The vast majority of the RD that has been done in alternative has been in America. This is somewhat true. There are fewer, but still strong, nuclear engineering departments around the country that continue work in nuclear power production, mostly using money from the power companies and the government, but sometimes it seems like half the grad students are French. Also remember, only the core really works with the nuclear material and a great deal of research work can be done with respect to thermal hydraulics in other very closely related disciplines like mechanical engineering.
That is true, that molten salt is more expensive, but look at the overall picture. Although the working fluid is more expensive than water, water has this pesky habit of undergoing phase change, and pressures are MUCH higher. This means the cost goes into transporting the water/steam and even pressurizing whole structures, and ultimately it gets pretty hairy.
Molten salt, on the other hand, if chosen well, will not expand as it heats/cools and can flow slowly, reducing the engineering hassle for a reactor. In other words, the molten salt requires a larger initial investment, but upkeep is lower. This solar system they are talking about seems like a variant of these molten reactors, only replacing the core with a solar concentrator/collector.
Er, yeah, I meant fees. It's their workarund for not being allowed to charge tuition, I figured it was close enough to the same thing.
Looking it up now, it's 8.3k per year for undergrads from CA, 14k for non-state. Yeah, it has gone up, but it's still far below private schools with comparable offerings.
(Disclaimer: I am a current Berkeley MechE undergrad, but no, I'm not in any of the classes from those videos.)
I think it would be better characterized as "Berkeley is now using YouTube as an additional teaching tool." I highly doubt they're subtracting anything.
The professor's lectures, the book, the GSI's discussion section. Any one of these, if well-taught or well-written, is enough to help you completely understand the material. The best students use a combination of these to ensure they learn what they need to, covering up any shortcomings in one of the methods of delivery. There's really no harm in an extra avenue of information (extra, not substituted) Some professors have been posting their lectures online for years now, but the only difference here is the ease of use and popularity of youtube.
Some may complain about people using this to argue for not going to class, but there are two issues here: Most of those classes that are setup for web-casting are either extremely large, so you're not missing out on any significant warm-and-fuzzy professor interaction, and more importantly, most people who argue this wouldn't go anyway.
As for your comments about junior college, I have to say, it's a perfectly legitimate and common way to do it. There are a lot of people I know in engineering who transferred in as a junior for that reason. (By the way, for us 100 and 200-level classes are upper-div and graduate-level, respectively) I can't agree too much with the "better teachers" sentiment, though. You're just as likely to get a poor teacher at a good J.C. as you are to get a useless grad student, at least at a school like Berkeley where the average grad student is somewhat more knowledgable. (Anyways here just about every class is taught by a professor or a lecturer with a Ph.D., and a GSI for an extra discussion/lab section)
Still, if there are any slashdot-reading prospective top-tier-college-goers out there worried about cost, Berkeley's financial aid is pretty good, and it's ~8k a year for tuition, if you live in California. Come to the north-east corner of campus where the engineers and CS majors are, and join us in ignoring the hippies, who are mostly humanities majors with not enough to do anyways.
To be fair, though, that wasn't really about France surrendering prematurely, as it was more about Bismarck thoroughly kicking some ass. (future consequences aside)
Good to see that some professors can both do research and teach without lacking in one or the other. Professor Majumdar's a nice guy, his heat transfer class was very well taught, really helped get me interested in heat transfer as something to elaborate on for MechE.
I thought the Kessel Run was measured in distance because the Run involved skimming very close to a cluster of black holes, and thus only the boldest would dare to take a shorter route...
*takes pleasure in fact I'm still at least above Trekkies on the geek hierarchy*
Ugh. Ever want to destroy your childhood memories? Go back and watch some original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something. Yes, there's still a lot of crap, but I wouldn't say they've gotten any worse overall.
Kidding, kidding, I'm a young one. My first computer had windows 3.11, so I think it was a 100 Mhz 486, predating pentiums by a year or three. It had a bitchin' new CD drive that required a caddy that you put the CD in first. My first game after some simple-ass learning games on floppies was Wolfenstein 3d. (Like I said, I'm a young one.) That, and fooling around with Dance of the Planets.
So when NASA tries to keep costs down, people say they're cutting too many corners and endangering lives, and when they spend extra for the quality, people say they're too bloated and need to run things more like a business.
People will complain no matter how NASA runs things, I say give them a bigger budget than the measly amount they get now and see what they can do with it.
And yes, 16 billion is measly when you consider that it seems sometimes like they're our NIH for everything not health-related; that is, they have a finger in every stewing "pot" of research.
Slashdot Mirror
They don't necessarily mean NaCl or table salt. Salts can refer to other materials, like Flibe (2LiF BeF2).
That is true, that molten salt is more expensive, but look at the overall picture. Although the working fluid is more expensive than water, water has this pesky habit of undergoing phase change, and pressures are MUCH higher. This means the cost goes into transporting the water/steam and even pressurizing whole structures, and ultimately it gets pretty hairy.
Molten salt, on the other hand, if chosen well, will not expand as it heats/cools and can flow slowly, reducing the engineering hassle for a reactor. In other words, the molten salt requires a larger initial investment, but upkeep is lower. This solar system they are talking about seems like a variant of these molten reactors, only replacing the core with a solar concentrator/collector.
Er, yeah, I meant fees. It's their workarund for not being allowed to charge tuition, I figured it was close enough to the same thing. Looking it up now, it's 8.3k per year for undergrads from CA, 14k for non-state. Yeah, it has gone up, but it's still far below private schools with comparable offerings.
(Disclaimer: I am a current Berkeley MechE undergrad, but no, I'm not in any of the classes from those videos.)
I think it would be better characterized as "Berkeley is now using YouTube as an additional teaching tool." I highly doubt they're subtracting anything.
The professor's lectures, the book, the GSI's discussion section. Any one of these, if well-taught or well-written, is enough to help you completely understand the material. The best students use a combination of these to ensure they learn what they need to, covering up any shortcomings in one of the methods of delivery. There's really no harm in an extra avenue of information (extra, not substituted) Some professors have been posting their lectures online for years now, but the only difference here is the ease of use and popularity of youtube.
Some may complain about people using this to argue for not going to class, but there are two issues here: Most of those classes that are setup for web-casting are either extremely large, so you're not missing out on any significant warm-and-fuzzy professor interaction, and more importantly, most people who argue this wouldn't go anyway.
As for your comments about junior college, I have to say, it's a perfectly legitimate and common way to do it. There are a lot of people I know in engineering who transferred in as a junior for that reason. (By the way, for us 100 and 200-level classes are upper-div and graduate-level, respectively) I can't agree too much with the "better teachers" sentiment, though. You're just as likely to get a poor teacher at a good J.C. as you are to get a useless grad student, at least at a school like Berkeley where the average grad student is somewhat more knowledgable. (Anyways here just about every class is taught by a professor or a lecturer with a Ph.D., and a GSI for an extra discussion/lab section)
Still, if there are any slashdot-reading prospective top-tier-college-goers out there worried about cost, Berkeley's financial aid is pretty good, and it's ~8k a year for tuition, if you live in California. Come to the north-east corner of campus where the engineers and CS majors are, and join us in ignoring the hippies, who are mostly humanities majors with not enough to do anyways.
The first example I think of is generally the Franco-Prussian War:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Prussian_War
To be fair, though, that wasn't really about France surrendering prematurely, as it was more about Bismarck thoroughly kicking some ass. (future consequences aside)
All the Middle East needed for peace to blossom was a paper clip and an old car muffler! It's so simple in hindsight.
Good to see that some professors can both do research and teach without lacking in one or the other. Professor Majumdar's a nice guy, his heat transfer class was very well taught, really helped get me interested in heat transfer as something to elaborate on for MechE.
Agreed. In this post 1-31 world, some sacrifices must be made if we are to answer the Mooninites in kind.
I thought the Kessel Run was measured in distance because the Run involved skimming very close to a cluster of black holes, and thus only the boldest would dare to take a shorter route...
*takes pleasure in fact I'm still at least above Trekkies on the geek hierarchy*
Correction: Business schools produce people who can cope with a wide variety of Powerpoint presentations.
Oh dammit. I'll read the rest of the comments once I finish reading "The Cat who Walks Through Walls".
Yeah, I know what you mean. That's why I never watch anything from Universal Pictures. Presumptuous bastards.
I'd have to dispute you on the peanut butter remark. I'm a Skippy man, myself.
Ugh. Ever want to destroy your childhood memories? Go back and watch some original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something. Yes, there's still a lot of crap, but I wouldn't say they've gotten any worse overall.
Didn't Apollo manipulate the goddess of the moon (Artemis) into killing Orion?
Not exactly the most auspicious name...
This opens whole new paths in the pharma-audiovisual industry! Soon Monster will gold plate your spinal cord and charge you 10x the cost.
I dunno, I'm kinda hoping for the "Fons".
Or, if you're an anime junkie, COTS can stand for "Crest of the Stars", which is funnily enough still a somewhat relevant name.
Since when has something being unconstitutional prevented it from being passed?
IBM made PS2's??
Kidding, kidding, I'm a young one. My first computer had windows 3.11, so I think it was a 100 Mhz 486, predating pentiums by a year or three. It had a bitchin' new CD drive that required a caddy that you put the CD in first. My first game after some simple-ass learning games on floppies was Wolfenstein 3d. (Like I said, I'm a young one.) That, and fooling around with Dance of the Planets.
How long did it take him to develop it?
So when NASA tries to keep costs down, people say they're cutting too many corners and endangering lives, and when they spend extra for the quality, people say they're too bloated and need to run things more like a business.
People will complain no matter how NASA runs things, I say give them a bigger budget than the measly amount they get now and see what they can do with it.
And yes, 16 billion is measly when you consider that it seems sometimes like they're our NIH for everything not health-related; that is, they have a finger in every stewing "pot" of research.
Hooray for public schools! UC Berkeley sucks...@#$#%@! hippies.
Ugh don't mention Salvatore's name... he killed Chewbacca :'(