04/08/2015 11:50 BST | Updated 04/08/2016 06:59 BST

Foster Carers Are the Unsung Heroes of the Crisis in Calais

Foster carers have been unsung heroes during the Calais migrant crisis. Hundreds of migrant children have been taken into care and placed with foster families. Many of these families live in Kent but children's services are already having to look beyond the county for support because it is increasingly difficult to find suitable placements. With no end in sight to the crisis, by the Prime Minister's own admission, the situation will only get worse and the demands on foster carers will increase.

The number of unaccompanied children cared for in Kent, which includes the Folkestone Channel Tunnel terminal, has risen from 368 to 629 in just four months. There are no more foster beds available in Kent and the situation has become unsustainable. So vulnerable children who have already endured untold hardship as their familes scattered across Europe after fleeing North Africa or the Middle East must suffer further uncertainty, often moved from home to home until a long-term solution can be found.

Many are taken into care the moment that their families are detained by immigration authorities. But others have been found abandoned at the roadside in Kent as they become separated from groups of migrants seeking to avoid arrest and detention. As parents disappear into the distance, these children have no way of knowing if they will ever see them again or whether they will be safe in the hands of whoever happens to find them.

Many foster carers have received specialist training to look after children who are refugees, or who arrive in the UK unaccompanied by an adult. However, during times of crisis like this the demand for accommodation is so high that families who do not have experience of caring for migrant children will be asked to provide accommodation. The scale of the challenge is huge.

Children arrive in the UK severely traumatised by their experiences. Many families have fled violent conflict and suffered persecution: their homes have been destroyed, family members have been killed or tortured. They will have suffered hunger and deprivation during their long journeys from country to country. They may have witnessed death and brutality. Some have survived perilous Mediterranean crossings on overcrowded boats, others have travelled thousands of miles overland in goods trains, or hiding in lorries, or by foot. They reach the UK severely malnourished and confused, with no clear sense of where in the world they actually are. Surrounded by strangers, no matter how well-meaning they are, these children are alone.

These are the most difficult circumstances for foster carers. It means accepting into your home a child with no known history and often with no means of communication. There are no passports, and no medical records. It can be difficult to determine the country of origin or even a child's language. Some live in fear of betraying their parents or guardians, or have been coached into withholding information for as long as possible. Others are so bewildered and fearful that it may take weeks or even months to coax out even the most basic information.

Even providing the most basic needs will test the skills of foster carers and their families. Despite their urgent need, migrant children may reject offers of food, through a lack of trust or for religious and cultural reasons, and then secretly hoard it away as a reaction to the many, many days when they went hungry. Hygiene is a difficult area: persuading a child who has suffered abuse to take off clothes to bathe can be traumatic. Some children can take time to be persuaded to ditch their own threadbare clothes to wear new clothes provided by their host families. Night times are traumatic for everyone, for sleep does not come easy to a child thousands of miles from home, separated from his family, and unable to understand even how the next day will begin. Medical care will be necessary, but it is so difficult to treat a child who lives in fear.

A migrant child in care will be confronted by myriad strangers -- his foster family, social workers, health visitors, border police, interpreters, a family liason officer, to name only a few. All mean well, and have jobs to do. But to a bewildered child in a foreign land they may be indistinguishable from the criminals who exploited and brutalised their parents as they travelled across a continent. His very survival has depended on trusting no one.

The days and weeks that follow a placement will present new challenges for foster carers and their families. Language will be a difficult obstacle to overcome, making it difficult for children to build relationships or to make friends. Engagement within the child's new community will be complex. Here is a child who is unlikely to be able to attend school, or join a club, or take part in organised activities, at least in the short-term. And unfortunately, given the haphazard nature of the placement, there is a high probablity that the child will be moved, more than once, fracturing any bond that existed with his original carers.

It troubles me to read in the media that unaccompanied children have been placed in foster care as a footnote to longer articles, as if that were the end of the story. For children, it is just another staging post in a hazardous, never-ending journey. For foster carers and their families, whose compassion for these vulnerable children should be an example to society, the challenge has just begun.


Alphabet Inc Could Be the Ultimate GARP Stock

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GARP is short for "growth at a reasonable price." Different investors have different definitions for what is and isn't a GARP stock. I have my own definition, and Alphabet Inc  (NASDAQ: GOOGL , NASDAQ: GOOG ) fits it, and rather nicely I might add.

I consider a stock to be a growth stock if it is growing earnings at a rate of 15% or higher from one year to the next, ideally over a five-year annualized time frame. Also, I consider a reasonable price for a non-growth stock to be anything trading with a PEG ratio of 1.0 or less. If a stock, any stock, trades at a PEG ratio of 1.0 or less, I consider it to be a value stock.

Thus, if I am able to find a growth stock that trades at a PEG ratio of 1.0 or less, it is essentially the value version of a growth stock, or a GARP stock. These stocks are few and far between. But if you can find them, you're getting a terrific value.

There are also other considerations in terms of valuation. I subtract the company's net cash position from its market cap to determine its P/E ratio. I also permit a 10% premium to earnings growth expectations for each of the following: excessive net cash position, exceptional free cash flow and world-class brand name.

GOOGL Stock: Growth and Value

GOOGL has all of these elements, plus it's a pretty darn good business, considering it basically has a monopoly over search engine advertising.

Mind you, should digital advertising ever completely blow up, Alphabet stock could find itself in a real pickle. However, considering that the ad spend during the financial crisis went down a fair amount, but not so much as to destroy businesses like Alphabet, I don't see that happening.

Another, admittedly very small, risk to GOOGL stock is the increasing outcry from political conservatives regarding the company's alleged, but apparent, leftist political bias. This bias has shown up in search results, via internal memos that have been leaked to the press, and in a recent lawsuit against the company.

Putting all that aside, let's take a look at why GOOGL stock makes for a great GARP stock.

GOOGL stock presently has a market cap of $810 billion. It has a net cash position of $105 billion, taking its net cash market cap down to $705 billion. Alphabet stock earned $22 billion last year. Thus, it has a base P/E ratio of 32.

Analysts project annualized earnings growth over the next five years of 25%. Thus, I would be willing to pay, under normal circumstances, 25 times net income for the stock.

However, GOOGL stock gets 10% price premiums because it does in fact have significant cash on hand, outstanding free cash flow and a world-class brand name. That brings the price I'd be willing to pay up to 32.5 times net income. And there we have it, a PEG ratio for a growth stock of 1.0.

It's hard to believe that Google's search engine has become this dominant over time, but it has. And now you have a fantastic stock for your long-term portfolio.

Lawrence Meyers is the CEO of PDL Capital, a specialty lender focusing on consumer finance, and is the Manager of The Liberty Portfolio at www.thelibertyportfolio.com . He does not own any stock mentioned. He has 23 years' experience in the stock market and has written more than 2,000 articles on investing. Lawrence Meyers can be reached at TheLibertyPortfolio@gmail.com.

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2017-05-07 10:45 to 2017-05-07 11:45

Experience level

Session Track

Adventures in Open Silicon 2: Laying the Foundation of Freedom

As hardware and software become ever more entwined and the practice of hardware running only cryptographically signed software becomes more widespread, it's becoming clear the freedoms so hard-won by the open source movement will soon be lost without a truly free and open foundation for the full stack of hardware and software: silicon.
In this talk, we'll cover the basics of what goes into designing, fabricating, and testing integrated circuits, processors, and peripherals embodied in silicon. We'll briefly review the key historical events that got us to where we are today, and lay out a roadmap for where we want to be in the near future.
We will draw on detailed firsthand examples from recent projects each striving in their own way to open different layers of the hardware stack, such as the Talos Secure Workstation, the EOMA68 modular computing project, the Open-V RISC-V-based microprocessor, the SiFive HiFive1 RISC-V dev board, ORWL, and others.
We'll also discuss how you can help!  No previous experience or specialized knowledge is needed to understand this talk.


Position Paper on Curriculum Priorities

Russell Yates

June, 1999

At our elementary school there are several layers of control over both the formal and the informal curriculum that the students experience. Most of the informal or hidden curriculum is left to the various teachers at our school. This accounts for a wide variety of classroom climates and in many ways allows for better matches between our diverse student population and our teachers. There are federal mandates that affect the formal curriculum although those are generally filtered through our state. As is happening in most states, Washington State is going through a curriculum and education reform movement. Overall this is a top down process but has involved many educators including practicing teachers. Because of this input, most teachers, those most important for actual implementation, have accepted the new curriculum standards as a move in the right direction. Testing in the form of a statewide criterion referenced test, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), is being implemented primarily as an accountability measure. The test is given during the benchmark years of 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. It is designed to measure student performance of our new state frameworks, the Essential Accademic Learning Requirements (EALRs). Working through these EALRs, fine tuning them to match local needs, finding curriculum resources that can best support teachers and students in meeting those requirements, and implementing curriculum in ways that support the EALRs, are decisions left for the local school districts.

At my elementary school, Chimacum Elementary School, we have been working through a renewed curriculum process for several years now. Areas of need such as math or reading that have been identified by the curriculum director, become the focus of committee attention. When the committee (made up of the curriculum director, a representative group of kindergarten through grade 12 teachers, and at least one community member) has done enough background work, the entire building staff joins in on the process. This includes creation of a district framework that matches the state frameworks and identification of possible curriculum materials among other things. Eventually this process leads to the implementation of a renewed curriculum that includes materials, support through inservice workshops, and other supplementary materials.

This process does provide some levels of control for nearly all of the stakeholders of the formal curriculum as it is being developed. The place where the process has a tendency to break down is when an unplanned mix of people of the various schools of curricular philosophy takes part in the process. An example is when one compares the outcome of our two most recent "adoptions," math and reading. When the math subject area committee was formed, it consisted of a number of "traditionalists" with quite strong personalities. This led to an "adoption" of a purchased math curriculum that every teacher in the elementary school, K-5 was to implement in a consistent manner (read "teacher-proof"). Although this was two years ago, there are still disgruntled teachers whenever the subject of the math curriculum comes up. A year after this, the reading subject area committee was formed. This committee membership was more balanced as to "traditionalists" and "progressivists." As a result of a more heterogeneous mix of committee members, the staff has much more happily accepted the selected curricular materials. Implementation has been much more productive and has allowed for acceptance of diverse teaching styles. The difference in expectation of implementation has been that with math, the curriculum was defined as that that had been purchased and that all teachers were to slavishly adhere to each page of the teachers' manual. With reading however, teachers were expected to use the materials to support their particular group of students in their quest to master the various aspects of the curriculum frameworks as measured by the WASL. The math curriculum is held together by the purchased materials that all teachers and students must walk through, whereas the reading curriculum is held to be consistent K-5 through the frameworks (also called Chimacum Learning Targets). The latter allows for the teacher to find the best match between the three parts of implementation - the particular group of students, the learning targets or frameworks, and the curricular materials available.

The difference between how these two important parts to the school's formal curriculum have been developed and the issue of control of development and implementation, point to what I see as the most important or vital aspect of curriculum at my school. I see the curriculum renewal process as a good one overall; however the formation process of the subject area committee needs to be done thoughtfully and consistently in order to best represent the diverse needs of the staff. By including people who can work together but that represent both broad philosophical schools of thought, the outcome of the curriculum process can be productive and will be more successful.

Russell Yates - Resume

 Professional Portfolio

Curriculum Topics

 Curriculum Overview

 Curriculum: Past, Present, & Future

Curriculum Standards

Developmental Trends

Sample Units of Instruction

copyright © 2000 by Russell Yates


Sunday, April 22, 2007

Spring is here - time to approve standards...

In a relatively short period of time, I have seen important approvals of standards, related to BPM... BPM is on the move.

1. BPDM seems to be approved
Still unsure how BPDM and XPDL are related. Will need to research this. Comments welcome.

The business process maturity model (with a foundation of CMMi)
Also see:

Very handy as reasonably objective framework for measurement and improvement planning.

3. BPEL 2.0
The business process execution language, version 2.0
Also see:

I have not checked BPEL 2.0 yet, but do hope it has now capabilities for human workflow as well....Anyone knows?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Star Rating added

I've added a 5 star rating widget (, which allows visitors to score individual articles. You're most welcome leaving a score, after reading an article! Your scores are an important KPI in my BPM-BAM dashboard ;-). Thanks!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Future Feature of BPM-Suites : Predictive BPM

I remember, when working for a large insurance company, that they were struggling with workforce planning. Basically, once a year, they looked at the average workload per employee, and based on that estimate and some predictions on future developments, they agreed on the workforce numbers for different teams in front- and backoffices.
What they forgot were seasonal influences. In insurances, a lot of work happens during the beginning of the year (renewal, new pension plans).
A typical result was the following: agreed workforce started in januari, and (since workload was much higher), a backlog of work started to grow. Managers unsatisfied, pressure on teamleaders and, in the end, the workforce. Around june, backlog was unacceptable, expensive external temps were hired, which caused an initial extra drop in productivity (more experienced workforce needed to guide temps) and in, say oktober, things started to be in control, leading to november estimations for the next-year workforce, where, well, you guessed it, memory was short, so about the same numbers were planned....
And customer service? Well, in this company, it was seen normal that pension overviews of the previous year were send in Q3/Q4 of the next year on average.....

Of course, workforce planning is sometimes difficult. It requires process maturity to measure, be realistic, and take out politics. It takes process maturity to evaluate plans and have the courage to adapt when needed.

A great thing would be, if BPM-Suites came with a feature, which I would "predictive BPM".
Take a typical moment in time, with a running BPM Engine. A great number of process instances exist, each with a certain state in their flow.
It would be great if you could ask your engine the following basic questions:
1) How much workforce effort is needed the coming say 10 weeks, to finish the current process instances, if these processes are to be finished in a certain (SLA) timeframe?
2) What is the estimated influx of new process instances for the coming period, based on a seasonal analysis of previous years?
3) What is the total required workforce (current process instances + new instances) to finish all work required to meet SLA's?

Sure, this is complex stuff.
A BPM-S would need (or a tool above the BAM/BPM Suite):
- Knowledge of workforce - all people, their productivity, their work-assignments
- Knowledge of procesflows - typical flows per process (% for each branch and sub-branch)
- Task duration and effort
- Process history - a log of all process start events in previous years, #per day, % per type per day

But what a great planning tool would be possible. I could even see business analysts help managers with what-if scenario's...
- What-if our competitor is delivering 10% faster throughput, how much more workforce or productivity increase would we need?
- What-if we are able to change seasonal influences with some incentive?

In manufacturing, this type of planning is already there. The services industry is behind.

But it's promising to see that "Predictive" and "BPM" already are delivering hits on google.
Because what's process management, if the only thing we can do with BAM is look in our back-mirrors?

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

EDA, Rules and BPM

Came across a great diagram (sorry, (c)), which explained a possible architecture that connects Event Driven Architecture, Rules and BPM.

The elements (in sequence):

1. A business event occurs, and is signaled from somewhere (say a CRM application)
2. It's given to a Event Processing Agent. This decouples the business event from a process event. Based on rules, it translates the business event to one or more process events.
3. Process events are given to the BPM layer which starts a process (or continues a waiting one)

I like this decoupling. It creates a clear component that has the responsibility to know what is needed in terms of processes. And manage it by a rule engine.

Suppose your customer reports being pregnant... (ok, it's my girlfriend :-))

Process events for the typical insurance company:
- Time to start up a advice on life insurance
- Time to trigger some gift to be sent
- Time to inform the health insurance dept. on coming claims and required reservations....

I do still wonder where to place the logic for knowing, based on a process event, if a new process needs to be started or a waiting one needs to continue. In my view, we need some type of component there as well... with knowledge about process events, rules and current process instances that are waiting or running. The CEP-unit.

Case management - real life example

Went to a Special Interest Group meeting in my company, around the Cordys BPM product.
A group of consultants had succesfully delivered a BPM solution for a large insurance company, around Claims handling.
While they were modelling and gathering requirements they found:
- It was impossible to model a coherent process front-to-back
- Many events could happen, at unpredictable times and sequences
- If trying to model this in production workflow style, the amount of exceptions was simply too much
- Not all tasks could be predicted based on context...

No need to go on - they found the case management situation.
They created quite a flexible solution, were:
- Certain parts of the process were modelled - "process fragments"
- When a "case" was started, users could decide which tasks (and process fragments) needed to be performed
- During execution of the case, new tasks/fragments (from a standard list + manually defined - single tasks) could be added or removed
- After execution of a task, users could decide (based on business rules) if the case was finished or not.

The interesting part: they build this with a tool that was more aimed at traditional BPM. By a clever combination of some custom code + BPM parts, they were able to create a good solution.

The session did make me think about what a process really is, and what approach to choose to model and automate. A warning there: if you start projects with the production workflow BPM mindset, you will try to fit in reality (if you have a hammer, all problems look like nails...).

What is a process?
I am still struggling with this. Maybe what I will present here is rubbish, but it's a first attempt.

A process is defined as:
- A set of possible events
- A data context (or state)
- A set of possible activities
- A set of rules that govern relations between these elements

The metamodel relations are:
- There are External Events (outside of "world") and Internal Events: change of state
- (Event + Certain context/state) link to a certain Rule, that triggers Activity.
- Activity results in Change in State. Change in State triggers Event.

Now, you could define certain heuristics to come up with your "BPM approach"...

1. If all Events are known, and Each (Event-State) triggers unique Activity, we have production workflow.
-> Deterministic

2. If Certain (Event, State) combinations have NO Rule or Multiple known at design time, but do require an action (from a person!).... Case management
-> Non deterministic

3. If not all States can be defined at design time... Case management

4. If not all events can be definid at design time... hm, exceptions in workflow, or case management.

Hm, maybe it's getting late. But I am trying to find some type of BPM metamodel, that allows us to analyse a business situation more fundamentally, instead of trying to start with a workflow.
Ideas welcome!

Gartner BPM Summit London - Day 2, Part 1

Ah, a great start of the day with a good presenter: Regina Casonato.
Her research shows (and I agree, from real-life experiences) that there are processes we are currently not able to automate (well) with the current generation of BPM tools: fluid, contextbased collaborative processes.

Small example on my side: ever tried to model collaborative BPM with BPMN and Swimlanes? Right....

So where all vendors talk about S2S and H2S integration (S=System, H=Human), she helped us understand the tricky domain of H2H BPM.

Some important terms that play a role:
-> Presence.
In my definition: your own availability, in terms of for WHO, and via WHICH Channel at WHAT TIME. Something that you manage (already). However, something that in the future, you will be able to manage much more detailed.
Now: I can decide where I will be, if I pick up the phone (general or caller ID), if I will respond to IM (availability, even for certain people), etc. In the future I might detail this more: between 9 - 11 Am, I am available for BPM activities X, Y, and Z, through channels IM and email. Oh, and BPM process A, B and C I will be available during working days. E.g. detailing my presence "rules" to context....

-> Context
More tricky. Whenever we are presented by say an email or a workflow item or a phone call, or whatever thing/person that delivers us information, we need to understand why, what, how, who, when, etc. Context is what we need to be able to do something usefull with provided information and with a activity/request.

(She made an interesting link to BPM and information overflow: a process can be seen as a piece of context - we are doing X for customer Y). When delivering an activity, the process (what needs to be done) + process data (which customer, what step of the process) serve as context to the person doing the activity. So more explicit processes can help us structure reality and fight overload (well a bit - she warned for context overload).

-> Collective Intelligence
Beautifull clear concept - all the mindpower you can have, that you need to really perform some activity in a process well (think decision, strategy, etc).

Now, let's get back to the Collaborative part. Suppose a process requires a collaboration as part of a certain activity. H2H. This could be: synchronous (all people required need to be available, aka a "meeting"), asynchronous (a conversation over time - discussion/forum/email correspondence) or hybrid. The concept of presence becomes important here: a group of people receives a task. Will I get it, will I be involved, am I needed - a mix of context, rules and my presence decisions. And depending on my channel choices, I might be included through face to face, phone, chat/instant messaging, email, etc.
The key question: how to involve the right people at the right time, and support them well?
Her point is that these types of H2H interactions are currently not well integrated in BPM tools, and that if we want to take on the Information Worker processes, we'll need to rethink. From the production workflow transaction based processes (do this, do that) to a mix of do this, do that, hmmm, think about this, collaborate on that...
A mix of technologies, think networking sites (who has knowledge about XYZ and is currently present), IM, email, VOIP, etc.

It's funny, in my current project we spend quite some time how to get certain stakeholders doing certain tasks at the right time (sometimes together), and what if they are not available...
It links to another concept she used:
-> Just-In-Time Intelligence.
Ah. The right task and the right time to the right persons with the right knowledge.

Collaborative Events happening in a process flow can of course:
- Be logged -> to capture the knowledge, so that simular tasks later can re-use this knowledge
- Be traced -> to support compliance

In her view the whole Web 2.0 collaborative technology and BPM could be linked and merged.
And of course, she reminded us: don't do collaborative BPM within your company walls, think larger - customers, suppliers, partners.... How to leverage your collective intelligence!

Interesting times ahead!

A sidenote:
The concept of an Context Engine versus a Process Engine made me realize we currently mix these things. We define BPM models in BPM Suites, where at design time we decide for each activity what the means are to finish this activity (that person, that SOA call). What if we split these concepts:
- A process engine knows only about an activity that needs to be done
- A context engine knows for each activity, based on presence, contextual knowledge, etc, how to get this activity executed...

Saturday, April 07, 2007

SAAS powered BPM-modeling for the traveling consultants...

Yes, I know, I am behind! I should have been blogging day 2 and 3 of the BPM summit. And I will, hopefully over Easter. Ouch, times flies, and I am in the final stage of a interesting BPM design phase, which was taking a lot of my time.

Anyway, a short post on new thoughts about the new SAAS development (or BPM ASP).
The SAAS for BPM concept is quite simple: provide a good BPM modelling tool, over the web. The process repository is hosted somewhere safe, no tools or databases needed on your PC's.
Two vendors that I know of now are working on delivering it: Appian (Appian Anywhere) and Lombardi's Blueprint. Others will follow, I expect.

Now for consultants working a lot on the road, at different projects, with different PC setups, this could actually be a great tool. How many times we have had situations where we needed to model complex processmodels really quickly, while either working on our own laptop (not connectable to client network, no printing, no sharing) or working on PC's provided by client with of course no BPM modelling tools (well, apart from Powerpoint...). Ouch. And most of these companies take 2 weeks and endless signatures to fix either the laptops or have BPM software installed (if they even have it).

So I see a new trend: "White Label" BPM SAAS, where consultancies companies can create their own labeled BPM modelling tools (oh, and while we are at it, throw in some organisation and Business/Information architecture modelling as well!). A nice collaborative environment, where projects can be set-up within 5 minutes and go.... The result: less Powerpoint frustration, productivity and collaboration + great tools to facilitate the complex tasks of process analysis, decisions and design..... And not to forget: a view for the our clients (RSS?!) on deliverables and progress.

My wishlist:
- Browser based, no added stuff needed.
- Create models and model-hierarchies
- Multi-user
- Version control and tracking
- Assign ownership to different model-area's (who can do what)
- RSS feeds and other update alerts on process changes
- Ability to log and discuss process questions and issues + resolutions
- Tool to extract everything in XPDL/BPDM
- Ok, tool to extract complete proces repository as some type of Office document (for easy off-line review and delivery)
- Ability to "tap into" a certain model/design session and see the live changes occur (when working in groups) and do some time of direct messaging/discussion online.

I think I will start talking to my employer :-)


Friday, May 7, 2010

Deserts are not deserted

Only yesterday I was telling a friend about my adventures into the great Namibia Desert along the Skeleton Coast of Atlantic, emphasizing in particular how I am not too fond of the deserts during the day since cold places are essentially my home. I thought she was an ocean and mountain person like me, but she surprised me by confessing that she is equally enchanted with the deserts of the world since they too are boundless and immensely beautiful and redolent with life – not that she had visited any, besides Thar in India. That set me thinking and I soon realized that though not among my favorite places on Earth, I have walked through parts of several of the world’s largest (area wise) deserts and have had a firsthand encounter with their diversity, flora and fauna, spectacular beauty, with the burning sun of day and the frozen moon at night. While my mind thus wandered retracing those forgotten voyages across the arid lands, I recognized that I too was fascinated with deserts as much as I am with the mountains. Deserts are among nature’s most spectacular spectacles and often neglected or held in fear due to ignorance. Despite the sand a desert landscape is far from monotonous and it is full of life. My outdoor survival skills and experience encompass deserts too and hence I thought of telling you all about the deserts that I have been to and also to highlight how each one of them are unique and different from each other even when they are similar and identical in several ways. For the sake of brevity, I would only touch upon the deserts that I have been to and are within the 25 largest deserts in the world.

Essentially a desert is a place that is unusually arid and moisture free and does not see precipitation (rain) beyond the barest minimum and in some cases none at all. Broadly all deserts have been classified as Polar, Cold winter, subtropical and cool coastal. As the names suggest, the Polar deserts are those found only in Antarctica or in the Arctic Region, Cold winter ones are those found in high latitudes, subtropical are those bound by the tropical latitudes while cool coastal are those that are along the coast and hence largely affected by sea breeze and ocean currents. Due to the different regional influences, these deserts vastly differ in terms of flora and fauna and landscape. Now let’s put on our hats and sun-creams and pack in our bottles of cold water and aka Dr Livingstone (who first walked through the Kalahari) get going.

Antarctic Desert

Believe it or not, the world’s largest desert is not Sahara but the Antarctic Desert that covers a mind-boggling area of around 13,829,430 sq km. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest and highest continent on earth. With less than 200 mm annual average precipitation along the coast and much less inland, the entire continent of Antarctica is therefore considered a desert. This desert is covered with an enormous sheet of ice that thickens to more than 3.5 km at the geographic South Pole. Some parts of the trans-Antarctic mountains are free of ice and so are some of the coastal areas, mainly in the Chilean peninsula. Being so cold and dry it does not breed any indigenous flora except some mosses, liverworts, algae and fungus. Indigenous fauna are few microorganisms while few mammals like whales, penguins, seals and squids survive on the marine life for food along the coastal waters. During winters they too go away except Emperor Penguins who breed during the winters. Antarctica is an amazing land and countless articles and books have been written on it and may be a separate post or a book on my voyages through this cold desert would ensue my pen, but for today suffice it to say, that this is one desert I absolutely love and wouldn’t mind returning to time and again. During my two trips here, I managed to ski to the South Pole and also climb several summits including the highest mountain of the continent.

Arctic Desert

With an area of roughly 13 million sq km, the entire area of Arctic Desert is one of the regions on Earth that is more like a home for me and it is the second largest desert in the world. It essentially covers Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia and if you have been following my journeys around the globe, you would by now know that I have been to this region countless times and have done many expeditions. The Arctic is mainly the area lying north of the Arctic Circle and it averages a precipitation (all in the form of snow) of not more than 50 cm annually. Most of the glaciers and ice caps in the Arctic are found in Alaska and Greenland and it mainly comprises of massive ice sheets and ice bergs across the Arctic Oceans and the bordering seas. The land that is not permanently snow bound is either tundra or permafrost and hence doesn’t breed any large trees. Only small shrubs like dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses are found in the cold summers while in the winters everything is buried under the deep snow. The animal life includes Arctic hare, reindeers, lemming, and caribou, Arctic fox and wolf, wolverines, ermines, and arctic ground squirrels. The polar bear is also a dangerous predator who should be given the widest berth if you find one in your vicinity. They look cute and cuddly only in the movies. There are also many birds and marine species thriving in the colder regions. Sea life include seals, walrus, and several species of cetacean, baleen whales and also narwhals, killer whales and belugas. The region also has a large indigenous population primary among them the Innuits who are found in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the Siberian tribes. Arctic desert is a place meant for fairy tales and legends, myths and mysteries and each of my trips here have been an unforgettable one. Many of these tales have already been told somewhere within this blog so won’t repeat them but suffice it to say that a part of me permanently resides somewhere in the Arctic. If you can, you must go there at least once and who better than me as your guide.

Sahara Desert

The third largest desert in the world covers an area of around 9 million sq km and it is a subtropical desert running through the African nations of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, Mali, Niger, Morocco and Sudan. It almost equals the size of Europe and is often called the greatest desert on earth. I first encountered the Sahara during my African adventure when I was 18 that almost got me killed a number of times that I now prefer not to recall. On that epic voyage I walked through the Saharan regions of Tunisia, Mali and Morocco and later returned to the Dark Continent to take up the Saharan trail through Algeria, Chad, Egypt and Niger. In doing so I have been through a vast tract of this breathtakingly beautiful desert land. It is bounded by the Atlantic to the west, by Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean to the north, and by the Red Sea to the east. Several mountain ranges dot the Sahara like the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak of Sahara is Emi Koussi, (C 3400 m) and no I haven’t climbed it. Nearly three million people inhabit the Sahara, mostly around the oases or the river valleys and they are all berber tribes like the Tuareg and Moors. Among the main cities in Sahara, Timbuktu in Mali is perhaps the most famous due to the eponymous idiom in English language. And yes, I have literally been to Timbuktu. Nile is the most prominent Saharan River. The vegetation is mostly grass and savanna while the fauna includes the Dromedary Camel, goats, scorpions, lizards, sand vipers, wild dog, fox, ostrich, addax antelopes, Saharan cheetah and gazelle. Though abundant with life, among all the non-Polar deserts, Sahara is the least colorful. Even its flora and water bodies mostly reflect the brown surroundings. The nights are of course beautiful and the moon, as it glides over the cold sand can make you feel as if you are in a lunar land.

Arabian Desert

I have only skimmed the fourth largest desert in the world hence I won’t dwell over it in any details. Running through the countries of Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Yemen it covers an area of around 2.3 million sq km. This is also known as hyper-arid desert since it is extremely dry and sees less than 35 mm per annum of rainfall. Like any desert the days are burning hot while the nights are freezing. Amazingly during the winters the temperatures can drop below zero and ground frost is not uncommon. The desert land is dotted with deadly quicksand that often claims victims. In such extreme environment only desert-adapted species can survive like gazelles, oryx, sand cats and spiny-tailed lizards and it has little biodiversity. Due to human intervention and loss of habitation, species like striped hyena, jackal and honey badger have now become extinct from this desert.
As the name suggest, almost the entire community living in and around this desert are Arabic people with most of it falling within the boundaries of Saudi Arabia. In terms of features it is least diverse and interesting of all the deserts and perhaps for the same reason, it is also a place that I am not keen to visit again.

Gobi Desert

The fifth largest desert in the world has a special place in my heart and it is none other than the cold winter desert of Gobi. With an area of around 1.3 million sq km it will be impossible for me to cover Gobi in this life but I have traversed through a large tract of this incredible land. From Mongolia it runs into China and to the north it is girdled by the Altai Range of mountains and to the south by the Tibetan Plateau. Gobi primarily differs from other non polar deserts in its rocky features that by far exceed the sand. Being high up north and at an average elevation between 900 – 1500 m above msl, snow patches and frost are common on the dunes of this cold desert. Winter temperatures can fall as low as 40 deg C below zero, which is just the way I like it. The Silk route originates through Gobi and it was during my voyage to retrace the silk route that I walked and rode Bactrian Camels through Gobi for days together, befriending the Kazakh people and other nomads and gypsies along the way. Gobi has substantial diversity in flora and fauna with animals like gazelle, polecats, Bactrian camels, Mongolian wild asses and sand plovers. The sand dunes and spectacular rock formations and the salt pans and lakes populate Gobi and along its water bodies one can find some of the finest migratory birds flocking from other regions on their migration path. I have been to Gobi several times and each time it’s the colors that have fascinated me. Lunar landscape comes to mind readily while you watch the sun rise and set across the desert steppe. Don’t be surprised if a wild ass is silhouetted against the setting sun. With high and snow covered mountain ranges surrounding Gobi it’s totally my kind of desert. As one travels through this region one can’t help but recall the bloody battles of the Mongolian invaders as they rode their horses brandishing bloodied swords and cadavers of their victims. When the moon rises across the Gobi, it radiates in its silver glow making the dunes and the rocks come alive in a drama that refuses to die even after years. Do visit Gobi, if you can, you must. No worries, the genes of Genghis Khan doesn’t live there anymore and Mongolian people are among the most hospitable in the world.

Kalahari Desert

Covering large chunks of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, Kalahari literally means ‘a waterless place’. At under a million sq km it is the sixth largest desert in the world. I have been through all the three countries that Kalahari cover and have always loved its red soil. Kalahari is perhaps the wettest desert too since it used to be a wetland before and even now receives substantial amount of precipitation. It grows many fruits and vegetables like melons, cucumber, tomato etc and is house to big game animals like giraffe, lions, hyenas, warthogs, jackals, antelopes, and many species of birds and reptiles. Bushmen live in Kalahari in bush thatched roof huts who are primarily hunter-gatherer and still today hunt with bows and arrows and spears. Tourism has increased outside traffic into the desert and now Europeans and Americans too can be found living in Kalahari. Most bushmen are from Khoikhoi and San tribes while Bantu is the most widely spoken tongue.
Patagonian Desert

The very name would tell you that this is among my most loved and visited regions on Earth. I love everything about the Patagonia, the land, the people, the animals, the vegetation, the seas and the rivers. I must have been to the Patagonia at least a dozen times, doing some of my most reckless and therefore exciting climbs, losing friends and gaining new ones in the process. It is the seventh largest desert in the world and the largest in the American continent as a whole. Covering an area of around 670 K sq km it is a high and cold desert covered with enormous ice sheets, glaciers, and mountain massifs, endless steppes, twisting canyons, lakes and vistas beyond my capacity to capture in words. It runs mostly through Argentina in a north – south orientation with just the tail falling into Chile and it starts from the base of the Andes and is bound by the Atlantic to its west. It sees long winters of around 7 months and mild summers the rest of the year. It is a cold desert in the true sense since most of it is snow covered rather than sand. It is also one of the windiest places on earth and the landscape is sculpted by wind in unimaginable shapes. The dry and cold desert does not harbor much life, yet we can find guanaco, rhea, mara, pygmy armadillo, weasel, puma, gray fox, iguana, burrowing owl, etc and small shrub lands. I really love the twinkling blue lakes that dot the desert and that you can suddenly find across some high ridge or in a tiny little hidden nook. A must visit for all desert and nature lovers.

Karakum Desert

Now jumping five places in between, we land on the 13th largest desert in the world that is entirely within the borders of another favorite place of mine, Turkmenistan. As agreed before, I would only cover those deserts out of the largest 25 that I have personally been to, so we skip Great Victoria (Australia), Syrian (Syria), Great Basin (USA), Chihuahuan (Mexico, USA), and the Great Sandy (Australia). Karakum covers nearly 70% of Turkmenistan and through it runs the world’s longest irrigation canal – Kara Kum Canal. It’s a cold winter desert and is sparsely populated and rarely sees rain. The Caspian Sea lies to its west while the Aral Sea enfolds to the north. To its south lies the Hindu Kush range of mountains and it has the Balkan mountains within. No animals other than domesticated camels and goats or mules are found in Karakum. Some of its oases grow cotton. The people are hardy and rough as their surroundings but soft and friendly from within.

Taklamakan Desert

Standing at 17th position Taklamakan falls in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Surrounded by the majestic Kunlun Mountains to the South and Pamir to the west and Tian Shan Mountains to the North, Taklamakan has been known for long as a part of the ancient silk route. I too crossed this desert during my silk route adventure. Measuring around 270 K sq km, the silk route girdles from its south and north, skipping the central part that is far too arid to support any life or habitation. Presently a highway built by China runs through it. Indigenous animal life is almost non-existent and so are any kind of flora. Mostly inhabited by the Uyghur people Taklamakan is still one of the mysterious places on earth with many hidden ancient civilizations buried deep within the sand. Presently most people cross it across the highway in landcruisers.

Thar Desert

Next in line comes the Thar Desert that is divided between present day India and Pakistan. It’s a border area, highly sensitive and strategically important to both the nations. Being from the Armed Forces I had an easy access to this desert and places to stay. Besides the sand dunes Thar has considerable amount of hills of Aravalli and grass land that harbor an impressive biodiversity of animals and plants. Indian gazelle, blackbuck, wild ass and great Indian bustard are predominant as are many reptiles and snakes. Birds flock the water bodies and many communities of human habitation live and thrive in Thar. It’s a subtropical desert that is full of life and human existence and is a place worth visiting if you are in India. Thar inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Crops and grains are grown in patches while domestic animals are found in every village and towns in Thar. Eco tourism is on the rise and is a considerable revenue earner for the region. The desert festivals organized regularly in Rajasthan are fun to experience as suddenly the sand dunes spring to life with music, dance, puppetry, camel race, etc.

Atacama Desert

Skipping the next two places, we now zip across the world and land at this beautiful desert of Atacama, which among many things has the world’s highest volcano of Ojos Del Salado. It ranks 21 in the list and is a cool coastal type desert. Measuring around 105 K sq km and covering northern Chile, it is also the driest desert in the world with only 1 mm of annual rain. In my opinion Atacama is also the prettiest (if one could use this word for a desert) desert in the world. I have been there only once and am longing to return some day. Atacama has many features that are not found anywhere else in the world and have similarity to the soil and land of Mars. It has been used extensively for movies and NASA also carries out its Mars related experiments and trials in Atacama. It doesn’t have any flora or fauna, nothing can survive the arid atmosphere. Tourism is gaining popularity as we are discovering the beautiful lakes and colors of Atacama. It is truly an out of the world place. The emerald lakes and snow covered mountains that run through Atacama doesn’t look real or earthly at all. It has mineral deposits and sedimentations that often turn the sands and gravel plains into myriad hues of blue and green, violet and crimson. Plonk in the middle of the desert lies the village of San Pedro de Atacama at an elevation of 2000 m next to an oases. Nature is at her best in Atacama, and for sure it must be in your list of places to visit before you die.

With that we conclude our desert journey. And as you have seen these deserts are far from deserted places. My friend was absolutely right, I should not have biases within nature since I am essentially a nature worshipper and die hard lover. So here’s to you my friend. May you enjoy this post as much as any of my other readers.

  1. Quite an enchanting and in-depth post of the various spectacular deserts u have experienced! :-)

    These journeys and your words sometimes makes me cringe but i do enjoy them so keep writing and make me dream...

    thanks satya, did enjoy it as much as your other posts!

  2. I did not realize there were so many deserts, facinating article Satya! Thanks again!
    I have been in the Arabian (Is that off Jordan?) where I hiked to the the monastery the most beautiful nights and sky full of stars!! Joshua Tree in California Usa,I often go there to star glaze, saw a beautiful tortoise there!

  3. Satya, would have been great if you had added pictures of your desert expeditions.

    As usual, loved reading it.

  4. Amazing energy in you to write so well ...everytime i see your blog, I feel there is so much to see


Sipple Stories

Monday, October 22, 2007

Jocelyn's Doll

My Uncle Chick has been cleaning, downsizing, getting rid of things he doesn't use or need. I guess when you are 95 and have lived in the same house for over 60 years that is what you do. We all should do that from time to time. This last week when I stopped to visit Chick showed me a doll he had found. She was not a doll Jocelyn had as a child. Chick remembers her buying it when they were first married... "for whatever reason" he cannot fathom.

Chick didn't know what to do with it... didn't think anyone would want it, was thinking of throwing it away. MEN!!! Things that I call treasures... they call junk. I cringe to think what things Chick might be throwing away... things that someone might love to have or things that might be worth lots of money. Do you ever watch "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS?? If you do, then you know what I mean.

I took several pictures of Jocelyn's doll and have been trying to identify it on-line to see what it's worth. At the least it has sentimental value... to think of having something, anything at all, that belonged to your Grandmother or Great-Grandmother... what a treasure that would be.

So far... I think the doll may be a Heinrich Handwerck / Simon & Halbig antique doll... but it may be a JD Kestner. All three companies made dolls in Germany in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I, personally, don't think the Kestner dolls have quite as pretty or sweet of a face as those made by the other two or as Jocelyn's doll. Their eyebrows are scary, almost a unibrow and their mouths not as nice either. One lady has written to say she thinks it is a Kestner and not the other makers... I'm leaning towards agreeing with her but still haven't found a value.

Chick has named her Nellie... This is what I know about her so far.

Nellie has an open mouth with 4 rounded teeth showing... they are not square.
I believe her eyes are fixed... they did not move to the sleeping position when she was laid down... They could have just been stuck but I don't think so.
Her head is a socket head (meaning it is separate from the shoulders, not all molded into one piece... and so it turns & tilts)
She has blond hair... which I believe is mohair.
Her ears are not pierced.

On the back of Nellie's neck, under her hair was the mold number... #160
Above that number is "Dep" and the number "7 1/2" (seven and a half)
I didn't lift her hair further up, un-sticking it from her head as it is glued very firmly on and I didn't want to tear it or ruin her.

I read in one article that mold #160 was a rare mold number... but the article didn't say what the manufactures name was... although it seems Kerstner is the only one with similar numbers... the others have numbers in the thousands, not hundreds.

I looked on her back for a manufactures name... and there is nothing...
On her butt stamped in red is "Germany" and "7 1/2"

Nellie is 17" or 18" tall... I actually measure her as 17 1/2"...
She is a fully jointed doll... head, arms, legs, wrists, elbows, knees...

She has all of her original clothes: a turquoise organdy dress with flock polka dots over a turquoise taffeta lining with a matching turquoise taffeta full body undergarment and turquoise taffeta hat with gold ribbons that match the ties on her off-white shoes. The buttons on her clothes are missing; the clothes are held together with small gold safety pins.

As you can see in the pictures, Nellie needs her face washed and her clothes are a little wrinkled from years of living in a box... her back & legs are also dirty and have scratches... she has been played with.

Hopefully someone can help me identify our Nellie. Then my next job will be to find her a home. She is the sweetest little doll and after living in a box in the basement for 70 or 80 years, she deserves to be lovingly placed on display in someones hutch or in a shadow box in some little girls bedroom.

Hopefully someone will want to give Nellie a home.

Chick's grandson Adam has adopted Nellie. She went to live with Adam's daughter Ireland around Christmas. I'm sure Ireland will cherish Nellie when she gets older.
Thanks Adam!!!


indiana jones

steve madden shoes/ gap dress/ coach belt/ christy's panama hat/ afghani necklace/ nordstrom's sunglasses

another day, another adventure.  ruby and I explored the neighborhood, and I demonstrated my ineptitude for climbing stone walls in high heels.  do you remember that time I wound up in the emergency room after a dumb adventure?  or when I fell from a tree and lost consciousness, and consequently lost my memory for ten minutes?  I should, um, learn from my mistakes.  anyway, this is a hat my friend pierre gave me (ahem) last summer.  hi pierre!


Fig and Balsamic Ice Cream

I've had some unsuccessful attempts at making ice cream. I blame myself for the majority of these failures (if one can refer to them as such... can something that has cream and sugar in it be bad?).  My mistake has always been that I've made ice cream in the middle of summer. Now, that might make perfect sense to you folks, but when you keep your apartment at 76 degrees on a balmy day, well, things aren't likely to freeze very easily. I think my ice cream maker was having issues too. So, between those two things, the stuff wasn't turning out the way I'd hoped.

Anyway, I decided recently that I'm not giving up. Nope. In fact, I want to start making ice cream on a regular basis. Maybe not every week, but once or twice a month (I think it might be time to get back into that gym routine).  I may not post every success on here, but given how good this turned out, I thought it'd be wrong to keep it to myself. Despite my obsession with Jeni's Ice Cream and her beautiful book (which, shockingly, has sat on my book shelf, virtually untouched for two years.  Well, let me tell you, that book has now found a permanent place in our kitchen.

Fig and Balsamic Ice Cream

(ice cream base from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer)

For the Fig-Balsamic Sauce 1 cup figs, stems removed and fruit quartered 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

For the Ice Cream 2 cups whole milk 4 teaspoons cornstarch 3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 1/4 cup heavy cream 2/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1. To prepare the fig and balsamic sauce, add all the ingredients to a medium saucepan and set over medium heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Once the figs begin to soften, use a wooden spoon to break up the pieces.  When the sauce begins to thicken, remove from heat and let cool while you make the ice cream base.

2. To make the ice cream, start by stirring together the milk and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Set this slurry aside.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and salt.

3. Prepare a large bowl of ice and water.

4. Combine the rest of the milk, as well as the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the corn starch slurry.  Bring back to a boil over and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.  Remove from the heat.

5. At this point, slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Carefully pour into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath.  Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.

6.Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Once the base is finished, add the ice cream to a storage container, alternating between the base and the fig and balsamic sauce.  Press a sheet of parchment directly on the surface of the ice cream and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.


A rare 3rd generation cracker, Melissa Grace Latty knows the prime real estate in Florida. Her family background is in medical and land investments with both parents graduating from Duke University. She went to college at Loyola in New Orleans and loves music, art, yoga, and dance. Growing up she traveled around the country riding hunters and jumpers on the equestrian circuit. She grew up in Winter Park and has owned GRACE REALTY, INC for 15 years. After having her son she decided to open her second real estate brokerage and spend the majority of her time in New Smyrna Beach. "Life is too short to not live at the beach!" She loves taking care of clients and education them on the various issues that are ever changing in real estate.

Melissa Grace Latty


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P4.04 - Piezoelectric Potential Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction
April 8, 2015   8:45am - 9:00am

Lowering the overpotential required for driving oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for practically generating hydrogen from water splitting process. Besides developing effective and non-noble electrocatalysts, integrating the catalyst with silicon and III-IV semiconductors based photoanodes is a popular strategy to achieve this goal. However, they are always suffering from the poor stability and induce light limited anodic current, which is substantially smaller than the diffusion limited anodic current. Piezotronics have been frequently adopted to engineer the interfacial electronic band structure of heterojunctions to enhance charge generation, separation and transportation. Here, we propose to use the piezoelectric potential generated by sputtering ZnO film to decrease the external overpotential required for the OER with e-beam evaporated nickel film as the electrocatalyst. The piezo-induced positive charge on the adjacent surface of nickel film can presumably lower the electron energy level of Ni/NiOx film and thus facilitate the oxidizing reaction. It has been found that piezoelectric potential could also enhance charge delivering between ZnO film and ITO. Significantly larger current density and long term stability are expected by replacing ZnO with other ceramic piezomaterials like PMNPT or PZT. This approach could render a new pathway for efficient and practical water splitting.

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Kinetics and Structure of Nickelide Contact Formation to InGaAs Fin Channels


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360 image of an acoustic anechoic chamber
360 image of an electromagnetic anechoic chamber

An anechoic chamber (an-echoic meaning "non-reflective, non-echoing, echo-free") is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolated from waves entering from their surroundings. This combination means that a person or detector exclusively hears direct sounds (no reverberant sounds), in effect simulating being inside an infinitely large room.

Anechoic chambers, a term coined by American acoustics expert Leo Beranek, were initially exclusively used to refer to acoustic anechoic chambers. Recently, the term has been extended to RF anechoic chambers, which eliminate reflection and external noise caused by electromagnetic waves.

Anechoic chambers range from small compartments the size of household microwave ovens to ones as large as aircraft hangars. The size of the chamber depends on the size of the objects and frequency ranges being tested.

Acoustic anechoic chambersEdit

Minimization of the reflection of sound waves by an anechoic chamber's walls.
Testing headphones in an anechoic chamber

Anechoic chambers are commonly used in acoustics to conduct experiments in nominally "free field" conditions, free-field meaning that there are no reflected signals. All sound energy will be traveling away from the source with almost none reflected back. Common anechoic chamber experiments include measuring the transfer function of a loudspeaker or the directivity of noise radiation from industrial machinery. In general, the interior of an anechoic chamber is very quiet, with typical noise levels in the 10–20 dBA range. In 2005, the best anechoic chamber measured at −9.4 dBA.[1] In 2015, an anechoic chamber on the campus of Microsoft broke the world record with a measurement of −20.6 dBA.[2] The human ear can typically detect sounds above 0 dBA, so a human in such a chamber would perceive the surroundings as devoid of sound. Anecdotally, some humans may not like such quietness and can become disoriented.[1]

The mechanism by which anechoic chambers minimize the reflection of sound waves impinging onto their walls is as follows: In the included figure, an incident sound wave I is about to impinge onto a wall of an anechoic chamber. This wall is composed of a series of wedges W with height H. After the impingement, the incident wave I is reflected as a series of waves R which in turn "bounce up-and-down" in the gap of air A (bounded by dotted lines) between the wedges W. Such bouncing may produce (at least temporarily) a standing wave pattern in A. During this process, the acoustic energy of the waves R gets dissipated via the air's molecular viscosity, in particular near the corner C.[3] In addition, with the use of foam materials to fabricate the wedges, another dissipation mechanism happens during the wave/wall interactions. As a result, the component of the reflected waves R along the direction of I that escapes the gaps A (and goes back to the source of sound), denoted R', is notably reduced. Even though this explanation is two-dimensional, it is representative and applicable to the actual three-dimensional wedge structures used in anechoic chambers.[4]

Semi-anechoic chambersEdit

Radio-frequency anechoic chambersEdit

An RF anechoic chamber.
A large drive-in EMC RF anechoic test chamber. Note the orange caution cones for size reference
A F-16 Fighting Falcon in the anechoic test chamber at Eglin Air Force Base.

The internal appearance of the radio frequency (RF) anechoic chamber is sometimes similar to that of an acoustic anechoic chamber, however, the interior surfaces of the RF anechoic chamber are covered with radiation absorbent material (RAM) instead of acoustically absorbent material. Uses for RF anechoic chambers include testing antennae, radars, and is typically used to house the equipment for performing measurements of antenna radiation patterns, electromagnetic interference.

Performance expectations (gain, efficiency, pattern characteristics, etc.) constitute primary challenges in designing stand alone or embedded antennae. Designs are becoming ever more complex with a single device incorporating multiple technologies such as cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, LTE, MIMO, RFID and GPS.

Radiation-absorbent materialEdit

RAM is designed and shaped to absorb incident RF radiation (also known as non-ionising radiation) as effectively as possible, from as many incident directions as possible. The more effective the RAM, the lower the resulting level of reflected RF radiation. Many measurements in electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and antenna radiation patterns require that spurious signals arising from the test setup, including reflections, are negligible to avoid the risk of causing measurement errors and ambiguities.

Effectiveness over frequencyEdit

Close-up of a pyramidal RAM

Waves of higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths and are higher in energy, while waves of lower frequencies have longer wavelengths and are lower in energy, according to the relationship   where lambda represents wavelength, v is phase velocity of wave, and   is frequency. To shield for a specific wavelength, the cone must be of appropriate size to absorb that wavelength. The performance quality of an RF anechoic chamber is determined by its lowest test frequency of operation, at which measured reflections from the internal surfaces will be the most significant compared to higher frequencies. Pyramidal RAM is at its most absorptive when the incident wave is at normal incidence to the internal chamber surface and the pyramid height is approximately equal to  , where   is the free space wavelength. Accordingly, increasing the pyramid height of the RAM for the same (square) base size improves the effectiveness of the chamber at low frequencies but results in increased cost and a reduced unobstructed working volume that is available inside a chamber of defined size.

Installation into a screened roomEdit

Chamber size and commissioningEdit

At lower radiated frequencies, far-field measurement can require a large and expensive chamber. Sometimes, for example for radar cross-section measurements, it is possible to scale down the object under test and reduce the chamber size, provided that the wavelength of the test frequency is scaled down in direct proportion by testing at a higher frequency.[citation needed]

Operational useEdit

A careful assessment may be required as to whether the test equipment (as opposed to the equipment under test) should be placed inside or outside the chamber. Typically most of it is located in a separate screened room attached to the main test chamber, in order to shield it from both external interference and from the radiation within the chamber. Mains power and test signal cabling into the test chamber require high quality filtering.

Fiber optic cables are sometimes used for the signal cabling, as they are immune to ordinary RFI and also cause little reflection inside the chamber.

Health and safety risks associated with RF anechoic chamberEdit

  • RF radiation hazard
  • Fire hazard
  • Trapped personnel

See alsoEdit

  1. ^ a b Morton, Ella (5 May 2014). "How Long Could You Endure the World's Quietest Place?". Slate. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  2. ^ Novet, Jordan (1 October 2015). "Look Inside Microsoft's Anechoic Chamber, Officially the Quietest Place on Earth". VentureBeat. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ^ Beranek, Leo (10 August 2009). Written at Boston. "Oral History Interview with Leo Beranek" (Interview). Interviewed by Richard Lyon. College Park, MD: Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  4. ^ Randall, R. H. (2005). An Introduction to Acoustics. Dover Publications.

External linksEdit