Music in motion: the synthesis of album design and motion graphics for downloadable music

In an age when downloading media is increasing at an exponential rate, static album art has become obsolete. Current digital album artwork does not take advantage of the available technology. Nor does it provide the user with an integrated experience. Previous attempts at linking music to moving imagery have resulted in uninspiring visualizer plugins. These types of media player add-ons do not produce emotionally or narratively relevant imagery for the user. Furthermore, the limited selection of downloadable media that includes a digital booklet, separates the booklet contents from the album cover. More importantly, these disconnected elements do not compensate for their lack of tangible assets. The objective of this thesis project was to create a hybrid of album design and motion graphics for downloadable music. By creating a prototype, this project demonstrates the concept that a library-style package of interchangeable moving images linked with audio media, can enhance the narrative and emotional elements of the user experienc

The Sustainable Closet

The technology that created the boom in online shopping has turned the local thrift store into a mainstream phenomenon. Customers of the future will look for ways to recycle, resell or upcycle, and will be drawn to the incredible value of buying secondhand, with millennials and Gen Z adopting second hand faster than other age groups. This will have a significant positive impact on global sustainability, as the fashion industry produces 10% of all carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply, and pollutes oceans with microplastics. The clothing industry follows oil as the second largest industrial polluter. In the US, consumer trends indicate that shoppers who don’t want to be seen in the same outfit twice have resulted consumers’ buying 60% more clothing today than they did 15 years ago, but keep the items only half as long. In Europe, clothing resale has brought the conversation of ethical buying back into the spotlight. Globally, the fashion resale and rental market is exploding, growing 21 times faster than the retail market over the past three years. The objective of this study is to better understand consumer attitudes and behaviors with regard to the apparel resale economy

Mechanical response of spring films under compression and shear loading

Thin films of discrete micro and nanostructures fabricated by the method of Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) provide a means to build compliant interfaces that maintain important properties of the constituent materials, such as thermal and electrical conductivity while enabling interfacial resilience. In this dissertation research, the normal compressive and transverse stiffnesses of a variety of Si and Cu spring films were determined experimentally in order to assess the effect of geometric parameters on the mechanical response. Si springs of either 4 or 10 coil turns were deposited on unseeded and seeded Si wafers with seed spacing of 900 nm or 1500 nm. The Cu springs had 10 coil turns and were deposited on silicon wafers with 2000 nm, 2400 nm, 2800 nm, or 3200 nm seed spacing or unseeded Si substrates. Larger seed spacing resulted in Cu springs with larger coil diameters and larger wire thickness compared to seeded Si springs. Compression tests were conducted at stress amplitudes between 0.5 MPa and 50 MPa on Si films and between 5 MPa and 50 MPa on Cu films. The test samples were circular areas of ~90 μm diameter, subjected to compression with a flat punch. The force vs. displacement curves were used to compute the film stiffness while scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were collected to measure the residual compression. The stiffness of the Si films at the lowest applied stress of 500 kPa varied between 24 ± 0.2 and 66 ± 3.4 MPa for different spring configurations. At the common test condition of 5 MPa applied stress, the stiffness of Si films was between 44 ± 0.2 and 165 ± 1 MPa, while Cu spring films had stiffnesses between 184 ± 2 and 353 ± 15 MPa. At the other extreme of an applied stress of 50 MPa, the stiffness of Si films ranged between 291 ± 0.5 and 810 ± 6 MPa and of Cu films between 611 ± 5 and 1308 ± 28 MPa. Notably, the Si films experienced more permanent deformation at lower stresses compared to Cu, reaching 6.5% at 5 MPa, while Cu films showed no permanent strain until 20 MPa, at which point they experienced only 2% permanent strain. The maximum permanent strains occurring at 50 MPa were 38% for Si and only 12% for Cu. Shear tests were performed with both types of films using a custom apparatus. The shear stiffness was between 7 ± 0.6 and 27 ± 4 MPa for Si, and between 218 ± 37 and 322 ± 85 MPa for Cu. The higher stiffness of Cu films originated in their significantly larger coil and wire diameter compared to Si. However, the shear strength of seeded Cu springs, between 2 ± 0.4 and 4 ± 1.2 MPa, was approximately the same as that of Si, which had a range of 1 ± 0.05 to 4 ± 0.7 MPa. Cu springs failed at the seeding post which was the most slender point in the structure. Unseeded Cu springs failed within the spring layer with shear strength of 16 ± 0.9 MPa. The largest residual compression was measured for unseeded Cu films reaching a value of 19 ± 2.2 %. In shear, the Si films experienced failure at different locations between the capping layer and just above the seed post, whereas the seeded Cu springs experienced failure directly at the seed post, which prevented the determination of the true shear strength of seeded Cu spring films

A Sea Turtle Population Assessment for Florida\u27s Big Bend, Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

Coastal waters of Florida’s Big Bend, Gulf of Mexico (GOM) once supported one of the largest sea turtle fisheries in the United States. To fill an information gap in this region on abundance and distribution of sea turtles, we used vessel—based distance sampling and active capture methods to characterize current foraging aggregations near the St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve. Over 10 sampling periods between 2012—2018, we completed 513 km of transects and recorded 819 turtles among 4 species—green turtle (Chelonia mydas, n = 624), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii, n = 147), loggerhead (Caretta caretta, n = 47), and a single hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). Turtle densities in 4 study plots within the 200 km2 study site ranged from 57—221 immature green turtles/km2, 16—56 immature Kemp’s ridleys/km2, and 1—14 juvenile—to—adult loggerheads/km2. Of 200 green turtles captured, 67.5% showed skin tumors consistent with fibropapillomatosis, a frequency similar to that from urbanized estuaries of Florida’s east coast. The largest green turtles (\u3e 60 cm straight standard carapace length), abundant in the southern portion of our study area, are of note because this size class is uncommonly recorded within US territorial waters. Analyses of green turtle mtDNA haplotypes found contributions from rookeries in the western GOM, Mexican Caribbean, and Costa Rica. Although Big Bend protected areas were principally designed to conserve marine and coastal habitats, these regulatory zones have also effectively encompassed a hotspot for foraging sea turtles

Modeling seasonal to annual carbon balance of Mer Bleue Bog, Ontario, Canada

Northern peatlands contain enormous quantities of organic carbon within a few meters of the atmosphere and play a significant role in the planetary carbon balance. We have developed a new, process-oriented model of the contemporary carbon balance of northern peatlands, the Peatland Carbon Simulator (PCARS). Components of PCARS are (1) vascular and nonvascular plant photosynthesis and respiration, net aboveground and belowground production, and litterfall; (2) aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of peat; (3) production, oxidation, and emission of methane; and (4) dissolved organic carbon loss with drainage water. PCARS has an hourly time step and requires air and soil temperatures, incoming radiation, water table depth, and horizontal drainage as drivers. Simulations predict a complete peatland C balance for one season to several years. A 3-year simulation was conducted for Mer Bleue Bog, near Ottawa, Ontario, and results were compared with multiyear eddy covariance tower CO2 flux and ancillary measurements from the site. Seasonal patterns and the general magnitude of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 were similar for PCARS and the tower data, though PCARS was generally biased toward net ecosystem respiration (i.e., carbon loss). Gross photosynthesis rates (calculated directly in PCARS, empirically inferred from tower data) were in good accord, so the discrepancy between model and measurement was likely related to autotrophic and/or heterotrophic respiration. Modeled and measured methane emission rates were quite low. PCARS has been designed to link with the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) land surface model and a global climate model (GCM) to examine climate-peatland carbon feedbacks at regional scales in future analyses

Acute Inflammatory Profiles Differ with Sex and Age After Spinal Cord Injury

Background Sex and age are emerging as influential variables that affect spinal cord injury (SCI) recovery. Despite a changing demographic towards older age at the time of SCI, the effects of sex or age on inflammation remain to be elucidated. This study determined the sex- and age-dependency of the innate immune response acutely after SCI. Methods Male and female mice of ages 4- and 14-month-old received T9 contusion SCI and the proportion of microglia, monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM), and neutrophils surrounding the lesion were determined at 3- and 7-day post-injury (DPI) using flow cytometry. Cell counts of microglia and MDMs were obtained using immunohistochemistry to verify flow cytometry results at 3-DPI. Microglia and MDMs were separately isolated using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) at 3-day post-injury (DPI) to assess RNA expression of 27 genes associated with activation, redox, and debris metabolism/clearance. Results Flow cytometry revealed that being female and older at the time of injury significantly increased MDMs relative to other phagocytes, specifically increasing the ratio of MDMs to microglia at 3-DPI. Cell counts using immunohistochemistry revealed that male mice have more total microglia within SCI lesions that can account for a lower MDM/microglia ratio. With NanoString analyses of 27 genes, only 1 was differentially expressed between sexes in MDMs; specifically, complement protein C1qa was increased in males. No genes were affected by age in MDMs. Only 2 genes were differentially regulated in microglia between sexes after controlling for false discovery rate, specifically CYBB (NOX2) as a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-associated marker as well as MRC1 (CD206), a gene associated with reparative phenotypes. Both genes were increased in female microglia. No microglial genes were differentially regulated between ages. Differences between microglia and MDMs were found in 26 of 27 genes analyzed, all expressed higher in MDMs with three exceptions. Specifically, C1qa, cPLA2, and CD86 were expressed higher in microglia. Conclusions These findings indicate that inflammatory responses to SCI are sex-dependent at both the level of cellular recruitment and gene expression

Electrical conductivity properties of expanded graphite-polycarbonatediol polyurethane composites

Conductive polymer composites of segmented polycarbonatediol polyurethane and expanded graphite (EG) have been synthesized with different amounts of EG conductive filler (from 0 to 50wt%). SEM, X-ray diffraction measurements, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopies demonstrated a homogeneous dispersion of the EG filler in the matrix. The dielectric permittivity of the composites showed an insulator to conductor percolation transition with increase in EG content. Significant changes in the dielectric permittivity take place when the weight fraction of EG is in the range 20-30wt%. Special attention has been paid to the dependence of the conductivity on frequency, temperature and EG content. The addition of EG to the matrix causes a dramatic increase in the electrical conductivity of 10 orders of magnitude, which is an indication of percolative behavior. A percolation threshold of ca 30wt% was evaluated by using the scaling law of percolation theoryThis work was financially supported by the DGCYT through Grant MAT2012-33483.Redondo Foj, MB.; Ortiz Serna, MP.; Carsí Rosique, M.; Sanchis Sánchez, MJ.; Culebras, M.; Gómez, CM.; Cantarero, A. (2015). Electrical conductivity properties of expanded graphite-polycarbonatediol polyurethane composites. Polymer International. 64(2):284-292. https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.4788S28429264