Exploring the Life of Edith Fetherston through her Clothing

This research is an examination of the life of Edith Fetherston through studying her clothing and comparing her clothes to fashion history. The authors of Survey of Historic Costume, Tortora and Eubank, state that: \u27Dress serves as a means of communication,\u27 and that \u27historic dress provides readers with some context for the period in which costumes were worn\u27. Most importantly, they state that clothing is \u27a glimpse of attitudes and values as they were expressed by individuals of [a] period.\u27 (4). Studying clothing history is a way to understand the attitudes of the times; it has a relationship with the attitudes of the society in which it is or was worn. Studying garments can identify personalities, as well as professions, and economic status. My research is based on the wardrobe of Edith Fetherston between the early twenties and late sixties. This thesis begins by examining Edith herself, then it examines each decade and its major characteristics, and finally my research examines at least two garments from each of the five decades

Journey into Midnight: Population Dynamics, Vertical Distribution, and Trophic Ecology of Whalefishes (Cetomimidae) in the Bathypelagic Gulf of Mexico

Despite comprising the largest biome on Earth, the bathypelagic zone inhabitants represent a “black hole” in the understanding of deep-oceanic functioning due to physical and monetary limitations. The characteristics of the global bathypelagic realm create a limiting environment only inhabitable by specially adapted fauna. These include whalefishes (Stephanoberycoidei: Cetomimidae), which are a taxonomically and systematically challenging group of primarily bathypelagic fishes. Cetomimids were collected in the Gulf of Mexico using high-speed rope trawls and a multiple-opening-and-closing net system. Population dynamics were described using morphometric analysis. Vertical distributions, including diel variation, were described using a modified boxplot of abundance standardized by volume of filtered water. Finally, trophic ecology of male and larval Cetomimus/Gyrinomimus was described through gut-content analysis. In total, 493 Cetomimidae were collected, including six new records for the region (Cetomimus compunctus, C. picklei, Danacetichthys galathenus, Gyrinomimus bruuni, G. grahami, and male Cetomimus/Gyrinomimus TBD) and one new record for the Atlantic Ocean (C. compunctus). The assemblage is dominated by Cetostoma regani and Ditropichthys storeri and is highly skewed to favor adult females. Cetomimids were collected most often in the upper bathypelagic zone, including the smaller males and larvae. Asynchronous diel vertical migration is likely in C. regani and D. storeri and possible in species of Gyrinomimus. Specimen SL and depth of capture were not correlated. Male Cetomimus/Gyrinomimus primarily consume copepods although opportunistic feeding of larger crustacea including euphausiids and/or mysids is likely. Larvae gorge on copepods (in quantities reaching 1709) and may display a selective feeding strategy targeting swarming copepods

LS2W: Implementing the Locally Stationary 2D Wavelet Process Approach in R

Locally stationary process representations have recently been proposed and applied to both time series and image analysis applications. This article describes an implementation of the locally stationary two-dimensional wavelet process approach in R. This package permits construction of estimates of spatially localized spectra and localized autocovariance which can be used to characterize structure within images.

Detection of changes in the characteristics of oceanographic time-series using changepoint analysis.

Changepoint analysis is used to detect changes in variability within GOMOS hindcast time-series for significant wave heights of storm peak events across the Gulf of Mexico for the period 1900–2005. To detect a change in variance, the two-step procedure consists of (1) validating model assumptions per geographic location, followed by (2) application of a penalized likelihood changepoint algorithm. Results suggest that the most important changes in time-series variance occur in 1916 and 1933 at small clusters of boundary locations at which, in general, the variance reduces. No post-war changepoints are detected. The changepoint procedure can be readily applied to other environmental time-series

The Physics of Cheerleading: Force Production of Cheerleading Stunts

This study aims to determine the ground reaction forces that are encountered by bases and flyers of a co-ed stunt group when performing a basic toss, a toss hands, and a toss extension. The ground reaction forces of other activities, such as those encountered in figure skating and gymnastics, have previously been studied, but the forces produced by cheerleaders have never before been tested. Data was collected by having cheerleading stunt groups (four males and three females) perform trials of each stunt on force plates. The data showed that both the base and flyer were exposed to large ground reaction forces upon take-off and landing of all of these stunts. The vertical ground reaction forces on the take-off of the bases increased in magnitude as the height of the stunt increased, but none of the others varied statistically significantly based on the type of stunt. On average, the presence of a cushioned cheerleading mat did not significantly affect the ground reaction forces. This was determined through the analysis of the cheerleading stunts and through the conduction and analysis of two other tests. The first test involved measuring the ground reaction forces of EKU women’s soccer players when performing standing vertical jumps. The second test was conducted by measuring the landing forces when a medicine ball and shot put were dropped from various heights onto three different surfaces. These studies will hopefully inspire other researchers to continue studying the ground reaction forces of cheerleaders and other aspects of cheerleading, in general

The Utilization of Generative Adversarial Networks for the Production of Airfoil Geometries

As the world increases the use of data mining and artificial intelligence to improve everyday life, machine learning algorithms and practices have become more widely studied and utilized. One such machine learning algorithm is a generative adversarial network (GAN) that uses a series of convolutions and neural layers to create new instances of data that resemble real instances of data very closely. This study applied a GAN to generate unique airfoil geometries based on a set of airfoil performance data. Typically, airfoil geometry is designed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and optimization algorithms. By applying a GAN, new geometries can be created in a fraction of the time reducing the resources spent during the design and rendering process. The results of the study show promise for GANs as an alternative to traditional design methods, however the results are far from perfect. Additional methods exist that could further improve the model but they require additional data and higher computing power