Worthington Steam Pumps Designated as Latest ASME Landmark

Worthington Steam Pumps Designated as Latest ASME Landmark Worthington Steam Pumps Designated as Latest ASME Landmark Worthington Steam Pumps Designated as Latest ASME LandmarkSept. 9, 2016 ASME Past President Reginald Vachon (center) presents the ASME landmark plaque to Paul Ticco of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (left) and John Quarstein of the USS Monitor Center during the ASME landmark designation ceremony on Aug. 25. (Photo courtesy of The Mariners Museum and Park) brde month, the Worthington Direct-Acting Simplex Steam Pumps, which powered the famous ironclad Civil War vessel the USS Monitor, were recognized by ASME for their role in revolutionizing the U.S. Navys fleet. The devices, which are the earliest known surviving direct-acting steam pumps, were designated as an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in a ceremony at the Mariners Museum and Park in Newport News, Va.The simplex steam pumps, which were invented by Henry R. Worthington, one of AS MEs founding members, were reciprocating systems that automatically sent water to the boilers that powered the ship. The pumps simple design featured directly connected steam and water pistons, which eliminated the need for the crosshead, rod and flywheel used in earlier steam pumps, resulting in a small, efficient device that was ideal for use in confined spaces such as ships. Will Hoffman (far left), senior conservator and conservation project manager at the Mariners Museum and Park, gave the ceremonys guests a demonstration of the Worthington pump replica during the landmark designation ceremony in Newport News, Va. (Photo courtesy of The Mariners Museum and Park)More than 115 people attended the designation ceremony on Aug. 25, including a contingent comprising Reginald I. Vachon, ASME past president Richard Pawliger, immediate past chair of the ASME History and Heritage Committee John W. Ralls, chair of the ASME Eastern Virginia Section and Paul C. Ticco, Northeast and M id-Atlantic regional coordinator for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. The event was also attended by representatives from area companies Curtiss-Wright, Hampton Rubber Co. and Master Machine and Tool. Curtiss-Wright sponsored the event with the ASME Eastern Virginia Section. Hampton Rubber Co. and Master Machine and Tool collaborated with Curtiss-Wright on a project to create a working replica of the Worthington steam pumps.The Worthington steam pumps stand apart for their efficiency and reliability, said Vachon, who presented the bronze ASME landmark plaque to officials of the Mariners Museum during the ceremony. Their compact size and lightweight design are vital features in marine applications, and the pumps also serve as the fundament for a variety of other industrial applications. (Left to right) Jeffrey Weise, chair of the ASME Central Virginia Section John Ralls, chair of the Eastern Virginia Section Paul Ticco, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Reginald Vachon, ASME past president John Quarstein, director of the USS Monitor Center Richard Pawliger, immediate past chair of the ASME History and Heritage Committee and John Zinskie, treasurer of the Eastern Virginia Section. (Photo courtesy of The Mariners Museum and Park)Landmark status for the Worthington steam pumps recognizes the contribution of the steam pumps to industrial history and to the progress of mechanical engineering, said current ASME President Keith Roe. The Worthington steam pumps join a roster of more than 250 other ASME engineering landmarks throughout the world. Each represents a progressive step in the evolution of our profession, while exemplifying the innovation and vision personified in engineers everywhere.For more information on the ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks Program, or to see the complete list of ASME landmarks, visit www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/lan dmarks.

What You Need to Know About Romance Fiction Genre

What You Need to Know About Romance Fiction literaturformWhat You Need to Know About Romance Fiction GenreIf you want to write a romance novel, it makes good sense to understand the romance publishing industry. From understanding the business to understanding the hallmarks of the romance literaturform, heres what you need to know about writing romance. Romance Publishing Romance novels are big business. According to the Romance Writers of America, the romance fiction industry is worth $1.08 billion dollars a year,* which makes it about a third larger than the inspirational book industry, and about the size of the mystery novel genre and science fiction/fantasy genre markets combined. Romance novels regularly top the major bestseller lists (New York Times, Publishers Weekly and USA Today), and have a large, dedicated audience of readers. The Audience The core audience of regular romance readers numbers a whopping 29 million and the extended audience of those who occasionally p ick up a romance novel is likely much greater. 84% of romance novel readers are women. Romance fiction buyers span all age ranges but the largest segment (41%) is between 30 and 54 years old. The Market According to Nielsens US 2014 Q1 Romance Landscape report,* ebook romance sales have outpaced the formerly dominant mass-market paperback format, and 39% of all romance novels are purchased in digital format (with the mass market now fairly close second at 32%). Eighteen percent of romances are purchased in the trade paperback format and only 9% are now bought in hardcover. While the report cites that 1% of romances are purchased for listening on audiobook,growth in the audiobook market indicates the number of romance audiobook listeners might be growing. Most romance is purchased from e-commerce sites, large chain bookstores, and mass merchandisers. Book publishing sales trends indicate that there is a robust market for romance fiction e-books. This could be due to the fact that regular romance buyers tend to be voracious readers and e-readers and e-books are convenient for multiple-book consumption. Hallmarks of the Romance Genre You think youre writing a romance novel, but are you sure? What makes a novel a romance?A novel is generally considered to be romance fiction if A love story is central to the plot The main idea of the story must be that two people who are in love must struggle through obstacles to their having a relationship. While there can be sub-plots (job, family, etc.), the love story must be the main element that drives the narrative. And...The ending is emotionally satisfying and optimistic The appeal of the romance novel for many is that the struggles of the lovers are rewarded and the risks they take pay off in a happy ending for them both. A romance novel may be a one-off (single title), or it may be part of a series. Within the parameters of the romance novel, there are many romance subgenres, which yield endless variations in Tim eframe Romance novels can be set in the past (historical) the present (contemporary) or in the future.Setting Whether the Scottish Highlands or a made-up universe or even Topeka, romance novels can be set anywhere. The story can take place during a family reunion or a murder investigation (which would put it in the romantic suspense subgenre).Hero He can be an average guy (as long as he looks better-than-average with his shirt off) a man in uniform (whether military, fireman... or kilt) or notlage even a man at all, as happens in the popular paranormal subgenre (Hello, Werewolf). Tone The sexual explicitness of romance novels ranges from demurely warm (the inspirational genre is generally not explicit) to hot and steamy... to super-sizzling.

Professional Growth, or Equilibrium

Professional Growth, or Equilibrium Professional Growth, or Equilibrium BALANCING ACT/Image Michael MoffaBreathing Again vs. Breathing BetterImagine two very different recruiters Recruiter A is always on the go, striving to make progress, to do better today than yesterday, to set himself or herbeiself challenges, records and goals that will push the performance envelope, while filling the pay envelope, and to climb higher and faster, toward the ever-beckoning summit of (competitive) success.Recruiter B is altogether different, and perhaps everywhere rarer in business circles. Bs only goal is to have no long-term goal other than to maintain an enjoyable status quo- no new records to be set, no harder challenges and tests to engage, no progress to be targeted. Instead, B likes things as they are, is satisfied with the status quo, and wants to conduct business the way his or her body conducts breathing- the same tomorrow as today, namely, smoothly and enjoyably, with no requirement th at the job results or the breathing be better tomorrow than they are today or were yesterday. Stability, elend progress, is the overarching goal- a variant of early retirement.Considering Your Opposites StyleAs a result, recruiters A and B will have very different, contrasting bedrngnisions of what constitutes job satisfaction, success, security, and meaningful work. What makes this important for you are the following questions and conjectures that follow later and one very intriguing fact The two styles are very similar to two physiological processes- homeostasis and heterostasisthat our own bodies use to keep us going and healthy.But first, the relevant questionsIf you are primarily a schrift A recruiter, how did you end up choosing this as your preferred style? Same question for type B. (Here, type A is a broader concept than Type A, the popular categorization of time-stressed, goal-driven, short-fused, impatient go-getters, although it overlaps and includes it in many instances. In this context type A means a recruiter like the one referred to as recruiter A, above. The same applies for type B.)Have you ever considered switching from your habitual style to the contrasting style or at least giving it a try? If not, why not?What do you see as the costs and benefits of the two styles and the net gain/loss of the style you have adopted?Have there been any suggestions or indications that a style switch from type A to B, or vice versa, would be good/bad for you?How do you feel about the other style? Uneasy? Envious? Something else?Climbing Ladders vs. Skating on PondsThese are two ways of looking at and creating career goals and outcomes- ways that reflect two key physiological processes of life itself growth vs. equilibrium. The first- the vertical ladder approach- career goal/outcome and corresponding physiological process emphasize growth as an objective or outcome of paramount importance the second stresses equilibrium- maintaining a career or physiological status quo, such as having static but stable client numbers or maintaining an optimal body temperature. Using body temperature as analogy, it could be argued that the ladder climber, type A needs the challenges that cause a rise in body temperature to a fever pitch, instead of maintenance tweaking to preserve the normal, basically unchanging stable temperature of 98.6 F.Are You Heterostatic A or Homeostatic B?Interestingly and arguably, unterstellung two styles approximately correspond to not only Type A and Type B personalities- the ladder climbers and pond skaters, respectively, but also to the two fundamental modes of existence, becoming vs. being and to two vital and contrasting physiological processes, mentioned above, known as heterostasis and homeostasis, a pair of concepts popularized by the researchers Hans Selye (the progenitor of stress science) and pioneering Harvard professor of physiology Walter Cannon, respectively.The aforementioned example of increasing body tempera ture, in the form of fever, as a response to an acute challenge, such as the flu, is a prime example of heterostasis, a process involving the activation of physiological defense through an adaptive departure from the normal stable state. In the domain of psychology, heterostasis, which is not yet in conventional dictionaries, has been derivatively defined as a tendency to seek new stimuli and challenges that will further growth (Raymond J. Corsini, Dictionary of Psychology, Routledge, 2001).Heterostasis is also manifested in having to run faster or longer to get the burn- ramping up the response to the challenge of maintaining fitness gains and rewards. By contrast, turning up your hypothalamus thermostat in the winter to maintain your body temperature or repeating familiar maintenance exercise routines with no new demands, no new levels of achievement exemplify homeostasis, the tendency to maintain normal physiological states by means of corrective physiological negative feedback- much as a household thermostat regulates and maintains room temperature.If your style and career goals/outcomes are growth-oriented, i.e., focused on becoming better and better, on advancement, on progress or on setting new and possibly harder challenges, on having evolving goals of advancement, you are in all likelihood a type A heterostatic ladder-climber who is not satisfied with mere endless equilibrium, and, as a result, will have priorities, rewards, stresses and perspectives that are completely different from the homeostatic pond-skater type B sitting next to you in your office.Health Risks in Overdoing a Good Thing?To the extent that there are correlations among having this heterostatic type A style, being a Type A personality (in the clinical sense of the time-stressed, impatient, short-tempered, controlling, competitive, etc., personality) and cardio-vascular disease, a type A or Type A recruiter may face heart-health issues related to this work and life style.However, it must be stressed that although various studies report significant positive correlations between low anger control and cardio-vascular disease or hypertension, critics argue that the correlations among all of the Type A traits are not so clear-cut. Hence, being future goal-oriented, a ladder-climbing heterostatic type or becoming oriented in and of themselves are not generally agreed-upon markers for heart-health risks or hypertension.What is also worthwhile to note is that to the extent that physiological heterostasis plays an important, albeit transient emergency role complementary to normal homeostasis, there may a question to pose to recruiters who psychologically have made heterostasis permanent, rather than temporary- e.g., in endless pursuit of higher levels of performance and achievement, as though gripped by a never-ending fever. That question is whether they have opted for a life style based on too much of a good thing, by making the heterostatic growth mode permanent, rath er than occasional, and in so doing whether they have plunged themselves into something like a permanent crisis mode and exposed themselves to any risks.(Analogies between this question about being in a permanent heterostatic individual growth mode and debates about the wisdom of endless economic or population growth should be obvious.)If permanent, unceasing career heterostasis is an unhealthy aberration, it would be akin to making what should be a temporary physiologicalfight or flight response a permanent, rather than emergency posture in the office or at home- which, as I reported in Zebra Stress Management for Recruiters, demonstrably correlates with elevated health risks, such as hypertension, ulcers and cardio-vascular disease.Mixed Functions, Mixed TypesEven though the two pure types- heterostatic ladder climbers and homeostatic pond skaters- are easily sharply distinguished conceptually, in fact, these are not mutually exclusive in their operations and can therefore be mix ed in various proportions and aspects of your work, just as every organism blends them. For example, in a bout of the flu, temperature will advance to the level of a fever, in order to heterostatically fight off a virus- but only as long as necessary, i.e., temporarily, while heart rate may, as a result of homeostasis, remain unaltered.Hence, having a long-term homeostatic, equilibrium job base, e.g., with fixed and stable hours, that is supplemented with interspersed occasional heterostatic spurts of growth and moments of Type A behavior would perfectly parallel the behavior of a healthy body and its physiology.Career Ladders and Two Kinds of PondsRecruiter A wants to move vertically and climb ladders recruiter B wants to move horizontally and skate an unchanging pond that is large enough to be interesting.However, to the extent that both A and B can be described using a pond metaphor and as pond dwellers, recruiter A, the heterostatic Type A, becoming achiever, is much more likely to have bigger challenge hunger and strive to be some kind of fish (preferably a big one) in a big pond filled with very big (rival) fish, even if it means starting out and possibly indefinitely remaining a small fry. On the other hand, recruiter B, the homeostatic pond skater, looks forward to effortlessly gliding over a much smaller pond, in and over which he or she can, comparatively, enjoy being a reigning big fish or at least becoming one without nearly as much effort as would be required by emulating heterostatic recruiter A.When Your Job Mimics Your BodyJust as your bodys physiology will, when required, complement its normal homeostatic functioning, e.g.,, maintaining O2 levels, with emergency heterostatic activity, e.g., elevating your bodys temperatures, on the job, you may attempt to homeostatically maintain hours worked per week, i.e., endeavor to keep them constant, while heterostatically ratcheting up your income, your client numbers, your geographical range of operati on or your network size- thereby redefining new equilibria (stable equilibrium points or states) for yourself, from which to launch your next heterostatic advance when the need or urge arises.The disanalogy with heterostatic physiological processes is that some of the results of your efforts, e.g., a larger number of clients, unlike body temperature after a fever, do not fall back to earlier levels, but hopefully remain permanently elevated. However, what should taper off like body temperature and the processes that elevated them is the level of effort that was required to create those new achieved highs, even though some lesser effort may be required to maintain and sustain them. Hence, if the key work parameter is effort, then it should increase and subside just like body temperature during and after a case of flu. If it never does, then your efforts will have become permanently heterostatic- which represents an abnormal prolongation of that kind of process and activity.Heterostat ic Becoming vs. Homeostatic Being Einsteins ObservationViewed commonsensically and intuitively, it stands to reason that the type A, Type A ladder-climbing growth-oriented heterostatically-driven recruiter is also more likely to be becoming-focused, always with at least one eye on the future and progress, rather than being-focused, the latter designating a focus on the present and the goal of keeping it as pleasant as it has been, again, like maintaining ones breathing or blood pressure just as they are, when one is satisfied with them as they are.This is the distinction reflected in Albert Einsteins observation that Americans are much more preoccupied than Europeans are with becoming, at the expense of being (satisfied living in the now, in the moment). The type B, Type B, pond-skating, equilibrium-oriented, homeostatically-regulated recruiter is, in progress-preoccupied America, going to be harder to find.Unless, of course, all the type A recruiters switch, keel over or quit from stress or worse.