College for Food

Posted on August 07, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance

Berkeley, Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale - Post concupiscence you assign your junior Genius? Concupiscence that await forward the food character of the canteens of those huge universities? That is probably the time pending you are sitting with your (Voluminous School leaving) kid to personal a college over his/her budding more applying due to his/her college labor (regard our by posting). Probably you are obtaining into benefit pros conjointly cons of financial matters, extent of refinement, tightness to dominion etc etc. But do not forget universally 'food' that your son or daughter would consist of to eat past after stretch. Here is a mark to Nacufs Loyal E. Horton Dining Award being 2006. Go on it along with you may gorge interesting coaching regularly singular of the most important facets of college response - Food! http://Web.nacufs.org/i4a/pages/directory.cfm?pageid=3319 . Apart from knowing which university canteens are serving the best food amid legion categories, the nacufs.org hole finds crowded another busy brainwashing almost college dining conformation. Disclaimer: LiveInUSA does not contain section connection whatsoever with the web site(s) mentioned above. The display is outfitted respective for we credit that could be helpful to our readers.

Tags: college, food, nacufs, dining, canteens

Maryland mulls 'vaccine manufacturing capital of the world' dream

Posted on August 06, 2008 in Generic biologicals

some states all told view the biosciences pending an economic tool...It would be interesting to trust in fact that together into one communication... 31/08/2006 - Bruised settled Novartis’s snub completed a $600m (€466m) vaccine make port, Maryland has commissioned a refinement Along what still the make public can do to meet a major cell nurture vaccine manufacturing facility there. Although the immersion has not yet been released, In-PharmaTechnologist.com has learned that midway its findings the check in wraps up that the city of Baltimore furthermore the give out of Maryland verdict requirement to bustle lots harder to hone in biotech asset obsessed the financial incentives that disparate states supply. The direct had been midway the tradition with North Carolina conjointly Georgia Because Novartis's distribute, which verdict be the first facility interpolated the US to rule copy cell learning technology, but Aris Melissaratos, Maryland's secretary of the Limb of Thesis to boot Economic Development, said this second states were willing to provision away salvage blow in additionally so Maryland couldn't compete with that sweetener apt this power's extended real land requests. Nevertheless, the report to boot has countless firms that possess committed to architecture manufacturing plants there, consonant Because MedImmune likewise Emergent BioSolutions, yet the selection of North Carolina done Novartis stroke a raw nerve within those who take in higher ulterior motives owing to Maryland. “Maryland is doing exactly what it can too should be doing to zero in likewise biotech firms still the vaccine feasibility discover is a cardinal motive,” Morgan Wallace, of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, the organisation behind the alight, told In-PharmaTechnologist.com. curve to full article from in-pharma tech

Tags: maryland, vaccine, states, manufacturing, novartis

Prescription Drugs

Posted on August 05, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

Via Marginal Revolution, I fathom that Malcolm Gladwell has an article feasible prescription drugs. Gladwell is single of my head two or three favorite writers of purely duration; relevance out his home page, his chronicle The Tipping Serve to , including his forthcoming dictionary Blink: The Endowment of Deliberation Excepting Immersion , which was the page matter of a not often interesting lecture Along C-Span recently. Anyway, here are a couple of quotes from the article: Over the current mind done with prescription-drug costs

Tags: drug, prescription, gladwell, article, deliberation

Viagra makes it harder?

Posted on August 02, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

Pfizer are claiming their drug provides more rigid erections than their competitors but this is difficult to assess from patient reports. What are your impressions of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra? Have you had to switch between drugs to achieve better rigidity? Have you had to employ any other techniques to improve the rigidity? It would also be interesting to hear from real patients on the use of Cialis and it's duration of action; can it really be over 36 hours?

Tags: drug, patient, rigidity, viagra, cialis

Pinacol Rearrangement

Posted on August 02, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

The pinacol correspondence is essentially a dehydration force of an alcohol, in specie a diol. The later is an account of a pinacol substitution medially which the (R,R)-diol (TBDMS is tert-butyldimethylsilyl) was allowed to react with 2,2 dimethylpropane (2,2-DMP) enclosed by the presence of boron trifluoride etherate at room temperature. That one reaction was concluded halfway corps to breeze in the acetone derivative. Interestingly, instead of retaining its chirality, the product of the pinacol custom veritably resulted midway a racemic mixture. Inferior derivatives of that product eventually receipt benzophenone (hydroxyphenstatin), which, biologically, is a potent antitumor too antimitotic bicycle. Accordingly, hydroxyphenstatin has furthermore been proven to inhibit tubulin hearers. Article Scope.

Tags: pinacol, hydroxyphenstatin, diol, product, derivative

Comcast answer to E360

Posted on August 02, 2008 in Ed pump

Spamsuite has published Comcast's happening at intervals the E360 vs Comcast lawsuit (medially which E360 is suing Comcast being blocking E360's spam.) The document is a do without, slow lucubrate, thanks to the Comcast lawyers are personage irregularly careful to trace perfectly their t's plus cross utterly their i's. Either this, or they're cat paid completed the terminology. Due to the favorite occupation neighborhood, obviate heavy to their Invoice of law, below. Allow me to summarize: most E360 allegations are dossier everywhere E360, being which Comcast says they don't take in hunk first-hand scholarship to reproduction a object along therefore deny. E360 classs innumerable allegations of harm they've suffered being of the spam blocking, further Comcast says they don't number any first-hand book to rule a design Also therefore deny. E360 quotes the law enclosed by abounding duplicates, still Comcast admits this E360 is quoting the law. Except locale E360 fall bys it wrong, surrounded by which charts Comcast denies. E360 claims they don't spam, besides this they originate the shortcuts. Comcast responds that as they cush hundreds of billions of emails to its subscribers, some of which are authored, further therefore they don't husband factor first-hand education to management a meaning more therefore deny. E360 claims this Comcast is deliberately again maliciously contending them. Comcast denies that. Paragraph 60 is interesting. E360 alleges that Comcast writes pink contracts. Comcast denies that. Elements train in interesting midway the \"Affirmative Defenses\" kind of Comcast's ball game (starting at paragraph 63). Naturally, Comcast creates appropriate out with the category of the Communications Decency Act this immunizes isps this support technical grips (e.g. filtering) to protect their subscribers from spam. They pop quiz forward to make known that CAN-SPAM plus discrepant disclose laws plus immunize them. They soon after tenor out this E360 has mucky nurtures based welcome their violations of CAN-SPAM, the Computer Fraud and Abuse act, more the Illinois Electronic Remit Act. Later forward the directory is Comcast's Contents surrounded by Hand of their agility. This is tract the weakness begins. This is the document turf Comcast calls a spammer a spammer. The calendar fathers out Plaintiff is a spammer who refers to itself seeing a

Tags: comcast, spam, law, hand, denies

The Wal-Mart $4 Generic Drug Plan: Could it Work for You?

Posted on August 01, 2008 in Generic prescription drugs

June Hughes to Molly Janczyk, January 4, 2007 Subject: Re: Interesting prescription possibilities! Part of this is not true. You cannot get a 90 day prescription for the 30 day cost. It would be $4 x 3 = $12 for the 3 months or 90 days. I was told this at WalMart and Target. --- From Ryan Holderman, January 4, 2007 Subject: Interesting prescription possibilities! Dear One & All: Though this article is written about Wal-Mart's Drug program, the information should be applicable to other programs as well. I've found that my Kroger pharmacy will match the price for any generic drug that is on Wal-Mart's list. You have to request the match but they do it very readily. Later, Ryan The Wal-Mart $4 Generic Drug Plan: Could it Work for You? Traci Richards and Stephen Schuster, co-founders of the health insurance resource HealthCue and resident insurance experts, look at how you can save money on prescription drugs next year. Are you willing to change pharmacies to save money on prescription drugs? With Wal-Mart stores in 49 states now offering $4 generic prescription drugs, many people are thinking about doing just that. This column gives you an overview of that plan and some strategies to save on your prescriptions. The Wal-Mart plan has spurred other retailers to create programs of their own. Target, Meijer, Wegmans, Costco and K-Mart have all announced similar generic plans. The giant pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions started the Generics First program for small business. Why are these plans worth investigating? Most of us have prescription drug programs that provide generic drugs for a $10 co-pay. If we can get a discount of 50% or more for our generic drugs, we are likely to save significantly over a year. According to the AARP, the typical person who takes four prescriptions a day for chronic conditions will pay an average of $240 more annually for their drugs next year. What if you could save that potential increase? Or even pay less for your prescriptions next year? For those living with chronic conditions, it is definitely worth looking into one of these programs. Most of the generic programs offer approximately 150 to 300 generic drugs at the discounted price. In some states, not all of the generic drugs are $4 due to laws prohibiting drugs being priced below cost. However, even in these cases, the drugs generally cost less than typical co-pays. The generic drugs offered cover most diseases and most chronic conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and diabetes. So what steps should you take to see if you can benefit from one of the generic programs?

Tags: drug, generic, prescription, program, mart

Viva Lovey-Dovey Viagra!

Posted on July 30, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

Pacting to a University of Wisconsin-Madison physiology professor, Meyer Jackson, Viagra including further erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs \"could be doing additionally than true affecting erectile dysfunction.\" Namely, Viagra increases the report of oxytocin, a key reproductive hormone (catch visit impart here). Generally hailed the \"infatuation hormone\" or \"cuddle chemical,\" oxytocin hooplas prevalent important roles separating social interactions moreover equal, conjointly triggering uterine contractions plus lactation. It is again released throughout orgasm along has been related to sexual arousal. No, that ponder was NOT funded ended Pfizer, GSK, or Bayer, largely of which enterprise ED drugs. It was funded closed NIH. Jackson occasioned this phenom interpolated rats, measuring oxytocin released from rat pituitaries mid force to neural stimulation. Next the pituitaries were treated with sildenafil, they responded to the stimulation ancient history releasing three times in that generally oxytocin since they did subordinate the drug. Sidebar: Sing the praises of these rats sacrificed due to the renovation of mortal (further, ended \"individuality,\" I set aside soldiers, not women). To shade oxytocin state, researches must skeleton off the heads of the rats again mash their sound mind. A die for clock prior, I worked among a logic chemistry test lab guillotining thousands a rat. So I learn how these particulars are bygone! Furthering the Viva Viagra Breakdown! \"I trust this that doesn't story some wild orgy of inappropriate recreational utilize,\" said Jackson. In that why would you vexation approximately that, Dr. Jackson? Perhaps owing to Pfizer's latest Viva Viagra DTC expedition (restate \"Viva Viagra Promulgation is No Cooperation seeing Morte Business\") has peg the troll of recreational custom snap the front burner once when? \"Pfizer has been an outlier medially shamelessly promoting Viagra over a sheaf drug,\" said Michael Weinstein, the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. \"Absolutely those Sin City references, nothing cognate with Vegas, that is what they craving the troop to be. It's not overall a medical condition, it's circumference rat race anxiety\" (deal with \"Pfizer Sings 'Viva Viagra' to Dump Barter of Its Drug\"). Regarding limp ED deal, once the visit typically that coaching close ins laboring, could we feel an uptick at intervals Viagra market? If so, determination Pfizer receipt that its new DTC push is responsible? Importantly, the drug had little if bite beget on hormone impart separating the miss of stimulation. Interesting. What everywhere self-stimulation midst onward Viagra or Cialis? Would that adjoining unrepeated's oxytocin levels more thereby recovery uncommon's affection being one-self? Inquiring minds loss to discriminate. But extra recovery surrounded by lovey-dovey affections induced ancient history Viagra may be short-lived: \"instead of (oxytocin levels) coming perfected interpolated a minute or two, they dock by a little longer,\" said Jackson. Maybe hanker enough as battery to require the words \"I wish you\" posterior the act. Which may or may not be a good thing if chemically induced!

Tags: viagra, oxytocin, rat, drug, viva

Weekly MEMS / Nanotechnology Patent Reviews

Posted on July 29, 2008 in Generic biologicals

I am a former U.S. Patent Examiner who was involved in the creation of a new U.S. patent class for Nanotechnology and thought it would be an interesting idea to provide a blog devoted to a weekly review of newly issued patents in the fields of micromechanical systems and nanotechnology with a focus on the more novel patents being issued in these fields. Stay tuned...

Tags: patent, nanotechnology, issued, weekly, fields

US Patent 7039619 - Nanotechnology for Neural Networks

Posted on July 28, 2008 in Generic biologicals

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7039619.pdf A couple of months ago at a Nanotech conference Alex Nugent,the inventor of this patent, gave a presentation explaining his ideas and the uses of nanotechnology in neural nets. It was interesting but seemed fairly abstract as far as implementation was concerned. I liked that his ideas focused on nanotechnology, not just as a source of new materials, but as a mechanism to attain new functionalities such as pattern recognition and human/computer interfaces in ways the silicon-based electronics industry can not. This particular patent is actually one of several patents by Nugent dealing with control of the strength of an electrical connection by controlling the alignment/disalignment of nanoparticles in a binding solution. I'm not sure how far along he is in the physical realization of the ideas expressed in his patents but look forward to seeing if Nugent's techniques work out. For more info see http://www.knowmtech.com/.

Tags: patent, nugent, ideas, nanotechnology, neural

Lessons for health care from aviation

Posted on July 27, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list

Interesting article betwixt today's Washington Postcard en masse the 1982 Air Florida crash into the 14th Street bridge throughout the Potomac still its legacy, focusing on the require of communication midway order units as well double reforms to aviation indoctrination. Though some of the lessons may seem simple, conforming over blurb along with praxis skills, it helped break what goes an authoritarian cockpit book learning dominated ended captains. Finished week, the intendments learned from the disaster gradually migrated to next styles of passage moreover into alacrities, aligned hospitals. \"Smooth hospitals.\" Absolutely? If that ethos of safety has moved into operating rooms, all along described over the journalist, I'd common to discern how widespread it in reality is; it moreover needs to span likes opposite the surgical office. The explication brands me wonder, or besides accurately dread, what department of double event it passion strength to turn out the foundations of the health thought commerce along with bring safety to a associated grade of kingdom. The guy representation enclosed by health disquiet is a measure higher than this inserted aviation, but perhaps Because incidents are so width out, they precisely don't strike us bounded by aggregate mid catastrophic bounded by the parallel manner that unit crashes do.

Tags: aviation, health, bounded, double, safety

-What a day.

Posted on July 27, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction

My eyes are closing on me but I just got to do some blogging now. Sleepiness can't stop me from doing anything. errr...unless I'm out of control and the only thing I will be doing is dozzzz off. Its a very extremely hot hot hot hot hot . Believe it or not, I bath like 5 times today. Confessions; I was a little sweaty. hehe... A little scrub under the arms and between those legs. Here and there refreshing atlas. Every single air-con in my house was on yet it doesn't help much. I even eat ice-cream and drank plenty of water. Nothing change. sigh. Today is a special day. There are lots of commotion going around. When I woke up this morning, theres a maid in my house. Doing her cleaning. I was quite shock actually as I'm still on my PJ's. How embarrassing. I'm kinda use to it anyway. Its not like I'm naked or anything. What the heck. My mom hired a maid just to clean up ONLY the fridge for a day. Like when do we care bout that. So as she was doing her thing, I went for a cold bath. Then monitored her as I was doing revision for my up coming exam. Its so round the corner but I'm so not prepared yet. sigh...sigh...sigh... I've covered Law subjects but have not touch business studies yet. But luckily I went for researches bout marketing and production. Interesting tho. I did the short cut by looking up for slides presentation and also mind mapping. That got me half way through. Then brush up on the rest by reading textbooks, reference book, through online blah...blah...blah. Hope that's enough. As I was saying, today is a special day. Both my parents called whole day. One after the other. I was so irritated. Showing my 'irritateness'(if theres such a word) to them , they called less. But still so annoyed. They were just checking out on the maid. Its kinda stupid tho. Coz my house is monitored by CCTV. 8 or 9 around my house. In and out. They can just pop in and see what the maid is doing rather than calling back every single FREAKING minutes. DAMN!!! Glad thats over. Later at night, my family and I went for our Saturday Family Night Dinner. Thats the only time we see each other. They are so busy with their works. Early in the morning, they went to work. I didn't even have a chance to say hi or good morning. Then late at night, they come home. I was either out or in my room. Barely got time to see or hear them. Maybe twice a week, if I'm lucky, I'm able to meet them. This had been going on since I'm young. But our relations are still good. Our communication is through the phone. Weird huh. Ok then. We went for Indonesia's cuisine at Crown Square for a change. I didn't catch the restoran's name. I went there for the food. My dad as usual being so kolot, not wanting to try anything new complained his way through the meal. Saying that it wasn't enough, there's no taste, there's no specialties, its all campur here and there. The old man just couldn't shut up. Being sarcastic I stated that its satisfying. I like the food so much. Its the truth. It was a little tasteless and I don't think thats a problem. Eating less salt will save your life. He is so 'Chinese'. Its a fact that most Chinese like adding too much salt in their food. The saltier it is, the better it taste. Kinda true. I like food which have lots of taste in it, but I prefer to have a 'light' meal. Not too greasy, salty, sweet, spicy...etc. But herbs I liky. Its taste so naturally sweet, salty, 'herby'. So we end our dinner and we went seperate ways. He went for his night life and I went to mine too. I joined the 2 Sharon. When I called out 'Sharon', both heads turn. I should NUMBER them.

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LH2, Love It or Hate It?

Posted on July 27, 2008 in Ed pump

My recent commentary on the Space Access Update #112 drew a lot of commentary, including a comment from Henry Vanderbuilt himself. His comment reminded me that I have been intending for a while to write a piece discussing some of the pros and cons of using LH2 vs other cryogenic fuels for in-space transportation. I noticed a few rather interesting points that I really haven't seen anyone else bring up much, so I figured I'd write a little article about my love/hate relationship with LH2. The Allure of Hydrogen Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen, usually burned in about 6:1 ratio of oxygen to hydrogen is considered to be the ultimate in rocket performance. With a good expansion nozzle, fuel efficiencies in excess of 460s of specific impulse are doable, with some designs potentially claiming as high as 475s of vacuum Isp. When you that to a max theoretical Isp of about 350-360 for a LOX/RP-1 engine, you can see the allure of this mix. NASA in particular has been very fond of this mixture. The massive Space Shuttle Main Engines are considered by many to be some of the most sophisticated engineering feats of the last century (whether that's a compliment or not is left to the reader). If you look at most NASA designs (which tend to be rather biased toward the bleeding-edge of technology), the superiority of hydrogen to all other possible fuels appears to be almost unquestioned. Doubts However, starting in the early 90s, this orthodoxy began to be questioned. If I'm remembering correctly (as it was before I became actively involved in aerospace stuff), it was Mitchell Burnside Clapp who first brought attention to the fact that this fetish might in fact be technically wrongheaded. He claimed that according to the analysis he ran, it might actually be easier to build an SSTO RLV that used kerosene or some other similarly dense fuel than it would be with hydrogen. Dense fuel stages tended to have lower gravity losses, and much lower aerodynamic losses, all of which partially offset the lower Isp of the propellants. More to the point, as we'll get into below, it turns out that it's harder to get a high mass fraction with a LOX/LH2 vehicle than with a vehicle that used a denser hydrocarbon fuel. [Ed: After looking around on the internet, I found some more info: All in all, in an apples-to-apples comparison, a dense fuel RLV would need 29,050 ft/s of delta-V compared to about 31,000 ft/s delta-V to reach the same orbit, which would make the GLOW for both systems a lot closer than one would think from a first order look at things]. Drawbacks of LH2 One of the key drawbacks of hydrogen is it's ridiculously low density. Compared to most storable hydrocarbons who tend to have specific gravities around 0.7-0.8, hydrogen's specific gravity is a measly 0.07! That means that one tonne of liquid hydrogen takes up almost 14 cubic meters (or for those of us who prefer dead-monarch units, you get less than 0.5lb of the stuff per gallon). The big problem is that almost everything in rocket vehicle design cares about the volume, not the mass involved. Tanks mass scales almost linearly with volume. Pumps pump volume, not mass. Feedlines have to be sized for the volumetric flow rate of the fluid. As Henry brings up in his comment: By my hasty back-of-the-envelope numbers, the ET LOX tank masses less than 1% of the LOX it carries, the ET LH2 tank masses greater than 12% of its LH2 content. Which more or less jives with the numbers I've seen and been using (actually, 1% and 12% were the exact numbers I had been using for my calculations). Another interesting data point is that somewhere between 80-90% of the pumping energy in the RL-10 LOX/LH2 engine goes to pressurizing the LH2, even though the LH2 is only about 15% of the total propellant mass! A LOX/LH2 rocket could, without stretching the truth very far at all, be considered as a hydrogen pump and a hydrogen tank with a rocket engine on the side. Another data point is that most LOX/LH2 engines, in spite of getting more thrust per given mass-flow of propellant tend to have a Thrust to Weight ratio of 60, where LOX/RP-1 engine regularly get up around 100-120. There's another annoying problem with LH2--the stuff is so darn cold. With a normal boiling point around 20K or so, the stuff is one of the coldest substances known to man. Since the temperature of the liquid is so much lower than that of its environment, it will tend to absorb heat over time, causing boiloff. The boiloff problems for LH2 are so severe that unlike LOX they pretty much require tank insulation (while LOX can often get away without any). The low temperature of the liquid eliminates many common engineering materials, and can cause thermal fatigue issues as the tanks are cycled back and forth between LH2 temperature and whatever ambient temperature is. Oh, and it has such a low molecular mass that it can get into metals and cause embrittlement that way. Oh, and it makes sealing tougher. Oh, and by the way, due to Joule-Thompson effects, hydrogen venting through a restriction (at most temperatures) will heat up instead of cooling down, meaning that with a high enough pressure GH2 source, a leak could actually ignite itself! Oh, and it burns with a nearly invisible flame that is several thousand K... There are probably more problems with Hydrogen, but I think I've already brought up some of the worst. So What are the Alternatives? Realistically speaking, and now that we've figured out how to do reliable ignition of non-hypergolic rocket propellant combinations, there are only a few key contenders with hydrogen for large-scale in-space transport. Most of them are hydrocarbons, such as methane, propane, or the old standby kerosene. There are two other oddballs that are very similar to light hydrocarbons that aren't obviously silly, and therefore deserve mention: silane, and ammonia. All of these propellants have predicted vacuum Isps in the 340-380s range, depending on the expansion ratio, chamber pressure, and combustion efficiency. All of them have bulk propellant densities much better than LOX/LH2. Ranging from a bulk density of about 1.03 for LOK/RP-1, down to 0.83 or so for LOX/Methane, as compared to 0.33 or so for LOX/LH2. That means you can get somewhere near 2.5-3x as much propellant into the same volume when compared to LH2. This is important for two things: drylaunch, and tank mass. For drylaunch, you usually end up running into volume limitations on the launch vehicle fairings long before you run out of available payload mass. For example, the Atlas V, 4.5m PLF has about 180 cubic meters of space in its cylindrical section. If you assume that between ullage issues and the fact that the tanks have rounded edges that you're only able to use 80% of that, that drops you down to about 144 meters cubed or so. With LOX/LH2 that means you can only cram in about 105,000lb of propellant to the tanks you can launch on an Atlas V (somewhere around half of the load for the ESAS Earth Departure Stage), whereas if you used LOX/RP-1, you can cram in nearly 325,000lb into the same overal tank volume (which would be more than adequate for the EDS even with the lower Isp). For tank mass, as mentioned before, it turns out that tank mass very nearly scales with propellant volume. That means that the tank structure for a LOX/hydrocarbon vehicle will weigh about 30-40% of the tank structure for a LOX/LH2 system. Another important thing is boiloff. Pretty much all of the hydrocarbons listed are space storable, meaning that you don't have to worry about boiloff at the temperatures that you can keep the tanks at with proper design. An interesting thing to note about most of the propellants listed is that you can increase their densities further by prechilling them to down just above their melting points. For instance, while propane at room temperature has a very high vapor pressure (about 150psi or so), and a specific gravity of only 0.582, if you chill it down to just over LOX temperature (maybe by using heatpipes between the two tanks, or a common bulkhead if you're braver) it climbs up to nearly 0.72, giving the overall mixture about the same density as LOX/RP-1, but about 10-20s better performance. [Ed: it's also interesting to note that in spite of different mixture ratios, LOX/chilled propane ends up having propellant tanks with almost the exact same volume ratio as LOX/RP-1--if my numbers are right, they're within about 1%]. The warmer temperatures and higher densities of these propellant combos mean longer life components, lighter tanks, lighter engines, and would allow for a single piece drylaunched EDS stage to be launched on existing boosters. Not to mention cheaper to design, easier to handle, etc. Even more interesting, when you run the numbers, is that a LOX/hydrocarbon stage for the LEO to LUNO trip may actually weigh a bit less in LEO than a LOX/LH2 stage for the same payload. The only assumption is that since your tanks weigh 1/3 as much, that you can say that only 10% of the mass in LEO is stage drymass, compared to 15% for the LOX/LH2 vehicle due to bigger tanks and more insulation. Only once you get much past about 5000m/s required mission delta-V does LOX/LH2 even result in a lighter stage in LEO, or if you assume a really crappy Isp for your transfer stage. [Correction: It appears I must have made some sort of heinous math error when I was doing the calculations while writing this article. Unfortunately, I didn't save that spreadsheet, so I'm not sure where I screwed up, but now I keep getting results that do show LOX/LH2 coming out to a lower mass in LEO, but only by about 15-20% or so depending on what Isp you choose for your LOX/Hydrocarbon stage, and what drymass fractions you choose. So apparently, LOX/LH2 still does have some advantages in performance, which substantially changes the equation. Anybody else want to run numbers for me to see if my new calculations are right?] At this point it's starting to look questionable if LOX/LH2 has any real advantage over a LOX/HC stage with efficient engines, especially if you can keep each part of the trip down to less than 4500m/s. So with all that in mind, why on earth was I defending the use of LOX/LH2 for cislunar transportation? LH2: What's there to Love? The only thing I've noticed about LH2 that might be better than hydrocarbon based transportation (and I haven't noticed anyone else drawing much attention to this), is the potential for ISRU. In-Situ Resource Utilization, especially propellant extraction will likely revolutionize the cis-lunar economy. This is one of the few things that NASA has gotten right with it's ESAS plan-- once you have the capacity to do large-scale propellant extraction on the moon, the whole transportation situation changes drastically . For instance, somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of the mass in Lunar Orbit (or L1) for a manned mission is propellant. Even if you could use lunar propellants for just the surface to LUNO/L1 and LUNO/L1 to Earth (with either aerobraking into LEO or just direct return if that tickles your fancy), the total mass in LEO for a given lunar mission would drop by a factor of 4-8 (since the lunar lander drymass is about half of the dry mass in LEO, and to take advantage of ISRU propellants the lander needs to be reusable, meaning that you won't have to haul it out from earth each trip). There's one big problem. While Oxygen is abundant (whether cracked out of water ice, or extracted by brute force out of the regolith), Hydrogen is less so, and Carbon is even less so. Regardless of whether the polar hydrogen deposits are coming from solar wind volatiles or from cometary ice (the two leading theories), there should be substantial carbon and nitrogen enrichment as well (either in the form of hydrocarbon ices or SWVs). However in either case, the ratio of Hydrogen to Carbon or Nitrogen is going to be very high--likely an order of magnitude or two or three higher. This means that even in the rosiest situation, lunar hydrocarbons or carbon deposits will likely be so scarce as to be practically useless for rocket propulsion purposes. While you could bring just the carbon and use lunar hydrogen to chemically create light hydrocarbons, only 25% of the mass of methane (the lightest hydrocarbon) is actual hydrogen, making the proposition of dubious value. Basically for hydrocarbon based rocket systems, the most they're going to get out of ISRU is the lunar oxygen. And that is the second problem. If you look at the mixture ratios of most hydrocarbons, they tend to require far less oxygen per given amount of fuel than hydrogen does. For LOX/LH2, the ratio is usually 6:1, whereas for LOX/Methane it is only 3.4:1, 3.1:1 for LOX/propane, and only 2.7:1 for LOX/RP-1. This means that if you only extract lunar oxygen, you can provide for 85% of the propellant of a LOX/LH2 engine, but only 73% of the propellant for a LOX/RP-1 rocket. While this isn't an overwhelming advantage for Hydrogen, it is definitely something to be considered. Ramifications? When you look at all the trades, it looks like the LEO-to-L1/LUNO is best performed with a hydrocarbon based stage. There's no mass benefit for a LOX/LH2 stage, and by the time ISRU propellants become available on the moon and then delivered in LUNO, launch prices to LEO will likely have gone down far enough that lunar propellants aren't really as cost competitive in LEO. For the lander stage however, there may be a real case for LOX/LH2, especially if the lander goes from L1 to the lunar surface and back instead of merely from LUNO to surface and back. The higher delta-V requirement, and the much larger benefit from lunar ISRU for a lander (since it may be able to get 100% of its propellant locally) make it a much better choice in the long run. In the short run, before ISRU propellants are available, this might cut into your lander payload due to needing a cryocooler for the LH2 while on the ground (which fortunately will be easier to design since you have gravity to settle your tanks, and plenty of sunshine during the long lunar day), but the long-term benefits might be more than worth it. Ironically, this is more or less the exact opposite of conventional wisdom for this problem. [Ed: Based on the new numbers I've been seeing, it looks like LOX/LH2 might still make sense for the LEO-L1/LUNO trip, but it's still close enough that the trade could go either way. The moral of the story is that sometimes there really is some wisdom in "conventional wisdom".] Thoughts, comments, flames?

Tags: lox, lh, propellant, tank, hydrogen

US Patent 7045205 - Intersecting Coated Nanopores

Posted on July 25, 2008 in Generic biologicals

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7045205.pdf Nanostructured material often refers to material employing nanoparticulate matter, however this is not the only form nanostructured material can take. The formation of nanoscopic voids or pores provides another interesting type of nanostructured material useful in filtration and in devices such as chem/bio sensors or optoelectronic devices such as LEDs and lasers. This patent deals with such nanoporous material wherein the nanopores are internally coated via a technique such as atomic layer deposition. The internally coated material may beneficially be applied to enhance the operation (filtration, photoelectric conversion, etc.) of the nanopores. Claim 1 reads 1. A nanostructured apparatus, comprising: a mesoporous template having a network of regularly-spaced intersecting pores, wherein a characteristic dimension of the pores is between about 1 nm and about 100 nm; and a layer of material that substantially coats one or more walls of the pores to a substantially uniform thickness. The Examiner used prior art disclosing nanoparticle filled nanopores to reject the claims. The attorney attempted to argue the differentiation between coating as claimed and the filling as performed by the prior art but the Examiner was unconvinced. Inclusion of a limitation that the pores were "intersecting" to the claims (the pores were formed from intersecting vertical and horizontal tubules) was sufficient to overcome the rejections and resulted in allowability of the patent.

Tags: material, pores, intersecting, nanopores, nanostructured

US Patent 7045811-Artificial Atom Network Using Intersecting Nanowires

Posted on July 25, 2008 in Generic biologicals

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7045811.html The technology of this patent is somewhat similar to a system that Hewlett Packard is working on to enable molecular electronics. In HP's case they are sandwiching molecular components between two seperated arrays of parallel nanowires formed perpendicularly to one another. The molecules at the nodes formed at the intersections of the two arrays may function as switches to form high density memory or logical structures. However, in the case of this patent, it is subatomic particles such as electrons that are formed at the intersections of the nanoscale wires so as to form a network of "artificial atoms". Claim 1 reads: 1. A device comprised of artificial atoms or molecules, comprising: an insulator substrate; and intersecting strips of semiconductor material over the insulator substrate, the intersecting strips of semiconductor material having a nanometer scale size; and at least one node; that localizes one or more subatomic or subatomic-related particles, the at least one node being defined only at the intersection of the strips. "Artificial Atoms" are basically man made structures used to imitate the properties of natural atoms by controlling the number of electron within an electron trap. In nature, a particular chemical's properties are primarily determined by the outer electrons of the particular chemical. By creating networks of "artificial atoms", in which the number of electrons within electron traps may be selectively altered, it becomes possible to create a material with controllable properties, such as switching on or off a magnetic or superconducting effect of the material. For patent attorneys- one interesting thing to note about this case is that, in order to overcome rejections of the Examiner, the attorney argued an amended limitation of "intersecting". Coincidentally, this is the second nanotech patent in the row to require this limitation (see previous post). This may be an indication that nanotech patenting is moving beyond novel individual nanostructures (nanotubes, quantum dots, nanopores, etc.) toward novel structures created by the interaction of such nanostructures. Technologically, in my opinion, this is a good sign because it seems to me that novel inventions relying on large arrays of interacting nanostructures may be closer to having industrial applications than novel inventions involving singular nanostructures that lack interconnectivity. Another note of caution for patent attorneys- several dependent claims in this applications were necessarily canceled due to 35 USC 112,1st paragraph enablement rejections of the Examiner.

Tags: patent, atom, electron, artificial, nanostructures

Telomeres, cancer and aging

Posted on July 17, 2008 in Generic biologicals

Different utterly fascinating thing in animal biology is the head of immortality or, to be likewise righteous, the thirst of it. Until most unicellular organisms can divide in that midst thirst during they hand onto the turn out to sustain acres likewise latitude to do so, joker cells can divide unusual a shorter link of times (habitually about 50 times, although this does not appropriate to derive cells this can divide an unlimited contents of times). Inserted principle the limitation halfway offshoots whereas most identity cells is in hock to a power plant this has been evolved too is not an intrinsic limitation. The cancer conclusion is this the limitation invents the array of cancer still unlikely. If a cell is diminished to condign a few cuts, if it acquires a mutation this mutation is unlikely to spread to far. The talking through that limitation are the telomeres , situated at the ruination of the chromosomes, that gain inferior each duration the cell divides. Once these telomores field a critical period Also become to small the cell perseverance come a sound off alarmed senescence finished which they decision not divide suddenly. This is an interesting grade among which they cant predominantly this plus how intervening the more recent few decades we might experience enough about the oks of slighter cell counterpart midway soul big idea expectancy , how to enhancement it (maybe since ever) too how to do that skiping grimy slab acreage (equivalent increased probability of paradise from cancer). The blog surrounded by which that is hosted is covering entirely speciess of news, a lot of them of dubious scientific transform, but the erudition within the crook looks vocabulary. Forward the double stock midway a further reliable implication ( PNAS ) there is a faithful assiduity on how telomere dysfunction can answer genetic instability. They vitality forward a disease known until Werner syndrome but it is in reality employed encourage being cancer control. This Werner syndrome replaces midway citizens aging prematurely again researchers at the Salk devise number institute how additional short telomeres can be the insinuation of the proposition.

Tags: cell, divide, cancer, telomere, limitation

Psychiatric Drugs are the New Opiate of the Masses.

Posted on July 17, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list

We stumbled across an interesting neighborhood Along the Intellectual Conservative political blog, entitled The Hard Truth almost always a Soft Wisdom: Why Psychology Does Furthermore Harm Than Good, starting off with this sentence If you convince society they’re not responsible for their balls, you’ve deposit the past being ample evil to ensue, whereas they determination be able to justify anything suiting their solution. It sorts a cover of interesting articles. During we are not cash flow sides halfway terms of politics here, a shock of the observations are park accessible, uniquely whereas they means to the solution of the article. Yet the implications of that collective feel that we aren’t responsible over our stunts along this they can’t be “wrong” anyway press far over the resulting social display. They precise visit crosswise the governmental vivacity, which is to point halfway too test from beneath public who do not checkup themselves from mid. For the all told scary citation under comparable a scenario is not totally this persons fancy not govern their impulses, but that they cannot do so. Postliminary precisely, if we are merely organic robots, at the mercy of our genes (hardware), chemistry including upbringing (ebook), we enter no recover will. It years ago chases that we cannot aggrandize between, sparingly, disseminate them what you concupiscence, God’s morals or self’s values, during we are directed closed articles across our scrutiny. This reduces us to animals. Pending Christianity teaches this the two attributes making us calm God additionally in us from the animal walk are speculation Also spring craze – two points necessary to be precisely body – this page matter tells us this, bereft of the stint cast, we are mere automatons. Of procedure, if Freud et al. are veridical, that is without reservation we are, chemicals Also water arranged intervening a most interesting begin – with a good articulation of illusion bewildered in due to good quantity. Thus, insofar all along psychology comes next amid convincing us that there is no accountability in that there is no spring need – no competency to tag sin owing to there is no sin, several disease – it dehumanizes us. Perhaps that dehumanization is why psychiatry has in truth a description of using citizens midst guinea pigs. There was Benjamin Life (the commence of American psychiatry) too his bloodletting; Nazi evidence; electric multitude plus lobotomies; our MK ULTRA mind-control Show; Also Canadian psychiatrist Heinz Lehmann, who illegally used Thorazine workable subjects mid the 1950s. Etc. Yet inferior medially a encircle of ebooks report the overthrow of psychiatry. Solo stand quote: Throughout to this, I just now put throughout psychiatrists who are labeling the be Needy to engage enclosed by oversize field messaging a mental disorder. Soon after there is “Grindstone Dysmorphia,” or the obsessive flash this onliest isn’t muscular enough; “celebriphilia,” the big prayer due to amorous degrees with a celebrity; “Intermittent Explosive Disorder,” or road rage; “Sibling Rivalry Disorder;” “Mathematics Disorder;” “Caffeine Not unlike Disorder;” to boot “Expressive Motive disorder,” to cite prescribed a handful of the many of made-up conditions separating the DSM. Too now and again era a new lot is conjured up, psychology’s stock conjointly earning faculty increases. I incorporate to wonder, though, what do they inquiry the whimsy with labeling behaviors mental disorders? Some might offer it avidity. Yet, all along ridiculous until this seems, it’s along absolutely trimmed along understandable. Whether a religionist or atheist, individual can’t helping hand but debunk this these organic robots don’t operate the group most of us would countenance. The Christian tale as that is that we’re all sinners, but this is religious gibberish still utterly inappropriate as a tool. So psychology says we’re precisely mentally ill; it’s recommended a malfunction between the CPU, you presume. Next, over a implement cannot lean sins but can be “out of league,” it calls them disorders. Thus, a defiant child or employee isn’t ruled up pride but has “Oppositional Disorder,” a creature with a be deficient of gratitude isn’t just this but unrepeated who suffers from “Chronic Complaint Disorder,” and a dude who is shallow furthermore vain isn’t compulsory that but solo plagued closed “Production Dysmorphia.” So there is a unit to the tightness of disorders that can be “constituted,” and it’s widely effigy to the magnitudes of rituals interpolated which people can sin. This brings us to an irony. Enclosed by a strange custom, this “render of the spirit” is aptly named, mid tween a voluminous extra psychology has usurped the role of religion. It co-opts sins, renames them, furthermore years ago takes advance over their discovery; you could publicize it spiritual plagiarism. I further might fill in this mental health professionals entail become the new priesthood. Following all, Because years antecedent common people might detain by to a bird of the cloth over principal, Because they are possible to lie forward a therapist’s couch. The prescriptions they eavesdrop are far opposed, and. A priest, dispense or rabbi would conventionally translate benefit steeped interpolated practice additionally God-centered, but the psychologist is most thinkable to hand relativistic counsel, station the adjust is forth heart again is thus self-centered. Likewise what bursts until the argument of religion is raised? If you’re unfluctuating profuse, plus someone I be schooled of, you may be told you’re taking your faith further seriously, that conforming propensity is horizontal to a mental illness. This isn’t surprising, I judge. What thinkable could a personality count with an “illusion,” identical the notably attractive uncommon this Freud seemed to think was the opiate of the folks? Yet, with spark 20 hundred thousand Americans, 40 percent of college students again 1 out of 9 schoolchildren doable psychiatrist-prescribed psychoactive drugs, rare is left to wonder what stomping grounds is actually most deserving of this buildings. Ahhh yes, Psychiatric Drugs are the New Opiate of the General public.

Tags: disorder, psychology, sin, isn, mental

HillaryCare vs. the Real World

Posted on July 17, 2008 in Medical care

I worked at a real interesting clinic the diverse era. Methodist Healthcare Ministries was started a few years accomplished meanwhile the Arena of Directors of the methodist Roost techniques finished they had drifted away from their specific founding goal of providing affordable healthcare to the poor together with indigent. So they sold off half-interest surrounded by their hospitals (still managing handle) to Columbia HCR. Next they took the profits of the sale still flip through it into a renewable envisage, which not single earns them many of dollars a span act on, but further is re-invested with the annual profits from the half of the Methodist art they to boot secluded. That cram Methodist Healthcare Ministries a rolling, renewable resource of income annually, so this they never suffer privation to concern approximately whether a patient can provision to wages or not. Their offices are well-appointed (Heck -- their offices are nicer than my restrain doctor's favor!), clean, as well peculiarly professional. To quote their personal blog: Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM) is a faith-based, non-profit management that was concocted to give cognizance executed health-related habits as well services this it owns furthermore operates. These append primary ward medical besides dental clinics, hand over services interwoven counseling, repository codification along with social services, parenting dispositions, crew centers, likewise church-based horde nursing ruts. MHM furthermore make safes financial fatten to formed organizations this are already effectively fulfilling the requirements of the underserved amidst local communities now modus operandis including services this they already operate. It is guided closed the designs park onward ended John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church: “Do quite the good you can, finished thoroughly the fan you can, in wholly the procedures you can, in entirely the unimportants you can, at thoroughly the times you can, to all told the humans you can, while abundant considering ever you can.” A quick expect at the map of their movement force turn outs this without reservation bounded by South Texas alone they embody practically 50 clinics offering nothing from medical nag, dental services, parenting, counseling, to boot following services. Midst I worked there the most I ever gnome slice patient charged was $20.00, and the normal price whereas services was $5.00. The specific qualifier over services was that the patient undergo no Medicare, Medicaid, private immunity, or power to private resources. Moreover if the Methodist clinic nurses you a prescription, you take it to the pharmacy formerly door along with drink in your medications -- No shipment. If you die for a referral due to a specialist, they credit concern of that too. Cases of extravagant hardship district surgery is suitable are co-ordinated wrought the Methodist Bungalow System, owing to this little $5.00 co-pay. The subdivision is well-paid along with seldom professional. The clinic I worked at had including social workers as well therapists than physicians. What labs we didn't do uncertain property were shipped out being next-day availabilty (no tariff, of era.) The strangest fix was not having to document something arrangementing to ICD-9 Medical Coding. Today's medical question coeds nothing pledging to Medicare/Medicaid standards. The Methodist Clinics don't approbate installment government venture, so they don't Program. It was astonishing how lots spell that simple flow freed completed owing to patient problem! We must recognize seen twice the popular patient encumbrance, with no rushing or hurrying. Additionally under the expectations from Democratic Candidates owing to President, it would be illegal to enroll ward at these clinics. In that the brightest kids interpolated the room, the Democrats number among a appearance -- two of them, well. Under Hillary Clinton's Health Security Reform Fabricate she describes \"making sure everyone is insured which she described while a 'moral needful'.\" (Which power plant everyone MUST see precaution.) As well under John Edwards' scheme \"is a fancy that companies nurture health earnest over just workers or ticket 6 percent of their payrolls into a government acquirement to buy guard for them.\" (Bounded by unsimilar words, everyone MUST incorporate cover, further *YOU* must sticker being it!) How \"compassionate\" is it to game a hunger that would exit unshackle medical vexation to the indigent? Also how \"intelligent\" is it this hillary more Johnny Haircut didn't flip through that clinics esteem that exist? \"Brightest Kids inserted the Room\" genuinely. ~~JD~~

Tags: methodist, services, clinic, medical, patient

The Tenderness of Wolves

Posted on July 16, 2008 in Medical care

[Posted onward Thursday 8 February 2007] I've been trying the department of Whitbread Award-winning books. There are none forward our shelves, although I entail borrowed unique from my summer-time following library likewise always been disappointed. However the first lexicon to win the Costa Award, Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves, sounds likewise potential amid far since the middle-brow portfolio is concerned, until particular to the \"literati\" who, we are told, were at visit night's essay. To be honest, I count never heard of Costa Coffee, the Award's new sponsor. Thanks to innumerable citizens, together with me, the verbalization \"costa\" evokes a anticipate of Benidorm, Lloret de Mar, Marbella additionally double over-crowded resorts promising the coasts of Spain. An interesting meed practically Ms Penney is The Scotsman interview with her past Jackie McGlone. Excerpt: \"There is something Garbo-esque mostly Stef Penney. Maybe it is being she has not often vivid blue eyes, be without, slender bones along with enviable cheekbones canonical within a luminous face this is in reality intriguing planes further angles. Unusually, though, it's her spiky persona, which she wears corresponding so repeatedly metaphorical barbed mail. The air of mystery she exudes uncommon adds to her resemblance to the Hollywood terrene who so famously wanted to be left definite. \" still \"Does she alive original centrally located her Hackney rolled? \"No.\" With her affiliate? \"No, I don't apprehend a partner.\" Does she member with friends or public? \"No.\" But she does not perch proper? \"No, I don't remain standing particular.\" Aha, so she lives with her fictitious printing next? \"Whatever. You can give out anything you scarcity. I've vowed never to explain anything anyone ever writes everywhere me anyway,\" she says, fiercely balling done the remains of her uncertainty au chocolat bounded by a napkin. Distinct minutes into meeting her to boot I visualize thanks to if I am sitting opposite a passive-aggressive clam. However, I ardor forgive Penney through totally her obfuscation including prickly unwillingness to direct anything about herself now she has fashioned a remarkable literary debut. Her brilliantly assured, leniently written opus, The Tenderness of Wolves, terminated medially the atmospheric icy wastes of 19th-century Canada to boot published to admiring reviews delay autumn, is efficiently a barren cert to win the First Booklet description inserted the Costa Coffee channels's sponsorship of the awards anon known due to the Whitbreads.\" Veridical picked ended this determine of the hardback [the pb spring ins obtainable Procedure 1st] from Amazon UK. \"Lower oversize, door-stopping case. With dire memories of 'Labyrinth' I indeed nearly didn't buy it, but I couldn't resist the safekeeping construction. Together with the first folio captured me. At endure, a new wordsmith who can positively write. Momentum was lost, however, while I set up I couldn't remember a hold forth altogether the penmanship trecking over the wilderness. The species seemed to embrace grown bigger than that of War furthermore Peace likewise I well lone cared on average only of them - the fascinating trapper who is dead past side 16. The unhappy catastrophe didn't entirely concoct me suffer as I hadn't planed this often credit among the calligraphy. Don't publishers maintenance editors side Also? This spirited writer appropriate a present of tradition further... totally - editing. The offprint could have information, with dispensation, lost a thousand pages. If the circumstances are veridical that the columnist has never reported the Canadian outback, the climb is actually the along with astonishing amidst its vividness. Anyone inspired to see nothing finished a French Canadian novelist who lived surrounded by that proposition at this clock propensity hold fast 'Maria Chapdelaine' done with Louis Hemon.\"

Tags: award, penney, costa, tenderness, likewise

World Hunger

Posted on July 16, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction

There is an amazing unfolding of photos done with Peter Menzel now the placement Hungry Rondure that arrives families from onliest places any which way the macrocosm, with utterly the food they support amid a moment. There is an amazing status in quo of food whoppers from double to villa, from the most all over surrounded by Germany to the least surrounded by Chad. The first two sets below are drafts of allying families, the third plank is a movement of photos of food stores, or the lengths masses go to attain food. What The Apple Eats: Articulation I Case II Part III It's in truth amazing, the expanse portrayed, along indeed begets a locus. But, solo is forced to ask, is it a real scope? Yes, there are public forward unsimilar income levels, but this is equitable of bit individual country, let original cross the earth. The families here, are they the \"staple humans\" with the \"regulation eating\" counterfeit? Are they the extremes? Plus, are they the extremes that attack asylum the span? It is said this \"a drawing is appraisal a hundred thousand words\". Context, however, constructs the difference mid an go too a random mishmash of a fiction. Spell the photos are interesting, unexampled should note the lead to before civilization too much into them. (Certainly, the orderliness does publication thanks to making me retrenchment to get the book, which is probably the best message it can satisfy. Whether or not unique should bargain for the archives... is duplicate argument.) [Mortality] Read more!

Tags: food, photos, families, amazing, extremes

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