Black Widow: Avenger of Feminism

The purpose of the assignment was to construct a well-researched argument regarding a socially different superhero and their role in society. The argument needed to address the super’s social difference, as well as how that social difference defines the super’s role. Through class brainstorming sessions and individual research, I determined that emerging gender issues in American society and culture would provide the impetus for my investigation. I searched for the quintessential female hero and found Black Widow from the Marvel universe. Black Widow defies the stereotypes of women and superheroes by living within the constraints of both worlds without succumbing to either. To create a complete profile of Black Widow, I researched the character’s background and appearances in both the Marvel comic series and the film franchise. Placing Black Widow in the context of her society and today’s modern society required research on the typical role of female superheroes and how audiences view such heroes. Scholarly sources and popular sources provided the foundations of my research. I refined the argument and revised the paper at the suggestion of peers and my professor

Electrostatic Screen for Transport of Martian and Lunar Regolith

The Martian and Lunar Regolith contain fine particulate including those in the size range from 0.5 to 200 micron [1-2]. Martian dust can be transported and deposited by Aeolian processes, including "Dust Devils". Due to the ultra high vacuum (10e-12 Torr), transport of dust on the Moon is solely a result of collision/ballistic motion. Dust obscuration of solar cells is one of the primary factors limiting the duration of Martian missions, including the Mars Exploration Rovers. Dust contamination in vacuum seals is one of the primarily factors that limited lunar excursions during the Apollo missions. Controlled transportation of dust on Mars and the Moon is important for many reasons, including both contamination mitigation and in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Since both the monopole and dipole electrostatic moments result in non-trivial forces on particles in an electrostatic field, dust particles, whether charged or not, can be transported by electrostatic fields. In the electrostatic screen, alternating waveforms of voltage applied to patterned grids of electrodes will transport dust. The authors will show that the canonical methods for transporting dust via electrostatic screen can be readily applied to transport of Martian and Lunar regolith. Experiments have been performed in ambient, low humidity, Martian, and Lunar conditions. Screen parameters have been examined for application to each regolith, such as grid spacing, trace width, grid voltage, pulse pattern, pulse frequency, and coating type. The authors have also developed an electrostatic screen based on optically transparent conductors that can be placed over solar arrays, windows, visors, lenses, etc

Electrodynamic Dust Shield for Surface Exploration Activities on the Moon and Mars

The Apollo missions to the moon showed that lunar dust can hamper astronaut surface activities due to its ability to cling to most surfaces. NASA's Mars exploration landers and rovers have also shown that the problem is equally hard if not harder on Mars. In this paper, we report on our efforts to develop and electrodynamic dust shield to prevent the accumulation of dust on surfaces and to remove dust already adhering to those surfaces. The parent technology for the electrodynamic dust shield, developed in the 1970s, has been shown to lift and transport charged and uncharged particles using electrostatic and dielectrophoretic forces. This technology has never been applied for space applications on Mars or the moon due to electrostatic breakdown concerns. In this paper, we show that an appropriate design can prevent the electrostatic breakdown at the low Martian atmospheric pressures. We are also able to show that uncharged dust can be lifted and removed from surfaces under simulated Martian environmental conditions. This technology has many potential benefits for removing dust from visors, viewports and many other surfaces as well as from solar arrays. We have also been able to develop a version of the electrodynamic dust shield working under. hard vacuum conditions. This version should work well on the moon

Review of \u3ci\u3e Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay\u3c/i\u3e By Stuart Houston, Tim Ball, and Mary Houston

Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay by Stuart and Mary Houston, veteran Saskatchewan ornithologists and historians of northern Canadian exploration, and climatologist Tim Ball provides a welcome, colorful addition to McGill-Queen\u27s University Press\u27s thirty-four-volume Native and Northern Series. The 1670 Crown charter to the Hudson\u27s Bay Company (HBC) granted a vast trading territory including substantial parts of the northern Canadian Plains and a portion of North Dakota and Minnesota. Furs were brought from a network of posts for shipping out of Hudson Bay, primarily at Fort Churchill and York Factory. Most of the posts and their commercial activities were outside of the Great Plains, although Cumberland House in Saskatchewan has figured prominently in Plains history

Operationalizing Cultural Differences in the Use of New Media Technology

Whereas New Media Technologies (NMT) rapidly spread across geographic borders, people using NMT are still deeply rooted in their local cultures. Hence, local cultures and cultural differences are likely to affect the use of NMT. Many studies investigate cross-cultural differences in NMT use. However, the literature still lacks an overview on the operationalization of culture and cultural differences in research on NMT use. As a first step towards closing this gap, this Emergent Research Forum paper carves out how research on NMT use operationalizes culture and cultural differences. Among 42 relevant studies identified in a literature review, we find a dominance of building upon Hofstede\u27s (1980, 2001) cultural value framework. We discuss issues of the observed operationalizations of culture and cultural differences and the related implications for the research area. We further derive questions for future research on cross-cultural NMT use and in the IS field

Review of Big Data Analytics for Smart Electrical Energy Systems

Energy systems around the world are going through tremendous transformations, mainly driven by carbon footprint reductions and related policy imperatives and low-carbon technological development. These transformations pose unprecedented technical challenges to the energy sector, but they also bring opportunities for energy systems to develop, adapt, and evolve. With rising complexity and increased digitalization, there has been significant growth in the amount of data in the power/energy sector (data ranging from power grid to household levels). Utilization of this large data (or “big data”), along with the use of proper data analytics, will allow for useful insights to be drawn that will help energy systems to deliver an increased amount of technical, operational, economic, and environmental benefits. This paper reviews various categories of data available in the current and future energy systems and the potential benefits of utilizing those data categories in energy system planning and operation. This paper also discusses the Big Data Analytics (BDA) that can be used to process/analyze the data and extract useful information that can be integrated and used in energy systems. More specifically, this paper discusses typical applications of BDA in energy systems, including how BDA can be used to resolve the critical issues faced by the current and future energy network operations and how BDA contributes to the development of smarter and more flexible energy systems. Combining data characterization and analysis methods, this review paper presents BDA as a powerful tool for making electrical energy systems smarter, more responsive, and more resilient to changes in operations