Stealth operations

This post is about the long awaited Russian military aircraft technology response, Sukhoi T-50, to the US F-22 Raptor. For those who do not keep up with fighter aircraft, the F-22 is America's top of the line fighter aircraft being referred to as the only operational 5th generation fighter currently in existence. The other US 5th generation fighter is the F-35 Lightning II planned for delivery later this year. In a nutshell, these aircraft have all of the latest developments in avionics, materials, engines, and electronics integrated into an advanced system. Once distinction of the next generation aircraft is stealth technology or the ability to evade most radars. 5th generation aircraft have a significant advantage during combat over older 4th generation and earlier fighters.

The Sukhoi T-50 is a product of the once proud Russian military industrial complex under the Soviets that easily kept up with the Western bloc countries until communism fell in 1991. Now, the Russian arms producers are just a remnant of their former greatness. It partially explains why it took so long to produce the initial prototype. It appears as if the plane has a long way to go before actually combat readiness.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hailed the flight as a "big step forward," but admitted that "a lot remains to be done in terms of engines and armament."

Reading further into the article, it appears the new technology is NOT a significant change from the prior generation of aircraft.

The NPO Saturn company said in a statement that the jet has new engines, but military analysts suggested that they were a slightly modernized version of the Soviet-era engine powering the Su-27 family of fighters.

"It's a humbug," said independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer. "It's just a prototype lacking new engines and a new radar. It takes new materials to build a fifth-generation fighter, and Russia lacks them."

It appears as if this new plane is an upgrade for the Russian military and not really a true 5th generation fighter. In the end, I think Russia may have it right in improving upon their tried and true technology into better weapons. In contrast, the US spent tens of billions of dollars to build a complete new weapon without a defined military need or combat role.

Give me a D, Vitamin D

This blog was originally intended to cover science and technology, but it has grown to cover other topics related to this area. I have been writing several posts on nutrition and health since it is of interest to everyone. This post will be about a very important vitamin, Vitamin D. What differentiates this vitamin from the rest is the main source is not from our diets, but from sunlight exposure. It turns out the wavelength range in sunlight that produces Vitamin D in our skin, UVB radiation at 295-300 nm, is the same radiation that causes skin cancer. This supports the statement, "moderation in all things." As for dietary sources, the only concentrated natural vitamin D sources are seafood based. It appears in much lower doses within egg yolks. Vitamin D is routinely added to the US milk supply to prevent the deficiency in Americans which was first observed in the 1920's as the disease rickets in the general population. Rickets mostly vanished in the US after the fortification program started.

What inspired me to discuss this topic is evidence exists that Vitamin D deficiency may lead to chronic fatigue or even potentially Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. What I have noticed in the last few days is feeling tired with no real purpose. My diet was good. I exercised regularly. My sleep was high quality with about 7 hours on the weekdays and 8+ on the weekends. Why do I feel sluggish all of the time? Thinking about it, this is how I always feel since living in Texas from mid-January to mid-March. Going further back, it is the same sensation that I felt in the gloomy Oregon winter with no sunshine. Fast forward to the present, we have had lots of cloudy days and little sunshine in the last few weeks. Due to my indoor work environment, when it was sunny I did not get any sunlight exposure outdoors. That is when it hit me, I might have Vitamin D deficiency. To battle this affliction, I am taking a multivitamin (400 IU dose), eating tuna fish sandwiches at lunch and taking 10 minute walks in the sun at around noon when possible. The regiment might also have some Vitamin D supplements added. I will update my rehabilitation progress after about a week.

Football strategy part 3

The post is a continuation on two previous posts, Football strategy parts 1 and 2, examining the various influences upon a successful team in the NFL playoffs. The initial posts demonstrate that coaching strategy alone does not guarantee a winning team. Another weekend has passed by with the second round results giving a clear indication of other factors that significantly contribute to victory. Of the three games, three of four games had the home team winning (Saints, Vikings, and Colts) by land slides. The fourth game had the visiting team winning (Jets) by a small margin. The home teams all had one week off without a game. Knowing these facts, two factors stick out here: homefield advantage and player rest.

Homefield advantage is as it sounds, the home team has a slight advantage. Reading up on the topic, the bookies in Las Vegas give the home team a ~3 point advantage. Why? To me, these following things are obvious. Playing in an arena who cheers for your side will help the momentum in your favor. This contributes to the fact that the field is familiar and is your turf. Defend the homeland, it is instinctual. The other factor is sleeping in your own bed without the hassle of travel. Stress levels are reduced. It is easier to prepare for game day.

The other important factor, especially at this late point in the season, is one week of rest without a game. These guys have been working hard since late July in weight rooms, practice fields and during games. The physical punishment upon a human body is severe. Even to the young in-shape men it is tough. Players are big and strong enough to routinely deliver head trauma through concussions with helmets on for protection. Teams are riddled with injuries of all sorts. Psychological stress to keep playing your best is also really high. Failure to perform on the field and someone else will gladly take your spot on the team. The one week of rest allows injured players to heal and prevents new injuries opportunities that could occur during a game. Rest will allow further focus on the game at hand instead of recovering from a prior game. I believe the one week off is the true advantage to a team.

Oil and water solar power

One main topic of this blog concerns energy and the issues facing our modern society. In a previous post, the real future energy crisis, I discuss how coal could supply the US electricity demand for the next 200 years. The downside to using coal are air pollution and the destructive effects of coal mining. This post will investigate a recent solar cell development that is promising and put it into context with the current overall solar power picture.

First of all, I am going to mention a few facts about solar power without giving citations giving an overall general view of the solar industry.

1. Solar power is relatively new in large scale implementation. It has been used in niche applications for decades, but using the technology for large scale applications is still experimental.

2. Solar power is truly an environmentally less destructive alternative in comparison to all fossil fuels generation methods.

3. Solar power is not a very dense energy source. If we put solar plants covering every square inch of available land and on top of roofs, we still would not have our energy demands satisfied.

4. Finally, solar systems do not generate energy consistently around the clock. The sun sets and generation stops. On cloudy days, the amount of electricity generated also drops significantly.

5. Even when solar systems are generating electricity using current technology, the cost per unit is significantly higher than all other traditional forms of generation including fossil fuel, hydroelectric and nuclear based systems.

Here is my beef with solar power, the amount of money and effort that a society would pour into solar power would not be beneficial with the current solar technology. No current technology commercially available (Si solar cells, thin film or concentrators) has high energy yield at low cost. The price per kiloWatt is significantly higher than conventional electricity production. Large scale solar implementation will end up bankrupting us, while failing to achieve our energy goals. For solar to be viable, the overall manufacturing and system construction costs will have to drop significantly. Construction is a fixed cost, but manufacturing could be significantly reduced. The only way to achieve a significant reduction in solar cost would be through the research and development of new solar technology resulting in high yield, low cost solar energy process.

One interesting solar technical development comes from the University of Minnesota with self-assembled solar cells. The BBC reports that researchers have used self-assembly to organize Si onto a substrate patterned with Au for electrical connections. Self-assembly is a process that uses hydrophilic (water compatible) and hydrophobic (water incompatible) substances like vinegar and oil. The two are immiscible with each other separating upon mixing. In the case of self-assembly, separates into desired patterns or configurations. It appears as if the scientists have devised a way to self-assemble working solar cells. One technical advantage is mentioned in the article.

"Self-assembly is probably the best method for integrating high-performance materials onto unconventional substrates," he told BBC News.

The method tackles what Dr Parviz said is the most challenging problem - the proper alignment of thousands of parts, each thinner than a human hair. But it also works with the highest-performance materials, he said.

"For example, this method allows one to use single-crystal silicon, which is far superior to other types of silicon for making solar cells."

High yield devices could be produced with greater electrical conversion than current Si solar cells. The other advantage comes from low cost substrates significantly reducing the overall manufacturing cost. Further development of this idea would result in a high yield, low cost solar system. Before we start dumping money into the professor's group, the article only briefly touches upon the amount of development before a final manufactured product will come to market. It will be years. Investing in that kind of development would be a good investment in our energy future.

Football strategy part 2

The results of the first round of the playoffs are in and my predictions were wrong in my last post, Football strategy. I predicted the following and we can compare them with actual results below:

Predicted:
Bengals
Cardinals
Eagles

Actual:
Jets
Cardinals
Cowboys

Total Correct: 1 of 3

Looking at the true games outcomes, I should stay away from Vegas and save my money with an accuracy of only 33%.

My theory had the coaches on the losing teams the week before intentionally not putting forth their best game. The losing coaches had nothing serious to gain by winning the last regular season games and were not willing to risk revealing to their opponents their top strategies or injuring their stars. The coaches were holding back in the following manners:
1. Top players had limited play time
2. Most successful plays were not utilized
3. Experimental plays were brought into the playbook
In comparison, the winning teams during the last game of the regular season had no other option but to bring forth their best game and win. This lead to an imbalance in preparing for the playoff game. The losing team in the regular season's game knew what the best plays and match ups their opponents possess. In addition, the loser also had the advantage of trying various plays on their opponents allowing them to weed out the bad plays. The winning side was in the dark concerning the best plays of their opposition.

Any one who knows something about football realizes there are hundreds of factors contributing to a successful victory. Talent, coaching, team spirit, mistakes, luck, homefield advantage and on-field execution are to name a few. What this blog theory exercise demonstrated was the advantage a team gains by playing this coy coaching strategy is insignificant.

I smell nothing but a continuous winning streak by the Cowboys. Go Cowboys!

Football strategy

As I am starting this post, it is 4:09 PM Central Standard Time to track this statement. I will make a follow up to confirm or deny my theory. My theory has to do with NFL football and first round playoff wins due to intentional coaching influence on a team. For some reason this year, three of four first round playoffs had the same teams play each other one week before in the last game of the regular season. The games are:
Philadelphia Eagles - Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals - New York Jets
Green Bay Packers - Arizona Cardinals
What is of interest last week is the teams that had nothing significant to gain lost. Accordingly, teams that had something significant to gain won. The Cowboys, Jets and Packers won. If two teams did not win, they were going to either be eliminated from playoff contention (Jets) or lose home field advantage in the first round (Cowboys). The Cowboys also had to save face after the brutal loss last year during the last game of the year ('08 season) to the Eagles, 44-6. The Packers had nothing to gain or lose in their victory.

It was no accident the prior week's outcomes happened. What makes it even more so suspicious is the lopsided manner the winning teams achieved their victories with the following scores:
24-0
33-7
0-37
It has to do with coaching strategy and the advantage these teams will gain in the first round playoffs contributed to these extreme scores. The playoffs advantage far outweighed the one win in the team's regular season's record. I predict that the following teams will win in the first round of playoffs: Eagles, Bengals and Cardinals. What is being tested is the effect of coaching and player psychology in a team's success. I will further extrapolate in the next post.

To put forth my bias, I am a Cowboys fan living in Texas. I deeply hope that my theory is faulty and that the Cowboys beat the snot out of the Eagles. Go Cowboys!

Supplementing what?

I have been at a quandary on topics to write. Today at work, we had a discussion concerning veganism. First, I will give a definition on veganism and categorize the diet as an extreme form of vegetarianism. The most common form of vegetarianism is lacto-ovovegetarianism or a vegetarian who eats eggs and consumes dairy products. Several variations of the protein loving vege types exist. If the diet is carefully planned, the egg/milk consuming vege types can live long, healthy lives. Be warned, a poor vegetarian diet is just as bad as a poor omnivorous diet though. As your momma said, "Eat your vegetables!"

Veganism takes a further step removing all forms of animal byproducts including dairy and eggs. Animal products have high concentrations of certain vitamins and minerals that may be found in plants, but the plants have low concentrations. These are iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, and B12. Removal of all animal byproducts severely limits the intake of these vital nutrients and could lead malnourishment. Supplements are often taken by vegans to fulfill their needs. The one of interest is vitamin B12. B12 is from yeast or bacterial activity, but the only source in modern diets is through animal products. Vegans do not eat any forms of animal products, thus, they will suffer vitamin B12 deficiency over a long period of time. What if they take supplements? Supplements come from a form of living animal byproduct, they are not vegan if B12 is one of them. Other deficiencies will also come into play from lack of these nutrients over a long period of time. Someone may live in good health over a few weeks or months, but any longer that is not possible. No large group of individuals is found worldwide that strictly adheres to veganism as a result. I will make the statement simple and clear. Healthy, strict, long-term vegan adherents are like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, they DO NOT EXIST.

This leads me to the second half of my post, something of interest to vegans, vitamin supplements and their benefits. In a prior post, I spoke about the value of research studies on health and continuing medical care. This study questions the beneficial value of supplemental vitamins. The multitude of vitamins individuals take for various disease preventative purposes may not have that significant of an effect on actually preventing the disease. In some cases, as with antioxidants and heart disease, it may actually be worst than not using the vitamins. (Note: Links do not work in paraphrase.)

The news on antioxidants, the darlings of the vitamin menagerie, is even more troubling. These compounds, which include Vitamins A, C, and E, selenium, beta carotene, and folate, fight free radicals, unstable compounds thought to damage cells and contribute to aging. But not only do antioxidant supplements fail to protectagainst heart disease, stroke, and cancer; they actually increase the risk of death, according to a 2007 analysis of research on more than 232,000 people, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as well as other studies.

The article does make the statement that in cases of diets that lack certain nutrients (i.e. Vegans) vitamins are recommended and are beneficial. Vitamin supplements are not all bad. As for the preventative ideals concerning disease, this study demonstrates our basic lack of medical knowledge about the complex interactions vitamins have within our bodies. More studies are required in the future to clear our understanding.

Diet to lose weight?

First of all, Happy New Years y'all! This post is over a socially complex topic that needs addressing for the health of American citizens for decades to come. Overweight people in our society. This study based upon the effects of eating cheese on weight loss flies in the face of the prevailing wisdom often given to us by our medical doctors. High fat food that has the ability to reduce weight? It turns out that an individual's metabolism is increased through the ingesting of conjugated linoleic acid found in cheese. This does not surprise me that an element like this in a supposed bad food makes people thinner to a degree. Look at the French, they eat lots of rich foods and remain thin. The issue at hand has a weight loss diet competing with a healthy diet.

Fat in general has been labeled a negative factor ever since the Framingham Heart Study (began in 1948) identified a diet high in animal fats contributes to heart diseases. If you dig further into the topic, it specifically is saturated fat that contributes to heart disease and not unsaturated fats (mononunsaturated and polyunsaturated). Unsaturated fats are beneficial for humans and are necessary for life. The general name "fat" also gives us a visual impression of an overweight individual. Cheese is loaded with unsaturated and saturated fat, so the benefits from linoleic acid would not outweight the negative effects from fat. Here is the conflict. Yes, excessive amounts of fat in cheese could potentially (depends on individual) contribute to heart disease, thus, limiting the amount of cheese would be advisable.

What contributes to gaining weight is excessive calorie consumption in comparison to the body burning calories through physical activities. Excessive calories are stored by the body as human fat. Consumed fats (from food) are low in calories. The human body does not take in significant amounts of calories from food fats. Even though saturated food fat is not healthy, it will not lead to significant weight increase. Excessive calories tend to come from an overload in carbohydrates, i.e. sugars and breads. Here is the conflict within the layman's reasoning. The reality is a healthy diet may lead to weight gain. Other side of the coin is an unhealthy diet may lead to weight loss. Dr. Atkins diet, if not carefully intepreted, can result in a poor diet leading to weight loss. The conundrum of the French eating rich foods like cheese makes rational sense if analyzed in the proper manner.

Conquering the overweight American may require more studies similar to this cheese study and rethinking the way we view certain foods. Healthy and weight sensible are different. More factors than mentioned in this blog are at play. The final step would be to properly educate the public.