Update

The past week I have been working on my Fluid Dynamics Conference (FDC) paper. It is coming along nicely. However, there is plenty left to do. I am just at the point of applying the boundary conditions (BCs) after I have successfully figured out the particular solution for my general solution for the governing Bragg-Hawthorne-Long-Squire Equation (BHLSE).

I have also added material to the Bernoulli function section in my thesis which I plan to use, if wanted/needed, for the conference/journal papers, but it is not fully complete yet since I have been focusing totally on the solution. Additional material has also been added to the section over the BHLSE (general info such as first appearances).

I need to go over some parameters for the simulation so that I can give Jeisson the mesh file to generate our models. Still need to research on the CFD for inviscid and viscous models for this complex swirling flow.

I also need to work on the BL and UDV paper.

Unfortunately the hypersonics has been pushed to the back burner at the moment, but it is still in the back of my mind. I still plan to get all or the majority of my hypersonic thesis completed by the summer so that I can graduate as soon as possible. The ground testing section only needs a couple of more paragraphs with several needed source entries.

I feel as if the progress has been good, but I need to keep it up to reach my goal of complete finishing by May 2012.

A few things

Well it's been a little longer than I wanted but here is an update on my research progress. Just found out that one of my conference papers is due June 14th and Dr. Majdalani wants a final copy by June 4th so that we have ten days to go back and forth with revisions. I have a lot still left to do for my paper, and I am not sure if the problem can even be solved the way I hope I can. I need to add the particular solution to the homogeneous solution to get the full general solution, and then apply the boundary conditions.

However, I am also stuck trying to finish the ground testing section for the journal paper submission of our first hypersonic conference paper. Oh, and the other three were not accepted, and I was never notified until I emailed the session chair. The good news is that the session chair said he would let us know if any openings were available due to others withdrawing their papers.

I also need to give Jeisson the mesh files and some guidance so that he can create the rest of the mesh files. However, I need to figure out what geometries we need to pursue in a logical fashion. That is, I need to check to see if we can do certain geometrical parameters to match up with certain flow parameters so that we have even-nice-integer numbers (say inlet sizes for integer swirl numbers, etc.). I am also behind on researching the CFD on turbulence, inviscid flows, etc. by both books, papers, and CFD Online forum discussions.

So, the good progress I have been making is continuing to enter sources into EndNote and writing a quick summary on them for my papers and theses. I have made good progress on adding and organizing my files and sources. However, the entry into EndNote is quite tedious and time consuming.

My friend and colleague, Dr. Tony Saad, shared with me a new, well new to me, software that organizes your sources. It combines Zotero with EndNote! However, I am still learning it and working with it, and it seems that it may have issues with Microsoft Word. The software is called Mendeley Desktop, and it's absolutely free! It seems to be pretty powerful as you can drag and drop PDFs into your library and Mendeley will automatically pick up the information. You can also import your Zotero library and have the software "watch" folders and your Zotero library for automatic updates when you add sources to these locations. I haven't fully explored its power yet, but it seems to be a permanent solution to both EndNote and Zotero. We'll see as I don't have much time to mess with this new software. Another cool thing is that Mendeley will rename your PDFs anyway you specify which is a huge time saver. You can also link and enter information easier than Zotero, and you don't have to worry about if the download citation thingy works or not. Needs more investigation!!

So, to recap,

1. I have around 180 resources for hypersonics with many more to enter.

2. I need to finish the short addition for the ground testing section,

3. finish the historical section,

4. and begin to complete the thesis by

a. doing more literature review to bolster points (GOTCHA areas, CFD section, analytical section, and historical section).

b. Also for the CFD section I need to run some simulations in FLUENT

c. and for the analytical section I need to find a simple perturbation problem to solve and possible problems for the future

5. For the conical thesis I have over 450 references

6. I did add some to the thesis, specifically to the background of the BHLSE (Bragg-Hawthorne-Long-Squire Equation).

7. However, the most important things to do right now are take care of the papers, so I think the hypersonics will have to go to the back burner once again.

8. So I need to focus on the Chicago paper

9. but at the same time keep focus on the CFD

10. and other two papers

a. unidirectional,

b. and BL

PS I just found out how to edit posts, duh!

Linux or not to Linux?

I have always been interested in OS for computers. I can remember the early days (for me) when DOS was the essential way to use a computer. Then came along the early versions of Windows (I think 3.0 or so was the earliest I can remember). I remember still having to use DOS though for certain games or programs, so Windows was not nearly as dominate as it is now. There were also some Macs around which had similar windows OS's. Anyways, about a year or two ago I found out about Linux and its many versions or flavors. I tried it out in our lab, but ended up being frustrated because I felt it was so hard to install a simple Adobe Flash Player for Firefox. However, I really felt like I could get use to it, and I really enjoyed this new OS because of its freedom and it reminded me of the good ol' days. The versions I was exposed to were Fedora, Redhat (the pay for version, Enterprise I think?), Ubuntu, and Kubuntu.

Anyways, I have always planned to install some Linux version on my home computers so that I could mess around with it (I also even would like a Mac OS too!). The other day, my good friend and colleague, Tony Saad, told me about Wubi. Wubi is an installer for Windows that automatically installs Ubuntu on your computer with dual boot and separate partition. If you don't like it, you can unistall with no traces or problems. So I have tried it out, and it turns out I am writing this blog post from Ubuntu!! I think this is wonderful, and should spread this use of Linux to others such as myself.

Here is the link:
Wubi

Word Problems

Ok so the problem with Word was bigger than I thought, but fairly easy to fix. Every time I tried to save, close, or edit the document (change add-ins, since Endnote was not appearing) Word froze and was not responding. I thought, great, going to spend all day trying to figure this out, and I do not want to have to reinstall everything.

However, with some googling, I found that this is somewhat of a common problem, especially after updates. It seems that either the Normal.doc template is corrupt or the Windows Word Data registry becomes corrupt. Here is a link that easily solved the problem for me (registry edit fix it for me).

Word Registry Edit

Update- 6-14-10

I'm glad I posted this because it has happened again! This time on my desktop. The problem now seems to be with Mathtype and/or OriginPro8. Here are some additional links to the same post earlier.

Normal.doc Template Reset

Registry Backup

PS My laptop is running Windows 7 (updated from Vista), and my desktop still has Vista at the moment.

Blow out!

Okay, so I think I also want to use this for a research diary/log for my progress so that I can have written evidence/proof of my academic work. I had a big blow with the advisor today, so this has been influenced by his truly. If I ever become an academic advisor/professor, I will definitely know what not to do!!

So today I have been sticking to going over the papers that I have deemed important or potentially important by summarizing, referencing them in EndNote, and placing this in a word document. I have done this for both hypersonics and conical projects. This seems to be going well since I can now quickly look at what I have been over and quickly reference them in my theses. I can also look through the list since I have placed the references under categories so that when I reach a place in my theses I can quickly add the information needed by going back through the paper. Thirdly and finally, by summarizing the paper or making a few notes and placing them in categories I can quickly find and read information I forgot (since there are so many papers).

So I have, well, I was going to tell how many references I had, but I am having problems with Word and Endnote.

First off

First off, I finally have submitted into writing a blog. I am a little weary of writing about myself and posing it on the web for everyone to see. I am a little paranoid that this could come back to haunt me. Oh well, I guess I will have to be selective in what write which I hate doing because I can be a very thorough person at times. I say at times because sometimes I get really into stuff and like to be super thorough but either get in way over my head to where it is just nonsense to do what I am doing or just get completely overwhelmed and never finish. Ahh....digression, it is wonderful isn't it? I guess that is what you are supposed to do with these things, write about your feelings and thoughts, correct? Once again this brings back the paranoia because I would think about what other people think about me and would worry who could or would read this thing. Like my adviser, some random person I went to high school with, or a potential employer.

Update: 5-5-2010

Anyways, after a few years of negelct, :), I think I now want a site where I can publish my research work and ideas since I am getting older and more experienced in the field. I also would like to post scientific information or hints/tips which is inspired by my good friend and colleague Tony Saad and his blog Please Make a Note.