OLAP -- A Data Revolution

In computing, online analytical processing, or OLAP, is an approach to answering multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) queries swiftly. OLAP is part of the broader category of business intelligence, which also encompasses relational database, report writing and data mining. Typical applications of OLAP include business reporting for sales, marketing, management reporting, business process management (BPM), budeting and forecasting, financial reporting and similar areas, with new applications coming up, such as agriculture. The term OLAP was created as a slight modification of the traditional database term OLTP (Online Transaction Processing).

OLAP tools enable users to analyze multidimensional data interactively from multiple perspectives. OLAP consists of three basic analytical operations: consolidation (roll-up), drill-down, and slicing and dicing.

Consolidation involves the aggregation of data that can be accumulated and computed in one or more dimensions. For example, all sales offices are rolled up to the sales department or sales division to anticipate sales trends. By contrast, the drill-down is a technique that allows users to navigate through the details. For instance, users can view the sales by individual products that make up a region’s sales. Slicing and dicing is a feature whereby users can take out (slicing) a specific set of data of the OLAP cube [see below] and view (dicing) the slices from different viewpoints.

Databases configured for OLAP use a multidimensional data model, allowing for complex analytical and ad hoc queries with a rapid execution time.

They borrow aspects of navigational databases, hierarchical databases and relational databases.

                                                    an example of an OLAP data cube

Overview of OLAP Systems

The core of any OLAP system is an OLAP cube (also called a 'multidimensional cube' or a hypercube). It consists of numeric facts called measures which are categorized by dimensions. The measures are placed at the intersections of the hypercube, which is spanned by the dimensions as a Vector space. The usual interface to manipulate an OLAP cube is a matrix interface like Pivot tables in a spreadsheet program [itself a "flat file"], which performs projection operations along the dimensions, such as aggregation or averaging.

The cube metadata is typically created from a star schema or snowflake schema or fact constellation of tables in a relational database. Measures are derived from the records in the fact table and dimensions are derived from the dimension tables.

Each measure can be thought of as having a set of labels, or meta-data associated with it. A dimension is what describes these labels; it provides information about the measure.

A simple example would be a cube that contains a store's sales as a measure, and Date/Time as a dimension. Each Sale has a Date/Time label that describes more about that sale.

Any number of dimensions can be added to the structure such as Store, Cashier, or Customer by adding a foreign key column to the fact table. This allows an analyst to view the measures along any combination of the dimensions.

Multidimensional Databases

Multidimensional structure is defined as "a variation of the relational model that uses multidimensional structures to organize data and express the relationships between data". The structure is broken into cubes and the cubes are able to store and access data within the confines of each cube. "Each cell within a multidimensional structure contains aggregated data related to elements along each of its dimensions". Even when data is manipulated it remains easy to access and continues to constitute a compact database format.

The data still remains interrelated. Multidimensional structure is quite popular for analytical databases that use online analytical processing (OLAP) applications (O’Brien & Marakas, 2009). Analytical databases use these databases because of their ability to deliver answers to complex business queries swiftly. Data can be viewed from different angles, which gives a broader perspective of a problem unlike other models.

Aggregations
It has been claimed that for complex queries OLAP cubes can produce an answer in around 0.1% of the time required for the same query on OLTP relational data. The most important mechanism in OLAP which allows it to achieve such performance is the use of aggregations. Aggregations are built from the fact table by changing the granularity on specific dimensions and aggregating up data along these dimensions. The number of possible aggregations is determined by every possible combination of dimension granularities.

The combination of all possible aggregations and the base data contains the answers to every query which can be answered from the data.

Because usually there are many aggregations that can be calculated, often only a predetermined number are fully calculated; the remainder are solved on demand. The problem of deciding which aggregations (views) to calculate is known as the view selection problem. View selection can be constrained by the total size of the selected set of aggregations, the time to update them from changes in the base data, or both.

The objective of view selection is typically to minimize the average time to answer OLAP queries, although some studies also minimize the update time. View selection is NP-Complete. Many approaches to the problem have been explored, including greedy algorithms, randomized search, genetic algorithms and A* search algorithm.

Types

Multidimensional

Rational

Hybrid

Comparison

Other Types
     WOLAP (Web-based OLAP)
     DOLAP (Desktop OLAP)
     RTOLAP (Real time OLAP)

History
The first product that performed OLAP queries was Express, which was released in 1970 (and acquired by Oracle in 1995 from Information Resources). However, the term did not appear until 1993 when it was coined by Edgar F. Codd, who has been described as "the father of the relational database". Codd's paper resulted from a short consulting assignment which Codd undertook for former Arbor Software (later Hyperion Solutions, and in 2007 acquired by Oracle), as a sort of marketing coup. The company had released its own OLAP product, Essbase, a year earlier. As a result Codd's "twelve laws of online analytical processing" were explicit in their reference to Essbase. There was some ensuing controversy and when Computerworld learned that Codd was paid by Arbor, it retracted the article. OLAP market experienced strong growth in late 90s with dozens of commercial products going into market. In 1998, Microsoft released its first OLAP Server – Microsoft Analysis Services, which drove wide adoption of OLAP technology and moved it into mainstream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAP

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OLAP Cube

An OLAP cube is an array of data understood in terms of its 0 or more dimensions. OLAP is an acronym for online analytical processing. OLAP is a computer-based technique for analyzing business data in the search for business intelligence.

Terminology
A cube can be considered a generalization of a three-dimensional spreadsheet. For example, a company might wish to summarize financial data by product, by time-period, and by city to compare actual and budget expenses. Product, time, city and scenario (actual and budget) are the data's dimensions.

Cube is a shortcut for multidimensional dataset, given that data can have an arbitrary number of dimensions. The term hypercube is sometimes used, especially for data with more than three dimensions. Each cell of the cube holds a number that represents some measure of the business, such as sales, profits, expenses, budget and forecast.

OLAP data is typically stored in a star scheme or snowflake scheme in a relational data warehouse or in a special-purpose data management system. Measures are derived from the records in the fact table and dimensions are derived from the dimension tables.

Hierarchy
The elements of a dimension can be organized as a hierarchy, a set of parent-child relationships, typically where a parent member summarizes its children. Parent elements can further be aggregated as the children
of another parent.

For example May 2005's parent is Second Quarter 2005 which is in turn the child of Year 2005. Similarly cities are the children of regions; products roll into product groups and individual expense items into types of expenditure.

Operations

Conceiving data as a cube with hierarchical dimensions leads to conceptually straightforward operations to facilitate analysis. Aligning the data content with a familiar visualization enhances analyst learning and productivity. The user-initiated process of navigating by calling for page displays interactively, through the specification of slices via rotations and drill down/up is sometimes called "slice and dice". Common operations include slice and dice, drill down, roll up, and pivot.

[The data can be "sliced" or "diced" or "drilled up" or "drilled down." as well as "rolled up" or "pivoted"]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAP_cube

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Comments by the Blog Author

OLAP is a revolution in relevant data. It allows for jackhammer-like multiple queries with nearly instantaneous results right in the middle of a normal business meeting. If some results at any level of an organization are troublesome, further reports can be generated very quickly as part of the same meeting. The reports can generate questions and further reports can be generated from the "cube" of data.

There is no more request that the budgeting area provide a report for a subcommittee meeting and then a reconvening of the question.

OLAP can nearly completely automate cost accounting as well as severely decrease the size of the budget accounting section because it automates the standard reports and produces those reports immediately.

For "financial reporting" accountants (those who prepare financial statements and interim financial reports) as well as outside auditors, OLAP is a godsend that allows the financial data to accurately, rapidly and thoroughly assist management with making timely and rational decisions.

STEM = Essential Job Disciplines

We Need STEM:

The demand for skilled workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is closely linked to global competitiveness. How can counselors (and those advising students) inspire students to solve problems while promoting STEM careers?

There is a lack of gender and ethnic diversity of students entering STEM educational programs and career fields present additional challenges. Using creativity and innovation to address these challenges is critical to meeting this demand of skilled workers.

Not enough young people are being educating or inspired about interest in STEM. "The education in American junior high schools, in particular, seems to be a black hole that is sapping the interest of young people, particularly young women, when it comes to the sciences".

Importance of STEM:

"In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. To succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society, students need to develop their capabilities in STEM to levels much beyond what was considered acceptable in the past." (National Science Foundation)

Technology is pervasive in almost every aspect of daily life, and as the workplace changes, STEM knowledge and skills grow in importance for a variety of workers (not just for mathematicians and scientists).

Stereotypes about women’s abilities and their role in the family often keep women from pursuing math and science careers.

What You Can Do:

Whether you’re a student, counselor, educator, or parent, you can get involved. You’re taking the first step by visiting this site. If you’re a student, push your school to teach STEM classes. Counselors, it’s your job to promote students to peruse a STEM. Educators, you should be teaching students the relevance of STEM
in everyday life, and to you parents, push your children to do well in STEM.

Information and facts were adopted from Preparing Students for STEM Careers by Angela Traurig and Rich Feller
  http://stemcareer.com/why-stem/

Here is a long list of occupations and disciplines that qualify as "STEM." Note that, for example, having a business degree or MBA does not qualify as STEM, but being a post-secondary business teacher does because it inherently involves computer skills. Similarly, accountants and auditors are considered STEM since they cannot perform their work in a modern environment without database and computer skills and, for that matter, there is a sharp trend toward moving these disciplines out of a "school of business" and into a separate specialized "school of accounting" with five-year majors rather like the schools of pharmacy). In the future, there will be very few MBA/CPA* professionals holding both designations, they will be CPAs with a masters in accounting or taxation. Even tax research is best performed through database searching after specialized training and practice. On the other hand, librarians, for example, are not STEM.

     *the blog author is a MBA/CPA with years of outside auditing experience and a talent for computerized federal tax research. He also holds an OLAP [online analytical processing] developer’s certificate.

Occupation

STEM Disciplines AccountantsComputer Science ActuariesMathematics Aerospace Engineering and Operations TechniciansEngineering Aerospace EngineersEngineering Agricultural EngineersEngineering, Life Sciences Agricultural Sciences Teachers, PostsecondaryLife Sciences Agricultural TechniciansLife Sciences Aircraft Mechanics and Service TechniciansEngineering Animal BreedersLife Sciences Animal ScientistsLife Sciences Architects, Except Landscape and NavalEngineering Architectural and Engineering ManagersChemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Physics/Astronomy Architectural DraftersEngineering Architecture Teachers, PostsecondaryEngineering AstronomersPhysics/Astronomy Atmospheric and Space ScientistsPhysics/Astronomy Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, PostsecondaryGeosciences, Mathematics, Physics/Astronomy AuditorsComputer Science Automotive Engineering TechniciansEngineering Automotive Master MechanicsEngineering Automotive Specialty TechniciansEngineering Avionics TechniciansEngineering Biochemical EngineersChemistry Biochemists and BiophysicistsChemistry, Life Sciences, Physics/Astronomy Biofuels Production ManagersLife Sciences Biofuels/Biodiesel Technology and Product Development ManagersEnvironmental Science, Life Sciences Bioinformatics TechniciansLife Sciences Biological Science Teachers, PostsecondaryLife Sciences Biological TechniciansLife Sciences BiologistsLife Sciences Biomass Power Plant ManagersLife Sciences Biomedical EngineersEngineering BiostatisticiansLife Sciences Brownfield Redevelopment Specialists and Site ManagersEnvironmental Science Business Intelligence AnalystsComputer Science Business Teachers, PostsecondaryComputer Science, Mathematics Chemical EngineersChemistry, Engineering Chemical Equipment Operators and TendersChemistry Chemical Plant and System OperatorsChemistry Chemical TechniciansChemistry, Life Sciences Chemistry Teachers, PostsecondaryChemistry, Geosciences ChemistsChemistry, Physics/Astronomy Civil DraftersEngineering Civil Engineering TechniciansEngineering Civil EngineersEngineering Climate Change AnalystsEnvironmental Science Clinical PsychologistsLife Sciences Computer and Information Research ScientistsComputer Science Computer and Information Systems ManagersComputer Science Computer Hardware EngineersComputer Science, Engineering Computer Network ArchitectsComputer Science Computer Network Support SpecialistsComputer Science Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and PlasticComputer Science Computer ProgrammersComputer Science Computer Science Teachers, PostsecondaryComputer Science Computer Systems AnalystsComputer Science Computer User Support SpecialistsComputer Science Construction ManagersEngineering Cooks, Institution and CafeteriaLife Sciences Cost EstimatorsEngineering Counseling PsychologistsLife Sciences Database AdministratorsComputer Science Dietetic TechniciansLife Sciences Dietitians and NutritionistsLife Sciences Electrical Engineering TechniciansComputer Science, Engineering Electrical Engineering TechnologistsEngineering Electrical EngineersEngineering Electromechanical Engineering TechnologistsEngineering Electromechanical Equipment AssemblersEngineering Electronics Engineering TechniciansComputer Science, Engineering Electronics Engineering TechnologistsEngineering Electronics Engineers, Except ComputerEngineering Engineering Teachers, PostsecondaryChemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Physics/Astronomy Environmental Compliance InspectorsLife Sciences Environmental Engineering TechniciansEngineering, Environmental Science Environmental EngineersEngineering, Environmental Science Environmental Restoration PlannersLife Sciences Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including HealthEnvironmental Science Environmental Science Teachers, PostsecondaryEnvironmental Science Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including HealthEnvironmental Science EpidemiologistsLife Sciences FallersLife Sciences Farm and Home Management AdvisorsLife Sciences Farm and Ranch ManagersLife Sciences Financial Quantitative AnalystsComputer Science Fire-Prevention and Protection EngineersEngineering First-Line Supervisors of Agricultural Crop and Horticultural WorkersLife Sciences First-Line Supervisors of Animal Husbandry and Animal Care WorkersLife Sciences First-Line Supervisors of Aquacultural WorkersLife Sciences First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving WorkersLife Sciences Fish and Game WardensLife Sciences Fishers and Related Fishing WorkersLife Sciences Food BatchmakersLife Sciences Food Science TechniciansLife Sciences Food Scientists and TechnologistsLife Sciences Forest and Conservation TechniciansLife Sciences Forest and Conservation WorkersEngineering, Life Sciences ForestersEngineering, Life Sciences GeneticistsLife Sciences Geodetic SurveyorsEngineering Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and GeographersGeosciences Graphic DesignersComputer Science Health Specialties Teachers, PostsecondaryLife Sciences, Physics/Astronomy Home Economics Teachers, PostsecondaryLife Sciences Human Factors Engineers and ErgonomistsEngineering HydrologistsGeosciences Industrial Engineering TechniciansEngineering Industrial EngineersEngineering Industrial Safety and Health EngineersEngineering Industrial-Organizational PsychologistsLife Sciences Information Security AnalystsComputer Science Log Graders and ScalersLife Sciences Logging Equipment OperatorsLife Sciences Manufacturing EngineersEngineering Marine ArchitectsEngineering Marine EngineersEngineering Materials EngineersEngineering Materials ScientistsEngineering Mathematical Science Teachers, PostsecondaryMathematics Mathematical TechniciansMathematics MathematiciansMathematics Mechanical Engineering TechniciansEngineering Mechanical Engineering TechnologistsEngineering Mechanical EngineersEngineering Mechatronics EngineersComputer Science, Engineering Medical Scientists, Except EpidemiologistsLife Sciences MicrobiologistsLife Sciences Microsystems EngineersEngineering Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety EngineersEngineering Molecular and Cellular BiologistsLife Sciences Nanosystems EngineersPhysics/Astronomy Natural Sciences ManagersChemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physics/Astronomy Neuropsychologists and Clinical NeuropsychologistsLife Sciences Nuclear EngineersEngineering Nuclear Equipment Operation TechniciansEngineering, Physics/Astronomy Nuclear Medicine TechnologistsPhysics/Astronomy Nuclear Monitoring TechniciansEngineering, Physics/Astronomy Nursery and Greenhouse ManagersLife Sciences Operations Research AnalystsComputer Science, Mathematics Park NaturalistsLife Sciences Petroleum EngineersEngineering Photonics EngineersPhysics/Astronomy PhysicistsMathematics, Physics/Astronomy Physics Teachers, PostsecondaryMathematics, Physics/Astronomy Precision Agriculture TechniciansLife Sciences Product Safety EngineersEngineering Psychologists, All OtherLife Sciences Psychology Teachers, PostsecondaryLife Sciences Range ManagersLife Sciences Risk Management SpecialistsMathematics School PsychologistsLife Sciences Security Management SpecialistsComputer Science Software Developers, ApplicationsComputer Science, Engineering Software Developers, Systems SoftwareComputer Science, Engineering Soil and Plant ScientistsChemistry, Life Sciences, Physics/Astronomy Soil and Water ConservationistsLife Sciences StatisticiansLife Sciences, Mathematics Telecommunications Engineering SpecialistsComputer Science Transportation EngineersEngineering Transportation PlannersEngineering Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspectors, Except AviationEngineering Validation EngineersEngineering Video Game DesignersComputer Science Water Resource SpecialistsEngineering Water/Wastewater EngineersEngineering Wind Turbine Service TechniciansEngineering Zoologists and Wildlife BiologistsLife Sciences

Indoor Particle Pollution

Will be Studied at University of TorontoBy Jenny Hall, University of Toronto (U of T), January 8, 2014

Forty-four U of T projects have been awarded a total of $12.1 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for infrastructure that will advance research in everything from water treatment to cancer.

One of them is led by Jeffrey Siegel of civil engineering. "Exploring the Secret Life of Indoor Air Particles" investigates a little-known threat to human health.

Siegel says there are between 100 and 10,000 microscopic particles in every cubic centimetre of air.

"We can’t see them, but they’re all around us. We’re breathing them all the time. Even if we’re very conservative in our estimates, the average Canadian eats about seven kilograms of dust over a lifetime. And that’s just ingestion. We inhale a lot more."

Indoor particles can be outdoor pollutants that migrated inside, or they can originate from indoor activities such as cooking and vacuuming. Some particles are benign, but others cause serious long-term health problems ranging from heart disease to lung cancer. Though we know they’re a threat — Siegel says they’re widely acknowledged as the number one environmental health risk — they don’t get as much press as their outdoor cousins.

"Research on outdoor particles has been going on for decades and decades," says Siegel. "But the average Canadian spends 90 per cent of his or her time indoors. Compared to what we know about outdoor particles, we know nothing about indoor ones."

Siegel has been working to understand the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of indoor particles — they’re all made up of chemicals that can be analyzed and microbes that can be identified using DNA sequencing. His CFI funding will purchase equipment that will allow him to study the physical characteristics of particles, too. This is important because the size of a particle is directly related to
how dangerous it is to human health.

"A particle that is a tenth of a micron long [a micron is one-millionth of a metre] will go very deep into your lung and has the potential to do a lot of damage," he says. "A particle that is much larger, perhaps a few microns long, will settle in your upper respiratory tract. It might have health effects, but they’re going to be less severe."

Siegel plans to conduct what he calls "filter forensics," examining used filters from residential forced air heating and cooling systems. The CFI-funded equipment will allow him to extract filter dust, which can be invisible to the naked eye, and study it. The data collected can be combined with more easily generated chemical and biological data to make more realistic predictions about people’s long-term exposure to indoor particles.

The funding for Siegel’s project, and those of the other researchers, comes from CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund, previously called the Leaders Opportunity Fund. The agency recently renamed the fund in honour of former U of T president Evans, who was also CFI’s first board chair.

"Congratulations to all the winners," said Professor Paul Young, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation. "CFI funding has been essential to our ability to attract the world’s best researchers, and has, in turn, allowed those researchers to make progress on some of the most pressing problems of our time."

http://news.utoronto.ca/researchers-explore-secret-life-indoor-air-particles-cancer-water-treatment

The Golden Vanity

There was a ship that sailed it all on the Lowland Sea,
And the name of our ship was the Golden Vanity
And we feared she would be taken by the Spanish enemy
Chorus: As she sailed in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
As she sailed in the Lowland Sea.

Then up stepped our cabin boy and boldly outspoke he
And he said to our captain, "What would you give to me
If I would swim along side of the Spanish enemy
And sink her in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
And sink her in the Lowland Sea?"

"Oh, I would give you silver and I would give you gold,
And my own fairest daughter your bonny bride shall be,
If you will swim along side of the Spanish enemy
And sink her in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
And sink her in the Lowland Sea."

Then the boy he made him ready and overboard sprang he
And he swam alongside of the Spanish enemy
And with his brace and auger in her sides he bored holes three,
He sunk her in the Lowland, Lowland low,
Yes, he sunk her in the Lowland Sea.

Then quickly he swam back to the cheering of the crew
But the captain would not heed him for his promise he did rue,
And he scorned his poor entreatings when loudly he did sue,
And he left him in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
He left him in the Lowland Sea.

Then quickly he swam round to the port side
And up and to his messmates full bitterly he cried,
"Oh, messmates, draw me up for I'm drifting with the tide,
And I'm sinking in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
I'm sinking in the Lowland Sea."

Then his messmates drew him up, but on the deck he died,
And they stitched him in his hammock which was so fair and wide,
And they lowered him overboard and he drifted with the tide,
And he sank in the Lowland, Lowland, low,
He sank in the Lowland Sea.

     -- anonymous [probably from Renaissance England]

Huge Ocean Waves Now Measurable

The ocean’s hidden waves show their power
Large-scale tests in the lab and the South China Sea reveal the
origins of underwater waves that can tower hundreds of feet.

David L. Chandler, MIT News Office, January 8, 2014

Their effect on the surface of the ocean is negligible, producing a rise of just inches that is virtually imperceptible on a turbulent sea. But internal waves, which are hidden entirely within the ocean, can tower hundreds of feet, with profound effects on the Earth’s climate and on ocean ecosystems.

Now new research, both in the ocean and in the largest-ever laboratory experiments to investigate internal waves, has solved a longstanding mystery about exactly how the largest known internal waves, in the South China Sea, are produced. The new findings come from a team effort involving MIT and several other institutions, and coordinated by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Seen in cross-section, these waves resemble surface waves in shape. The only difference between an underwater wave and the water around it is its density, due to temperature or salinity differences that cause ocean water to become stratified.

Though invisible to the eye, the boundary between colder, saltier water below and warmer, less-salty water above can be detected instrumentally. That boundary layer can resemble the ocean’s surface, producing waves that reach towering heights, travel vast distances, and can play a key role in the mixing of ocean waters, helping drive warm surface waters downward and drawing heat from the atmosphere.

Because these internal waves are hard to detect, it is often a challenge to study them directly in the ocean. But now Thomas Peacock, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, has teamed with researchers from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, and the University of Grenoble Alpes, all in France, as well as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to carry out the largest laboratory experiment ever to study such waves. Their results have been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The team performed laboratory experiments to study the production of internal waves in the Luzon Strait, between Taiwan and the Philippines. "These are the most powerful internal waves discovered thus far in the ocean," Peacock says. "These are skyscraper-scale waves."

These solitary waves have been observed to reach heights of 170 meters (more than 550 feet) and can travel at a leisurely pace of a few centimeters per second. "They are the lumbering giants of the ocean," Peacock says.

The team’s large-scale laboratory experiments on the generation of such waves used a detailed topographic model of the Luzon Strait’s seafloor, mounted in a 50-foot-diameter rotating tank in Grenoble, France, the largest such facility in the world. The experiments showed that these waves are generated by the entire ridge system on that area of seafloor, and not a localized hotspot within the ridge.

The last major field program of research on internal-wave generation took place off the coast of Hawaii in 1999. In the years since, scientists have come to a greater appreciation of the significance of these giant waves in the mixing of ocean water — and therefore in global climate.

"It’s an important missing piece of the puzzle in climate modeling," Peacock says. "Right now, global climate models are not able to capture these processes,"
he says, but it is clearly important to do so: "You get a different answer … if you don’t account for these waves." To help incorporate the new findings into these models, the researchers will meet in January with a climate-modeling team as part of an effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation to improve climate modeling.

These waves are potentially "the key mechanism for transferring heat from the upper ocean to the depths," Peacock says, so the focus of the research was to determine exactly how the largest of these waves, as revealed through satellite imagery of the Luzon Strait region, are generated.

The existence of internal waves in oceans has been known for well over a century, Peacock says, but they have remained poorly understood because of the difficulty of observations. Among the new techniques that have helped to propel the field forward is the use of satellite data: While the submerged waves raise the surface of the water by less than an inch, long-term satellite data can clearly discern this difference.

"From 15 years of data, you can filter out the noise," Peacock explains: Many locations, such as the Luzon Strait, generate these waves in a steady, predictable way as tides flow over submerged ridges and through narrow channels. A resulting 12-hour periodicity is clearly visible in satellite data.

Beyond their effects on climate, internal waves can play a significant role in sustaining coral-reef ecosystems, which are considered vulnerable to climate change and to other environmental effects: Internal waves can bring nutrients up from ocean depths, Peacock says.

Matthew Alford, an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Washington who was involved in the related field studies for this project, says, "The strong forcing and ridge geometry at Luzon Strait result in some of the strongest internal waves in the world’s oceans. They are important for a variety of reasons, including the region’s biology, the mixing and turbulence they produce, and marine navigation in the region." This team’s research, he says, "contributed to a massive advance in our understanding of how these waves get generated and dissipated."

The research, carried out by Peacock and a team of eight other researchers, was funded by the ONR, the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France, and the MIT-France Program.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/the-oceans-hidden-waves-show-their-power-0108.html
Afterword by the Blog Author
Right now, global climate models are not able to capture these processes," says MIT associate professor Peacock in the article above. That means that the IPCC 2007 and IPCC 2013 global warming conclusions cannot be relied upon. The global warming alarmists, therefore, are bluffing based on stupendously incomplete models that leave out the actual mixing of ocean water that demonstratively takes place.

Positive Quiddity: M. Norman Powell

Recommended book: Ingwe by M. Norman Powell

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About the Author
Born M. Norman Powell in South Africa in 1914, Ingwe is the fourth generation of British family which immigrated there in the 1820's. Lured by tales in indescribable beauty, Ingwe and his family moved to make their home in Kenya, then known as British East Africa. Thus beginning a life story so filled with adventure, drama, and tragedy that it rivals the writing of Faulkner or Hemingway. Ingwe's story, however, is not fiction conceived in an author's mind. It is as real as the man himself, and his story was played out in the vast untamed African wilderness, where the native people, the wildlife, and the land itself all played their part in shaping Ingwe's life. As a child, Ingwe was befriended by the local African tribesman of Kenya. From these lifetime friends, Ingwe mastered the ways of African survival, hunting, and tracking, as well as the ways of the tribe and the significance of their traditions. So skilled in the ways of the wilderness and tribal customs, that M. Norman Powell, a white man of British ancestry was initiated as a member and warrior of the Akamba tribe. It was his eventual association with Zulu tribal Scouts where he received the African name Ingwe, the Leopard. As an adult supporting a family, politics eventually forced Ingwe to leave his ranch, his lifestyle, and the wilderness that he loved. Having previously spent ten years in the U.S. as a young man and becoming an American citizen, he returned to the U.S. in 1981. Although forced to leave his beloved Africa, he carries with him the memories and the lessons learned from a land and people who once lived in harmony with the earth, but have now lost their traditional ways in this so-called civilized world.

http://www.amazon.com/Ingwe-M-Norman-Powell/dp/0787212989

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Afterword by the Blog Author
I met Ingwe in Redbank, New Jersey in 1997. He said that tribal elders gave him the name "Ingwe" (the word for Leopard in Zulu and other African languages) because he walked, stalked, and moved through the terrain like a leopard.

Ingwe said that the political climate in Kenya became very difficult for whites once the country became independent. As an initiated tribal member, he consulted with his tribal friends and they told him that remaining in Kenya would make things very difficult for them. This was an important factor in his decision to leave Kenya and come to ther United States he said.

I asked Ingwe about Rudyard Kipling and his Jungle Books. I said that Kipling didn’t get closer to the jungle than the officer’s club in colonial Simla, but he got one thing after another after another right about the natural world, its rhythms and rules. How did he do that? Ingwe pointed behind himself to a bookshelf that had Kipling’s major writings included. He expressed his respect for Kipling’s insights sand for the Jungle Books, which were instrumental in the formation of the Scouting movement in the UK and in the United States. But he didn’t answer my question as to how Kipling got so many natural patterns described so accurately in such detail.

He mentored many Scouts and served as an elder who taught many of his ideas and skills to naturalist and author Jon Young, himself founder of the Wilderness Awareness School. Ingwe passed away several years ago.

Vaccines on Demand Are Coming

On-demand vaccines possible with engineered nanoparticlesMichelle Ma, University of Washington News and Information, January 7, 2014

Vaccines combat diseases and protect populations from outbreaks, but the life-saving technology leaves
room for improvement. Vaccines usually are made en masse in centralized locations far removed from where they will be used. They are expensive to ship and keep refrigerated and they tend to have short shelf lives.

University of Washington engineers hope a new type of vaccine they have shown to work in mice will one day make it cheaper and easy to manufacture on-demand vaccines for humans. Immunizations could be administered within minutes where and when a disease is breaking out.

"We’re really excited about this technology because it makes it possible to produce a vaccine on the spot.
For instance, a field doctor could see the beginnings of an epidemic, make vaccine doses right away, and blanket vaccinate the entire population in the affected area to prevent the spread of an epidemic," said Francois Baneyx, a UW professor of chemical engineering and lead author of a recent paper published online in the journal Nanomedicine.

The research was funded by a Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

In typical vaccines, weakened pathogens or proteins found on the surface of microbes and viruses are injected into the body along with compounds called adjuvants to prepare a person’s immune system to fight a particular disease. But standard formulations don’t always work, and the field is seeking ways to manufacture vaccines quicker, cheaper and tailored to specific infectious agents, Baneyx said.

The UW team injected mice with nanoparticles synthesized using an engineered protein that both mimics the effect of an infection and binds to calcium phosphate, the inorganic compound found in teeth and bones.
After eight months, mice that contracted the disease made threefold the number of protective "killer" T-cells – a sign of a long-lasting immune response – compared with mice that had received the protein but no calcium phosphate nanoparticles.

The nanoparticles appear to work by ferrying the protein to the lymph nodes where they have a higher chance of meeting dendritic cells, a type of immune cell that is scarce in the skin and muscles, but plays a key role in activating strong immune responses.

In a real-life scenario, genetically engineered proteins based on those displayed at the surface of pathogens would be freeze-dried or dehydrated and mixed with water, calcium and phosphate to make the nanoparticles. This should work with many different diseases and be especially useful for viral infections that are hard to vaccinate against, Baneyx said.

He cautioned, however, that it has only been proven in mice, and the development of vaccines using this method hasn’t begun for humans.

The approach could be useful in the future for vaccinating people in developing countries, especially when lead time and resources are scarce, Baneyx said. It would cut costs by not having to rely on refrigeration, and vaccines could be produced with rudimentary equipment in more precise, targeted numbers. The vaccines could be manufactured and delivered using a disposable patch, like a bandage, which could one day lessen the use of trained personnel and hypodermic needles.

Co-authors of the paper are Weibin Zhou, Albanus Moguche and David Chiu of the UW, and Kaja Murali-Krishna of Emory University.

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For more information, contact Baneyx at baneyx@uw.edu or 206-685-7659.

http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/01/07/on-demand-vaccines-possible-with-engineered-nanoparticles/