text:
Senior Thesis Center
Congratulations! You've made it to PH 488, the capstone, the final hurdle to graduation, the cherry on top of your educational experience here at BYU-Idaho. But what is a Senior Thesis? Where do you begin? What are the instructors looking for in the final draft? So many questions.... so little time. But let's start with a few basics:
What is a Senior Thesis?
A Senior Thesis is required in order to graduate with a BS in physics. This course is designed to help prepare you for and in part imitate graduate school. This course is focused on bringing a student's research experience to conclusion by writing the formal thesis and presenting its contents to the faculty and other students.
Where do you begin?
Most if not all of your information will come from your research experience from either your internship or senior research or both. Your research project should be finished before you enroll in PH 488, the senior thesis class is just to help you write about it. So when can you start? Well, today is a good day. Basically, the earlier you start, the better. Check out the research page to find out about projects currently going on in our department. That way you can get some ideas and also get involved in real research.
What are the instructors looking for in a final draft?
Essentially you will be graded on the following:
1. Formally write a report of the internship or senior research in AIP Format, including the literature search, a description of the research, conclusions drawn as a result, and areas of future research.
2. Report progress in a weekly class meeting.
3. Defend the thesis in front of a faculty committee.
Some other important things to cover and general hints:
The Senior Thesis is designed to give you help and experience in the following areas:
- Experience with writing research proposals
- Experience editing in committees
- Help with the process of research and help with putting together respectable bibliographies that will defend your credibility
- Gives the opportunity to learn to set your own deadlines and work under your own initiative, an experience you don't often get with undergraduate course work. (Hint: that's what a big part of what you're graded on.)
Although we can't (or won't) do it for you, here are some examples of what we are looking for:
Monson, Jonathan: Effects of Annealing on Shot Peened CopperDumais, Heidi: True Color BVR Imaging From Astronomical Exposures
For more examples click here


TY - JOUR T1 - STudy of a male castrate AU - Feinier L AU - Rothman T Y1 - 1939/12/09 N1 - 10.1001/jama.1939.72800490001010 JO - Journal of the American Medical Association SP - 2144 EP - 2146 VL - 113 IS - 24 N2 - Despite published evidence to the contrary, a rather common belief persists that complete castration of the adult male results in impotence.For many years it has been known that the sexual impulse tends to continue in animals after castration. Sexual instinct and potency often persist in the ox and the gelding.Havelock Ellis1 reported that many castrated men continued to possess sexual impulses, as noted by medical observers in countries where eunuchism was produced and eunuchs were employed. McCartney2 reported that ten of the twenty-three eunuchs examined by him showed gonorrhea. Osman and Schukru3 reported the continuation of sexual instincts and successful efforts in eunuchs. The earlier the age at which castration is performed the less marked the subsequent sexual desire, and the Chinese regarded boys castrated before the age of 10 as particularly pure and virginal.Lange4 reviewed more than 300 cases of soldiers who SN - 0002-9955 M3 - doi: 10.1001/jama.1939.72800490001010 UR - _URL_ ER -


text:
Electronic speckle pattern interferometry fringe patterns usually have poor contrast so it is important to enhance fringe contrast for the extraction of phase from a single fringe pattern. We present new enhancement methods based on differential equations (called DE enhancement methods) to electronic speckle pattern interferometry fringes. The DE enhancement methods transform the image processing to solve differential equations. With the proposed methods, the visibility of the correlation speckle fringe patterns can be improved significantly. We tested the proposed methods on computer-simulated speckle correlation fringes and experimentally obtained fringes, and we compared the new method with other contrast enhancement techniques. The experimental results illustrate the performance of this approach.
© 2006 Optical Society of AmericaFull Article | PDF Article
Chen Tang, Fang Zhang, Botao Li, and Haiqing Yan
Appl. Opt. 45(28) 7392-7400 (2006)
Chen Tang, Wenjing Lu, Song Chen, Zhen Zhang, Botao Li, Wenping Wang, and Lin Han
Appl. Opt. 46(30) 7475-7484 (2007)
Chen Tang, Lin Han, Hongwei Ren, Dongjian Zhou, Yiming Chang, Xiaohang Wang, and Xiaolong Cui
Opt. Lett. 33(19) 2179-2181 (2008)

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) Periodic Table (HTML)
Alt text
IBA Table (135KB GIF) | IBA Table (1.2MB PDF) | Heavy Ion Backscattering Spectrometry (HIBS) | Virtual Lab Tour (7MB)
The purpose of this table is to quickly give the visitor to this site information on the sensitivity, depth of analysis and depth resolution of most of the modern ion beam analysis techniques in a single easy to use format: a periodic table. Note that you can click on each panel of this table to obtain even more information on the IBA of this element, such as collision cross sections and even sites where you can download programs to analyze IBA data.
Sensitivity and Depth Resolution (Key at the lower left)
The information is organized in a periodic table in order to facilitate its use for the visitor. It is assumed that most visitors will have little knowledge of IBA, but will know what element they want to detect. A key to the information included in this table is found in the lower left for the element W or tungsten. The first letter indicates the technique (see the Key: R=RBS, E=ERD, etc., where the acronyms are defined in the lower right, RBS = Rutherford BackScattering, …), the following numbers are logarithmic scales for sensitivity, analysis range, and depth resolution.
This information has been calculated based on available ion-atom interaction cross sections and assumes:
 1. That 100 counts are measured,
 2. That the integrated incident beam current is 10 particle microcoulombs,
 3. That the largest practical detector solid angles are used.
These calculations ignore backgrounds and other interferences, but on-the-other-hand, IBA scientists routinely use incident beams greater than 10 microcoulombs, and therefore we feel that the sensitivities sited are actually rather conservative, and, in many cases, are an order of magnitude better. The depth resolutions listed are also very conservative, and should be thought of as upper limits.
Mass Resolution (shaded regions)
You will note some shaded regions on the table, and these are used to indicate the mass resolution range for He-beam RBS. For the first 4 rows of the table (say through Ar), the resolution is adequate to separate all adjacent elements except specific cases of mass-interference which are shaded (e.g., Mn and Fe cannot be separated because their mass differs by only 1 amu). For the remainder of the table, no adjacent elements are separable, and the lightly shaded "generic" mass resolution range is characteristic for an entire row of the periodic table (e.g., the shading of Ru-Rh-Pd indicates the for row 5 of the periodic table, that the mass resolution is not adequate to separate Ru from Pd, but could separate Ru from Ag, and so on for other elements in this row).
Nuclear Energy Values Diagrams
In these diagrams, energy values are plotted vertically in MeV, based on the ground state as zero. Uncertain levels or transitions are indicated by dashed lines; levels which are known to be particularly broad are cross-hatched. Values of total angular momentum, parity, and isobaric spin which appear to be reasonably well established are indicated on the levels. Less certain assignments are enclosed in parentheses. For reactions in which the present nucleus is the compound nucleus, some typical thin-target excitation functions are shown schematically, with the yield plotted horizontally and the bombarding energy vertically. Bombarding energies are indicated in laboratory coordinates and plotted to scale in cm coordinates. Excited states of the residual nuclei involved in these reactions have generally not been shown. Where transitions to such excited states are known to occur, a brace is sometimes used to suggest reference to another diagram. For reactions in which the present nucleus occurs as a residual product, excitation functions have not been shown.
Single click on a table element for IBA detail.
Bottom of table
IBA Table of Elements
Top of table
Related IBA Links:
Nuclear Physics Data:
Data Analysis:
Ion Solid Interactions:
Point of Contact: Barney L. Doyle


Summer and Autumn
Guiseppe Arcimboldi, _PHONE_, active in Milan,
Prague, and Vienna
Allegorical Heads Representing Summer andAutumn,
c. 1600-20
Oil on canvas
Museum purchase, 1954, SN 672 and SN673
By Sandra Musicante, March 14, 2000.
These two paintings appear to be of profiles facing each other. On closer inspection they are composed entirely of fruits and vegetables which lose identity as separate items to compose the features of the human face and upper body. The painting on the left has a coat and collar made of wheat with an artichoke coming out of the chest. His head is composed of wheat, cherries, berries and a cucumber for a nose and garlic representing the jaw. His mouth a pea pod. The painting on the right has an apple crate for a body with ropes tied around it. His head is made up of leaves, gourds, grapes, orange, olives. Nuts around the mouth and an orange slice for an ear. The background is very dark and the colors are not very bright. They are painted oil on canvas. The difference between these two are the fruits and vegetables chosen. The one on the left are fruits and vegetables of summer, the right autumn. And it just happens they are named - Summer and Autumn.
What are these strange paintings? Certainly no other painting in this gallery even comes close to resembling these works. These paintings were intended as allegories on imperial rule. What you're looking at are copies. Guiseppe Arcimboldo invented the originals. He was an artist born in Milan in the 16th Century who worked in the Austrian Court (the Hapsburg Court) most of his life. Under Rudolph II this court was a major European culture center and a stimulating environment. During this time the arts and sciences existed side by side and there was great interest in nature study. Arcimboldo painted his first series of composite heads made up from objects pertaining to the subject of the four seasons. These paintings have numerous Hapsburg symbols, which are related to each other according to an elaborate string of associations suggesting that as the Hapsburg's ruled the world of states, so too they may be seen to rule over the Universe. You could call them serious jokes. The people of the Renaissance loved paradox. They had an appreciation for serious content presented in fanciful form.
These paintings were meant to hang together - Winter facing Spring -Summer facing Autumn expressing a special relationship between the seasons they symbolize. Today Arcimboldo's originals hang in the Louvre. Arcimboldo painted several series of the 4 seasons with royalty posing for some of them. These pictures were given as gifts to relatives and dignitaries and served as advertisement for the policies of the House of Hapsburg. It served to maintain old ties and establish new ties. These inventions made Arcimboldo very famous and there were many copies and fakes. These was no school for this type of painting, but the artists were inspired and the method survived into the early 20th century leading to the rise of Surrealism.
Ringling acquired these painting in 1954 and paid $4000.


Digital Sanctum
Personal blog of Shane Witbeck Tags · Archive · About
Top 20 Ways to Solve a Problem
Published: 28 Nov 2007
 1. **Divide and conquer**: break down large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems
 2. **Hill-climbing strategy**, (or - rephrased - gradient descent/ascent, difference reduction) - attempting at every step to move closer to the goal situation. The problem with this approach is that many challenges require that you seem to move away from the goal state in order to clearly see the solution.
 3. **Means-end analysis**, more effective than hill-climbing, requires the setting of subgoals based on the process of getting from the initial state to the goal state when solving a problem.
 4. **Working backwards**
 5. **Trial-and-error**
 6. **Brainstorming**: a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn, an advertising executive and one of the founders of BBDO, in a book called Applied Imagination. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output by using the method of brainstorming.
 7. **Morphological analysis**: a method developed by Fritz Zwicky (1967, 1969) for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified problem complex.
 8. **Method of focal objects**: involves synthesizing the seemingly non-matching characteristics of different objects into something new.
 9. **Lateral thinking**: a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician and writer. It first appeared in the title of his book The Use of Lateral Thinking, published in 1967. De Bono defines lateral thinking as methods of thinking concerned with changing concepts and perception. Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.
 10. **George Pólya's techniques in [How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method (Princeton Science Library)](**: a small volume describing methods of problem solving. This book was published at Princeton University. It suggests the following steps when solving a mathematical problem
 11. **Research**: study what others have written about the problem (and related problems). Maybe there's already a solution?
 12. **Assumption reversal** (write down your assumptions about the problem, and then reverse them all)
 13. **Analogy**: has a similar problem (possibly in a different field) been solved before?
 14. **Hypothesis testing**: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove the assumption.
 15. **Constraint examination**: are you assuming a constraint which doesn't really exist?
 16. **Incubation**: input the details of a problem into your mind, then stop focusing on it. The subconscious mind will continue to work on the problem, and the solution might just "pop up" while you are doing something else
 17. **Build (or write) one or more abstract models of the problem**
 18. **Try to prove that the problem cannot be solved.** Where the proof breaks down can be your starting point for resolving it
 19. **Get help from friends or online problem solving community** (e.g. 3form)
 20. **Delegation**: delegating the problem to others.
 21. **Root Cause Analysis**: (RCA) is a class of problem solving methods aimed at identifying the root causes of problems or events. The practice of RCA is predicated on the belief that problems are best solved by attempting to correct or eliminate root causes, as opposed to merely addressing the immediately obvious symptoms. By directing corrective measures at root causes, it is hoped that the likelihood of problem recurrence will be minimized. However, it is recognized that complete prevention of recurrence by a single intervention is not always possible. Thus, RCA is often considered to be an iterative process, and is frequently viewed as a tool of continuous improvement.
World Problems
Tags: _TAG_#world-problems#brainstorming


text:
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory credit ancient architecture and developing world cooling strategies for their outside-the-box thinking that led to an air cooler that just might revolutionize air conditioning. NREL's Desiccant Enhanced Evaporative, or DEVAP, system won an R&D 100 Award this year.
The idea was born when Ron Judkoff was a young Peace Corps volunteer in Kedougou, Senegal, one of the warmest places on Earth. "That's where I really saw the effectiveness of evaporative cooling," said Judkoff, principal program manager for building technologies at NREL.
"The Senegalese would make these clay pots to keep water in," he recalled. "The pots didn't feel wet on the outside, but they were semi-permeable. There was enough porousness in the clay that there was evaporation taking place. You could take a nice drink of cold water — and the water would stay cold in the pot."
That semi-porous clay operated in a similar way as the high-tech membranes operate in NREL's DEVAP system. DEVAP works in any climate and achieves comfortable cooling while saving 40 to 80 percent of the energy use of a conventional air conditioning system.
During his Peace Corps tenure, Judkoff also noted how indigenous people in Saharan and sub-Saharan climes would effectively cool their buildings with the clever use of spray from fountains and transpiration from plants. He went on to study architecture under James Marston Fitch, a pioneer in bio-climatic architecture at Columbia University, and gained a greater appreciation for the ways ancient peoples and modern indigenous people achieved cooling. They could even make ice in deserts using night sky radiation. They fabricated wind scoops to channel soothing natural ventilation into otherwise stifling buildings. Later he researched desiccants — materials with the capacity to dry out moist air, which are a must if air conditioning is to be comfortable in a hot, humid climate.
"I had this notion that if we could only combine desiccant and evaporative cooling we might be able to come up with something really important," Judkoff said. "But it was just a notion, because with the materials available at that time, the cost, the weight, the volume — it just didn't look like it would pan out."
Still, Judkoff never completely let go of the idea, and in his early days at NREL he oversaw the first full-scale leap into evaporative cooling at NREL's second building, the Solar Energy Research Facility. In Colorado's dry climate, evaporative cooling by itself can achieve comfortable indoor climates. But it doesn't work in vast stretches of the United States and the world where the air is too humid.
Next page: Improving on the elephant in the room
Other national labs were tasked to try to improve on the elephant in the room — the vapor condensing air conditioner first designed by Willis H. Carrier in 1909. That left Judkoff and his NREL colleagues free to look at alternatives to the dominant approach. A key in combining desiccant drying with evaporative cooling was finding a way to separate the desiccant from the air.
Eric Kozubal, now NREL's principal investigator on the DEVAP cooling system, found a piece of the puzzle in a membrane that mimicked the properties of the semi-porous clay. The holes are so tiny that they're referred to as micropores. The membrane allows the desiccant to pull moisture out of the air through the membrane while preventing any desiccant from coming in direct contact with the air.
A DEVAP air conditioner would typically have a heat and mass exchanger that has hundreds if not thousands of air passages, each lined with microporous membrane. A mixture of fresh air and building return air flows through these passages and water vapor gets absorbed into desiccant flowing behind the membrane. Because this water vapor travels through the membrane, it is imperative that it have sufficient permeability. Simultaneously, adjacent air passages are in thermal contact with the flowing desiccant. These air passages are wetted with water and a working air stream flows to evaporate this water film, and thus remove the heat of absorption from the desiccant. This method of integrating indirect evaporative cooling creates a very efficient method of dehumidifying the air.
Eric Kozubal said, "Essentially, we were able to design a heat and mass exchanger with four fluid streams coming into thermal and mass transfer contact. We did this in a manner such that none of these streams became mixed with another." This was no simple task, and it was the ability to use membranes to contain the liquid desiccant that enabled such a design.
"It wasn't until advances in membrane technology and careful thermodynamic modeling and design that Eric was able to come up with a method to cheaply and efficiently build such an air conditioner," Judkoff said. Without the membranes, there is a ticklish problem called droplet carryover, in which some of the corrosive desiccant gets entrained in the air. That air gets into the duct work and corrodes it. It also can corrode metal fan blades, and in rare cases, structural steel.
Once the air is sufficiently dried out, clever indirect evaporative heat exchanger design allows it to be cooled down enough to cool a building. What comes out is air as dry and cool as the air in Colorado on a nice fall day. NREL enlisted two companies, AIL Research and Synapse, as partners to build prototypes. The final device incorporated ideas from each.
"We knew we couldn't just slap on any indirect evaporative cooler off the shelf," Kozubal said. "We needed an evaporative cooler that could reduce temperature below the wet-bulb temperature, minimize water usage and purge air." And they needed to maintain a size and weight for the entire DEVAP package similar to conventional roof-top air conditioners.
Next page: Cooling by adding heat
To do this Kozubal developed a counterflow indirect design wherein a small amount of supply air is bled off and fed through evaporative channels adjacent to the supply air channels. In this way the supply air is cooled via conduction to the evaporative channels, without adding any moisture to the supply air.
To complete the cycle, the liquid desiccant must be regenerated to remove the water it absorbed. To accomplish this, heat is added to the desiccant to raise the absorbed water's vapor pressure. Blow air past this hot desiccant and water vapor is carried away, which is done in another specially designed heat and mass exchanger.
"This air conditioner works by adding heat," Eric said, "We can use natural gas, solar heat or waste heat from many industrial processes to drive an air conditioner."
"I can foresee a time when this approach replaces most air conditioning in the world," said Judkoff.
Kozubal points out that aside from large energy savings, DEVAP has several other advantages over conventional cooling including:
- No need for environmentally damaging working fluids used in vapor compression systems.
- The working fluids in DEVAP are environmentally benign — water and a strong salt solution for the desiccant.
- DEVAP allows independent control of temperature and humidity, something that is not possible with conventional air conditioning unless an expensive overcooling and re-heating process is employed.
- No need for a compressor, and large amounts of expensive copper coils.
- DEVAP contains fewer moving parts in the form of simple low pressure pumps and fans.
- As efficient as DEVAP already is, there is lots of "thermodynamic room" for cost effective efficiency improvements.
Next page: Cooling in any climate
A typical direct-exchange air conditioner cools the air and dehumidifies it all at once, but not in a controlled way. The limit to how much drying can be achieved is dependent on how much water condenses on the evaporator coils as the air passes through.
The wet-bulb limit is the reason typical evaporative coolers either can't cool things down enough or can't create a truly comfortable space when there is a lot of heat and humidity in the air.
By contrast, DEVAP can provide cooling in any climate. The first stage wrings out all the moisture in the air. In doing so, it lowers the effective temperature limit by which the indirect evaporative cooler can achieve. It has a wet-bulb effectiveness of 125 percent — a huge boon compared to most current technology that has tried to get as close as it can to 100 percent.
The other huge advantage of DEVAP is that it is an energy miser. A direct-exchange air-conditioner uses 25 percent of its energy removing humidity and 75 percent dropping the temperature. By contrast, DEVAP only uses energy for that first step, removing humidity. The second step is achieved simply by adding a little water.
"As a cooling process, evaporative cooling is incredibly efficient," Judkoff said. "The fact that we have to put a little energy into drying the air is more than made up for out of the efficiency of evaporative cooling. Especially compared to typical A/C where you have to use electricity to compress the working fluid.
"Developing a brand new thermodynamic cycle and an apparatus to accomplish this process was difficult." Kozubal said. Conceptualizing this new device required a lot of ingenuity and breakthroughs in materials to become a reality. It took a lot of pondering. I spent a lot of time looking up at the ceiling."
Originally published in Innovation: America's Journal of Technology Commercialization. Reprinted with permission.
Image by Suslik1983 via Shutterstock

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


1. Anaplan User Experience
 2. Build apps and pages in the User Experience
 3. Pages
 4. Board pages
 5. Add cards to a board
 6. Add an image card to a board
Image cards provide a visual identifier for a line item. For example, you can use an image to identify office locations, products, or different employees in your company.
You can include multiple image cards on a board.
To add an image card to a board, the source model of the board must contain a line item with the format Text and type Link. The line item must contain a valid image URL.
Note: To edit an existing image card, open the board in designer mode and click the Edit icon on the card. The Card configuration panel opens. Follow the procedure below from step 4 to edit the card.
To add an image card to a board:
 1. Open the board in designer mode.
 2. In the Cards panel, under Add card, double-click the Image tile, or drag it onto the board.
 By default, the card displays, full-width, on the board.
 3. Click Configure image on the image card.
 On the right, the Card configuration panel displays.
 4. In the Overview tab select the module that contains the image from the Module drop-down list.
 Only modules that contain Link type line items display in the drop-down.
 5. Select the image from the Line item drop-down list.
 If the URL is valid, the image you select displays in the image card.
 If the URL is invalid a message notifies you on the image card. You or your workspace administrator must update the URL.
 6. Optionally:
 - Enter a title in the Title field.
 The default title for an image card is the name of the selected line item.
 - Enter a description of the card in the Description field.
 The description displays in a tooltip when you hover your cursor over the icon in the top-left of the card.
 - Select a page from the Link to a page drop-down list.
 The card title links to the page you select.
 If you have not entered a card title, the name of the page you link to displays as the card title.
 - In the Image tab, toggle Display card background to display or hide the background of the image card.
 The background of cards is enabled by default.
 - Configure context selectors.
 7. Click Publish to save the image card to the board.
If the module has multiple dimensions, a context selector displays in the top-right of the page. To select a different image to display, click into the context selector and select the URL of the replacement image.


text:
Thomas C. Schmidt, Matthias Wählisch, Maik Wodarz,
ETM - An Optimized Routing Protocol for Mobile SSM Sources,
In: Wireless and Mobile Networking, (Zoubir Mammeri Ed.), ser. IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, Vol. 284, pp. 29--40, Boston:Springer Verlag, September 2008.
Abstract: Mobility is considered a key technology of the next generation Internet and has been standardized within the IETF. Rapidly emerging multimedia group applications such as IPTV, MMORPGs and video conferencing increase the demand for mobile group communication, but a standard design of mobile multicast is still awaited. The traditional Internet approach of Any Source Multicast (ASM) routing remains hesitant to spread beyond walled gardens, while the simpler and more selective Source Specific Multicast (SSM) is expected to globally disseminate to many users and services. However, mobility support for Source Specific Multicast is still known to be a major open problem. In this paper we introduce the Enhanced Tree Morphing (ETM), an optimized multicast routing protocol for transforming (morphing) source specific distribution trees into optimal trees rooted at a relocated source. Following up on previous results for the initial Tree Morphing, we present enhancements that lead to a simpler protocol with significantly optimized performance values in both, forwarding performance and protocol robustness. Extensive evaluations based on real-world topology data are part of this work.


What Not to Do on an Empty Stomach
If you get stomach aches easier than most, maybe take a look at your daily routine. What you do on an empty stomach may reflect how you feel with a full stomach. Try to avoid doing these things on an empty stomach and see how it affects the way you feel -
1. DO NOT exercise on an empty stomach. Some prefer an empty stomach to practice yoga or for fasted cardio, but I still suggest ditching those habits. Your body needs fuel to use fuel. Pretend your body is a car; now, you can't drive a car if there isn't any gas in it, so how are you going to workout without any fuel? Plus, how are you going to make any _TAG_ without any food?!
2. DO NOT go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Do you drool when you walk down the chip and candy aisle, too? Because, SAME. Well, it will be ten times worse if you grocery shop when you're hungry. You are more likely to purchase food items that were not on your list, as well as unhealthier foods, when grocery shopping on an empty stomach.
3. DO NOT travel on an empty stomach. This can cause motion sickness. Always bring snacks! (I live and breathe by that statement whether I'm traveling or not.) Foods high in protein and low in sodium are your best choices for traveling. Also, try to avoid large meals before traveling to reduce discomfort and bloating.
4. DO NOT drink coffee or tea on an empty stomach. The acidity in these two drinks can cause heartburn throughout the day if consumed first thing in the morning. Remember to grab breakfast or at least a snack before the IV of caffeine starts flowing.
So, what should you do? EAT! Fuel your body! You need food to be energized and alert. Need some snack ideas for when you are on the go? Here are a few of my favs:
Happy eating!
- Katharine
You Might Also Like:


I hear with my little ear: Podcasts 9-16 June 2020
Heather Cox Richardson has her own YouTube channel now. She's continuing with the Facebook chats (and in her History and Politics chat she explains why) and then posting them onto You Tube. Her History and Politics Chat of 26 May 2020 looks at the influence of the 'Spanish' flu on the November 1918 election (she doesn't think it had that much influence); the question of whether Ford was right to pardon Nixon (she says no because it was a precedent for presidents being above the lawalthough she does note that Ford also pardoned 'draft-dodgers' who had fled to Canada, so it was supposed to be a 'pardons for everyone' gesture; and she finished off talking about propaganda.
The History and Politics Chat of 9 June 2020answered three questions 1. What happened to the Baby Boomers? Why didn't they have more effect on society? (Her answer: after Goldwater's defeat, the Movement Conservatives moved into more bread-and-butter local elected positions – school boards, text book boards etcand exerted their influence on day-to-day life). 2. The creation of Washington D.C. (not very interesting for an Australian listener) 3. Why does Mitch McConnell have so much power in the Senate? (Because the Senate Republicans keep supporting him). And she finished off describing what a 'doglicker' was.
Her History Chat of 28 May is a break between her most recent book How the South Won the Civil War and her previous book about the history of the Republican Party. In this episode she looks at a letter purported to have been written by Jourdan Anderson to his former slave owner Col. P. H. Anderson on August 7, 1865. This was after Lincoln had been assassinated but before Congress reconvened. She reads the letter, then deconstructs it as a historian does. It's a good example of historic method.
The Documentary (BBC) has been running its Lockdown series, but this is the last one. This seems strange given that the trajectory of the pandemic is still unknown. With the Lockdown series, they invite ordinary people to upload a recording via their phones, talking about how the lockdown has affected their day-to-day life. This episode Lockdown Tales from Panama and Brazil actually has input from more countries than these two, including Rwanda, Australia and America. In the American one, the caller is going to resist any further restrictions as an infringement on his constitutional rights. I wanted to kick him.
Another episode In my present isolation takes a very old-fashioned approach of asking six writers on different continents to physically write a chain letter, adding their own perspectives to what has been written previously. As you might expect, it's beautifully expressed and it makes you regret even more that the art of letter writing has been replaced by emails and Twitter.
Start the Week (BBC) had an interesting discussion on a program called Our Coercive Politics, featuring David Runciman, presenter of a 12 part podcast series Talking Politics: History of Ideas and Ute Frevert, the author of The Politics of Humiliation: A Modern History (which sounds really interesting). The discussion ranges across the power of the state during the covid pandemic; Hobbes, Gandhi and Fanon; the power of humiliation; and George Floyd.
Outlook (BBC World) If you're a millionaire who has climbed the highest peak on all the continents, done Antarctica etc. etc. what's left to do? Go in a one-man submersible to the deepest part of the five oceans. That's why Victor did in Voyage to the bitter deep. And what did they find there? The Titanic, and plastic.
Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue usually has some good segments. This old one How do we view James Cook 250 years later features historians John Gascoigne (writer of many works about navigation and the Enlightenment), Mark McKenna (recent Quarterly Essay: Moment of Truth: History and Australia's Future) and Alison Page, artist, creative, Councillor at the National Maritime Museum and Chair of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. They mentioned a book very much championed by the right (i.e. foreword by John Howard; praised by Keith Windschuttle; featured at the Sydney Institute) called Lying for the Admiralty by Margaret Cameron-Ash. In it, she argues that Cook didn't miss Sydney Cove at all, but instead was following secret Admiralty orders to keep quiet about important discoveries for fear that the French would settle there instead. I haven't heard of this book, or any academic response to it.
Rear Vision Here I was, thinking that it was a new program-1929 Revisited– but instead it was first broadcast on 27 April 2008, after the GFC. Still, listening to the gyrations of the stock market on the news each night, inexplicably rising in the midst of Covid-19, it's sobering to see that in the months leading up to October-November 1929, the share market was bobbing around then too.
2 responses to "I hear with my little ear: Podcasts 9-16 June 2020
 1. My understanding is that McConnell sits on an enormous pot of re-election funds which he distributes and withholds at will.
 2. Captain Cook hikes to Sydney Harbour
 How do we view James Cook 250 years later? Answer: seek out good, original research such as that provided in "Lying for the Admiralty".
 For instance, how do we explain the fact that Arthur Phillip had prior knowledge of the "several islands" in Sydney Harbour? Most historians sweep this problem under the carpet because it seems impossible to explain, which is a great loss for history-lovers. Luckily, three historians have highlighted the problem.
 The first was George Barton, elder brother of our first Prime Minister, Edmond Barton. His explanation was that Phillip was mistakenly thinking of Port Stephens. But this doesn't work, because Phillip knew the islands were much closer to Botany Bay than Port Stephens is.
 The second was Professor Alan Frost who suggested that someone had spotted the islands from the deck of the Endeavour as she sailed past Sydney Heads. However, this doesn't work either, because you can't see 'round corners.
 The third person to tackle the problem is me. After dismissing drones and helicopters, I bribed a friend to shinny up the mast of the tall ship, James Craig, when it was off The Gap, but he saw nothing. Then, when I was attending the Moonlight Cinema in Sydney's Centennial Park, I realized that Cook had walked overland from Botany Bay to Port Jackson, as hundreds of bushwalkers do every year.
 Of course, there is other supporting evidence that Cook saw Sydney Harbour, including Cook's failure to investigate any other sub-tropical inlet on the coast, plus an excess of blather over substance in his Journal for the week he spent in Botany Bay. But the most intriguing evidence is Arthur Phillip's memo, written in 1787.
 "Lying for the Admiralty" went into reprint within 12 months of publication.
 The book has been widely praised:
 'the most significant contribution to Cook studies since Beaglehole's edition of the journals': Paul Brunton, Emeritus Curator, State Library of NSW
 'turns history on its head': Dr. Nigel Erskine, Head of Research, Australian National Maritime Museum
 Thank you for your blog.
 Margaret Cameron-Ash
 Author of "Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook's Endeavour Voyage"
 Rosenberg Publishing, 2018, 2019.
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The Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters, a project of Earth Island Institute, and Friends of the Earth took steps today to rein in the continued dumping of pollution from cruise ships into Alaskan waters. The groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed a challenge in state superior court to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's decision to grant the permit that authorizes cruise ships to continue dumping pollutants without meeting the standards required by law.
Every summer about one million visitors come to Alaska on cruise ships. These boats dump wastewater into Alaskan coastal waters, leaving partially-treated sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollutants in their wakes. In 2006, Alaskans voted a ballot measure into law requiring cruise ships to meet Alaska's water quality standards when they discharge this wastewater.
The Alaska Legislature weakened the voter-passed law in 2009, giving cruise ships operating in Alaskan waters several more years until they are required to comply with water quality standards but requiring the ships to install the best available treatment technologies in the interim. The 2010 permit issued by the Department of Environmental Conservation provided for the time extension, but failed to require ships to use the best available treatment technologies now, as required by the statute. Some wastewater treatment systems allowed under the 2010 permit produce more than ten times the pollution the cleanest ships currently release.
"Some ships are successfully using cleaner technologies and the law requires every ship to match that performance until all state water quality standards are met," said Gershon Cohen, Project Director of Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters. "The State's own records prove the performance and availability of the better systems, and agency staff have confirmed there is room to put them on the remaining ships."
"Alaska's coastal waters are our economic lifeblood," said Earthjustice attorney Kate Glover. "People come from all over the world to see the whales, porpoise and salmon that thrive in our coastal waters. It's not right to let some cruise ships threaten our fisheries and tourism industries when there's a proven technology that can reduce the level of pollution."
"This case highlights that Alaska must continue to lead the charge to push the cruise ship industry toward employing the best wastewater treatment technologies. Alaska's standards have been improving cruise ship performance in all U.S. waters and worldwide," said Marcie Keever, Oceans & Vessels Campaign Director at Friends of the Earth.


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The process of accretion is important in the formation of planets, stars, and black holes; it is also believed to power some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe. In an accretion disc, the accretion rate is controlled by the outward transport of angular momentum. Collisional processes like friction or viscosity are typically too small to account for the observed rates, and it is universally believed that astrophysical accretion discs are turbulent. However the origin of this turbulence is not clear since discs with velocity profiles close to Keplerian are stable to infinitesimal perturbations. In the early nineties it was realized that the stability picture changes dramatically if magnetic fields or nonlinear effects are present. In this talk I will describe how some of these issues can be discussed within the framework of the flow of a conducting fluid between coaxial rotating cylinders. I will also describe some of the experiments that are on the way to study these flows as well as the computational efforts to clarify the nature of the ensuing turbulent transport.
ANL Physics Division Colloquium Schedule


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ESRC provides guidance on:
Postgraduate research collaboration
When postgraduate students, non-academic organisations and partners work together, they learn about each other's expertise, share knowledge and get an appreciation of different professional cultures.
The postgraduate collaboration section gives information and guidance on a range of collaboration opportunity ideas, and case study examples of students' experiences.
Make an impact with your research
These resources will help you maximise the impact of your research:
- the impact toolkit has guidance on topics including commercialising your research and effective media relations
- the LSE impact blog is a hub for researchers, students and anyone else who wants to maximise the real-world impact of their academic work.
More resources for PhD students
Use these resources to develop as you study:
- Vitae helps with the personal, professional and career development of postgraduate researchers and research staff
- Sense about Science helps people to make sense of science and evidence
- The Thesis Whisperer is a blog about doing a thesis and about how to find a job when you graduate
- innovative workshop plans for creative engagement are available from Ketso
- other sources of postgraduate funding.
Careers advice for post-graduates
Get help to develop your career and find the right job:
- University and College Union has a range of resources and information about continuing professional development
- jobs.ac.uk lists academic jobs and information about how you can find a job
- Prospects has advice and information to support graduates and postgraduates.
Last updated: 25 November 2022


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Significance: Using a combined approach of next generation sequencing and exon?level array comparative genomic hybridization, testing identified a genetic etiology in 15.4% of patients in this cohort and revealed the age at molecular diagnosis for patients. Our study highlights both high? and low?yield genes associated with epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders, indicating which genes may be considered for molecular diagnostic testing.
Objective: We evaluated >8500 consecutive, unselected patients with epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders who underwent multigene panel testing to determine the average age at molecular diagnosis and diagnostic yield of 70 genes.
Methods: We reviewed molecular test results for 70 genes known to cause epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders using next generation sequencing (NGS) and exon?level array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). A positive result was defined as the presence of 1 or 2 pathogenic or likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants in a single gene, depending on the mode of inheritance of the associated disorder.
Results: Overall, 22 genes were found to have a high yield of positive findings by genetic testing, with SCN1A and KCNQ2 accounting for the greatest number of positive findings. In contrast, there were no positive findings in 16 genes. Most of the P/LP variants were sequence changes identified by NGS (90.9%), whereas ~9% were gross deletions or duplications detected by exon?level aCGH. The mean age of molecular diagnosis for the cohort was 5 years, 8 months (ranging from 1 week to 47 years). Recurrent P/LP variants were observed in 14 distinct genes, most commonly in MECP2, KCNQ2, SCN1A, SCN2A, STXBP1, and PRRT2. Parental testing was performed in >30% of positive cases. All variants identified in CDKL5, STXBP1, SCN8A, GABRA1, and FOXG1 were de novo, whereas 85.7% of variants in PRRT2 were inherited.


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A concentration gradient of stromal-cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) is the major mechanism for homing of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in bone marrow. We tested the hypothesis that a gene therapy using SDF-1α can enhance HSCs recruiting to the heart upon myocardial infarction (MI). Adult mice with surgically induced myocardial ischemia were injected intramyocardially with either saline (n=12) or SDF-1α plasmid (n=12) in 50 μl volume in the ischemic border zone of the infarcted heart 2 weeks after myocardial infarction. Donor Lin-c-kit+ HSCs from isogenic BalB/c mice were harvested, sorted through magnetic cell sorting (MACS) and labeled with PKH26 Red. Three days after plasmid or saline injection, 1×105 labeled cells were injected intravenously (i.v.) into saline mice (n=4) and SDF-1α plasmid mice (n=4). The hearts and other tissue were removed for Western blot assay 2 weeks after plasmid or saline treatment. The labeled Lin-c-kit+ cells were identified with immunofluoresent staining and endogenous c-kit+ cells were identified by immunohistochemical staining. In mice killed at 1 month postinfarct, Western blot showed higher levels of SDF-1α expression in SDF-1α-treated mouse ischemic hearts compared to saline-treated hearts and other tissues. In the SDF-1α plasmid-treated hearts, SDF-1α is overexpressed in the periinfarct zone. The labeled stem cells engrafted to the SDF-1α positive site in the myocardium. There was also evidence for endogenous stem cell recruiting. The density of c-kit+ cells in border zone, an index of endogenous stem cell mobilization, was significantly higher in the SDF-1α-treated group than in the saline group (14.63±1.068 cells/hpf vs. 11.31±0.65 cells/hpf, P=0.013) at 2 weeks after SDF-1α or saline treatment. Following myocardial infarction, treatment with SDF-1α recruits stem cells to damaged heart where they may have a role in repairing and regeneration. The gene therapy with an SDF-1α vector offers a promising therapeutic strategy for mobilizing stem cells to the ischemic myocardium.
- Gene therapy
- Stem cell mobilization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Biochemistry
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience


NIST logo
Publication Citation: Multiscale Model of Germanium Quantum Dots in Silicon
NIST Authors in Bold
Author(s): David T. Read; Vinod K. Tewary;
Title: Multiscale Model of Germanium Quantum Dots in Silicon
Published: March 01, 2007
Abstract: Atomic displacements, strains and strain energies in the neighborhood of near-spherical, coherent germanium ¿quantum dots¿ (QD) in crystalline silicon and near a {001} Si surface have been predicted by multiscale modeling, using a combination of classical molecular dynamics (MD) and Green¿s function (GF) techniques. The smallest QDs nearest the surface produces a characteristic pattern of out-of-plane surface displacement, namely, a depression or indent at the center of the peak. This feature was absent in the largest dot. For dots that are large (e.g., 8 nm diameter), and perhaps even for smaller dots close to the surface, the patterns of surface displacement are of a magnitude sufficient to be observed by advanced scanned probe force microscopy. Iterative force matching over a ¿shell¿ region of thickness a few lattice parameters joined the GF and MD solutions. A modified-embedded-atom-model interatomic potential was used in both analysis methods. Dots of four sizes were analyzed, ranging in diameter from 1.1 to 8.6 nm. The supercell size was 34.2 nm. Calculations for strains and displacements in the infinite solid were extended to the {001} surface of the semi-infinite solid using the scheme described previously. Atomic displacements in the infinite solid showed trends generally similar to the early estimate of Mott and Nabarro, but differed in detail, especially for the smaller dots. Both our calculated strain in the quantum dot and our far-field atomic displacements were smaller than the Mott-Nabarro estimate. Surface displacements were broadly similar in magnitude and shape to the classic isotropic continuum solution of Mindlin and Cheng. Different surface displacements occur along the <100> and <110> directions because of crystalline anisotropy. For the smallest dot, the elastic energy density at the surface shows a pronounced minimum directly above the center of the dot, while for the largest dot an energy maximum occurs at the projected center position.
Citation: Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
Volume: 18
Pages: pp. 1 - 12
Keywords: continuum, displacement, Green's function, lattice statics, MEAM model, molecular dynamics, scanned probe microscopy, strain energy, stress, surface
Research Areas: Modeling
PDF version: PDF Document Click here to retrieve PDF version of paper (525KB)


Cuda E with RC drivetrain
RC E-Bike Drivetrain tutorial
By Warren Beauchamp
RC based e-bike drives trains can be extremely efficient, high powered, and deliver a lot of bang for the buck. Because the RC industry is well established there are a wide range of vendors of products and they enjoy a reasonable price due to the high volumes of production. These systems are not designed for e-bike use, but can be readily adapted.
Note that building an RC e-bike drive train requires basic electronics and mechanical skills and use of a soldering iron. It also involves batteries with extremely high power density. The batteries used are very sensitive to over and under charging, and if damaged can catch fire in a spectacular manner. Also, these types of systems are not good for people looking for an e-bike appliance. These are more for someone looking for an e-bike hotrod.
Basic parts needed to build an RC drivetrain are an RC motor, ESC, servo tester, BEC, throttle, LiPo battery pack, and a gear system to reduce the motor RPM to bike wheel speeds.
Basic Terms
 - RC (radio controlled) - General term for products designed for the RC industry.
 - AC (alternating current) - as opposed to DC (direct current), AC voltage varies up and down around a zero point.
 - V (volts) - Generally the higher the voltage that faster you go. Sort of like how fast water flows through a hose.
 - A (amps) - This is current. Generally the more current you have, the faster you get to the top speed. 1000 milliamps (MA) = 1A
 - W (watts) - This is volts times amps. Usually used to show total power used. 1 kilowatt (KW) = 1000 watts. V * A = W
 - Controller - A device that controls the motor. Simplistically, it takes power from the battery and a signal from the throttle and used that to control how much power is sent to the motor.
RC Motor information
Motor Wiring
Builders of 3 phase brushless RC Motors Motor drivetrains have to pay attention to the motor wiring. RC motors have 6 power wires coming out of them, one set of wires for each group of windings.
These need to be arranged one of two ways, "Delta" or "Wye". Generally Wye (also called "star") is more efficient. Wye has 1.73 times less KV than Delta (slower speed per volts), but 1.73 times more torque. In general it's a good idea to stick with Wye configuration for electric bikes as e-bikes need slower motor speed, higher torque, and high efficiency.
For Wye configuration, the 3 positive wires are tied together, and the 3 negative wires go to the controller. These 3 negative wires are the phase wires, just like in a hub motor.
For Delta, the positive from one set of windings is connected to the negative of the next set. Each connection of positive and negative makes up one phase.
In both configurations, if you connect the ESC to the motor and it spins the wrong way, just reverse two of the phase wires from the ESC.
KV - RC Motors are AC brushless motors and are rated by their KV. KV is the relationship between voltage and motor speed (rpms per volt. Multiply the motor KV times the battery voltage to find the maximum motor RPM. For instance a motor with a KV of 100 would run unloaded at 5000 RPMs at 50V. Note that RPM with the motor under load is around 70% of the unloaded value. This means that the actual max motor speed while being used is about KV * V * 0.7
Windings - One of the main things that controls the KV of a motor is how the copper electro-magnets are wound. For example a 6 x 10 motor has 10 turns of wire on each pole, and 6 wires wound together in parallel onto each pole. A higher number of turns on each pole of the motor means a lower KV, lower RPM, and lower top speed. A lower number of turns on each pole of the motor means a higher KV, higher RPM and higher top speed.
Hall Sensors - Most e-bike specific motors use hall sensors. These are used to tell the controller what position the motor is in, so it knows when to send a pulse to the electro-magnets. RC Motors do not have any hall sensors, so at low RPM they can lose sync easily. Generally with RC bike systems you should pedal to at least 5MPH before the applying the throttle to avoid this issue. It is possible to retrofit hall sensors to RC motors but that will not be discussed here.
RC Motor Sync - For e-bike use, Inexpensive ECSs like Turnigy controllers can lose sync when accelerating under high load, at very low RPM, or at very high RPM. The loss of sync at high RPM sounds like the motor is screeching, and is accompanied by a loss of power. At low RPM it sounds like the motor is stuttering. This should be avoided as it stresses the controller. The Motor itself is also important. To help prevent the loss of sync a high quality motor like Plettenberg or AstroFlight is recommended.
Choosing an RC motor
There are several parameters to look at when choosing an RC motor for your e-bike application. The first is, inrunner or outrunner? With inrunner motors the shaft rotates. This is good for driving chains or belts. With outrunner motors the outside shell rotates. This is good for direct friction to tire drive applications.
Typical E-bike RC motors run at 8,000 to 12,000 RPM with no load. In general this means with a 50V battery pack you will want a KV of 225 or lower. With a motor like this you can use a simple 2 stage gear reduction. You will need to pick a motor that works with the reduction gearing you are using to deliver your chosen top speed at maximum RPM. Higher motor speeds can be used, but the speed reduction gearing becomes complex. RC e-bikers have used motors with much higher RPM with complex multi-stage or planetary gearing like the Neugart PLE units. The advantage of this is that the bike has much better low end torque.
The Astroflight 8120-5T is a 225KV motor. 5T refers to five of turns per coil in the motor. This motor when run at 48V and using a 14:1 gear reduction with a 20" wheel give a top speed of about 30MPH. Because the RC motor doesn't have hall sensors, it is a "pedal first" system. This means you will need to pedal up to about 5 MPH to allow the motor to get to a high enough RPM to sync properly at a high load. After that, whoosh!
Here's an RC Drive Calculator to help you figure out how the tire size, motor KV, battery voltage, and gearing all interact to give you a top speed.
Next you will need to determine how much power you need. RC motors are rated in watts. It takes around 2000 watts (2KW) to get up hills at a decent speed and to go over 20 MPH into a stiff headwind, so that should be the minimum to consider. Anything over 5000 watts is a monster motor and will require a very powerful battery and stronger than standard bicycle drivetrain components. Note that 750 watts is one horsepower.
Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)
RC Motors controllers (ESCs) are very small and light compared to traditional e-bike controllers, they are also smarter. This is nice because they are small and lightweight, but it's bad because they do not have the ability to shed heat as easily.
The RC controller (ESC) has to figure out the correct timing synchronization for each throttle position and load condition using EMF (electro motive force) feedback. Some RC controllers are better at this than others. Castle Creations controllers are an example of a good controller. Cheaper controllers like Turnigy work fine for aircraft use, as the low RPM / High load conditions of the aircraft environment are not nearly as rigorous as those in an electric bike.
Castle Creations controllers are programmable via USB. You'll need the Castle Creations USB adaptor to connect your PC to it. This will also allow you to download the logged data so you can see pretty graphs of your motor use. Click here for some suggested settings when using the HV160 with the Astro Flight 3210 motor.
RC Controllers are generally do not support voltages higher than 50V (12 LiPo cells in series). The ESCs have heavy power wires going in and three heavy phase wires going out. They also have 3 smaller wires that connect to the throttle circuitry (servo tester).
Note that the ESC throttle wire colors in the schematic above may not match those on your ESC and servo tester, and the little plug can be plugged in two ways. In general, red goes to red and black goes to brown and if you get those right the other one will be right too..
Throttle Electronics
The Throttle for an RC motor is more difficult than a traditional e-bike system because RC ESCs are designed to be throttled by signals from a radio receiver. To make is work with a resistive e-bike throttle you need a "servo tester" and a "battery elimination circuit" (BEC). The BEC converts the 48V from the battery to 5V for the servo tester.


Sat, 14 Nov 2020 03:58:26 -0800WeeblyMon, 27 Jun 2016 21:08:08 GMThttp://www.nexgendesal.com/nexus-blog/cyberattacks-against-water-and-power-plants-a-design-to-obviate-this-infrastructure-weaknessBy: Robert L Campbell,
Founding Chairman and CEO of CAP Holding Co. and the principal architect of CHC's NexGenDesal™
Prompted by an excellent article in "Circle of Blue WaterNews" titled "Water Sector Prepares for Cyberattacks," I will take the opportunity to describe how CHC has implemented a very robust protection against such attacks.
I bring deep knowledge and sensitivity to this issue, as I was an author of our Nation's first "Information Warfare Study and Plan". This still-classified document was produced under the direction of Congress by the Naval Studies Board of the National Academy of Science. I was involved in presenting the plan to President Clinton and Vice President Gore.
Among a wide range of issues addressed by the Study and Plan was the vulnerability of infrastructure systems to both intentional, malicious manipulation of digital control information and massive electromagnetic attacks. The first area of this study looked at methods of protecting digital information sent on various networks, especially the internet. The second area of vulnerability looked at systems that could be disrupted or destroyed by high power electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
Considering a seawater desalination plant (and its associated renewable energy sources), the digital vulnerability is most likely to be from a cyberattack on the plant's Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Such attacks could be through internet connections, USB thumb drive ports, or even the primary power source. The easy targets within the SCADA system are the human interface equipment (e.g. local computer, local operations panels, motor control devices (VFD's), valve actuators, and sensors.
The least addressed vulnerability of contemporary seawater desalination plants is that of EMP. Such pulses can be remotely generated by low altitude bursts from specially designed nuclear weapons or very high power pulsed electromagnetic jammers. (Both high power jammers and EMP warfare are a past area of expertise of mine).
In either case, internet digital attacks or EMP, we now see operating examples of these tools for cyberwarfare being tested and deployed. This is an area of great concern to the US Department of Defense and Homeland Security. US infrastructure in general is highly susceptible to these two techniques.
To protect its desalination and power plants, CHC has taken a path that is simple in concept yet technically advanced in implementation. CHC believes no amount of encryption, password protection, or firewalls can protect against the most sophisticated and powerful new electronic warfare weapons. Therefore, CHC's systems engineering had to incorporate some simple principles: stay disconnected from all internet paths and commercial communication systems (e.g. cell phones, local land lines, and line of sight microwave systems). Next, stay disconnected from local commercial power grids and employ fuel cells as a primary power source (properly installed, fuel cells offer a filter against EMP). Then, electromagnetically harden the vulnerable equipment at the factory, while assembling and testing. Lastly, eliminate local human access to data transmission equipment in the plants (e.g. USB ports, Ethernet connections, and input/output devices).
NexGenDesal™ Systems have no operators on site. Operators and maintenance people are a weak link in cybersecurity. To accomplish unattended remote operations and predictive maintenance, CHC employs a propriety set of hardware and software called Global Secure SCADA (GSS).
GSS is able to burst transmit compressed data to a CHC analysis and control center in the U.S. from any location in the world, except for the extreme Nothern and Southern latitudes where seawater desalination plants are unnecessary (ice can be simply melted to produce potable water). Details of the GSS remain proprietary to CHC and employ highly advanced, well proven satellite communications systems and very advanced Predictive Diagnostics software.
To avoid damage from EMP or lightning, NexGenDesal™ Systems operate off the power grid and use a variety of protection devices on the primary power lines. Instead of grid power, these systems employ one or more of several renewable energy systems, ranging from solar, wind, or sea kinetic, to gas from municipal solid waste. Energy storage will be accomplished with high pressure hydrogen storage. When needed, this hydrogen is then decompressed and converted to electric power, hot air and hot water by a fuel cell. CHC has a unique technology to produce very pure, high pressure hydrogen (2000 to 5000 pounds per square inch) from seawater and can store this gas in commercial high pressure storage vessels. When appropriate, the hydrogen for the fuel cell will be derived from Syngas produce by Municipal Solid Waste destruction, also employing a unique CHC technology and renewable energy.
All in all, the article in "Circle of Blue" concerning cybersecurity of water plants is an excellent "heads up" warning. Unfortunately, from the perspective of CHC and its clients, both the water/power industry and the U.S. government agencies that should be protecting the US infrastructure are far behind our adversary's' ever increasing cyberwarfare capabilities.
Until systems like NexGenDesal™ become widely employed, the water and power infrastructure in any country is susceptible to damage, disruption, or even destruction from ever advancing electronic warfare systems.
From the active cyberwarfare perspective, the U.S. knows how to attack other water, power, communications and transportation systems and has the means to do so today. While we are just now "developing a common language to talk about cybersecurity," many other countries are testing and deploying systems to test our infrastructure vulnerability.
Look to CHC to deploy cyber secure and EMP resistant seawater desalination systems and associated renewable power plants.]]>


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Today most of the apparel industry and manufacturing houses are dependent on labor centric cutting cycle. Manually fabric cutting and sewing make production expensive. Here is the role of automation came in manufacturing houses. Automation in fabric cutting rooms can transform costly labor-intensive production into high-tech production houses.
What is cutting room?
Cutting Room is a section of the department, where fabric cutting is done and processed for the following section (e.g. sewing section) in the garments manufacturing industry
Automation In Cutting Room
Automation in fabric cutting room improves productivity and quality of apparel. It will be helpful to minimize human intervention and prevent manufacturing mistakes in the manufacturing houses soon.
Revolution of Automation in Cutting:
Versatile new inventions have automated cutting room layout in apparel manufacturing houses. In the early 1900s, an automatic spreading was developed, which carries a fabric role over the table had reduced manpower. Then the Die cutters came to increase fabric cutting efficiency and quality.
Later on, numerically controlled machines named NC machines came Infront in the 1940s and 50s. Then advancement of technology invents the computer numerically controlled CNC machines, supported by tools like computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs.
Modern Automated Cutting System
Today, most manufacturing houses have similar automated cutting configurations. Straight knives and band knives are used in most manufacturing houses.
A cutting knife device is set up on a flatbed cutting table in a straight knife cutting system. The cutting device can move above the table. But in the Band Cutting machine, the cutting knife has a permanent position. The fabric could be moved and floating by air circulation.
These movements of the cutting machine or fabric let the cutting over the pre-planned area. It's managed precisely by an automated or semi-automated control unit.
Fabric Cutting Configuration
In a modern automated cutting system, single ply or multiple plies of fabric has a different configuration to cut fabric.
Single-ply cutting enhances with continuous processes. It eliminates the requirements of the spreader. Cause, the fabric can be supplied to the cutting area directly from the fabric roll. A conveyorized belt is used for foraging for increased productivity.
When multiple fabric plies are spread to cut, it requires more substantial cutting power—still, most manufacturing houses use this procedure to enhance productivity.
The use of automatic cutting machines has reduced both the number of workers and the time compared to manually operated machines. Besides, accuracy and efficiency can be increased.
Cutting room process flow chart:
Receive Order sheet
Certification of Store-Room
Working Pattern receiving from production section
Marker making on the CAD room
Determine quantity of spreading fabric
Calculate No. of lay per cutting
No of cutting per order
Receiving fabric from store
Start Bulk Automated Cutting
Sorting & Bundling
Send to sewing Section
Automation In Fabric Cutting Room is the Necessity in Near Future for Manufacturing Houses
Till now, Fabric cutting is accustomed to being done manually. But currently, an automated fabric cutting machine is being employed. Therefore, it is easy to cut the fabric additional preciously than before.
In automatic fabric cutting, the working pattern is saved directly in the computer even while not creating marker paper. According to computer instruction, the automated cutting machine automatically and accurately cuts multiple plies of fabric concisely.
Today's modern cutting systems are equipped with a vacuum system. It enhances cutting accuracy during the cutting process. Modern Cutting Room Equipment helps to cut fabric accurately and reduce maximum fabric wastage.
Apparel manufacturing houses can use various cutting technologies in the modern cutting room, such as computer-controlled cutting, lasers cutting, water jets, plasma, even ultrasound. These cutting machines are adopted by contemporary manufacturing houses to be suitable for multi-ply cutting fabric.
Why Automation in Fabric Cutting Room is Essential?
Apparel manufacturers houses face versatile challenges in this pandemic, such as labor shortage, shortening lead product times and shrinking margins, and so on. Modern technology in the cutting room will provide a competitive advantage over manual ones.
Time to production is the most crucial factor now. And apparel manufacturers have realized that the more the human resources involved in the chain, the more are the chances of errors and delays. An increasing number of manufacturing houses recognize that automation cutting technology can overcome serious challenges.
Benefits of Automated Cutting Room:
- Reduce 50% material costs.
- Increase productivity and fabric cutting ratio.
- Reduce workforce and eliminate the need for skilled cutters.
- Accelerate the productive sewing process.
- Helps to utilize Maximum valuable floor space.
- Advanced Integrated data sharing saves time and money.
- Easy to Analyze and improve the cutting process with automatic metrics.
There is no alternative modern solution other than an automatic cutting system. With these automatic cutters, cutting is smoother effective and provides the manufacturer with the best option suited to their need.
The Future of Automation in Manufacturing Houses
Fabric is always soft and challenging to handle and manipulate. It requires complex motions to adjustments. Therefore, full automation in cutting has never been genuinely possible.
But it can be improved by using AI, cameras, sensors, mapping technology, and software-driven algorithms; sewbots can adjust or stop as required. Technological advancements and automation are drastically transforming how apparel is produced. Automation in the Fabric cutting room is the desired necessity for every manufacturing house to get enough productivity and efficiency in the near future.
If you have any questions about What is the function of the cutting room? Ask on the comment section we will try to come with up a new blog about it.


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The osteoprotective effect of Radix Dipsaci extract in ovariectomized rats.
ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to systematically evaluate the effects of Radix Dipsaci extract (RDE) on postmenopausal osteoporosis.
OVX or sham operations were performed on sixty 3-month-old virgin Sprague-Dawley rats that were divided into six groups: sham control group (sham, n=10); OVX control group (OVX, n=10); 17beta-estradiol treatment group (E2, n=10); three Radix Dipsaci extract treatment groups RDE100 (n=10), RDE300 (n=10) and RDE500 (n=10). The treatment began 4 weeks after the surgery and lasted for 16 weeks. Bone mass, bone turnover and strength were analyzed by DEXA, biochemical markers and three-point bending test. The trabecular bone microarchitecture was evaluated by MicroCT.
16 weeks treatment of RDE slowed down the body weight gain and prevented the loss of bone mass induced by the OVX. The prevention effect on bone loss was due to altering the rate of bone remodeling, which could be inferred from the decreased level of bone turnover markers, such as serum ALP, OC and urinary DPD. The changes of urinary calcium and phosphorus excretion provided the same evidence. The treatment could also enhance the bone strength and prevent the deterioration of trabecular microarchitecture.
Our study provides evidence that Radix Dipsaci extract will have potential to be used for treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis.
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ABSTRACT: Abstract Context: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used in clinical practice to treat bone disease for thousands of years. They are cost-effective with fewer side effects and are more suitable for long-term use compared with chemically synthesized medicines. Objective: Chinese herbal formula prescribed among the CHMs is safe, and it is an alternative medicine for bone-related diseases such as osteoporosis. Methods: Science Direct and Google Scholar were used to search articles published. The input key words were CHM, osteoporosis, Chinese herbal formula, traditional Chinese medicine, single herb, multiple-herbs, and bone health. CHMs (single herb and formula) lacking sufficient proof and evidence in the literature were excluded and only those with high citation were retained. Results: A brief review was summarized to indicate the application and the potential mechanism of single herb formula and multi-herb formula in treating the common bone-related diseases such as inflammation, fracture, osteopenia, and osteoporosis. Conclusion: In order to ensure safety and efficacy of all these CHMs, the prescriptions with single herb and multi-component formula must be verified and ensured by reliable pharmacological and toxicological methods. Much more effort needs to be done for studying the standardization, safety evaluation, and mechanism exploration of herb formula as well as confirming the compatibility of these herbs which make one.Pharmaceutical Biology 06/2014; · 1.34 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been commonly used for treating osteoarthritis in Asia for centuries. This study aimed to conduct a large-scale pharmaco-epidemiologic study and evaluate the frequency and patterns of CHM used in treating osteoarthritis in Taiwan. A complete database (total 22,520,776 beneficiaries) of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) outpatient claims offered by the National Health Insurance program in Taiwan for the year 2002 was employed for this research. Patients with osteoarthritis were identified according to the diagnostic code of the International Classification of Disease among claimed visiting files. Corresponding prescription files were analyzed, and an association rule was applied to evaluate the co-prescription of CHM for treating osteoarthritis. There were 20,059 subjects who visited TCM clinics for osteoarthritis and received a total of 32,050 CHM prescriptions. Subjects between 40 and 49 years of age comprised the largest number of those treated (19.2%), followed by 50-59 years (18.8%) and 60-69 years group (18.2%). In addition, female subjects used CHMs for osteoarthritis more frequently than male subjects (female: male = 1.89: l). There was an average of 5.2 items prescribed in the form of either an individual Chinese herb or formula in a single CHM prescription for osteoarthritis. Du-zhong (Eucommia bark) was the most commonly prescribed Chinese single herb, while Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang was the most commonly prescribed Chinese herbal formula for osteoarthritis. According to the association rule, the most commonly prescribed formula was Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang plus Shen-tong-zhu-yu-tang, and the most commonly prescribed triple-drug combination was Du-huo-ji-sheng-tang, Gu-sui-pu (Drynaria fortune (Kunze) J. Sm.), and Xu-Duan (Himalaya teasel). Nevertheless, further clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these CHMs for treating osteoarthritis. This study conducted a large scale pharmaco-epidemiology survey of Chinese herbal medicine use in OA patients by analyzing the NHIRD in Taiwan in year 2002.BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 03/2014; 14(1):91. · 1.88 Impact FactorThis article is viewable in ResearchGate's enriched formatRG Format enables you to read in context with side-by-side figures, citations, and feedback from experts in your field.
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ABSTRACT: Radix Dipsaci (RD), the dried root of Dipsacus asper, is commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of bone diseases and functions in strengthening bone and healing bone fractures. Nevertheless, the high polarity, non chromophores and low abundance of multiple compounds in this plant bring difficulty for their isolation and structural determination by traditional chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, which hindered the use of RD in clinical practice and retarded the process of RD modernization. In this work, a sensitive and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS) was employed to rapidly separate and identify the multiple minor constituents in RD. Separation was performed an Agilent poroshell 120 EC-C18 column (2.1mm×100mm, i.d., 2.7μm) with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile as the mobile phase under gradient conditions. As a result, 36 major constituents including dipsacus saponins, iridoid glycosides and caffeoyl quinic acid derivatives were identified or tentatively characterized from the RD, 11 of which had not been previously reported to the best of our knowledge. In conclusion, the HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS is feasible and credible technique to separate and identify the constituents in complex matrices of traditional Chinese medicines.Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 05/2014; 98C:120-129. · 2.83 Impact Factor


What gives birth to a puggle? Covered in spines, Australia's echidna is one of the rarest animals in the world: It's one of only two known mammals that lay eggs.
", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "World Weirdest: Echidna", "url": "_URL_ "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [] }, "credit": "National Geographic", "smil": "_URL_ "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/weirdest-echidna/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "_URL_ "transcript": "
This walking, sniffing ball of spines is an echidna.
It's a mother on a mission.
She's hunting for ants and termites.
To find them underground or under wood, she uses her strong sense of smell and another weirder sense.
Studies suggest that special cells in her beak are sensitive to the electromagnetic signals emitted by all living things.
She's uncovered a colony of ants and uses her long sticky tongue to slurp them up.
She needs the nutrition.
She's already given birth...to an egg.
Echidnas, along with their cousin, the platypus, are the only egg-laying mammals in the world.
The egg incubates in a simple pouch under her belly.
Inside, a baby echidna, called a puggle, develops.
After about 10 days, the egg hatches.
The puggle stays inside the pouch, nursing from its mother's milk and packing on the ounces.
Two months later, the puggle starts to grow spines-that's its mother's cue to move it to a burrow, where she'll continue to take care of it for seven more months.
All that effort means a lot of food.
So her mission remains the same: find more to eat.
", "id": "weirdest-echidna" } }


12 Overloading [over]
12.4 Overloaded operators [over.oper]
12.4.4 Function call [over.call]
A function call operator function is a function named operator() that is a non-static member function with an arbitrary number of parameters.
It may have default arguments.
For an expression of the form where the postfix-expression is of class type, the operator function is selected by overload resolution ([over.call.object]).
If a surrogate call function for a conversion function named operator conversion-type-id is selected, the expression is interpreted as Otherwise, the expression is interpreted as
postfix-expression. operator () ( expression-list )


text:
Step 1: Make the Rig
You will want to dig this in the hottest part of the ground you can, not shade.
Step 2: Pee in Your Hole
Once you have this up and running for real, you can take the poncho off and the container out any time you have to pee.
Might as well put it to use than peeing on a tree, dont you think?
Step 3: Put the Container in the Middle of the Hole
Step 4: Place the Plastic Over the Hole
A side note is, it is a good idea to use some of the soil to cover the edges, thus sealing it from critters and such, and keeping it weighed down a bit on the edges.
Step 5: Place a Rock/soil in the Middle of the Poncho
Step 6: Wait
You won't get a full waterbottle, but you will get some, which isn't such a bad deal, concidering you dont have to put any effort into it other than building it.
Step 7: How This Works
What happens is, the sun's heat evaporates only the pure water from the moist soil. The water vapor rises to the poncho where it condenses into water drops. After a while of this, the water drops build up and roll down the the middle of the poncho where they then fall into the container.
This gives you pure water from your urine.


text:
The Promise of Innovation: Tomorrow's Science Today
Your support can enhance the education environment for technology at USC Upstate and influence generations to come.
With the dawn of the 21st century, "tomorrow's"science has become today's reality with real-world implications on many fronts, and students at USC Upstate are leading this charge of change.
One example is the work and research being done in Dr. Sebastian van Delden's robotics lab. Computer information students can now focus in an Automation course of study with classes in Industrial Robotics and Artificial Intelligence where they research the use of cameras and microphones to interact with industrial robots.
"For the most common types of work robots do in factories, this interactive system will allow a layperson to develop an application," says van Delden, associate professor of computer science. "The goal is to produce strong computer scientists and programmers familiar with factory automation androbotics."
Being prepared to impact today's real-world business methods and models is critical. The practical study and hands-on application taking place on campus makes that possible.
"Research experience can have a great impact on the lives and futures of young people. Problem solving and critical thinking skills are certainly enhanced, and students develop a professional relationship with a faculty member, positioning them well for a job or for graduate school when they graduate."
- Dr. Sebastian vanDelden


Instagram feed
Sometimes you have to really look at things to appreciate them.
Common Ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris, is a native wildflower that pops up in meadows, a leggy blaze of golden flowers, defiant and glorious.
It grows in profusion along roadsides, on disturbed ground and unmanaged grasslands, tolerating even the poorest of soils.
Every year there are nationwide calls to 'eradicate ragwort'. It is a Noxious weed, poisonous to horses, cattle and sheep.
It is feared and unwelcome… but consider this.
If we eradicate Ragwort, we will do immeasurable harm to our pollinator populations.
We shouldn't talk of eradication without acknowledging and appreciating its importance.
Ragwort plays a critical role in supporting our natural biodiversity, hosting a wide range of wildlife.
Its golden flowers are a vital nectar source for bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths.
Many insect species feed exclusively on Ragwort and depend on it for survival.
I am celebrating Ragwort as a beautiful flower, a precious source of nectar and pollen, and a symbol of beauty and strength.
I have painted this on calfskin vellum, with a halo of gold to illustrate the importance of the bumblebee and the ragwort.
watercolour painting in progress of the white-tailed bumblebee on yellow ragwort flowers
I appreciate the harmony within the flower structurethe Fibonacci spiral of pollen-rich flowers in the disc, surrounded by radiating yellow petals.
What a seductive sight these flowers must be, beckoning and tempting insects with promises of sweet pleasure.
My little white-tailed bumblebee has succumbed to its charms, oblivious to everything but the feast of nectar and pollen.
I appreciate the softness of her fur and the hard glitter of wings.
watercolour painting of fine details on bee and flowers
How beautifully the colours harmonise. Nature's palette is a celebration!
artist desk with watercolour paints and colour charts, and a bumblebee painting
Ragwort should be allowed to grow on verges. wasteland and anywhere that is not grazing land.
The answer is not eradication but careful management.
For more information on Ragwort see: _URL_


BioKIDS home
Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species
Five-lined Skink
Plestiodon fasciatus
What do they look like?
Adult Five-lined Skinks are from 12.7 to 21.6 cm in length. They are characterized by five yellow to cream colored stripes of equal width running from the snout to tail. These stripes, separated by darker lines, may lighten with age, eventually disappearing in older males. The typical black background color of juveniles and young adult females also fades with age to a brown, gray, or olive hue in adults. The body is slender and long and lacks a distinct neck. The head is wedge-shaped. The small limbs have five toes each with well-developed claws. Hatchlings are from 5 to 6.4 cm in length. They possess bright blue tails and distinct white or yellow stripes on a black background. Tail color dulls with age, and is more commonly retained in females than males, which display gray tails as adults. Males and females are different in head size and overall coloration. Males develop a widened head and reddish-orange coloration of the snout and jaws during the spring breeding season.
 - Sexual Dimorphism
 - sexes shaped differently
 - Range length
 12.7 to 21.6 cm
 5.00 to 8.50 in
Where do they live?
The range of Five-lined Skinks extends south from the lower peninsula of Michigan, southern Ontario, and eastern New York to northern Florida, and west to Wisconsin, part of Michigan's upper peninsula, Missouri, and eastern regions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Isolated populations also occur in northeastern Iowa, and west central Minnesota.
What kind of habitat do they need?
Five-lined Skinks prefer moist wooded or partially wooded areas with significant cover and abundant basking sites. These sites may include wood or brush piles, stumps, logs, rocky outcrops, loose bark, or abandoned buildings. Most Five-lined Skinks inhabit disturbed environments, such as forest edges, cleared areas, or burned regions, commonly called ecotone areas. Five-lined Skink populations may also occur among driftwood piles on the sandy beaches of the Great Lakes. Home range size is affected by available habitat type as well as changes in seasonal food distribution, shelter, and other requirements. Home range may also vary in size and shape in accordance with the age and sex of the skink. Five-lined Skinks seek cover in rotting wood, rock crevices, vegetation, or building foundations, remaining inactive during the cold winter months.
How do they grow?
How do they reproduce?
Fertilization in five-lined skinks is internal, with eggs laid by the female between the middle of May and July, at least one month after mating. Females lay fifteen to eighteen eggs in a small cavity cleared beneath a rotting log, stump, board, loose bark, a rock, or an abandoned rodent burrow. Females prefer secluded nest sites in large, moderately decayed logs. Soil moisture is also an important factor in nest selection. Females often place nests in regions where soil moisture is higher than in nearby areas. Even when nesting sites are abundant, female skinks tend ot nest near each other. The parchment-like eggs of Five-lined Skinks, similar to many other reptiles, are thin and easily punctured. Freshly laid eggs range from spherical to oval in shape averaging 1.3 cm in length. Absorption of water from the soil leads to increased egg size. Egg coloration also changes over time, from white to mottled tan, after contact with the nest burrow. The incubation period ranges from 24 to 55 days, depending on the temperature. Young Five-lined Skinks become mature and begin reproducing within two to three years of hatching.
 - How often does reproduction occur?
 Five-lined skinks breed once each year.
 - Breeding season
 Female skinks lay eggs between May and July.
 - Range number of offspring
 15 to 18
 - Range gestation period
 55 (high) days
How long do they live?
 - Typical lifespan
 Status: wild
 6.0 (high) years
How do they behave?
Five-lined Skinks are mostly active during the day, taking refuge at night. They find protected areas, such as under logs or other debris, to stay through the winter in a state of suspended animation. Males actively defend small territories against other males. Five-lined Skinks are mainly solitary but females may cooperate to guard their eggs.
How do they communicate with each other?
What do they eat?
 - Primary Diet
 - carnivore
 - eats non-insect arthropods
What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten?
What roles do they have in the ecosystem?
Do they cause problems?
Five-lined Skinks are hosts and carriers of the common chigger, a species that also attacks humans.
How do they interact with us?
Where populations are abundant, Five-lined Skinks may aid in controlling insect pests.
 - Ways that people benefit from these animals:
 - controls pest population
Are they endangered?
Five-lined skinks occur in small, isolated popuations in parts of their range. These populations are especially vulnerable to habitat destruction or natural catastrophes and may become extinct in those areas.
University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyNational Science Foundation
BioKIDS home | Questions? | Animal Diversity Web | Cybertracker Tools
Vanwormer, E. 2002. "Plestiodon fasciatus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed September 02, 2015 at
University of Michigan


How Do I Hear God?
given on Sunday, September 7, 2014
Have you ever heard God speaking directly to you? Have you heard a voice call you by name so clearly that you turned and looked for the source of that voice? Have you suddenly had a thought that came out of nowhere and was just the right answer to a problem?
In all the recent discussions about being a Christian, we seldom add in that we are to listen to God. Listening implies that we know the speaker and are expecting to hear honest answers to our questions and knowledgeable information on which to base our decisions. But in our daily lives, listening is one of the hardest skills we have to develop. Kids, phones, busy calendars interrupt all too often listening—and the list continues to grow.
Last week the significance of our reaffirmation of baptism may have lost its significance because of physical and mental exhaustion following the fair. The business of living constantly gets in the way of our ability to hear God. The irony is that if we slow down and purposefully listen for God, the clutter in our human lives becomes much less disruptive.
The answer lies quietly in our acceptance of the triune God. We refer to it in our creeds, in our hymns, and in the Bible. The answer is the Holy Spirit. We can agree in the concept of God the Father and Jesus the Son because the documentation is in the Bible; and the historical records of humanity supports the life and death of Jesus.
So why do we skip right over the same source which talks about the Holy Spirit, aka Holy Ghost? Sadly, the Holy Spirit is a major key if not THE key to hearing God. Listening is a skill and developing the skills to recognize God talking to us, individually talking to us, is assumed rather than taught in Sunday school, discussed over coffee, or demonstrated.
As difficult as it is for adults to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian, how can it b explained to young people? I am nearing the end of Eugene Peterson's devotional called Solo. The Bible is read from Genesis to Revelation in a specific form of lectio divinia, a structured reading process to 'hear' God's words.
This week, the devotion for day 359 was the first reading into Revelation and included more instructions for praying. Praying is conversation with God:
Lie on your back in stillness (outside, if possible, where you can see the sky). Focus on the magnificence of God's character and how he brings victory to humanity. As you think about who God is, whisper these words to him:
 God, you are A to Z
 God, you are The God Who Is.
 God, you are The God Who Was.
 God, you are the God About to Arrive.
 God, you are the Sovereign-Strong.
Express your gratitude to God in whatever heartfelt way you wish.
Just how often do Christians practice this type of listening for God? I suspect very few do.
How do we hear God? We listen. We reaffirmed our baptism last week, but there is also baptism by the Holy Spirit. This is probably the most difficult concept to understand in Christianity—even more so than God himself. Somehow we can agree that God is the creator, the father of us all, even the son Jesus Christ himself.
First, the Bible tells us how the Holy Spirit works. We often speed read right over it because the words do not always use the proper noun Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. The scriptures may say God spoke to Moses, or God may deliver an answer like the manna in the desert. The stories of Jesus demonstrate the actions carried out by the Holy Spirit. Whether Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead or healed the leper, the Holy Spirit is the force that gives us the strength to accomplish God's work. Reading the Bible is a way to hear God.
A second way to hear God is to pray. The faithful in the Bible took time to pray. They conversed with God and shared the problems that needed attention. Sometimes the busy life got in the way of hearing God's answer, but we all have witnessed cases when a difficult event suddenly turned into a blessing. The Holy Spirit heard the prayer and provided an answer.
The Holy Spirit is active in our lives all the time. There are times when we suddenly are given an extra dose of adrenaline to avoid danger or to block harm. On occasion some words come out of our mouths that are just the right thing to say in a moment when you have no idea what to say. And then, there are those times when all the stress comes falling down upon you and in the midst you suddenly experience peace and know that even this will pass and you are ok.
The Holy Spirit is how we hear God. The triune God is complete and we acknowledge his power, his son, and our own role as tools for the Holy Spirit to use. The words may not be loud enough for others to hear, but they are for you to hear. The words surround us; we just must listen.
Selecting the hymns for today, I stumbled into a hymn (UMH 649) that gave me some insight:
How shall they hear the word of God
unless the truth is told?
How shall the sinful be set free,
the sorrowful consoled?
To all who speak the truth today,
impart your Spirit, Lord, we pray.
True, the words are a prayer, but the answers are implied; yet, Christians can hear them with the gift of the Holy Spirit:
How shall they call to God for help
unless they have believed?
How shall the poor be given hope,
the prisoner reprieved?
To those who help the blind to see,
give light and love and clarity.
No action of service can be done without the Holy Spirit's presence. No words of compassion can be said without the Holy Spirit working.
How shall the gospel be proclaimed
that sinners may repent?
How shall the world find peace at last
if heralds are not sent?
So send us, Lord, for we rejoice
to speak of Christ with life and voice.
How do we hear God? We listen. We lie back on the ground, look up to the heavens, and listen. While we may not fully understand how the Holy Spirit works, when you listen you will sense his presence as ideas and thoughts bubble up in your mind. You know you are baptized by the Holy Spirit when you find yourself in settings where your actions seem unplanned but provide the perfect answer. You are a servant of God when you feel a pull in your heart to respond to a plea. You have the Holy Spirit within you when you reluctantly step out of your comfort zone to go on a mission trip or help complete a task you feel you cannot do.
How you hear God is demonstrated by how you live your life. When others begin seeing a change in you from self first to others first, you begin showing them how God works even in a world filled with evil and injustice. When others come to you for solace, God fills you with words of compassion and guidance.
How do others hear God? They hear him through the words of the Bible, the words of our hymns and prayers, but most importantly they hear God through you who have been baptized by the water and the Holy Spirit.
Closing Prayer
Dear God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Thank you for believing in us despite all our mistakes.
Thank you for loving us so much that you trust us.
With your gift of the Holy Spirit, speak to us.
Guide us to actions extending your reach.
As we stumble through our earthly life,
Give us the confidence to act on your behalf.
Help us to know that when we do listen,
You are speaking to us with grace and love.
We pray we hear and do as you would have us do
So others may hear you too. –Amen.
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