The African American Male Initiative at the University of Louisville

Following a year of data gathering and planning during the 2010-2011 academic year, the University of Louisville launched the African American Male Initiative (AAMI) in the fall 2011 semester. The AAMI was designed using national best practices and current research findings as it relates to supporting African American male undergraduates. Now at the end of its first year, this practitioner’s brief provides an overview of the AAMI structure, design, and implementation

THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF OPENLY GAY UNDERGRADUATE MEN INVOLVED IN ELECTED STUDENT GOVERNMENT: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL QUEERING

This is a study at the intersection of sexuality and student involvement in higher education. Exploring the lived experiences of openly gay undergraduate men involved in elected student government, this study enlists a phenomenological queering that unconceals and reveals that which is otherwise hidden in elected student leadership. Eight men were selected for participation in this study, and all identified as openly gay before and after their election to undergraduate student government. These men come from varying U.S. geographies and positions, and conversations and themes were rendered through the methodological approach of hermeneutic phenomenology. Four major themes came from multiple participant conversations and journals. First, these men understood coming out and being out as deeply related to visibility and their work as leaders. They are more than just gay, and at the same time, they just so happen to be gay. Additionally, participants displayed independent ways of being within their outness. For example, some represented a palatable kind of being gay, and some navigated deep religious dissonance and other tensions within the (queer) margins. Re(-)presentation was also a major theme, as participants were advocates for their peers, and were “called” to this work of leadership. Finally, these men were leaders through their identities, and engaged in undergraduate student government as something that was bigger than them, but better because of them. This includes their call to leadership and student government, the political nature of this work, and a desire for things to be better. From this study, insights were gleaned that capture the nuances of this intersection of sexuality and student involvement in higher education. Specifically, this study is a calling to better understand what it means to live and work alongside students who hold these dual identities (out and elected in student government, and within student affairs). This includes a queering of student government and phenomenology, as well as a queering of van Manen’s (1997) existentials of lived space (spatiality), lived body (corporeality), lived time (temporality), and lived relationship to others (sociality)

Necessity of overvoltage protection studies for gas-insulated switchgear

Kaasueristeisten kytkinlaitosten määrä kantaverkossa lisääntyy tulevaisuudessa merkittävästi erityisesti korvausrakentamisen myötä. Kaasueristeinen kojeisto on herkkä ylijännitteille ja aiheuttaa vikaantuessaan pitkän keskeytyksen sähkönsiirtoon sekä suuret korjauskustannukset. Tämän vuoksi sen ylijännitesuojaukseen on kiinnitettävä erityistä huomiota. Suomen kantaverkkoyhtiö Fingrid Oyj on aikaisemmissa kytkinlaitoshankkeissaan tilannut kojeistovalmistajilta erillisen ylijännitesuojausselvityksen, jossa tarkastellaan tarvetta tehostaa kytkinlaitosten ylijännitesuojauksia kaasueristeisillä ylijännitesuojilla. Selvityksissä annetaan kuitenkin usein liikaa painoarvoa epätodennäköisille kytkinlaitoksen käyttötilanteille, mikä voi lopulta johtaa erittäin kalliiden kaasueristeisten ylijännitesuojien hankkimiseen ilman todellista tarvetta. Tämän diplomityön ensisijaisena tavoitteena oli selvittää, onko kaasueristeisille ylijännitesuojille tarvetta ilmaeristeisten ylijännitesuojien lisäksi kantaverkon 110 kV:n kaasueristeisten kytkinlaitosten ylijännitesuojauksessa. Toisena tavoitteena oli määritellä kytkinlaitoksen todelliset käyttötilanteet, joihin on perustelua jatkossa vaatia kojeistojen valmistajilta ylijännitesuojausselvitykset. Työssä laadittiin simulointimalli, jolla simuloitiin salamaniskun aiheuttamia ylijännitteitä eri käyttötilanteissa. Työn lopussa määritettiin suojausriskitaso, jonka perusteella tehtiin päätelmät kaasueristeisten ylijännitesuojien tarpeesta. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, ettei kaasueristeisiä ylijännitesuojia tarvita ilmaeristeisten suojien lisäksi 110~kV:n kaasueristeisten kytkinlaitosten yhteydessä. Ylijännitesuojausselvityksistä voidaan siten luopua tällä jännitetasolla. Lisäksi suositellaan, että jatkossa 220 ja 400 kV:n ylijännitesuojausselvityksissä vaaditaan selvityksen laatijaa ottamaan huomioon kytkinlaitoksen käyttötilanteiden todennäköisyydet.The number of substations with gas-insulted switchgear in the Finnish main grid will increase significantly in the future in particular due to renewal construction. Gas-insulated switchgear is sensitive to overvoltages and damages in it cause a long interruption in power transmission as well as large repair costs. Therefore, its overvoltage protection requires special attention. The Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid Oyj has ordered a separate overvoltage protection study from the switchgear manufacturers in earlier gas-insulated switchgear projects to examine the need to enhance the overvoltage protection of the switchgear with gas-insulated surge arresters. However, these studies often give too much weight to unlikely switchgear operation situations, which may eventually lead to the purchase of highly expensive gas-insulated surge arresters without actual need. The primary purpose of this thesis was to find out whether a need for overvoltage protection of 110 kV gas-insulated switchgear by gas-insulated surge arresters in addition to air-insulated surge arresters exists. Another objective was to define realistic switchgear operating situations, in which overvoltage protection studies should be required from the manufacturer in the future. A model was developed to simulate overvoltages caused by lightning surges in different operating situations. At the end of the thesis, a protection risk level was established and based on that, conclusions on the need for gas-insulated surge arresters were made. In conclusion, it is stated that no gas-insulated surge arresters are needed in addition to air-insulated surge arresters for 110~kV gas-insulated switchgear. Overvoltage protection studies can thus be given up at this voltage level. Moreover, it is recommended that taking probabilities of switching situations into account should be required from the manufacturer in the future overvoltage protection studies at voltage levels of 220 and 400 kV

An Analytic Model for Estimating the First Contact Resistance Needed to Avoid Damaging ESD During Spacecraft Docking in GEO

NASAs Gateway program will involve spacecraft (s/c) docking in the outer radiation belt in order to transfer Gateway elements between s/c for transport to lunar orbit. The charging of these s/c to different potentials prior to docking raises the possibility of a damaging electrostatic discharge (ESD) at the time of first contact between the s/c. A proposed mitigation strategy is for first contact to occur prior to docking through a resistor with resistance R that would lower the potential difference at an optimal rate to a sufficiently low value to prevent ESD damage. The coupling of s/c by a resistor can be modeled by SPIS, but for realistic two s/c models SPIS can take hours to simulate the evolution of the s/c surface charges and potentials to an equilibrium state. Our objective is to develop a simpler model of s/c resistive coupling that runs orders of magnitude faster while providing useful first design estimates of the time variation of the s/c potentials, current through the resistor, and how these vary with R and s/c configuration This configuration is defined by the relative separation and orientation of the s/c, and their solar illumination. The configuration and geometry of the s/c determine their capacitive coupling. The s/c capacitances are computed using Nascap-2K. This poster presents the first version of such a model, and initial tests

From Summer Pride to Transgender Day of Visibility: A Review of Sorority/Fraternity Social Media Involving LGBTQ+ Identities and Issues

This research study used critical discourse analysis to examine the public social media posts of 37 inter/national sorority and fraternity organizations. Specifically, we examined how these groups do and do not articulate commitments to social justice, with direct attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people in particular. We discuss an emphasis that organizations placed on notable LGBTQ+ dates and events and the distinction in the criticality of these messages. We also illuminate ways organizations raised visibility of LGBTQ+ members, followed by additional ways organizations affirmed queer and transgender identities

Spacecraft Charging during Docking Operations in the Outer Radiation Belt

Spacecraft charging can occur when a spacecraft vehicle is subject to space plasma environments and varying sunlit conditions. The trajectory of the spacecraft will determine the specific impinging environment while the spacecraft geometry and material properties determine the susceptibility to various charging issues. In general, spacecraft charging is separated into two categories, surface charging (~100keV)

An Analytic Model for Estimating the First Contact Resistance Needed to Avoid Damaging ESD During Spacecraft Docking in GEO

NASAs Gateway program is to involve spacecraft (s/c) docking in the outer radiation belt in order to transfer Gateway elements between s/c for transport to lunar orbit. The charging of these s/c to different potentials prior to docking raises the possibility of a damaging electrostatic discharge (ESD) at the time of first contact between the s/c. A proposed mitigation strategy is for first contact to occur prior to docking through a resistor with resistance R that would lower the potential difference at an optimal rate to a sufficiently low value to prevent a damaging ESD. The coupling of s/c by a resistor can be modeled by SPIS (Spacecraft Plasma Interaction System), but for realistic two s/c models SPIS can take hours to simulate the evolution of the s/c surface charges and potentials to an equilibrium state. Our objective is to develop a simpler model of s/c resistive coupling that runs orders of magnitude faster while providing useful first design estimates of the time variation of the s/c potentials, current through the resistor, and how these vary with R and s/c configuration. This configuration is defined by the relative separation and orientation of the s/c, and their solar illumination. The configuration and geometry of the s/c determine their capacitive coupling. The s/c capacitances are computed using Nascap-2K. This abstract and the associated poster describe the first version of such a model, and initial tests

Using Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses to Support Regulatory Decision Making for Neurotoxicants: Lessons Learned from a Case Study of PCBs

We examined prospective cohort studies evaluating the relation between prenatal and neonatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and neurodevelopment in children to assess the feasibility of conducting a meta-analysis to support decision making. We described studies in terms of exposure and end point categorization, statistical analysis, and reporting of results. We used this evaluation to assess the feasibility of grouping studies into reasonably uniform categories. The most consistently used tests included Brazelton's Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, the neurologic optimality score in the neonatal period, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 5-8months of age, and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities in 5-year-olds. Despite administering the same tests at similar ages, the studies were too dissimilar to allow a meaningful quantitative examination of outcomes across cohorts. These analyses indicate that our ability to conduct weight-of-evidence assessments of the epidemiologic literature on neurotoxicants may be limited, even in the presence of multiple studies, if the available study methods, data analysis, and reporting lack comparability

Infrastructural Speculations: Tactics for Designing and Interrogating Lifeworlds

This paper introduces “infrastructural speculations,” an orientation toward speculative design that considers the complex and long-lived relationships of technologies with broader systems, beyond moments of immediate invention and design. As modes of speculation are increasingly used to interrogate questions of broad societal concern, it is pertinent to develop an orientation that foregrounds the “lifeworld” of artifacts—the social, perceptual, and political environment in which they exist. While speculative designs often imply a lifeworld, infrastructural speculations place lifeworlds at the center of design concern, calling attention to the cultural, regulatory, environmental, and repair conditions that enable and surround particular future visions. By articulating connections and affinities between speculative design and infrastructure studies research, we contribute a set of design tactics for producing infrastructural speculations. These tactics help design researchers interrogate the complex and ongoing entanglements among technologies, institutions, practices, and systems of power when gauging the stakes of alternate lifeworlds

The Journal of Microelectronic Research 2009

https://scholarworks.rit.edu/meec_archive/1017/thumbnail.jp