Achieving Olympic and Business Success – a common path?

How do you get to the Olympics?  Hint: It takes a lot more than practice, practice, practice.  Behind almost every Olympic athlete there may be an army of specialists whose work extends beyond coaching to include taking care of the many processes to be managed, resources to be deployed, planning to be done, and goals to be met.  If that sounds like a complicated enterprise it’s because it is.  The people who manage that athletic enterprise actually use some of the same quality tools and techniques that typically are used to manage performance in business enterprises.

“A synergy exists between business and athletes,” said Michael Nichols, chair of American Society for Quality (ASQ).  “Obviously, preparing Olympians doesn’t require an assembly line approach, but the same types of goal-setting and measurement-tracking methods used in manufacturing and other industries can help spur athletes to optimum performance.”

When Jamie Beyerle of the U.S. Olympic women’s shooting team steps to the range in the new Beijing Shooting Range Hall this August it will mark the culmination of her six-year dream of competing in the Olympics.  For the 24-year-old native of Lebanon, Pa., it was a dream once denied.  She fell short in her bid to go to the 2004 Athens Olympics, even though she had been shooting very well at the time and had realistic expectations of making the team.

Photo: Jamie Beyerle shows her concentration

“I’ve been working for this for quite a while,” Beyerle says. “So it’s really rewarding that you put that much time and effort into something and you get something back. Going into this trial and these Olympic games is quite different,” states Beyerle. 
This time around, she’s paying much more attention to preparation for each trial and each event leading up to the Olympics.  “The best thing I could do after 2004 was to learn from what I didn’t do.”  She admits she let her success distract her from the rigorous and systematic preparation that was required.  “I was winning everything in women’s small bore in the U.S. and I had a couple world medals under my belt,” she says, and she looked beyond the trial.  “I thought I could go in there and just shoot and I’d be fine.  I just wanted to win a medal in the Olympic games, and so in my preparation I just skipped over that whole trial thing and ended up not making the team because I didn’t have the goals that I needed.”
I&I comment: Having talent (or a good idea in business) is not enough to succeed.
Story and photo sourced from www.asq.org

MEDUSA. Is Dr Who a reality?

A US company claims it is ready to build a microwave ray gun able to beam sounds directly into people's heads. The device - dubbed MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) - exploits the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. A series of pulses can be transmitted to produce recognisable sounds.

The device is aimed for military or crowd-control applications, but may have other uses. Lev Sadovnik of the Sierra Nevada Corporation in the US is working on the system, having started work on a US navy research contract. The navy's report states that the effect was shown to be effective.

MEDUSA involves a microwave auditory effect "loud" enough to cause discomfort or even incapacitation. Sadovnik says that normal audio safety limits do not apply since the sound does not enter through the eardrums.

"The repel effect is a combination of loudness and the irritation factor," he says. "You can't block it out."

Sadovnik says the device will work thanks to a new reconfigurable antenna developed by colleague Vladimir Manasson. It steers the beam electronically, making it possible to flip from a broad to a narrow beam, or aim at multiple targets simultaneously.

Sadovnik says the technology could have non-military applications. Birds seem to be highly sensitive to microwave audio, he says, so it might be used to scare away unwanted flocks. Sadovnik has also experimented with transmitting microwave audio to people with outer ear problems that impair their normal hearing.

James Lin of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois in Chicago says that MEDUSA is feasible in principle. He has carried out his own work on the technique, and was even approached by the music industry about using microwave audio to enhance sound systems.

"But is it going to be possible at the power levels necessary?" he asks.  Previous microwave audio tests involved very "quiet" sounds that were hard to hear, a high-power system would mean much more powerful - and potentially hazardous - shockwaves.

"I would worry about what other health effects it is having," says Lin. "You might see neural damage."

Sierra Nevada says that a demonstration version could be built in a year, with a transportable system following within 18 months. They are currently seeking funding for the work from the US Department of Defence. Story sent by Glen Moore, Director, Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium (http://sciencecentre.uow.edu.au ) and sourced from www.NewScientist.com  news service July 2008)

It’s Nano again – now shaping metals!

RESEARCHERS at Cornell University (http://www.cornell.edu ) have developed a new way to shape metal using nanostructure technology. For the past 5000 years of metallurgy, metal has been shaped by heating and beating it. Even in cutting edge sciences, metals have been manipulated by carving with electron beams or etching with acid.

The scientists have found a way to make metals self-assemble into nanostructures. This could allow for cheaper fabrication of small parts like catalysts for fuel cells, lower the cost of industrial processes, and create microstructured surfaces to make new types of conductors.
The metal nanoparticles are dissolved in a liquid after being mixed with ligand. This solution is then mixed with a block co-polymer. When the polymer and ligand are removed, the metal particles fuse into a solid metal structure.

The added ligand allows higher solubility of the metal, and the formation of controlled structures. Depending on the polymers used various patterns are possible.
The technique can also be used to make fine surfaces, for various nano-electronic applications.  Sourced from www.metalworker.com.au

Going for standards for plastics recovery and recycling

A new International Standard will assist the emerging worldwide market for plastic recovery and recycling. Because plastic products are traded internationally and many of the plastic resin manufacturing companies and industrial users are multinational companies, the arrival of ISO 15270:2008, Plastics - Guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastics waste, is particularly opportune. ISO 15270:2008 has been developed to assist all plastics industry stakeholders in the development of:

• a sustainable global infrastructure for plastics recovery and recycling
• a sustainable market for recovered plastics materials and their derived manufactured products

Plastics material for recovery may be obtained from various sources and the major markets for plastics are packaging, building and construction products, electrical and electronic products, automotive/transportation, and household/consumer items.

ISO 15270:2008 establishes the different options for the recovery of plastics waste arising from pre-consumer and post-consumer sources. The standard will assist in the selection of methodologies and processes for the management of post-use plastics that may be approached using various strategies. In general, plastics recovery technologies can be divided into two classes:

• material recovery: mechanical recycling, chemical or feedstock recycling, and biological or organic recycling
• energy recovery in the form of heat, steam, or electricity generation using plastics waste as substitutes for primary fossil fuel resources.

This International Standard also establishes the quality requirements that should be considered in all steps of the recovery process. Selection of any one of the available recycling options should be based on compliance with the following requirements:

• the need to minimize adverse environmental impact
• prior demonstration of sustainable commercial viability
• secure access to viable systems for collection and quality control.

ISO 15270:2008 also provides recommendations for inclusion in material standards, test standards and product specifications. Consequently, the process stages, requirements, recommendations and terminology presented in this standard are intended to be of general applicability.

For more go to:http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1142. Sourced from WMAA [e-news@wmaa.asn.au]  www.resourcesnotwaste.org

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