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I apoligize in advanced for my lack of knowledge. I am a mom of two, both with health issues and alot of doctor appt, in ohio. I own a 2000 chevy cavalier 2.2 liter 4 door automatic. I had a timing chain replaced 2 years ago, throttle sensor done about year ago, and fuel pump done 4 months ago all b
My regards to Everyone, Can anybody tell me the advantages of using DP flow transmitter with impulse tubing over the capillary tube DP flow transmitter.
Thanks,
Kumar
Earlier this week, workers excavating the site of the future World Trade Center unearthed an ancient wooden plank. Then another. Then an entire row, comprising what remains of a 30-foot long wood-hulled vessel, over 200 years old. More »
From Popular Science - New Technology, Science News, The Future Now:
As rare-earth metals become less common, and as nuclear non-proliferation treaties proliferate, it may get harder to send probes into deep space. Preparing for that eventuality, the European Space Agency is stockp
Hi everybody,
Does any one know when was realease the transmitter temperature Rosemount 644 H and 644 R? Do you have any article or something to prove it. In my job I was asked and I did not know the exactly date but i believe was around 2005 or 2006.
Thanks.
The iOS 4.0.1 update that "improves" the way the iPhone displays signal strength is out now. According to the release note, that's about all it does. More »
The wonderfulicious Brea Grant is this week’s Geek a Week.
Brea’s an actress who played Daphne, "The Speedster" on "Heroes", and I was tickled a while back to find out she reads my blog. I had a lot of fun hanging out with her at Comic Con last year (and hope to see her again while I’m there in a couple of weeks), and even did a short interview with her when I was there.
Brea is smart, funny, generous with her time, and a complete and total comic book geek. When Len Peralta, who does the Geek a Week podcast and art, interviewed me for the series, he asked if I knew anyone else I would recommend. That was an easy one! I’m glad it worked out.. and she wasn’t the only person I suggested. Stay tuned.
Len’s got quite a few more very cool folks on his list, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does with them. The trading cards are killer funny and it’s always nice to hear what’s going on inside other people’s nerdy heads.
In October 2007, the British band Radiohead released their seventh album – In Rainbows – as a digital download that customers could pay whatever they liked for. The results of this risky venture are a guarded secret, but the album’s popularity was clear. It topped the charts and allegedly sold 1.2 million copies in the first day alone. Even though many fans paid nothing (the average contribution ranged from $2.26 to around $8 depending on the survey), the band still earned more money from In Rainbows than their previous album, Hail to the Thief. But according to a new study, Radiohead could have earned even more money by adding a slight twist to their plan – telling people that half their voluntary payments would go to charity.
Many businesses are trying out new strategies that appeal to the better nature of their customers. Some promote the fact that they donate a proportion of their profits to charity. Others, from Radiohead to restaurants, invite people to pay what they like for their products. People often get away without paying anything but in practice, they frequently cough up something. But according to Ayelet Gneezy from the University of California, San Diego, the best strategy is to fuse the two approaches.
At a theme park, Gneezy conducted a massive study of over 113,000 people who had to choose whether to buy a photo of themselves on a roller coaster. They were given one of four pricing plans. Under the basic one, when they were asked to pay a flat fee of $12.95 for the photo, only 0.5% of them did so.
When they could pay what they wanted, sales skyrocketed and 8.4% took a photo, almost 17 times more than before. But on average, the tight-fisted customers paid a measly $0.92 for the photo, which barely covered the cost of printing and actively selling one. That’s not the best business model – the company proves itself to be generous, it’s products sell like (free) hot-cakes, but its profit margins take a big hit. You could argue that Radiohead experienced the same thing – their album was a hit but customers paid relatively little for it.
When Gneezy told customers that half of the $12.95 price tag would go to charity, only 0.57% riders bought a photo – a pathetic increase over the standard price plan. This is akin to the practices of “corporate social responsibility” that many companies practice, where they try to demonstrate a sense of social consciousness. But financially, this approach had minimal benefits. It led to more sales, but once you take away the amount given to charity, the sound of hollow coffers came ringing out. You see the same thing on eBay. If people say that 10% of their earnings go to charity, their items only sell for around 2% more.
But when customers could pay what they wanted in the knowledge that half of that would go to charity, sales and profits went through the roof. Around 4.5% of the customers asked for a photo (up 9 times from the standard price plan), and on average, each one paid $5.33 for the privilege. Even after taking away the charitable donations, that still left Gneezy with a decent profit.
This is a substantial result, especially since it came from a real setting. The theme park that Gneezy used stands to make another $600,000 a year in profits if it takes up her sales strategy. And just to be sure, Gneezy confirmed that sales at a nearby souvenir shop didn’t fall on the days when she ran her study. These extra profits weren’t coming at a cost to retailers elsewhere in the park.
Gneezy describes the combination of charitable donations and paying what you like as “shared social responsibility”, where businesses and customers work together for the public good. It’s a slightly different idea to corporate social responsibility, where the act of charity is dictated by the company. And it’s very different from the classic view of the modern corporation as a profit-making machine, beholden only to its shareholders.
Corporate social responsibility is a mantra for many a modern firm, but it’s often done at a financial cost. Customers might assume that the company has ulterior motives for its practices beyond the call of ethics. Indeed, that’s often the case – acts of goodwill can do wonders for a company’s brand, and public interest in its products of services. But if people suspect that they’re somehow being manipulated, that can negate the positive effects of any act of charity.
Gneezy thinks that shared social responsibility is a better model because the company is clearly putting itself at financial risk, and people are less likely to smell a rat. Customers are also more likely to personally identify with the cause they are contributing to. Regardless of who sets the price, they are still contributing to charity, but it feels more like an active decision if they choose the price themselves.
There’s more evidence to back up this idea in the experiment – when Gneezy added a charitable donation to the pay-what-you-want scheme, fewer people bought the photo. The option to name your own price attracts a lot of cheapskate customers, who may not actually want the product very much, and who aren’t prepared to pay much, if anything, for it.
When the charity factor is introduced, these casual freeloaders balk at the idea of paying nothing, because it’s more likely to reflect badly on them. Rather than naming a higher price, their preference is to avoid buying altogether – for them, it isn’t worth it. Sales fall, but the actual profits go up because the remaining customers are motivated by their desire for the product and for the cause, will pay for both.
The experiment could be expanded in many interesting ways. For example, what about a discounted fixed price option with charitable donation, or a pay-what-you-want option with a minimum threshold? For now, it tells us that trying to tap into the ethical side of consumerism is very tricky, but possible without compromising profits. As Gneezy concludes, “Apparently, a company can best serve its community and its shareholders by sharing its social responsibility with its customers.”
Reference: Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1186744
Image from alterna2
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Mike Arrington has a post over at TechCrunch taking Consumer Reports to task over their iPhone 4 coverage. And it's true! It feels like there's a new Consumer Reports update every day that either repeats or directly contradicts the previous day's. It's well worth a read to see it all laid out like this, especially for your friends and family who may be more familiar with trusting Consumer Reports ratings than they are with gadgets. [TechCrunch] More »
Hi guys..
i'm pursuing b.tech in computers science discipline.
I'm not at all interested in going towards software side as i dont like it..
i want a job which is completely core related.
can any one of u help me how to get that type of job. and what are the topics relate
Rosetta leaves asteroid Lutetia after a close encounter. Click for larger. Credit ESA via Science@NASA
The ESA spacecraft Rosetta is a comet chaser launched in February 2004 atop the powerful Ariane-5 rocket from launch facilities in French Guiana. The comet Rosetta is ultimately going to reach is Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014.
You’d thing that huge rocket would send the comparatively small spacecraft right to the comet, but that’s just not the way things work. Rosetta is having to take kind of the long way around, including two trips into the asteroid belt and taking advantage of gravitational speed boosts by a flyby of Mars (in 2007) and three flybys of Earth (2005, 2007 and 2009). If you’ve ever been on a long ride with kids in the back seat you know the drill, instead ESA has people like me in the back seat going “are we there yet – are we there yet?”).
It’s a good thing for us in every long trip there are bound to be some worthwhile sights along the way and in this case it’s an asteroid named Lutetia. The image above is a shot of Rosetta leaving Lutetia and if you look close or better yet click on the image to make it larger you will see Saturn in the background.
You can see this image and more including close ups at Science@NASA and even more at the ESA Rosetta webpage.
Brammo's new electric motorcycle, the Empulse, is the big brother bike to the Brammo Enertia. Compared to other electric motorcycles, it's faster, lasts longer and still surprisingly affordable. Not to mention that it actually looks like a motorcycle. More »
"The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today unanimously approved legislation cosponsored by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Committee, to safeguard America's human spaceflight capabilities while balancing commercial space investment with a robust mission for NASA. The bill was sponsored by Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and cosponsored by Senators Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), David Vitter (R-La.) and George LeMieux (R-Fla.)."
Featured Legislation - The NASA Authorization Act of 2010
"The bill would authorize NASA appropriations for FY 2011-2013 with the same top-line budget values as the President's request to Congress. The bill would support an overall growth in science, aeronautics, and space technology and define a long-term goal for human space flight to expand a permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit. Key objectives of this goal would include full utilization of the International Space Station (ISS), determining the ability of humans to live in space for extended periods of time, maximizing the role of space exploration and technology in current and future missions, advancing knowledge and inspiring young people into higher education, and building upon international partnerships."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010: Section-by-Section
"TITLE II - POLICY, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT AND EXPLORATION
Sec. 201 - United States Human Space Flight Policy - The U.S. shall rely upon non-U.S. human space flight (HSF) capabilities only on a temporary basis under circumstances where no U.S. capability is available. Reaffirms policy of 2005 NASA reauthorization stating that the U.S. will maintain an uninterrupted HSF capability and operation in low-earth orbit (LEO) to maintain national security and leadership in exploration and utilization of space.
Sec. 202 - Goals and Objectives - The long-term goal of U.S. HSF efforts shall be to expand permanent human presence beyond LEO through establishment of a long-term LEO presence via the space station and commercial capabilities; to determine if humans can, in fact, live in an extended manner in space; lay foundation for sustainable economic activities in space, maximize role of HSF in advancing knowledge of the universe, national security and global competitive posture.
Sec. 203 - Assurance of Core Capabilities - Sense of Congress that the ISS, technology developments, Shuttle and follow-on transportation capabilities authorized under this act form the foundation for initial missions beyond LEO. Development of the follow-on transportation system will allow for the capability to restart and fly the Shuttle, if directed by Congress or the President, prior to completion of the final Shuttle mission. Authorizes refurbishment of manufactured external tank of the Shuttle designated as ET-94
Sec. 204 - Independent Study on Human Exploration of Space - Provides for an assessment by the National Academies of the President's plan for HSF and exploration."
CSF Lauds Senators Warner, Boxer, Tom Udall, and Brownback for Support of Commercial Spaceflight
"Following today's executive session of the Senate Commerce Committee, the President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Bretton Alexander, stated, "Thanks to Senators Warner, Boxer, Udall, and Brownback, American industry won a victory today. But this legislation must be improved so that we create more sustainable American jobs, instead of exporting jobs to Russia. This compromise committee bill represents progress from the original draft, but there is still a long way to go to get to where the Augustine Committee said NASA needs to be."
Greater Houston Partnership Applauds bi-partisan compromise bill
"The Greater Houston Partnership today praised the bipartisan Senate authorization bill, a compromise effort marshaled by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that would extend the life of the space shuttle program by a year; accelerate development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle; and preserve elements of the Constellation program."
Researchers have decided to get personal with Mona Lisa–by irradiating her face. In a study recently published in Angewandte Chemie, researchers trucked around the Louvre to look at nine faces painted by Leonardo Da Vinci with a portable X-ray machine.
Their particular technique, as reported by the BBC, is called X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and is a way to uncover the layers of paint without damaging the paintings. By looking at this layering, they learned more about Da Vinci’s brush strokes and a technique called sfumato, which he used to hide transitions between dark and light areas and to create realistic shading.
The Da Vinci researchers aren’t the only X-ray art historians. Another recently published study looked at “Mayan blue”–a long lasting pigment made by the civilization that lived in Central American from 2500 BC to the 1600s.
Archeologists were impressed with Mayan blue’s resistance to fading, given that most of the other colors used in Mayan artworks lost their vividness long ago. As reported by Technology Review, Catherine Dejoie at the Néel Institute in Grenoble used X-ray diffraction and also examined the blue samples’ weight changes during heating (called thermogravimetric analysis) to uncover the pigment’s secret.
The researchers knew that the Mayans made their blue by heating the pigment with palygorskite (a type of clay); their analysis showed that this heating allowed the pigment to enter tiny channels in the clay which are sealed after the mixture cools, protecting and keeping the pigment true blue for centuries.
Check out DISCOVER’s new Web TV show Joe Genius, in which things get blown up for the sake of science.
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Image: Wikimedia
what are the step to overhaul small 3-phase electric motor of sea water hydrophore pump ? What precaution should be taken before and after overhaul ?
Hi all,
I would like some help in ordering an extension spring.
The external diameter should be 40mm and its free length 700mm.
My question is the following:
The spring should be as flexible as possible, but the wire thickness should be at least 4mm. I obviously don't exp
I have to say: Since we ruthlessly banned a lot of bad actors over the past week or so, discussions at the Intersection have been quite civil and productive. See, for example, this thread. Or this one. And something else has occurred, too--I actually find myself commenting on my own blog again. I'd largely stopped doing it (and largely stopped paying detailed attention to most comments) because anything I'd say would be pored over, twisted, bent, attacked, and so on. So saying anything at all seemed a waste of time. This has been a learning experience for me. My initial outlook in the blogosphere, and one I held for a very long time, was that I should err on the side of letting everyone who wanted to post do so rapidly, without hinderance. Only after the fact, and after much clear and undeniable abuse of the privilege, should I or Sheril step in and moderate or ban. But I now see that perhaps this was not right at all. Moderating all comments here takes much more work, and creates more delay; but so far, it also ensures better discussion. The ideal approach, I think, would be if some commenters could become "trusted" and get ...
is fillet welding joint or butt welding joint to the branch welding between weldolet or sockolet with pipe ??
Identical twins don’t share everything. The mix of viruses in a person’s gut, a new study says, is unique to each of us, even if we share nearly all our DNA with another person. That is, at least according to our poop.
This year scientists have been working to decode the genetics of the beneficial microbes that live inside us, like the bacteria that help us digest food. But those trillions of bacteria have partners of their own—beneficial viruses. Jeffrey Gordon and colleagues wanted to see what those viruses were like, and how they differed from person to person. To do it, they studied fecal samples that came from four sets of identical twins, as well as their mothers.
Each identical twin had virus populations that didn’t resemble those of their sibling—or anybody else, for that matter.
Remarkably, more than 80 percent of the viruses in the stool samples had not been previously discovered. “The novelty of the viruses was immediately apparent,” Gordon said. The intestinal viromes of identical twins were about as different as the viromes of unrelated individuals [MSNBC].
In addition, those viruses appeared to be stable over time, as opposed to the ever-shifted bacterial populations in people. And the virus-bacterium relationship in our gut, the study suggests, is different than in many other places. Viruses that infect bacteria and take advantage of them to replicate are called bacteriophages, and the two often enter an evolutionary arms race of new attacks and defenses.
Not inside us, though.
When the researchers probed deeper, they found that many of the bacteriophages carried bacterial genes that help microbes survive the anaerobic conditions in the colon. “You could see that these viruses were porting around genes that could benefit their host bacteria,” Gordon says. If the viruses transfer those genes to other bacteria that don’t normally carry them, that could help genetically disadvantaged bacteria evolve to live better in the colon [Science News].
If our gut viruses are truly unique, then the question for future research becomes: Why? And how does one’s unique viral population become established?
Gordon’s study also shakes up our picture of who’s the boss. We’ve talked before about humans’ reliance on our resident bacteria, without which we could not survive. But if bacteria are reliant upon viruses to shake up their genetics and help them survive the harsh environment of human intestines, are not viruses the true lords of our guts? Says microbiologist David Relman:
“It could be that viruses are the real drivers of the system because of their ability to modify the bacteria that then modify the human host,” he says. “So this study is in some ways looking into the genesis of the human body by seeing what viruses within it are up to” [Nature].
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Image: Gordon et. al.
