It's coming to your home or business in just a few weeks. What you ask? The answer is a special ESA mailing that will give you the necessary information for you to recognize those special people whom you consider have significantly contributed to the advancement of electrostatics.
An ad hoc committee was established after our last ESA Annual Meeting in Milwaukee. The ad hoc committee's charter was to look into streamlining the nomination process for ESA Awards. The goal of the committee was to develop a clear and simple nomination form that would allow any ESA Member to nominate a deserving individual for one of the six ESA Awards. The ad hoc committee has done that and the committee is putting on the finishing touches as the ESA Newsletter you are reading goes to press.
So what does this have to do with you as an ESA Member? Well, if you believe someone is deserving of an ESA Award, you can, without much difficulty, nominate that person for the appropriate award. Each Nomination Form is only one page long, and with a little effort on your part, you can see to it that the Awards Committee gets the appropriate information for their evaluation. On the back of each form are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
The Nomination Forms will also be placed on the Internet in the ESA's Home Page, and if you have access to the Net you will be able to fill out the form and send it to the Awards Committee via e-mail.
So watch for the Nomination Forms in about another two weeks. In the meantime, think of your involvement in the ESA and electrostatics and ask yourself if you know of someone whom you might nominate for one of
these prestigious awards.
For the Friendly Society,
Al Seaver
Plans are shaping up well for our 25th ANNUAL ESA CONFERENCE to be held this year at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. The date of June 29-July 2 has been scheduled a bit later to accommodate those attending the Poitiers, France electrostatics conference earlier in June. As in past years, the cost of registration including most meals is planned to be under $140 with a reduction for early registration prior to May 30. Registration forms and further details will be included in the ESA Conference Brochure that will be mailed to ESA members on or about May 1.
A block of rooms is being held within our meeting site, the University of Georgia
Center for Continuing Education, at a per room cost of $48-$58 (depending on
room type) for single occupancy and $55-$58 double occupancy. Reservation information
is available at (706) 542-6364 / Event #33662. A limited number of rooms are
available for June 28 arrival for those needing an over-Saturday-night stay.
Additional details regarding meeting announcement and call for papers are available
from Ed Law at (706) 542-0866 or e-mail: edlaw@bae.uga.edu
and by clicking on "meetings" on the
ESA Home Page at: http://eng.bu.edu/~mnh/esa.html Joe Crowley at (408) 779-7774
or e-mail: electro@garlic.com is receiving
tentative titles for presentations by the February 28 deadline and final abstracts
and/or full manuscripts by the April 15 deadline.
Anne Benninghoff sent me a copy of page 31 of the January 11, 1997 issue of Science News (Vol. 151) which contains a very interesting piece of work relating to intoxication and electrical charges. I have condensed the information below.
When an individual drinks ethanol, the body immediately begins breaking it down. Working with cells grown in the lab, Richard W. Gross and Rose A. Gubitosi-Klug of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have provided evidence that certain ethanol breakdown products, known as fatty acid ethyl esters, are likely to be the direct agents of intoxication. The researchers have found evidence that these ethyl esters speed up the movement of the positive-charged potassium ions form cells (including brain cells) through channels in their outer membranes. This flow of ions increases the negative electric potential inside the cells, impairing the action of the voltage-dependent calcium channels. Since cells rely on calcium for responding to messages from other cells, when ethyl esters depress calcium connections, communications between these cells can become uncoordinated. When their timing is off, you get slurred speech and other symptoms of drunkenness.
The researchers report their findings in the December 20, 1996 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
I also came across a good book for those of us who might lack a decent understanding of the present state of the art (and science) regarding the internal response of the human body to outside stimuli. In Chapter 1 of the book "Understanding the Nervous System: An Engineering Perspective," [by Sid Deutsch and Alice Deutsch, IEEE Press: Piscataway, NJ (1993), cost: about $35-$40 paperback] is an excellent review of the present state of knowledge along with the terminology needed to follow the literature.
Al Seaver
This conference, mentioned above, will be held June 4-4, 1997 at the Futuroscope, Facility of Science, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France. We note that ESA member, G. S. Peter Castle is to present a paper on Contact Charging Between Insulators.
I have just received an announcement from ESA member, E. R. Frederick, that a new publication Utilizing Electrical Effects in Nonaqueous Filtration is available. This book contains 32 tables and 43 figures describing the triboelectric evaluation process which leads to optimum or near optimum prescriptions. Consideration is given to both the filter medium material as well as to the material being filtered so that best results can be obtained. If you are interested in filtration or triboelectric effects, this publication should be a good addition to your library. It is offered in soft cover ($42) and hard cover ($57) plus $3 to cover shipping and is available from Filter Media Specifications, E. R. Frederick, 294 Sunset Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Phone contact:
412-364-3529.
Emery Miller
A letter to the editor of the "The Straight Dope" column in The San Jose Metro:
I understand electricity is made by electrons flowing through a wire. But where does the generator get the electrons from? My guess is it steals them from atoms. Even though they're supposed to be laying around all over the place. Then when they get to the end of the line and go to ground there must be one hell of a pile of them that I have never seen. I know they're small but maybe if I had a better pair of glasses or a microscope. Thank you.
Franklin, no address