Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Hydrogen and Coconuts...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 6, 2014 at 7:21am

Source: Technology Review link immediately follows

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Hydrogen is a potential renewable fuel because it can easily be generated from water using electrolysis. It also burns cleanly to produce water vapour. The hope is that it could also be distributed using the same global network of liquid fuel transport that moves petrol around the planet.

But there numerous problems with this dream of a hydrogen-based economy. One of them is that hydrogen is difficult to store efficiently. Hydrogen gas has a poor energy density by volume compared to petrol. In fact, there is at least 60 percent more hydrogen in a litre of gasoline then there is in a litre of pure liquid hydrogen. In other words, hydrogen will always require bigger tanks.

So finding ways to store more of it is a huge challenge. One option is to store it as a liquid but hydrogen boils temperatures above -250 degrees centigrade and so requires bulky insulation to keep it in this state.

Another idea is to compress it. But this raises issues of safety should a hydrogen-fuelled car be involved in a collision.

That is why much of the material science research in this area has focused on chemical storage: finding materials that adsorb hydrogen efficiently and then release it again when it is required.

Now Viney Dixit and buddies at the Hydrogen Energy Center of Banaras Hindu University in India say they have discovered that carbonised coconut flesh is particularly good at this task. Today, they show that it outperforms a number of other hydrogen storage materials, particularly in its ability to work over many charging cycles.

Physics arXiv:
Hydrogen Storage In Carbon Derived From Solid Endosperm Of Coconut
Viney Dixit, Ashish Bhatnagar, R. R. Shahi, T. P. Yadav, O. N. Srivastava

Federico Cantero Villamil...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 5, 2014 at 7:14am

Image Source

Federico Cantero Villamil (Madrid, 22 June 1874 - 1946) was a Spanish civil engineer known for the dams he constructed and planned along the river Duero and for his research on the aeronautical field, which is summarized in the Libélula española, a helicopter constructed by him.

His parents were the civil engineer Federico Cantero Seirullo and Isabel Villamil Olivares. He married Tránsito Cid, and they had two children. A few years later she died. Later, Cantero married Concepción García-Arenal Winter, a granddaughter of Concepción Arenal, and they had six children.

He became an engineer 30 September 1896, with the first mark. He did his working practice during 1897 in Zamora, and in 1900 he began to work at the "Jefatura de Obras Públicas de Zamora". In May 1900 he asked and obtained a leave in order to work in hydraulics. At that moment, the governments of Spain and Portugal were planning how to exploit the hydroelectric potential of the river Duero.

In 1899 founds the society "El porvenir de Zamora" (The Prospect of Zamora), with the aim of funding and exploiting the dam of San Roman, near Zamora. Its construction lasted until 1903. This dam took profit of a "hoz" (meander) of river Duero that was 11.2 km. long. He opened a tunnel 1.5 km. long and built up the turbines and engines at the other side. By means of this, the unevenness from the reservoir to the turbines measured 14 meters, while the height of the dam was only 5 meters.

Although Cantero's main work was that of the dams, since 1908 he was patenting other inventions in the field of aeronautics. His main interest was the problem of flight. It is in 1910 when he patented an ...idea to hold bodies in the air, and, if wanted, propulsion. Thirty-four patents followed the first one, being the last ones devoted to the helicopter he constructed: the Libélula española.

Wikipedia: Federico Cantero Villamil, inventor

Sequestration...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 5, 2014 at 7:00am

Sequestration...it seems a lifetime ago the government was "shutdown," $24 billion tax payer dollars (read: yours and mine) defecated to the winds and, sociopathic politicians that caused it posing in front of cameras and veterans memorials as if they hadn't. Bereft in the back-and-forth finger-pointing was an appreciation for The Scientific Method* and critical thinking skills when they are promoted.

* Problem - Research - Hypothesis - Test Hypothesis - Data Analysis - Conclusion - Retest

Problem: Government (supposedly a "collectivist conspiracy" from those other Founding Fathers).

Research: Milton Friedman et al, see "Seven Bad Ideas" by Jeff Madrick.

Hypothesis - Libertarian philosophies encapsulated by Ayn Rand and Grover Norquist:"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." We The People await with baited breath (in said bathtub) the omnipotent, invisible hand of the deified "Free Market" to cure all ills.

Test Hypothesis: They came (2010); they saw (2011 - 2012); they sequestered (2013), outside of any rational beings' natural minds and common sense.

Data Analysis - As illustrative points-of-fact:

It has been suggested that the sequester left the Secret Service at less than optimum levels. I'd say < ~500 agents is leaning heavily in that direction.
This resulted in Defense Department Force-Level cuts, a "good" thing to do with the rise of ISIS/ISIL (sarcasm).
It negatively impacted Department of Defense Schools, i.e. the schools our men and women in the armed forces enroll their children in while they fight for this nation in our name. Supporting the troops...
Our public schools started this year with reading, writing, arithmetic and budget cuts, or to everyone else, less teachers and more pupils - classroom Nirvana, I'm sure.
This impacted negatively inner-city youth, poor and special needs in all demographics.
Our scientific research and overall global competitiveness is suffering.
The CDC points to it as eroding their response to the Ebola epidemic in Africa and the US. See also here and here.
Harvard Law gives a list of impact areas (it sounds like I'm discussing craters from meteors or missiles, but the analogy is not too far off): Medicare; FDA (ahem: how we eat safely); the CDC cut by $490 million; the NIH cut by $2.5 billion; ACA programs in prevention and public healthcare.

Conclusion: #2014TheDayofReckoning, 4 November, we shall see what kind of democratic republic we really are.

Retest: Eh, do you really want to?

Fernando "Frank" Caldeiro...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 4, 2014 at 10:24am

Astronaut Fernando (Frank) Caldeiro poses in front of the orbiter Discovery

FERNANDO (FRANK) CALDEIRO

NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)

PERSONAL DATA: Born June 12, 1958 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but considered New York City and Merritt Island, Florida, to be his hometowns. He died on October 3, 2009 following a 2-1/2 year battle with a brain tumor. He is survived by his wife, the former Donna Marie Emero of Huntington Beach, California, and two daughters.

EDUCATION: Graduated from W.C. Bryant High School, Long Island City, New York, in 1976; received an associate degree in applied science in Aerospace Technology from the State University of New York at Farmingdale in 1978, a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona in 1984, and a master of science degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida in 1995.

ORGANIZATIONS: Experimental Aircraft Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

AWARDS: Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Technical Leadership Certificate; Rockwell International Corp. Certificate of Commendation; Group Achievement Awards (9); KSC Center Director Round Table Award; KSC Superior Performance Awards (2); KSC Public Affairs Certificate of Appreciation for Service. University of Central Florida Distinguished Alummni, 2001 Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry Hispanic Scientist of the Year. Appointed in 2002 by President G. W. Bush to serve in the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans under the President’s “No Child Left Behind Act”.

EXPERIENCE: From 1985-1988, Caldeiro worked as a test director during the production and flight test of the Rockwell/USAF B-1B Bomber. In that capacity he was involved in the checkout and delivery of all 100 aircraft. In 1988, he was transferred by Rockwell International to the Kennedy Space Center as a space shuttle main propulsion system specialist. In this capacity he was the Rockwell International design center representative for the ground processing and launch of the Orbiter Discovery.

NASA: Fernando "Frank" Caldeiro, astronaut

RM 8027...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 4, 2014 at 10:21am

At left, a structural model of a typical silicon nanocrystal (yellow) stabilized within an organic shell of cyclohexane (blue). At right, a high-resolution transmission electron microscope photograph of a single silicon nanoparticle.

Credit: NIST

If it's true that good things come in small packages, then the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can now make anyone working with nanoparticles very happy. NIST recently issued Reference Material (RM) 8027, the smallest known reference material ever created for validating measurements of these man-made, ultrafine particles between 1 and 100 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in size.

RM 8027 consists of five hermetically sealed ampoules containing one milliliter of silicon nanoparticles—all certified to be close to 2 nanometers in diameter—suspended in toluene. To yield the appropriate sizes for the new RM, the nanocrystals are etched from a silicon wafer, separated using ultrasound and then stabilized within an organic shell. Particle size and chemical composition are determined by dynamic light scattering, analytical centrifugation, electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), a powerful technique that can measure elements at concentrations as low as several parts per billion.

NIST: World’s Smallest Reference Material is Big Plus for Nanotechnology
Michael E. Newman

George D. Zamka...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 3, 2014 at 7:57am

Astronaut Testimonials

GEORGE D. ZAMKA (COLONEL, USMC, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Raised in New York City; Irvington, New York; Medellin, Colombia; and Rochester Hills, Michigan. Married to the former Elisa P. Walker of Mississippi; they have two children. He enjoys weightlifting, running, bicycling, scuba diving and boating. His mother, Sofia Zamka, and brother, Conrad P. Zamka, both live in Florida. His father, Conrad Zamka, resides in Indiana.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Rochester Adams High School, Rochester Hills, Michigan, in 1980. Received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy in 1984; received a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1997.

ORGANIZATIONS: Association of Space Explorers, United States Naval Academy Alumni Association, Marine Corps Association and Marine Corps Aviation Association.

SPECIAL HONORS: NASA Space Flight Medal (two), NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Strike Air Medal (six), Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V and various other military service and campaign awards. Distinguished Graduate, United States Naval Academy. Commodore’s list and Academic Achievement Award, Training Air Wing Five. Awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

EXPERIENCE: Zamka was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in May 1984. After basic flight training, he was trained as an A-6E pilot at Whidbey Island, Washington, from 1987 to 1988. He then flew with Marine All Weather Attack Squadron VMA(AW)-242 in El Toro, California. He served in administration and flight safety roles and also as squadron weapons and tactics instructor. In 1990, he trained to be an F/A-18 pilot and was assigned to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron VMFA(AW)-121, also in El Toro. He flew the F/A-18D Night Attack Hornet during overseas deployments to Japan, Korea, Singapore and Southwest Asia. Zamka flew 66 combat missions over occupied Kuwait and Iraq during Desert Storm. In 1993, he served with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in Camp Pendleton, California, and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Western Pacific. He was selected to attend the United States Air Force Test Pilot School class 94A and graduated in December 1994. Zamka was then assigned as an F/A-18 test pilot/project officer and the F/A-18 operations officer for the Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron (NSATS). While assigned to NSATS, Zamka flew a wide variety of tests in the F/A-18 Hornet, including high angle of attack, loads, flutter, crew equipment and weapon system programs. Zamka returned to VMFA(AW)-121 in 1998 and was serving as the aircraft maintenance officer deployed to Iwakuni, Japan, when he was selected for the astronaut program. Colonel Zamka retired from the Marine Corps in August 2010.

He has logged more than 5,000 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected as a pilot by NASA in June 1998, Zamka reported for astronaut candidate training in August 1998. He has served in various technical and leadership roles in the Astronaut Office, including space rendezvous and proximity operations, landing and rollout instructor and lead for shuttle systems within the Shuttle Operations Branch. Zamka served as lead for the Shuttle Training and Procedures Division and as supervisor for the astronaut candidate class of 2004. In 2007, he completed his first spaceflight as pilot on STS-120. For his second spaceflight, Zamka commanded the crew of STS-130, which flew in February 2010. Colonel Zamka has logged more than 692 hours in space. In March 2013, Zamka retired from NASA. He is now serving as the Deputy Associate Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, for Commercial Space Transportation.

NASA: George D. Zamka, Colonel, USMC, astronaut, retired

Climate and Gravity...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 3, 2014 at 7:30am

Source: ESA GOCE

GOCE stands for "Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer." It's not an acronym I know off the top of my head, either.

The physics definition: "the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass. For most purposes Newton's laws of gravity apply, with minor modifications to take the general theory of relativity into account."

Penguins are not flying off into orbit, and I hope the news doesn't do its usual bit of sensationalism for ratings - why, for the most part I've given up looking too much at the news and prefer to read summaries off the Internet - from other countries.

This IS a data point, and an important one. It means climate change can be measured not just in temperature or change in weather patterns.

From one of the articles (GOCE):

Scientists are now armed with the most accurate gravity model ever produced. This is leading to a much better understanding of many facets of our planet – from the boundary between Earth’s crust and upper mantle to the density of the upper atmosphere.

The strength of gravity at Earth’s surface varies subtly from place to place owing to factors such as the planet’s rotation and the position of mountains and ocean trenches.

Changes in the mass of large ice sheets can also cause small local variations in gravity. [1]

It will be useful information we can use in the exploration of other worlds, some in our own solar system's backyard.

Discovery ended on a somber note:

The news doesn't get much better for Antarctica. Earlier this year, two studies were released that indicated the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is headed for an irreversible collapse in roughly 200 years. Should the ice sheet completely collapse, scientists believe it could raise sea level by more than 10 feet. [2]

Bye-bye Florida in the 23rd century. Considering it's where we have traditionally launched space vehicles, that would be fairly unfortunate, especially for the Floridians!

1. GOCE: GOCE reveals gravity dip from ice loss
2. Discover: Antarctic Ice Melt is Changing Earth’s Gravity, Carl Engelking

Victor Ochoa...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 2, 2014 at 7:26am

Images Source: Smithsonian Education

The Ochoa Plane

Ochoa's machine is made of a framework of steel spring and steel tubing which he has contrived to put together in such a manner that it can be folded by working a lever. Over the framework is stretched a canvas covering. The plane is about twenty-six feet wide and the machine measures from front to back only six feet. The rear rudder is similar to a bird's tail.

The whole arrangement is mounted upon two bicycle frames whose wheels form the groundwork of the aeroplane. Between the bicycle frames, the inventor has mounted a six-horse power motor, below which he has placed a seat for the operator. The whole machine weighs about 250 pounds.

The inventor has been working upon this aeroplane more than twenty years, and during that time has succeeded in putting together several machines that operated successfully for short distances. The first fruit of his labors was a marvelously accurate reproduction of a bird with six wings. With this he believed he had solved the problem of aerial flight. His earliest models, propelled by clockwork, flew with remarkable stability.

He also invented an adjustable wrench, electric brake, pen and pencil clip, reversible motor and windmill. He apparently also was a revolutionary with a $50,000 dead-or-alive price on his head. Quite a guy!

Smithsonian Education: Victor Ochoa Mexican inventor

60 Years Young...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 2, 2014 at 7:23am

From Planet X - kind of reminded me of "The Time Tunnel" (dating myself)

CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory and the place famous most recently for the discovery of the Higgs boson, is celebrating its sixtieth birthday today (actually 29 September).

The name CERN originally was the French acronym for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, or European Council for Nuclear Research, and its convention officially came into force on 29 September 1954. In the wake of a war that had torn the continent apart, a small group of scientists and policy-makers created CERN in an attempt to use fundamental research to reunite Europe.

From 12 founding members, the organization has today grown to 21 states, with scientists at the lab hailing from almost 100 countries around the globe.

While CERN hosts a celebration at its home near Geneva, Switzerland, Nature looks back at some of the lab’s most significant moments from the past six decades.

Some excerpts from the timeline:

1983: CERN’s 6.9-kilometre-long Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) discovers the particle carriers of the weak force, the W and Z bosons.

1989: CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee’s drafts a paper outlining plans for an information-management system, which at the time he termed “the mesh” but which later becomes known as the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee’s boss, Mike Sendall, famously replies that the proposal was “vague, but exciting”, giving Berners-Lee the green light for development. The world’s first web page address is born the following year (this copy is from 1992).

2012: On 4 July scientists at the LHC’s ATLAS and CMS experiments announce that they have found a clear signal of the Higgs boson, and reporter Geoff Brumfiel records the moment in a live blog (and later in an article). The announcement, made by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, causes waves around the world, and in 2013 earns theoretical physicists François Englert and Peter Higgs the Nobel Prize in Physics for their prediction of the mechanism.

Nature News Blog: CERN at 60: Biggest moments at flagship physics lab, Elizabeth Gibney

Guillermo González Camarena...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 1, 2014 at 7:57am

Source: Antonio Toriz's blog

Guillermo González Camarena invented an early color television system. He received US patent 2296019 on September 15, 1942 for his "chromscopic adapter for television equipment". [1]

He was born on February 17, 1917 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. At two years of age, his family moved to Mexico City. Ever since he was young, he liked building electric toys, for which he established a laboratory in the basement of his house.

In 1930 he enrolled in the School of Mechanical and Electric Engineers and two years later was given license as radio operator. While he experimented in his laboratory, he worked at the radio station of the Ministry of Education. In 1934 he built his own television camera, he was 17 years old.

With the goal of giving color to television, he developed and patented a Trichromatic Sequential Fields System from primary colors, which could be adapted to the black and white system. This last patent was granted to him when he was 23 years of age. [2]

1. Inventors.com: Top List of Mexican Inventors, Mary Bellis
2. Explore and do Mexico: Guillermo González Camarena...

Carving Tunnels...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on October 1, 2014 at 7:30am

Source: Link for Technology Review follows

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: A new technique for creating pipes and tunnels deep inside silicon chips could change the way engineers make microfluidic machines and optoelectronic devices.

One of the enabling technologies of the modern world is the ability to construct ever smaller devices out of silicon. At first, these devices were purely electronic—diodes, transistors, capacitors and the like. But more recently, engineers have carved light pipes, fluid-pumping networks, and entire chemistry laboratories out of silicon.

The technique that makes all this possible is photolithography, which allows engineers to build on or etch the surface of silicon in very precise patterns. The devices—whether electronic, fluidic, or optical—are built up layer by layer. Everything is done in two dimensions on the surface of silicon and then added together to create 3-D shapes.

But what if it were possible to carve out structures beneath the surface of silicon, to create 3-D caves of almost any shape? Today, Onur Tokel at Bilkent University in Turkey and a few pals say they have developed just such a technique that can create networks of pipes and tunnels beneath the surface without any discernable change to the silicon surface.

The new technique relies on the fact that silicon is transparent to infrared light, which passes through silicon like sunlight through glass, at least at low intensities. When the light gets stronger, it can interact with electrons inside the material, generating currents and shaking the very crystal structure of the material. These effects are hard to predict and control but Tokel and co have found a way to use them to their advantage.

Abstract

Micromachining of silicon with lasers is being investigated since the 1970s. So far generating subsurface modifications buried inside the bulk of the silicon without damaging the surface has not resulted in success. Here, we report a method for photo-inducing buried structures in doped silicon wafers with pulsed infrared lasers without modifying the wafer surface. We demonstrate large aspect-ratio, continuous multilevel subsurface structures, with lengths on the millimetre scale, while having sub-micron widths. We further demonstrate spatial information encoding capabilities embedded in subsurface silicon barcodes based on an optical coherence tomography (OCT) readout. The demonstrated silicon processing technology can be used for the realization of multilayered silicon chips, optofluidics and on-chip quantum optics experiments.

Physics arXiv: Laser-Writing in Silicon for 3D Information Processing
O. Tokel, A. Turnali, I. Pavlov, S. Tozburun, I. Akca, F. O. Ilday

Dr. Fe del Mundo...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 30, 2014 at 6:15pm

Source: Amazing Women of History link below

Fe del Mundo (1911–2011) was a Filipino pediatrician who was the first woman to be admitted to Harvard Medical School in 1936 — over ten years before the school officially began admitting women. She was also the first woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980, and founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines.

Born in Manila in the Philippines in 1911, Fe decided to become a doctor when her older sister died from appendicitis at the age of 11. She enrolled in the University of the Philippines in 1926. While earning her medical degree, she decided to pursue pediatrics. *

Fe del Mundo, OLD ONS OGH, (November 27, 1911 – August 6, 2011) was a Filipino pediatrician. The first woman admitted as a student of the Harvard Medical School,[1][2] she founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines.[3] Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines in an active medical practice that spanned 8 decades[2][4] won her international recognition, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1977. In 1980, she was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines while in 2010, she was conferred the Order of Lakandula.

Del Mundo was noted for her pioneering work on infectious diseases in Philippine communities. Undeterred by the lack of well-equipped laboratories in post-war Philippines, she would not hesitate to send specimens or blood samples for analysis abroad.[12] In the 1950s, she pursued studies on dengue fever, a common malady in the Philippines of which little was then yet known.[12] Her clinical observations on dengue, and the findings of research she later undertook on the disease are said to "have led to a fuller understanding of dengue fever as it afflicts the young".[5] She authored over a hundred articles, reviews and reports in medical journals[5] on such diseases as dengue, polio and measles.[16] She also authored "Textbook of Pediatrics", a fundamental medical text used in Philippine medical schools.[17]

Del Mundo was active in the field of public health, with special concerns towards rural communities. She organized rural extension teams to advise mothers on breastfeeding and child care.[11] and promoted the idea of linking hospitals to the community through the public immersion of physicians and other medical personnel to allow for greater coordination among health workers and the public for common health programs such as immunization and nutrition.[17] She called for the greater integration of midwives into the medical community, considering their more visible presence within rural communities. Notwithstanding her own devout Catholicism,[2][5][11] she is an advocate of family planning and population control.[11]

Del Mundo was also known for having devised an incubator made out of bamboo,[17] designed for use in rural communities without electrical power.[11] Wikipedia

* Amazing Women in History: Dr. Fe del Mundo

Quantum Data Compression...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 30, 2014 at 6:12pm

Artistic impression of quantum information. (Courtesy: iStockphoto/tusumaru)

A quantum analogue of data compression has been demonstrated for the first time in the lab. Physicists working in Canada and Japan have squeezed quantum information contained in three quantum bits (qubits) into two qubits. The technique could pave the way for a more effective use of quantum memories and offers a new method of testing quantum logic devices.

Compression of classical data is a simple procedure that allows a string of information to take up less space in a computer's memory. Given an unadulterated string of, for example, 1000 binary values, a computer could simply record the frequency of the 1s and 0s, which might require just a dozen or so binary values. Recording the information about the order of those 1s and 0s would require a slightly longer string, but it would probably still be shorter than the original sequence.

Quantum data are rather different, and it is not possible to simply determine the frequencies of 1s and 0s in a string of quantum information. The problem comes down to the peculiar nature of qubits, which, unlike classical bits, can be a 1, a 0 or some "superposition" of both values. A user can indeed perform a measurement to record the "one-ness" of a qubit, but such a measurement would destroy any information about that qubit's "zero-ness". What is more, if a user then measures a second qubit prepared in an identical way, he or she might find a different value for its "one-ness" – because qubits do not specify unique values but only the probability of measurement outcomes. This latter trait would seem to preclude the possibility of compressing even identical qubits, because there is no way of predicting what classical values they will ultimately manifest as.

Note: I know that was difficult to follow, but don't go all "new age" here. Although I've noticed the popularity of relating quantum physics to metaphysics, the two are mutually exclusive - quantum only applies to phenomena going at or approaching the speed of light. Ahem: we humans are rather slow in comparison.

Physics World: Quantum data are compressed for the first time
Jon Cartwright, Bristol, UK

Christopher J. “Gus” Loria...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 29, 2014 at 7:49am

Baltimore Sun - Christopher J. "Gus" Loria

CHRISTOPHER J. GUS LORIA (COLONEL, USMC, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born July 9, 1960 in Belmont, Massachusetts, he considers League City, Texas, his hometown. He is married to the former Jamie Ann Fraser, and he has three children. His mother, Joan Loria, resides in Belmont, Massachusetts. His father, Robert L. Loria, is deceased.

EDUCATION: Graduate of Belmont High School (1978), and the US Naval Academy Preparatory School (1979). Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy (1983). Master in Public Administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2004).

ORGANIZATIONS: Harvard Alumni Association, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, Marine Corps Aviation Association, National Rifle Association.

SPECIAL HONORS: NASA Fellow, NASA Acquisition Improvement Award, NASA Group Achievement Award, Naval Test Wing Atlantic Test Pilot of the Year 1995-1996. Personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 2 Navy Commendation Medals (1 with V), 2 Air Medals (both with V), 4 Strike Flight Air Medals, Navy Achievement Medal.

EXPERIENCE: Loria received his commission from the Naval Academy in 1983, and was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1988. He transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet with Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125) at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, during August 1988 through August 1989. His next assignments were with Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons 314 and 101 (VMFA-314 the Black Knights and VMFAT-101 the Sharpshooters) at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California. While assigned to the Black Knights he deployed to Bahrain for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm where he flew 42 combat missions in support of allied operations. He graduated with Class 93A from the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California in December of 1993. January 1994 to July 1996, he was assigned to VX-23, the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, as an experimental test pilot. Loria distinguished himself in the areas of high angle of attack flight test, ordnance, flight controls and aircraft flying qualities testing for the F/A-18 Hornet, and aircraft departure and spin testing for the F/A-18A-D models and the NASA Dryden F/A-18 HARV thrust vectoring aircraft.

He has 3,079 hours of flight time and has flown 32 different aircraft.

NASA: Christopher J. "Gus" Loria, Colonel, USMC, Astronaut - retired

Graphene Almost There...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 29, 2014 at 7:44am

Controlling magnetic clouds in graphene.
Condensed Matter Physics Group, University of Manchester, UK

A new way to grow high-quality, wafer-scale graphene measuring between 100 and 300 mm across has been developed by researchers in the US and UK. The feat is a major advance since a size of 300 mm represents the silicon wafer-scale standard and means that the carbon material might now be easily integrated with silicon – a major goal for graphene research.

Graphene, a sheet of carbon just one atom thick, is a promising material for making molecular electronic devices of the future thanks to its unique electronic and mechanical properties, which include extremely high electrical conductivity and exceptional strength. The first real-world applications of graphene devices will most likely involve combining the carbon material with silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, integrating graphene with Si CMOS has proved to be more difficult than first imagined since there is no reliable process capable of producing large-area graphene films that have the same high performance as chip-scale ones.

Researchers have already tried out several methods for growing wafer-scale graphene, including epitaxially growing the material on SiC wafers, reducing graphene oxide, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on metal thin films (such as copper) and recently CVD on hydrogen-terminated single-crystalline germanium surfaces. Among these techniques, CVD is probably the best in terms of compatibility with Si very large-scale integrated (VLSI) technology. However, there is a problem in that the graphene produced can be quite defective and so suffers from lower charge carrier mobilities.

The aixtron 300 mm growth system. Courtesy: K Teo

Now, a team of researchers led by Deji Akinwande of the University of Texas at Austin and Ken Teo of Aixtron Ltd in Cambridge, have grown CVD graphene films that measure between 100 and 300 mm across on polycrystalline copper films. The as-made polycrystalline graphene appears to have better charge carrier transport characteristics compared to previously synthesized poly- or single-crystalline wafers. What is more, the graphene covers over 96% of the substrates and has few defects – something that the researchers confirmed using a technique called Raman mapping.

Nano Tech Web: Graphene almost there for silicon wafer-scale standard
Belle Dumé, contributing editor at nanotechweb.org

Manuel Corominas...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 28, 2014 at 9:00am

Manuel Corominas - see link below

El ingeniero Manuel Jalón Corominas, inventor de la fregona, ha fallecido esta madrugada en Zaragoza, a los 86 años, tras sufrir una parada cardiorrespiratoria.

Así lo ha confirmado uno de sus nietos, Alejandro, quien ha informado de que falleció en el hospital Miguel Servet de la capital aragonesa, de forma rápida y sin sufrir.

Manuel Jalón es el inventor de la fregona, pero en su currículum tiene además otras patentes muy importantes, como innovaciones en la jeringuilla desechable y otras de uso industrial.

Natural de Logroño (La Rioja), pasó la mayor parte de su vida en Zaragoza, ciudad de la que fue nombrado hijo adoptivo en 1992, aunque previamente vivió en Estados Unidos o en Finlandia, donde trabajó después de obtener el título de Ingeniería Aeronáutica -en Madrid- y de escribir su tesis doctoral sobre accidentes aeronáuticos.

*****

Manuel Jalon Corominas engineer, inventor of the mop, died this morning in Zaragoza, to 86 years , after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Manuel Jalon is the inventor of the mop on your resume but also has other important patents, such innovations in the disposable syringe and other industrial use.

Born in Logroño (La Rioja), spent most of his life in Zaragoza city that was named adoptive son in 1992, but previously lived in the United States or Finland, where he worked after earning the title of Aeronautical Engineering - in Madrid and writing his doctoral thesis on aviation accidents.

Spanish Inventor: Manuel Corominas

How It Works...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 28, 2014 at 8:55am

Source: The Economist

I have four previous posts about BICEP2 and how the initial roll out (i.e. announcement) was heady for some; aggrandizement for others.

This next to the last paragraph at the bottom of The Economist sums it succinctly:

Rowing back on a triumphant announcement about the first instants of creation may be a little embarrassing, but the saga is a useful reminder of how science works. There is no suggestion that anyone has behaved dishonourably. Admittedly, the BICEP team’s original press conference looks, with hindsight, seriously overconfident. More information-sharing between the various gravitational wave-hunters, all of whom guard their data jealously, might have helped tone down the triumphalism. But science, ideally, proceeds by exactly this sort of good-faith argument and honourable squabbling—until the weight of evidence forces one side to admit defeat.

Now, the last paragraph points to a joint paper that's coming from the European Planck Telescope & BICEP2, (open adversaries to) the BICEP2 team. This seems confusing to those that would use this to point to scientific findings as "just theory," and if the scientists were so sure, they wouldn't change their minds on it. It atomizes the academy and politicizes reported results.

This however, is the nature of science and how it works.

There has to be an understood release to public scrutiny - not at all like (emphasis: unequal to) opinions trolled on Social Media - but peer review, which can be brutal for the uninitiated.

Whatever your findings are, become vetted by like-trained professionals who will first attempt to: 1. Read and understand your report and its results; 2. Using the conditions you've described in your paper, attempt to simulate and/or duplicate or get statistically close to your reported results within an acceptable percent error range.

The pseudosciences are not apt to subject themselves to this kind of scrutiny, often becoming openly hostile to any challenge to their veracity. The projected accusation is usually the scientific community is close-minded, reactionary and projecting a "religion of secular humanism."

All scientists are not humanists, that is a generalization. However, for a field to call itself a "science," it must be willing to allow this kind of public scrutiny, and if proven wrong: acquiescence to the prevailing evidence. Otherwise, it is mere notion and political canard for manipulation of a public that wishes to hear it for their own comfort at the sacrifice of their advancement and empowerment.

How Stuff Works:

How The Scientific Method Works
Scientific Method Steps
Scientific Method Videos
History of the Scientific Method

#P4TC: Ibn al-Haytham

Michael E. Lopez-Alegria...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 27, 2014 at 11:00am

International Space Station Imagery

MICHAEL E. LOPEZ-ALEGRIA (CAPTAIN, USN, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 30, 1958, in Madrid, Spain, and grew up in Mission Viejo, California. Lopez-Alegria enjoys sports, traveling and cooking and is interested in national and international political, economic and security affairs.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Mission Viejo High School, Mission Viejo, California, in 1976; received a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1980 and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1988. Graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security. Speaks Spanish, French and Russian.

EXPERIENCE: Following flight training and designation as a Naval Aviator in 1981, Lopez-Alegria served as a flight instructor and then as a pilot and mission commander of EP-3E aircraft. In 1986, he was assigned to a 2-year cooperative program between the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. His final tour before being assigned to NASA was at the Naval Air Test Center as an engineering test pilot and program manager. He has accumulated more than 5,700 pilot hours in over 30 different aircraft types.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Lopez-Alegria reported for training to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in August 1992. Following a year of training and designation as an astronaut, he was first assigned to be the Astronaut Office technical point of contact to various space shuttle project elements. Lopez-Alegria was then assigned to Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where he provided crew representation on orbiter processing issues and support during launches and landings. Following his first spaceflight, he served as NASA Director of Operations at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. After his second mission, he led the International Space Station (ISS) Operations branch of the Astronaut Office. Following his third spaceflight, he was assigned as the technical liaison to JSC’s Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Office. A veteran of four space flights, Lopez-Alegria has logged more than 257 days in space and performed 10 spacewalks totaling 67 hours and 40 minutes of EVA. He retired from the Navy in June 2008 and left NASA in March 2012. Lopez-Alegria currently serves as President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in Washington, D.C.

NASA: Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, Captain, US Navy (retired, former astronaut)

1st Quantum Logic Operation...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 27, 2014 at 10:57am

Technology Review

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: The first teleportation of a photon inside a photonic chip illustrates both the potential for quantum computation and the significant challenges that lay ahead.

Back in 2001, an obscure group of theoretical physicists proved a remarkable result. They showed that it was possible to build a quantum computer out of ordinary optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, lasers and so on.

That was something of a surprise. Until then, physicists had thought that quantum computing would only be possible using non-linear crystals and other exotic components that are hard to control.

The prospect of using ordinary bits and pieces has an important consequence. It immediately suggests that more powerful devices can be built simply by adding extra components. This problem of scalability has always plagued other attempts to build quantum computers.

The reaction from the theoretical physics community was barely controlled excitement. But in practice, this approach has never lived up to its early promise. That’s because it is hard to build even ordinary optical components into chip-like devices that can be scaled like conventional silicon chips. It is just not possible to manufacture them with the required performance and tolerances.

Today, Benjamin Metcalf at the University of Oxford and a few pals show how they are tackling these problems while aiming for the ultimate goal of scalable quantum computation. These guys have built the first self-contained photonic chip capable of teleportation, one of the fundamental logic operations necessary for quantum computation. The device is a proof-of-principle demonstration that scalable quantum computers of this type are firmly in the crosshairs of experimental physicists. But it also reveals that significant challenges lay ahead.

Physics arXiv: Quantum teleportation on a photonic chip
Benjamin J. Metcalf, Justin B. Spring, Peter C. Humphreys, Nicholas Thomas-peter, Marco Barbieri, W. Steven Kolthammer, Xian-min Jin, Nathan K. Langford, Dmytro Kundys, James C. Gates, Brian J. Smith, Peter G. R. Smith, Ian A. Walmsley

Arturo Pineda Alcaraz...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 26, 2014 at 9:15am

Geothermal power is the largest source of economically and technically feasible energy now available in our planet. It derives from the molten mass filling the inner core of the earth, over which the surface on which we live forms a relatively thin crust. Problems with geothermal energy are that technology for its use is new and little known, and it is accessible only in the earth's "hot spots." With these the Philippine archipelago is well endowed, located as it is on the "Pacific Ring of Fire." When accurately understood and wisely used this immense arc of tectonic and volcanic activity that girdles the Pacific Ocean, previously only feared for its earthquakes and eruptions, can become a major benefactor.

The use of geothermal heat is not new. Both Norse Vikings who settled Iceland more than 1,000 years ago and American Indians used geothermal geysers for cooking and baking. Maoris, who settled New Zealand some 600 years ago, grew their sweet potatoes in geothermally heated gardens.

The first industrial harnessing of steam from the earth began in northern Italy more than half a century ago, but the largest geothermal installation today is at The Geysers in California where dry steam readily lends itself to conventional generating, providing more than enough electric power for the city of San Francisco. However most of the geothermal energy available in the Philippines and elsewhere is wet steam—70 percent of production from a well may be hot water—and this demands a different and more difficult technology.

ARTURO PINEDA ALCARAZ was born in Manila in 1916 and grew up in Baguio where his father was city auditor during the gold mining boom. After studying a year at the University of the Philippines, ALCARAZ transferred to Mapua Institute of Technology when it offered the first degree in mining engineering. He earned a masters degree in geology at the University of Wisconsin and returned home in 1941 to be assigned by the Bureau of Mines to the island of Busuanga. Next posted to the Weather Bureau, its director, Maximo Lachica, introduced him to the science of seismology.

In 1952 the Philippine Congress responded to the destructive eruptions of Mount Hibok-Hibok on Camiguin Island by creating the Commission on Volcanology. Assigned as Chief Volcanologist, ALCARAZ began to pursue more fully the study of volcanos in order to improve eruption warning and assess possibilities for use of stored heat beneath them.

The first electric bulb in the Philippines lit by earth-heat energy was in Tiwi, Albay, on April 12, 1967. Three years later President Ferdinand Marcos set apart two geothermal reservations to be administered by the National Power Corporation (NPC), to which ALCARAZ transferred in 1974 as Chief of the Geothermal Division. The NPC, in cooperation with Philippine Geothermal, Inc., a subsidiary of Union Oil Company of California, has since brought on stream 550 megawatts of power at Tiwi and at Mac-Ban near Los Banos, making the Philippines the largest producer of geothermal electric energy from wet steam in the world. Meanwhile major geothermal energy fields in Leyte and Negros are under development by the Philippine National Oil Company Energy Development Corporation, with the cooperation of New Zealand and specialists from elsewhere. Present production is scheduled to be multiplied six times in the next seven years, thus further cutting down on oil imports.

Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation: Alcaraz, Arturo Pineda