bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
First Glimpse
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will incorporate leading-edge technology in construction, optics, and deployment. NGST will be composed of a large sunshield and lightweight mirror, which will be deployed in space. Both are depicted in this rendering by TRW Space and Electronic Group. Over the next two years, the teams, one led by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, Sunnyvale, CA, and the other led by TRW Space and Electronic Group in Redondo Beach, California, and including Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO, will tackle some daunting engineering challenges. The new telescope will pick up where the Hubble telescope leaves off. Hubble observes objects that are still in the visible light spectrum. NGST will investigate objects that are much more distant in space and will need to be sensitive to the infrared band. The testing protocol is going to receive a very high level of attention during this upcoming phase one effort, because it is one of the substantial cost elements of a program of this nature.
Building a Place for Innovation
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article elaborates benefits of building technology or research parks for innovations. Governments and universities around the world are turning to research parks due to their ability to revitalize local economies. They are betting that shared parking lots, open offices, restaurants, bars, parties, and activities will make it easier for people to mix, mingle, and strike creative sparks. Research parks resist recessions longer and recover faster. As governments and corporations hope to use science park development to spur economic growth, it is important to understand factors that make these research parks successful. Governments see science parks to move up the economic food chain. Most experts, who have studied science parks, agree on the need for business leadership, civic support, and strong university links. Singapore is using education and science parks to shift its economy to software, advanced materials, and biomedical products. It recruited top scholars for its schools and offers 1000 free Ph.D. scholarships to students who promise to work in Singapore for 10 years.
Mining What Others Miss
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This article discusses data mining that draws upon extensive work in areas such as statistics, machine learning, pattern recognition, databases, and high-performance computing to discover interesting and previously unknown information in data. More specifically, data mining is the analysis of 10 large data sets to find relationships and patterns that aren’t readily apparent, and to summarize the data in new and useful ways. Data mining technology has enabled earth scientists from NASA to discover changes in the global carbon cycle and climate system, and biologists to map and explore the human genome. Data mining is not restricted solely to vast banks of data with unlimited ways of analyzing it. Manufacturers, such as W.L. Gore (the maker of GoreTex) use commercially available data mining tools to warehouse and analyze their data, and improve their manufacturing process. Gore uses data mining tools from analytic software vendor SAS for statistical modeling in its manufacturing process.
The Age of Ingenuity
Authors: Varrasi John
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that by the late 19th century, as the prestige of engineers grew, their inventiveness gave rise to unprecedented industrial advancement. In 1888, George Westinghouse was investigating a motor for his alternating current electrical system. He had developed AC power two years earlier, and it offered a transmission advantage over the direct current system of Thomas Edison. The introduction of a transformer, to step voltages up or down, permitted efficient power transmission over longer distances. Edison’s system still had the upper hand; however, because of the DC motor. Direct current not only could light up the dark, it could also do work, like driving streetcars and factory machinery. American industrialization hurtled forward during ASME’s second decade, and mechanical engineers were in the forefront. Through inventions and technical ingenuity and know-how, engineers made great contributions to industrial productivity and helped corporate employers achieve success and profitability.
Idle Hour
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that according to the Argonne National Laboratory Center for Transportation Research, long-haul truck idling in the United States burns more than 800 million gallons of fuel a year. The big reasons for idling include heating and cooling of sleeper cabs and generating electricity for onboard appliances like refrigerators and microwaves. In severe, glove-cracking cold, truckers idle to avoid cold starts and to keep their fuel from turning to slush. Onboard idle-reduction systems range from simple start–stop arrangements to full-out auxiliary diesel generators. They require greater financial commitments than stationary systems on the part of the truckers or the employers who buy them. Yet, unlike many pollution prevention programs, where installing equipment often spells lower efficiencies, idling reduction stands a good chance of lowering both fuel usage and emissions. A business case can be built for many idling reduction schemes.
Calculating Risks
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article highlights how risk analysis calculates the probability and consequences of failures so that appropriate action can be taken to forestall them. Factories judge the best maintenance intervals for machinery, and military planners rate the soundness of missions. A broad group of experts from industry, government, and academia are trying to adapt risk analysis methods to problems of protecting the nation's infrastructure from acts of terrorism. The program, dubbed RAMCAP (from "risk analysis and management for critical assets protection"), is intended to give the federal government a means of evaluating risk across the country. Having a means of judging relative risk can help the government decide where to spend federal money for public defense or where to concentrate the expertise of the national laboratories as they develop technology to protect the country's infrastructure. There are a lot of other people-risk analysis engineers, security consultants, and safety experts-stepping back.
MEMS Across the Valley of Death
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This paper elaborates increasing use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in aerospace industry. MEMS are chip-size devices usually carved from semiconductor wafers. Jet engines running lean fuel mixtures are prone to instability. High-temperature MEMS sensors could improve performance and fuel mileage while reducing emissions. The paper also discusses different MEMS structures, as MEMS structures vary greatly. The oscillating proofmass structures sense angular rotation around an axis in the gyro on the right. The industry has also begun to build a more innovation-ready infrastructure. The MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange provides another way to ease the tortuous path to commercialization. It promises more prototypes, and more technologies will flow from MEMS inventors in the future. However, experts believe that the real problem is that until more MEMS companies begin making money in aerospace, venture capitalists hesitate to fund their companies.
More Than a Feeling
Authors: Serry F. Michael
Published: July 2018

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is enabling engineers to understand mechanical systems at the most basic level. The heart of the AFM is a probe comprising a microfabricated cantilever with an extraordinarily sharp tip. The AFM tip can be thought of as a nanometer-scale finger that we have at our disposal to interface with matter on the scale of individual molecules, and even atoms. The paper highlights that it is the only instrument that allows us to ‘touch’ the surface of a sample with nanometer-scale resolution and atomic-level force sensitivity. Researchers using AFM have now established that after relatively weak bonds break, untying segments of a relatively large structural molecule, the energy needed to stretch the untied segment can be orders of magnitude larger than the broken bond's energy. The AFM has evolved into a highly modular instrument. Advanced AFMs such as the BioScope II from Veeco Instruments operate in liquid to image and probe biologically important matter, both organic and synthetic. Also, there are AFMs for operating in vacuum, useful in investigating properties of matter without a water layer adsorbed on it, or for probing tip-sample interactions with highly sensitive probes in long range or in contact.
Ask the Supercomputer
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper analyzes research work on developing techniques to study complex fluids. Although several computational fluid dynamics (CFD) vendors now sell desktop software that mechanical engineers can buy to model complex flows, many problems are still simply too hard for those applications. According to engineers, CFD programs for these complex problems can take years to write, even with the supercomputer's aid. Moreover, some flows may never be modeled: they are just too complex for even the most advanced software. Behr and a colleague, Matteo Pasquali, an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University, are now at work writing a CFD application that will help a heart-pump manufacturer analyze how blood would move through different configurations of the pump. Pasquali and Behr spent two years trying to turn the pump geometry and performance data Baylor provided into usable data. They converted the pump's computer-aided design information and input it into their homegrown CFD program, then came up with software tools to rotate one part of the computationally meshed pump element with respect to another.
Get With the Plan
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper provides examples to show the importance of blueprints in improving working of a company. In order to blueprint, managers need intricate workings of how projects get done. They must know exactly how engineering works with the manufacturing, marketing, and IT departments, as everything is interconnected. As project manager at BAE Systems Naval Ships in Glasgow, Scotland, Scott Jamieson oversees the creation of two landing-ship docks for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Jamieson reviews his advance blueprint all the time to make sure his team uses its time effectively. He compares the initial blueprint against the present project to ensure that the plan is still pertinent. Another blueprint success example is its extensive usage in aerospace projects. According to Jack Gallagher, executive director for the Bell/Agusta 609 Tiltrotor, aerospace projects are so large that it is easy for company executives and managers to lose control. A blueprint helps to keep all aspects of a huge project on track.
Talking Back
Authors: Rorrer Ronald A.L.
Published: July 2018

This article deals with various ways of handling bosses. There are times when a manager does not or would not communicate properly to an employee. There are also times when a co-worker is closer to the manager than the employee himself, and this co-worker allocates tasks. This scenario most of the time becomes frustrating and unacceptable by employees who do not get their task allocations or other valuable information from their managers, rather receiving it from some other subordinate. In this scenario, the author suggests it is better to talk to the subordinate clearly that enough is enough and any task allocated by him/her or information will not be accepted. It might create some problems for the employee; however, it may happen that the manager gets a clarity that the employee must be talked to directly rather than through a subordinate.
Heading Off Premature Failure
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This paper provides detailed features of a new software that can help unearth design and manufacturing issues before they snowball into big warranty problems. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has delivered a closed-loop solution that spans manufacturing and parts traceability to warranty claims and customer satisfaction. The heart of the system is PolyVista's analytics software, which searches for patterns in warranty claims. PolyVista provides a step change from conventional analytics. It does an excellent job applying computer muscle to the analysis of massive amounts of data—as long as the data has been structured first. The company now uses warranty feedback to rank its top vendors, and it encourages its buyers to purchase parts from them. The solution has worked well enough for HP to package it to sell to other discrete manufacturers, while it is not cheap.
Tearing Down the Nearly Invisible
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses use of reverse engineering by various mechanical engineering companies and its benefits. The paper points out that reverse engineering—tearing down mechanical devices—is a natural way to learn how things work. Reverse engineering lies at the very heart of the profession. The paper also presents the ADXL330 case study, which shows how semiconductor technology does more for less money. With its 3-axis sensing, the ADXL330 is the first step toward cheap, low-power gyroscopes. It can provide motion-sensitive flip-wrist scrolling in mobile phones or image stabilization in digital cameras. Like many microelectromechanical systems, Analog Devices' ADXL330 has much larger features than modern integrated circuits. Chipworks focused on changes that have transformed reverse engineering of computer chips. The paper suggests that the ability of Chipworks and other companies like it to probe the micro and nanoscale world of today's silicon technology does provide valuable insights.
Campus Heat
Authors: Langston Lee
Published: July 2018

The University of Connecticut is focusing on cogeneration, also called combined heat and power. It is the production of more than one useful form of energy—both heat and electric power—from a single energy source, such as the burning of natural gas or some other fuel. The cogeneration plant has been designed to blend seamlessly into the campus landscape. Cogeneration uses one measure of gas twice—first for generating electricity, then to produce steam. A financial study done by consultants during the plant's planning phase shows definite savings over the long run, especially since the cost of electricity can be expected to vary with the cost of natural gas in New England.
Staying Alive
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article provides details of small US companies that are competing with Chinese counterparts and earning profits as well. Elnik Systems keeps costs under control by importing expensive molybdenum and tungsten furnace metals from China. It also outsources predrilled molybdenum furnace tray preforms, but must bend them into shape in the United States to achieve the quality it requires. Irwin Industrial Tool Co. sets aggressive cost goals each year, relying on employee teams and ongoing investment to drive down unit costs. It has reduced headcount, sought better deals from suppliers, and even outsourced its warehouse. Reducing costs cuts the premium Irwin needs to charge to profit from making Vise-Grips in DeWitt. As long as ‘Made in America’ means a better product, it can continue to do that. In many ways, the engineering plastic injection molding business of Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Co. in Alexandria, Minn. resembles the short-run, fast-turnaround model of New York's Liberty Brass Turning. Despite his success, Donnelly worries about America's manufacturing future. Donnelly exited the business before it all went to China. Now he questions whether other start-ups would go to a local source or deal directly with China.
Simply Complex
Authors: Abrams Michael
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on industrial benefits of computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). With the ever multiplying functionality of both machine and software, the challenge for CAM programmers has become one of ‘how do you keep things simple and at the same time complex.’ Machine makers now work directly with CAM programmers so customers can get as much from their machines as possible. NX's newest software offers tool paths that are smoother and smarter, and take into account the material that's being cut, to better avoid collision. But the key to optimization is understanding every aspect of a machine, down to when and how it vibrates. Simulations let programs like NX and Vericut know every stage of a part while it is on the machine and this allows users to eliminate one of the most tedious of time drainers: documentation. NX software as well as Vericut automatically outputs documentation for the entire process.
Juiced Up
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article describes evolution of the hybrid cars involving an electrical outlet. The modifications made to the Prius at the Maker Faire take the hybrid concept to the next level. With an added battery back, new electronics, and a socket, the car becomes what is known as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The conversions performed by CalCars have involved installing either lead-acid or nickel-metal hydride battery packs in the rear compartments of stock Priuses. The engineering for these conversions has followed an open-source model, with the design being discussed and improved through collaboration with volunteers on an Internet message board. EDrive Systems, an automotive company based in southern California, and Hymotion, a Toronto-based automotive supply company, have unveiled full conversion kits, including auxiliary battery packs, electronics, and control systems. According to experts, with a Hymotion plug-in pack, a Prius can run as much as 30 miles on electricity alone.
Storm Warning
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on measures for preventing damages to oil drilling setups post hurricanes or typhoons. According to engineers, today, it is a complex network of fixed and floating production platforms, mobile drilling units, undersea wells, and oil and gas pipelines. No single solution will ensure the safety of the entire system. The exploration wells under the drilling rigs are also vulnerable. Mobile drilling units, such as jackups and semisubmersibles, which drill test wells and then move to another location, proved especially vulnerable during Katrina and Rita. When the American Petroleum Institute rolled out its first post-Katrina recommendations in April, it took an initial step on a road that will eventually demand changes in everything from air gaps, tie-downs, and deck design to moorings, tethers, clamps, and piping supports. New standards are expected to improve the odds for newer platforms and rigs if they continue to face larger and larger hurricanes.
Maglev Goes to Work
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses various features of a mixer that proves to be advantageous for pharmaceutical market. Central Japan Railway Co. has tested the first-ever maglev train using high-temperature superconductors; the technology that is still a long way from practical commercialization. Instead, LevTech Inc., a Lexington, Ky., startup is using yttrium-barium-copper oxide superconductors to suspend impellers in mixers and pumps for the bioprocessing and pharmaceutical industry. The LevTech mixer's cassette holds six superconducting magnets, which suspend and lock into place an impeller that can be isolated in a pre-sterilized mixing bag. Rotating the cassette turns the impeller, which stirs the biochemicals inside the sealed bag. According to JR Central, superconductors have certain advantages over conventional electromagnets. First, they are much lighter. This improves railcar acceleration, speed, and payload; they also use less energy and more importantly, though, their 1 Tesla magnetic fields can lift a train 3 to 4 inches off the track, compared to 0.3 to 0.4 inch achieved with ordinary electromagnets.
Burning Questions
Authors: Lieuwen Tim , Richards George
Published: July 2018

This article describes different research efforts made to control carbon emissions and better fuel usage. Higher energy prices and changes to the regulatory environment have also renewed looks at other fuel sources. Numerous studies have shown the potential to capture carbon dioxide during the coal gasification process, leaving pure hydrogen as a clean fuel. The hydrogen can be used in gas turbines, or supplied to other industrial processes, Alternatively, syngas, without hydrogen separation, can be burned in an oxy-fuel cycle. Several market driven and regulatory forces are motivating a growing diversity in fuel choices and combustion technology. The key challenge for the engineering community is to combust these fuels as has been done over the last few decades, but with minimal pollutant levels. Increased understanding of the complexities and intricacies of combustion is enabling these challenges to be met, but a variety of interesting and exciting opportunities remain for continued research and development.
Wild Blue Yonder
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This paper focuses on research and innovation in the gas turbine industry. The production of nonaviation gas turbines was $3.6 billion in 1990, only 15% of total production. With improvement in thermal efficiency, increases in unit size, and the building of record breaking combined-cycle electric power plants fueled by cheap natural gas, nonaviation production zoomed to a euphoric high of $25.8 billion in 2001. The US Department of Energy announced last year the award of $130 million for 10 new projects to integrate hydrogen-burning gas turbines and turbine subsystems into integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) central power stations. Nuclear generation is also a zero-emissions technology, and Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Ltd, a South African company, is developing a gas turbine-nuclear reactor electric power plant, with participating companies that include Westinghouse, MHI of Japan, Nukem of Germany, and South Africa's Eskom.
A Fast Track
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses the use of video game in teaching mechanical engineering students. The course teaches students how engineering computation and simulation work. Students learn how to get computers to run various mathematical procedures. When they fire up their computers, students see a fairly standard gaming image: a race car and a track. They quickly learn that they will have to program the system to get the car to obey their commands. They start small and at first, they do not even have steering wheels or pedals to control their vehicles. Within a few commands, they can get their car to go straight but then the track turns and they crash into the wall. There are certain types of calculations they have to learn, and they get better and better as the semester goes on, until at the end they're doing sophisticated calculations.
No Einstein
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This paper highlights the contribution of Leo Szilard in the development of atomic age. Szilard and his mentor Einstein were both theorists who shared a practical side. Szilard's work, included publication of a theory in statistical mechanics was recognized a generation later as a seminal paper in information theory. Szilard studied X-ray diffraction. He designed and filed patents for an electron microscope, as well as for a linear accelerator and a cyclotron, which became instruments for probing the structure of an atom. Development was dramatically escalated after the 1942 demonstration of a chain reaction. A chain reaction would require finding an element or isotope with a high probability of absorbing neutrons followed by the release of more free neutrons. The element subsequently would split to form smaller atoms. Szilard launched initiatives for the peaceful use of nuclear energy while trying to stop the arms race and prevent further use of nuclear weapons.
Hip New World
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This paper focuses on the development of modern metal-on-metal hips implants. Their large bearings mimic natural biomechanics and let patients remain active. Metal rubbing on metal creates nanoscale wear debris. The particles appear small enough for some cobalt and chrome to end up as ions. Both metals have the potential to cause cancer. Device manufacturers are scrambling after alloys that leave behind less debris. Some have also introduced ceramic hips. Ceramics are highly biocompatible and so hard and wear-resistant that they are likely to outlast metal. The ceramics used in hip implants are a triumph of materials science. The industry is moving toward zirconia-toughened alumina. It is stronger than conventional alumina and designers can slim down cup liners and use larger ceramic femoral bearings.
The Road Not Yet Taken
Authors: Kreith Frank , West Ron
Published: July 2018

This article discusses need for diversification in America’s energy supply. Analysis shows that there is no currently available pathway to produce hydrogen, store it, transport it as an energy carrier, and use it to generate heat or electricity as efficiently as using the heat or electric power from the primary energy source directly. Unconventional supplies of oil also won’t provide relief any time soon. The vast oil-shale deposits in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming have long been hailed as a future energy source. According to researchers, hybrid electric vehicles like the ones on the road today are twice as fuel efficient as the current average vehicle. However, the near-term reduction in fuel consumption of hybrid vehicles has been overstated. There are companies, such as Hybrid Prius Inc. and CalCars, which claim PHEV30s can achieve 100 mpg. Also important is that plug-in hybrid vehicle technology provides utilities with a new and sustainable market for off-peak electric power. This is to improve the performance of electrical storage in batteries or ultracapacitors, and it is important to develop technologies that can capture and store carbon dioxide.
Coal Without Combustion
Authors: Samuelsen Scott , Babcock Amy
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on various researches that have been undertaken to study and test use of fuel cells instead of boilers for cheap and clean electricity production. One of the most ambitious projects is the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA), created by the U.S. Department of Energy to clear the technical hurdles that have kept fuel cells impractical. Compared to other government research programs, SECA has an unusual structure. The program unifies several organizations to work toward a common goal, yet retains a healthy spirit of competition to drive progress and spur innovation. By developing fuel cells to operate efficiently and cost effectively on the fuels that dominate today’s power industry, the hope is that the program can help meet pressing environmental and energy-security needs while building a bridge to a low-carbon economy. SECA’s recent successes demonstrate that it’s only a matter of time before solid oxide fuel cell technology achieves its commercial potential. Indeed, it’s possible that Solid Oxide Fuel Cells could reach high enough standards of efficiency and economy to entirely replace conventional combustion as the primary means of generating electricity in the USA.
Power Window
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

Over the time, oil companies, utilities, and the Bush administration have come around to the idea that global warming is real and a consortium of USA. Companies including PG&E, Duke Energy, and Alcoa- has reportedly asked for congressional action to control carbon emissions. The chart presented in the article shows in detail the carbon dioxide emitted across the entire US economy, as determined by a draft report of the USA. Environmental Protection Agency released in February. Each square represents 10 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and there are 726 of them. A quick glance shows that massive amounts of carbon dioxide are produced from the burning of coal in thermal power plants and the burning of gasoline and diesel fuel in the engines of cars and trucks. Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, and France are considered as models of Western society. They owe their position to a few factors, some of which may be emulated, and some of which are geographical accidents.
Korea's Nano Future
Authors: Pak Y. Eugene
Published: July 2018

This article highlights key points of a Korea's 10-year plan in nanotechnology domain. The hope is that newly emerging nanotechnology field will offer a breakthrough opportunity to upgrade Korea's position as a global industrial power. The goal of this 10-year, $1.5 billion plan is to foster technological advances in nanotechnology that can establish Korea as a world leader in this emerging class of technologies. Under the Korea Nanotechnology Initiative, the government has launched several projects under the banner of the Frontier Program. Another project, the Center for Nanostructured Materials, organizes a research program aimed at developing nanostructured materials for structural applications, environmental and energy applications, and information technologies using both top 2 down and bottom-up processes. Nanoelectronics devices such as carbon nanotube-based transistors are being investigated as terabit memory devices. Korean facilities are conducting research on next-generation storage systems based on scanning probe microscopy and perpendicular magnetic recording to learn more about terabit storage density. Engineers claim that to compete in the new digital economy, it is critically important for a nation such as Korea to be able to manufacture and engineer devices down to nanometre dimensions.
Design in Virtual Space
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article illustrates features of virtual tools and their increased use in the aerospace industry. According to engineers at Dema Group, a company based in Naples, Italy, there, virtual tools are giving them greater control over the development of composite parts. The company uses a software application called FiberSIM when it designs composite parts. FiberSIM works with computer-aided design (CAD) systems to include non-geometric data in models. Like FiberSIM, ADE software contains more than the geometry of the CAD model. As described by the company in its promotional literature, the software captures all nongeometric information related to parts, assemblies, joints, and fasteners. Software from Vistagy adds manufacturing information to models of composite parts and guides the laying of plies in the Dema Group factory. EON Reality has developed products for use in retail settings for the virtual design of apartment interiors and the customization of Suzuki motorcycles. In a video demonstration, the user’s hands give the commands that configure walls, place machinery, and define traffic flows.
Filling the Void
Authors: Wolcott Barbara
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the ways to increase number of female engineers and reasons for the need. Women’s experience in society differs from that of men and therefore, may bring a unique perspective to product design. It has been suggested from time to time that product development could benefit from ideas that women collectively could contribute from their perspective. A new study jointly sponsored by the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering finds attrition high among women who express interest in academic science or engineering careers. The National Academies’ study focuses on women with advanced degrees, and the difficulties they face in promotion and even in getting hired at colleges and universities. Psychologists feel that girls need to know their work has value beyond simply having a career and a well-paying job. The shrinking pool of U.S. engineering graduates puts them into a special employment category. Some are flown to sites to get a special tour to encourage them to sign up before graduation.
Into the Fold
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the need for improvement in product lifecycle management (PLM) interoperation. PLM interoperation would allow companies to work with the best tools for its business and not be limited in communicating with customers and suppliers. PLM systems are getting a fresh look and one should expect to see more of the type now often called end-to-end open systems. The secret is the middleware, dubbed service-oriented architecture (SOA), which links all these applications in an interconnected web. IBM introduced plans for its Product Development Integration Framework, which will tie all business applications via SOA to create an end-to-end, open PLM system. The company is also marketing an enterprise service bus that can loosely couple its own business applications with other applications, which will then operate on the system. According to an expert, by linking research to engineering, Samsung’s products could hit the market quicker than if the two functions worked separately, and products could be designed in ways that had only just been conceptualized.
Where Does CAM Stand?
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article describes various engineering ways to use computers in manufacturing industry. Streamlining computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) handoff has long been the dream of engineering organizations that face handoff issues every day. The company, Protomold Co. Inc., ties CAD directly with CAM, to do away with requiring a human in the loop. It makes plastic injection-molded parts from customers’ CAD models. A Minnesota company has nearly automated its mold making. Software designs the mold automatically and automatically commands milling machines. The article also highlights that CAM systems of the future should include easy workarounds that any company could use to customize the software. Like other computer-aided engineering applications, manufacturing software is being pushed forward, although innovation and research is mainly the purview of academics. Researchers are focusing on considering rapid prototyping for making CAD and CAM work together in future.
Are Your People Firefighters?
Authors: Doucet Mia
Published: July 2018

This article describes management and business strategy while working with Asian employees. Asians love challenges as they think it is their job. If fact, they are so good at what they do that if there is no challenge, they feel they are not justifying their salaries. Experts highlight that informal meetings do three things: They break Asian taboos on business meeting protocol; they put us at a disadvantage because Asians are strategic thinkers, focused on the long term; they ignore the fact that Asians do not tolerate mistakes for all sorts of cultural reasons. Asians don’t have the mentality that if something goes sideways in a meeting, they’ll fix it on the spot. They don’t like to make mistakes in the first place. One of the best ways to stand out from the competition is to come to meetings prepared to do business the Asian way. There are five steps to follow: plan with the long term in mind; spend time on the details; come prepared to discuss potential problems; project potential risks into the future; and build consensus with others on your team prior to the formal meeting to present a common front.
Solid X-ray
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article presents details of research and development in the field of medical treatments using rapid prototyping. Many physicians are turning to rapid prototyping because it can give them models of their patients’ internal organs or bones. The plastic models are essentially printed in three dimensions from a patient’s computer tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans. The 3D models let doctors see and touch the diseased part of a patient’s anatomy as they will see it in the operating room. A medical team is adding a new technique called electron-beam melting, which relies upon melted titanium powder to produce implantable metal devices from CT-scan information. The technology, from Arcam of Boras, Sweden, builds up the metal parts via rapid prototyping. RP4Baghdad is a humanitarian effort founded in mid-2005 by members of the U.S. rapid prototyping and manufacturing industry. It calls upon rapid prototyping techniques to help treat Iraqi civilians with severe injuries to the head and face.
Tracing the Second Law
Authors: Butler Howard W.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the evolution in the field of thermodynamics. In the 19th century, James Joule, an English physicist, discovered the equivalence of heat and work, and the First Law of Thermodynamics was firmly established. The Second Law developed in phases over some 125 years. It is one of the most abstract laws of physical science and is the bane of students and others who try to understand its complexity. The first phase in the evolution of the Second Law is older than Joule's work and is due to Sadi Carnot. Carnot published his results in a book, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, in 1824. The second phase in the evolution of the Second Law took place in 1849, when William Thomson studied Carnot's work. The third phase of the evolution of the Second Law was carried out by a German professor of mathematical physics, Rudolf Clausius, who became aware of the work of Carnot, Joule, and Kelvin in 1850. A fourth phase in the development of the Second Law was carried out by Lars Onsager in 1931. The fifth phase in the evolution of the Second Law was developed by Ilya Prigogine in 1945. The Second Law is a statement that the entropy content of a system may be increased or decreased by entropy exchanges with the environment, but may only be increased as irreversibilities cause entropy creation.
Containing Risk
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article discusses innovative ways for transporting hazardous materials. Many materials classified as hazardous are not directly toxic to human beings, but represent risks to the environment. Hazardous materials include whiskey, contaminated soil, and motor oil. Researchers have found new insulating materials that will take up less room and still give the same thermal protection, or perhaps better. The project is investigating materials from companies that include Microthermal and Aspen Aerogels. Reducing the thickness of insulation material leaves space for new materials to add strength to the car. The shipper, the tank car maker, and the rail operator have joined forces for stronger cars, and now they have government support, too. Dow looks at alternative ways of doing business to reduce the need to ship hazardous materials. According to an expert, one solution, along these lines, brought about a safer way to handle one customer's shipments of acrolein.
Junking the Joystick
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

Medical researchers have discovered that the best way to operate microscale devices is through intuitive controls. According to researchers, a joystick can be very disruptive, instead, if it feels like you're holding on to the handle of an instrument and it's just following your hand; it's completely intuitive. A system developed by Johns Hopkins University translates hand movements into motions that are smooth and precise enough to inject minuscule arteries. The steady hands system is still a laboratory curiosity, to be sure. However, it has shown great promise in the experiments Taylor and his colleagues have performed to date. A microdevice that the team has built has displayed five-micrometer precision. A microscale device could make this near-impossible task routine by injecting blood thinner directly into the affected vessel. One issue that would have to be worked out, however, is immobilizing the patient: even motion calibrated to mere micrometers could do damage if the patient's eyeball moves.
Crystal Ball For Business
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on developments in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The way companies acquire ERP services in the future will likely change radically, too. Midsize companies can expect to say goodbye to the large-scale systems and their steep training curves by letting someone else house the system and worry about maintenance. ERP systems link manufacturing with business processes like new orders, purchasing, credit, accounting, supply chain management, and planning. Vendors are looking to catch the attention of potential clients and get them back on board and away from the workaround. Businesse s looking for the capabilities that ERP can give them minus its headaches will more often turn to outside services. In an outsourcing scenario, a company uses some or all the modules in an ERP system over a secure network link to the service's computer center. Although ERP systems have been perceived as clunky and expensive of late, the industry is far from moribund. In fact, the applications are becoming nimbler and have the potential to become even more practical in the years ahead.
Tying Two Forces
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on software upgrades that have made analyzing for fluid and structural interaction easier and more common than in the past but not much quicker. So common is fluid-structure analysis today that many finite element analysis packages offer ways for an engineer to model both the structural and fluid forces that affect a design. Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis lets mechanical engineers study how fluid flow around or through a part or assembly can affect performance. To make sure the fan effectively cools electronic parts, the engineer must look at how fan design affects airflow through the computer. Because FSI solutions are so computer intensive, hardware costs play a role in making FSI more manageable; and hardware costs have been coming down in the past 5 years, a computer that now costs $1,000 would have nm about $10,000 only five years ago.
Straight and True
Authors: Woods Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that the craftsmen of early firearms advanced the standard of precision manufacturing. Barrel making has gone on to evolve the complex machine tools that are now used in such familiar products as heat exchangers and gasoline engines. Cannon boring was a technology already well understood decades before the siege of Orleans. A cannon barrel began as a casting having a cavity large enough to allow the use of a robust boring bar. Chip removal required frequent extraction and reinsertion of bits. In Europe, straightness was sometimes checked by running a taut wire down the barrel and sighting on it through the bore. Bends were removed by hammering straight. Pioneers learned to depend on hunting rifles to provide meat for their tables. The American long rifle was one of the finest examples of the precision that could be attained by craftsmen who worked with hand tools and were armed only with their versatility and ingenuity. Probably only clockwork was a more demanding example of metalworking.
Extra Credit
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on petroleum industry that is on the cusp of an incredible youth movement. It is because of the steep run-up in oil prices in the past few years, which has created a demand for engineers who can tap into the increasingly hard-to-reach fields. Halliburton has invested in simulator training facilities and creating a space on the Internet for workers in the field to share best practices. The goal is to have a consistent level of quality through the organization. With the average petroleum engineer closing in on retirement age, the students in Camp Bevo are going to be decision makers very early in their careers. Forming a positive impression now could reap enormous benefits for Halliburton down the line. It is a strategy that consumer products companies have long known—early brand associations can be the most enduring.
50 Years of Nuclear Power
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the Atomic Age that announced itself to the world with the destruction of two Japanese cities in 1945. After the first bomb fell, on Hiroshima in August, mankind suddenly realized that it possessed a new technology of unprecedented destructive power. In 1948, Untermyer transferred to the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The lab traced its origins to Enrico Fermi, who with Leo Szilard had been first to demonstrate a nuclear chain reaction only six years earlier. Argonne was the first national laboratory with the mission of developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Untermyer left General Electric (GE) in 1964 to find the National Nuclear Equipment Corp. to design and manufacture equipment for the nuclear industry. He was awarded several more patents. GE’s Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor also makes use of passive systems. According to GE, the reactor has more than 72 hours of passive running capability, and its simplified systems make it cheaper to build and run.
Cut Correctly
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses engineering initiatives to develop a metal cutting machine that helps program itself and trim manufacturing costs. The smart machine, which was predicted be ready for its debut by mid-2010, would save manufacturers’ time and expense by greatly reducing waste and by speeding the machine-cutting process. The smart machine, with the help of its onboard software, will know the best way to make a part. It will generate its own cutting tool path based on that information and its own tool list. The goal of this smart machine is to use software and hardware in a way to create a machine that constantly monitors itself and conveys vital information to the operator and process planner. Engineers are creating process and structural dynamics simulation models. A process planner would use the models to simulate various scenarios before manufacturing begins. The chapter also highlights that the overall smart machining challenge now is to develop sensors that will monitor a machine and give vital feedback to the process models that need that information.
Big Stage For a Small Idea
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This review focuses on engineering initiatives in manufacturing submillimeter parts with micrometer-scale features. Conventional rapid prototyping is not very dimensionally accurate, but newer processes are closing the gap. New micromilling machines can produce an array of tiny features with accuracies measured in micrometers. The chapter highlights various efforts by different companies in the field of micromachining and other micromanufacturing processes. American Society of Mechanical Engineers member Dick DeVor and his team of researchers received a grant from the National Science Foundation to demonstrate a machine that could mill parts with micrometer-scale features. A three-year grant followed, enabling the researchers to improve the technology and probe the radical differences between micromachining and conventional milling. In addition, a microfactory has been developed by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, which links several small delta robots that can assemble three parts per second with 5-micrometer accuracy.
Mems: Lessons for Nano
Authors: Grace Roger H.
Published: July 2018

This paper analyzes the first commercialization report card to reflect the changes in the MEMS industry, which affect its performance. As MEMS has learned a great deal from the semiconductor industry, nanotechnology should learn from MEMS. Nanotechnology still will need venture capital money, which may prove especially challenging in raising the current financial market conditions. As an industry, it will need to create standards and road maps to help guide the participants. The MEMS report card has demonstrated a few significant advances in addressing the 14 critical success factors that are important in achieving successful commercialization. It is suggested that individuals interested in the commercialization of nanotechnology to become students of the evolution of both the semiconductor and MEMS industries.