Angelu Demonai

This project has been a long time in the making. The concept originated several years ago, and what was once just the shadow of a character has morphed into the story you see today - the makings of a graphic novel about one rock musician’s quest to discover herself, and save the worlds in the process. Of course, you will only see a small part of the story. What is included in this thesis project is only the first volume of several (four, I expect). And while the journey is not yet completed, the ride has been thrilling so far. I look forward to seeing it through to the end. In the meantime, you have this paper to peruse. It is divided into two parts. The first is my honors thesis, entitled “Comics and the Quest: The form and content of Angelu Demonai.” It includes an overview of the history of the comics and how they are commonly perceived in our culture, an examination of the Hero’s Journey, and a discussion of how my project fits into both of these ideas. There you will also find more information about how the idea for Angelu Demonai was born, some of the ideals that I based the tale upon, and other literary works that had a direct impact on this project. The honors thesis is followed by the creative thesis, “Angelu Demonai Volume 1: The Over World,” which contains the prose draft of the contents of the first volume of the work. It also has panel sketches so you can get a feel for how the story will be laid out graphically, and several pieces of concept art from the series. I am pleased to have you along for this journey, and I hope you enjoy what you find. You can also view this project on the web at http://www.clh-art.com/angeluDemonai/

Sustainability Amidst Uncertainty: Columbia Forest Products’ Pursuit of Sustainability in a Changing Market

Upon reading the latest report from the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, Harry Demorest found his concerns confirmed – the construction of new homes had fallen yet again across the United States. Over the past month, new home starts had declined over 14% in December; this marked the end of 2007 during which housing starts were down 25% compared to the previous year and hit a low not experienced since 1993. The question was no longer “will there be a recession?” but rather “how long will the recession last?” The fate of Columbia Forest Products, the company that Harry led for 16 years as Chairman and CEO, is tightly bound to the US housing market. CFP has over a 40% market share in hardwood plywood products, most of which go into new home construction. Further, over the past three years, CFP has embarked on a journey into sustainability. This journey is marked most profoundly by the introduction of PureBond® non-formaldehyde plywood in 2006. A first in the industry, PureBond® provides significant health benefits to CFP employees and customers by removing a known carcinogen from its products. It also has been a catalyst for CFP to pursue a more comprehensive, sustainability-inspired strategy. But in the midst of the dreadful housing market in the US, Harry and the rest of CFP executive team wondered if further pursuit of a sustainability strategy would be detrimental to their company’s competitiveness

Call for action: ten lessons for local authority innovators

This publication shares 10 lessons on how to create innovative change in local government from the Creative Councils programme. Key findings New approaches are needed for costly social challenges posed by long–term youth unemployment and vulnerable families often living in places that feel as if they have been going backwards for decades. To create the space for alternative solutions to emerge, an essential first step is to adopt different vantage points. Unless councils can think differently and more creatively about risk, the odds of even the best idea making it from a Post–it note and into reality are not high.  Local government is in a trap. It needs to do more with less. The only way to pull off this trick is by working very differently with public services, communities and users to achieve better outcomes. And yet the radical innovation this implies often excites opposition – from users, citizens, politicians and staff – and that in turn entrenches the status quo. Yet strategies for escaping the trap are emerging all over the sector, and some of the best examples can be found in the Creative Councils programme that has been run jointly by Nesta and the Local Government Association over the past three years.   We can draw insights about the main ingredients needed for a successful innovation journey. Some of these ingredients will be familiar – the right kind of leadership, the ability to manage risk – but some less so. We have presented these insights in the form of ten lessons about innovating in the sector. These lessons aren’t the last word – but we hope that the insights they contain will act as a spur to innovators up and down the country who are trying to escape the trap. Authors: Sophia Parker and Charles Leadbeate

Freedom Within, Freedom Without

It has always been hard for me to talk about my art. I used to not think about it so much, it was just a way that I could communicate what was important to me without having to say it. Being a shy person socially, painting gives me a way to be bold yet still be somewhat separate from what I feel; once it’s outside of me, I don’t have to “own” it. I can paint the dark things I feel, and people don’t have to associate those dark emotions with me; I can say I’m just “going for something,” I can still hide. I’ve been told over and over again that I am vague, mysterious, deceptively nonchalant. I liked that description, because it meant that I still wasn’t figured out, that I still could keep secrets to myself. This project is not the case. The body of work is, stroke for stroke, the translation of my personal emotional existence of my early twenties; it begins during the most transformative time of my life, which happened in the Peruvian Amazon the summer I turned 20. This moment of transformation was a gateway to a whole new perspective, and I know that I never saw the world the same way afterwards. Instead of blurring text and hiding the true meaning behind the paintings, I leave it all in. There are layers and layers of information, given in the text on the walls and then the paintings and then the drawings layered over them. I want to take the viewer on the journey I have been on in the last three years, one of personal destruction and transformation. While it is disorienting, all of the information is there—some of it covered up, some of it masked as something else, and some of it blinking in literal red neon lights—like life, everything is there, all around, all the time. We chose to see what we want, and gloss over the rest. I wanted to make something that was hard to gloss over, something urgent and important. The journey begins in the Amazon, but all of the obstacles and victories happen within, inside my soul. I want to bring the viewer inside that space in my heart, and let them walk with me in the place where I have dwelled alone for so long. I don’t want to have secrets anymore. The paintings show these moments of radical transformation, mental and emotional shifts that left me changed. I am no longer the same. Welcome to my world

Fatherhood and the Influence of Spouses Postpartum Depression on Relationship Satisfaction

Postpartum depression and the effects it has on women have long been well studied and documented, however, little research has been done on how this illness affects these women’s partners. Considering the significant amount of research conducted on postpartum depression (PPD) from the perspective of women and the increasing trend towards family-oriented approaches, it is vital to further undertake studies concentrating on the male perspective of coping with a partner who has PPD. This in turn opens a new and important area of research for the clinical psychology community. This research proposal aims to focus on fathers’ coping styles when living with a partner suffering from postpartum depression as well as how it may influence/alter relationship satisfaction. This research proposal would include a mixed-method research design using both semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted individually and surveys. The sample size would include 20 couples, 10 fathers, and 10 mothers currently experiencing postpartum depression. Couples would be voluntarily recruited through a flier at their pediatricians’ offices. Inclusion criteria would include all participants being over the age of 18, having a partner with clinically diagnosed postpartum depression, living together with said partner, and being at least 2 months postpartum. The results from this study have not yet been collected but are presumed to reveal multiple themes describing the fathers’ journey through their partners’ postpartum depression. These findings would not only highlight a need for pre-emptive education on maternal PPD and more accessible resources but also assessing fathers’ emotional responses to parenthood and their partners’ depression.https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1019/thumbnail.jp

Unlocking the potential of a caged star: Thermoelectric quaternary clathrates

Heat losses are an inevitable consequence of any energy conversion process, dictated by the second law of thermodynamics.This not only leads to an eternal struggle, via the pursuit of maximal efficiency, it also undermines our efforts to solve the two issues that pose the most significant challenges to modern society: climate change and the worlds surging energy need. Thanks to our inherent ingenuity, humankind has, however, been adept at finding ways of harnessing the power of heat; from the fires that lit up the neolithic era to the steam engines of the industrial revolution. Thermoelectrics can, in some sense, be seen as the next step in this endeavour, since they allow the direct conversion of a temperature difference to an electric voltage.This thesis summarises a seven year long journey, which has focused on a fascinating and unique group of thermoelectric materials, namely inorganic clathrates. Though these have been the subject of intense research over the last three decades, many of their properties and attributes have, as of yet, not been fully explored. In particular, this project has addressed three fundamental questions: (i) Why is the lattice thermal conductivity intrinsically low? (ii) What is the impact of chemical ordering on the physical properties? (iii) How can the electronic transport be optimised?Due to the inherent complexity of these materials, computational and experimental methods should ideally be used in tandem, in order to gain further insights. This project has, thus, involved the use of both atomic scale simulations, based on a combination of density functional theory, alloy cluster expansions, and Monte Carlo simulations, as well as advanced measurement and characterisation techniques. Through these efforts, the confusion regarding the origin of the low lattice thermal conductivity has partly been clarified. In addition, it has been shown that chemical ordering in these materials leads to the emergence of an order-disorder transition, which has a direct impact on the physical properties. Last but not least, it is found that the consideration of ternary systems can facilitate the enhancement of the thermoelectric performance by enabling not only independent tuning of doping level and band structure via the composition, but also manipulation of the nano- and microstructure

Letter from S [arah] M[uir] Galloway to John Muir & Louie [Strentzel Muir], 1890 Dec 22 .

[1]Portage, Wis.Dec 22nd /90My dear brother John, and Sister Louie,It does not seem so very long since we were exchanging Christmas greetings, and yet we are just about to enter upon a new year, and soon will have passed another of the milestones on our life journey, as we pass along the way, dear ones are leaving us for the better land; and we go on, under the clouds, if we try to go alone, but amid the sunshine (even if we do not see it sometimes) if truly under the guidance and direction of our heavenly Father who cares for the least of us. 2I wish you could look in upon us, we are a very busy household, each in our own way, the house is well filled too, Mother and Aunt Annie, Joanna and her three children Grace and myself, then there is a daughter of Levi Dates who is boarding with me and attending school this winter, so you can guess there is some boiling and baking going on. The weather, so far, has been very mild, indeed, we have had no severe frosts yet, but our worst storms usually come after Christmas. Your Alaska trip must have proved a very pleasant change for you the past summer John I saw 01479[3]newspaper article describing the Muir Glacier, also Prof. Muir\u27s summer cottage on the ice, of Prof. Reed and staff who set up their tents next to yours; of your climbing, sketching, and sitting up all night admiring the wonderful Aurora Borealis. I can imagine your pleasure and delight. We greatly enjoyed your Yosemite article in the Century, it revived memories of what I had read, and of so many things you told us of, while Maggie and I were with you these years ago. It seems a long, long time since then, there seems to be a space there that cannot be easily bridged over. Can you tell why? [4]Louie I have been busy for some time as I have had opportunity knitting some woolen lace for Wanda and Helen, I thought it would be pretty for their flannel underskirts, I had hoped to have it finished to be in time for Christmas but it will be a little late. May you all have much of happiness this Christmas time, and may the coming year be filled for you, with God\u27s best gifts. Remember me lovingly to Grandma, may the sunshine of love crown every step of her pathway through life.Very AffectionatelyS. M. Gallowa

Will Phosphorite incorporate negative externalities into its market price as it becomes scarcer?

The increasing scarcity of Phosphorite poses a real threat to the world's food production. Global fertilizer production needs a steady phosphorus supply to cater to the global demand. Without Phosphorite, a new source of phosphorus must be found. As it stands today, no other substitute for Phosphorite fills the criteria of being both plentiful enough and economical to extract. Continued population growth and increased wealth also increase demand for both the amount and quality of food. This demand puts a considerable strain on the production of Phosphorite, leading to an over-extraction that is not compatible with economic theory regarding optimal use of non-renewable resources. Continuing the extraction and beneficiation of Phosphorite creates compounding negative externalities in the form of phosphogypsum stacks and wastewater. These stacks, comprised of toxic and radioactive materials, are incredibly harmful to the environment. Dike breaches and spills from wastewater reservoirs cause irreparable damage to nearby waters and soil and can potentially destroy whole ecosystems if left unmanaged. Because Phosphorite is ultimately used for food production, these negative externalities are under-prioritized over the potential crisis if food demand is not adequately met. Therefore, current environmental policies targeting Phosphorite have no significant bearing on its price. Today, the price of Phosphorite is dominated by short-term market behavior rather than longterm concerns of scarcity and the environment. This behavior is to be expected, as the production of Phosphorite is still increasing, meaning that a “peak phosphorus” situation is yet to occur. As long as the demand for food is met, there is no incentive to invest long-term, as doing so would lower funds available to invest for short-term profit. This situation will inevitably change once peak production has been reached. At this position, the demand for food can no longer be met, and it will ultimately be more profitable to invest in Phosphorite long-term, as its price must increase. Around 80% of phosphorus is lost through the journey from extraction to the dinner table. Increasing the efficiency of production and reducing losses is therefore paramount to ensure a longer lifetime of Phosphorite. A longer lifetime of the resource creates more opportunities for technological progress and new methods of production without the looming disaster of a food shortage. This can therefore potentially solve the scarcity problem of Phosphorite in the long run.M-ECO

Waka hem no finis yet: Solomon Islands research futures

Research provides discovery in the present, and a legacy for the future. The knowledge gained is in pursuit of a more complete understanding of the world, natural and social. However, research is not a static entity. Much can be learned by examining past outputs of researchers. Never a neutral activity, research is paradigmatically embedded, always with a purpose in mind. Formal research of one kind or another has long been conducted in the Solomon Islands archipelago; it has provided a rich example of Pacific research as unfinished work, waka hem no finis yet, which resonates with the bodies of research from other Pacific contexts. In this article, we mine the research past of Solomon Islands to examine the directions taken over time by researchers. We then then pay attention to recent research, honouring the work of emerging researchers and the Solomon Islandcentric steerage that some are currently offering. Finally, we speculate on future directions that have the potential to further contextualise research, supporting it to reflect local thinking and lifeways, and offering wisdom to the wider Pacific and beyond. We hope that this reflexive journey will encourage Pacific researchers, including those serving Solomon Islands, to fully be themselves in their own spaces. In doing so, may they bring honour to all those who contribute to Pacific research that seeks the common good and wisdom to those that seek it

Narratives of art-making in chronic fatigue syndrome/ myalgic encephalomyelitis: Three case studies

This paper explores the narratives of three women who had lived with severe chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) for many years, and who engaged in art-making as a leisure activity rather than for psychotherapy. Three distinct narratives about the role of art-making in CFS/ME were inferred. One participant represented art as a way of filling time rather than having further psychological significance. In her narrative, art provided satisfaction but also functioned as a witness to time and opportunity that had been lost to an unchanging illness. The second participant narrated both illness and art-making as intertwined journeys towards a more able and useful self. Her narrative had features of the quest described in previous typologies. The third participant also provided a quest narrative, but her struggle focused inwards on understanding her feelings about her illness and its effects on her life. The analytic focus on narrative revealed the distinctive constructions of illness and art-making that are usually submerged when qualitative analysis focuses on themes common to groups of participants. These narratives of art-making in CFS/ME have relevance to understanding the multi-faceted therapeutic benefits of art