Undesirable Forms

The Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Undesirable Forms, presents a collection of paintings and sculptures that focus on the repulsion and discomfort a woman can experience within her mind and body. These works were exhibited at the Tipton gallery, in downtown Johnson City. The pieces included in this exhibition consist of encaustic paintings on panel, and sculptures created from plaster life-casts. The ideas discussed in this paper are influenced by Julia Kristeva and Sigmund Freud’s work relating to the abject/grotesque female body. This paper also discusses inspiration from other artists, such as Natalie Frank and Helen Chadwick, who work with psychological subject matter and the female body

Queen Nanny, a Case study for Cultural Heritage Tourism: The Archaeology of Memory and Identity

This research project is intended to provide a foundation of knowledge of the Maroon culture in Jamaica, through the legends of one of their most prominent founders, Queen Nanny, as an aid for those who want to educate themselves before approaching community leaders about tourism development. Documentation of Queen Nanny’s life is contested and shrouded in mystery. Yet, that is part of what makes her memory so powerful. The various roles that Queen Nanny is associated with feature her adamant pursuit of an independent life for herself and her Maroons. Whether she is catching bullets or teaching the Maroons how to hide in plain sight, Queen Nanny’s legends illustrate the affection and respect that modern Jamaicans have for this historical icon. The threat of changing climates, economies, and environments, highlights the need to teach the next generation tactics of resiliency and adaptation, qualities represented in the Queen Nanny legends. Most tourist investments in Jamaica have promoted its beautiful beaches and created western-style resorts catering to the desires and tastes of international tourists. Engaging Maroons who already participate in tourism-oriented festivals in conversations on expanding Cultural Heritage Tourism may be a practical step in augmenting the tourism industry in Jamaica

The Integration of Digital Technologies into Designer-Maker Practice: a Study of Access, Attitudes and Implications

This research is a focused investigation of the use of digital production technologies by UK designer-makers. The Critical and Contextual Review begins by examining what is known about the UK designer-maker sector. It considers how making practices relate to history and theories of craft, exploring meanings of key concepts such as ‘skill’ and ‘productive autonomy’. It reviews contemporary digital craft practice, identifying it as a genre and examines both digital economy and digital tool-use trends, relating to craft. The methodology Chapter 3 explains how the pragmatic philosophical approach taken justifies the focus on investigations of experiential practice and the specific mixed methods adopted. A series of experiential case studies looking at emergent practice is analysed using grounded theory techniques and concludes that in using digital tools the maker’s vision is the animating force in an inherently collective endeavour. This chapter is followed by an in-depth practicebased investigation looking specifically at the collaborative potential facilitated by digital possibilities. Chapter 6 presents an analysis of professional views based on interviews that probe the range and extent of technical and creative collaborations. At each stage of the research a reflective enquiry points towards the next step and provides successive iterations of evidence. The thesis that emerges from evidence is the contribution to knowledge of this research. It is that a cross-fertilisation between craft and digital technologies produces a hybrid networked practice that can amount to a new type of technology-enabled and networked craft – Technepractice – in which ‘negotiated collective engagement’ is the driving characteristic. This presents a fundamental challenge to the constructed authenticity of productive autonomy in 20th century studio craft practice. The animation of collective resources, from exteriorised skill embedded in technology to the expertise of technicians and machine operators and the use of digital data sources, requires a re-evaluation of the location and meaning of skill in digital craft practice. A full account of the digital ‘proposition’ for craft, both the opportunities and threats, places digital craft in the context of other digital creative industries and explores possibilities for extending practice from collaborations to digital business models

Throw Me a Lifeline: A Comparison of Port Cities with Antithetical Adaptation Strategies to Sea-Level Rise

Sea-level rise (SLR) is a manifestation of climate change that is particularly hazardous to port cities that must remain on the waterfront to function, yet are increasingly battered and flooded by encroaching storms, and sinking into the rising saltwater. Despite sharing a common high level of risk, port cities are choosing antithetical adaptation strategies that range from hard-engineered structural flood protection, to behavioral modifications, to innovative soft-engineered measures, to doing nothing at all. Why is this? Are transnational city networks, such as C40 Cities, a lifeline to drowning cities? Do differences in governance structure, financial capacity, risk tolerance to the hazard, or the influence of special interest groups matter? These factors and the interplay of civil, public, and corporate actors in the context of changing environmental conditions are examined in this cross-disciplinary qualitative study to understand their effects on adaptation decision-making processes over time. Four at-risk global port cities—Venice, Rotterdam, Guangzhou, and Miami—were selected for comparison based on their antithetical adaptation strategies of retreating, climate proofing, innovating, and denying. The Panarchy model of nested four-stage adaptive renewal cycles frames the ongoing and cross-scalar interaction of stakeholders and special interest groups at the city, national, transnational, and international levels. This methodology enables the identification of patterns, power distributions, and path dependencies that contribute to appropriate or maladaptive adaptation. As is characteristic of complex adaptive systems, this study finds that decisions cannot be correlated with a single factor. For those cities that display key characteristics of resilience, SLR is a catalyst for proactive and appropriate adaptation. For others, socio-economic and socio-political factors trump environmental factors in deciding whether, when, and how a city decreased its risk to SLR hazard

Development of Cal Poly\u27s Shock Table

Shock is one of the environmental tests that a spacecraft must pass before being cleared for launch. Shock testing poses a challenging data acquisition issue and careful selection of equipment is crucial to creating a successful shock test facility. Cal Poly’s CubeSat programs can currently perform all environmental testing other than shock themselves, so a quality shock table would be useful. Previous groups of students had developed a shock table, and this paper details the improvement and characterization of that shock table’s behavior. Several adjustable parameters were tested and documented to discover trends in the shock table’s response to an impact from a pendulum hammer. Then a test meant to mimic an actual shock test was performed. The CubeSat program provided a component to be tested and a requirement to be met. The nominal requirement is proprietary and cannot be given here, and additional stipulations included the test data being within a given tolerance band and at least 50% of the test data having a larger magnitude than the nominal requirement. The requirement needed to be met in all three of the component’s axes. The component was mounted to the shock table and acceleration data was collected and analyzed. A successful test was conducted in one axis, which was the result of impacting the large face of the aluminum shock table plate. The tests in the other two axes, conducted with impacts to the side of the aluminum plate, failed to meet the requirement. A finite element model of the table was developed and correlated to the test data. A new way of attaching the test component to the table was developed that would allow for testing in all three axes to be performed with impacts to the large face of the aluminum plate. A dynamic finite element analysis was performed, and the results indicate that this new attachment method should allow the requirement to be met in all three axes. The shock table is currently fully operational and can be used for testing and teaching purposes. With the implementation of the new attachment method, it is believed that the CubeSat program’s requirements can be met as well

Reinsmen, Roadways and the Emerging Northern Maine Frontier, 1810-1860

Nineteenth century reinsmen transported needed and scarce supplies, logs, people and mail in Northern Maine, on the few cut roads and rough trails before railroads arrived. Their work was the only land transportation method available to Northern Maine’s lumber camps and settlements between 1810-1860, making their labors critical to Aroostook County’s social, cultural and economic growth. Reinsmen drove teams of horses or oxen attached to a cart, wagon, dray, sleigh, sled or specialized log jumper into Maine’s forests or from Woodstock, New Brunswick and Bangor, Maine to Aroostook County. Reinsmen were once known and respected in Aroostook County for their hard work and daring, holding an esteemed place in society, but today are almost wholly forgotten and unknown. Untold numbers of men and some women were reinsmen in a sparsely settled and unforgiving environment of Northern Maine during the nineteenth century, yet few reinsmen stories survived. More is known about the roads they traveled, and equipment used than about the people themselves. One reinsman, Henry Allen, was not only unknown, but a mystery. Allen, a woman disguised as a man, performed the job successfully without revealing her gender. This research uncovers this early important, yet near forgotten occupation, by exploring reinsmen life stories, hazards and rewards, routes, equipment, and the people and businesses they encountered

Concert recording 2018-12-02a

[Track 1]. Sonata no. 3 in G major. I. Adagio II. Allegro III. Adagio IV. Bouree V. Minuet / George Frideric Handel -- [Track 2]. Nocturne / George Barrère -- [Track 3]. La flute de Pan. I. Pan et les bergers II. Pan et les oiseaux III. Pan et les nymphes / Jules Mouquet -- [Track 4]. Deep blue / Ian Clarke -- [Track 5]. Cantabile et presto / Georges Enesco

Quantifying the Impact of Remapping Floodplains on Residential Property Values in Snohomish County, Washington: A Hedonic Approach

Flood events are the most common and costly natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quantifies flood risks in the form of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS). These FIRMS delineate flood risks and are used to set flood insurance premiums. Changes in land use, the augmentation of the natural environment, is threatening the validity of the Nation’s FIRMS. Therefore, Congress has approved remapping programs to update these FIRMs ensuring that current flood risks are known. This remapping presents another issue, specifically for properties that are remapped into a flood zone. Current literature suggests that properties within flood zones are discounted 5-13% compared to homes outside a flood zone. Therefore, the switching of flood zone status should negatively impact property values. To explore how the switching of flood zone status, as indicated by the remapping of FIRMs, impacts property values, a fixed effects hedonic pricing model will be estimated. We look to add to the limited literature related to revealing the impact of switching flood zone status through time and expand upon it by investigating consumer behavior towards the release of updated preliminary flood zones. Results suggest that properties who are remapped into a flood zone are initially valued higher during the release year, but one year after the remapping their prices converge with properties who have always been within a flood zone

Reinsmen, Roadways, and the Emerging Northern Maine Frontier, 1810-1860

Nineteenth century reinsmen transported needed and scarce supplies, logs, people and mail in Northern Maine, on the few cut roads and rough trails before railroads arrived. Their work was the only land transportation method available to Northern Maine’s lumber camps and settlements between 1810-1860, making their labors critical to Aroostook County’s social, cultural and economic growth. Reinsmen drove teams of horses or oxen attached to a cart, wagon, dray, sleigh, sled or specialized log jumper into Maine’s forests or from Woodstock, New Brunswick and Bangor, Maine to Aroostook County. Reinsmen were once known and respected in Aroostook County for their hard work and daring, holding an esteemed place in society, but today are almost wholly forgotten and unknown. Untold numbers of men and some women were reinsmen in a sparsely settled and unforgiving environment of Northern Maine during the nineteenth century, yet few reinsmen stories survived. More is known about the roads they traveled, and equipment used than about the people themselves. One reinsman, Henry Allen, was not only unknown, but a mystery. Allen, a woman disguised as a man, performed the job successfully without revealing her gender. This research uncovers this early important, yet near forgotten occupation, by exploring reinsmen life stories, hazards and rewards, routes, equipment, and the people and businesses they encountered

Orchardgrass (1993)

Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is a bunch-type, tall-growing, cool-season perennial grass. It is one of the most productive cool-season grasses, tolerant to shade, fairly drought resistant with moderate winter hardiness. Orchardgrass does not exhibit as much tolerance to drought or winter hardiness as tall fescue and bromegrass. It has been reported growing in the United States since before 1760. This publication provides some general information about Orchardgrass as well as some guidelines on how the establish and care for this grass