THE UNIVERSITY BELL: A RESEARCH INTO TRADITIONAL METHODS OF BELL FOUNDING

poster abstractBell manufacturing companies no longer exist in the United States that utilize traditional craft procedures or are able to tune bells to standards based on ‘true-harmonic’ formula. Most bells in the United States used in the many forms of Campanology, or bell ringing, are imported from European foundries. These European bells are made using sensibilities that have exist-ed for over 800 years. The few remaining foundries, John Taylor and Co. in England, Paccard of France, Petit Fritsen and The Royal Eijsbouts Bell Found-ry located in The Netherlands, all provided the opportunity to conduct inten-sive study into the craft of bell making. By incorporating these craft tradi-tions into a contemporary fine art practice, viewers and listeners are able to access an otherwise obsolete aspect of the history of our material culture. Following closely in the theory and manufacturing procedures of these European founders, a bell of 110 lbs. titled The University Bell was cast at the Herron School of Art and Design’s foundry. The metal for the project was sourced from a redundant bell of St. Michael’s Parish Church Cornhill, Lon-don that was originally made in 1728 by Thomas Lester, one of the original founders of our 1752 Liberty Bell. The University Bell is currently in the earliest stages of being tuned in Mooresville, Indiana for a final nominal tone of C#3 at A=440Hz. Assistance from Smith’s Bell and Clock Service Inc., Bell Expert Richard Strauss, and John Taylor and Co. are contributing to the effort. The University Bell will later be installed in a series of sight specific performances. The successful cast of The University Bell and the continuing efforts to oversee the professional creation of tuned bells in this country marks the re-turn of a historic trade whose product has long resounded the democratic overtones of liberty and freedom. Funding provided by the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Economic analysis of fuelwood consumption in forest regions : Lessons from Cameroonians urban area

This paper aims at analyzing fuel consumption in households of forest zones, and showed fuelwood’s place as energy source in the region. The study is carried out in Cameroon and it is based on a survey done in 1996. A sample of 400 household from Yaounde, Mbalmayo and Ebolowa was used. The results obtained confirm the importance of fuelwood, in its different forms, as a source of energy in urban areas. This importance is more observed in less urbanized town, while the others sources of energy (kerosene, gas) have a spatial repartition which is contrary to the above. Finally, econometric analysis through estimation of Engel’s curves and calculation of income’s elasticities, exhibited negative link between income levels and fuelwood consumption.Fuelwood; income’s elasticity; Forest zones

Learning from REDD + : a response to Fletcher et al.

Learning from REDD plus : a response to Fletcher et al.Non peer reviewe

Messiness of forest governance:How technical approaches suppress politics in REDD+ and conservation projects

Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was originally conceived to address the global problem of climate change by reducing deforestation and forest degradation at national and subnational levels in developing countries. Since its inception, REDD+ proponents have increasingly had to adapt global ideas to local demands, as the rollout process was met with on-the-ground realities, including suspicion and protest. As is typical in aid or ‘development’ projects conceived in the global North, most of the solutions advanced to improve REDD+ tend to focus on addressing issues of justice (or ‘fairness’) in distributive terms, rather than addressing more inherently political objections to REDD+ such as those based on rights or social justice. Using data collected from over 700 interviews in five countries with both REDD+ and non-REDD+ cases, we argue that the failure to incorporate political notions of justice into conservation projects such as REDD+ results in ‘messiness’ within governance systems, which is a symptom of injustice and illegitimacy. We find that, first, conservation, payment for ecosystem services, and REDD+ project proponents viewed problems through a technical rather than political lens, leading to solutions that focused on procedures, such as ‘benefit distribution.’ Second, focusing on the technical aspects of interventions came at the expense of political solutions such as the representation of local people's concerns and recognition of their rights. Third, the lack of attention to representation and recognition justices resulted in illegitimacy. This led to messiness in the governance systems, which was often addressed in technical terms, thereby perpetuating the problem. If messiness is not appreciated and addressed from appropriate notions of justice, projects such as REDD+ are destined to fail

Control Strategies for Multi-Evaporator Vapor Compression Cycles

Next-generation military aircraft must be able to handle highly transient thermal loads that exceed the ability of current aircraft thermal subsystems. Vapor compression cycle systems are a particular refrigeration technology that is an attractive solution for dealing with this challenge, due primarily to their high efficiency. However, there are several barriers to realizing the benefits of vapor cycles systems for controlling thermal loads in military aircraft. This thesis focuses on addressing the challenge of controlling vapor cycles in the presence of highly transient evaporator heat loads. Specifically, a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is designed for a simple vapor cycle system, and closed-loop performance is compared with a set of proportional-integral (PI) controllers. Simulation results show significant advantages of using the LQR method, and the same approach is repeated for a larger dual-evaporator vapor cycle system. The LQR method retains some of its benefits, but several issues associated with relying on a single linear model for the full nonlinear system are identified, and recommendations for future work are made at the end

Channeling a Federal Commitment to Education Through State Constitutions and Courts

This article examines the evolution of efforts to secure a federal right to education, highlighting the unsuccessful attempts at the federal level and the shift to state constitutional litigation, which has yielded mixed and limited outcomes. Part I outlines these failed efforts and their consequences. Part II introduces Professor Black’s proposal for a federal right to education, anchored in the State Citizenship Clause. Part III presents a new federalism model that suggests federal constitutional commitments should guide the interpretation of state constitutional provisions, particularly regarding education. The article concludes by advocating for state courts to adopt a more robust interpretation of state education clauses, ensuring a minimum standard of adequacy and equity in educational guarantees, in alignment with Professor Black’s vision for a federal right to education

Channeling a Federal Right to Education through State Constitutions and Courts

Professor Black attributes the ubiquitous adoption of education clauses in state constitutions in the immediate pre- and especially post-Reconstruction era to a “constitutional compromise” struck by Congress and the states. The State Citizenship commitment was designed to enhance the republican nature of both levels of governance by ensuring broader access to political participation through voting and broader access to public education to inform and support democratic deliberation. The education component of this commitment was uniquely secured, argues Black, through a state-federal compromise using two complementary mechanisms: first, by mandating states to embrace a state constitutional obligation to provide basic educational services, and second, by superimposing a relatively thin federal constitutional obligation. Professor Black completes his argument by fleshing out the federal mechanism side of the compromise, ultimately prescribing a process-based federal right to education that requires states to support their education systems with stable funding and to avoid causing or permitting any systemic group deprivations. We believe that Professor Black’s constitutional compromise thesis invites a novel rethinking of the traditional assumption of independent state constitutionalism. We argue in this Article that the states’ side of the State Citizenship Clause compromise—which we hereafter call the states’ “compromise commitment”—should also influence how state courts interpret the right to education within their states as a matter of state law. Specifically, state courts should effectuate the Fourteenth Amendment compromise commitment by adding into their mix of interpretive methods (alongside text, state-specific history and purposes, and constitutional structure) a healthy respect for an additional fundamental purpose: to provide adequate and equitable public education as a means of securing the federal constitutional objective of supporting democratic self-governance as a birthright of citizenship. Part I briefly describes the so-far failed efforts to secure a federal right to education and the resulting shift to state constitutional litigation that has produced mixed and limited results. Part II describes Professor Black’s proposed federal right to education secured through the State Citizenship Clause. Part III explores our new federalism model by which federal constitutional commitments should influence the proper interpretation of state constitutional provisions and then explains how our model applies to state educational guarantees. Respecting Professor Black’s compromise commitment should inspire more state courts to interpret their education clauses to guarantee at least some minimum level of adequacy and equity