Thank you ANZACs

On the 25th April, 1915, the ANZAC legend was born in the battle than ensued at Gallipoli - the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) were slaughtered, but showed grit and determination - traits that continuously revealed themselves in all the conflicts and peace-keeping efforts since.

On the 25th April, our Veterans march in every city, town and village - everyone stops to cheer on those who served and to remember the beloved Fallen. In many cases, the children, grandchildren and even the great grandchildren march, wearing their loved one's medals - marching with no less pride and dignity.

We do not do this to celebrate war, we do this to celebrate, honour and to thank those who have been and are willing to lay down their lives for us.

I for one are profoundly grateful for their service.

In loving memory of my Grandpa (RAAF) and Grandad (Royal Scots Guard).

Thank you.

Charity fatigue

There has been an increase in advertising from charities begging/pleading/grovelling for us all to sign up for a monthly plan... all this is achieving is an increase of charity fatigue and charity apathy.

Ads are a nuisance at best, especially infomercials (I refuse to buy a product from an infomercial), but I find charity ads to be patronising nuisances.

C'mon charities, you're better than this...

Smartphone image sensors and solar radiation

This is a brief outline of a paper a colleague and I completed recently.

Evaluation of a Smartphone Sensor to Broadband and Narrowband Ultraviolet A Radiation (Igoe and Parisi, 2015).

This paper brings together previous research published about using narrowband filters and the possibility of using broadband UV filters on a smartphone camera for measuring direct solar UVA irradiances.

Earlier research focused on the successful use of UV narrowband filters (+ strong neutral density filters) to determine the aerosol optical depth at 340 nm and 380 nm, in Evaluating UVA Aerosol Optical Depth using a Smartphone Camera. (Igoe et al. 2013), and later, an Android app was developed and successfully tested for it in Smartphone based Android app for determining UVA aerosol optical depth and direct solar irradiances.

As smartphone cameras are not explicitly Scientific instruments, and in the case for solar UVA broadband measurements, are not calibrated as traditional equipment are, it is not possible to directly determine the direct solar broadband UVA irradiance.  However, in research published in Broadband Direct UVA Irradiance Measurement for Clear Skies Evaluated using a Smartphone (Igoe and Parisi, 2014), it was found that the broadband UVA could be reconstructed from narrowband data.  This was achieved using an adapted version of algorithms and models used in An algorithm to evaluate solar irradiance and effective dose rates using spectral UV irradiance at four selected wavelengths (Anav et al. 2004).

Integrity

Integrity is defined as "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles", some people need to learn that - especially when they choose to bad-mouth a person when they leave the room, or when they have no way of responding (as has occurred in the Stack Exchange Earth Science chat - they should actually read up on what the experts say about Anxiety instead of being armchair psychoanalysts).


Integrity is also a major part of Scientific endeavour.  Everything from diligent and honest reporting of experimental results, to accepting and giving criticism.  This is something I do all the time (well, try to, we are all only human).  

Going forward with Scientific research

Finally decided to restart this blog after a long time.

Scientific research is my main interest, in my case, incorporating a touch of engineering and re-engineering of every day devices.  The only way to really progress with Scientific research is to actually get into it and do it - then carefully and methodically write your findings and get the work published in an international journal with a congruent scope.  Also, contributing to conferences about the subject matter, this provides a wonderful means to network with like minded researchers.

I have worked hard and recently completed my PhD in Physics, at the same time as completing that research and since, I have been able to publish research in several journals, as listed in my ResearchGate profile.

I have tried forums and Stack Exchange (SE) to hopefully further my Scientific journey, neither have been suitable for this purpose.  Both are quite addictive (and fun, if time is available).

However, forums and SE are prone to power-plays, and the usual people who endeavour to make many people's lives miserable, or at least as much as a website can do.  But, I left only due to the amount of time I was spending there (up to 6 hours to research and write an answer).  I was a member on the Earth Science site there - now, my contributions are attributed to "user 889".  No real benefit can come from a site like that in terms of career and research progression - realising this, I pulled the plug on my membership there.  Having said that, the information from the contributors on all SE sites provide an invaluable resource -  but, realistically, the best resource for research is Google Scholar or similar.

(Of course there are many who will assume this, that and the other, but we know what happens to those who assume - and as always, the members there back stab when there is no way of responding -pathetic really).

My laboratory is my living room or in an area with a clear view of the sky. As a self funded Scientist, the equipment used is either borrowed or made - and sometimes this turns into a case of 'one man's trash, is another's treasure' - in my case, Scientific instrument.  Self taught in Android programming, and using everyday materials, led to the completion of the PhD, and the research being published in the Photochemistry Photobiology paper Smartphone-Based Android app for Determining UVA Aerosol Optical Depth and Direct Solar Irradiances and recently, the Radiation Protection Dosimetry paper, Broadband Direct UVA Irradiance Measurement for Clear Skies Evaluated Using a Smartphone.

Finally, if people do know a Scientist, remember, we are people too.