Business, Education, and Enjoyment: Stakeholder Interpretations of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center

An anthropological study of the Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center undertaken to understand the ways in which the visitor experience is conditioned by their own personal background, as well as filtered through the carefully constructed historical narrative created by museum historians, National Park Service rangers, and administrators. The Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center is a site in which multiple stakeholders contend to ensure that their interpretations of the museum’s purpose is being upheld. This paper will examine the ways in which these various stakeholders – primarily NPS rangers, Civil War historians, and history buffs – interpret the catalyst(s) for constructing the new Gettysburg Visitors Center and Museum, and in turn how their understandings can be understood through the theoretical conception of the museum as a place of business, education, and enjoyment. Having outlined and analyzed their individual interpretations, I will then examine the visitor experience – through surveys given to visitors at the museum – as being conditioned by the explicit educational goals of the museum’s creators, as well as by the museum’s trifold status

Continuous Production Mode as a Viable Process-Engineering Tool for Efficient Poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA) Bio-Production

Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) constitute promising biomaterials for substituting plastics of fossil origin. Until now, all commercial processes for PHA production were based on discontinuous fed-batch cultivation of prokaryotes. Such processes embody several shortcomings: unpredictable product quality, restricted possibility for supply of toxic carbon substrates, and, most of all, low volumetric productivity. Continuous PHA biosynthesis as a remedy was already investigated on laboratory scale for production of highly crystalline PHA homopolyesters as well as for elastomeric and even functional PHA copolyesters. Apart from enhanced productivity, chemostat processes are a feasible method to elucidate kinetics of cell growth and PHA formation under constant environmental conditions. In order to adapt the process engineering to the microbial kinetic characteristics for growth and PHA accumulation, continuous single- and multistage approaches are reported

South-South education relations

While scholarly interest in South–South cooperation (SSC) has substantially grown over the past decade, South–South education relations have received only scant attention in the Anglophone academic literatures on SSC, international development and international and comparative education. This chapter adopts an historical and global approach to this topic in an effort to contribute to closing this research gap. The chapter unfolds as follows: the first section introduces the concepts of ‘the South’ and ‘South–South cooperation’, counter-posed with practices of ‘triangular collaboration’ and ‘best practice transfer’. On this basis, the second section conducts a critical review of existing South–South education cooperation literatures. Framed by these discussions, two case studies of contemporary South–South education relations are presented: the ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! (Sure, I Can!) global literacy campaign promoted by the governments of the Republic of Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; and the education cooperation agenda of the so-called BRICS. The conclusion resumes the question of whether South–South education cooperation simply represents ‘best practice transfer’ or Third World solidarity for global transformation, while proposals for a future research agenda are developed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Line Arrester Application on a 110 kV High Alpine Overhead Line to reduce Lightning-Caused Outages

This contribution discusses a project, which aims to increase the reliability in an existing 110 kV overhead transmission network by taking measures addressing lightning and grounding issues. Due to the fault statistic in the past, a single overhead line was identified as a main reason for the lightning-caused outages in the area. In this work a number of possibilities for the reduction of lightning-caused outages are discussed and the measures taken in the network are described. All considerations took the special geographical situation of 2300 meter above sea level, the grounding resistance of up to 1200 Ohm and the local lightning activity of more than 6 lightning strikes per km² and year into account (4 to 5 times higher than in other Austrian regions). An analytical process was carried out to evaluate relevant parameters and to develop a concept of practical measures. Within these evaluations, the footing resistance, the effectiveness of the shielding angle of the shielding wires and the line arrester locations were analyzed. A multiplicity of numerical calculations were performed to assess the application of surge arresters regarding the insulation coordination for the system. To improve the line performance and to decrease the line outage rate, a number of practical measures were applied to the 110 kV line. In the past, the double three phase systems of the 110 kV overhead line was constructional converted into one active single three phase system with two additional earth wires. According to the numerical results, 18 surge arresters have been installed in a line section of 9 towers, located in a high alpine part and in an area of high lightning activity. Three years of field experiences have shown that the theoretical investigations and the practical measures led to a significant decrease of lightning caused outages. In the year 2007 a new project was started to evaluate a reconstruction of the line into the original double three phase system. New numerical calculation routines were made to apply line arresters at this important 110 kV system in an Austrian extreme mountain region. Based on this results, a new application of line arresters and the constructional change of the system is planned

Seeing Recovery Through the Eyes of Ethnic and Cultural Minorities

Describes a study that sought to better understand how persons with mental health conditions from two cultural groups, Latino and Deaf/Heard of Hearing (D/HH), access recovery-oriented and peer support services. Results from this study helped to inform the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health regarding system improvements that could be made to better serve these populations

Linda Cabral, Laura Sefton, and Kathy Muhr on Recruiting People with Mental Health Conditions for Data Collection

Blog post to AEA365, a blog sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) dedicated to highlighting Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources, and Lessons Learned for evaluators. The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF PRESSBOARD AND THE INFLUENCE OF MOISTURE CONTENT

The electrical conductivity σ is an important parameter for material condition evaluation at AC applications and is responsible for electrical field distribution in DC equipment. With a focus on HVDC equipment design, the influence of moisture content in oil-impregnated pressboard is determined in this preliminary investigation. The electrical conductivity of pressboard samples, which have been wetted artificially in the laboratory, is investigated within this work. Moisture contents between <0,3% and 5,5% could be achieved artificially through increasing pressboard moisture content levels in a climate chamber. The electrical conductivity was determined by voltage-current measurements at 20°C in the style of IEC 60093 with measurement times up to and longer than 24 hours. For these investigations, the pressboard samples with a thickness of 1 mm have been placed in an (mineral) oil-filled test vessel and stressed by a DC field with E = 3 kV/mm. It could be demonstrated that the moisture content of pressboard has a strong influence onto the electrical conductivity: An increase of electrical conductivity by a factor of around 10 for each percentage point of moisture increase up to moisture levels of around 3,5% was observed. At higher moisture contents (>5%), other mechanisms seem to govern the electrical current and the conductivity respectively, which is also discussed within the work