Energy Under the Andes: Benefits, Barriers to Development, and Relevant Policy Alternatives for Chile’s Untapped Geothermal Resources

Chile is home to 10% of the world’s volcanoes and, according to many scientists and energy experts, is a prime location for geothermal energy development. Yet, to date, Chile has no geothermal plant in production. Despite extremely high energy prices and energy shortages in the country, very little has been done to exploit one of Chile’s most promising energy resources. Through a series of over 30 interviews with government officials, geothermal industry experts, community leaders, and university professors, I will clarify the advantages of geothermal energy in Chile, as well as the barriers to development and the potential policy solutions to diminish those barriers. The most critical barriers identified in this study are: (1) high cost and risk of initial investments, (2) lack direction on energy development and institutional support on the part of the government, and (3) vague elements of the legal and regulatory framework

Motivating Clients to Exercise: Improving Adherence to Exercise-Based Treatment through Psychoeducation

Exercise has been consistently shown to have a positive effect on both physical and mental health, with past studies indicating exercise as an adjunctive treatment for diagnoses such as Major Depressive Disorder. However, despite the knowledge of exercise’s benefits, 80% of Americans do not regularly meet recommended levels of exercise in a week. Past studies have been hampered by high drop-out rates, as participants have difficulty sustaining a new exercise regimen over time. This study focused on understanding the motivational processes which sustained experienced exercisers. With the information gleaned from experienced exercisers in addition to past research on human motivation, a psychoeducational pamphlet was constructed in order to determine the motivational processes for nascent exercisers in addition to determining if the pamphlet, as an intervention, was helpful in sustaining new regimens. The study found that the psychoeducational pamphlet was not able to sustain new regimens when compared to a control condition. However, participants in the experimental condition demonstrated significant reductions in depressive and anxious symptoms at a follow-up compared to initial scores. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and the OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Constructing a 'Manchurian' Identity: Japanese Education in Manchukuo, 1931-1945

This study investigates the creation and implementation of elementary and secondary education policy for Chinese-language schools by Japanese officials in the puppet state of Manchukuo. Using Manchukuo textbooks, education journals, and post-war memoirs, it examines the background of the policy-makers, the nature of the ideology they constructed, and the role language played in dissemination of the ideology. The study traces the efforts by the Japanese officials to create a new "Manchurian" national consciousness which they hoped would replace Chinese nationalistic identity among the majority Han Chinese. Originally they tried to shape this identity by employing familiar Chinese models which they expected would mask Japanese control. They used Confucian terminology and appeals to historical precedents to try to legitimize the creation of an independent northeastern state. In time, however, the weight of Japanese demands for empire-wide ideological orthodoxy led the Manchukuo leaders to abandon the Chinese models, and instead portray the state as client, dependent on the Japanese Emperor and in need of an injection of Japan's superior culture. Leading Japanese officials began to support forcing the Chinese to follow Japanese linguistic and ceremonial forms in hopes that it would cause them to appreciate and even willingly support the Japanese effort towards creating a unified Greater East Asia. In other words, their goals changed from securing an acquiescent population to creating willing allies, an effort in which they were ultimately unsuccessful. While the Manchukuo education bureaucracy supported the shift towards an emphasis on the Japanese language, as late as 1943 they resisted attempts at filling the curriculum with Japanese militaristic and imperial material, defying the current trend in Japan and Korea. This resistance was lead by a group of Japanese educators who were participants in the liberal "New Education movement" of the 1920s, who found in Manchukuo an opportunity to implement school reforms which had become impossible in the increasingly conservative atmosphere in Japan. Their success at keeping militaristic elements at bay demonstrates the Japanese empire was less monolithic than usually thought

Lubetkin And The Tecton Group

While it is generally true that between 1932 and 1948 the work of Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton architectural partnership was chained to the fate of progressive socialism in England, it can also be argued that this explanation overlooks those minor works of theirs which contradict the unbending theoretical framework of this movement, i.e., the framework of a progressive and providential etiology characterized by the notion of an overcoming and the concept of a recurring origin, ground, or foundation. In contrast to this explanation, this dissertation argues that the minor works of Lubetkin and Tecton exhibit a particular form of integrity and continuity distinguished by the weakening of these very same theoretical frameworks. The interpretation of a “weak theory” in these works is the subject of this dissertation, which argues that weakening creates a clearing for architectural invention. This dissertation asks three questions. First, how can the notion of a weak theory be visualized in the representation of architecture and the city? Second, how does the architect conceive his or her agency in the context of a weakened theoretical framework? And third, how might the characteristics of these works be the structure of interpretation rather than its result? This dissertation pursues these questions in three respective parts. Part One introduces these notions by way of a pair of drawings by Lubetkin. Part Two attends to the conception of the architect as a member of a group practice. Part Three proposes a topical approach to the domestic work of Lubetkin and Tecton, through the consideration of Lubetkin’s Whipsnade House and its associated Manifesto, which exemplify seven architectural topics: 1. distribution, 2. orientation, 3. proportion, 4. elevation, 5. structure, 6. enclosure, and 7. contrariety. These topics coordinate and connect Lubetkin’s unique position in the history of architectural theory to perennial questions in the discipline of architecture. Finally, Part Four concludes with a case study that argues that contraposition—or contrapposto—is the inheritance of this approach in the postwar period

Studying the effects of in-vehicle information systems on driver visual behaviour – implications for design

In-vehicle information systems (IVIS) are a common feature in modern vehicles. The interaction of drivers with IVIS when driving must be considered to minimise distraction whilst maintaining the benefits provided. This research investigates the glance behaviours of drivers, assessed from video data, when using two functions – a personal navigation device (study 1) and a green driving advisory device (study 2). The main focus was to establish the number of glances of 2 seconds or more to the IVIS and relate this to driver safety (as stipulated in new guidelines for use of IVIS proposed by NHTSA). In study 1, the percentage of eyes- off-road time for drivers was much greater in the experimental (with device) condition compared to the baseline condition (14.3% compared to 6.7%) but, whilst glances to the personal navigation device accounted for the majority of the increase, there were very few which exceeded 2 seconds. Drivers in study 2 spent on average 4.3% of their time looking at the system, at an average of 0.43 seconds per glance; no glances exceeded 2 seconds. The research showed that ordinary use of IVIS (excluding manual interaction) does not lead to driver visual distraction and therefore the impact on safety is minimal. The results of the study have important design implications for future in-vehicle information systems

Positioning creative, three dimensional design practice and understanding its role and value in university health research and development projects

The success or failure of new product innovations depend upon many, complex and often competing demands. These range from market conditions, availability of technology, psychology of consumer acceptance to the fundamental reasons for a particular product or technology existing in the first instance. The role of universities in this mix can compound success or failure issues further. Where there may be a desire and ambition to improve the quality of life of a population through new scientific or clinical discovery, often translating those discoveries to real world application is challenging. The Wilson report, commissioned by the UK Government, 'A Review of Business–University Collaboration' highlights some of the issues universities and industry face and states that “There is no simple model for interaction; the diverse business needs and diversity of supply from universities leads to complexity in relationships” (Wilson, 2012). Based on the experiences of the authors of this paper and through a number of short health research and product development case studies this paper presents and discusses a theoretical model developed to help build greater understanding and demonstrate the value of design practices value in university and industry collaborations. It identifies 3D designs value through targeted activity towards successful outcomes and discusses how those projects have run in university research setting