Lowering the Bar: The Effects of Misogyny in Rap Music

My senior capstone project will explore the reasons for the extreme prevalence of misogyny among African-American male rappers. More specifically, it will discuss the origins of rap, misogyny, and the insertion of the latter into the former; examples of common misogynistic themes in rap; and the effects of misogyny on society and individuals. Additionally, the paper will explore the comparison of misogyny in rap to misogyny in other genres and an evolving climate that respects black women. Also, this project includes an EP featuring songs uplifting black women and criticizing misogynoir among their male counterparts. While the paper will align with the second MPA Major Learning Outcome, Community Issues Analysis, and the fourth, Moral and Ethical Analysis; the creative project will engage the fifth outcome, Performance Skills. Also, the research will not only draw on journal articles such as those featured in the databases of George Washington University and Howard University but also interviews with notable figures in the genre and the music itself. Otherwise, the capstone project will determine that a lack of accountability among black men and society’s negative attitude towards their female counterparts contribute to the prevalence of misogyny among rappers

Effects of Temporary PAR reduction on the seagrass Amphibolis griffithii (Black) den Hartog

Declines in seagrass health and distribution are commonly caused through human induced reductions in the availability of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). These reductions can result from a variety of human-induced perturbations, including channel dredging. The impetus for the research was driven by the broad-scale degradation of the ecologically important southern-Australian endemic seagrass Amphibolis griffithii (Black) den Hartog in Champion Bay, Geraldton, Western Australia. The study investigated the affects of reduced PAR on A. griffithii and identified responses that may be useful in developing management triggers to minimise the impact of PAR limitation events. The study was carried out during late summer and winter at Jurien Bay on the Midwest coast of Western Australia. Replicate plots of Amphibolis griffithii meadow were subjected to 90% reduction in PAR availability for 106 days using shade screens suspended over the meadow. A variety of morphological and physiological variables were monitored in control and treatment plots at approximately monthly intervals during this time and after 42 days of recovery. There was a noticeable meadow-scale response in A. griffithii with significant reductions in leaf biomass measurements, such that the number of leaves per stem (-12 leaves per stem) and total leaf biomass (DWm-2) were approximately half that of ambient levels after 106 days of shading. This resulted in a dramatic change in the light attenuation coefficients between shaded (0.59 m-1) and control plots (2.38 m-1) allowing greater penetration of PAR through the canopy, effectively reducing self-shading in the lower canopy. These changes were paralleled by marked physiological responses with increases in chlorophyll and decreases in rhizome sugar concentrations in the shaded plants. Chlorophyll levels responded consistently in the upper canopy with highly significant increases after 106 days of treatment and a return to ambient levels after 42 days of recovery. Rhizome sugars depleted quickly and consistently with treatment, culminating in highly significant differences after 106 days of shading with concentrations at less than one third (-1) when compared with ambient levels. The apparent reduction in canopy self-shading was likely to have aided the considerable recovery of most variables, such as leaf extension which fully recovered after 42 days following shade removal. This research identified a suite of specific responses to reduced PAR in A. griffithii and has assessed their inherent potential for future development of Environmental Quality Criteria (management trigger values) to high intensity, short duration impact events on the mid-west coast of Western Australia, including recommendations for further research. The study has highlighted the species specific nature of seagrass responses to reduced PAR climates; contributions to the broader ecological knowledge were made with specific reference to ecologically and morphologically unique species that do not necessarily conform to known responses in the blade-like species, such as Posidonia. The application of these research outcomes will ultimately help environmental managers minimise the impacts of broad-scale PAR induced degradation events like the dredging program at Champion Bay, Geraldton from re-occurring

Smart Sensors' Role in Integrated System Health Management

No abstract availabl

Ariel - Volume 12(13) Number 2

Editor Gary Fishbein Production & Business Manager Rich Davis Layout Editor Lynn Solomon Assistant Layout Editors Bessann Dawson Tonie Kline Becky A. Zuurbier Photography Editor Ben Alma

A Triboelectric Sensor Array for Electrostatic Studies on the Lunar Surface

The moons electrostatic environment requires careful consideration in the development of future lunar landers. Electrostatically charged dust was well documented during the Apollo missions to cause thermal control, mechanical, and visibility issues. The fine dust particles that make up the surface are electrostatically charged as a result of numerous charging mechanisms. The relatively dry conditions on the moon creates a prime tribocharging environment during surface operations. The photoelectric effect is dominant for lunar day static charging, while plasma electrons are the main contributor for lunar night electrostatic effects. Electrostatic charging is also dependent on solar intensity, Earth-moon relative positions, and cosmic ray flux. This leads to a very complex and dynamic electrostatic environment that must be studied for the success of long term lunar missions.In order to better understand the electrostatic environment of planetary bodies, Kennedy Space Center, in previous collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has developed an electrostatic sensor suite. One of the instruments included in this package is the triboelectric sensor array. It is comprised of strategically selected materials that span the triboelectric series and that also have previous spaceflight history. In this presentation, we discuss detailed testing with the triboelectric sensor array performed at Kennedy Space Center. We will discuss potential benefits and use cases of this low mass, low cost sensor package, both for science and for mission success

The Radio Frequency Health Node Wireless Sensor System

The Radio Frequency Health Node (RFHN) wireless sensor system differs from other wireless sensor systems in ways originally intended to enhance utility as an instrumentation system for a spacecraft. The RFHN can also be adapted to use in terrestrial applications in which there are requirements for operational flexibility and integrability into higher-level instrumentation and data acquisition systems. As shown in the figure, the heart of the system is the RFHN, which is a unit that passes commands and data between (1) one or more commercially available wireless sensor units (optionally, also including wired sensor units) and (2) command and data interfaces with a local control computer that may be part of the spacecraft or other engineering system in which the wireless sensor system is installed. In turn, the local control computer can be in radio or wire communication with a remote control computer that may be part of a higher-level system. The remote control computer, acting via the local control computer and the RFHN, cannot only monitor readout data from the sensor units but can also remotely configure (program or reprogram) the RFHN and the sensor units during operation. In a spacecraft application, the RFHN and the sensor units can also be configured more nearly directly, prior to launch, via a serial interface that includes an umbilical cable between the spacecraft and ground support equipment. In either case, the RFHN wireless sensor system has the flexibility to be configured, as required, with different numbers and types of sensors for different applications. The RFHN can be used to effect realtime transfer of data from, and commands to, the wireless sensor units. It can also store data for later retrieval by an external computer. The RFHN communicates with the wireless sensor units via a radio transceiver module. The modular design of the RFHN makes it possible to add radio transceiver modules as needed to accommodate additional sets of wireless sensor units. The RFHN includes a core module that performs generic computer functions, including management of power and input, output, processing, and storage of data. In a typical application, the processing capabilities in the RFHN are utilized to perform preprocessing, trending, and fusion of sensor data. The core module also serves as the unit through which the remote control computer configures the sensor units and the rest of the RFHN

The star formation history of the Large Magellanic Cloud star cluster NGC1751

The HST/ACS colour-magnitude diagrams (CMD) of the populous LMC star cluster NGC1751 present both a broad main sequence turn-off and a dual clump of red giants. We show that the latter feature is real and associate it to the first appearance of electron-degeneracy in the H-exhausted cores of the cluster stars. We then apply to the NGC1751 data the classical method of star formation history (SFH) recovery via CMD reconstruction, for different radii corresponding to the cluster centre, the cluster outskirts, and the underlying LMC field. The mean SFH derived from the LMC field is taken into account during the stage of SFH-recovery in the cluster regions, in a novel approach which is shown to significantly improve the quality of the SFH results. For the cluster centre, we find a best-fitting solution corresponding to prolonged star formation for a for a timespan of 460 Myr, instead of the two peaks separated by 200 Myr favoured by a previous work based on isochrone fitting. Remarkably, our global best-fitting solution provides an excellent fit to the data - with chi^2 and residuals close to the theoretical minimum - reproducing all the CMD features including the dual red clump. The results for a larger ring region around the centre indicate even longer star formation, but in this case the results are of lower quality, probably because of the differential extinction detected in the area. Therefore, the presence of age gradients in NGC1751 could not be probed. Together with our previous findings for the SMC cluster NGC419, the present results for the NGC1751 centre argue in favour of multiple star formation episodes (or continued star formation) being at the origin of the multiple main sequence turn-offs in Magellanic Cloud clusters with ages around 1.5 Gyr.Comment: To appear soon in MNRAS. 12 pages, better printed in colou

Electrodynamic Dust Shield for Lunar/ISS Experiment Project

The Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center is developing a dust mitigation experiment and testing it on the lunar surface and on the International Space Station (ISS). The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) clears dust off surfaces and prevents accumulation by using a pattern of electrodes to generate a non-uniform electric field over the surface being protected. The EDS experiment will repel dust off materials such as painted Kapton and glass to demonstrate applications for thermal radiators, camera lenses, solar panels, and other hardware and equipment

Concentrations of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB’s), Chlorinated Pesticides, and Heavy Metals and Other Elements in Tissues of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, from Cook Inlet

Tissues from Cook Inlet beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, that were collected as part of the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project were analyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s), chlorinated pesticides, and heavy metals and other elements. Concentrations of total PCB’s (ΣPCB’s), total DDT (ΣDDT), chlordane compounds, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dieldrin, mirex, toxaphene, and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) measured in Cook Inlet beluga blubber were compared with those reported for belugas from two Arctic Alaska locations (Point Hope and Point Lay), Greenland, Arctic Canada, and the highly contaminated stock from the St. Lawrence estuary in eastern Canada. The Arctic and Cook Inlet belugas had much lower concentrations (ΣPCB’s and ΣDDT were an order of magnitude lower) than those found in animals from the St. Lawrence estuary. The Cook Inlet belugas had the lowest concentrations of all (ΣPCB’s aver-aged 1.49 ± 0.70 and 0.79 ± 0.56 mg/kg wet mass, and ΣDDT averaged 1.35 ± 0.73 and 0.59 ± 0.45 mg/kg in males and females, respectively). Concentrations in the blubber of the Cook Inlet males were significantly lower than those found in the males of the Arctic Alaska belugas (ΣPCB’s and ΣDDT were about half). The lower levels in the Cook Inlet animals might be due to differences in contaminant sources, food web differences, or different age distributions among the animals sampled. Cook Inlet males had higher mean and median concentrations than did females, a result attributable to the transfer of these compounds from mother to calf during pregnancy and during lactation. Liver concentrations of cadmium and mercury were lower in the Cook Inlet belugas (most cadmium values were <1 mg/kg and mercury values were 0.704–11.42 mg/kg wet mass), but copper levels were significantly higher in the Cook Inlet animals (3.97–123.8 mg/kg wet mass) than in Arctic Alaska animals and similar to those reported for belugas from Hudson Bay. Although total mercury levels were the lowest in the Cook Inlet population, methylmercury concentrations were similar among all three groups of the Alaska animals examined (0.34–2.11 mg/kg wet mass). As has been reported for the Point Hope and Point Lay belugas, hepatic concentrations of silver were r