FEA and the Question of Credibility

FEA and the Question of Credibility FEA and the Question of Credibility Finite komponente Analysis (FEA) is designed to save money and time by computerizing engineering analysis. FEA is a digital way to test designs against predictable forces, to determine whether a design will fail and, if so, when and how the material will deform, snap, or collapse. As a central part of engineering analysis, FEA also helps ensure against risky under-design and costly over-design. Finite element analysis has migrated over the years from a purely academic pursuit into everyday product development. FEA does not eliminate the need for prototypes, but it can shorten the process. Often only one or two prototypes need to be built and tested before anything new goes into production. Digital prototyping also allows designers to quickly dig into more design options. E Is for Element Models are built up from finite, discrete elementsanywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of millions. Hundreds of different elements cover most possible calculations of mechanical properties found in the real world. Elements include lines, shells, 2-D planar solids, planes (stress or strain), shear panels and membranes, 2-D axi-symmetrics, 3-D surfaces and solids, plates, beams, triangles, wedges, tetrahedrons and bricks, hexagons, mass, and general stiffness matrices. In addition to the geometric shapes, hundreds of other elements have been created for specific problemsfor pressure or bending, for example. Additional elements represent plastics, rubber, ceramics, concrete, masonry, aerospace composites, and other materials. Some of these elements are idealizations that embody a particular engineering concept. Some idealized elements have more than 100 nodes and as many as 11 degrees of freedom per node. Meshing converts design geometry into FEA elementsdigital Lego blocks. In FEA, mesh is the network of elements linked at their nodes and with loads properly applied. This is where calculations are done. The more dense the mesh, the more realistic and more accurate the solution. Even on the speediest hardware, very large FEA models may require days of nonstop number crunching. FEA calculates effects of loading at each node of every element with thousands or millions of simultaneous differential equations. Making it Credible The biggest challenge in FEA is validation, carefully chosen and closely monitored physical tests that confirm whether or not physical reality and virtual reality line up. A consensus among FEA analysts is that validation ensures that there are no hidden disconnects between the model and the physical testing, that correct physical properties are used, and that properties are analyzed accurately based on correct principles of physics. Simulations have become so incredibly comprehensive that it is no longer possible to establish confidence in these models by using simple engineering judgment or hand calculations. The physical tests are critical for credible analyse s. As in any other engineering analysis, FEA model builders often have to deal with unknowns such as exact loads on the exterior surfaces of modeled objects. The solution is straightforward Make sure that worst-case and best-case models are built and then err on the side of safety. According to its practitioners, FEA is useful wherever the risk of material failure or engineering error has serious consequencesany of the legal, regulatory and bottom-line ramifications of product failure. They also point out that credibility lies at the heart of the every simulation effort, FEA or otherwise. When the penalties of failure are great, spending $10,000 or $50,000 for FEA is easily justified. Adapted from The Question of Credibility by Jack Thornton, for Mechanical Engineering, May 2010. FEA does not eliminate the need for prototypes, but it can shorten the process. Often only one or two prototypes need to be built and tested before anything new goes into production.

Book Jobs - How To Get Hired in Book Publishing

Book Jobs - How To Get Hired in Book PublishingBook Jobs - How To Get Hired in Book PublishingDo you want a book job? Do you want to know how to get a job in book publishing - as a book editor, a librarian, or a bookstore manager? Or maybe your idea of a job in book publishing is to get paid to write books. Many booklovers wonder what it would be like to work with books, and there are hundreds of different job possibilities in the book publishing industry. Whatever bookish career you envision, heres what you should know. Book Jobs - How To Get a Job in Book Publishing If you want to find a job in a traditional New York City book publishinghouse, preferably at one of the Big Five book publishers or a reputable small publisher first its a good idea to do your research and see what area might be right for you andinform your for your interview. Here are some steps to take Learn about the major departments in a book publishing house, and what each is responsible for.Know to different iate between the different positions in the editorial department, and what part of acquiring and editing books each does.the many and varied types of book sales positions from selling to Barnes Noble to selling the all-important subsidiary rights.Understandthe publishing process that is,how a book goes from authors manuscript to finished book.Brush up on the major players in the industry -the Big Fivetraditional publishers Reviewbook publishings annual calendar the industry is very seasonal so it will give you a leg up to understand the key annual events. Understand What Book Publishing Pros Want in a Job Candidate Of course, there is much published guidance on how to write a resume or how to prep for an entry level job interview. But the book publishing industry has its own set of parameters for the wannabe employee and you want to be sure youre prepared with as much information as possible about the company youre about to enter. Here are somespecific pointers on how to prepa re for a book publishing job interview. Research the Book Publishing Job For Which Youre Interviewing Here are some specifics to help About the Librarians Job Do you wish you could work with the research databases of the New York Public Library? Or maybe you want to help acquire and archive the ancient manuscripts of the Morgan Library and Museum, or help local kids find the appropriate childrens books to read. Librarians today can be anything from data consultants to specialty archivists. If youre considering a career as a librarian, here are some facts about the profession. Learn about Being a librarian About the Job of ABookseller For many book lovers, opening a bookstore seems to be a dream job. Of course, as with any business, the realities of opening a bookstore are a lot more complicated than the fantasy of spending all your time with books. If youre considering buying or starting a bookstore, here are some facts about bookselling Learn What it takes to open a bookstoreAb out resources and helpful information for independent booksellersAbout different types of retail booksellersProfiles of different types of independent booksellers About Being an Author There are real, tangible thrills in being a published book author - like your name on a book jacket. The privilege of having your words available to an audience of readers. Those who are publishing a book for the first time or those who aspire to should learn the realities of author-dom. Find out What its like to be a published authorAbout the life of a prolific author, in the words of one whos been thereAbout the Authors Guild, a professional association for authorsThe realities - the work, the money - of being an indie authorWhat you should ask yourself before you go indie author About the Job of ALiterary werber Want to be on the deal-making side of publishing? If youre good at author hand-holding and advocacy and negotiation, but you dont necessarily want to edit books, you might want to consid er being a literary agent. Learn about The functions a literary agent performs for his or her authors

How to Develop Your Voice for TV or Radio

How to Develop Your Voice for TV or RadioHow to Develop Your Voice for TV or RadioPeople who work in broadcasting want to develop their voice for TV or radio so that they sound professional the minute they first speak into a microphone.Decades ago, finding your broadcast voice was simple. Men tried to speak with in as deep a voice as possible, while ladies wanted to sound happyas if theyd just baked a pie. Today, such speech sounds artificial on the air, which often makes the audience suspicious of whats being said. Vocal training means sounding less like an announcer and more like your natural self when the TV or radio microphone is turned on. Change Your Expectations Oprah Winfrey and Bill OReilly are very different people on TV, as are Ryan Seacrest and Howard Stern on the radio. But theres something they all have in common on the air. Vocally, they dont sound like announcers. Regardless of whether they are reading from a script or ad-libbing, they all sound like theyre talkin g to you naturally, as if they were sitting next to you having a conversation. When you started your media career, you may have fallen into a common trap of trying to imitate someone famous. Maybe you wanted the deep gravitas of James Earl Jones or the seductive sounds of Susan Sarandon. But the time you spend trying to sound like someone else is better devoted to sounding more like yourself. On-air media superstars are those with the natural ability to communicate. Being natural starts with sounding natural, not by trying to emulate someone you admire. In recent years, all aspects of broadcasting have become less formal, including vocals. Listen to Your Voice To build a natural-sounding broadcast voice, listen to yourself. Record a conversation you have with a friend and compare it to how you sound on the air. What you want to hear is the tone of your voice. A conversation has peaks and valleys in inflection, speed, and emphasis. Too often, a broadcast voice sounds flat, especi ally when you are reading from a script. The opposite extreme is a vocal delivery with a repetitive punch, which sounds sing-songy because the pitch goes up and down at the same rate in each sentence. Heres an exercise Take a script that you would read on the air and put it aside. Now record yourself saying the same informationnot in script form, but as you would say it to a friend. That is the vocal delivery style you want on the air. Tweak Your Scripts The most natural-sounding people on TV and radio are usually reading scripts written by someone else. That doesnt mean the copy cant be tweaked to fit your vocal training style. Sometimes its as simple as switching out words. A news script that talks about the state making improvements to transportation infrastructure will sound like a government document on the air, no matter who reads it. Replace that bureaucrat-speak with roads and bridges, and youve instantly made the information easier to understand and deliver. Depending on the scriptwriter, sentences may all be too long or too short. Sentences that are too long are hard to speak effectivelybecause youre just waiting for the end so you can take a breath. A lot of short, choppy sentences give a rat-a-tat-tat sound on the air. The best approach is to vary the length of sentences. Thats the way people speak in normal conversation. If youre stuck with a long, complicated line thats crammed with information, then make sure the next line is short. Youd be surprised at how making that slight change will help your broadcast voice. Develop Ad-Lib Skills It sounds strange, but ad-libbing without a script is both easier and harder in developing your broadcast voice than reading a printed copy. Vocal training requires that you excel at both. Ad-libbing can be easierbecause youre simply talking into a microphone. You sound natural because youre speaking, just as you do at home or on the telephone. The words you choose are your own, not those of a scriptwrite r. Converting everyday language into something a journalist would say cripples your ability to sound natural and erects a wall between you and your audience. Viewers dont feel as though they are seeing the real you because of how you choose to speak to them, rather than talk with them. Sports announcers are spoofed all the time for the tired cliches they use. But when Al Michaels said, Do you believe in miracles? when the U.S. hockey team scored an improbable victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, he captured the moment by sounding like a friend and not like a cliched announcer. Thats why that line is so memorable to this day. Practice Vocal Training You cant transform your vocal training skills overnight. It takes the right kind of practice to become so comfortable on the air that you cant help but sound like yourself. Record yourself, both reading from a script ad-libbing. Ideally, you will sound the same, because the best media pros can switch seamlessly between the two without changing their broadcast voice. Avoid adding mechanical tricks while you practice, such as deliberately pausing for two seconds between saying, The baby survived the crash. (Pause) Her mother did not. The goal is not to sound like an orator delivering a speech to the masses, but to be personal and intimate with each member of the audience. This is not the public speaking you may have learned in high school or college. Recording your voice will also help you decide whether losing your accent will help you build your career outside your native region. These days, theres less emphasis in media on having everyone sound as though they grew up on the same street in the Midwest. If you grew up in Nashville, or Chicago or Boston, keeping part of your regional dialect may actually help you and your company ?build your media brand. No one is ever truly finished developing their broadcast voice. Taking the time to master vocal training will pay off as you advance your media car eer.