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How Many Friends Is Too Many? 5000? Then imechanica is too many!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/137512

 

How Many Friends Is Too Many?

One MySpace exec has even surprised himself by friending a potato. This particular russet has 2,965 friends.

May 26, 2008 Issue

 

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Europe’s research system must change: Nature Vol 452|24 April 2008

Dear Imechanica friend

 a recent Nature Commentary has generated a lot of interest, particularly in Europe. Maybe it is of interest, also in response to Grand Challenges for Engineering?

I suggest some lines: 

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ENERGY IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE - Italy Joins European Nuclear Power Revival

Speaking of Grand Challenges, why we never talk of Energy in Imechanica? There are certainly mechanical implications. And Energy is top of the list at the www.engineeringchallenges.org project.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,druck-554969,00.html 

Italy Joins European Nuclear Power Revival

 

PM

ENERGY IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Italy Joins European Nuclear Power Revival

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A seminar at Paris VI inst. d'alembert - One, no one, and one hundred thousand crack propagation equations: thursday June 5th. 1

Prof Jean -Baptiste Leblond (http://www.lmm.jussieu.fr/~leblond/)

kindly invited me to give a seminar at Inst. d'alembert - Paris VI

Thursday June 5th. 11h30am --- I take the chance to invite a few people: http://www.lmm.jussieu.fr/~neukirch/people/seminaire/


One, no one, and one hundred thousand crack propagation equations: have we learned the lesson of Barenblatt and Botvina?

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A wonderful collection of quotes from Leonardo da Vinci, each fantastic

A well-spent day brings happy
sleep.
Leonardo da Vinci

All our knowledge has its origins
in our perceptions.
Leonardo da Vinci

Although nature
commences with reason and ends in experience it is
necessary for
us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience
and
from this to proceed to investigate the reason.
Leonardo da
Vinci

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to
authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his
memory.
Leonardo da Vinci

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Does a scientist who has had three patents in the past five years, but only three papers, each cited just three times, deserve m

From the blogosphere

Nature 453, x (2008). doi:10.1038/7196xc

Does a scientist who has had three patents in the past five years,
but only three papers, each cited just three times, deserve more
recognition than one with five Nature papers and 1,000 citations? 

 

Can anyone download the full paper I have no access to Nature!!!! 

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A crucial text from Jim Rice of his Timoshenko's medal speach.

It is difficult to reminisce over my own formative years without sensing
the sharp contrast with the far more difficult situation faced by the
young generation today. My generation, and especially my own narrow age
range within that generation, had things easier, I think, than any group
before or after. I entered Lehigh for undergraduate studies one year
after Sputnik. It was a time when support for science and engineering
was enlarging fast, when opportunities were abundant. There were plenty

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Why Google SCHOLAR will stop this oligopoly of publishers

And read why Google Scholar will silently stop this crazyness

Scientometrics

Vol: 74, Issue: 2, February 2008

 

pp. 273 - 294

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Leonardo da Vinci the precursor of Publish AND Perish ---- not Publish OR Perish -- the present model is dead!

Dear Imechanica friends

  I recently pointed to a very interesting paper by Fabio Casati and collegues from Trento University in Italy.

They say PUBLISH AND PERISH: WHY THE CURRENT PUBLICATIONAND REVIEW MODEL IS
KILLING RESEARCH AND WASTING YOUR MONEY

as opposed to the current mania to PUBLISH and killing yourself with writing papers.

http://eprints.biblio.unitn.it/archive/00001086/01/066.pdf

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LiquidPub Project: Scientific Publications meet the Web, a project from University of Trento

Liquid Publications: Scientific Publications meet the Web

Some very interesting projects from University of Trento. Changing the way scientific knowledge is produced, disseminated, evaluated, and consumed

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creating a web site and forum for Elsevier journals Editors and Board members


dear Elsevier Editors and boards

  after I submitted to the Harvard blog imechanica.org

"My letter of resignation from the board of International Journal of Solids and Structures"
Submitted by Mike Ciavarella on Tue, 2008-05-20 14:55.  www.micheleciavarella.it

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Perhaps we should make a useful exercise for iMechanicians

Zhigang, about defining "esthablished", I am worried people may consider arbitrary your "definition" -- not me, you can do as you like!

But look that even somebody as weak as me could be in the list you propose!!, and for different criteria! Only Nix and Hutchinson really stand high in the lists as "esthablished". Incidentally, congratulations: the most cited paper of Hutchinson is that with you.


1) It may be useful to list the h index of all the imechanica users

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More replies to Yavari, fractals, strongly emotional disputes, and what really leads to Nobel prize

Dear Yavari

I have promised more replies on Mandelbrot, fractals, strongly emotive discussions in journals, and here is a coincise statement, which I take from a Nobel prize, prematurely passed away last year.  I think it has a lot to teach (including the kind of attitude that leads to Nobel prize, i.e. close to no human weakness), you will recognize the real name of the "Caesar" in this book is somebody with a 58 pages CV on his web site, most likely.

For a better idea of fractals, read please the other attachment.

Regards

Mike

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are there platforms similar to iMechanica? should we list them all?

I think it would be useful to collect a list of most useful sites, to start with iMechanica-look-alike.  Not exactly similar but a good site for CFD is http://www.cfd-online.com/.  This incidentally suggests us some "ways" to improve iMechanica.  (see my other blog PROPOSAL for iMechanica node/2996)

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a review of a paper by HD Bui found in the internet !!

dear iMechanica friends

I came across a review of a paper by HD Bui who was somewhere in the internet, and I find it is very interesting. I could even have written this review myself !!  I don't think the reviewer exaggerates....

michele

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Rail corrugation: ”one hundred years of solitude”? or a true enigma?

You may remember that I promised some time ago to discuss each of the topics mentioned by Ken Johnson in his Timoshenko Medal speach. Here I take rail corrugation. Rail corrugation has been noticed at least for 100 years, but (particularly short pitch one in the range 20÷80 mm) has been considered an enigma because measured corrugation wavelength did not relate well with wear instabilitymodels.

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PROPOSALS FOR IMECHANICA

Hello imechanica users: I launch a few ideas. Can we improve imechanica stealing ideas from successful web systems like google, amazon, wikipedia, myspace, youtube? Taking the best of the various worlds to improve our imechanica?

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