|Publication number||US4644271 A|
|Application number||US 06/705,149|
|Publication date||Feb 17, 1987|
|Filing date||Feb 25, 1985|
|Priority date||Feb 25, 1985|
|Also published as||CA1238685A, CA1238685A1, DE3680687D1, EP0193315A2, EP0193315A3, EP0193315B1|
|Publication number||06705149, 705149, US 4644271 A, US 4644271A, US-A-4644271, US4644271 A, US4644271A|
|Inventors||James M. Toth, Richard M. Harris|
|Original Assignee||Ltv Steel Company, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (10), Referenced by (20), Classifications (7), Legal Events (7)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention relates to an eddy current flaw inspector and more particularly to method and apparatus for imaging of a workpiece shape as the workpiece is inspected.
Prior art eddy current test apparatus has been utilized for inspecting metallic workpieces for flaws and irregularities. Eddy current testers employ a current carrying coil for inducing eddy currents in a workpiece surface in close proximity to the current carrying coil. To produce these eddy currents, an alternating current signal energizes the test coil causing electromagnetic radiation to impinge on the workpiece surface.
The response of the workpiece to this electromagnetic radiation varies with the structure of the workpiece. Flaws and irregularities in the workpiece modify the eddy currents and these modified eddy currents are monitored to obtain an indication of flaw and/or irregularity locations. Disruptions due to flaws or irregularities in the workpiece can be monitored with a test coil closely positioned in relation to the workpiece surface. In some eddy current applications, the test coil is separate from the energization coil but in certain instances, the test and energization coil are one in the same.
One use of eddy current test apparatus is to detect flaws in a workpiece as that workpiece is produced. In the manufacture of steel bar product, for example, it is advantageous to isolate seams, gaps or other irregularities of a certain severity before large amounts of scrap bar product are produced. This testing must therefore be performed while the bar is still quite hot just after it has been rolled so that corrective measures can be taken to avoid those flaws.
Pending U.S. application Ser. No. 625,029 of Harris et al, which was filed June 27, 1984 and is entitled "Eddy Current Flaw Detector Having Rotatable Field Defining Sleeve", discloses a recent development in eddy current testing. The disclosure of this pending application is incorporated herein by reference. Apparatus disclosed in this application utilizes a rotatable sleeve having apertures which periodically disrupt an electromagnetic field created by an energization coil. Monitoring circuitry coupled to the energization coil analyzes the effect the field disruption has on eddy currents in the workpiece surface. This disruption enhances changes in signal output due to a flaw or the like in the workpiece surface.
Flaw induced variations in energization coil output can be displayed on an oscilloscope. The existence of a flaw in the workpiece surface is exhibited by a spike or other variation in the oscilloscope sweep. Analyzing this type of signal requires skill on the part of the operator of the test unit. The height of the spike is referenced with respect to background signals which vary with noise and irregularities in the shape of the workpiece. The location of the spike along the oscilloscope waveform is not easily interpreted to determine the circumferential location of the flaw on the workpiece surface.
While the Harris et al development represents a significant improvement in eddy current testing for flaws, complete anaylsis of the workpiece condition still requires visual inspection of the workpiece and skill on the part of the operator using the Harris et al apparatus in interpreting the flaw information displayed with that apparatus.
In addition to testing for flaws of a certain depth it is important to recognize when the product is misshaped. An out-of-round steel bar may be scrap even though the product is free of flaws or seams in its outer surface. The specific shape of the misformed workpiece can give an indication of how the problem occurred and what steps can be taken to rectify the problem. The Harris et al apparatus does not address the problem of identifying an irregular or mis-shaped workpiece.
The present invention concerns method and apparatus for generating shape information concerning a workpiece to simplify flaw analysis and evaluation of the condition of the workpiece. The disclosed method can not only show flaw location and severity but also give an accurate picture of the shape and position of the workpiece under study. This capability immediately indicates, for example, when the workpiece is mis-shapen or asymmetric.
In accordance with the apparatus of the invention, a test coil is mounted next to a workpiece path of travel and coupled to a circuit for electrically energizing the coil. A field modifying member periodically modifies a magnetic field created by the coil. The coil is coupled to a circuit for creating a shape signal relating to a distance between an outer workpiece surface and the coil.
In one embodiment, a shape signal and a separate flaw indicating signal can be time multiplexed and then scaled to provide an indication of flaw depth, flaw location, and workpiece shape. The time multiplexed signals are coupled to apparatus for depicting the workpiece condition as the field modifying means scan the workpiece. Alternately, only the shape or only the flaw signal, appropriately scaled, can be displayed.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, time multiplexing of the flaw and workpiece information occurs at a rate of 50 times per second. Appropriately scaled signals are used as X and Y components for an oscilloscope display. The 50 hertz repetition rate causes the observer to see both shape and flaw displays simultaneously. Flaws or the like appear as notches in the workpiece and the shape signals depict an outer workpiece circumference.
The scaling circuitry adds information unavailable in the prior art. The scaling circuitry includes an input from a shape and/or a flaw signal generating circuit and scales this signal with a factor related to the orientation of the field modifying means with respect to the workpiece.
The application of this scaling factor is coordinated with rotation of a field modifying sleeve. A test workpiece having a flaw in a particular orientation is scanned and the scaling factors adjusted until the flaw depicted on the oscilloscope screen is the same as the orientation of the flaw on the workpiece.
The disclosed invention simplifies analysis of the workpiece for flaws and the like. An image is presented as the workpiece is scanned so that the appearance of flaws on the image can be readily identified without having to interpret a spike or other irregularly appearing signal on an oscilloscope screen. Off-center positions of the workpiece can be readily spotted since the shape signal gives an indication of the entire workpiece surface.
From the above it should be apparent that one aspect of the invention is improved method and apparatus for displaying an image of the cross-section of an elongated workpiece. This and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become better understood when a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation view of a workpiece moving near a probe for analyzing the condition of the workpiece;
FIGS. 2-6 are electrical schematics of circuitry for analyzing signals from the probe and for producing control signals used in generating the images of the workpiece shape;
FIGS. 7A-7C are representative images of a workpiece cross-section as depicted on an image screen; and
FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate probe output waveforms for generating the FIGS. 7A-7C images.
Turning now to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, an elongated metal workpiece 10 is driven in a direction indicated by an arrow 12 past a test head supporting two differentially wound energization and detection coils 14, 16. Apparatus for moving the workpiece past the detection coils 14, 16 is disclosed in the referenced and incorporated application to Harris et al.
A stainless steel shield 20 is rotatably supported about the workpiece path of travel so that two slots or apertures 22 in the shield rotate beneath the differentially wound coils. The coils are energized with the high frequency signal which sets up magnetic fields in the vicinity of the workpiece 10. The shield 20 is rotated about the workpiece as the detection coils are energized so that the apertures or slots 22 periodically disrupt this magnetic field at different locations about the workpiece 10.
The coils 14, 16 are differentially wound so that signals generated due to the presence of flaws or the like on the workpiece surface produce a positive spike from one coil 14 and a negative spike from the oppositely wound coil 16. The apertures or slots 22 are angularly offset with respect to each other so that first a positive and then a negative signal is generated by a flaw on the workpiece surface. Analyzing circuitry 110 (FIG. 4) coupled to the differentially wound coil 14 creates signals suitable for real time imaging of a cross-section of the workpiece.
The illustration in FIG. 7A shows the flaw indicating capability of the present invention. In that Figure the shape of the workpiece is viewed on an oscilloscope 23. The shape is acceptable, i.e. forms a uniform circle in cross-section but a deep flaw 15 exists at the workpiece surface at an orientation of approximately 120° from the vertical.
Turning now to FIG. 7B, a different analyzing capability of the invention is displayed on the oscilloscope 23. It is seen that a cross-section of the workpiece 10 approximates a circle. The workpiece 10, however, is mis-centered within the sleeve 20. This would indicate a defect or mis-adjustment in apparatus for moving the workpiece past the coils and suggest maintenance and/or modification of the apparatus to center the workpiece is in order.
The FIG. 7C illustration shows a hexagonal shaped bar centered within the sleeve 20. If the shape of the bar were non-uniform with excessively rounded corners, for example, this would be apparent. Also, if the bar is to be circular yet appears to be rectangular with rounded corners this defect will be apparent and corrective measures can be taken.
Viewing these representations, the operator of the apparatus can readily ascertain the existence of a flaw and a non-uniform or a non-centered workpiece without examining hard to interpret signal variations on an oscilloscope sweep.
The FIGS. 7A-7C representations are created with the aid of the circuitry 110 (FIG. 4) which generates X and Y deflection inputs to an oscilloscope 23. The circuitry 110 generates one signal representing a distance between one coil 16 and the workpiece surface as the slotted sleeve 20 rotates about the workpiece and generates a second signal representing flaw location and depth. The two signals are time multiplexed and scaled by a factor indicating the instantaneous orientation of the sleeve with respect to the workpiece.
FIG. 4 presents an overview of the analyzing circuitry 110. Two outputs 111a, b from the detection coils 14, 16 are coupled to first and second demodulator circuits 112, 114. The output from one demodulator circuit 112 is flat when no flaw exists on the workpiece surface and is a pulse or spike when a seam or flaw is detected. The height of the pulse represents flaw depth.
A distance between the coil 16 and the workpiece surface is represented by the output from the second demodulator circuit 114. The magnitude of this signal is related to a distance between the coil 16 and workpiece surface at the circumferential position of the aperture 22 beneath the coil 16. A flat response from the demodulator 114 indicates a uniform circular crosssection bar centered within the sleeve.
A summing and shaping circuit 116 halfwave rectifies the signal from the demodulator circuit 112 after those signals pass through 1 kilohertz bandpass filter 115. The rectified output is combined with a D.C. signal from a voltage source 117 proportional to an outside diameter of the workpiece. In an analogous manner the signal from the demodulator 114 is level shifted with a D.C. bias from a second voltage source 119. Subsequent to this D.C. level shift the two outputs are coupled to a multiplex unit 118 which alternates first a flaw indicative signal and then a workpiece shape indicative signal. The multiplexed signals are each coupled to two analog multiplier circuits 120, 122 having outputs 124, 126 coupled to the oscilloscope 23.
Synchronization and timing is provided to the X and Y deflection controls by a pulse shaper 130 coupled to a detection coil 132 (FIG. 1) which monitors rotation of a magnetic device 134 connected to the rotating sleeve 20. This pulse shaper circuit 130 receives spike inputs from the detector coil 132 and shapes those spikes into a square wave pulse. A multiplier circuit 140 is synchronized by an output from the pulse shaper 130 and generates 128 equally spaced pulses between receipt of each pulse shaper signal. An output from frequency multiplier 140 is used as a clock input to two phase shifter circuits 142, 144. The output from the pulse shaper triggers the first phase shift circuit 142 which in turn triggers an output to a synchronized sine wave generator 150 which provides a scaling input to the first analog multiplier 120. A delay applied by the first phase shifter can be programmed to be between 0 and 64 clock pulses as defined by the frequency multiplier 140. This delay allows the location of a flaw to be accurately depicted on an image screen. The second phase shifter 144 generates pulses 90° of sleeve rotation out of phase with respect to the first phase shifter 142. This delay or phase shift synchronizes a second sine wave generator 152.
On alternate revolutions of the shield, first the shape and then the flaw signal is transmitted by the multiplexer 118. The timing of this transmission is controlled by a bi-stable flip flop 154 clocked by the output from the pulse shaper 130. If the sleeve rotation is 100 hertz then the shape and flaw signals are each presented by the multiplexer 118 fifty times per second.
Scaling these real time signals with a sine function at the first analog multiplier 120 results in a continuous output 124 of the form F sine θ and S sin θ where F is the flaw signal and S the shape signal. This scaled signal is coupled to Y axis deflection control to an oscilloscope and represents the instantaneous Y component of the workpiece diameter if the shape signal is being displayed or the Y axis compohent of a flaw depicting signal if the flaw signal is displayed. At a rate of 50 hertz the human eye perceives both displays so that both flaw and shape signals appear on the screen.
The 90 degree phase shift by the phase shifter 144 triggers the second sinewave generator 152 to produce an input to the multiplier 122 which is scaled with the output from the multiplexer 118 to produce an output 126 of the the form F cos θ and S cos θ. This signal serves as the X deflection oscilloscope control. The result of this scaling and deflection control by the multipliers 120, 122 is a two dimensional image synchronized with the rotation of the sleeve to present real time representations (FIGS. 7A-7C) of a cross-section of the workpiece.
The phase shift circuit 142 allows the image to be adjusted empirically until the orientation of flaws in a test workpiece are properly oriented on the display. By suitably delaying the scaling signals the flaw orientation is rotated around the image.
An energization and detection circuit 155 for the coils 14, 16 is shown in FIG. 2. A 45 kilohertz lator 156 drives the coils 14, 16 through a balancing resistor 158 and two variable capacitors 160, 162. A signal across the two coils 14, 16 is coupled to an operational amplifier 164 through a transformer 166. An output from the operational amplifier 164 is coupled to the first demodulator 112. A second transformer 170 and operational amplifier 172 couple the signal across one coil 16 to the second demodulator 114.
Referring to FIG. 3, a portion of the interface 155 is shown coupled to the demodulator 112. The oscillator 156 drives a power amplifier 174 which in turn is coupled to the two differentially wound coils 14, 16. Interposed between the power amplifier 174 and coils are the variable resistor 158 and two tuning and phase shifting variable capacitors 160, 162. These components allow the relative magnitude and phase of the alternating signals across the coils 14, 16 to be adjusted to enhance sensitivity of the flaw sensing. The oscillator frequency is adjustable and in a preferred embodiment is adjusted to produce a sinusoidal ouput having a frequency of approximately 45 kilohertz. This energization of the two coils sets up magnetic fields which induce eddy currents at the surface of the workpiece.
When these eddy currents are disrupted by the presence of a flaw, the self induced current through the coils is also disrupted. The interaction of the fields with the sleeve and a workpiece flaw results in a spike or a pulse output from the coils 14, 16 which is sensed by a primary of the transformer 166. The output from a secondary of the transformer 166 is coupled to the amplifier 164 which has an output coupled to an analog switch 176 in the demodulator circuit 112. The analog switch 176 has a gate input 178 which selectively transmits signals through the switch 176 to a capacitor 180 and buffer amplifier 182. An output 183 from this buffer 182 is transmitted to the filter circuit 115.
A gate signal for the analog switch originates at the oscillator 156. The gate signal is a pulse which periodically couples the analog gate input to its output. An output from the oscillator 156 is coupled to a comparator 184 which transmits a positive portion of the alternating current signal from the oscillator 156 to a switching transistor 186 for converting the analog output from the oscillator 156 into a series of pulses. A first one shot 188 produces a delay in these pulses of from 7 to 16 microseconds depending on the setting of a variable 20 k resistor 190. A second one shot 192 varies the width of its output pulse from one to five microseconds depending on the setting of a 10 k variable resistor 194.
A 40 kilohertz oscillator output produces a time or period between peak-to-peak signals of 25 microseconds. The ability to shift and shape the gating signal within this 25 microsecond period allows the user to maximize the output and sensitivity of the flaw detection. The signal from the amplifier 182 is a voltage output whose magnitude varies with the presence of a flaw.
The filter circuit 115 comprises four integrated circuits, each having four operational amplifiers for a total of sixteen operational amplifiers. The filter circuit is divided into a high pass filter and a low pass filter with the first eight operational amplifiers making up the high pass filter and the next eight operational amplifiers making up the low pass filter. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, these filters in combination attenuate all signals having frequencies less than or greater than approximately one kilohertz. In this way extraneous signals in the noisy environment of a steel production facility are eliminated and only signals generated by flaws in the workpiece will be transmitted to the summing and shaping circuit 116.
FIG. 5 shows in greater detail the circuitry of FIG. 4. Two inputs 210, 212 receive flaw and shape information respectively from the two demodulator circuits 112, 114. A representative flaw signal is illustrated in FIG. 8A and is seen to include a relatively flat response with a large pulse centered at the flaw location. This typical flaw signal might for example be the output from a circular workpiece having a single elongated flaw 15 (FIG. 1) extending along its length. This flaw signal is coupled through a coupling capacitor 214 to an operational amplifier 216. The operational amplifier 216 is configured as a precision rectifier so that negative portions of the FIG. 8A signal are eliminated. An optional diode 217 coupled to the output of the precision rectifier 216 performs a thresholding function to eliminate small positive signals from this output. The end result is a single positive pulse having a height related to the depth of the flaw. The size of this pulse is adjusted with a flaw gain potentiometer 218 having an output coupled to the inverting input of a operational amplifier 220.
The amplifier 220 operates as a summing amplifier. A D.C. level shift is added by the voltage source 117 which is preferably a variable potentiometer 222, to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 220. The output 224 from this amplifier is a signal of constant magnitude unless a pulse generated by a flaw at the workpiece surface is encountered at which point the magnitude of the ouput is decreased by an amount proportional to the flaw depth. Therefore one input 224 to the multiplex unit 118 is a time varying signal having an information content depicting both location and severity of a flaw in the workpiece 10.
The second input 212 contains shape information which is coupled through a coupling capacitor 230 to a shape gain potentiometer 232. This signal is also a time varying signal having a magnitude related to a distance between the coil 16 and a workpiece surface directly beneath the aperture 22 in the sleeve 20. If a uniform cross-section bar of a circular shape is off center as it passes through the rotating sleeve, a time varying signal (FIG. 8B) will be generated since the instantaneous distance between the workpiece surface and the coil in the vicinity of the aperture or slot varies with time. This signal is input to a non-inverting input of an operational amplifier 234 having a second input coupled to the voltage source 119 which is preferably a variable potentiometer 236. The input from this potentiometer is adjustable and can be adjusted to provide a suitable off-set to the shape signal. An output 238 from the operational amplifier 234 is therefore a time varying signal having an instantaneous value related to the distance between the workpiece surface and the coil 16 at the vicinity of the rotating slot in the sleeve. The output from the multiplexer 118 is coupled to the two scaling multiplier units 120, 122 which are commercially available circuits designated MPY 100.
The two trigger signals from the pulse shaper 30 and frequency multiplier 140 are seen as two inputs 250, 252 to the FIG. 5 circuitry. These trigger signals coordinate the scaling by the multiplier circuits 120, 122. The display rotation phase shifter 142 is set by the user by adjusting the setting on a set of six switches 254 coupled to the phase shifter. A pulse from the first trigger is delayed by anywhere from 1 to 64 clock signals generated by the second trigger input 252. Since the frequency multiplier 140 divides the interval between trigger #1 pulses into 128 equally spaced pulses, a time delay of between 1 and 64 clock signals results in delay of transmission of the first trigger pulse of up to one half of a sleeve rotation. This trigger signal is then transmitted directly to a first phase lock loop circuit 256.
Inserted between a second phase lock loop circuit 258 and the first trigger signal is a delay circuit 260 which in a preferred embodiment delays transmittal of the first trigger signal by 30 clock signals defined by the second trigger input 252. This 30 clock signal delay has been empirically determined to be an appropriate delay to produce a 90 degree phase shift between inputs to the two phase lock loop circuits 256, 258. One of the phase lock loop circuits 256 is illustrated in FIG. 6. It is to be appreciated that a second phase lock loop circuit is identical to this circuit in all respects.
Turning now to FIG. 6, the phase lock loop circuit 256 includes a frequency comparator 270 having two inputs 272, 274. A first input 272 is coupled to the trigger signal through a squaring transistor 276. Internal to the frequency comparator 270 is a mechanism for storing the time interval between receipt of signals at the input 272, 274. The purpose of the frequency comparator is to generate a voltage across its two outputs 275a, b which varies with the frequency of the input 272. The larger the frequency of the signals appearing at this input 272 the larger the voltage output.
A second portion of the phase lock loop circuit shown in FIG. 6 is a sine wave generator 278 which generates a constant amplitude sine wave signal whose frequency is determined by the voltage at an input 280. The FIG. 6 circuitry, thus, receives a series of pulse inputs and converts the pulses into a sinusoidal waveform output 282 in the form of a sine wave having a frequency equal to the frequency of the signal appearing at the input 272. A comparator circuit 284 generates the input 274 to the phase comparator 270. This comparison insures that the frequency of the sine wave generator tracks the frequency of the incoming signals 272. Changes in the input frequency result in a discrepancy between the signals at the two inputs 272, 274 and an adjustment of the output voltage to again cause a match in frequency.
Returning now to FIG. 5, an output from the phase lock loop circuits 256, 258 is selectively coupleable through an inverter circuit 290 depending on the setting of a switch 292. This switch inverts the phase lock loop sinusoidal output and may be necessitated by the signal requirements of a particular oscilloscope's input. A level shift is added to this signal and it is then coupled to an associated multiplier 120 of 122. The level shift cancels a multiplier offset inherent in the MPY 100 integrated circuit multipliers used in a preferred embodiment. These multipliers are commercially available from the Burr-Brown Co., 6730 S. Tuscon Blvd., Tuscon, Az. 85706.
Some of the advantages of the invention may be appreciated with reference to FIGS. 7A-7C and 8A-8C. The waveform in FIG. 8A is a plot of voltage versus time at the input 210 (FIG. 5). An operator viewing this signal on an oscilloscope or the like may not have an idea of the severity or orientation of the flaw that caused this output. When processed by the FIG. 4 circuitry and multiplexed with a shape signal from the amplifier 172 (FIG. 2) however the "X" and "Y" oscilloscope control inputs produce the FIG. 7A representation on the oscilloscope 23. The flaw severity is indicated by the depth of a notch 15a in a circle 17 representing the workpiece surface. The orientation of the notch 15a on the screen gives an indication of the circumferential location of the flaw. This added information is important in analyzing the severity and possible cause of the flaw.
The shape signal 212 is a constant amplitude signal proportional to the workpiece distance to the coil 16. In FIG. 7A the shape signal is used to create an outline 10a for the workpiece. If the workpiece is off center or out-of-round the waveform 10a indicates this fact to an observer. Note that the flaw information to create the notch 15a is not visible on the shape signal generated outline since the selective filtering and gain applied to the flaw output 111a is not performed on the shape output 111b.
FIGS. 8B and 8C show two additional waveforms output from the amplifier 172 representing shape signals. Again, a user viewing these waveforms would have difficulty confirming the shape of the workpiece. The FIG. 4 circuit transforms these waveforms into the oscilloscope images of FIGS. 7B and 7C. The user can readily determine the image 10b representing the workpiece surface of FIG. 7B is off center and that steps to more properly guide the workpiece should be instituted. In FIG. 7C the user sees a FIG. 10C representing a well centered hex-shaped bar. A user confronted with the task of interpreting the FIG. 8C waveform might not conclude the coils 14, 16 were scanning such a bar.
In both FIGS. 7B and 7C the outline images 17 are generated from flaw signal outputs 111a. When no flaws exist on the workpiece 10 the flaw signal input to the multiplier 118 is a D.C. signal whose size is adjusted by the D.C. voltage source 117. By adjusting this voltage the shape images 10b, 10c are outlined by circular images 17 to give the user a reference for determining an off-center workpiece travel path.
The disclosed oscilloscope images are presented in essentially real time so that what the viewer sees is what is passing through the sleeve beneath the coils 14, 16. This capability fortifies the capability stressed in the previously incorporated Harris et al application to locate problems before a great amount of product has been produced.
Although the present invention has been described with a degree of particularity, it is to be understood that it is the intent that the invention include all modifications and alterations from the disclosed embodiment falling within the spirit or scope of the appended claims.
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|U.S. Classification||324/238, 324/228|
|International Classification||G01B7/28, G01B7/00, G01N27/90|
|Feb 25, 1985||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: LTV STEEL COMPANY, INC., CLEVELAND, OH A CORP OF
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:TOTH, JAMES M.;HARRIS, RICHARD M.;REEL/FRAME:004375/0083
Effective date: 19850213
|Jul 13, 1990||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Jul 16, 1990||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Feb 28, 1994||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 8
|Sep 8, 1998||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Feb 14, 1999||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|Apr 27, 1999||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 19990217


text:
Denis Law wanted to finish his career with Aberdeen FC
No one from Pittodrie asked me, said legend
SCOTLAND and Manchester United legend Denis Law today revealed he wanted to finish his career with Aberdeen FC at Pittodrie – but was never asked.
Then at Manchester City, Aberdonian Denis Law retired after the 1974 World Cup at the age of just 34.
Denis said: “I would have loved to have finished my career at Aberdeen before I retired. But no one asked me.”

domain: news


Closed petition Targeted funding for residential outdoor education centres, now unable to operate for 12 months.
Centres across Wales have had to close their doors to school visits for what will be at least 12 months due to government restrictions. They have received no additional funding to any other businesses yet have lost almost all their income. These centres not only provide vital educational services but large inward investment into rural parts of Wales along with many skilled jobs. Without financial support many will close leaving rural areas, local suppliers, services and trades devastated.
The Scottish government has announced a £2 million fund for Scottish centres to help their centres survive the pandemic. To achieve the same in Wales a £10 million package would be needed. These centres form a larger part of the economy in Wales than in Scotland. In North Wales alone the annual income of these centres is around £50 million supporting 900 jobs. The figure for Wales nationally will be more than double this. https://www.gov.scot/news/residential-outdoor-education-centres-fund-opens/
This petition is now under consideration by the Petitions Committee
Petitions that collect more than 50 signatures are discussed by the Petitions Committee
Find out about the Petitions Committee’s discussion of this petition


text:
Dad wins Halloween by making a stickman costume from LED lights for his baby daughter.
Chert the toy poodle is one of those dogs that think they’re people…
It’s important to walk your pet dinosaur regularly…
A guy named James dresses as Spiderman and proposes to his girlfriend Shailee during the Dance Walk in Provo, Utah. But that’s only after the Spider-Man knocked out three ‘hooligans’ that ‘attacked’ her! Definitely one of the geekiest marriage proposals I’ve ever seen.
‘A visit by Mr. McFeely and Purple Panda of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood doesn’t go so well with the kids at Pennsylvania’s Center in the Woods’…
Only in Portland, Oregon…Darth Vader playing the bagpipes while riding a unicycle! The guy’s name is Brian Kidd, also known as The Unipiper.
Little Carter is wheelchair bound due to spina bifida so, for last Halloween, his dad transformed his wheelchair into Buster’s Ice Cream Truck. Meanwhile, the date on which Carter’s dad will be receiving his well deserved father of the year award hasn’t been announced yet.
Australian comedy duo Hamish & Andy dress up as gorillas and play some pranks on visitors of the Werribee Open Range Zoo.
Twin baby boys go for a ride dressed as Goose and Maverick from Top Gun. Is this the best Halloween costume for babies ever?

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Handy at Bandy
Kelly Engebretson keeps it cool on the ice
Published in 2021 Minnesota Super Lawyers magazine
By Jim Walsh on July 20, 2021
“For the longest time, I thought bandy was broomball,” says Kelly Engebretson. “I thought you couldn’t wear skates, and I wasn’t interested in a sport where I can’t glide.”
A former college hockey player and a member of the Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota (WHAM), Engebretson soon received a crash course: larger rink, 11 players on each side, ball instead of a puck, and yes, skates.
“I had a couple of WHAM friends who played bandy, and in 2014 they said they were going to play in an international tournament in Finland,” says Engebretson, a litigator at Moss & Barnett. “I’ve always loved the idea of traveling internationally, but never had much of an opportunity when I played college hockey. When they explained to me what the sport actually is—and that you can burn 800 calories a game—I was very interested, because you can imagine as a law student, you spend a lot of your time sitting.”
Engebretson immediately took to it. She has been a member of the USA Women’s National Team since 2014. Training involves working on stick- and ball-handling skills on tennis courts. The team also regularly schedules scrimmages, rink time, and workouts at area tracks. It’s all crucial for keeping pace with the competition.
“When we play against people in Sweden and Russia, they’ve been playing bandy as long as we’ve been playing hockey,” she says. “Their skills are so refined, and closing that gap is difficult, but that’s why we invest a lot of time.”
The challenges don’t stop at the boards. “We have to fundraise and pay our own way for everything,” she says. “So that’s also another hurdle. When we hosted the World Championship in Roseville in 2018, we had to fundraise approximately $80,000.”
The upsides? In addition to the travel and the high-level competition, Engebretson met her husband while coaching a rec league bandy practice. She’s also come to embrace the sport as an international bridge-builder.
“When we go to these tournaments, it’s very intense and this is the only opportunity I’ve ever had to represent my country in sports. There’s something very special and unique about that experience,” she says. “And then, at the end of this tournament, you have a banquet where you get to sit down and meet these players from all over the world.
“Last year, we traded T-shirts with the Japanese players, and trying to broker the trade with the language barrier was a really fun experience.”
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Once again thinking theatrically — or at least in a performance mode:
Who would you cast to play the leading roles in the inevitable movie that’s going to be made about the Bush administration?
President Bush Dick Cheney Don Rumsfeld Karl Rove Condi Rice Scott McClellan Tony Snow etc. etc.
Just a f’r instance, the role of Rove could be done by a young David Ogden Stiers (“M*A*S*H”)… or Teddy the Wonder Lizard.

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What Does the Future of Research Look Like? Gary Whitney of Huron Shares Higher Ed Leaders’ Predictions for the Field of Research
This podcast episode is part of the EdTech Times podcast series, Preparing Your Organization for the Next Generation Research Enterprise, sponsored by Huron.
In this time of higher ed disruption, even the top research institutions in the United States need to make a few changes. According to Gary Whitney, Managing Director at Huron, while some research leaders like to stick to traditional methods, they’ll eventually need to adjust to innovative trends, in order for their institutions to stay competitive, and to continue to stay up to date with specialized skills.
“The pace of change—it will ultimately catch up with you,” says Gary. “It’s happening in some pockets where it’s hard to find the expertise that you need for some of these things. And to be honest, I think that’s partly why cloud is doing as well as it is, too.”
“There are some very specialized skills you need to do some of these things effectively. And oftentimes, it’s hard to just go out in the general market and hire those skills, get them trained, and then keep them.”
Research institutions are looking to minimize the amount of time researchers spend on administrative tasks, so they can focus more on their areas of expertise. Gary says that new technologies like artificial intelligence can help these researchers save time.
“We’re going to have a number of discoveries that are going to be assisted by artificial intelligence playing a role in helping the researchers do their research,” he says. “You might have a whole system that’s helping you figure out what you should even be researching or helping you discover what makes sense from the data that you’re looking at.”
“So they might be able to actually help tie together things and anticipate issues before they actually happen, which would be a very cool result.”
Listen in to our interview with Gary Whitney to learn more about developing research methods and how research institutions are using emerging technologies to become more efficient.
Hannah Nyren: Hi, this is Hannah Nyren with EdTech Times. And today I am speaking with Gary Whitney, managing director at Huron. Hi Gary, how’s it going?
Gary Whitney: Hi Hannah, it’s going well.
Hannah Nyren: So Gary, can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Gary Whitney: Sure. I’m one of the managing directors at Huron. And over the past 15 years, I’ve had the good fortune to probably work with close to 100 of the leading research and academic medical centers across the country, helping them shape an automation strategy for their research administrative processes.
Hannah Nyren: So, overall, how have you seen, you know, research institutions change over the time that even work with Huron?
Gary Whitney: Probably the biggest change that we’ve seen over that 15 years is just almost everything in the early days was paper. And that was recognized to be fairly inefficient from a process perspective. People really wanted to try and reduce the burden that the researchers were going through of having to apply for a grant, to fill out a conflict of interest disclosure, and all of this was was paper-based. So it’s the automation of those applications that’s been the biggest change we’ve seen over that period of time. Now, most organizations have some type of an automated system that they’re using.
Hannah Nyren: Right, and it’s not just more efficient, it’s better for the environment, right?
Gary Whitney: That is absolutely true. I remember very well the first meeting I went to of a compliance body and they pointed to a stack of papers which was probably a foot and a half high on the table, saying, “That’s what we’re eliminating.” You know, and it was that stack for the 15 different members that were there for that meeting. So some of our institutions actually justified the whole cost based on a paper savings which is, exactly as you point out Hannah, directly related to environmental savings.
Hannah Nyren: So I recently attended a panel discussion on the future research that you moderated at the Huron Research Software Users Group meeting in Boston during this panel you all discussed some research findings of your own from a survey. Can you tell me a little bit about this survey? And, you know, what was it about, who was surveyed, and what was the purpose?
Hannah Nyren: Sure. So we took these 10 trends that we had come up with, that again were more of a provocative statement about what the future might look like. And we put together a quick survey, sent that to all the people that had registered for the conference a week ahead of time, and asked them to rate how likely they thought each of these things would come to pass. And we were real fortunate we got over 50 percent response rates from all the attendees by the time we got to the conference. So we were able to aggregate all that data and then be able to present that back to the participants at one of the sessions there, that you got to attend.
Hannah Nyren: So what were the top trends that were identified in the survey?
Gary Whitney: One which we keep hearing over and over again, is security. And in fact I was just at another conference this week, of independent research institutions, and it was exactly top-of-mind for all the I.T. professionals there. So clearly, security is just something that we’re going to be living with for a number of years. They had an FBI agent at this conference this last week and he basically made this statement, he says “If people want to get into your network, they’re going to get into your networks. You just have to figure out what do you do once they’re there.” Kind of a sobering thought, but that’s clearly one of the top trends.
Gary Whitney: Another one which came up, is just the belief that the big discoveries in science over the next few years are going to come from across-disciplinary research, where you take people from multiple areas across the campus. They’re pulling people from humanities and putting them together with business people, putting them together with some other engineering people, and they’re coming up with big, big ideas, where you’re pulling the knowledge from a number of different people to put all that together. And then finally another one that came up is just the whole movement to the cloud. And this came out this last week also at the other conference I was at. Two years ago people were talking about moving to the cloud or thinking about it. Now they’re moving significant parts of their business there just for a variety of reasons. I think cost being one. Flexibility, the ability to burst if you need additional resources. It’s Immediately available to you through the cloud. So those were the three that came out on top.
Hannah Nyren: So what surprised you the most about your findings, what did you not expect that was produced in this research?
Gary Whitney: One of the ones for me personally, that I was a little surprised at was people didn’t see outsourcing as a big trend in the research administration area. And that may be partly the way that we framed the question, because again we were being somewhat provocative with these statements. We said, you know, by the year 2025 half of your standard research compliance activities would be outsourced to things like commercial IRBs, people to do your billing compliance, those types of things. And so people weren’t convinced that this was something that was going to to happen in this timeframe, even though what we’re seeing from our business, actually, is that there are a number of people who are starting to do this. And it’s not just the smaller organizations, oftentimes it’s the bigger organizations. It’s kind of like the cloud computing example. When you need extra capacity it’s nice to be able to just go external and find somebody, versus trying to hire five or 10 additional people internally within your organization. So that was probably the biggest surprise that hit me. And partly, that might have been just the way we framed the question.
Hannah Nyren: Maybe, I also found that surprising, because I think that you know outsourcing is so common in so many industries today, especially with the ability to work remotely, you know, with all the software capabilities.
Gary Whitney: Another one we were, discussing this afterwards too is partly, it’s the audience that we were asking it of would be some of the people that might actually have their jobs outsourced. And so oftentimes, if it’s something personal, that might affect the way that they might answer the question. So it could be a variety of things. Or it could just be something that we’re just starting to see the front end of that trend, and the bulk of the market doesn’t see that yet. But it sure feels like, from what we’re seeing in the marketplace, it’s coming.
Hannah Nyren: Yeah, but I do also see that, you as a representative of a consulting organization that really focuses on technology and recent trends in innovation, you would kind of have a more futuristic perspective whereas, there are still a lot of people in higher ed who are doing things in a more traditional way.
Gary Whitney: Right. And so as you know the pace of change it will ultimately catch up with you. And I think that that, you know, we are seeing a lot of that happening. And, you know, to be honest it’s uh, it’s happening in some pockets where, it’s hard to find the expertise that you need for some of these things. And to be honest, I think that’s partly why cloud is doing as well as it is, too. As you know there are some very specialized skills you need to do some of these things effectively. And oftentimes it’s hard to just go out in the general market and hire those skills, get them trained, and then keep them. You know that’s the other challenge, is once you have somebody trained how do I keep them? So I just think this outsourcing is going to be a viable alternative for, as I mentioned, not just smaller organizations, but larger organizations, as well, when they need some capacity relief at times.
Hannah Nyren: Right. That’s very true. Were there any other big surprises?
Gary Whitney: Well, I guess some of the other things, one of them we asked an open ended question to say, “What other trends are you seeing out there?” And a couple that shouldn’t have been surprises us that we hadn’t discussed internally beforehand. One was artificial intelligence is clearly becoming mainstream and it got brought up in a couple of different dimensions. One, just that we’re going to have a number of discoveries that are going to be assisted by artificial intelligence playing a role in helping the researchers do their research. And this is kind of an interesting concept that you might have this little assistant that’s helping you figure out what you should even be researching, or helping you discover what makes sense from the data that you’re looking at. And then I think AI will help our research administration clients be able to make sense of some of the data that they have as well. For example, you might have an AI assistant that’s looking at some of your compliance data and go “Hmm, there might be a potential conflict between the research that this researcher is doing and these payments that we’re seeing over here by pharma to individuals.” So they might be able to actually help tie together things and anticipate issues before they actually happen which is a very cool result.
Hannah Nyren: So do you think your research administration clients are afraid of being replaced by AI? What are their current feelings toward the machines that could possibly do part of their jobs?
Gary Whitney: I don’t think that that’s so much of an issue. And this may be my bias, but as I look at it, a lot of these things just aren’t able to be caught today. And this gets a little bit into the whole Big Data trend too, which was one of the things we asked about. There’s so much information flying around right now that people are having a hard time individually trying to make sense out of some of these things. And if you have little AI assistants that could be helping you monitor some of those things, I think it would help, individuals be more successful, more productive in doing that. And we’ve always said, ultimately, if you can get them to do some of these routine things, then it allows people to bubble up a layer and be able to think more broadly and do bigger oriented kinds of tasks. So right now I’d say, it’s perceived to be a help more than a threat.
Hannah Nyren: So what trend did people generally think was least likely to occur?
Gary Whitney: On the bottom end of the spectrum, was this research burden trend. And there’s been studies that have been done across the industry. And I think the last two polls showed that, roughly, if you’re a researcher, 42 percent of your time is spent doing administrative functions, not actually doing the science and the research. And so one of the trends we put out there was “Do you believe in the next five to 10 years that we can earn back 25 percent of a researcher’s life by, you know, automating things and removing a lot of that burden?” And clearly, that one showed up that people didn’t believe that that much progress was going to be made in that period of time, and so that got voted the least likely to happen. And people were pretty confident that that wasn’t going to happen in that time frame.
Hannah Nyren: Have you seen any data that supports that up to 25 percent of these research functions could be replaced by technology or can be aided in technology so they can focus more on research?
Gary Whitney: I think it needs to be a combination of both automation as well as, kind of, business process change. And I’ll give you an example of Arizona State.
Gary Whitney: Their whole focus is that. What do we do to make it easier for the researcher? And they’ve done some pretty phenomenal things in terms of reducing the amount of time it takes to get an agreement put in place, and the amount of time it takes to get a grant submitted. Those types of things. But they have to combine that with a just amazing process methodology. So, they look at everything. Tamara Deuser, their vice president, has this model of red rules and blue rules. And I’m not sure where she came up with that. I think there is a paper that was written about that, but it’s a way to think about things that said, you know, “Red rules are the rules that are really government rules that we have to follow and things we need to do. Blue rules are the rules that we came up with as an organization. Somebody decided this was a good thing to do 10 years ago, and we keep doing it, and we’ve never asked ourselves, ‘Is it really smart for us to keep doing that?’ So they have a process approach which just causes them to challenge everything they’re doing and try and streamline that. And so I think if anybody could could make a 25 percent dent in that, it’ll be somebody like Arizona State that’s combining technology with process improvement and just has a tremendous focus to make that happen.
Gary Whitney: They approach things more from a business perspective. They empower their people to blow up processes and try and rebuild them. They’re willing to take more risk than other organizations are and I think that starts from Michael Crow on down, they just have that built into their DNA and that allows them to do some pretty interesting things that more traditional institutions wouldn’t have the risk profile that would allow them to do that.
Hannah Nyren: What other research organizations do you think are moving the fastest to adapt to these trends discussed in the survey?
Gary Whitney: I think M.D. Anderson is doing things right now on a scale that is beyond what most other organizations can do. I mean anybody that has their primary mission is to go cure cancer, that’s a pretty big idea. And they’re backing it up with systems and processes and infrastructure to allow their researchers to really go after that. And clearly when you think about doing cancer research, and you’ve got all the biorepository things, and you’re combining that now with genomics data, you’re ending up with huge data sets. And somehow, you need to store that and make sense of that. And, you know, the cloud becomes a piece of that equation as well.
Gary Whitney: To me, it’s exciting, what technology is doing now to enable some things that we never would have thought of, you know, even trying to be able to do before. I’m impressed with them and the resources they’ve been able to marshal across the industry. You know, clearly they’re big from the standpoint of funding from the I.H. and others. But they’ve got a huge amount of industry money behind them, as well as a donor base that’s phenomenal. And so they are bringing some just scale that I haven’t seen from other places attacking a problem like that. And it’s fun to watch.
Gary Whitney: One of the little things that was very special to me, is on the plane flight on the way out to the conference, I sat next to a woman and the stewardess was talking with her and she was talking about she had to go out to M.D. Anderson for another cancer visit. And the stewardess got all emotional and was like “Oh I’m so sorry.” And the woman said “Oh, well they’ve been keeping me alive for 15 years. Don’t worry about this. This is just my standard checkup.” It’s just kind of a neat story that they made a fundamental difference in a lot of people’s lives. And, you know, that’s why it’s fun to be doing what I’m doing now trying to help these organizations in some small part be successful at doing that.
Gary Whitney: The United States still is the leader in research, you know, across the board. And I hope that we can continue to be so into the future.
Hannah Nyren: And so are you going to conduct another survey? Are you going to continue to keep track of all of these trends?
Gary Whitney: This is something we definitely want to consider and push going forward. So we have plans right now. I just wrote up a summary of the results from the first survey. We’re going to push that out through a blog post. We’re going to get a webinar scheduled for sometime this summer, where we could hopefully get four to five hundred people online at the same time and ask a refining set of questions for these trends, to try and keep focusing in a little bit more. And just broaden the set of knowledge out there by asking some polling questions. And so we definitely want to keep this going forward, and make this kind of a standard process for all of our user groups. I think it’s a healthy exercise for people to do.
Hannah Nyren: And you have the advantage of having so many people to choose from.
Gary Whitney: Exactly. And as you were pointing out, if we can spot trends in the trends, so if we do a baseline now and we do another baseline in six months then we can start seeing, are people actually moving in that direction? Not just whether or not they think this is going to happen, but are they actually making substantial progress on any of these? That’ll be exciting in and of itself.
Hannah Nyren: Right, it will be interesting to measure their expectations versus the reality a few years later.
Gary Whitney: And then five years from now, you and I will look back at this and we’ll all laugh, because there’ll two or three things that we thought were going to be big and never happened, and there’ll be two or three things we never even saw coming. And they’ll be the biggest things ever.
Hannah Nyren: Right. So in general aside from, you know, the trends that are going forward and the expectations of the future what are the biggest challenges right now for research institutions? Not only from what the higher ed leaders have indicated at this user group meeting, but also just in your daily interactions with higher ed institutions and with research institutions.
Gary Whitney: Great question. I think one of the biggest challenges, if you asked each of the participants, would be clearly, funding. You mentioned that a little bit before. There’s always more appetite to do things than what, can get that in any given period of time. And as we look at people at different institutions, you have to find somebody who’s going to be a champion, a change agent, somebody to push a cause. But I think if you can get that going there are opportunities to make that happen today. The environment’s gotten a little bit harder. The federal government isn’t as likely to be funding things as they were in the past. That was another trend that we that we focused on. So you have to find other ways to get this done. And those might be some of those partnerships we talked about with industry. Those might be finding a donor that’s willing to fund a particular segment of research, those types of things. So it’s just being able to get your projects started and make something happen. I think if you ask most of our clients, that would be the biggest challenge that they would view today in terms of them making substantial progress.
Hannah Nyren: Right. And I think government funding has been a big concern across higher ed. And if you really think about the implications of that, unless you find a way to do things more efficiently, or to find different streams of revenue this valuable research, around cancer, around, you know, space that won’t be able to continue unless there are new sources of funding found.
Gary Whitney: Right. Or as you point out, if we can get more efficient in doing this, then everybody wins. And so I have had two or three conversations since the conference about, you know, people trying to partner together and create, you know, big data sets in the cloud that that multiple people can analyze. That not everybody has to have their own, you know, data. You could actually leverage more across the industry on some of these activities. So I think there’s creative ways to think about that, to overcome some of the funding challenges.
Gary Whitney: The other area that people are a little nervous about is, you know, in the current climate that we’re in as well, we’re not making all of our decisions necessarily based on the best science that’s out there today. So people are a little nervous given the current environment. You know, what what does that mean? From a standpoint of continuing to get funding and the results being respected you know across the industry. Or the population in general buying into the results of some of this science that- that’s out there. That will be another challenge we’ll have to address.
Hannah Nyren: Yeah, I can imagine, putting the work in the years since the research is enough. But actually getting people to believe in and apply it is a whole different story.
Gary Whitney: That’s right. You can lead a horse to water but, you know, can you make them drink the results?
Hannah Nyren: That’s really interesting. And make you so much for your perspective today. It’s been great to speak with you.
This episode is brought to you by Huron.
Huron is a global professional services firm with an extensive history in higher education. For nearly two decades, Huron has provided consulting services for over 500 educational institutions, including all 100 of the top research universities in the United States.
You can learn more about what Huron does by visiting huronconsultinggroup.com.
Listen to the full series:


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Spinoza’s 11th Anniversary Online Party w/The Wallens
April 17, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
We can’t have our annual celebration at Spinoza’s this year, so we are bringing the party to you! Join us Live on FaceBook via the Spinoza’s page for an evening of music, memories, and virtual fellowship! While Spinoza’s will be paying The Wallens their normal fee for this performance, we will be accepting online donations to benefit the Spinoza’s Staff Fund!
The Wallens have brought their close-knit harmony vocals and storytelling to Australia, Europe, and across the US at events like the Telluride Blues Fest. Originally hailing from Kentucky, Molly is a classically-trained vocalist and percussionist with experience in opera and bluegrass alike. Hoosier guitarist/vocalist Brian Keith Wallen won 2nd place in the 2015 International Blues Challenge and was also named “Artist of the Year” by the Starr-Gennett Foundation.
Incorporating elements of blues, bluegrass, country, and folk, their combined influences range from acoustic favorites like Chris Stapleton and John Prine to the guitar-driven blues of John Mayer and Bonnie Raitt. Whether at a house concert, festival, or brewpub, their foot-stomping energy brings a fresh dimension to roots music.


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In Station Eleven, the novel that has anchored Toms River’s first NEA Big Read this month, a cluster of survivors including the main character, Kirsten, establish the Traveling Symphony to bring arts such as music and performance to other survivors. As part of its programming, Toms River Regional Schools has partnered with a nonfiction and renown traveling symphony of its own—Garden State Philharmonic.
In addition to its arts focus, a major facet of the district’s NEA Big Read program is utilizing Station Eleven to reflect on Superstorm Sandy five years later. The Jersey Shore’s most popular orchestra will also be reflecting on Sandy as part of its season-opening performance, and the event will be part of the NEA Big Read timeline. The Garden State Philharmonic will open its Exploring American Genius season honoring the people and places of the Jersey Shore, and will do so this Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College. The concert will feature the multi-media work of a local composer, William Vollinger (Portraits of the Jersey Shore). Other musical selections will include American favorites; John Philip Sousa and George Gershwin.
For its NEA Big Read partnership, Garden State Philharmonic—in conjunction with the Grunin Center and the Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce—is offering a 20% discount to the performance with the code NEABIGREAD. Tickets are still available but going fast, and Toms River Regional Schools urges the community to utilize this fantastic offer for what is sure to be an extraordinary event.


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My heart is so hard that I didn’t have a clue why God would resist and reject me. My pride has its roots in the little things. Little compromises that seem inconsequential. Discounted truths. A foundation of lies that give way to great deception and loss of vision. Pride overflows from my lips and I have been blinded to my depravity. I’ve been mocking God by ignoring the little promptings of the Holy Spirit for change while crying out for an opportunity to mightily effect my world.
I have built great monuments of pride and presented them to God as sacrificial offerings.
I thank God for He has revealed my folly. My sight is being restored. The Holy Spirit is convicting me. I have fallen silent before my King. What can I tell the maker of heaven and earth? What counsel can I give Him?
My Prayer: God, please forgive me. Allow me to be still and know that you are God. Please continue to convict me and give me the grace to embrace the Truth.

domain: literature


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Travelling west along the A420 there is a bus stop you can pull into at the turn off for North Wraxall.
Cross over and walk a short distance west along the road until you see a bridleway sign.
Follow the track past a couple of houses and the track then becomes a muddy path; through some trees and down onto the valley floor. Keep on the obvious path, over a handy wooden bridge, over a stream and you then start to climb up through the trees.
As you go into the trees, take the path to the right and follow the very muddy path up hill until you are nearly at the top of the hill. At this point official path goes around to the right (or left) so you need to make your own way up the steep hill through the undergrowth.
It is a bit of a battle but not too bad. I couldn't see any obvious trace of ditch/ramparts on this part of the Hillfort.
Coming out on the other side of the trees, the centre of the site is a large grass covered field.
I didn't have time to do a full circuit of the site as I had left Karen and the children back in the car and it had taken me 20 minutes to walk here. I could imagine the children playing up and Karen cursing me! I don't know about the rest of the site but there are no remains of the defences along the north eastern part of the Hillfort to be seen.
One for the physically able only and if you do visit; remember your boots – the path is very muddy in places.
[visted spring 2009] Oddness abounds here. As I approached on the a420 I expected a massive hill to be appear, contours on maps clearly not my strong point. What I got instead was a tight V shaped valley wrapping its way around the two open sides of the promontary. This means that even without the tree cover there are no long views out across the land. There are very few hill forts in Britain where the next hill in all directions is but a tight valley away.
The fort itself is off the public footpath, but I got slightly lost and stumbled upon it by accident, officer. The interior seems to be grass now, used as a circuit for horses. Generally its survived quite well.
Access is for those who like walking up and down and up and down footpaths through woods. Twice the normal effort for half the joy.
Most of the hill forts in Wiltshire are set in green pastures with lots of sheep milling around.Bury Wood Camp has it's wildlife too, during the summer, it turns into a muddy mosquitoe and snake infested swamp, with lots of Gurka soilders running around on exercise. Most hillforts are tranquil places of quiet reflection with nothing more than the winds whistle for the background sound effect.
This one came with noise of small arms fire, mortars and the light buzz of a spotter plane.
Having explored the site from different angles, I would suggest that you come in via the north east end.
Nowadays there is a bus stop on the A420 Bristol Road and even a pull in large enough for a coach. Best to park up by the church in North Wraxell and walk through the village, and down to Bristol Road, via the bridleway. Walk down the track and when you get to the stable, take the right hand bridleway down the steep incline to the bottom of Doncombe Brook. A ruined but working stone bridge takes you over the brook and into a wooded area brimming with wildlife.
The most direct route up to the fort is by crossing the brook, before you reach the bridge (take your wellies) and march up the steep hill ahead of you. This will take you up to the original north western entrance. If you follow the bridle way, then you can cross the brook further on by another stone bridge, which will take you along the eastern flank of the hillfort. The paths are well used by dog walkers and horses, so expect mud.
The woods have some spectacular Oak and Beach trees, along with plantations of Firs. The recent storms had taken off some big branches and parts of the track were blocked in places, although nothing you couldn't get around.
Most of what we know about this promontory fort, and its enclosed 9 hectares, comes from the excavations made by Denis Grant-King in the 1960's.
Although the general history of the fort, beginning with its initial building, can be dated to about 350 BC, various Neolithic and Mesolithic flint tools were removed, indicating much earlier use. Rotary and saddle querns were also recovered, along with a possible axe polishing stone.
The fort is sub-triangular with entrances at the NW & E. The main rampart across the south-west side is bivallatc 4m wide and 1m deep and an outer bank up to 2m high and 3m wide. This contains an entrance which was blocked at a later stage in the iron age. This earthwork may have been a cross-ridge dyke before it was incorporated into the hillfort.
An entrance in the middle of the south western side is modern.
A single bank and ditch surmount the sleep, wooded north and east sides. A funnel-shaped entrance in the north-east corner has been, proved by excavation and had been destroyed by fire.
Partial excavation of the site in 1959-60 has showed that an earlier structure existed at the north east entrance, indicated by drystone revetments within the northern rampart. In a second stage the entrance was remodelled and widened.
There was another entrance on the north-west side where four staggered post holes were uncovered as well as a cylindrical cavity 0.66m deep, interpreted as a gate post hole.
The small rectangular earthwork inside the fort marked on some maps as a barrow, is also of iron age date.
Some time in the second century BC the fort came to an end, although why is unknown.
A very interesting site to explore if you can spend a day marching up the steep sides. I would recommend you do this one in the spring or autumn though, as the mosquitoes and thick vegetation can make the whole place seem like a jungle.
Surface collections of Neolithic and Bronze Age flints from Bury Wood Camp, Lucknam Estate, and Colerne Down. Most are scrapers and cores, but some arrowheads and polished axe fragments are also present.
A collection of about 150 Ne. and B.A. flints, found by the late Dr. Shaw-Mellor, is in Devizes Museum. Most are scrapers and cores but some Ne. and B.A. arrowheads are included, also fragments of polished flint axes.
They are from three areas in Wilts. :
Bury Wood Camp ST 8173,
Lucknam Estate ST 8172,
and Colerne Down ST 8173. (1)
A large Iron Age multivallate hillfort located on a promontory of Colerne Down. The enclosed area is sub-triangular with a slightly rounded hilltop of 9.2ha surrounded by a ditch 4 metres wide amd up to 1 metre deep, and an outer bank up to 1.5 metres high on the east and north western sides and up to 2 metres high on the south western side, across the neck of the promontory. On the south western side, where there are no natural defences, there is a further ditch 4 metres wide and 1 metre deep and an outer bank up to 2 metres high and 3 metres wide. At the north eastern corner the inner bank turns inwards to form a funnel shaped entrance. Another entrance about a quarter of the way along the north western side also consists of inward turning ramparts forming a funnel shaped entrance. A small enclosure within the camp is visible on aerial photographs. Flint artefacts including scrapers, cores and flakes have been found within the camp as well as fragments of querns and a sarsen artefact. Scheduled.
In BURYWOOD is a Camp, double workes; ergo not Roman but British: very large and the graffes are very deepe, notwithstanding the rocke. It has an aperture, West, towards Colerne downe. It stands on a kind of Promontory, and every other side is well secured by the precipice. A prettie cleare little streame runs on the rock, and gravell in each bottome.
A quote from Aubrey's notes, collated in 'Wiltshire: the topographical collections of John Aubrey', J E Jackson, 1862.
This is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The 'Magic' website confirms that it was included in the schedule in 1925 as 'Wiltshire 130' and is now scheduled in the national monument register as '28993', and is described as "Bury Wood Camp hillfort and earthwork enclosure 750m north of Raffinwood House".
I've also seen this refered to as Bury Wood Camp, and locals often call it 'Bury Ditch'. This was an important hill fort of the Iron Age. Excavations under Dr Grant King explored it from 1959 onwards, and some of the finest Iron Age drystone walling was apparently unearthed. The height of the ramparts were about 5ft 8".
In 1960 175 shards of pottery were recovered. All except one was plain coarse ware without a trace of decoration.
Just two fragments of human bones were found, whereas between 400 and 500 animal bone fragments were found. The vast majority were the usual domestic animals; sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, horses and dogs. Six specimens were of very large birds, probably swans or geese. Deer, fox, rabbit and vole bones were also spotted. The relative rarity of anything but domestic animals may suggest that the camp was based on stock keeping and that it was unlikely that hunting played a large part of the food economy of the camp.
'The History of Colerne' (1975 - no author) speculates that the camp may have been destroyed by the Second (Augusta) legion of the Roman army on their advance to Gloucester.
[NB- the Fosseway Roman road passes very close by - it's the yellow road to the West, if you look on the multimap link]
[ST 82257369] Stoney mound, possibly a tumulus. (1)
[Grinsell does not include this in his list of barrows - V.C.H., I, 1957] No mound is visible in this area. (2)
The field is now under plough. No change from previous field report of 8.11.67. (3)

domain: geography


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domain: library


text:
Characterization of fullerenes and fullerene derivatives by nanospray
UNSPECIFIED. (2000) Characterization of fullerenes and fullerene derivatives by nanospray. CHEMICAL PHYSICS LETTERS, 330 (3-4). pp. 267-274. ISSN 0009-2614Full text not available from this repository.
Nanospray has been shown to be a viable ionization method for analysis of fullerenes and fullerene derivatives by mass spectrometry. The sample quantities required have been comparable to those used for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization, which is currently considered to be amongst the most sensitive techniques. No modification of the fullerene sample solution was required. Neither protonation nor deprotonation were ever observed during nanospray of fullerenes, leading to the conclusion that an alternative to the traditionally accepted ionization mechanism is required. The spectra were free of fragmentation, allowing the molecular ion to be identified beyond doubt. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Subjects:||Q Science > QD Chemistry
Q Science > QC Physics
|Journal or Publication Title:||CHEMICAL PHYSICS LETTERS|
|Publisher:||ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV|
|Official Date:||10 November 2000|
|Number of Pages:||8|
|Page Range:||pp. 267-274|
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domain: chemistry


Case study of agri tech company
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Case study of agri tech company
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Embedded with various sensors, drones enable farmers to become more resource-efficient and achieve greater automation while ensuring the crops get the precise amount of moist, care, and nutrition. Moreover, it reduces labor costs since farmers can remotely identify where their cattle are located.
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based on 73 review


text:
This paper provides an overview of the governance and dispute settlement provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Agreement establishes a network of committees to oversee its implementation. There is also an arbitration mechanism for disputes between the UK and EU, but with exemptions and variations for different policy areas.
Documents to download
Coronavirus: Returning to work (1 MB , PDF)
This is a fast-moving area and the paper should be read as correct at the time of publication (05.05.2021)
In late March 2020, the UK Government and devolved administrations made legislation to impose lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. People were prohibited from going to work unless they were unable to work from home. These rules were relaxed over the summer but strict national lockdowns were re-introduced in December 2020.
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Employment law offers a range of protections to whistleblowers who make ‘protected disclosures’. However, there are detailed rules on what sorts of disclosures qualify for protection. The disclosure must relate to a particular subject matter and must be made to one of a number of groups of people listed in legislation. This includes the Health and Safety Executive, local authorities and MPs. There are additional tests if a worker makes a disclosure to someone not listed in the legislation, like the press or on social media.
Documents to download
Coronavirus: Returning to work (1 MB , PDF)
To support the self-employed through the coronavirus outbreak the Government has introduced the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The purchasing and administration of Covid-19 vaccines has been dominated by richer economies. In April 2020, the Covax initiative was established to ensure fair access to vaccines. This paper sets out how Covax works, the challenges it faces, and the contributions of the UK and other high-income economies to the global distribution of vaccines.

domain: politics


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