Five Guidelines for Writing With the "You Attitude"

• Establish a good, respectful relationship with your readers by addressing them directly, writing in the active voice and using the second person (you, your, and yours), not just the first (I, me, mine, we, us, and ours).
• Try to empathize with your readers. Ask yourself: what do they want, what do they need to know, and what's in it for them?
• Rather than focus on your product, your service, or yourself, stress how your readers will benefit from complying with your message.
• Earn the respect of your readers by being courteous, tactful, and gracious.
• And finally (it should go without saying), if you're ever tempted to write "it should go without saying," stifle the impulse!

Extracted from www.grammar.about.com

Five Guidelines for Writing With the "You Attitude"

• Establish a good, respectful relationship with your readers by addressing them directly, writing in the active voice and using the second person (you, your, and yours), not just the first (I, me, mine, we, us, and ours).
• Try to empathize with your readers. Ask yourself: what do they want, what do they need to know, and what's in it for them?
• Rather than focus on your product, your service, or yourself, stress how your readers will benefit from complying with your message.
• Earn the respect of your readers by being courteous, tactful, and gracious.
• And finally (it should go without saying), if you're ever tempted to write "it should go without saying," stifle the impulse!

Extracted from www.grammar.about.com

How to Create You-Attitudefrom Kitty Locker, Business and Administrative Communication

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You-attitude is a style of writing that looks at things from the reader's point of view, emphasizing what the reader wants to know, respecting the reader's intelligence, and protecting the reader's ego.
To apply you-attitude, use the following six techniques:
1. Focus not on what you do for the reader, but on what the reader receives or can do. In positive or neutral situations, stress what the reader wants to know.
2. Refer to the reader's request or order specifically.
3. Don't talk about your own feelings unless you're sure the reader really wants to know how you feel.
4. Don't tell readers how they will feel or react.
5. In positive situations, use you more than I. Use we when it includes the reader.
6. In negative situations, avoid the word you. Protect the reader's ego. Use passive verbs and impersonal expressions to avoid assigning blame.

Here is an extract from http://www.cotf.edu/ete/ESS/ESSmain.html which might be useful to all.

Earth System Science
In the phrase "Earth system science (ESS)," the key term is "system." A system is a collection of interdependent parts enclosed within a defined boundary. Within the boundary of the earth is a collection of four interdependent parts called "spheres." Earth's spheres include:

the lithosphere, which contains all of the cold, hard, solid rock of the planet's crust (surface), the hot semi-solid rock that lies underneath the crust, the hot liquid rock near the center of the planet, and the solid iron core (center) of the planet
the hydrosphere, which contains all of the planet's solid, liquid, and gaseous water,
the biosphere, which contains all of the planet's living organisms, and
the atmosphere, which contains all of the planet's air.

These spheres are closely connected. For example, many birds (biosphere) fly through the air (atmosphere), while water (hydrosphere) often flows through the soil (lithosphere). In fact, the spheres are so closely connected that a change in one sphere often results in a change in one or more of the other spheres. Such changes that take place within an ecosystem are referred to as events.

Events can occur naturally, such as an earthquake or a hurricane, or they can be caused by humans, such as an oil spill or air pollution. An event can causechanges to occur in one or more of the spheres, and/or an event can be theeffect of changes in one or more of Earth's four spheres. This two-way cause and effect relationship between an event and a sphere is called an interaction. Interactions also occur among the spheres; for example, a change in the atmosphere can cause a change in the hydrosphere, and vice versa.

Interactions that occur as the result of events such as floods and forest fires impact only a local region, meaning the flood waters can only travel so many miles from the original stream, and only the trees that lie within the area on fire will be burned. On the other hand, the effects of events such as El Nino or ozone depletion may cause interactions that can be observed worldwide. For example, the El Nino event--a change in the ocean currents off the coast of Peru-- can cause changes in weather patterns all the way across North America, while ozone depletion above Antarctica may result in increased levels of ultra-violet B radiation around the world. Understanding the interactions among the earth's spheres and the events that occur within the ecosystem allows people to predict the outcomes of events. Being able to predict outcomes is useful when, for example, developers wish to know the environmental effects of a project such as building an airport before they begin construction.

Understanding the interactions that occur in the earth system also helps people to prepare for the effects of natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions; this understanding allows people to predict things like how far and in what direction the lava will flow. This relatively new field of studying the interactions between and among events and the earth's spheres is called Earth system science(ESS). There are ten possible types of interactions that could occur within the earth system. Four of these interactions are between the event and each of the earth's spheres:

event  lithosphereevent hydrosphereevent biosphereevent atmosphere

The double-headed arrows () indicate that the cause and effect relationships of these interactions go in both directions; for example, "event  hydrosphere" refers to the effects of the event on the hydrosphere, as well as the effects of the hydrosphere on the event. These four types of interactions can be illustrated in the Earth System Diagram below:

In addition to the above four event  sphere interactions, there are six interactions that occur among the earth's spheres:

lithosphere  hydrospherelithosphere  biospherelithosphere  atmospherehydrosphere  biospherehydrosphere  atmospherebiosphere  atmosphere

Again, the double-headed arrows () indicate that the cause and effect relationships of the interactions go in both directions; for example, "lithosphere hydrosphere" refers to the effects of the lithosphere on the hydrosphere, as well as the effects of the hydrosphere on the lithosphere.

These six types of interactions can be illustrated in gray in the Earth System Diagram below (note the four event  sphere interactions are also included in this diagram, they are depicted in gold):

The ten types of interactions that can occur within the earth system often occur as a series of chain reactions. This means one interaction leads to another interaction, which leads to yet another interaction--it is a ripple effect through the earth's spheres. For example, a forest fire may destroy all the plants in an area (event  biosphere). The absence of plants could lead to an increase in erosion--washing away--of soil (biosphere  lithosphere). Increased amounts of soil entering streams can lead to increased turbidity, or muddiness, of the water (lithosphere  hydrosphere). Increased turbidity of stream water can have negative impacts on the plants and animals that live in it (hydrosphere  biosphere).

How Is Earth System Science Conducted?
Earth system science is conducted by examining each event  sphere and sphere  sphere interaction; this approach is referred to as an "Earth system science analysis" or an "ESS analysis." The examination of the interactions is accomplished by asking oneself the following questions:

1. How may each of the earth's four spheres (hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere) have caused the event to occur? (The answers to this question are the sphere  event impacts.)

2. What are the effects of the event on each of the earth's four spheres (hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere)? (The answers to this question are the event  sphere impacts.)

Note: When you do an ESS analysis, you will list the answers to Questions 1 and 2 together under event  sphere interactions.

3. What are the effects of changes in one of earth's four spheres (hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, or biosphere) on each of the other spheres (hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, or biosphere)? (The answers to this question are the sphere  sphere interactions.)

This approach of answering the questions above is performed during every ESS analysis; simply replace the term "event" with the event you wish to investigate.

An Example of an Earth System Science Analysis.
An ESS analysis was performed on the forest fires event that occurred in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. This forest fires event occurred in 1988 and destroyed tremendous areas of the park.

Below are some of the event  sphere interactions discovered during an ESS analysis of the Yellowstone forest fires event:

Event  Hydrosphere A lack of moisture in the soil and in vegetation may have provided a dry environment in which the fires, once burning, could continue to burn. Heat from the fire may have further removed moisture from the air, soil, and vegetation through the process of evaporation. Event  Atmosphere A lightning strike from the air may have started the fires by igniting the dry vegetation. Gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) may have been produced during the burning of the vegetation and carried into the air by the wind. Event  Lithosphere The intense heat from the fires may have caused some rocks to break apart. Event  Biosphere Dead branches and pine needles on the ground may have provided fuel for the fires. The seeds of some plants may have required that their outer shells be burned before they could germinate; therefore they benefited from the forest fires.

Below are some of the sphere  sphere interactions discovered during the ESS analysis of the Yellowstone forest fires event:

Lithosphere  Hydrosphere Increased erosion of loose soil (see "Lithosphere Biosphere," below) may have led to increased sediments (i.e. soil particles) in streamwater, making the water "muddier." Lithosphere  Biosphere A decrease in vegetation may have resulted in increased soil erosion because there were fewer roots to hold the soil in place. Lithosphere  Atmosphere Ash particles in the air may have been carried by the wind and dropped on the ground miles away from the forest fires; the ash particles--which have a high pH--may have changed the pH of the soil. . Hydrosphere  Biosphere Ash particles in the water may have clogged the gills of fish and other aquatic organisms and choked them. Hydrosphere  Atmosphere There may have been more precipitation in neighboring areas because ash particles in the air may have become condensation centers upon which raindrops could form. Very dry, windy air may have drawn moisture out of the living grasses and trees through the process of evaporation. Biosphere  Atmosphere Smoke in the air may have coated the lungs of animals--including people--and affected their ability to breathe.

Remember, these are NOT all the possible event  sphere and sphere  sphere interactions that could have occurred as a result of the Yellowstone forest fires. These are merely a few examples of what seem to be some reasonable causes and effects. There are many other possibilities.

Also keep in mind that as you list event  sphere and sphere  sphere interactions, it is important that you be able to explain why or how the interactions occur. For example, the above lithosphere  biosphere interaction does not merely state "a decrease in vegetation may have resulted in increased erodibility of soil." It gives the reason "because there were fewer roots to hold it in place." Such explanations display your understanding of the science behind the interactions. These explanations are valuable for you and others because they make your "Why?" or "How?" thinking visible and they often lead to the discovery of additional ESS interactions.

CE-301                                             MECHANICS OF SOLIDS-II

Enhanced Topics Related to        Unsymmetrical bending, shear flow, shear centre, Analysis of curved

Beam Bending and Shear:           beams and beams on elastic foundations.

Theory of Elasticity:                     Analysis of stresses and strains due to combined effect of axial, bending and twisting forces/moments, Elementary theory of elasticity, equilibrium and compatibility equations, stress and deformation relationships, Stress transformation, polar co-ordinates, Theories of failure.

Torsion of Thin Tubes and          Torsion of non-circular shafts, membrane analogy, Torsion in thin tubes

Open Sections:                                and open sections.

Cylinders:                                        Analysis of thin and thick cylinders.

Theory of Plasticity:                     Elementary theory of plasticity, plastic hinges, shape factor and failure mechanism.

Energy Methods:                            Energy methods-General area of application and its usefulness.

Stability:                                           Struts and columns, Euler, Rankine and other formulas for buckling load of columns, Stability analysis of columns under eccentric loading.

Hello everyone. I have posted the complete syllabus of Soil Mechanics here. You can compare this with your

preparation and ensure that you do not miss out anything. I will be posting syllabuses of other subjects as well. 
Good Luck everyone.

CE-305                                             SOIL MECHANICS-I

Nature of Soils:                              Origin, Formation, Soil minerals, Clay mineralogy, Soil structures, Particle shapes and sizes.

Composition and                            Phase diagram, water content, void ratio, porosity, degree of saturation,

Physical Properties:                      specific gravity, unit weights, mass-volume relationships, Formation, structural & physical properties of clay minerals.          

Index Properties and                    Particle size distribution by sieving and sedimentation, In-Place density

Classification Tests:                      test, relative density, Atterberg’s limits and their determination, plasticity and liquidity index: Sensitivity and Activity of fine soils

Soil Classification                         Unified soil classification system, M.I.T. system and AASHTO

 Systems:                                          classification systems

Water in Soils:                                Free energy (pressure and heads), Capillarity and its effect on soil behavior, Electro-Osmosis, Darcy’s law, Seepage forces and their effect on soil stability, Design of filters, Factors effecting permeability, Permeability tests, Laplace’s Equation and its solution (Flow Nets), Methods of drainage and dewatering of soils.

Stress Acting in Soils:                   Soil mass stresses, effective stress and neutral stress, stress at a point and Mohr’s circle, Westergard’s and Boussinesq’s solutions, Pressure distribution in the soil mass resulting from different vertical surface loadings, Newmark’s influence charts.

Shearing Strength of Soils:         Basic principle relating to friction between solid bodies, Coulomb’s law, Shear strength          parameters, Shearing strength of granular and cohesive soils, Shearing strength tests and their results, effect of strain, rate and drainage conditions on shearing strength.

Compressibility and                      Mechanics of consolidation, One - dimensional consolidation equation,

Consolidation:                                coefficient of consolidation, compression index, Consolidation tests and graphical representation of data, Degree of consolidation. Determination of preconsolidation pressure, swelling clays and clay-shale

Soil Compaction:               Requirements, principle and methods including standard and modified AASHTO tests.

Wondering......

Sometimes the world seems to be pressing from all sides leaving you no escape from unknown fear. Everything you have worked hard to build turns out to be dependent on the factors over which you have no control. Only after creating a firm foothold you realize all the time you have standing on quagmire. The fate seems to be entwined with fears and uncertainties.

Fear is always of unknown, what you cant see. Numerous life time situations will certify to this fact, for instance, fear of being in the dark. Apart from this the fear about the future is always greater when the future is dependent on unknown factors which you don't know anything about. You can only wonder about these factors which you know nothing about. However, if the factors were known then you can plan for them eliminating the factor of fear.

So what should be the strategy in such situations when you are faced with unpredictable future having the potential to ruin your life's hard work in the matter of simply one wrong decision? Well no such theory or strategy exists following which will guarantee success. Life is ever-changing and complicated and the formula of success cannot be evolved as the situations faced in life cannot be always same. The factors involved in the failure of any person in any situation are numerous with one factor of which nothing can be done. That factor being the "fate". We all should realize that there is power controlling all of us, molding our lives according to a predetermined plan which is for our betterment. That power is, undoubtedly, our Creator, our Lord, who we know with different name, who we Muslims recognize as Allah.

Even though no formula of success exist, however, a general theory exists with high success rate. This theory is nothing but merely states that success if you give 100% of your efforts. If you do the required hard work coupled with sincerity and dedication then you have a great chance of laying your hand on success. The idea here being that once you have contributed your efforts sincerely and had left no stones unturned for achieving your cause then you have left no room for regret. You contributed the maximum you can and left everything else on fate. Whatever may be the outcome your efforts, success or failure, you will have peace of mind knowing there wasn't anything more you could have done.

I am sharing little of something which gets me going when the life gets all time down.

RCD

Selected portion of Nadeem Hussoun is posted here. It covers the important part of chapter 6. Click here to download.

FM-II assignment

Hey everyone. Solution of recent FM-II has been uploaded here. It is in the form of solution of our book "Franzini and Finnemore". For any queries contact me on Facebook or e-mail me at shoaibmq@gmail.com



Click hereor here to download the solutions.

Soil Mechanics Assignment

Hey everyone. University opens tomorrow. Don't know about you guys but I myself is not ready for Uni so quick. Anyways here is the solution of Soil Mechanics Assignment.

The rest of the assignment can be download by clicking here.

FOR PAKISTAN….

Skimming through the TV channels last night, I glimpsed through the Indian movie “Rang de Basanti”. It is a blockbuster flick which became another mark of success for Amir Khan. A story which certainly goes directly to the heart has a deep message behind it. Bless the racism germs running wildly in my blood since birth; I am not a huge fan of Indian movies among many of their products. However this movie couldn’t impress me more. I have viewed this film couple of times before but last night it got me into thinking. It was thoughts which shook me from inside and I couldn’t help but penning them down.

For those who haven’t watched the movie here is the story for it would be difficult to follow without knowing the story. This movie “Rang de Basanti” is about 6 friends who lost their friend at the hands of corrupt politicians and government officials. The friends, students of a university, now set on the course to change the system. They are faced with hurdles and obstacles but their determination triumphs showing them the path of their course. For the rest of the story you will have to watch the movie.

During the course of their journey of changing the country prevailing system these students kills the Defense Minister. Now what struck me as stunning was the extent to which these students were prepared to go for achieving their goals. At this point many of you might argue this was merely a movie and it was recorded according to a well decided script. However if we eliminate this argument for the time being and believe this movie was basically a real story recorded then we will discover a very disturbing nature of humans. Being a university student I couldn’t imagine myself going to the heights the 6 friends went to achieve their goal. It was at this time I realized this unsettling fact about human nature. These 6 six friends had faced a very huge loss in the shape of their close friend. They were numb with the pain of this unbearable loss and it was this loss which was feeding their strength and determination. The idea of pain strengthening the determination of a person may sound absurd but this is the unbelievable fact. The person who is satisfied with life turns immune and insensitive to the problems of others. With the passage of time this person is encased in a shell turning him blind and deaf to the issues related with those around him as he is bothered only about himself. Now this shell will only be broken when he will be faced with a loss of great magnitude. Only after bearing the loss the person appreciates the problems of life and lives life in the truest sense.

Now if we look at ourselves with a criticizing eye to uncover the truth about us then we would realize that we are being encased in that impenetrable shell with each passing second. The condition of our country is far worse than we can even imagine. If we would start enumerating the problems or rather the visible signs that will eventually lead to the failure of our country then maybe an entire book could be written on it. However the thing to be borne in our minds should be that it is all down to us to take care of our country. Instead of being encased in a shell and simply caring for ourselves only if we could commence with the idea of working for all the people around us then visible signs of progress could be observed.

Our ailing country needs this medicine from our hands. It’s the least we can do to put our country back on the right path. This doesn't need any huge sacrifices from us. All we would be required to do would be to think about the greater good. Take a minute and sit back to analyze how far we have come on the road of selfishness. Everyday our latest model wide screen television updates us about some doctor's malpractice leading to death of a poor man's child. Everyday on traffic signals we watch without a care children begging while we sit in our air-conditioned cars waiting for the signal to turn green. Almost everyday we hear news about someone succumbing to suicide as life had gotten tough for him. We see our brothers in the Army fighting brutally with their brothers in remote villages and other sparsely populated areas. We see mutilated dead bodies of our brothers who became the victim of suicide attacks. Now how long will we continue to stand as bystanders, acting to be aggrieved over the sorrows and losses of others? How long will it be before we stand up to take some action over the loss of our brothers? Does an only blood relation matter to us? Are we free from bonds tying us to the people of same nationality, religion, race etc?  Just analyze this personal event to see our height of selfishness. I was sitting with couple of my friends when one, after reading a SMS, said three people are dead in a suicide bomb attack today. The other friend asked was it in Karachi? On hearing the reply in negative the friend exclaimed a sigh in relief. This event merely goes to show that just because this condemning event didn't take place in our home city so we shouldn’t be bothered by it. Plainly speaking unless we face a loss bereaving us of our personal possession or relations we would continue to be immune and careless to the worries of others.

We have all transformed into self-occupied machines that are running wildly after personally set worldly goals and objectives. We are suffering diseases like diabetes, depression, migraine and numerous others which have made our lives miserable. Instead of pondering over the reasons of these ailments we trust the medicines. The reality is that we are destroying the human traits. In other words we are quitting being human anymore.

Even at this point my mind is over-flowing with ideas and my fingers want to keep writing but I guess that would be digressing from my topic. To surmise I believe it would be more than sufficient if we all try to live as human beings are supposed. Simply by replacing self-interest with care of humanity we could change the course of this country. All we need to realize is that simply by performing our duties, whatever they may be, with sincerity and devotion we will be contributing to the betterment of our homeland and the world at large. Lets end with the hope that the moment of awakening approach us before we have to face any personal losses.

LONG LIVE PAKISTAN

One way slab designing steps...

One Way Slab

A slab made of reinforced concrete with no voids and supported on two sides only then it will bend or deflect in the direction perpendicular to the supported edges. The structural action is one way and almost all loads being carried by the slab in the shorter direction. This type of slab is called One Way slab. If the slab is supported on all four sides and the ratio of longer side to shorter side is greater than or equal to two, then again structural action will be one way and the slab will be One Way slab.

STEPS FOR DESIGNING OF ONE WAY SLAB

One term which you will encounter frequently in One Way slab designing is span. Remember that span is “the distance between the two supports which are carrying almost the entire load of slab”. Also bear this in mind we design the slab using a portion of slab i.e. a unit length of slab.

The steps for designing of one way slab are discussed below

·        Determine the type of one way slab you have. The different types of one way slabs are

o   Simply supported 

o   One end continuous

o   Two end continuous

o   Cantilever 

·        The entire file could not be displayed because the page editor at this blog doesn't support mathematical equations. To download the file in Microsoft Word format (2007-2003) click here.

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Useful Tips...

  Internship and vacations are going hand in hand. Many of us are experiencing a new taste of working at offices and sites for the first time. This new experience is exhilarating and infectious to many of us and are enjoying this new dimension of studies to the fullest. However, at the same time, few things need not to be missed else the joy of this experience will be ruined by the future miseries.

 Keep a close watch on studies too at the same time. to keep you updated, Sir Aftab Farooqi has announced that the date of a comprehensive test (including complete course to date) will be placed on portal the first day university opens after vacations. You have to be prepared for this before hand if you don't want to find yourself in hot waters.

Below is the Assignment sheet of Soil Mechanics assignment 4. Hopefully the solution will be posted in due time.

Enjoy the vacations and do keep checking the blog regularly for useful updates.