Luckiest Contest

Are you able to recall the era when laptops for gaming were not so obtainable? Although they weren’t amazing sellers they did have amazing margins. I’m pretty certain people would have liked to have owned one but could not really justify it. They the the latest technology and basically the best laptops. Despite the fact that was true I think the prices were so expensive that we would buy laptops that were not as fast instead. As bigger companies see the profits in the gaming notebook sector, everything looks to have changed. Just think about how much profit these manufacturers could be making especially when employing their economies of scale. At the moment the markup on most notebooks are so slender that this constitutes as a golden chance to regain the gross profits. International companies could certainly find it simpler to get us to buy these laptops. What could local manufacturers possibly do if their prices are undercut? I say this due to the fact that the technology which was once exclusive and overpriced is now mass market. In addition the well known brand name will give buyers increased confidence.

I think they surely are manufacturing some of the best laptops available today. This holds the potential to be increasingly positive for local system builders. Most of the time the pre made systems are powerful but not fast enough and some consumers don’t like that. These consumers have the technical know how and can analyse which laptops are best. For a couple of consumers specs and benchmarks are more important than style.

From a consumer standpoint this is all a beneficial thing. In the end, the costs will be lowered even greater causing the latest technology to be an alternative that we can buy. I say that rather hesitantly however as the notebook computer industry is an extremely fast paced market. New things are constantly coming out and that should hold costs relatively high. Although I still think effects will be positive due to the saturated sector, we’ll have to wait and see.

Imagine a cell phone that recharges its battery as it rides on your hip. Or a wireless sensor that gets its electrical power from the motions the device is sensing.

How about vibration damping technologies powered by the very movements they’re
suppressing?

Such developments may be the tip of an iceberg. Advanced Cerametrics of
Lambertville, N.J., has developed a new technology that generates 10 time the
power of previous energy-harvesting materials while eliminating their application-
limiting factors.

The technology is a radical new variation on an old and respected means of
harvesting energy: piezoelectricity.

From electricity to motion, and vice versa

In 1880, Pierre and Jacques Curie discovered that certain crystals generate a charge
when pressed. They deemed them piezo crystals, from the Greek for “press.”

Piezoelectric crystals are transducers. They turn mechanical energy into electricity.
Conversely, they respond to electrical charges by expanding or contracting.

But traditional piezoelectric compounds are bulky, brittle and inefficient. They
convert no more than 40 percent of mechanical energy to electricity. When
subjected to an electrical field or current, they expand or contract, but only by tiny
amounts.

Advanced Cerametrics piezoelectric fibers, on the other hand, are flexible. They
weigh as little as two grams for a transducer that can generate 40 volts. They pick
up a wider range of vibration frequencies, and generate 75 percent more power
from those vibrations.

Advanced Cerametrics piezoelectric fibers in an electric guitar pickup, for example,
capture more sound from vibrating strings and relay that sound without pre-
amplification!

And Advanced Cerametrics piezoelectric fibers outperform bulk piezos as
electricity-to-motion transducers. They exert a stronger mechanical force over a
larger range of motion at just 35 percent the weight. A two-gram active fiber
composite strip can produce a blocking authority of 60 pounds!

Far-ranging applications

Advanced Cerametrics manufactures is piezoelectric fibers of lead zirconate
titanate, or PZT. Applications for PZT fibers fall into the two broad categories,
energy harvesting or actuation. Specifically, a few opportunities stand out.

Wireless sensing
Wireless sensing sounds like a great idea until someone asks, “Who’s going to
change the batteries?” But if batteries don’t have to be replaced because they’re
recharged in place – or they’re even eliminated – the game turns on its head, and
the promise of wireless sensing can be fulfilled.

Most sensors are in environments were ambient waste mechanical energy is
abundant, whether it’s inside an air duct or mounted on a motorized system.
Advanced Cerametrics PZT fibers harvest that mechanical energy to recharge the
batteries or power the sensors directly, without batteries.

Applications for auto-powered monitoring range from aerospace to automotive to
home appliances to biomedicine.

Lighting
The higher output power of Advanced Cerametrics piezoelectric fibers opens many
opportunities to power electroluminescent lighting on bridge decks, signage and
buoys, among other applications.

Vibration damping
Advanced Cerametrics PZT composites turn motion into power and power into
motion. Vibration damping uses both characteristics. When vibrations generate
power, built-in circuitry relays the charge to a microprocessor, which measures the
magnitude of the vibration and returns an amplified signal that either stiffens or
relaxes the fiber actuators. They qualify as “smart systems” for their self-adjusting
nature.

In one of the best-known applications of vibration damping is by Head Sport AG of
Kennelbach, Austria. Head uses Advanced Cerametrics PZT fiber composites to
reduce tennis racket vibration and ski chatter.

General actuation
Advanced Cerametrics PZT fiber composites have a range of motion that opens
entirely new vistas for energy-to-motion actuation. For example, piezoelectric
fibers have been used to bend small aircraft wing flaps as much as 22 degrees
without hydraulics.

Conventional bulk piezos move such tiny amounts that, when used as actuators,
they typically require intermediating mechanisms that amplify movement. The
greater range of motion of fiber piezos may allow engineers to skip these
intermediating devices.

Performance metrics

The metrics are impressive, and the technology is advancing fast.

Multilayer laminate composites with PZT fiber:

• Voltage output up to 400 Vpp
• PZT fiber diameter 10 m to 250 m
• Frequency is 10 kHz to 20 MHz
• No lateral wave interference
• Remarkable part-to-part repeatability
• 10x the charge output of other piezo forms
• User-defined shapes open more possibilities for applications
• No significant degradation of composite properties in tests of up to 200 million
cycles

Summary and next steps

In our energy-hungry, battery-powered world, 19th-century piezoelectric materials
have had little to contribute. But flexible piezoelectric fibers from Advanced
Cerametrics offer 10 times the power output of older forms. They can be shaped in
ways the user defines. They’re lighter, more sensitive and have greater actuation
potential.

With these new fibers in the picture, we’re sure to see a rush of technologies that
capitalize on their properties.

Where do interested engineers go from here?

• Visit advancedcerametrics.com and click “ACI in the News” for articles and
technical specifications.
• Call Advanced Cerametrics at (609) 397-2900.

—————————————-

Advanced Cerametrics of Lambertville, New Jersey, USA, won inclusion in R & D
Magazine’s R&D 100 in 2003. Fortune Small Business magazine named Advanced
Cerametrics one of its 14 Hot Startups for 2003. The company has won 24 Small
Business Innovation Research grants, six Small Business Technology Transfer
Research grants and DARPA’s Outstanding Contractor award (twice).

Since the mid-80s the company has been issued 16 patents on ceramic materials
and processes. Several patents are pending.

The author, Patrick Gillam, writes for a variety of technical clients. To see copywriting by Patrick Gillam, visit itellyousell.com.

Most law students actually believe they will be doing good and helping people. That is the biggest crock of crap I have ever heard. Maybe if they shoot themselves they may help our world some? Recently I met a law student at Starbucks studying hard for their class at the University. They were one of 500,000 law students and professional parasites to soon be released like the virus from hell into our society. Trying to be nice I asked;

“What type of law will you be practicing and why?”

Then offered some of my opinions of lawyers and I said;

“I think the best lawyers are ones who sue other lawyers, that I admire.”

In law it is not what is right which prevails, it is who has the most money and is willing to fight the most and spend the most to be right under the law. Isn’t that a shame that even when you are right and in the right you can be blown out of the water by someone who;

1.) Has more money.

2.) Has a better lawyer.

3.) Wants to be right enough to spend more money.

That is not my doing that is the reality. It is unfortunate that truth justice and the American way, is all BS. So you are now joining that group? I hope you stay with your self-righteous attitude and do the right thing because it is right and not just because your client has more money to screw over the little guy. I hope you take your desire to do good with you in your career. But it will be a hard fight, as in the end there is no such thing as a good lawyer, well unless they are in Vice President Dick Cheney’s gun sights, as they make excellent targets. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Mountain biking is a high adrenaline, exciting and popular sport all over the world especially in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. There are many places to buy ladies mountain bikes and one of those places is online. People who are interested in looking for a bargain and finding the best bicycle for your budget are recommended to search online as you can compare thousands of bikes in just a few clicks. Many MTB retailers have websites online from which you can purchase from. Popular retailers include Kona, GT and Giant which all have their own store websites. However, buying from these stores can be much more expensive than other places. One place you can buy ladies mountain bikes from is BuyMountainBikes.net. It is a well known site which thousands of people use every month to compare the prices and find the best mountain bike for their money. Bicycles are sorted by type and brand names so that you can find your product easier. When choosing a ladies mountain bike it is recommended to stick to well known brands and also to choose the bike based on how you will be using it (i.e. Off road, trail or leisure) as some are more suited to certain terrain than others.

The longer I’ve been around companies the more I believe the words “Planning”

and “Decision” are seldom used in the same sentence! And the business fallout

because of poor planning when making decisions is staggering.

The effects of a decision gone bad tend to linger around for months or even

years. It is a fact that most businesses fail not because they did not make decisions but because they did not make good decisions.

With so much riding on your ability to make the right decisions it is prudent to brush up on the technique of decision making and the process involved in planning to make them.

Planning allows a decision to be made on your terms and in a much more

comfortable and intelligent way. It allows you the time to consider several

options without the last minute rush.

There are four benefits to decision-making planning:

1. PLANNING ALLOWS YOU TO SET THE GOALS YOU WANT. That means you are not so much focused on the external events that don’t relate to what you are trying to accomplish. Many decisions are incorrectly made based on things that steer one’s life rather than becoming proactive decision-makers.

2. PLANNING PROVIDES A WAY TO MEASURE SUCCESS. The plan of action is your mirror to measure how close (or far) you are from accomplishing your goal. This measure is important because it can show you immediately when you are off course and need to make adjustments and corrections.

3. PLANNING CHANGES THE “DO” TO THE “GET”. Planning converts ideas,

values and activities into action. Planning is not the end result; it is the tool to convert the idea into a specific action or actions. Planning helps you convert your company’s goals into your individual goals and helps you get results. Remember most companies pay you for action NOT activity. It’s not the “do” it is the “get” that makes the difference. A good plan is to keep what you are trying to accomplish in the focus at all times. Ask yourself is what you are “doing” now, “getting” the results you are responsible for?

4. PLANNING HELPS ALLOCATE YOUR RESOURCES IN AN EFFICIENT

MANNER. Few companies have unlimited resources. A good plan helps you maximize the resources you have. Remember that dollars are not your only resource. Resourse that you will need to manage includes people, tools, assets and company propriety information. By consulting you plan often, you can see concerns before they become problems and you can shift available resources to cover the unexpected issues.

Planning to make a decision is a perfect example of the Pareto principle – the idea that by doing 20% of work you can generate 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job. Pareto analysis is a formal technique for finding the changes that will give the biggest benefits. It is useful where many possible courses of action are competing for your attention.

Perhaps by spending the 20% of your time thoroughly planning you next decision can save you 80% of your time. Why not give it a try?

There are several methods you can use for planning. Words such as Strategic, Tactical, and Operational may come to mind. However, these are specific

planning procedures. Each has their place in business

Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your company. TrainingConnections.ORG focuses on three categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more