Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    1/16

    ngineering

    The Place To e

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    2/16

    Pa e 2

    S

    I think I have forgotten how towrite . 1 s it here, in t h e beautiful Laurier Library , with a psychology paper in my hand and 1 keep

    reading stuff like 'pro lif eration' and'putitiv e ly ' and 'parad igm' and keepthinking "Hey, what a great wordI ha v en ' t seen tha t in SO long ... "Meanwhile , ti t les like "Digital Des ign" a n d "Signals and Systems" sitinarguably less inviting and unreadin my knap sack.

    Now this is not yet another impa ssioned pl ea for frecuorn of the Artsin Engineering, nor is it meant tobe a moving tribute to l.he leLLer ' p' .It 's jus t that I used to love 10 write;I used to li ve for writing, anu nowsomething's happen ed and I hardlypick up a pcn anymor( .

    I glleRs in some ways th at something is ju st grow in g up , ch angi ll g.But it 's also people a nd partie s andthe P . Eng., you know? And I guessi ts a choic e I 've made - a mat.t

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    3/16

    September 30 1988 Iron Warrior Page 3

    Message From The Dean

    by Bill Lennox

    A cc r ediL a.ti o n - what ? - wh y ? -how?

    This fallall

    S('\ 'e ll ulldN g radu

    ate programs in en g ine e ring will b ethe s ubject of a major revi ew b yth e C an a di a n E n g in ee ri n g A ccr editaLi o n Board . Th e c.loc um cnt.ation tha t we ha v e prepar ed following their requested for I I I a t is 11 e mhigb of double-sid ed paper Thevi s it takes place October 31st a.ndNovember 1s t .

    WHO:Th e C EAD is a m a jo r sLa nding

    commiLt.ee of the Canadian Conncilof Professional Engineers. C C P E isthe naLional organization represenLing all provin c ial org a nizati o n s. i .e .

    Sez

    by Matt Snell

    Welcome or WelcoTTle hack, as t.hecase may be, to Engilleering at UW .I would again like to salute the rnshman class for gaining elltrance t,Q thefinest Engineering Inst.itul ,ion in thecountry. As well, I would like topoin t out tha t not, only are we thefinest school in the land but we alsohave the best Engilleering student.f)ociety, namely ENG SOC. The ~ - : : n gSoc is here for you and we arC' al

    ways happy to see fresh faces andhear new ideas so drop by thC' ORIFICE (CPH 1327) anytime and seewhat's going on.

    As some of you may have noticedthe beginning of this term has beenwrought with change for ~ I l gSo c .We have a new Engineering Bannerto hang on the sugar cllbe librarythanks to some dedicated slimmerpainters and a new VCR and television adorn POETS for your viewing pleasure. The final summer purchase made was a laser printer and

    APEO. The role of t.1H' e g A B i b(' , tdescribed by the fo llowing excerptfrom their Annua l R epor t .

    "The Canadian Coun c il ()f Prof es

    s ion a l E n gi n ('('fs ( C e P E ) was esLabli s h ed in 1936 as t he federation oft he prov in ci a l and tf'rr itoriaJ aut.hori t ies t h a t li cense f'ngillcers and O V f ' r -s('e t he p r o fessio n across Ca n ad a .

    " In 1965 , t he Cana d ian Co n nc il ofP ro fess io n a l Engineers (C C P E) esta bli s h ed t he Ca n adia n Acc red i tat ion B oa rd ( C A B ) , n o w kn o wn ast he C an a di a n Engi n ee ri n g A cc redita t io n Bo a rd (C E AB ) . The co n cep to f ac c r e ditation was impl e m en tf' d byth e profession to t es t a nd ev a lua t e undergraduat e e n g in ee rin g d egree program s o ffe red a t. C a n a di a nun i versiti es an d 1,0 aw a rd recog n ition to pr o g r ams wh i ch m eet. t h e reoredom but we nC'ed yonr help.GET INVOLVED

    I had Lhe good fortun e of trav e lin gill Europe a L tlt(:;t.arl or h e s l immera llel I rC'ali zed how narrow Illy p llIC'mb e rs o ft.he Aoa rd is Pr ofesso r Dwi g h L Apl evi ch o f E I c t ri ra l En g in ee rin g.

    WH Y :S tudent s who g r a duaf ./, from all

    ac c r edi t ed in s t i tut ,ion a rr C'lig ible ,a[t, e r Lwo ye a rs work ex r e ri c nc(' as

    a n en g in ee r , a nd a ft.e r pass in g 1.11('

    Law a nd E thi cs ex a l1l , t.o lwc n llwa r egist. C'red P ro fe s io lla l E n gin (,N ,P .E n g . T h e on ly o t hC'r a l t.e rn at ive'is t,Q wri t e a s fwc ia l s er i ('s o f l'xa min a tion s.

    C URRICULUM :Th e c riteria se t. by til(> C8A13 is

    t l lat all progr a m s musl , have a minimum of : - one half ye a r of m a th ematics - one h a lf ye a r o f ba s ic sc ien ces - tw o ye a rs of e n g in ee ri n g sc ie nce s alld e ngin ee ri n g d es ig n - o n ehalf y ea r in compl em e nt a r y s tudi es

    Fur ther information is available illthe C E A B Annual Report 1987-88.

    M tc ht h s a nd ('v(' nt.s o f

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    4/16

    Page 4 Iron Warrior September 30, 1988

    Great Engineering Accomplishments

    by Ian Simpson

    Two Jaw s o f sc ie n ce a rc fa mili a r toall engineer s. Fi r s t , th e la w o f co /)servation o f ma ss wh i ch s t a t es th a tmatter c an b e neither c r eated lIordestroyed but only al t e red in form ,and second , the law of conservaLionof energy which s ta tes t ha t energycan neither be created nor clesl .royedbut only alt.ered in form .

    In 1905, Albert Ei n s t e in point edout tha t Lhis was not entir e ly tr u e.He clearly s tated tha t ma ss a nd energy were e quivalent and prop os edthe following formula to relate thetw o .

    This formula shows in theory, tha tthe energy equivalence of ] kg ofmatter is 25 billion kilowatt hours.(In 1987 the Kichener / Wilmot region used only 1,747 million kilowatthours of e lectical energy.)

    The practical importance of Einstein's formula was no t , reali7.ed until approximately 1939 when experiments showed tha t matter could,under certain circumstances, bechanged into energy and vice versa.Two German physicists split a ura

    nium atom and observed an enormous release of energy.

    AU-oIU ~ / l o r tlor t h ~

    tU .'opllftllll

    0/ IItomle bomb

    In late 1911 AmC'riran polil.i,i(ln sfcll I hal t h(' (,lIrr(>111. slal .(' ur flilclea.rphysics research in th(' US jm d .ific'dan a ll-out effort for th . devclnpnwntof an a tomic bomb t.o be used illWorld War II . This was a remarkable gamb le made by the polit ir ians

    based on theoretical calculationsand scattered xperimcJltal resultflthai . were beyond their comprehension . Shor t ly after the Ja p aneEle attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 Oecember 1941 three nuclear physicists,Compton, Lawrence, and Urey,were appointed as research program chiefs to produce the atomicbomb. The project was centralizedin Chicago and a schedule with fommilestones was anlloun ed ill .January ]942.

    July 1942 - Determine whethera nuclear chain reaction waspossible. (July 19 /12

    January 1943 - To achievethe first nuclear chain reaction .(December 1942)

    January 19,H - To ext rac t til

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    5/16

    September 30, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 5

    APED Student Conferenceby Kathleen Fong

    What do you want. to he whcn ) '0\1"G row up"? Do you want to do research that will change the fuLure ofthe world; starL your own engineering firm; become the C. E. O . of a major (or minor) co rporation ; becomea cog in the wheel of a gianL firmdoing mindless, but necessary work ;0(' just find the meaning of life (t.heultiverse and everything)? If you arC'not really sure then perhaps this art.icle will be worth readin g.

    On October :W 21, and 22 , I.hrBngi neeri ng Soc iet.y hosts Lhc 1988Associatioll of Professional Bngineers of Ontario (APEO) SLudentConference. We havf' invit.ed r('pH'sentatives fr om t.he I.WE'lv(' other university engineerillg societies ill 011-t.ario to aLLenc .

    The therne of t.he confE'rencE' is :"Engineer ing: Where do you fi t. ?In .

    The first day o f tilE' cOllferpnc(-' fea.tures a Society Fair from 10 a. m . to6 p.m. , in the Davis CE'ntre. Thefocus of I.he fail' is on technical, professional, and s(:'rvicc organizationsassociated with the engineering profession. This fJortion of the con ference is iniended to expose Waterloo

    enginee ri ng studt'IlL (,0 t 11(' organizations that. p laya key role in thE'educational and career developmento f profe sional engineer:.

    Friday , t.he foc lls is 011 carrer a ltNnilt.ivE's aVilihh lf' ill f hE' C'nginE'Nillg field . We ex a lllill f' six lIlaincareer areas: s mall bU ' in('1's, higbusiness, resear ch and devE'lopment ,government, co ns ultin g, and ('ntrepreneurial ventures; which area isfo r you? How do Ill{' diff ('fC'nt. workenvirollmellts cum pare? Speakerswill address thes(' a nd m a ny ot.her

    ' l i l t ' lion:> . I':ach ~ p l i l k t rwill 1(,nl i nt 0 thc' prof('ssion, exam i l-ing th(' ll('cds of both tIl(' professionand I he studC'nl . in cOllling ),C's ion, (onching 011

    uch imporl .allt issul's as :o;o('ial ft '-spollsibility, visibility of .I1(' prof('s -

    1988 APED Student Conferepce Schedule H h : b l i ~ b t s

    10:00 Fri

    10:30 Fri

    11 :30 Fri

    1:30 Fri

    2:00 Fri

    2:45 Fri

    9:30 Sat10:45 Sat

    11 :30 Sat

    Dr. Roger Higgin, Ontario Energy BoardTopic: Working in governmentDr. Rudy Lepp. Chalk River. Atomic Energy of CanadaTopic: Working in research and developmentNick Monsour. Polysar Limited, Past APED President

    Topic: Working in a large companyBill Breukelman, Chairman of IMAX Systems CorporationTopic: Being an entrepreneurHarry Weihs. Consulting EngineerTopic: Working with a consulting fmnPaul Zepf. Zepr Technologies IncorporatedTopic: Working in a small companyBill Kerr. APED President Keynote SpeakerWillem Vanderburg. Director. Centre for Technology andSocial DevelopmentTopic : Social Responsibility of the EngineerProfessor Greg McNeice. Past CSPE PresidentTopic : Suppon of the Engineer

    All \ecLllrC' sessiOl ls arc' OIH'1I tonny sLud(>nt.s who wish 1.0 "tLend.Th('s(' s('ssio t1s providE' :1 IIl1iquC' opporLullil.y (.l> t.alk t.o prok 'sio llals ofdifferen( . f) 0.5 and3.

    ORG NIZ TION1 .biB is anol.her big poi

    gory. III gellcraJ a class which runsan event , will get full participationpoint.s plus poinis as if they won theevent. The exact numb e r will depend o n how w

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    6/16

    - - --------- ------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- --

    Page 6 Iron Warrior September 30, 1988

    i --..;;.O_IN_T_' _ We Are TheN eandrethalsby Mr. Angry

    The Engineering Image . I1mmm .almost feel the need to put

    those words into capit ,al let.t. hy t .f'S ill l l l r rl'lcnltv(y es, tha t 's you frosh) during indo ctrination period , otherw ise known asfro s h w ee k to t h ose cleverly-hattedpeople in yellow. Seems tha t thenoviciate s decided to t ry a c o r u ~ofGodiva on a weak alld t.imid group

    of Recreation students. Much tot.h e ir su rpri se th y received back:You ar e , yo u are, you are th e e ngineers. You are, you are, a bunch ofL ____g queers . Apparently, the froshwere left in stunned silence, milling

    rosh

    st a r t a nd J am feeling homesick forSoviet Union. Bu t , I must. to go buy

    . books . So I go to buy hook s andwhat I do see? I see very long lin eI I p oown Rink Ro( ri . " I II. 1 SI lAPP\ ,I: J am s('fC'arning bC ol. usenow I feel like 1 am h ome.

    The above was all account of myadventu r es as a Soviet ~ x c h a l J g CStudent during Frosh Week. As Iam sure almost all of YOIl nre awareof the " Flying Foreign 't.udent" routine was a put all. 1 am not. now , nordo 1 ever intend to ever be a Soviet.I ju st wanted to relive my days asa Frosh over once more, albeit with

    around and wondering if in the holybook it sa id anywhere what to d oif: a) jf those of the nOll-faith qu estioned your manhood; b) you discover e d tba t t h ose outside of the faithcould actually ta lk ; c) yo u discove r ed tha t the whole world wasn 't inlov e with you. Welcome to realityrea r ing it s ugly head .

    One may conclude tha t I h ave awee-bit of a problem with the Engineer ill g m en tahty . Correct, becausethis is where the r';n gin ee ring imag eprobl e m sLarts. We see o ur se lves asGod's next g reatest gift to the wo r ldand the o pp os it.e sex. Fact: Enginee rin g is only the fifth large st. fa culLy on camp us , jus t a li t t le ove r aquarter o f the s ize o f Arts. Sor r ykids , but e ngin ee ri n g ju st isn't thatlarge e n oug h of a faculty t hat we ca nd emand S lI bserv ien ce fr om the restof the world .

    Which may bring o ut anothernegat iv e ab o ut e ng in ee rs and theirless than perfect. image . We see m tosuffe r from a good deal o f egocentricity and almost a parano id xenophobia. Th ese Lwo factors preventus from re a lisin g that th e re are r e

    ally good programs and people out.t h ere in th e ot h e r buildings (Qui z:how many of you have been to PAS?How nl;.)n y of YOll roulr: find th e ISuffice'? liu'" Illa l), of y l l l l el'e ll kllo'\what I ' m talking a bout ? ) . It also

    eek

    a s l ight , no m ake tha t a massive,difference. As a Frosh [ was muchlik e those who arrived this September. I wa s a l i t t le scared and veryst unned . The Ed-Com guys scaredthe pants off of me and the Orientation Committee didn ' t seem to caremuch . Well , the Ed-Com guys stillscared the pants off of me but t hist ime the Orientation Committee didcate. Thi is something I am veryproud of because I was olle of them.But it wasn ' t Ed-Com or the Orientation Committee alone that madeFrosh Week the best one yet, it wasthe Frosh. I really have to hand itto the Frosh this year. They were

    prevents IlS from acce p .ing t .hat, theca reer and di sc iplin e c hoi ces otherpeople hav e made arc just , as validas ours and ot he r people m ay jus t

    be able to get jo b s, eve n if they arein the Recreation or Dance department . (Quiz 2 : Wher e is Lhe Da n cedepar tment located ? With what famous insti t u t ion did they r ece nt l ybecome affi l iat ed?)

    This narcissistic at t i tude co upledwith an almost inc essa nt n ave l gazing ab o u t o ur own se lf wo rth in t hecomm un i ty ca n o nly res ult with t hecomm unit y loo kin g upon us with ase n se of s hocked arnaz cm e nL , mu chlik e a far t being relea se d durin g achurch service. I can only concl ud et ha t b y the fact t ha t , t he e ditors feelthat this iss u e s h ould be addressedby a point /c oullterpoint th a t ourimage is a valid problem wit.hin theuniversity community , if not the restof society. 1 s it h e re trying to remember the last t im e 1 h ea rd so meone in Math e ve n bothering to defe nd their image. They don ' t h avea problem tha t n eeds to be fixed .Why are we finding it n ecessa ry tod e fend ours? M ay b e e n gi ll eers n eedto stop trying to conque r the university like we h ,ave conquered thee n v ir o nm ent in t h e pa s t - with ou rhearts and groins . Why dOll ' t. we tryto become par t of our environmentand give our best - with our heartsand minds ?

    co o l and they were a great bunch.Unfortunate ly, how eve r , for me thisis my last year a t U of W s o I wo n ' tbe participating in any more FroshWeeks . J kn ow, though, tha t whenmy fri e nd s ask m e what Frosh Weekwas lik e I won't re m embe r my o wn,I ll tell them about t hi s one. Maybenot with a Ru ss ia n accent , but definitely with fond m emor ies. So toyou new Frosh - you guy s a re great,kee p it up. And to Ed-Com - doyou think I could h ave my shirt backplease .

    Joan WeilerWest mount Plan'

    (519) 888-6660Conestoga MJII

    (519) 886-4402

    Timothy's*Coffees of the World

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    7/16

    September 30, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 7

    Engineers?

    odel itizens

    by Greg Dee

    So, Mr. Angry likes to think tha tengineers are "bad-assed dudes." Iguess everybody's entit led to theirown l i t t le fan tasies - especially considering the pressures Mr. A ngry isfacing as h e strives to excel in one ofthe most demanding academic p rograms of our university.

    Le t 's face it. M r. Angry, like mostfourth year engineers, is a model citizen . Mr. Angry ha s jus t 8 monthsmore of preparation before he entersone of society 's most well-r espectedprof essions . He'll most. likely begin his job with a starting salary o faround 30K , settle down and buy ahandsome bungalow so m ewhere andeven get married La the fin e youngwoman in Dance that he meL bere atWaterloo . Mr. Angry w ill be ma.king a positive and much-valued co ntribution to society. When someonein our society applies for th e ir Canadian passport and they need someone to vouch for their identity it isn 'tpark vagrants, drug dealers or serialkillers who are allowed La sign, i t 'sprofessional enginee r s, lawyer s, doctors and members of the clergy .

    Society needs engineers. Engi-neers will play a key role in sol v ngthe techno logic al problems posed byair pollution, dwindling natural resources and over-population whic hmust be solved if mankind is to survive. It was engineers who createdthe industrial revolution, who builtt,hp. ClIlt,nmnhi1f' '. whn rlpsip-npri l .hptelephone networks , who inventedthe medical equipment and whobuilt the hi ghw ays, hospitals andschoo ls that have all co n t ribu ted toan increase in the prosper it y and

    we lfare of the general population . Aprosperity and welfare tha t has fueled social progress in a ll area s ofsociety such as universal medicare,worker 's rights, woman 's r ighLs andold age pensions. Most engineersr ecogn ize the importance of their

    role in the history of society andtechnology, and more importantlythey recognize their responsibility tothe future of society.

    It is in fact engineers who areour own strongest critics as the"point" section of this article soclearly shows. Engineering is a selfregulated profession governed in Ontario by the A.P .E .O. Every once ina while when the engineering students a t Waterloo get a l i t t le biL outof hand it 's the A.P.E.O., engineering faculty members and our own

    elected engineering socieLy who havetradit ionall y exerted th e most influence in keeping us in lin e. It hasnot been the whiny fringe interestgroups or fru strated fem i nists .

    Wh e n you compar e e ngine e ringstudents to students in other faculties (something arts st ud e nt s andwriters for a ce r tain othe r newspaper on campus hav e done incessantlysince T arrived on campus four yearsago) there is no doubt tha t we workharder . We needed higher marks toget in and we wi II be .of greater val ueto soc iety when we graduate . I agreecomp letely tha t so c iety needs lotsof sensitive young people who really appreciate poetry but they needpeople trained to produce shelter,t.r

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    8/16

    Page 8 ron Warrior September 30 1988

    ROSH

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    9/16

    September 30 1988 ron Warrior Page 9

    OLYMPI S

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    10/16

    Page 10 Iron Warrior

    SPACENEWSEditor s CO/linIn

    Welcome to the first issue ofSPACENEWS, a bimonthly reporton space news and technology. Thisnewsletter is written by Universitystudents from across Canada and ispublished In several studentnewspapers.

    My motivation for the newsletterarose several months ago when Iattended a Symposium organizedby the medical school at theUniversity of Ottawa. Students fromacross Canada attended seminarson various topics in medicine. Theextremely successful symposium

    achieved several objectives.1. It allowed students to learn

    about state of the tlrt researchin medicine.

    2. It provided students anopportunity to meet otherstudents from differentuniversities.

    3. Provided students with manyathletic intramural activities,and allowed time to visit thecity.

    4. Provided a dinner and dance atthe end which was superb.

    U.S.A.The space shuttle Discovery s 3main engines successfullypassed the Flight ReadinessFiring on August 10. Launchdate is scheduled forSeptember 29, 1988.NASA is asking U.S. schoolchildren to select a name forthe replacement space shuttle.The winning entry will beannounced next May .President Reagan announcedthat the winning entry for thename of the space station isFreedom.The "Mars Project" society ofscientists revealed that in 1976NASA's Viking spacecraftdiscovered a massive rock onthe surface of Mars in theshape of a human face.Former astronaut BrianO'Leary, an expert on Mars hasapproached the U.S.S.R. inhopes of having the areaexamined by the first of twoSoviet probes bound for Marsthis year.

    90 international scientistsgathered at the University ofNew Hampshire to plan the1992 'International Space Year'which is to coincide with theSOOth anniversary ofChristopher Columbus' voyageto the New World

    U.S.S.R.

    Two cosmonauts successfullyreturned to earth from a weeklong mission to the Sovietspace station MTR afler twoaborted re -entry attempts dueto failing stabilizing rockets.The re -entry capsule wasreported to oniy have 48 hoursof oxygen. A third cosmonautremained on MIR to monitorthe health of two cosmonautsthat have been in space for 8months.Frenchman Jean Loup Chretienwill be on a month longmission to MTR in November.He is scheduled to become thefirst non-Soviet, non -Americanto take part in a space walk.Internationf' 1 space artistsgathered in Iceland to sketchthe volcf' nic surfac e which issimilar to that of Mars. Thesketches will be shown inMoscow next April whenPhobos 1 and Phobos 2, theexrl orat ion satellites If' unchedin July, arrive to orbit theMartian moon Phobos.

    September 30, 1988

    Vol 1, No.1,

    EuropeThe British governmentsuspended its funding for thespaceplane HOTOL Alan Bondwho sold the design of theengines to Rolls-Royce ishaving problems attractingindustry investment since thedesign is classified top -secret.The European Space Agency(ES/\) using an Ariane 3 launchvehicle placed two comsats inorbit, India's INSAT-IC andESA's Eutelsat I-F5.1.'"ir liquide and Aerospatialehave begun work on Ariane Sthat is deSigned to carry 150tons of propellant, 10 timesmore than Ariane 4.Italy's newly formed spaceagency will use Americanlaunch vehicles to send intoorbit the first satellite Lageos 2carrying the agency's banner.

    Australia

    Australian firms have formedCYS/\ (Cape York SpClce"gency) to raise internationalfunds to build l spaceport inCape York , Australia's closestpoint to the equator.

    Costa Rica

    Costa Rican shuttlenautFranklin Chang Diaz isproposing a Pan-AmericanSpace Organization (PASO) topromote cooperation betweenlatin /\merican countries,particularly in satellite tracking,

    It seemed to me that there are fewsimilar opportunities for Canadianengineering students of al ldisciplines to meet and 'earn in aprofessional environment. The ideaof starting an engineeringsymposium was tempting formonths, but it requires the supportof many students. As an avid spaceenthusiast, it suddenly dawned onme that a space newslett(>r wouldbe an ideal way for students acrossCanada to communicate. Space isa topic that interests most youngengineers, and the space industryemploys engineers from alldisciplines.

    I hope you enjoy this first i sue ofSPACENEWS. I encour, and yourUniversity. Perhaps some < lay wewill all meet for a 'S paceSymposium' at some Canadianuniversity over a weekend

    Possible Escape for stronauts

    With Best Regards,

    Yuri Quintanf' .Electrical Eng . BaSc'88 (Waterloo)Systems DeSign Enn. MaSc '89(Waterloo)

    In The Next Issue

    A report fromthe

    NationalResearch Council of Canada on theCanadian Space Pr og ra m

    SI ;lCI,NT:WS is 1\ hilllolllhly Canarlillilpllhlication on l'pace I 1 C I ' ~anrl I( c-hnnloI:Y.Allhollgh clcry ( /Tort ic: marlc to ("nsureace-llracy, SI'J\CFNI ': WS is nol r ( ; , , o l l ~ i h l crorIIny illllccuraci('s or o m i s i o l l ~ .All lIIalcrialrcech 'cll henmr prol,('rty or ~ I A ( , EEWSanrl Ihe erlitor r rscn( ' s Ihr rigl" to crlit unrlprint it. Opinions C1(llrc-c:scri iN :Irticl('s :Irethosr of the authors,If) Copyright 19RR hy Yuri Quinlall" ,All corrlosponrlrnc-e shollirl he- mailrrl toSI't\CENF.WS, 4SS lcg('ncy Cr(,,;("l'nt,'Vaterloo, Outario, C,,"alla, N2T 11'2 ,Editor-in-Chief: Ynri QUilll:,"llfaculty Erlitors: Ur. (;.L. Gr('ig ( U n h ( ' r ~ i l yofWalerloo), All" (;all 'm:ln (1111\1 ("allarlll 1.Ir1 ,

    The National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) isinstalling a 10 -foot telescoping polein each space -s huttle orbiter to helpthe crew bail out in an emergencythat might prevent the orbiter fromlanding safely. The pole will guideeach astronaut jumping frommid-deck to pass below theorbi ter's left wing. Without thepole, an escaping astronaut wouldlikely hit the wing or some part ofthe orbiter.

    The pole is part of an escapesystem that is standard equipmentfor all future shuttle flights,including that of Discovery,scheduled for launch on September29,1988. The complete systemallows the crew to jettison the

    hatch side of the orbiter, andincludes a helmeted pressure suitand survival equipment that eachcrew member must wear duringlaunch and landing.

    Rogers Commission Urging

    The entire system, which costssome $75 million to develop andinstall in the three present orbitercraft, was devised in response to arecommendation by the PresidentialCommission on the Space ShuttleChallenger Accident (the RogersCommission).

    The commission urged N"SA to"make all efforts to provide a crewescape system for use duringcontrolled gliding flight". Sinceejection seats were removed fromthe first orbiter, the Columbia, afterthe shuttle's initial four test flights,there has been no way out for thecrew in an emergency.

    According to Robert Rice, NASA'screw escape project manager, theescape system can be used only in acontrolled flight below 20 000 feet -either when the orbiter is coming into land at the end of a mission, orwhen a launch has been aborted.

    Rice said however that the systemwill not work within the first twominutes after lift-off, when the solidrocket boosters are stil1 firing - aswas the case in the Challengerdisaster. Nor can it be used if the

    orbiter is descending out of control.

    Emergence Rescue

    In an emergency where the crewcan get the orbiter into a controlledglide above 25 000 feet, they wouldset the autopilot to make thevehicle descend at the minimum airspeed of 175 knots (325 krn/h) -about two thirds the vehicle'snormal speed at that altitude. At 25000 feet, the crew would vent thecabin to bring about ambientpressure, and at 20 000 feet activateexplosive bolts to blow the cabinhatch cover away from the orbiter,

    A pull on the telescoping pole'strigger would shoot thespring-loaded pole from its housing

    on the mid-deck ceiling out of theopen hatch and lock it into itsextended position within a second.Each crew member would in turnhook his or hC?r parachute harnessonto a ring shaped attachment onthe pole, kneel in the hatch, androll forward through the opening.

    The procedure would allow an entirecrew of eight to evacuate the orbiterin ahout 1-1/2 minutes, well beforethe orbiter reached the minimumbail-out altitude of 5000 feet.

    Trudy E. Bell.Reprinted wilh permission from lhe

    I Institute (July 1988) . f.) 1988 IEEE.

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    11/16

    September 30, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 11

    Straight From The Heart: E NSTITUTEOFE L f CTR ICAl AN D

    Jean Chretien ELECTRONIcsENGINEE RS,INC.by Kevin Moon

    A moderate crowd of abou t. 1000adorned the bleachers at. t.he PACon Wednesday , September 21, t.ohear the lat.est political cont.ribution of former Liberal Cabinet. Minister Jean Chretien spoken iJl hisheavy yet charming Quebecois accent. "straight from de 'e a rl." TIl('crowd was a mixture of st.udent.s a nocommun ity members. All seemedto receive Chretien very favourably.The adoress was rewarded hy rrgular spurts of applause and t.wo standing ovations, as well as much laughter and a plea from one of the questioners 'for Chret.ien's ret.urn to politics .

    "[ wonted to be leoder

    o f y party.

    Chretien resigned from active politics t.wo years ago and is now practising in a privat e law firlll . Chretiensaid t.hat he was very proud of h is accomplishments in politics, and that.he was now indulging ill a muchneeded rest..

    "J want.ed to be leade r of myparty, but I wasn 't. selected," was

    one of hiscomments

    t.o the audience . lie jokingly ment.ion ed thatupon tendering his resignation ht.old John 1\lrner, "I 'd like to help,but I 'm not a Tory." In a morc serious t.one, he stated that if be wereneeded in polit.ics, he would ret.urnbut, If I 'm not needed, I would behappy."

    Chretien served for 23 years inpn\it .ics. (' M .C h r ~ t i c n in Lhe poliiical spot. lig lltagain: in his own words, "nrvN SilYI1CV('f agai n .

    Once again I.h(' local St.ll(\cnt.Chapter of thc IllsLil .ul(' of ~ l ( ' ( L l i c a land Electronics ElIgillC'('r;; [ I ~ E h )is planning a bus\' l loral ' chapt('t' is part .of i:L global urgallir.a t ion or ilpproxirnal .e ly 250 oon 1l1l ' l l l i>( 'r l ' .

    ThC' local chapIn pl'OvidC's It fo-1'11111 for s(,u(\ell ts t () c\('v('lop (.ceh n -cal e x r ) ( ' r l i ~ win 111 . 111\ div('l's(' fic'lds.

    l('mlwrship is O\W;I, hilt. not rp-sl riel ed) ( ,0 sf lldC'lll.s in 1~ I c ( ' t r i ( ' (Ellgilleering, C'Ol1lpllt('r 1;lIgin('E'I'illg, Syst.ems I)('sign \;Ilgill('

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    12/16

    Page 12

    by im McCrea

    The purpose of philosophy is / 0discover t.he most. fundamental aspects of reality. It includes, for ex

    ample, metaphysics , which is t.he science of being as being; epist.emology, which is the science of knowledge; and et.hics, which enahles l iS t.odist.inguish right. from wrong. Sometake the view t.hat. it. is impossible t.odiscover ul t imate trut.h and t.he at.tempt to do so can lead one int.o anint.ellectual vacuum. A view, qllitepopular today, is tha t t.here is no objective t.rut.h but if yOll believe so m et.hing, it is t rue for YOll and t.hat. isas far as it. goes.

    There is , however , a monolit.hictru th independent. of or i n ion andfurt.hermorc it. is wit.hin t.lte powerof the human int.ellect. t.o discover

    some fundament.al aspects of it.. Afull validation of t.his will not. be at.tempted here, for it. is an ext.remelycomplex problem which goes far beyond the scope of t.his art.icle. Someapproaches will, however, be suggest.ed.

    Much 0/ todll,'1 science i

    ellentillll ' tio,, t.

    What. are the ult.imat.e constit. uents of realit.y and from what.can we begin a search for t.ruth?

    Nuclear physicists say tha t we willknow the ultimate constituent.s ofrealit.y when the ult.imat e particle isdiscovered and t.he four fundament.alforces of nature are unified. Muchof today s science is essent.ially n -dllctwnis/ . It. at tempts t.o achievei hrf I.N lIndNqf ;)nriing of I hings byreducing f,IH 11l to 11t{'lr ll10St. basiccomponents .

    This, howcver, is a nec(' ss a ry but .not a sufficient. means of invest.igat.ing realit.y. This is because physica l being has two aspects - a II/atl -I Ia/ and a formal aspect. . To illu st.rat.e this we can conduct . a thoughtexperiment ill which we analyze theessence of an automobile .

    FAMOUS ITALIANSANQWICHES AND PASTAS

    VEAL LASAGNASTEAK SPAGHETTISAUSAGE GNOCCHI

    MEATBAll RAVIOLICOLD CUTS

    SAlAD - OLIVES - SOUP

    ( PA NZER o r r l

    PHONE HE D ND YOUR ORDERWILL . e R ADY FOR PlCK-UPI

    Iron Warrior

    Philosophical TruthOne can im agine t.wo situat.ions .

    In the first , t.here is afl assembledaut.omobi le with its full complementof parts. In t.h(' second, the filiicomp le m ent. of parts iR presenl butlying in a disassembled heap onthe gr o un d . Now, if the essenceof the aut.omobile werc s imply reducible t.o it.s par ts we could ca llthe disassembled heap an aut.omobile, which is absurd. Somethingin ad d ition to the par ts of a material bring is needed to give it it s bein g . Th i s addit.ional prillcipl e is theform . li'orm is t.he arrangement orinter-connccl.ivity of the parts, while/ltIllh.,. is t.he part. s themselves . Bothprinciple s of malLer and form are required t.o compose a material being.Reductionist science gives us an U -derst.anding of t.he material side ofreality and negle c t s t.he formal.

    One means of obtaining a bet.

    ter grasp of the t.rue in philosophyis to understand t.he false. Onemeans o f discerning any philosophically false position is to know tha twhen a certain t ru th is denied , tha tt.ruth is implicitly used in the denial. Many philosophers have contradicted themselves in t.his manner. For examp le, some philosophershave stated tha t we cannot knowtha t what. our senses reveal to usis correct because we do not knowhow milch th ' rnrS "::tr'('t: h:)"" h/>"11distort.ed by the S l l t ' l ' ~a l l u 1 1 - ' r \ ' ( ) U ~systelll. The falla cy of t hi s argument is tha t it implies t.hat . we canknow some aspect of objective real

    it.y (namely the senses and the nervous system) to d eny h a t W ( canknow any objective reality. ,.

    If we look at , t.he denial, tha t thehuman intellect ca nnol. know truthwe call underst.and the st.at.emcnt. tobe false because it. present.s itself asa t.rut.h . 1 the person lIIaking thedenial applies t.he principle of skepticism to the denial itself and stat.est.hat we ca nnot. even bc slIre of that.,two observations can b(' made. Thefirst observat.ion is tha t he may beonly st.ating hi s personal inability 1.0arrive a t t ru th and not. necessarilyt.hat the human int.c1lert cannol., 1'0'8 ; , arrive a t trut.h. The second ohservation is tha t he is refuting him-

    se lf by inconsistency. f he ap p li esa principle of absolute skept. icism t.ohis denial he repudiat.es it becauset.he degree that. olle is uncert.aill o fa position is the degree tha t 011e depar ts from i t . From this we ca n s ta tethe first law of epistemology: t.hatt ru th exists and the human int.ellectcan know some fundamental aspect.of it. . This principle is Itot. arrivedat through deductive reasoning hut ,carnes the evidence of it se lf withinit.self.

    Truth exists lind the human

    intellect can know some

    Jundllmentill upect o j it.

    The search for philosophical t.ruthbrings us t.o the summit of nat.ural

    knowledge which is mcirrl'h . lsir s .It is the science of being qua being,which is achieved through a maxim u m degree of abstraction. t is atthe summit for two reasons. First,it is the governor of all t.he otherscie nces , for t.hey must borrow fromt h e principles of metaphysics to opf'riltf'. Sf conrl. it is pf rferl lv frpc ,which means t.hat it. borrows principles from no other science. Jt.s princi p le s are most certain a n (\. evident.within themselves.

    The u l t imate first principle is thelaw of id t :l l i ly which st ,at.es t.hat.

    SAN FRANCESCO

    September 30 1988

    a thing is what it is . This is nota mere tautology but an assertiontha t , first, all t.hings exisl. of a del.erminat.e Jtatu re, a nd titC'l"cfore do HOt.necessarily exist the way one thinksor wishe they do, ancl seco nd , t hat.in any at. tempt t.o reduce a t.hingto something else one depar ts fromt.hat. thing: it can be' said t.hat. themost , accurate description of a thingis itself.

    One of the first. corollaries ofthe law of identity is the law ofnOIL- C011 tmdidiol/ , which stal.es tha tsomet.hing cannof . both be and notbe under the same aspect at thesame time. This is also t.he first principle of logic . A principle which isa co rollary of boLh the law of ident.ity a nd t.he law of non-contradictionis the principle o f sll.f7icicnf C 1 O I/which states tha t if something exist.s or is t.rue i t must have adequategrounds for exist in g or being true.

    It is n ecessary to h ave a supremescience with prin ciples which are primary and most ce rtain within t.hemse lves because if what. Ber t rand Russe ll said is correct, t.hat we canonly obtain probable knowledge, oneprobable trut.h would depend uponanother which would in turn dependupon anot h er, ad infinitum , so t.ha tin the end w e would not. even hav eprobable t.rut.h but pure irrationali.ty.

    ~

    - ~ TI s A GOOV 1 ~ / r J ( j -SIR ISAAc ~ C : v JiON

    WAsrJ 7 8o fJ IN i(INIPAP

    PIZZA SLICES14 INCH PIZZA

    MONDAYNIGHT P E C I ~

    ONLY

    COMING SOON .

    SAN FRANCESCO SLICESTHURSDAYS

    IN FRONT OF POETS

    746 4111eAT-IN DRIW-THRU TAKE-oUT 33 University Ave E Waterloo. Ontario

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    13/16

    Septem ber 30, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 13

    Psycho-Cyber- War-Kittensby Garry Peterson

    Fluffy is a cat. A playful. frisky ,

    furry ca t . Fluffy is wearing an exoskeleton which controls a hulkingpiece of heavy machinery. f luflv isa cyber- caL. The waiking dc'athmachine, which Fluffy cont.rols, willbelch purifying fire when f'luffytwi tches her tail . W hen she get ,s _mad, she's a pycho-cyber-war- kitLyfrom lI ell.

    ~ h e}dea o f an animal contro llin ga bi g , aangerolls machine may seemodd. It may even seem illscllle, butit has already becn done.

    "A guinea pig encaged by a. set.of contac t switches onc'J piloted aname throwing walking ma.chine ."(Scientific American , Aug 88, p:28)

    The Scientific Am e rican articlebr iefly describes the acti v ti es of aSan Francisco based group, SurvivalResearch Labs (SRL), a nd a p e rformance they recently staged in NewYork . T h e article intrigu ed me, so Ic o n t a ct e d the group.

    SRL creates autonomous andradio-controlled robots , whicb it,uses as the ac tors in violent cy bernetic conflicts. Mark Paul ine , a34 year-old exper t we ld e r and machinist , founded the group ~ o u h l ya decade ag o . Pauline moved toSan Francisco to be an artist . He

    s tar ted out by alt,ering billboardsand other form s of "c rea t iv e vandalis m " . Then, in 197 8 , he f-aul d edSRL. He began by collecting discarded heavy machinery from closing f i l ( ' l . ( ) r i r ~ Two "pare; lill .p ' 11r WilSjoined by MaLL JJeckE'l't. , who designsthe aural background of thc roboticplay s. In 1981 , they began buildin glarge dinsosaur -li ke, Lcchllo- primit ive m a c hines and s taging co nni tsbetween Lhem. In 1982 , while experimenting with rock e t r U ~ l ,Paulinewas blown inLo the air - lo s ing hi sfour right fing e rs. ForLunately, hisle ft.-handedn ess allow('d him (.0 cont.inue to develop his ar t .

    Today Paulil lc has a 6000-sqllarefoot machine hop in ' : an Franciscoand makes his li\'in g as all cngincering con ull.ant. Engineers and technologist.s from the Bay Area' . universil.ies and hi gh-teclt companieswork wiLh ar t i s t s and marhill i is inSRL ... c[,eating a robot.ic r u ~ i o nof'engineerillg and ar l .

    'RL has managed t.o build cruderobot.s , using scavenged parLs , wlti chrival indust.rial alld goverIllllellt.a lrohol .s costing Illil/iolls of clollars.

    Bombs exploded overhead,

    scattering counterfeit 20, Sf

    and 100 dollllr bills.

    111 t he p a ~ ( . tcn years, SH.Lhas given thirty-five performancesaround th e United StaLes . Thesrperformances are usually s tageJin parking lo(.s or o t lle r Jamageresistant , areas. Th e p e rforman 'esa r e video-taped and so ld bv SRL.Some of Lhe f av o l lr i t es a J " AScenic Harvest. from 1.1)(' l Performances", and "A Bit t e r Messag e ofHopeless Grief" .

    SRL's most eJal)oratc' p cr for-malic . ook . c 1 1 i. t lYork. The show had a budget of$30 ,000. About 4000 people, paying $12 each, showed lip 011 a ra.inyMay night to wat.ch the p e r forman Ce>in th e S h e a . Ladiul11 parkillg lo .

    The perfOrIll allcc' was t'nl.it.lc'dTl1 r 1\1ie;rtll'l li l lI 'S (' P" "i l'f' (1\, '1 od

    Oul, a.t a ll Illl ag l li a ry Locn 11I1i SYIlI-boli7. in g ~ v rl y t h i ng Worth I ;wing) ". Over I.h r C ( ) l I r ~ ( 'of (1((evening asci. c1cpidill p; a 1ll('c h an izC dma n -madr para.di s c' w as rit.llalisLi(i i l ly c ru s h rd, h\ll'llecl, l l d s m (ls h( 'd

    o pieces by roaring, lin' s(wwing,diescl dripping, l11echallical delllons.

    Twenly- two tOllS of equipmC'lltwere in\'olvpd in thi Illoralit} play.The ac tor included: a t.w{'lvC:'fool shock-wan ' cannon; a ten-foot .high four-legg{'d- walking-machillc;thf' Rig Arm, a t.went.y fool, IOllgrobot , 'which can pick lip and (hl'OWthing.; (he ,pril lklel ' from H('lI, a300-hp flame-t ,hrower ; a small radio cont.rolled t ank; t h r lnsp('cLor ,which looks like al l evil hospit.al hpJequipped wi th long , clawed ar m , ;a 1200 pound ca t ap u l t.; Lh(' Pinchworm, a twent .y foot dC'v icc whosegiant mechanical pinc('r s call l if t andcarry 1000 pound ohjcct.s.

    The performance bcgan as UH'dement. ed pre-show mllsic c ha n ged Laa machine sound / dialogue montage.Greased pistons pushed mechanicalfee t, amid diesel fumes as seve ral m achines lu r ched t.o li f e.

    Tbe Big Arm jerked about r andomly, then dr agged itself to thepond in the middl e of Paradi se.The Pinchworm pushed the G iallt ,Wheel o f Misfortun e into one of theparking lot lampposts , causing it tosway - much to the delight of Lhecrowd. T h e big wheel lurched toward the shockwave cannon A fieryblast from the Sprinkler From Hellspewed about forty fee t, warmedth e c rowd , but fail ed to s top thewhe I. Finally , t.he Big Arm se ized

    he ICe a l l oppe 1 JUof the shockwave cannon

    Destruction was compkt d:

    th crowd Ilpplauud.

    ,('il(1c-t "nmh " ('l(l'lll(lr'ri o\ I'rh"fld.sc:nUp rillg count ,prfci( . :W, f) () , :tlldlOO dollar bills ov('r t,he 101.. (; 1a.'iStowers collapsed, s c a t . ( . ( ' r i l l ~s hard s

    Semi-FormalAu Old Fa...dliollC'c1 C hri s ti n a,';, this

    t r rm 's ellgineering "s e mi - formal ,"promi ses to b(' bett.c'l' I.hall ( 'V( ' I ' 011the ('v('ning o f Fri(hy, N()v('ml)('r 18 ,Waterlo o f.

    P A E S C A I P T I 0 H S

    We Accept University Drug Plan

    weSTMOUNT PLACEPHARMACY

    886-7670

    50 Westmount Rd. N.OPEN DAILY

    9 am to 10 pmSUNDAYS & HOUDAYS

    11 am to 9 pm

    WESTMOUNT KINGa:NTRE PHARMACY

    57 &-1610King ~ n t r t

    OPEN DAlLYMTWS 9:30 5:30

    Thu & Fri. 9:30 9:30Closed Sundays

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    14/16

    Page 14

    by Owen KellyChris Baisleyand Dan Curtin

    Equinox Marks rrival ofutumn

    The auLlllllllal I'qllinox o("tl lrn dIo ('arliesl , ~ t . a r Lof rail ill I his ((,Ilt.ury .III WaL('rloo, Equirrosh marked LhE'LflU' beginning of [aJ] '('v('ral w('('bag o , as a lIIarked in n'(1 S (' ill t.helIumber of qll('sLioliS slich ;} WSis the new look ill 8 2 1 3 0 : ~ .Thl'frosh-proof desks are boiLed 1,0 t.he'Hoor and the "rrolll." of I,he classhas moved from Lhe w('sL wall toLhe north wall. Dr . Cbandrashckar,new chairman of SJ), just.ifies Lhisobvious blunder sClying he wan(.s anew direction in the depart.menL.That 's ok - all of us ill 4A and 2Bknow the True Way.

    Food For Thought

    Noted anLhropologist Chris Pratley (2B SD) has a new theory whichfollows from original resE'arch doneby ~ h e N a ~ i o l l a lEnquirer ( "Seen'LSociety Lives Off What , M c J o l l a l d ~Throws Away "). PraLley proposcsthe e x i s ~ e n c eof a Huh- c ull.llre' livillgnff I h frf'phil' l- "t vnrinn" \pct.lIre son carnpus. Asked if free' dOllghnuLspose a dietary limiLal ,i(H/ , I'raLI( 'ypoint ,ed ouL LhaL yoghurt. COUPOllSwere available at. last. week 5 careerfair as was free beer a t a recellt opening a t Kit.chencr 's START gaIIN}'.

    Iron Warrior

    NewsEscapees Charged

    FOllr mcn who escap('d last. ll10nthfrom the' Owen SOllnd provinri"t1 jail

    arc fMing a serin; of t.he'ft-r(>lal.crlcharges. Police laid Lwo c hargesagaillst Lhe men, who escaped fromLhe jail in mid-August. and were arrested t.he follow ing day in WaLer-10 0 . The charges 5Lem frorll a lIighLon campus when a camplls polict'officer was verbally assaulLE'd anda glass was gLo lcn from Vedera.tiolllIall (Fred 's Mall). In a sLroke of badluck, Lhe melt were apprehended bypol ice afLer one of I.IIt' escapee's I ' l lhis feel, up OIl a chair a t Lhe BombshdLer and t.he Wat.erloo polic(' wen'ca Jl t'd.

    Man Convicted of ComputerSabotage

    riefsshould be kepI, to a mmimum , Lheideal situation being a simple t.womachine environment.

    The CVIA IS also currenLlydeveloping a Computer NaLuralOefence Operations Management.(CONDOM) systelIl, 1,0 proLcct systems from viruses, includillg the rccent .ly discovered All Interface Destruction System (AIDS) virus, apparently released during a disk cras ha . ~ l 1 T

    Hazardous MaterialsTransportation Plan Revealed

    In r('spons(> to pllblic ohject.ion1,0 t.he proposal t.o transporL Port('lo p e's radioactiv( ' wasLe by Lrllck

    along Highway 11 t , and l.he ollt.cryfollowing a rec('nl . rCB firE' in SI.Basile PQ, the Federal (;OVCrtltnent .ras decided on a combined stor

    age/transportl'lLioll policy for hazardous materials.

    The new plan is 1.0 m ai l 1.1)(' w11 s l.('in airtighL cuntainNs. Po st a l ('f-

    September 30, 1988

    ficiency sLlIllie:; ha ve rev( ' aled t.hat.99 percent. of the containers wouldnever be seen again, il.lld rur all tntents and purposes woule cease 1,0exist .

    A spokesma.n for t.he governnrent.Slimmed up Lh(' plan ; "This is hyfar .Ihe mosl , ('xci .ing a.nd promisingwaste rnanagen1('nt . sys .em we havp( w ~ rcOIlc('iveu and Lhe he'sL par\'is Lha . Lbe bu r ea. ll cracy a nd ca p it.a lhav e \)pcn illlpi for somestrange reason bappen 1,0 enjoythem. ThesE' next I;wo are not onlyfor Lhe Chern. Eng's among us:

    6. HiHoAg (what chemicalformula s th i s?)

    7. Fe+Fe+ Fe+Fe+ Fe+

    Fe+

    Answers will appear 111 Lhe nextIssue.

    My .final tidbit is not a puzzle. Infact, you don ' t have to do any worka t all Just keep this ill mind whenyou DO hav(> lots of work :

    Why Worrv?There are only two Ihing::: 10

    worry about : _. either you are wellor you are sick. If you are well, thenthere is nothing to worry about.

    But if you are sick, there are onlytwo things to worry about: .- eitheryou will get well or you will die.If you geL well, there is nothing toworry about .

    If you die, there are only twothings to worry about: - either youwill go to heaven or go to hell. I fyou go to heaven, there is nothingto worry about. \ . ~

    But if you go to hell. you'll beso busy shaking hands with all yourfriends, you won't have t ime toworry. So why worry'?

    - Anonymous

    Have fun.

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    15/16

    September 30, 1988 Iron Warrior Page 15

    Engineering Applications:by Dave Petro

    Wit.h the OHoberfest seasun almost upon us, it. is time again forthe standard preparation . Dust.off that old green ha t that you'vepuked on at least three years ina row, filld those pants w'ith thatsquare foot mustard stain from yourfirst Ok toberfest sausage, and pu IIout those heavy tread shoes so youwon't knock youri'e lf 0111. on the heerdrenched danc e fioor like you didlast year . Although Lhese" arc accepted pre-fe st ar t iviti('s YOIl r('a.llywon'L be prepared II n lei'S you hav estudied t.h e OkLoh(>r[('st 1" loud.

    This first engine('ring (lpplicat ,iollscolumn exam ines OkLobPr[('i'L anddev e lop s a sLochast.ic moue l of t\t(,imbibing engineer. The lJIode l Ilsedprovides insight int.o the exrwrt .edtime spent aL a kw of the OkLobe rkst acti vi ties. The an a ysi s PN -form ed uses basic prill c ipl es o f probability and Markov proc('s;)('s,

    Backgrou ndMarkov model s a rc use flll for an

    alyzing melllOryl ess s.vst.erns with afinite' number of states, A systemstate is a measu rement or set. of measuremenLs I hat. will romp l('t ,e ly d(,scribe' t,hc c(mdit.ion of a system. A

    l1Ie'lnory 1 '5s syst.en I chall gel> slateswithout knowlpdge of hC' previollsst.ates,

    The objective' of Markovian ana lysis is 1.0 determine the probabilit.yof wing in sp(>cifir sUlfc's.

    Conditiona l staLe ' transition prob-abilitiC's a r e n'qllirpd ill ordC'r 10 I1 S( 'a Markov fll Ode , Thes(' sl a t i ~ 1icsjust describe wit.h what prohahilit)t.he S ~ I S t e r l Jwilll('(l\'(' one statr i lnden CPr an 0 t 11(r .

    AssumptionsTwo asslllllptions miI S . be made

    to a llow Markovian alla lysis of an(>ngifleer at. t o l ) ( r fe ~ l . The firstassumption is t hat (l plumllleT iga memory legs system. (Basetl onmy recollections on ti l(> rnoflling a ft.e r this assllmpt.ion is a lm os l, valid )Th e seco nd assumption req ui n ' cl isthat an e nginee r is a s impl e organ-ism wiLh on ly a finite number ofst a Les, (Thi s lS a widely held op inio n amotlg n\C'Jnhr('s of severa l 1)t.I\('rfac J I i es, )

    The ModelIn Q1Ir model , the carousing plu(n

    mer may be involved in on c o f m a nyOktoberfest act.ivities whi ch we willtreat 1\.Sstates. ~ c hst.ate co rr es ponds to a s illgle OkLoberft"st activ-ity . H e ca n br a m o ng s ~lii::- fri e nd s.dancing, drinking , yelling, burpingor jllsL plain offending peo > le. Tosimplify analysis all I hat just counLs( lS one staLe, statC' c, for carous-iug. Other valid sLates for t lw drink-ing engineer include , going for b ee r(st.att" b), in the washro om (sLate' w)or at t.he schnitzel s t,and (state s),

    Successful Oktoberfestingwhere E the s t a t e

    probabi l i ty vecLorthe s t a t et r a n s i t i o n matrix

    12 /83

    Beer Stand(State B)

    Washroom

    (State W)

    1 1 /83

    )

    ( 1 6 8 8

    11 / 8

    1 1 /39

    Sch n tzelStand(State S)

    12 /88

    and T

    ow con, id('r thl' staLe prohability vecLor , E ' , aft

  • 8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 9, Issue 7

    16/16