Direct and alignment-insensitive measurement of cantilever curvature

We analytically derive and experimentally demonstrate a method for the simultaneous measurement of deflection for large arrays of cantilevers. The Fresnel diffraction patterns of a cantilever independently reveals tilt, curvature, cubic and higher order bending of the cantilever. It provides a calibrated absolute measurement of the polynomial coefficients describing the cantilever shape, without careful alignment and could be applied to several cantilevers simultaneously with no added complexity. We show that the method is easily implemented, works in both liquid mediums and in air, for a broad range of displacements and is especially suited to the requirements for multi-marker biosensors.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 figures, letter forma

Border Wars: The Civil War in Tennessee and Kentucky

Focus on Tennessee and Kentucky Sheds Light on the Broader Civil War In Border Wars: The Civil War in Tennessee and Kentucky, Kent Dollar, a professor of history at Tennessee Technological University, joins Professors Emeriti, Larry Whiteaker and W. Calvin Dickinson, of the same in...

Postnatal Osteology of the Northern Grasshopper Mouse, Onychomys leucogaster

Two hundred forty-two specimens of Onychomys leucogaster, ranging in age from day of birth to the twenty-eighth day were cleared and stained using both Alizarin KOH and Alcian Blue/Alizarin-Trypsin staining methods. Thirty centers of ossification were studied. The data demonstrate the following: 1) skeletal centers of the appendicular skeleton ossify and mature earliest; 2) a new sesamoid bone lateral to the distal condyles of the femur was discovered; 3) the skeletal ossification of the baculum is present at one day of age; 4) a high degree of individual variation precludes aging of this species by skeletal maturation

Diversity in Wedding Advertisments

JMC 330 Katelyn Suiter Bailey Bohannan Joe McMahon March 9, 2017 Abstract We believe large wedding advertisers are creating a bias perception of cultural weddings and wedding parties. From preliminary research, we have found that large, international, wedding opinion leaders such as David’s Bridal and Tiffany and Company are setting a perceptive standard of same-ethnic couples within one wedding advertisement. Although they cover a wide range of ethnic backgrounds through traditional wedding scenes, they do not cross cultures within a single advertisement. Recently, there has been an increase of homosexual wedding advertisements, but all advertisements we have studied so far in these companies have been completely white or of English descent. We hope to study and track the effect these advertisements have on young singles, couples and married adults in both traditional and non-traditional relationships. We expect to find that these advertisements don’t necessarily dictate who a person pursues a relationship with, but that these advertisements don’t represent the diverse relationships that are becoming more common in the 21st century. Results will be shared at Scholars Week Presentations

Levels of Arousal: A Comparison of Conditions of Interest and Boredom

The principal concern of this thesis was an attempt to investigate the physiological and psychological correlates of the related constructs of monotony arid boredom and to define them in terms of levels of arousal. While quite a bit of performance data was available from vigilance studies, there was a definite lack of psychophysiological information regarding boredom which often accompanies monotonous vigilance-type tasks. Since boredom is an unpleasant state produced by monotony, which is insufficient stimulation, a condition expected to produce interest was devised against which to test both constructs. The problem of devising a task which would prove to be interesting for two hours was probably the most difficult chore that I encountered in designing the experiment and success in that endeavor was limited. A rapidly expanding technology is reducing many previously active tasks into passive vigilance-type tasks. In industry, machine operators have become machine monitors; in business, highly skilled clerical work is done automatically and requires minimal but necessary attention; and the field of education is rapidly being invaded by all manner of machinery. Such then is the present and future and here we are with just a smattering of the knowledge we need to cope with the problem. I hope that the information presented herein is an appropriate step in the right direction.Educational Psycholog

Math Students help their Community develop Balanced Refuse Collection Routes

In fall of 2017, the Superintendent of Public Works for Kutztown Borough approached Kutztown University’s Department of Mathematics seeking help in “re-balancing” refuse collection routes in the Borough of Kutztown.  Historically, refuse was collected two days a week on the south side (Mondays and Thursdays) of Main Street and two days a week on the north side (Tuesdays and Fridays) of Main Street.  Wednesdays were used for recycling collection.  Over the years, new housing development was primarily on the north side of Main Street.  As a result of this development, refuse collection time had become “unbalanced”; requiring more time for the north side collection.  During the spring semester 2018, several math majors in their last semester at Kutztown University developed a new refuse collection strategy.  This strategy balanced collection times over the four collection days and just as importantly, minimized the modifications to the existing routes.  Additionally, a minimum number of residents were impacted while accounting for future housing development.  Their strategy has been successfully used in the Borough of Kutztown since August 2018

‘Ecobordering’: casting immigration control as environmental protection

Based on an analysis of 22 European far-right parties, we identify an emergent discourse in environmental politics, which we conceptualise as ‘ecobordering’. This discourse seeks to blame immigration for national environmental degradation, which draws on colonial and racialised imaginaries of nature in order to rationalise further border restrictions and ‘protect’ the ‘nativist stewardship’ of national nature. As such, ecobordering seeks to obscure the primary driving causes of the ecological crisis in the entrenched production and consumption practices of Global North economies, whilst simultaneously shifting blame on to migration from the Global South where ecological degradation has been most profound. In an era of increasing climate migration, ecobordering thereby portrays effects as causes and further normalises racist border practices and colonial amnesia within Europe

The other side of the monument: memory, preservation, and the Battles of Franklin and Nashville

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of HistoryCharles W. Sanders, Jr.The thriving areas of development around the cities of Franklin and Nashville in Tennessee bear little evidence of the large battles that took place there during November and December, 1864. Pointing to modern development to explain the failed preservation of those battlefields, however, radically oversimplifies how those battlefields became relatively obscure. Instead, the major factor contributing to the lack of preservation of the Franklin and Nashville battlefields was a fractured collective memory of the two events; there was no unified narrative of the battles. For an extended period after the war, there was little effort to remember the Tennessee Campaign. Local citizens and veterans of the battles simply wanted to forget the horrific battles that haunted their memories. Furthermore, the United States government was not interested in saving the battlefields at Franklin and Nashville. Federal authorities, including the War Department and Congress, had grown tired of funding battlefields as national parks and could not be convinced that the two battlefields were worthy of preservation. Moreover, Southerners and Northerners remembered Franklin and Nashville in different ways, and historians mainly stressed Eastern Theater battles, failing to assign much significance to Franklin and Nashville. Throughout the 20th century, infrastructure development encroached on the battlefields and they continued to fade from public memory. By the end of the century, the battlefields were all but gone. However, to support tourism in the 21st century, Franklin’s preservationists and local leaders largely succeeded in recapturing the memory of their battle by reclaiming much of the battlefield space. In contrast, at Nashville, memory of that battle remains obscure. The city continues to focus its efforts on the future, providing little opportunity to reclaim either the battlefield or memory of the Battle of Nashville

Evaluating Audience Engagement of an Immersive Performance on a Virtual Stage

Presenting theatrical performances in virtual reality (VR) has been an active area of research since the early 2000\u27s. VR provides a unique form of storytelling, which is made possible through the use of physically and digitally distributed 3D worlds. We describe a methodology for determining audience engagement in a virtual theatre performance. We use a combination of galvanic skin response (GSR) data, self-reported positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS), post-viewing reflection, and a think aloud method to assess user reaction to the virtual reality experience. In this study, we combine the implicit physiological data from GSR with explicit user feedback to produce a holistic metric for assessing immersion. Although the study evaluated a particular artistic work, the methodology of the study provides a foundation for conducting similar research. The combination of PANAS, self reflection, and the think aloud in conjunction with GSR data constitutes a novel approach in the study of live performance in virtual reality. The approach is also extendable to include other implicit measures such as pulse rate, blood pressure, or eye tracking. Our case study compares the experience of viewing the performance on a computer monitor to viewing with a head mounted display. Results showed statistically significant differences based on viewing platform in the PANAS self-report metric, as well as GSR measurements. Feedback obtained via the think aloud and reflection analysis also emphasized qualitative differences between the two viewing scenarios