Good Bulbs, Bad Jobs: Workers and Conditions Behind Your New Compact Fluorescent

The study highlights labor violations at a Xiamen Topstar Lighting Co. Ltd. factory, a joint venture in which GE has a stake. The report recommends that GE follow its own policies and ensure that its bulbs are made in a way that does not compromise the health and rights of workers who make them

Fast Conversion Algorithms for Orthogonal Polynomials

We discuss efficient conversion algorithms for orthogonal polynomials. We describe a known conversion algorithm from an arbitrary orthogonal basis to the monomial basis, and deduce a new algorithm of the same complexity for the converse operation

What Local Climate Change Plans Can Teach Us About City Power

Discussions of city power have long focused on cities’ power relative to higher levels of government and to each other. The diffuse causes of climate change offer an opportunity to revisit the question of city power by focusing more closely on the intended object of influence. Although these two perspectives on power will at times overlap, they are not identical. If we consider greenhouse gas emissions as the target, cities can employ their relatively minor powers to substantial effect and many of them appear to be trying to do so. But consideration of cities’ climate change policies alters the usual analysis of city power further. While local government theorists have generally evaluated cities’ autonomy in terms of residents’ ability to shape their local community or their metropolitan region, municipal climate change policies aim to meaningfully contribute to resolution of a global problem. Although some elements of climate change plans may provide fiscal or other benefits that may make cities better providers of services to “consumer-voters” on a public choice model, many other elements cannot be explained other than recognizing these as efforts to engage their residents in a community building effort that encompasses the entire world. Perhaps Frug’s future vision for cities is already taking shape in the realm of local climate change policies, but on a grander vision of geographic interconnection than even he envisioned

A modular methodology for converting large, complex books into usable, accessible and standards-compliant ebooks

This report describes the methodology used for ebook creation for the Glasgow Digital Library (GDL), and provides detailed instructions on how the same methodology could be used elsewhere. The document includes a description and explanation of the processes for ebook creation followed by a tutorial

Fault detection and location in DC systems from initial di/dt measurement

The use of DC for primary power distribution has the potential to bring significant design, cost and efficiency benefits to a range of power transmission and distribution applications. The use of active converter technologies within these networks is a key enabler for these benefits to be realised, however their integration can lead to exceptionally demanding electrical fault protection requirements, both in terms of speed and fault discrimination. This paper describes a novel fault detection method which exceeds the capability of many current protection methods in order to meet these requirements. The method utilises fundamental characteristics of the converter filter capacitance’s response to electrical system faults to estimate fault location through a measurement of fault path inductance. Crucially, the method has the capability to detect and discriminate fault location within microseconds of the fault occurring, facilitating its rapid removal from the network