How To Develop Motivation

First, let's find out what the importance of motivation exactly is. Simply put, motivation is that driving force which allows you to achieve your goals and go after what you want in life. If you want to change your personality for the better, get a promotion at work, start a new habit, be a better person who is part of the community, become a better parent for your kid – all of these things would be easier accomplished if you are properly motivated.

As long as you have a strong personal motivation, you can achieve almost anything that you want from life. However, remember not to fall into the trap of looking for short-cuts to achieve your goals. It's perfectly fine if you have to take a long and winding road to achieve your goal. It will be an even sweeter victory when you finally achieve your goal, knowing that you have had to go through several hurdles to attain it.

Developing Motivation in Life
So how can you develop motivation in life? If you wish to accomplish a goal – be it short-term or long-term in nature – how can you find it in you to be properly motivated? Here are a few things that you should keep in mind:

1. Focus on one goal at a time.

This should be partnered with the fact that you should make sure that your short-term goals all help in achieving your long-term goals. One of the best ways for you to focus on one goal at a time is to make a diary of your goals – yes, write it down – so that you will have a visual representation of the things that you want to achieve rather than letting it all get lost in your head.

2. Get rid of all the distractions which might prevent you from achieving your goal.

Let's say that you are a writer who wants to finish a book. How can you type away on your keyboard one chapter after another if there are many distractions surrounding you like television, friends chattering away or the lure of aimlessly browsing through the Internet. In order for you to stay properly motivated, make sure to steer clear of any distractions.

3. Completely block out any negative influences.

Finally, make sure that you are completely blocking out any negative influences in your life. If you feel that you are being distracted from your goal by a problem which does not seem to go away, ask yourself what you can do to eliminate such a challenge and distraction in your life. Maybe you are being sidetracked by negative thoughts and feelings because you have no faith in yourself. Addressing the root of the problem, completely blocking out any negative distractions and thinking purely positive thoughts is the best way for you to develop motivation in your everyday life.

Constantly Work At Motivating Yourself
A goal doesn't do you much good unless you are constantly thinking about, and working towards it. Write down your goal and place it somewhere that you will see it at least 1-2 times a day. If you have a weight loss goal, place your written goal beside the refrigerator. If your goal is to get physically stronger, place your written goal near your weight bench so you can see it when you are working out. This provides the extra motivation you need for those tough days.

A great way to motivate yourself with business goals is to put up a motivational quote beside your desk. Do a Google search for motivational quotes, then print off one and put it inside of a picture frame. Keep it there and read it occasionally throughout the day. Whenever you find yourself not looking at the quote anymore, or it no longer provides the inspiration that it once did, it's time to change the quote. It's perfectly OK to change this quote every 1-2 weeks for maximum motivation.

Some people make a habit of reading their goals either when they first wake up or right before they go to bed. When you read your goals upon arising, you may begin to notice that you find yourself doing more each day to help you reach your goals. Similarly, when you read your goals right before bed, you may notice that you wake up with good ideas that you never thought of before.

Final Thoughts
It's important to have motivation in your life. Motivation is the fuel that you need to continue striving for your goals. Soak up motivating things in your life on a daily basis. Read great books that will inspire you. Read great blogs that are both positive and informative.

It's human nature to have days were you aren't very motivated. However, if you continue to surround yourself with positive and motivational things, those days will be few and far between.

How to fit 1,000 terabytes on a DVD

We live in a world where digital information is exploding. Some 90% of the world's data was generated in the past two years. The obvious question is: how can we store it all?

In Nature Communications today, we, along with Richard Evans from CSIRO, show how we developed a new technique to enable the data capacity of a single DVD to increase from 4.7 gigabytes up to one petabyte (1,000 terabytes). This is equivalent of 10.6 years of compressed high-definition video or 50,000 full high-definition movies.

So how did we manage to achieve such a huge boost in data storage? First, we need to understand how data is stored on optical discs such as CDs and DVDs.

The basics of digital storage

Although optical discs are used to carry software, films, games, and private data, and have great advantages over other recording media in terms of cost, longevity and reliability, their low data storage capacity is their major limiting factor.

The operation of optical data storage is rather simple. When you burn a CD, for example, the information is transformed to strings of binary digits (0s and 1s, also called bits). Each bit is then laser "burned" into the disc, using a single beam of light, in the form of dots.

The storage capacity of optical discs is mainly limited by the physical dimensions of the dots. But as there's a limit to the size of the disc as well as the size of the dots, many current methods of data storage, such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs, continue to have low level storage density.

To get around this, we had to look at light's fundamental laws.

Circumnavigating Abbe's limit

In 1873, German physicist Ernst Abbe published a law that limits the width of light beams.

On the basis of this law, the diameter of a spot of light, obtained by focusing a light beam through a lens, cannot be smaller than half its wavelength – around 500 nanometres (500 billionths of a metre) for visible light.

And while this law plays a huge role in modern optical microscopy, it also sets up a barrier for any efforts from researchers to produce extremely small dots – in the nanometre region – to use as binary bits.

In our study, we showed how to break this fundamental limit by using a two-light-beam method, with different colours, for recording onto discs instead of the conventional single-light-beam method.

Both beams must abide by Abbe's law, so they cannot produce smaller dots individually. But we gave the two beams different functions:

- The first beam (red, in the figure right) has a round shape, and is used to activate the recording. We called it the writing beam

- The second beam – the purple donut-shape – plays an anti-recording function, inhibiting the function of the writing beam

- The two beams were then overlapped. As the second beam cancelled out the first in its donut ring, the recording process was tightly confined to the centre of the writing beam.

This new technique produces an effective focal spot of nine nanometres – or one ten thousandth the diameter of a human hair.

The technique, in practical terms

Our work will greatly impact the development of super-compact devices as well as nanoscience and nanotechnology research.

The exceptional penetration feature of light beams allow for 3D recording or fabrication, which can dramatically increase the data storage – the number of dots – on a single optical device.

The technique is also cost-effective and portable, as only conventional optical and laser elements are use, and allows for the development of optical data storage with long life and low energy consumption, which could be an ideal platform for a Big Data centre.

As the rate of information generated worldwide continues to accelerate, the aim of more storage capacity in compact devices will continue. Our breakthrough has put that target within our reach.

Courtesy: Science Alert fb Page

Faculty Positions Available at College of Engineering Majmaah University KSA

In the matters of imparting education and enlightenment  B.S, M.S and Ph.D  degree holder (Male and Female) from internationally ranked /classified universities having teaching and research experience are required for College of Engineering Majmaah University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A).

Interested candidates may send their C.V's at

Email:

alsalamahm@gmail.com       or         sacm@dsl.net.pk.job

Postal address:

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia,

Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission,

House No 16/A, Street No 25A

 F-6/2, Islamabad,

Pakistan.

Details:

Department/ Discipline	Qualification	Experience	Position	Number of Vacancy	Expected Salary
Civil Engineering-Structural Engineering	B.S , M.S and Ph.D  degree holder from internationally ranked /classified universities	Priority given to applicants who have experience in teaching and research	Assistant Professor, Associate Professor , Professor	3	After the CV is reviewed
Civil Engineering-Surveying	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Civil Engineering-Transportation	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Civil Engineering-Water and Environment	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Electrical Engineering- Power	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	2	Same as above
Electrical Engineering- Machine	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	3	Same as above
Electrical Engineering- Control	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	3	Same as above
Electrical Engineering-Microwave	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Mechanical Engineering-Manufacturing	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	2	Same as above
Mechanical Engineering-Design	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Mechanical Engineering-Materials Engineering	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	1	Same as above
Mechanical Engineering-System Mechanics and controls	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	2	Same as above
Mechanical Engineering-Thermodynamics	Same as above	Same as above	Same as above	3	Same as above
Mathematics (Integration, differentiation , algebra, differential equation, numerical methods	Same as above	Same as above	Assistant Professor	2	Same as above
Physics(for engineering students)	Same as above	Same as above	Assistant Professor	1	Same as above
Chemistry(for engineering students)	Same as above	Same as above	Assistant Professor	1	Same as above
Architectural Engineering	Same as above	10 years in teaching and research , served as department head or dean , has experience in curriculum development	Professor	1	Same as above, exceptional salary
Interior Design	Same as above	10 years in teaching and research , served as department head or dean , has experience in curriculum development	Professor	1	Same as above, exceptional salary
System Engineering and Mechatronics		Same as above, exceptional salary	Professor	1	Same as above, exceptional salary

Splitting the Sea: Turning Ocean Water into Hydrogen Fuel

THE UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG

WEDNESDAY, 12 JUNE 2013 UOW scientists have developed a novel way to turn sea water into hydrogen, for a sustainable and clean fuel source. Using this method, as little as five litres of sea water per day would produce enough hydrogen to power an average-sized home and an electric car for one day. The research team at UOW's Australian Reserch Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) have developed a light-assisted catalyst that requires less energy input to activate water oxidation, which is the first step in splitting water to produce hydrogen fuel. A major limitation with current technologies is that the oxidation process needs a higher energy input, which rules out using abundant sea water because it produces poisonous chlorine gas. The research team, led by Associate Professor Jun Chen and Professor Gerry Swiegers, have produced an artificial chlorophyll on a conductive plastic film that acts as a catalyst to begin splitting water. The results were recently published in the journal Chemical Science. Lead author, Associate Professor Jun Chen, said the flexible polymer would mean it could be used in a wider range of applications and it is more easily manufactured than metal semiconductors. "The system we designed, including the materials, gives us the opportunity to design various devices and applications using sea water as a water-splitting source. "The flexible nature of the material also provides the possibility to build portable hydrogen-producing devices." The development brings UOW's energy research a step closer to creating an artificial leaf-like device that can efficiently produce hydrogen. ACES Executive Research Director Professor Gordon Wallace said: "In today's world the discovery of high performance materials is not enough". "This must be coupled with innovative fabrication to provide practical high-performance devices and this work is an excellent example of that," he said.