Next Generation Longboard Trucks NG-Trucks

A device is needed that will provide longboard riders with a truck that is specifically designed for the sharp turns and high speeds they experience throughout their ride. This longboard truck must have a design that is engineered for these purposes and avoids the standard pin and bushing design that is commonly copied from the closely related skateboard truck. This standardized design is outdated, and more importantly, was made to adhere to the skateboard style of riding, consisting primarily of performing tricks with less turning. The longboard truck provides a secure connection point upon the two wheels and the board itself. Additionally, the truck provides a controlled ride by adding additional assistance with turns from leaning the wheels upon the y-axis, unlike the standard skateboard truck design that turns due to motions strictly upon the x-axis. The design enables a larger wheel diameter without sacrificing a low center of gravity compared to a normal truck by relocating the turning pins to the front of the truck instead of directly below it. The truck’s functionality was first evaluated on Solidworks and then 3-D printed to ensure that the motion did not interfere with the structure of the board or the ride. This design offers improved maneuverability while providing a stable ride and a turning radius of just 6 feet

Queer Ways of Seeing Queer Ways of Depicting: Ellsworth Kelly’s Afterlives and the Liberatory Burden of Modernist Formalism

Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) was a prolific artist whose career spanned six decades. During that time, Kelly forged new ground stylistically through his unwavering devotion to formalism. Derived from his keen eye for observing his quotidian surroundings, the masking of readymade sources via abstraction has become the understanding central to scholarship on the artist. Kelly’s practice of veiling the subject also reveals a vast, complex matrix of sociohistorical forces related to and stemming from his positionality as a gay man—the significance of which has been generally discounted or omitted from understandings of Kelly within the art historical canon. This thesis probes the artist’s oeuvre, seeking new interpretative ground by interrogating the artist’s canonized positionality via close looking at three distinct bodies of work through lenses of critical feminist theories—most notably the idea of queer formalism. In tracing the origins of formalism and its use throughout modernism as a means for reinforcing heteronormative universalities, this thesis will argue that Kelly used his distinctive brand of formalist abstraction as a means of navigating tides of sociopolitical persecution during his time away from the United States on the G.I. Bill in Paris during the Second World War—veiling the subject as a means of veiling the self. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to examine and interrogate Kelly’s output and canonized understanding by making space for queer visualities and futurity. Seeing Kelly as more than just “another” minimalist or abstractionist, this thesis argues that the artist’s commitment to forms owes its lineage to a queer way of seeing and a queer way of depicting

Examination of Hamstring Flexibility and Maximal Sprint Speed

Abstract Purpose Maximal sprinting ability is a highly sought after trait in athletes. Many studies have been performed in an effort to determine the factors of sprinting ability, such as the vertical jump, squatting ability, and others. However, very limited research has been performed on the relationship between flexibility and maximal sprinting speed. The vast majority of research done involving hamstring flexibility and performance involves the acute effects of stretching on performance, or the relationship between flexibility and injury prevention. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between hamstring flexibility and maximal sprinting speed. Methods This study involved 65 participants, all of whom were 18-24-year-old men from the University of Akron football team. The participants underwent testing in the 40-Yard Dash (maximal sprint speed), the Sit-and-Reach (hamstring flexibility), the vertical jump, and a body composition analysis. Linear regression analysis was performed between each test and the flexibility measurements. Results There was a significant no correlation relationship between the 40-Yard dash and the Sit-and-Reach (p \u3c 0.001, R2 = 0.111). Conclusion This study found that there is no relationship between maximal sprint speed and hamstring flexibility

Magnatic Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites: Development for Medical and Environmental Applications

We apply chemical engineering fundamentals to the rational design, synthesis, and application of novel nanoparticle systems and macromolecular materials. In particular, we are interested in designing and applying advanced materials based on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and nanocomposites. Magnetic nanocomposites are a relatively new class of advanced materials, which have attracted interest as intelligent materials for biomaterial and other applications. In our lab, we are primarily interested in MNPs due to their ability to respond to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) resulting in local energy delivery and potentially localized heating. We have incorporated MNPs into nanocomposites that exhibit new and unique properties such as remote actuation, and the resultant properties of the nanocomposite can be easily tailored by manipulating the composition of the polymer and the nanoparticulate material. Here, some of our recent activities in the development and application of MNPs and their nanocomposites will be presented. In particular, the application of functionalized MNPs for cancer therapy and environmental remediation will be highlighted. For potential cancer therapy applications, we have been particularly interested in determining the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) catalytically generated from the surface of iron oxide MNPs, and using a methylene blue degradation assay, we demonstrated that magnetically mediated energy delivery (MagMED) is capable of enhancing the Fenton-like generation of ROS. Here, further studies of the surface reactivity of MNPs and the enhancement of this reactivity with AMF exposure will be presented, as well as the effects of small molecule and macromolecular coatings. These demonstrations illustrate the potential of AMF-induced ROS in cancer therapy. For environmental applications, AMF exposure and the associated energy delivery can be used to carry out various functions. For example, we will present data showing the AMF exposure being used to change the binding properties of an MNP coating

Playing the “Wild Card” in the Highstakes Game of Urban Drilling: Unconscionability in the Early Barnett Shale Gas Leases

But what about those who signed leases in the early stages of the Barnett Shale boom? Being uneducated about mineral rights-leasing and unprepared to face negotiations with sophisticated oil and gas companies and landmen, were the early signers of Barnett Shale leases simply the unfortunate pioneers of this unprecedented phenomenon known as urban leasing? The early signers of Barnett Shale leases were not privy to the knowledge of how to gain a better bargaining position by organizing their neighborhoods or the benefits of waiting until the competition for their mineral rights heats up before they signed a mineral lease. Are these early signers of Barnett Shale leases simply out of luck? Or is there a legal remedy available to the early signers of Barnett Shale leases that could help even the playing field or rescind a lease and allow early signers a chance to renegotiate? This Comment will explore potential answers to these questions. Part II of this Comment provides background information on the Barnett Shale, including a physical description of the Barnett Shale and why it is such an unusual natural gas play. Part III of this Comment introduces the legal document known as the oil and gas lease and explains what legal rights are created when one signs a lease with an oil and gas company. One cannot expect to understand the legal questions that may arise with Barnett Shale gas leases without first understanding the basics of an oil and gas lease. Part IV of this Comment analyzes the area of contract law known as unconscionability, which may be available to the early signers of Barnett Shale leases who want to rescind, renegotiate, or cancel an oil and gas lease. Finally, Part V of this Comment discusses the lessons that hopefully have been learned from the Barnett Shale urban leasing phenomenon and suggests how other cities may better prepare and protect their citizens when the next Barnett Shale is discovere

The Epsilon Calculus and Herbrand Complexity

Hilbert's epsilon-calculus is based on an extension of the language of predicate logic by a term-forming operator $\epsilon_{x}$. Two fundamental results about the epsilon-calculus, the first and second epsilon theorem, play a role similar to that which the cut-elimination theorem plays in sequent calculus. In particular, Herbrand's Theorem is a consequence of the epsilon theorems. The paper investigates the epsilon theorems and the complexity of the elimination procedure underlying their proof, as well as the length of Herbrand disjunctions of existential theorems obtained by this elimination procedure.Comment: 23 p