Category Archives: Science

Sentition and the Phenomenous Object

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In his Seed article Questioning Consciousness, author Nicholas Humphrey asserts that if we are to understand the phenomenon of consciousness, we must begin to formulate better questions.  Humphrey has written on the problem of consciousness and has been be promoting some new vocabulary and arguments to address this challenge.

The basic question that people have struggled with is this: How does the brain elicit consciousness? Obviously, this is a very hard question to answer. It requires the brain to reason about its own function and within the very constraints of those brain functions.

Naturally people want to find a mechanistic picture and the notion that the brain is a processing system that accepts inputs and delivers outputs is normal. But outputs to what? Well, your consciousness- your eternal, first person, live on the scene, internal-telecast of stimulus and response.

Humphrey defines “Sentition” as real world brain activity. Presumably this includes the sum of electrical and chemical activity that operates within the brain’s distinctive architecture.  Humphrey goes on to define more language to describe our perception of sentition-

The real-world brain activity is the activity that I call “sentition.” In response to sensory stimulation, we react with an evolutionarily ancient form of internalized bodily expression (something like an inner grimace or smile). We then experience this as sensation when we form an inner picture—by monitoring the command signals—of just what we are doing.

Sentition has been subtly shaped in the course of evolution so as to instill our picture of it with those added dimensions of phenomenality. Sentition has, in short, become what I call a “phenomenous object”—defined as “something that when monitored by introspection seems to have phenomenal properties.”

While it may seem trivial, the definition of appropriate terms to describe key attributes of consciousness is critical to how we think about it. New terms may be better as they are not burdened with common usage that distract from the problem.

This article in Seed is not a seminal work. It is a short essay on consciousness and an introduction to some interesting ideas for hackers like myself who realize that the field is very significant. I believe that a comprehensive theory of consciousness is as important as the ToE the physicists are looking for- Theory of Everything.

That Pesky Brazil Nut Effect

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The Brazil Nut Effect is a type of equilibration process that granular systems with a distribution of particle sizes will undergo. It occurs with agitation and proceeds in such a manner as to result in a final state with the center of mass as low as possible. The equilibrated state results in the larger particles migrating towards the top and the smaller particles filling the void spaces down low. According to the above Wikipedia site, certain container shapes can suppress or enhance this effect.

In the merchant chemical business, suppliers strive to provide customers with the maximum quality that is feasible.  Some applications require high chemical purity and others require less purity. The trick is to pay for the purity that you need.  Excess purity is an unnecessary expense.

In many applications a chemical substance must be both chemically pure and of a certain specific physical form.  For applications where the solid must be blended to form a suspension, a slurry, or it must dissolve rapidly, a small particle size is often desirable. Particle size control and analysis is an art that many synthetic chemists can go through their entire careers and never encounter.

In the process of filtration, solids often compact along surfaces to afford flakes and angular chunks that may retain their shape until they reach the package. Lumps can arise from incomplete washing and drying and may be indicative of chemical inhomogeneity in the bulk material. 

Chemical products that are used in compounding for very exacting applications- catalysts, coatings, polymer compounding- may have specifications that require the absence of lumps in the bulk solid. Free flowing homogeneous powders can be prepared by milling or sieving or even spray drying. Compounds that are air, moisture, or light sensitive may not respond well to excessive handling. Before you accept business involving powdered products with bulk solid specs, you need to demonstrate that it is art that you can actually perform.

This is where a smart buyer is worth their weight in gold. Instead of having their own company take the burden of particle sizing, they make the vendor do it. And if the vendor fails, find another.

Where the Brazil Nut Effect seems to enter my life is when the product finally arrives at the customers facility.  If your nice powder had even a single hidden clump in it, you can bet that on arrival it has migrated to the surface to greet the frowning customer. I have received digital photographs of this from customers who wished to drive home the point. So, you just buck up and apologize as sweetly as you can manage and give them your FedEx number so they can send it back.

Bis, Tris, Tetrakis

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For many seasons, Th’ Gaussling was the keeper of part numbers and nomenclature in his village.  Fellow peasants would stumble out from the dark and dank mines to plead for new part numbers and names for the new products. As always, outsiders are surprised to learn that this is an actual “job”, but in fact it is. When you make new stuff, eventually you have to call it something. And what you call it has to be recognizable to the barbarian tribes outside the walls.

Peasants and grandees alike would take the names in gratitude for the everpresent fear was that they themselves would be called to toil in the muck of nomenclature as I have.

The dark world of nomenclature is split into two hemispheres- IUPAC and CAS. I don’t know what the deal is with Beilstein. It seems to be a sinking ship with a few deckhands polishing the brass knobs as the bow submerges.  Arguably, CAS has become the default system for nomenclature and identification in much of the world. The CASRN is increasingly the standard for unambiguous substance identification. The US EPA relies upon CAS to keep track of the TSCA inventory. Chemical sellers all over the world rely on the CASRN system to identify products and as a search term to attract internet search engines to their websites.

The major problem that I have encountered is that nomenclature from the 9th collective index (9CI) is often incompatible with our accounting system. The system does not accomodate Greek letters (kappa and eta) and the numbering system leads to sorting and format problems with list generation and subsequent retrieval. The complex system of numbering schemes and nested hierarchies plays havoc with the system as well, if for no other reason than the character count exceeds what is permissable in the data field.

Even more troublesome, the complex names are largely inaccessable to non-chemists. It is very hard for administrative assistants and temps to comprehend accounting data when they are fundamentally unsure of what the identity of the product is and why various materials show up in the bill of materials. To non-technical folks on the business side, chemical names are often just a complicated character string that is prone to data entry errors.

I’ll have to admit that nomenclature from earlier indices (6CI to 8CI) is often more user friendly in this regard. So when it is time to choose a name, 9CI doesn’t always win. This is a propagation step in the retention of obsolete nomenclature and I am guilty as hell of keeping it going.

Unhappy Chemicals

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We all have experiences with chemicals that stick in our memory. Experiences where we have witnessed just what chemical potential really means.  Proton or electron transfer can be downright frightening sometimes. Rude and abrupt phase changes or angry exotherms. Sometimes nature rages back at our feeble attempts to take the dragon out for a walk on a short leash.

I can name many exciting materials, but I think that chlorosulfonic acid is one of the more exciting and obnoxious substances that isn’t explosive or neurotoxic.  What are your favorites?

Archaic Chemical Terms

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There are interesting sites out there that list antiquated chemical terms. One apparently authoritative site lists 18th Century chemical terms (compiled by Jon Eklund of Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology). 

Some terms seem to remain quite useful, some are hopelessly irrelevant, and others are just odd.  Naturally, I am attracted to the odd words. Have a look for yourself. Here are a few good ones copied verbatum from early in the alphabet-

Cohobation –Repeated distillations, or any cyclic process in which a liquid is vaporized and condensed as, for example, in refluxing.
Cucurbit – The lower part of an alembic. Shorter, more squat and ovoid than a matrass.
Decrepitation – Rapid physical decomposition of some crystals when heated. Characterized by a crackling noise.
Dephlegmation – To remove water from a solution, usually one of an acid or alcohol. There is a sense of purifying about the term, as opposed to simple concentration.
Desquamation – The process of removing scaly crusts which form on a surface.
Dulcification – Any process in which a caustic substance is rendered less corrosive.
Empyreumatic – Tasting or smelling or burnt organic matter.
Exalt – To make more spiritous, volatile, or generally more active; activate.

I wonder if any of these would get through the peer review process if one were to try to use them in a procedure submitted for publication? Perhaps if Roald Hoffmann used them, I suppose.

High Purity Life

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The world of ppm and lower detection thresholds is a confusing labyrinth of assumptions, equipment quirks, and a place where you definitely can’t confuse accuracy with precision. All of those lovely 9’s queued to the right of the decimal place. I do so want to believe what I see. But so often they are from a tight cluster of bullets away from the bullseye.

For those who must tread in this arcane world, I can only recommend that you find a good analytical lab and get to know the analysts well.  They can fill you in on the sorry truth of sub-ppm detection and quantitation.

The trinity of ICP , quadrapole, and the Blessed Dynode allow access to the innermost ring of analytical hell.  At the sub-ppm level, most of the periodic table begins to stand out of the background. Once apparently pristine material, like a trailer park divorcee, suddenly reveals a sordid history.  Pick your method and stick to it. If you go nosing around with other methodologies, you may be in for a disheartening picture. 

The Aldrich Distribution Machine

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It was interesting to note in the recent C&EN report on the Top 50 chemical companies that among the most profitable was Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL), or colloquially, Aldrich.  Sigma-Aldrich controls an expanding complex of companies all targeted for more specialized domains of chemical technology.  Anyone who has received an invoice from Aldrich would not find their profitability surprising.   But what most customers may not realize is the extent of relatively transparent infrastructure that has been put into place to enable this profitability. 

Aldrich is not profitable merely because their prices are, well, high. Aldrich is profitable for some subtle reasons as well. Easiest to recognize is their shrewd choice of market.  Aldrich’s customer list includes nearly every research and academic chemistry and biology department in much of the world, or at least anywhere FedEx delivers. What is important about the R&D market is certainly not the volume of chemicals each research group orders- 5 g here, 100 g there, a liter of this, or 50 mL of that.  Rather, it is the constant buzz of orders coming in for premium grade (and premium priced) chemicals virtually all of the time.  While each order may be modest relative to bulk chemical transactions, a constant stream of orders begins to add up. 

What is shrewd about focusing on the R&D supply market is this:  Over time R&D money is relatively constant. The big academic and institute money is federal in origin and as such tends to be reliable in supply. Out in the world, projects start and projects end continuously.  It may not be reliable to an individual researcher, but overall, the monies are dispersed every year and someone out there gets them. So from a marketing view, the players in the game may change, but the spring of money flows every year.

Other people develop the Next Big Thing and SAFC supplies the raw materials. Just like the gold rush. A few miners hit a big strike. But the more reliable money came from selling supplies to the miners.

As I alluded above, Aldrich charges a premium price for its products and, to my knowledge, has never discounted its wares.  It offers a valuable service and is unapologetic about how it does business.  Any given product in the catalog has a substantial markup on it. I think that many people find this galling when they compare 25 g unit prices to bulk prices.  But I would caution that there is a substantial and unrelenting cost associated with having certified quality material prepackaged and waiting on a shelf in some warehouse.

It’s easy to get bulk pricing- buy in bulk!

A bottle of maleic anhydride sitting on the shelf is functionally equivalent to cash sitting in a bottle.  You have to pay up front to have material in inventory and the cash or credit used to buy the inventory could have been used to do other things. It could have been given to Warren Buffett for investment or to the stockholders.  Management has a fiduciary responsibility to the stockholders. It is to provide the best possible return on stockholders investment.

Another hidden talent of Aldrich is logistics and distribution. Getting things to where they should be on time does not happen easily. Much of Aldrich’s success depends on its ability to move product into and out of inventory rapidly and accurately. On the input side, purchasing, receiving, quality control, manufacturing, and warehousing are highly organized to assure that orders can be fulfilled when the time comes.

When the order does arrive, the business data system has to issue the right part number from inventory and be assured that there is no shelf life problem that would disqualify the product for sale.  Any chemical product must have a certificate of analysis, an MSDS, and be available in the right unit configuration, or SKU- stock keeping unit.

Order fulfillment involves entry of the purchase order into the data system, issuance of a work order to obtain the material, pulling the SKU from the inventory data base, and sending the order to shipping for final containerizing for land, sea, or air shipment.  Here, the product must be packed in a way to conform with DOT and IATA regulations.  Shipping documents must be packed, boxes placarded, and the parcels must get onto a truck for delivery.  Foreign deliveries are complicated by customs issues, which often include inspection and import duties. Customs clearance is a subspecialty in the shipping world.

In many ways, making the chemical is the easiest part.  Getting clean product is just the beginning of the adventure in product distribution.

Growth occurs by acquiring new brand loyalty and by expansion of the collection of products. One stop shopping for lab supplies.  The “80/20 rule” applies to such collections of products. This rule  of thumb states that 20 % of your products do 80 % of the business.  Chances are good that this ratio is even more skewed than 80/20. 

So, one way to grow is to expand the collection size. This ensures that as much demand is covered with product as possible.

Another way to grow is to dial in annual price increases- say 5-7%. This renders the prices in the catalog obsolete soon after they are distributed, but that is unlikely to be fatal to any given buying decision. 

Fools and Randomness

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There is an interesting book out by Nassim Nicholas Taleb called Fooled by Randomness, 2005, Random House (!!?), 2005, ISBN 0-8129-7521-9.  To get right to the point, Taleb has combined cognitive science and statistics with finance. 

There is nothing new about cognitive scientists using statistics.  But there is  something distinctly recent, at least, about finance people thinking about how cognitive science and statistics might be applied to how we approach investment thinking. I don’t mean the cookbook use of cognitive science in investments, rather, I mean how we think about investment risk.  The theme of Taleb’s book is concerned with how we think about randomness.

The reader can form her/his own opinion about Taleb’s ideas.  Speaking for myself, I am intrigued with his thesis that many “experts” in economics and investments are largely deluded when it comes to perceiving risk. Taleb suggests that validation of forecasting methods and the use of error estimation is generally lacking in investment trading. The cognitive connection applies to how investment traders think. Taleb suggests that there is a general lack of probabilisitic thinking.

Coming to grips with infrequent and unexpected outcomes (black swans) is one of the most befuddling and confusing challenges we all face. Our primate brains form elementary strategies for dealing with certain risks.  We catch a glimse of a big carnivore in the brush and we run. 

But what to do if we have a bundle of money in the market and some social or economic perturbation comes along?  What will the market do if the Molybdenum prices skyrocket or if China invades Taiwan? Individuals and industries are concerned with the value of their investments over the course of positive and negative events. Stock traders need to act on clues so as to protect the value of their accounts.

Taleb laments the lack of probabilistic thinking in the investment community. He suggests that individuals and firms who are deemed as highly successful in investments are in reality just very lucky more frequently than we realize.

Even for hacks such as myself who gasped and sputtered through a few semesters of exposure to probabilistic concepts, i.e., quantum mechanics, radiation science, etc., sweeping the mind free of deterministic biases requires constant attention.  How is some MBA derivatives specialist going to temper her/his enthusiasm to buy or sell when phantom patterns appear in the market?  Good question.