The Windrush Generation have been treated appallingly. EU migrants may expect an even worse deal

The treatment of the 'Windrush Generation' has been appalling. Yet, argues Matthew Grant (University of Essex), it reflects the government's policy of creating a 'hostile environment' for people who lack documentation in the UK. And while the plight of Windrush immigrants has generated sympathy even from people who normally oppose immigration, there is little chance that migrants from the rest of the EU will be treated any better. Indeed, most of them will lack the ‘cultural capital’ that has driven outrage about the handling of immigrants who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s

Citizen of the world? Think again: British citizenship after Brexit

National identity is fundamental to citizenship, Theresa May told Conservatives in October, and self-styled ‘citizens of the world’ are deluding themselves. Matthew Grant traces how British citizenship has been endlessly redefined for political purposes since the second world war – first becoming associated with whiteness, and now with the non-European. The scope of what constitutes ‘belonging’ is shrinking

Civil Defence Policy in Cold War Britain, 1945-68

PhDThis thesis investigates how successive postwar British Governments formulated a civil defence policy aimed at ameliorating the effects of an enemy attack in the cold war. It shows that civil defence was a nuanced response to the prospect of nuclear attack framed in the changing political, economic and strategic contexts of cold war Britain. Beginning as a genuine life-saving measure, thermonuclear-era civil defence became an integral part of Britain's wider deterrence strategy. By locating civil defence within Britain's wider defence strategy, this thesis demonstrates the importance of civil defence as a key policy of the cold war state. It examines how civil defence policy was formulated, with studies of the effects of nuclear weapons and estimates of the consequences of an attack on British cities, and of the individual policies which were developed - especially evacuation, shelter, the voluntary Civil Defence Corps, and public information. It charts the changes in how civil defence was conceptualised and justified from the early cold war era to the period of detente after the Cuban Missile Crisis, details the responses to key cold war crises, and explains how economic retrenchment and developments in nuclear weapon technology, as well as detente, undermined civil defence policy and led to it being placed on a care-and-maintenance basis in 1968

Historicizing Citizenship in Post-War Britain

Citizenship has been widely debated in post-war British history, yet historians discuss the concept in very different, and potentially contradictory, ways. In doing so, historians are largely following in the footsteps of post-war politicians, thinkers, and ordinary people, who showed that citizenship could – and did – mean very different things. The alternative ways of framing the concept can be usefully described as the three registers of citizenship. First, there are the political and legal definitions of what makes any individual a citizen. Secondly, there is the notion of belonging to a national community, an understanding of citizenship which highlights that legal status alone cannot guarantee an individual's ability to practise citizenship rights. Thirdly, there is the idea of citizenship as divided between ‘good’ or ‘active’ citizens, and ‘bad’ or ‘passive’ ones, a differential understanding of citizenship which has proved very influential in debates about British society. This article reviews these registers, and concludes by arguing that all three must be taken into account if we are to comprehend properly the nature and citizenship as both status and practice in post-war Britain

Auctions with Options to Re-auction

We examine a dynamic model of English auctions with independent private values. There is a single object for sale and it is not possible for the seller, who has a value of zero for the object, to commit not to sell in the future if a sale is not accomplished today. The seller may be able to commit to a reserve price, or make a cheap-talk announcement of a reserve price and secretly bid for the object herself in order to re-auction it in a later round with a new set of bidders. Bidders are "short-lived" in the sense that at the end of each round all existing bidders vanish and new bidders start arriving. This framework allows us to obtain existing results for one shot-auctions as special cases. This framework also allows us to capture some of the features of thick internet auctions and to obtain some new insights on the role of commitment, on optimal length and on socially optimal reserve prices that are not apparent from a one-shot auction perspective.

Enhanced Dynamometer for Conducting Long-Term Brake Wear Testing

The purpose of this project is to develop an automated control system for two constant torque dynamometers Krauss Friction Tester Type RWS60A – Serial no. 080 built in Orangeburg, West Germany recently obtained by FDP Friction Science. This control system will be efficient, effective, safer, and meet the standards of modern day technologies. Currently, the machines are outdated, obsolete, and unable to operate. Therefore, to bring the dynamometers back into full operation and be competitive in today’s industry a new control system that meets industry expectations must be implemented. For this reason, a programmable logic controller from Automationdirect named ClickPLC is being utilized. This industrial computer control system will continuously monitor the state of input for the device while determining the desired outputs based on a ladder logic program written by the control system designers. To create interference between the operator and the machine a C-more touch panel human machine interference from Automationdirect will be use. The HMI will provide a graphical interface designed to interchange and display graphics, animation and data from the PLC by touching the screen. The HMI will be programed accordingly to replace pushbuttons, switches, meters and any other analog input devices. This will streamline the brake life testing process down to a one-man operation for cost effectiveness.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1196/thumbnail.jp

Investigation of Critical Technologies of Chemical Vapor Deposition for Advanced (Si)GeSn Materials

The development of new materials for efficient optoelectronic devices from Group IV elements is the heart of Group IV photonics. This has direct ties to modern technology as the foundation for the electronics industry is silicon. This has driven the development of silicon-based optoelectronics using these other Group IV materials as silicon is a poor optical material due to its indirect band gap when compared to the III-V semiconductors that are used by most of the optoelectronics industry. While efforts have been made to integrate III-V materials onto silicon substrates, the incompatibility with the complementary metal oxide semiconductor process has limited the viability of this due to the high cost associated with the integration. Germanium has shown potential to be a suitable candidate for possible use though the wavelength range that can be covered is limited as it produces direct bandgaps under tensile strain. Tin-based group IV alloys have been studied and have promising potential in achieving high efficiency optoelectronic devices integrated on silicon. Alloys of germanium-tin have produced many direct bandgap optical devices that have demonstrated the potential for this system. Silicon-germanium-tin alloys hold promise for further expansion of group IV photonics by allowing bandgap and lattice tunability for more complicated device structures and material integrations. The work presented in this thesis was focused on the critical technologies used to develop these materials using ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition for the epitaxial deposition of films with high optical material qualities. Germanium films were grown at low temperature as well as germanium-tin alloys with highly diluted gas ratios directly on silicon substrates. The germanium films served as buffer layers onto which high quality germanium-tin was deposited using silicon substrates. The growth conditions for the geranium-tin alloys began with a high flow fraction of tin (IV) chloride. The flow fraction of tin (IV) chloride was reduced which led to an improvement in material quality. By using x-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, and other characterization tools material and optical qualities could be determined. This work additionally looked at the initial phase of development of silicon-germanium towards a rhombohedral crystal phase using sapphire substrates

Undone…

This thesis is an exploration of the work I have completed during graduate study at UNO. My time has been spent investigating concepts of evaluation and the attribution of meaning. The main thrust and impetus of my art has been to explore the subjective way people interpret visual language and how that interpretation can be manipulated and undermined. By undoing these associations I hope to reveal the tentative nature of meaning

Master of Science

thesisComputing and data acquisition have become an integral part of everyday life. From reading emails on a cell phone, to kids playing with motion sensing game consoles, we are surrounded with sensors and mobile devices. As the availability of powerful mobile computing devices expands, the road is paved for applications in previously limited environments. Rehabilitative devices are emerging that embrace these mobile advances. Research has explored the use of smartphones in rehabilitation as a means to process data and provide feedback in conjunction with established rehabilitative methods. Smartphones, combined with sensor embedded insoles, provide a powerful tool for the clinician in gathering data and may act as a standalone training technique. This thesis presents continuing research of a sensor integrated insole system that provides real-time feedback through a mobile platform, the Adaptive Real-Time Instrumentation System for Tread Imbalance Correction (ARTISTIC). The system interfaces a wireless instrumented insole with an Android smartphone application to receive gait data and provide sensory feedback to modify gait patterns. Revisions to the system hardware, software, and feedback modes brought about the introduction of the ARTISTIC 2.0. The number of sensors in the insole was increased from two to 10. The microprocessor and a vibrotactile motor were embedded in the insole and the communications box was reduced in size and weight by more than 50%. Stance time iv measurements were validated against force plate equipment and found to be within 13.5 ± 3.3% error of force plate time measurements. Human subjects were tested using each of the feedback modes to alter gait symmetry. Results from the testing showed that more than one mode of feedback caused a statistically significant change in gait symmetry ratios (p < 0.05). Preference of feedback modes varied among subjects, with the majority agreeing that several feedback modes made a difference in their gait. Further improvements will prepare the ARTISTIC 2.0 for testing in a home environment for extended periods of time and improve data capture techniques, such as including a database in the smartphone application

Effect of a structured exercise program on physical activity patterns and assessing relationships between accelerometry and strength and running performance characteristics in male, college students

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a supervised exercise training program on physical activity (PA) patterns. A secondary objective of the study was to determine if accelerometers can predict variables associated with strength and running performance. A total of 79 adult, male, college students completed a 12 week exercise training program that consisted of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, and running three hours per week. The subjects trained three days/week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and conducted a performance test (PT) every Wednesday. Physical activity (average daily time spent in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous PA), performance strength and running variables (pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, and 1.5 mile run time), and body composition (BC) (weight (kg), percent body fat (PBF), fat free mass (FFM;kg), and fat mass (FM;kg)) were assessed before and after 12 weeks of the exercise training program. Results showed the 12 week exercise training program had no effect on the average daily time (min) spent in sedentary, light, moderate or vigorous activity. There were significant positive correlations between average daily time spent in vigorous PA and pull-ups (p\u3c.05), sit-ups (p\u3c.01), and push-ups (p\u3c.01). There were significant negative correlations between average daily time spent in moderate (p\u3c.05) and vigorous (p\u3c.01) PA and 1.5 mile run times. Additionally, there were significant negative correlations between BC and weight, PBF, and FM and pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups (p\u3c.01). Data showed a a significant positive relationship between weight, PBF, and FM and 1.5 mile run time (p\u3c.01). As expected, strength and running performance significantly improved in every area (p\u3c0 .001) with an average gain of four pull-ups, 31 sit-ups, 15 push-ups, and a mean decrease of 30 seconds on the 1.5 mile run. The structured exercise intervention significantly improved strength and running performance characteristics, which included pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups and a 1.5 mile run time. The results from this study show that the 12 week exercise training program did not affect PA levels in the participants but PA (vigorous) and BC (weight, PBF, and FM) may be able to predict pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, and 1.5 mile run performance variables