When tourism comes to you (but you still have to go get it, dawg): The Rickmobile and transmedia tourism/fandom

This paper analyzes the Rickmobile as a site of mobile media pilgrimage and fan tourist destination. The Rickmobile is a mobile, pop-up merchandise car themed and designed around eponymous Rick Sanchez from the cult cartoon Rick and Morty. As a material fan object and as an object of fan tourism, the Rickmobile becomes a site of overlapping discourses surrounding the historical context of cult merchandising, media pilgrimage, and social media ‘pre-textual’ fan reporting (Hills 2015b). At the same time, it problematizes traditional fan studies’ examinations of active and passive fan labor. This paper argues that the Rickmobile functions as a pseudo transmedia extension, allowing fans to create one type of active Rick and Morty fan experience, but to be used as a different type of passive industrial Rick and Morty experience

Communication System For Firefighters

Currently firefighters use two-way radios to communicate on the job, and they are forced to write reports based on their memory because there is not an easy way to record the communications between two-way radios. Firefighters need a system to automatically document what happened while they were responding to a call. To save them a significant amount of time when creating reports, our solution is to implement an application that allows firefighters to take pictures, record video and communicate in real time with their team of on-site responders. The proposed system will use a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) hosted on the fire truck itself to act as an access point (AP) to which the firefighters can connect. This AP will also save communication between firefighters to a local storage location. Upon return to the fire station, the AP will route all of the information stored locally to a larger database. For now, Wi-Fi will be our communication medium, with a prediction that our technology can eventually be extended to include radio signal

Optical polarimetry of bipolar planetary nebulae

Chapter 1 gives a brief review of the relevant aspects of stellar evolution leading to the formation of a planetary nebula. Included in this review is a discussion of the most important factors which appear to dictate the shaping and general characteristics of these nebulae. Chapter 2 follows with a review of polarization theory and its use in the study of planetary nebulae and the interstellar medium. This includes a description of the basic reduction procedures which are used to produce the polarization maps of later chapters. Discussion of the reduction process is accompanied by the analysis and interpretation of linear polarization data from the observation of an extragalactic source. Chapter 3 presents multicolour polarimetry data for the young bipolar planetary nebula M2-9. Much of the polarization data confirms previously gathered results and shows that extreme levels of polarization occur in the outer regions of the nebula. Polarization structure within the central regions of M2-9, however, appear to contradict a number of previously gathered results and suggest that the central illuminating source of the nebula is extended. The data conclusively proves that the mirror-symmetric condensations have changed position. An estimation of the rotation period of the condensations has been made using calculations which trace their lateral displacement. The result of these calculations agrees well with previously gathered results. Chapters 4 and 5 present new multicolour polarimetry data for the evolved bipolar planetary nebulae NGC 2440 and NGC 2818. Results provide evidence for the existence of bipolar rotating episodic jets in the evolved Type I bipolar nebulae. The data also shows that both nebulae possess low polarization levels and a lack of clear structure within the polarization pattern. Consequently, the dust distribution of planetary nebulae must become less favourable for the production of radiation scattering with age

Nitrogen and phosphorus cycling strategies in two tidal freshwater macrophytes, Peltandra virginica and Spartina cynosuroides

Monotypic stands of the macrophytes Peltandra virginica and Spartina cynosuroides, which shared a common boundary, were studied at Sweethall Marsh, a tidal freshwater marsh located on the Pamunkey River within the Chesapeake Bay estuarine system, Virginia. Compartmental models indicate that both Peltandra and Spartina take up, internally cycle, and release to the environment, significant levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Models also suggest that Peltandra and Spartina and their associated sediment compartments are capable of regulating nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes through their uptake and storage capacity. Nitrogen use efficiency was significantly higher in the shoots and roots of Spartina compared to Peltandra, while rhizome use efficiency was slightly higher in Peltandra. Phosphorus use efficiency was significantly higher in shoots, roots, and rhizomes of Spartina than in Peltandra. Lower use efficiency in Peltandra demonstrates a greater demand of nutrient per unit biomass than Spartina. Nitrogen and phosphorus recovery efficiency was higher in Peltandra. Efficiency indexes suggest that although Spartina appears to use nitrogen and phosphorus more efficiently for growth, Peltandra recovers and stores these nutrients more efficiently. Peltandra shoot, root, and rhizome tissue nutrient levels appear independent of sediment nitrogen and phosphorus availability. Spartina shoot, root, and rhizome nitrogen levels, however, appear dependent on sediment total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The relationship of Peltandra tissue nutrient levels to sediment availability is explained in terms of the rhizome storage capacity and reallocation of nitrogen and phosphorus to support productivity patterns. Spartina, however, must rely more on de novo root uptake to meet nutrient demands. Shoot, root, and rhizome nitrogen and phosphorus standing stocks were strongly correlated in both Peltandra and Spartina while sediment standing stocks were not. Nitrogen to phosphorus ratios were higher in the shoots than the roots and rhizomes of both Peltandra and Spartina reflecting the levels of nitrogen required to support photosynthesis. Nitrogen to phosphorus ratios varied over the sampling period, however appeared to converge on an optimum ratio. The correlation of nitrogen and phosphorus suggests an interaction between these nutrients although this relationship is unclear. Apparently both Peltandra and Spartina reallocate, as well as require, nitrogen and phosphorus in certain ratios which maximize productivity, uptake, and carbon assimilation

The Development of a SLS Composite Material

The development of a commercial SLS nylon-based composite material (LNC 7000) is described. Nylon composite candidate systems with different volume fractions of a number of glass fiber and glass bead reinforcements were screened. It was found that fully dense SLS parts with excellent mechanical properties could be made from a number of reinforced nylon materials. An optimized material containing 29 volume percent 35 Ilm diameter glass beads was selected based on the processing behavior and mechanical properties of the candidate systems. The performance of this optimized material is described. In addition, complementary aspects of the composite nylon and unreinforced nylon materials (LN 4010 and LNF 5000) are discussed.Mechanical Engineerin

An investigation of the factor structure of the 16PF, Version 5: A confirmatory factor and invariance analysis.

In order to examine its higher-order factor structure, we applied confirmatory factor and invariance analysis to item level data from the US standardization sample of the 16PF5, divided into a calibration sample (N = 5,130) and a validation sample (N = 5,131). Using standard assessments of model fit, all primary factors displayed good to excellent model fit, thus suggesting the scales to be broadly unidimensional. Results indicated a drop in model fit in both the structural and configurally invariant second order models, suggesting some level of misspecification in the global scales of Extraversion, Anxiety, Tough-Mindedness, Independence, and Self-Control. However, the degree of misspecification was slight. Overall, the analyses generally supported the proposed structure of the 16PF5. </jats:p