Geosciences Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)The items in this collection are the scholarly output of UMKC graduate students.https://hdl.handle.net/10355/106032024-03-29T00:51:02Z2024-03-29T00:51:02ZA Semiotic Approach to Russian Military Map Symbology and TermsBartles, Charles Kellyhttps://hdl.handle.net/10355/838062021-07-30T15:08:28Z2021-01-01T00:00:00ZA Semiotic Approach to Russian Military Map Symbology and Terms
Bartles, Charles Kelly
Modern Russian military maps may comprise any combination of over 1,000 map symbols and 3,000 Russian terms. These symbols and terms identify tangible aspects such as locations, unit/equipment type, numbers, etc., but some symbols, and groupings of symbols, can also denote more subjective aspects such as movement over time, types of maneuvers, relationship to the surrounding environment and other activities or conditions. Due to very different military organizational systems, doctrinal semantic stylization, and broader cultural tendencies, those unfamiliar with Russian maps can misinterpret the intended meaning of these symbols and terms.
Attempting to accurately interpret and organize Russian map symbology and terms raise questions about cognition and the basic processes of how humans interpret information. A potential pathway to answering these questions is through the application of semiotics—the study of signs and the process through which they produce meaning. This study has leveraged the works of the pioneering theorists of semiotics, Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure, and their successors in the relatively new field of cartosemiotics—the use of semiotic methodologies to create, understand and apply cartographic representations. Specifically, cartosemiotics facilitates the understanding of map symbolism; the type of sign systems that are found in maps; the processes through which humans understand cartographic signs; and the context in which cartographic sign systems and sign processes are embedded.
This study demonstrates a semiotic-based system for describing Russian military map symbols, associated terms, which are often expressed in the form of an acronym, and how they depict activities in time and space, which can be easily understood and queried by a person unfamiliar with the Russian language and military symbology through the application of appropriate categorization and a relational database. In particular, this system proffers a cartosemiotic approach that captures the meaning of these symbols, as was intended by the Russian map makers who created them. This study finds that a semiotic approach is not only effective for organizing Russian military map symbology and terms but that the process of categorization and organization of these symbols and terms can reveal otherwise hidden knowledge about the phenomena that they represent.
Title from PDF of title page viewed May 25, 2021; Dissertation advisor: Jejung Lee; Vita; Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-186); Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Social Science Consortium. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2021
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZA Synthesis and Optimization of Patented Direct Air Capture TechnologyLambrechts, Robert Jhttps://hdl.handle.net/10355/973142023-11-10T15:31:11Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZA Synthesis and Optimization of Patented Direct Air Capture Technology
Lambrechts, Robert J
An engineering method termed direct air capture is used to take CO₂, the predominant global warming greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere directly. Given that CO₂ levels in the air are only 0.04%, it presents a technical challenge. Ambient air has a concentration that is 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than other typically targeted sources for CO₂ capture, like flue gases from energy production and industrial activities. Nevertheless, direct air capture has drawn more attention recently, partly because of the creation and implementation by a small number of start-ups. An increasing quantity of research is being done on novel direct air capture materials and methods, and it’s important to comprehend the costs and environmental effects of direct air capture. The author believes that this engineering tool should be one of many tools utilized in the fight against climate change. This dissertation seeks to gather and analyze critical information on fifteen recently issued United States patents and then synthesize the findings from those fifteen patents and then to optimize the critical components of the patented direct air capture technology to advance the state of the art in carbon removal to ameliorate the impacts of increasing carbon concentrations in the atmosphere.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed November 10, 2023; Dissertation advisor: John Kevern; Vita; Includes bibliographical references (pages 142-157); Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Department of Geosciences. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2023
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZAb initio calculations of mechanical, thermodynamic and electronic structure properties of mullite, Iota-alumina and boron carbideAryal, Sita Ramhttps://hdl.handle.net/10355/143072015-10-09T14:09:22Z2012-05-22T00:00:00ZAb initio calculations of mechanical, thermodynamic and electronic structure properties of mullite, Iota-alumina and boron carbide
Aryal, Sita Ram
The alumino-silicate solid solution series (Al₄₊₂xSi₂-2xO₁₀-x) is an important class of ceramics. Except for the end member (x=0), Al₂SiO₅ the crystal structures of the other phases, called mullite, have partially occupied sites. Stoichiometric supercell models for the four mullite phases 3Al₂O₃ • 2SiO₂, 2Al₂O₃ • SiO₂ , 4Al₂O₃ • SiO₂ , 9Al₂O₃ • SiO₂ , and ι-Al₂O₃ (iota-alumina) are constructed starting from experimentally reported crystal structures. A large number of models were built for each phase and relaxed using the Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP) program. The model with the lowest total energy for a given x was chosen as the representative structure for that phase. Electronic structure and mechanical properties of mullite phases were studied via first-principles calculations. Of the various phases of transition alumina, ι-Al₂O₃ is the least well known. In addition structural details have not, until now, been available. It is the end member of the aluminosilicate solid solution series with x=1. Based on a high alumina content mullite phase, a structural model for ι-Al₂O₃ is constructed. The simulated x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of this model agrees well with a measured XRD pattern. The ι-Al₂O₃ is a highly disordered ultra-low-density phase of alumina with a theoretical density of 2854kg=m3 . Using this theoretically constructed model, elastic, thermodynamic, electronic, and spectroscopic properties of ι-Al₂O₃ have been calculated and compared it with those of α-Al₂O₃ and γ-Al₂O₃. Boron carbide (B₄C) undergoes an amorphization under high velocity impacts. The mechanism of amorphization is not clear. Ab initio methods are used to carry out largescale uniaxial compression simulations on two polytypes of stoichiometric boron carbide (B₄C), B₁₁C-CBC, and B₁₂-CCC where B₁₁C or B₁₂ is the 12-atom icosahedron and CBC or CCC is the three-atom chain. The simulations were performed on large supercells of 180 atoms. Simulated results indicate bending of the three-atom chain leads to the amorphization of the B₁₁C-CBC(B₁₂-CCC) at a uniaxial strain s=0.23 (0.22) and with a maximum stress of 168 (151) GPa. The mechanism of amorphization is analyzed with radial pair distribution function (RPDF), total density of states (TDOS), and the distribution of effective charges on atoms.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed on May 22, 2012; Dissertation advisor: Wai-Yim Ching; Vita; Includes bibliographic references (p. 143-157); Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Physics and Dept. of Geosciences. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2012
2012-05-22T00:00:00ZAgro-pastoral Landuse Transformation: Implications and Perspectives in the Northwest Region of CameroonMbih, Richard Achiahttps://hdl.handle.net/10355/465402019-05-08T17:27:38Z2015-08-11T00:00:00ZAgro-pastoral Landuse Transformation: Implications and Perspectives in the Northwest Region of Cameroon
Mbih, Richard Achia
This dissertation centers on the human-environmental problem of agro-pastoral
landuse transformation in Northwest Cameroon, identifying population pressure, climate
change, environmental degradation, land grabbing, change in traditional land tenure systems
and poor landuse policies as major drivers of agrarian landuse conversion and livelihood
insecurity. The agro-pastoral landscape transformation in this study is linked to
environmental degradation, food insecurity, disruption of indigenous African cultures,
poverty, unemployment, gender related issues, farmer-herder conflicts, inter-tribal wars,
malnutrition, water and hunger related crises, and human displacement for survival. These
negative implications threaten rural livelihood and weaken development infrastructures at
various levels.
Data for this research were obtained mainly through field survey that used structured
and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussion, photography of
phenomena related to the study and on-the-spot, and participant observation. Interviews were
conducted with public officials, researchers, native farmers and Fulani agro-pastoralists in
the field. Such an interdisciplinary approach used documentary analysis, GIS and remote
sensing techniques to investigate the problem of agro-pastoral landuse transformation in
Northwest Cameroon, with special attention paid to the city of Bamenda and its environs.
The study indicates that the carrying capacity of the agro-pastoral landscape of
Northwest Cameroon has severely deteriorated due to the negative effects of population
growth, poor landuse policies and environmental degradation, making it difficult for the local
population to adapt to its natural environment. These human-environmental stressors and
their subsequent effects have persistently posed the most challenging questions of
environmental sustainability and human adaptation in the majority of populations in
Northwest Cameroon. Such landscape sustainability issues are behind some of the most
inhumane conditions in agrarian communities that need urgent reconciliation through
institutional arrangements for policy implementation alongside planned adaptation strategies
by stakeholders. A major area of urgent policy concern in this regard is the provision of land
rights, access, ownership and sustainable management of shared agro-pastoral resources,
which is needed to facilitate the adaptation process of native farmers and Fulani pastoralists
in their various communities in the region.
Title from PDF of title page, viewed on August 24, 2015; Dissertation advisor: Steven L. Driever; Vita; Includes bibliographic references (pages 221-234); Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Geosciences and Social Science Consortium. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2015
2015-08-11T00:00:00Z