H.F. Hauff Pruner Cutting Blades

Apple orchards are a critical component of agriculture in the United States, and keeping the apple trees in the best shape for optimum growth and production is hard work. Neil Hauff, an agriculture industry expert, challenged students at CWU to engineer a power assisted tree pruner. Across the country, apple orchards need pruned every season. The pruning of the trees is strenuous manual labor that requires many man hours. The proposed solution is to create a power assisted tree pruner that would minimize the amount of work needed to trim each tree branch. This project has been separated into three main components; power drive system, housing and ergonomics, and the cutting blades. The main focus of this report was the optimization of the pruners cutting blades and their ability to cut branches quickly and repeatedly. The entire device was created by utilizing an electric impact driver and converting the rotational motion into linear motion that would actuate the cutting blades. The cutting blades were designed to open large enough to cut a 1.50” diameter branch, and use a linear pulling force of 1000 lbs, supplied by the impact driver. Testing showed that the cutting blade assembly was capable of withstanding the 1000 lb force applied by the drive system. This report describes the motivation, engineering analysis, and results of testing the cutting blades within the device

Cursed Connections

This thesis is a work of fiction. It contains the first fifteen chapters of a novel in-progress. The novel will use five different perspectives to tell the origin story of problematic issues that led to the creation of magical divide between the magical and nonmagical beings. Cursed Connections explores the circumstances that divide families, lovers, and friends while examining the consequences of one putting one’s duty over their loved ones. By using the perceptions of a mother and her three daughters along with an unknown fifth perspective, this novel will tell the story of what happens when each character contributes to saving humanity by making the ultimate sacrifice

Petite histoire de la bibliothèque de l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario

La bibliothèque de l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario va bientôt célébrer son bicentenaire. Le moment est donc propice pour tracer les grandes lignes de son histoire qui se confond avec celle du Haut-Canada, de la Province unie du Canada et de l’Ontario. L’auteur profite aussi de l’occasion pour faire le point sur les principaux services que cette bibliothèque met à la disposition des députés.The forthcoming bicentennial of the Ontario Legislative Library makes it appropriate to highlight its history; a history that coincides with that of Upper Canada, the united Province of Canada, and Ontario. The principal services offered to the Members of the provincial legislature are also described.La biblioteca de la Asamblea legislativa de Ontario celebrará muy pronto su bicentenario. Es el momento propicio para trazar los grandes acontecimientos de su historia, que se confunde con la del Alto-Canadá, de la Provincia unida de Canadá y de Ontario. El autor describe también los principales servicios que la biblioteca ofrece a los diputados

Targeting Opportunities and Managing Change: A Perspective from General Mills (Power Point Presentation)

Agribusiness,

Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative: Forestry Carbon Financial Risk Analysis

In 2007, Duke University signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, committing the University to develop an institutional plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2024. Achieving this goal will require Duke University to offset approximately 183,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2024. To address this challenge, the University established the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative in 2009 to procure carbon offsets that prioritize investment in local and regional carbon offset projects that yield significant environmental, social and economic benefits beyond greenhouse gas emission reductions. The Offsets Initiative is currently assessing the feasibility of purchasing or developing forestry-based carbon offset projects in North Carolina and the Southeast region. From the perspective of Duke University, this report assesses the financial implications of forestry carbon offset procurement. Specifically, this report analyzes two potential investment opportunities: an existing afforestation project and a hypothetical avoided conversion project. Each project analysis begins with a project overview and identifies key players to understand incentive structures and assess qualitative project risks. Following this qualitative description, a quantitative analysis is performed to determine the levelized cost per offset (LCO) in present value terms to Duke University and to further assess additional risks and mitigation strategies. The analyses do not attempt to quantify intangible benefits such as educational, research, or ecosystem co-benefit values. Rather the financial analyses are intended to compliment the Offsets Initiative’s larger feasibility study on forestry carbon offsets. The analyses show both projects as potential candidates for long-term investments. The afforestation project has low project risk and provides sufficient offset supply to meet the University’s need. Additionally, the LCO is low relative to substitute over-the-counter forestry offsets. However, the project requires high upfront investment and exposes Duke University to price risk. This risk may be mitigated through the purchase of a real option from the project developer. The avoided conversion project is found to require little upfront investment and may produce a large offset supply if scaled up. However, sensitivity analysis performed on key parameters derived from the tax equity project finance structure produces a wide range of possible LCOs. Duke University can better understand its LCO by first performing an assessment on the tax equity value to determine if the project is financially feasible

Cursed Connections

This thesis is a work of fiction. It contains the first fifteen chapters of a novel in-progress. The novel will use five different perspectives to tell the origin story of problematic issues that led to the creation of magical divide between the magical and nonmagical beings. Cursed Connections explores the circumstances that divide families, lovers, and friends while examining the consequences of one putting one’s duty over their loved ones. By using the perceptions of a mother and her three daughters along with an unknown fifth perspective, this novel will tell the story of what happens when each character contributes to saving humanity by making the ultimate sacrifice