McCutcheon Money: The Projected Impact of Striking Aggregate Contribution Limits

This term, the Supreme Court is considering a challenge to aggregate contribution limits in a case called McCutcheon v. FEC. The current limit on what one person may contribute to all federal candidates, parties, and PACs is $123,200. Absent this limit, the wealthy donor would be permitted to contribute more than$3.5 million to a single party's candidates and party committees (plus a virtually unlimited amount to supportive PACs). Under current case law, the Supreme Court should uphold aggregate contribution limits as a decades-old protection against corruption, the appearance of corruption, and circumvention of base contribution limits. But the Roberts court has been willing to toss precedent aside to gut campaign finance laws in the past. So, it's worth asking, what would be the practical effect if the Court strikes a federal contribution limit for the first time

The Naked Afterward: A Novel

A novel taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia that explores the tension between ideal and actual, between spiritual and carnal, between who we are and who we would like to be. An American named John Dawke takes a job operating surveillance equipment for an independent security company based in Jakarta that is supposedly involved in counter-terrorism. Dawke’s wife has recently died, and he suspects suicide. Thus, he is trying to get away, to recreate himself in a place where each action reverberates with consequences unintended and unknown

Translating proprietary protection setting data into standardized IEC 61850 format for protection setting validation

For smart grid development, one of the key expectations is that the data should be accessible to and readily interpreted by different applications. Presently, protection settings are represented using proprietary parameters and stored in various file formats. This makes it very difficult for computer applications to manipulate such data directly. This paper introduces a process that translates the proprietary protection setting data into IEC 61850 standardised format and saves the data as System Configuration description Language (SCL) files. A code generation process that allows rapid implementation of the translation process is proposed. Among various applications, the paper demonstrates how such a translation process and generated SCL files can facilitate the development of an intelligent system for protection setting error detection and validation

Standardization of power system protection settings using IEC 61850 for improved interoperability

One of the potential benefits of smart grid development is that data becomes more open and available for use by multiple applications. Many existing protection relays use proprietary formats for storing protection settings. This paper proposes to apply the IEC 61850 data model and System Configuration description Language (SCL), which are formally defined, to represent protection settings. Protection setting files in proprietary formats are parsed using rule-based reasoning, mapped to the IEC 61850 data model, and exported as SCL files. An important application of using SCL-based protection setting files is to achieve protection setting interoperability, which could bring multiple compelling benefits, such as significantly streamlining the IED configuration process and releasing utilities from being “locked in” to one particular vendor. For this purpose, this paper proposes a uniform configuration process for future IEDs. The challenges involved in the implementation of the proposed approach are discussed and possible solutions are presented

Reducing Sound Levels of Granulator at ORBIS Corporation

The plastic granulation process at OrbisCorporation produces noise levels up to 114 decibels. The current noise level at the closest operator station from the grinder is 90 dB.Due to OSHA regulations, noise levels must be decreased to at or below 85 decibels at the nearest operator station

Centralised busbar differential and wavelet-based line protection system for multi- terminal direct current grids, with practical IEC-61869-compliant measurements

This paper presents a method for discriminative detection of DC faults on VSC-powered multi-terminal HVDC transmission systems using two fundamental guiding principles, namely instantaneous current-differential and travelling waves. The proposed algorithm utilises local voltage and current measurements from all transmission lines connected to a DC busbar, and current measurement from the DC side of the converter. The scheme operates at a sampling frequency of 96 kHz which conforms with IEC 61869-9. No long distance communication is involved while measurements and signal exchange within DC substations are enabled by the utilisation of IEC 61850. Performance is assessed firstly through detailed transient simulation, using verified models of modular multi-level converters, hybrid DC circuit breakers and inductive DC-line terminations. Furthermore, practical performance and feasibility of the scheme is evaluated through laboratory testing, using the real time Opal-RT hardware prototyping platform. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed protection algorithm can effectively, and within a very short period of time (i.e. less than 1 ms), discriminate between busbar and line faults (internal faults), while remaining stable during external faults. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that IEC 61869-9 is suitable for enabling fast DC protection schemes incorporating travelling waves

Co-producing composite storytelling comics : (counter) narratives by academics of working-class heritage

This work was supported by the Society for Research into Higher Education, (grant number Davis NR2129).Composite storytelling as a social qualitative research method represents a growing spirit of creativity to explore themes of social injustice. This article discusses the potential methodological affordances and challenges of such approaches when used to collectively unsettle, interrogate and (re)imagine what it means to become an academic of working-class heritage. The participatory project discussed in this paper involved eight social science and humanities academics in UK-based elite higher education institutions. In a series of storytelling sessions, the participants created narrative encounters to foster moments of critique and analysis to explore the complex social realities of their routes into and through academia as people of working-class origins. Working alongside an illustrator, the participants used empirical insights to create composite stories in multimodal comic formats. Through this work, we seek to prompt further discussions about the generative possibilities of pursuing similar methods in the social sciences and beyond to challenge forms of social injustice.Peer reviewe