Stand-up comedy has been a major influence on American culture and has given the "Everyman" the ability to laugh at ourselves. Stand-up comedians have been performing in nightclubs, bars, clubs, and, most importantly, theatres for the past 60 years. Stand-up comedy can take many forms: a monologue of entertaining incidents that form a story, or a string of one-liners, or a succession of jokes. This performance project and thesis is an examination and an attempt at the art form that we call stand-up comedy. It will answer the question of what is the best approach to writing comedy for an actor finishing his graduate acting program. It will also challenge the idea of simple joke-telling versus storytelling and examine the following question: Can anyone be a standup comedian? A research of the history, an analysis of the practitioners, and training from graduate studio work will support the discovery of a practical approach to writing and performing a stand-up comedy routine.

In master's thesis was carried out modeling of the characteristics of electromagnetic compatibility of electronic equipment using program CST STUDIO SUITE. In the work have been developed the model of laboratory device for demonstration crosstalk in the cable lines, models of switching power supplies and model of laboratory device for demonstration emission of electromagnetic disturbance based on clock generator. In dissertation have been proposed ways of solving modeling problems and were performed measurements. The thesis consist of 78 pages, including 3 tables, 83 figures and 18 references. / В магистерской диссертации производилось моделирование характеристик электромагнитной совместимости радиоэлектронных средств при помощи пакета программ CST STUDIO SUITE. В процессе работы произведена разработка модели стенда для демонстрации паразитных электромагнитных связей ближнего поля, моделей импульсных источников питания и модели стенда для демонстрации эмиссии индустриальных радиопомех на основе генератора тактовой частоты. Предложены пути решения проблем, возникающих при моделировании, произведены экспериментальные исследования. Диссертация содержит пояснительную записку объемом 78 страниц, включая 3 таблицы, 87 рисунков и список использованных источников из 18 наименований.

The goal of this project is to demonstrate a new hand sanitizer stand. A project template is selected to carry out tasks in six different phases. A preliminary study was carried out aims to gather background information of the thesis topic. The market research was conducted by searching for existing products on the Internet. A set of Design for Environment guidelines have been established aids to develop concepts. The collected information become the basis for subsequent decisions. Three potential concepts are generated. Two concepts are chosen for further development. A number of design techniques such as CAD, FEM analysis and 3D printing are applied in detailed design. Final design solution where all the geometric, functional details of the hand sanitizer stand are developed. Due to the time limitation, costs associated with the design is not estimated. Detail drawings of hand sanitizer stand are provided in the report to describe its dimensions and shape. / Den här rapporten beskriver formgivningsprocessen och konstruktionsarbetet av ett nytt golvstativ för handsprit. En projektmall tillämpas för att skapa en struktur och vägledning i sex olika faser. En förstudie har genomförts för att få förståelse för ämnet. För att samla information gjordes en marknadsundersökning. Design for Environment riktlinjer har skapats för att utveckla koncept. Den valda informationen användes sedan för att ta beslut. Utifrån de tre framställda koncepten valdes två att vidare utveckla. Tekniker såsom CAD-mjukvara, FEM-beräkningar och 3D teknik användas för att lösa problem och sedan uppnå målet. En slutprodukt uppfyllde de definierade produktkraven vad gäller funktionalitet och prestanda. Vi tog inte hänsyn till den ekonomiska kostnaden på grund av tidbegränsningar. Ritningar med måttsättningar finns i rapporten.

In 2005, Florida became the first state to pass the heavily National Rifle Association, NRA, supported "Stand Your Ground" law. The most notable components of the law were abolishing the duty to retreat for someone who is not engaged in lawful activity and is in a place where he has the right to be, granting civil and criminal immunity to those using lawful force, and presuming that a person who is attacked in his dwelling, residence, and occupied vehicle has a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm. The law was subject to a substantial amount of criticism because it was a significant departure from Florida's more than a century old common law principles regarding self-defense. Possibly due to Florida not having any precedents for these cases, Florida courts would have conflicting decisions in these matters and law enforcement agencies would enforce the law differently in similar incidents. Regardless of the issues faced by Florida, over twenty states would adopt their own versions. A significant number of these states are in the Southeastern region of the United States and are neighbors to Florida or border Florida's neighbors, such as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana. Because of this interesting pattern, the study examines the idea of southern culture playing a role in the passage of "Stand Your Ground" via the "Culture of Honor" theory and the researcher decided to use these jurisdictions and Florida as this study's sample. The researcher also wanted to include these jurisdictions because the existing "Stand Your Ground" literature mainly focuses on Florida and the researcher wanted to add something new to the discussion. The intent of this study to examine Florida's influence on the other jurisdictions, note any commonalties between the statutes of the jurisdictions, compare justifiable homicide statistics for the jurisdictions that provided such data, predict the future of these laws, and explore the "Culture of Honor" Theory as a possible explanation for "Stand Your Ground" laws in the states discussed. The study accomplished these goals by examining how each jurisdiction handled self-defense before "Stand Your Ground," looking at the motives behind the jurisdictions adopting "Stand Your Ground," comparing justifiable homicides in the four jurisdictions that provided them in the years immediate preceding the passage of "Stand Your Ground" to the subsequent years, and looking at amendments and proposals that were presented after the passage of "Stand Your Ground." The results uncovered that all the jurisdictions, except for Georgia and Tennessee, show a very strong Florida influence based on their similarities to Florida's law and legislators in the jurisdictions clearly mentioning Florida as their inspiration for proposing their own versions. In the jurisdictions that provided justifiable homicides, all showed an increase in the number of justifiable homicides after the passage of "Stand Your Ground." The jurisdictions in this study have also shown a strong resistance to any amendments or the complete repeal of this law. Therefore, any drastic amendment or the complete repeal seems unlikely in the future. The "Culture of Honor" Theory does explain why a few of the jurisdictions in the study adopted "Stand Your Ground" but Florida and the NRA's influence explain why others chose this course of action.

While paraffin has the potential to be a high performance fuel for hybrid rockets, sloughing-off of portions of the fuel during the burn, fuel-liner delamination during fabrication, difficult ignition, and the escape of significant amounts of unburned paraffin droplets from the combustion chamber have hindered efforts to demonstrate superior performance in paraffinueled hybrid motors. This work investigates several methods for enhancing the performance of paraffin-based hybrid motors including the use of anti-sloughing baffles in the grain liner, ignition media to ensure repeatable and prompt engine start, improved methods for fuel grain production, and aluminum and potassium nitrate additives. The results of the tests demonstrate modest improvements in anti-sloughing and total impulse, compared to the baseline paraffin fuel grain. Difficulty achieving sufficiently repeatable results with the available commercial motor prevented some of the research goals from being completed but lead to a better understanding of the factors affecting the performance space.

I evaluated effects of 5 treatments for pine plantation establishment on breeding and wintering birds and small mammals during years one through 5 post-treatment in the Lower Coastal Plain of Mississippi. I modeled relationships between 8 vegetation variables and avian abundance to identify influential habitat components in pine plantations. At the landscape scale, I compared avian abundance of regionally important species with land class variables in the Coastal Plain of Georgia. In pine plantations, species richness, total abundance, and 2 conservation bird metrics generally decreased with increasing intensity of stand establishment. Thus, this study suggests that increasing standmestablishment intensity can reduce avian habitat quality in Coastal Plain pine plantations. Presence of residual trees retained after timber harvest was the most influential variable related to avian abundance, and tree retention may reduce the negative impacts of intensive stand establishment on avian communities. There were minimal treatment effects on common small mammals of young pine plantations. For the Coastal Plain landscape, a mixture ofn area and edge variables were influential in avian models for 10 species, although area or edge each were important for 2 species. Hardwood forests were important vegetation types for all but one modeled species. Assessment of habitat conditions that affect avifauna and small mammals on managed timber production lands can assist natural resource managers with integration of timber production and conservation of biological diversity.

Quantification of soilborne pathogen inoculum loads is important in both agricultural and wildland settings. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) methods using SYBR Green chemistry have been shown to be useful for quantifying fungal inoculum loads in environmental samples. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to quantify fungal pathogen inoculum loads in soil seed banks using a qPCR method with SYBR Green chemistry. The invasive annual grass Bromus tectorum was chosen for this seed bank study. There were three objectives: 1) to design target-specific primers for three fungal pathogens known to be important in Bromus tectorum seed banks, 2) to develop a procedure for measuring inoculum loads in field samples, including optimization of qPCR standard curves and protocols, for these pathogens, and 3) to perform qPCR using this methodology on a representative set of field samples to quantify pathogen DNA in seed bank soil and surface litter. The three pathogens were chosen for quantification based on their hypothesized roles in Bromus tectorum stand failure: the seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda, an undescribed species of Fusarium seed rot pathogen belonging to the F. tricinctum species group (FTSG), and the newly-described causal agent of bleach blonde syndrome (Clarireedia capillus-albis). Primers designed for each pathogen were shown to be target-specific in tests against each other and 12 other fungal species cultured from B. tectorum seed banks. Subsequently developed standard curves for each pathogen had R2 values > 0.98, efficiencies between 90 and 110 percent, and generally optimal dissociation curves. Inoculum loads were expressed for each pathogen as picograms of DNA per microliter of extracted soil or surface litter. Significant differences in measured inoculum loads were found between the targeted pathogens and between soil and litter samples for each pathogen. The data provided reinforces that the SYBR Green qPCR method provides a potentially useful tool for the study of field seed and seedling diseases across a wide spectrum of both wildland and agronomic applications.

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