Mexican and Aerosol

If you find this title confusing you should. The two do not go together, but somehow at RTI the most seemingly separate of things come together in a beautiful synthesis. Each person, each member of the team, each sector of RTI, is filled to the brim with professionals that facilitate the marriage of outlandish theories in the most innovative of ways. My day was not any different. It started a little slower than normal (it was a Friday after all), but what I’ve learned about RTI is when things pick up they never quite stop. I did some light reading in Science News, a weekly press release that covers interesting journal articles from a variety of science fields. Then Phil taught me about the tuberculosis project they are currently working on. Basically some drugs referred to as POA and PAE (one is an ester and one is an oil) were made into uniform powders using a complicated processes that I will not go too in depth into. This process is preformed in several meticulous stages to “purify” these solutions into fine powders. The drugs work by binding to an enzyme present in some strands of TB, which allows it to be absorbed into the think layers of the TB bacteria. The drug changes into its -OH form to target the TB in the lungs. The peculiar part is that, although the drug greatly reduces TB in the lungs, (where it is dispersed) it completely eradicates the disease from the spleen. How curious. Almost immediately after this explanation (which was accompanied by data and a pretty nifty slideshow), I sat in on a conference call with both Phil and an aerosol specialist named Tony. The conference call was with a representative from an video journal. There used to be a device on the market used to administer aerosol drugs for animal testing. Recently, however the company has ceased production and there is no longer anything available for this administration. RTI has created a sterile device akin to the originally manufactured to be released soon. Because the production of it is best understood with pictures and diagrams a traditional journal format would not be ideal, so they are interested in using this new video journal formatting. The conference call never ceased to be interesting, but I found myself even more enthralled in Tony, himself. I got to talk to him in length after the call and it was really interesting to hear about how he became involved in aerosols and what his prospective on modern day innovation is (plus he has written a ton of books and papers that are beyond cool). Around lunch, Dr.Rothrock, Cameron, Michelle, Phil, and I went to a Mexican restaurateur to eat lunch, where Dr.Rothrock shared her own story and described her job. Of course, the day could not go on without some final lab tests (I’m getting pretty fast with it by now) amidst some new funky tune Phil has found on Spotify! What a day! What a week!

(I apologize for the lack of pictures today, but a good portion was confidential and could not be photographed)

Day 5 – “Are we too efficient?”

Hello friends!

Not much to talk about today, sadly. Due to the phenomenal (if I do say so myself) work ethics of Mrs. Michelle and myself, we finished a lot of work during the first four days of this week. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm was not successfully mimicked by he rest of the department, so the last major project was delayed since we didn’t have the neccessary devices yet.

However, despite this tragic set back (absolutely tragic, I tell you), we were able to plow forward and make progress on the set back project, and we also aided other groups, which included work on a new inlet for the ECMs, to testing the optical density of some data Dr. Thornburg sent back from India.

In addition to our work, Emily and I also met with Mrs. Ginger Rothrock, one of the more senior workers at RTI. To those of you wondering, yes, this is the wife to our beloved sixth grade science teacher, who left some years ago.

Since there were no new projects or experiments today, I didn’t manage to get any attention grabbing photos. However, we should have the neccessary requirements to begin testing on a new project next week, so tune in for some awesome experiments on Tuesday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

–Cameron

Day 4: The Prescription

I apologize for how late this post is, it is meant to be for Thursday May 26. Due to cross country travel and the busyness of a speech and debate tournament, I was slightly delayed posting.

This morning Ms. Allen payed us a visit at the Eye Center. We got to talk to her about the experience and finally gave her a tour of the center. After that I continued to shadow Dr. Besharat and I watched her conduct some tests she did conduct previously. She used a dye on the eyes of her patients to check for abrasions and other imperfections on the surface of the eye. Afterwards she conducted an exam on me and went through all of the standard procedures from checking the strength of my eye muscles to checking the health of my eye. Everything checked out! She also tested my prescription and I learned that I needed a new prescription which I was given. Finally, I was able to see Dr. Besharat check patients for potential tumors on their eyes. The below image is of the many bottles of dyes and solutions the doctor’s use on a daily basis. Some are lubricating drops, others are to control allergies, and others are for contact lenses. One of the bottles contains the dye in it.

Day 5 – Painful Farewell

Today I started my day early. Today was a busy day because they’re closed on Monday (for Memorial Day). I got to see a lot of different patients. I recognized a lot of patients from earlier this week. It was nice to see them again and see their progress. One lady just had ACL surgery yesterday! I was suprised she was already at her first PT session today.

A bunch of paid athletes came in today for PT. They’re so fast and they have done multiple half iron mans! After hearing about all of their hard training, I was not surprised that they had so much pain. For example, one woman had a tight hip and hamstring, and will have to get an MRI next week to check up on it.

There was more dry needling today. The dry needling was used on the calves, hips and shoulders today.

I continued to wipe off tables after each patient left. I sprayed the table with disinfectanct and then changed the pillowcase. Once the table and pillowcase are clean, I turn the pillow parallel to the table (like in the picture above).

A patient from earlier in the week was here again today. He used the total gym to do leg presses to strengthen his knee.

The Total Gym was used on a patient that had ACL surgery. The Total Gym is a great way to strengthen the knees and quads.

One patient has been going to physical therapy for a while now, so he is able to run again. He had shin splints, but after weeks of physical therapy, he was able to run a few minutes on the treadmill.

Treadmill that patients can start running on.

It was tough to say goodbye today. Since I am going to the West Point leadership camp tomorrow, today was my final day at Raleigh Orthopedics. I learned so many exercises and I am so glad I had this experience. This week helped me decide with what I want to do in the future. Also, this week has made me so thankful that I haven’t been injured (knock on wood!) and I am able to live my daily life pain-free. If I do come across an injury down the road, I know that Mr. Meszler is an incredible PT and he will get me back on the road quickly.

UNC Press: Production & MORE FREE BOOKS!!!!

Hey folks! I’ve been at UNC Press again today, looking at more FREE BOOKS (!!!!!) and also visiting with the Production and Marketing departments.

IMG_4360[1].JPG

Production is where all of the copy-editing, cover and illustration design, typesetting, and page proofing happens: all things that make sure that the final book looks polished!

Here’s an explanation of all the terms I threw into that sentence above:

Copy-editing is the process of editing “copy”, or writing, into something with correct grammar, spelling, and free of anachronisms or other inaccuracies. It’s different from “developmental editing”, which is the process of editing away errors in thinking or ideas, and different from “proofreading”, which is the process of editing again for things that copyediting might have missed.

Cover design is what it sounds like– but also the process of deciding what color the end papers (the paper glued to the “case” or hard cover of a book) are, what color the stitching is, whether the book will have a “printed cover” (where a printed paper is glued to the case of the book), whether the cover will be cloth, and designing the “jacket”. Obviously, there’s lots of details that go into the design of the actual book!

Typesetting is the process of taking the text and deciding how the “interior” of the book will look– the inside, where people actually read the text. Most typesetting happens now in InDesign, which is the same program the CA Lit Mag uses to design its publications! The typesetter decides what font the book will be in, edits the font to get rid of any weird spacing issues, decides how big the font will be, and many other wonderful things that I don’t know about. One of the important things that happens here is that the number of pages should ideally be in multiples of thirty-two: because “signatures” or groupings of pages are least expensive when they are in groups of thirty-two. This is why books sometimes have blank pages at the end: because it is less expensive to print blank pages than it is to have signatures in groups other than thirty-two!

Page-proofing is the process of, once everything is typeset, making sure that everything looks good and that, once again, there are no inaccuracies or typos. This is one of the last steps before the book is sent to the printer: so it’s important that all of the errors are caught!

Finally, the page proofs are “folded and gathered” — turning them into books with “signatures” of 32 pages folded in half, “gathered” or sewn, and then finally checked yet again for problems. This all happens on the paper that will be used for the book, which is always of higher quality than the paper that comes from your printer. Sometimes a cover is also printed out to make sure that the spine is the right width for the number of signatures that goes into the book.

And then the book is sent to the printer and, magically, becomes a book!

After that we go to the magical world of marketing, where author events, blog posts, and other things that sell the book happen.

Overall, UNC Press has been a great place to work in the past two days! I’ve definitely learned a lot about what goes into making a book a book, rather than an unedited manuscript sitting on somebody’s desk. Super cool, right?

Check here later for news from Flyleaf Books and Quail Ridge Books!

Drew Day 5 Working the site

Today was a half day we started by heading over to the TOA site and looking around he explained everything that was going on in the building and how they are building up for the MRI pad and what each bracing was as well as how the built the building it is a leaning technic were the build the cement walls on the ground and lean them up it is a more cost affective way of building. At the site we had the meeting they talked finance and how it was coming in under budget so what my boss said was that the meetings can be tense if things aren’t good like they were today. Then they went over sign placement and I actually pitched in an idea that they actually decided on in the end which was to make the sign a triangle and then the day was over.

Liza Day 4: The Favorite

Out of the four days I’ve been here, today was probably one of my favorites. I came in and got right back to work on finding footage. Around 11, Josh and I sat down for coffee and discussed my interests and which department they would best fit into. I’ve mainly been working with production this week (as I’m shadowing an Executive Producer), but I found it fascinating to learn about all the different departments and how they play a crucial role in what McKinney does as an agency. Josh grew up in Taiwan and then moved to NY in high school. By the age of 17, he knew he wanted to make movies and attend art school, which I find very impressive. As I mentioned in the last blog, I asked Nick similar questions about his path to production and advertising. Listening to Josh tell his “life story” was extremely intriguing as Nick and even Miriam had completely different lives before McKinney than the life Josh had. Moreover, I love hearing about how people with distinctive backgrounds can end up working together for the same agency. Josh also introduced me to possible work experiences and internships I could consider when finding a job in the film and media industry. As I know Josh is extremely busy, I appreciated his insight and the time he took to discuss life as a producer with me.

Before the 12:00 meeting, I met with Erin, a studio artist for McKinney. She studied graphic design in college, something that has always interested me ever since I was in middle school! Erin walked me through her current project with “World of Coke.” She designs all the still advertisements for McKinney’s clients such as billboards, magazine ads, newspaper ads, and so on. I was amazed to learn that every single advertisement (picture, super, etc.) can only be used once. For example, an ad in a newspaper can’t be transferred and used on a billboard. An ad selling Coke in a specific magazine also can’t be repeated and used by another magazine company.
Additionally, Erin showed me Coke’s Brand Guideline that discusses the do’s and don’ts when McKinney is their AOR (agency of record). Each one of McKinney’s clients has a Brand Guideline, but it was so cool to see the detail a large company like Coke went into when creating a permission document. I realized that as a studio artist, the intersection between mathematics and design is used day in and day out. Because my two favorite subjects are math and any type of art & design, I was thrilled to learn about this possible career option.

At noon, I headed over to the conference room to sit in on a meeting for the new pitch. I enjoyed seeing the Creatives (who come up with the commercial idea), the producers, and the editors come together and review the work they’ve accomplished so far. We were able to watch a few complete commercial ideas, and I even saw my footage being used in almost all of them!

After watching certain commercial videos, the Creatives would respond both positively and negatively. For example, one Creative said “I’m not feeling what I want to feel.” He recommended changing the music and replacing some of the clips. “The contrast of the footage needs to be more jawing and more exciting”, said another Creative. I found it amazing to see how they came up with this “vision” and know exactly the way they want it to be executed.

After a delicious veggie burger at Only Burger, I came back to the office and continued working on my assignments and searched for more footage.

I’ve learned so much within my four days here, and I can’t wait to continue learning more!

-Liza

Only Burger

Creating Ideas

Such a modern space!

Liza Day 3: Hard Work Pays Off

What can I say, each day at McKinney seems to keep getting better and better! Throughout the morning, I continued searching Getty, Vimeo, and YouTube for all kinds of footage. In total, I’ve probably downloaded around 150-200 different videos and clips! This shows how important it is to have many options to choose from when making a rip. Also, because of the “perfectionist” I am, it takes me hours to find the “right” clip that I think would work well in the Creative’s commercial idea. I’ve had lots of fun doing this though because I then am able to see my footage come together and turn into a possible video that will be presented at the pitch.

After lunch, I observed how the two editors- Erin and Nick- take stock footage and turn it into a clean and curated video rip. This was awesome for me because they use a similar program that I’ve used in the past, Final Cut. I’ve worked with this program at home and in CA’s Video Productions Class to make edits, so I enjoyed seeing something I do for fun being executed in the real working world. Thank you Mr. O’Neill for introducing me to Final Cut last year! My experience using it has already paid off!:) Additionally, it was rewarding to see that Nick was able to use some of the videos and clips I selected over the past couple of days.

Towards the end of the day, I was able to meet with a different Nick who is a producer at McKinney. I asked him a lot questions about his career path and in particular, how he ended up at McKinney. It’s interesting to hear about what each staff member studied in college, whether they knew what they wanted to at an early age, and what brought them to the agency! Additionally, I’ve loved having the opportunity to connect with the staff here and observe their role in McKinney’s day-to-day routine.

Looking forward to my day tomorrow!

-Liza

the entrance

finding footage

Drew Day 4 the less exciting side

I was in the office all day today we had a finance meeting to start the day just talking about are there any tenants in any of there buildings not payed for at the moment and how much and do they need to pay anyone at the moment. The next thing we did was answer some calls fill in some of the people about the conference room upgrade from yesterday and then another person in the office gave me a job. I was working on a property inheritance so I had to find how much each of the persons 6 properties are worth and the space it took up and I marked those places on 15 different maps to find this information I used the wake county tax website and the wake county gis which stands for geographical information service which is where you type in an address and you can find out what it costed and how much wake county thinks it is worth. Then we went to a 25 minute lunch to catch a phone meeting about the permit and what on the land was not all the way up to code yet for there PDC project. Then before I went home we had to prepare for the meeting today for the triangle orthopedics MRI pad which is what the picture is of it is to help figure out where the sign can go which I found out is a lot harder to figure out than I thought the pink lines are where the power lines prevent the sign from going and the yellow is the sidewalk and it can’t go there so on the other map s the orange are the 2 options for what the sign can be and where.

Day 4- Child at Play

Today was a much different day then I was used to. Instead of shadowing my regular PT I got to shadow a PT from there pediatrics section. I was able to see the differences in doing pediatrics vs what I had been doing all week. The first patient that I saw today was about 4. He was having trouble with his posture and also staying on track and paying attention. This patient also had a low tone. Low tone means that his muscles are less firm and his joint appear looser. In order to get him to do a lot of the exercises that the PT needed him to do in order to strengthen his muscles she made them into more of games. Unlike when I was shadowing a PT who worked mainly on adults. She was able to work on his sitting posture by giving him bubbles to blow as she corrected his posture. Another thing we did with him was instead of walking to get water we wheelbarrowed to get water. This helped him strengthen his core, which is important in his posture.

Another patient I got to see today was a 10 month old baby. This baby had been favoring his left side and since at that age there bones aren’t as strong his head was starting to become flat on that side. What the PT was doing today was helping the baby roll over to the right side instead of the left. This was very cool to see because I didn’t know about baby’s being able to get a flat side to their head by favoring it.

I thought today was so interesting because it was so new for me and I got to see a different side to physical therapy then I had seen so far.

CA Work Experience Program 2016

DICE-ing in the Real World

Uncategorized