Virginia Tax Re-Structuring: 100 Years Ago, 50 Years Ago, and Now

Virginia’s state and local financing structure is under pressure. Aged schools have fallen into disrepair in localities without a tax base to back capital improvement bonds. Virginia’s commitment in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education to fund equal public education opportunity for all has eroded. As the dominate source of local government funding, the real estate tax adds to housing costs, consuming the largest share of household budgets. This article discusses current and historic Virginia debates on tax equity, economic sustainability, program ramifications, and non-resident cost-sharing. It raises questions about the widening income gap and changes in business activity, as well as Virginia’s extreme cost-of-living spread and its fifty-year-old economic measure that determines the level of state funding for each locality’s schools. The article provides broad context to help balance tax policy goals, political dynamics, and local realities in the informed debate that needs to take place to support enlightened action by the Virginia General Assembly

Gábor Kazinczy and His Legacy in Structural Engineering

2014 is a triple anniversary of Gábor Kazinczy. He was born 125 years ago, his plastic hinge  theory was published exactly 100 years ago and he died 50 years ago. This paper is dedicated to his memory

The Human Footprint from the Last Ice Age to the Present

Humans have had a considerable impact on the earth in the last hundred years but recent research indicates that humans may have caused substantial alteration to the biospheres starting around 5,000 years ago when the total human population was around 50 to 100 million

Optical and Infrared Spectroscopy of the type IIn SN 1998S : Days 3-127

We present contemporary infrared and optical spectroscopic observations of the type IIn SN 1998S for the period between 3 and 127 days after discovery. In the first week the spectra are characterised by prominent broad emission lines with narrow peaks superimposed on a very blue continuum(T~24000K). In the following two weeks broad, blueshifted absorption components appeared in the spectra and the temperature dropped. By day 44, broad emission components in H and He reappeared in the spectra. These persisted to 100-130d, becoming increasingly asymmetric. We agree with Leonard et al. (2000) that the broad emission lines indicate interaction between the ejecta and circumstellar material (CSM) and deduce that progenitor of SN 1998S appears to have gone through at least two phases of mass loss, giving rise to two CSM zones. Examination of the spectra indicates that the inner zone extended to <90AU, while the outer CSM extended from 185AU to over 1800AU. Analysis of high resolution spectra shows that the outer CSM had a velocity of 40-50 km/s. Assuming a constant velocity, we can infer that the outer CSM wind commenced more than 170 years ago, and ceased about 20 years ago, while the inner CSM wind may have commenced less than 9 years ago. During the era of the outer CSM wind the outflow was high, >2x10^{-5}M_{\odot}/yr corresponding to a mass loss of at least 0.003M_{\odot} and suggesting a massive progenitor. We also model the CO emission observed in SN 1998S. We deduce a CO mass of ~10^{-3} M_{\odot} moving at ~2200km/s, and infer a mixed metal/He core of ~4M_{\odot}, again indicating a massive progenitor.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted in MNRA

PVC pipes in gas distribution: still going strong!

In the Netherlands (impact-modified) PVC is the preferred material for low-pressure (30 and 100 mbar) gas distribution systems. More than 50% of the total length (about 122,000 km) of this system is rigid PVC or impact-modified PVC. The installation of rigid PVC (uPVC) pipelines started about 50 years ago. Presently, about 22,500 km of rigid PVC is still in operation. In this paper the good experiences with rigid PVC gas distribution systems in the Netherlands will be illustrated by results of regular leak surveys and test results on pipe samples taken from the gas grid. It will be shown that the leakage rate of uPVC pipe systems is very low and about equal to that of PE and steel pipe systems. Impact tests show no significant decrease in ductility with respect to time of use. Furthermore, the ductility of the PVC pipeline materials which have been in use for many years is shown to be mainly dependent on the (initial) quality (degree of gelation). The good performance of PVC gas pipeline systems is also proven by modelling studies. It will be shown that the long-term failure behaviour of uPVC is determined by the ability to yield. Failure will occur if a certain critical value of the plastic strain is surpassed. Using this model the long-term behaviour under internal pressure of rigid PVC pipes can be predicted quantitatively

Minnesota and the Packaged Food Revolution

Minnesota companies created Wheaties, Cheerios, Bisquick, Spam, frozen pizza, and other food products we take for granted today but didn’t exist 50 or 100 years ago. Betty Crocker, the Jolly Green Giant, and the Pillsbury Doughboy were all born in Minnesota to market these new-fangled inventions. How did Minnesota become a major hub of America’s packaged food industry? We will address this question by looking at the evolution of Minnesota’s economy from small farms and processing facilities o an integrated industry combining mass production, scientific research, marketing, and professional management

RESEARCH OF TRANSFORMER MAIN INSULATION DESIGN RULES

Kappeler research performed more than 50 years ago is widely used for HV transformers insulation design. Even though the original experiment was done for oil ducts width from 0.5 to 6 mm, the results have been extrapolated to ducts up to 100 and more mm without detailed publication that would confirm the validity of this extrapolation. This paper presents the experiment that aims to expand Kappeler research to oil duct width up to 30 mm. Model setup also allows creepage and barriers effect testing up to 30 mm

The Phanerozoic Record of Global Sea-Level Change

We review Phanerozoic sea-level changes [543 million years ago (Ma) to the present] on various time scales and present a new sea-level record for the past 100 million years (My). Long-term sea level peaked at 100 ± 50 meters during the Cretaceous, implying that ocean-crust production rates were much lower than previously inferred. Sea level mirrors oxygen isotope variations, reflecting ice-volume change on the 104- to 106-year scale, but a link between oxygen isotope and sea level on the 107-year scale must be due to temperature changes that we attribute to tectonically controlled carbon dioxide variations. Sea-level change has influenced phytoplankton evolution, ocean chemistry, and the loci of carbonate, organic carbon, and siliciclastic sediment burial. Over the past 100 My, sea-level changes reflect global climate evolution from a time of ephemeral Antarctic ice sheets (100 to 33 Ma), through a time of large ice sheets primarily in Antarctica (33 to 2.5 Ma), to a world with large Antarctic and large, variable Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (2.5 Ma to the present)