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Presentation
Abstracts
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"Rubbing
Shoulders with Newton: A New Look at a Fundamental Constant
of Nature"
Harlan Brothers
A lesser-known cousin to pi, the numerical constant e pops
up everywhere in Nature where rates of growth are involved.
It was Isaac Newton who derived an extremely efficient method
for calculating e, which, like pi, is a transcendental number
and can only be approximated. Using elementary techniques
accessible to anyone who is comfortable with the four basic
mathematical operations, this paper demonstrates methods for
improving the efficiency of Newton's approximation for e.
The newly derived series are fast, pleasing to the eye, and
fun to create, offering readers the opportunity to experiment
and make genuine discoveries.
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"NASA Langley Research Center,
Hampton, VA Opportunities for Citizen Scientists to Investigate
the Earth's Atmosphere"
Lin Hartung Chambers, Ph.D.
NASA has initiated a new project to make its vast collection
of scientific data about the atmosphere more accessible to
citizen scientists (where K-12 students are included in the
definition of citizen scientist). The project, Mentoring and
inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and Earth Science for
Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA, for short) involves three
components: (1) Development of microsets of interesting atmospheric
parameters from satellite data that are easily accessible
using readily-available computer tools; (2) a mentoring component
where interested retired and citizen scientists are matched
with interested K-12 teachers to provide guidance on student
research projects using atmospheric data; and (3) an Open
Source component where tools for manipulating and visualizing
data and for computing parameters of interest can be shared.
The latter element is being broadly expanded to include web
hosting and sharing for teachers' lesson plans, student research
reports and citizen scientist research ideas and results.
This presentation will report on the activities during the
first year of this project, and will invite SAS members and
attendees to participate by using the microsets, suggesting
new microsets, serving as mentors, and sharing tools, resources
and ideas through the Open Source portion.
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"The
Future of Science Educaton in America: How we are going to
change it"
Panel: (left to right) Cindy
Lee Duckert, Forrest M. Mims III,
Heather Smith, and Shawn
Carlson, Ph.D.
The Society for Amateur Scientists is expanding its educational
mission and developing LABRats, a highly structure program
that will link scientists and engineers of all stripes with
teenagers who share their passion for science. Every young
person who goes through the LABRats program will receive a
broad-ranging inquiry-based introduction to all of the major
fields of science. This panel will discuss some of the problems
the LABRats program seeks to address, drawing from their own
extensive experience bringing science to young people by way
of volunteer outreach, the nonprofit world, commercial products,
and the classroom.
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"Post-Apocalypic
Engineering? Experiments in the Construction of Functional
Radio Equipment from Virtually Nothing"
Pete Friedrichs
Primitive crystal radio sets, easy to assemble and coax into
operation, have a long and grand history as the subjects of
numerous school projects and science fairs. For many people,
they rapidly become a source of boredom, as it is a simple
matter to purchase the necessary parts and assemble them.
That said, What happens if some of the parts are missing and
unobtainable? What if, in fact, one has no parts at their
disposal at all? Can radio equipment be built from nothing?
This question ceased to be rhetorical when H.P. Friedrichs
challenged himself to construct a functional radio without
the benefit of any commercially available parts. The results
of this challenge were an interesting chain of experimental
projects, the publication of two critically acclaimed books
on the subject, and a very definite answer: yes.
Armed with little more than household odds and ends --- bolts,
bits of wire, a magnet, a shoe polish tin, and a suitable
rock from the back yard --- it is entirely possible to build
functional tuning equipment, simple semiconductor diodes,
and even transducers (headphones.) Add some old carbon rods,
an old glass ashtray, pipe fittings, and some household chemicals
and the list of homebuilt radio components expands to include
even vacuum tubes and primitive transistors!
In this presentation, H.P. Friedrichs discusses some of these
projects, interesting details, and some of the unexpected
lessons that arise from this work.
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"The Foucault
Pendulum from the First SAS Conference to a Commercial Product"
Mark Streitman
Mark will start with John Dooley's presentation at the First
SAS conference in Philadelphia in 2002. Mark will then explain
how he built his first pendulum and decided that he would
get this manufactured. He will then go through the steps of
making the transition from employee to company owner, from
idea to commercial reality. If anyone in the SAS has ever
wondered "What would it take to get this (your creation) into
the commercial realm", this paper will explain a path from
project to product.
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"Amateur Astronomers
in Las Vegas"
John Heller
This presentation will discuss the work of
the Astronomical Society of Las Vegas and their efforts to
do community outreach, events for the public, and their own
research projects. Over the course of their twenty-five year
history, they have also created affiliations with other science-oriented
groups to further their mission to "Encourage, foster, conduct
and support programs on astronomy and related sciences for
the education and enlightenment of the general public and
membership."
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"The Rock Art
of Nevada: Art for all times"
Alanah Woody, Ph.D.
The rock art of Nevada is as beautiful as that found anywhere
in the world, and spans the entire period of human occupation
of the western Great Basin, from as much as 10-12,000 years
ago until historic times. A basic primer on the current state
of knowledge of rock art production and contexts, along with
an overview of the variety of styles and motifs found in the
state will be presented. The social connotations that this
suggests and the important role that has always been, and
continues to be, played by avocational archaeologists in rock
art research will be discussed.
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"Chapter Round-up"
New Jersey SAS Chapter
The NJSAS Chapter will give a presentation of the various activities that it has been involved with since the last conference. This include: "Seeing Atoms" their experiments to try and show that atoms exist, two field trips, community science participation and other experiments. They will also give an primer of how to start a chapter, how theirs is doing and how they keep it interesting.
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"The
Citizen Scientist and Environmental Regulations: Making Measurements
That Make a Difference"
John Lighton, Ph.D.
Environmental quality can be degraded by chemical, particulate,
acoustic, or light pollution. Statues exist to limit all or
some of these disruptive factors. However, just because laws
exist doesn't mean that they are enforced. In particular,
citizens subject to any pollutants will find it difficult
or impossible to make a case without credible evidence. Measurements
must be collected using the techniques and units specified
by legislation, which are often far from straightforward.
For example, noise pollution measurements usually require
the use of an octave band noise analyser that is beyond the
reach of most citizen's budgests. Using an actual test example
of an all-night mega-warehouse and liquor distribution center
inappropriately located next to a rural preserve area in greater
Las Vegas we show how citizens can measure several of these
forms of pollution with high accuracy and at low cost using
microcontroller-based sensor arrays.
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"Airships
to Orbit (ATO) and Ping Pong Balls"
John Powell
Balloons have carried people and machines to the edge of
space for over seventy years. JP Aerospace is developing the
technology to fly a balloon--or more accurately, their relative,
the airship--directly to orbit. JP Aerospace has flown over
80 missions in development of the ATO. They have flown everything
from rockets to platforms to gigantic airships that fly at
the edge of space.
PongSat: Pong Pong Ball Satellites. 1600 flown, built by
6000 students, teachers, construction workers, other amateur
scientists around the world. All of JP Aerospace vehicles
are build and flown by volunteers. The goal of "America's
OTHER Space Program" is give regular people access to space.
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"Geological
Issues in Nevada and the West"
Jonathan Price, Ph.D.
Many societal issues have a basis in geology. We will examine
a number of these in the context of what contributions amateur
scientists can make. Water is a key resource in the arid West,
yet flash floods are significant hazards. Pumping of groundwater
locally causes subsidence and fissures that are another major
hazard to buildings and roads. The basin and range topography
of Nevada and surrounding states is related to regional earthquake
hazards. Volcanism is another hazard in some areas. Long-term
storage of nuclear waste must take into account all the relevant
geological hazards and effects of groundwater. High heat flow
and abundant faults give rise to numerous hot springs and
uses of geothermal energy. In the geological past, geothermal
activity, often associated with volcanism, gave rise to many
types of metallic ore deposits. We are in the midst of the
biggest gold-mining boom in American history, new discoveries
are being made, and most of the gold deposits are in Nevada
and neighboring states.
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"Sodium
Migration in Borosilicate Glass at High Temperatures: What
are the Ramifications and Benefits?"
Gary Coyne
When glass is being manipulated in a gas/oxy torch by a glassblower,
a feint, whitish deposit can be observed near that region.
The author had a theory that this deposit was sodium oxide
sublimated on the glass surface. Through a variety of tests,
including X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, the author was
able to verify his initial thoughts. However, the peripheral
benefits of this discovery have led to enhancements of scientific
glassblowing, such as more control of flame annealing (to
prevent glass from premature failure) and a better understanding
of devitrification of "over-worked" glass. This paper will
explain some of the complications that can arise when blowing
glass and how the sodium oxide discovery have helped overcome
some of these problems.
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"Guppies
and Alpha Male Feeding Patterns"
Scott Little
Guppies are a small tropical fish that is native to South
America and The Caribbean. They have been bred in captivity
for years, producing a wide variety of sub-species with striking
and beautiful color combinations. My paper is a study on Alpha
Male patterns in Guppies with an emphasis on feeding behaviors.
The catalyst in this experiment is the fact that I purchased
three male Guppies at the same time and one of the three appeared
to be dominant. Two types of stimuli were used, one to produce
a bold response (ex: food) and one to produce a shy response
(ex: a net). Results were then evaluated on whether Guppies
do exhibit Alpha and Beta Male behaviors in regards to the
stimuli.
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"Vacuum Technology and the
Amateur"
Steve Hansen
A vacuum environment is required for many interesting pursuits
that may be explored by the amateur scientist. Unfortunately,
vacuum remains a mystery to many and perceived cost and complexity
remain a barrier to entry into this wonderful world of low
pressures. This talk will cover some highlights in the history
of amateur involvement with vacuum and some current topics
that amateurs are engaged in. He will also cover sources of
supply, how commonly available materials can be utilized to
minimize cost and what information resources are available
to the amateur scientist. Steve will also detail the history
of his publication, the Bell Jar, and his plans for its future.
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"Radical
Botanicals: Disappearing Plants, Scientific Illustration,
and the Need for an Ecological Vision"
Ana Soto-Canino
Botanical illustration, a tradition of scientific illustration,
is a cultural phenomenon that has its roots in ancient Greek
civilization--the very dawn of Western thought. It came into
its own as a field of inquiry during the European Renaissance
(late 15th century, early 16th century), and culminated as
a scientific pursuit during the latter part of the great voyages
of discovery of the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period,
the shipís artist and the shipís scientist was
often one and the same person. This was the person who observed,
documented and cataloged the newly discovered plant forms
in the strange new worlds beyond the horizon, revolutionizing
science with the introduction of images that could be used
for identification and taxonomy. The central tenets, methods
and goals of botanical illustration that these artist-scientists
helped develop are today a canon unto themselves, pursued
as a highly specialized discipline. Yet many of the core,
hallowed premises and axioms of botanical illustration became
severely problematic when one artist chose to portray the
highly endangered and legally protected native flora of Puerto
Rico. This poster session explores the crisis of vision and
conceptualization she experienced, and details how the artist
is meeting the challenge by creating a new, unorthodox vocabulary
that seeks a progressive, ecological vision within-not outside
of the venerable tradition of botanical illustration.
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"Amateur Astronomy at the McCarthy Observatory"
Monty Robson
The exciting happenings at the John J. McCarthy Observatory will be updated. The discussion will include some of the latest imagery, technical innovations at the facility, student projects, modern recreations of historical observations, public outreach programs, and an update on the Observatory's ongoing Near-Earth Asteroid research programs.
In four years of operation, the McCarthy Observatory has had over 7,000 visitors and is the world's most accessible astronomical observatory. Education is the primary mission of the facility and student projects have been very successful in science competitions. Known internationally as IAU Code 932, the facility is producing some of the most accurate positional observations of Near-Earth Asteroids.
The McCarthy Observatory is the flagship project of the Western Connecticut Chapter, Society for Amateur Scientists. The facility is collaborating with observatories around the world on projects and has helped many new and established observatories.
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| Poster
Sessions |
See displays and demonstrations
from some of the most cutting-edge thinking in the citizen scientist
community. |
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