Class action law suit filed by international workers against Wal-Mart, Dismissed

Workers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland, and Nicaragua filed a suit against Wal-Mart for its failure to monitor factories. The court concluded that Wal-Mart had no legal duty under its ‘Standards for Suppliers’ or common law negligence principles to monitor its suppliers or protect plaintiffs from suppliers’ alleged substandard labor practices

Investigation on the impact of design wind speed and control strategy on the performance of fixed-pitch variable-speed wind turbines

Wind turbine blade design optimization remains one of the fundamental research areas for modern wind turbine technology. The general design process for fixed-pitch variablespeed wind turbine blades assumes the rated wind speed as the design wind speed. However, for a fixed-pitch wind turbine with fixed rotor diameter and rated power at rated speed, we do not know the optimum design wind speed, which should be used for the calculation of the wind turbine blade parameters based on a particular aerofoil for a specific site with low annual mean wind speed. This paper investigates the impact of design wind speed and control strategy on the performance of fixed-pitch wind turbines through a set of design case studies. The design wind speeds are considered at the more prevalent wind speeds than the rated wind speed. Three different control strategies are addressed, i.e. maximum power point tracking, mixture of variable-speed and fixed-speed, and over-speeding. Annual energy production, blade manufacturing cost, aerodynamic load performance and cost of energy are analyzed and compared using the design case studies. The results reveal a clear picture in determining the optimum design wind speed and control strategy for both maximizing annual energy production and minimizing cost of energy

Global Trends in Mobile Technology and Their Impact on Your Library

Contrary to the impression of many Americans, some less technologically developed countries are more actively using mobile technology than we are. As mobile technology is exploding in both our personal and professional lives, this is impacting our libraries and our users as they reach out to us with their mobile devices. This article will examine some of these trends and discuss ways that libraries can begin to institute mobile services even if they do not have a lot of funds or technical expertise. Results of a survey of how ACL libraries are using mobile services in their libraries are discussed

Design and Finite Element Analysis of Mixed Aerofoil Wind Turbine Blades

Wind turbine technology is one of the rapid growth sectors of renewable energy all over the world. As a core component of a wind turbine, it is a common view that the design and manufacturing of rotor blades represent about 20% of the total investment of the wind turbine [1]. Moreover, the performance of a wind turbine is highly dependent on the design of the rotor [2]. As well as rotor aerodynamic performance, the structure strength, stiffness and fatigue of the blade are also critical to the wind turbine system service life. This paper presents the design and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of a 10KW fixed-pitch variable-speed wind turbine blade with five different thickness of aerofoil shape along the span of the blade. The main parameters of the wind turbine rotor and the blade aerodynamic geometry shape are determined based on the principles of the blade element momentum (BEM) theory. Based on the FE method, deflections and strain distributions of the blade under extreme wind conditions are numerically predicted. The results indicate that the tip clearance is sufficient to prevent collision with the tower, and the blade material is linear and safe

Polaroid Stories Program

Polaroid Stories was performed in March 2014 by the Central Theatre Ensemble at Central Washington University. The play was directed by Patrick Dizney. Scenic design and artwork were by Cayla Raymaker. Costume design was by Shelbi Gilmond, lighting design by Jennifer Groce, and sound design by Avril Martinez. George Bellah III served as fight choreographer, Chelsea Roberts as assistant director, Monica Domena as fight captain, Kayla Lyon as photographer, and Greg Scheopner as stage manager.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cwu_theatre_arts/1012/thumbnail.jp