Copper emissions from a high volume air sampler

High volume air samplers (hi vols) are described which utilize a brush-type electric motor to power the fans used for pulling air through the filter. Anomalously high copper values were attributed to removal of copper from the commutator into the air stream due to arcing of the brushes and recirculation through the filter. Duplicate hi vols were set up under three operating conditions: (1) unmodified; (2) gasketed to prevent internal recirculation; and (3) gasketed and provided with a pipe to transport the motor exhaust some 20 feet away. The results of 5 days' operation demonstrate that hi vols can suddenly start emitting increased amounts of copper with no discernible operational indication, and that recirculation and capture on the filter can take place. Copper levels found with hi vols whose exhaust was discharged at a distance downwind were among the lowest found, and apparently provides a satisfactory solution to copper contamination

A cloud robotics architecture for an emergency management and monitoring service in a smart cityenvironment

Cloud robotics is revolutionizing not only the robotics industry but also the ICT world, giving robots more storage and computing capacity, opening new scenarios that blend the physical to the digital world. In this vision new IT architectures are required to manage robots, retrieve data from them and create services to interact with users. In this paper a possible implementation of a cloud robotics architecture for the interaction between users and UAVs is described. Using the latter as monitoring agents, a service for fighting crime in urban environment is proposed, making one step forward towards the idea of smart cit

A possible origin of bimodal duration distribution of gamma-ray bursts

We study the distribution of the durations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the unified model of short and long GRBs recently proposed by Yamazaki, Ioka, and Nakamura. Monte Carlo simulations show clear bimodal distributions, with lognormal-like shapes for both short and long GRBs, in a power law as well as a Gaussian angulardistr ibution of the subjets. We find that the bimodality comes from the existence of the discrete emission regions (subjets or patchy shells) in the GRB jet

Filter cassette for high volume air sampler

Filter cassette eliminates or substantially reduces contamination of filter media by extraneous material and facilitates handling

Unstable GRB photospheres and electron-positron annihilation lines

We propose an emission mechanism of prompt gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that can reproduce the observed non-thermal spectra with high radiative efficiencies, >50%. Internal dissipation below a photosphere can create a radiation-dominated thermal fireball. If electron-positron pairs outnumber protons, radiative acceleration of pairs drives the two-stream instabilities between pairs and protons, leading to the ``proton sedimentation'' in the accelerating pair frame. Pairs are continuously shock heated by proton clumps, scattering the thermal photons into the broken power-law shape, with the non-thermal energy that is comparable to the proton kinetic energy, consistent with observations. Pair photospheres become unstable around the radius of the progenitor star where strong thermalization occurs, if parameters satisfy the observed spectral (Yonetoku) relation. Pair annihilation lines are predicted above continua, which could be verified by GLAST.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Real-Time Simulation of small-scale power grids with software in-the-loop and hardware in-the-loop experiments

As the term “Smart Grid” defines, the electricity supply network uses smart devices to monitor the state quantities, and digital communication technologies to support fast decisions and control. This work is focused on developing a flexible IoT architecture to support real-time tests and to validate some algorithms for monitoring and maintenance of micro-systems as intelligent smart functions on the virtual model of a small-scale power grid, through Real-Time Simulation Software in-the-loop (SIL) and Hardware in-the-loop (HIL). We aim to explain the implementation aspects of a microgrid in MATLAB/Simulink, based on real grid data and “smart customers” as end-users (capable of exchanging data with the outside of the simulation environment), then compiled in Real-Time environment (RT-LAB software). The overall communication infrastructure relies on different protocols for the data exchange between grid and application components (TCP and MQTT protocol). Furthermore, the presence of an MQTT broker makes the architecture flexible, since it allows the integration of different services

One Of The Prime Beneficiaries Of The Sarbanes Oxley Act Of 2002: The London Stock Exchange!

In the late 1990s, financial markets in the United States (U S ) were rocked by accounting scandals in companies such as Enron and WorldCom. Public confidence in American business was at a low ebb. As a knee-jerk reaction to the scandals, the U S Congress hastily passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) hoping to restore the lost image of the U S business firms. SOX rendered corporate governance and protecting corporate assets a matter of Federal mandates. Penalties for violation of the provisions of SOX include a maximum of 25 years of prison and/or a fine of twenty five million dollars. For small and mid-size firms, the implementation costs became prohibitive. The exorbitant implementation costs of Section 404 of SOX and the draconian criminal sanctions for senior management are driving companies to flee from The New York Stock Exchange to more favorable exchanges overseas. The London Stock Exchange appears to be the most benefited one from the passage of SOX. This paper presents the salient provisions of SOX, the havoc caused to the business firms by its implementation costs, and the present trend of flight of capital from American stock exchanges to overseas stock exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange

Stacked optical antennas for plasmon propagation in a 5 nm-confined cavity

The sub-wavelength concentration and propagation of electromagnetic energy are two complementary aspects of plasmonics that are not necessarily co-present in a single nanosystem. Here we exploit the strong nanofocusing properties of stacked optical antennas in order to highly concentrate the electromagnetic energy into a 5 nm metal-insulator-metal (MIM) cavity and convert free radiation into guided modes. The proposed nano-architecture combines the concentration properties of optical nanoantennas with the propagation capability of MIM systems, paving the way to highly miniaturized on-chip plasmonic waveguiding

The Prospects Of Replacing GAAP With IFRS In The United States

Historically, each country developed its own Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for financial accounting and reporting and there was no uniformity among the GAAPs of different countries. Comparison of financial statements issued by business firms from different countries has become difficult leading toward suboptimal capital allocation across countries in the world. Gradually, there emerged a global demand for convergence of GAAP of different countries into a single set uniform accounting standards applicable to all countries. As a result, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was established in 1973. The IASC formed International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 2001 which began issuing International Financial Accounting Standards (IFRS). At this point about 100 countries have adopted IFRS for their financial reporting purposes. In 2010, the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that it would be able to make a decision on the adoption of the IFRS in the United States within that year and would allow a five-year period for complete transition, if it is decided to incorporate the IFRS into the U S reporting standards. An intense debate ensued for and against incorporation of IFRS into the US GAAP. Four alternative processes are suggested for the transition - outright adoption, convergence, endorsement, and co-endorsement. This paper presents details of each of these suggested alternatives and future perspective of the adoption of IFRS into the U S accounting and reporting system

Innovation In Business Education: Developing A High Quality Online MBA

Online degree programs were probably pioneered by for-profit universities such as University of Phoenix. Many online degree programs were initially considered low quality academic programs compared to traditional programs. Therefore, many public and private universities were slow to adopt the online programs.  However, gradually more and more "non-traditional" students began to enter schools. Employees already holding jobs began to seek to better their qualifications by coming back to school while still working.  For both these groups, online degree programs offered an opportunity to go to school while still employed. Consequently, many schools offering traditional MBA programs are forced to offer online MBA programs to meet the demand and to beat the competing schools. In keeping up with the trend, Arkansas State University launched a high quality online MBA program that parallels the best of the ongoing online MBA programs.  This MBA program has been ranked number 1 in faculty credentials and training and in the top 15 in all categories among all online MBA programs by U. S. News and World Report for three consecutive years. This paper presents how the Graduate Faculty of Arkansas State's College of Business developed its high quality online MBA and how the program operates with revenue sharing for the College of Business