Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Shut up and sing'

A vehicle start/stop engine system is investigated with focus on human perception of discomfort. The FRF between engine rotational acceleration around the neutral torque axis (NTA) and seat rail acceleration with the specific interest in start up and shut down events is estimated from measurements, using a shaker torque excitation. The inverted torque sensitivity formulates a frequency dependent target of powertrain torque related to seat rail acceleration. The main rotation direction for the transversally mounted engine is the pitch-direction, yielding high acceleration levels in both longitudinal x-, and vertical z-direction compared to the lateral y-direction. Specific weighting functions are used to normalize these accelerations to human perception. Acceleration levels in x-, and z-direction at the seat rail are similar after weighting curves have been applied. The amount of discomfort experienced by a person depends on vibration amplitude, frequency, direction and time duration. However, there is no evidence on in what way a specific time dependence affects the perceived comfort. The NTA around which the engine as a rigid body rotates is experimentally estimated and verified by comparing to the reference CAD NTA. The powertrain mounting system center of gravity is assumed to be known from the CAD model. The seat rail is found to be a more convenient measurement position to use in order to achieve reproducible results rather than the seat cushion. This, since the acceleration at the cushion also depends on several other factors such as person size, weight and body posture and also on the non-linear properties of the seat foam padding.

People are creators of their own acts. That is a premise of this thesis. Social contexts offer action alternatives but given their individuality people, to various extents, put the set of alternatives into question, re-shape them and make them into theirs. What people do in their everyday life has political significance. The theories that frame this work focus on how people reappropriate culture and in so doing bring forth infinitesimal changes in society.

I have interviewed seven young women in Beirut who take action to get to do what they desire. Given their social conditions and individuality they find different ways around the prohibitions that they are facing. Organized independently and within networks of foremost relatives they find their ways. They negotiate with family and community, make allies and create paths to 'forbidden' spaces. They seize opportunities and increase their space for a day, night or occasion. Then they accord their life to the surrounding's restrictions – until opportunity strikes again. The women also create an imaginary space where they are ruling queens. From there they tell the surrounding to shut up and fuck off, in there they hope, smile and fall in love.

The thesis then goes on to discuss the socio-political effects of young women's spacing practices. When the women do what they desire they enter, what they claim are, forbidden spaces. Their entry appears to be a threatening force; it diminishes gaps between the 'allowed' and the 'unacceptable' and between the 'good' and 'bad' girl- and womanhood. These practices, sprung from the daily life, challenge the surrounding and young women's spacing is thereby a micro-political phenomenon with subversive potential.

This research project is an answer to the question, “What is the trouble with Gender and Gaming?” Distinguishing between sex and gender, the research examines how players learn to participate in gaming culture through a gendered lens and explores the voices of participant gamers who are learning and dealing with gendered violence and sexism in video games. Specifically, I examined the complicated nature of power, gendered representations/performances and language in gaming. To accomplish this, I used a poststructural feminist theory that I call ‘theory of disruption,’ which utilizes Butler’s (1991) theories on gender performance, Foucault’s (1978) concept of the docile body, and Harraway’s (1991) theory of disruption through the metaphor of the cyborg. Methodologically, I used digital ethnography, where I took on the role of participant-researcher by examining and analyzing my experiences as a video game player, on the one hand, and played with and interviewed 12 avid North American video gamers, all of whom are English speakers, including 8 women and 4 men, on the other. In analyzing my own and the participants’ narratives, gendered violence and sexual violence perpetuated within the context of gaming was deemed as a major deterrent for self-identified female gamers, often leaving them disconnected from the gaming community, and at times driving them to stop playing online games completely. In the case of female gamers, I show, they begin gaming already orienting their performance around a male narrative and in a male-dominated space. Throughout the thesis, we see that the trouble with gender and gaming is how gender is performed in games: cultural limitations, as well as design limitations influenced by culture, restrict players to the point where performativity (i.e. the pattern of gender performance) morphs into gender norms. These norms, I also show, are not left to perpetuate. In many cases, they are disrupted, subverted, dismissed or outright ignored. Nonetheless, I conclude, all gamers, male or female, have to negotiate gendered identities and their storylines as represented and made available by game designers. Approached as a ‘null curriculum’ (Eisner, 1985), video gaming is a site where most people, but particularly young people, invest in their identities and desires, thus turning it into a learning site. Here, particular representations and gendered norms and behaviours are learned. Pedagogically, I therefore conclude, we need to critically engage with it and show its creative as well as its ‘other’ (especially when it comes to female representation) side. Membership to the gaming community, it seems, is open to anyone with a gaming system and a desire to log into play; but if those community members were more attuned to how their actions, words, and conversations impact their greater community, perhaps we would begin to see a version of the gaming culture that is safer and more open to all.

This study aims to better understand tough love as a communication interaction, specifically focusing on defining and understand tough love from a receiver’s perspective. Thirteen respondents between the ages of 18-28 were recruited from a mid-sized Midwestern university. Flexible in-depth interviews were conducted given the exploratory nature of this study. Lazarus’ Appraisal Theory was used as a lens to better understand tough love as a process. Analysis of the data found that emotions in the primary appraisal phase are often negative, with codes such as hurt, angry, and embarrassed arising in the data. The secondary phase demonstrated the intentionality of this message, with respondents understanding the purpose of tough love as encouraging resilience or teaching a lesson. Reappraisals often occurred when respondents realized the message was tough love. Relational factors such as closeness and authority were determinants in whether this message was received positively or negatively.

This thesis is a history of social and political activism in Charlottesville during the 1960s focusing on new left student organizing at the University of Virginia. It is a work of social history that establishes a community that has been generally ignored in traditional histories of the new left as one of the most influential centers of new left activism in the South and asserts that this prominence was due to years of activism by local liberals, civil rights advocates, and students during the city's unique experiences on the front lines of the southern desegregation, civil rights, and anti-war struggles. It traces the evolution of social activism in the city and the university from the late 1950s through the early 1970s and demonstrates how local activists and issues interacted with regional, national, and global events during one of the most socially tumultuous decades in American history.

This thesis explores the relationship between black gospel music and the African American freedom struggle of the post-WWII era. More specifically, it addresses the paradoxical suggestion that black gospel artists themselves were typically escapist, apathetic, and politically uninvolved—like the black church and black masses in general—despite the “classical” Southern movement music being largely gospel-based. This thesis argues that gospel was in fact a critical component of the civil rights movement. In ways open and veiled, black gospel music always spoke to the issue of freedom. Topics include: grassroots gospel communities; African American sacred song and coded resistance; black church culture and social action; freedom songs and local movements; socially conscious or activist gospel figures; gospel records with civil rights themes.

Cette thèse contribue à l'identification des mécanismes de dégradation qui ont lieu durant les phases de démarrage et d'arrêt des Piles à Combustible à Membrane Échangeuse de Proton. Dans un premier temps, des démarrages et arrêts individuels sont étudiés au moyen d'une cellule équipée de collecteurs de courants segmentés. Les courants internes qui sont produits durant ces opérations peuvent ainsi être mesurés. La mesure du dioxide de carbone dans les gaz d'échappement de la cathode révèle qu'une partie des courants internes correspond à de l'oxydation du carbone. Une autre part provient des réactions (réversibles ou non) d'oxydoréduction impliquant du platine. L'hétérogénéité des dégradations subies par la pile entre l'entrée et la sortie de la cathode est mise en évidence lors de protocoles de vieillissement répétant des démarrages et arrêts. Des analyses post-mortem révèlent un autre niveau d'hétérogénéité, qui concerne également le carbone, entre les dents et les canaux. De ces expériences, il ressort également que les dégradations sont plus importantes lorsque les gaz sont injectés à faible vitesse dans le compartiment anodique mais aussi quand de l'air est utilisé à la place de l'azote pour arrêter la pile. L'influence des caractéristiques de la MEA sur l'intensité des dégradations est aussi étudié. Un chargement en platine élevé à l'anode ou des électrodes avec des surfaces de carbone actif élevées accélèrent la chute des performances électriques. Au contraire accroitre le chargement en platine à la cathode limite ces pertes. Enfin, des simulations numériques des phases de démarrage complètent les résultats expérimentaux. L'oxydation réversible du platine est notamment identifiée comme étant responsable d'une part importante des courants internes
This works contributes to the identification of the various degradation mechanisms in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell during start-up and shut-down operations. Single start-ups and shut-downs are first analysed using a cell with segmented cathode current collectors. Thus, internal currents which occur during these operations can be measured. Carbon dioxide measured in the cathode exhaust gas reveals that they result partially from carbon oxidation. Another contribution is the reversible or non reversible redox reactions involving platinum. The heterogeneity of the non reversible platinum oxidation between the inlet and outlet of the cathode is evidenced by the in-situ monitoring of the Electrochemical Surface Area during long-term start-up and shut-down aging protocols. Post-mortem analysis reveals another level of heterogeneity, which concerns also carbon oxidation, between land and channel. From these experiments, it appears also that degradations are more important when gases are injected with a low velocity in the anode compartment and when air is used instead of nitrogen to flush the anode compartment during shut-down. The influence of the MEA characteristics on the extent of the degradation observed during these aging protocols is also analyzed. High platinum loading in the anode and high surface carbon electrodes accelerate the drop of the electrical performances, while increasing the cathode platinum loading limits their decay. Finally, numerical simulations of start-ups complete the experimental results. Reversible platinum oxidation was found to be one of the main contribution to the internal currents

The topic of this thesis is the degradation of fuel cell electrodes in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In particular, the degradation associated with localized fuel starvation, which is often encountered during start-ups and shut-downs (SUs/SDs) of PEMFCs. At SU/SD, O2 and H2 usually coexist in the anode compartment. This situation forces the opposite electrode, i.e. the cathode, to very high potentials, resulting in the corrosion of the carbon supporting the catalyst, referred to as carbon corrosion. The aim of this thesis has been to develop methods, materials and strategies to address the issues associated to carbon corrosion in PEMFC.The extent of catalyst degradation is commonly evaluated determining the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) of fuel cell electrode. Therefore, it was considered important to study the effect of RH, temperature and type of accelerated degradation test (ADT) on the ECSA. Low RH decreases the ECSA of the electrode, attributed to re-structuring the ionomer and loss of contact with the catalyst.In the search for more durable supports, we evaluated different accelerated degradation tests (ADTs) for carbon corrosion. Potentiostatic holds at 1.2 V vs. RHE were found to be too mild. Potentiostatic holds at 1.4 V vs. RHE were found to induce a large degree of reversibility, also attributed to ionomer re-structuring. Triangle-wave potential cycling was found to irreversibly degrade the electrode within a reasonable amount of time, closely simulating SU/SD conditions.Corrosion of carbon-based supports not only degrades the catalyst by lowering the ECSA, but also has a profound effect on the electrode morphology. Decreased electrode porosity, increased agglomerate size and ionomer enrichment all contribute to the degradation of the mass-transport properties of the cathode. Graphitized carbon fibers were found to be 5 times more corrosion resistant than conventional carbons, primarily attributed to their lower surface area. Furthermore, fibers were found to better maintain the integrity of the electrode morphology, generally showing less degradation of the mass-transport losses. Different system strategies for shut-down were evaluated. Not doing anything to the fuel cell during shut-downs is detrimental for the fuel cell. O2 consumption with a load and H2 purge of the cathode were found to give around 100 times lower degradation rates compared to not doing anything and almost 10 times lower degradation rate than a simple air purge of the anode. Finally, in-situ measurements of contact resistance showed that the contact resistance between GDL and BPP is highly dynamic and changes with operating conditions.
Denna doktorsavhandling behandlar degraderingen av polymerelektrolytbränslecellselektroder. polymerelektrolytbränslecellselektroder. Den handlar särskilt om nedbrytningen av elektroden kopplad till en degraderingsmekanism som heter ”localized fuel starvation” oftast närvarande vid uppstart och nedstängning av bränslecellen. Vid start och stopp kan syrgas och vätgas förekomma samtidigt i anoden. Detta leder till väldigt höga elektrodpotentialer i katoden. Resultatet av detta är att kolbaserade katalysatorbärare korroderar och att bränslecellens livslängd förkortas. Målet med avhandlingen har varit att utveckla metoder, material och strategier för att både öka förståelsen av denna degraderingsmekanism och för att maximera katalysatorbärarens livslängd.Ett vanligt tillvägagångsätt för att bestämma graden av katalysatorns degradering är genom mätning av den elektrokemiskt aktiva ytan hos bränslecellselektroderna. I denna avhandling har dessutom effekten av temperatur och relativ fukthalt studerats. Låga fukthalter minskar den aktiva ytan hos elektroden, vilket sannolikt orsakas av en omstrukturering av jonomeren och av kontaktförlust mellan jonomer och katalysator.Olika accelererade degraderingstester för kolkorrosion har använts. Potentiostatiska tester vid 1.2 V mot RHE visade sig vara för milda. Potentiostatiska tester vid 1.4 V mot RHE visade sig däremot medföra en hög grad av reversibilitet, som också den tros vara orsakad av en omstrukturering av jonomeren. Cykling av elektrodpotentialen degraderade istället elektroden irreversibelt, inom rimlig tid och kunde väldigt nära simulera förhållandena vid uppstart och nedstängning.Korrosionen av katalysatorbäraren medför degradering av katalysatorn och har också en stor inverkan på elektrodens morfologi. En minskad elektrodporositet, en ökad agglomeratstorlek och en anrikning av jonomeren gör att elektrodens masstransportegenskaper försämras. Grafitiska kolfibrer visade sig vara mer resistenta mot kolkorrosion än konventionella kol, främst p.g.a. deras låga ytarea. Grafitiska kolfibrer visade också en förmåga att bättre bibehålla elektrodens morfologi efter accelererade tester, vilket resulterade i lägre masstransportförluster.Olika systemstrategier för nedstängning jämfördes. Att inte göra något under nedstängning är mycket skadligt för bränslecellen. Förbrukning av syre med en last och spolning av katoden med vätgas visade 100 gånger lägre degraderingshastighet av bränslecellsprestanda jämfört med att inte göra något alls och 10 gånger lägre degraderingshastighet jämfört med spolning av anoden med luft. In-situ kontaktresistansmätningar visade att kontaktresistansen mellan bipolära plattor och GDL är dynamisk och kan ändras beroende på driftförhållandena.

QC 20131104

This report documents the initial inspiration, development, and rewrites that went into the creation of John Gregory Bellina’s screenplay Shut Up and Sing. Furthermore, the following pages trace the evolution of the author’s writing during the entirety of his program experience.
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A common critical evaluation of Jean-Francois Lyotard's work is that it is concerned to find new ways of speaking, or of expression. This thesis argues that Lyotard's work, particularly Just Gaming and The Differend, is concerned with finding new ways to listen. Those motifs are considered that relate or contribute to Lyotard's elaboration, in The Differend, of the ethical genre of discourse, in which one is compelled to listen. A critique is offered of this genre as Lyotard presents it. Another genre, poetry, is suggested as more suited to the demands that Lyotard, following the work of Levinas, makes of an ethical genre. The relevance that such an ethical genre might have to media studies is discussed.

The statistics from the US Department of Energy show that about one-third of the total consumption of electricity in the households and industries is due to the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (AC & R) systems. This wide usage has prompted many researchers to develop models for each of the components of the vapor compression systems. However, there has been very little information on developing simulation models that have been validated for the conditions of start-up/shutdown operations as well as vapor compression system faults. This thesis addresses these concerns and enhances the existing modeling library to capture the transients related to the above mentioned conditions. In this thesis, the various faults occurring in a vapor compressor cycle (VCC) have been identified along with the parameters affecting them. The transients of the refrigerant have also been studied with respect to the start-up/shutdown of a vapor compression system. All the simulations related to the faults and start-up/shutdown have been performed using the vapor compression system models developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment and validated against the 3-ton air conditioning unit present in the Thermo-Fluids Control Laboratory at Texas A & M University. The simulation and validation results presented in this thesis can be used to lay out certain rules of thumb to identify a particular fault depending on the unusual behavior of the system thus helping in creating certain fault diagnostic algorithms and emphasize the importance of the study of start-up/shutdown transient characteristics from the point of actual energy efficiency of the systems. Also, these results prove the capability and validity of the finite control volume models to describe VCC system faults and start-up/shutdown transients.

Yes
Research evidence suggests that professional players across a variety of sports may be at greater risk of developing addictions and other mental illnesses than the general population, both during and post-career. In this paper, we report findings from a larger project on the experiences of career transition in UK professional footballers that provide some insight into this. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological approach, four ex-professional footballers who were attending the Sporting Chance Clinic for help with problems concerning alcohol and gambling were interviewed in depth about their experiences. Focussing on issues the players perceived to be relevant to their addictions, the data were analysed thematically, drawing on Van Manen’s phenomenological method, and individual case histories were also produced. The analysis suggested that club culture was key to understanding the players’ difficulties; a harsh, unsupportive psychological environment combined with expectations of manliness resulted in a culture of silence in the face of personal difficulties. Relationships within the culture of pro-football were fraught with anxiety and distrust, leaving the players feeling unable and unwilling to disclose their problems and feeling used and unvalued by their managers. The lack of supportive relationships in their clubs also resulted in loneliness and social withdrawal for the participants. We conclude with a number of recommendations for the governing bodies in professional football, clubs and individual players.

This thesis examines the varying ways that individuals participate and identify with punk scenes. Based on autoethnographic methods of inquiry, the text forms its arguments through narrative dialogue and theoretical knowledge. Most often, studies on punk are situated in a subcultural framework. In this thesis, it is argued that 'scene theory' is a more favourable theoretical framework for studying punk. A selection of punk scenes are interpreted through the ways that individuals find meaning in their participation. Understanding punk scenes through individual perspectives presents an opportunity to understand the ways that participation in punk intersects with other facets of daily life. Punk scenes are understood as but one socio-cultural element within participants’ multifaceted lives. In this thesis, punk scenes are studied in terms of their overlaps, intersections, and influences on individual perceptions of self within social relationships.