ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CONCERNS

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Fresnel cup reflector directs maximum energy from light source

To minimize shielding and overheating, a composite Fresnel cup reflector design directs the maximum energy from a light source. It consists of a uniformly ellipsoidal end surface and an extension comprising a series of confocal ellipsoidal and concentric spherical surfaces

One bite = Instant pleasure

There is nothing like biting into a big juicy over processed cheeseburger that is smothered with processed condiments that make your taste buds scream with joy with every bit you take. While that may sound repulsive now there is no way of denying the fact that at some point and time you have eaten something similar to that and to your dismay you enjoyed it

Moving beyond dialogue

The time has come for the biotechnology industry to explore the principles and processes of participatory decision-making, and to implement concrete decision-making opportunities involving all elements of the agricultural biotechnology constituency, including farmers, public interest group representatives and other citizens. These individuals should be involved in the strategic phases of basic and applied agricultural biotechnology research, development and marketing. The characteristic of participatory decision-making would create authentic opportunities to directly influence the biotechnology agenda

Improving Speech and Speaker Recognition For Multi-Speaker Conversations

There is an application that was built to implement the ideas in this paper hosted at https://freescribe.orgThis paper outlines an effective process for transcribing conversations from an audio file. The process involves combining speech recognition and speaker recognition to prepare the audio signals for transcription without relying on a database of preexisting vocal models. This process is intended for multi-speaker conversations where vocal models are not available or otherwise impossible to create from the amount of data provided. We find in conclusion that we can improve the performance of speech recognition on multi-speaker conversations by leveraging the classifying properties of speaker recognition to reduce variance in the dataset thus producing a result that is just as effective if we were to perform mono-speaker speech recognition.B.S. (Bachelor of Science

Sphere forming method and apparatus

A system is provided for forming small accurately spherical objects. Preformed largely spherical objects are supported at the opening of a conduit on the update of hot gas emitted from the opening, so the object is in a molten state. The conduit is suddenly jerked away at a downward incline, to allow the molten object to drop in free fall, so that surface tension forms a precise sphere. The conduit portion that has the opening, lies in a moderate vacuum chamber, and the falling sphere passes through the chamber and through a briefly opened valve into a tall drop tower that contains a lower pressure, to allow the sphere to cool without deformation caused by falling through air

Incorporating Technology in Mathematics Education: A Suite of E-Activities for the Modem Mathematics Classroom

National studies indicate major deficiencies in students\u27 understanding of mathematics. Research suggests that students tend to view mathematics as a set of computational rules rather than a process of discovery and a tool for problem-solving. Most students fail to grasp the concepts behind the computations. Technology provides a partial solution to this problem. Over the past decade, computers have emerged as a powerful tool in education. Computers place the control of action in the learning process with the student. They allow students to experiment with, explore, and discover mathematics at their own pace. With computers, students can consider more examples than are possible with a pencil and paper. The graphic capability of computers aids students in concept visualization; the computational capacity allows them to focus on concepts while the computer executes the tedious computations. The purpose of this thesis is to facilitate the effective use of computers in mathematics education. The primary component of this thesis is a CD-ROM containing a suite of computer manipulatives intended for use in the mathematics classroom. An explanation of the manipulatives accompanies the CD-ROM, as does a description of the creation process

Inventor Mobility, Human Capital, and the Propensity to Patent

Using 1975-1992 patent data this article untangles two opposing effects of knowledge spillovers: increasing productivity of invention (encouraging higher-quality patents) and increasing trade secret leakage to competitors (encouraging lower-quality patents). Using geographic labor mobility to predict the former and industry labor mobility in the latter, we find that doubling the rate of industry level labor mobility of scientists and engineers decreases patent quality. Results from doubling the rate of regional level mobility are mixed, but suggest an increase in patent quality