delicious.

Australians enjoy good food, and the availability of produce and the variety of restaurants in Australia is testament to this. But what I am noticing more frequently is that Australian chefs are also receiving recognition on the international stage. Out of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, two are located in Sydney. In my local bookstore in Rotterdam, there are recipe books by Donna Hay and Bill Granger - translated into Dutch! Donna Hay's magazine (English version) is also now available at some Dutch newsagents. Even the delicious. magazine, established in Australia, is now published in the UK and the Netherlands, with both issues including recipes from Australian chefs. As the Dutch are not known for their cuisine, it is so exciting to think that Australians may be helping to bring about a gastronomic revolution here in the Netherlands. And with kangaroo meat being stocked in the local supermarket, it almost feels like I am dining in Melbourne again...

Citation Etiquette

In my English class in high school, I was always told that you should never copy blocks of text from a source and use it verbatim in your own essay/article. If it was not possible to write it in another way, then the copied sentence/paragraph should be enclosed in quotation marks and the source cited appropriately. Such methodology is particularly relevant when writing scientific articles for publication in peer reviewed journals. Failure to do so is not only plagiarising, but also infringes on copyright and general scientific etiquette. Today, I noticed that someone had cited one of my publications in their article and I was curious to know what aspect of my work they had referred to. When I found a copy of the article, I immediately checked the reference list to see where in the text they had referred to my article - to my surprise I was the first reference cited in the paper! When I began reading the introduction of this article, it was clear that they hadn't referred to my research, but rather had copied word-for-word the first paragraph and a half of the introduction from my article! Upon seeing this, I wasn't sure if I should be insulted or flattered by what they had done. Although both articles are about fuel cells, the papers are otherwise unrelated. In that regard, it seems irrelevant to have referred to my article. I guess there is some consolation in the fact that they did cite my article, thereby acknowledging the source of the information. And given that there is so much emphasis on the number of publications and citations, perhaps I should be happy with any form of citation, no matter the context. Although I don't agree with what they did, I am not going to take it any further. However, a colleague did suggest that I contact this group and inform them that this was not my best article and that next time they should copy another one... :)

WISER - Measuring Excellence

What is excellence? How does one assess excellence? What criteria should be used? And who should do the assessing? The measurement of excellence is frequently discussed in relation to academia and academics, whether it be in appointing a professor, awarding a grant, or evaluating the productivity of an academic. But can one really measure ‘excellence’? At the WISER Festival, this very topic was debated. Prof. Ana Proykova, a professor of physics at the University of Sofia, discussed both the quantitative and qualitative elements of excellence. The number of publications, citations, patents, grants, students and collaborators are an objective way of quantifying excellence. The quality of the work is judged by the reviewers of the work and reflected by the international reputation of the journal in which the work is published. However, Prof. Flavia Zucco, head of research at the Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine at the National Research Council in Rome, argued that scientific excellence rewards assertiveness and single mindedness, while other skills such as flexibility, creativity, diplomacy and competence are deemed less important. She referred to Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, the physics Nobel Prize laureate, who noted that women bring specific skills to research that men often lack, including the ability to create teams in research, giving students the freedom they need and keeping egos in check. Prof. Zucco remarked that the differences between men and women should be valued in the academic arena. Ms. Marieke van den Brink, a PhD student at the Institute of Gender Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, is addressing such issues in her research. In a recent publication, she posed the question ‘Does excellence have a gender?’ in relation to the appointment of professors at universities in the Netherlands. More than 60% of the professors recruited in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2003 were appointed by a closed application process (non-advertised positions). Although Ms. van den Brink had hypothesized that such procedures may disadvantage women, the findings did not confirm this. Thus, the so-called ‘old boys’ network appears to be equally advantageous for women in the Netherlands. However, her results did show that female applicants have a greater chance of being appointed to a position when there are more women on the selection committee. This may reflect the differences in the measurement of ‘excellence’ as perceived by men and women, as women may pay more attention to gender-specific behaviour. Should gender differences be considered when assessing excellence? Probably, but integrating gender awareness into the measurement of excellence is a whole new debate.

WISER - Leadership Rules

"A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." Eleanor Roosevelt.

The professional advancement of women (and minorities) in an organization often reaches a certain level, after which there appears to be a barrier that limits women from being promoted to higher positions. It is not through lack of experience or education that this occurs, but rather some other impediment that holds women back, a situation that is often referred to as the ‘glass ceiling’. Many people believe that women restrict themselves from taking on high level positions; however, there is also the perception that women who do hold such positions often do so to the detriment of the company. Dr. Michelle Ryan, a psychologist at the University of Exeter, has questioned the validity of such a statement, suggesting that women are often promoted to management roles only when a company is already struggling. In studying the performance of FTSE 100 companies in Britain in 2003 in the months preceding and following the appointment of both men and women to board positions, she found some interesting trends in the data. When the stock market was down, the companies that were performing relatively consistently appointed men to the board member positions while the companies that were struggling promoted women. After each appointment, the performance of these companies typically increased, although those with the women on board showed a much more dramatic turn around. When the stock market was up, the company performance after appointing a man was relatively stable. For the companies that promoted women under such conditions, their performance was more variable prior to the appointment, after which it was again relatively stable. From these results, Dr. Ryan concluded that it appears that women are more likely to be promoted to higher level positions when a company is performing badly. She says, “In this way, such women can be seen to be placed on top of a ‘glass cliff’, in the sense that their leadership appointments are made in problematic organizational circumstances and hence are more precarious.” What is not clear from this outcome is why such trends occur. Is it because women are perceived to perform better under crisis situations? Do women see such roles as an opportunity to prove themselves? Or are they simply being promoted to ‘scapegoat’ positions? The implications of such precarious promotions form the basis of Dr. Ryan’s ongoing research. From this study, however, it is apparent that the promotion of women to higher positions is often an effect rather than a cause of poor company performance.

WISER - Shouldn't We Be?

"There are three broad hypotheses about the sources of the very substantial disparities...with respect to the presence of women in high-end scientific professions. ...the first is what I call the high-powered job hypothesis. The second is what I would call different availability of aptitude at the high end, and the third is what I would call different socialization and patterns of discrimination in a search. And in my own view, their importance probably ranks in exactly the order that I just described." Remarks from a speech given by Larry Summers, former President of Harvard University, at the NBER Conference in January 2005.

Although the above-mentioned speech ultimately led to Summers resignation, these sentiments are often shared by many people when attempting to explain the lack of women in high level positions. But rather than focusing on the reasons for the disparity, the first debate of the WISER Festival considered four possible alternatives for promoting women and subsequently increasing the percentage of women in academia. Prof. Janneke Gerards, a professor in constitutional and administrative law at Leiden University, proposed that 40% of scientific board and committee members should be women. She argued that more female representation will not only give alternative perspectives but also result in less gender bias when making decisions. Prof. Mineke Bosch, an associate professor in gender studies at the University of Maastricht, suggested that women should be made more visible by promoting them through collaborations, conferences and communication. Prof. Renate Loll, a professor of theoretical physics at Utrecht University, argued that we should raise our expectations of what women can achieve - 'believe in yourself, and all things are possible.' Prof. Yvonne Benschop, a professor of organisational behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen, proposed that there should be a national mission for 'gender mainstreaming' by breaking down the 'ivory tower'. The festival participants were asked to vote on which proposition they preferred, with the initial count being in favour of Prof. Gerards. Many participants believed that if there was greater representation of women on boards and committees, then the other propositions would follow. This sparked further debating among the panel members and festival participants, where it was suggested that it is difficult to implement quotas. There was also strong support for 'crumbling the ivory tower' by making changes to the system. However, it was also argued that this requires one to already be in the system in order to be able to make such changes. Towards the end of the session, a second vote was cast, with the numbers then in favour of Prof. Bosch's proposal of creating visibility. This certainly requires less of a paradigm shift, but who is going to promote women? Overall, it was concluded that in one way or another, each of these propositions needs to be addressed in order to have greater representation of women in high level positions. The reasons for the lack of female academics may be multifaceted, but it is also apparent that there is no simple solution for changing the situation either.

Women in Science Education Research Festival - WISER

Last week, I attended the two day festival 'Women in Science Education and Research - WISER' in Maastricht. As mentioned in an earlier post, women hold approximately 25% of academic positions in the Netherlands, but only 10% of full professors are female. With 50% of university students being female, this begs the question 'Where did all the women go?' Over the two days, various issues were debated and discussed relating to the disproportion of women in academia and what can be done to change the status quo. Rather than trying to summarise the festival in one post, I intend to write a series of entries about some of the more interesting issues that were raised. Stay tuned for more...

H-index

Universities are continually looking for ways to quantify the research output of their academic staff. With databases such as 'Web of Science' on the Thompson Scientific ISI Web of Knowledge website, it is possible to obtain various statistics related to the number of publications for a given researcher. The factors that universities are looking for are how many articles one publishes, but also how often they are cited as a reference in another publication. The most mind-boggling statistic obtained from this analysis is the h-index. If an author's publications are ranked according to the number of citations with the most cited article listed first, the h-index is the number where the h-th article has been cited either h or more times. Huh? In other words, an h-index of 10 means that there are 10 publications that have 10 or more citations. The 'Web of Science' argues that "This metric is useful because it discounts the disproportionate weight of highly cited papers or papers that have not yet been cited." While this may be the case, it seems that it does not necessarily give an indication of the impact of the specific research or article. For example, an article that has been cited 1000 times has presumably had more of an impact on the scientific community than an article that has only been sited 100 times. So what does the h-index actually mean? Someone who has 50 articles each of which has been cited 50 times (h-index: 50) would appear to be more productive than another person who only has 5 articles that have been cited 500 times (h-index: 5), but does that mean that the first person is a better scientist? By the way, my h-index is 6.

Melt-and-mix Chocolate Coconut Cake

Looking for a quick and simple chocolate cake recipe? Try this one from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2.

250g melted butter
3/4 cup sifted cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour into a greased 24-cm round cake time lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 50 minutes. Dust with cocoa and serve warm or cold with thick (double) cream. Serves 8-10.

Schmap

One of my photos I had uploaded to Flickr has been used in an online travel guide called Schmap. The picture is of the Copenhagen jazz festival and has been included in the Schmap Copenhagen city guide.

Women in Science

Last week, I met with a woman from the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to discuss what opportunities there are for female scientists in the Netherlands and how NWO is supporting this. Although approximately 1/3 of PhD students are female, it is clear that for many women, their academic careers stop there. In the Netherlands, women hold approximately 25% of the academic staff positions in natural sciences (including biology, chemistry and physics), but less than 20% in engineering and technology departments. With a few exceptions (most notably Turkey and Portugal), the statistics are similar for other European countries and the USA.

Why are there not more women in academic positions? Having discussed this very question with friends and colleagues, there doesn’t appear to be a simple answer. It seems that many women are put off by the competitive environment and the aggressiveness that is needed to be successful in academia. Others feel that there is a lack of acceptance of female scientists, making it even harder for them to gain the recognition they deserve. Another common deterrent is the limited child-care facilities and support for women who want to have children and work full-time. For many women, there just doesn’t seem to be enough incentive to follow an academic career.

Universities are acknowledging these issues and making more of an effort to support and encourage female scientists and engineers in their education and vocation. At Delft University of Technology, the Delft Women in Science (DEWIS) network was established to provide mentoring and coaching as well as professional and personal development lectures and workshops to female students and staff members. With funding agencies such as NWO offering subsidies for female scientists and engineers, there is clearly an effort to provide more opportunities and better working conditions for female academics. It will be interesting to see if more women take advantage of such opportunities in the coming years.

Update - Second-class Citizen

After having my right to vote in Australian federal elections revoked, I sent a few emails to the Australian Electoral Commission expressing my disappointment in receiving the cancellation letter and the fact that I would not be able to vote in the upcoming election. The Divisional Returning Officer for my electorate responded to my email, reiterating the legislation but also commenting that he would consider extending my status if I was to apply in writing. Last week, I did just that, and this morning I received an email informing me that my extension has been approved! This means that I will be able to vote in the next federal election, which is expected to take place before the end of the year.

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

One of my all time favourite recipes is another from Nigella's 'Forever Summer' book - Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova. Arguably the most quintessential Australian dessert, pavlova consists of a meringue base topped with whipped cream and fruit. While pavlova is usually a crowd pleaser, this chocolate variety is guaranteed to impress even the toughest critic.

For the chocolate meringue base:

6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sieved
1 teaspoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
50g dark chocolate, finely chopped

For the topping:

500ml double cream
500g raspberries
2-3 tablespoons coarsely grated dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar, and the chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150 degrees Celsius and cook for about one to one and a quarter hours. When it's ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you touch the centre you should feel slightly soft. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue cool completely.

When you are ready to serve, place on to a large, flat-bottomed plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the raspberries. Coarsely grate the chocolate into curls and sprinkle over the top.

Serves 8-10.

Second-class Citizen

My status as an overseas elector for Australian federal elections has been revoked! All Australians living in Australia must vote, but if you move to another country, then voting is no longer compulsory. I left Australia in 2001 and before doing so, applied to be an overseas elector. This gave me the right to vote in the federal elections via a postal vote that was distributed by the local embassy. However, the overseas elector status is only for a limited time period of up to 6 years. If you have not returned to Australia within that time frame, you have to re-register within the 3 months before the present 6 year term has expired. This extends your overseas elector status for only 1 more year. When I left Australia, I had not expected that I would still be living abroad 6 years later. Consequently, I didn't make any sort of note to remind myself to extend my overseas elector status. Now it seems that it is too late. Last week, I received a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Division of Bruce indicating that my registration as an overseas elector has been cancelled, although my enrolment as an ordinary elector is maintained. I am angry and frustrated that the AEC only sends such a letter after the expiration date. Couldn't they have sent me a reminder that my overseas elector eligibility was about to expire so that I could re-register in time? I am sure there are some people who pay more attention to such things, but I also believe that there are many Australians who have been denied the right to vote due to this absurd situation. In the latter case, many names have also been removed from the electoral role, which then requires the person to re-enrol after one month upon their return to Australia. Although I have chosen to live abroad, it doesn't mean that I have cut all ties from Australia - far from it, in fact. So why am I being made to feel like a second-class citizen?

Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927)

You think you know someone and then they go and do something that completely surprises you. Of course, I don’t personally know Svante Arrhenius, but I am well aware of his research. He is a Swedish physical chemist who studied electrolyte behaviour (similar to me) and proposed that chemical reactions must overcome an energy threshold (activation energy) before they will proceed, as described by the Arrhenius equation (which I often use in my work). To my amazement, I recently discovered that Arrhenius also predicted global warming. In 1896, he published a paper that demonstrated how changes in carbon dioxide levels could alter the surface temperature of the earth. Drawing upon previous work by Tyndall and Fourier (amongst others), his calculations showed that halving the CO2 levels would result in a temperature drop of 4 to 5 degrees Celsius, while doubling the CO2 would increase the temperature by 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. The time frame for doubling the CO2 was expected to be around 3000 years, while recent estimates suggest it will take approximately a century. Although the calculations were not exactly on the mark, the results are surprising close to current global warming predictions. Arrhenius believed that a rise in temperature would help to prevent another ice age, and even went so far to suggest that it was necessary in order to sustain the rapid growth in population. Overall, he seemed to have a positive view on global warming. If he were alive today, would he feel the same way?

Killer Chocolate Mousse

A friend of mine loves chocolate and so when she and her husband came for dinner last weekend, I knew that a dessert with chocolate should be on the menu. After considering a number of options, I decided to prepare the Mint Chocolate Mousse from Nigella's 'Forever Summer' book. In my desperate search for mint flavoured chocolate, I stumbled across New Tree chocolates from Belgium. These milk or dark blocks of chocolate are flavoured with lavender, blackcurrant, ginger, lemon, bitter orange, cinnamon, coffee, lime blossoms, cactus and guarana (but no mint). In particular, the blackcurrant chocolate caught my eye. The idea of a rich, berry flavoured chocolate mousse sounded like a truly exquisite dessert. Rather than overpowering the mousse with the blackcurrants, I combined this chocolate with normal dark cooking chocolate. The resultant berry flavour was subtle, but with a touch of decadence. I think even Nigella would have been impressed. Here is the recipe:

300g chocolate (mint, blackcurrant or whatever you desire)
2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
6 eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
garnish (mint leaves, fresh blackcurrants, etc)

Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl along with the butter. Heat in the microwave on medium until melted (approximately 3 minutes). Set aside and allow to cool. Separate the eggs and put the yolks and sugar into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until it resembles stiff snow (but not dry) and set aside. Beat the yolks and sugar together then pour into the chocolate. Fold through until thoroughly combined. Add a quarter of the egg whites and beat vigorously until incorporated. Then gently added the remaining egg whites in small amounts and fold them into the chocolate mixture. Pour into a glass bowl (or 6 individual dishes), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Garnish before serving. Serves 6 - and is extremely rich!

Culinary Chemistry

Although I had originally intended to post about science on this blog, it wasn't long before I digressed to posting recipes. I enjoy cooking, especially desserts (as you can see), and when you think about it, there is actually a lot of science in cooking. In salad dressing, oil droplets are dispersed in water to form an emulsion. Marinating meat in an acid (fruit juice, wine or vinegar) breaks down the proteins, making the meat more tender. When boiling an egg, the protein molecules interact with one another (coagulate) to form a gel. Jan Groenewold, a physical chemist and former colleague of mine, has recently released a book with chef, Eke Marien, called 'Cook and Chemist'. They explain the scientific principles behind cooking techniques and how they influence texture and taste. Admittedly, it does take away some of the mysticism of cooking, but definitely intrigues the scientist in me. But can science help me to make the perfect souffle? Well, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

Coffee and chocolate self-saucing pudding

Another dinner party at our place meant another opportunity to try a new dessert recipe. This time it was a coffee and chocolate self-saucing pudding from the Donna Hay magazine (Issue 32). The recipe is from the 'Skillet Desserts' article, where each dessert is prepared in a skillet or frying pan. Although I did use a small frying pan, I think it should also be possible to make this pudding in another dish with some minor adjustment to the cooking time. Here is the recipe:

Coffee and Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

For the pudding batter, you need:
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
35g unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (150g) plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1 tablespoon instant coffee, sifted
1/4 cup (27.5g) almond meal (ground almonds)
1/4 cup (27.5g) brown sugar

For the sauce, you need:
1/2 cup (55g) brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (250ml) water

For serving, you need:
thick (double) cream or ice cream

Preheat the over to 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit). For the pudding batter, place the milk, butter, egg and vanilla in a bowl and whisk to combine. Place the flour, baking powder, coffee, almond meal and sugar in another bowl and mix. Gradually add the milk mixture and whisk well to combine. Set aside.

For the sauce, place the sugar, cocoa powder and water in a 15cm 4 cup (1 litre) capacity non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. Pour the pudding batter to the frying pan containing the sauce. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm to touch.

Serve with cream or ice cream. Serves 4 people.

So what is it that you do exactly?

When asked the question 'So what do you do for a living?', I sometimes respond by saying 'I'm trying to save the world'. OK, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I do like to think that my work may have an impact on our future lifestyle. Let me explain. My background is in Materials Science and Engineering, and over the last 10 years or so, I have been researching new materials for alternative energy technologies. The aim is to develop efficient batteries, solar cells and fuel cells that will supply us with a clean source of energy and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (hence, saving the world). More specifically, I study the performance of different electrolyte materials that can be used in these devices. The effectiveness of an electrolyte is dependent on its ability to conduct an electric current, which is directly related to the availability of ionic charges (ions) and how fast they move through the material. The factors that affect the ion mobility include the chemistry and structure of the material and the temperature. By performing a number of experiments, I piece together a picture of how each of these factors affects the overall performance of the electrolyte and what can be done to improve the material. Of course, there is always the desire for faster ion mobility and improved electrolytes, but is there a limit to what can be achieved? Probably, but there are still enough unanswered questions to sustain electrolyte research for at least the time being. So, the end of the world is NOT nigh...well, not yet.

WiTricity

We live in a wireless world of portable technologies, and yet we are still 'tethered' to the battery chargers that allow us to lead this mobile lifestyle. With limited power from batteries, and the promise of commercially available fuel cells being perpetually 5 years away, a truly wireless society seems far from reality. However, a group at MIT has been working on an alternative source of wireless electricity (WiTricity) that is generated by a non-radiative electromagnetic field oscillating at a very high frequency (MHz). A portable device, such as a laptop or mobile phone, accepts this radiation through a receiver coil that resonates at the same frequency as the emitted magnetic field. Initial experiments demonstrated that 60 Watts of power could be transferred over a distance of 2 meters. Encouraged by these preliminary results, the group at MIT are now investigating ways to increase the projection distances and efficiency while reducing the size of the receiver coils.

The art of science

A scientist may argue that their research is a work of art. Undeniably, the results can be aesthetically pleasing.

This picture was taken in order to measure the contact angle of a water solution on a Teflon surface.

Summer Pudding

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner and I decided to prepare Summer Pudding for dessert. Unfortunately, I don't have this recipe in any of my cookbooks, but found a simple one by James Martin, who hosts Sweet Baby James and Saturday Kitchen on the BBC. Using his recipe for Quick Basil and Summer Fruit Pudding, I made four individual puddings, although I think it could easily be made into one large pudding. During preparation, I had to make some minor adjustments: I ran out of the sauce in which the bread was dipped (I think I used too much for the first few pieces). So I made some extra sauce from the fresh berries I had. Also, we forgot to get the basil, but I don't think it was missed. The recipe says to add enough sugar to taste - the puddings were slightly tart, so I think it needs to be at least a tablespoon in each case. Although the puddings were mostly pink on the outside (the areas that weren't, I covered with the extra sauce), the juices had not soaked completely through. However, the final product was very pretty and still delicious!

Bonus Article

While working on the publications section of my blog, I was searching the 'Journal of Power Sources' database for an article that I published last year with my colleagues at Delft University of Technology and the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands. During an author search of my name, I was surprised to find two articles as I had only published once in this journal. The second paper had just recently been accepted and was submitted by my former colleagues at Case Western Reserve University. As it has been over 2 and a half years since I left Case, I hadn't expected to see any publications coming from that work. However, it is nice to have this bonus article!

I'm going to hospital on Monday

Having used NMR spectroscopy for some time, it is surprising that I have never actually had any experience with MRI. This Monday, I will finally have the chance to see an instrument up close and personal, thanks to friends who work at the Erasmus MC. Here's hoping that it doesn't turn into an episode of House. More details to follow.