This post discusses various options for choosing a smartphone data plan. I do not use a lot of data and given particular brand of smartphone, it is possible to get a phone without the 30 $/mo. data plan. However, one has to pay a higher cost for the phone upfront. In this post, I examine various data plan-options for the upcoming Nokia E71x. I conclude that if one does not mind AT&T firmware on E71x, buying it from AT&T with a 2 year contract for 99 $, and having the 30 $/month data plan for 6 months (and subsequently switching to a lower 15 $/mo. data plan) is a good option compared to getting a locked phone and paying the 30 $/mo. data plan for 6 months.

Total 24 month cost (phone+data) for various options with the unlocked and locked E71(x)

Recently my roomie showed me a presentation in LaTeX. This renewed my interest in this (About 2 years ago, I installed LaTeX only to give up). I went through the paces installing MikTeX as my LaTeX distribution and LEd and TeXnicCenter as the front-ends. I created a nice cover letter for a company as one of my first documents. My next task was to see if I can really write publication length articles in LaTeX, with figures.

The various options I explored for using figures (plots, charts etc. from excel/other software) in LaTeX in a Windows XP box are :

1. Excel – print plot – print to pdf – insert figure as pdf
2. Excel – print plot – print to eps (install a postscript printer) – further process in ghostscript with ps to eps command to get a better bounding box around your figure
3. Gnuplot - terminal epslatex – include the tex file
4. Gnuplot – terminal postscript enhanced eps – include eps file

Option #1 was clearly the easiest and so I tried it first. It worked with the latex->pdf convertor. The main downside to this is that my pdf printer (pdfcreator) was printing the whole page and my graph did not have a tight bounding box. Therefore, there was a lot of white space between the plot and the figure caption. This can be overcome by selectively trimming the edges with trim and clip, but I think it goes against the main idea of using LaTeX (we should be less worried about how the document looks like and concentrate more on the content). Therefore I explored Option #2 : eps printing with post-processing with ghostscript to get a file with a better bounding box. This option gave me better results than the pdf printing. The main disadvantages here were that the plots each had slightly different sizes (as in option #1) and also had different fonts from the rest of the document.

This led me to do some more searching and I came across gnuplot with its LaTeX export functionalities. This means that the text parts of the figure will be in a font compatible with the rest of the document. This is much better than Options 1 and 2. The downsides are: a) gnuplot is not a fully GUI based software (at least in windows), so one has to learn the commands and how to use them.  Everything you see on the plot is a command, so you better have your default settings correct, or you are going to do a lot of tweaking before getting things right. b) It is not easy to caption charts once they have been inserted as .tex files ( I tried captioning the float both in the parent file and also in the gnuplot generated tex file, they did not work out for some reason.) (This has been fixed, use the \figure in the main .tex file around in\input(picturefilename.tex))

Therefore, I tried the  fourth option of exporting a chart from gnuplot as a eps file that can be compiled with latex-ps-pdf. This option gives aggreable results, but the main drawback here is that I could not format the axis labels with superscripts and subscripts, unlike Options 1-3. This might be a drawback when I want to say CO(subscript)2 instead of CO2.

In conclusion, I think I will stick to Option 2 for now. If I can overcome the axis label problem, I might consider gnuplot again. The make-or-break items for me writing a paper in LaTeX are:

• figuring out a good method for entering graphics (both charts and image files)
• Bibliography – I currently use EndNote, but will download my reference list again in a BibTeX format to avoid any errors in EndNote to BibTeX conversion.

I saw my advisor today and he was complaining how difficult it was for him to annotate pdf files with comments. After hearing that, I dont think I will get a manuscript to him in pdf format .

In conclusion,  I will use LaTeX if I want to play around or create personal documents like CVs, resumes etc. or make easy  presentations. I probably will not use LaTeX to write my thesis. It is too far down the road to switch from crappy jpegs to better looking eps

The High Plains aquifer underlies one of the most productive agricultural regions in the US. This region is semi-arid and does not get much precipitation, therefore most of the water used for irrigation is drawn from wells. Ground water levels here have been dropping and I thought of doing a zeroth order analysis of how many years will the water in the aquifer last. I used water level change data from USGS. According to USGS, there has been no major change in area under irrigation from 1988-2002. This report also points out that the total change in ground water storage from 1988-2000 was 47 million acre-feet and that the total ground water storage (estimated) in 2000 was 2970 million acre-feet. If we assume that ~30% of this water is recoverable, this gives us an approximate lifetime of 230 years (assuming that the irrigated acreage does not increase). However, the irrigated acreage did increase from 2002-2003, and the rates of depletion are approximately twice their value from 1988-2002. A map showing generalized water-level changes in the aquifer from 2002-03 are shown in the report. As expected, there is a lot of heterogeneity in the way water-levels dropped. Parts of central and south High Plains underwent more drastic water-level changes compared to their northern counterparts. Accordingly, the area-weighted water-level changes per state were more pronounced in Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas compared to Colorado and Nebraska. Therefore, even if the water might still be around for another 2 centuries, parts of the High Plains might be facing depleted ground water levels sometime soon. These water-level changes might have important implications for US food supply.

Recent news about bromide poisoning in Angola piqued my interest in the chemical sodium bromide (NaBr). This article in pravda mentions the use of NaBr in Angola’s oil industry. The USGS fact sheet on bromine (Br) lists its uses in fire retardants, agriculture, petroleum additives, well drilling fluids, sanitary preparations, and as a intermediate in chemical syntheses. Apart from its use in the photographic industry, NaBr is also used as a oil well completion fluid and workover fluid. The function of the bromide ion is probably to prepare brines/fluids to match the physico-chemical characteristics (density, pH etc.) of the reservoir fluids. The USGS fact sheet on Br mentions that while chlorine and iodine may be substituted for Br in a few chemical reactions and in petroleum additives, there are no satisfactory substitutes for Br in oil and gas well completion and packer applications.At this point, it is not clear if the source of the poisoning is inorganic (NaBr) or organic (bromocarbons). As alluded here, NaBr could be easily confused with common salt (NaCl). Approximately 60% of Angola’s current oil production comes from Cabinda (an exclave of Angola), a majority of which is offshore. Therefore, it is hard to imagine crude oil/gas production being the source of poisoning. However, bromine is also used for making organic compounds. Downstream petrochemical production could be one such consumer of bromine. A South African newspaper points to pollution caused by a petrochemical plant that has been shut down since October as a possible source. The “heavy green cloud” mentioned in the article points to the denser-than-air nature of this chemical. However, in a cursory wikipedia search for organic bromine containing compounds, I found that most of them were yellowish/colorless. Therefore, at this point, it is not very clear what cause of poisoning is.

I gave a talk at ICCDU-IX (International Conferences on Carbon dioxide Utilization -IX ) held at Kingston, Canada from July 8-12. I came across a lot of interesting presentations. Below is a summary of the presentations I attended:

1. Stern Review on the economics of climate change: looking at the costs of action vs. costs of inaction (doing nothing).

It concludes that the costs of doing nothing are far worser than acting to stabilize GHG concentrations.

2. Carbon tracker (Pieter Tans, NOAA) : gives CO2 fluxes by region (2001-2005). Measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere becomes critical to enforce any GHG mitigation policy. In a scenario when the actual decrease in GHG concentrations are less than the claimed reductions, the Carbon tracker hopefully can tell us what the actual GHG emissions for a given place are.

3. CO2 utilization: Prof. Beckman (U Pittsburgh) mentioned that CO2 utilization cannot make a meaningful contribution towards reducing CO2 emissions by itself, but rather the idea is to use CO2 in processes that either result in lowered energy consumption (decreasing GHG emissions indirectly) or do not use toxic chemicals like phosgene/Cl2 . Most of the CO2 utilization sessions involved (organic) chemistry that simply went over my head. Most papers were about the the use of CO2 as a reactant (synthesis of aliphatic/aromatic carbonates & copolymerization reactions of CO2) and the use of CO2 as a solvent/reaction medium.

Apart from supercritical CO2, I have also noticed increasing interest in using CO2 expanded liquids (solvents).

4. CO2 capture:

Ionic liquids (IL): Their use and functionalization for tuning their CO2 absorption & selectivity is also a important area of research. (Both of the presentations on ILs mentioned this.) It was interesting to see that ionic liquid by itself absorbs CO2 physically, so heats of absorption are pretty low, amines absorb(complex) chemically, therefore heats of absorption is high, but energy penalty (CO2 stripping from amine & amine volatility) is also high. Therefore, tuning amine functionalized ILs might lower delH while preserving the selectivity for CO2. (I wonder if anyone has done molecular modeling on this stuff to design ionic liquids that have moderate delH as well as good CO2 absorption properties or to atleast understand the cation/anion effects on CO2 absorption).

5. Ideas for the cement industry:

Zeman F.S., Lackner K.S., Zero Emission Kiln, International Cement Review, May 2006

The process produces a pure stream of CO2 gas that does away with the amine capture stage. Basically the idea is similar to oxy-fuel combustion in a thermal power plant, but is a bit more challenging since the end product has to be (clinker, to make) portland cement. (Maintaining normal kiln and cooler operation in a unmodified cement plant is difficult enough already . Instead of cooling the clinker with air, in the ZEK process, CO2 is used. This can promote adverse reactions with the hot clinker (surface carbonate formation).

(Another presentation by Zeman that I did not attend was the process study of coupling an atmospheric CO2 capture facility (see below) to the synthesis of syngas by CO2 reforming of CH4.)

For the same industry, Ghosal (McGill U.) showed that concrete can serve as a means to sequester CO2. Carbonated concrete can be used as prestressed concrete blocks. One thing that strikes me now is that how can anyone sequester more CO2 back into concrete than was released due to calcination (and fossil fuel combustion). It now seems a little fishy to me now that I think of carbonating the concrete mixture (assuming the alite and belite mineral phases (tricalcium and dicalcium silicates) are the reactive components. (This shows how attentive I have been )

6. Geologic sequestration: Shell Canada is proposing to build a pipeline to transport CO2 (produced from their oil sands processing Scotford upgrader) near Edmonton to nearby depleted oil & gas wells or a geological storage site. The pipeline is designed for 1.2 million T CO2/year. They find that after their preliminary design stages, their project still does not make economic sense at current CO2 prices (they needed an additional ~ 30-40 $/T CO2 to make the project viable). Therefore, they are looking to the (Canadian) federal government to help facilitate this project by providing tax incentives for the pipeline. (Shell Canada hopes to use this pipeline for carrying CO2 from other producers, like a nearby thermal powerplant.)

7. Geoengineering:

Prof. David Keith (U Calgary) mentioned some of his ideas about large scale geoengineering to control atmospheric CO2 emissions. He showed a lab scale atmospheric CO2 capture system involving NaOH and CaCO3 cycle. Another proposal was the release of reflective photophoretic metal oxide particles into the atmosphere to reflect the incoming visible radiation. (The photophoretic property is needed since otherwise these particles will act as catalysts for ozone layer destruction.) He was however very clear that these approaches are a short term solution, and should not be the main GHG mitigation strategy.

Dr. Herman Ott (Wuppertal Institute, Germany) in his talk about policy challenges of GHG mitigation also mentioned that if we do not reach an agreement as to what would replace Kyoto protocol by the end of this year, and adopt a business as usual approach, we probably will be seeing hectic geoengineering towards the end of 2010-2012 as GHG concentrations continue to rise. It was also mentioned that the prominent mood amongst policymakers was a shift from denial to desperation.In that aspect, I think that the conference did a good job of bringing people from all three aspects of this problem together to make them aware of what is happening.

There were a lot of interesting presentations that I could not attend (we had parallel sessions). A detailed program schedule with the abstracts of presentations is available at the ICCDU-IX website .

In Hindu mythology, Arjuna is a warrior who refuses to fight his cousins in a great battle. Then, Lord Krishna, who was his charioteer speaks to him about why he should fight, the result is the cornerstone of Hindu religious thinking, called Bhagavadgita.

I usually procrastinate because I am too bothered with the result of my actions. This is what Neil Fiore calls “fear of success” or “fear of failure” in his book I mentioned in a previous post. Arjuna refuses to fight his relatives and friends because he thinks that if he wins the war, there will be no one to enjoy the wealth with, if he loses, there is no point of killing many people anyway (see the analogy between this and the fear of success and failure mentioned in Neil Fiore’s book). Then Lord Krishna tells him that it is his duty to do his dharma and leave the rest to God. He clearly mentions that human beings have the right to enjoy the fruits of their work. It is in giving this fruit up to God lies the secret of bliss. This makes us free from thinking about the results of our actions. I think that it is a good way to think about procrastination. Work for work’s sake and nothing more. Fiore asks his readers to think of a safety net that one can fall back to in case things go wrong. While I still believe in working for work’s sake, I think that it is one’s duty (dharma) to consider “what if this goes wrong?”

Another, a little higher thought is also from Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna :

“2.12 But certainly (it is) not (a fact) that I did not exist at any time; nor you, nor these rulers of men. And surely it is not that we all shall cease to exist after this.” This sentence struck me as being very relevant to my problem.

(Translations of Bhagavad Gita from the gita supersite.)

BEGIN RANT

I ordered a transportable gas cylinder from a reputed chemicals/lab supplier (hint: it has acquired a leading chromatography company based in State College.) I usually order stuff from them because their website is more user friendly than their competiton, albeit their prices are costlier. I ended up not using it for my research and tried contacting them to see if I could return it. Their argument was that

1. They could not return anything costing less than 200 $.
2. Their reputed catalog (which serves a better purpose as a mini pillow) had this policy in the front pages.
3. Their online ordering form has this information.

I told the customer service rep that I look up ordering information online, write the product # and price on a purchase order and get it processed through our accounts staff at my workplace. She was initially adamant that no returns below 200 $ were possible. Even in those cases, there would be a 20% restocking fee. I did not use their catalog (they do not stipulate that one needs to), or personally go through their online ordering system. When I tried to make her aware of this, after 20 minutes, the customer service rep asked me for the order # and after conferring with her boss, offered me a 30% refund on my unused product. I would still have to pay S&H on this. (Another feature of this company is that it does not allow anyone to drop off/collect small transportable gas bottles (14 L) from their facility – for obvious safety reasons.) When I confronted her that the company did not want people returning things below 200 $, that is why I probably am getting a 30% refund, she told me yes in a tongue-of-cheek manner. This is when I decided that it was wise not to waste any more time with them about this.

The above example just shows to what extent people go to enforce arbitrary rules. The logic behind the return limit of 200 $ is beyond me, but it certainly seems that the company in question just wants to get rid of additional restocking and handling expenses. Given that these companies make decent profits by selling chemicals (mind you, this is one of the more pricier cos.) I do not understand all that goes behind the 200 $ limit for returns. (I do not think other large chemical/lab suppliers have a similar policy or atleast a similar limit for returns.)

END RANT

This hike is mentioned in Tom Thwaites’ book (50 hikes in central PA). I wanted to do some hiking in this area for some time. I did this on Memorial Day. This was my first solo hike away from State College ( I earlier hiked Mt.Nittany solo), so I took it easy and opted for a smaller (although more challenging) trail instead of the nearby Golden Eagle trail or the BFT. I reached the trailhead by 2:00 pm. A note of caution: The trailhead is on the creek side (left side, when driving north) of the road, at a place called Ross Run Canoe Access Area, just outside the village of Cammal. There is a sign for Wolf Run Wild Area on the right side of the road.

There were a few cars in the parking area. The view of Hemlock mountain and Pine Creek was magnificent. I started hiking at ~2:30 pm after signing at the the trail register. As the book mentions it, the trail gets very steep around 600 m although leveling off before the switchbacks. It was good hiking. The only downside was that I forgot to pack my recently purchased hiking pole (which would have come handy for the downhill return). I came across ~ 3-4 groups of hikers, all returning. It took me ~1.1 h to get to the top.

On the way, I passed the Raven’s Horn vista, took some pictures of some nice wildflowers and saw two worms sunbathing on a rock . The switchbacks were what I was looking for, after being disappointed in the Falls Trail in Ricketts Glen State Park. The book mentions two springs off the trail.

I was pleasantly surprised to find teaberry/wintergreen shrubs along with the hemlocks and oaks mentioned in the book. I first came across teaberry on my Mt. Nittany hike (Mothers’ Day, 2007). They were bearing fruit (as shown in the photo from my Mt.Nittany hike) back then. The leaves have a minty smell (due to methyl salicylate).

I had my lunch at the top, enjoying the magnificent views of Wolf Rock, Hemlock Mtn. and others. It was a really quiet place, the only sounds coming from the rustling of the wind and the bird calls. I also saw a couple of big birds (eagles/falcons ?) soaring above Wolf Rock.

I finally began to make my way down at 4:15 pm. I did not come across anyone going up. I saw a couple of frogs (probably tree frogs) well camouflaged amongst the leaves on my way down. The other vista on the trail (Pine Cliff lookout) was hidden by the trees. I also came across a pile of poo which was fibrous. Although I do not fancy myself to be a scatologist , I was curious about the animal which did that. I thought it looked like bear scat (bears are known to eat fresh leaves, grass in the spring time but cannot digest these very well, unlike say, deer or cows). Another, more mundane explanation would be a dog eating grass. Luckily for me, the poo was not fresh .

I went to the canoe launch area and enjoyed views of Pine Creek and the Hemlock Mtn. before driving back home.