The Crescent and the Cross: Islamic Influence in Southern Culture

To a large degree, America has adopted African American culture as its own. One may hear and see African American influence in popular music, grammar, fashion and art, but rarely are the sources of these influences divined, in no small part to difficulties inherent in interdisciplinary studies. This thesis will examine the Islamic aesthetics in African American quilts. This work focuses on design and color elements and I trace Islamic influence from West Africa to the U.S. South by way of the slave trade. The original scholarship comes from in the Mississippi Delta, although this thesis also uses quilt books from around the south in order to show widespread regional similarities. Prior scholarship on the Islamic influence in the U.S. focused on a few remarkable Muslim slaves and how they expressed themselves within the region. This thesis relies less on personal biography and more on Islamic cultural diffusion in West Africa before and during the slave trade and then on the remarkable similarities between west African weaving and African American quilting traditions here

Thérapie cognitive des troubles mentaux graves et persistants

Cet article présente un survol de la thérapie cognitive appliquée au traitement de trois symptômes psychotiques : les délires, les hallucinations et les symptômes négatifs qui sont très souvent réfractaires au traitement médicamenteux. Il décrit les conditions thérapeutiques essentielles pour la réussite d'une telle thérapie, entres autres, l'alliance thérapeutique. Des vignettes cliniques illustrent le déroulement des sessions. Enfin l'article conclue par des résultats qui rendent compte de l'efficacité de cette intervention.This article presents an overview of cognitive therapy applied to the treatment of three psychotic symptoms: delusions, hallucinations and negative symptoms often resistant to medication. It describes the essential therapeutic conditions for the success of such a therapy including therapeutic alliance. Clinical vignettes illustrate how sessions work. Finally, the article concludes with results on the efficiency of this intervention.Este articulo présenta un sobrevuelo de la terapia cognoscitiva aplicada al tratamiento de très sintomas psicoticos : los delirios, las alu-cinaciones y los sintomas negativos que con frecuencia son refractarios al tratamiento con medicamentos. Se describen las condiciones terapéu-ticas esenciales al logro de tal terapia, entre otros, la alianza terapéutica. Las vinuelas clinicas ilustran el desarrollo de las sesiones. En fin, el ar-tîculo concluye en los resultados que dan cuenta de la eficacia de esta intervention

Golf Club Prototyping and Design for Spin Rate Tuning

The aim of this project was to design a golf wedge capable of increasing backspin for the amateur golfer. This was accomplished by embedding a metal lattice structure behind the clubface to allow the face to elastically deform slightly upon impact. This would increase contact time between the club and ball. The mechanism of spin generation was discussed and the relationship between contact time and spin rate was established. The design was enabled by using additive manufacturing, which allowed for the generation of a metal lattice structure. An appropriate control and prototype were designed to minimize run time and material usage due to limited machine capacity. Various lattice topologies were generated and analyzed with finite element analysis. Design validation build in plastic revealed that these were not feasible due to support material generation, so X topology was used instead. After printing, player testing was conducted. The prototype design underwent plastic deformation during testing, and resulted in a significantly lower spin rate than the control. The design outlined in the report is not recommended unless changes to prevent plastic deformation are made and more testing is performed. Economic justification for the production of additive manufacturing golf club designs is made in case future designs prove viable. Future work involves earlier consideration of design for manufacturability given the constraints of the selective laser melting (SLM) machine and better testing using an automated process such as a golf swing robot

Ground Processing of Data From the Mars Exploration Rovers

A computer program implements the Earth side of the protocol that governs the transfer of data files generated by the Mars Exploration Rovers. It also provides tools for viewing data in these files and integrating data-product files into automated and manual processes. It reconstitutes files from telemetry data packets. Even if only one packet is received, metadata provide enough information to enable this program to identify and use partial data products. This software can generate commands to acknowledge received files and retransmit missed parts of files, or it can feed a manual process to make decisions about retransmission. The software uses an Extensible Markup Language (XML) data dictionary to provide a generic capability for displaying files of basic types, and uses external "plug-in" application programs to provide more sophisticated displays. This program makes data products available with very low latency, and can trigger automated actions when complete or partial products are received. The software is easy to install and use. The only system requirement for installing the software is a Java J2SE 1.4 platform. Several instances of the software can be executed simultaneously on the same machine

Price Gouging In A Hurricane: Do Free Market Forces Circumvent Price Controls?

This study analyzes gasoline prices in Florida and Georgia before and after Hurricane Irma, a major weather event that affected both states in 2017. The analysis reveals that gasoline prices in both states increased and stabilized well in advance of state of emergency declarations that triggered the states’ price gouging laws. Price gouging laws thus appear to be inconsequential. Free market forces determine prices unhindered by government price controls during hurricane emergencies