Review: Martin Lockerd, Decadent Catholicism and the Making of Modernism (London: Bloomsbury, 2020)

The study of decadence and Christianity generates powerful and difficult contradictions. To focus in detail on any part seems always to risk misrepresentation of the whole. It forces the tradition’s major intellectual currents into open (and seemingly unresolvable) confrontation. To stress a Baudelairean aesthetic of original sin and evil is to edge out a Paterian aesthetic of relativism, with which it is almost completely irreconcilable. To stress the framework of Christian beliefs, symbols and rituals on which much decadent literature so clearly draws is to risk ignoring the tradition’s equally clear debts to a frequently anti-Christian Hellenism (a relationship for which it is very difficult to find a satisfactory conceptualization, save the old get-out ‘paradoxical’). To focus on theology dries decadent Christianity out, makes it too scholarly; but to ignore it makes it not scholarly enough, just another brand of subversive whimsy. And, of course, even to ask the question of whether decadent religion is ‘sincere’ or ‘insincere’, ‘serious’ or ‘aesthetic’ (and these types of question still unquestionably haunt the roots of this field) lumpenly enshrines the very hierarchies that decadence sets out to destabilize

Thermal Analysis of As-received and Clinically Retrieved Copper-Nickel-Titanium Orthodontic Archwires

Objective: To compare as-received copper-nickel-titanium (CuNiTi) archwires to those used in patients by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Also, the thermal or phase properties of 27°C, 35°C, and 40°C CuNiTi archwires were studied to ascertain if their properties match those indicated by the manufacturer. Materials and Methods: Six wires of 27°C, 35°C, and 40°C CuNiTi were tested as-received, and six each of the 27°C and 35°C wires were examined after use in patients for an average of approximately 9 and 7 weeks, respectively. Segments of archwire were investigated by DSC over the temperature range from −100°C to 150°C at 10°C per minute. Results: There were no significant differences between as-received and clinically used 27°C and 35°C wires for all parameters (heating onset, endset, and enthalpy and cooling onset, endset, and enthalpy), except the 27°C wires exhibited a significant decrease in the heating enthalpy associated with the martensite-to-austenite transition after clinical use. The heating endsets (austenite finish temperatures) of the 27°C and 35°C wires were within 2°C of those claimed by the manufacturer, but the 40°C wires were found to be nearer to 36°C than 40°C. Conclusions: Clinical use of CuNiTi wires resulted in few differences when compared with as-received wires analyzed by DSC. Two temperature varieties of CuNiTi are reasonably within the parameters of those identified by the manufacturer

Chinese-Built Dams, Africa, and Economic Growth: Is There a Role for African NGOs?

This paper will investigate the impact of Chinese-built dams in Africa, the economic and political impacts, and what roles African NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) play. As the continent of Africa continues to shed its “paper tiger” status in the postcolonial era and continues to become a potential economic powerhouse, what role will African NGOs play? The primary goal of this paper is to discern the role of African NGOs in the face economic growth, especially in the area of Chinese-built dams (a growing segment of economic growth in Africa as “engines” of industrialization)

Experimental and analytical analysis of stress-strain behavior in a (90/0 deg)2s, SiC/Ti-15-3 laminate

The nonlinear stress strain behavior of 90 degree/0 degree sub 2s, SiC/Ti-15-3 composite laminate was numerically investigated with a finite element, unit cell approach. Tensile stress-strain curves from room temperature experiments depicted three distinct regions of deformation, and these regions were predicted by finite element analysis. The first region of behavior, which was linear elastic, occurred at low applied stresses. As applied stresses increased, fiber/matrix debonding in the 90 degree plies caused a break in the stress-strain curve and initiated a second linear region. In this second region, matrix plasticity in the 90 degree plies developed. The third region, which was typified by nonlinear, stress-strain behavior occr red at high stresses. In this region, the onset of matrix plasticity in the 0 degree plies stiffened the laminate in the direction transverse to the applied load. Metallographic sections confirmed the existence of matrix plasticity in specific areas of the structure. Finite element analysis also predicted these locations of matrix slip

Structural performance of prestressed precast high speed railway bridges using high performance concrete

Bridges often need to conform to strict alignment rules for high speed railway (HSR) lines. Generally, the bridges are constructed either from prestressed concrete or steel-concrete composite. Prestressed concrete bridges can be constructed by precast methods, which offer benefits in economies of scale, quality and construction times for long repetitive viaducts. However, currently precast construction utilises conventional concrete strengths, leading to thicker, heavier cross sections to resist the load. High performance concrete (HPC), with its increased strength, can be implemented to reduce the precast segment weights, subsequently reducing substructure and transportation capacities. However, lighter sections could lead to decks more prone to vibrations exceeding acceleration limits. Therefore, the implementation of HPC requires further research, addressed in this thesis, using the most sophisticated and realistic numerical models of the bridge, vehicle, track, wheel-rail interaction and rail irregularities, identified in literature. A suitable benchmark bridge is selected and analysed from a database of concrete HSR bridges. This analysis finds that using track irregularities with wheel-rail contact is mandatory for accurate bridge accelerations, leading to up to 3.75 times larger accelerations than equivalent moving load models. Furthermore, sectional deformations have been found to be non-negligible, with beam element bridge models incapable of exhibiting the wide frequency content of the acceleration response seen in shell elements. A subsequent parametric analysis reduces the geometrical cross sectional dimensions of the precast components, implementing HPC to maintain the structural capacities. The applicability of the acceptable parametric analyses are tested on other bridges, determining more general conclusions for HPC inclusion in HSR bridges. Appropriate reductions in geometry (web, bottom flange and top flange thicknesses down to 66, 75 and 75% of the original value respectively), are identified from the response of the bridge and vehicle, by using HPC up to 96 MPa, contributing to up to 22% lighter precast elements. Appropriate design guidance is subsequently made for better design of HSR bridges to incorporate HPC into precast solutions.Open Acces

Transitioning From Faculty to Administration: A Qualitative Study of Administrators in 4-Year Institutions

The purpose of this study was to better understand the faculty to administration transition process and elements which affect this process in West Virginia’s 4-year colleges and institutions. A secondary aim of this study was to provide a formal model for faculty who transition to administrative roles in higher education. Study participants came from 4-year degree-granting higher education institutions in West Virginia. The study used a qualitative phenomenological design to investigate elements of the process used when faculty members transition to administrative roles. Findings from this study supported the majority of literature reviewed for this research and aided in developing recommendations for those transitioning to administration. Key findings from this study indicate the following criteria need to be established in a model program: (a) mentoring program, (b) funding for continuing education, (c) training in addressing human resource topics, (d) handling the glass ceiling, (e) training in dealing with relationship changes, and (f) training specifically for women transitioning to higher education administration. Further, findings suggest additional research is warranted in the following areas: (a) most effective mentoring model, (b) administrators who chose to transition back to faculty ranks, (c) social justice and equality for women in higher education administration, and (d) research outside of West Virginia’s higher education system

Emergence and Causal Powers

This thesis is concerned with the theory of ontological emergence; a theory that posits a new kind of entity – usually an emergent property – that occurs in complex systems and can explain some system-level behaviour. The theory holds that these emergent entities are dependent on, but novel with respect to, the components of those systems. Such entities have been invoked to explain behaviours as diverse as symmetry breaking in molecular physics to the possibility of personal agency. As a metaphysical theory it is useful wherever there is a lack of understanding about how system-level behaviour can occur based on what we know about the parts of that system. Besides its usefulness, the theory, if true, would profoundly impact our understanding of fundamental ontology. The first half of this thesis aims to do three things: first, identify a problem that emergence can explain; second, identify what emergence must do in order to solve that problem; third, identify a theory of emergence capable of doing it. The first and second of these aims will require us to outline issues in fundamental ontology and metaphysical methodology that are critical to any assessment of the possibility of emergence. They both also require making some commitments on these issues. Among such commitments will be a commitment to an ontology of properties as causal powers. I argue that emergence is a theory of macro-properties and that the primary problem it solves is the Problem of Reduction. I thereafter defend the theory of causal powers emergence against charges that it is incoherent and inconsonant with science and natural unity; these and other conflicts are shown to be unproblematic once the theory is properly explicated. In these respects, this thesis finds no fault with the coherence of emergence. The key claims in the second half of the thesis instead pertain to the necessity of emergence to solve the problem that I have identified. The argument is that even if causal novelty, holistic effects and top-down causation are apparent in a system, a properly developed causal powers ontology can account for them without positing new fundamental properties. I develop an option called non-reductive inherence based on a theory of powers admitting a plurality of compositional principles. The thesis ends by expounding this alternative to emergence and setting out some of the trade-offs between the positions

Analyzing Crop Revenue Safety Net Program Alternatives and Impacts on Producers and Program Costs

This study evaluates the policy effects of alternative program designs for federal revenue-based farm income safety net programs. Eight representative farms across Nebraska are used to stochastically simulate the financial impact of changing the current farm crop revenue-based safety net with a state revenue trigger against potential alternative programs involving guarantees at the district, county, or farm level. Results indicate that decreasing the aggregation of the revenue guarantee increases expected farm-level payments and program costs for the revenue-based safety net.agricultural policy, farm bill, farm programs, government payments, representative farms, risk management, simulation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q18,