Sometimes I want to be a bird and fly.
Sometimes I want to be a fish and swim.
I don’t know how to fly or swim.
Right now?
I’m counting again, and I’m picking up my years and splitting them up with my disappointments.
I’m starting again today.
Anonymous

As humans, the trait from the animal world we most admire is probably the ability to fly. People have dreamed of flying like birds for thousands of years. Birds can take off and fly with movements that seem simple to our eyes. All they do is flap their wings. The size and shape of the wings affect the way a bird flies.

But it’s not just wings that allow birds to fly; they have many physical features that work together to make flight possible. They need lightweight features, a streamlined body, and a rigid skeleton to provide firm attachments for powerful muscles.

Small-winged birds usually fly by flapping their wings at least 40 times per second. On the other hand, the wide wingspan of a larger bird allows it to glide through the air without flapping its wings. A swift’s pointed wings help it dart about at great speed, while the very long wings of an albatross enable it to glide with little effort.

The rapid wing beats of smaller birds use more energy. Lowering the wings from top to bottom means lifting and consuming power; flapping from bottom to top maintains flight and balance. For example, a bat flaps its wings eight times per second while flying at cruising speed—that is, every 0.125 seconds.

The zebra finch is the bird with the highest flapping frequency. It can achieve 26.9 wing beats per second—or, 26.9 hertz (Hz), which is 3 to 3.5 times more than the bat in the same time frame. The flapping of a bird’s wings is assumed to be symmetrical and equal. However, in real life, many birds perform asymmetrical flapping and positioning. A bird can’t always fly flat, in a straight line. Slow flapping is expected in a downward stroke, and rapid flapping is upward. It should be noted that small birds use medium-sized flights to perform alternate flapping and compound movements.

The size of the wing is another crucial factor. Bigger wings produce greater lift than smaller wings. So, smaller winged birds need to fly faster to maintain the same lift as those with larger wings. When the wings are open, a bird’s wingspan is at right angles to the direction it is flying. It should also be noted that different species can fly and attack at different angles.

With each flapping of its wings, a bird’s body naturally goes up and down almost like a spring. The body’s motion also follows a fluctuating structure depending on wing movements. When the wing flaps at the initial right angle and relative to the flight path, one can observe a wave movement in the wings. The width here is simply the height of the flight waveform. While this height is 26 cm in bats, it is 12 cm in finches. Although different species have different flapping movements and flight patterns, a comparison of birds’ wavelengths can be made with that of sea animals, like dolphins and sharks, whose swimming speeds are most efficient. Optimum cruise speed in dolphins, sharks, and bony fish depends on tail swing frequency and tail width. The dimensionless number value called Strouhal constant, which is used to describe oscillating flow mechanisms, usually gives a range between 0.2 and 0.4. The Strouhal constant is also found in flying birds and bats.

Three factors are required to obtain this constant: frequency, wingspan, and speed. As an example, bats fly at a speed of 6 meters per second. When calculating Strouhal constant, the frequency value is multiplied by the wing width and divided by the bird’s speed.

Let’s calculate the Strouhal constant of the kestrel. If the frequency for the kestrel is 5.61Hz, the width is 0.339 m, and the speed is 8.1 m/s, the Strouhal constant is calculated as follows:

St =f.A ⁄ U = (5.61).(0.339) ⁄ 8.1= 0.235.

The projection was made among 42 different bird species. We observe that bats approach the upper limit of Strouhal constant, whereas large birds approach the lower limit.

Swallows are some of the most common birds. Of the 74 swallow species in the world, 47 live in Africa. Two of them—the West African swallow (Hirundo domicile) and South African swallow (Hirundo Spilodesa)—are named for the continent. Despite its name, the European swallow is also common in Africa. After 54 years of capturing and releasing 26,285 birds, the Cape Town University-supported Avian Demographics unit has a lot of data on these birds. Studies have shown that the average wing length of an adult European swallow is 12.2 cm, and its body mass is 20.3 grams.

The known frequency (f) and width (A) measurements for the European Swallow make it possible to estimate the speeds of similar bird species. It is possible to estimate the air velocity (U) with these two values. The European swallow, with a wingspan of 18 cm, can flap its wings 18 times per second.

By ignoring the mass value and looking at the actual wing lengths, not the flight wing, we see that the European swallow flaps its wings 14 times per second, and its flight wingspan is 23 cm.

In this case, we can say that the European swallow flaps its wings an average of 15 times per second, and the flight wing width is 22 cm.

The velocity formula is U = (f.A)/St.

If St=0.2 is taken for the highest speed Uy = (15.(0.22))/0.2= 16.50 m/s

If St=0.4 is taken for the lowest speed, Ud = (15.(0.22))/0.4= 8.25 m/s.

By averaging the lowest and highest speeds, the European swallow’s speed is found to be approximately 12.4 meters per second. In this case, the average speed of the swallow will be 45 km per hour. If we calculate the fuel consumption in a car traveling at the same speed, we find that you can go about 10 km with one liter of gasoline—which means it would take 4.5 liters of gasoline to cover 45 km. In this case, the cost (considering that gasoline prices change daily) is around $10. This money may not even be the amount of feed the swallow eats per year! We should marvel at the European swallow’s great design.

Two perspectives emerge in this context to address change in society. The first perspective is an instrumental one and relies on a rationalist, goals-oriented viewpoint. The second, cultural perspective relies more on stability and depth. The two values in this perspective, stability and depth, ensure constancy in the face of changing times but could also spell society’s death knell if it turns too far inward (Christensen et al, 2007).

 “From the vantage point of instrumental logic, the institution is intrinsically inefficient because it cannot quickly adapt to changing conditions for action or new problems. Yet from a cultural perspective one could argue that it is perfectly possible for an institution to live with such historical inefficiency over time” (Christensen et al, 2007, p. 46).

Historically speaking, these two vantage points have been in conflict: Conservatives who wish to maintain the institution, on one side, and liberals who wish to change those institutions, on the other. An extremely conservative approach creates “institutional lockdown” where the organization is deprived of any opportunity to change. On the far end of the spectrum would be an excessively liberal approach endorsing revolution. These diametrically opposed concepts create a significant dichotomy.

Edmund Burke, English statesman and philosopher, was extremely critical of the revolution in France. He defended the ancien regime as he felt that the institutions of France and Europe were the result of an evolutionary process that had reached its next highest point under the noblemen/monarchs of Europe. For him, European civilization was founded upon the institutional principles of chivalry and clerical learning embodied in the spirit of the gentleman and the spirit of religion. Those who wanted to overturn the French system were to him savages who opposed all of the etiquette that had built Europe (Kontler, 1997).

Before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, a group of revolutionaries calling themselves the “Young Turks” attempted to change the institutional characteristics of the country. One of the Young Turks named Ahmed Hilmi was more conservatively institutional in his approach to reform. The Young Turks became more anti-religious, and Hilmi wanted Islam to remain the cornerstone of the country. He was starkly against those instrumental values embodied in positivism and materialism. He felt, much like Burke, that the country evolved to that point and that it had as its foundation a spiritual orientation which should not change despite whatever transformations might be needed (Bein, 2007).

Burke and Hilmi embodied the cultural perspective and were averse to revolutionary thinking. Nevertheless, both thinkers recognized that change was needed, but their approach was more incremental and less absolute. It was for this reason that Burke vehemently opposed the French revolution and Hilmi the Turkish revolution.

Positivism/materialism that was prevalent amongst the Young Turks has been criticized by scholars such as Dwight Waldo, who noted how it took on the same characteristics of absolute thought that is often associated with religion (Waldo, 1984). Hugh Miller makes this claim as well in his discussion on Postmodernism and Neo-liberalism, where he notes how the rational quickly becomes irrational particularly with performance measurement (Miller, 2007).

Dwight Waldo states, “In both disciplines (scientific management, i.e., positivism and public administration), these anomalies (inconsistencies between environment and paradigm) and difficulties have been revealed, frequently and characteristically in discussion of the problem whether management is a ‘science’ or an ‘art’ and the relationship of the science and the art” (Waldo, 1984, p. 55).

Jonathan Swift, in his classic novel Gulliver’s Travels, includes in his story the Island of Laputa. On this island, there are scientists whose science has no benefit for human civilization and in which all previous knowledge is rejected. The result is a detached group of people who do not benefit society and are themselves actually detrimental to it. The king of this island shows little interest in culture and only cares about mathematics and music. This island in Swift’s story represents Swift’s account of those who are positivistic in thought and how their endeavors are actually not benefiting society, but rather dismantling it (Swift, 1998).

Given this perspective, the instrumental perspective is called into question and its true ability to react to change correctly. The cultural perspective is more incremental in this respect, but as Christensen, et al (2007) point out, there is a risk of historical inefficiency. Would it be safer to say that society can live with this risk? If the goal is to operate efficiently/effectively in continual adjustment with the environment, then how can any semblance of community develop given that communities often need stability to grow? If the goal is community development that depends on integration and facilitation, then how can any semblance of necessary change develop? This represents the crux of an unsolvable problem in society.

Burke and Hilmi lived in revolutionary times and applied cultural thinking to solve societal problems. The questions raised in their times apply just as fervently today in terms of needed change. Many of those who had beaten the drums to the revolutions that gave rise to modern day societies have in turn given way to conservative descendants of those movements that resist all change. Much of what was lost in those revolutions has not been forgotten by the populace, and the only way forward is to adopt a “middle way” between the instrumental and cultural perspective. Maintaining this balance is often easier said than done.

Daniel Hummel is a Research/Teaching Assistant with a focus on Public Budgeting at Florida Atlantic University.

References

• Christensen, T. et al. 2007. Organization Theory and the Public Sector: Instrument, Culture and Myth. New York: Routledge.
• Bein, A. 2007. “A ‘Young Turk’ Islamic intellectual: Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi and the diverse intellectual legacies of the late Ottoman Empire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 39, pp. 607–625.
• Institution. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved March 30, 2010, from www.m-w.com/dictionary/institution.
• Kontler, L. 1997. “The ancien regime in memory and theory. Edmund Burke and his German followers.” European Review of History, 4 (1), pp. 1–15.
• Miller, H.T. 2007. Postmodern Public Administration (rev. ed.). Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe.
• Swift, J. 1998. Gulliver’s Travels. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Waldo, D. 1984. The Administrative State (2^nd ed.). New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers.

Great God, how frail a thing is man!
How swift his minutes pass!
His age contracts within a span;
He blooms and dies like grass.

Time is ticking “swiftly” away, consuming the “minutes” that have been appointed for this life, as Mather Byles (d. 1788) exclaims in the second line of this poem. Occupied with numerous chores and responsibilities, both at home and work, most of the time we miss the point that all of this will come to an end sooner or later. Perhaps we tend to ignore the passing of time, or more truly, our sight has been veiled by a long list of daily activities. This does not mean that we should lock ourselves into a permanent retreat of prayer and worship, for this is not what we are expected to do in this world. Gulen explains the preferred “seclusion” in the “Halwat and Uzlat” he wrote for the previous issue of The Fountain: “Those who always feel themselves in the presence of God do not need to seclude themselves from people. Such people, in the words of Rumi, are like those who keep one foot in the sphere of Divine commandments and turn the other, like a compass needle, round the world.” We cannot stop time, but we can convert its transient value into eternal gifts. The lead article in this issue dramatically draws our attention to this inexorable reality, which is actually a blessing we cannot truly appreciate.

Another blessing we often do not realize the importance of is water. “Despite its very simple chemical composition, water displays some very peculiar behavior. Interestingly, it is thanks to the Mercy of God that these oddities of water make life possible on earth,” says Bill Sayoran in his “Water: The Molecule of Life.” This article will urge us to wake from our apparently active but inherently dormant state of existence, and it will help us to learn to be always thankful for water, not only when there is shortage or in times of drought.

The Opinion department features the contribution of a reform rabbi, Allen S. Maller. Considering the prejudices that continue to threaten peace around the globe, particularly in the Middle East, many arguments Maller proposes in his “A Reform Rabbi Learns from Muhammad” are worth reading to further mutual awareness between the Abrahamic faiths.

In this issue we start a new department: Science for Young Readers. Aimed at making science more accessible, this section introduces scientific articles written in a more approachable way. In this issue, a very-well (!) educated spider, taught by Professor Irfan Yilmaz, tells us about the unique talents and physical features that have been granted to him.

Enjoy!