#engineering

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IBM and Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the area of science and innovation concerned with material

IBM and Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the area of science and innovation concerned with material of less than 100 nanometers. Specifically, it involves the control and manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. On this day in 1979, IBM created the smallest electronic circuit elements ever reported. The nano devices had a thickness of only 100 by 200 atomic diameters – that’s smaller than the fibers of a human nerve. This breakthrough was one of the first steps in the still-ongoing development of nanotechnology. Today, IBM scientists continue to explore and improve the design of semiconductors and computer chips, making them smaller, smarter and more energy efficient. It’s another way IBM is investing in practical technology development for the future.

Learn more about nanotechnology ->


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IBM 3525 Card Punch: Innovating an InnovationIBM was one of the first companies to begin manufacturi

IBM 3525 Card Punch: Innovating an Innovation

IBM was one of the first companies to begin manufacturing punched cards. For almost four decades, punched cards were the major medium for storing, sorting and reporting data processed first through punched card equipment and—later—computers. Colloquially known as “IBM cards,” the punched cards were so embedded in business operations that by the 1950s, they represented over 20% of IBM’s revenue. On this day in 1971, IBM announced a new version of the IBM 3525 Card Punch replacing incandescent lamps with LEDs—a new technology at the time—to read punched cards. While the punched card may now be a thing of the past, LEDs are as relevant as ever, with new applications being actively developed. In retrospect, with a bit of serendipity, one great innovation passed the baton to another.

Learn more about the long history of the punched card ->


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Putting Twiga Foods on the BlockchainBased in Nairobi, Kenya, Twiga Foods is a business-to-business

Putting Twiga Foods on the Blockchain

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Twiga Foods is a business-to-business logistics platform for food stalls and kiosks. Twiga helps farmers distribute bananas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and more to 2,600 kiosks across Kenya. But they realized that they could help farmers sell more produce if they gave them access to capital, credit and other financial services. Working together with IBM, Twiga Foods developed a machine learning-powered, blockchain-enabled finance lending platform that is designed to manage and track micro-loans to farmers and vendors in Africa to help stimulate the economy and benefit its users. During an eight-week pilot program, Twiga’s service conducted 220 micro-loans (the average size of each loan is about $30, or 3,020 KES), which helped increase order size by 30% and profits for each retailer, on average, by about 6%. IBM is excited to help promote social good and use technology to bring positive change to these regional markets.

Learn more about Twiga Foods and its blockchain-powered micro-loan service ->


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Engineering the Sydney Opera House ArchesToday in 1973, the iconic Sydney Opera House was completed.

Engineering the Sydney Opera House Arches

Today in 1973, the iconic Sydney Opera House was completed. One of the unsung heroes behind this marvel of human engineering was a Frenchman named Joe Bertony. Bertony designed the truss that supports the famous arches. Because each arch was differently curved, the mathematical equations required were extremely complex. So complex, in fact, that Bertony conducted over 30,000 separate equations to figure out how much stress could be applied to the arch structure. Because of this complexity – and because the margin of error could be no more than half an inch – a computer was required to double-check each of his brilliant equations. At the time, the only computer powerful enough was the IBM 7090, which was selected for the task. IBM is proud to have supported the construction of this amazing building and to continue supporting human ingenuity to create amazing things.

Learn more about the story of building the Sydney Opera House ->


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01/12/2021

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One of the best months of the year is starting today! I’m currently very busy studying for my exam this weekend ^^

Day 63/?

25/11/2021

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Today could have been better :/ But I did do some fun activities

Day 58/?

Why is breath sometimes cold and sometimes warm? (”hoo vs. haa”)

Hold your hand about a half foot (15 cm) from your mouth and open your mouth wide and blow air like you are fogging up a mirror. (”haa”) Your breath should feel warm. Now purse your lips and blow out. (”hoo”) Your breath should now feel cold. If you bring your hand closer to your mouth by about a centimeter away and blow out through pursed lips then your breath should feel warm again.
Why is this?

The air from your exhale is generally warmer than the ambient air outside your mouth. When your lips are pursed then the air is moving at higher speeds than with your mouth open. At these higher speeds the air from the exhale drags along the cooler still air due to friction. The breath air thus is doing work on this cooler so it also looses energy resulting in lower temperature. So overall the added cooler air and decreased temperature makes your breath feel cooler.

At distances closer to your mouth the warm breath air has yet to lose enough energy or drag along any cooler air so the breath still feels warm. With your mouth open the air is slower and takes up a larger volume so the majority of the air that reaches your hand is warm.

materialsscienceandengineering: Scientists break record for highest-temperature superconductor: Expe

materialsscienceandengineering:

Scientists break record for highest-temperature superconductor: Experiment produces new material that can conduct electricity perfectly

University of Chicago scientists are part of an international research team that has discovered superconductivity–the ability to conduct electricity perfectly–at the highest temperatures ever recorded.

[…]

Using advanced technology at UChicago-affiliated Argonne National Laboratory, the team studied a class of materials in which they observed superconductivity at temperatures of about minus-23 degrees Celsius (minus-9 degrees Fahrenheit)–a jump of about 50 degrees compared to the previous confirmed record.

Though the superconductivity happened under extremely high pressure, the result still represents a big step toward creating superconductivity at room temperature–the ultimate goal for scientists to be able to use this phenomenon for advanced technologies. The results were published May 23 in the journal Nature; Vitali Prakapenka, a research professor at the University of Chicago, and Eran Greenberg, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago, are co-authors of the research.

Read more.


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Many of you may recognize this photo of the x-ray diffraction pattern of DNA found by Rosalind Franklin and her PhD student, Raymond Gosling. But, you may wonder how one could figure out from this image that DNA is structured as a double helix and even how x-ray crystallography works. 

X-Ray Crystallography

X-ray crystallography is a method of determining the positions and arrangements of atoms in a crystal. Crystals are usually defined to be a highly ordered and repeating microscopic structure of a solid rather than the macroscopic crystals we know like quartz which actually tend to be “polycrystals” because at a microscopic level they do have the highly ordered structure required. Ice is also a polycrystal composed of many smaller ice crystals.

1.) X-ray beams are shot at the crystals

The x-rays interact with electrons of the atoms. This interaction or collision is typically modeled by Thomson scattering where the energy and thus frequency of the x-rays do not change after diffraction. This is similar to light going through a diffraction grating.

2.) Beam is diffracted

The x-rays are diffracted based on the crystal lattice structure of the substance. This is dependent on the characteristics of the bonds between atoms like the bond angles and bond lengths. Also the spacing between molecules also determines the diffraction.

3.) Diffraction pattern

The diffracted x-rays are light waves so they interfere both constructively and destructively. The resulting intensities of the x-rays are recorded on a screen behind the sample to create a diffraction pattern. The sample is rotated to take more data. After sufficient data is taken a model for the crystal structure for the sample can be developed. With a diffraction pattern an electron density map can be made which depicts the location and size of electron clouds in the substance. 

Above is an example of an electron density map.

Sources & Read more: (1)    (2)

As someone who used to play the bass guitar, I can’t believe I didn’t know how a guitarpickup works. The basic idea is actually relatively simple but the complexity comes when engineering the sound we hear from Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and B.B. King.

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The mechanism is centered around Faraday’s Law of Induction. The guitar pickup in its simplest form is a permanent magnet(s) wrapped in a coil of wire. A permanent magnet is made from a ferromagnetic material (like iron) which is a special type of material where the “magnetic domains” are aligned with an external applied magnetic field. 

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The role of the permanent magnet is to magnetize the guitar string because it is also a ferromagnetic material like nickel or steel. When you pluck the string it vibrates and results in an oscillating(changing)magnetic flux through the coil. Because of Faraday’s Law of Induction this induces a signal(changing voltage) and thus current which is read by the amp to reverse engineer it into sound. Check out thisappletfrom the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory for a visual.

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Since the string’s movement determines the signal picked up, the pickups receive a strong signal when directly under a part of the string moving with a large amplitude and frequency. So when it is directly under a node(where the string doesn’t move) like in the above picture (for the 7th harmonic), one of the pickups gets a very weak or possibly no signal. So in a way the pickups act as filtersfor the different harmonics depending on their placements which is key to the sounds we hear in the music. So as you can see the exact engineering can become extremely complicated

Read more…National Mag LabGuitar Worldmore on harmonics here

materialsscienceandengineering:Giant lasers crystallize water with shockwaves, revealing the atomi

materialsscienceandengineering:

Giant lasers crystallize water with shockwaves, revealing the atomic structure of superionic ice

Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) used giant lasers to flash-freeze water into its exotic superionic phase and record X-ray diffraction patterns to identify its atomic structure for the very first time—all in just a few billionths of a second. The findings are reported today in Nature.

In 1988, scientists first predicted that waterwould transition to an exotic state of matter characterized by the coexistence of a solid lattice of oxygen and liquid-like hydrogen—superionic ice—when subjected to the extreme pressures and temperatures that exist in the interior of water-rich giant planets like Uranus and Neptune. These predictions remained in place until 2018, when a team led by scientists from LLNL presented the first experimental evidence for this strange state of water.

Now, the LLNL scientists describe new results. Using laser-driven shockwaves and in-situ X-ray diffraction, they observe the nucleation of a crystalline lattice of oxygen in a few billionths of a second, revealing for the first time the microscopic structure of superionic ice.

Read more.


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fuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years nfuckyeahfluiddynamics: Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years n

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years now. It’s about the life and work of Agnes Pockels, a woman born in the mid-nineteenth century who, despite a lack of formal scientific training, made major contributions to the understanding of surface tension and to the experimental apparatuses and methodologies used in surface chemistry in general. She accomplished all of this not in a scientific lab, but from her kitchen.

Pockels’ story is one of curiosity, determination, and meticulous scientific inquiry. Chances are that you’ve never heard of her, but you really should. Check out the full video below to learn more! (Image and video credit: N. Sharp)


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Best thing I’ve seen in ages. Aaah…The way they move!

But then I suppose that’s art & science for you. ^.^

#science    #sculpture    #engineering    
My dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are sMy dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are sMy dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are sMy dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are sMy dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are sMy dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are s

My dad’s engineering notes as requested by an anon (just click on the photo to enlarge). There are still a couple of pages left that I wasn’t able to scan, but if you want to see it, just send me a message. By the way, my dad is elated because his notes made it to Tumblr. I’m pretty sure he already bragged about it to his colleagues.


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I always thought that I was the most obsessive-compulsive person in the family when it came to lectu

I always thought that I was the most obsessive-compulsive person in the family when it came to lecture notes. Today, my dad proved me wrong and put my notes to shame by showing me his notes from one of his college engineering classes. He even made the borders! #goals


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Meccano motorcycle- this is a good link to STEM for primary school children. Construction and engine

Meccano motorcycle- this is a good link to STEM for primary school children. Construction and engineering skills are targeted and children feel a sense of achievement at the end #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo #STEM #stem #science #engineering


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For years, I worked for a company that sold these flat files. Mostly metal ones, but every now and tFor years, I worked for a company that sold these flat files. Mostly metal ones, but every now and t

For years, I worked for a company that sold these flat files. Mostly metal ones, but every now and then, we sold a wood file. This one is HUGE, and gorgeous.


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yahoodevelopers:

By Mohit Goenka, Gnanavel Shanmugam, and Lance Welsh

At Yahoo Mail, we’re constantly striving to upgrade our product experience. We do this not only by adding new features based on our members’ feedback, but also by providing the best technical solutions to power the most engaging experiences. As such, we’ve recently introduced a number of novel and unique revisions to the way in which we use Redux that have resulted in significant stability and performance improvements. Developers may find our methods useful in achieving similar results in their apps.

Improvements to product metrics

Last year Yahoo Mail implemented a brand new architecture using Redux. Since then, we have transformed the overall architecture to reduce latencies in various operations, reduce JavaScript exceptions, and better synchronized states. As a result, the product is much faster and more stable.

Stability improvements:

  • when checking for new emails – 20%
  • when reading emails – 30%
  • when sending emails – 20%

Performance improvements:

  • 10% improvement in page load performance
  • 40% improvement in frame rendering time

We have also reduced API calls by approximately 20%.

How we use Redux in Yahoo Mail

Redux architecture is reliant on one large store that represents the application state. In a Redux cycle, action creators dispatch actions to change the state of the store. React Components then respond to those state changes. We’ve made some modifications on top of this architecture that are atypical in the React-Redux community.

For instance, when fetching data over the network, the traditional methodology is to use Thunk middleware. Yahoo Mail fetches data over the network from our API. Thunks would create an unnecessary and undesirable dependency between the action creators and our API. If and when the API changes, the action creators must then also change. To keep these concerns separate we dispatch the action payload from the action creator to store them in the Redux state for later processing by “action syncers”. Action syncers use the payload information from the store to make requests to the API and process responses. In other words, the action syncers form an API layer by interacting with the store. An additional benefit to keeping the concerns separate is that the API layer can change as the backend changes, thereby preventing such changes from bubbling back up into the action creators and components. This also allowed us to optimize the API calls by batching, deduping, and processing the requests only when the network is available. We applied similar strategies for handling other side effects like route handling and instrumentation. Overall, action syncers helped us to reduce our API calls by ~20% and bring down API errors by 20-30%.

Another change to the normal Redux architecture was made to avoid unnecessary props. The React-Redux community has learned to avoid passing unnecessary props from high-level components through multiple layers down to lower-level components (prop drilling) for rendering. We have introduced action enhancers middleware to avoid passing additional unnecessary props that are purely used when dispatching actions. Action enhancers add data to the action payload so that data does not have to come from the component when dispatching the action. This avoids the component from having to receive that data through props and has improved frame rendering by ~40%. The use of action enhancers also avoids writing utility functions to add commonly-used data to each action from action creators.

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In our new architecture, the store reducers accept the dispatched action via action enhancers to update the state. The store then updates the UI, completing the action cycle. Action syncers then initiate the call to the backend APIs to synchronize local changes.

Conclusion

Our novel use of Redux in Yahoo Mail has led to significant user-facing benefits through a more performant application. It has also reduced development cycles for new features due to its simplified architecture. We’re excited to share our work with the community and would love to hear from anyone interested in learning more.

For This is Engineering Day the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) released a video where they highlight all the ways different types of engineers make a difference to the world. Watch the video below. 


By Idha Valeur

The second This is Engineering Day will this year happen on Wednesday 4 November 2020 as part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2020 – with this year’s theme being ‘Be the difference’.

With the main aim to inspire and give more young people the opportunity to pursue a career in engineering, regardless of their background, the RAEng is now encouraging engineers, companies and organisations to get involved with the imitative to contribute ideas and ways to present how they make a difference. This could be via social media, events or other activities. 

‘As young people prepare to take their key exams and think about career choices, it’s vital that they don’t miss out on opportunities to ‘Be the Difference’ though engineering just because they don’t realise what engineering careers really offer,’ the Royal Academy of Engineering Chief Executive, Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, said. 

Sillem added that so far, more than 150 companies and organisations have already agreed to help the academy in showcasing how different and diverse the profession is. ‘We continue our work to transform the image of engineering so that many more talented young people from all backgrounds can see a future for themselves in this vital and rewarding profession.’  

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