The Cultural Significance of Precious Stones in Early Modern England

Sixteenth and seventeenth century sources reveal that precious stones served a number of important functions in Elizabethan and early Stuart society. The beauty and rarity of certain precious stones made them ideal additions to fashion and dress of the day. These stones also served political purposes when flaunted as examples of a country’s wealth, bestowed as favors, or even worn as a show of royal support. Lapidaries and medical texts advised readers to use stones in myriad ways ranging from the subtle and common, to the bizarre and mystical. Stones and gems are excellent tools for studying diverse aspects of the cultural history of a society. A close examination of the gems people owned, how they were used, and what people thought about them reveals those circumstances and processes whereby an ordinary object becomes special or precious because of its investment with particular meanings and values. From this cultural perspective, the precious stones provide a means to an end; a way to resurrect thoughts, feelings, emotions, and other intangible threads that once interwoven, bond together a rich comprehension of a society. An understanding of precious stones gives us a unique insight into the motivations, aspirations, fears, and dreams that embodied Elizabethan and early Stuart society. Adviser: Carole Levi

What\u27s Love Got To Do With It? Redefining Domestic Violence to Close Federal Firearm Loopholes

Closing the “boyfriend loophole” by expanding the definition of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to include the abuse of “dating partners” further entrenches the law into an unworkable quasi-marital framework rooted in an antiquated understanding of domestic violence. The federal firearm prohibition would more effectively target high-risk offenders if 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A) were revised to eliminate the quasi-marital framework and reflect a modern understanding of the power and control dynamics involved in intimate partner violence. This Comment begins by summarizing the emergence of federal domestic violence law and describing the limitations of the Lautenberg Amendment. It then examines the shortcomings of Congress’s efforts to close the “boyfriend loophole” through the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Next, this Comment argues the merits of abandoning the quasi-marital framework entirely by explaining the already broad support that the institution of marriage receives from the American legal system, the unfortunate historical link between marriage and domestic violence, and the stark reality that relationship status does not determine the risk of domestic violence or femicide. It also contends that current law inaccurately criminalizes domestic violence; specifically, that it makes little sense to separately prosecute stalking and domestic violence when the typical femicide case involves a cyclical pattern of both physical and non-physical abuse, including stalking, intended to exert power and control over the victim. Finally, this Comment concludes by proposing a modernized definition of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence that sheds the quasi-marital framework, imports the “course of conduct” language from stalking statutes, and extends to both physical and non-physical abuse. It also offers a new standard for evaluating the relationship requirement which courts can implement through jury instructions in the absence of legislative innovation

A Study of Injection Processes for Liquid Oxygen and Gaseous Hydrogen in a 200-pound-thrust Rocket Engine

Characteristic velocities of six single-element injectors that separately varied propellant spreading and mixing were measured over a range of oxidant-fuel weight ratios of 2 to 7. Hydrogen inlet temperature was -320 degrees F. Injectors that both mixed and spread the propellants had the highest characteristic-velocity efficiency. Spreading of either propellant produced about the same increment efficiency. The increase in efficiency due to mixing was relatively small. With similar injectors, oxygen-hydrogen required about 0.2 to 0.5 of the combustor volume of oxygen-heptane for the same efficiency

Radiation lifetimes and failure mechanisms of carbon stripper foils

Measurements of lifetimes of thin carbon foils under heavy-ion irradiation are compiled and recent advances in stripper foil technology are reviewed. The impact of recent foil lifetime improvements, many by more than an order of magnitude, on heavy-ion electrostatic accelerators is discussed. Foil inhomogeneities, particularly those caused by sputtering are suggested to be a prime factor in usable foil lifetimes

Arithmetic for Printers

Because of the changes in the content of the arithmetic courses in the grade schools and because of the specialized nature of the arithmetic used by printers, a special course is necessary to acquaint vocational printing students with the arithmetic necessary to become a successful printer

Emission of high-energy, light particles from intermediate-energy heavy-ion reactions

One of the early surprises in examining reaction products from heavy ion reactions at 10 MeV/nucleon and above was the large yield of light particles emitted and the high energies to which the spectra of these particles extended. The interpretation of the origin of the high energy light ions has evolved from a picture of projectile excitation and subsequent evaporation to one of pre-equilibrium (or nonequilibrium) emission. The time scale for particle emission has thus moved from one that occurs following the initial collision to one that occurs at the very early stages of the collision. Research at ORNL on this phenomenon is reviewed. (WHK

Snf2 family ATPases and DExx box helicases:differences and unifying concepts from high-resolution crystal structures

Proteins with sequence similarity to the yeast Snf2 protein form a large family of ATPases that act to alter the structure of a diverse range of DNA–protein structures including chromatin. Snf2 family enzymes are related in sequence to DExx box helicases, yet they do not possess helicase activity. Recent biochemical and structural studies suggest that the mechanism by which these enzymes act involves ATP-dependent translocation on DNA. Crystal structures suggest that these enzymes travel along the minor groove, a process that can generate the torque or energy in remodelling processes. We review the recent structural and biochemical findings which suggest a common mechanistic basis underlies the action of many of both Snf2 family and DExx box helicases

Lifetime measurements on carbon stripper foils

Fabrication of carbon stripper foils and their performance in electrostatic accelerators are described. (GHT

Procedure for the rapid evaluation of carbon stripper foils

Evaluation of the average lifetime of carbon stripper foils is described in which a beam of 20 keV ions is used to simulate the beam from a high energy accelerator. The method is used to evaluate different methods of foil fabrication. (GHT