The Power of Choice : How Certain Policies Encourage Renewable Energy Development

Despite a great deal of attention paid to state renewable energy potential, there has been relatively little research on specific energy policies and their effect on the generation of renewable energy. This study seeks greater understanding of the state energy policies and how they individually affect the generation of wind, solar and biomass energy. Using a quantitative analysis of data from the United States, the results show that, despite geographic, economic, and political factors playing a significant role in renewable energy. Rebates had the most significant positive relationship to generating renewable energy. Required Green Power and Generation Disclosure policies were also significant and had a positive relationship for certain energy sources. These adopted policies which encourage individual consumer choice are the strongest policy predictors for net renewable energy generation form the aforementioned renewable energy sources

Bewertungspluralismus und organisationales Entscheiden

Seit einigen Jahren konstituiert sich das Forschungsfeld einer Soziologie der Bewertung. Wir stellen hier – noch sehr vorläufige – programmatisch-konzeptionell gemeinte Überlegungen zu einer in diesem Feld verorteten, dezidiert organisationssoziologischen Perspektive vor. Diese macht den Zusammenhang von Bewerten und Entscheiden zu ihrem Gegenstand. Im Zentrum steht die Frage, wie Bewertungen in der empirischen Entscheidungspraxis verwendet werden. Unsere Überlegungen zielen auf ein breiteres, langfristiger angelegtes, dann letztlich empirisch-vergleichendes Forschungsprogramm

Assessment of academic advising models in the OSU College of Science based on student and advisor feedback

This study sought to explore the differences between the varied academic advising models in the College of Science at Oregon State University through the feedback of its undergraduate students and advisors. Using parallel surveys of students and their academic advisors, it found that the decentralized and centralized models each had advantages and disadvantages. Advisor responses showed that the professional advisors in centralized models seem to be meeting more of the delivery outcomes outlined in the OSU Academic Advising Statement. This may be due to a combination of characteristics of the model such as time devoted to advising and presence of a central office as well as advisor characteristics such as educational background. Student responses suggested that students seem to be building better advisor-student relationships with faculty advisors in decentralized models, possibly due to the lower advising loads given to each faculty member. Many outcomes showed no significant differences between the centralized, decentralized, and mixed models, indicating that the models are equally as effective in these areas. The results provide insights for the OSU Academic Advising Statement goals. Recommendations are made for the implementation of advisor training, encouragement of the instructor/advisor path, improvements to communication pathways, and education of students on the full potential of academic advising

StVO-Reform im Überblick

STVO-REFORM IM ÜBERBLICK StVO-Reform im Überblick / Aljets, Janna (Rights reserved) ( -

Vom rasenden Stillstand zum versprochenen Fortschritt?

VOM RASENDEN STILLSTAND ZUM VERSPROCHENEN FORTSCHRITT? Vom rasenden Stillstand zum versprochenen Fortschritt? / Aichinger, Wolfgang (Rights reserved) ( -

An Ethnographic Study of Students' Views of Group Work

Poster with the results of a collaborative ethnographic study of students' views of group work. The study was conducted within the framework of the anthropology course 810.21: Research Design and Ethnographic Methods (Spring 2011) taught by Dr. Mark Moritz

A new methodology for automating acoustic emission detection of metallic fatigue fractures in highly demanding aerospace environments: An overview

The acoustic emission (AE) phenomenon has many attributes that make it desirable as a structural health monitoring or non-destructive testing technique, including the capability to continuously and globally monitor large structures using a sparse sensor array and with no dependency on defect size. However, AE monitoring is yet to fulfil its true potential, due mainly to limitations in location accuracy and signal characterisation that often arise in complex structures with high levels of background noise. Furthermore, the technique has been criticised for a lack of quantitative results and the large amount of operator interpretation required during data analysis. This paper begins by introducing the challenges faced in developing an AE based structural health monitoring system and then gives a review of previous progress made in addresing these challenges. Subsequently an overview of a novel methodology for automatic detection of fatigue fractures in complex geometries and noisy environments is presented, which combines a number of signal processing techniques to address the current limitations of AE monitoring. The technique was developed for monitoring metallic landing gear components during pre-flight certification testing and results are presented from a full-scale steel landing gear component undergoing fatigue loading. Fracture onset was successfully identify automatically at 49,000 fatigue cycles prior to final failure (validated by the use of dye penetrant inspection) and the fracture position was located to within 10. mm of the actual location

Assessment of temperature and time on the survivability of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) on experimentally contaminated surfaces

Fomites might be responsible for virus introduction in swine farms, highlighting the importance of implementing practices to minimize the probability of virus introduction. The study’s objective was to assess the efficacy of different combinations of temperatures and holding-times on detecting live PRRSV and PEDV on surfaces commonly found in supply entry rooms in swine farms. Two PRRSV isolates (MN 184 and 1-4-4 L1C variant) and one PEDV isolate (NC 49469/2013) were inoculated on cardboard and aluminum. An experimental study tested combinations of four temperatures (20°C, 30°C, 40°C, and 50°C) and six holding-times (15 minutes, 60 minutes, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours) for the presence of the viruses on each surface type. After virus titration, virus presence was assessed by assessing the cytopathic effects and immunofluorescence staining. The titers were expressed as log10 TCID50/ml, and regression models; half-lives equations were calculated to assess differences between treatments and time to not detect the live virus. The results suggest that the minimum time that surfaces should be held to not detect the virus at 30°C was 24 hours, 40°C required 12 hours, and 50°C required 6 hours; aluminum surfaces took longer to reach the desired temperature compared to cardboard. The results suggest that PRRSV 1-4-4 L1C variant had higher half-lives at higher temperatures than PRRSV MN 184. In conclusion, time and temperature combinations effectively decrease the concentration of PRRSV and PEDV on different surfaces found in supply entry rooms in swine farms.This article is published as Mil-Homens, Mafalda, Ethan Aljets, Rodrigo C. Paiva, Isadora Machado, Guilherme Cezar, Onyekachukwu Osemeke, Daniel Moraes et al. "Assessment of temperature and time on the survivability of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) on experimentally contaminated surfaces." Plos one 19, no. 1 (2024): e0291181. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291181. © 2024 Mil-Homens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

Guided wave-based identification of multiple cracks in beams using a Bayesian approach

Available online 26 July 2016A guided wave damage identification method using a model-based approach is proposed to identify multiple cracks in beam-like structures. The guided wave propagation is simulated using spectral finite element method and a crack element is proposed to take into account the mode conversion effect. The Bayesian model class selection algorithm is employed to determine the crack number and then the Bayesian statistical framework is used to identify the crack parameters and the associated uncertainties. In order to improve the efficiency and ensure the reliability of identification, the Transitional Markov Chain Monte Carlo (TMCMC) method is implemented in the Bayesian approach. A series of numerical case studies are carried out to assess the performance of the proposed method, in which the sensitivity of different guided wave modes and effect of different levels of measurement noise in identifying different numbers of cracks is studied in detail. The proposed method is also experimentally verified using guided wave data obtained from laser vibrometer. The results show that the proposed method is able to accurately identify the number, locations and sizes of the cracks, and also quantify the associated uncertainties. In addition the proposed method is robust under measurement noise and different situations of the cracks.Shuai He, Ching-Tai N