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Presentations In 2007

Subject Speaker Date
Museum's Dinosaur Program Dallas Evans & Victor Porter 1/08
New Computer Technologies William Lin 1/15
Climbing Mount Aconcagua Robert Meyer 1/22
Tourism in Indianapolis Bob Desautels 1/29
Following the Viking Saga Lou Stanley 2/05
Supply Chain Management Leslie Gardiner 2/12
Indiana Medical Museum Tour 2/19
Helicopter Engines Aaron Largent & Robert Duge 2/26
Indiana Geological Survey Nelson Shaffer & Kim Sowder 3/05
Why We Get Kidney Stones Dr. Jim Lingeman 3/12
How We Got Our Calendar George Dunn 3/19
Regional Science Fair Winners 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grade Winners 3/26
Ruth Lilly Health Education Center Tour 4/02
Touring Israel and Jordan Darrell Bakken 4/09
Life at a Distance Nelson Shaffer 4/16
Backpacking Down Under Bill Stanley 4/23
Genetics in Clinical Medicine Dr. Glenn Bingle 4/30
Habitat Building After Katrina John Peer 5/07
What We Do at Riley Hospital Dr. Richard Schreiner 5/14
Sleep Disorders Diane Friedman 5/21
BioCrossroads Progress David Johnson 6/04
Museum Apprentice Program MAP Group 6/11
Geographic Information System Nathan Eaton 6/18
Autisn and Related Disorders Dr. Craig Erickson 6/25
Global Hawk Jim Bettner 7/02
Athenaeum Tour Sandra Funk 7/09
Central Library Update Ann Kitchen & Cheryl Wright 7/16
Rolls Royce, Fact and Legend Charles Shoup 7/23
IU-Kenya Partnership Dr. James Lemons 7/30
Meteorites Nelson Shaffer 8/06
Religion and Medicine Rev. Steven Ivy 8/13
Athenaeum, History & Medical Events Dr. Robt. McDougal 8/20
Environmental Stress to Great Lakes Ann Kitchen & Al Steinman, PhD 8/27
Don't Throw Away the Cane! Dr. Robt. Brueckmann 9/3
Why Are Health Care Costs Rising? Daniel Evans 9/10
What is "Statistically Significant"? Dr. Thomas Spradlin 9/17
Recent Changes in Patent Practice Robert D. Titus 9/24
Adipose & Other Adult Stem Cells Dr. Keith March 10/1
Joint Strike Fighter Lisa Bianchini & Brad Belcher 10/8
Tour of Egypt Darrell Bakken 10/15
Future for Nuclear Power Dick Shire 10/22
Charitable Giving Linda Carmody 10/29
Rapid Climate Change Dr. Gabriel Filippelli 11/05
Construction of Lucas Stadium Pat Wipperman 11/12
Civil Air Patrol Richard Upton 11/19
D.J.Angus-Scientech Foundation George Cunningham 11/26
Heart Rhythms - The Beat Goes On Dr, Daniel Beckman 12/03
Ostwalt Mineral/Fossil Collection M/M Phil Ostwalt 12/10
Scientech Annual Meeting . 12/17

Vol 84 No 1 - January 8, 2007

Children's Museum Dinosaur Program

Presented By: Dallas Evans & Victor Porter


Dallas Evans and Victor Porter are both employees of the Children's Museum.  Mr. Evans, a geologist and anthropologist, set up the Dinosphere, and Mr. Porter set up and operates the specimen preparations lab—the Dinolab.

Mr. Evans talked about the museum’s leased digging site near Faith, South Dakota, where they dig each summer for dinosaur bones. The site is on an outcropping at the edge of the Badlands, on a very extensive layer of bones near the surface. They find some crocodile, turtle, T. rex, and small dinosaur bones, but mainly they find bones of a bipedal duckbill called Edmontosaurus, as long as a bus with long, massive hind legs. Mr. Evans estimated that 10,000 of them have left their bones around the museum’s site.

Each season they dig a small section of their site, using careful scientific methods. The Museum staff takes as many as 150 people there each season. Some stay for a day, and others for much longer. Teachers come to dig, to gain knowledge and educational credit, and to bring home specimens for classroom use. Students from grade school to college come to volunteer their work for the project and to experience something new. Regular volunteers of all ages come from our museum and from other places.

It can be 115 degrees on the site, but the staff is experienced at protecting themselves and their many volunteers, and local residents cater meals and provide lodging.

Mr. Porter talked about a skull which the Dinolab has recently cleaned, described and identified as a new species. It was found by three amateur paleontologists from Iowa, who entrusted it to the Dinolab. The skull proved to belong to a species of the pachycephalospore group, 10-foot dinosaurs having very massive heads, often called “butt-head” dinosaurs. This one has a flat head with horny spikes, rather than the usual domed head. Many experts have studied the skull, and agree that it is a new species, which has been named Dracorex hogwartsia. Rather than the usual species name based on the discoverer, or the place the specimen was found, this name came from suggestions of children watching the preparation process through the windows of the Dinolab.

Mr. Porter and museum staff and volunteers separated the fossil skull from the stone enclosing it, and recovered broken bits of it. The skull had been partially crushed, so there were many bits. Casts of all the pieces were made and fitted together, and long, careful studies carried out to see what was missing, and what the skull had been like in life. Finally a cast of the whole skull was made for exhibit and study.

Experts have studied the work of Dinolab and confirmed its quality and accuracy, and Dracorex is an accepted addition to the dinosaur family.

Finally, we were escorted down to the Dinosphere and Dinolab, and we could talk to museum staff and volunteers. The volunteers are very impressive people.

The Dinosphere is the hemisphere at the corner of Illinois and 30th, of course, and it is full of splendid dinosaur exhibits.If you haven’t been there, grab a grandchild and see it right away.

Notes by Joe Jones



Vol 84 No 2 - January 15, 2007

New Computer Technologies

Presented By: Dr. William Lin


Dr. William Lin is the director of the computer network center at the Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology on the campus of IUPUI. Dr. Lin provided the members a lecture on exploring technologies around the United States. After the lecture, the members were able to visit the computer laboratories in the computer center. Intersecting technology has been implemented by the internet which has enhanced globalization. IS has now a new name called Informing Science that is the convergence of all types of communications.

Dr. Lin provided two demonstrations of how two internet technologies that uses the internet to communicate and to teach. The use of VOIP (voice over IP) has grown over the past few years with the introduction of such programs as Skype (www.skype.com), Comcast digital, and Vontage (www.vonnage-vontage.com). Dr. Lin gave us a demo of Skype showing how you can use it to call any phone in the entire world for around $0.02/min. Skype also supports the use of a video camera so that not only can you speak with your party, but you can see them as well. The author has used this technology since its introduction. Dr. Lin pointed out the differences in the technology used by Vontage and Comcast Digital.

The next demonstration was Goggle Earth (www.earth.goggle.com) and its ability to see and learn about the entire planet we live on. Along with Goggle, Microsoft has introduced a new product using the same technology to view the planet in three dimensions. Virtual Earth (www.microsoft.com/virtualearth) can show many areas of the globe in extremely high definition allow the user to see the detail of automobiles. Both the Goggle Earth and Virtual Earth are an excellent way to learn about new destinations in almost real life.

By the use of Informing Science we have now been able to move the class room into the home, or just about anyplace where a high speed internet connection is made. This is very apparent in such places as Starbucks and other places where both the business man and the student can learn and do business from anywhere. The classroom technology of the past has moved to online technology.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 3 - January 22,2007

Climbing Mount Aconcagua

Presented By: Robert Meyer


Our speaker today was Robert Meyer who provided the membership an overview of his family’s climb of Mt. Aconcagua. Mt. Aconcagua is located in Argentina and is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere The mountain has a number of glaciers, and is the 60th highest mountain in the world.

Due to the slow climb, no Oxygen is needed to reach the peak of 23,831 ft. Bob’s two daughters felt that a family climbing experience would be fun, much to the displeasure of Bob’s wife Gayle. On December 19th, 2004 Bob, his wife Gayle and his two daughters’s Anna and Molly began their assault of the mountain. Bob retained the services of two professional American guides John and Olivia. Bob felt that having a female guide, Olivia, would be of benefit to his wife and daughters. Both of his daughters are experienced climbers, while this climb would be a first for Gayle. Bob’s family adventure would be the first family to climb Aconcagua.

Bob outlined the detail needed for such a climb. Excel spreadsheets were used to organize who was bringing what. Each day’s food was likewise detailed to ensure each member had food that they really liked, and that it would provide the calorie content needed. After their arrival from Indianapolis it took two days just to sort out their equipment.

Bob told us that the biggest risk in this climb is the altitude. Along with the altitude, cold weather ranging from 60 to below zero, with high winds made it tough to leave the tent on some days. The last challenge was the availability of clean water. The area is very dry, and over the years there is a high level of dried human waste that makes the trip dirty and can cause some serious side effects. Regarding altitude sickness, Bob has found that ½ tablet of Diamox is good drug for the side effects of altitude. Another tough issue for Gayle and the rest of the team was 17 days without a shower.

On the final push to the top they started out at 1:00 AM in the morning. Gayle was not able to keep up the pace of 400 ft/hour (acent rate) and decended before summiting. Olivia accompanied her down.

Upon reaching the top, they all recited a poem that they memorized.

       High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, —and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor even eagle flew—

And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.


After they departed from the peak, two other climbers died on the peak from exhaustion. Bob's talk and slides were enjoyed by all.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 4 - January 29,2007

Impact of Tourism on Indianapolis

Presented By: Bob Desautels


Bob Desautels is the senior manager of convention services for the convention center here in Indianapolis. In Indiana, the Convention Center is a private entity, and not work of the city or state government. The convention center has had five major expansions: Phase I – 1972, Phase 2 – 1984, Phase 3 – 1994, Phase 4 – 2001, and Phase 5 to be finished 2010. The convention center is a product of money that is fueled by demand, economic impact, NAAC and the Colts.

The hotels in downtown Indianapolis have an average occupancy of over 70% on any given night. This is the highest occupancy of any hotel group in the United States. This growth rate continues to demand expansion.

The Indianapolis Convention business is becoming the talk of the country with national meeting organizers. The convention center has coined the phase “So Easy to do so Much”.

Indianapolis offers its visitors walk ability. Another indicator of the growth of Indianapolis is that 73% of the customers who purchase an item in the Circle City Mall come from outside the Indianapolis marketplace. The Convention Center is now the 15th largest center in the United States.

By the time Phase V is finished, our city will see 18 to 23 more conventions, and the Stadium will add 134,000 sq. ft. of floor space.

The Stadium height from the playing floor to the top will be much greater than the current Dome height of 190 ft. The Stadium will be finished in August, 2008 and provide 63,000 seats for Colts games, and the ability to expand to 73,000 seats for the NCAA games. The construction and maintenance of the stadium will add 10,000 jobs to the Indianapolis economy.

At the end of Bob’s talk many questions came from the membership about the plus and negatives of this project. Yet, one member reminded us what our city looked like back in the late 1960’s and it how it looks today.

It would be hard to argue the our city has not seen exceptional growth, and when compared to our sister cities within a 4 hour drive, Indianapolis stands out as a leader in the Midwest as a place where it is: “So Easy to do so Much”.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 5 - February 5, 2007

Following the Viking Saga

Presented By: Mary Lou Stanley

Lou Stanley

Lou Stanley


She began by talking about the Vikings and their trail across Iceland, Greenland and the North American coast beautifully illustrated with pictures and stories. A lot is known about the Vikings from their ships which survive as they buried their leaders in them. As burial chambers, they were better protected and remained mostly intact.

The ships were unique indeed as they afforded the Vikings the ability to accomplish so much. These included the war ship “longship” and the merchant ship “knarr” The former was light swift and able to move easily in 3 feet of water. The latter was slower and more seaworthy allowing their large rectangular sails to accomplish their far-flung victories and exploration. Their first attacks on other countries occurred in 793 then they sought out and conquered undefended locations in England, Scotland, Ireland and France. They plundered in Africa and Arabia leading ultimately to a complete takeover of England. Other bands of Vikings struck out westward to Iceland, Greenland and briefly in North America. The Viking sagas are an important part of the heritage of the various lands they subdued. Many of these Vikings were hardened, tough and often not very nice, killing those who opposed them.

The talk included a variety of information about Greenland, Iceland and other areas of capture, exploration and plunder and the activities of traders like Leif Erickson helping to strengthen the ties between Greenland Vikings and Norway. Most all these Viking settlements vanished for some reason no one knows They did survive for over 500 years; an accomplishment many modern countries can’t claim. Total understanding of all that happened is not known and yet climate changes may have had much to do with the results. Due to the wide variety of wonderful photos, it is clear that much animal life exists in the cold regions that were former homes to the brave Vikings.

Bill and Lou advise us to make future plans to travel there and see firsthand its beauty. They traveled there and brought us this most interesting story.

Notes by John Williams



Vol 84 No 6 - February 12,2007

Supply Chain Management

Presented By: Dr. Leslie Gardner

Dr. Leslie Gardner

Dr. Leslie Gardner


Our speaker today was Dr. Leslie Gardner, Professor of Operations, Management and Mathematics at the University of Indianapolis. Leslie provided the membership an overview of Supply Chain Management. During her talk, she mentioned that Supply Chain is really a supply network. She reviewed why Indiana and Indianapolis is right in the middle of the supply chain of materials to both the United States and the world.

Here are some fast facts to document why Indiana is so important. 75% percent of the US population live within a one day’s truck drive from Indiana, Indiana has more interstate highways passing through it than any other state, Indiana has 1/9 of the nation’s total railroad mileage, Indiana ranks 14th in the nation in waterborne shipping, more freight passes annually along the Ohio River on Indiana’s southern boarder than through the Panama Canal.

Supply chain management is a cutting edge business strategy that integrates internal and external logistics across many manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, transportation providers, and third party logistics firms to increase productivity and to obtain a competitive advantage for all parties. Many supply chain titles are held in industry, including buyer, transportation manager, scheduler, plant manager, and VP of operations.

The University of Indianapolis and Leslie feel that Indiana should be a leader in the field of supply chain education. The University of Indianapolis now has a curriculum for their MBA program that is focused on Supply Change Management. Leslie is also very active in an outreach program for local high schools and partnerships with professional societies. The University has established a “Supply Chain Academy” that provides their students, high schools and local industry with a comprehensive resource in this field. The University is now the sponsor of the SupplyNet conference held every two years.

Leslie then reviewed some of her work as a consultant for Dow AgroSciences. Leslie’s education in mathematics allowed her to use MILP models and spreadsheet simulations of the bullwhip effect in supply chains. The Bullwhip Effect shows the demand order variability that is amplified as one move up the supply chain. This can cause excessive inventory, insufficient and/or excessive capacities, unavailable products, long backlogs, and costs for expedited shipments and overtime. The MILP Model maximizes profitability of supply chains. It also provides the ability to select optimal sourcing, choice of factory for source and customer, and customers to serve and from which factories. She provided slides showing a 4-Echelon Case. Leslie provided the members an excellent review of a complex subject that Indiana plays a large role in.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 7 -February 19, 2007

Tour of Indiana Medical Museum

Dr. Robert McDougal

Dr. Robert McDougal


Thanks to the efforts of our member Bob McDougal, MD and Deanne Slater, RN the members enjoyed a private tour of the Indiana Medical History Museum (www.imhm.org) located on the grounds of the old Central State Hospital at 3045 West Vermont Street, Indianapolis, IN. The IMHM is “Dedicated to preserving the heritage of healing arts in Indiana”. The Indiana Medical History Museum interprets scientific medicine of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The museum is housed in the Old Pathology Building, a nineteen-room facility constructed in 1896 on the grounds of the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. The building includes three clinical laboratories and a photography laboratory to support study and research on the physical causes of mental disease. From the early twentieth century to 1956 medical students and physicians attended lectures on mental and nervous disorders in the building’s 100 seat amphitheater. During the tour the group had the pleasure of seeing this room. Until the 20’s the center of the room held an autopsy table. This table was removed because of the fact that the facility felt that diseases could be transmitted from the bodies shown on the table.

The laboratories represent the beginning of scientific psychiatry and modern medicine. The building is the oldest free standing pathology facility in the nation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The members broke up into small tour groups and were able to visit each of the laboratories to see the vast amount of instrumentation in each room. Many of the rooms have on display histological samples that are preserved. Many members enjoyed seeing the many sections of brains from past patients from the state hospital. Dr. McDougal over the past few years has opened the old jars, and replaced the fluid, and then sealed the jars using glass tops, instead of the plastic tops. Virginia Terpenning

Recently a new exhibit has been opened just south of the main building. This exhibit is a twentieth century doctor’s office that is dedicated to the family physicians that practiced in the Hoosier Heartland.

The members enjoyed many wall hangings that included historical documents and art work. One document showed the history of the Indiana University School of Medicine from 1830 until 1930 which was very interesting. The author and others noticed a picture of the one and only class of physicians from Purdue University. The Museum has many educational programs each year, with the next one being on Doctoring in the African American Community on February 21st.

During the summer months, the museum’s medicinal plant garden offers the opportunity to remember that plants were the original source of most medicines

If you have not seen this wonderful piece of history in our home town, I highly suggest that you take your family and visit the museum. The hours of the museum are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday with a nominal $5.00 admission fee.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 8 - February 26, 2007

Helicopter Engines

Presented By: Aaron Largent & Robert Duge


Mr. Largent is Director of Business Development, Collaborations, and Partnerships for Rolls-Royce, within the helicopter division. Mr.Duge is the Director for High-Mach Engines withing LibertyWorks, a company within Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce is a large British-based company of $13.2B annual sales with a five-faceted business strategy: compete in 4 global markets; invest in technological capability and infrastructure; develop a competitive portfolio of products and services; grow in market share and installed units; and add value in the form of customer satisfaction. The company was started in 1884 as the F.H. Royce Co., and in the early 20th century the Rolls-Royce automobile established the Rolls-Royce mark of quality around the world.

The four markets in which Rolls-Royce is active are civil aerospace, defense aerospace (including the helicopter division), marine, and energy. They are #2 in the world in civil and defense aerospace. They are #1 in the world in the marine division, and number 70 navies among their customers. They currently have 54K gas turbines in service around the world. Among their products is a service called TotalCare, which provides for service and overhaul of engines as needed from the date of their introduction into service. There are 7 different helicopter engines in their marketed portfolio.

Though based in the UK, Rolls-Royce is truly a global company. They have customers in 150 countries, and 40% of their employees are outside the UK. Half the R&D is done outside the UK, they manufacture in 20 counties, and their repair and overhaul network is on 4 continents.

Mr. Duge gave a brief overview of the RATTLRS (Revolutionary Approach to Time-Critical Long Range Strike) program, which is based upon the Rolls Royce engine technology. This is a missile currently under development that might someday replace the CRUISE missiles, which are believed to travel too slowly.

According to specifications, the missile will be 20 ft long and weigh 2000 lb., and will cruise at speeds of Mach 3+ at an altitude of 70K feet with a range of 500+ miles. It is intended to permit rapid delivery of a warhead to a remote location. Mock-ups of the missile have been presented and photographed, and the program is getting a good deal of attention from the popular press, even though its internal workings are classified.

One problem associated with engines that run at such high speeds is the high temperatures reached by the gases, even as they enter the engine. All the systems have to be designed to run smoothly at super high temperatures.

Mr. Duge also mentioned another project called the Falcon, which will be a hypersonic (Mach 5+) aerial vehicle. The principal contractor is Lockheed, but Rolls-Royce has been subcontracted for the same engine that will drive RATTLR. This engine will get the craft up to the speed of about Mach 3.5, then will shut down and a Ramjet-Scramjet engine from Pratt & Whitney will take over the acceleration. The Rolls-Royce engines will take over again during deceleration to landing.

The Falcon project might even have space applications, because there is a wish to have spacecraft take off from a horizontal, rather than vertical, position.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 9 - March 5, 2007

Programs, Projects and Resources at the Indiana Geological Survey

Presented By: Dr. Nelson Shaffer and Ms. Kim Sowder

Nelson Shaffer

Nelson Shaffer


Dr. Shaffer is the Head of the Coal and Industrial Minerals Section of the IGS, and Kim Sowder is Cartographic Coordinator in the Information Technology Section.

The IGS started in New Albany in 1837, when David Dale Owen was commissioned to do a survey of Indiana. It is currently located at Indiana University in Bloomington, and has 77 employees. It is a research institute of Indiana University.

The principal portal to the activities of the IGS is their website at http://igs.indiana.edu. Over the last 2-3 years the website has grown exponentially in traffic, and is now a popular site.

The mission of the IGS is to provide geologic information and counsel that contribute to the wise stewardship of the energy, mineral, and water resources of the state. They accomplish this through 3 main avenues: 1. Focused research initiatives and cooperative investigations with governmental agencies, businesses, and industries, and educational organizations; 2. Geologic sample and data collection and archiving; and 3. Dissemination of information in many forms, including published maps, reports, databases, and educational outreach programs.

The IGS has a large number of publications and reports of various kinds. Many are available free for download on their website, others are for sale for a nominal charge. These publications are found useful by educators at all levels. Also, staff at IGS consults with a large number of other groups, such as 4-H clubs, scouts, rock clubs, mineral shows, professional journals, museums, governmental agencies, etc. For example, IGS staff has made extensive geologic studies of the proposed route for the I-69 expansion in SW Indiana. They also consult with news organizations on geologic issues that capture the public attention, such as sinkholes, groundwater, caves, and earthquakes.

Kim Sowder

Kim Sowder

Examples of their products include magazines, technical reports, brochures, etc., on many aspects of Indiana’s geology. This includes reports on coal, oil and gas resources, sand, rock and aggregates, and other more exotic topics such as seismic risk, historic glaciations, and bat populations.

Of particular interest are their various products for teachers. Inexpensive rock kits are available for teaching about the kinds of rocks and crystals. A wide variety of posters about geology are available, as are devices for teaching about seismic. Handy Handouts are a product for sale to teachers, which include complete lesson plans for teaching some aspect of Indiana geology.

The IGS website has a catalog of over 200 maps of various features in Indiana, and they can be overlaid in any combination. There will be a Scientech presentation on this topic specifically in June. The website also has a catalog of their bookstore, which offers various posters (examples: Minerals of Indiana, Fossils of Indiana), booklets, geologic guides to the state parks, even a history of the Indiana shoreline of Lake Michigan. Geology-related gift items are also for sale, such as calendars and picture books.

There is a long list of current research projects, which will undoubtedly lead to many more of the various products supplied by the IGS

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 10 - March 12, 2007

Understanding Why People Get Kidney Stones

Presented By: James E. Lingeman, M.D.

Dr. James Lingeman

Dr. Jim Lingeman is an Indy native, graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1974, trained in Urology and joined the staff at IU. There he performed surgery on kidney stone patients and staffed a Kidney Stone Clinic when he was recruited by Methodist to be the lead Urologist in ESWL research. He was a pioneer in ESWL and then Percutaneous Surgery (PERC) to remove stones from Kidneys. He has authored numerous papers, taught many fellows and lectured around the world. But he always wondered: Why do people get kidney stones?

In 1984 in Indianapolis the first Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotrypsy (ESWL) machine in the USA was delivered to Methodist Hospital and the Colts came to town. More ESWL has been done at Methodist Hospital than any other in the world; the Colts just won the Super Bowl.

In 1937 Dr. Alexander Randall discovered apatite (calcium phosphate) crystals in the papilla of the kidney. There are 8-10 papilla in each kidney and from them drops of urine are excreted. He speculated that the apatite crystals were a nidus on which calcium oxalate crystals could attach and then grow to form a stone. He thought that this was the basis for all stone formation (it is a major cause but not the only one). In the 1970’s his theory was replaced by one put forward by Dr. Birdwell Finlayson, a Urologist and Physical Chemist, who thought that urine oxalate was key to formation, since oxalate is a much more powerful contributor in a physical chemistry sense.

Dr. Lingeman performs more than 300 PERC’s per year and he noticed the Randall’s plaques during surgical procedures. In 1999 a grant was obtained from NIH to study papillas in non-stone patients undergoing kidney surgery and in those with stones. Biopsies were taken from each group of patients and digital videos performed. Few plaques were found in the non-stone patients. No crystals were located in the kidney tubule or tubular cells but they were found in the interstitial area. Micro CT studies of stone material attached to the papilla show that it contains about 1% apatite and 99% calcium oxalate, with the apatite portion attached to the papilla. Further studies demonstrated that the patients with the most plaques were the ones who had the most active kidney stone histories. The amount of plaques was proportional to the urine calcium and pH and inversely proportional to the urine volume.

Dr. Lingeman pointed out that not all types of kidney stones are produced in this manner. In exciting studies of patients with calcium oxalate stones following bariatric surgery and in those with cystine stones (a rare inherited type of kidney stone), the stone material is not found in the interstitial area but is located in the kidney tubule itself. Thus Randall’s plaques are not a factor in these patients.

This research is being done by scientists at Methodist Hospital, IU and the University of Chicago in a collaborative study. These are revolutionary studies that will greatly assist us in the understanding of how kidney stones form. The next challenge will be to try to decrease or eliminate the formation of plaques or find a way to remove them.

This research can be viewed at: www.iksi.org.

Notes by Bill Dick



Vol 84 No 11 - March 19, 2007

How We Got Our Calendar

Presented By: George Dunn

George Dunn

George Dunn is an Indiana University graduate in psychology and retired from the Department of Defense.

The speaker started to gather information for this presentation on calendars and time keeping over twenty years ago. He says, tongue-in-cheek, that his original title was “A Brief History of Time.” Dunn claims NOT to know the author of the now-famous book of the same name, Professor Stephen Hawking.

How and why did the modern calendar evolve? Dunn theorizes that tradition plays a large part in its development. An initial groundwork or format was laid down and we have continued to use it because it satisfied our needs and we had no particularly good reason to change it.

Development of months of the years originates from lunar cycles. Sidereal months are 27 1/3 days and synodic months are 29 1/2 days. The difference is due to differing positions of the earth in relation to the sun and the stellar targets. Between these differing lengths of time is 28 days, the general period of time we use to indicate the number of days it takes the moon to orbit the earth. Months as defined here do not exactly fit into the year that it takes the earth to orbit the sun. It takes 19 years for the lunar cycle to come around to match the solar cycle.

Months have been named in a variety of ways. Roman names predominate, although the Romans only had 10 months. During the French Revolution, an unsuccessful attempt was made to re-name the months in an effort to erase all vestiges of the monarchy.

The days of the week are generally named after planets by way of Chaldean gods and filtered through Greek and Roman mythology. They are not, however, arranged in order according to placement in the solar system. Constellations were recognized as having regular cycles through the heavens in ancient times. Planets appear to “wander” through these constellations on a different schedule. Ancient astronomers knew that these bodies moved at different speeds. When arranged by apparent speed, the seven planets provide us with the days of the week in a specific order. Why are there seven days of the week? It is one quarter of the 28-day lunar cycle.

Notes by Jim Reid



Vol 84 No 12 - March 26, 2007

Science Fair Award Winners

2007 Central Indiana Regional Science Fair


Science Fair Results are displayed on a separate page. Click on the subject in the index table above.



Vol 84 No 13 - April 2, 2007

Ruth Lilly Health Education Center

Presented By: Julian Peebles and Verlyn Wilson Julian Peebles


Approximately 28 members attended a tour of the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center located at 2055 North Senate Avenue in Indianapolis. While the center uses the name of Ruth Lilly, it has no formal connection with the Lilly Company or its foundation.

Mr. Julian Peebles the President of the center provided the members an overview of the center right after our lunch, which was held in the conference area directly off the front entrance. The center has been in operation for 17 years and has served over 1.5 million school children of central Indiana. The center services schools and other youth organization such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Healthy Youth Indiana.

Their services are enjoyed by over 600 schools, 6000 teachers, and 50 Indiana counties. Presently they have an annual budget of 1.5 million dollars. 30% of the annual cost comes from fees ($3.00) per school child, and 70% from grants. In the past three years, Lilly has provided 3 million to develop and continue the learning laboratories of the center.

The Ruth Lilly Health Education Center’s mission is: “Teaching health because lives depend on it.” The center specializes in teaching the importance of making healthy choices everyday.

Verlyn Wilson Mrs. Verlyn Wilson, RN a senior member of the staff provided the membership a tour of three of the 8 teaching laboratories that could be called class rooms. These laboratories are specially designed using the latest in computer technology and visual effects. Not only can you see and hear, but one of the laboratories provides other sensory input such as feel, and smell. The laboratories provide sixty unique health programs specifically designed to make each trip to the center fun, engaging, educational and inspiring. Wireless headphones provide bilingual support, while a life-size model of the female body gives an excellent visual representation of the body. In one of the laboratories we visited, 3D glasses were provided to help in the visualization of the program material.

All of the programs cover an array of Indiana state health and science education standards and many are supplemented by a packet of teacher handouts.

Meyer and Mink The Center is one of 14 internet 2 locations in the state of Indiana. Julian Peebles is working with all of the high speed data companies in developing technology to allow the educational materials available in the center to be distributed to schools within the state of Indiana.

The Center is the second largest health education center within the US, with the largest being in Chicago. This center is something that we can all be proud of, and it is making a difference in the health of our children. The children of Indiana are among the least health children of the United States, and the Ruth Lilly Center is making a difference.

For more information, please go to www.rlhec.org

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 14 - April 9, 2007

Touring Israel and Jordan

Presented By: Darrell Bakken Darrell Bakken


Mr. Darrel Bakken a fellow member and board member provided a review of his trip in December of 2006. Darrel joined 72 other people to view Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Today’s meeting covered his travels in Israel and Jordan. This trip was the end of a life long dream to see the holy lands. Past trips included trips to the Rome, Turkey, Arabian Gulf and Greece. Darrel wanted to learn more about his Christian faith, as well as the faith of the Muslims and Jewish people.

Darrel found that tourism is a major part of the economy of Israel and Egypt. Over 350 cruise boats run the Nile River and over 1.5 million people visit Egypt each year. Approximately the same number visit Israel. The West Bank Wall has provided a high level of security for both the people and tourists in Israel and Jordan. The wall is between 24 and 36 feet high, and has only a few passages that are well guarded. Jordan is made up of over 95% Muslims. He described the vast difference in buildings and building codes between the walls of the West Bank. The Jordanian people build a 3 or 4 story building, where the builder occupies the first floor, and then each floor above his is occupied by his sons and daughters, or grandchildren. There are few if any building standards in Jordan.

Darrel then told about how over the last 2000 plus years churches have been build on top of each other. A good example of this is the Basilica where the present church is the 5th structure to stand on the site.

Darrel then showed pictures of the Wailing Wall, which is called the West Wall in Jerusalem. Women are only allowed in the area of the wall to attend a ceremony, such as their wedding. Jewish men dressed in a suit would approach, and offer to say a prayer for you at the wall for $1.00.

Darrel shared travel brochures from the Via Dolorosa, and indicated that each station was sometimes hard to find, and that you needed to look carefully. Along the path, many churches are housed. Many of the churches in the area have more than one faith located in the same building.

We were able to see pictures of the Dead Sea, and Darrell indicated that both his wife and daughter found the dead sea mud, sold in gift shops, very good for their skin. Many people visit the Dead Sea to enjoy mud baths.

Jordan holds the famous city of Petra. The “temple of doom” from the “Jones” movie is really the treasury building of the city, and the area behind the large stone columns is very small.

Darrell told the club that he felt extremely safe during his visit, and recommended that that it be a trip that we should consider. Yet he did recommend that the months of December thru March are the best months due to the extremely high temperatures. In viewing his literature the area did look extremely dry.

Again Darrell has provided us with an excellent talk.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 15 - April 16, 2007

Life at a Distance: Electronic Panspermia

Presented By: Dr. Nelson Shaffer Dr. Nelson Shaffer


Dr. Shaffer is with Indiana University. He is the Head of the Coal and Industrial Minerals Section of the Indiana Geologic Survey, and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Panspermia is an ancient conjecture that the seeds of life are scattered throughout the universe, and can be transferred from one spot to another. Dr. Shaffer has modified the notion somewhat, and calls his version transpermia. His conjecture is that, since the essence of life is the genetic code, and since the code has simple digital representation, it is not necessary that physical “seeds” of life be transmitted, but instead it might be possible to transmit the code of life electronically.

It is natural to think about these things, Dr. Shaffer feels, because we have an innate desire to be one with the universe, and part of that is to identify ourselves to any other life that may exist. Examples of this human desire abound. The Voyager satellites, now escaped from the solar system, carry plates with digital descriptions of who we are, where we live, our understanding of mathematics, and some idea of our biology. We have built huge radio telescopes to try to find evidence of extraterrestrial life, and have used the giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico to transmit a signal describing us. We have a large network of telescopes scanning the skies at a wide range of radiofrequencies, looking for signs of life out there. There are a number of estimates of the number of civilizations that may be out there, for example the Drake equation estimates there may be about 900 in the Milky Way Galaxy.

There is an enormous range of radio waves that could transmit information like the genetic code over vast distances with little loss of information. For example, there are waves of length 3.4 nanometers, which is the length of one helical turn of DNA. Radio transmission would be safe, cheap, fast (speed of light!), and could handle a large volume of information. Even if there is no “receiver” for the information, such as our radio telescopes, some mineral surfaces may be receptive.

Years ago, the Ury/Miller experiment showed that life-like compounds, such as some amino acids, can be formed from a spark striking a collection of gases similar to the earth’s atmosphere at the time of the origin of life on earth. (This process makes equal quantities of the L and R enantiomers, so it is left to explain why life processes use only the L.)

To date, 151 of these “biomolecules” have been found in space, whether in meteorites or in flybys of comets. Some high energy event might have caused some of the biomolecules to form into polymers. Such a high energy event on earth might have been a lightning strike, meteorite strike, volcano, etc.

Some meteorites have even been found to contain “formed elements” which some believe might be evidence of extraterrestrial life of some kind. And life has been found to be extraordinarily tenacious, as living things thrive in all kinds of conditions that humans would consider impossibly hostile.

Biologic structural integrity can be preserved by inclusion in mineral deposits, even if the life itself cannot. A good deal is known about the effects of electromagnetic waves on crystals, and indeed crystals can affect radiation as well. Study of the effects of radiation on crystals of different lattice structures could be enlightening.

Biomolecules appear to be widely dispersed in the universe, as far as we can tell. Similarly, radiation is able to travel great distances. The notion of a role for electromagnetic radiation in the dispersal of life and life-related chemicals is deserving of thought.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 16 - April 23, 2007

Backpacking Down Under

Presented By: Bill Stanley Bill Stanley


Bill Stanley, a fellow member and Club secretary, provided a review of his back packing trips to Australia and New Zealand in the 1990’s.

Like Darrel a few weeks ago, Bill also had problems with the new-fangled machines that make it much harder than one can imagine transferring travel photos to computer images. It was a pleasure to see a 35 mm projector again, and the quality of Bill’s images was wonderful. Bill’s wife was the projector operator

Bill found that the most popular backpacking trail in Australia is on the southern island of Tasmania which receives more rain than he rest of the country. The trail traverses Cradle Mountain national park and World Heritage site. More than 8000 hikers enjoy the 6-day, 8000-km walk each year. Cradle Mountain also has a trail run each year that has a best time of 7 hrs and 25 min. Bill’s slides showed a number of sights along the trail, such as Barn Butte, Mount Pelion, and Mount Ossa which is the highest peak in Tasmania. Each evening, the hikers would spend the night in huts, all identical except for one which was the mirror image of all the others.

Bill then moved North to show pictures of shorter hikes in Big Red Center, and the Kimberley’s located in Northwest Australia. This virtually unpopulated area is a major source of diamonds, pearls, and iron ore. Like many, Bill and his wife also visited Ayers Rock (call Uhluru by the aborigines). They were able to see Ayers Rock during a once-in-a-life-time rain storm and showed us a picture of a water fall coming off the peak. The Stanley's crossed the Kimberley’s by safari wagon on a three-week safari and hiked to the celebrated triple Mitchell Falls which, however, were completely dry at the time. Fortunately, they were able to return to the falls on a later trip during the rainy season, this time by helicopter.

After Australia, the Stanley's showed us slides of Kiwi land, New Zealand. New Zealand has two major islands, North and South, and the citizens claim another far off Western Island. For some reason, this western island has the look of Australia.

The South Island is home to the Milford Track, modestly described as the finest walk in the world. The Milford walk takes 5 days and covers a 54 km trail. You can hike the trail at nominal cost by carrying all of your food and equipment or stop each night at lodges that provide beds, showers, food, and even beer. However, all of this service is not cheap. The trail goes up Clinton Valley to McKinnon Pass, on top of which is the well-known 12-Second Drop and the famous "othouse with a view". Near the end, the trail passes by Sutherland Falls, the 5th highest water fall in the world at 1904 ft. The hike ends at Sandfly Point that provides a very unpleasant experience with the sand flies.

Other backpacking trails on the South Island include the ST. James Walkway, the Abel Tasman Trail, and the Mt. Aspiring trail. Bill finished his talk with several pictures of the popular Kiwi sport of bungy jumping at Kawarau Bridge where it's free for individuals over 70.

All of the members enjoyed Bill’s slides, and for those of us who have traveled in the world “down under” it sparked our interest to return.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 17 - April 30, 2007

Genetics in Clinical Medicine

Presented By: Dr. Glenn Jay Bingle Dr. Glenn Bingle


Our speaker was Glenn Jay Bingle, M.D., Ph.D., professor of genetics, and chief medical officer of Community Hospitals. His topic was genetic testing in medicine, and he started by asking if anyone wanted a genetic test today. No one did, so he found the oldest member and proposed cloning his durable genes!

Community Hospitals had only two genetically-trained people on staff when it first began genetic work, and now it is a member of a nationwide network of hospitals and research institutions which share their research and testing results. They share their results with both private and public organizations. It should be remembered that laws all over the country now prevent discrimination against anyone because of their genetic makeup, as shown by testing.

How completely do we understand our genetic makeup? A person has about 30,000 genes, so each would need that many genetic tests—but each would need protein tests as well, for complete understanding.

Are “bad” genes a defense in court? Not yet, at least; behavioral genes may exist and influence our legal or illegal actions, but research on them, if they exist, is only starting.

A gene test costs $150 to $10,000 and some are carried out only in research and so are not readily available.

Does anyone here want to be cloned? None of the audience volunteered. Cloning is the bugaboo that deters many people from anything that has to do with genetic research and testing. Actually, up to now only a few animals have been cloned successfully—some over-rich fellow has spent $10 million trying vainly to clone his dog. A renegade lab in another country claimed that it has cloned a human, but it presents no evidence and presumably is a fraud.

We’ve located 22,000 of the 30,000 human genes, and now know that they are associated with 1500 disorders, using about 800 gene tests. Each typical person carries about 5-7 gene mutations, some of which may affect some disorder.

Gene tests are now used in crime detection and paternity testing, as well as in medicine. Prenatal testing is not of personal interest to our membership!

If you want a confidential gene test, you can go to the DNADirect website, and order from a long menu of gene tests, pay for your tests and quickly get the results.

Today 539 gene tests are in clinical use, and 376 more are used in research only. A research test may or may not produce an answer for the patient.

Genetics testing will soon give doctors and patients much better predictions and diagnoses, and probably will reduce likelihood of drug side effects, by avoiding use of drugs which affect the patient’s specific genetic makeup. For example, there is a gene mutation which causes aminoglycoside antibiotics to damage the patient’s hearing severely.

So why not repair the patient, by engineering away the gene mutation? Maybe someday. Some research has been done, but so far the little research in patients has had only disastrous results.

However, you can buy a gene test for Alpha 1 Deficiency. If the test is positive, you must not smoke, because you are very susceptible to emphysema. Similarly, another gene mutation leads to cirrhosis of the liver, so if you have it, don’t drink.

Genetic testing can be very valuable. Some years ago the Brca-1 gene, which is important in the development of breast cancer, was discovered and patented, and the patentees expected to make billions. But there turned out to be a number of other breast cancer-affecting genes. Nevertheless, there are many profitable companies marketing tests, test materials, and testing services.

If you want specific gene tests yourself, you can go to Genetests.com, or to AthenaDiagnostics, and find laboratories which do many gene tests, even if only a single lab does the test you want.

But many people don’t want to know if they have a gene-driven tendency to a disease, and they have a right not to know. (Will employers make testing for certain diseases a condition for employment?)

The cloning of body parts, such as heart valves, or pancreas islet cells, is under very serious study.

Some countries allow cloning research, and research based on stem cells from fetuses that the US prohibits.

A question brought up the trigger mechanism of genes. It is thought by some scientists that a gene can be turned off, so that its tendency to cause a disease is neutralized. That may be important in the future, and people are actively working on the possibility.

Notes by Joe Jones



Vol 84 No 18 - May 7, 2007

Habitat Building After Katrina

Presented By: John Peer John Peer


John Peer, a Scientech member, is a graduate of Purdue University. He retired from RCA / Thomson as a General Manager in the Consumer Electronics Division.

John Peer began working with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis in 2001. This local affiliate of the national organization was established in Indianapolis in 1987 by a group of volunteers who believed in the Habitat mission: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis joins with low-income families and other community partners to provide home ownership opportunities and build communities of hope as an expression of God's love. The group has build over 300 homes in the Indianapolis area in its 20-year existence.

Homes built by Habitat for Humanity are “a hand up, not a hand out.” Owners must attend educational programs and then qualify for the program. The mortgages are principal only, but owners are required to pay property taxes, provide insurance and are required to invest a significant amount of personal “sweat-equity” in the construction of their house.

The Indianapolis group has made two trips to the New Orleans, La. area. The first was in March of 2006. The group consisted of ten retired, regular volunteers called“Tigers.” The trip was funded by an anonymous sponsor from the Indianapolis area. They caravanned by car to the New Orleans area and because of the lack of housing in the area, they stayed at a church in Slidell, La.

The site of the houses was in the now infamous Ninth Ward area. The group coordinated with the local Habitat affiliate and construction of the structures was funded by a local Louisiana company. When they arrived, the house foundations were already in place. The Indianapolis Tiger group was termed “skilled volunteers” and they were responsible for leading “unskilled volunteers” in building the houses. With 30 volunteers on site, construction went rapidly.

A video of Hurricane Katrina made by a local resident living near Lake Pontchartain was a vivid indication of the strength and ferocity of this storm.

Additional trips were made to Waveland, Miss. in January and March 2007. This area was where the eye of the hurricane came ashore. Twenty members of the Indy Tiger Team and two construction staffers made these trips. The group worked with the closest affiliate chapter, from Jackson, Miss. The group, working with Americorps volunteers, completed 85 percent of a house in four and one-half days. The second trip in March accomplished the same goals. The same anonymous donor from Indianapolis contributed funds sufficient to build the entire first house and over half of the second structure. The approximate cost of one house in this area is $50,000.

“The builds in the aftermath of Katrina are just a drop in the bucket, but a least it’s one step. We feel good that we’ve helped a little bit,” said John.

Additional information: www.indyhabitat.org

Notes by Jim Reid



Vol 84 No 19 - May 14, 2007

What We Do at Riley Hospital

Presented By: Dr. Richard Schreiner Dr. Richard Schreiner


Dr. Schreiner is a native of Northwest Indiana. He is currently the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Indiana Univ. School of Medicine as well as the Physician- in-Chief at Riley Hospital. He did his undergraduate training at St. Louis University and attended medical school at Washington University in St. Louis.

Riley Hospital is one of about 35 large pediatric teaching pediatric hospitals in the United States. Its mission is teaching, research and patient care. There are about 150 resident physicians in the training program at Riley. 75 of these physicians are in pediatric training and the other 75 are combining pediatrics with other subspecialties such as pediatric hematology, cardiology etc.

There have been many advances in the care of infants and children over the past 35 years. There are about 200 new cancer patients in Indiana each year. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is perhaps the most common form of cancer in children. The cure rate 35 years ago was 15% now that number has increased to 85%.

Jaundice in newborns is a common problem. Most cases resolve spontaneously but some do require treatment. A pediatrician in LafayetteInd. along with two Purdue engineers developed an early machine to determine jaundice without a blood test but simply by using a colorimetric method from the skin surface. Although it was left to others to perfect the technique these men were early investigators.

The most common cardiac anomaly requiring surgical treatment is the atrial septal defect. Formerly this required surgery directly on the heart. Now the defect can be closed by means of a catheter introduced through the groin of the patient. Similarly a patent ductus arteriosus can be treated without surgery but by means of a catheter introduced through the groin. Most open-heart surgery in infants and children done today is for complex congenital heart lesions, many of which were untreatable in the past.

There are devices used for adults which are not approved by the FDA for children. The economics are unfavorable for device manufacturers to get such approval because of the fewer number of pediatric patients requiring such devices. Recently a ventricular assist pump (Berlin Heart) was used successfully in a patient at Riley. This child was initially thought to require a lung and a heart transplant but with the use of this pump over time neither were required.

The most dangerous periods in the life of a human being are the first month and the last month. A major problem in premature infants is that of an immature lung which was often a fatal situation. The mortality in such premature infants has been greatly reduced with the use of surfactant, high-frequency ventilation and additional procedures.

Neurofibromatosis is a genetic disorder. Up until recently there was no good treatment. Researchers at Indiana University and the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a type of chemotherapy which is now in clinical trials and seems to be useful in treating plexiform neurofibromas.

Researchers at I.U. have been working with stem cells. The lining of blood vessels is with endothelium. Endothelial stem cells can be used to stimulate the development of blood vessels. This would be of great help in tissues which are poor in blood supply such as in diabetic patients.

Dr. Larry Einhorn in the oncology department developed, several years ago, a treatment for testicular cancer. This was based on a drug which was a platinum derivative. Thousands of patients worldwide, including Lance Armstrong, were treated successfully with a combination of drugs including this platinum derivative.

The story of the development and patenting of Gatorade is very interesting. It was done by physicians from IU as well as from the University of Florida. An Indianapolis attorney, Claude Spellman, was instrumental in getting the organization going to form the Gatorade Trust. He was a law partner of former Governor Matthew Welch.

55 to 60% of children at Riley Hospital are Medicaid patients. This is, therefore, a significant source of operational funding. Philanthropy is also an important source. 75% of research funding comes from grants and the other 25% comes from internal funding and philanthropy.

Riley physicians have a significant outreach program visiting 18 cities in the state. These Riley doctors assist the local physicians in caring for complex cases. If the means were available they would like to go to additional communities as well.

At the completion of the lecture Dr. Schreiner made a plea for funds to send children with Down syndrome to camp. He asked for a $100 contribution to be sent to Dad's Appreciating Down Syndrome P.O. Box 88346 Indianapolis 46208.

Notes by Gerry Kurlander



Vol 84 No 20 - May 21, 2007

Sleep Disorders

Presented By: Diane Friedman, Nurse Practitioner


Mrs. Friedman’s favorite topics, by her own admission, are sleep disorders. She indicated that late one evening, year ago, she read an article in Scientific American on biological rhythms in birds. She credits the article, read during a late night nursing shift, as a transforming moment in her career.

She will soon leave the Midwest Sleep Institute and enroll at the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study in sleep and sleep disorders, a long awaited and much anticipated professional opportunity.

The medical school for the University of Pennsylvania is located very close to the Three Mile Island Nuclear facility. According to Friedman, one of the results of the accident at the power plant was a complete redesign of the shift schedules for the reactor’s engineers. The sleep/wake cycles are much improved over past programs. The new program incorporates the human body’s natural “drift” forward because of its 25-hour cycle.

During sleep studies electrodes are attached to the head to determine what sleep stage the patient is in. Electrodes are also positioned near the eyes to determine REM sleep. Sensors are positioned under the nose to monitor air flow. Sensors are positioned on the chin to monitor the muscle tone. (During “dream sleep” we are the most relaxed and have no muscle tone, except the heart, our diaphragm, our bladder and our eyes.) Bands are also placed across the chest to monitor the respiratory effort. Electrodes are placed on the legs to monitor leg movement.

Normal sleep patterns generally consist of stage one through stage four with each stage increasing in the depth of sleep. Following these stages is dream sleep, characterized by a loss of muscle tone. The cycle is typically 90 minutes in length. As the night goes on a person experiences less deep sleep and more dream sleep. This is thought to occur because of the biological rhythm of our body temperature. Body temperature peaks at about 4:00 PM and hits its lowest point at about 4:00 AM. It is believed that body temperature and sleep architecture are related.

The first example of a sleep disorder that Mrs. Friedman presented was an individual that fell asleep while driving a tank as a National Guardsman. The patient was diagnosed with sleep apnea. According to Friedman, sleep apnea is a condition resulting from muscular architecture in the mouth that we are born with. When we sleep we lose muscle tone in this area and the reduced openings cause restrictions in air flow. The brain keeps track of the air flow (or lack of) and if we stop breathing, it will wake us up. As soon as that occurs, the obstructions get out of the way and we resume breathing again.

Complications arise because (1) low oxygen levels stress the heart and (2) constant waking reduces sleep and causes patients to be tired during normal waking hours.

One solution to this condition is utilization of a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine. These units create a low positive pressure in the airway that moves obstructions out of the way. New developments in masks have made the units more comfortable.

Restless leg syndrome can also cause sleep disorders. Patients that kick their legs during sleep will continually wake themselves up. Treatment for this disorder can be treated with medication. Several medicines originally developed for Parkinson’s disease have also proven applicable to this condition.

Narcolepsy is another sleep disorder. This disorder is the intrusion of dream sleep in places it doesn’t belong, according to Freidman. The disorder can occur at night or during the day. Stress or strong emotions can cause the onset of dream sleep and the resultant lose of muscle tone. The reaction can range from mild to severe. A severe example would be hearing a funny joke and the patient suddenly falling to the floor – asleep. Sleep paralysis, where the patient doesn’t completely awake (they know they’re awake, but are unable to move) is also a severe form of narcolepsy.

Treatments for narcolepsy involve stimulant medications and/or anti-depressant medications. New neuro-transmitters have recently been discovered that seem to offer additional treatment methods

Recommended reading:         The Promise of Sleep by William Dement
        The Insomnia Answer by Paul Glovinsky
        No More Sleepless Nights by Peter Hauri



Vol 84 No 21 - June 4, 2007

Biocrossroads: Five Years of Progress

Presented By: David Johnson David Johnson


Mr. Johnson is a native of Indianapolis. He is a graduate of Broad Ripple High School, Harvard University, and the Harvard School of Law. He is a former lawyer for Baker Daniels, and is currently the President and CEO of Biocrossroads.

Biocrossroads is a privately funded organization whose mission is to be a catalyst for the continued growth of Indiana’s robust life sciences industry. By doing so, they will create an environment that provides more economic opportunity, a thriving entrepreneurial network, better healthcare and inspiration for young talent. They will achieve their mission by providing money and support to life sciences businesses and launching new life sciences businesses, expanding collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life sciences institutions, expanding life sciences education, and building awareness and marketing Indiana’s life sciences industry.

The organization was formed in 2002 as the Central Indiana Life Sciences Initiative, and was renamed Biocrossroads in 2003. Their website can be found at www.biocrossroads.com.

A study in 2000 on the economic future of Indiana identified sophisticated manufacturing and logistics as key features of the future, and surprisingly indicated also that the life sciences were a leading strength. After all, a good deal of strength was concentrated in Purdue and Indiana University, and in such companies as Roche, Lilly, and Dow. The study suggested that 11% of the workforce was in health care and life sciences, but the industry pays 20% of the taxes. However, there was no organized way to get these people talking with one another. The strategy adopted by those present at the outset was to work with the big companies and the big universities to try to parlay a cooperation into something beneficial. It was fortunate that some of the biggest local companies (Lilly and Roche, for example) in the field had a good deal of expertise, but could work together because they don’t compete. Also, those present at the beginning recognized Wellpoint as a healthcare company who could contribute meaningfully to the initiative, because of their position in the management of healthcare information.

One of the challenges has been that Indiana has been historically modest, not aggressively seizing opportunities. Therefore, one of their first activities was to develop a recognizable brand, or identity, to identify their role, conveying the message that the life sciences are critical to the state.

Also, they recognized early on that Indiana was not adequately training our youth in science and mathematics. They have addressed this by preparing a K-12 initiative to improve this instruction. Biocrossroads is aware of Scientech’s interest in this area.

A third activity has involved building: they have been instrumental in the construction of an “incubator,” or emerging technology center, at the head of the Indianapolis Water Company Canal. This center has 25-30 businesses in it. They have also worked to develop a huge network of health information, centered at the Regenstrief Institute. This network provides a digital connection, while preserving patient confidentiality, among hundreds of thousands of patients and health care providers.

Yet another activity, and the one for which they are best known, is providing venture funds. Their first such fund, the Indiana Future Fund, raised $73M for investment in fledgling firms.

Finally, Mr. Johnson shared his view of the future business in the life sciences. There will be fewer large companies, instead progress will be made by collections of small companies, each specializing in one or a few of the things the big companies used to do. The expense of launching new life sciences products will remain very high, and financial markets are increasingly fickle, wanting results soon, consistently, and attractive. The need for competent talent in the field will remain high.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 22 - June 11, 2007

Children's Museum Apprentice Program

MAP Group
Left to Right: Kevin O’Brien, Aaron DeWitt, Brittay Hill, Hanifah Lum, Alesha Peterson, Joy Kimmel, Kaylyn Boss, Kaelan Freels, Sara Landrum

The MAP (Museum Apprentice Program) is sponsored by the D J Angus-Scientech Educational Foundation and exists to provide educational activities for students, age 12-17, who study a subject and prepare an exhibit for the Museum about that subject. Each student can choose to participate in the science, arts or humanities path. More information about the MAP itself is below, following the meeting minutes.

Sarah Landrum, the coordinator of Scientech’s activities with the Museum, thanked us for supporting the MAP, and introduced our eight student guests, who are presently active in the MAP.

All the students spoke to us about their project. The project is very impressive, but the composure, maturity and knowledge of the students were even more impressive. They are clearly exceptional young people who have benefited greatly from the MAP experience and who are proud of their participation in it.

The project itself is the preparation of an exhibit on ancient and modern Egypt. Part of the students’ research was a visit to the Field Museum in Chicago to observe that Museum’s methods of presenting exhibits, and also to acquire additional information about Egypt. We were shown a photograph of the students playing an Egyptian game, and they incorporated the game in their activities about Egypt which they offer to Museum visitors. They chose their subject, Egypt, from a group of possible project ideas presented to them by the president of the Museum at the start of their apprenticeship.

Each student primarily studied the scientific, artistic or cultural aspects of Egypt, according to the path which she or he chose. The science path students are working on the architecture and construction of pyramids now, and solicited help from any of us who have knowledge or experience. No volunteers appeared.

The students who chose the science path participated in the Dinosphere as well as in the Egypt project.

In introducing themselves to us, many of the students said that they valued the work experience they gained from the project, as well as skill in working with others. In answering questions, all students said they intended to go on for another year in MAP after completing the present project.

MAP offers some college scholarships to graduates of the program. Kevin’s brother, now at Purdue, has a MAP scholarship, as a matter of fact.

Ms. Landrum said that the student’s exhibits are the same as those built by the Museum staff, and are designed in the same way. She also invited us to participate in MAP as advisors.

Finally, Kevin was asked why only two boys attended, and he said that the boys tend to attend only the fun stuff.

MAP is nearly 20 years old, starting as a weekly volunteer program in the galleries. Each student commits to at least one year of participation, at least 10 hours per month in the fall and winter, and an intensive 6-week summer session. The goal is to prepare the students to be knowledgeable and skilled participants in their communities through project-based learning. Training sessions focus on skills such as program development, graphic design, and collections management, as well as practical skills such as communication, writing and customer service. The students work with museum staff to develop the concept of their exhibit, following the professional’s methods, and then proceed to research the subject and eventually, design the exhibit.

Notes by Joe Jones



Vol 84 No 23 - June 18, 2007

Geographic Information System

Presented By: Nathan Eaton
Manager, Information Systems, indiana Geological Survey Nathan Eaton


Maps tell stories. Topographic maps tell stories of the surface of the earth through contours and elevations and they can show the impact people have had on the landscape because of the development.

Geographic Information Systems or GIS provides us with a method to visualize, manipulate, analyze and display spatial data. Another definition might be “smart maps” or maps with data behind them. The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) has had tables of various kinds of data for over one hundred years. Tabular data is difficult to interpret. GIS allows the data to be applied to a map that will give us a picture of the material. Typical uses of this type of data could be a visual interpretation of population density in Marion County or the ability to create a travel route on Map Quest of Google Map. In a typical Google map the street or road information from your specific address is contained in a layer of the desired map. Geocoding allows the computer GIS program to convert an address to a point on the map.

GIS mapping is used at all levels of government: fire departments, police departments, utilities and homeland security. Industry uses the information for mining, pipeline management, commercial development and marketing for all types of products and services. Routing services were pioneered by Sears, Roebuck’s delivery truck scheduling programs. Current day routing uses include fire and ambulance emergency routing.

The first geological survey of Indiana was done in 1837. Details available on early maps were extraordinary, given the physical limitations on travel and instrumentation. The IGS was making pen and ink maps and had draftsmen on staff up until the late 1990’s. One example was the program’s Petroleum Program well location maps. Until very recently the maps were upgraded by changing data on the various mylar sheets that made up the physical layers of each map. Today’s GIS maps are the electronic version of the multi-layer mylar maps.The IGS has over 800 maps of underground coalmines in Indiana. This data is important when considering land subsidence and safety issues.

Modern printed maps are limited by the physical space available on each sheet of paper. There is only so much information that can be included. The advantages of GIS are its ability to be shared on the internet and providing the ability to utilize specific data the user need to see.

Indiana Geological Survey’s GIS Atlas for Indiana (http://igs.indiana.edu/GISatlas) on the internet provides access to over 200 different layers of information. It is possible to create custom maps by turning various layers on or off, change the scale of the map and tools to add text to a map. The map may be printed in various sizes. The Petroleum Database Management System, for example, allows interested parties to access technical data related to the history of gas and oil production in the state.

Indiana is unique in that it has high-resolution aerial photography for the entire state. A project managed by the Indiana Geographic Information Council produced these highly accurate databases in 2005. The IU Information Technology Services program was responsible for making this data available to the public through the internet.

Aerial photos are images taken from an airplane with no corrections to the image. Distortions occur because of the camera lens, because of hills and valleys or from movement by the airplane. Orthophotography corrects the images so that they may be used as maps. Two types of photos were produced during this process: natural color images and color infrared images.

Because of the slow internet connection at the Children’s Museum, Eaton demonstrated the use of Google Earth rather than the IGS’s GIS Atlas to show the potential uses of GIS data. (Google Earth is a free download: (http://earth.google.com/).

Notes by James Reid



Vol 84 No 24 - June 25, 2007

Autisn and Related Disorders

Presented By: Craig A. Erickson, M.D. Dr. Craig Erickson


Dr. Erickson graduated from Depauw University before obtaining his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati. He is Senior Fellow in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Riley Hospital and Chief, Fragile X Syndrome Clinic.

The word “autism” derives from the Greek word for self - autos. It was first mentioned in 1911 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugene Bleuler. The disease was described as a separate disorder by psychiatrist Dr. Leo Kanner in 1943, when he reported on 11 patients. Autism is one of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) which also includes Asperger’s Syndrome and PPD Not Otherwise Specified. Two other very rare forms are Rett’s Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. The highlights of the PPDs are:
        Qualitative Impairment in Social Interaction         Qualitative Impairment in Communication (verbal and non-verbal)         Restricted Repetitive and Stereotyped Patterns of Behaviors, Interests and Activities.

Autism children demonstrate a delay in function in one of those areas prior to age three. Children are not responsive to normal parental or other children’s emotions, don’t make eye to eye contact and don’t interact well socially with other children. They have a delay in development in spoken language and can have repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language. They do not engage well in make-believe play or social imitative play. In addition, they may have a preoccupation in one pattern of interest and engage in repetitive motor mannerisms, such as hand rolling or rocking motions. Asperger’s Disorder is similar to Autism but there is no delay in language development or delay in cognitive ability. They can advance to the college level in education, whereas some children with autism suffer with mental retardation.

Except for Rett’s disorder, which is exclusive to females, Autism is four times more common in males; 29% may have mental retardation, 25% may have seizures and 5-10 % have a specific cause, such as Fragile X Syndrome. Autism occurs in 20 per 10,000 children, though in recent studies, it is more common. The diagnosis is made by history, which includes a diagnostic interview and observation schedule. The cause in unknown but multiple genes are involved in most cases (along with environmental factors), with Fragile X Syndrome having a single gene cause. In identical twins, if one twin has autism the chance of the other twin developing the disease is 36-64 % vs. 2.7–4.6% in siblings and .005% in the general population. In detailed studies no association has been found with vaccines (there is a class action suit regarding vaccines and some pharmaceutical companies), race or social level. Fragile X Syndrome is due to an abnormality on the X chromosome; this results in excessive glutamate neurotransmission.

Autism cannot be cured but it can be treated with intensive verbal and social therapy when the child is young. In later years, depending on the abnormality, various classes of drugs have been used – antidepressants (SSRIs), antipyschotics (Haldol), hyperactivity medications (Strattera), alpha 2-agonists (Tenex, Catapres) and the atypical antipsychotic Risperdal, the only FDA approved medicine for Autism. Riley Hospital was the first institution to study D-cycloserine, an older anti-tuberculosis medication produced by Eli Lilly. It has some effect on glutamate metabolism and may hold future promise.

In summary, Autism is a developmental disorder that is extremely varied. It requires time intensive therapy for young children who may later require some type of medication. After age five about 7% may need medications; this may rise to 50% or more after age thirteen.



Vol 84 No 25 - July 2, 2007

Global Hawk, UAV Program Update

Presented By: Dr. James Bettner Jim Bettner


Jim Bettner completed his Mechanical Engineering undergraduate and graduate work at Purdue University. He received his PhD in 1965. He joined the Allison Division GMC, working in many different Departments during his career. He was the Program Manager of the Global Hawk Engine Development Program until he retired in 2002.

Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance aircraft, manufactured by the Northrop Grumman Aircraft Co. for the USAF. It went into combat service in Afghanistan in 2001 while it was still in its Development Phase. It currently is seeing active service in Iraq. The original design mission was to take off, climb to 65,000 feet altitude, loiter and conduct surveillance over an area of interest for 24 hours, and then return to base. It carries a 2000lb payload consisting of Electro Optical, Infra Red, and Synthetic Aperture cameras. In a 24 hour period it can map out an area of 40,000 sq. miles (about the size of the state of Illinois).

Global Hawk is autonomous. That means that missions are preprogrammed. They can, however, be modified, via computer GPS coordinate commands as the particular mission dictates. The aircraft receives and delivers information to and from ground control stations via orbiting satellite systems.

The Global Hawk aircraft is about the size of the USAF U2 or Boeing 737. It has a wing spread of 116 ft. and fuselage length of 44.4 ft. The take off gross weight is 25,000 lbs. The engine is the AE 3007H turbofan engine which features a 5:1 bypass ratio and 23:1 overall pressure ratio. This engine is a derivative of the commercial engine that is employed in the Embraer 145 Regional Airliner and Cessna Citation X Business Jet.

The engine development began in 1995 with the aircraft roll out ceremony in February 1997. Aircraft first flight occurred in February 1998. After a very large number of test flights at Edwards AFB in southern California, the aircraft was flown to Eglin AFB in Florida where it successfully participated in a NATO exercise simulating an invasion of a beach in Portugal. It flew from Eglin to Portugal, orbited over the area in question, conducted surveillance exercises, and the returned to Eglin AFB, all done autonomously. Next, the aircraft was sent to Australia to demonstrate its surveillance capabilities to the Royal Australian Air Force. They want to be able to better patrol their northern coastline and control what comes into their country. An unclassified picture of the aircraft Carrier Kitty Hawk was shown from 40 miles slant range illustrating the detail of aircraft parked on the carrier’s deck. During the test leading up to the Australian deployment, it was noted that altitude temperatures much lower than expected (-120F) were encountered and, of course had to be dealt with. Also, the German government has expressed interest in the Global Hawk aircraft, although they want to place their own surveillance equipment package on board.

The Global Hawk UAV System won the coveted Collier Award for year 2000. It currently holds the world record for the gas turbine powered, longest flight of a UAV.

Dr. Bettner presented a video of the first four flights of Global Hawk out of Edwards AFB and highlighted some of the problems one encounters during flight test of a revolutionary system. This was followed by the 28+ hour flight from Eglin AFB to Portugal and back.

The presentation was followed with a Q/A session dealing with engine performance, inlet temperature levels, aircraft lost, new missions for Global Hawk, aircraft cost, other UAV systems, comparison with the well known Predator UAV,etc.

Notes by J. L. Bettner



Vol 84 No 26 - July 9, 2007

Athenaeum Tour

Sandra Funk

Today we had a field trip to the historic Athenaeum Building located at 401 East Michigan Avenue. The Athenaeum was build as Das Deutsche Haus by the Turners Society founded in 1851 to foster fellowship and the German culture.

The tour was led by the Manager of Docents, Sandra Henselmeier Funk

Fredrich Ludwig Jahn founded the Turner movement in 1811 to build a “Sound Mind in a Sound Body” of the German society after they were defeated by Napoleon.

Many Germans moved to the United States and formed many fellowship organizations including the Maennerchor, Turnverein, and Leiderkranz organizations that are still in existence today.

Several of these groups, under the leadership of the Socialer Turnverein voted to build a club house for their activities. A lot was purchased at Michigan and New Jersey Streets and a stock company was formed. In 1894 the Socialer Turnverein moved into its new headquarters. Called Das Deutsche Haus, it indeed became a social, cultural, recreational and sports center and by no means exclusively for one group. The new club house was an immediate success, and by the beginning of 1896 there were over 500 members of the new club. Anticipating further growth, the West wing of the building was begun. The entire building was completed in 1898. With the changing view of Germany during the First World War the club changed the name of the building to the Athenaeum in 1918. The war caused a sharp curtailment of German activities and a decline in German organizations.

After 1898 the club became very active in the music and formed a musical group called the Musikverein. It consisted of three distinct ensembles, including a 60-piece orchestra, still active male and mixed chorus. Today the building still provides quality entertainment with the American Caberet Theater.

Physician Fitness was another important element of the German Social Clubs. On a national scale, in 1905 the Turnverein organizations of Indianapolis sponsored the national Turnfest which included numerous gymnastic teams from the US and Germany. The Turners sponsored another international Turnfest in the 1900s.

When I was a young boy, the Wolfla families were members of the club. In the 1950’s the membership of the club was over 2000. With time, the membership of the club continued to decline; by 1990 the membership had dropped to 50. To save the historic building, a new not-for-profit foundation was established in 1991. Since that time, the building has seen new life with Rathskeller Restaurant, YMCA, and of course the American Caberet Theater. The new foundation continues to grow and now the Athenaeum is a successful organization, but still is in need of funds to maintain this historical landmark.

For more information and your own tour of the facility, please call the Athenaeum Foundation at 317-630-4569.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 27 - July 16, 2007

Central Library Update

Presented By: Cheryl Wright, Interim Director, Central Library and Ann Kitchen, Campaign Manager, Public Library Foundation Wright and Kitchen


The old library was a grand building but was ripe for an update; it was out of space, there was no sprinkler system, and it was not accessible to disabled persons. The work was financed by $43 M raised by the foundation from contributors, and by $55M in taxes. Some aspects of the work did not go as planned, and there are several lawsuits pending, but still the library plans to open for business by the end of 2007.

The construction involved building a 6-story addition behind the historic part of the library. The new building has a large atrium, complete with dining facilities, escalators, and elevators. The atrium is also decorated with interesting glasswork. The new building is curved, and almost seems to hug the old building.

The old building was extensively renovated. On the outside, it was power washed and had the mortar replaced in the limestone. On the inside, ceilings were repaired, and mechanical and electrical systems were replaced. Some old chandeliers have been restored, and some have even been manufactured anew based on old photographs showing how they looked. Some statues which used to be on the roof of the original library have been renovated, and will be placed where passengers can be picked up and let off.

The old building and the new will join together almost seamlessly. The fiction collection will be housed in the old part of the building. Almost all of the collection will be in the open stacks. They will have a special “Growth Curve” for children, matching children’s ages with books and activities. The musical collection is extensive, and they will have a special computer to help with trademark and patent searches.

For the first time, the library will offer event spaces. In addition to the meeting rooms mentioned above, there will be 8 study rooms on the 3rd and 4th floors, and there will be a special computer accessible to individuals with a wide range of physical disabilities. They have developed a number of programs for library patrons, including monthly programs on a variety of topics (e.g., January 2008 program will be “Diverse Indianapolis”), and short 15 minute presentations on a variety of topics.

Scientech members asked a good number of questions, whose answers are summarized here:

The library will probably buy some 350-500 copies of the new Harry Potter book. The library sends books out for binding.

The 6th floor will have a special collection of items relating to Indianapolis, including some rare and valuable items. Donated items are either added to the collection or sold. (Either way, they are welcome!) The old library had 2000 guests per day on average, the new is expected to have 4000-5000. There will be wireless internet throughout the building. All computers will be filtered for content by word.

More information on the library is available on their website at www.imcpl.org

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 28 - July 23, 2007

Rolls Royce, Fact and Legend

Presented By: Charles Shoup Charles Shoup


Mr. Shoup gave us a very detailed and fast-moving talk, illustrated with many excellent photos of beautiful Rolls-Royce (hereafter R-R) cars of the past and present. Your reporter can only sample this excellent talk.

Remarkably, Mr. Shoup’s father drove only R-Rs and Bentleys for over 50 years, spending only $15,000 total, since he sold each one for what he had paid or more. He drove a ’57 S-1 Bentley for 20 years. The first car Mr. Shoup ever drove was a R-R, at 13 years of age.

R-R legends include:

      “The best car in the world”—first used by R-R in 1908 and for decades thereafter. It may be a legend, but R-R has never been accused of false advertising.

      “All R-Rs are custom-built”—once true in that R-R made only the chassis, and the buyer ordered the body from a custom builder. R-R bought the body-builders and have made complete cars since soon after World War I.

      “R-Rs have sealed engines”—they don’t.

      “R-Rs were used as tanks in World War I”—no, but R-R chassis were fitted with armored car and ambulance bodies then.

Charles Rolls and Frederick Royce met in 1904. Rolls, a Cambridge engineer, won the 1000 mile automobile race in 1900, was a co-founder of the Royal Automobile Club, and was selling cars when they met. Royce was largely self-educated and founded Royce Dynamos in 1894. He bought his first car in 1903 and found it so bad that he made three hand-built cars.

Rolls and Royce formed an agreement with the help of Claude Johnson, providing that Rolls would sell all the cars that Royce could make, and Rolls would give the customer requirements to Royce. Silence and smoothness were the requirements. In 1905-06 the new company raced its cars successfully, and in 1907 it produced the famous “Silver Ghost” model, so named for its silence. The first Ghost is still running on the road and has covered 500,000 miles so far.

Neither Rolls nor Royce returned to the factory after 1910. Rolls became interested in flying and made the first flight across the English Channel and back. He tried to interest Royce in aero engines, but was killed in an air show accident—the first English civilian killed in a plane.

Royce became very ill in 1910, and recuperated in Egypt. When he recovered, he continued with engineering from his house in southern France, but never visited the factory again. Claude Johnson became managing director of the company in 1910.

R-R built cars in Springfield MA from 1921 to 1935, building about 1700 cars of the Silver Ghost and Phantom models. The Depression forced closing the operation. R-R bought Bentley, then making luxury sports cars (Bugatti called its cars “the fastest trucks in the world”) and thereafter sold Bentleys which were identical to R-Rs except for the radiator.

R-R began work on aero engines in 1914 and produced its first V-12 Eagle in 1915. RR met with Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine, in the 1930’s, and decided to develop aircraft jet engines. They became a leader in the industry and their engines powered the Vickers Viscount turboprop plane, and later the DC-8 and 707 jetliners. However, their participation in the development of the troubled Lockheed L-1011 led to financial disaster for the company in 1971, and the car company was spun off. The engine company later acquired Allison Gas turbine and is now one of the two largest manufacturers of jet engines.

In 1980, the car company was sold to Vickers, which sold it to Volkswagen (!) in 1998. To VW’s shock, it did not get the R-R trademark in the deal. It was still owned by the engine company, which later sold the precious trademark to BMW. And so now VW builds Bentleys, BMW builds Rolls-Royces, and both aspire to make The Best Car in the World.

Notes by Joe Jones



Vol 84 No 29 - July 30, 2007


IU-Kenya Partnership

Presented By: James A. Lemons, M.D. Dr. James Lemons


Dr. Lemons was born in South Bend, IN but grew up in Oak Park, IL. He attended Princeton and then earned his MD from Northwestern University. His Pediatric Residency was taken at the University of Michigan; he then obtained a Neonatal Fellowship at the University of Colorado. Jim is Director of the Newborn ICU at Riley Hospital, which has an astounding 41 physicians and five Ph.D.’s employed its section.

Dr. Lemons wove a fascinating tale of how a few individuals can change part of the world for the better and enhance many lives. Dr. Joseph Mamlin, professor emeritus of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, was a team leader of the collaborative medical education program at Moi Teaching Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya in the early 1990’s. In 2000, when he returned to the hospital, the death rate had soared, mostly due to AIDS but also from Malaria. At that time, AMPATH (Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS) was founded. AMPATH is one of 181 nominees for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Robert Einterz, M.D. a Professor of Medicine at Indiana is the director and co-founder of the IU-Kenya Partnership.

In 1989 Joe Mamlin, Bob Einterz and Charlie Kelly received a $25,000 grant to help a country in the area of international medical care. Eventually they went to Kenya, a country of 30 million people in an area a little larger than Texas. Kenya has the usual problems of a developing country: unstable or corrupt government, poor water supply, hunger and disease. (Africa has 54 countries, most of them poor.) Kenya has 44 tribes and as many dialects, with the most common being English and Swahali. The capitol and largest city is Nairobi and the second largest city is Eldoret, situated in the mountains in the west of the country. At 8,000 feet, it is home to most of the great Kenya distance runners.

The physicians judged that a good way to help a country was in assisting it with its medical care, especially for women and children. People with integrity and leadership are needed to help govern these countries and perhaps a physician could one day be one of those leaders. They began 18 years ago by teaching in the medical school; one of the physicians stayed for a year at a time. Kenya trained 100 physicians a year (Indiana with 6 million residents trains 285 students.) From a new medical school, now in its eighth year, aided by the IU physicians, 50 people per year have been trained.

AIDS/HIV was and is the scourge of Africa. Joe Mamlin (the one with the silver tongue) was able to talk pharmaceutical companies into providing AIDS drugs for free. There are 1.3 millions Kenyans living with HIV/AIDS and 50,000 people are now on AIDS medications. Up to 35% of the mothers are HIV positive; one-half of the children will be born with HIV and a further 15% convert after drinking infected breast milk. However, with treatment during pregnancy, there is only a 1% chance of HIV in the child. With two-thirds of the women delivering their child in a local village, treatment is indeed a challenge. To aid in their nutrition, villagers were taught to cultivate and raise their own crops. Later, they learned crafts that produced goods which are marketed across the world.

A dream of a maternal and pediatric hospital was born and it will become a reality in March 2008 and will be named Riley Hospital. The goals are to: Enhance esteem of the mother and her child, Decrease maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, Prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child, and Education and dissemination of health care providers to all Kenyans. Deliveries are expected to top 12,000 annually. The three-story, 75,000 sq. ft. facility cost only $1.5 million to construct. There are now 19 Health Clinics in Kenya, all linked with computerized medical records. Three Kenyans trained at Wishard Hospital, studying computerization of medical records and returned to set up the system in Kenya.

Dr. Lemons explained that the normal family had five to six children simply to replace the ones that died in infancy. Now families receive education about birth control and HIV. To combat malaria, DDT is being revived because it is more effective against mosquitoes and less toxic than some other chemicals. Jim Lemons went on to say that the IU-Kenya Partnership is unique in the world. A few IU physicians had an idea nearly 20 years ago, an idea that led to a dream of good health care for people in a developing country. That dream is being fulfilled but as Dr. Joe Mamlin says, “This project won’t be finished in my lifetime.”

What a story! The world needs more people such as these three heroic guys who have inspired countless others to assist in the IU-Kenya Partnership.

Notes by Bill Dick



Vol 84 No 30 - August 6, 2007


Meteorites

Presented By: Nelson R. Shaffer, PhD Nelson Shaffer


Nelson R. Shaffer, Section Head of the Coal and Industrial Minerals Division of Indiana University at Bloomington, provided the club a presentation called “The Sky Is Falling!, Rocks From Space. Dr. Shaffer has been with IU since 1974 and is also an officer of the Indiana Academy of Science.

Approximately 50 meteors fall upon the earth each day. These meteors come from the large asteroid belt that is between the earth's orbit and the orbit of Jupter. An interesting slide showed that approximately 20 kilotons of meteors enter the atmosphere of the earth annually. These represent a very small amount of energy, but we can expect a larger meteor like that of Meteor Crater every 100 years that provide the equivalent of over 100 megatons of TNT in energy. The K-T impact released energy of over 1 million megatons of TNT. The energy of a meteor is determined by it's speed. The average meteor is traveling between 45,000 and 60,000 mph as it enters our atmosphere. The Torion Impact Hazard Scale is used to measure the damage that can occur by a meteor as it hits the surface of the earth. Meteorite Meteorites fall into four classes: Chondrites (Stones) 84%, Achondrites (Stones) 8%, Stony-irons 1%, and Iron 7%. Most meteors are just small particles of dust.

Dr. Shaffer provided the audience with many pictures of meteors, and then reviewed how larger meteors create craters. The moon has thousands of craters that last forever, while the earths geologic forces obscure the older craters. Many meteorites strike ice or water on earth and leave no lasting crater. One of the youngest craters is Meteor Crater in Arizona, while a much older crater is in Kentland, Indiana. This crater is referred to as the Kentland Dome, or the Kentland Anomaly in the study of bedrock geology

Lastly we were able to view the Lafayette Stone that fell in Lafayette, Indiana and may have come from the planet Mars. Meteors are extremely valuable with prices exceeding $9000 per gram. Present records show that Indiana residents have found or picked up13 meteorites. To the knowledge of the speaker, no one has been killed by a meteor, but one women was hit by a meteor after if fell thought her home, and bounced against her side. In 1991 a young man in Noblesville had a meteor go by his head and land at his feet.

Dr. Shaffer reviewed the effect of a meteor projectile hitting the earth at or above 10 km/s. He also reviewed how a central uplift can occur when a meteor hits the earth as extremely high speeds.

Presently their are a number of meteors which cross the orbit of the earth. The Near Earth Object Program from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Space Guard program based in England is keeping track of these asteroids. Lastly the B612 Foundation is a private foundation dedicated to protecting the Earth from asteroid strikes. Their immediate goal is to "significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015".

Dr. Shaffer continues to provide excellent programs to the club, and we look forward to his next presentation.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 31 - August 13, 2007


Religion and Medicine

Presented By: Rev. Steven S. Ivy, PhD Rev. Steven Ivy


Dr. Ivy is with Clarian Health Partners in the field of Pastoral Care. He is originally from Kentucky and spent two years in Engineering at Georgia Tech before transferring to the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville where he earned his Ph. D. He spent some time in Texas before moving to Indianapolis; he has been in the Health Care field for over 30 years.

Medicine and religion are two key ways of understanding human flourishing today. Thus to understand each in relationship to the other should illuminate key contemporary issues. Medicine utilizes the scientific method, highly scripted attention to material sense. Religion utilizes the reason or experience method.

In ancient times, if one got ill, it was because one had offended the gods. Later after the period of the Enlightenment, it was discovered that germs caused a great deal of illness. It was a naturalistic explanation that something outside of us caused the illness. Louis Pasteur said, “Blessed is he who carries within himself a god and an ideal and who obeys it – an ideal of art, science, of gospel witness. Therein lies the springs of great thoughts and actions.” Human flourishing is met by several realities: humans are vulnerable to disease; most feel that they are connected to something bigger; and we all die.

The philosophy of science focuses on the epistemological question; “How do I know what I know, and, how can I demonstrate that it is true?” Ian Barbour has developed a four-fold model for examining the ways in which science and religion have sought resolution of these differing perspectives: conflict, interdependence, dialogue and integration. The conflict model of interaction includes scientific materialism and Biblical literalism or fundamentalism, which holds that all truth worth knowing is revealed through scripture. The integration model of interaction between science and religion seeks to deepen both science’s and religion’s capacities for interpenetrating the reality of ach other.

Dr. Ivy asked, “Does prayer heal? Does belonging to one religious group help make one healthier?” More studies are needed to answer these and other questions. Many people accept the idea that it is all right for their physician to pray with them. But the really important thing to them is the competence of the physician. A contemporary example of philosophical and psychological integration is Ken Wilbur’s method of Great Holarchy – the unity of sense, reason and spirit.

Religious people must acknowledge the validity of the scientific method for all aspects of being human to which the method appropriately applies. Empiricists must acknowledge that it is not a transcendent methodology. Scientific methodology seldom yields an unambiguous and non-debatable “right” answer.

Dr. Ivy went on to say that when we think of health care, we are really thinking about sickness care, which consumes 15% of GDP in the USA. Only South Africa has a worse rate of infant death (for industrialized nations) than the USA for children under the age of one year. We do not cover all maternal care but cover a great deal of trauma, and Intensive Care for the very old and the very young. These are the spiritual and ethical choices that we have made as a society. This is complicated by the fact that about 30-50 years ago we entered a new era in which the patient was responsible for their health care decisions, not the physician who was no longer viewed as all-knowing.

Professionals in both medicine and religion should develop the necessary balance between: sense, reason, and spirit; and between materialism, competence, and inspiration.

Notes by Bill Dick



Vol 84 No 32 - August 20, 2007


Athenaeum, Das Deutsche Haus; History and Significant Medical Events

Presented By: Dr. Robert A. McDougal Dr. Robert McDougal


Dr. McDougal is a Scientech member. He is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, and a specialist in pathology. In addition, he is a board member of the Indiana Medical History Museum.

Turnvereins, or gymnastics clubs, were initiated by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in Berlin in 1811. Jahn thought this would be a way to improve German fitness. Some of the turners (gymnasts) came to the U.S., and in 1851 they founded the Indianapolis Turnverein. In 1865, the Indianapolis Turnverein opened a turnhalle (gym) on East Maryland Street. Later, a splinter group calling themselves the Socialer Turnverein built Das Deutsche Haus, the German house, in 1894.

The east wing of Das Deutsche Haus, including a gym and restaurant, was completed in 1894. The west wing, with theater, ballrooms and meeting rooms, followed in 1898. The building was designed by Arthur Bohn and Bernard Vonnegut, Kurt’s grandfather. Anti-German sentiment following WW I led the group in 1918 to change the name from Das Deutsche Haus to the Athenaeum.

The first floor of the building, half a flight of steps above the entry level, has an auditorium, and there is a Cabaret Theater, much like a ballroom. The building still has much of the old design, and wonderful old woodwork, particularly in the Rathskeller bar. A number of grants from philanthropic organizations like the Lilly Endowment have financed restoration and improvements, such as a new slate roof, air conditioning and modern heating.

The Indianapolis Maennerchor (men’s choir) was invited to headquarter at the Athenaeum, but they declined, preferring to build their own building. To this day, however, the Turners have a singing group and an orchestra which entertains at various functions.

In 1900, the Executive Committee of the American Public Health Association met at Das Deutsche Haus, while some of the scientists met at what is now the Indiana Medical Museum. The conference was addressed by General (and former president) Harrison. At this conference, Dr. Walter Reed presented a paper describing his work on solving the yellow fever problem in Cuba, and reported that the infection was spread by mosquito bite. His work was published a week later. Since yellow fever is spread in the same way as malaria, controlling mosquitoes helped to reduce both diseases in Cuba and in Panama.

In 1960, the auditorium was modified to have a flat floor, and now hosts small meetings. Special programs are held there every Christmas.

The Indiana State Medical Society met at the Athenaeum for several years, then later moved to the Murat, with overflow in the Athenaeum.

The Normal College of the American Gymnastic Union was founded in 1866. It was a teacher-training, degree-granting college to train teachers especially of gymnastics. In 1907, the college moved to the east wing of Das Deutsche Haus, then it became affiliated with Indiana University in 1941. It appears the early faculty might have used cadavers to teach “descriptive anatomy.”

The Athenaeum is run by the Athenaeum Foundation, which is supported by grants and rents from tenants. In addition, the foundation gets a percentage of proceeds from the restaurant. The Athenaeum is happy to host tours for visitors.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 33 - August 27, 2007


Environmental Stress to the Great Lakes and Annis Water Resources Institute Update

Presented By: Alan Steinman, PhD and Janet Vail, PhD from Grand Valley State University Al Steinman


Al Steinman received his B.S. (cum laude) from the University of Vermont, his M.S. from the University of Rhode Island, and his Ph.D. from Oregon State University. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has been the Director of Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI), located in Muskegon, MI since 2001.

Steinman’s presentation had two main themes: an update of activities at Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute and an overview of the major threats facing the Great Lakes.

AWRI has three major programmatic areas: research, information services and education/outreach. Some of the major studies currently underway at AWRI include identifying toxins from harmful algal blooms, assessing the ecological impacts of aquatic invasive fish species, studying the impacts of stormwater runoff, and analyzing the microbial communities associated with sinkholes in Lake Huron. The Information Services Center maintains a state-of-the-art geospatial analysis lab, focused on geographic information system (GIS) applications and remote sensing. The education/outreach program focuses on the two research vessels, the D.J. Angus berthed in Grand Haven, MI and the W.G. Jackson berthed in Muskegon, MI. AWRI offers hands-on science experiences for K-12 students and teachers in the R.B. Annis Educational Foundation classroom at the Lake Michigan Center.

The Annis Water Resources Institute continues to grow in size (~70 full and part-time people), productivity (since 2001, more than $7 million dollars in grants and 116 peer-reviewed scientific publications) and status (U.S. EPA’s State of the Lake Ecosystem Award; invited testimony before US congress and MI legislature). In addition, over 100,000 passengers have sailed on the Angus and Jackson vessels, undergoing a hands-on learning experience about water resource issues facing the Great Lakes. Undergraduate scholarship opportunities include the Scientech-sponsored summer scholarships, other undergraduate research scholarships, and the Ronald Ward Scholarship, sponsored by the D.J. Angus-Scientech Educational Foundation, which provides up to $5,000 per year for undergraduates from the Indianapolis area who major in engineering or the sciences.

After his update on the Annis Water Resources Institute, Steinman transitioned to the state of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes contain more than 18% of the world’s surface fresh water. However, their health is threatened by a number of environmental stressors. President Bush issued an executive order in 2004 that recognized the Great Lakes as a national treasure and created a Cabinet-level Task Force for collaboration and coordination of restoration efforts. The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration developed an action plan that identified the key issues facing the Great Lakes, potential solutions and a price tag. Some of the most critical issues include Loss of Habitat, Nonpoint Source Pollution, Invasive Species, Coastal Health Impairments and Persistant Bioaccumulative Toxins. The estimated cost of restoration is ~$20 billion dollars. Faculty, staff and students at the Annis Water Resources Institute are involved in many of these issues. Solutions will require comprehensive, integrated and multidisciplinary programs that address the environmental, social and economic sectors. Janet Vail

Dr. Janet Vail, associate professor and research scientist, coordinates K-12 outreach activities, teacher workshops, conferences and other related events. She presented a brief slide show depicting those activities.



Vol 84 No 34 - September 10, 2007


Don't Throw Away the Cane!

Presented By: Dr. Robert F. Brueckmann Dr. Robert Brueckmann


Dr. Bob Brueckmann a member and board member of Scientech gave an excellent presentation on the use and science of the walking cane. The word cane can be both a noun or verb. A walking stick was the first use of the cane, and the curved handle was added for the comfort of the wrist. The length of the cane is important, since you do not want to be leaning over while using the cane. Most canes have a blunt end, but canes also come with a metal point that helps in their use on ice and snow. One of the members mentioned that you can purchase a device that attaches to the end of the cane that has a metal point that swings out when needed on ice and snow.

The use of the cane is designed to provide the individual stability while walking or moving about. A long unbrella can function for a cane. Many people, feel that a cane makes them look older. By the use of a umbrella, the look of the cane is gone, while still providing that needed stability.

Dr. Brueckmann's talk also covered other items and methods to help individuals from falling. A fall as you get older can be extremely difficult to recover from. Dr. Brueckmann indicated that white females have a much higher mortality from falling than men and black females. The mortality rate for white females with a hip fracture is the same as for women with breast cancer.

A cane should be used as a support for those with hip pain. When using the cane for hip pain, the cane must be held in the hand opposite from the hip with the pain. In other words, if your left hip is giving you problems, make sure you hold the cane in your right hand. If your knees, feet, or ankles are giving you pain or discomfort, the cane can be held in either hand.

A people age, their hip joints begin to fail, and begin to walk with an antalgic gait*. This gait throws the patient over and makes a fall more likely. Dr. Brueckmann reviewed Wolfe's law that states that bone responses to activity. In other words, your bones will become weaker when not used. This can be quickly seen in older patients who have been in bed for a few days. It can take weeks for your bones to recover from just one or more days lying in bed. Exercise, and activity is the key for strong bones.

Falling is a very serious issue for the older person. For that reason, spend a few extra dollars to install rails in your hallway and bathroom. Remove those throw rugs from your home; they are really fall rugs. Exercise, just walking and being active will reduce your risk of falling by 35%. Patients in nursing homes with limited activity have a fall rate of 75% per year!

Dr. Brueckmann gave an excellent review of the use of the cane, but even more inportant he pointed out the dangers of falling, and how the cane and other devices and activities can reduce the chance of falling. A fall as you get older can be life threatening, so do everything you can to reduce the chance of falling in your life.

* Antalgic-avoiding pain. In normal gait, at heel strike the (outside) hip muscles tighten, tilting the opposite side of the pelvis higher to allow that foot to clear the ground. At heel strike, the force of body weight plus the force of the hip muscles compresses the hip joint thus increasing the pounds per square inch. In the antalgic gait, to avoid compressing the hip joint as much, the upper body and shoulders move over the center of the hip joint before the heel strike thus reducing the great force of the hip muscles compressing the painful hip joint surfaces. A cane in the opposite hand markedly decreases the compressing force in the painful hip as well as providing support. This is basically what Professor Pauwels diagrams were about but simply put.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Scientech Evening Meeting - September 14, 2007


Health Care Costs - Why Do They Keep Rising?

Presented By:Daniel F. Evans, Jr. Daniel Evans


Mr. Daniel Evans Jr. is the CEO of the Clarian Health Network. This includes Methodist Hospital as well as the Indiana University medical center collection of hospitals and Wishard Hospital. Mr. Evans has a background as an attorney. He is on a number of boards around the city and is a member of many organizations in town. Mr. Evans gave an excellent presentation describing many of his problems in the provision of healthcare, particularly in regards to healthcare costs.

The first point in the talk was the problems and opportunities of new and disruptive technologies which, while very beneficial to patient health, have been very expensive to implement. Several examples were cited involving the Clarian centers. The first was the addition of computers using fuzzy logic in the Clarian system to identify intensive care unit patients who are in the process of failing. These patients are monitored by a computer which studies their various vital signs and laboratory tests and relays concerns regarding this information to physicians or nurses so that preemptive measures may be taken. A second example given was the new Infomatics computer, which is designed to help teach medical students and nurses anatomy by creating three-dimensional holograms of the human body which can be examined rather than examining a cadaver or living patient. The third example given was that of progress involving total hip replacements which now, while highly effective, are extremely expensive.

Mr. Evans then went on to discuss the realities of cost shifting. The government has mandated many requirements for the treatment and monitoring of Medicare and Medicaid patients. The reimbursement levels in many cases fall far short of the dollars needed to break even on these patients. In addition, hospitals are required to treat all patients in the emergency room regardless of their ability to pay. The total number of patients who are non-insured or are in the Medicaid and Medicare programs are about 65% of the total number of patients treated within the United States. The shortfall in dollars created by these patients must therefore be born by the 35% of the population that have private insurance.

Within the insured population, it has been noted that 5% of the insured people consume 50% of the medical resources, and 40% of the insured people consume 0% of the medical research resources. This creates a tension between relatively healthy people who consume little in the way of medical resources, and therefore bear a disproportionate amount of the cost burden, and the high utilizers of medical services, who therefore pay a disproportionately small fraction of the cost based on their utilization rates. Tensions have therefore developed within the system between the young and the old, the healthy and the unhealthy, the workers and the nonworkers, and the utilizers and non-utilizers.

Mr. Evans asked us to consider the ethics of the under-reimbursing of Medicare and Medicaid as related to the insured population. He asks us to consider the ethics of requiring high utilizers to pay more for their medical care, as many of their problems are self-inflicted. Self-inflicted problems would include smoking, obesity, lack of preventive measures, and noncompliance particularly in regards to diabetes. He also asks us to consider the ethics of futile care. This includes the treatment of the markedly premature infants that is performed in this country as opposed to the European countries, and the treatment of the elderly and the sick in the last stages of their lives. He notes that 40% of the medical costs occur within the last 30 days of life. Here he asks us all to have living wills and discuss them with our families so that our wishes may be carried out when we can no longer make our own decisions.

The question-and-answer period exposed two interesting situations developing on the horizon. The first appears to be concierge-type medical services in which patients are asked to pay $1500-$2500 upfront per year in exchange for more of the physicians time during office visits and histories and physicals. If Hospital treatment is needed, these primary care doctors will make hospital rounds and coordinate specialty services, as had been their role in the past. To have the time available to devote to these patients, these physicians are not going to be willing to see Medicaid and Medicare-only patients. The second interesting crisis on the horizon appears to involve the availability of qualified nurses to deliver patient care. This has been coming on for some time. Many additional nurses are going to be needed, and currently there is not the funding at the university level to provide this training. The average age of the current nursing staff is 48 years old, fewer nurses are being trained, and the baby boomers are looming on the horizon.

Mr. Evans gave a very excellent overview of the difficulties involved in the escalation of medical costs that we are all aware of. The proposed solutions to many of these problems are extremely complex, untried, and are likely to have unintended consequences. The political debate is likely to be rancorous and divisive which will cause considerable political tensions through the next election cycle.

Notes by Bill Elliott



Vol 84 No 36 - September 17, 2007


What Does "Statistically Significant" Mean?

Presented By: Dr. Thomas Spradlin Tom Spradlin


Dr. Spradlin got his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University. He retired from Eli Lilly and Company, where he worked as a biostatistician and a decision consultant. He is a two-year member of Scientech.

We occasionally read reports, that an experiment or study or survey produced results that were “statistically significant” or not. This presentation is intended to help people gain an understanding of how such a statement should be interpreted.

Simply put, a result is “statistically significant” if the researcher rejected the hypothesis that he wished to test. Specifically, statistical significance always refers to a difference, whether a difference between treatments for some disease, a difference between energy supplied by different “sports drinks,” or even a difference between a coin’s probability of coming up heads when tossed and the hypothesized value of one half.

A difference between two things is statistically significant if, in an experiment, there is enough evidence to reject the hypothesis that the two things are equal. The evidence against that hypothesis is weighed by a quantity called the p-value, which is calculated from the results of the experiment. The p-value is the probability, if the hypothesis is correct, of getting results as deviant from our expectation, or more deviant.

A simple example involving coin tosses showed that low p-values suggest the data contradict the hypothesis being tested, while high p-values support it. By convention, a p-value of .05 has been chosen to differentiate between statistically significant and not significant. In a nutshell, if the data we got were unlikely (less than 5% chance) if the hypothesis is correct, then by convention we conclude that they hypothesis mist be wrong.

Unfortunately, doing research this way leads us to make errors, but that is inevitable. Some of the hypotheses we reject are in fact true (but we happened to get an unusual sample of data), and others that we fail to reject happen to be false. Unfortunately, there is no way to know in any given case whether we’re making an error or not.

If we’re not careful in interpreting such things, we fall into the trap of concluding that something statistically significant must be practically significant (not necessarily true) and that something not statistically significant must be practically insignificant (also not true). It is important always to focus on the SIZE of the difference in the experiment, whether statistically significant or not.

The existence of an arbitrary cutoff between statistically significant and not so can induce unseemly behaviors among researchers. Especially if a desirable result is not quite statistically significant, or if an undesirable result is statistically significant, even well-intentioned people can be tempted to take action to lead one to the desired conclusion.

There were 3 final recommendations for considering such reports. First, always be aware exactly what is being compared in the experiment you are studying. Second, if a difference is statistically significant, it is likely to be real, but it might be trivially small. If a difference is not statistically significant, it may or may not be real, but if the estimate of the size of the difference is big enough to be important, one should act as if the difference is real. Either way, the SIZE of the estimated difference is crucial, not just the statistical significance.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 37 - September 24, 2007


Recent Changes in Patent Practice

Presented By: Robert D. Titus Robert Titus


Mr. Titus is an organic chemist and patent attorney for Eli Lilly and Company.

A patent is a grant by the government of certain rights in an invention, in return for full disclosure of the invention. A patent is only temporary, in that it is valid for a prescribed length of time, and it is territorial, in that, with a few exceptions, each country considers and grants its own patents.

The rights that are granted are defined by the claims in the patent. While the rights do not entitle the patent holder to do anything in particular, they do allow the holder to exclude others from making, selling, or otherwise using the invention. These rights are granted after examination of the patent application by the Patent Office. The application process for a patent is difficult and complicated. Patents are regulated by federal statutes, by Rules of Practice which are part of Federal Regulations, and by Federal District Courts, and higher.

The statutory requirements for a patent are 3fold: the invention must have utility, it must be novel, and it must be non-obvious. While the utility requirement is fairly easy to satisfy, there must be some credible utility to be useful as a patent. This is a higher standard of proof, and it is not clear how much evidence is needed to establish that the invention has credible utility.

In order to be novel, the invention must be previously unknown. This requirement can create tension with inventors who want to discuss their work, because premature disclosure can defeat the invention’s patentability.

The non-obviousness requirement seems the most difficult to establish. An invention is obvious if, at the time the invention is made, it is a trivial or self-evident variation on what was already known to one of ordinary skill in the art. An analysis of obviousness requires that one determine the scope and content of the prior art, establish differences between prior art and the current invention, and determine the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.

Recently the US Supreme Court entered the fray with a ruling in a case called KSR v. Teleflex. The KSR invention mounted a pedal position sensor to the pedal mounting bracket. Teleflex argued that this invention violated one or more of their patents. A court of appeals ruled that nothing in prior art suggested mounting the sensor on the bracket. However, the Supreme Court reversed, arguing that prior art was rife with suggestions for this product.

Prior to this Supreme Court ruling, the obviousness analysis asked the question “does prior art point to this solution?” Now, however, the test is whether common sense and experience (part of prior art) point to the solution, a different test.

Because of this change, the patent situation for many inventions is in a great deal of flux and uncertainty. Because of the post-KSR test for obviousness, Pfizer lost six months exclusivity on their product Norvasc (and a few billion $s).

Because of the KSR ruling, Mr. Titus predicts that incremental advances will be less likely to be patentable, especially in mechanical and electronic arts. He also thinks the legal advice given before KSR needs to be re-evaluated in light of the new rules. Finally, new rules for the patent application and process have been promulgated, making many situations more complex.

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 38 - October 1, 2007


Adipose-derived and Other Adult Stem Cells

Therapeutic possibilities for cardiovascular system, neural disease and beyond.

Presented By: Dr. Keith L. March Dr. Keith March


The source of the adult stem cells studied here is the subcutaneous fat. The cells utilized are actually supporting cells in the fat rather than the fat cell itself. These cells are easily obtained. They can be prepared and re-injected into the donor with no immunological rejection. There is no moral or ethical objection to the utilization of these cells as opposed to embryonic stem cells. Other sources of adult stem cells can be bone marrow, umbilical cord, placenta, and amniotic fluid.

On October 18-20 of this year there is going to be an international meeting of scientists here in Indianapolis on the subject of adult stem cell research. Interested parties are invited to sign up for the seminar and on October 18 at 5:30 p.m. there is going to be a discussion and question and answer period to which you are invited. The website of the organization sponsoring the seminar is WWW.IFATS.org.

The adipose stem cells (stromal cells) have the potential to proliferate and differentiate. They can become neural, skeletal, blood vessel wall, and heart cells. They may locate themselves on blood vessel walls(pericytes) and are associated with blood vessel proliferation. These proliferating blood vessels have been shown to increase blood flow in mice extremities which are made ischemic (deficient blood flow). These stem cells can be delivered by intramuscular or intravenous injection in the tail vein of the mouse. Human adult stem cells are used in these mouse experiments.

Stem cells(adipose stromal cells ) have been injected in human subjects in ischemic feet producing detectable improvement in blood flow and improvement in the ischemia. At least six other groups internationally have confirmed these findings of improved blood flow with the use of adult stem cells as described.

A major source of the fatty tissue is from liposuction. The fatty tissue can be centrifuged with the fat rising to the top and the stromal cells to the bottom of the tube. In the appropriate culture one cell can multiply into one trillion in approximately 1 month. They can replicate indefinitely These adult stem cells can “learn” to become heart muscle, liver and neural tissue and more. In the future it may be possible to inject adult stem cells into cardiac veins to repair damaged heart muscle. Adult stem cell conditioned media has been shown to prevent neurological damage in experimental animals following induced stroke. These injections have been shown to be beneficial if given within an hour and even up to 24 hours.

The future possibilities for using adult stem cells from adipose tissue, bone marrow and other sources is almost unlimited. Potential use on a clinical basis is seen for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease, acute stroke, Parkinson’s disease, insulin production and beyond.

Notes by Jerry Kurlander



Vol 84 No 39 - October 8, 2007


Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
Rolls-Royce Corporation and the Joint Strike Fighter

Presented By: Lisa Bianchini, Program Manager - JSF LiftFan
and
Brad Belcher, Chief Experimental Engineer, JSF F136 Engine Lisa Bianchini


Rolls-Royce has sales of over 47 billion dollars, and has over 38,000 employees around the world. Presently they are making the Trent 1000 engines for the new Boeing Dream Liner airplane. Today’s meeting covered the development of the Joint Strike Fighter called the F-35 program. The F-35 program is defining an affordable next generation strike aircraft weapon for the Navy, Marines, Air Force and our allies. The F-35 will replace the F-16, A-10, F/A-18, and Harrier aircraft. The JSF has 3 variants of aircraft: Conventional Take-Off and Landing, Carrier Variant, and the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing aircraft. The F-35 capability will include such features as all around situation awareness, passive precision emitter for location and targeting, synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical targeting system, and a helmet-mounted display. The new helmet display even watches the pilot’s eyes, and allows him to see the flight information even as his eyes and head move.

Pratt&Whitney and Rolls-Royce are partners in the short take off and vertical landing plane propulsion system. Pratt&Whitney will be making the F135 engine, and Rolls-Royce in partnership with GE will be making the F136 engine. Rolls-Royce has a 1.35 billion contract with P&W to deliver the LiftSystem and the LiftFan module used in the vertical takeoff aircraft. The engine delivers 29,000 HP that provides 20,00lb of downward thrust with the lift fan, 1900 lb of trust to each roll post, and 18,000lb of thrust to a 3 bearing swivel module.

Brad Belcher The expectation is that to 5000 F-35 aircraft will be built, starting in 2011. Potential customers include just about all of the allies of the US.

Affordability and weight are the biggest challenge of the project. Affordability includes the costs through the life cycle of the aircraft. Due to the large amount of thrust, GE is building a new test center in Peebles, Ohio that will be completed in December of this year.

The F136 engine is designed specifically for the F-35 aircraft. The GE-Rolls Royce fighter engine team is celebrating its 5th anniversary. The F136 continues to receive congressional support for the program. The first conventional take-off and landing flight was completed in December of 2006 and the first demonstration concept of the vertical take-off is scheduled for May of 2008.

Lisa and Brad provide the club with a comprehensive overview of the development of the F-35 and its engine and Rolls efforts in the LiftSystem. The Joint Strike Fighter F35 is the largest military acquisition of our time.

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 40 - October 15, 2007


Tour of Egypt

Presented By: Darrell Bakken Darrell Bakken


Darryl told us that he inherited his passion for travel from his Viking ancestors, through his father, who traveled to California in a Model T Ford in the 1920’s. Darryl has been in 85 countries since he retired, and his tour of Egypt was part of his 10-year-long project to understand the relation between the Moslem, Christian and Jewish peoples.

Egypt regards itself as the “mother of all civilization” and certainly they have 7000 years of history, and are at least one of the original civilized places, like Iraq and China. They can claim the original medium of writing, papyrus, and Darrell passed around a sample of papyrus to us.

Egypt is 675 miles from south to north, following the Nile River, which is the heart of the county. Only 4% of the country’s area is the fertile Nile Delta, but that is the important part.

He summarized the history of Egypt as follows:

3000BC--341BC—the Pharaohs rule
332BC--30BC—Greek rule
30BC--639AD—Roman and Byzantine rule
640AD—1517AD—Arab rule
1517AD—1882AD—Turkish rule
1882AD—1952AD—British rule
1952—present—Arab republic

The major Egyptian cities are Alexandria, 5-6 million, and Cairo, 15-17 million. Alexandria once had the greatest library on earth, but it is under the harbor now. A huge new library has recently been constructed, and its collections are being built up with help from many nations. The intention is to make it the finest library in the world once more.

Part of central Alexandria has been built over extensive Roman ruins, which may some day be excavated somehow. The Roman theater exists in fair condition but without its roof.

The area between Cairo and Alexandria is reasonably fertile and cattle and other animals are raised there.

There are 350 cruise ships on the Nile!

The population is 90% Muslim and 10% Coptic Christian. The government, which is officially secular, protects the Copts and their churches. The apostle Mark established the Coptic church. In Egypt, non-Muslims are allowed to enter mosques, unlike more vigorously Muslim nations.

Our own Children’s Museum is helping to design the children’s part of the new Cairo Museum, so we can hope for some new Egyptian exhibits in our museum in return.

4700 years ago a Pharaoh built the first pyramid, a monument to himself. There are 97 in total. He was the second king of the third dynasty. The pyramids of Giza—where the new museum will be—are most famous. A typical block of stone is 4.5 feet high and 6 feet long, and it takes millions of them to make a pyramid. The stone came from a quarry upriver (south) from Giza, which also furnished stone for the great tombs still further upriver. People have been stealing stone from the pyramids for hundreds of years, and the biggest one has lost about 25 feet of its height from the thefts. Only one pyramid still has its white limestone facing at the top; the rest have lost it all. The workmen are now thought to have been free Egyptians, not slaves or foreigners.

The Sphinx, standing tall above the desert, was buried up to its neck till excavated in the 19th century. It is believed to have been buried, excavated and reburied several times in the past.

Darrell saw a bus full of American psychics who had dug a big hole near the pyramids of Giza, and were burying some artifacts, supposedly full of psychic energy, to communicate with the ancient Egyptians.

Luxor has many museums and the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. The ancient city of Karnak is a huge museum, still holding very large and important temples and avenues of statues. The Valleys are just that, valleys the walls of which are honeycombed with shaft tombs holding kings and queens, and also Hatshepsut, a woman who became a king with a moustache and is buried in the Valley of Kings.

When the huge Aswan dam was being built with Russian help, Egypt decided at the last possible moment to move the important temple of Abu Simbel, which would have been immersed by the backup. The temple, which was cut into the side of a mountain, was cut to pieces and bodily moved to another mountain hundreds of miles upriver, where the temple was exactly reconstructed. The sun shines into the temple at the solstice now, at just the angle it shone into the old temple.

Notes by Joe Jones



Vol 84 No 41 - October 22, 2007


Future for Nuclear Power
A Potential Turning Point for US and Global Energy

Presented By: Dick Shire Dick Shire


Dick is a member of Scientech. He has an undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and a MS Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington

There are currently 104 commercial nuclear power plants operating in the United States. All but eight of these plants operate in the Eastern or Midwestern part of the country.

The industry had its beginnings in 1942 under the football stadium at the University of Chicago, the product of Enrico Fermi and his team. In 1953, President Eisenhower declared the Atoms for Peace program with the objective of developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

In its infancy, the industry saw several unusual programs. A nuclear powered airplane was envisioned, and while a nuclear test reactor was successfully flown, it provided no power for the flight. A nuclear powered locomotive was also envisioned and development begun in upstate New York. The projects were all eventually shelved because of safety concerns.

Electricity derived from nuclear power currently totals about 20 percent in the US. The largest energy source is coal with about 50 percent. Natural gas accounts for 20 percent, hydroelectric seven percent and other sources (wind, geothermal, etc...) account for four percent.

The growth curve for electricity increases at approximately the same rate as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The increase is at about three percent (compounded) per year.

The nuclear power industry has exhibited a history of reliability. Records indicate a capacity factor of about 90 percent – 330 days of on-line service per year. This factor is higher than any other source of electricity.

Safety data reveal that operation of nuclear reactors are far safer by almost every measure than, for example, of petroleum refining plants.

The source of fuel for nuclear power plants is uranium oxide (U308) or “yellowcake.” Yellowcake contains 99.3 percent U238 and .7 percent fissionable material U235, which is converted to a uranium-fluoride gas. It is then enriched in centrifuges from .7 percent to 3.5 percent U235.

Enriched uranium is formed into ceramic pellets. One pellet, the size of a human fingertip contains energy equivalent to 1,800 lbs. of coal or 150 gallons of oil or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The pellets are arranged into tubes to form a rod and 256 rods are bundled into a square assembly. About 200 of these assemblies are arranged into a reactor core capable of 1,000 megawatts of power.

When a neutron collides with a fissionable atom of U235, the mass breaks down and two or three neutrons are ejected. These neutrons are “fast,” traveling at about 20,000 kilometers per second. These neutron bounce off the moderator and slow down to about 2200 kilometers per second. These “slowed” neutrons continue the chain reaction. When the control rods in a reactor are withdrawn, the reaction increases. When the rods are inserted, the reaction slows as neutrons are absorbed by the control rod materials.

There are two types of reactors in use in the US. The “Boiling Water” reactor is a single stage process. Water is heated in the reactor and steam goes directly to the turbine/generator and is then closed-looped back to the reactor. The pressurized water reactor is a two-stage process utilizing a heat exchanger housed in the reactor containment building, with the rest of the process being similar single stage reactor.

Three Mile Island (TMI) was the most serious accident in a nuclear power generating facility in the US. The average dosage of the released materials was about equal to radiation exposure in a single chest x-ray.

Prior to TMI, the industry was experiencing delays in construction of new plants due to increased litigation and increased regulation. Escalating costs caused the cancellation of 31 projects. Public Service of Indiana (now Duke Energy) canceled Marble Hill Power Plant (Indiana) in mid-construction around 1984.

The current design of nuclear power plants offer multiple layers of protection. The reactor is surrounded by layers of steel and concrete.

Renewed interest in nuclear power is driven by its lack of harmful emissions, abundance of locally available fuel and increasingly attractive cost per kilowatt-hour. There are over 30 plants in the US currently under consideration.

Current challenges involve reprocessing uranium fuel to increase the amount of energy extracted and decrease the amount of spent fuel sent to storage.

Notes by James Reid



Vol 84 No 42 - October 29, 2007


Charitable Giving and the Better Business Bureau

Presented By: Linda Carmody
Presidend and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Indiana Linda Carmody


Mrs. Carmody is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She has been with the Better Business Bureau since 1978. The Bureau produces a guide indexed by industry of its members. This guide along with a booklet entitled Wise Giving Guide was passed out to all those in attendance.

Businesses apply for membership. Then they are investigated to determine if they qualify. Those that meet the appropriate qualifications are referred to as accredited businesses. Formerly they were referred to as members. Next year the Bureau plans to introduce a rating system of the business based on the results of the investigation. Because a business could lose its accreditation, it is recommended that one check the website BBB.org to confirm the current status.

In addition the Bureau produces other pamphlets such as “How to Buy a Home” and “How to Set Up a Franchise “. It also investigates scams, schemes and many charities. They have 20 standards for evaluating charities. There are some charities who refuse to be evaluated. These charities may or may not have something to hide. If there is a question about the charity one could contact Joseph at 488-2221/Ext.113.

Ms. Carmody told about St. Matthews Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The church sends out an appeal for money with the return address being a post office box. It turns out that there is no church. The money is forwarded to a Reverend in San Francisco whose credentials are dubious. This operation is very clever suing individuals or organizations who question its validity.

The Bureau has set 65% as the minimum amount of the donation that should go to the named charity , allowing 35% for operational expenses. It is desirable of course that the amount going to the stated purpose of the charity is more. Organizations that use professional solicitors undergo higher expenses with less going to the charity.

She discussed the solicitation methods of several organizations including the Indiana Troopers Association and the Paralyzed Hoosier Veterans. The approaches used by these organizations were dubious and the amount of funds distributed by Paralyzed Hoosier veterans did not approach the 65% criterion.

In addition she talked about mail-order products which were defective or bogus. These included a medallion to be worn which is said to improve ones golf game, breast enhancement salves and semi-automatic boiled egg peelers among others. She also discussed jewelry ordered through the mail such as a 24 carat gold tone ring which was not at all gold, diamond and emerald jewelry with only a grain of each within.

The Better Business Bureau investigates scams such as the infamous Nigerian scam and the counterfeit check scam.

The motto of the Better Business Bureau is “Start With Trust”. The consumer needs to be intelligent in his purchasing as well as in his donations.

Notes by Jerry Kurlander



Vol 84 No 43 - November 5, 2007


Rapid Climate Change and Global Warming: A Geologist's Perspective

Presented By: Dr. Gabriel Filippelli Dr. Gabriel Filippelli


Dr. Filippelli has a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of California at Davis, and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is the chairman of the Earth Sciences Department at IUPUI.

Earlier this year, Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (a UN body of some 2000 scientists) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to disseminate information about man-made climate change and to lay the groundwork for action. The vast majority of the scientists in this panel are convinced that the climate is changing, and that human civilization is an important contributor to that.

Over the past 10 years officials of the US government are becoming more and more convinced of the reality of man-made climate change, and are trying to understand the impact. In fact, in 2006 the National Academy of Sciences declared that the earth’s warming is caused primarily by human activity, specifically greenhouse gases. It appears that the developed world, which has contributed the most to this, stands to suffer the least economically, perhaps because they have the infrastructure to adapt.

The concentration of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, in the atmosphere is increasing, and study of isotopes shows that it is a result of fossil fuel burning. These gases trap infrared radiation from the sun and store it in the atmosphere as heat. There have been times in our past when the atmospheric CO2 was much higher than now, and those times featured higher humidity levels and somewhat higher temperatures. There was also a time when the earth was ice-covered (“snowball earth”).

The CO2 in the atmosphere fluctuates, as does the temperature, and the CO2 “amplifies” the cold and warm fluctuations. In fact, the atmospheric CO2 right now is higher than it has been in at least the last million years. Records of worldwide average temperature have been kept since about 1880, and the highest of those are dominated by the temperatures of the past 15 years. Current projections show potential for a temperature increase of 5°C or more over much of North America by 2090.

At least two impacts of climate change are inevitable. One is a rise in sea level, expected to be about 25-75 cm by 2100. This would have a major impact on low-lying areas, as storms (which might also become more severe) would reach further inland. Another impact is acidification of the ocean. Even a slight change in ocean pH could do significant damage to coral and other organisms at the bottom of the oceanic food chain.

It is interesting to study how previous civilizations have dealt (or not dealt) with climate change. For example, the Mayans of the Yucatan peninsula flourished during a wet, warm period. They lived on non-irrigated crops, but over-cultivation and over-population led them to the brink of ruin. When the climate turned dry, they could no longer feed themselves without irrigation, and their civilization collapsed. One can consider the American Midwest, where we grow corn and soybeans largely without irrigation (and hope to use the corn as a significant source of fuel). It is expected that, by 2100, the climate of Indiana will be much like today’s climate in north Texas, and corn and beans will not flourish without irrigation.

According to Dr. Filippelli, the important questions about climate change are not “whether” but “when” and “how much.” We are in need of better modeling to help us understand and communicate what the impacts will be, expressed in terms that people understand and care about, and to predict “climate surprises.”

Notes by Tom Spradlin



Vol 84 No 44 - November 12, 2007


Construction of Lucas Stadium

Presented By: Pat Wipperman Pat Wipperman


Mr. Wipperman gave an interesting and excellent presentation in regards to the construction of Lucas Stadium; an ongoing project.

Mr. Wipperman graduated from Purdue University with a degree in engineering. His special area of study was in construction management. He previously was the project engineer for the construction of the Cincinnati Convention Center, and the Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. He currently works with Hunt Construction Group, Inc. and is project manager for the ongoing construction of Lucas Stadium.

The owner of the new stadium is the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority (ISCBA). The operator is the Capital Improvements Board of Managers of Marion County (CIB), and the main tenant is the Indianapolis Colts. The construction manager is Hunt Construction Group, in association with Smoot Construction and Mezzeta Construction. The architect is HKS. The structural engineer is Walter P. Moore. The total cost for Lucas oil Stadium will be $715 million.

Construction of the Lucas Stadium began on September 20, 2005 with an expected completion date of August 15, 2008. The new stadium will replace the RCA Dome. The RCA Dome contains 50,7965 seats with 5000 club seats. The new Lucas Stadium will contain 63,000 seats with 7100 club seats and an option to expand to 70,000 seats. The RCA Dome had 104 corporate suites and the new stadium will have 142 corporate suites. Major improvements in the new stadium include doubling the width of the pedestrian corridors, adding 14 elevators and 11 passenger elevators, and that nearly doubling the toilet fixtures to 1200.

This is a multipurpose venue which will host NFL football, NCAA basketball, concerts, band contest, trade shows, etc.

The superstructure will be cast-in-place concrete on spread footings. This will use 130,000 yd.³ of concrete. The construction will use 350 tons of steel. There is a retractable roof which will cost $100 million. This roof will be opened and closed using 20 cable drum drives mounted on transporters.

An excellent addition will be in the Street Club which is a street level restaurant area containing martini bars and a steak Grill.

Construction problems included dealing with the Pogues Run sewer structure at the southeast end of the project. Dealing with this structure required that the new stadium to be skewed somewhat on its construction site.

Notes by Bill Elliott



Vol 84 No 45 - November 19, 2007


Civil Air Patrol (United States Air Force Auxiliary)

Presented By: Lt. Col. Richard Upton
Major Gerry Inks, Squadron Commander
Colonel Mark Reeves, Indiana Wing Commander Richard Upton


The Civil Air Patrol was established on December 1, 1941. In 1943 it was transferred to the War Department. In 1946 the CAP was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. It was designated as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force in 1948.

The CAP has many important functions. These include search and rescue operations ,disaster relief, homeland security and counter drug activities among others.

During World War II the CAP provided coastal patrols which served as a sub chasers. It spotted more than one hundred submarines and sunk two of them by dropping bombs crudely strapped on small aircraft.

An important part of their mission is sponsoring cadet programs for teenagers. These programs teach leadership, physical fitness and provide aerospace education. The latter, of course, is provided for individuals of all ages. The program for young cadets is quite exciting. Each cadet gets five powered flights and five glider flights. They have summer encampments and drill team activities among many other things interesting to teenagers. Several of the cadets have gone on to the service academies and careers in flying.

In 1944 women were accepted in the CAP. The organization is open to individuals of all ages who can pass a background check. Anyone interested can contact the CAP through their website www.cap.gov/join Dues are $65-$70 per year.

The organization is divided into eight regions with Indiana being in the Great Lakes region. The budget provided by the federal government is currently $31,109,000 annually. There is very little corporate support and the Indiana Legislature does not provide any funding. There are 1000 members in Indiana.

The CAP nationally has 530 aircraft and 8100 fixed land and mobile radios. They now have available high wing aircraft, such as the Cessna 182 and Gippsland GA-8. They utilize these in addition to corporate and some privately owned aircraft. There are 1600 local CAP units controlled centrally at Maxwell Air Force Base. The central command and control is manned 24/7. The response time is less than two hours when an emergency is called.

In more recent times the CAP has provided surveillance activity for NASA, and assisted in security for the G-8 summit. There were more than 100,000 registered protesters for the Summit. Services in support of Katrina relief included search and identification of levee breaks, oil tank ruptures etc. In addition to the airborne missions there were many ground teams deployed to provide assistance to the Katrina victims.

In their surveillance activities they use sophisticated imaging techniques including hyper-spectral imaging (spectral fingerprints) as well as satellite digital imaging. These images can be transmitted almost simultaneously to ground observers.

The organization serves as a very cost-effective force multiplier. A 1 hour flight of a C-130 aircraft cost about $4460 not including the crew. With a volunteer crew the CAP can function for $110 per hour.

The cadets meet weekly. The adult members meet monthly on the fourth Tuesday. Interested adults can contact ginks@wishtv.com

Notes by Hank Wolfla



Vol 84 No 47 - December 3, 2007


Heart Rhythms, the Beat Goes On

Presented By: Dr. Daniel Beckman Dr. Daniel Beckman


The heart has an elegant electrical system. Only two types of body tissues conduct electricity at physiological voltages: nerve tissue and muscle tissue.

The reason these transmembrane potential differences occur is the differences in the concentrations of a collection of ions. These voltage changes can be “mapped” on a cell-by-cell basis. Extremely low voltages are transmitted from cell to cell by what is termed “the Action Potential.” The Action Potential is an all or nothing phenomenon caused by the voltage fluxes that occur due to the ion changes. It signals the muscle to contract. The Action Potential manifests itself in the creation of the waves on an electrocardiogram.

During heart arrhythmia, an impulse passes through the heart tissue; it is slowed by diseased tissue allowing the effective refractory period to expire; it resets itself and the impulse re-enters the muscle and stimulates the cycle again. The muscle will not contract, it quivers.

When blood does not move through the heart, the biggest risk is clot formation. In addition, arrhythmia reduces the “priming function” of the ventricles and reduces the sophisticated control of heart rate, it becomes random.

Dr. Beckman’s latest development blocks the triggers that allow the effective refractory period to expire and the resulting heart arrhythmia.

Most of the triggers emerge out of the pulmonary veins. Microwaves are used to destroy selected tissue, thus turning it into fibrous tissue that does not transmit electricity at physiological voltages. Heating the tissue to 50 degrees C. will kill the tissue and it is replaced by scar tissue. This thin line of scar tissue acts like a firebreak.

In the operation, instruments enter through small incisions on the right side of the chest to gain access to the entire heart. A “routing guide” resembling a fine wire is passed around the pulmonary veins. It is used to pull the microwave probe (resembling a larger wire) into position. The microwave probe is shielded on one side to protect nearby tissue. The non-shielded side emits microwave radiation creating a line of dead tissue.

Procedures average about 90 minutes and success rates are about 80%.



Vol 84 No 48 - December 10, 2007


Tour of Oswalt Mineral, Fossil, Gem Collection

Presented By: Mr. and Mrs. Ostwalt Phil Ostwalt


The Scientech Club visited the Oswalt Mineral, Fossil and Gem collection on Monday, December 10, 2007. The tour was arranged by and transportation provided by the Children’s Museum. Several members of the Children’s Museum accompanied the Scientech Club on the tour. On the way to the Oswalt collection, Jeff Patchen, President and CEO of the Children’s Museum said that the museum was in negotiation with the Oswalt family to purchase the Mineral, Gem, and Fossil collection which will be included in a future Children’s Museum exhibit.

Upon arrival the Scientech Club members were introduced to the Oswalt collection by Mr. and Mrs. Phil Oswalt in the approximately 3500 square foot museum building on their property south of Indianapolis. According to Mr. Oswalt, the museum building was designed to withstand a 200-mile per hour wind and up to a six hour unfought fire.

First Mr. Oswalt lectured that he started collecting minerals, gems, and fossils about 15 years ago. Mrs. Oswalt was the major force in developing the fossil collection. Mr. Oswalt indicated that the age of the earth was estimated to be about 4.8 billion years old and that the age of some of the oldest items in his collection were approximately 75% of the earth’s age. The mineral collection contains examples of essentially everyone of the known 500 species of minerals. However, for fossils he has many splendid examples, but the variety of fossils is endless. The collection is actually made up of 10 different collections, including minerals, gems, fossils, early Indian weapons such as arrow heads and clubs, and antique mining lanterns, dating all the way back to the 16th century. All of the specimens on display have been purchased over the years by the Oswalt family as opposed to having been physically mined by them. Mrs. Ostwalt

After the introduction by Mr. Oswalt, the Scientech Club members toured all of the collection exhibits on their own. The collection is quite spectacular and impressive in that it has been assembled by a private individual in only about 15 years elapsed time.

The visit to the Oswalt Collection was very well presented, extremely interesting and the Scientech Club appreciates all of the effort that the Children’s Museum personnel went to in order to make our visit happen. We all look forward to when the Oswalt Collection is incorporated in a future Children’s Museum exhibit.

Notes by Jim Bettner



December 17, 2007


Scientech Annual Meeting


Today's meeting was for the election of officers for 2008. The new officers are as follows:



President: Robert S. Sorensen
Vice President: Lyman H. Wolfla
Secretary: William E. Stanley
Treasurer: John F. Rathman

Directors Class of 2009 ( Two-year term)



Robert A. Rogers
Charles S. Shoup Jr.

Directors Class of 2010 (Three-year term)



F. Robert Brueckmann
Lester Eigenbrod
J. Richard Judkins
Kent Sharp
Deanne I. Slater
Paul M. Voss

Outgoing President Jim Bettner announced that H. Nelson Crooks and J. Richard Judkins have been elected Emeritus Members of the Club in honor of their long membership and service to the club.

Three new members were welcomed into the club today and each gave a short discussion of his career. These members are as follows.

Les Eigenbrod
Lester Eigenbrod received a degree in engineering cryogenics from Purdue University. His first job was with Union Carbide. At Union Carbide he worked with industrial gases, principally liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. In addition he spent time with the Polar Stream company developing liquid nitrogen refrigerators for cross-country transportation of produce. He developed oxygen systems for coal mines and described interesting experiences in the coal mines. In the last half of his career was spent as a professor of engineering at Purdue University.




Hank Wolfla Hank Wolfla graduated from Purdue University in electrical engineering. He was a professor of electrical engineering at Purdue and also taught at the Kokomo campus. He then moved to Indianapolis where he became the manager of the Community Hospital electronics department. He then went on to develop several different types of centers as an entrepreneur. These included CT centers, mobile CT units, mobile ultrasound units, and imaging centers including MRI equipment and computerized tomography equipment. He has most recently been at Hancock Memorial Hospital as vice president of basic construction. Prior to retirement there was a short stint with Clarian Health during which he interfaced with several small surrounding hospitals..



John Pittman Dr. John Pittman then gave a short discussion concerning the anatomy of the heart. He integrated this with a short discussion of the development of cardiac surgery which has occurred during his career as a cardiac surgeon. These include the repair of atrial and ventricular septal defects, cardiac valvular replacements, coronary artery bypass grafts, and aortic repairs.

Notes by Bill Elliott