Engineering Textbook Resell

We are sure seeing a lot of scientific research trying to copy nature. We see non-technology copying birds, insects, spyders, animals and MIT and AUVs-Underwater Autonomous Vehicles copying fish. And before you try to catch a Tuna for Sushi better check out what it is made of first. RoboTuna has arrived;

http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/org/t/towtan…robotunaII.html

All this in efforts to build the AUV for the US Naval Research Group.

These vehicles can detect sea mines, guard harbors, remain dormant and then when needed do their needed duty. But think of the commercial purposes, finding the King Crabs, inspecting ice pack for navagation, monitoring fish populations, tracking whales, dolphins, finding sunken treasure, finding thermal vents at depths of 30,000 plus feet below sealevel. AUVs are also available in tethered forms which are called ROVs which can be lowerd from platforms.

Finding oil and natural gas deposits are just one of the solutions which will be relatively easy for the AUVs. And just when you thought this was the only idea of copying nature check out RoboLobster too;

http://www.onr.navy.mil/media/release_display.asp?ID=105

And RoboPike;

http://web.mit.edu/towtank/www/projects.html

In a quest for efficiency and in an attempt to learn what the organic machines have modified themselves to do to stay within niches in the environment, we can learn things which may well propel us to the innovations of the future to keep mankind on the technological edge as we take our own ideas of nature and modify them to fit our needs.

Lance Winslow

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Most full-time office workers have an employer-provided e-mail account, and chances are, it’s with Microsoft Outlook. Many of us send and receive dozens of e-mails per day. Here are some tips about making the most of Outlook’s substantial capabilities when you are the sender. Not taking advantage of what is available is like keeping your brand new Ferrari continually in first gear.

If you think you are already on the Outlook fast track, at least slow down long enough to check out the points lower in the list (arranged roughly from most to least important). Since nearly all of us are self-taught in our Outlook expertise, we are all at different levels. Now, let’s rev ‘er up and see what she’ll do!

1. Know when to call and when to e-mail.

   The rule of thumb is, the less intrusive you are the better, which is definitely e-mail. If you need to transmit and/or receive information in a hurry, however, a phone call is better. But what if you know the recipient is tied up in a conference call though still in their office? You might be able to reach them by e-mail without interrupting their call. E-mail also works better if your target is away from the office, especially if you know they have a Blackberry. If a dialogue between you is necessary, a phone call is probably more efficient.

2. Carefully craft your subject line.
   

   Unfortunately, too few people give their subject line the attention it deserves. How many times do you get an e-mail with a blank subject line or one that is unhelpful, like “message for you”? Since many of us scan our inbox without the reading pane turned on, the subject line and name of the recipient is how we determine whether to open the message.
   Make your subject line convey the most vital information in about six to eight words. If that number of words is the entire content of your message, consider letting the subject line carry the entire message. If you choose this option, end the subject line with ““, which stands for “End of Message.”

3. Carefully word your e-mail
   
   Remember Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem, which begins:

   I keep six honest serving-men
   
   (They taught me all I knew);
   Their names are What and Why and When
   And How and Where and Who.

   These six features should be prominent in your e-mail messages. If at all possible, put them all in the opening paragraph, because, unfortunately, many people read the first paragraph
   of an e-mail and then scan the rest of the message. If the highly pertinent material is not in the opening paragraph, they will probably miss it.

4. Make a habit of reading over the e-mail before you send.
   
   Just a few seconds of proofreading could save you the embarrassment of misspelled words or tangled grammar. Sometimes the mistake materially changes the message, as in leaving out the “not” in the sentence, “I will not be able to work
   overtime on Thursday evening.” Give yourself some reassurance, and save yourself a lot of grief.
5. Learn how to recall a message.
   
   Have you ever discovered, three seconds after you hit “Send”, that your outgoing message has a serious error? You can recall your message, and, if you do it immediately, you stand a good chance of retrieving your mangled message without your recipient’s knowledge of your mistake. Here’s how to recall a message:
   • Go to the “Sent” folder and open the message from there.
     NOTE: You have to actually open the message. You will not be able to access “Recall” from the Inbox’s reading pane.
   • With the cursor in the “Message” field, select “Recall this message” from the Actions menu.

6. Set the levels of importance and sensitivity.
   Outlook provides three options to identify the relative importance of your message: high importance, signified by a red exclamation point; low importance, indicated by a blue downward arrow; and normal, the default setting. Just use the high-importance icon sparingly; no one listens when you cry “Wolf!” too often.

   The same holds true for the sensitivity levels (confidential, private, personal, and normal). Both of these bundles of options are available in a dialogue box that pops up when you select the “Options…” menu (it only appears when you are Composing a message). If you select one of the levels other than “Normal,” a pre-set message will appear above the “To/From” rows with the preset messages. Because it appears there, however, and not in the message window itself, an inattentive recipient can easily overlook it. You might desire, therefore, to repeat the sensitivity or importance message within the message window.

7. Flag your message for follow-up.
   
   While composing your message, if you click on the menu icon that looks like a pennant on a stick, a dialogue box will appear that permits you to select from a variety of options to identify what kind of response you are expecting. Your options include: Call, Do not forward, Follow up, For your information, Forward, No response needed, Read, Reply, Reply to all, and Review. You also
   have the option of setting the day and time (in 30-minute increments) for the response deadline.

   Once more, when the recipient gets your e-mail, all of this information will appear as a column within the Inbox if that column is turned on and above the “To/From” rows of the message itself. Keep in mind that your recipient might easily overlook this information unless you repeat it in the message window. In e-mail communications, a little redundancy is a good thing.



8. Use read receipt requested when your message requires an immediate response.
   

   That same “Options…” dialogue box permits you to check “Delivery receipt” (almost never needed for internal e-mailing) and “Read receipt requested.” Requesting a read receipt accomplishes two purposes: it lets you know that the recipient opened your message, and it conveys to them a sense of importance and urgency. If these two purposes do not pertain to your message, uncheck read receipt requested.

   Remember that the recipient can by-pass your request either by reading your message from the reading pane or by choosing not to return the receipt. Requesting a read receipt, however, can be useful if you are unsure whether the recipient is available. If
   no receipt from your urgent messages gets back to you, you’d better try making a phone call.

9. Turn off receipt requested and read receipt requested, especially when e-mailing to large group.
   
   Turning on receipt requests unnecessarily is a good way to flood your Inbox with meaningless messages, especially if you e-mail goes out to a large group. Do yourself and them a favor: uncheck it in the “Options…” dialogue box.

By learning how to use Outlook–or whatever e-mail application you have–more effectively, you can boost your productivity with little or no cost. Happy e-mails to you!

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free “DeeperStudy Newsletter” or “DeeperStudy Blog.”

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Most aquarium keepers rely on a combination of three different filtration methods to keep the water quality up in their aquarium: mechanical filtration, biological filtration and chemical filtration. Mechanical filtration will remove larger debris from the water, biological filtration is performed by bacteria that convert dangerous waste products into less harmful compounds, and chemical filtration is typically performed by activated carbon that will bind toxic compounds, traces of medication etc. Several types of filtration can take place in the same piece of equipment. When you look at the basic corner filter filled with sponge used by many novice aquarium keepers, you might consider it to be just a way of performing mechanical filtration. The truth is however that the sponge is an ideal home for beneficial bacteria that can perform biological filtration. The corner filter is typically combined with a pump that causes a water flow and constantly provides the bacteria with biological waste products that are dissolved in the water. If you place a piece of activated carbon in your corner filter, it will perform chemical filtration of the water that is pumped through. This way, you can have three different types of filtration going on in the same piece of equipment.

Mechanical filtration Mechanical filtration will remove larger debris form the water. You can get internal mechanical filters as well as external ones. A mechanical filter is typically combined with a pump that forces water through some form of filter media, e.g. sponge, foam or floss. Before you purchase a mechanical filter you should always find out how much water it will circulate and how fine the filter media is. A general rule of thumb states that a mechanical filter should pass roughly twice the amount of water in the tank every hour, but this is not true for all types of aquariums.

The fineness of the filter media in a mechanical is very important. A very fine filter medium will catch even small debris from the water, but is on the other hand prone to clogging and must be cleaned very often. A coarse filter media is less prone to clogging, but will on the other hand allow a lot of debris to pass through. Many aquarium keepers use a combination of several filter media, where a coarse filter traps large particles before the water is forced through a finer medium.

Biological filtration During biological filtration, harmful nitrogenous compounds produced by the animals in the aquarium will be converted into less harmful nitrogenous compounds by two different types of bacteria. The metabolism of your fish will produce ammonia that is excreted through the gills and present in the fish poop. High levels of ammonia are unhealthy for fish, and really high levels can even be lethal. There is however a certain type of bacteria that feed on ammonia. This type of bacteria will ingest ammonia and excrete nitrite. Unfortunately for your fish, nitrite is even more poisonous than ammonia. For successful biological filtration, a second type of bacteria is therefore necessary. This type of bacteria ingests nitrite and excrete nitrate. Nitrate is less poisonous than ammonia and nitrite, but you must steel keep an eye on the levels of nitrate in the aquarium and remove the nitrate by performing frequent water changes.

You can support the colonies of beneficial bacteria by providing them with suitable materials to colonize, such as sponge and floss filter media, gravel, sand, plant leaves etc. When you start up a new aquarium, you should let it go through a process known a cycling. During this process, large colonies of both types of bacteria will establish themselves in the aquarium. You can jump start the cycling process in a new aquarium by introducing bacteria from an already cycled aquarium, e.g. by taking some gravel or filter media from it. You can also purchase a solution filled with the right type of bacteria from an aquarium shop. If you use materials form an established aquarium, you always risk introducing undesirable organisms together with the beneficial bacteria.

Chemical filtration The most commonly used material for chemical filtration is activated carbon. Activated carbon will bind a wide range of different compounds to it self and thereby remove them from circulation. It is common for aquarium keepers to use chemical filtration for shorter periods only. When you have completed the treatment of a disease or parasite in the aquarium, you can for instance use chemical filtration to remove any traces of left over medication from the water. The use of activated carbon is quite controversial, and many keepers of planted aquariums refrain from using activated carbon for any longer periods of time since they suspect that it might lead to a depletion of nutrients.

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