Master\u27s Project: Tending to Joy

If we dare to hope for the thriving of humans and all of life, then joy must hold a solid place in our imagination. The purpose of this project was to breathe joy into my own life and into the world around me. Following a literature review, I carried out three mini-projects – creating crowd-sourced collages out of what brings people joy, sending daily text messages with quotes about joy, and providing cookies to groups working on social change efforts. The projects succeeded in spreading delight, raising spirits, and inspiring reflection. The journey towards cultivating joy in my own life was substantially messier and remains completely unresolved. I conclude this project not yet able but still aspiring to fully say “yes” to life

Laboratory studies of sticking coefficients and heterogeneous reactions important in the stratosphere

The discovery of ozone depletion during spring in the Antarctic stratosphere has received wide spread attention. Both meteorological and chemical mechanisms have been used in attempts to explain this observation. The chemical theory focused on the chlorofluoromethanes released into the atmosphere. However, gas-phase, homogeneous reactions alone in the model can not adequately explain such a depletion. Heterogeneous reactions on ice surfaces could be important in the Antarctic stratosphere. These reactions are thought to convert ClONO2 and N2O5 into HNO3 in the solid phase while Cl2, HOCl, and ClNO2 are released into the stratosphere as gas-phase products. The photolysis of Cl2, HOCl, and ClNO2, then produces active chlorine which subsequently removes ozone through several catalytic cycles, including the Cl2O2 mechanism. The polar stratospheric clouds are thought to consist of mixtures of water ice, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. Condensation of HCl onto the PSC's could provide active surfaces for heterogeneous reactions

Study of Ceramic Slurries for Investment Casting with Ice Patterns

Ice patterns generated by rapid freeze prototyping or a molding process can be used to make ceramic investment molds for metal castings. Due to the use of ice, the ceramic slurries must be poured around the pattern and cured at sub-freezing temperatures. Success of this process depends greatly on the mold strength after the gelation of the slurries. This paper describes the experimental results of the mold strength after the gelation of the slurries under different compositions. The parameters considered include mixing time, alumino-silicate vs. fused silica ratio, volume of binder, and volume of catalyst. The strength of the gelled slurries is examined by breaking test bars on a four-point bending apparatus. Weibull modulus for each trial is calculated based on the breaking strength from four-point bend tests. Analysis of variance for breaking strength and Weibull analysis is performed to evaluate the significance of the effect of each parameter. The casting of a bolt is used to demonstrate that metal castings of complex geometry can be fabricated using investment casting with ice patterns.Mechanical Engineerin

Transmitter switch for high-power microwave output

Combiner system can be used for combining output powers of two transmitters or for switching from one to the other. This can be done when pair of transmitters operate on same frequency and carriers are phase coherent as by excitation from single exciter

Product Focused Freeform Fabrication Education

Presented in this paper is our experience of teaching freeform fabrication to students at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and to high school students and teachers. The emphasis of the curriculum is exposing students to rapid product development technologies with the goal of creating awareness to emerging career opportunities in CAD/CAM. Starting from solid modeling, principles of freeform fabrication, to applications of rapid prototyping and manufacturing in industry sponsored product development projects, students can learn in-depth freeform fabrication technologies. Interactive course content with hands-on experience for product development is the key towards the success of the program.Mechanical Engineerin

Asymmetric Monetary Policy in Australia

We find evidence for asymmetric behaviour in Australian monetary policy. During 1984-1990, the Reserve Bank of Australia acted with considerable discretion yielding poor performance of an interest rate rule. However it behaved asymmetrically to inflation and the output gap in downturns and upturns. On embracing inflation targeting from 1991, it enhanced its credibility by anchoring inflation expectations. Not only did its actions become more predictable in 1991-2002, it responded asymmetrically only to output, switching to act more acutely in downturns. While its asymmetric behaviour could result from asymmetric preferences or non-linear aggregate supply, our results support the former explanation.non-linear Phillips curve; Interest rate rules; asymmetric preferences; generalized method of moments; inflation targeting; credibility

Рамки кваліфікацій: уроки Великої Британії для України

Under the conditions of modernization and upgrading the current education system of Ukraine, euro integration processes, searching for further development ways and tools for the country in general there is a great need in studying good practices around the world. The experience of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the field of vocational education and training is especially attracted as the country has a prominent place among the countries with highly developed economy and is the “motherland” of VET innovations. This study is also being conducted in the framework of more general research of standardisation specific features of VET system in Great Britain and one of the components is the study of qualification frameworks design and development. Step-by-step changes of qualification frameworks of the UK to incorporate at the most all possible specific issues of its education and training system, a person’s and labour market’s need and demands, current conditions of the country development etc. pushed to review the historical transformations of qualifications frameworks in the UK and study their specific features as the National Qualification Framework of Ukraine was launched in 2011. At present it is being transformed according to the changes of the education system of Ukraine, growing demand in better qualification system design, improving the quality of education and training in accordance with European development objectives etc. The article represents mostly structural changes and specific features of qualifications frameworks in the UK as it is highly important to realise that the changes can and must lead to better results taking into account all the specific features of the current situation in Ukraine. The results and conclusions of the EU TWINNING project “Modernisation of legal standards and principles for vocational education in line with the European policy on lifelong learning” realised by the EU Commission and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (2012-2014) to support the legislation and structural changes in Ukraine are represented in the article as they have great importance for further researches in VET field. In 2015 European Training Foundation (ETF) made the Inventory of NQF recent developments in ETF’s partner countries and studied the experience of Ukraine as well. So, its results and conclusions also play an important role for this studying and they are to be represented in the article. The developments of the article show that frameworks are to stay and play an important role in promoting and modernising education, training and lifelong learning as they support the continuous development and change taking into account the needs and possibilities of present society of the country together with the external affects that can have a great influence.В умовах модернізації та покращення системи освіти України, євроінтеграційних процесів, пошуку шляхів та інструментів подальшого розвитку країни в цілому існує велика потреба у вивченні передових практик у всьому світі. Особливо приваблюється досвід Сполученого Королівства Великої Британії та Північної Ірландії у сфері професійної освіти та навчання, оскільки країна займає чільне місце серед країн з високорозвиненою економікою та є «батьківщиною» інновацій у сфері професійно-технічної освіти. Це дослідження також проводиться в рамках більш загальних досліджень специфічних особливостей стандартизації системи професійного навчання у Великобританії та одним із компонентів є вивчення дизайну та розробки рамок кваліфікацій. Поетапні зміни рамок кваліфікацій Великобританії з урахуванням усіх можливих конкретних питань своєї системи освіти та навчання, потреби та вимог ринку та ринку праці, сучасних умов розвитку країни тощо підштовхнули до вивчення історичних трансформація структур кваліфікацій у Великобританії та визначення їх особливостей, оскільки Національна рамка кваліфікацій в Україні була розроблена ще в 2011 році. В даний час вона трансформується відповідно до змін системи освіти України, зростаючого попиту на вдосконалення системи кваліфікаційних систем, вдосконалення якість освіти та підготовки відповідно до європейських цілей розвитку тощо. У статті представлено в основному структурні зміни та особливості структур кваліфікацій у Великобританії, оскільки дуже важливо усвідомлювати, що зміни можуть та повинні призводити до кращих результатів з урахуванням усіх особливості сучасної ситуації в Україні. Результати та висновки проекту ЄС «TWINNING» «Модернізація правових стандартів та принципів професійної освіти відповідно до європейської політики щодо безперервного навчання», реалізовані Комісією ЄС та Міністерством освіти і науки України (2012-2014 роки) для підтримки у статті представлені законодавчі та структурні зміни в Україні, оскільки вони мають велике значення для подальших досліджень у сфері ПТО. У 2015 році Європейський фонд освіти (ETF) зробив інвентаризацію НРК останніх подій у країнах-партнерах ЕФО та вивчив досвід України. Отже, його результати та висновки також відіграють важливу роль у цьому вивченні, і вони повинні бути представлені в статті. Розробки статті показують, що НРК відіграють важливу роль у просуванні та модернізації освіти, підготовки та навчання протягом усього життя, оскільки вони підтримують безперервний розвиток та зміни, враховуючи потреби та можливості сучасного суспільства країни разом з зовнішні впливи, які можуть мати великий вплив

Modeling and Validation of Temperature and Concentration for Rapid Freeze Prototyping

Rapid Freeze Prototyping is a solid freeform fabrication process that uses water as the main build material in a cold environment to create three-dimensional parts. A eutectic sugar-water solution (C6H12O6 – H2O) has been used as a sacrificial material in order to create complex 3D parts with features such as overhangs. A study of the interaction of the build and support materials is presented in this paper. The temperature of both materials during deposition and subsequent cooling is modeled using a semi-empirical model and a theoretical model. A concentration model is used to predict the concentration in the fabricated parts around the interface of the two materials with predicted temperatures as input. Experiments are conducted to validate both the temperature and concentration models.Mechanical Engineerin