I'm leaving the US in a couple of days and will probably take a hiatus of a few months from iMechanica.  Before I leave, I want to tell you about a C++ idiom that eases the implementation and use of multiple material models in a computational mechanics code.

The first book on C++ idioms was by Jim Copilien sometime in the late 1990s called "Advanced C++: Programming Styles and Idioms".  The idea of such idioms has become considerably widespread since then - so much so that there is a Wikibook on the subject .

I have been asked to initiate the publishing of a quarterly newsletter for the ASME Committee on Constitutive Equations.  Does anybody know how I can use iMechanica to do this?

A logo is a representation of a
company in the form of name, letters, graphics or symbol. It is used in
website, business cards, invoices, advertising material, stationery designs,
and signs as an emblem so as to make the company easily recognizable with its
logo.

See the following site:

http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_index.html

And then, think: If you had to answer the same question, what would your answer be?

(BTW, I know I have quite a few comments to reply here, but somehow have not been able to find time to do so.... I will, soon enough... Anyway, in the meanwhile, wish you all a happy new year... And oh yes, I think it would  be great if mechanicians could share their answers to the above referred question too.)

-- Ajit

I had promised to talk about subversion in my post on digitizing and editing figures but never quite got around to it. A recent spate of requests about downloading Uintah reminded me of my promise. So here's the story.

In a previous post, Learning to be a PhD advisor, I wrote about learning to do my job from students.  Over the years, I have also learned from writings of other scientists on doing research, its dynamics:  competition, despair, and exhilaration...  Here is a small sample that occurs to me this morning. 

Last time, when I saw one blog of Biswajit Banerjee, I thought it would be much more convenient if we can input some equations in iMechanica for discussion. When I make discussion about mechanics with colleagues, I would like to write down some equations on the blackboard or paper. For discussion based on the web blog, LaTeX equations will be helpful. And it would be better if one can input equations directly instead of uploading one picture after another.

The warm reception to a previous post on learning to be a PhD advisor reminded me of a book, whose  title now appears as the title of this new post.  The book was written by Jack E. Oliver, a geologist, and was published in 1991 by Columbia University Press.  Looking at the book again the other day, I found the original receipt, dated 19 October 1991, from Chaucer's Bookstore, in Santa Barbara, where I started as an assistant professor at UCSB in 1989.  How delightful! 

Long line Text is very difficult to read so whiled designing web pages , it
is a good idea to avoid wide text
running from one side of the screen to the other. For this control the length
of your text by creating HTML tables that are fixed in pixels rather than in
percentage. The best width for line is between 65 -75 character. It's more
important for Web page design to make your text readable than to fill every
inch of the screen. Avoid large text blocks break up text into smaller sub-categories.

I normally come across many advertisements about lecturership positions in different universities all around the world. And I always wonder when is the right time for a post doc. to apply for it? As, I am never sure that my experience will be enough for the position.

What are the necessary ingredients of a post doc.'s CV, that should help him getting such position?

In general, these ingredients can be found in the ads. as a vague statements like, extraordinary research experience, record of publications, etc. But what is the quantitative meaning of the qualities or does it just depend upon the applicants that applied for a specific position and their qualifications and achievements, i.e. a relative quantity?

While I have been traveling, writing papers, and submitting proposals for the last few months, I have not been keeping up with readings.  Just notice today an old news:  News York Times has just made even more content free online.  For example, without subscription you can read columns of Tom Friedman, the author of The World is Flat.  You can make links to them to share with other people.  For example, his column today is titled 9/11 Is Over. 

I am attaching a pdf of "How to give successful oral and poster presentations" by J.W. Niemantsverdriet of the Eindhoven University of Technology which I had found on the internet some years ago. It has some very useful tips.

V. Hegadekatte

• G. M. Whitesides, Writing a paper. Advanced Materials 15, 1375-1377, 2004.  This three-page essay by a prolific professor at Harvard advocates a process:  start writing a paper at the same time you start a research project.  Every thinking person should read this essay, and give the process a try.

I've been to two conferences this year and I've again seen the same annoying features in many talks that have been warned against by numerous people over the years.

Here are some tips that might come in handy :

One of the mission statements of iMechanica is to use the Internet to enhance communications among mechanicians. It seems that the top three uses of the Internet among many of us are

• Emails
• PDF
• Google search 

It might be useful, and fun, for us to share the experience with these and other tools associated with the Internet.  I'll start a list of tools that I have found exceptionally useful.  All these tools are free of charge.

Recently I have observed that if I don't perform a routine task for a few months, I tend to forget the steps needed in the process. I have to relearn the process and that's a waste of time. The intention of this blog post is to provide a list of tips for my use which can also be of use to other Linux users. I like free software. Most of the software on this list can be downloaded from SourceForge or some such place.

Here is a video which might be helpful for those writing grant proposals (Hat tip to Dr. Aparna Bhatnagar, Director, Postdoctoral Affairs, Northwestern University for the email alert ):