This thesis assesses the potential success of the United States’ newly assumed role as chairman of the Arctic Council in light of its own record of development in Alaska, its only Arctic territory. Using primary and secondary qualitative research, perspectives from multiple stakeholders are analyzed to assess the United States’ current capabilities in the Arctic versus its rhetoric and responsibilities. To gauge this more effectively, the theory of problem-solving capacity is used to analyze the United States’ potential capacity in the Arctic Council, while the theory of environmental security is used to analyze the United States’ level of investment and commitment to Alaska. With development in Alaska minimal at best and local communities at risk from environmental impacts, the ideal tool for addressing these deficiencies is identified to be icebreakers operated by the United States Coast Guard. Impediments to acquiring sufficient icebreaking capacity are explored, with the conclusion that if the United States is to take effective action on the Arctic stage, investment in icebreakers and therefore the environment and inhabitants of the Arctic is necessary. Not doing so reveals the USA’s agenda to be empty rhetoric and consequently this lost opportunity for leadership may lead to catastrophic results for the region.

Soldiers face complex challenges, issues, and decisions when pursuing distance learning while deployed. These challenges are encountered frequently while completing undergraduate and graduate degree programs on active duty overseas. Many learning programs and benefits are available and utilized by military online learners in a war zone. Education programs and benefits, such as, GoArmyEd, and the Post-9/11 GI Bill, have had major impacts on deployed military learners. The dissertation reviews impacts on academic enrollment, utilization of military education benefits, and course completion of soldier-students affected by military deployment. A literature review, survey, and research based on soldiers deployed from 2009-2010 identified several impacts on military learners from the time of the deployment through a two year period following return. Issues include application and utilization of benefits, beginning studies, halting studies, or transitioning from traditional to distance learning programs. In addition, challenges with soldier awareness and use of military education benefits and distance learning programs are presented.

Since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism in 2001, the United States has relied heavily on volunteer National Guard troops to protect our country. Thousands of youth have been affected by deployment, yet we rarely hear their stories. This thesis explores how digital storytelling, as an applied theatre practice, can help increase youth visibility and voice in the Army National Guard community. Through qualitative research methods of narrative thematic analysis and thematic coding methods, the author examines how digital storytelling can be used to build community among Army National Guard youth, as well as provide an agentive space for youth to name their experiences and perspectives while self-advocating for their needs and desires. Their digital stories became a site for youth to play with the complexity of naming their experiences, as well as a way to increase their visibility within military spaces. The document concludes with a discussion of how digital storytelling and applied theatre functions within National Guard youth communities, the limitations of the research and model, as well as a discussion of sustainability for applied theatre programs in this community. / text

Tyrimo objektas ir problemos aktualumas Tyrimo objektas. Disertacijoje teisiniu požiūriu tiriamas vienas tarpšakinių teisės institutų – priesaika. Disertacijos tyrimas apima paprotinės ir pozityviosios teisės raidos etapuose susiformavusius teisinius santykius, atsirasdavusius ir tebeatsirandančius priesaikos instituto taikymo ir jo funkcijų įgyvendinimo srityse. Šiame darbe nagrinėjami istoriniai, lituanistiniai šaltiniai; nacionalinių, tarptautinių ir kitų valstybių teisės aktų normos, reglamentuojančios priesaikos institutą, taip pat šią temą nagrinėjanti Lietuvos teisės doktrina. Priesaikos teisinio instituto ir jo socialinio vaidmens tyrimas bendrąja prasme – tai vieno iš seniausių ir gilias tradicijas Lietuvoje turinčio teisinio instituto tyrimas. Priesaikos sampratos (sąvokos) pažinimas yra organiška teisės doktrinos, kaip vienalyčio darinio, dalis, tačiau šio instituto prasmė ir reikšmė teisės normose ir teorijoje (moksle) nėra plačiau tyrinėta. Šiuo tyrimu bandoma atskleisti socialinę teisinę priesaikos esmę, jos evoliuciją ir virsmą į tikrai talpų (vertybių ir atliekamų funkcijų požiūriu) teisinį reguliatorių, kuris laikytinas Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijoje įtvirtintų pamatinių vertybių koncentracija, o kartu ir jų veiksnumą užtikrinančiu įrankiu. Perfrazuojant prof. A. Vaišvilą, „aiškinant teisę (šiuo atveju – priesaiką, kaip koncentruotą teisės išraišką [išskirta disertanto] <...>, neužtenka pasakyti, kad teisė (priesaika) yra elgesio taisyklė (tai tik... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The subject matter of the research and its relevance The subject matter. In the present paper one of the inter-branch law institutes namely – the oath is being under discussion. The treatment of the problem embraces the development of law from time honored stages up to the present state. Within the period the law terms has changed considerately and the process is still in progress, especially in the sphere of the implementation of its functions. In the given paper the objects of research are the historical and native Lithuanian sources; i.e. the norms of national, international legal acts and the acts of other states in which the oath institution is called upon, as well as the Lithuanian law doctrine dealing with this problem. The general approach to the research of the juridical Oath Institution and its social significance has a long standing tradition in Lithuania. The cognition of the concept of the oath is an organic element of the law doctrine, as an integral formation, however has never yet received a deeper research either in legal norms or in theory. The given paper is an attempt to reveal the juridical and social essence of the oath, its evolution and transformation into a really meaningful juridical regulation of values and its fitting functions. It ought to be a concentration of the fundamental values stated in the Constitution and at the same time – an instrument of the assurance of their implementation. Rephrasing prof. A. Vaišvila „when explaining law (in this... [to full text]

Sea Stories is a collection of creative nonfiction essays centered around the growth of a young woman through her experiences with water and ships. The pieces trace the origins of the narrator's tie to water from a childhood involving boating with her dad to sailing a brigantine across the Pacific Ocean and then a six-year career as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. The narrator's relationship with her father, predominantly viewed through their shared intimacy with water, is a base theme for the whole collection. Other themes explored in individual essays include reckoning expectations with reality, explorations of the self in and against a group, gender dynamics in military service, and the influence of fiction on life. Sea Stories shows that what we think we know, what we may have only imagined, and on the water, that self-constructed reality can be a dangerous thing.

Diploma thesis "Female Overseers and Doctors in the Concentration and Extermination Camps of Nazi Germany" deals with life and deeds of these women before and during World War 2. In my thesis I would therefore like to address the possible causes of the Holocaust, I want to think about how we can from the relatively recent past World War 2 learn, or whether there are any options to prevent similar incidents. It will try to hold on to the role of women in the extermination camps, which were the main venue of the program extermination of Jews and other minorities. I will focus on the phenomenon of "bad women" in the death camps, thus nazi women or female doctors. I would like this type of women looked at from a sociological point of view. If possible, a description of their origin, family background, education, interpersonal relationships, behavior in the camp and the like. It is clear that there are more reasons why some individuals become a cruel figure. Of course, some tendencies to violence inside each and every one must be encoded. I believe, however, that the main role is played by education, whether at home or at school.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Bronwyn Fees / Since the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a large number of service members have deployed multiple times to active combat zones as a result of U.S. involvement in the global war on terrorism. Army National Guard and Army Reserve families may find these deployments challenging as they are often isolated by living in civilian communities and have limited access to military support services and networks. Adolescents who live in these families may be particularly vulnerable as the stressors of parental deployment are layered on top of the normative stressors of adolescent development. This report will examine the challenges that adolescents and their families experience as a result of parental deployment. Additionally, protective factors that can help mitigate those challenges will also be discussed. Finally, Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory will be used as a framework to identify ways in which parents, schools, communities, and the U.S. Army can support adolescents, thus helping them to positively cope with parental deployment.

In the CDMA cellular networking system, power control is a very important issue because it is an interference limited system. In order to reduce the near-far problem and improve the battery life of mobile station, the transmit power of mobile stations must be controlled to limit interference. In this paper, we study the effect of power control on system performance. Different power control rates may have influence on the performance. Meanwhile, we take the consideration of different call admission control algorithm. By introducing soft handoff waiting queue and guard channel into the soft handoff algorithm, we compare the power control influence on a base case (which is similar to IS95 algorithm, but with perfect power control) and proposed call admission control algorithm. The simulation shows that increasing power control rate and combination of power control and soft handoff prioritization can greatly reduce the blocking rates and refuse rates of new/soft handoff calls, thus the system performance is improved.

The Coast Guard has developed several systems to measure the performance of its engineering and logistics organizations. The development of these measures is based upon the need to show where and how the organization meets the American taxpayer’s needs. The use of multivariable regressions and determining the statistical distributions of the variables will show the adequacy of the measures and processes currently used. They will also determine a better way to measure the performance of the Coast Guard Small Boat Fleet. This research will analyze the 47 Motor Life Boat and 25 Response Boat-Small data from fiscal year 2011 to 2013. The focus will be on improving the measure used by the engineering and systems managers of the Coast Guard to manage assets and resources, as well as making recommendations on how to improve the processes involved in managing a robust engineering and logistics system.

This thesis is the final assignment for a bachelor degree in Industrial Design Engineering via Luleå University of Technology. The project comprises 15hp and has been carried out in collaboration with MECON AB in Luleå, which works with construction, among other things. This report contains the development process of a touch guard for the power rails that runs along a traverse path. The task of the touch guard is to protect the staff at SSAB from risks that may arise if something falls on the power rails. Objects such as a wrench could create short circuits and be pushed off by the current in the electrical rails with high speed causing a hazard. The work is based on IDEO- the field guide to human-centered design, which is a human-centered process with three phases. In this case, the installer is the user. It is the installer who is affected by how easily mounted the touch guard is. Therefore, in order to design a user-friendly touch protection, an understanding of the user and its needs is required. By collecting information using interviews, observations, study visits and a literature study, a design specification could be created. This was then the basis for the remaining work that led to a bracket and three versions of the protection plates. Together with the users and the stakeholders, a final concept was chosen that fulfills the design specification. The report presents the process and its steps leading to a final concept. Later, the results are discussed and how well the work fulfilled the purpose and goals, and whether the work answered the research questions. / Detta examensarbete är utförts som den avslutande uppgiften för programmet högskoleingenjör Teknisk Design på Luleå Tekniska Universitet. Examensarbetet omfattar 15 högskolepoäng och har utförts i samarbete med MECON AB i Luleå som arbetar med bland annat konstruktion. Rapporten behandlar utvecklingen av ett beröringsskydd för en elskena som löper längs en traversbana. Beröringsskyddets uppgift är att skydda personalen på SSAB från risker som kan uppstå om någonting faller ned på elskenorna. Föremål som till exempel en skiftnyckel skulle kunna skapa kortslutning och skjutas iväg av strömmen i elskenorna. Arbetet utgår från IDEO-the field guide to human-centered design, som är en användarcentrerad process med tre faser. I detta arbete är det montören som är användaren. Det är montören som är berörd av hur lättmonterat beröringsskyddet är. För att kunna utforma ett användarvänligt beröringsskydd krävs därför en förståelse för användaren och dess behov. Genom att samla in information med hjälp av intervjuer, observationer, studiebesök och en litteraturstudie kunde en designspecifikation skapas. Denna låg då till grund till resterande arbete som ledde till ett fäste och tre stycken skyddsplåtar. Tillsammans med användarna och intressenterna valdes ett slutgiltigt koncept som uppfyller designspecifikationen. Rapporten redovisar processen och dess moment som leder till ett slutligt koncept. Senare diskuteras resultatet och hur väl arbetet uppfyllde syfte och mål, samt om arbetet besvarade frågeställningen.