Chapter Representations of Lothar I in the Liber pontificalis Ravennatis

Lothar looms large in the Liber pontificalis of Ravenna, an episcopal gesta composed after 846 by a local cleric of that city named Agnellus. In its prefatory verse, Lothar was tied to the memory of his grandfather Charlemagne, and afterwards was presented as an ally of the city and its church, a relationship sealed by the service of the bishop George (837-846) as godfather to Lothar’s daughter Rotruda. Furthermore, upon the death of Louis the Pious, as part of an embassy attempting to resolve the conflicts between Lothar and his brothers, George sought to affirm Ravenna privileges on the eve of the battle of Fontenoy, an event described quite differently from other sources. Completed following these struggles, the Liber pontificalis of Ravenna used this image of Lothar to further claims of the special status of the city, especially in its independence from Rome and longstanding imperial connections, and actively sought to legitimize Lothar’s own position through a juxtaposition with Charlemagne. Although preserved in the accounts of the bishops of Ravenna, the singular efforts to elevate and memorialize Lothar differ from other contemporary institutional chronicles, and underscore the tension inherent in the narrative

The Measurement of Temperature Change in an Adiabatic Expansion

An experimental method for measuring the temperature change undergone by a gas during an adiabatic expansion is discussed. The experiment makes use of a thermistor as the temperature-measuring device. The procedure gives agreement within one to two percent of the theoretical values

How Personal is the Political? Understanding Socially Responsible Consumption.

Why do far fewer people incorporate social and environmental concerns into purchasing decisions—a practice that I term “socially responsible purchasing”—than express an intention to do so? Do the same people “buy local” as purchase products that claim to be environmentally-friendly, fair trade, or sweat-free—and if not, why? In this dissertation, I put forth novel answers to these two questions, which have not been adequately addressed in existing studies. First, while many researchers have traced the gap between concern and action to consumers’ socioeconomic characteristics or market failures, I argue that the subjective experience of purchasing activities also shapes whether people make everyday shopping a political practice. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a socioeconomically diverse sample of individuals, I show that shopping trips for household needs are often associated with crowded stores, impersonal interactions, and the everpresent possibility of being duped. The frequently unpleasant and even degrading experience of everyday shopping presents significant impediments to reflection on ethical concerns and the emotional rewards of activism. Specifically, to the extent that a person experiences shopping as a tedious chore, that person may be less willing to pay non-monetary costs—in time and energy—associated with socially responsible purchasing. Having developed this hypothesis, I then use a survey of sustainability-related beliefs and behaviors to systematically test the relationship of feelings about food shopping to the purchase of ethical food. Second, again drawing on in-depth interviews with consumers, I find that many people who practice locally-focused purchasing do not, in fact, engage in other forms of socially responsible purchasing or political activities. But I argue that surprisingly widespread support for locally-focused purchasing across socioeconomic lines does not reflect insular thinking or lack of concern for other people. Rather, locally-focused purchasing, compared to other ways of taking political action, is experienced as uniquely enjoyable, accessible, and—crucially—likely to achieve its desired aims. In a world where much of what goes on in the “political” realm seems frivolous or harmful, locally-focused purchasing appears as a rare opportunity to have a direct and verifiable impact on issues that hit close to home.PHDSociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99990/1/edavsch_1.pd

Engaging Farmers, Culinary Schools, and Communities in Value-Added Production to Strengthen Local Food Systems

Value-added products can generate farm income and improve community food access, yet lack of available kitchen infrastructure and labor can limit farm production capacity. This project explored how community-based culinary schools might fill the gap. A unique “product share” model was identified and piloted, meeting the collective needs of farmers, a culinary school, and urban consumers. By researching farmer crop availability and business model preferences, and aligning value-added production with community food preferences, we demonstrate a successful pilot indicative that similar initiatives can be replicated in other metropolitan areas, with potential to engage cross-disciplinary extension professionals

Development of birefringent filters for spaceflight

The critical problem for flight of a birefringent filter is the shock mounting of the calcite. The design presented here bonds the calcite block with silicon rubbers to the calcite holder. The calcite together with its all necessary polarizers and rotating achromatic plates are mounted together in units called a filter module. By using a set of modules containing calcite crystals of differing lengths, a filter can be produced. A description of the modules is given. Also described is a container for the filter modules, which can be used both to hermetically seal the system or contain an index matching oil. The response of a filter element while being controlled by the Lockheed Temperature Control is described and the determination of the wavelength sensitivity to temperature of calcite is explained. Operation of the filter using a software control algorithm instead of a hardware temperature controller is shown. Some radiation considerations of filter systems are given

Fine structure of the chromospheric activity in Solar-type stars - The Halpha Line

A calibration of H-alpha as both a chromospheric diagnostic and an age indicator is presented, complementing the works previously done on this subject (Herbig 1985, Pasquini & Pallavicini 1991. The chromospheric diagnostic was built with a statistically significant sample, covering nine years of observations, and including 175 solar neighborhood stars. Regarding the age indicator, the presence of stars for which very accurate ages are determined, such as those belonging to clusters and kinematic groups, lends confidence to our analysis. We also investigate the possibility that stars of the same age might have gone through different tracks of chromospheric decay, identifying - within the same age range - effects of metallicity and mass. These parameters, however, as well as age, seem to be significant only for dwarf stars, losing their meaning when we analyze stars in the subgiant branch. This result suggests that, in these evolved stars, the emission mechanism cannot be magnetohydrodynamical in nature, in agreement with recent models (Fawzy et al. 2002c, and references therein). The Sun is found to be a typical star in its H-alpha chromospheric flux, for its age, mass and metallicity. As a byproduct of this work, we developed an automatic method to determine temperatures from the wings of H-alpha, which means the suppression of the error inherent to the visual procedure used in the literature.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Nature of replacement: match astro-ph and ADS title (greek letter

Fragile Habitat: South Miami Dade Community Conversations for Miami’s Future

Explore the challenges Miami faces from climate change through culture and history. Join local scholars and environmentalists for stories about our connections to this unique and fragile landscape. How can we come together to imagine our future and prioritize what is most valuable, just, and worthy of preservation? What is at risk right now and how can we build resilient communities? Share your stories and hear new ones