research

Several years ago I received a query from someone who had searched the web for information on software phase-locked loops and found my resume, which referenced my MSEE thesis. At the time I didn’t have access to the source files (on 5.25″ disk, Microsoft Word 2.0 format), so I wasn’t able to help them out. Since then I’ve found the sources and brought them into a modern format. On the off chance that someone is searching the web and would find this useful, here’s a PDF which has been lightly edited for brevity. The title, however, retains its grandiose verbosity.

“THE AUTOMATED SOFTWARE PHASE-LOCKED LOOP AND THE EXPLORATION OF AN ADAPTIVE ALGORITHM FOR THE ADJUSTMENT OF PLL PARAMETERS”
Written in 1993-1994 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Last year I began a tradition of cooking a heart-shaped pizza for Valentine’s day. This was ambitious because I don’t know the first thing about cooking.

As a novice, my biggest challenge is that cookbooks assume you already know how to cook. They’ll tell you to do things, like marinating meat, or sautéing an onion, without telling you how to do those things. And it’s not at all obvious to me where you can find that information if you don’t already have it.

So naturally I started searching the web. And I found that there were only three pages in all of google’s universe that contained the phrase, “how to saute an onion”. And none of those pages told you how. Disappointed in the usefulness of the web, I called Kay and she walked me through it by phone.

Fast-forward a year. Valentine’s day was two weeks ago, and I was reminded of this episode. While trying out GoodSearch, I found that the only page it returned for “how to saute an onion” was my own page, where I related the story about not being able to find instructions for sautéing an onion. That just didn’t seem right. I asked Kay to sauté an onion while I took pictures, so we could fix that situation.

Without further ado, here it is: How to sauté an onion.

1. You will need an onion.

2. Peel the onion. It’s easier if you cut the ends off first.

3. Chop the onion according to what your recipe specifies.

4. Put a little vegetable oil in your pan. Kay recommends olive oil for the best flavor.

5. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.

6. When the oil begins to shimmer (or when it’s hot, but not smoking), add the onion.

7. Stir frequently so it cooks evenly.

8. Most recipes want you to cook the onion until it is tender and slightly translucent. If the recipe calls for a caramelized onion, keep cooking until it starts to brown. This results in a sweeter onion flavor. Don’t believe the recipe if it says to sauté the onion until it is transparent. I can tell you from experience that this will NEVER HAPPEN.

Below is a nicely sautéd onion.

We recently installed a stove in our home. This stove required a conversion from natural gas to propane (LP). The installation instructions walked us through the process, which included changing the pressure of the regulator valve, installing smaller orifices in each of the burners, and adjusting the air flow for proper combustion.

When we were done, everything worked fine, except the range burners would not go lower than this:

This, the lowest flame, would still sustain a full boil in a large pot. That’s far too much heat for slow cooking for rice or stews.

I called Whirlpool to ask if there was any way to adjust the burners to give a lower flame. They asked a lot of questions about the conversion – had I changed the orifices, had I changed the regulator’s pressure, did I adjust the air flow – and suggested I call an appliance repair service to take a look at it.

While searching the web for answers, I came across this text on DavesRepair.com:

One detail that’s commonly overlooked on these is the simmer settings. Each top burner valve has a small screw inside its shaft that can be adjusted to provide a low simmer. This adjustment must be made on each burner once the range has been converted, or ‘simmer’ settings will be far too high to be useful.

A small-bladed screwdriver is needed for most of these. If you can’t find one small enough, it’s possible to grind one down to fit. I’ve noticed some of the most recent ranges are using a larger screw that’s a lot easier to access, and that’s a welcome change.

You’d think if this were true for our stove, this information would have been in the installation instructions, or at the very least, that someone at Whirlpool would have mentioned that when I called. I had to pull off a knob and see for myself.

What’s in the center of the shaft? It looks like a small, flat-head screw.

Sure enough, none of our screwdrivers were narrow enough to fit into the shaft. I took a bench grinder to one that I wasn’t particularly attached to, and ground down the flared sides to make it fit into the shaft.

I put the knob back on the oven, lit the burner, turned the knob to its lowest setting, then pulled the knob and adjusted the screw. It didn’t take very much movement to significantly change the flame – maybe 1/2 turn from smallest to largest.

After the adjustment, the high flame is the same as before, but the low (simmer) flame is much, much lower.

CAUTION: If you set the simmer flame to be too low, the flame may go out. If this happens, the stove will continue to send a steady trickle of gas to the burner, which will not be burned. This is VERY DANGEROUS and could even lead to an explosion if it is allowed to continue. Make absolutely sure that the simmer flame will not extinguish, and monitor it closely while you are using it. A rule of thumb is to set the simmer flame so that it stays burning even if you blow on the burner (from a safe distance, of course). If you are able to extinguish the flame by blowing on it, it is probably set too low. If you are unsure, get a professional to make this adjustment for you.