Soitec , a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, today appointed Dr. Justin Wang to the position of senior vice president, corporate marketing and strategy. An industry veteran with over 15 years of experience in both the electronics and solar markets at leading chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Dr. Wang joins Soitec's management team with responsibility for worldwide strategic marketing across the entire organization. He is based at Soitec's headquarters in France and reports directly to Paul Boudre, chief operating officer.
This appointment comes at a time of tremendous opportunities in both the microelectronics and solar energy industries. Soitec is carving out leadership positions in both markets, with the company's fully depleted silicon-on-insulator technology becoming a mainstream solution for extending the semiconductor industry's roadmap and Soitec's utility-scale concentrating photovoltaic solution providing the most efficient solar energy generation available on today's market.
As senior vice president of corporate marketing and strategy, Dr. Wang is responsible for the company's overall marketing strategy, helping to define the future vision for the company, leading the strategic planning process and evaluating new markets and opportunities to expand Soitec's business. Dr. Wang will contribute to strengthen Soitec's global brand including communicating the value and advantages of Soitec's products and services to customers as they make strategic decisions for their businesses.
"Justin is a world-class marketing executive who will lead efforts to drive our entire business forward by creating a unified marketing approach across the company," Boudre said. "His business acumen in the electronics and energy industries, his industry relationships as well as his extensive knowledge and experience in the Asian and Japanese markets will be key assets to our company. He is a great resource in addressing the needs of our customers worldwide while we work to capitalize on surging business opportunities in the FD-SOI and solar energy markets."
At TSMC, Dr. Wang most recently led the development of the company's overall solar business. He also served as vice president of TSMC Japan, successfully leading the company's business development activities in video game console applications. His previous positions at TSMC included several other executive positions such as director of advanced technology marketing and director of market analysis and forecast. Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
2011年9月28日星期三
FORMER TSMC EXECUTIVE JUSTIN WANG NAMED SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Soitec, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, today appointed Dr. Justin Wang to the position of senior vice president, corporate marketing and strategy. An industry veteran with over 15 years of experience in both the electronics and solar markets at leading chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Dr. Wang joins Soitec’s management team with responsibility for worldwide strategic marketing across the entire organization. He is based at Soitec’s headquarters in France and reports directly to Paul Boudre, chief operating officer.
This appointment comes at a time of tremendous opportunities in both the microelectronics and solar energy industries. Soitec is carving out leadership positions in both markets, with the company’s fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology becoming a mainstream solution for extending the semiconductor industry’s roadmap and Soitec’s utility-scale concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solution providing the most efficient solar energy generation available on today’s market.
As senior vice president of corporate marketing and strategy, Dr. Wang is responsible for the company’s overall marketing strategy, helping to define the future vision for the company, leading the strategic planning process and evaluating new markets and opportunities to expand Soitec’s business. Dr. Wang will contribute to strengthen Soitec’s global brand including communicating the value and advantages of Soitec’s products and services to customers as they make strategic decisions for their businesses.
“Justin is a world-class marketing executive who will lead efforts to drive our entire business forward by creating a unified marketing approach across the company,” Boudre said. “His business acumen in the electronics and energy industries, his industry relationships as well as his extensive knowledge and experience in the Asian and Japanese markets will be key assets to our company. He is a great resource in addressing the needs of our customers worldwide while we work to capitalize on surging business opportunities in the FD-SOI and solar energy markets.”
At TSMC, Dr. Wang most recently led the development of the company’s overall solar business. He also served as vice president of TSMC Japan, successfully leading the company’s business development activities in video game console applications. His previous positions at TSMC included several other executive positions such as director of advanced technology marketing and director of market analysis and forecast. Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
This appointment comes at a time of tremendous opportunities in both the microelectronics and solar energy industries. Soitec is carving out leadership positions in both markets, with the company’s fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology becoming a mainstream solution for extending the semiconductor industry’s roadmap and Soitec’s utility-scale concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solution providing the most efficient solar energy generation available on today’s market.
As senior vice president of corporate marketing and strategy, Dr. Wang is responsible for the company’s overall marketing strategy, helping to define the future vision for the company, leading the strategic planning process and evaluating new markets and opportunities to expand Soitec’s business. Dr. Wang will contribute to strengthen Soitec’s global brand including communicating the value and advantages of Soitec’s products and services to customers as they make strategic decisions for their businesses.
“Justin is a world-class marketing executive who will lead efforts to drive our entire business forward by creating a unified marketing approach across the company,” Boudre said. “His business acumen in the electronics and energy industries, his industry relationships as well as his extensive knowledge and experience in the Asian and Japanese markets will be key assets to our company. He is a great resource in addressing the needs of our customers worldwide while we work to capitalize on surging business opportunities in the FD-SOI and solar energy markets.”
At TSMC, Dr. Wang most recently led the development of the company’s overall solar business. He also served as vice president of TSMC Japan, successfully leading the company’s business development activities in video game console applications. His previous positions at TSMC included several other executive positions such as director of advanced technology marketing and director of market analysis and forecast. Dr. Wang earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
2011年9月27日星期二
What is asbestos and how can it affect you?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material that has been a popular building material since the 1950s. It is used as an insulator (to keep in heat and keep out cold), has good fire protection properties and protects against corrosion.
If you own, occupy, manage or have responsibilities for non-domestic premises which may contain asbestos, or if you are responsible for the non-private, ie common parts of domestic premises like hall and lift areas in flats, you will either have a legal duty to manage the risk from this material; or a duty to co-operate with whoever manages that risk.
There are three main types of asbestos still found in premises. These are commonly called "blue asbestos" (crocidolite), "brown asbestos" (amosite) and "white asbestos" (chrysotile). All of them are dangerous carcinogens, but blue and brown asbestos are more hazardous than white. You cannot identify them just by their colour.
Because asbestos is often mixed with another material, it's hard to know if you're working with it or not. But, if you work in a building built before the year 2000, it's likely that some parts of the building will contain asbestos.
Asbestos is most commonly found in sprayed coating (fire protection on structural supports, eg columns and beams), pipe insulation, ceiling and door panels, window panels, floor tiles, cement roof sheeting and textured decorative coating such as Artex.
Breathing in air containing asbestos fibres can lead to asbestos-related diseases, mainly cancers of the lungs and chest lining.
Asbestos is only a risk to health if asbestos fibres are released into the air and breathed in. Past exposure to asbestos currently kills around 4000 people a year in Great Britain. This number is expected to go on rising at least until 2016. There is no cure for asbestos-related diseases.
Anyone who uses your premises, who disturbs asbestos that has deteriorated or been damaged and is releasing fibres, can be at risk. In fact, anyone whose work involves drilling, sawing or cutting into the fabric of premises could potentially be at risk. They may all breathe in asbestos fibres during their day-to-day work.
Asbestos waste should be double-bagged in heavy duty polythene bags and clearly labelled with the label prescribed for asbestos, before it is transported to a disposal site. The waste can only be disposed of at a site licensed to receive it. Your local authority will have information on licensed sites in the area.
If you own, occupy, manage or have responsibilities for non-domestic premises which may contain asbestos, or if you are responsible for the non-private, ie common parts of domestic premises like hall and lift areas in flats, you will either have a legal duty to manage the risk from this material; or a duty to co-operate with whoever manages that risk.
There are three main types of asbestos still found in premises. These are commonly called "blue asbestos" (crocidolite), "brown asbestos" (amosite) and "white asbestos" (chrysotile). All of them are dangerous carcinogens, but blue and brown asbestos are more hazardous than white. You cannot identify them just by their colour.
Because asbestos is often mixed with another material, it's hard to know if you're working with it or not. But, if you work in a building built before the year 2000, it's likely that some parts of the building will contain asbestos.
Asbestos is most commonly found in sprayed coating (fire protection on structural supports, eg columns and beams), pipe insulation, ceiling and door panels, window panels, floor tiles, cement roof sheeting and textured decorative coating such as Artex.
Breathing in air containing asbestos fibres can lead to asbestos-related diseases, mainly cancers of the lungs and chest lining.
Asbestos is only a risk to health if asbestos fibres are released into the air and breathed in. Past exposure to asbestos currently kills around 4000 people a year in Great Britain. This number is expected to go on rising at least until 2016. There is no cure for asbestos-related diseases.
Anyone who uses your premises, who disturbs asbestos that has deteriorated or been damaged and is releasing fibres, can be at risk. In fact, anyone whose work involves drilling, sawing or cutting into the fabric of premises could potentially be at risk. They may all breathe in asbestos fibres during their day-to-day work.
Asbestos waste should be double-bagged in heavy duty polythene bags and clearly labelled with the label prescribed for asbestos, before it is transported to a disposal site. The waste can only be disposed of at a site licensed to receive it. Your local authority will have information on licensed sites in the area.
2011年9月26日星期一
A heart of gold
A team of researchers at MIT and Children's Hospital Boston has built cardiac patches studded with tiny gold wires that could be used to create pieces of tissue whose cells all beat in time, mimicking the dynamics of natural heart muscle. The development could someday help people who have suffered heart attacks.
The study, reported this week in Nature Nanotechnology , promises to improve on existing cardiac patches, which have difficulty achieving the level of conductivity necessary to ensure a smooth, continuous "beat" throughout a large piece of tissue.
"The heart is an electrically quite sophisticated piece of machinery," says Daniel Kohane, a professor in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and senior author of the paper. "It is important that the cells beat together, or the tissue won't function properly."
The unique new approach uses gold nanowires scattered among cardiac cells as they're grown in vitro, a technique that "markedly enhances the performance of the cardiac patch," Kohane says. The researchers believe the technology may eventually result in implantable patches to replace tissue that's been damaged in a heart attack.
Co-first authors of the study are MIT postdoc Brian Timko and former MIT postdoc Tal Dvir, now at Tel Aviv University in Israel; other authors are their colleagues from HST, Children's Hospital Boston and MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering, including Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor.
To build new tissue, biological engineers typically use miniature scaffolds resembling porous sponges to organize cells into functional shapes as they grow. Traditionally, however, these scaffolds have been made from materials with poor electrical conductivity — and for cardiac cells, which rely on electrical signals to coordinate their contraction, that's a big problem.
"In the case of cardiac myocytes in particular, you need a good junction between the cells to get signal conduction," Timko says. But the scaffold acts as an insulator, blocking signals from traveling much beyond a cell's immediate neighbors, and making it nearly impossible to get all the cells in the tissue to beat together as a unit.
To solve the problem, Timko and Dvir took advantage of their complementary backgrounds — Timko's in semiconducting nanowires, Dvir's in cardiac-tissue engineering — to design a brand-new scaffold material that would allow electrical signals to pass through.
"We started brainstorming, and it occurred to me that it's actually fairly easy to grow gold nanoconductors, which of course are very conductive," Timko says. "You can grow them to be a couple microns long, which is more than enough to pass through the walls of the scaffold."
The study, reported this week in Nature Nanotechnology , promises to improve on existing cardiac patches, which have difficulty achieving the level of conductivity necessary to ensure a smooth, continuous "beat" throughout a large piece of tissue.
"The heart is an electrically quite sophisticated piece of machinery," says Daniel Kohane, a professor in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and senior author of the paper. "It is important that the cells beat together, or the tissue won't function properly."
The unique new approach uses gold nanowires scattered among cardiac cells as they're grown in vitro, a technique that "markedly enhances the performance of the cardiac patch," Kohane says. The researchers believe the technology may eventually result in implantable patches to replace tissue that's been damaged in a heart attack.
Co-first authors of the study are MIT postdoc Brian Timko and former MIT postdoc Tal Dvir, now at Tel Aviv University in Israel; other authors are their colleagues from HST, Children's Hospital Boston and MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering, including Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor.
To build new tissue, biological engineers typically use miniature scaffolds resembling porous sponges to organize cells into functional shapes as they grow. Traditionally, however, these scaffolds have been made from materials with poor electrical conductivity — and for cardiac cells, which rely on electrical signals to coordinate their contraction, that's a big problem.
"In the case of cardiac myocytes in particular, you need a good junction between the cells to get signal conduction," Timko says. But the scaffold acts as an insulator, blocking signals from traveling much beyond a cell's immediate neighbors, and making it nearly impossible to get all the cells in the tissue to beat together as a unit.
To solve the problem, Timko and Dvir took advantage of their complementary backgrounds — Timko's in semiconducting nanowires, Dvir's in cardiac-tissue engineering — to design a brand-new scaffold material that would allow electrical signals to pass through.
"We started brainstorming, and it occurred to me that it's actually fairly easy to grow gold nanoconductors, which of course are very conductive," Timko says. "You can grow them to be a couple microns long, which is more than enough to pass through the walls of the scaffold."
2011年9月25日星期日
I-40 - Risking life, limb and logos for free stuff
I stood with the StarNews marketing team at the base of the stands in Legion Stadium, taunting high school fans at the BB&T Jamboree with miniature, squishy foam footballs with StarNewsVarsity printed on the side.
Rarely does one get to experience the power of standing before thousands of people and possessing the one thing they all want.
I ignored the teenagers leaning over the railing, begging for a freebie. No, I thought, I decide how to distribute the footballs and I will throw them into crowded areas where people will knock each other down trying to catch a 60-cent football. I will chuck them high into the stands, into the top rows where people will be awed by my squishy football throwing accuracy.
OK, so a few balls missed their target areas. Somebody may have lost a drink in the process and I may have had to duck when that somebody retaliated by whizzing a squishy football back at me with superior accuracy and speed.
But that's irrelevant. The bottom line is that people love free stuff. They love collecting it, and they love competing for it. Some of us will proudly wear our Master Flow baseball cap to a restaurant simply because it was free.
Ezell and Ann Willard have built a business on that premise.
If anybody wants to put a logo on anything, the Willards can help. At the Welcome Show in early September at the Wilmington Convention Center, about 97 percent of the companies were selling coffee, 48 percent were selling food service products and 28 percent were selling microbrews. Then, there were the Willards. In their booth, everything was a prototype of something they sell.
They had plenty of promotional ink pens – on their web site, they sell more than 1,000 styles of pens, ranging from the Gala Plunger Action Pen (it's actually useless for unclogging toilets) to the Push-Pull Neck Pen (which has no chiropractic value whatsoever).
Pens, Ezzell said, used to be among the most popular items. Today, it's the beverageinsulator , or beer huggie.
Ezzell wondered if that was a sign of the changing economy, and then pointed out that one particular huggie had a logo on the bottom. Whenever someone tips up a drink, the marketing campaign is still working.
The Willards also distribute mouse pad puzzles, collapsible flower vases and more than 1,000 types of stress relievers, from the Foam Kidney (buy two and donate one to a family member) to the Shark Horror Ball (squeeze it and watch the human body parts spill out of its mouth).
All these fun toys got me to thinking that I should order some I,40 promotional materials. I know I have plenty of pens and several huggies stashed in drawers. But I have noticed that sometimes my buns get cold. So I think I'm going to slap an I,40 logo on the 2-Slice Toaster & Bun Warmer and order them in bulk.
I can't wait to throw those into the stands at the next football jamboree.
Rarely does one get to experience the power of standing before thousands of people and possessing the one thing they all want.
I ignored the teenagers leaning over the railing, begging for a freebie. No, I thought, I decide how to distribute the footballs and I will throw them into crowded areas where people will knock each other down trying to catch a 60-cent football. I will chuck them high into the stands, into the top rows where people will be awed by my squishy football throwing accuracy.
OK, so a few balls missed their target areas. Somebody may have lost a drink in the process and I may have had to duck when that somebody retaliated by whizzing a squishy football back at me with superior accuracy and speed.
But that's irrelevant. The bottom line is that people love free stuff. They love collecting it, and they love competing for it. Some of us will proudly wear our Master Flow baseball cap to a restaurant simply because it was free.
Ezell and Ann Willard have built a business on that premise.
If anybody wants to put a logo on anything, the Willards can help. At the Welcome Show in early September at the Wilmington Convention Center, about 97 percent of the companies were selling coffee, 48 percent were selling food service products and 28 percent were selling microbrews. Then, there were the Willards. In their booth, everything was a prototype of something they sell.
They had plenty of promotional ink pens – on their web site, they sell more than 1,000 styles of pens, ranging from the Gala Plunger Action Pen (it's actually useless for unclogging toilets) to the Push-Pull Neck Pen (which has no chiropractic value whatsoever).
Pens, Ezzell said, used to be among the most popular items. Today, it's the beverage
Ezzell wondered if that was a sign of the changing economy, and then pointed out that one particular huggie had a logo on the bottom. Whenever someone tips up a drink, the marketing campaign is still working.
The Willards also distribute mouse pad puzzles, collapsible flower vases and more than 1,000 types of stress relievers, from the Foam Kidney (buy two and donate one to a family member) to the Shark Horror Ball (squeeze it and watch the human body parts spill out of its mouth).
All these fun toys got me to thinking that I should order some I,40 promotional materials. I know I have plenty of pens and several huggies stashed in drawers. But I have noticed that sometimes my buns get cold. So I think I'm going to slap an I,40 logo on the 2-Slice Toaster & Bun Warmer and order them in bulk.
I can't wait to throw those into the stands at the next football jamboree.
2011年9月22日星期四
Secret 3M material is at heart of new superfast chip
When it comes to computer chips, the world has always been flat. Their circuitry is etched onto a thin piece of silicon about the size of your thumbnail.
But that slice of silicon is getting full, and not much more microscopic circuitry can be squeezed onto it, analysts say.
So IBM and 3M have become partners in a new effort to make the chip world three-dimensional. They plan to stack circuitry in high-rise towers on top of computer chips in order to make computing modules that are 1,000 times more powerful than the chips used today in smartphones and other consumer electronics gadgets. This video helps explain the concept.
"You're talking about taking something that would normally sit under a desk being put into a package the size of a thumbnail," said Bernie Meyerson, IBM's vice president of innovation in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. The first thumbnail-sized computer modules are expected to be available in two to five years, he said.
3M, which admittedly is not a computer company, is nonetheless essential to the chip's design. Each layer of silicon circuitry in the "tower" would be separated from its neighbors above and below by layers of a 3M polymer that acts as an adhesive, an electrical insulator and a cooling material to carry away heat. The company declined to provide any details about the new material.
How is it possible to make thumbnail-sized computers? With ultra-thin computer layers. Only the bottom chip in the stack needs to be thick enough to be structurally strong, Meyerson said. The others can be much thinner. As a result, despite its "tower" description, an IBM-3M chip with 100 layers of circuitry stacked on top would not, to the unaided eye, be noticeably thicker than a normal computer chip, he said.
Smallness has its rewards. One of the keys to the IBM-3M package is that its compact size cuts the distance electronic signals must travel from one chip to the other, allowing the chips to run faster and use less electricity.
"So you're saving power and getting tremendous amounts of speed," Meyerson said.
"The fascinating aspect of these chips is that you can put phenomenal capability in a very tiny area," Meyerson said. "But logic chips generate large amounts of heat, and we must get that heat to propagate to the top and sides of the chip to get rid of it. And heat just hates to do that."
Enter the 3M polymer layer, which allows heat to flow through it to get out of the chip. Without that layer, the chip's self-generated heat would cause it to expand and break apart, Meyerson said.
"Without getting into any detail about what's in the 3M polymer, I can tell you that it works because of the linkages between atoms," Meyerson said. "If you can change the way the atoms bond to one another, you can increase or decrease a property of the polymer. This is the miracle of what they do at 3M. It's really magic unless you're a Ph.D in chemistry."
The technology will be watched closely in the competitive semiconductor industry.
"If the 3M-IBM film is truly an electrical insulator and a heat conductor, it is revolutionary, since such materials don't exist in nature and have to be engineered," said Mali Venkatesan, a semiconductor analyst at research firm IDC in San Mateo, Calif. "We have to wait and see the results."
But that slice of silicon is getting full, and not much more microscopic circuitry can be squeezed onto it, analysts say.
So IBM and 3M have become partners in a new effort to make the chip world three-dimensional. They plan to stack circuitry in high-rise towers on top of computer chips in order to make computing modules that are 1,000 times more powerful than the chips used today in smartphones and other consumer electronics gadgets. This video helps explain the concept.
"You're talking about taking something that would normally sit under a desk being put into a package the size of a thumbnail," said Bernie Meyerson, IBM's vice president of innovation in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. The first thumbnail-sized computer modules are expected to be available in two to five years, he said.
3M, which admittedly is not a computer company, is nonetheless essential to the chip's design. Each layer of silicon circuitry in the "tower" would be separated from its neighbors above and below by layers of a 3M polymer that acts as an adhesive, an electrical insulator and a cooling material to carry away heat. The company declined to provide any details about the new material.
How is it possible to make thumbnail-sized computers? With ultra-thin computer layers. Only the bottom chip in the stack needs to be thick enough to be structurally strong, Meyerson said. The others can be much thinner. As a result, despite its "tower" description, an IBM-3M chip with 100 layers of circuitry stacked on top would not, to the unaided eye, be noticeably thicker than a normal computer chip, he said.
Smallness has its rewards. One of the keys to the IBM-3M package is that its compact size cuts the distance electronic signals must travel from one chip to the other, allowing the chips to run faster and use less electricity.
"So you're saving power and getting tremendous amounts of speed," Meyerson said.
"The fascinating aspect of these chips is that you can put phenomenal capability in a very tiny area," Meyerson said. "But logic chips generate large amounts of heat, and we must get that heat to propagate to the top and sides of the chip to get rid of it. And heat just hates to do that."
Enter the 3M polymer layer, which allows heat to flow through it to get out of the chip. Without that layer, the chip's self-generated heat would cause it to expand and break apart, Meyerson said.
"Without getting into any detail about what's in the 3M polymer, I can tell you that it works because of the linkages between atoms," Meyerson said. "If you can change the way the atoms bond to one another, you can increase or decrease a property of the polymer. This is the miracle of what they do at 3M. It's really magic unless you're a Ph.D in chemistry."
The technology will be watched closely in the competitive semiconductor industry.
"If the 3M-IBM film is truly an electrical insulator and a heat conductor, it is revolutionary, since such materials don't exist in nature and have to be engineered," said Mali Venkatesan, a semiconductor analyst at research firm IDC in San Mateo, Calif. "We have to wait and see the results."
2011年9月21日星期三
A toddler with a broken arm offers a unique perspective
As a mom of two boys, my family has had our share of leaking cups in the past. Over time we gradually replaced the leaky styles with non-leaky sippy cups, leaving us with an ample supply of various cups that we--and our kids--love.
However, none of them would help remedy my unexpected sippy situation. My 20-month-old fell (using his outstretched hand to brace himself) and suffered buckle fractures in both forearm bones. Oblivious to the fact that this would open a whole new world of sippy-cup struggles, we went about our business but quickly discovered that many of the cups we've been using for years weren't going to cut it for a kid with one arm in a long-arm cast. Adding to the challenge: My son is right-hand dominant, and guess which arm was broken?
I was unexpectedly thrown back into the search for the best sippy cups. The Playtex Lil' Gripper Cups (*Est. $7 for two 9-ounce cups) we relied on daily suddenly were met with attitude and tossed violently to the side. The cups are too fat, despite their contoured middle, so he couldn't get an adequate grasp to properly tilt the cup to his mouth. Drinking with just one hand seems a simple task for adults, but proves challenging to toddlers who are still developing muscle strength and coordination.
The first day, an adult held and tilted the cup for him. I worried that his temporary loss of independence would somehow compromise his development or lead to a long-term habit. So I looked to a cup with handles; it seemed the ideal solution.
I remember having several Playtex First Sipsters (*Est. $6 for one 7-ounce cup)--the handles are built in to the lid so there's no chance of misalignment with the spout. A search of our kitchen came up empty. Because of their smaller capacity, I assumed we discarded them in favor of larger sippy cups that reduced the amount of demands for "More! More!" we'd hear in the course of a day. Something I'd endure if it eased my son's frustration. After a small investment in a few First Sipsters later, we realized why they've vanished from our house. Filling them up isn't their problem; it's keeping the liquid inside the cup instead of on the carpet, the floor or the couch. The First Sipsters quickly overstayed their welcome.
Over the course of two days we learned that the 9-ounce PlaytexInsulator (*Est. $5 for one 9-ounce cup) is taller, but not slim enough to achieve adequate leverage. Transposing the First Sipster lid on the Insulator cup works -- although the handles are met with narrow-eyed suspicion. Oddly enough, this configuration didn't have the same leaking problem as the smaller cup and lid combination.
The Nuby Sipper straw cup was also a contender. However, my son just looked uncomfortable drinking from it, and opening and closing the straw valve was an extraordinarily frustrating process with one hand.
Finally, we're saved by the Playtex Sipster (*Est. $6 for two 9-ounce cups), which has the same 9-ounce capacity as theInsulator cup. The lack of double-wall insulation makes them slimmer, so my son's hand surrounds more of the cup's circumference and allows him to easily tilt it to any angle (without leaking!). Total upheaval brought back into harmony, all by a single sippy cup!
However, none of them would help remedy my unexpected sippy situation. My 20-month-old fell (using his outstretched hand to brace himself) and suffered buckle fractures in both forearm bones. Oblivious to the fact that this would open a whole new world of sippy-cup struggles, we went about our business but quickly discovered that many of the cups we've been using for years weren't going to cut it for a kid with one arm in a long-arm cast. Adding to the challenge: My son is right-hand dominant, and guess which arm was broken?
I was unexpectedly thrown back into the search for the best sippy cups. The Playtex Lil' Gripper Cups (*Est. $7 for two 9-ounce cups) we relied on daily suddenly were met with attitude and tossed violently to the side. The cups are too fat, despite their contoured middle, so he couldn't get an adequate grasp to properly tilt the cup to his mouth. Drinking with just one hand seems a simple task for adults, but proves challenging to toddlers who are still developing muscle strength and coordination.
The first day, an adult held and tilted the cup for him. I worried that his temporary loss of independence would somehow compromise his development or lead to a long-term habit. So I looked to a cup with handles; it seemed the ideal solution.
I remember having several Playtex First Sipsters (*Est. $6 for one 7-ounce cup)--the handles are built in to the lid so there's no chance of misalignment with the spout. A search of our kitchen came up empty. Because of their smaller capacity, I assumed we discarded them in favor of larger sippy cups that reduced the amount of demands for "More! More!" we'd hear in the course of a day. Something I'd endure if it eased my son's frustration. After a small investment in a few First Sipsters later, we realized why they've vanished from our house. Filling them up isn't their problem; it's keeping the liquid inside the cup instead of on the carpet, the floor or the couch. The First Sipsters quickly overstayed their welcome.
Over the course of two days we learned that the 9-ounce Playtex
The Nuby Sipper straw cup was also a contender. However, my son just looked uncomfortable drinking from it, and opening and closing the straw valve was an extraordinarily frustrating process with one hand.
Finally, we're saved by the Playtex Sipster (*Est. $6 for two 9-ounce cups), which has the same 9-ounce capacity as the
2011年9月20日星期二
Llano still suffers from bad yields
Our well informed industry sources are giving us some numbers for Llano, AMD A series CPUs, or the first working fusion, and yields we hear about are quite disappointing.
AMD did what you may call a tick - tick strategy, as they changed the architecture and the manufacturing process, which is definitely a tricky thing to do. In addition, let's not forget that this APU has a gigantic GPU attached on the same die to AMD's 32nm CPU. This is one of the most complex chip that was ever made in computer industry and it is really a big one.
Good yields mean that company makes more money but we are hearing Llano chips in a wafer work in 50 to 60 percent cases. Furthermore, the chip is quite big and you cannot get too many of them from one 32nm wafer. Good yields would probably be if 80 to 90 percent of the chips worked, while 90+ yeild is a really good one.
AMD cannot make much money due to bad yields, but at least it proved that it knows how to marry AMD CPUs and graphics formerly known as ATI on the same chip. It's the graphics part that is the toughest to make, as this is the first time ever that Global foundries, previously AMD FAB, had to make a graphics chip on 32nm Silicon oninsulator . This is anything but easy.
The next generation will be better, but we hear that Bulldozer has quite healthy yields. In Interlagos platform, Opteron 6100 has up to 16 cores and is definitely an enormous chip.
The CPU portion of the chip seems to be doing fine, but the graphics part is responsible for poor yields. Things are expected to get better in 2012 with the second version of Fusion in 32nm, Llano successor codename Trinity. This new APU has been demonstrated last week and this time AMD enlarged 28nm Radeon 7000 graphics core from 28 to 32nm and still made it work on SOI process.
That will be AMD's version of tock, the same manufacturing process and the second generation Fusion core design and the expectations for these chips are high. From a consumer point of view, Llano is definitely a good thing, as it's affordable and gives you great graphics for little cash, together with a decent CPU.
AMD did what you may call a tick - tick strategy, as they changed the architecture and the manufacturing process, which is definitely a tricky thing to do. In addition, let's not forget that this APU has a gigantic GPU attached on the same die to AMD's 32nm CPU. This is one of the most complex chip that was ever made in computer industry and it is really a big one.
Good yields mean that company makes more money but we are hearing Llano chips in a wafer work in 50 to 60 percent cases. Furthermore, the chip is quite big and you cannot get too many of them from one 32nm wafer. Good yields would probably be if 80 to 90 percent of the chips worked, while 90+ yeild is a really good one.
AMD cannot make much money due to bad yields, but at least it proved that it knows how to marry AMD CPUs and graphics formerly known as ATI on the same chip. It's the graphics part that is the toughest to make, as this is the first time ever that Global foundries, previously AMD FAB, had to make a graphics chip on 32nm Silicon on
The next generation will be better, but we hear that Bulldozer has quite healthy yields. In Interlagos platform, Opteron 6100 has up to 16 cores and is definitely an enormous chip.
The CPU portion of the chip seems to be doing fine, but the graphics part is responsible for poor yields. Things are expected to get better in 2012 with the second version of Fusion in 32nm, Llano successor codename Trinity. This new APU has been demonstrated last week and this time AMD enlarged 28nm Radeon 7000 graphics core from 28 to 32nm and still made it work on SOI process.
That will be AMD's version of tock, the same manufacturing process and the second generation Fusion core design and the expectations for these chips are high. From a consumer point of view, Llano is definitely a good thing, as it's affordable and gives you great graphics for little cash, together with a decent CPU.
2011年9月19日星期一
Colleges trying innovative ways to cut costs
From growing grass atop a science building to lower heating and cooling bills to sweating in the gym to generate energy, state colleges and universities are pushing the envelop to cut costs.
Of course, more traditional methods like installing more energy-efficient windows and electrical systems are still being used as schools search for savings to help hold down tuition.
Lawmakers spent two days last week reviewing the cost-saving measures undertaken at about a dozen of the state’s two-year colleges and four-year universities.
Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, and Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D-Arkadelphia, said cost-savings must be on the minds of leaders at higher education institutions as tuition rates rise.
Tuition and fees at the state’s colleges and universities have risen faster than inflation, according to a report presented to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee this month.
“Presumably if they can reduce some of their expenses, it frees up money to kind of hold the overall cost down,” said Madison, chairman of the Higher Education Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council. “The thing we don’t know is when they’re saving $2,000 a year in energy costs from their new windows, if they spent $100,000 on new windows.
“We just need to make sure that they’re always thinking about cost savings.”
Roebuck said each school must have a committee actively looking at ways to cut costs. Just a handful of college officials questioned by the subcommittee indicated such committees had met.
“Until we get to that, focusing on the entire spectrum, then all we’re doing is cutting here a little bit and cutting here,” Roebuck said. “You have to have a vision on how you’re going to cut costs.
“What we’ve have heard is a very minuscule effort. We’re talking about (the need for) huge cost containment.”
At a number of schools, adjunct instructors are part of efforts to save money. Some officials said they had cut back on the number of the part-time teachers to cut costs while others said they were using more of them to accomplish the same thing.
While discussing cost-cutting measure being implemented at the University of Central Arkansas, Interim President Tom Courtway mentioned sod is being grown on top of the university’s chemistry building.
The idea, he said, is that the vegetation will act as aninsulator and lower utility costs in the facility.
Jeff Pitchford, vice president of university and governmental relations, said later that the sedum, a small plant that looks similar to grass, was planted on the roof of Laney Hall last year, and it survived the summer heat and record-setting temperatures.
“There are some patchy areas … but there are some areas where it is still green,” Pitchford said, adding it had yet to be determined whether the bio-mass is actually saving the school money on heating and cooling costs.
University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart outlined a variety of initiatives and programs implemented on the Fayetteville campus over the years in an effort to reduce costs, including updating the chiller plant from gas to electric, adding energy- efficient lighting and timers to buildings and reducing the amount of printing.
Gearhart also said that the energy bills at the university’s student fitness center have been reduced by about $700 a year by using energy generated by students using specialized elliptical machines to exercise.
Kristin Durant, assistant director of the Donna Axum Fitness Center, said later that the facility has about 25 elliptical machines, which are popular among students. A device is attached to each elliptical that converts the kinetic energy generated from students simulating running, walking and stair climbing on the machines to direct current.
The direct current is then sent to what is known as a ReRev system, which converts the direct current into alternating current that is used to help power the building.
Durant said the university first began purchasing the elliptical equipment about eight years ago.
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Chancellor Lawrence Davis said UAPB has saved about $45,000 by reducing the number of adjunct teachers – those brought in to teach one class per semester — by 10 percent and adding three hours to the teaching load of full-time faculty each semester.
Conversely, Ed Coulter, chancellor Arkansas State University at Mount Home, said his institution is saving more than $700,000 annually by employing more adjunct professors.
“Part-time people are probably the most wonderful benefit a college can have financially, but in the long-term it’s not the best answer, because full-time faculty are a part of your community,” Coulter said.
Of course, more traditional methods like installing more energy-efficient windows and electrical systems are still being used as schools search for savings to help hold down tuition.
Lawmakers spent two days last week reviewing the cost-saving measures undertaken at about a dozen of the state’s two-year colleges and four-year universities.
Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, and Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D-Arkadelphia, said cost-savings must be on the minds of leaders at higher education institutions as tuition rates rise.
Tuition and fees at the state’s colleges and universities have risen faster than inflation, according to a report presented to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee this month.
“Presumably if they can reduce some of their expenses, it frees up money to kind of hold the overall cost down,” said Madison, chairman of the Higher Education Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council. “The thing we don’t know is when they’re saving $2,000 a year in energy costs from their new windows, if they spent $100,000 on new windows.
“We just need to make sure that they’re always thinking about cost savings.”
Roebuck said each school must have a committee actively looking at ways to cut costs. Just a handful of college officials questioned by the subcommittee indicated such committees had met.
“Until we get to that, focusing on the entire spectrum, then all we’re doing is cutting here a little bit and cutting here,” Roebuck said. “You have to have a vision on how you’re going to cut costs.
“What we’ve have heard is a very minuscule effort. We’re talking about (the need for) huge cost containment.”
At a number of schools, adjunct instructors are part of efforts to save money. Some officials said they had cut back on the number of the part-time teachers to cut costs while others said they were using more of them to accomplish the same thing.
While discussing cost-cutting measure being implemented at the University of Central Arkansas, Interim President Tom Courtway mentioned sod is being grown on top of the university’s chemistry building.
The idea, he said, is that the vegetation will act as an
Jeff Pitchford, vice president of university and governmental relations, said later that the sedum, a small plant that looks similar to grass, was planted on the roof of Laney Hall last year, and it survived the summer heat and record-setting temperatures.
“There are some patchy areas … but there are some areas where it is still green,” Pitchford said, adding it had yet to be determined whether the bio-mass is actually saving the school money on heating and cooling costs.
University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart outlined a variety of initiatives and programs implemented on the Fayetteville campus over the years in an effort to reduce costs, including updating the chiller plant from gas to electric, adding energy- efficient lighting and timers to buildings and reducing the amount of printing.
Gearhart also said that the energy bills at the university’s student fitness center have been reduced by about $700 a year by using energy generated by students using specialized elliptical machines to exercise.
Kristin Durant, assistant director of the Donna Axum Fitness Center, said later that the facility has about 25 elliptical machines, which are popular among students. A device is attached to each elliptical that converts the kinetic energy generated from students simulating running, walking and stair climbing on the machines to direct current.
The direct current is then sent to what is known as a ReRev system, which converts the direct current into alternating current that is used to help power the building.
Durant said the university first began purchasing the elliptical equipment about eight years ago.
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Chancellor Lawrence Davis said UAPB has saved about $45,000 by reducing the number of adjunct teachers – those brought in to teach one class per semester — by 10 percent and adding three hours to the teaching load of full-time faculty each semester.
Conversely, Ed Coulter, chancellor Arkansas State University at Mount Home, said his institution is saving more than $700,000 annually by employing more adjunct professors.
“Part-time people are probably the most wonderful benefit a college can have financially, but in the long-term it’s not the best answer, because full-time faculty are a part of your community,” Coulter said.
James Webb Space Telescope undergoing Sunshield tests
Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once Webb is in outer space. Webb will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.
The observatory is dominated visually by the sunshield subsystem, which separates the observatory into a warm sun-facing side and a cold anti-sun side.
The observatory will be pointed so that the Sun, Earth and Moon are always on one side, and the sunshield will act like a parasol, keeping the Optical Telescope Element and the Integrated Science Instrument Module cool by keeping them in the shade and protecting them from the heat of the sun and warm spacecraft bus electronics.
In addition to providing a cold environment, the sunshield provides a thermally stable environment. This is essential to maintaining proper alignment of the primary mirror segments as the telescope changes its orientation to the Sun.
When fully deployed, the sunshield that will be about the size of a regulation tennis court.
Why does the sunshield have five layers instead of just a single thick one? Each successive layer of the sunshield is cooler than the one below. The heat radiates out from between the layers, and the vacuum between the layers is a very good insulator. One big thick sunshield would conduct the heat from the bottom to the top more than 5 layers separated by vacuum.
Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once Webb is in outer space. Webb will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.
The observatory is dominated visually by the sunshield subsystem, which separates the observatory into a warm sun-facing side and a cold anti-sun side.
The observatory will be pointed so that the Sun, Earth and Moon are always on one side, and the sunshield will act like a parasol, keeping the Optical Telescope Element and the Integrated Science Instrument Module cool by keeping them in the shade and protecting them from the heat of the sun and warm spacecraft bus electronics.
In addition to providing a cold environment, the sunshield provides a thermally stable environment. This is essential to maintaining proper alignment of the primary mirror segments as the telescope changes its orientation to the Sun.
When fully deployed, the sunshield that will be about the size of a regulation tennis court.
Why does the sunshield have five layers instead of just a single thick one? Each successive layer of the sunshield is cooler than the one below. The heat radiates out from between the layers, and the vacuum between the layers is a very good insulator. One big thick sunshield would conduct the heat from the bottom to the top more than 5 layers separated by vacuum.
2011年9月18日星期日
Insulator collectors gather in Merritt to buy, sell and trade
Early morning rays shine on the colourful glass and porcelain shapes lined up neatly on wooden racks in Bob and Bev Scafe’s field, and visitors with varied license plates from as far as California mill about regarding each piece as a treasure.
United by a common interest in insulators, these collectors make the trek to Merritt each September to participate in the Scafe’s annualinsulator show where they can admire, buy, swap and sell insulators of various shapes and sizes.
Standing in the midst of his treasures, which are displayed year round, Bob estimates that his collection is made up of almost 7,000 insulators and every one of them has a story. Running his fingers along one porcelain piece, Bob explains that the British made it for use in Barbados.
“The British were masters at setting up and operating railroads,” he explains. “They exported their expertise as far as Africa.”
The firstinsulator however, was patented in approximately 1843 by Ezra Cornell who would later use the proceeds to found Cornell University. Originally the glass pieces were created to insulate electric telegraph wires, but as technology changed, so did their design and use. For the most part, insulators have not been used on electrical power lines since around the ‘70s. Instead, collectors from all over the world like Bob spend hours hunting them and then bartering and trading with others.
Bob says it was serendipity that got him started. Fifteen years ago he and Bev found an electricity pole down and picked up some insulators, which he thought were interesting. Later that day in Princeton he came across another glass piece in an antique store and decided to purchase it.
“I bought that one and it was a downhill slide ever since,” he says smiling.
Bob has gathered much of his collection personally by climbing poles, picking the insulators and tossing them down to his wife, Bev, who caught them with a softball mitt at the bottom.
Now, Bob says his focus is on acquiring European insulators, which he does by connecting with people online from as far as Hungary to “wheel and deal” for other pieces. Bob’sinsulator shows also serve as a way for enthusiasts to diversify their collections.
“We try to sell as much as we can, but with the money you make, you immediately go to someone else’s table and buy more,” says Bob. “You end up with just as much money in your pocket as when you started.“
James Bergman, a regular visitor to the Scafe’s annual show from Bellingham, Washington, specializes in French insulators. His table displays varied green glass pieces — the best of the best scrounged from over 25 trips to France. Pointing out different pieces of his collection Bergman indicates a uniqueinsulator made in France but used in Italy weighing 58 pounds. To obtain another rare insulator on his table, he had to hire a professional climber in South East France to cross a river and reach it.
For Bergman, who has been collecting since 1985, much of the appeal lies in the hunt.
“There’s more to hunting than simply shooting a rhino off its feet,” he says.
In the process of gathering insulators collectors like Bob and Bergman have gathered friends along the way as well and so, Bob says, the shows are as much about the people as the insulators.
What used to be a one-day show in Ft. Langley evolved to a two-day show when the Scafes moved to Merritt and now people start arriving as early as Wednesday. Fifty to 60 people usually attend and in the past have come from Hungary, Sweden and France besides places relatively closer to home such as Trail and Alberta.
“The computer is great to connect with otherinsulator collectors,” says Bob. “We just have a great time with these people.”
United by a common interest in insulators, these collectors make the trek to Merritt each September to participate in the Scafe’s annual
Standing in the midst of his treasures, which are displayed year round, Bob estimates that his collection is made up of almost 7,000 insulators and every one of them has a story. Running his fingers along one porcelain piece, Bob explains that the British made it for use in Barbados.
“The British were masters at setting up and operating railroads,” he explains. “They exported their expertise as far as Africa.”
The first
Bob says it was serendipity that got him started. Fifteen years ago he and Bev found an electricity pole down and picked up some insulators, which he thought were interesting. Later that day in Princeton he came across another glass piece in an antique store and decided to purchase it.
“I bought that one and it was a downhill slide ever since,” he says smiling.
Bob has gathered much of his collection personally by climbing poles, picking the insulators and tossing them down to his wife, Bev, who caught them with a softball mitt at the bottom.
Now, Bob says his focus is on acquiring European insulators, which he does by connecting with people online from as far as Hungary to “wheel and deal” for other pieces. Bob’s
“We try to sell as much as we can, but with the money you make, you immediately go to someone else’s table and buy more,” says Bob. “You end up with just as much money in your pocket as when you started.“
James Bergman, a regular visitor to the Scafe’s annual show from Bellingham, Washington, specializes in French insulators. His table displays varied green glass pieces — the best of the best scrounged from over 25 trips to France. Pointing out different pieces of his collection Bergman indicates a unique
For Bergman, who has been collecting since 1985, much of the appeal lies in the hunt.
“There’s more to hunting than simply shooting a rhino off its feet,” he says.
In the process of gathering insulators collectors like Bob and Bergman have gathered friends along the way as well and so, Bob says, the shows are as much about the people as the insulators.
What used to be a one-day show in Ft. Langley evolved to a two-day show when the Scafes moved to Merritt and now people start arriving as early as Wednesday. Fifty to 60 people usually attend and in the past have come from Hungary, Sweden and France besides places relatively closer to home such as Trail and Alberta.
“The computer is great to connect with other
2011年9月15日星期四
Insulator collectors gather in Merritt to buy, sell and trade
Early morning rays shine on the colourful glass and porcelain shapes lined up neatly on wooden racks in Bob and Bev Scafe’s field, and visitors with varied license plates from as far as California mill about regarding each piece as a treasure.
United by a common interest in insulators, these collectors make the trek to Merritt each September to participate in the Scafe’s annualinsulator show where they can admire, buy, swap and sell insulators of various shapes and sizes.
Standing in the midst of his treasures, which are displayed year round, Bob estimates that his collection is made up of almost 7,000 insulators and every one of them has a story. Running his fingers along one porcelain piece, Bob explains that the British made it for use in Barbados.
“The British were masters at setting up and operating railroads,” he explains. “They exported their expertise as far as Africa.”
The firstinsulator however, was patented in approximately 1843 by Ezra Cornell who would later use the proceeds to found Cornell University. Originally the glass pieces were created to insulate electric telegraph wires, but as technology changed, so did their design and use. For the most part, insulators have not been used on electrical power lines since around the ‘70s. Instead, collectors from all over the world like Bob spend hours hunting them and then bartering and trading with others.
Bob says it was serendipity that got him started. Fifteen years ago he and Bev found an electricity pole down and picked up some insulators, which he thought were interesting. Later that day in Princeton he came across another glass piece in an antique store and decided to purchase it.
“I bought that one and it was a downhill slide ever since,” he says smiling.
Bob has gathered much of his collection personally by climbing poles, picking the insulators and tossing them down to his wife, Bev, who caught them with a softball mitt at the bottom.
Now, Bob says his focus is on acquiring European insulators, which he does by connecting with people online from as far as Hungary to “wheel and deal” for other pieces. Bob’sinsulator shows also serve as a way for enthusiasts to diversify their collections.
“We try to sell as much as we can, but with the money you make, you immediately go to someone else’s table and buy more,” says Bob. “You end up with just as much money in your pocket as when you started.“
James Bergman, a regular visitor to the Scafe’s annual show from Bellingham, Washington, specializes in French insulators. His table displays varied green glass pieces — the best of the best scrounged from over 25 trips to France. Pointing out different pieces of his collection Bergman indicates a uniqueinsulator made in France but used in Italy weighing 58 pounds. To obtain another rare insulator on his table, he had to hire a professional climber in South East France to cross a river and reach it.
For Bergman, who has been collecting since 1985, much of the appeal lies in the hunt.
“There’s more to hunting than simply shooting a rhino off its feet,” he says.
In the process of gathering insulators collectors like Bob and Bergman have gathered friends along the way as well and so, Bob says, the shows are as much about the people as the insulators.
What used to be a one-day show in Ft. Langley evolved to a two-day show when the Scafes moved to Merritt and now people start arriving as early as Wednesday. Fifty to 60 people usually attend and in the past have come from Hungary, Sweden and France besides places relatively closer to home such as Trail and Alberta.
“The computer is great to connect with otherinsulator collectors,” says Bob. “We just have a great time with these people.”
United by a common interest in insulators, these collectors make the trek to Merritt each September to participate in the Scafe’s annual
Standing in the midst of his treasures, which are displayed year round, Bob estimates that his collection is made up of almost 7,000 insulators and every one of them has a story. Running his fingers along one porcelain piece, Bob explains that the British made it for use in Barbados.
“The British were masters at setting up and operating railroads,” he explains. “They exported their expertise as far as Africa.”
The first
Bob says it was serendipity that got him started. Fifteen years ago he and Bev found an electricity pole down and picked up some insulators, which he thought were interesting. Later that day in Princeton he came across another glass piece in an antique store and decided to purchase it.
“I bought that one and it was a downhill slide ever since,” he says smiling.
Bob has gathered much of his collection personally by climbing poles, picking the insulators and tossing them down to his wife, Bev, who caught them with a softball mitt at the bottom.
Now, Bob says his focus is on acquiring European insulators, which he does by connecting with people online from as far as Hungary to “wheel and deal” for other pieces. Bob’s
“We try to sell as much as we can, but with the money you make, you immediately go to someone else’s table and buy more,” says Bob. “You end up with just as much money in your pocket as when you started.“
James Bergman, a regular visitor to the Scafe’s annual show from Bellingham, Washington, specializes in French insulators. His table displays varied green glass pieces — the best of the best scrounged from over 25 trips to France. Pointing out different pieces of his collection Bergman indicates a unique
For Bergman, who has been collecting since 1985, much of the appeal lies in the hunt.
“There’s more to hunting than simply shooting a rhino off its feet,” he says.
In the process of gathering insulators collectors like Bob and Bergman have gathered friends along the way as well and so, Bob says, the shows are as much about the people as the insulators.
What used to be a one-day show in Ft. Langley evolved to a two-day show when the Scafes moved to Merritt and now people start arriving as early as Wednesday. Fifty to 60 people usually attend and in the past have come from Hungary, Sweden and France besides places relatively closer to home such as Trail and Alberta.
“The computer is great to connect with other
2011年9月14日星期三
Ferroelectric capacitors promise ultra-cool computers
Good news from the research labs of the University of California, Berkeley: the scientists buried deep within the University’s electrical engineering department might have found a way to cool all our computers down, and get us back on the Moore’s Law highway.
(And speaking as someone whose laptop keyboard is currently almost too hot to type on, this news seems very good indeed).
The researchers have shown that it is possible to reduce the voltage required to keep a charge stored in a capacitor; this has been stalled at around 1 volt per transistor for some time. As the density of transistors increases, so both the power required to operate them, and the amount of heat they throw out rises.
This bottleneck is one of the main triggers for interest in spintronics and quantum computing. But what if conventional silicon can just be made to work better?
From the University’s press release : The solution proposed by [Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley assistant professor of electrical engineering] and his team is to modify current transistors so that they incorporate ferroelectric materials in their design, a change that could potentially generate a larger charge from a smaller voltage. This would allow engineers to make a transistor that dissipates less heat, and the shrinking of this key computer component could continue.
Ferroelectric materials are those which can hold both positive and negative charge, and can hold that charge even without a voltage being applied. The researchers found that layering a ferroelectric material and an electrical insulator in a capacitor resulted in this negative capacitance – a phenomenon theorised by Salahuddin when he was a graduate student at Purdue University.
"This work is the proof-of-principle we have needed to pursue negative capacitance as a viable strategy to overcome the power draw of today’s transistors," said Salahuddin. "If we can use this to create low-power transistors without compromising performance and the speed at which they work, it could change the whole computing industry.”
(And speaking as someone whose laptop keyboard is currently almost too hot to type on, this news seems very good indeed).
The researchers have shown that it is possible to reduce the voltage required to keep a charge stored in a capacitor; this has been stalled at around 1 volt per transistor for some time. As the density of transistors increases, so both the power required to operate them, and the amount of heat they throw out rises.
This bottleneck is one of the main triggers for interest in spintronics and quantum computing. But what if conventional silicon can just be made to work better?
From the University’s press release : The solution proposed by [Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley assistant professor of electrical engineering] and his team is to modify current transistors so that they incorporate ferroelectric materials in their design, a change that could potentially generate a larger charge from a smaller voltage. This would allow engineers to make a transistor that dissipates less heat, and the shrinking of this key computer component could continue.
Ferroelectric materials are those which can hold both positive and negative charge, and can hold that charge even without a voltage being applied. The researchers found that layering a ferroelectric material and an electrical insulator in a capacitor resulted in this negative capacitance – a phenomenon theorised by Salahuddin when he was a graduate student at Purdue University.
"This work is the proof-of-principle we have needed to pursue negative capacitance as a viable strategy to overcome the power draw of today’s transistors," said Salahuddin. "If we can use this to create low-power transistors without compromising performance and the speed at which they work, it could change the whole computing industry.”
2011年9月13日星期二
Ferroelectric chips could extend Moore's Law
A team of researchers believe they might have found a way to produce ultra-low power chips using ferroelectric materials, helping to get a leg up over a Moore’s Law barrier.
The researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have been adding up the numbers and dividing by their shoe size to work out how to reduce the minimum voltage needed to store charge in a capacitor. This would mean reducing the overall power and heat generation of current electronics.
And it is heat which is one of the main stumbling blocks to the move to smaller and smaller processes.
Common sense says that it is difficult to move past the around a seven nanometre process for chip production with the conventional electronics. This has lead to a variety of exotic technologies being researched, such as spintronics and quantum computing.
But it appears that the Berkeley boffins have a way of fine tuning more conventional transistor systems.
This is down to the use of ferroelectric materials which can improve the efficiency of transistors. Ferroelectric materials exhibit some unusual and beneficial qualities and can hold both positive and negative electrical charges.
It is even possible to hold an electrical charge even when a voltage is not applied to it, while its electric polarisation can be reversed when an external field is applied.
The team were able to demonstrate for the first time that a capacitor made using ferroelectric materials combined with a dialectricinsulator , the charge accumulated for a voltage can be amplified. This is known as negative capacitance, and the team reckon it is a “viable strategy to overcome the power draw of today's transistors”.
The method involved the use of the ferroelectric material lead irconate titanate (PZT ) and the dialectric strontium titanate (STO), stacked together. A voltage is then applied to the PZT-STO structure and a layer of STO on its own, comparing the amount of charge stored in both. With the ferroelectric material there was a “two-fold voltage enhancement” for the same voltage, which they believe could go even higher.
While it is currently necessary to have at least one volt to operate a transistor, what the researchers at Berkely have essentially done is reduce the amount of voltage that is needed to generate a larger charge from a smaller voltage.
This means less heat dissipation, and therefore allows more transistors to fit onto a chip. While a bottle neck has been reached since 2005, with a plateau in Moore’s Law as the researchers say, this could allow for even greater advances in clockspeeds once again.
Unfortunately the effect that the team found works at a higher temperature than would be found without slowly roasting you laptop, working at around 200 degrees Celsius. Usually 85 degrees Celsius is the limit for modern processors. The researchers are looking at room temperature negative capacitance now though.
Also the ferromagnetic materials used are not likely to be commonplace or cheap, so the technology may still be someway from being commercially viable.
The researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have been adding up the numbers and dividing by their shoe size to work out how to reduce the minimum voltage needed to store charge in a capacitor. This would mean reducing the overall power and heat generation of current electronics.
And it is heat which is one of the main stumbling blocks to the move to smaller and smaller processes.
Common sense says that it is difficult to move past the around a seven nanometre process for chip production with the conventional electronics. This has lead to a variety of exotic technologies being researched, such as spintronics and quantum computing.
But it appears that the Berkeley boffins have a way of fine tuning more conventional transistor systems.
This is down to the use of ferroelectric materials which can improve the efficiency of transistors. Ferroelectric materials exhibit some unusual and beneficial qualities and can hold both positive and negative electrical charges.
It is even possible to hold an electrical charge even when a voltage is not applied to it, while its electric polarisation can be reversed when an external field is applied.
The team were able to demonstrate for the first time that a capacitor made using ferroelectric materials combined with a dialectric
The method involved the use of the ferroelectric material lead irconate titanate (PZT ) and the dialectric strontium titanate (STO), stacked together. A voltage is then applied to the PZT-STO structure and a layer of STO on its own, comparing the amount of charge stored in both. With the ferroelectric material there was a “two-fold voltage enhancement” for the same voltage, which they believe could go even higher.
While it is currently necessary to have at least one volt to operate a transistor, what the researchers at Berkely have essentially done is reduce the amount of voltage that is needed to generate a larger charge from a smaller voltage.
This means less heat dissipation, and therefore allows more transistors to fit onto a chip. While a bottle neck has been reached since 2005, with a plateau in Moore’s Law as the researchers say, this could allow for even greater advances in clockspeeds once again.
Unfortunately the effect that the team found works at a higher temperature than would be found without slowly roasting you laptop, working at around 200 degrees Celsius. Usually 85 degrees Celsius is the limit for modern processors. The researchers are looking at room temperature negative capacitance now though.
Also the ferromagnetic materials used are not likely to be commonplace or cheap, so the technology may still be someway from being commercially viable.
2011年9月12日星期一
New materials promise ultra-low-power computing
Computer engineers at the University of California at Berkeley have found a way to reduce the minimum voltage required to store a charge in a capacitor--an electron-storing device that works somewhat like a battery--paving the way for ultra-low-power computing. This is a result of a project started in 2008 and led by Asif Khan, a UC Berkeley electrical engineering graduate student, and Sayeef Salahuddin, a UC Berkeley assistant professor of electrical engineering.
The engineers took advantage of ferroelectrics, a class of materials that can hold both positive and negative electric charges, even when there's no voltage applied. On top of that, the electrical polarization in ferroelectrics can be reversed with an external electric field.
The team was able to demonstrate that when a capacitor made of ferroelectric-based materials was paired with an electric insulator, the charge accumulated for a given voltage could be amplified in a phenomenon called "negative capacitance." This means you can create a charge that would normally require a higher voltage. And this, when applied to transistors--the on-off switch components that generate the zeros and ones that are the core of binary computing used in all personal computers--would translate into lower minimum voltage required to operate a computer processor.
Traditionally, a computer's processor (or chip) is made of transistors. The more transistors a chip has, the more processing power it offers. When first introduced in the 1970s, a processor had about a few thousand transistors. Moore's Law speculates that the number of transistors that could be squeezed onto a computer chip would double every two years. A modern processor now has billions of transistors.
While Moore's law held for many years, the number of transistors that can be put on a chip has slowly plateaued since about 2005. This is not because engineers can't reduce the transistors' size anymore, but because the reduced size doesn't translate into a proportional decrease in the overall power required to operate the chip. Due to the fundamental physics of a transistor's operation, its minimum required power supply has remained at 1 volt for about 10 years. Lower than that, the current is not strong enough to create a charge to change the transistor between its on and off states.
This constant power intake translates into a rather constant amount of heat generated by a transistor, regardless of its size. This means the more of them you put on a chip, the hotter the processor gets and the harder it is for the engineers to find a way to efficiently dissipate the heat fast enough. At some point, they can't keep shrinking the transistors without risking a fire hazard.
Salahuddin and his team proposed a solution to modify current transistors so they incorporate ferroelectric materials in the design. Potentially, similar to the case of the capacitor, this change would help create a sufficient charge from a smaller voltage and therefore would let engineers make transistors that generate less heat, which means they can continue to shrink their size further.
In layman's terms, this is similar to making a car run more efficiently so that its engine produces the same amount of horsepower and torque with less gasoline and won't become overheated at high speeds and during long stretches of operation. Apart from transistors, Salahuddin said ferroelectric material can also be used in other applications, such as system memory, energy storage devices, electric car chargers, and other electronics.
The engineers took advantage of ferroelectrics, a class of materials that can hold both positive and negative electric charges, even when there's no voltage applied. On top of that, the electrical polarization in ferroelectrics can be reversed with an external electric field.
The team was able to demonstrate that when a capacitor made of ferroelectric-based materials was paired with an electric insulator, the charge accumulated for a given voltage could be amplified in a phenomenon called "negative capacitance." This means you can create a charge that would normally require a higher voltage. And this, when applied to transistors--the on-off switch components that generate the zeros and ones that are the core of binary computing used in all personal computers--would translate into lower minimum voltage required to operate a computer processor.
Traditionally, a computer's processor (or chip) is made of transistors. The more transistors a chip has, the more processing power it offers. When first introduced in the 1970s, a processor had about a few thousand transistors. Moore's Law speculates that the number of transistors that could be squeezed onto a computer chip would double every two years. A modern processor now has billions of transistors.
While Moore's law held for many years, the number of transistors that can be put on a chip has slowly plateaued since about 2005. This is not because engineers can't reduce the transistors' size anymore, but because the reduced size doesn't translate into a proportional decrease in the overall power required to operate the chip. Due to the fundamental physics of a transistor's operation, its minimum required power supply has remained at 1 volt for about 10 years. Lower than that, the current is not strong enough to create a charge to change the transistor between its on and off states.
This constant power intake translates into a rather constant amount of heat generated by a transistor, regardless of its size. This means the more of them you put on a chip, the hotter the processor gets and the harder it is for the engineers to find a way to efficiently dissipate the heat fast enough. At some point, they can't keep shrinking the transistors without risking a fire hazard.
Salahuddin and his team proposed a solution to modify current transistors so they incorporate ferroelectric materials in the design. Potentially, similar to the case of the capacitor, this change would help create a sufficient charge from a smaller voltage and therefore would let engineers make transistors that generate less heat, which means they can continue to shrink their size further.
In layman's terms, this is similar to making a car run more efficiently so that its engine produces the same amount of horsepower and torque with less gasoline and won't become overheated at high speeds and during long stretches of operation. Apart from transistors, Salahuddin said ferroelectric material can also be used in other applications, such as system memory, energy storage devices, electric car chargers, and other electronics.
2011年9月8日星期四
Protect Your Pets From Lyme Disease
For lively pups, the outdoors serves as a playground -- but it can also serve as a breeding ground for deadly disease.
According to the American Lyme Disease Foundation, the deer tick is responsible for infecting dogs with Lyme disease every year, irrespective of season.
“Although the deer tick is number one for Lyme in animals, the brown dog tick can also transmit Lyme to dogs,” Philip E. Block, a veterinarian at the Redding Veterinary Hospital explained.
Regardless of the type of tick that infects dogs, they can all cause symptoms that will be noticeable to pet owners. If a canine is infected with Lyme, there are signs that will be more recognizable than others. Swollen joints, loss of appetite and lameness are a few that the ALDA wants pet owners to look out for.
“Believe it or not, dogs don’t get the bullseye like people do,” Block said. “Sometimes you will see a swelling or a limp.”
If you’re wondering how Lyme will affect your dog’s energy level, you can expect that they won’t be playing fetch too enthusiastically.
“Most dogs with Lyme don’t want to do a lot,” Block said. “They just seem off – lethargic and tired."
When pets are brought into the Redding Veterinary Hospital, Block has their antibodies tested. He performs a test known as the 4DX snap test. This test detects heartworm, Lyme disease, anaplasma and Ehrlichia.
“If it comes back positive for a dog who has never had it before, we will treat the dog and then we will focus on prevention.”
Lyme disease is more common in canines than in people, according to Block. But they are also more treatable than humans, he said.
“I have a lot of [human] clients that have Lyme and can’t seem to get rid of it,” Block said.
"It ends up being the gift that never stops giving,” he said.
When treating a dog, Block gives them a 28-day treatment. After two days, he often sees a significant difference in the behavior of the animals. One of the most effective Lyme treatments that Block uses is the new Next Generation Lyme vaccine. The official name of the vaccine is Intervet Lyme vaccine. Block also recommends the use of Advantix.
“We use the Advantix to paralyze the jaw of the tick so it doesn’t transmit to people,” Block said.
Although dogs cannot directly transmit Lyme disease to humans, Jennifer Reid and Karen Gaudian of the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force recommend that people do not sleep with their pets.
“Don’t sleep with your pets,” Gaudian warns.
“They can bring the ticks in from outside and into your home,” Reid added. “We recommend that people have their yards sprayed so that it reduces the risk of pets bringing ticks into the home, as well as the amount of ticks on the property” she said.
Although Lyme is easily treatable in dogs, once they bring an infected tick home to their owners, they may no longer be able to count on an active family that can play with them.
“Lyme is a lot easier to treat in dogs rather than people,” Block warned.
Having a yard sprayed is a preventative measure that is usually only taken in the summer months, according to the LDTF, but Block warns that just like people, pets can contract Lyme disease during all seasons, so preventative measures should never take a back seat.
“We see Lyme year round,” he said. “The only time we don’t is when there is standing snow on the ground. Snow can actually act as a good insulator for ticks.”
Block recommends that dog owners use topical treatments like Advantix that contain Permethrin, as well as performing daily tick checks on both dogs and family members. The topical treatments repel ticks as well as treat the infection of a tick attachment, according to Block.
According to the American Lyme Disease Foundation, the deer tick is responsible for infecting dogs with Lyme disease every year, irrespective of season.
“Although the deer tick is number one for Lyme in animals, the brown dog tick can also transmit Lyme to dogs,” Philip E. Block, a veterinarian at the Redding Veterinary Hospital explained.
Regardless of the type of tick that infects dogs, they can all cause symptoms that will be noticeable to pet owners. If a canine is infected with Lyme, there are signs that will be more recognizable than others. Swollen joints, loss of appetite and lameness are a few that the ALDA wants pet owners to look out for.
“Believe it or not, dogs don’t get the bullseye like people do,” Block said. “Sometimes you will see a swelling or a limp.”
If you’re wondering how Lyme will affect your dog’s energy level, you can expect that they won’t be playing fetch too enthusiastically.
“Most dogs with Lyme don’t want to do a lot,” Block said. “They just seem off – lethargic and tired."
When pets are brought into the Redding Veterinary Hospital, Block has their antibodies tested. He performs a test known as the 4DX snap test. This test detects heartworm, Lyme disease, anaplasma and Ehrlichia.
“If it comes back positive for a dog who has never had it before, we will treat the dog and then we will focus on prevention.”
Lyme disease is more common in canines than in people, according to Block. But they are also more treatable than humans, he said.
“I have a lot of [human] clients that have Lyme and can’t seem to get rid of it,” Block said.
"It ends up being the gift that never stops giving,” he said.
When treating a dog, Block gives them a 28-day treatment. After two days, he often sees a significant difference in the behavior of the animals. One of the most effective Lyme treatments that Block uses is the new Next Generation Lyme vaccine. The official name of the vaccine is Intervet Lyme vaccine. Block also recommends the use of Advantix.
“We use the Advantix to paralyze the jaw of the tick so it doesn’t transmit to people,” Block said.
Although dogs cannot directly transmit Lyme disease to humans, Jennifer Reid and Karen Gaudian of the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force recommend that people do not sleep with their pets.
“Don’t sleep with your pets,” Gaudian warns.
“They can bring the ticks in from outside and into your home,” Reid added. “We recommend that people have their yards sprayed so that it reduces the risk of pets bringing ticks into the home, as well as the amount of ticks on the property” she said.
Although Lyme is easily treatable in dogs, once they bring an infected tick home to their owners, they may no longer be able to count on an active family that can play with them.
“Lyme is a lot easier to treat in dogs rather than people,” Block warned.
Having a yard sprayed is a preventative measure that is usually only taken in the summer months, according to the LDTF, but Block warns that just like people, pets can contract Lyme disease during all seasons, so preventative measures should never take a back seat.
“We see Lyme year round,” he said. “The only time we don’t is when there is standing snow on the ground. Snow can actually act as a good insulator for ticks.”
Block recommends that dog owners use topical treatments like Advantix that contain Permethrin, as well as performing daily tick checks on both dogs and family members. The topical treatments repel ticks as well as treat the infection of a tick attachment, according to Block.
2011年9月7日星期三
Athenaeum Renovated for First Time Since Its Opening
In addition to the opening of Claremont McKenna College’s new Kravis Center, this summer saw a complete renovation of the Athenaeum by IA Interior Architects thanks to a $4.5 million allotment by the Board of Trustees. The building had not been renovated since its opening in 1983 and had only experienced one carpet change until its complete infrastructural and design makeover this summer. Needless to say, the time had come for a facelift, and a significant one at that.
The plan, first discussed in a 2009 trustee meeting, was put into motion on commencement day of last year, and the building was ready to use just before the Parents Dinner on August 25th, 2011. Athenaeum manager David Edwards hopes the renovations will “bring a sleek, new look” and update the structure with which the building was originally created.
The renovation focused on design, technology, and energy use, explained Frank Perri, CMC’s Director of Construction. The design component is immediately visible in the building’s new furnishings, which include three new flat screen TV’s, custom designed chairs in the dining hall, new carpets, limestone floors, and an increase in the number of chandeliers in the dining room from 4 to 24.
The Athenaeum now features completely refurbished bathrooms with automated systems; a gas fireplace in the library; a completely new kitchen line including a new freezer, dishwasher, and refrigerator; increased wireless capacity; and improved acoustics thanks to a new AV system and the installation of transparent acoustic enhancing cloth in the lobby and dining rooms. Hinges were added to the large window in the dining hall, allowing them pivot and open the room to the quad outdoors.
Energy conservation was a large part of the decisions made in the Athenaeum renovation. The new kitchen appliances save energy to be sure, but three flat screen TVs and a gas fireplace can’t help much on the energy expenditure front. Each of the 24 new chandeliers in the main dining room have Energy Star and energy efficient certifications, making them an environmentally-friendly addition to the renovation. The building is now air conditioned by the Kravis Center, which pumps chilled water that also feeds the air conditioning systems for Roberts North and South, Adams Hall, and the Emmett Student Center. The roof’s rotted wood was replaced and harvested where possible to make way for a foam roof that acts as both a waterproof cover and an insulator. A composter was added to the kitchen, and the bathrooms have been remodeled with water efficient and low flow sinks.
The new Ath is refurbished, modernized, and ready for another year of speakers and students. With input from the board of trustees, the student Athenaeum committee, and Athenaeum employees, the final project is, as Perri puts it, one of which “everyone involved is proud.” A world class facility for world class speakers.
The plan, first discussed in a 2009 trustee meeting, was put into motion on commencement day of last year, and the building was ready to use just before the Parents Dinner on August 25th, 2011. Athenaeum manager David Edwards hopes the renovations will “bring a sleek, new look” and update the structure with which the building was originally created.
The renovation focused on design, technology, and energy use, explained Frank Perri, CMC’s Director of Construction. The design component is immediately visible in the building’s new furnishings, which include three new flat screen TV’s, custom designed chairs in the dining hall, new carpets, limestone floors, and an increase in the number of chandeliers in the dining room from 4 to 24.
The Athenaeum now features completely refurbished bathrooms with automated systems; a gas fireplace in the library; a completely new kitchen line including a new freezer, dishwasher, and refrigerator; increased wireless capacity; and improved acoustics thanks to a new AV system and the installation of transparent acoustic enhancing cloth in the lobby and dining rooms. Hinges were added to the large window in the dining hall, allowing them pivot and open the room to the quad outdoors.
Energy conservation was a large part of the decisions made in the Athenaeum renovation. The new kitchen appliances save energy to be sure, but three flat screen TVs and a gas fireplace can’t help much on the energy expenditure front. Each of the 24 new chandeliers in the main dining room have Energy Star and energy efficient certifications, making them an environmentally-friendly addition to the renovation. The building is now air conditioned by the Kravis Center, which pumps chilled water that also feeds the air conditioning systems for Roberts North and South, Adams Hall, and the Emmett Student Center. The roof’s rotted wood was replaced and harvested where possible to make way for a foam roof that acts as both a waterproof cover and an insulator. A composter was added to the kitchen, and the bathrooms have been remodeled with water efficient and low flow sinks.
The new Ath is refurbished, modernized, and ready for another year of speakers and students. With input from the board of trustees, the student Athenaeum committee, and Athenaeum employees, the final project is, as Perri puts it, one of which “everyone involved is proud.” A world class facility for world class speakers.
2011年9月6日星期二
Your Smart Phone Applies Geometry to Interpret Touch
Touch sensitive screens first appeared on industrial control panels over 20 years ago, but they are now common on personal computers and smart phones.
There are two problems to be solved when designing the system: sensing when the screen is touched and working out where it was touched.
The most common technology is the resistive one, which uses the simple idea of a switch. The outer surface of the screen is covered with three thin layers of different materials.
The first one is metallic, the second a fine gauze made of an insulator and the third a flexible conducting plastic. Finally, the top is coated with a scratch-proof film to prevent damage.
All these layers are so thin that they are almost transparent in ordinary light. That way, it is possible to see the graphics on the screen.
Terminals are connected at one corner of the screen and a small voltage applied between the conducting plastic layer and the metallic film.
Since the two layers are separated by the insulating gauze, no current will flow, but when the screen is touched, the flexible plastic bends and makes contact with the metallic layer below through the open spaces in the gauze.
When the two layers make contact, current flows -- just like in a switch -- and the computer senses that the screen has been touched.
To determine the point that was touched, voltage is measured at the other three corners of the screen.
Since the plastic layer is not a good conductor, the voltage will be proportional to the distance from the respective corner to the point of contact.
It is possible to work out the coordinates of the point of contact by applying triangulation geometry.
Imagine a drawing compass is mounted at the first corner of the screen and then opened to draw an arch whose radius is equal to the distance calculated from the voltage.
Repeat the same drawing from the second and third corners. The three arches will meet at one point on the screen -- the point of contact. This is how the system evaluates the coordinates.
Another common type of touch screen technology applies the principle of capacitance. An electrical capacitor is simply two layers of conductors separated by an insulator.
Thus, the basic design is also in the form of layers. However, the middle layer is made of a continuous insulating material instead of the gauze.
When voltage is applied to the two conducting layers, a uniform electric field is formed between them. Touching the screen distorts this field, thereby changing the voltage.
The change in voltage depends on the location of the distortion. Therefore, by measuring from three corners of the screen, it is possible to triangulate the coordinates of the point of touch.
The major advantage of the capacitance touch screen is that it has no moving parts, making it more durable than the resistive type.
For this reason, it is the preferred design for industrial control panels, touch-sensitive ATM screens and laptop touchpads.
However, while the resistive type responds when touched by any material, the capacitive design can only be operated by bare fingers. Even wearing gloves will inhibit its operation.
There are two problems to be solved when designing the system: sensing when the screen is touched and working out where it was touched.
The most common technology is the resistive one, which uses the simple idea of a switch. The outer surface of the screen is covered with three thin layers of different materials.
The first one is metallic, the second a fine gauze made of an insulator and the third a flexible conducting plastic. Finally, the top is coated with a scratch-proof film to prevent damage.
All these layers are so thin that they are almost transparent in ordinary light. That way, it is possible to see the graphics on the screen.
Terminals are connected at one corner of the screen and a small voltage applied between the conducting plastic layer and the metallic film.
Since the two layers are separated by the insulating gauze, no current will flow, but when the screen is touched, the flexible plastic bends and makes contact with the metallic layer below through the open spaces in the gauze.
When the two layers make contact, current flows -- just like in a switch -- and the computer senses that the screen has been touched.
To determine the point that was touched, voltage is measured at the other three corners of the screen.
Since the plastic layer is not a good conductor, the voltage will be proportional to the distance from the respective corner to the point of contact.
It is possible to work out the coordinates of the point of contact by applying triangulation geometry.
Imagine a drawing compass is mounted at the first corner of the screen and then opened to draw an arch whose radius is equal to the distance calculated from the voltage.
Repeat the same drawing from the second and third corners. The three arches will meet at one point on the screen -- the point of contact. This is how the system evaluates the coordinates.
Another common type of touch screen technology applies the principle of capacitance. An electrical capacitor is simply two layers of conductors separated by an insulator.
Thus, the basic design is also in the form of layers. However, the middle layer is made of a continuous insulating material instead of the gauze.
When voltage is applied to the two conducting layers, a uniform electric field is formed between them. Touching the screen distorts this field, thereby changing the voltage.
The change in voltage depends on the location of the distortion. Therefore, by measuring from three corners of the screen, it is possible to triangulate the coordinates of the point of touch.
The major advantage of the capacitance touch screen is that it has no moving parts, making it more durable than the resistive type.
For this reason, it is the preferred design for industrial control panels, touch-sensitive ATM screens and laptop touchpads.
However, while the resistive type responds when touched by any material, the capacitive design can only be operated by bare fingers. Even wearing gloves will inhibit its operation.
2011年9月5日星期一
Dry conditions, heavy winds spark fires throughout Crossroads
Victoria's dry conditions, low humidity and high winds ignited a series of fires that spread throughout Victoria and surrounding counties Sunday.
"It was a large amount of fires for the day," Victoria Fire Department Battalion Chief Tracy Fox said. "The drought conditions are really what exasperated the fires today."
Firefighters responded to seven emergency fire calls in Victoria throughout the day: one house fire, five grass fires and a boat fire at Stratford Place Apartments. Fire departments around the Crossroads also responded to other grass fires.
A home in the 1900 block of Guadalupe Road was destroyed in a fire, first reported about 12:30 p.m.
Down the road about five miles, fire officials responded to a grass fire about 1 p.m., which sparked near U.S. 87 and Crouch and Menke roads. Fire Marshal Ron Pray said about 100-120 acres caught fire; the cause of the fire is unknown. The fire also damaged a railroad trestle, he said.
A second grass fire ignited on U.S. 87 and Sunray Road about 1:30 p.m., burning about 50 acres of brush. Strong winds downed an electrical wire, which caused the brush to catch fire, Pray said.
The two grass fires forced law enforcement officials to shut down U.S. 87 in both directions for about two hours.
On U.S. 77 and Farm-to-Market 445 and McFaddin Road, a third grass fire started about 2:30 p.m., burning about an acre of land. Fox said the cause is unknown.
A fourth grass fire ignited in the 1000 block of South Main Street about 4:30 p.m., burning about a half acre near a water pumping station. Fox said the cause is unknown.
A house located at 3465 Farm-to-Market Road 446 in Victoria, and about 10 acres of brush caught fire at 5:30 p.m. A resident of the home burning trash in the back yard was unable to contain the flames in the heavy winds. The fire spread to the rear of the home, burning one room and the attic.
A boat caught fire at Stratford Place Apartments, 3207 E. Airline Road. The fire was contained quickly, Pray said. The cause is still under investigation.
Outside the county, two fires occurred in Jackson County on Farm-to-Market Road 530 North and County Road 277. Sheriff Andy Louderback said an old cotton gin and seven bales of hay burned. A second small pasture fire was extinguished at Farm-to-Market 234 South about one mile south of U.S. 59. Causes of both fires are unknown.
In Goliad, Fire Chief Alonzo Morales, Jr. said 50 to 75 acres of pasture and brush on Abramite Road and Fannin Road caught fire about 12:15 p.m. An insulator on a power line cracked and sparked the ground on fire, he said.
Cuero Fire Chief Butch Tolbert said about eight acres of brush and grass caught fire about 1:30 p.m. near Verhelle Road and U.S. 87 South.
Fire officials Pray, Fox and Morales reminded the community to use severe caution and refrain from burning when necessary while conditions are uncertain.
"It was a large amount of fires for the day," Victoria Fire Department Battalion Chief Tracy Fox said. "The drought conditions are really what exasperated the fires today."
Firefighters responded to seven emergency fire calls in Victoria throughout the day: one house fire, five grass fires and a boat fire at Stratford Place Apartments. Fire departments around the Crossroads also responded to other grass fires.
A home in the 1900 block of Guadalupe Road was destroyed in a fire, first reported about 12:30 p.m.
Down the road about five miles, fire officials responded to a grass fire about 1 p.m., which sparked near U.S. 87 and Crouch and Menke roads. Fire Marshal Ron Pray said about 100-120 acres caught fire; the cause of the fire is unknown. The fire also damaged a railroad trestle, he said.
A second grass fire ignited on U.S. 87 and Sunray Road about 1:30 p.m., burning about 50 acres of brush. Strong winds downed an electrical wire, which caused the brush to catch fire, Pray said.
The two grass fires forced law enforcement officials to shut down U.S. 87 in both directions for about two hours.
On U.S. 77 and Farm-to-Market 445 and McFaddin Road, a third grass fire started about 2:30 p.m., burning about an acre of land. Fox said the cause is unknown.
A fourth grass fire ignited in the 1000 block of South Main Street about 4:30 p.m., burning about a half acre near a water pumping station. Fox said the cause is unknown.
A house located at 3465 Farm-to-Market Road 446 in Victoria, and about 10 acres of brush caught fire at 5:30 p.m. A resident of the home burning trash in the back yard was unable to contain the flames in the heavy winds. The fire spread to the rear of the home, burning one room and the attic.
A boat caught fire at Stratford Place Apartments, 3207 E. Airline Road. The fire was contained quickly, Pray said. The cause is still under investigation.
Outside the county, two fires occurred in Jackson County on Farm-to-Market Road 530 North and County Road 277. Sheriff Andy Louderback said an old cotton gin and seven bales of hay burned. A second small pasture fire was extinguished at Farm-to-Market 234 South about one mile south of U.S. 59. Causes of both fires are unknown.
In Goliad, Fire Chief Alonzo Morales, Jr. said 50 to 75 acres of pasture and brush on Abramite Road and Fannin Road caught fire about 12:15 p.m. An insulator on a power line cracked and sparked the ground on fire, he said.
Cuero Fire Chief Butch Tolbert said about eight acres of brush and grass caught fire about 1:30 p.m. near Verhelle Road and U.S. 87 South.
Fire officials Pray, Fox and Morales reminded the community to use severe caution and refrain from burning when necessary while conditions are uncertain.
2011年9月4日星期日
Energy saving starts at the top
Every square foot of the newly renovated Whittier Research Center is being used for research — even the roof.
In June, the junior-high-turned-research-facility became the first building at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be fitted with a state-of-the-art "green roof," made of small, drought-resistant, water-storing plants.
The 700-square-foot test plot provides an opportunity for researchers and landscapers to see how a green roof can be maintained, as well as test its purported benefits. Those benefits include increased stormwater retention, added insulation and preservation of the roof membrane.
The plants, called sedums, were grown by Roof Top Sedums LLC in Davenport, Iowa, and planted on the roof by UNL Landscape Services.
Emily Casper of UNL Landscape Services said the rooftop courtyard is easy to access and can be viewed from the top floors of the building.
"Before, it was just a white roof," she said. "Now the whole space is aesthetically pleasing."
The project adds a little more green to an already "green" building. Whittier was renovated along federal Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and uses geothermal energy.
Other Big Ten schools, such as Penn State University and Michigan State, have been experimenting with green-roof technology for years. In fact, Penn State's new $215 million Millennium Science Complex has six of them.
Green roofs also have been popping up off-campus in Nebraska. In Omaha, more than 10 green roofs have been installed on buildings within the past two to three years, said Kent Holm, the Douglas County environmental services director.
Holm explained that more and more businesses and building owners are looking for ways to save money and be energy-efficient.
Despite the startup cost of a green roof — the plants alone at Whittier were valued at nearly $10,000 — the benefit comes later through energy savings.
"With this type of technology, it's going to be more expensive initially. But the savings come in the long run because it extends the life of the roof membrane and serves as an insulator for the building," Holm said.
Casper said although the green roof at Whittier is still in its pilot stage, the research is important as more and more buildings look to meet efficiency standards.
"The U.S. ... is moving towards more sustainable green building practices, and green roofs are a natural part of that movement," she said.
In June, the junior-high-turned-research-facility became the first building at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be fitted with a state-of-the-art "green roof," made of small, drought-resistant, water-storing plants.
The 700-square-foot test plot provides an opportunity for researchers and landscapers to see how a green roof can be maintained, as well as test its purported benefits. Those benefits include increased stormwater retention, added insulation and preservation of the roof membrane.
The plants, called sedums, were grown by Roof Top Sedums LLC in Davenport, Iowa, and planted on the roof by UNL Landscape Services.
Emily Casper of UNL Landscape Services said the rooftop courtyard is easy to access and can be viewed from the top floors of the building.
"Before, it was just a white roof," she said. "Now the whole space is aesthetically pleasing."
The project adds a little more green to an already "green" building. Whittier was renovated along federal Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and uses geothermal energy.
Other Big Ten schools, such as Penn State University and Michigan State, have been experimenting with green-roof technology for years. In fact, Penn State's new $215 million Millennium Science Complex has six of them.
Green roofs also have been popping up off-campus in Nebraska. In Omaha, more than 10 green roofs have been installed on buildings within the past two to three years, said Kent Holm, the Douglas County environmental services director.
Holm explained that more and more businesses and building owners are looking for ways to save money and be energy-efficient.
Despite the startup cost of a green roof — the plants alone at Whittier were valued at nearly $10,000 — the benefit comes later through energy savings.
"With this type of technology, it's going to be more expensive initially. But the savings come in the long run because it extends the life of the roof membrane and serves as an insulator for the building," Holm said.
Casper said although the green roof at Whittier is still in its pilot stage, the research is important as more and more buildings look to meet efficiency standards.
"The U.S. ... is moving towards more sustainable green building practices, and green roofs are a natural part of that movement," she said.
2011年9月1日星期四
Fewer Hot Flashes Reported Among Older Heavier Women
In contradiction of recent evidence on menopausal women and hot flashes, a new study indicates that heavier women tend to have fewer hot flashes than those who are thinner. Interestingly, however, the trend is seen only among women aged 60 years and older.
Obesity has been regarded in recent years as a risk factor for hot flashes amid research indicating that heavier women tend to suffer from the menopause symptoms more commonly. These findings, which are based largely on epidemiologic studies, support a "thermoregulatory model," explain the researchers, "in which hot flashes represent heat dissipation events occurring in the context of the narrowed thermoneutral zone." Consistent with this theory is that body fat acts an insulator, increasing the frequency of hot flashes.
However, the new study, which was published online July 21 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, suggests otherwise.
The researchers evaluated a subcohort of 52 women involved in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation who reported hot flashes, still had their uterus and ovaries, and were not taking medications that would affect hot flashes.
Body fat, BMI, and waist circumference were most inversely associated with hot flashes among the oldest women in the sample.
Estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin levels reduced, but did not eliminate, age-related variations in the association between body size and composition and hot flashes.
Black women reported more hot flashes; however, the association was not attributable to body size or composition: those associations were only apparent among white women, the authors wrote.
"This study provides a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between body size and hot flashes, emphasizing the important role of age," said the study's lead author, Rebecca Thurston, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a press release.
"Our findings show that the benefit of higher fat levels for hot flashes is not apparent until a woman is about 60 years old."
Epidemiological studies published in the last decade or so indicate that women with higher BMIs and body fat levels are more likely to report hot flashes, but before those studies, body fat was traditionally regarded as being protective against hot flashes, and the so-called "thin hypothesis" prevailed.
Under this hypothesis, hot flashes occur because of hormonal changes including declining estrogen, and as androgens are aromatized into estrogens in body fat, women with greater levels of body fat should also have higher estrogen levels, and would logically have fewer hot flashes.
"Thinner women, lacking this extragonadal estrogen source, should have more hot flashes. [And t]his effect would be particularly relevant for older and postmenopausal women in whom extragonadal sources represent the primary source of estrogen," the researchers write.
Dr. Thurston said the new findings appear to back up that earlier theory.
"Our study showed that higher adiposity, BMI and waist circumference were associated with fewer physiologically-assessed hot flashes among older postmenopausal women with hot flashes," she noted in a press release.
"Moreover, associations were most pronounced among Caucasian women. This study underscores the importance of considering how age and race may modify the relationship between obesity and hot flashes."
Obesity has been regarded in recent years as a risk factor for hot flashes amid research indicating that heavier women tend to suffer from the menopause symptoms more commonly. These findings, which are based largely on epidemiologic studies, support a "thermoregulatory model," explain the researchers, "in which hot flashes represent heat dissipation events occurring in the context of the narrowed thermoneutral zone." Consistent with this theory is that body fat acts an insulator, increasing the frequency of hot flashes.
However, the new study, which was published online July 21 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, suggests otherwise.
The researchers evaluated a subcohort of 52 women involved in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation who reported hot flashes, still had their uterus and ovaries, and were not taking medications that would affect hot flashes.
Body fat, BMI, and waist circumference were most inversely associated with hot flashes among the oldest women in the sample.
Estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin levels reduced, but did not eliminate, age-related variations in the association between body size and composition and hot flashes.
Black women reported more hot flashes; however, the association was not attributable to body size or composition: those associations were only apparent among white women, the authors wrote.
"This study provides a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between body size and hot flashes, emphasizing the important role of age," said the study's lead author, Rebecca Thurston, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a press release.
"Our findings show that the benefit of higher fat levels for hot flashes is not apparent until a woman is about 60 years old."
Epidemiological studies published in the last decade or so indicate that women with higher BMIs and body fat levels are more likely to report hot flashes, but before those studies, body fat was traditionally regarded as being protective against hot flashes, and the so-called "thin hypothesis" prevailed.
Under this hypothesis, hot flashes occur because of hormonal changes including declining estrogen, and as androgens are aromatized into estrogens in body fat, women with greater levels of body fat should also have higher estrogen levels, and would logically have fewer hot flashes.
"Thinner women, lacking this extragonadal estrogen source, should have more hot flashes. [And t]his effect would be particularly relevant for older and postmenopausal women in whom extragonadal sources represent the primary source of estrogen," the researchers write.
Dr. Thurston said the new findings appear to back up that earlier theory.
"Our study showed that higher adiposity, BMI and waist circumference were associated with fewer physiologically-assessed hot flashes among older postmenopausal women with hot flashes," she noted in a press release.
"Moreover, associations were most pronounced among Caucasian women. This study underscores the importance of considering how age and race may modify the relationship between obesity and hot flashes."
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