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While Latin America is undergoing a process of metropolitanization, we argue that intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) arrangements may serve as a quality check of the region’s metropolitan governance. We also adhere to the notion that IMC in a metropolitan region is affected not only by constitutional variables embedded in federalist arrangements but also in different ways. We test this assumption by building on a series of hypotheses taken from the literature on IMC. We then compare results from Mexico and Brazil, both federal countries with metropolitan regions. In testing the same variables, we observe different outcomes and a different explanatory power of the theoretical premises underlying IMC. We assign these explanatory differences to features of federalism, an understudied variable. We conclude that, while municipal drivers constitute relevant factors in predicting IMC within a metropolitan region, federalist arrangements modify the weight attributed to these factors.

Wind speed is the principal climatic element that drives the Marmaton season in West African sub region. It drives the season by conveying huge amount of dust across the Northeastern Nigeria. The presence of dust in the atmosphere brought by the Northeast trade winds during the Harmattan season plays a vital role in absorbing and scattering solar radiation. The study examines the spatial and temporal variations of wind speed in Northeastern Nigeria during the Harmattan season with the sole aim of ascertaining its variability, patterns and trends from1984 to 2014. Descriptive and statistics such as mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and time series analysis with ArcGIS 10.3 was used in examine the temporal and spatial variations of wind speed from 1984–2014 in six synoptic stations of Northeastern Nigeria. The findings show that wind speed varied both temporally and spatially in the last three decades. The pattern of variations in the six synoptic stations shows rising trends within the study years. It was also found that latitude playing a crucial role in determining the speed of the wind in the study area and as the speed of the wind increases with increasing latitude. Keywords: Wind speed, Harmattan, Season, Northeast, Variation and ITD. References Adaramola,M.S.andOyewola,O. M. (2011). Wind Speed Distribution and Characteristics in Nigeria. Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences.ISSN 1819-6608.www.arpnjournals.com Amadi, S. O., Udo, S. O. and Ewona, I. O. (2014). Trends in Monthly Mean Minimum and Maximum Temperature Data over Nigeria for the Period 1950-2012. International Research Journal of Pure and Applied Physics, 2(4), 1-27. Ayoade, J.O. (2004). Introduction to Climatology for the Tropics.2nd ed. Spectrum Books Limitted, Spectrum House Ring Road Ibadan, Nigeria. Balarabe, M., Abdallah, K., and Nawawi, M. (2015). Long- Term Trend and Seasonal Variability of Horizontal Visibility in Nigerian Troposphere.Journal of Atmosphere 6:1462-1486; doi:10.3390/atmos6101462. Dahuwa, D., Promise, K. U., Umar, W., Bello, I. and Mohammed, R. (2018). Analysis of Wind Speed And Frequency InAzare North eastern Part of Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Applied Physics (IOSR-JAP) e-ISSN: 2278-4861.Volume 10, Issue 1 Ver. I. PP 09-17 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/4861-1001010917 www.iosrjournals.org Danlami, D., Gwari, M., Suleiman, S., and Bara, A. (2018). Temporal and Spatial variations of Groung Surface visibility during Harmattan Season in North-Eastern Nigeria.Ceylon Journal Science, 47(4), 337 – 346. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/cjs.v47i4.7551. Danlami, D. (2017). Spatio-Temporal Variations of Harmattan Season in Northeastern Nigeria.M.Sc. Dissertation (Not published) Submitted to the Department of Geography, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. De Longueville, F., Hountondji, Y. C., Henry, S. and Ozer, P. (2010). What do we Know about the Effects of Desert Dust on Air Quality and Human Health in West Africa compared to other regions? Journal: Science of Total Environment Fagbenle, R.L., Fasade, A.O., Amuludun A.K. andLala,P.O.( 1980). Wind power potentials of Nigeria. 12th Biennial conference of the West African Science Association, University of Ife, Nigeria. Getis, A., Getis, J., Bjelland, M. and Fellmann, J.D. (2011).Introduction to Geography. 13thed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, NY10020. Karabulut, M., Demirci, A. and Kora, F. (2012). Analysis of spatially distributed annual, seasonal and monthly temperatures in Istanbul from 1975 to 2006.World Applied Sciences Journal, 12(10), 1662-1675 Ojosu, J.O. and Salawu, R.I. (1990).An evaluation of wind energy potential as a power generation source in Nigeria.Solar & Wind Technology.ELSEVIER.Volume 7, Issue 6, 1990, Pages 663-673 Schwanghart, W. and Schutt, B. (2007). Meteorological causes of Harmattan dust in West Africa. Journal of Science Direct Geomorphology. Shuman, M. (2007) Evaluation of five GIS basedInterpolation techniques for estimating the Radonconcentration for unmeasured zip codes in thestate of Ohio, Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, University of Toledo, 28-29 Pp. Waewsak, J., Chancham, C., Landry, M. and Gagnon, Y (2011).An Analysis of Wind Speed Distribution at Thasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.Journal of Sustainable Energy & Environment 2 pp 51-55 Willmott, C., Robeson, S. and Philpot, W. (1985). Small- scale climate maps: A sensitivity analysisof some common assumptions associated withgrid-point interpolation and contouring. American Cartographer 12(1):5-16. Copyright (c) 2019 Geosfera Indonesia Journal and Department of Geography Education, University of Jember This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share A like 4.0 International License

IntroductionSince its launch in 2005, YouTube has fast become one of the most popular video sharing sites, one of the largest sources of user generated content, and one of the most frequently visited sites globally (Burgess and Green). As YouTube’s popularity has increased, more and more people have taken up the site’s invitation to “Broadcast Yourself.” Vlogging (video blogging) on YouTube has increased in popularity, creating new genres and communities. Vlogging not only allows individuals to create their own mediated content for mass consumption—making it a site for participatory culture (Burgess and Green; Jenkins) and resembling contemporary forms of entertainment such as reality television—but it also allows individuals to engage in narrative and identity forming practices. Through filming their everyday lives, and presenting themselves on camera, YouTubers are engaging in a process of constructing and presenting their identity online. They often form communities around these identities and continue the practice in dialogue and collaboration with their communities of viewers on YouTube. Because of YouTube’s mass global reach, the ability to create one’s own mediated content and the ability to publicly play with and project different self representations becomes a powerful tool allowing YouTubers to publicly challenge social norms and encourage others to do the same. This paper will explore these features of YouTube using the recent “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement, started by NikkieTutorials, as an example. Through a virtual ethnography of the movement as developed by Christine Hine—following the people, dialogue, connections, and narratives that emerged from Nikkie’s original video—this paper will demonstrate that YouTube is not only a tool for self transformation, but has wider potential to transform norms in society. This is achieved mainly through mobilising communities that form around transformative practices, such as makeup transformations, on YouTube. Vlogging as an Identity Forming Practice Vlogging on YouTube is a contemporary form of autobiography in which individuals engage in a process of documenting their life on a daily or weekly basis and, in doing so, constructing their identity online. Although the aim of beauty vlogs is to teach new makeup techniques, demonstrate and review new products, or circulate beauty-related information, the videos include a large amount of self-disclosure. Beauty vloggers reveal intimate things about themselves and actively engage in the practice of self-representation while filming. Beauty vlogging is unique to other vlogging genres as it almost always involves an immediate transformation of the physical self in each video. The vloggers typically begin with their faces bare and “natural” and throughout the course of the video transform their faces into how they want to be seen, and ultimately, who they want to be that day, using makeup. Thus the process of self-representation is multi-dimensional as not only are they presenting the self, but they are also visually constructing the self on camera. The construction of identity that beauty vloggers engage in on YouTube can be likened to what Robert Ezra Park and later Erving Goffman refer to as the construction and performance of a mask. In his work Race and Culture, Park states that the original meaning of the word person is a mask (249). Goffman responds to this statement in his work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, saying the mask is “our truer self, the self we would like to be” (30). Beauty vloggers are engaging in the process of constructing their mask—their truer self and the self they would like to be—both through their performance on YouTube, and through the visual transformation that takes place on camera. Their performance on YouTube not only communicates a desired identity, but through their performance they realise this identity. The process of filming and the visual process of constructing or transforming the self on camera through makeup brings the subject into being. Scholarship in the fields of Life Writing and Digital Media including Autobiography, Automedia and Persona Studies has acknowledged and explored the ways narratives and identities—both online and offline—are constructed, created, shaped, chosen, and invented by the individual/author (Garner; Bridger; Eakin; Maguire; Poletti and Rak; Marshall; Smith and Watson). It is widely accepted that all representations of the self are constructed. Crucially, it is the process of documenting or communicating the self that is identity forming (Richardson; Bridger), as the process, including writing, filming, and posting, brings the subject or self into being (Neuman). The individual embodies their performance and realises the self through it. Park and Goffman argue that we all engage in this process of performing and realising the self through the roles we play in society. The significance of the beauty vlogger performance and transformation is the space in which it occurs and the community that it fosters. YouTube as a Transformative Tool and MirrorThe space in which beauty vloggers play with and transform the self on camera is significant as digital technologies such as YouTube invite exploration of the self. Networked digital media (Meikle and Young) invite multiplicity, heterogeneity, and fragmentation in/of identity performances (Bolter; Gergen; Turkle, "Parallel Lives"). These technologies create opportunities for defining and re-defining the self (Bolter 130), as they allow people to present a more multi-mediated self, using both audio-visual components and text (Papacharissi 643).YouTube, in particular, allows the individual to experiment with the self, and document an ongoing transformation, through film (Kavoori). Many scholars have described this ongoing process of identity construction online using the metaphor of “the mirror” (see Kavoori; Raun; and Procter as recent examples). In his research on trans gender vlogging on YouTube, Tobias Raun explores the theme of the mirror. He describes vlogging as a “transformative medium for working on, producing and exploring the self” (366). He argues the vlog acts as a mirror allowing the individual to try out and assume various identities (366). He writes, the mirroring function of the vlog “invites the YouTuber to assume the shape of a desired identity/representation, constantly assuming and evaluating oneself as an attractive image, trying out different ‘styles of the flesh’ (Butler 177), poses and appearances” (367). In reference to trans gender vlogging, Raun writes, “The vlog seems to serve an important function in the transitioning process, and is an important part of a process of self-invention, serving as a testing ground for experimentations with, and manifestations of (new) identities” (367). The mirror (vlog) gives the individual a place/space to construct and perform their mask (identity), and an opportunity to see the reflection and adjust the mask (identity) accordingly. An important feature of the vlog as a mirror is the fact that it is less like a conventional mirror and more like a window with a reflective surface. On YouTube the vlog always involves an audience, who not only watch the performance, but also respond to it. This is in keeping with Goffman’s assertion that there is always an audience involved in any performance of the self. On YouTube, Raun argues, “the need to represent oneself goes hand in hand with the need to connect and communicate” (Raun 369). Networked digital media such as YouTube are inherently social. They invite participation (Smith; Sauter)and community through community building functions such as the ability to like, subscribe, and comment. Michael Strangelove refers to YouTube as a social space, “as a domain of self-expression, community and public confession” (4). The audience and community are important in the process of identity construction and representation as they serve a crucial role in providing feedback and encouragement, legitimising the identity being presented. As Raun writes, the vlog is an opportunity “for seeing one’s own experiences and thoughts reflected in others” (366). Raun identifies that for the trans gender vloggers in his study, simply knowing there is an audience watching their vlogs is enough to affirm their identity. He writes the vlog can be both “an individual act of self validation and . . . a social act of recognition and encouragement” (368). However, in the case of beauty vlogging the audience do more than watch, they form communities embodying and projecting the performance in everyday life and thus collectively challenge social norms, as seen in the “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement. Exploring the “The Power of MAKEUP!” MovementOn 10 May 2015, Nikkie, a well-known beauty vlogger, uploaded a video to her YouTube channel NikkieTutorials titled “The Power of MAKEUP!” Nikkie’s video can be watched here. In her video Nikkie challenges “makeup shaming,” arguing that makeup is not only fun, but can “transform” you into who you want to be. Inspired by an episode of the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race, in which the competing drag queens transform half of their face into “glam” (drag), and leave the other half of their face bare (male), Nikkie demonstrates that anyone can use makeup as a transformative tool. In her video Nikkie mirrors the drag queen transformations, transforming half her face into “glam” and leaving the other half of her face bare, as shown in Figure 1. In only transforming half of her face, Nikkie emphasises the scope of the transformation, demonstrating just how much you can change your appearance using only makeup on your face. Nikkie’s video communicates that both a transformed “glam” image and an “unedited” image of the self are perfectly fine, “there are no rules” and neither representations of the self should bring you shame. Figure 1: thumbnail of Nikkie’s videoNikkie’s video started a movement and spread throughout the beauty community on YouTube as a challenge. Other famous beauty vloggers, and everyday makeup lovers, took on the challenge of creating YouTube videos or posting pictures on Instagram of their faces half bare and half transformed using makeup with the tag #thepowerofmakeupchallenge. Since its release in May 2015, Nikkie’s video has been watched over thirty million times, has been liked over five hundred and thirty thousand times, and has received over twenty three thousand comments, many of which echo Nikkie’s experience of “makeup shaming.” “The power of makeup” video went viral and was picked up not only by the online beauty community but also by mainstream media with articles by Huffington Post, Yahoo.com, Marie Claire, BuzzFeed, DailyLife, POPSUGAR, Enews, Urbanshowbiz, BoredPanda, and kickvick among others. On Instagram, thousands of everyday makeup lovers have recreated the transformation and uploaded their pictures of the finished result. Various hashtags have been created around this movement and can be searched on Instagram including #thepowerofmakeupchallenge, #powerofmakeupchallenge, #powerofmakeup. Nikkie’s Instagram page dedicated to the challenge can be seen here. “The power of makeup” video is a direct reaction against what Nikkie calls “makeup shaming”—the idea that makeup is bad, and the assumption that the leading motivation for using makeup is insecurity. In her video Nikkie also reacts to the idea that the made-up-girl is “not really you,” or worse is “fake.” In the introduction to her video Nikkie says,I’ve been noticing a lot lately that girls have been almost ashamed to say that they love makeup because nowadays when you say you love makeup you either do it because you want to look good for boys, you do it because you’re insecure, or you do it because you don’t love yourself. I feel like in a way lately it’s almost a crime to love doing your makeup. So after last weeks RuPaul’s Drag Race with the half drag half male, I was inspired to show you the power of makeup. I notice a lot that when I don’t wear makeup and I have my hair up in a bun and I meet people and I show them picture of my videos or, or whatever looks I have done, they look at me and straight up tell me “that is not you.” They tell me “that’s funny” because I don’t even look like that girl on the picture. So without any further ado I’m going to do half my face full on glam—I’m truly going to transform one side of my face—and the other side is going to be me, raw, unedited, nothing, me, just me. So let’s do it.In her introduction, Nikkie identifies a social attitude that many of her viewers can relate to, that the made-up face isn’t the “real you.” This idea reveals an interesting contradiction in social attitude. As this issue of Media/Culture highlights, the theme of transformation is increasingly popular in contemporary society. Renovation shows, weight loss shows, and “makeover” shows have increased in number and popularity around the world (Lewis). Tania Lewis attributes this to an international shift towards “the real” on television (447). Accompanying this turn towards “the real,” confession, intimacy, and authenticity are now demanded and consumed as entertainment (Goldthwaite; Dovey; King). Sites such as YouTube are arguably popular because they offer real stories, real lives, and have a core value of authenticity (Strangelove; Wesch; Young; Tolson). The power of makeup transformations are challenging because they juxtapose a transformation against the natural, on the self. By only transforming half their face, the beauty vloggers juxtapose the “makeover” (transformation) with “authenticity” (the natural). The power of makeup movement is therefore caught between two contemporary social values. However, the desire for authenticity, and the lack of acceptance that the transformed image is authentic seems to be the main criticism that the members of this movement receive. Beauty vloggers identify a strong social value that “natural” is “good” and any attempt to alter the natural is taboo. Even in the commercial world “natural beauty” is celebrated and features heavily in the marketing and advertising campaigns of popular beauty, cosmetic, and skincare brands. Consider Maybelline’s emphasis on “natural beauty” in their byline “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This is not the way the members of “the power of makeup” movement use and celebrate makeup. They use and celebrate makeup as a transformative and identity forming tool, and their use of makeup is most often criticised for not being natural. In her recreation of Nikkie’s video, Evelina Forsell says “people get upset when I’m not natural.” Like Nikkie, Evelina reveals she often receives the criticism that “the person with a full on face with makeup is not you.” Evelina’s video can be watched here.“The power of makeup” movement and its participants challenge this criticism that the made-up self is not the “real” self. Evelina directly responds to this criticism in her video, stating “when I have a full face of makeup . . . that’s still me, but a more . . . creative me, I guess.” The beauty vloggers in this movement use makeup and YouTube as extensions of the self, as tools for self-expression, self-realisation, and ongoing transformation. Beauty vloggers are demonstrating that makeup is a tool and extension of the self that allows them to explore and play with their self-representations. In the same way that technology enables the individual to extend and “reinvent him/herself online” (Papacharissi 645), so does makeup. And in the same way that technology becomes an extension of the self, or even a second self (Turkle, The Second Self; Vaast) so does makeup. Makeup is a tool and technique of the self. Vlogging is about storytelling (Kavoori), but it is also collective—it’s about telling collective stories (Raun 373) which can be seen in various vlogging genres. As Geert Lovink suggests, YouTube is one of the largest databases of global shared experience. YouTube’s global popularity can be attributed to Strangelove’s assertion that “there’s nothing more interesting to real people . . . than authentic stories told about other real people” (65). Individuals are drawn to Nikkie’s experience, seeing themselves reflected in her story. Famous beauty vloggers on YouTube, and everyday beauty lovers, find community in the collective experience of feeling shame for loving makeup and using makeup to transform and communicate their identity. Effectively, the movement forms communities of practice (Wenger) made up of hundreds of people brought together by the shared value and use of makeup as a transformative tool. The online spaces where these activities take place (mainly on YouTube and Instagram) form affinity spaces (Gee) where the community come together, share information, learn and develop their practice. Hundreds of YouTubers from all over the world took up Nikkie’s invitation to demonstrate the power of makeup by transforming themselves on camera. From well-established beauty vloggers with millions of viewers, to amateur beauty lovers with YouTube channels, many people felt moved by Nikkie’s example and embodied the message, adapting the transformation to suit their circumstances. The movement includes both men and women, children and adults. Some transformations are inspirational such as Shalom Blac’s in which she talks about accepting the scars that are all over her face, but also demonstrates how makeup can make them disappear. Shalom has almost five million views on her “POWER OF MAKEUP” video, and has been labelled “inspirational” by the media. Shalom Blac’s video can be watched here and the media article labelling her as “inspirational” can be viewed here. Others, such as PatrickStarrr, send a powerful message that “It’s okay to be yourself.” Unlike a traditional interpretation of that statement, Patrick is communicating that it is okay to be the self that you construct, on any given day. Patrick also has over four million views on his video which can be watched here. During her transformation, Nikkie points out each feature of her face that she does not like and demonstrates how she can change it using makeup. Nikkie’s video is primarily a tutorial, educating viewers on different makeup techniques that can manipulate the appearance of their natural features into how they would like them to appear. These techniques are also reproduced and embodied through the various contributors to the movement. Thus the tutorial is an educational tool enabling others to use makeup for their own self representations (see Paul A. Soukup for an overview of YouTube as an educational tool). A feminist perspective may deconstruct the empowering, educational intentions of Nikkie’s video, insisting that conceptions of beauty are a social construct (Travis, Meginnis, and Bardari) and should not be re-enforced by encouraging women (and men) to use make-up to feel good. However, this sort of discourse does not appear in the movement, and this paper seeks to analyse the movement as its contributors frame and present it. Rather, “the power of makeup” movement falls within a postfeminist framework celebrating choice, femininity, independence, and the individual construction of modern identity (McRobbie; Butler; Beck, Giddens and Lash). Postfeminism embraces postmodern notions of identity in which individuals are “called up to invent their own structures” (McRobbie 260). Through institutions such as education young women have “become more independent and able,” and “‘dis-embedded’ from communities where gender roles were fixed” (McRobbie 260). Angela McRobbie attributes this to the work of scholars such as Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck and their emphasis on individualisation and reflexive modernisation. These scholars take a Foucauldian approach to identity construction in the modern age, where the individual must choose their own structures “internally and individualistically” (260), engaging in an ongoing process of self-monitoring and self-improvement, and resulting in the current self-help culture (McRobbie). In addition to being an educational and constructive tool, Nikkie’s video is also an exercise in self-branding and self-promotion(see Marwick; Duffy and Hund; and van Nuenen for scholarship on self-branding). Through her ongoing presence on YouTube, presenting this video in conjunction with her other tutorials, Nikkie is establishing herself as a beauty vlogger/guru. Nikkie lists all of the products that she uses in her transformation below her video with links to where people can buy them. She also lists her social media accounts, ways that people can connect with her, and other videos that people might be interested in watching. There are also prompts to subscribe, both during her video and in the description bar below her video. Nikkie’s transformation is both an ongoing endeavour to create her image and public persona as a beauty vlogger, and a physical transformation on camera. There is also a third transformation that takes place because her vlog is in the public sphere and consequently mobilises a movement. The transformation is of the way people talk about and eventually perceive makeup. Nikkie’s video aims to end makeup shaming and promote makeup as an empowering tool. With each recreation of her video, with each Instagram photo featuring the transformation, and with each mainstream media article featuring the movement, #thepowerofmakeup movement community are transforming the image of the made-up girl—transforming the association of makeup with presenting an inauthentic identity—in society. ConclusionThe “The Power of MAKEUP!” movement, started by NikkieTutorials, demonstrates one way in which people are using YouTube as a transformative tool, and mirror, to document, construct, and present their identity online, using makeup. Through their online transformation the members of the movement not only engage in a process of constructing and presenting their identity, but they form communities who share a love of makeup and its transformative potential. By embodying Nikkie’s original message to rid makeup shaming and transform the self into a desired identity, the movement re-enforces the “made-up” image of the self as real and authentic, and challenges conceptions that the “made-up” image is “fake” and inauthentic. Ultimately, this case study explores YouTube as a site that allows individuals to play with, construct, and present their identity. YouTube is a tool with which, and a space in which, people can transform themselves, and in doing so create communities which can work together to publicly challenge social norms.References Beck, Ulrich, Anthony Giddens, and Scott Lash. Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Cambridge, England: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers, 1994. Bolter, Jay David. "Virtual Reality and the Redefinition of Self." Communication and Cyberspace: Social Interaction in an Electronic Environment. Eds. Ronald L. 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“As the old technologies become automatic and invisible, we find ourselves more concerned with fighting or embracing what’s new”—Dennis Baron, From Pencils to Pixels: The Stage of Literacy Technologies What constitutes a computer, as we have come to expect it? Are they necessarily monolithic “beige boxes”, connected to computer monitors, sitting on computer desks, located in computer rooms or computer labs? In order for a device to be considered a true computer, does it need to have a keyboard and mouse? If this were 1991 or earlier, our collective perception of what computers are and are not would largely be framed by this “beige box” model: computers are stationary, slab-like, and heavy, and their natural habitats must be in rooms specifically designated for that purpose. In 1992, when Apple introduced the first PowerBook, our perception began to change. Certainly there had been other portable computers prior to that, such as the Osborne 1, but these were more luggable than portable, weighing just slightly less than a typical sewing machine. The PowerBook and subsequent waves of laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and so-called smart phones from numerous other companies have steadily forced us to rethink and redefine what a computer is and is not, how we interact with them, and the manner in which these tools might be used in the classroom. However, this reconceptualization of computers is far from over, and is in fact steadily evolving as new devices are introduced, adopted, and subsequently adapted for uses beyond of their original purpose. Pat Crowe’s Book Reader project, for example, has morphed Nintendo’s GameBoy and GameBoy Advance into a viable electronic book platform, complete with images, sound, and multi-language support. (Crowe, 2003) His goal was to take this existing technology previously framed only within the context of proprietary adolescent entertainment, and repurpose it for open, flexible uses typically associated with learning and literacy. Similar efforts are underway to repurpose Microsoft’s Xbox, perhaps the ultimate symbol of “closed” technology given Microsoft’s propensity for proprietary code, in order to make it a viable platform for Open Source Software (OSS). However, these efforts are not forgone conclusions, and are in fact typical of the ongoing battle over who controls the technology we own in our homes, and how open source solutions are often at odds with a largely proprietary world. In late 2001, Microsoft launched the Xbox with a multimillion dollar publicity drive featuring events, commercials, live models, and statements claiming this new console gaming platform would “change video games the way MTV changed music”. (Chan, 2001) The Xbox launched with the following technical specifications: 733mhz Pentium III 64mb RAM, 8 or 10gb internal hard disk drive CD/DVD ROM drive (speed unknown) Nvidia graphics processor, with HDTV support 4 USB 1.1 ports (adapter required), AC3 audio 10/100 ethernet port, Optional 56k modem (TechTV, 2001) While current computers dwarf these specifications in virtually all areas now, for 2001 these were roughly on par with many desktop systems. The retail price at the time was $299, but steadily dropped to nearly half that with additional price cuts anticipated. Based on these features, the preponderance of “off the shelf” parts and components used, and the relatively reasonable price, numerous programmers quickly became interested in seeing it if was possible to run Linux and additional OSS on the Xbox. In each case, the goal has been similar: exceed the original purpose of the Xbox, to determine if and how well it might be used for basic computing tasks. If these attempts prove to be successful, the Xbox could allow institutions to dramatically increase the student-to-computer ratio in select environments, or allow individuals who could not otherwise afford a computer to instead buy and Xbox, download and install Linux, and use this new device to write, create, and innovate . This drive to literally and metaphorically “open” the Xbox comes from many directions. Such efforts include Andrew Huang’s self-published “Hacking the Xbox” book in which, under the auspices of reverse engineering, Huang analyzes the architecture of the Xbox, detailing step-by-step instructions for flashing the ROM, upgrading the hard drive and/or RAM, and generally prepping the device for use as an information appliance. Additional initiatives include Lindows CEO Michael Robertson’s $200,000 prize to encourage Linux development on the Xbox, and the Xbox Linux Project at SourceForge. What is Linux? Linux is an alternative operating system initially developed in 1991 by Linus Benedict Torvalds. Linux was based off a derivative of the MINIX operating system, which in turn was a derivative of UNIX. (Hasan 2003) Linux is currently available for Intel-based systems that would normally run versions of Windows, PowerPC-based systems that would normally run Apple’s Mac OS, and a host of other handheld, cell phone, or so-called “embedded” systems. Linux distributions are based almost exclusively on open source software, graphic user interfaces, and middleware components. While there are commercial Linux distributions available, these mainly just package the freely available operating system with bundled technical support, manuals, some exclusive or proprietary commercial applications, and related services. Anyone can still download and install numerous Linux distributions at no cost, provided they do not need technical support beyond the community / enthusiast level. Typical Linux distributions come with open source web browsers, word processors and related productivity applications (such as those found in OpenOffice.org), and related tools for accessing email, organizing schedules and contacts, etc. Certain Linux distributions are more or less designed for network administrators, system engineers, and similar “power users” somewhat distanced from that of our students. However, several distributions including Lycoris, Mandrake, LindowsOS, and other are specifically tailored as regular, desktop operating systems, with regular, everyday computer users in mind. As Linux has no draconian “product activation key” method of authentication, or digital rights management-laden features associated with installation and implementation on typical desktop and laptop systems, Linux is becoming an ideal choice both individually and institutionally. It still faces an uphill battle in terms of achieving widespread acceptance as a desktop operating system. As Finnie points out in Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream: “to attract users, you need ease of installation, ease of device configuration, and intuitive, full-featured desktop user controls. It’s all coming, but slowly. With each new version, desktop Linux comes closer to entering the mainstream. It’s anyone’s guess as to when critical mass will be reached, but you can feel the inevitability: There’s pent-up demand for something different.” (Finnie 2003) Linux is already spreading rapidly in numerous capacities, in numerous countries. Linux has “taken hold wherever computer users desire freedom, and wherever there is demand for inexpensive software.” Reports from technology research company IDG indicate that roughly a third of computers in Central and South America run Linux. Several countries, including Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, have all but mandated that state-owned institutions adopt open source software whenever possible to “give their people the tools and education to compete with the rest of the world.” (Hills 2001) The Goal Less than a year after Microsoft introduced the The Xbox, the Xbox Linux project formed. The Xbox Linux Project has a goal of developing and distributing Linux for the Xbox gaming console, “so that it can be used for many tasks that Microsoft don’t want you to be able to do. ...as a desktop computer, for email and browsing the web from your TV, as a (web) server” (Xbox Linux Project 2002). Since the Linux operating system is open source, meaning it can freely be tinkered with and distributed, those who opt to download and install Linux on their Xbox can do so with relatively little overhead in terms of cost or time. Additionally, Linux itself looks very “windows-like”, making for fairly low learning curve. To help increase overall awareness of this project and assist in diffusing it, the Xbox Linux Project offers step-by-step installation instructions, with the end result being a system capable of using common peripherals such as a keyboard and mouse, scanner, printer, a “webcam and a DVD burner, connected to a VGA monitor; 100% compatible with a standard Linux PC, all PC (USB) hardware and PC software that works with Linux.” (Xbox Linux Project 2002) Such a system could have tremendous potential for technology literacy. Pairing an Xbox with Linux and OpenOffice.org, for example, would provide our students essentially the same capability any of them would expect from a regular desktop computer. They could send and receive email, communicate using instant messaging IRC, or newsgroup clients, and browse Internet sites just as they normally would. In fact, the overall browsing experience for Linux users is substantially better than that for most Windows users. Internet Explorer, the default browser on all systems running Windows-base operating systems, lacks basic features standard in virtually all competing browsers. Native blocking of “pop-up” advertisements is still not yet possible in Internet Explorer without the aid of a third-party utility. Tabbed browsing, which involves the ability to easily open and sort through multiple Web pages in the same window, often with a single mouse click, is also missing from Internet Explorer. The same can be said for a robust download manager, “find as you type”, and a variety of additional features. Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox, Konqueror, and essentially all other OSS browsers for Linux have these features. Of course, most of these browsers are also available for Windows, but Internet Explorer is still considered the standard browser for the platform. If the Xbox Linux Project becomes widely diffused, our students could edit and save Microsoft Word files in OpenOffice.org’s Writer program, and do the same with PowerPoint and Excel files in similar OpenOffice.org components. They could access instructor comments originally created in Microsoft Word documents, and in turn could add their own comments and send the documents back to their instructors. They could even perform many functions not yet capable in Microsoft Office, including saving files in PDF or Flash format without needing Adobe’s Acrobat product or Macromedia’s Flash Studio MX. Additionally, by way of this project, the Xbox can also serve as “a Linux server for HTTP/FTP/SMB/NFS, serving data such as MP3/MPEG4/DivX, or a router, or both; without a monitor or keyboard or mouse connected.” (Xbox Linux Project 2003) In a very real sense, our students could use these inexpensive systems previously framed only within the context of entertainment, for educational purposes typically associated with computer-mediated learning. Problems: Control and Access The existing rhetoric of technological control surrounding current and emerging technologies appears to be stifling many of these efforts before they can even be brought to the public. This rhetoric of control is largely typified by overly-restrictive digital rights management (DRM) schemes antithetical to education, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Combined,both are currently being used as technical and legal clubs against these efforts. Microsoft, for example, has taken a dim view of any efforts to adapt the Xbox to Linux. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has repeatedly referred to Linux as a cancer and has equated OSS as being un-American, stated, “Given the way the economic model works - and that is a subsidy followed, essentially, by fees for every piece of software sold - our license framework has to do that.” (Becker 2003) Since the Xbox is based on a subsidy model, meaning that Microsoft actually sells the hardware at a loss and instead generates revenue off software sales, Ballmer launched a series of concerted legal attacks against the Xbox Linux Project and similar efforts. In 2002, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft simultaneously sued Lik Sang, Inc., a Hong Kong-based company that produces programmable cartridges and “mod chips” for the PlayStation II, Xbox, and Game Cube. Nintendo states that its company alone loses over $650 million each year due to piracy of their console gaming titles, which typically originate in China, Paraguay, and Mexico. (GameIndustry.biz) Currently, many attempts to “mod” the Xbox required the use of such chips. As Lik Sang is one of the only suppliers, initial efforts to adapt the Xbox to Linux slowed considerably. Despite that fact that such chips can still be ordered and shipped here by less conventional means, it does not change that fact that the chips themselves would be illegal in the U.S. due to the anticircumvention clause in the DMCA itself, which is designed specifically to protect any DRM-wrapped content, regardless of context. The Xbox Linux Project then attempted to get Microsoft to officially sanction their efforts. They were not only rebuffed, but Microsoft then opted to hire programmers specifically to create technological countermeasures for the Xbox, to defeat additional attempts at installing OSS on it. Undeterred, the Xbox Linux Project eventually arrived at a method of installing and booting Linux without the use of mod chips, and have taken a more defiant tone now with Microsoft regarding their circumvention efforts. (Lettice 2002) They state that “Microsoft does not want you to use the Xbox as a Linux computer, therefore it has some anti-Linux-protection built in, but it can be circumvented easily, so that an Xbox can be used as what it is: an IBM PC.” (Xbox Linux Project 2003) Problems: Learning Curves and Usability In spite of the difficulties imposed by the combined technological and legal attacks on this project, it has succeeded at infiltrating this closed system with OSS. It has done so beyond the mere prototype level, too, as evidenced by the Xbox Linux Project now having both complete, step-by-step instructions available for users to modify their own Xbox systems, and an alternate plan catering to those who have the interest in modifying their systems, but not the time or technical inclinations. Specifically, this option involves users mailing their Xbox systems to community volunteers within the Xbox Linux Project, and basically having these volunteers perform the necessary software preparation or actually do the full Linux installation for them, free of charge (presumably not including shipping). This particular aspect of the project, dubbed “Users Help Users”, appears to be fairly new. Yet, it already lists over sixty volunteers capable and willing to perform this service, since “Many users don’t have the possibility, expertise or hardware” to perform these modifications. Amazingly enough, in some cases these volunteers are barely out of junior high school. One such volunteer stipulates that those seeking his assistance keep in mind that he is “just 14” and that when performing these modifications he “...will not always be finished by the next day”. (Steil 2003) In addition to this interesting if somewhat unusual level of community-driven support, there are currently several Linux-based options available for the Xbox. The two that are perhaps the most developed are GentooX, which is based of the popular Gentoo Linux distribution, and Ed’s Debian, based off the Debian GNU / Linux distribution. Both Gentoo and Debian are “seasoned” distributions that have been available for some time now, though Daniel Robbins, Chief Architect of Gentoo, refers to the product as actually being a “metadistribution” of Linux, due to its high degree of adaptability and configurability. (Gentoo 2004) Specifically, the Robbins asserts that Gentoo is capable of being “customized for just about any application or need. ...an ideal secure server, development workstation, professional desktop, gaming system, embedded solution or something else—whatever you need it to be.” (Robbins 2004) He further states that the whole point of Gentoo is to provide a better, more usable Linux experience than that found in many other distributions. Robbins states that: “The goal of Gentoo is to design tools and systems that allow a user to do their work pleasantly and efficiently as possible, as they see fit. Our tools should be a joy to use, and should help the user to appreciate the richness of the Linux and free software community, and the flexibility of free software. ...Put another way, the Gentoo philosophy is to create better tools. When a tool is doing its job perfectly, you might not even be very aware of its presence, because it does not interfere and make its presence known, nor does it force you to interact with it when you don’t want it to. The tool serves the user rather than the user serving the tool.” (Robbins 2004) There is also a so-called “live CD” Linux distribution suitable for the Xbox, called dyne:bolic, and an in-progress release of Slackware Linux, as well. According to the Xbox Linux Project, the only difference between the standard releases of these distributions and their Xbox counterparts is that “...the install process – and naturally the bootloader, the kernel and the kernel modules – are all customized for the Xbox.” (Xbox Linux Project, 2003) Of course, even if Gentoo is as user-friendly as Robbins purports, even if the Linux kernel itself has become significantly more robust and efficient, and even if Microsoft again drops the retail price of the Xbox, is this really a feasible solution in the classroom? Does the Xbox Linux Project have an army of 14 year olds willing to modify dozens, perhaps hundreds of these systems for use in secondary schools and higher education? Of course not. If such an institutional rollout were to be undertaken, it would require significant support from not only faculty, but Department Chairs, Deans, IT staff, and quite possible Chief Information Officers. Disk images would need to be customized for each institution to reflect their respective needs, ranging from setting specific home pages on web browsers, to bookmarks, to custom back-up and / or disk re-imaging scripts, to network authentication. This would be no small task. Yet, the steps mentioned above are essentially no different than what would be required of any IT staff when creating a new disk image for a computer lab, be it one for a Windows-based system or a Mac OS X-based one. The primary difference would be Linux itself—nothing more, nothing less. The institutional difficulties in undertaking such an effort would likely be encountered prior to even purchasing a single Xbox, in that they would involve the same difficulties associated with any new hardware or software initiative: staffing, budget, and support. If the institutional in question is either unwilling or unable to address these three factors, it would not matter if the Xbox itself was as free as Linux. An Open Future, or a Closed one? It is unclear how far the Xbox Linux Project will be allowed to go in their efforts to invade an essentially a proprietary system with OSS. Unlike Sony, which has made deliberate steps to commercialize similar efforts for their PlayStation 2 console, Microsoft appears resolute in fighting OSS on the Xbox by any means necessary. They will continue to crack down on any companies selling so-called mod chips, and will continue to employ technological protections to keep the Xbox “closed”. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, in all likelihood Microsoft continue to equate any OSS efforts directed at the Xbox with piracy-related motivations. Additionally, Microsoft’s successor to the Xbox would likely include additional anticircumvention technologies incorporated into it that could set the Xbox Linux Project back by months, years, or could stop it cold. Of course, it is difficult to say with any degree of certainty how this “Xbox 2” (perhaps a more appropriate name might be “Nextbox”) will impact this project. Regardless of how this device evolves, there can be little doubt of the value of Linux, OpenOffice.org, and other OSS to teaching and learning with technology. This value exists not only in terms of price, but in increased freedom from policies and technologies of control. New Linux distributions from Gentoo, Mandrake, Lycoris, Lindows, and other companies are just now starting to focus their efforts on Linux as user-friendly, easy to use desktop operating systems, rather than just server or “techno-geek” environments suitable for advanced programmers and computer operators. While metaphorically opening the Xbox may not be for everyone, and may not be a suitable computing solution for all, I believe we as educators must promote and encourage such efforts whenever possible. I suggest this because I believe we need to exercise our professional influence and ultimately shape the future of technology literacy, either individually as faculty and collectively as departments, colleges, or institutions. Moran and Fitzsimmons-Hunter argue this very point in Writing Teachers, Schools, Access, and Change. One of their fundamental provisions they use to define “access” asserts that there must be a willingness for teachers and students to “fight for the technologies that they need to pursue their goals for their own teaching and learning.” (Taylor / Ward 160) Regardless of whether or not this debate is grounded in the “beige boxes” of the past, or the Xboxes of the present, much is at stake. Private corporations should not be in a position to control the manner in which we use legally-purchased technologies, regardless of whether or not these technologies are then repurposed for literacy uses. I believe the exigency associated with this control, and the ongoing evolution of what is and is not a computer, dictates that we assert ourselves more actively into this discussion. We must take steps to provide our students with the best possible computer-mediated learning experience, however seemingly unorthodox the technological means might be, so that they may think critically, communicate effectively, and participate actively in society and in their future careers. About the Author Paul Cesarini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Communication & Technology Education, Bowling Green State University, Ohio Email: pcesari@bgnet.bgsu.edu Works Cited http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/debian.php>.Baron, Denis. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies.” Passions Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies. Hawisher, Gail E., and Cynthia L. Selfe, Eds. Utah: Utah State University Press, 1999. 15 – 33. Becker, David. “Ballmer: Mod Chips Threaten Xbox”. News.com. 21 Oct 2002. http://news.com.com/2100-1040-962797.php>. http://news.com.com/2100-1040-978957.html?tag=nl>. http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/08/13/020813hnchina.xml>. http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/1062/>. http://www.bookreader.co.uk>.Finni, Scott. “Desktop Linux Edges Into The Mainstream”. TechWeb. 8 Apr 2003. http://www.techweb.com/tech/software/20030408_software. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/29439.html http://gentoox.shallax.com/. http://ragib.hypermart.net/linux/. http://www.itworld.com/Comp/2362/LWD010424latinlinux/pfindex.html. http://www.xbox-linux.sourceforge.net. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/27487.html. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/26078.html. http://www.us.playstation.com/peripherals.aspx?id=SCPH-97047. http://www.techtv.com/extendedplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3356862,00.html. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61984,00.html. http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/about.xml http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/philosophy.xml http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2869075,00.html. http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/docs/usershelpusers.html http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/fun.games/12/16/gamers.liksang/. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Cesarini, Paul. "“Opening” the Xbox" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0406/08_Cesarini.php>. APA Style Cesarini, P. (2004, Jul1). “Opening” the Xbox. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 7, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/0406/08_Cesarini.php>

This chapter follows a number of African American women in the postwar period further into party politics and into city government, and it charts the efforts of local renegades to launch political insurgencies that sought to bring down entrenched Democratic bosses and improve African Americans' and women's access to political power. Despite the challenges they faced, African American women who were committed to creating a more just society through formal politics were extremely busy in the 1950s and 1960s. They introduced new issues into the political discourse as elected officials and government administrators, they pressured political leaders through protests, and they effectively used the courts. Through their examples of leadership and methods of organizing, they also encouraged historically disempowered people, especially black women, to engage in politics and to demand change from various state actors, including politicians, judges, police chiefs, school administrators, and municipal and state bureaucrats.

This collection of nine original essays explores the development of a modern criminal justice system in the Jim Crow South, from the 1890s through the 1950s. It covers key transformations surrounding the practices of policing, incarceration, and capital punishment, as municipal police departments became professionalized and as authority over criminal punishment shifted from local jurisdictions to the state. The collection’s essays address the history of segregated police forces, black-on-black crime, police brutality, organized crime and government corruption, restrictions on ex-felons’ rights, convict labor, prison reform, and the introduction of the electric chair. Together, they make a case for southern distinctiveness. Criminal justice in the Jim Crow South looked quite different than it did in the North due to white southern demands for racial control, as well as white southerners’ suspicions of centralized state power and modern bureaucracies. This collection examines these relationships between white supremacy, the modernizing state, and crime control. In doing so, it provides a more nuanced portrait of the dynamic between state power and white supremacy in the South beyond a story of top-down social control. The essays reveal stories of state institutions grappling with their expanding authority, stories of political leaders and reformers anxious to render that power modern and efficient, and stories of African Americans appealing to the regulatory state in order to push back against racial injustice.

This chapter gives an overview of a one-month trash service slowdown initiated by Philadelphia sanitation workers in February 1970. Called by a majority African American workforce in protest of the appointment of a white police official with no previous experience in municipal public works as city streets commissioner, the job action ended when the officer stepped down, marking an important victory for Black Power advocates in the city. Forging a political coalition with the broader Black community in Philadelphia, the sanitation workers and their union called for greater African American representation within the Democratic Party, part of a vanguard that forged an independent political movement committed to addressing the needs of the city’s working classes. By the end of the decade, this emerging political coalition centered on unionized municipal workers fractured due to a range of forces such as deindustrialization, declining union power, and the decision by Black union leader Earl Stout to chart a path toward economic advancement that eschewed broader community activism.

<em>Abstract.</em>—The present ichthyofauna (1965–2001) of the Wabash River system is compared to that of three periods: presettlement through 1820, 1875–1900, and 1940– 1950. This second largest Ohio River tributary flows freely for 350 mi. However, its environment and watershed have been altered greatly from presettlement times; twothirds has been converted to agriculture, eliminating all prairies and most forests and wetlands. Canals, large and small dams, channelization, and effluents have extinguished 12 fish species, diminished some, and favored others. Thirteen of approximately 175 species are recent, including 3 aliens. Better municipal and industrial waste treatment has improved water quality, but excessive agricultural runoff remains detrimental to many fishes. Degraded habitats exacerbate these problems. Many sensitive species are today either absent or severely reduced in distribution and abundance compared to 50 years ago. Smallmouth bass <em>Micropterus dolomieu </em>has been replaced by largemouth bass <em>M. salmoides </em>or spotted bass <em>M. punctulatus, </em>and few visual piscivores occur except near reservoirs.

<em>Abstract.</em>—The present ichthyofauna (1965–2001) of the Wabash River system is compared to that of three periods: presettlement through 1820, 1875–1900, and 1940– 1950. This second largest Ohio River tributary flows freely for 350 mi. However, its environment and watershed have been altered greatly from presettlement times; twothirds has been converted to agriculture, eliminating all prairies and most forests and wetlands. Canals, large and small dams, channelization, and effluents have extinguished 12 fish species, diminished some, and favored others. Thirteen of approximately 175 species are recent, including 3 aliens. Better municipal and industrial waste treatment has improved water quality, but excessive agricultural runoff remains detrimental to many fishes. Degraded habitats exacerbate these problems. Many sensitive species are today either absent or severely reduced in distribution and abundance compared to 50 years ago. Smallmouth bass <em>Micropterus dolomieu </em>has been replaced by largemouth bass <em>M. salmoides </em>or spotted bass <em>M. punctulatus, </em>and few visual piscivores occur except near reservoirs.

This chapter uses radio communication transcripts from the Tunnel Fire to illuminate specific challenges experienced by residents and responders alike at the time of the event. Based on these first-hand accounts, several important issues emerge concerning water, road, and power infrastructure. A review of reconstruction efforts in each area of concern demonstrates that progress toward reconciliation has been mixed. Capital improvements were driven largely by private property considerations and residents seeking to leverage the disaster in pursuit of neighborhood enhancements and estate-based wealth accumulation. Upgrades to water and power line equipment were lobbied and partially paid for by residents who used their positions of privilege to engage in collectivized risk reduction. In these instances the community was willing and able to supplement beleaguered city budget capacities and help pay for municipal upgrades. This presented a win-win for residents and the city of Oakland alike. However, when private benefits were less evident (or simply not attainable)—as was the case with road-widening initiatives—residents were less apt to back such recovery efforts. As a result, the pursuit of win-win outcomes unraveled.

Abstract George stood in his brother’s shadow during the Great War, but after earning a Harvard law degree he walks in the footsteps of his father, the prominent municipal court judge Frederick Spiegelberg, Sr. Devoting himself to a life of hard work, public service, and political engagement, George distrusts Tammany Democrats and wants to live in a society governed by the laws of the open courtroom, not the whims of bureaucrats and their backroom deals. Like many elite lawyers, his aspirations extend beyond courtroom advocacy into the world of governance. Running for Congress in 1934 as an opponent of the New Deal, he enters the political fray at the start of a transformative era of partisan realignments when the nation’s two major political parties are becoming standard-bearers for opposing ideological orthodoxies—until world events, particularly the growing power of the Nazis, test the limits of his partisan loyalties.

Montenay Inc. operates a municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator plant located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The facility operates three essentially identical boilers that were designed to generate slightly superheated steam at 248°C (478°F) and 3,140 kPa (455 psig). The plant was originally sized to supply process steam for export to an adjacent industrial plant. The fraction of steam that was exported decreased in recent years to about 35% of the production with the remainder being condensed. This has caused Montenay Inc. to initiate a power generation project with the goal to improve the plants energy efficiency and generate additional revenues by purchasing and operating a steam turbine generator. A superheater upgrade was required to raise the final steam temperature to a level that was suitable for use in an efficient steam turbine-generator. Jansen Combustion and Boiler Technologies Inc. (JANSEN) was contracted to perform the process and design engineering for the required boiler modifications. The project work included defining target process conditions, deriving conceptual design options, sizing the new superheater, deciding on material selection, preparing equipment specifications, and supplying the fabrication and installation drawings. The boiler modifications has been implemented in all three units in spring 2003. Power production will start in early summer 2003.

The City of Marion (“City”) and wastenotIowa, Inc. (WNI), along with other interested parties, has been considering the use of a plasma are gasification plant (“Plant”) as a technology that could reduce their future dependency on landfill disposal. As currently envisioned, the Plant would serve Linn County, including the City and the University of Iowa (“UI”) Oakdale research campus, located in Johnson County. In the next step of their evaluations, the City along with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has commissioned SCS Engineers (SCS) to perform a formal economic feasibility study of the Plant. The feasibility study included: •Assessing potential for other waste material other than municipal solid waste in the region as supplemental plant feedstock. •Assessing potential markets for the plasma plant byproducts. •Determining the feasibility, requirements and costs related to an interconnect with the power utility grid. •Assessing the option that the UI could potentially be the exclusive power customer for the Plant. •Developing a pro-forma model so that various options can be evaluated for the Plant capacity and material and energy output configurations over an assumed initial 20-year contract operating phase, including; –Production of syngas for conversion to electrical power –Production of syngas for direct use and conversion to fuel products –Production of insulation from slag to enhance project revenues. •Determining the potential economic impact of the Plant on the region.

Municipal solid waste from Lee County and Hendry County is processed at the Lee County Solid Waste Resource Recovery Facility (the “Facility”). Lee County (the “County”) owns the Facility, which began commercial operation in December 1994. The Facility’s current permitted capacity is 1,320 tons per day (tpd), provided by two 660-tpd boiler units, at a reference waste of 5,000 Btu. Covanta Energy of Lee, Inc. operates and maintains the Facility under the terms of a Service Agreement with the County that runs through 2014. Covanta also designed and constructed the Facility. The expansion of this Facility will be the first new construction of a municipal waste combustion (MWC) unit since the New Source Performance Standards were adopted. Despite the County’s comprehensive recycling program, the amount of solid waste the County delivers to the Facility has increased each year since the Facility began operation, primarily due to population growth. In 1999, this amount reached the Facility’s guaranteed annual capacity of 372,300 tons. In 2000, the Facility processed over 392,000 tons of municipal solid waste, while the County landfilled nearly 44,000 additional tons of processible waste. Current population projections for Lee and Hendry Counties suggest that processible solid waste generation will continue to increase, reaching nearly 550,000 tons by 2010. Rather than landfilling processible waste generated in excess of the Facility’s current capacity, it is the County’s intention to expand the Facility by adding a third 660-tpd boiler unit which would increase the Facility’s permitted capacity to 1,980-tpd. The original application for the Facility’s Power Plant Site Certification anticipated such an expansion, including provisions for a third 660-tpd MWC unit. Certain provisions for this third unit were incorporated into the Facility’s design and construction as well. These included providing the physical space for the third unit, the physical space for an additional flue for the third unit, and sizing the tipping floor, refuse pit, and certain common equipment for three units. The expansion will require a second turbine-generator unit and expanded switchyard, an extension to the existing turbine-generator building, as well as the addition of a third boiler unit and air pollution control equipment. The expansion will also require modifications to certain equipment and systems common to all boiler units in order to meet the additional capacity requirements of the expanded Facility. As of February 2003, the County is waiting for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue a draft PSD Air Permit and is on scheduled to go before the Power Plant Siting Board in September 2003.

In the summer of 2009, Governor John P. DeJongh, Jr. announced that the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) had just signed two 20-year Power Purchase Agreements, and the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority (VIWMA) had signed two 20-year Solid Waste Management Services Agreements with affiliates of Denver-based Alpine Energy Group, LLC (AEG) to build, own, and operate two alternative energy facilities that will serve the residents of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. The alternative energy facilities, to be built on St. Croix and St. Thomas, have a projected cost of $440 million and will convert an estimated 146,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) using WastAway Services® technology, which will be combined with petroleum coke as fuel in fluidized bed combustion facilities to generate steam and electric power. These sustainable projects will provide 33 MW of electric power to St. Thomas and St. John and 16 MW of electric power to St. Croix, and will help to provide long-term cost stability for electric power and solid waste management in the Territory. Construction is expected to start in spring 2010 with an anticipated completion date during the fourth quarter of 2012. This procurement is a significant achievement for the U.S. Virgin Islands. When the projects are fully implemented, they will allow the Territory to reduce its dependence on oil, recover the energy value and certain recyclable materials from its municipal solid waste, and divert this waste from landfill. Since VIWMA has the responsibility to collect and/or dispose of solid waste year-round, having a system incorporating multiple solid waste processing lines and an adequate supply of spare parts on hand at all times is crucial to meeting the daily demands of waste receiving and processing, and RDF production. Also, with the location of the US Virgin Islands in a hurricane zone, and with only one or two combustion units available in each Project, the ability to both stockpile waste pre-RDF processing and store the produced RDF is very important. Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc. (GBB)’s work has included a due diligence review of the Projects and providing professional support in VIWMA’s negotiations with AEG. GBB’s initial primary assignment centered on reviewing the design and operations of the RDF processing systems that will be built and operated under the respective Service Contracts. VIWMA needed to undertake a detailed technical review of the proposed RDF processing system, since this was the integration point of the waste collection system and waste processing/disposal services. GBB, in association with Maguire, was requested to provide this review and present the findings and opinions to VIWMA. In the completion of this effort, which included both a technical review and participation in negotiations to advance the Service Contracts for the Projects, GBB made direct contact with the key equipment suppliers for the Projects proposed by AEG. This included Bouldin Corporation, the primary RDF processing system supplier, with its patented WastAway technology, and Energy Products of Idaho, the main thermal processing equipment supplier, with its fluidized bed combustion technology and air pollution control equipment. Additionally, since the combustion systems for both Projects will generate an ash product that will require marketing for use and/or disposal over the term of the Service Contracts, GBB made contact with LA Ash, one of the potential subcontractors identified by AEG for these ash management services. Due to the nature of the contract guarantees of VIWMA to provide 73,000 tons per year of Acceptable Waste to each Project for processing, VIWMA authorized GBB to perform a current waste stream characterization study. Part of this effort included waste sorts for one week each in February 2009 on St. Croix and March 2009 on St. Thomas, with the results shared with VIWMA and AEG, as compiled. The 2009 GBB waste stream characterization study incorporated historical monthly waste weigh data from both the Bovoni and Anguilla Landfills that were received from VIWMA staff. The study has formed a basis for continuing to augment the waste quantity information from the two landfills with the additional current monthly results compiled by VIWMA staff going forward following the waste sorts. The final GBB report was published in December 2009 and includes actual USVI landfill receipt data through August 31, 2009. The information contained in this document provides the underpinnings to allow for better tracking and analysis of daily, weekly and monthly waste quantities received for recycling, processing and disposal, which are important to the overall waste processing system operations, guarantees and cost projections. GBB’s annual projections are that the total waste on St. Croix is currently over 104,000 tons per year and over 76,000 tons per year on St. Thomas. The thermal processing technology selected for both Projects is a fluidized bed process, employing a heated bed of sand material “fluidized” in a column of air to burn the fuel — RDF and/or Pet Coke. As such, the solid waste to be used in these combustion units must be size-reduced from the myriad of sizes of waste set out at the curb or discharged into the large roll-off boxes or bins at the many drop-off sites in the US Virgin Islands. While traditional RDF would typically have several days of storage life, the characteristics of the pelletized RDF should allow several weeks of storage. This will be important to having a sound and realistic operating plan, given the unique circumstances associated with the climate, waste moisture content, island location, lack of back-up disposal options and downtime associated with the Power Generation Facility. During the negotiations between AEG and VIWMA, in which GBB staff participated, in addition to RDF and pelletized RDF as the waste fuel sources, other potential fuels have been discussed for use in the Projects and are included as “Opportunity Fuels” in the Service Contracts. These Opportunity Fuels include ground woody waste, dried sludges, and shredded tires, for example. Therefore, the flexibility of the EPI fluidized bed combustion boilers to handle multi-fuels is viewed as an asset over the long term, especially for an island location where disposal options are limited and shipping materials onto and off of each island is expensive. This presentation will provide a unique behind-the-scenes review of the process that led to this historic agreement, from the due diligence of the proposed technologies, to implementation planning, to the negotiations with the contractor. Also discussed will be the waste characterization and quantity analysis performed in 2009 and the fast-track procurement planning and procurement of construction and operating services for a new transfer station to be sited on St. Croix.

A greenfield Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) facility in Alliance Ohio will process 2,400 Tons Per Day (TPD) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and Construction & Demolition Debris (C&D). The Ohio EPA has issued the final air permit for the facility. There will be two equipment trains to handle the material each consisting of Riley Power’s Advanced Stoker™ boiler, Turbosorp® dry scrubber, and Regenerative Selective Catalytic Reduction (RSCR®) nitrogen oxides (NOx) control system. The key parts of the “chute to stack” equipment represent a significant advancement in technology when compared to past facilities, as demonstrated by the designation by the State of Ohio as an “Advanced Energy Project”. The Riley Advanced Stoker™ boiler has unique design features to ensure high efficiency, corrosion resistance, and fuel flexibility while at relatively low cost. The use of the Turbosorp will result in lower emissions of lead, other volatile heavy metals, and mercury than for a typical spray dryer/baghouse (SDA) system. Acid gas removal is also superior to an SDA system while utilizing less lime reagent and power. The RSCR follows the Turbosorp as a “low dust” SCR but with auxiliary energy consumption about 85% lower than a typical low dust, tail end SCR. The RSCR will reduce NOx and Carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions to low values when compared to other facilities producing energy from waste. This paper will describe the design basis for the system including fuels to be processed, steam flow and conditions, and emissions. A detailed description of the technologies will also be presented.