Leaching Potential of Metals and Brominated Flame Retardants in Obsolete Notebook Computers

Due to the increasing use of electronic components and the accelerated rate in which these components become obsolete, there has been a dramatic increase of discarded electronic waste (E-waste). E-waste includes obsolete electronic products such as computers, scanners, cellular phones, etc. These electronic components are manufactured using a variety of hazardous materials. As these components are discarded, the toxic and hazardous substances may become mobile and could impact human health and the environment. The toxic substances of concern contained in E-waste include heavy metals and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). This study attempts to identify the leaching potential of BFRs and metals

Leaching Potential of Metals and Brominated Flame Retardants in Obsolete Notebook Computers

Due to the increasing use of electronic components and the accelerated rate in which these components become obsolete, there has been a dramatic increase of discarded electronic waste (E-waste). E-waste includes obsolete electronic products such as computers, scanners, cellular phones, etc. These electronic components are manufactured using a variety of hazardous materials. As these components are discarded, the toxic and hazardous substances may become mobile and could impact human health and the environment. The toxic substances of concern contained in E-waste include heavy metals and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). This study attempts to identify the leaching potential of BFRs and metals

A follow up study of high school students with mild mental retardation: Has the transition been made?

The purpose of this study was to determine if the transition from school programs to sustained employment was made by former mildly mentally handicapped students. The study was designed to determine what variables contributed to successful transition. These independent variables were four types of school programs, availability of work coordinators or job coaches, gender, and opportunity. Briefly, the four types of programs were (A) special classes with supervised work experience, (B) special classes and work experience not related or supervised by school personnel, (C) special classes with no work experience, and (D) special classes in grades 9 and 10. A secondary objective was to determine if the former students had obtained an independent living status. The study focused on students identified as developmentally handicapped in accordance to the State of Ohio\u27s Rules for the Education of Handicapped Children. All potential respondents possessed intelligence quotients, as measured by the Stanford Binet or the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised, between 50 and 80. The subjects were 1988 graduates from special programs operated by twenty-seven school districts located in East Central Ohio. Each of the school districts was contacted. The purpose of the study was explained and information leading to the former students\u27 most recent address and telephone listing was requested. An interview guide was implemented leading to school program information, employment, information, and living status. Each former student was contacted by phone when possible, others were sent a copy of the interview guide with instructions to return the completed form in the stamped addressed envelope provided. The statistic used to clarify and assist in analyzing the data was Chi-square. The MYSTAT system, a version of SYSTAT, was used to compute the combinations of the independent variables (school program type, gender, availability of work coordinators or job coaches, and opportunity) to each dependent variable (successful transition and independent living status). Of sixty-eight respondents, fifty-one reported to be gainfully employed and thirty were reported to be living independently. All participants having completed Program Types A or B were reported as having achieved successful transition. In conclusion, it would appear that work experience enhances the opportunity to obtain and sustain gainful employment. School programs need to coordinate basic academic, life, and fundamental employability skills during the secondary years, and extend the support until the transition is complete

Selection and arrangement of proposed storage battery equipment for physics and electrical engineering laboratories

The object of this Thesis is to select and arrange the equipment for a 110 volt storage battery system to be used in supplying a variation of voltage to the Electrical Machinery, Electrical Measurement, and Physics Laboratories, located in the basement of Norwood Hall --page 4

DNAgents: Genetically Engineered Intelligent Mobile Agents

Mobile agents are a useful paradigm for network coding providing many advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, widespread adoption of mobile agents has been hampered by the disadvantages, which could be said to outweigh the advantages. There is a variety of ongoing work to address these issues, and this is discussed. Ultimately, genetic algorithms are selected as the most interesting potential avenue. Genetic algorithms have many potential benefits for mobile agents. The primary benefit is the potential for agents to become even more adaptive to situational changes in the environment and/or emergent security risks. There are secondary benefits such as the natural obfuscation of functions inherent to genetic algorithms. Pitfalls also exist, namely the difficulty of defining a satisfactory fitness function and the variable execution time of mobile agents arising from the fact that it exists on a network. DNAgents 1.0, an original application of genetic algorithms to mobile agents is implemented and discussed, and serves to highlight these difficulties. Modifications of traditional genetic algorithms are also discussed. Ultimately, a combination of genetic algorithms and artificial life is considered to be the most appropriate approach to mobile agents. This allows the consideration of agents to be organisms, and the network to be their environment. Towards this end, a novel framework called DNAgents 2.0 is designed and implemented. This framework allows the continual evolution of agents in a network without having a seperate training and deployment phase. Parameters for this new framework were defined and explored. Lastly, an experiment similar to DNAgents 1.0 is performed for comparative purposes against DNAgents 1.0 and to prove the viability of this new framework

(The) new Christology.

Typewritten sheets in cover. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University This item was digitized by the Internet Archive