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The Role Of Religion, Politics And Gender In The Visitation By The Master Of The Retablo Of The Catholic KingsThe Visitation and the other seven panels in the altarpiece by the Master of the Catholic Kings are still a mystery in many ways. However, analyzing them in their political, religious and gender contexts suggests that they serve as a powerful example of political propaganda produced in favor of the Catholic monarchs. The altarpiece allows for the veneration of the saints and in the Master’s altarpiece in particular, the key saint being depicted is the Virgin Mary. It is currently believed that the Master’s altarpiece was commissioned by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Their daughter, Juana of Castile, was perceived by the public as being mentally unwell and thus not fit for leadership. In an effort to improve her image before she married Philip of Hapsburg and assumed the throne, they had this altarpiece created with Mary made in the image of Juana. Throughout the scenes of Mary’s life that are depicted, she embodies many characteristics of the ideal woman: pious, maternal and obedient. In supporting that Juana embodies these traits, the King and Queen hope to counter the public’s concern about Juana’s mental illness and to provide an alternate image of her as the perfect queen to lead Spain.
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A Comparison Of The Representation Of Women In The Northern Renaissance And Modern Day: The Occult, Female Sexuality, And The MediaIn this essay I will compare depictions of women in Northern Renaissance prints and the modern media in order to reveal the roots of stereotypical representations of women. Women who go against the status quo are represented as witches so as to prey on societal fears of female sexuality and dominance. Printmaking and the modern media both represent women with a binary understanding of femininity. How these stereotypes of women are represented in the media today have roots in Northern Renaissance prints that were heavily influenced by the Malleus Maleficarum, the first treatise on witches and the occult. This treatise utilized gendered stereotypes to describe witches, thus generating a fear of the occult that manifests as a fear of female power, particularly as it pertains to sexuality. Part one focuses on the Malleus Maleficarum as it was applied to various works of art during the 15th and 16th centuries. Part two will prove that the iconographic references utilized during the Northern Renaissance have continued on as unconscious bias within society, manifesting in the way women are represented in the media. Understanding these roots is an important step towards understanding why women have historically been relegated to a second-class status.
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Desertification In Mongolia: Untangling Problems, Effects, And Policy SolutionsIn recent years, much attention has been given to Mongolian capital city, Ulaanbaatar in regard to its concerning issue with environmental pollution, particularly air pollution during winter months. People have been desperately finding a solution to Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution due to numerous negative consequences to the health of people living in Ulaanbaatar. The majority of the actions taken by the Government of Mongolia and other international organization have focused on structural methods to reducing the fossil fuel emission coming from houses in Ulaanbaatar’s low-income areas called the ‘ger district’. Regardless of the efforts and money spent, the air quality worsened each year. Therefore, this thesis will examine a different approach to finding a solution to this problem. The thesis identified desertification as the main underlying cause of air pollution. Due to desertification, a rural-urban migration increased rapidly over the past few decades, increasing the number of residents living in the ger district, who burn fossil fuels, which is the main source of air pollution. Instead of trying to find a mechanical solution, the thesis aimed at directing the attention to the main cause of air pollution; and furthermore, offered policies that could alleviate the current crisis situation in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
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CubeSat Camera Space RuggedizationProfessor Vishnu Reddy, from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, sponsored a University of Arizona senior design team to “space-qualify” (design, build, and test) a camera system to be integrated into a miniature satellite (CubeSat). This NASA-funded CubeSat mission, named CatSat, will be used as a technology demonstration for a high bandwidth deep space communication system which will be able to achieve HD video transmission from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) through a novel inflatable antenna. The camera system, named CatCam, images the deployment of the inflatable antenna and captures video of Earth. The data that CatCam captures streams through the inflatable antenna as the demonstration of HD video transmission. We considered system architecture, camera controls, and integration with the entire CubeSat, and were successfully able to provide our sponsor with a working prototype.
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Imaging Polarimeter Software ModelThe polarization effects of optical systems are often hard to characterize with industry standard equipment. Polaris-M is a polarization ray tracing software that calculates the polarization effects of any optical system. This project demonstrated the efficacy of Polaris-M by modeling some commercial optics and verifying the results through measurements with the RGB950 polarimeter. The RGB950 is a custom-made Axometrics polarimeter that operates in the visible range and at 947 nm. The angular dependence of the polarimeter was also modeled by analysing data taken of air samples. Furthermore, a novel division of amplitude polarimeter was built from stock visible spectrum optics and its polarimetric performance was calculated with both a Polaris-M model and RGB950 measurements. The software models of the different optical elements tested by the polarimeter are complete and corresponding Mueller matrices were compared to measured Mueller matrix data. This includes models for a non-polarizing cube beamsplitter, a solid corner cube and the DoAP. The resulting software characterizing the polarimeter shall be presented to the Polarization Lab at the University of Arizona for use in predicting polarization measurements and verifying instrument performance.
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Wide Area Drone Situational AwarenessThe paper Wide Area Drone Situational Awareness gives an in-depth walk through the Eyes in the Dark (EitD) drone detection system. The EitD system was designed to scan a portion of the sky for the presence of a drone. If the system detects a drone, EitD then uses its ability to alert a user to the detected object. Raytheon created the project to help secure small private airports from the ever-growing threat of small hobby drones. The EitD prototype satisfies all functional requirements except for the 400m distance requirement, which was not obtainable within the budget for the project. Both physical testing and theoretical analysis is presented to demonstrate the systems capabilities and areas of future work.
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Bruise Age Measurement Sensor Project 18078Bruise Age Measurement Sensor Senior Design project was to build a portable device from scratch to be able to measure the age of a bruise for non-verbal child abuse victim, specifical under the age of three. Due to limited research on bruise metabolism, the aspect of aging a bruise is ongoing and the device will help aid in future bruise research. Ideally the device, with more human subject research though Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, will help to measure how a bruise will change over time to be able to approximate the bruise. The device was designed via solidwork and 3D printed to be handheld, portable, and battery powered. As well the device uses Arduino and Teensy Microcontrollers, a micro-spectrometer, eight LEDs, and a micro-SD card. The device takes measurements within seconds, turns on all LED’s, the spectrometer gets the spectroscopic readings, and transfer the recorded intensities to be stored on a removable SD card. Once bruise metabolism research is completed, and the approximation of a bruise is able to be defined this device can eventually be used the field by physicians, social workers, and law enforcement officers.
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Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Cross-Border Opportunities In Mexico-Sonora And Athena Virtual RealityAs a student in the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship program, I have developed a multitude of skills associated with business innovation and entrepreneurship. My four teammates and I have spent the last year creating a scalable new venture, Athena Virtual Reality (VR). Athena VR enables universities to customize an engaging technology to market their school to prospective students. Users are able to view college campuses, curriculum and career opportunities to improve four-year student graduation rates. Following the collection of validation research, our team developed a business plan that outlines Athena VR’s objectives and strategies to achieve the company’s overall goals. Our team also participated in several trade shows, including the New Venture Competition in which we prepared a 1-minute, 3-minute and 5-minute pitch for investors. The Honors course in this program primarily focused on cross-border business between the U.S. and Mexico-Sonora. By conducting our own research and listening to several guest speakers, we were able to expand our knowledge about Mexico’s economy, culture and relationship with the U.S. I traveled to Mexico-Sonora with my classmates to experience the region’s opportunities in business development and analyze how Athena VR can learn from and/or utilize these opportunities in its strategies.
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Net Zero Water Use At Data CentersAccording to the Department of Energy, as of 2014, there are over 3 million data centers in the United States. It is estimated that for the average 500-ton cooling tower approximately 14.8 million liters of water per year are wasted without being reclaimed. The NetZero system specializes in water recovery and wastewater minimization for existing industrial plants, specifically data centers. The scope of this report is to outline and assess the impact that the system has on carbon emissions and costs associated with the system. The NetZero system is specifically designed for a plant with a 500-ton cooling tower capacity, with an 80% wastewater recovery target. This is an estimated yearly reduction of about 11.8 million gallons of water and 34,000 metric tons a carbon dioxide emission. As said above, many data centers source high volumes of water for the purpose of cooling. A batch of water is used until a buildup of minerals and organic compounds from exposed cooling towers occurs, decreasing the efficiency of heat exchange and cooling potential. The NetZero system removes these contaminants by using sixty-eight membrane distillation units in parallel. The levelized cost of water to produce 1 m3 is estimated to be $4.74.
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Visual Natural Language Processing Of Medical Images For Enhanced ValueNearly all medical image analysis done in modern healthcare settings is performed qualitatively by the visual inspection of a medical professional. Not only is this an inefficient process, but such analyses are vulnerable to human bias and human error. In computer science, the field of image processing exploits the numerical underpinnings of digital images, calling on a wealth of mathematical algorithms to efficiently analyze images with operations such as segmentation and feature extraction. The contents of this thesis document the development of a medical image analysis software tool, called Fractal Eyes. Fractal Eyes effectively learns a medical image dataset, by extracting critical features, using mutual information to quantify the correspondence of two unrelated image features, and using a neural network to identify whether an unlabeled image belongs to a particular dataset. The goal of the Fractal Eyes tool is to aid medical professionals in the use of medical images, by introducing a quantitative basis for analysis. This project was completed as part of the Senior Design class in the College of Engineering, and is the product of Team 18075.
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Covert Short-Wave Infrared Illuminator CoreThe Covert Short-Wave Infrared Illuminator Core is an electro-optical device intended to allow stealthy illumination of a target (specifically for military applications) by operating at a wavelength far outside the visible light spectrum, where its illumination can only be detected with sensitive and expensive optical equipment. This paper describes the engineering process used to bring the illuminator core from inception to product, beginning with the idea set forth by the customer (Elbit Systems of America) and their technical requirements for it. The paper finishes with a description of results and suggestions for further modifications to the presented final design. Though many of the requirements laid out by the sponsor were met, the optical specifications of beam speckle, uniformity, and field of view, were not successfully achieved. Additionally, the maximum input power was exceeded. Because many of the possible methods of fixing these issues would have brought the project beyond its budget, modifications to the current design were proposed in the conclusion to fix these issues. Finally, given that the purpose of this project was to learn about the engineering process, the report is finished off with a lessons learned section in which the key takeaways from the project are summarized.
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Racing The Sun Autonomously: Autonomous Kit For Solar Powered KartsRacing the Sun is an annual STEM event hosted by UA Tech Parks. The main goal of the Racing the Sun event is to encourage high school students to pursue careers in STEM through construction of a solar-powered go kart. Autonomy is a rapidly developing field and has great potential for careers for younger students. The purpose of this project was to create an autonomous kit that can be implemented into future Racing the Sun races. This autonomous kit will introduce high school students to the applications of complex systems such as GPS sensors, electrical wiring, computer programming, and PID controllers. The system utilizes GPS sensors to determine its position in real time and send this information to a PID controller that calculates the necessary steering angle to keep the kart along a desired path. The main goal of the PID controller is to analyze the kart’s position relative to the desired path and minimize the perpendicular distance the kart is from the track (cross-track error). The user can deactivate the system using a kill switch that cuts power to the kart when pressed.
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Roadway Improvement On Speedway BoulevardThe project of the improvement of Speedway Boulevard from Camino De Oeste Wash to Painted Hills was a group effort comprised of 10 senior undergraduates in the college of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics. The project involved an analysis of the current site situation, a selection of goal criteria with the final project, and an engineering of the site in the following disciplines: Construction, Environmental, Traffic, Water and Drainage Systems, Geotechnical, Structural Analysis, and Roadway Design. In the thesis report you will observe a title page and a summarization of each discipline-specific work following. Some key aspects of the project included submitting it to a hypothetical grading scale called Envision, for which our team met the highest achievement of Platinum in sustainable design that creates a positive impact on the community. Additionally, the design of the improvement included the addition of a multi-use pathway allowing residents of the area to have more opportunities for alternative travel methods such as biking and walking, benefitting the health of the residents and the environment as well. While Pima County is working on this project in a real-world setting, our solutions are hypothetical only and will not be implemented to the current project.
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An Examination Of Narcissistic And Non-Narcissistic CEO’s Financial Reporting Behavior During Times Of Market Euphoria And CrashesThe United States markets are in a cyclical pattern of experiencing market highs (euphoria) and lows (crashes) and financial statement reporting during these times has a large impact on investors and the economy. This research examines how CEO narcissism affects financial reporting behavior, through aggressive financial reporting and real earnings management, in times of both euphoria and crashes, looking specifically at the dot com and housing bubbles and their subsequent crashes. Because narcissists perceive heightened benefits and have aggressive reactions to feeling questioned, it is expected that narcissistic CEOs will amplify their financial reporting aggressiveness and real earnings management in times of both market euphoria and crashes. Aggressive financial reporting and real earnings management are measured using abnormal accruals and abnormal operating cash flows, respectively. The results indicate that while CEO narcissism is positively associated with real earnings management, it is not significantly associated with aggressive financial reporting. The results show that narcissistic CEOs reduce real earnings management during crash years, and independent of narcissism, financial reporting aggressiveness is lower in crash years while real earnings management is higher in euphoria years. This research adds to the accounting and managerial reporting behavior literature and can be used by investors, regulators, and auditors to attempt to mitigate the risk associated with a volatile market.
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Honeywell Ultra-Fine Particle Sensor SuiteCurrently airplanes must bring in fresh air from the outside of the plane and recycle 1:1 with the air already inside of the plane. Reducing the quantity of outside air and purifying recycled air could lead to a one percent savings in fuel consumption which could save airline operators millions in fuel costs. Additional significance of the project comes in the sensor suites analysis of UFP. UFP can present health risks for humans, are absorbed directly into the bloodstream of the lungs, and have been correlated to cabin odor events. This report to Honeywell is to develop an Ultra-Fine Particulate (UFP) Sensor Suite to evaluating air quality for control of aircraft cabin air quality. We will design a sensor package incorporating commercial sensors that detect particulates in the range of 10 to 200 nm (UFP), and to design a package that also contains sensors that measure levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM2.5 particles and formaldehyde. The sensor suite will also monitor atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity of the sensor environment and compensate the data output correspondingly through the use of a Raspberry Pi.
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Orbital Earth CameraThe goal of this GEOST project is to design and 3D print a CubeSat that is capable of taking a picture from space. The project is to achieve a full scale, CubeSat mock-up, built with as many of the real components as can be acquired or fabricated during the project period. The CubeSat should have a self-sustaining power system (solar cells and battery), thermal control (radiator panels), an attitude control system (ACS), a communication system, and an imager to take pictures. The imager should be able to capture, store and transmit images. The CubeSat computer will utilize a ground radio and star-tracking system within the ACS to receive positioning and image capture commands.
