The Relationship Between Women of Third World Countries and the Environment, the Overlap of Oppression and the Role Ecofeminism is Playing

Ecofeminism is a feminist approach to environmental ethics. Ecofeminists see the oppression of women and the domination of nature as related; as a movement, ecofeminist theorists use a framework that confronts issues of gender, race, class, and nature. Researching the relationship between the oppression of women in third world countries and the oppression of nature identified an overlap in problems associated with these two marginalized groups. I reviewed several journals and critical articles that compared this relationship, along with personal reviews of other researchers who had developed opinions based on their own research of this topic. To battle the oppression of one, we must battle the oppression of the other. Thus, eliminating one type of oppression could eliminate both

The Political Strategies of Tiwanaku Leaders in Moquegua, Peru : : An Analysis of Tiwanaku Priests and the Inner Chambers of the Omo Temple

Did Tiwanaku elites hold themselves above the populous though self-centered behavior and by promoting self- aggrandizing activities, or did they uphold a group- oriented corporate code that sought integrative activities? This thesis investigates the political strategies used in the competition of sources of power by Tiwanaku provincial elites in the Moquegua Valley, Peru. Occupation of this lower valley by the Tiwanaku polity occurred approximately during AD 600-1100. I argue that Tiwanaku leaders in Moquegua did not attempt the monopolization of agricultural production and in general there is a lack of evidence for grandiose displays of wealth in Moquegua that would have signal hierarchical status differentiations. However, excavation of the Omo temple's restricted Upper Court and newly discovered inner chambers has uncovered evidence that ritual knowledge, as a source of power, was limited to a select group of individuals. This group of priests enjoyed privileged access to these private spaces and maintained exclusive control the secret information and sacred objects needed to carry out the ritual practices necessitated by the Tiwanaku cosmological worldview. This thesis describes these new finds of the temple's inner chambers and their implications for our understanding of Tiwanaku ceremonial and community life in the Moquegua Valley. Through this comprehensive investigation of political behavior that incorporates a broad range of power sources, thesis attempts to move beyond the general label of "elite" and work towards a more precise understanding of roles and positions of agents in the Tiwanaku worl

Investigations Supporting the Development of a Downhole Energy Harvesting System

Hydrocarbon well operators deploy downhole reservoir monitoring equipment in order to optimize the rate at which hydrocarbons are extracted. Alternative power sources are sought that could be deployed in these harsh environments to replace or supplement standard power sources currently in use. To this end, four investigations were performed to support the design of such a device. In the first investigation base assumptions used in the preliminary design of an electromagnetic energy harvester were shown to be in doubt, implying that the expected power output would not meet initial projections. In the second investigation a parametric study was performed to understand how high uncertainty variables affect the natural frequency and damping ratio of a producing hydrocarbon well. In the third investigation a structural housing was designed to satisfy American Petroleum Institute load cases. Using finite element models and standard tube/casing geometries, design pressures were iterated until a permissible housing design was achieved. This preliminary design provided estimates of the radial width and volume in which energy harvesting and storage elements may be situated. In the last investigation two software programs were developed to estimate the energy that might be harvested from user specified harvester configurations. The programs are dependent on user input production tube accelerations; this permits well operators to use well-specific vibrational data as inputs to generate well-specific energy output estimates. Results indicate that a downhole energy harvesting tool is structurally feasible under reasonable operating conditions but conclusions regarding power output may only be made if actual downhole accelerations are known