The High Definition TV “experience” continues to drive manufacturers to offer truly digital devices. The days of analog video interfaces are limited. In previous articles, we touched on HDMI connections. It is clear that HD sources such as DVD players, Cable settop boxes, satellite boxes are transitioning to the HDMI standard. It is inevitable that future HD sources such as HD DVD players (HD or Blue Ray), and Playstation 3 will utilize HDMI as the interface standard. With all these new HDMI source, how does one get the desired input to the HD monitor? In this article, we will get into the details of such a device: the HDMI switch.

What is a HDMI switch:
A HDMI switch allows the end user to select multiple HDMI sources, such as DVD players, settop boxes, into 1 HD monitor. The basic models available are 2×1 HDMI switch, which simply means that there are 2 inputs and 1 output. The 2X1 HDMI switch allows the user to switch between 2 HDMI sources. There are also 4×1 HDMI switches available which allows the user to select up to 4 HDMI sources. By the way, we highly encourage users to select 4 port model for future expandability.

Why do I need a HDMI switch: Anyone who has a HD monitor with less than the desired number of HDMI inputs can use an external HDMI switch to expand the system.

What features do I look for in a HDMI switch:

- Expandability: 4 ports devices are recommended for future expandability. If you use a 2 port, then you have no expandability. It is likely that future HD sources such as games stations, HD DVD player/recorders will utilize HDMI.

- HDCP transparancy: any switch must pass HDCP data between source and monitor.

- Backward compatibility with DVI-D: There is a mix of both HDMI and DVI-D devices in the field. Users should select a HDMI switch rather than a DVI-D switch since HDMI is backward compatible with DVI-D. With a HDMI switch., the user just chooses the correct cables needed; either HDMI or HDMI to DVI-D to customize to your system.

- Remote control: A remote control to select the desired channel is essential.

Design consideration of a HDMI switch:
HDMI is extremely high speed digital transmission standard with an aggregate data rate of ~4.95 Gbps. Jean Baptiste Fourier (1768-1830) showed that any signal waveform can be resolved into a summation of harmonically related sine waves. The amplitude of the sine waves can be determined by calculation of Fourier transforms.

So what in the word does some dead French mathematician have to do with the HDMI switch? Well, Fourier tells us that the waveform is a summation of harmonically related sine waves. Therefore, higher data rate, higher frequency sine waves. Incidentally, the frequency of the fundamental sine wave is of the data rate. For example, the fundamental frequency of a 2 Gbps ( 50 %duty cycle ) square wave is 1GHz.

As data rates increase, every aspect of the switch design (every millimeter) becomes critical because the wavelengths of the signals approach the size of the components on board. The 3 critical parameters to consider are:

Impedance Match:
HDMI is based on a 100 ohm (differential) impedance. It is imperative that the switch be optimized to match this characteristic impedance. Any imperfections of the board layout will cause “reflections” which degrades signal transmission to the HD monitor. Think of “reflections” as signals that are lost between the inputs to the output. Utilizing careful RF and Microwave layout techniques minimizes these reflections.

Minimum Insertion Loss:
Signal loss should be minimized in order to maximize signal integrity to the output of the HDMI switch. Again, utilizing careful RF and Microwave layout techniques minimizes insertion loss.

Minimum Cross Talk:
With multiple inputs (up to 4), all potentially being active at same time, it is imperative that the desired channel not be interfered from any undesired channels. Again, careful RF microwave design techniques minimize cross talk.

Jeff Su is product marketing manager at Octava Inc. http://www.octavainc.com Jeff is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Tecnology (BSEE, MSEE) and has over 10 years of experience in CATV systems, RF, and microwave designs. He may be reached at info@octavainc.com.

This portion of the spectrum is critical for 4G services like LTE, and Ofcom is keen to sell it off. Most of the major industry players are however not happy with this decision. They feel that it is not possible to put a price on the 2.6GHz range when other ranges of the spectrum like 900MHz, which is used for 3G internet services, have not been allocated.

To resolve the issue, a lawsuit was filed against Ofcom by O2 and T-Mobile last year. This not only led the auction to be stalled, but also prevented the deployment of Wimax, LTE’s rival technology in the 2.6GHz range, a situation favourable for those mobile providers who are supporting LTE.

Now with T-Mobile having pulled out of the legal tussle for unknown reasons, O2 is the only barrier in the way of Ofcom holding the auction. Ofcom, on the other hand, has reiterated that the decisions regarding the 2.6GHz and 900MHz ranges are entirely separate, and has made it clear that it is preparing to hold the auction later this year.

Most people probably know that calcium is important for maintaining healthy teeth and bones. But the importance of calcium doesn’t stop there. It is also important for the proper functioning of muscles and nerves and overall body health. It even helps your blood clot faster should you get cut.

Most people think they get enough calcium every day. The truth is, most people don’t and when calcium levels drop too low, then calcium is taken from the bones which is what causes them to become brittle. The average person loses between 400 and 500 mg of calcium per day.

So just how much calcium does an average person need and how much do we normally get?

What most people don’t know is that a good portion of the calcium we get daily comes from sunlight. So taking a nice long walk on a sunny day will give you a good dose of calcium right off the bat. This is another reason why people who exercise regularly by walking are in better shape than those of us who don’t.

Aside from the calcium we get from sunlight, studies show that a person should eat about 700 mg of calcium daily. However this is also dependent on our age. Children who are still growing need more calcium than adults. However, older adults need more calcium than younger adults because as we age the bones tend to become more brittle. Post menopausal women are especially at risk of calcium deficiency and should increase their calcium intake to about 1200 mg per day.

Unfortunately, aside from milk based products like milk and cheese, not a lot of food contains significant amounts of calcium. This is why it becomes difficult sometimes to get all the calcium we need just from the food we eat and we need to get additional calcium in supplements.

The most common of these supplements are vitamins. A typical multi vitamin will contain between 150 and 200 mg of calcium per pill. This is not nearly enough to give us all the calcium we need but it is hoped that between this pill, the foods we eat and the sunlight we get. it will be enough. If not, there are other sources of calcium.

For people who suffer from excess acid they can get extra calcium by taking a Tums. The regular Tums has 200 mg of calcium per tablet and the extra strength has 300 mg per tablet. Combining a Tums with a multi vitamin and your regular dairy intake should give you more than enough calcium in your diet unless you are in need of extra calcium. In that case there are calcium supplement pills that contain as much as 500 mg of calcium per pill.

Certainly with proper diet and all the available calcium supplements around there is really no need for a normal healthy person to be calcium deficient.

It may just be time for a snack of milk and cookies.

We propose that with in these Honeycomb Structures will be the engine noise of the aircraft fine-tuned to a hyper sound frequency. The sound will be such that it does not allow the sound to escape but rather dissipate. The sound will also have a harmonic resonance and proper balance to enhance the structural integrity of the skin, ceramic coating and any metallic structures of the aircraft. In the event that the aircraft is hit with a laser the hyper sound will interfere with the incoming laser light enough to render the laser weapon useless.

We propose studies be made in wind tunnels and with various composite, metallic, electronic, coatings, paints along with various hyper sound frequencies to find the right variations to prove this concept as viable. We believe with the wind tunnel testing, natural harmonics, laminar airflows, frequency disruptions, we can build materials to not only withstand a laser weapon attack but also use that additional heat for a strengthening of the structure by resonating with the material at a molecular level to enhance the desired characteristics.

We believe that in since these weapons are becoming more and more commonplace and since they are being used now in more than 10 countries that eventually our enemies will have this technology and will attempt to use it to defend themselves against our aircraft, smart munitions and UAVs. To insure that a ScramJet ICBM type single mission UAV makes it to it’s target or re-entry and separation of multiple war heads it maybe necessary to use the sound or shock waves to create the hypersound resonance around the ScramJet Missile to prevent destruction by laser intercept.

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

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS: Introduction
by Steve Roensch, President, Roensch & Associates

First in a four-part series

Finite element analysis (FEA) is a fairly recent discipline crossing the boundaries of mathematics, physics, engineering and computer science. The method has wide application and enjoys extensive utilization in the structural, thermal and fluid analysis areas. The finite element method is comprised of three major phases: (1) pre-processing, in which the analyst develops a finite element mesh to divide the subject geometry into subdomains for mathematical analysis, and applies material properties and boundary conditions, (2) solution, during which the program derives the governing matrix equations from the model and solves for the primary quantities, and (3) post-processing, in which the analyst checks the validity of the solution, examines the values of primary quantities (such as displacements and stresses), and derives and examines additional quantities (such as specialized stresses and error indicators).

The advantages of FEA are numerous and important. A new design concept may be modeled to determine its real world behavior under various load environments, and may therefore be refined prior to the creation of drawings, when few dollars have been committed and changes are inexpensive. Once a detailed CAD model has been developed, FEA can analyze the design in detail, saving time and money by reducing the number of prototypes required. An existing product which is experiencing a field problem, or is simply being improved, can be analyzed to speed an engineering change and reduce its cost. In addition, FEA can be performed on increasingly affordable computer workstations and personal computers, and professional assistance is available.

It is also important to recognize the limitations of FEA. Commercial software packages and the required hardware, which have seen substantial price reductions, still require a significant investment. The method can reduce product testing, but cannot totally replace it. Probably most important, an inexperienced user can deliver incorrect answers, upon which expensive decisions will be based. FEA is a demanding tool, in that the analyst must be proficient not only in elasticity or fluids, but also in mathematics, computer science, and especially the finite element method itself.

Which FEA package to use is a subject that cannot possibly be covered in this short discussion, and the choice involves personal preferences as well as package functionality. Where to run the package depends on the type of analyses being performed. A typical finite element solution requires a fast, modern disk subsystem for acceptable performance. Memory requirements are of course dependent on the code, but in the interest of performance, the more the better, with 512 Mbytes to 8 Gbytes per user a representative range. Processing power is the final link in the performance chain, with clock speed, cache, pipelining and multi-processing all contributing to the bottom line. These analyses can run for hours on the fastest systems, so computing power is of the essence.

One aspect often overlooked when entering the finite element area is education. Without adequate training on the finite element method and the specific FEA package, a new user will not be productive in a reasonable amount of time, and may in fact fail miserably. Expect to dedicate one to two weeks up front, and another one to two weeks over the first year, to either classroom or self-help education. It is also important that the user have a basic understanding of the computer’s operating system.

Next month’s article will go into detail on the pre-processing phase of the finite element method.

copyright 2005 Roensch & Associates. All rights reserved.

Steve Roensch is a mechanical engineer with more than 20 years experience. He has served as an expert witness across many industries. Learn more about mechanical engineer expert witness services at www.FiniteElement.com.

Property management software can make the life of a building manager a whole lot easier, this is one thing that we learn when we tried to implant a new system the required servers and maintenance people around all times of the day and night. On line Property management on the market are not that easy to find, sure there are a lot of them but they don’t all work well for your specific building, so try and think of what you need first, condos and high rise have different set of things they need.

A pergola is not necessarily an expensive thing to have, but it requires some professionalism on the construction and a good taste, otherwise you might end up having something unfit for your garden and you will produce a negative effect. Look at some pictures and catalogues to get the best ideas and feel free to ask questions when talking to pergola experts. Many homes improved their look with the addition of pergola and if your are building a home form scratch, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider pergola already, talk to your builder about that, so you don’t have to encounter an extra expense later on.

Home DNA test kits can now be ordered over the Internet or through the mail at a cost of less than $ 300 per test. The kit usually contains a swab or mouthwash that can help collect a sample of cells from the inside the mouth. The samples can be posted back via mail and within a span of one month an individual can receive a series of numbers that represent key chemical “”markers”" within his DNA. These numbers can then be compared to results from other individuals to help determine ancestry.

An individual’s DNA test provides only a little information about the ancestry. It becomes complex to understand the numbers and put them in formulas to find details about the family tree. It is always advisable to adopt these studies within a group of family members. The only option provided to an individual is to input his DNA test results into the many DNA databases on the Net for finding a match with someone who has already been tested. Most of the DNA testing companies also provide information by matching the DNA results undertaken by other individuals. This information is provided by companies only on request and with the consent of both parties. And both persons should submit written permission to get the results released.

THE FORMATION OF RAIN How rain forms remained a great mystery for a long time. Only after weather radar was invented was it possible to discover the stages by which rain is formed. According to this, the formation of rain takes place in three stages. First, the “raw material” of rain rises up into the air with the wind. Later, clouds are formed, and finally raindrops appear. The Qur’an’s account of the formation of rain refers exactly to this process. In one verse, this formation is described in this way: It is God Who sends the winds which stir up clouds which He spreads about the sky however He wills. He forms them into dark clumps and you see the rain come pouring out from the middle of them. When He makes it fall on those of His slaves He wills, they rejoice. (The Qur’an, 30:48) Now, let us examine these three stages outlined in the verse more technically.

FIRST STAGE: ” It is God Who sends the winds…” Countless air bubbles formed by the foaming of the oceans continuously burst and cause water particles to be ejected towards the sky. These particles, which are rich in salt, are then carried away by winds and rise upward in the atmosphere. These particles, which are called aerosols, function as water traps, and form cloud drops by collecting around the water vapour themselves, which rises from the seas as tiny droplets.

SECOND STAGE: “…. which stir up clouds which He spreads about the sky however He wills. He forms them into dark clumps…” The clouds are formed from water vapour that condenses around the salt crystals or dust particles in the air. Because the water droplets in these clouds are very small (with a diameter between 0.01 and 0.02 mm), the clouds are suspended in the air, and spread across the sky. Thus, the sky is covered in clouds.

THIRD STAGE: “…and you see the rain come pouring our from the middle of them” The water particles that surround salt crystals and dust particles thicken and form raindrops, so, drops that become heavier than the air leave the clouds and start to fall to the ground as rain. As we have seen, every stage in the formation of rain is related in the verses of the Qur’an. Furthermore, these stages are explained in exactly the right sequence. Just as with many other natural phenomena on the Earth, God gives the most correct explanation of this phenomenon as well, and made it known to people in the Qur’an centuries before it was discovered. In another verse, the following information is given about the formation of rain: Have you not seen how God drives along the clouds, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain come out of it? And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) with cold hail in them, striking with it anyone He wills and averting it from anyone He wills. The brightness of His lightning almost blinds the sight. (The Qur’an, 24:43) Scientists studying cloud types came across surprising results regarding the formation of rain clouds. Rain clouds are formed and shaped according to definite systems and stages. The formation stages of cumulonimbus, one kind of rain cloud, are these:

1.STAGE, Being driven along: Clouds are carried along, that is, they are driven along, by the wind. 2.STAGE, Joining: Then, small clouds (cumulus clouds) driven along by the wind join together, forming a larger cloud.9 3.STAGE, Stacking: When the small clouds join together, updrafts within the larger cloud increase. The updrafts near the centre of the cloud are stronger than those near the edges. These updrafts cause the cloud body to grow vertically, so the cloud is stacked up. This vertical growth causes the cloud body to stretch into cooler regions of the atmosphere, where drops of water and hail formulate and begin to grow larger and larger. When these drops of water and hail become too heavy for the updrafts to support them, they begin to fall from the cloud as rain, hail, etc.10 We must remember that meteorologists have only recently come to know these details of cloud formation, structure and function, by using advanced equipment like planes, satellites, computers etc. It is evident that God has given us a piece of information that could not have been known 1,400 years ago.

— What is an Internet Sourcer? —

The Internet Sourcer is a relatively new position for many organizations.
The most common use of a Sourcer is in the recruiting and talent-search
fields. Usually, a Sourcer scours the Web for resumes and candidates using
several search techniques to ensure their searches are complete and
accurate. Some of the better Sourcers come from the computer industry and
work independently as well as have an extreme amount of focus, patience, and
inquisitiveness.

— Data Mining —

Data mining uses various techniques to examine data and organize that data
into a meaningful presentation. This is also a part of an area known as
Knowledge Management—an entirely different world and best left for a later
tome.

* Finding Information

As applied to Internet Sourcing, data mining consists of a set of search
techniques (i.e., Flip Search, X-Ray, Peel Back) to acquire information.
These techniques allow you to locate relevant and hidden information on the
Internet that would otherwise be out of your reach. Each of the techniques,
mentioned shortly, can be applied to any of the larger search engines such
as AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) and HotBot
(http://www.hotbot.com/).

* Organizing Information

Once you locate the information, you have to organize it by relevancy. This
can be accomplished with various tools, including, Correlate
(http://www.correlate.com/). This tool allows you to organize links, text,
and documents in a tree format to better view and understand the information
you’ve acquired.

— Various Search Techniques —

Locating information on the Web is not as straightforward as you might
think. Of course, you can always do a simple keyword search and locate a
few thousand links, of which only 25% to 50% are truly relevant to your
specific search. To really dig into the Web, you need to understand the
three search techniques explained below. To present valid examples, the
following explanations use the techniques for searching potential candidates
and resumes on the Web.

* Flip Search

Flip Search locates items by link association. For instance, instead of
searching for potential candidate pages based on specific keywords, the Flip
Search returns pages that are ‘linked to’ a target Web site. Links might be
personal homepages, colleges, industry organizations, companies,
publications, or associations. Each of these ‘linkers’ represents a
potential of providing candidates or related information.

Two of the primary search engines that support various Flip Search
mechanisms are as follows. Once you understand the premise for this search,
you can determine the specifics for the other major search engines on the
Web.

- AltaVista: On the ‘Advanced Search’ page, in the Boolean Query text field,
enter ‘link:host.com AND homepage AND “java programmer”‘ and press Enter.
With this search string, you’re searching for all links that are associated
with the keywords ‘homepage’ and ‘”java programmer”.’ You can refine the
search using skills, job titles, and any term that might refine your search
target.

- HotBot: On the ‘Advanced Search’ page, enter the URL or domain name in the
Search text field. In the Look For drop-down box, select ‘links to this
URL’. Refine your search by entering skills, job titles, and any term that
defines your search target in the ‘Word Filter’ text fields.

Examine the results as you work with different searches to see how this
search works. It is extremely powerful and can generate numerous relevant
links for any given search condition.

* X-Ray Search

Most sites have documents that aren’t accessible through links on their
site’s pages—hidden from view, yet publicly available. The X-Ray technique
searches files in a server and lets you view most of these ‘hidden’
documents.

To try this out, go to AltaVista’s ‘Advanced Search’ page and type
‘host:tripod.com’ in the Boolean Query text field. Like ‘link:’, ‘host:’
tells the search engine to look for keywords in documents on the specified
Web site—the Web site for the ‘tripod.com’ domain.

When you click the ‘Search’ button, you could end up with several million
documents from your target host. To obtain a more manageable group of
results for this example—look for freelance writers. For example, enter
the following search string into the Boolean Query text field:
host:tripod.com AND “freelance writing”
When I did the search, I got about 100 results. Consider that, intuitively,
many people name their resume page ‘resume.’ With this assumption, let’s
fine-tune the search again to look for resumes using the following search
string:
host:tripod.com AND title:resume AND “freelance writing”
The word ‘title:’ tells the engine to look for keywords in the tag
in the header of a Web page— the text that appears at the top of your
browser’s window.

* Peel Back Search

Let’s say that you’ve used the X-Ray technique and found 400 links. One of
those links (e.g., http://www.host.com/group/members/mybio1) points to a
corporate site on which several individuals have their biographies. Of
course, you can guess that if this one biography matches your needs, there
might be other biographies with similar qualifications.

At this point, you can use the Peel Back technique. This technique takes one
result from the previous two searches and drills down into the site. It not
only reduces the amount of time you spend looking at each biography, but it
also bypasses any specific walls in place that prevent you from prowling the
site (e.g., a 403 browser error).

Look at the ‘members’ path in the URL. There may be other members of the
group inside that folder. To take a look, “peel the URL back” until it
reads http://www.host.com/group/members. In hopes of viewing a list of
pages, you press the Enter key. Instead, you get the ‘403 Error Message’
that tells you that you’re forbidden from viewing the directory. This
usually happens when the Web server is setup to prevent ‘directory browsing’
and there are no default pages (e.g., index.html, default.html, etc.)

To resolve this, you peruse the directory indirectly. You already know that
the biography page is on ‘host:host.com’ and you know that there is a folder
named ‘members’ in the URL. Using this information, you can go to AltaVista
and perform an X-Ray search using ‘host:host.com AND url:members’. This
will return all pages on ‘host.com’ with ‘members’ in the URL. Viola!

— Becoming Proficient —

It is important to use and understand the techniques presented so that you
can become a proficient Internet Sourcer. The best way to exercise your new
talent is to locate various job descriptions on the numerous job-posting
sites. Prepare a set of keywords from the job descriptions and execute the
various search techniques. Try to fine-tune the search to acquire as many
specific and relevant resumes as possible.

Additionally, it’s important to follow a set of guidelines to provide a
professional presentation when looking for and performing various Internet
Sourcing opportunities. A subset of some of these general rules is listed
below to give you a jump-start on your new career:

- Don’t search to find out what you’re searching for. To make better use of
your time, make sure that you have a solid grasp of the target search and
the expected results.

- Many times, when performing the search, the keywords at the target links
are available as used in the search keywords. In other cases, however,
you’ll have to translate the search criteria to find the most possible
returns.

- Start with a small search string that returns a large number of pages. By
tuning the search iteratively, your string grows and the number of returns
decrease. Make sure that as the string grows, it doesn’t become convoluted
or contain misspellings. However, also take into account misspellings as
some words are misspelled in common ways at target Web sites.

- Assemble your resources to ensure that you can perform a successful
search. These resources include bookmarks to search engines, a method of
tracking searches, keywords for the target search, a list of competitors and
their URLs, association sites, universities, company profiles, industry
resources, and sites specific to a given discipline.

- Understand and use your techniques for effective and efficient searches.
Use the advanced search services at various search engines and understand
how to apply each technique to each engine.

- Continue working with and learning new search techniques—it is
imperative to your success as an Internet Sourcer. Also, visit
recruiter-specific sites to read on their latest trends and requirements so
that you can stay up to speed with the industry.

— Finding a Job —

As far as jobs are concerned, once you acquire some experience, go to
Jobvertise (http://www.jobvertise.com/) and search for ‘Internet Sourcer’
and ‘Internet Sourcing’. From the returned job list, you’ll be able to
either locate a position or find other keywords that can help you fine-tune
your search.

As an added bonus, from the information presented, you now know how to best
organize your resume to reach the largest audience and announce your new
profession as an Internet Sourcer. Prepare a searchable resume based on
this information and, pretty soon, every recruiter will know your name!

— What’s next? —

Obviously, in a short article there is no way I can make you an instant
expert, but I did provide you with the basic information to get you started.
Now, you can go out on the Web and search the information presented here to
find additional references and enhance your knowledge of this new position!
>From my own experiences, Internet Sourcing is a lot of fun and you can make
a reasonable amount of money performing contract Internet Sourcing services.

About the Author

Edward B. Toupin is a freelance consultant, writer, and published author
living in Las Vegas. He currently handles technical writing tasks for
various companies in New York, Chicago, and Denver. Edward also provides quality Web site
design, development, and marketing as well as writing, document design and
planning, and e-book publishing services. You can visit his Web site at
http://www.toupin.com or contact him at etoupin@toupin.com.

DNA testing costs can range from reasonable to exorbitant, with easy-to-detect genetic linkage tests costing a few hundred dollars, while difficult tests like analysis for focal mutations cost thousands of dollars. Most DNA tests include prices for the entire process, from sample collection to analysis, written reports and even courier costs. However, when opting for a genetic test, it is advisable to find out any hidden cost attached to an analysis.

The cost of DNA testing also depends on the kind of analysis to be undertaken. For instance, in case of a standard DNA paternity test, a person might have to send only about $200, while a legal paternal DNA paternity test might cost around $600. Every additional request or specialized tests adds up to the total cost for genetic evaluation; for example, a standard paternal DNA test’s cost might go up by a few hundred dollars if the sample of an alleged relative is also added for analysis.

Although DNA testing costs are generally not covered by insurers, most insurance companies do cover the less expensive tests, and one can find the more information from their insurance agents before submitting a sample.