The M.A.F. Machine: A Solution for Live Performance in Changing Systems of Equal Division of Octave

Though many applications for microtonality exist, few allow for the flexible changing of systems of microtonality during live performance. This project implements the M.A.F. Machine, a hardware controller implementation designed to facilitate live performance in arbitrary, and changing, systems of equal temperament. The hardware is a 3D-printed casing containing circuitry programmed to detect how many plastic blocks, or “keys,” have been placed in a single octave of the unit. This data is then sent to the software application using MIDI retuning algorithms, and the software application uses the information about which “keys” are in which slots to determine the system of equal temperament. Finally, the project explores compositional techniques and systems of notation for microtonality, culminating in the composition and performance of original music using this instrument along with percussion, fretless instruments, and other instruments that are compatible with microtonality.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1307/thumbnail.jp

Absolute Single Ion Thermometry

We describe and experimentally implement a single-ion local thermometry technique with absolute sensitivity adaptable to all laser-cooled atomic ion species. The technique is based on the velocity-dependent spectral shape of a quasi-dark resonance tailored in a J $\rightarrow$ J transition such that the two driving fields can be derived from the same laser source leading to a negligible relative phase shift. We validated the method and tested its performances in an experiment on a single 88 Sr + ion cooled in a surface radio-frequency trap. We first applied the technique to characterise the heating-rate of the surface trap. We then measured the stationary temperature of the ion as a function of cooling laser detuning in the Doppler regime. The results agree with theoretical calculations, with an absolute error smaller than 100 $\mu$K at 500 $\mu$K, in a temperature range between 0.5 and 3 mK and in the absence of adjustable parameters. This simple-to-implement and reliable method opens the way to fast absolute measurements of single-ion temperatures in future experiments dealing with heat transport in ion chains or thermodynamics at the single-ion level

The Invisible Women: Have Conceptions About Femininity Led to the Global Dominance of the Female Human Trafficker?, 7 Alb. Gov\u27t L. Rev. 143 (2014)

Virtually no academic or media attention has been dedicated to female traffickers, or female delinquency, in general. Human trafficking, like other crimes, has been myopically constructed, marketed, and viewed through news reports, cinema, literature, and criminal statutes as a heinous male-perpetrated offense against women and girls, rendering the female trafficker practically invisible. This essay questions the soundness and viability of continued reliance on the female victim-male culprit paradigm, used by many countries to prevent human trafficking. It confronts contemporary assumptions about femininity, violence, and aggression, calling particular attention to American cultural suppositions about femaleness that have detrimentally influenced our capacity to properly identify and quantify female human traffickers. In so doing, this essay attempts to take a first step in reducing the knowledge gap relative to female traffickers that remains so extant in human trafficking discourse

Law Enforcement and White Power: An F.B.I. Report Unraveled, 41 T. Marshall L. Rev. 103 (2015)

Because of intensifying civil strife over the recent killings of unarmed Black men, women, and boys, many Americans are wondering, “What\u27s wrong with our police?” Remarkably, one of the most compelling but unexplored explanations may rest with an FBI warning of October, 2006, which reported that “[W]hite supremacist infiltration of law enforcement” represented a significant national threat

Creating A Culture of Mobility: A Quality Improvement Project

Abstract title: Creating A Culture of Patient Mobility in An Acute Care Setting. Unit: Medical Surgical unit. Author: Vincent Samuel RN, BSN Institution: University of San Francisco; Kaiser Permanente Nurse Scholar Academy; Kaiser Permanente Hospital, San Francisco (CNL practicum site). Background Information The medical/surgical unit had the average ambulation score of 54% in the year 2015, much below the benchmark of 65% set for the year. The direct impact of low ambulation score was the increase in patient’s length of stay. The micro-system analysis revealed various factors that contributes to this problem such as, inadequate staffing, unit culture, unavailability of the walking aid, encouraging the patient, lack of skills and knowledge, etc. The review of literature provides convincing evidence that prolonged immobilization of patients results in functional decline, increases the risk of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), and length of stay (LOS). The studies were the guiding principle for the CNL to initially develop a mobility tool to monitor mobility compliance. The unit has 26 beds and currently has a total of 70 staff members that include 45 full-time and part-time RNs (of which three are MSN, forty are BSN, two are ADN, and four medical-surgical certified), eleven per-diem RNs, eleven patient care technicians, and three unit assistants. The process of patient care starts with admission when admitting nurse and the manager on duty welcome the patient and the family members to the unit. Global / Specific Aim The current goal of the unit is to increase the culture of mobility and thereby improve patient length of stay, patient and family satisfaction, reduce cost per admission, mortality rate, and patient and staff satisfaction by December 2017. The specific aim of this project is to increase patient ambulation score from 65% to the new set target of 70% by the end of December 2017. Improvement efforts began in March 2016 and continue to the present to standardize new mobility process. The preliminary efforts resulted in improvement in ambulation rates of 54% in 2015 to 68% in 2016. Methods / Programs / Practices The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) used the Model for Improvement (MFI) from Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Kotter’s eight steps for successful change, and extensive literature review to guide the development of the quality improvement project and worked with the team to discover the gap and to come up with solutions. The project was implemented over 16 months with the completion of three PDSA cycles. The unit is moving forward to the standardizing phase of standardize-do-study-act (SDSA) to make continuous improvement and employee empowerment. The SDSA cycle starts with determining how the current best practice will be standardized in the daily work of the unit. Outcome data It is expected that the unit will maintain the patient average ambulation rate of 70% by December 2017. The positive outcomes of target ambulation rate can be measured with the patient data in decrease in average length of stay of fewer than three days, and 0% hospital acquired pneumonia. Conclusion In summary, the review of the literature supports the benefits of mobilizing hospitalized patients and the dangers associated with immobilization. It is important that nursing staffs improve knowledge of the dangers of immobility, the importance of mobility, strategies to implement mobility successfully, financial implication of immobility to the organization, and its effect on patient and family members’ satisfaction