the church in the context of a culture of aggressive Buddhist nationalism, the study offers a way forward. Drawing on the resources of Reformation …

Orofacial Pain Overview: Getting Rid Of The Riddles, Andrew L. Young

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

While most pains that find their way to the dental office are dental in origin, some have less familiar roots: muscular, joint, neurological, headache, sinus or psychological. All of these roots can at times masquerade as a toothache. The purpose of this article is to alert the dentist to the select features of each root that distinguish it from the rest, resulting in efficient and appropriate treatment.

"Let Me Tell You What I See" Creating A Culturally Relevant Arts Based Education Through The Use Of Photography And Storytelling, William Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

There are many constructs that can hinder the ability of students of color to succeed in a classroom environment. Factors such as the construct of whiteness, microaggressions, the banking method, as well as cuts in arts based classes create a learning environment where oppression occurs on multiple levels. The construct of whiteness creates an environment in which only the ideas, values, lived experiences, and knowledge of whites are considered valid. Microaggressions uphold the construct of whiteness by insulting and invalidating any ideas, values, lived experiences, languages, and knowledge that are outside the construct of whiteness. The constructs of whiteness as …

Lotuses Rising: Fostering Southeast Asian Community Cultural Wealth Through Arts Based Culturally Specific Programming, Rhummanee Hang

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project explores how Banteay Srei, a community organization in Oakland, California, works with young Southeast Asian American women using arts based and culturally specific programming to make visible the community cultural wealth that exists in this community. Through cooking and telling stories about their elders' refuge and resettlement experiences, the young women gain a better sense of their own history, culture, and identity. This intergenerational project allows participants to learn, feel empowered, and begin to heal. The result is a cookbook for the young women of the organization. While this project and program is not meant to be replicated …

Academic Relationships Between At-Risk High School Students And Teachers Within An Alternative School Setting: "It Is More Than Just Academics, It's Attitude", Daniel R. Galdeano

Theses and Dissertations

The first public schools in the United States were originally created to give all school-aged children the opportunity to gain access to a well-rounded education (Cable, Plucker & Spradlin, 2009). Options in public schools, preparation for high-stakes standardized tests, and graduation requirements are among the many educational reform policies that have been implemented in hopes of enabling students to reach their academic potential (Lange & Sletten, 2002). As a substitute to dropping out, alternative schools are among the leaders in the charge to try to curb the dropout problem that schools are facing. Alternative schools have existed since the civil …

Love Sex God, Magdiel G. Alfonso

Theses and Dissertations

As a result of the absence of a father-figure and the repulsion of machismo, a love for that masculinity and a void within grew from the missing father-son/male-male interaction; this is the drive to codify my work with homoerotic imagery bathed with guilty religiosity through a torturous sadomasochist context to display a life-mirrored desire to punish and love the male simultaneously while feeling guilty doing it. The work is inspired by homoerotic and religious art history and at times the blending of the two.

The purpose of this work is not only to show the love for the celebration of …

Boricua Type: Intersectional Hybrid Transcultural Art Concepts And Illustrations, Isaac Santiago

Theses and Dissertations

The concepts and artworks contained in this thesis embodies most of the research that I did in and outside the University. My particular experiences as a Puerto Rican, born and raised, and as a migrant artist in Mexico and Texas. Most of the research was made by trail and error independently or with little to no guidance. In conclusion I found my artistic self: technically, personally, and reached a high level of commitment to our community as a prepared professional.

Knee Joint Internal Forces During Squat Jump Exercise, Ricardo Moreno

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate muscular ligament and joint contact forces produced during squat jump exercise. An inverse dynamics, two dimensional, leg model is used to describe the motion in the sagittal plane. The lower extremity model includes two bones, tibia and femur, tibio-femoral ligaments, and muscles such as quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius. The ligaments are anatomically modeled as nonlinear strings, but the femoral condyle is modeled as a circle and the tibial plateau as a straight line. Experimental squat jump exercises are conducted to obtain the ground reaction forces, the angular accelerations, and centroid linear acceleration …

Study Of Selective Laser Remelting Of 316l S.S. To Reduce Roughness On Inclined Surface, Jafar Ghorbani

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are increasingly competing with subtractive methods, and there are promising applications for additive technologies that are hybrid with traditional manufacturing methods. Poor surface roughness of additive manufactured parts continues to be a major challenge especially for advanced functional parts. In this study, effect of processing parameters are evaluated, optimized and verified by using the Box–Behnken design of experiment method. The results, for the first time, reveal that surface remelting has the potential to become a high speed approach for improving the roughness of non-horizontal surface of additive manufactured parts.

Using Machine Learning To Predict Student Achievement On The State Of Texas Assessment Of Academic Readiness Examination In Charter Schools, Christopher D. Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to research and develop a way to use machine learning algorithms (MLAs) to predict student achievement on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR), specifically in the charter school setting. Charter schools have the disadvantage of a constant influx in students, so providing historical student data in order to analyze trends proves difficult. This study expands on previous research done on students in secondary and post-secondary school and determining features that indicate success in these settings. The data used is from the district of IDEA Public Schools who focuses on providing education …

A Multicenter, Observational, Homoeopathic Clinical Verification Study Of Cynodon Dactylon Revealing Symptom Prevalence In A Cohort Of 340 Patients, Rajkumar Manchanda, Parthasarathi Chakraborty, Pramodji Singh, P Pradhan, V Prasad, Ojit Singh, M Rai, Munmun Koley

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Context: Clinical verification is an ongoing research program of the Council that verified many rare homoeopathic drugs. Aim: This study was carried out to clinically verify the "symptomatology" of Cynodon dactylon and to ascertain the prevalence of symptoms in the "improved" and "not improved" groups. Materials and Methods: The study was a multicenter, open, observational study. A total of 462 patients were enrolled after matching with the available symptom, compendium of the drug, and eligibility criteria in seven units/institutes of the Council. The medicine was prescribed in 6C, 30C, 200C and 1M potencies as per the need of each patient, …

Symptom Prevalence In A Cohort Of 147 Patients Improved With The Homoeopathic Medicine Ocimum Canum: A Multicenter, Open, Observational, Clinical Verification Study, Rajkumar Manchanda, Parthasarathi Chakraborty, K Das, M Rai, Ojit Singh, P Pradhan, Darshan Singh, Munmun Koley

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Context: Clinical verification is an ongoing research program of the Council that verified many rare homoeopathic drugs. Aims: To clinically verify the "symptomatology" of Ocimum canum by ascertaining the prevalence of symptoms. Materials and Methods: The study was a multicenter, open, observational trial. A total of 214 patients were enrolled after matching with the available symptom compendium and eligibility criteria in seven units/institutes of the Council. The medicine was prescribed in 6C, 30C, 200C and 1M potencies as per the need of each patient, following homoeopathic principles and protocol developed by the Council. The collected data were presented in terms …

Behind The Curtain: Fetishism And The Production Of Virtual Reality Treatment For Ptsd, Janice Haaken, Mariel Stadick

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan, a virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy designed for the treatment of combat-related PTSD, has generated wide public interest in the wake of growing concerns over mental health problems among service members. Enlisting concepts from the fields of cultural studies and psychoanalytic film criticism, the paper interprets the VR therapy program as a form of technology fetishism within the expanding apparatus of military mental health operations. Even as the program seeks to expose the “invisible wounds of war,” the stories produced through this use of visual culture conform closely to hegemonic military accounts of the psychological effects of combat.

Estimating Self And Spouse Intelligence Among Jordanians, Firas Al-Hamouri, Adnan Atoum, Mohammad Melhem, Hamzeh Rababa

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

The current study aimed at exploring self and spouse estimates of general and multiple intelligences among a sample of married Jordanian Students. Two-hundred and ten participants, recruited from Yarmouk and Al-Balqaa Universities, Jordan, completed a brief questionnaire based on those used in previous research which included an estimation of general IQ and each of the multiple intelligence sub-types. Results of the study partially replicated the results from other multiple intelligence self-estimate studies showing sex differences on general and logical intelligences, and confirmed previous research results that estimated verbal (linguistic) intelligence followed by numerical (logical) intelligence are the best significant predictors …

Current Perceptions Of Music Therapists On The Benefits And Liabilities Of State Licensure, Dianne Sawyer

Masters Theses

This qualitative study investigated a state task force perceptions of music therapists who served on the task force to become licensed. Participants included six licensed music therapists, all of which were female. Through Naturalistic Inquiry, participants provided information about the perceived benefits and liabilities for music therapists, accessibility to clients, funding sources, and other healthcare professionals causing harm. Collected data was analyzed to determine common themes, perceived benefits and drawbacks of licensure, and the push for more regulations based on music therapists’: years of experience, level of education and advanced trainings. The overall perception from the licensed music therapists, is …

An Equivalent Plate Model With Orthotropic Material Properties For Adjacent Box-Beam Bridge Superstructure, Timothy Alexander Schnell

Masters Theses

Reflective cracking over the longitudinal joints of adjacent box-beam bridges is a welldocumented and recurrent problem; it is a concern because it leads to poor durability performance. These cracks develop during early stages of bridge construction and have not been eliminate by the design revisions implemented so far.

This study is aimed at developing a rational load demand analysis model for calculating the moment acting at the longitudinal joints in order to determine the impact of post-tensioning on mitigating reflective cracking.

The scope of the study includes calculating moment demand at the shear keys using a rational analysis model based …

Analysis Of Transit Accessibility For People With Disabilities, Rostam Khalid Mohammed Ameen Qatra

Masters Theses

The inconvenience of public transit systems and unavailability of bus stops in the United States has resulted in a heavy reliance on the private automobile. One of the main issues in transit services is accessibility, particularly for people with disabilities. This research is intended to compare estimated job accessibility measures by transit in Kalamazoo county for workers with reduced physical mobility and without. Using OpenTripPlanner (OTP) software, General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), Open Street Map (OSM) and Longitudinal Employer-Housing Dynamics (LODES) data were analyzed to estimate job accessibility for people with mobility constraints. By using the shortest tree path method, …

A Genetic Algorithm Incorporating Design Choice For The Preliminary Design Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Kenneth Michael Mull

Masters Theses

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are currently at the forefront of aerospace technologies. The design of these aircraft is complex and often performance characteristics are coupled to multiple design attributes. At the early design phase both discrete and continuous design choices are present limiting the feasibility of traditional derivative based optimization techniques. In place of these methods, the design space can be explored using a genetic algorithm that mimics the process of natural selection, providing a capable and reliable base airframe constructed from the required performance metrics. By incorporating a genetic multidisciplinary optimization algorithm early in the conceptual design phase, aircraft …

Modeling, Optimizing And Testing Thermoelectric Generators For Liquid-To-Liquid Low Grade Waste Heat Recovery, Ali Eyddan Hamil

Masters Theses

The use of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for producing electricity from low grade waste heat is thought to be a great solution in the future to reduce the power generation cost because of their advantages of reliability and environmental friendliness. Therefore, the current project aims to study thermoelectric generators for low grade waste heat recovery. In this work, a single unit cell of liquid to liquid thermoelectric generator attached with heat exchangers (heat sinks) is modeled using an internal flow. Its optimum design is obtained based on heat sink optimization and the optimal design method. An analytical model of four unit …

Analytical Study Of Miniature Thermoelectric Device, Mohammed Dhannoon

Masters Theses

Miniature thermoelectric devices (TE) have been regarded as hopeful devices to attain efficient cooling in microprocessors and other small-scale devices. To recognize the performances of miniature thermoelectric coolers, a thermoelectric cooling module is theoretically analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the thermoelectric element length effect and the substrate material type influence on the cooling performance. The electrical contact resistance and thermal contact are taken into account.

Furthermore, miniature thermoelectric is compared with large thermoelectric, and effective material properties of miniature thermoelectric are studied. The obtained results also demonstrate power density (cooling/heating power per unit area of the …

The Effects Of Individual And Social Comparison Graphic Feedback On Incented Performance, Yngvi Freyr Einarsson

Masters Theses

This study examined whether graphic displays of individual performance and graphic displays of the individual performance of each group member would increase performance when individuals were paid monetary incentives. All participants were paid piece-rate pay and there were three conditions: (a) no feedback, (b) graphic display of individual performance, and (c) graphic display of the performance of each group member. Participants were 80 undergraduate students who performed a computerized data entry task. The main dependent variable was the number of correctly completed entries. A monotone ANCOVA was used to detect performance differences, using data from the first session as a …

Application Of Wavelet Transform In Structural Health Monitoring, Yashodhya Swarna Sri Dhanapala Liyana Kankanamge

Masters Theses

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a process of implementing a damage detection strategy in structures to evaluate the condition of existing structures to ensure the safety of users in the future. The changes in the material, geometric and/or structural properties affect structural responses, which can be captured and analyzed for condition assessment. Various vibration-based damage detection algorithms have been developed in the past decades. Among them, the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) gained popularity as an efficient method of signal processing to build a framework to identify model properties and detect damage in structures. In this study, the application of wavelet …