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Mercury Toxicity Levels At a Glance
Heavy metal or mercury toxicity levels should be considered in any patient presenting with renal disease of unexplained origin, bilateral neuropathy, acute changes in mental function, or a history of exposure, such as occupational exposure.
Patients with mercury toxicity can present with signs and/or symptoms suggestive of either acute or chronic exposure. In acute toxicity, paresthesias, incoordination, dyspnea, metallic taste, lethargy, and confusion can be seen. In chronic toxicity, tremors, gingivitis, and erethism (neuropsychiatric) are more common.
Humans are generally exposed to mercury through the diet. Elemental mercury, Hg0 (which is nontoxic to humans), in our environment is chemically converted to the ionized inorganic species, Hg2+, which is further converted to organic methylmercury by microorganisms in sediment of lakes and rivers. Both Hg2+ and methylmercury are highly toxic.
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Methylmercury accumulates in fish and reaches its highest level in predatory fish. Therefore, most human exposure to methylmercury is through eating contaminated fish. Methylmercury is highly selective for lipid-rich tissue, such as neurons, explaining the numerous neurological and psychiatric symptoms in patients. In addition, it can pass through the placenta, causing irreversible neurological damage in the developing fetus.
Dental amalgams are no longer considered a significant source of mercury exposure.
What Mercury Toxicity Level Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?
Heavy metal toxicity is not common (prevalence is similar to inborn errors of metabolism), and diagnosis can be difficult, because the signs and symptoms are similar to many other diseases. Despite these facts, screening for heavy metal toxicity is indicated in all patients with symptoms suggestive of toxicity, as screening is relatively simple and treatment is available that reduces long-term morbidity.
Analysis of blood, urine, and hair can be used to determine exposure. The quantity of mercury found in blood and urine correlates with the degree of toxicity, whereas hair analysis can document remote exposure to mercury.
Normal whole blood mercury concentrations are less than 10 mcg/L. Levels greater than or equal to 50 mcg/L are considered significant for methylmercury exposure, whereas levels greater than or equal to 200 mcg/L are considered significant for ionized inorganic mercury, Hg2+. In urine, most people have less than 10 mcg of mercury/24-hour specimen with levels exceeding 50 mcg/day, indicating significant exposure. Anything greater than 1 mcg/g in hair indicates exposure to more than normal amounts of mercury.
Patients exposed to high levels of mercury can develop nephrotic syndrome and membranous nephropathy, which is associated with elevated urinary excretion of albumin and transferrin. Urinary excretion of the tubular enzyme, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, may prove to be an early marker of mercury toxicity.
Are There Any Factors That Might Affect the Lab Results? In particular, does your patient take any medications – OTC drugs or Herbals – that might affect the mercury toxicity lab results?
Appropriate specimen collection is critical for all heavy metal testing. Tubes with metal caps or glued inserts affect test results. Most commonly, a plastic royal blue top trace element collection tube containing EDTA anticoagulant is required for accurate analysis. In addition, when collecting hair specimens, it is important to avoid contamination.
Diet, medication, and nutritional supplements may introduce interfering substances and affect mercury analysis. After consultation with a physician, patients should be encouraged to discontinue nutritional supplements, vitamins, minerals, and nonessential over-the-counter medications and avoid shellfish and seafood for 48-72 hours.
What Lab Results Are Absolutely Confirmatory?
Heavy metal toxicity levels can be confirmed if three factors are present:
- a source of metal exposure is evident
- the patient demonstrates signs and symptoms of toxicity with that metal
- an abnormal concentration of that metal is present in blood, urine, or tissue
Because of its relatively long half-life, whole blood mercury levels are the most accurate at assessing mercury exposure. Urine can be helpful in following the effectiveness of chelation therapy and is also thought to better indicate the mercury burden of the kidneys.
The most sensitive and specific methods for measuring total mercury levels in biological fluids are atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). These methods can accurately detect mercury as low as 1 ppb. In addition, these methods can be utilized to perform mercury speciation to differentiate inorganic from methylmercury.
The diagnosis of membranous nephropathy, which can be associated with mercury toxicity, can be confirmed by granular staining for IgG on immunofluorescence microscopy and subepithelial immune deposits on electron microscopy.
Additional Issues of Clinical Importance
Small children exposed to high concentrations of mercury vapor develop acrodynia or pink disease, which cause a body rash, swelling and irritation of palms and feet, followed by skin desquamation, irritability, photophobia, fever, insomnia, and profuse sweating. This used to be more common when exposure was through teething powders.
Mercury toxicity is expressed three ways:
- Mercury avidly reacts with sulfhydryl groups of proteins, causing a change in the tertiary structure of proteins and a loss of biological activity.
- Mercury causes some proteins to become more immunogenic, eliciting B-cells to produce immunoglobulin against new antigens, particularly collagen.
- Mercury is very lipophilic and binds to proteins in lipid-rich tissues, such as neurons. Ionized inorganic mercury, Hg2+, concentrates in the kidney, where it produces the greatest toxicity, whereas methylmercury, because of its lipophilic nature, targets myelin in neurons.
Mercury toxicity is treated by removing the source of exposure, supportive care, and chelation therapy, such as 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS) or penicillamine.
Errors in Mercury Toxicity Test Selection and Interpretation
Measurement of plasma mercury levels is not recommended, because mercury concentrations in plasma are one-twentieth of that in erythrocytes.
High concentrations of gadolinium and iodine are known to interfere with most testing for heavy metals. If either gadolinium- or iodine-containing contrast media have been administered within 96 hours of specimen collection, results are not valid and should be repeated more than 96 hours after administration of a contrast media containing gadolinium or iodine.
Because of possible contamination issues, elevated levels should be confirmed by obtaining a follow-up specimen.
Mercury is volatile, and concentrations may reduce after 7 or more days of storage.
Copyright © 2017, 2013 Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. All rights reserved.
No sponsor or advertiser has participated in, approved or paid for the content provided by Decision Support in Medicine LLC. The Licensed Content is the property of and copyrighted by DSM.
- At a Glance
- What Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?
- Are There Any Factors That Might Affect the Lab Results? In particular, does your patient take any medications - OTC drugs or Herbals - that might affect the lab results?
- What Lab Results Are Absolutely Confirmatory?
- Additional Issues of Clinical Importance
- Errors in Test Selection and Interpretation


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Eddie Huang has done a lot in his 30 years. He's been a lawyer and designed streetwear; he owns a New York City restaurant, BaoHaus, writes a blog, hosts a Web show, and has now written a memoir, Fresh Off the Boat (Spiegel & Grau).
I've always known I would write this book," Huang says of his latest accomplishment. He started writing in the ninth grade after being assigned to read Julius Caesar. He had trouble making sense of it, which motivated him—and adversity has continued to motivate him. About Fresh, he says, "I felt like this Asian-American story had to be told. No one was telling it, and there is no one I can relate to." Huang compares his adolescence to the comic book character Professor X: "You know you're a mutant, but you also know there are others out there, you can't be the only one. That's why I wanted to write."
His passion and enthusiasm are obvious upon first meeting. Huang, known for his outspokenness, has a sharp sense of humor. He's also sweet and charming and smiles easily, excited about what he's accomplished, especially with his book, and always looking forward to what's coming next.
A first-generation American, Huang was born in 1982 in Washington, D.C., to young immigrant parents from Taiwan and grew up the eldest of three boys (he has two brothers, Evan and Emory) in a large, extended family with two sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Huang struggled throughout his childhood on many levels. Money was tight, and his parents "had a lot of trouble with each other, and split up for a while." The family moved to Orlando, Fla., in 1989, after his father got a job as a restaurant cook. In his book, Huang says, "those first few years in Orlando, I hated being Chinese."
He constantly felt like "the other," attending both public and private school, neither of which had many, if any, Asian students and he was constantly getting into trouble. Feeling like an alien shaped his early years, and he says he inhabited two different worlds, which was confusing: the outside world, where everyone was white, and his home, which was very traditional Chinese. "It wasn't that I totally didn't want to be Chinese, but I was curious. I wanted to figure out what it meant to be Chinese, Taiwanese, the names felt very hollow to me." His house "felt like being in China, with pictures hanging of my grandfather, jade dragons, and bamboo." The family watched Chinese television. Huang loved basketball, football, and hip-hop music, which he and his brother listened to "because there wasn't anything else that welcomed us in, made us feel like home."
Rap music had "a lot about family drama, domestic violence, being picked on, and I lived that. There was a lot I could relate to in the music." One of the first persuasive, argumentative essays Huang ever wrote was in 1997, comparing the band Nirvana to rappers Tupac and Easy E, and discussing the double standard Huang believed existed, where things could be said in rock and roll, but not in hip-hop. "Black culture has been a huge influence in my life," he says. Huang often got into physical fights at school, lashing out, tired of being taunted. In one of the most emotional chapters in the book Huang describes being teased about the Chinese food he brought to school for lunch. "A kid threw me down on the ground and I lost it. It was a huge, pivotal time in my life because I thought, we're trying; you have these things brought from home, and they're being made fun of." The experience, Huang says, was extremely painful, but set his life on a different course. "I'm giving up my food, trying to be like you, buying your cultural products, and you throw me on the floor? It took me almost 20 years to be able to give people the benefit of the doubt again, and to see that, yes, there are good people out there."
Despite his disciplinary problems, in ninth grade Huang was put in a gifted program, and during the summers he took college courses. That's where he discovered Jonathan Swift and says the first time he read A Modest Proposal, "it wasn't writing anymore, it was live." He related to the author who he felt "told his story in the most raw, real, and personal way possible." Reading Swift, Huang says, helped him find his voice and gave him the confidence to use it. Meanwhile, Huang's father got him a job working at his restaurant.
He attended the University of Pittsburgh for a year and then Rollins College in Orlando, but after being arrested (for aggravated assault with a motor vehicle) Huang's parents sent him to Taiwan as "part of a program that officially went by the name of Study Tour." He hadn't been in Taiwan since he was 12, and the trip had a profound effect. Without his American friends watching over him, Huang says, "I allowed myself to encounter a part of myself I'd lost, shunned, and cast aside years ago. I had to shed my skin in America if I ever wanted to reclaim it on my own terms that summer in Taiwan."
Taiwan made Huang look at food in a whole new way. Feeling happy and reconciled, he returned to the states determined to find a place for himself. Next was Cardozo Law School: "I wasn't meant to be an attorney, but I was meant to go to law school." Huang focused on the discipline and logic of the law and at the same time launched a streetwear company, Hoodman. After graduating in 2009, he worked as a lawyer and as a standup comedian. Yet food was still a huge part of Huang's life, and after sending a recipe for skirt steak to the Food Network, he was cast for the show Ultimate Recipe Showdown. He lost the competition, but decided to open a restaurant. Food, he realized, was a unifying force. It was what mattered most.
And moving to New York in 2005 was an important step. From his first day here, Huang says, he was happy. "New York felt to me like what America should be, a representation of the world in this small pocket."
The trauma he recounts in his book was not without benefit, Huang says. "Suffering made me who I am." If he hadn't spent so much time feeling like "the other," he explains, "I wouldn't be as passionate, I wouldn't care as much, I wouldn't have wanted to write." He's comfortable in his own skin now, identifying himself as a Taiwanese-Chinese person. "I don't care what people think of me, if they know the real me," he says, and labels are a huge source of contention. He doesn't like his book being called a "food memoir." "It's inaccurate because I think the book is a reflection of the 21st century, what America is, what it means to be American, what it means to be Chinese, Taiwanese."
People often accuse him of being fame-hungry, and of not being a real chef. "This book was not written to get famous" is his answer to those criticisms. "It was painful, and very personal. There are much easier ways to get famous." The book served as a kind of therapy for Huang; he believes he's on a mission, and that he speaks through food, and through his writing, his blog, and his Internet show Fresh off the Boat, for which he travels the world exploring other cultures through their cuisine. "I like being on camera, performing, seeing what people have in common." As for not being a real chef, Huang says, he doesn't need to be in his restaurant kitchen all day to be considered a real chef. (He co-owns BaoHaus on East 14th Street with his brother.) "I go in, I create new dishes, I train people how to make them, I innovate, I taste, and I trust." He says he would like to write another book and open another restaurant eventually. But for the moment, his plate is, as they say, full.

subset: commoncrawl


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Garage-door techs inspect springs, rails, rollers, and openers, tuning up ailing parts for smooth, safe operation
Groupon Customer Reviews
About This Deal
The Deal
- $29 for a garage-door tune-up and safety inspection ($100 value)
Garage-Door Openers: Signaling Security
Learn a little about the technology inside the little remote in your car with Groupon's examination of garage-door openers.
In 2012, garage doors throughout southeastern Connecticut mysteriously seized up. The culprit? A military submarine base.
Annoying as it may have been, there was nothing sinister behind this pattern. Rather, it was simply a side effect of the way all remote-entry garage-door systems are designed. Each time you open or close a garage door, the remote and the receiver inside have a brief conversation in code—a conversation that happens to be conducted via radio signals over the airwaves. The unfortunate homeowners in Connecticut eventually learned that the signal emitted from the submarine base's radio-communication system shared a frequency with their garage-door systems, and the more powerful military signal drowned out the information their remotes were trying to transmit.
The codes transmitted by garage-door remotes have gotten far more complex over time. As early as the 1960s, burglars learned to use radio scanners or "code grabbers" to pick up the code when the homeowner used it to open the door; they could then re-transmit the code to gain entry themselves. In response, most remotes today use rolling codes that can generate billions of combinations.
This is possible because each time a message is sent between remote and receiver, each part of the system also selects and stores a new code. Those codes will always be in sync because each has been programmed with the same pseudo-random number generator—that is, a formula that produces a sequence of numbers that would appear random to anyone not possessing the formula. (Beware, however: it is possible to desynchronize the system by pressing the remote button out of range of the opener more times than the system's built-in tolerance for error will permit.) Once this is done, the remote and receiver are ready to kick the system's motor into gear and help you begin or end another day on the road.


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When it comes to guns, the United States is exceptional. We have the highest civilian gun ownership rate in the world, with 89 guns per 100 people, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.
The U.S. gun lobby sometimes cites Switzerland as an example of a country that has many privately owned guns and little violent crime. (Their argument seems to be guns don't kill people; only lunatic Americans kill people.)
In fact, ammunition kills people. It is true that Switzerland, like the United States, has a strong gun culture with many shooting clubs — but it also has a mass citizen militia. Members of the part-time militia, in which most men serve, are allowed to keep their weapons at home, and the country of less than 8 million people owns at least 2.3 million weapons, many stashed under beds and in cupboards. But while Swiss homes contain guns, ammunition is largely kept under lock and key at local military depots.
American "Exceptionalism"
Someone once described Canada as "a country in North America where everyone has health insurance." The same pundit defined the U.S. as "a country in North America where everyone has a gun."


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Nature's Plus Source Of Life Energy Shake 2.2 lbs
See other Nature's Plus products
Price: $45.35
Regular Price: $53.35Discount: 15% OFF
Availability: In stock
Points: Purchasing this item will earn you 90 reward points (Loyalty points $0.90)!
Applies only to registered customers, may vary when logged in.
Source of Life Energy Shake 2.2lbs is a nutritionally complete, highly concentrated blend of complete protein, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, lipids, bioflavonoids, plant pigments, nucleic acids, herbs and energy-producing nutrients. This broad spectrum is then synergistically fortified with highly nutritious whole food concentrates, such as brown rice, spirulina, bee pollen, sunflower oil, black currant seeds, young barley leaves, citrus and other tropical fruits, to form the most powerful and delicious multi-vitamin and mineral protein shake ever developed - for a guaranteed Burst of Energy! Source of Life Energy Shake now features our pioneering, patent-pending Tri-Part Protein Blend of non-GMO rice protein, pea protein, and both non-fermented and fermented soy.
|2 Scoops
|Nature's Plus
|Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 2 Scoops (39 g)
Servings per Container: 26
Other Ingredients: Non-GMO isolated soy protein, 100% pure crystalline fructose, vitamin C, spirulina, natural vanilla flavor, natural graham flavor, calcium aminoate, magnesium aminoate, vitamin E acetate, guar gum, folic acid, psyllium, potassium amino acid chelate, zinc aminoate complex/picolinate, Spanish bee pollen, sunflower oil, choline bitartrate, calcium pantothenate, lemon bioflavonoid complex, beta carotene, rice bran, black currant seed, Korean ginseng, iron aminoate/ascorbate, niacinamide, bromelain, quercetin, inositol, papaya, rutin, pyridoxine HCl, betaine HCl, thiamine HCl, riboflavin, vitamin B12, apple pectin, manganese aminoate complex, PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid), selenium aminoate complex, biotin, hesperidin complex, Irish moss, thyme, astragalus, echinacea, schisandra, young barley leaf, ligustrum, chlorophyll, copper aminoate complex, amylase, lipase, eriocitrin, vitamin D, octacosanol, chromium aminoate complex, kelp.


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With anywhere from six to 12 NFL head-coaching jobs expected to become available this week, a familiar face might be creeping back into the mix.
Jeremiah: Coach, GM predictions
After another "Black Monday" full of firings, Daniel Jeremiah predicts who will fill the openings at coach and GM. **More ...**
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman reported Monday that Jon Gruden will interview with NFL teams about potential openings.
Freeman reported that a handful of teams have "quietly contacted" Gruden's camp in recent weeks, and representatives for the former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach have informed teams he'd be willing to talk after the regular season.
Gruden, now an ESPN analyst, repeatedly has expressed contentment with his role on "Monday Night Football," but behind the scenes, his people have shown interest in the ex-coach returning to the NFL, according to Freeman's report.
Freeman listed the Philadelphia Eagles and San Diego Chargers as two potential landing spots for Gruden, but if Chucky willingly enters the picture, we'd expect a flock of teams to come calling.


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For more information on our recent data notice, please click here
If you have tried 2 or more medications without success in controlling your seizures, you may need further evaluation by an epilepsy specialist. Surgery can be highly successful at eliminating seizures in carefully selected patients.
The Epilepsy Center at UC San Diego Health utilizes the most sophisticated diagnostics, medical therapies and surgical techniques available today.
Recent advancements in diagnostic technology have had a major impact on the success of surgical treatments for epilepsy. The decision to operate is carefully weighed through a shared process of decision making by specialists at the Epilepsy Center, your referring physician, and you and your family.
Patients are referred to the Epilepsy Center at UC San Diego Health for surgical evaluation for a variety of reasons, including:
The greatest surgical successes have been achieved in patients with partial seizures and a single focus in the brain due to trauma, scarring or tumor. Some types of generalized seizure disorders are also responsive to surgical intervention.
Video-EEG is a critical step in determining if surgery can be an effective treatment. At the
Epilepsy Monitoring Unit we utilize video-EEG to:
In a small number of patients, we may need to do more specialized and focused video-EEG testing with stereo--EEG or depth electrode or grid electrode studies.
Patients with seizures that begin from a single "hot spot" or seizure focus may benefit from surgical treatment to remove the "hot spot," if this can be done without injury to other parts of the brain. Doctors at the Epilepsy Center perform intense evaluations to determine whether epilepsy surgery may help control seizures that cannot be controlled by medicine alone.
As part of the pre-surgical evaluation,
high-resolution imaging of the brain is performed. This includes MRI with special techniques to increase visibility and the chances of detecting abnormalities.
In some cases,
magnetoencephalography (MEG) can help combine information from brain waves with images of the brain to help doctors locate the areas of abnormalities (the seizure focus). We are one of only 50 sites in the country to offer MEG.
During the evaluation, the patient is given a series of
psychological tests to localize their language function and assess memory capabilities.
WADA test is done to assess the functional lateralization of language and memory, and is performed by neuroradiologists. The technique is similar to that of carotid angiography and requires selective catheterization of each carotid artery via a femoral approach. A short-acting barbiturate is injected on each side of the brain, and the function of the other hemisphere is assessed with a battery of language and memory tests. The purpose of these tests is to ensure that surgery will not result in language or memory deficits. Learn more about the
Wada test.
La Jolla
Rancho Bernardo


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Kiffin to join Alabama as offensive coordinator
Alabama hired former Southern California coach Lane Kiffin on Friday as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Kiffin replaces Doug Nussmeier, who left Alabama for Michigan.
Kiffin spent a week in Tuscaloosa, Ala., last month exchanging ideas with coach Nick Saban and his staff and observing Alabama's offense.
The 38-year-old Kiffin was 28-15 in three-plus seasons with USC. He was fired five games into last season. He also was head coach at Tennessee and for the Oakland Raiders.
ESPN.com first reported Kiffin was Alabama's choice.
Kiffin spent six seasons (2001-06) at USC under Pete Carroll as an assistant, including the final two as offensive coordinator. He also called plays during his time as a head coach. He spent one season at Tennessee (2009), and went 7-6 before leaving to replace Carroll.


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Leather Bracelet / Original Sliced Cuff / Saddle Brown / Regular
The item for sale in this listing is a size REGULAR.
Your wrist must measure 6.25" - 6.75" or this item will not fit you.
Spend each and every day without worrying about your jewelry!
This no-nonsense cuff will bring you all the joy in the world (like not spending a fortune, light weight, gorgeous.... I could go on...)
This bracelet is 100% genuine leather. Handmade and hand-cut.
The perfect accessory. Easy and simple for those who like no-nonsense but want a beautifully handcrafted statement piece.
These bracelets will come with a brushed silver FL (Flourish Leather) logo snap.
Prior to purchasing please make sure of your wrist size. To get the most accurate measurement please use a soft-sided measuring tape. Since leather does stretch a bit it's always best to size it to fit your wrist exactly.
Please let us know if you have any questions prior to ordering!
++ Neat Idea! Add a few drops of essential oils on the backside/nap of this leather to diffuse throughout the day! ++
(Depending on the leather it may cause slight discoloration. Essential oil scent will wear off after 3-4 days and a different oil may be applied!) ++
** Example photo on model for size accuracy! **


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Reality TV Tax Hikes? ABC Pushes a Kim Kardashian Tax
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Here's a new way to try and hip-up the boring, ages-old, left-wing idea of tax hikes: link it to reality TV star Kim Kardashian. That is just what ABC News tried to do on the Wednesday, January 4 edition of ABC World News Tonight when the venerable news program helped advertise an effort by a small group headed by a former Democrat operative that wants to hike California's income taxes. It is a two-pronged approach of hitching a big government, big spending, high tax agenda to the TV reality show star in order to drag younger people into the left's class warfare game.
ABC highlighted a California Millionaires Tax policy recommendation from a group called Courage Campaign. The group is headed by Rick Jacobs who is the former head of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign in California, a Huffington Post writer, and leader of this admittedly "progressive" group.
ABC reported that the "liberal group" (and kudos to ABC for actually identifying them as a liberal group for a change) is upset that Kim Kardashian, who made some $12 million in 2011, only paid one percent more than the average middle class wage in the Golden State.
Here is what the extremist high-tax group says on it's website about this:
Kim Kardashian made more than $12 million in 2010, but she only paid 1% more in taxes than a middle-class Californian. That's not OK, especially when budget cuts are decimating schools and critical programs for children, the elderly, and the disabled. It's exactly why Courage Campaign and two dozen other organizations are putting the Millionaires Tax of 2012 on the ballot.
Wow, that tiny, little one percent suuuure seems small, right? But let's look at the actual payment, shall we? Kardashian paid a tax rate of 10.3 percent and 10.3 percent of twelve million is $1,236,000! And those middle-class folks that paid one percent less at 9.3 percent? Well if the average income in California is $47.000, then they paid only $4,371. Why aren't these middle-class louts paying their fair share? (That's called sarcasm, by the way.)
Now, it's not that I care at all for Kim and her brood — I never watch so-called reality TV and have never seen her show — but this is all really just class warfare. After all, let's look at the tact here. Instead of actually talking about what Kardashian pays, this ABC flogged extremist group focuses on that "one percent" as if that makes her tax remittance tiny. They mislead the public by purposefully avoiding any mention of the amount she actually paid.
Seriously, the fact is we could out right confiscate the millions made by the Kardashinas of this country and it wouldn't make a dent in the hole of trillions of dollars that Democrats have dug for us.
But there is one last thing to ask about this ABC report. I'm just wondering, but has ABC ever highlighted the tax policy idea of some small Tea Party group that made a video to sell its plan to the people? Why does this tiny, left-wing group in California rate any attention at all in a national news program?
Obviously the answer here is that ABC saw the possibility of exploiting Kardashian and enraging her young fan base in order to drive them to support a left-wing idea. It's all about branding, you see. If the far left and ABC can leech off Kim Kardashian to sell their creaky old socialist policies, then that's what they will do.
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WASHINGTON – U.S. consumers increased their spending at retail businesses in December, buying more autos, furniture and clothing. Steady job growth and lower gas prices kept consumers shopping for the holidays, despite worries about potentially tax increases.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales rose 0.5 per cent in December from November, slightly better than November's 0.4 per cent increase and the best showing since September.
A 1.6 per cent jump in sales of autos and auto parts led all categories. Car companies closed out their best sales year since 2007.
Total retail spending was even stronger when factoring out a drop in gas prices. Excluding a 1.6 per cent decline in gas station sales, retail spending increased 0.8 per cent.
The December increase suggests consumers were not too worried about tense negotiations to resolve the fiscal cliff. Congress and the White House ultimately reached a deal on Jan. 1 that prevented income taxes from rising for most households.
Still, retail sales are likely to weaken in the first half of 2013 because lawmakers and President Barack Obama allowed a two-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes to lapse. Most Americans will start seeing less money in their paychecks this month.
A person earning $50,000 a year will see take-home pay shrink by roughly $1,000 in 2013. That's likely to slow consumer spending and weigh on overall economic growth.
"Nothing in today's data does anything to dispel the notion that consumer spending the first half of 2013 should be quite weak," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. ""The smaller paychecks will be anything but a welcome development."
The retail sales report is the government's first look at consumer spending, which drives roughly 70 per cent of economic activity.
Despite the December gain, 2012 ended as the worst year for retail sales growth since the Great Recession ended more than three years ago. Retail sales rose just 5.2 per cent last year. That's slower than the 7.9 per cent growth in 2011 and 5.6 per cent growth in 2010.
Earlier this month, major retailers reported that a last-minute surge in spending helped salvage the crucial holiday shopping season. Retails can often make as much as 40 per cent of their annual revenue during the final two months of the year.
In addition to strong car sales, the government report showed consumers spent 1.4 per cent more at furniture stores, 1.4 per cent more at health and personal care shop, and 1 per cent more at specialty clothing stores.
Sales were flat at general merchandise stores, a category that department stores such as Macy's and big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. But that followed a 0.8 per cent decline in November.
The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent in the July-September quarter. But most economists believe growth slowed to below 2 per cent in the October-December period, in part because of expected weakness in consumer spending. Income growth remains weak, constraining the amount that consumers can devote to increased spending.
Job growth has been steady, although unemployment is still high at 7.8 per cent. In December, employers added 155,000 jobs, roughly matching the monthly average in 2011 and 2012.
The economy has shown some signs of improvement. The once-battered housing market is recovering, which should lead to more construction jobs in the coming months. A gauge of U.S. service firms' business activity expanded in December by the most in nearly a year.


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Bluegrass/Jam Band Name Generator (and a Sneak Peek at Northwest String Summit)
Is it just us, or do the names of jam, bluegrass, and Americana bands just keep getting stranger as the options become harder to come by? Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Phish, Hot Tuna—it's like a seafood kitchen fever dream. We're still waiting for the genre's meta-cover band: The Grateful Yonder Leftover Phish Band Panic Incident.
If you find yourself struggling, then, to come up with a name for your band that seems new, fresh, and likely to get you invited to festivals like the NW String Summit this weekend, we've come up with a handy band name generator, broken down by types of band and the artists shaping the mold at the summit.
Progressive bluegrass band?
One vague but old-timey natural landmark + quick self-description of the type of band you are = ____?
See: Yonder Mountain String Band (Fri at 9:45, Sat at 8, Sun at 4:45)
Jam band that fuses bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun?
Your least favorite, yet oh so practical, type of cuisine + an aquatic life form = ____?
See: Leftover Salmon (Sat at 5:30pm)
Portland based–bluegrass band that combines members of another successful band (like, say, the Decemberists)?
The color that occurs most in your band's wardrobe + one bygone relic of the American dream = ____?
See: Black Prairie (Fri at 5:50pm)
Genre-bending soul band from the East Coast and the South?
A seedy profession + a made-up word that promises good vibes = ____?
See: Pimps of Joytime (Sat at 11:45pm)
Indie folk band that favors the term "neofolk?"
One country animal + the hair accessory you've seen most around Portland this year = ____?
See: Horse Feathers (Sun at 1pm)
Bluegrass band with a penchant for jamming on rock/metal songs, especially Metallica?
An elemental metal + one essential component of the cowboy lifestyle = ____?
See: Iron Horse (Sat at 2:20pm)
Your favorite childhood beverage + a means of transportation = ____?
See: Milkdrive (Sun at 7:45pm)
Classic mixture of Americana, folk, and bluegrass?
Type of family member + the medical ailment that frightens you most = ____?
See: Brothers Comatose (Fri at 11am)
Old-school jam band that combines bluegrass and southern rock?
Your socio-economic status in college + type of human + your drink of choice = ____?
See: Poor Man's Whiskey (Thurs at 1am)
Let us know the names you come up with in the comments below—and be sure to invite us to your first show!


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1956 Ford Sunliner - Suncammer
Ridler Award Winner Is Not The Norm
To say the truth bluntly, a '56 Ford is not exactly the norm to build into a big-dollar, no-holds barred restomod to win on the national scene. And yet this '56 Sunliner, transformed into the Suncammer, is the 2011 Ridler Award winner.
When we came across it in June 2011, the Suncammer was parked in a prime spot amongst other show cars inside the lobby of the Southern Hills Marriott Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The occasion was Jim Wicks' Mid-America Ford & Shelby annual show. The scene was odd. People were gawking at a '50s fullsized Ford surrounded by gorgeous Shelbys and Mustangs. One man told me this '56 was "a smaller version" of a '56 Ford and no body panel was stock. Another person attending the show said he heard the owner had invested more than $700,000.
This author found out later that both statements were not quite accurate, but they showed that this car really attracted interest--everybody was curious.
What we did know was this car was the "Suncammer." The show sign said so as did the gauges. The Cammer part was obvious, as the power came from a 427 SOHC (Cammer) motor. Of course, Ford called its convertibles by the name "Sunliner" in 1956, and thus the custom name Suncammer.
Stock '56 Fords are not exactly sleek. They are upright and boxy. The '57 Ford is more popular, however, car owner Bruce Ricks remembers grade school days when a buddy's mom drove a '56 convertible. He always liked that car. His previous build was another boxy Detroit slice of Americana, a '55 Chevy two-door sedan.
"We did not win with the '55. We were pretty disappointed with that. I guess we were wanting to build a better car," Bruce admitted.
The other half of the build-team is Steve Cook, present for our shoot late one evening in Oklahoma. He owns "Steve Cook Creations" in Oklahoma City. Bruce owns the '56 and credits Cook with the build, however, in the grand scheme, Steve is "the artist" and Bruce is "the mechanic."
Painted a custom gray and accented by nickel-plated trim (no chrome or billet), the '56 appeared like a painting. We wanted to know if the body panels were all custom and wondered about the 427 Cammer big-block racing engine under the hood. Bruce said they wanted to build a cross between a concept car and a race car. They kept the vintage look of a '56, but "went crazy" with the looks and performance.
"That's why it's got the quick-change rearend and the big engine. We wanted a race car theme. They actually raced 1956 Ford convertibles in NASCAR," Bruce noted. In the theme of a restomod, Bruce tried his best to keep the vintage '56 look. He said, "We didn't want to ruin the overall look of the car by hacking it all up so nobody would recognize it."
Steve Cook likes to describe the build as a pinch here and a pinch there, like his wife cooks. The '56 was not totally resized, as one spectator at Tulsa suggested (Bruce also chuckled at the $700,000 price estimate). However, the OEM doors will not fit this convertible--ditto for OEM front fenders. Rear quarters, however, will fit. Instead of saying what body parts they did change, Steve said, "All we didn't change was from the rear taillight to the center of the rear wheel.
"We took 4 inches out of the front to get the front smaller than the back, to kind of make it aero, to streamline it. The changes are in such small places that it is hard to figure out what we did," says Steve. In this transformation, the front is taller than stock. Of course, the overall body is lower than stock. The effect accentuates the boxy design with more of a rocket look. The Ford personnel viewing the car at the Detroit Autorama told Bruce they might have beat Chevrolet sales in 1956 if they had used this sportier style. Still, body parts are Ford save for the headlight buckets--Steve made them with the OEM dimensions in steel so he could weld them to the front fenders to get rid of the seam.
They built the whole front clip of the car and changed everything--the grille and the wheel openings (smaller and tighter). They took out the vent windows from the door to manipulate the A-pillars and changed the shape "to give some motion" to the car. They chopped the body about 13/4-inch. They changed the wheel openings in the back and raised the body.
Bruce credits Steve with the color selection, a custom silver. The paint has to do with the race car theme.
"Ford, early on, used silver in a lot of its race cars," Bruce said. Instead of chrome, Steve worked with John Wright (Custom Chrome in Grafton, Ohio) to plate the trim in two-tone nickel. This car actually has no chrome on the outside. The surfaces are either nickel-plated or painted. Bruce says the nickel is, "a lot softer without the real white look."
The 427 "Cammer" was Bruce's idea of the ultimate or quintessential Ford engine. The Cammer also fit well with the race car theme. After all, Ford never installed the SOHC motor in a production vehicle. These engines were made for racing.
This car really makes a statement with the hood open. Right away it's easy to notice the lack of a distributor poking up from the top. Bruce chose a flathead distributor to mate to the cog on the overhead cam. After all, he had to have room for the custom aluminum intake and carburetors, which essentially are a pair of inline-fours sourced from the '69-'70 Boss 302 Mustang.
Underneath, the chassis originates with a set of Art Morrison framerails, built to specifications. Steve installed a Mustang II front suspension and fabricated a four-link to secure the rearend. He and Bruce worked with RideTech to tune the suspension with the company's Shockwave air suspension. RideTech's "Shockwave" mounts like a conventional coilover and replaces both the shock absorber and the coil spring.
Inside, the look is ultra clean with a simple padded dash, and gauges easily visible through a custom two-spoke steering wheel. Every instrument is there--oil pressure, water temperature, speedometer, tachometer, volts, and fuel level.
In the center of the Classic Instruments' gauges is the name Bruce gave the restomod--Suncammer. The name's not the norm and neither is the car.
The Details
Bruce and Judy Ricks' '56 Ford Sunliner Convertible
Built by Steve Cooke Creations, Oklahoma City, OK
- Original Ford 427 SOHC "Cammer"
- One-off cast aluminum intake manifold
- Dual Ford Autolite inline four-barrel carburetors
- Custom radiator with built-in EMP electric water pumps
- Tremec TKO-500
- Tiger Quick Change, 3.73 gears
- Front: Baer disc, six-piston calipers, custom machined 14-inch rotors
- Rear: Baer disc, six-piston calipers, custom machined 16-inch rotors
- Front: Schott Performance Wheels, custom billet aluminum, 18x8
- Rear: Schott Performance Wheels, custom billet aluminum, 20x11
- Front: Pirelli P Zero Rosso, P225/40ZR18
- Rear: Pirelli P Zero Rosso, P295/40ZR20
- Modified Art Morrison Enterprises with longer wheelbase
- Front: Art Morrison Mustang II-style, RideTech Shockwave air suspension
- Rear: Custom four-link with Panhard bar, RideTech Shockwave air suspension
- RideTech Ride Pro e3
- Body wedge channeled 33⁄4 inches, new firewall moved back 21⁄2 inches and shaped around engine, reshaped grille opening, custom built grille, custom air intake and park lights built into the grille, custom front and rear bumpers with tucked ends, wheel openings reworked (made smaller and reshaped), A-pillar leaned back 2 inches at the top, bottom moved forward and chopped 15⁄8-inch, all spot welds and pinch welds removed, complete new custom floors and bracing, outside door handles removed, recontoured convertible top, doors sectioned, widened and inner structures reworked, vent windows removed, complete new rear wheeltubs, license tag lowers out of new filler panel, hood lowered 5⁄8-inch, front fenders lowered 11⁄2-inches and repeaked, hood ornament removed, hood front edge reworked, hood latch moved from center to custom pivot bar, hood under bracing changed and made inner metal support/closer, custom one-piece taillights, spine added to trunk, full belly pan, custom side trim, nickel-plated trim, dupont Hot Hues custom mix basecoat and clearcoat.
- Fabricated by gabe's street rods custom upholstery; classic instruments gauges; dash reworked, filled, smoothed, and reveal extended; custom trim added to dash; steering column mount and column changed; custom steering wheel (handmade); custom instrument panel; custom front and rear seats covered in leather; nickel-plated handmade brass interior trim; custom handmade top with liner and glass rear window; Special Thanks: Frazier Mfg.; Millwerks Machining Inc.; Paul Precision Machine; Baer, Inc; Josh Mishler
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Please help me welcome Dena Garson, who is sharing her new release and a great interview!
Thank you for joining me, Dena. Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
I'm Dena Garson. I am a Process Improvement Consultant by day and a writer by night (or whenever I can fit it in!). I have two teenage boys at home as well as an extremely loyal Labrador and two fuzzy jerks (they're actually kittens, brothers, but they get into so much stuff that I've relabeled them). We live in Northeastern Oklahoma.
What was the most difficult thing about writing WHEN ASH REMAINS?
The most difficult thing about writing this book was blending historical facts, with paranormal elements, with Native American lore, and NOT drag in a bunch of stereotypes. It helps that I am part Choctaw and live in the Cherokee Nation, so I've seen and studied much of the local culture. I just hope I didn't step on any toes with anything I put in my book.
Do you collect anything?
I have a sizable collection of rubber ducks. My entire bathtub rim and the window sill above it are covered.
What's the main thing that you could get rid of in your life that would give you more writing time?
LOL – cleaning the house. I just need a Jetsons style house with little robots that come out periodically and do all the cleaning for me.
What is your most prized material possession? Why?
My grandmother's dinner ring. Because of all the memories I have of her – some of which include me sitting next to her in church and being allowed to wear it.
What do you want your tombstone to say?
She lived and she loved with everything she had.
If you could spend time with a character from your book, whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please 🙂 )
I'd love to spend time with Ahyoka, the heroine in When Ash Remains. She has the ability to hear voices of the spirits of the land, the elements, and the ancestors. I just think that we could learn so much if we knew what they were saying.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Actually, the toughest criticism I've received came from my mother. She thought I used too many "trashy words" in my early books. Of course those books were written for Ellora's Cave, therefore a bit more steamy than she cares for but my more recent books she approves of.
The best compliment (NOTE: every good review is great and I treasure them all!) that I hang on to even now came from my writing mentor, Ms. Peggy – she told me multiple times that I was a "good little writer." I can still hear her telling me that.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
My characters mostly come from my imagination – they just show up. But I do introduce side characters from time to time that are based on people I know. For example, my writing mentor, Ms. Peggy, made a cameo appearance in Ghostly Persuasion. I figure she'll show up again in future books – or her personality will anyway.
What do your friends and family think of your writing?
My mother is tickled pink. I think my boys are proud that their mom is a writer but know I write books they won't care about. Most of my friends think it's cool – but a few are shocked I write mushy, sexy stuff. Of course my bestie is thrilled she gets free books in advance. LOL
What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
Ahyoka's chief. I thought he was a pompous ass.
Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
If I exclude all the authors I've met it would probably be Lee Majors. I was about 5 years old at the time but I still remember it!!
How did you come up with the title?
There's a scene in the book where Kajika, the hero, is speaking to the elder shaman. I took the title from something he says to Kajika. It speaks to a person's life's purpose.
Tell us your favorite…
Movie – I can't pick just one!! Harry Potter (all of them), Thor, Suicide Squad, Sherlock Holmes (RDJ's), anything with Keanu Reeves
Music – hard rock; probably Halestorm right now
Place you've visited – Florida Keys
Place you'd like to visit – UK
TV show from childhood – Scooby Doo
TV show from adulthood – Dr. Who
Food – homemade mashed potatoes
Sports team – Dallas Cowboys
Which do you prefer: Board games/card games or television? Card games
Thank you so much…I enjoyed getting to know you. Now, tell us a little about your book…
Short Blurb:
Destiny drives us all.
Kajika went in search of his cousin's killer. What he found was so much more.
Ahyoka had always been treated as an outsider. When she met Kajika, she yearned to belong to him, body and soul.
Dena is offering a cool giveaway of a jewelry roll with feather earrings and leather bracelet – Enter via Rafflecopter here:
Author Bio & Links:
Dena Garson is an award winning author of contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, and sci-fi romance. She holds a BBA and a MBA in Business and works in the wacky world of quality and process improvement. Making up her own reality on paper is what keeps her sane.
She is the mother of two rowdy boys, two rambunctious cats (AKA the fuzzy jerks), and a loving Labrador. When she isn't writing you can find her at her at the sewing machine or stringing beads. She is also a devoted Whovian and Dallas Cowboys fan.
Website – http://www.denagarson.com/
Blog – http://denagarson.net/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dena.garson.7
FB Author page – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDenaGarson
Twitter – https://twitter.com/DenaGarson
Newsletter signup – http://eepurl.com/b2TWxv


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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Tim Thomas - Boston Lead or Floor Team Gold?
Normally this wouldn't be an issue - Thomas and the Bruins could go their separate ways, and the Bruins would probably let Thomas's contract expire. However, Tim Thomas signed his most recent contract past the age of 35, which invokes the onerous 35+ rule: For any multi-year contract that begins after a player's 35th birthday, each year past the first counts on the salary cap regardless of whether or not the player is playing. The only way a 35+ player won't count on the cap is if he is placed on Injured Reserve, and the league has previously sent doctors to confirm that a player is in fact injured. So, the Bruins now have $5M in dead weight on their salary cap next year. For a team that considers themselves a Cup contender, that's a challenging millstone for Boston to maneuver around.
There is one way out: the trade. Tim Thomas can still be traded, and after July 1, he no longer has a no-trade clause, so he can be dealt anywhere. This gets into some interesting territory, as there is some precedent, back in the autumn of 2006 when a player posting about his sabbatical on Facebook was only a far-off dream. Vladimir Malakhov did not report to Devils' training camp despite being under contract, and was therefore suspended by the team. He was also a 35+ contract, so the Devils were pretty sure they would be on the hook for it. They ended up making a deal with the Sharks: they traded Malakhov and a 1st round pick for the rights to Shark winger Alex Korolyuk and defenseman Jim Fahey. Devils' GM Lou Lamoriello insisted at the time that this was a 'hockey trade', and said of Korolyuk: We're getting an exceptional hockey player who could play for us next year." That never happened, and Fahey got into 13 games as a Devil before being demoted to the AHL. However, he did at least try to make this look like a hockey trade - the Devils received two players, and gave up one of their own and a draft pick.
The salary cap landscape is much different now than it was in 2006 - back then, when the cap was at $47 million, there weren't very many teams at the cap floor. The Devils had to trade a 1st round pick for table scraps just for someone to take on the Malakhov deal. However, things may be different this time around - we see teams like the Islanders signing veteran players to small deals with large bonuses to hit the salary floor. Floor teams would love to have a contract like Thomas's on their books - it counts $5M on the cap, and costs $0 in actual money. It would be an enormous boost to their bottom lines, especially as the salary floor threatens to be around $55M this season. There should be multiple teams waiting in line to get a chance at that Thomas contract. There's only one potential roadblock: the NHL front office.
While it's hard to imagine the NHL front office jumping for joy at the way Lamoriello squirmed out of Malakhov's 35+ cap hit, one thing that's notable about the Malakhov trade is that while Malakhov neglected to show up for Devils' training camp, neither he nor his agent said anything at all about his playing status. He never signed retirement papers, nor did he find a college student with Internet access to post a statement on The Facebook. The Devils had suspended him about halfway through the previous season and he disappeared. Therefore, the league couldn't really nix the Malakhov trade on those grounds - the Sharks could claim that they felt Malakhov would show up to their training camp and would play for them. Furthermore, the Sharks put enough other detritus into the trade to make it appear like it wasn't just Malakhov and a 1st round pick for nothing. Lastly, since we saw what a cap circumvention penalty might look like after the Kovalchuk debacle last summer, the Devils didn't get out of it for free - they still surrendered a first-round pick. League officials might've recognized that since the Devils extracted their own pound of flesh, there wasn't much call for them to step in to get another piece.
Given the league's tightening the screws about the whole lifetime contract thing, and a CBA fight about to happen this summer and likely on into the autumn, it's difficult to imagine they won't have anything to say if Thomas ends up pawned off to a team with two signed goalies for a draft pick in July or August. He's already said he isn't playing, so why would a team trade for him? Can Facebook posts by a player be reason enough to nix a trade, or to accuse a team of cap circumvention? It doesn't sound all that exciting, but since we may not have NHL hockey to watch for a while, these sorts of fights are the next best thing.
2 comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
I suspect that if Timmy did get traded, he'd change his mind and start playing again. I mean, he's obviously completely off his rocker, right?ReplyDelete
I am thankful that the Bruins won the Cup with his phenomenal play, but I'm disappointed he couldn't use the summer to address whatever personal issues he's going through, play his final year, and then retire with a shred of dignity intact (we all know he lost a lot of it with the White House snub debacle). Hockey players get June through August to spend with their families, which is more than I can say for normal folks. That is THREE FULL MONTHS. Sure they have to keep training, but they still get to have a lot of personal time after spending so much time on the road.
This is a really disappointing turn of events for Bruins fans and the organization to have to go through. That said, Timmy seems to have turned into a cancer to the team, and I for one hope to never see him in a Bruins uniform again.


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This year's election is a rather important one for me because it is the first time I will be of voting age in an election year. With pressing issues being discussed daily, such as the rising gas prices, the war in Iraq, overturning Roe v. Wade, and gay marriage, the most prevalent topic to me is much more personal and less popular in the media.
My younger brother suffers from high-functioning autism, known as Aspergers, and has struggled in school because of the government's lack of assistance. The most important thing to me in this election is the changes and improvements that will be made to help the families of children with special needs. Words like autism and Down's syndrome can be frightening to some, but these children have the same rights as anyone else and should not be simply cast aside.
My family's happiness and well-being is an integral part of who I am. Witnessing the trials and tribulations my parents and brother have gone through has made me passionate about political policy and the well-being of special needs children throughout the United States. It is imperative the person elected to the White House put forth new policies that enable the government to fund educational opportunities for children in those families who cannot afford a private school.
With the nation's financial status in disarray, it is becoming increasingly difficult for parents to afford the costs of medications and doctors that are not covered by their healthcare plans. Paying for an education that every other child has the option to have for free is simply unattainable. Special needs programs will not suffice if the teachers and administrators involved are not committed to helping these children succeed in both school and life. Becoming a special education teacher is not a decision that should be made in haste, and stricter restrictions should be put on teachers obtaining a license.
I look forward to a future where children with and without special needs are awarded the same opportunities to succeed in life. If new policies are not put forth, my family and the families of special needs children around the country will suffer. To me this election is more than red state or blue state and the declaration of a political party winner; it is a statement of this country's relationship with middle and lower-class families and their children who need a different approach to education.
It seems that John McCain has overlooked the subject of special education in his plan for this country, even though his running mate, Sarah Palin, recently gave birth to a child with Down's syndrome. Barack Obama 's "Recruit, Prepare and Reward Plan" for America's teachers is a legitimate way to enhance the quality of teachers in this country, particularly those in special needs classrooms. Certainly, all issues being discussed in this election are important, but special education is a personal issue for me because of concern for my brother's well-being and future happiness.


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I've been planning to write about gender and autism for a while now. Months ago, I wrote a personal reflection piece. It got two emphatic thumbs down in beta, so I let it languish in my drafts folder. Then, after some feedback from commenters here, I decided I would write a more informative companion post as context for the personal reflections, but that never happened. Then I cannibalized the personal reflections piece for something I was invited to submit to an anthology, which took me weeks to write because apparently everything takes me weeks to write lately.
Which left me still wanting to write about gender and autism here. As a first attempt, I've surveyed some of the ideas that people have put forth about gender and autism over the years, starting with Asperger himself.
Note: I've linked to a bunch of articles in this post, many of which I don't agree with. However,I want to share the background information that I used so you can make your own decisions. Also, most references here are to binary gender and gender norms because that is the way most of the research is framed.
The Original Gender Link
In his paper describing his case studies, Hans Asperger hypothesized that autism must be a sex-limited or sex-linked condition because he had only observed it in boys. However, he also noted that some mothers of boys at his clinic who had autistic traits, which he found puzzling given the lack of girls who fit his model. His explanation for why there might be autistic women but not autistic girls was to suggest that autistic traits develop in females only after puberty.
He went on to state that he'd studied over 200 additional autistic children and had concluded from his observations that the autistic personality is an extreme variant of male intelligence. It's important to note here that Asperger's model was developed based on case studies of 4 boys who had been referred to him for behavior problems in school. All of them were considered to be uneducable in the traditional school system, creating a very specific profile on which Asperger based his observations.
It's interesting to contrast Asperger's idea of male versus female intelligence with Simon Baron-Cohen's male and female brain models. Asperger believed that females were better learners with a tendency toward concrete practical thinking and tidy methodical work. He thought that males, on the other hand, were naturally gifted with logical ability, abstraction, precise thinking and formulating, and were predisposed to excel at independent scientific investigation.
He does go on to say that female thought processes draw more strongly on feelings and instincts while males are better at abstraction, but this observation is more of an afterthought and follows his general summation of what believes to be the primary gender differences. Asperger based his extreme male intelligence on his belief that autistic people have little to no ability for concrete thinking due to the highly abstract nature of their thought process, which he thought was a male trait.
Baron-Cohen took the extreme male variant idea and transformed it into something quite different from Asperger's original concept.
The Extreme Male Brain
Simon Baron-Cohen's extreme male brain theory has gotten a lot of attention, both from the media and the scientific community. Just about every scientific study on autism and gender done in the past 5+ years will at least mention it. In the popular media, it's often boiled down to a simplistic "engineers and mathematicians are more likely to have autism" story, which makes for catchy headlines. The actual theory is a little more complicated and less clear cut than that.
The basic concept of the extreme male brain theory is that human thinking styles can be classified as either predominantly empathizing or predominantly systemizing. Baron-Cohen believes that empathizing is a female trait and systemizing is a male trait, because typical females tend to score higher on measures of empathy and typical males tend to score higher on measures of systemizing (categorizing/cataloging information and logic-based thinking).
Based on those assumptions, he then developed the concept of the Extreme Type-S personality, whose systemizing scores are above average and whose empathizing scores are below average. According to his research, 65% of autistic people are Extreme Type-S, indicating that autism is a form of extreme male thinking. Other researchers have used this theory to suggest that being female has a protective effect against autism.
There are a lot of holes in the EMB theory. It bases maleness and femaleness on a single pair of traits, which aren't even mutually exclusive. It subscribes to outdated gender stereotypes of men as less nurturing and women as less logical/intellectual. It uses questionnaires designed by the researcher to prove the researcher's point. It fails to even acknowledge the existence of nonbinary gender identity (which is especially significant in autistic populations, as mentioned later in this post). It completely ignores the possibility that females are simply underdiagnosed, which undermines the protective effect line of thinking. It uses characteristics of autism as a proxy for gender traits, thereby "proving" a link between gender and autism.
I could easily write an entire post on all of the problems with the Extreme Male Brain theory, but I'll leave it at that. There are valid issues around the intersection of autism and gender, but this isn't one of them.
Biological Differences in Autistic Adults
Gender dimorphism–observable differences between the males and females of a species–is a known biological phenomenon. It shouldn't be surprising that there are some observable gender differences in autistic people as well.
For example, a recent study found that women on the spectrum have more white matter in their brains than their typical female peers. The autistic men in the study had a similar volume of white matter as their nonautistic peers. The study used this finding as "proof" of the "neurological masculinization" of autistic women's brains. Conclusions like this make it obvious how much influence Baron-Cohen's EMB theory has in current autism/gender research. The more interesting finding (to me), buried deep in most of the news coverage, is that there may be fundamental structural differences between the brains of males and females on the spectrum.
Another biological difference that's been the subject of significant study is testosterone levels in autistic individuals. A few years ago, there was a popular theory that high levels of fetal testosterone and the cognitive profile of autism were somehow linked. A couple of years later, another group of researchers extended the theory to a gene called RORA, which is inhibited by testosterone and stimulated by estrogen. RORA levels have been found to be lower in autistic people. Since RORA is tasked with "turning on" a number of other genes, it's possible that there is a link between testosterone levels, RORA levels and certain genes not being expressed. There are a lot of leaps that have to be made for the testosterone-genetics-autism link to pan out under this theory and much of is based on the study of either mice or cells in petri dishes as opposed to actual autistic humans.
In general, the evidence on elevated levels of testosterone in adults on the spectrum is mixed. Some studies have found that autistic adults of both genders had elevated levels of testosterone, but more recent research found that only autistic women have elevated testosterone levels. The study with mixed results, however, found that autistic individuals of both genders were more likely to have more androgynous body characteristics. Of course, the rating of how masculine or feminine a person's facial features or voice are is subjective and based on binary gender norms.
Perhaps a more interesting line of inquiry is how autistic people themselves feel about their gender.
Gender Coherence and Autism
The link between gender dysphoria and autism is increasingly being studied. Research done this year in the UK found that among adults with gender dysphoria, the rate of ASD (5.5%) was more than twice that of the general population. Another study involving a larger group of adolescents with gender dysphoria found an even greater prevalence of ASD (7.8%).
There's an interesting paper that attempts to explain these results by hypothesizing that autistic adults in general are more physically androgynous than their nonautistic peers and characterizes autism as a gender defiant disorder. I think the responses to our gender and body image survey added anecdotal evidence to this idea. Many of us mentioned some degree of gender dysphoria or an atypical relationship with gender norms.
This raises the question of what role being autistic might play in the formation of our personal experience of gender. For example, autistic children are less sensitive to social cues than typical children and may not make friends with or become part of groups of same-gender peers. If we're not tuned in to what the social norms for children of our gender are, we're less likely to adopt them early in life.
There may also be an aspect of autistic-related body dysmorphia in general that factors into gender dysphoria for some autistic individuals. Many autistic people have difficulty feeling connected to their physical selves or being physically comfortable with their body.
Finally, there is the issue of sensory sensitivities. Dressing or presenting androgynously may be a result of gender dysphoria or it may be related to avoiding sensory triggers associated with certain types, textures or styles of clothing.
Clinical Impact of Gender Differences
One of the reasons girls are diagnosed less often than boys is because many autistic females present differently than autistic males, on whom the diagnostic models are based. The most recent version of the DSM acknowledges this and it's increasingly becoming the focus of scientific research.
While it's interesting in an academic context to look at potential biological differences or the possibility that autistic people are more likely to have a more androgynous presentation, gender differences that may lead to more accurate diagnosis are where the rubber meets the road right now. It would be nice to see more research dollars being spent on developing a female model or a broader overall model of autism rather than trying to prove a link between autism and a "masculine" brain or other concepts that do little to improve the lives of people on the spectrum.


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I'm starting to miss sunshine and warm weather. I'm muffled up with coat, scarves, gloves, two pairs of socks, and still the cold seeps in. There's been such a cold wind. The ground is frozen and the pond iced over. And yet, mooching about looking for something cheerful, I find chinodoxa- untroubled by the cold, the colour of Mediterranean skies. A little bit of hope.
A circle of silver birch twigs makes a pretty background for spring flowers. I just twist the branches like rope and tie the ends together. I'm trying not to use florists' foam as it's currently not recyclable. I've found a solution. A friend sent me a box of orchids, each one with a 7cm test tube of water, keeping them fresh. Recycling them, I twist a piece of wire around the necks and stick them in amongst the twiggy coils. Topped with moss, and hidden with ivy, no one will know they are there. I just have to top up the water each morning, and at the same time, add fresh flowers as I please. The wreath here was made on Saturday with wild clematis -old man's beard- ivy and winter flowering honeysuckle lonicera fragrantissima. It survived high winds, mostly. Silver honesty lasted a day, then blew into the back field hedge where it glistens like a tiny mirror. And the star-like cow-parsley seed heads have gone. It's an arrangement that changes with the weather. I like that. It's real life. A reflection of what's happening in my garden today.
So this morning, I've picked some snowdrops and chinodoxa and added them to the arrangement. Chinodoxa known as "glory of the snow" seems untroubled by the cold north wind. Such a delicate flower, and yet so hardy.
To add my own sunshine, I've found some aconites, Eranthis hyemalis. We called these gold coins when we were growing up.
Snowdrops nestle amongst the foliage. I bought the single variety , galanthus nivalis, from Easton Walled Gardens. A little bit of history now growing in my wild garden. There's been a garden at Easton for at least 400 years. A renovation project started almost 20 years ago, has rescued the garden for future generations to enjoy. The double snowdrops came from Hodsock Priory. Another favourite place to visit with my Mum.
My wreath sits above the doors on our 1930s turntable summerhouse. We've turned our backs to the wind and swung the summerhouse around to face the wild garden. There's wild garlic thriving on the right, under the willow. I'm really pleased to see snowdrops I planted three years ago starting to form little clumps. How long, I wonder, before the scene is a sea of white. I shall have to wait and see.
Links :
I'm joining Cathy for her IAVOM meme. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-skinny/
Chonodoxa https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/chionodoxa/chionodoxa-violet-beauty
Eranthis https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/bulbs-in-the-green/eranthis-hyemalis-winter-aconite
Easton Walled Gardens https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/
Hodsock Priory snowdrops http://www.hodsockpriory.com/about-us/the-gardens/snowdrops/
NGS snowdrop gardens to visit https://www.ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/snowdrop-gardens/
Lonicera fragrantissima https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/68665/i-Lonicera-fragrantissima-i/Details


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November Update
Hello, everyone. We're a few days out from the election and it's hard to know the right thing to say. I'm going to try but I'm not perfect and I'm not immune to my own emotions on the topic. So, here goes.
There are a lot of different emotions roiling around your hearts and minds. I know a lot of you are scared right now. Or angry. However, I want to take this time to make sure everyone knows they are loved and accepted at Foggy Pine. We don't tolerate hate speech and we support the rights of EVERY person. If you are scared, you can come be among the books and feel less afraid. If you are angry, you can come run your fingers along the spines and let the rows and rows of letters pressed together to make stories calm your mind. Books don't judge you. They don't ask who you voted for. They aren't going to debate with you. (Neither will I.) They will educate, entertain, and aid in your escape from this reality. They will expand your mind. They will deepen your empathy. Books, honestly, are a sanctuary and a weapon. You can choose what you need right now. Our doors are open.
For me, books have always been a sanctuary and that's the place I've fled to in my mind the last few days. I've been thinking a lot about Harry Potter, which makes sense if you're a Potterhead like me. The theme that keeps returning to me over and over again is to not give up HOPE. Hope is the only thing that sustains us through dark times and, while it may be hard to grasp (or even reach!), we need it as much as we need love and acceptance. So, keep your wands on Lumos because we're going to need the light.
I do have other updates.
We have a lot of events going on this month and we'd love for you to be involved. Tomorrow, 11/12, we have Baby Storytime at 6pm. Bring your child that's 2 years old or younger and we'll read a story together, sing songs and maybe play a game. There will be free coffee for parents. We'll have Toddler Storytime on 11/19 at 6pm with a similar program: story, songs, play, free coffee. This event is for children age 2 -5 years old. Also, this month is National Family Literacy Month and all children's books are 10% off!! Perfect time to get a little holiday shopping done!
We have an author reading and signing this month on 11/18 at 6pm. We will be hosting Sara Rich, our Spotlight local author, as she reads from her novel, Ligatures. You can read my review of it here. We'd love to see you at the event and you definitely won't want to miss Sara's reading.
This month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and we are hosting a write-in on 11/21 from 11am-2pm for any local participants that are looking to meet up with other writers or just have a space to write outside of their home for a while. We are hosting this on a Monday so the store will be closed and you can spread out, relax, and get some work done without worrying that you might bother shoppers or be in the way. It's being held during lunchtime so, if you still have your day job, you can come over during your lunch and add to your word count! That evening, we are also hosting a closed write-in for 4th, 7th, & 8th grade students from Two Rivers Community School who are participating in NaNoWriMo. This will be held from 4:30pm-7pm so parents have plenty of time after work to come by with their kid. There will be drinks & snacks during both events. We are *so* looking foward to it!
We're wrapping up the month with a couple things on the weekend after Thanksgiving, for which we'll be closed. First, we have Small Business Saturday on 11/26. We'll be opening early that day (and Black Friday!) at 10am to give you extra time to shop with our store-wide 25% off discount! Plus, the first 10 people to make a purchase will get a free reusable tote! The Black Friday discount changes throughout the day. 20% off for the first 3 hours and then 15% off during the rest of the day. Plus, we'll have a giveaway for a $25 gift card that you can sign up for all day! We'll do the drawing before we close Friday night. You don't want to miss these deals for your holiday shopping.
Finally, our last event is this month's book club meeting. We are discussing Stuart O'Nan's West of Sunset, a book about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. We'll be meeting on Sunday, November 27 at 6:30pm. We'll have drinks & snacks to share around and plenty of fun as we discuss this month's book. You can read more about it and RSVP here.
The last thing I'd like to mention is that we now carry Out of Print literary themed socks for just $10/pair. Stay up-to-date by following us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
Max Ruthless: Owner
September 2021


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Q: why don't college teachers check their email in summer
A: Because we do not get paid to.
Also, because your grade is final and no amount of whining from you will change that. Unless a mistake has actually been made, but that's not your argument. Your argument is that you worked "real hard" even though the grade book shows otherwise. You gotsta turn in assignments to get credit for them and you can't get extra credit after the fact. In other words, college teachers do check their email in the summer but chose not to reply to yours because there was no reason to.
Q: my kid has mandarin enrichment, math enrichment, gymnastic, piano lessons and swimming lessons and she is d till asking for dancing and skating, is it too much for a 6 year old
A: Probably not– 6 year olds are pretty flexible, especially if ze is asking for more. HOWEVER, it sounds like too much for any sane parent, unless you've got a chauffeur who isn't you. And no, you don't need to find an excuse that it's not in the kid's best interest in order to say no. You can say, "Mommy and daddy aren't martyrs and we already take you to 5 extracurricular activities and we don't want to do any more driving." That way when (if) your 6 year old is a parent, she doesn't feel like she has to sacrifice everything for her kids either.
Q: who is an ideal student?
A: We were.
Q: should i buy a house in december
A: why not? There's less supply and less demand in the winter compared to the summer, so you may be able to get a bargain or you may have to keep looking until Spring when people start putting homes on the market. Also, some areas have more seasonal housing markets than others (college towns will have very limited supply in December, but also very desperate sellers).
Q: is a second job at minimum wage worth it
A: Not to us, but it might be to you.
Q: do 2 year olds know how to manipulate their parents?
A: Depends on the kid. Generally we like to assume that kids want to do what is right, and when we do that, they tend to believe it too.
Q: what is level 3 monitoring in the emergency room visit
A: Extremely expensive.
Q: how tosay i can be shy at first then warm up
A: with a t-shirt.
Q: is it silly to have a full length blind on a half window
A: A little bit, but we don't judge you for it.
Q: being grumpy pros and cons?
A: Only pros. (We lost our amateur status.) [Not actually true– we're not getting paid for our grumpiness. We can still compete in the grumpy olympics, and not just in the off-season.]


text:
Many people mentioned the April 1st prank by Google: 8-bit maps, and a NES Google Maps cartridge (quote at 0:55: blow on the cartridge to fix bugs ROFL!)
Today Google Maps has a quest mode, rendering the maps in Nintendo NES "quality".
Few people really used it, and missed the glorious 8-bit streetview, and the really nice landmarks that you see when you zoom in to a scale of 500 meter or better.
You can even link to the 8-bit maps and to the 8-bit street view!.
Click on the images for larger versions (:


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Electrodeposition Module
Model and Control Electrodeposition Processes with the Electrodeposition Module
Study All the Important Characteristics of Your Electrodeposition Cells
Modeling and simulations are cost-effective methods for understanding, optimizing, and controlling electrodeposition processes. A typical simulation yields the current distribution at the surface of the electrodes, and the thickness and composition of the deposited layer. Simulations are used for studying important parameters such as cell geometry, electrolyte composition, electrode reaction kinetics, operating voltages and currents, as well as temperature effects. With information about these parameters, you can optimize the operating conditions of the electrochemical cells and the placement and design of masks, and ensure the quality of your surfaces, while minimizing material and energy losses.
Relevant for an Array of Diverse Electrochemical Applications
The Electrodeposition Module is suited for a wide variety of applications, including: metal deposition for electronics and electrical parts; corrosion and wear protection; decorative electroplating; electroforming of parts with thin and complex structures; etching; electromachining; electrowinning; and electrorefining. With the Electrodeposition Module, you can consider all of the participating phenomena and simulate them together. More specifically, you may couple the equations that describe current transport and conservation, chemical species transport, charge balances, and electrochemical kinetics. Due to the ability to account for several relevant phenomena, you are able to obtain accurate estimates of the quality, shape, and thickness of the deposit on the surface of the electrodes.
Tools and physics interfaces are available within the Electrodeposition Module for defining the physical characteristics of your process. Predefined formulations allow you to model primary, secondary, and tertiary current distribution effects – often excellent indicators of the surface finish and product quality of your process.
Additional Images:
Make Simulation a Part of Your Workflow
As with all chemical processes, you can study many of the effects of your electrodeposition processes at different scales, depending on your purpose. On the microscale level, this could mean investigating the electrochemical kinetics of the participating reactions and the influence of different levelers or striking conditions on the kinetics of electrodeposition. At the counter electrodes, a careful selection of electrocatalyst and electrode micro structure may be required, especially for electrowinning where you need to minimize losses. Simulating these processes and comparing them to experiments or data from your process will allow you to understand the charge transfer reaction mechanism at the electrode surfaces, and derive the electrochemical kinetics parameters, like the exchange current densities and the charge transfer coefficients for each reaction. By knowing these mechanisms and parameters, you can simulate the rate and distribution of deposition or etching at a larger scale. Simultaneously, you will be accounting for the operating conditions of the system, such as cell and electrode geometry, cell voltage or imposed current, masking and shielding, electrolyte composition and flow, gas evolution, and temperature.
The standardized COMSOL Desktop® user interface, which is the basis for the Electrodeposition Module, is also used for all the other add-on products in the COMSOL Product Suite. This enables you to couple the physics describing your electrodeposition or etching process to other modules, such as the Heat Transfer Module for studying thermal effects, or the CFD Module for understanding the effects of two-phase flow. Moreover, other physical characteristics, like structural integrity for example, can be modeled sharing the same model files that you used to model your electrochemical cell. This unified modeling platform is the perfect tool for collaborating with engineers working on the same process across different fields.
Easy-to-use Tools for Modeling Electrodeposition and Electroplating cells
The Electrodeposition Module comes with a number of easy-to-use tools for many of the characteristics associated with electrodeposition and electroplating cells. These include the following:
Electrochemical Reaction Kinetics
You can define electrochemical charge transfer reactions where the kinetics expressions can be arbitrary functions of the modeled variables. Examples of these include chemical species concentration, local electrode and electrolyte potential at the electrode-electrolyte interface, and temperature. In the Secondary and Tertiary Current Distribution interfaces, you can also enter parameters for the electrode kinetics, such as exchange current density, anodic and cathodic charge transfer coefficients, stoichiometry, and equilibrium potential for the electrode reactions in your system. Predefined expressions are also available for Butler-Volmer and Tafel expressions. Moreover, you may add several competing reactions on a single electrode surface, for instance add hydrogen evolution at the plating electrode. In the case of tertiary current distribution, you can couple the electrode reactions to the local concentration of the electroactive species in the electrode kinetics expressions by using the variables for the concentration. Concentration overpotential may also be estimated by using Nernst equations for the contribution of the concentration overpotential.
Fluid Flow
Interfaces for modeling laminar and porous media flow are also available in the Electrodeposition Module, through Navier-Stokes, Darcy's Law, and the Brinkman equations. Turbulent and two-phase flow may be considered by coupling appropriate physics interfaces from the CFD Module to your simulations.
Electrodeposited Layers
The Electrodeposition Module is further equipped with support for including the effects of geometric changes to the electrochemical process by modeling moving boundaries as the deposited layer grows in thickness at the cathode. Receding or growing surfaces can significantly affect the operation of your cell, and the Electrodeposition Module dynamically considers these changes as part of your simulation. In addition, for the cases where the deposited metal layer or anode thickness variations are small, you can also select a physics interface that keeps track of the plated layer thickness, and how this may influence ohmic effects in the electrode, without actually changing the geometry. Instead, a variable for the thickness is introduced that also affects the local electrical conductance of the electrode. The changes in thickness of the electrode can be automatically calculated from the electrode kinetic expressions by defining the stoichiometry coefficients, the molar mass, and the density of the deposited or consumed metal for the electrode reactions.
Current Balances in the Electrolyte and Electrodes
The descriptions of ion transport in the electrolyte and the electron conduction in the electrodes, in combination with the conservation of current and charge, form the backbone of the Electrodeposition Module. In the Primary and Secondary Current Distribution interfaces, ion transport in the electrolyte is assumed to take place through migration of ions, neglecting the influence of diffusion. This is useful when mixing in the electrolyte is good enough to nearly eliminate concentration gradients. Secondary current distribution formulations may also be used when you only have concentration gradients close to the electrode surface, by using analytical expressions for the concentration variations across the boundary layer at the electrode surface. In the Tertiary Current Distribution interfaces, the transport of ions in the electrolyte is described using diffusion, convection, and migration (Nernst-Planck equations). The current density is automatically evaluated by the module through adding all contributions from the transport of ions to the current density. Thus, the current density is described by diffusion and migration of ions, which is required when substantial concentration variations are present in the electrolyte. The current balance in the electrodes is fully coupled to the current balance in the electrolyte at the electrode surfaces through the electrode reaction kinetics. Ohm's law describes the conduction of current in the electrodes. The Electrodeposition Module also contains an interface for modeling current transfer through thin metallic structures or shells, for example to model the strike in the beginning of the plating process. This allows you to model thin electrodeposited layers on non-conductive structures together with current balances in the electrolyte accounting for ohmic losses in the electrodes.
Material Transport
The Electrodeposition Module models the transport of chemical species through diffusion, convection, and migration in dilute and concentrated solutions. The module includes a predefined Nernst-Planck Equations interface, but migration is also added by the module to the Chemical Species Transport interfaces in dilute and concentrated solution, as well as in porous media.
Heat Transfer
Convection, conduction, and Joule heating can all be modeled when you have the Electrodeposition Module, which contains a specific physics interface for heat transfer through porous media. The module adds contributions from electrochemical processes to the heat balance. For example, it adds the losses due to activation overpotential as heat sources at the electrode boundaries.
Product Features
- Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Current Distribution interfaces for current balances in the electrolyte
- Formulations for electroneutrality, supporting electrolyte, or Poisson equation for the charge balance equations
- Nernst-Planck equations in dilute and concentrated solutions
- Nernst-Einstein equation for relating mobility and diffusivity in electrolytes
- Ohm's law and conservation of current in the electrodes
- Nernst equation for equilibrium potential and concentration overpotential
- Automatically coupled stoichiometry and Faraday's law for automatic coupling of material and current balances to electrode reactions
- Electrode kinetics accounting for activation and concentration overpotential
- Electrocatalysis for counter electrodes, for example oxygen evolution
- Butler-Volmer and Tafel equations for predefined kinetics
- Electrode thickness variable at electrode surfaces that affects local conductance for small changes in electrode geometry during deposition
- Nernst-Planck-Poisson Equations
- Electrophoretic Transport
- Current distribution based on the boundary element method
- Moving boundaries for deposited layers on electrodes and electrochemical etching for large changes in electrode geometry
- Joule heating due to ohmic losses in the electrodes and in the electrolyte
- Heating due to activation losses
- Throwing power estimates
- Wagner Number estimates
Application Areas
- Anodizing
- Bipolar effect estimation in metal cells
- Chrome plating
- Chroming
- E-coating
- Electrocoating
- Electrocoloring
- Electrodeposition for mining applications
- Electrodeposition for PCB manufacturing
- Electroforming
- Electroplating
- Electrowinning
- Etching
- Flush layer plating
- Functional electroplating
- Hull cells
- Striking methods
- Surface finishing
- Wear resistance coatings
- Electrochemical manufacturing
- Electrochemical polishing
- Electrochemical machining
- Shielding and masking
Decorative Plating
Tutorial model of electroplating. The model uses secondary current distribution with full Butler-Volmer kinetics for both anode and cathode. The thickness of the deposited layer at the cathode is computed as well as the pattern caused by dissolution of the anode surface.
Electrodeposition of a Microconnector Bump in 2D
This model demonstrates the impact of convection and diffusion on the transport-limited electrodeposition of a copper microconnector bump (metal post). Microconnector bumps are used in various types of electronic applications for interconnecting components, for instance liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and driver chips. The location of the bumps ...
Rotating Cylinder Hull Cell
Rotating cylinder Hull cells are an important experimental tool in electroplating and electrodeposition and are used for the measurement of nonuniform current distribution, mass transport, and throwing power of plating baths. The model reproduces the results for a commercially available cell (RotaHull(R)) as published in paper [1]. In particular, ...
Secondary Current Distribution in a Zinc Electrowinning Cell
This is a model of the secondary current distribution in a zinc electrowinning cell. The model investigates the impact on the current distribution when changing the electrode alignment in a parametric study. The geometry is in 2D.
Copper Deposition in a Trench
This model demonstrates the use of moving meshes in the application of copper electrodeposition on circuit boards. In these environments, the presence of cavities or 'trenches' are apparent. The model makes use of the Tertiary, Nernst-Planck interface for electrodeposition to keep track of the deformation of the mesh. Furthermore, ...
Cyclic Voltammetry at a Macroelectrode in 1D
The purpose of the app is to demonstrate and simulate the use of cyclic voltammetry. You can vary the bulk concentration of both species, transport properties, kinetic parameters, as well as the cycling voltage window and scan rate. Cyclic voltammetry is a common analytical technique for investigating electrochemical systems. In this method, the ...
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