The Open Channel for Summer 2009

Front Page Tidewater Science Fair
Page 2 From the Chair
Page 3 IEEE Energy Policy Fly in to Capital
Hill
Page 3 IEEE Job Site Redesign
Page 3 Educator Conference Participation
Page 4 IEEE HR PES Update
Page 4 Brain Teaser—June 2009

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Brain Teaser Challenge - "May"

I just got back from the international science and engineering fair in Reno a couple of weeks ago. What an amazing event! This was my third one in a row and it never fails to impress me. The really impressive part is not that the projects are so technically advanced, though many are, it is that these 1500 kids from all over the globe are so uniformly wonderful. Great looking kids, very polite, articulate, most of whom for which English is not the first language, it is amazing. In my opinion there is no other event that so clearly demonstrates that there is great hope for the human race. And even though every one is a fierce competitor, they consistently look after each other and help each other when they can.

I helped to escort ten kids from my community to the fair. As you can imagine I took a lot of pictures and HD video. Most images and video stored and reproduced digitally, such as JPEG and MPEG, use a lossy type of data compression. This is accomplished through a mathematical transform that converts the image information into coefficients of sinusoids at various frequencies. Can you name this mathematical transform?


Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email), 904-410-9751 (fax), 904-410-9750 (v), 3308 Queen Palm Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328. (http://www.shadtechserv.com) The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

The Open Channel for May 2009

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Page 2 From the Chair
Page 3 Directions to Harbor Park
Page 3 MDC Minder
Page 4 IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) Becomes IEEE Photonics Society
Page 4 IEEE.tv Wins Four Aegis Awards
Page 5 Brain Teaser Challenge Solution
Page 5 Brain Teaser

May 2009 Meeting

A Night at the Park: Norfolk Tides vs. Rochester Red Wings Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 7:15 PM

The IEEE Hampton Roads Section is having its Summer Social at Harbor Park. The Norfolk Tides will be playing against the Rochester Red Wings in AAA baseball action. Game time is 7:15 PM. Please RSVP so that the tickets can be purchased ahead of time to ensure that our group will be seated together. IEEE members are encouraged to bring their families and/or friends.

Brain Teaser Challenge - "April"

I recently had to spend the night in the hospital. I didn't really feel that sick, but I had had some strange symptoms earlier and they wanted to do some tests to try to understand what had happened. I left the next day having had a very bad night's sleep and a huge barrage of tests. Though they were efficient and thorough, no one really knew what had caused my symptoms two days prior. I think this happens a lot in medicine. That is, they see some symptoms and they do their best to explain them. Then for all their best efforts and the latest technology, no one really knows. I feel blessed that no one suggested treating me for their best guess of what the problem might be.

In an earlier part of my career I did R&D in nuclear medicine, specifically gamma imaging. This is not taking pictures of gamma rays, but rather using gamma rays to take pictures inside of your body. Technetium-99m is a common radionuclide used in such imaging. As it turns out, most of the technetium used in medicine is harvested from a device called a cow as a by-product of another radionuclide called molybdenum-99. Our question this month is how does molybdenum-99 become technetium-99m? Hope you don't glow in the dark.


Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email), 904-410-9751 (fax), 904-410-9750 (v), 3308 Queen Palm Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328. (http://www.shadtechserv.com) The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.