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[Popeye82]

musste mal gesagt werden.
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[Popeye82]

New Camera Makes the Invisible Visible - WFS/UoB, BONN/BC- Jul 2, 2014
www.wfs.org/futurist-update/futurist-update-2014-issues/july…
www3.uni-bonn.de/Press-releases/with-light-echoes-the-invisi…
http://cg.cs.uni-bonn.de/de/projekte/multipath/

"We can’t see something behind a wall unless there is a mirror nearby that can capture the object’s reflection. But a new camera developed by researchers from the universities of British Columbia and Bonn has no such limitations. The camera reconstructs scattered rays of light to accurately depict images of objects that are completely outside its immediate field of view.

The camera measures incoming light rays and records not only the direction that each one comes from, but also how long it took the light to travel from its source to the camera. From these time-of-flight measurements, it is able to fully reconstruct an image of the object.

"In principle, we are measuring nothing other than the sum of numerous light reflections which reached the camera through many different paths and which are superimposed on each other on the image sensor," says Mattias Hullin, University of Bonn computer-science professor and one of the camera’s engineers.



- Computer science professor Matthias Hullin of the Institute of Computer Science II, University of Bonn, poses with camera that can peer around corners. Credit: Matthias Hullin -


In a recent demo, the researchers positioned the camera on one side of a partition. On the other side, completely concealed from the camera, were a canvas and a laser beam shining onto the canvas’s center. The camera portrayed the canvas and laser beam on its video screen.

Currently, the camera’s image reconstructions are very low-resolution, but Hullin hopes that higher precision will be achievable as the technical components and mathematical models improve. The camera could have many applications in telecommunications, remote sensing, and medical imaging, he adds. —Rick Docksai ↑"

[Popeye82]

"Surprisingly simple scheme for self-assembling robots, Small cubes with no exterior moving parts can propel themselves forward, jump on top of each other, +snap together to form arbitrary shapes" - MIT - Oct 3, 2013

- Larry Hardesty -
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-as…

"In 2011, when an MIT senior named John Romanishin proposed a new design for modular robots to his robotics professor, Daniela Rus, she said, “That can’t be done.”

Two years later, Rus showed her colleague Hod Lipson, a robotics researcher at Cornell University, a video of prototype robots, based on Romanishin’s design, in action. “That can’t be done,” Lipson said.



- A prototype of a new modular robot, with its innards exposed and its flywheel — which gives it the ability to move independently — pulled out.
Photo: M. Scott Brauer -


In November, Romanishin — now a research scientist in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) — Rus, and postdoc Kyle Gilpin will establish once and for all that it can be done, when they present a paper describing their new robots at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

Known as M-Blocks, the robots are cubes with no external moving parts. Nonetheless, they’re able to climb over and around one another, leap through the air, roll across the ground, and even move while suspended upside down from metallic surfaces.

Inside each M-Block is a flywheel that can reach speeds of 20,000 revolutions per minute; when the flywheel is braked, it imparts its angular momentum to the cube. On each edge of an M-Block, and on every face, are cleverly arranged permanent magnets that allow any two cubes to attach to each other.

“It’s one of these things that the [modular-robotics] community has been trying to do for a long time,” says Rus, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of CSAIL. “We just needed a creative insight and somebody who was passionate enough to keep coming at it — despite being discouraged.”






Embodied abstraction

As Rus explains, researchers studying reconfigurable robots have long used an abstraction called the sliding-cube model. In this model, if two cubes are face to face, one of them can slide up the side of the other and, without changing orientation, slide across its top.

The sliding-cube model simplifies the development of self-assembly algorithms, but the robots that implement them tend to be much more complex devices. Rus’ group, for instance, previously developed a modular robot called the Molecule, which consisted of two cubes connected by an angled bar and had 18 separate motors. “We were quite proud of it at the time,” Rus says.

According to Gilpin, existing modular-robot systems are also “statically stable,” meaning that “you can pause the motion at any point, and they’ll stay where they are.” What enabled the MIT researchers to drastically simplify their robots’ design was giving up on the principle of static stability.

“There’s a point in time when the cube is essentially flying through the air,” Gilpin says. “And you are depending on the magnets to bring it into alignment when it lands. That’s something that’s totally unique to this system.”

That’s also what made Rus skeptical about Romanishin’s initial proposal. “I asked him build a prototype,” Rus says. “Then I said, ‘OK, maybe I was wrong.’”


Sticking the landing

To compensate for its static instability, the researchers’ robot relies on some ingenious engineering. On each edge of a cube are two cylindrical magnets, mounted like rolling pins. When two cubes approach each other, the magnets naturally rotate, so that north poles align with south, and vice versa. Any face of any cube can thus attach to any face of any other.

The cubes’ edges are also beveled, so when two cubes are face to face, there’s a slight gap between their magnets. When one cube begins to flip on top of another, the bevels, and thus the magnets, touch. The connection between the cubes becomes much stronger, anchoring the pivot. On each face of a cube are four more pairs of smaller magnets, arranged symmetrically, which help snap a moving cube into place when it lands on top of another.

As with any modular-robot system, the hope is that the modules can be miniaturized: the ultimate aim of most such research is hordes of swarming microbots that can self-assemble, like the “liquid steel” androids in the movie “Terminator II.” And the simplicity of the cubes’ design makes miniaturization promising.

But the researchers believe that a more refined version of their system could prove useful even at something like its current scale. Armies of mobile cubes could temporarily repair bridges or buildings during emergencies, or raise and reconfigure scaffolding for building projects. They could assemble into different types of furniture or heavy equipment as needed. And they could swarm into environments hostile or inaccessible to humans, diagnose problems, and reorganize themselves to provide solutions.


Strength in diversity

The researchers also imagine that among the mobile cubes could be special-purpose cubes, containing cameras, or lights, or battery packs, or other equipment, which the mobile cubes could transport. “In the vast majority of other modular systems, an individual module cannot move on its own,” Gilpin says. “If you drop one of these along the way, or something goes wrong, it can rejoin the group, no problem.”

“It’s one of those things that you kick yourself for not thinking of,” Cornell’s Lipson says. “It’s a low-tech solution to a problem that people have been trying to solve with extraordinarily high-tech approaches.”

“What they did that was very interesting is they showed several modes of locomotion,” Lipson adds. “Not just one cube flipping around, but multiple cubes working together, multiple cubes moving other cubes — a lot of other modes of motion that really open the door to many, many applications, much beyond what people usually consider when they talk about self-assembly. They rarely think about parts dragging other parts — this kind of cooperative group behavior.”

In ongoing work, the MIT researchers are building an army of 100 cubes, each of which can move in any direction, and designing algorithms to guide them. “We want hundreds of cubes, scattered randomly across the floor, to be able to identify each other, coalesce, and autonomously transform into a chair, or a ladder, or a desk, on demand,” Romanishin says. "

[Popeye82]

Self-sculpting sand , New algorithms " "could" enable heaps of ‘smart sand’ that can assume any shape, allowing spontaneous formation of new tools or duplication of broken mechanical parts" - MIT - Apr 1, 2012

- Larry Hardesty -
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/smart-robotic-sand-0402.h…

"Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: The sand has assembled itself into a large-scale replica of the model



- To test their algorithm, the researchers designed and built a system of 'smart pebbles' — cubes about 10 millimeters to an edge, with processors and magnets built in.
Photo: M. Scott Brauer -


That may sound like a scene from a Harry Potter novel, but it’s the vision animating a research project at the Distributed Robotics Laboratory (DRL) at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. At the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in May — the world’s premier robotics conference — DRL researchers will present a paper describing algorithms that could enable such “smart sand.” They also describe experiments in which they tested the algorithms on somewhat larger particles — cubes about 10 millimeters to an edge, with rudimentary microprocessors inside and very unusual magnets on four of their sides.

Unlike many other approaches to reconfigurable robots, smart sand uses a subtractive method, akin to stone carving, rather than an additive method, akin to snapping LEGO blocks together. A heap of smart sand would be analogous to the rough block of stone that a sculptor begins with. The individual grains would pass messages back and forth and selectively attach to each other to form a three-dimensional object; the grains not necessary to build that object would simply fall away. When the object had served its purpose, it would be returned to the heap. Its constituent grains would detach from each other, becoming free to participate in the formation of a new shape.


Distributed intelligence

Algorithmically, the main challenge in developing smart sand is that the individual grains would have very few computational resources. “How do you develop efficient algorithms that do not waste any information at the level of communication and at the level of storage?” asks Daniela Rus, a professor of computer science and engineering at MIT and a co-author on the new paper, together with her student Kyle Gilpin. If every grain could simply store a digital map of the object to be assembled, “then I can come up with an algorithm in a very easy way,” Rus says. “But we would like to solve the problem without that requirement, because that requirement is simply unrealistic when you’re talking about modules at this scale.” Furthermore, Rus says, from one run to the next, the grains in the heap will be jumbled together in a completely different way. “We’d like to not have to know ahead of time what our block looks like,” Rus says.



- To attach to each other, to communicate and to share power, the cubes use 'electropermanent magnets,' materials whose magnetism can be switched on and off with jolts of electricity. Each cube has magnets — recognizable by the reddish wires wrapped around them — on four of its six faces.
Photo: M. Scott Brauer -


Conveying shape information to the heap with a simple physical model — such as the tiny footstool — helps address both of these problems. To get a sense of how the researchers’ algorithm works, it’s probably easiest to consider the two-dimensional case. Picture each grain of sand as a square in a two-dimensional grid. Now imagine that some of the squares — say, in the shape of a footstool — are missing. That’s where the physical model is embedded.

According to Gilpin — lead author on the new paper — the grains first pass messages to each other to determine which have missing neighbors. (In the grid model, each square could have eight neighbors.) Grains with missing neighbors are in one of two places: the perimeter of the heap or the perimeter of the embedded shape.

Once the grains surrounding the embedded shape identify themselves, they simply pass messages to other grains a fixed distance away, which in turn identify themselves as defining the perimeter of the duplicate. If the duplicate is supposed to be 10 times the size of the original, each square surrounding the embedded shape will map to 10 squares of the duplicate’s perimeter. Once the perimeter of the duplicate is established, the grains outside it can disconnect from their neighbors.


Rapid prototyping

The same algorithm can be varied to produce multiple, similarly sized copies of a sample shape, or to produce a single, large copy of a large object. “Say the tire rod in your car has sheared,” Gilpin says. “You could duct tape it back together, put it into your system and get a new one.”

The cubes — or “smart pebbles” — that Gilpin and Rus built to test their algorithm enact the simplified, two-dimensional version of the system. Four faces of each cube are studded with so-called electropermanent magnets, materials that can be magnetized or demagnetized with a single electric pulse. Unlike permanent magnets, they can be turned on and off; unlike electromagnets, they don’t require a constant current to maintain their magnetism. The pebbles use the magnets not only to connect to each other but also to communicate and to share power. Each pebble also has a tiny microprocessor, which can store just 32 kilobytes of program code and has only two kilobytes of working memory.

The pebbles have magnets on only four faces, Gilpin explains, because, with the addition of the microprocessor and circuitry to regulate power, “there just wasn’t room for two more magnets.” But Gilpin and Rus performed computer simulations showing that their algorithm would work with a three-dimensional block of cubes, too, by treating each layer of the block as its own two-dimensional grid. The cubes discarded from the final shape would simply disconnect from the cubes above and below them as well as those next to them.

True smart sand, of course, would require grains much smaller than 10-millimeter cubes. But according to Robert Wood, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Harvard University, that’s not an insurmountable obstacle. “Take the core functionalities of their pebbles,” says Wood, who directs Harvard’s Microrobotics Laboratory. “They have the ability to latch onto their neighbors; they have the ability to talk to their neighbors; they have the ability to do some computation. Those are all things that are certainly feasible to think about doing in smaller packages.”

“It would take quite a lot of engineering to do that, of course,” Wood cautions. “That’s a well-posed but very difficult set of engineering challenges that they could continue to address in the future.” "

[Popeye82]

"Innovative solar-powered toilet ready, for India unveiling", using a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - R&DM/B&MGF/UoC - Mar 14, 2014
www.rdmag.com/news/2014/03/innovative-solar-powered-toilet-r…

"A revolutionary Univ. of Colorado Boulder toilet fueled by the sun that is being developed to help some of the 2.5 billion people around the world lacking safe and sustainable sanitation will be unveiled in India this month.

The self-contained, waterless toilet, designed and built using a $777,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has the capability of heating human waste to a high enough temperature to sterilize human waste and create biochar, a highly porous charcoal, said project principal investigator Karl Linden, professor of environmental engineering. The biochar has a one-two punch in that it can be used to both increase crop yields and sequester carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.



- CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Tesfayohanes Yakob, left, and research engineer Dana Haushulz are shown here with a novel solar-thermal toilet developed by a team led by CU-Boulder Professor Karl Linden as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to improve sanitation and hygiene in developing countries. Image: Univ. of Colorado -


The project is part of the Gates Foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge ,” an effort to develop a next-generation toilet that can be used to disinfect liquid and solid waste while generating useful end products , both in developing and developed nations, said Linden. Since the 2012 grant, Linden and his CU-Boulder team have received an additional $1 million from the Gates Foundation for the project, which includes a team of more than a dozen faculty, research professionals and students, many working full time on the effort.

According to the Gates Foundation, the awards recognize researchers who are developing ways to manage human waste that will help improve the health and lives of people around the world. Unsafe methods to capture and treat human waste result in serious health problems and death—food and water tainted with pathogens from fecal matter results in the deaths of roughly 700,000 children each year.

Linden’s team is one of 16 around the world funded by the Gates “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” since 2011. All have shipped their inventions to Delhi, where they will be on display March 22 for scientists, engineers and dignitaries. Other institutional winners of the grants range from Caltech to Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the National University of Singapore.

The CU-Boulder invention consists of eight parabolic mirrors that focus concentrated sunlight to a spot no larger than a postage stamp on a quartz-glass rod connected to eight bundles of fiber-optic cables, each consisting of thousands of intertwined, fused fibers, said Linden. The energy generated by the sun and transferred to the fiber-optic cable system—similar in some ways to a data transmission line—can heat up the reaction chamber to over 600 F to treat the waste material, disinfect pathogens in both feces and urine, and produce char.

“Biochar is a valuable material,” said Linden. “It has good water holding capacity and it can be used in agricultural areas to hold in nutrients and bring more stability to the soils.” A soil mixture containing 10 percent biochar can hold up to 50 percent more water and increase the availability of plant nutrients, he said. Additionally, the biochar can be burned as charcoal and provides energy comparable to that of commercial charcoal.

Linden is working closely with project co-investigators Professor R. Scott Summers of environmental engineering and Professor Alan Weimer chemical and biological engineering and a team of postdoctoral fellows, professionals, graduate students, undergraduates and a high school student.

“We are doing something that has never been done before,” said Linden. “While the idea of concentrating solar energy is not new, transmitting it flexibly to a customizable location via fiber-optic cables is the really unique aspect of this project.” The interdisciplinary project requires chemical engineers for heat transfer and solar energy work, environmental engineers for waste treatment and stabilization, mechanical engineers to build actuators and moving parts and electrical engineers to design control systems, Linden said.

Tests have shown that each of the eight fiber-optic cables can produce between 80 and 90 watts of energy, meaning the whole system can deliver up to 700 watts of energy into the reaction chamber, said Linden. In late December, tests at CU-Boulder showed the solar energy directed into the reaction chamber could easily boil water and effectively carbonize solid waste.

While the current toilet has been created to serve four to six people a day, a larger facility that could serve several households simultaneously is under design with the target of meeting a cost level of five cents a day per user set by the Gates Foundation. “We are continuously looking for ways to improve efficiency and lower costs,” he said.

“The great thing about the Gates Foundation is that they provide all of the teams with the resources they need,” Linden said. “The foundation is not looking for one toilet and one solution from one team. They are nurturing unique ideas and looking at what the individual teams bring overall to the knowledge base.”

Linden, who called the 16 teams a “family of researchers,” said the foundation has funded trips for CU-Boulder team members to collaborate with the other institutions in places like Switzerland, South Africa and North Carolina. “Instead of sink or swim funding, they want every team to succeed. In some ways we are like a small startup company, and it’s unlike any other project I have worked on during my career,” he said.

CU-Boulder team member Elizabeth Travis from Parker, Colo., who is working toward a master’s degree in the engineering college’s Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities, said her interest in water and hygiene made the Reinvent the Toilet project a good fit. “It is a really cool research project and a great team,” she said. “Everyone is very creative, patient and supportive, and there is a lot of innovation. It is exciting to learn from all of the team members.”

“We have a lot of excitement and energy on our team, and the Gates Foundation values that,” Linden said. “It is one thing to do research, another to screw on nuts and bolts and make something that can make a difference. To me, that’s the fun part, and the project is a nice fit for CU-Boulder because we have a high interest in developing countries and expertise in all of the renewable energy technologies as well as sanitation.”

The CU-Boulder team is now applying for phase two of the Gates Foundation Reinvent the Toilet grant to develop a field-worthy system to deploy in a developing country based on their current design, and assess other technologies that may enhance the toilet system, including the use of high-temperature fluids that can collect, retain and deliver heat. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.268.814 von Popeye82 am 07.07.14 06:26:17

[Popeye82]

"Screwy-looking wind turbine 'makes little noise, +a big claim' "; Although it’s getting increasingly common to see solar panels on the roofs of homes, household wind turbines are still a fairly rare sight. Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif Rotterdam-based tech firm The Archimedes has its way, however, that will soon change. Today the company officially introduced its 'Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine', which is said to have an energy yield that is “80 percent of the maximum that is theoretically feasible .” That’s quite the assertion, given that most conventional wind turbines average ~25 to 50 percent, company "states that it has tested the Liam "over 50 times" to confirm the figures, +has already sold 7.000 of the turbines, in 14 countries' - IT/GM/TA, ROTTERDAM - May 29, 2014
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/05/screwy-looking-wind-turbin…
http://www.gizmag.com/the-archimedes-liam-f1-urban-wind-turb…

[Popeye82]

Using thoughts, to control airplanes , Pilots of the future " "could" be able to control their aircraft, by merely thinking commands"; Scientists of the Technische Universität München +the TU Berlin have now demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control –with astonishing accuracy. The pilot is wearing a white cap with myriad attached cables. His gaze is concentrated on the runway ahead of him. All of a sudden the control stick starts to move, as if by magic. The airplane banks +then approaches straight on towards the runway. The position of the plane is corrected time +again until the landing gear gently touches down. During the entire maneuver the pilot touches neither pedals, nor controls - IT/TUM/TUB/fp7-bf.eu, MUNICH/BERLIN - May 29, 2014
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/05/using-thoughts-to-control-…
www.tum.de/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/short/article/31…
www.fp7-brainflight.eu

[Popeye82]

'Battery Breakthrough' Offers 30 Times More Power, Charges 1.000 Times Faster - M/UoI/NC, CHAMPAIGN - Apr 18, 2013
http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0416microbatteries_WilliamK…
http://mashable.com/2013/04/17/battery-breakthrough/
www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2747.html

"Battery technology has improved over the past decade, but now scientists claim they have made a giant leap in power storage, giving lithium-ion batteries 30 times more power and the ability to recharge 1,000 times faster "than competing technologies."

This is a battery breakthrough that could change the world — it's "a whole new way to think about batteries," according to its creators. The team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, headed up by Professor William King, wrote about the technology in the April 16 issue of Nature Communications.


According to King, battery technology has "lagged far behind" the technology it powers. He says in a press release that his microtechnology "could change all of that. Now the power source is as high performance as the rest of it."

The batteries are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo powerful, King says you could use the power storage device in your cellphone to jumpstart your car battery .

How has the team accomplished this seemingly miraculous breakthrough? The secret is extreme miniaturization of the conventional elements of traditional batteries, the anode and the cathode. Assembling these in a 3D microstructure, the researchers have developed what their press release says is "a new way to integrate the two components at the microscale to make a complete battery with superior performance."

What's next? Like most scientific breakthroughs, the scientists are now working on making the technology affordable, and adapting it to fit into today's tightly packed environments of smartphones and other gadgetry. Said the press release, "imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second ."

We contacted King, asking him when he thinks we might see this technology in our hands, and what devices might be first to use it. He said, "We are past the laboratory demonstration stage, working with systems integrators now."

King said the technology could be available for consumers in "perhaps 1-2 years ." Where might we see these super batteries first? Says King, "The first applications of this technology will be to be replace supercapacitors in radios and personal electronics."

Imagine what a battery with this kind of power could do to our world, which is increasingly dependent on energy storage devices. Electric cars could become a lot more practical and recharge in less than the time it takes to fill up a gas tank . Solar power could be stored easily overnight with incredible efficiency , and many devices that now must be plugged in could be powered by these super batteries.

It's interesting that this technology originated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the birthplace of the fictional HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

What say you, readers? Vaporware or 'world changer'? "

[Popeye82]

I can’t believe someone makes… Holographic chocolate - EW - May 16, 2014

- Alun Williams -
www.electronicsweekly.com/made-by-monkeys/i-cant-believe-som…

[Popeye82]

Optomec 3D printed electronics, using nanomaterials - N - Jul 10, 2013
www.nanalyze.com/2013/07/optomec-prints-electronics-using-na…

"


One company discussed in the Nanlyze forums about 4 years ago was Optomec and their work in printing copper inks. In a March 2012 press release by Stratasys titled “3D Printing is merged with 3D electronics” it was noted that Stratasys and Optomec successfully completed a joint development project to merge 3D printing and printed electronics to create the world’s first fully printed hybrid structure seen below:




Given the collaboration between these two companies, it’s worth looking into Optomec a bit more.

Optomec is a privately held, profitable company which has now installed Additive Manufacturing Systems at 150 customer sites in 15 countries. They hold thirty (30) issued patents and another fifty (50) pending, all in the field of Additive Manufacturing.

One technology the company has developed is Aerosol Jet printing which is an additive manufacturing solution that reduces the overall size of electronic systems by using nanomaterials to produce fine feature circuitry and embedded components. Using this technology, leading research institutes have been able to print Thin Film Transistors using carbon nanotubes. Additionally, Aerosol Jet technology has been used to print antennas using conductive nanoparticle silver inks. Mobile device antennas including LTE, NFC, GPS, Wifi, WLAN, and BT have been printed using the Aerosol Jet process and independently tested by a leading cell phone component supplier. The company states that a new high volume process will soon be available which will lower manufacturing costs for antennas used in mobile devices. Advantages of these printed antennas include:




In another example the Aerosol Jet system was used to print a conformal sensor, antenna, and power and signal circuitry directly onto the wing of a UAV model. The wing itself was 3D printed by Stratasys.

In addition to printed electronics technology, The company also has a product line of 3D metal printers that use a technology called LENS which uses the energy from a high-power laser to build up metal structures one layer at a time. In June 2013, Optomec announced the availability of a new low cost offering in its line-up of metal 3D Printers named the LENS 450.




In addition to the LENS 450, the company also offers the LENS MR-7 for research and development, and the LENS 850R production repair system. Materials supported include titanium, stainless steel, nickel, cobalt and other alloys. "

[Popeye82]

Water -based batteries " "promise" organic charging " - EW/UoC/GM/JoES, CALIFORNIA - Jul 7, 2014

- Alun Williams -
www.electronicsweekly.com/gadget-master/general/water-based-…
https://pressroom.usc.edu/usc-scientists-create-new-battery-…
www.gizmag.com/organic-redox-flow-battery/32739/?utm_source=…
http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/161/9/A1371.full?sid=e4be8ba7-8…
www.electronicsweekly.com/gadget-master/music-2/pelty-powers…

"Had to mention this one. We’ve just had fire (see Pelty powers Bluetooth speakers with fire), and now here’s water! An eco-friendly, water-based organic battery, to be precise.

Scientists at University Southern California have been working on the new battery forms that use no metals or toxic materials.



- USC – Sri Narayan, professor of chemistry. USC professor Sri Narayan’s research focuses on the fundamental and applied aspects of electrochemical energy conversion and storage to reduce the carbon footprint of energy use and by providing energy alternatives to fossil fuel. -


“The batteries last for about 5,000 recharge cycles, giving them an estimated 15-year lifespan,” said Sri Narayan, professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“Lithium ion batteries degrade after around 1,000 cycles, and cost 10 times more to manufacture.”

As well as being long-lasting, and cheap, they are aimed use in power plants, where they could apparently make the energy grid more resilient and efficient.


Thanks to Sue P for highlighting this one. "

[Popeye82]

"Building Solar Cells, with Oxford Photovoltaics" - N/MITTR - Aug 23, 2013
www.nanalyze.com/2013/08/building-solar-cells-with-oxford-ph…
www.technologyreview.com/news/517811/a-material-that-could-m…

"In an earlier article titled “A Simple Introduction to Solar Cells” we discussed the future promise of “Emerging PV” that is the creation of solar cells using materials such as pervoskite or quantum dots to reduce the cost of solar energy which currently hinders more widespread adoption. One company that is working in this area is University of Oxford spin out, Oxford Photovoltaics.





History

Oxford Photovoltaics was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2011. Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Henry Snaith leads a research group of 17 scientists at the University of Oxford whose growing portfolio of patents is exclusively licensed to Oxford Photovoltaics. Dr. Snaith spent two years working under Professor Michael Gratzel for his postdoctoral research. As we recall from our previous article, Professor Gratzel is a solar pioneer who invented dye sensitized solar cells which won him the 2010 Millenium Technology Grand Prize. The company is backed by two UK venture capital firms; MTI Partners and Parkwalk Advisors both of which provided a first round of funding in February 2013 of around 3.11 million dollars. As of June 2013 the company had received a total of 6.54 million dollars in funding.


Business Model

The company does not consider itself a photovoltaics company but rather a manufacturer of aesthetically appealing glazing products that can be used to generate electricity. This concept is referred to as “Building-integrated photovoltaics” or BIPV and is distinguished by the solar solutions being integrated into the building during construction as opposed to being applied afterwards. The artist’s rendering of the colored building panels in the below picture helps visualize this concept:




Oxford Photovoltaics " "predicts" that manufacturing costs of their product will be around 50% less than the current lowest -cost thin film technology". This implies easy application and materials costs. In speaking with the CEO, Kevin Arthur, the company does not expect to see test modules until 2014.


Technology

Oxford Photovoltaics is developing solar cells using perovskite, an abundant material that is not only cheaper than silicon but can also be easily applied to substrates using a screen printing technique. On August 8 2013, MIT Technology Review published an article titled “A Material That Could Make Solar Power Dirt Cheap” which highlights the relatively recent use of perovskite and the promising future it may hold for solar energy. In this same article, Dr. Snaith made the following statements regarding the use of perovskite in solar cells:


Between 2009 and 2012 there was only one paper. Then in the end of the summer of 2012 it all kicked off. Efficiencies quickly doubled and then doubled again. It is highly unlikely that anyone will ever be able to just buy a tub of ‘solar paint,’ but all the layers in the solar cell can be fabricated as easily as painting a surface.


Below is a comparison between traditional photovoltaic solutions and those offered by Oxford Photovoltaics.

Conventional PV - Oxford Photovoltaics (BIPV)

Opaque - Range of transparency options
Blue, Brown or Black - Palette of colours and tints
Contains scarce elements and rare earths - Sustainable, abundant, organic ingredients.
Complex high temperature manufacturing - Simple screen printing manufacturing
High capital cost of manufacturing - Low capital cost of manufacturing
Heavy panels attached to buildings - Attractive panels integrated into building


On June 10 2013, the company announced that they have achieved 15.4% efficiency with their perovskite solar cells. As mentioned in our previous article about solar cells, the average solar cell efficiency is currently around 15%. Another challenge to meet is that building certification codes usually require a minimum 25-year guaranteed life for materials.


BIPV Market Outlook

According to an October 2012 article on PVTECH, the BIPV market in 2012 was 2.1 billion and expected to grow to 7.5 billion by 2015, an increase of 257% in only three years. In the same article another report by Design Build Solar estimates the revenues for BIPV glass products to be worth 4.2 billion alone by 2015 with revenues from the BIPV walling market to be 830 million.

Oxford Photovoltaics is not alone as there are many companies pursuing BIPV growth opportunities with varying degrees of success. In a future article we will look at publicly traded Australian company Dyesol who appears to be a possible competitor of Oxford Photovoltaics. This company was a pioneer licensee of patents from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where the dye solar cell was invented by Professor Gratzel. In addition to that, Professor Gratzel resides as their Technology Advisory Board Chairman. "

[Popeye82]

Semprius "Prints World Record Solar Cells" - N - Feb 19, 2014
www.nanalyze.com/2014/02/semprius-prints-world-record-solar-…
www.semprius.com/assets/pdf/press_releases/2013%20Module%20R…

"Solar energy has been a roller coaster ride for investors over the past 5 years. Investors who wanted to purchase a diversified solar ETF five years ago may have invested in the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) when it debuted in April of 2008. Those same investors would have suffered a 94% loss by January 2013. However, should an investor have purchased TAN in January 2013, they would be up more than 130% today on their TAN position. Solar has now become economically viable, and one company looking to take advantage of this emerging growth opportunity is Semprius.





About

Founded in 2005, North Carolina based Semprius has taken in over $49 million in funding so far from the likes of ARCH Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners, Illinois Ventures, Siemens, In-Q-Tel, and others in addition to a grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of around $8 million. The founder of Semprius and previous winner of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant, John Rogers, is also the founder of MC10, the stretchable electronics company we highlighted several days ago.


Technology

Semprius " "claims" to use the world’s smallest solar cell, which is ~the size of a pencil point, to create solar modules with unmatched cost and performance advantages". In September 2013, Semprius stated that they set a new world record for photovoltaic module efficiency, reaching 35.5 percent (active area). The below graph puts into perspective just how this efficiency compares to more commonly used multicrystalline silicon and thin film solar cells:




With the current average solar cell efficiency of 15% being sufficient enough to power a typical house, the level of solar cell efficiency achieved by Semprius could allow home owners to realize some handsome profits through net metering. Semprius not only offers world record efficiencies, but also a low cost production method using their “micro-transfer printing technology”. This “micro-transfer printing technology” seems to be a core value proposition for Semprius as they are also looking to license it for non-solar applications such as flat- panel displays, flexible electronics, large-area sensors, and RF devices. In 2012, Semprius began high volume commercial production of their solar cells at their manufacturing facility in Henderson, North Carolina.

Semprius has strong backing, world record breaking solar cell efficiency, and a claimed, novel low cost production process. The question remains if Semprius can scale their business to meet the ever growing needs of the solar industry while maintaining their low cost of production. "

[Popeye82]

Stretchable Electronics, from MC10 - N - Feb 17, 2014
www.nanalyze.com/2014/02/stretchable-electronics-from-mc10/

"Elastronics or “stretchable electronics” are an emerging class of electronics that mimic human skin in that they can retain full functionality while being stretched. This technology opens the door to many interesting applications such as cyber skin for robotic devices, screens that can double in size when stretched like rubber, fabrics that can illuminate, wallpaper lighting, seamless wearable health monitors, and the list goes on. One company making progress in commercializing stretchable electronics is MC10.





About

Founded in 2008, Cambridge Massachusetts based MC10 has taken in over $60 million in funding so far from the likes of North Bridge Venture Partners, Braemar Energy Ventures, Terawatt Ventures, Medtronic, and many others. The Company was co-founded by Professor John Rogers, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois and Director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory.


Intellectual Property

In addition to a number of patents and applications listed on the company webite, MC10 has license rights to over 150 US and foreign patents in the area of conformal electronics, nearly all of which are licensed exclusively to MC10. One of MC10’s issued patents titled “Extremely Stretchable Electronics (US 8389862)” provides more technical detail behind the underlying technology which appears to utilize “silicon nanoribbons”. This patent alone cites over 100 other patents along with over 800 non-patent citations.


Product Applications

Commercial applications for “stretchable electronics” are vast, and only limited by one’s imagination. MC10 is targeting applications in consumer goods, digital health, medical devices, industrials, and defense. One invention from MC10 is an ultra-thin, skin-like tatoo with tiny dots called a bio-stamp. Worn on the surface of the skin, this unobtrusive device can monitor body vitals. MC10 is also developing a catheter that has nanometer-thin sensors which can provide feedback during medical procedures. One of MC10′s first consumer products is the Reebok Checklight Sports Activity Impact Indicator which won the 2014 International CES Innovation Award for “Best of Innovations”. This product which M10 co-developed with Reebok is a revolutionary head impact indicator.




The sensing skullcap can be tucked under any helmet and logs the number of impacts recorded by the athlete. It also displays a yellow light for moderate impacts and a red light for severe impacts allowing for a coach or teammate to easily identify a possible concussion. Sports that this could be used for are rugby, American football, hockey, boxing, or any other high impact sport. The product can be purchased here for around $149.

MC10 has a strong IP portfolio, some unique product offerings, and strong financial backing. The Company merits watching, even if just to see what exciting new products they start offering based on their stretchable electronics technology. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.451.790 von Popeye82 am 07.08.14 06:05:25

Printing Electronics, with PragmatIC Printing - N - Mar 25, 2014
www.nanalyze.com/2014/03/printing-electronics-with-pragmatic…

"In a previous article we highlighted Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT), a company that develops enhanced automated solutions for production processes in the printed circuit board (PCB) industry, and their intent to move into “3D printing”. Camtek is preparing to launch their “GreenJet 3D printer”, which in fact is a digital inkjet solder mask printing system which has been around since 2007. This printing system deposits solder mask on printed circuit boards, but is not capable of printing circuits on plastic, paper, card or metal surfaces that are flexible or curved. One company that caaaaan is PragmatIC Printing.





About

Cambridge UK based Pragmatic Printing acquired the printed electronics business of Nano ePrint Ltd. in 2010. Spun off from the University of Manchester in 2006, Nano ePrint was a specialist in the design and manufacturing of planar nano-electronics. Pragmatic Printing uses imprint lithography to produce sub-micron transistors on various substrates using physical force to pattern the elements, which has the potential to be very cost effective. The electronics can be integrated onto plastic, paper, card or metal surfaces, which may be curved or flexible.



- Ultra thin, flexible, transparent, nano-scale electronic devices – Source: Pragmatic -


The printed electronics can be partially transparent, or integrated into the artwork of the product, and are extremely thin so that they do not appear raised.


Technology Applications

While Pragmatic has used this technology to create electronic greeting cards for Tigerprint, a Hallmark subsidiary, they propose some much more interesting applications for this technology going forward. Animated branding can bring a brand logo to life by making it flash or change color when the consumer touches it. Brand protection could allow the consumer to easily authenticate products via a label that shows a logo when touched or placed near an RF source. Smart packaging can integrate useful functionality into packaging, for example a timer allowing the consumer to easily check how long their hair dye has been applied. All the potential applications for printed electronics have tremendous growth potential in the next six years as see in the below chart by NanoMarkets:




The above forecast by NanoMarkets calls for a $1.15 billion printed electronics market in 2014 which will grow to $16.7 billion in 2019, a CAGR of 58 percent. Recently Pragmatic partnered with Procter & Gamble and several other firms to create the world’s first flexible multi-functional timer based on commercially available printed electronics which will be distributed at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe event in Berlin next month. The device consists of an electronic logic circuit implemented with thin film metal oxide transistors, powered by a printed battery, and integrated onto a paper substrate. The piece of paper has four individually controlled timing options, activated by bending or “dog-earing” one of the corners of the paper.

According to an article early last year in Electronics Weekly .com, Pragmatic was producing more than 10,000 flexible logic circuits per month on a pilot line and was expected to scale to a capacity of over 10 million logic circuits per year during 2013. A number of companies including ITW Foils, a part of $34 billion Illinois Tool Works, have licensed the printable circuit technology from Pragmatic. If the meteoric growth forecast from NanoMarkets comes true, Pragmatic will need to scale very quickly to begin capturing meaningful market share. "

[Popeye82]

IBN researchers produce nylon , from sugar - BD/IBN, SINGAPORE - Apr 3, 2014

- Tom Saidak -
www.biofuelsdigest.com/biobased/2014/04/03/ibn-researchers-h…
www.ibn.a-star.edu.sg/images/cms_press/press_97.pdf

"In Singapore, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology reports that in the future, the clothes you wear could be made from sugar.

Researchers at IBN have discovered a new chemical process that can convert adipic acid directly from sugar. The new chemical catalytic protocol designed by IBN is simple, efficient and green. To convert mucic acid to adipid acid, the target reaction is deoxydehydration, that is, oxygen and water will be removed simultaneously by reduction and dehydration. The researchers found that by combining deoxydehydration and the transfer hydrogenation reaction – adding an alcohol solvent – in one reactor, they could obtain a high yield of adipic acid at 99% of the starting material. "

[Popeye82]

Cigarette Butts Recycled, into Coating for Supercapacitors - CT/ENN/NT/EA/IOP/SNU - Aug 6, 2014
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/iop-ubo080514.php
[e-mail]
http://cleantechies.com/2014/08/06/cigarette-butts-recycled-…
http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/25/34/345601/

"It is estimated that as many as 5.6 trillion used-cigarettes, or 766,571 metric tons, are deposited into the environment worldwide every year.

That’s a lot of litter, especially when it takes 18 months to 10 years for cigarette filters to degrade!

However, these butts may have a newly discovered second use as a group of South Korean scientists have converted these cigarette leftovers into a high-performing material that could be integrated into computers, handheld devices, electrical vehicles and wind turbines.

But for what purpose exactly?

It is hoped the material can be used to coat the electrodes of supercapacitors—electrochemical components that can store extremely large amounts of electrical energy—while also offering a solution to the growing environmental problem caused by used-cigarette filters.

The researchers have demonstrated the material’s superior performance compared to commercially available carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes.

Co-author of the study Professor Jongheop Yi, from Seoul National University, said: “Our study has shown that used-cigarette filters can be transformed into a high-performing carbon-based material using a simple one step process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the energy demands of society.

“Numerous countries are developing strict regulations to avoid the trillions of toxic and non-biodegradable used-cigarette filters that are disposed of into the environment each year—our method is just one way of achieving this.”

In their study, the researchers demonstrated that the cellulose acetate fibres that cigarette filters are mostly composed of could be transformed into a carbon-based material using a simple, one-step burning technique called pyrolysis.

As a result of this burning process, the resulting carbon-based material contained a number of tiny pores, increasing its performance as a supercapacitive material.

“A high-performing supercapacitor material should have a large surface area, which can be achieved by incorporating a large number of small pores into the material,” continued Professor Yi.

“A combination of different pore sizes ensures that the material has high power densities, which is an essential property in a supercapacitor for the fast charging and discharging.”

Once fabricated, the carbon-based material was attached to an electrode and tested in a three-electrode system to see how well the material could adsorb electrolyte ions (charge) and then release electrolyte ions (discharge).

The material stored a higher amount of electrical energy than commercially available carbon and also had a higher amount of storage compared to graphene and carbon nanotubes, as reported in previous studies.

The study can be found in the in IOP Publishing’s journal Nanotechnology.

[Popeye82]

New surfaces functionalities are the future - AIMPLAS - Apr 16, 2014
www.aimplas.net/blog/new-surfaces-functionalities-are-future

"The esthetic aspect, passage time, aging, atmospheric effects, all of them affects the surfaces of plastics and the surface of non-plastic materials used in the construction.

Undoubtedly, according to the functionality of a piece, the surface is not the most important part, but it is the main entrance for external agents and they can affect to the integrity of materials.

Functionalities like self-cleaning, anti- anti- fingerprint, anti-bacterial, anti-fouling, scratch and abrasion resistance are very appreciated to increase the durability of the constructive elements, in general. Even, the most modern technologies of self-repairing systems for fractures and superficial scratches are a future niche market. All these new innovations or added functionalities normally imply nanotechnology applied to polymeric materials. And it is being worked on.

Further, as new technological challenges, we can be talking about intelligent systems, such as home automation floor tiles and facades which activate electronic system with a tactile contact, or intelligent windows which modify the pass of infrared radiation. It constitutes a one step further in the energetic efficiency. Taking into account this energetic point of view, we can talk about new solar concentrators in functional pieces of facades or picture windows, energetic accumulators through esthetical piezoelectric elements, and even photovoltaic energetic cells – non-based on silicon- integrated as coatings, painting or varnishes on external surfaces.

Most of these solutions, copied from the true nature, from its own evolutionary processes, are part of the tendency known as biomimicry. And all of this is obtained by combining polymeric materials and nanotechnology. We will keep it under review. "

[Popeye82]

Scientists "discover a 3D material that 'acts like graphene' , but it has some quirks" ; Using a 3D substance "would be easier when manufacturing electronics, but the newly studied material has a bad habit of bubbling and turning to powder when exposed to airm" - GO/SU - Jan 18, 2014

- S. Brewster-
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/17/scientists-discover-a-3d-materi…
www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2014-01-16-3d-material-mimics-gr…

"Graphene, that 2D sheet of carbon atoms with some impressive qualities, has its flaws. Namely, it can’t block electricity from flowing, which makes its chances of being incorporated into solar panels slimmer. Scientists are working on ways to tweak it to be more compatible, but they’re also on the lookout for alternatives that perform just as well.

Na3Bi, a combination of the metals sodium and bismuth, is the most recent emerging option. SLAC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers were able to create a sample of the material and reveal its structure for the first time, confirming what scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences had theorized: Na3Bi’s electrical properties mean it really would perform similarly to graphene. Basically, it could absorb and transmit electrons really, really fast.

“Ever since graphene was isolated in 2004, researchers around the world have looked for ways to take full advantage of its many desirable properties,” said Yulin Chen, who led research at Lawrence Berkeley’s facilities, in a press release. ”But the very thing that makes graphene special — the fact that it consists of a single layer of atoms ­– sometimes makes it difficult to work with, and a challenge to manufacture.”

Unfortunately, Na3Bi has its own flaws. While one of graphene’s amazing qualities is that it is stable and capable of surviving sitting out in the open at room temperature, Na3Bi isn’t. It bubbles and turns to powder when it comes in contact with air. That means there’s no way it could currently be incorporated into electronics.

But the researchers are hopeful they can develop new compounds that are more stable than Na3Bi. They are also looking into tailoring each new material for specific applications, whether it be electronics or solar cells. "

[Popeye82]

Heart cells "could propel sperm-like robots(seriously) through the body, to deliver medicine "; Researchers "are interested in developing biobots that respond to light or chemicals, which could draw them toward a tumor or other ailment to deliver drugs, or surgery"[Video below] - GO/IWF/N.com/UoI, DRESDEN/ILLINOIS - Jan 17, 2014

- Signe Brewster -
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/17/heart-cells-could-propel-sperm-…
www.ifw-dresden.de/en/presse-und-events/pressemitteilungen/c…
www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140117/ncomms4081/full/ncomms4081…
http://news.illinois.edu/news/14/0117bio-bots_TaherSaif.html

"In the 1966 film “Fantastic Voyage,” a CIA agent and his crew shrink down inside a submarine to venture inside a scientist’s body to remove a life-threatening blood clot. Younger readers might remember a similarly intense episode of “Rugrats.”

It’s a concept that actually interests scientists; focus your attack on a disease or infection, and you reduce how much of a patient’s body has to undergo exposure to harsh treatments. Last December, a team at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden demonstrated an interesting solution (in German): trap a sperm in a tiny metal tube and coax it in a specific direction with a magnet, and you can convince it to swim in any direction inside the body.

Today, University of Illinois researchers published a paper (subscription required) in Nature Communications describing a sperm-like robot that accomplishes a similar goal. The bot is capable of swimming on its own in liquids similar to those found inside the body.

The robot is made out of a piece of flexible polymer, which is fashioned into a head and tail. Living heart cells are added at the top of the tail. They automatically begin to beat together, which sends a wave down the tail that causes it to wriggle and move the bot forward.







“It’s the minimal amount of engineering — just a head and a wire,” team lead Taher Saif said in a release. “Then the cells come in, interact with the structure, and make it functional.”

The researchers are interested in adding light or chemical sensing abilities to the bots. If a patient has, say, a tumor, a chemical or glowing dye could be added to draw medicine carrying robots toward it . The research team was able to build a two-tailed robot, which would help it navigate inside the body.

“The long-term vision is simple,” Saif said in the release. “Could we make elementary structures and seed them with stem cells that would differentiate into smart structures to deliver drugs, perform minimally invasive surgery or target cancer?” "

[Popeye82]

A 'new way to harvest more light to make solar cells more efficient'; MIT researchers "have developed another interesting way, to boost the efficiency of the 'typical' silicon solar cell" - GO/MIT - Jan 21, 2014

- K. Fehrenbacher -
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/20/a-new-way-to-harvest-more-light…
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/26/tiny-superconducting-dots-could…
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/18/is-the-50-efficient-solar-cell-…
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/18/is-the-50-efficient-solar-cell-…
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/how-to-tap-the-suns-energ…

"Researchers at MIT have figured out a new technique to make a traditional silicon solar cell — the kind that makes up most solar panels on rooftops — more efficient. The scientists published the findings in Nature Nanotechnology this week.




The innovation embeds a two-layer device made of carbon nanotubes and photonic crystals between the solar cell and the sun’s light. The device absorbs the sun light, heats up, and emits light that has a specific wavelength that can be used efficiently by the adjacent solar cell. A typical silicon solar cell doesn’t use all of the wavelengths of sun light, and many go to waste.



- Austin’s ‘s Pecan Street Project. Photo courtesy of Pecan Street Inc. -


The MIT researchers say that with these types of designs, which use heat to boost efficiency, some solar cells in "theory" could "one day" produce an efficiency of >80 percent. In comparison some of the highest efficient solar cells in mass production currently are in the low 20 percent range from SunPower. Alta Devices claims a solar cell that delivers 30 percent efficiency.

The innovation is currently just in the lab (and only developed at a 3.2 percent efficiency) and as we all know many things change in the journey from the lab to the factory. But the MIT researchers think they can push their tech to reach a 20 percent efficiency, which could deliver a commercial product.

Efficiency is very important for solar manufacturers because it’s one of the best ways for these companies to differentiate and sell a higher end product — the cells can convert more light, and more power is created with the same amount of panels. SunPower can sell its panels for more money than the lower commodity 10 percent conversion panels.

Other innovations that can boost efficiency for solar cells include tiny super conducting dots, photon recycling and epitaxial lift-off, and using optics to split spectrum. "

[Popeye82]

World’s 1st Magnetic Hose Created - IT/UAdB, DoP/PRL, BARCELONA - Jun 29, 2014
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/worlds-first-magnetic-hose…
www.uab.cat/web/newsroom/news-detail/x-1345668003610.html?no…
http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112…

"An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Department of Physics of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has developed a material which guides and transports a magnetic field from one location to the other, similar to how an optical fibre transports light or a hose transports water.





Magnetism is a basic element of today’s technology, such as in energy generating processes and in the storage of information in computers. And one of the essential processes in these technologies is the conduct and transfer of magnetic fields, either with the use of large transformers or in logic nanodevices.

The device designed by the researchers can be implemented at any scale, even @nanometre scale. Thus, a magnetic nanohose capable of individually controlling quantum systems could help to solve some of the current technological problems existing in quantum computing. ..."

[Popeye82]

"Inspired by nature, researchers create tougher metal materials" - R&DM/CAoS, IoM/MRL/NCSU/PNAS, NORTH CAROLINA - Jul 2, 2014
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/zhu-gradient-structure-2014/
www.rdmag.com/news/2014/07/inspired-nature-researchers-creat…
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21663831.2014.935821#.U…
www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/04/30/1324069111.abstract

"Drawing inspiration from the structure of bones and bamboo, researchers have found that by gradually changing the internal structure of metals they can make stronger, tougher materials that can be customized for a wide variety of applications—from body armor to automobile parts.


“If you looked at metal under a microscope you’d see that it is composed of millions of closely-packed grains,” says Yuntian Zhu, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and senior author of two papers on the new work. “The size and disposition of those grains affect the metal’s physical characteristics.”



- This image illustrates the gradient structure concept. Image: Yuntian Zhu -


“Having small grains on the surface makes the metal harder, but also makes it less ductile—meaning it can’t be stretched very far without breaking,” says Xiaolei Wu, a professor of materials science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mechanics, and lead author of the two papers. “But if we gradually increase the size of the grains lower down in the material, we can make the metal more ductile. You see similar variation in the size and distribution of structures in a cross-section of bone or a bamboo stalk. In short, the gradual interface of the large and small grains makes the overall material stronger and more ductile, which is a combination of characteristics that is unattainable in conventional materials.

“We call this a ‘gradient structure,’ and you can use this technique to customize a metal’s characteristics,” Wu adds.

Wu and Zhu collaborated on research that tested the gradient structure concept in a variety of metals, including copper, iron, nickel and stainless steel. The technique improved the metal’s properties in all of them.

The research team also tested the new approach in interstitial free (IF) steel, which is used in some industrial applications.

If conventional IF steel is made strong enough to withstand 450 megapascals (MPa) of stress, it has very low ductility—the steel can only be stretched to less than 5% of its length without breaking. That makes it unsafe. Low ductility means a material is susceptible to catastrophic failure, such as suddenly snapping in half. Highly ductile materials can stretch, meaning they’re more likely to give people time to respond to a problem before total failure.

By comparison, the researchers created an IF steel with a gradient structure; it was strong enough to handle 500 MPa and ductile enough to stretch to 20% of its length before failing.

The researchers are also interested in using the gradient structure approach to make materials more resistant to corrosion, wear and fatigue.

“We think this is an exciting new area for materials research because it has a host of applications and it can be easily and inexpensively incorporated into industrial processes,” Wu says. "

[Popeye82]

Muscle-powered bio-bots walk, on command - R&DM/UoI/NAoS/P, ILLIONOIS - Jul 2, 2014
http://news.illinois.edu/news/14/0630biobots2_RashidBashir.h…
www.rdmag.com/news/2014/07/muscle-powered-bio-bots-walk-comm…

"Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated a class of walking “bio-bots” powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical pulses, giving researchers unprecedented command over their function. The group published its work in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.


“Biological actuation driven by cells is a fundamental need for any kind of biological machine you want to build,” said study leader Rashid Bashir, Abel Bliss Professor and head of bioengineering at the U. of I. “We’re trying to integrate these principles of engineering with biology in a way that can be used to design and develop biological machines and systems for environmental and medical applications. Biology is tremendously powerful, and if we can somehow learn to harness its advantages for useful applications, it could bring about a lot of great things.”



- University of Illinois researchers have developed tiny muscle-powered “bio-bots,” small biological machines that can be controlled with an electric current. -


Bashir’s group has been a pioneer in designing and building bio-bots, less than a centimeter in size, made of flexible 3-D printed hydrogels and living cells. Previously, the group demonstrated bio-bots that “walk” on their own, powered by beating heart cells from rats. However, heart cells constantly contract, denying researchers control over the bot’s motion. This makes it difficult to use heart cells to engineer a bio-bot that can be turned on and off, sped up or slowed down.

The new bio-bots are powered by a strip of skeletal muscle cells that can be triggered by an electric pulse. This gives the researchers a simple way to control the bio-bots and opens the possibilities for other forward design principles, so engineers can customize bio-bots for specific applications.

“Skeletal muscles cells are very attractive because you can pace them using external signals,” Bashir said. “For example, you would use skeletal muscle when designing a device that you wanted to start functioning when it senses a chemical or when it received a certain signal. To us, it’s part of a design toolbox. We want to have different options that could be used by engineers to design these things.”

The design is inspired by the muscle-tendon-bone complex found in nature. There is a backbone of 3-D printed hydrogel, strong enough to give the bio-bot structure but flexible enough to bend like a joint. Two posts serve to anchor a strip of muscle to the backbone, like tendons attach muscle to bone, but the posts also act as feet for the bio-bot.

A bot’s speed can be controlled by adjusting the frequency of the electric pulses. A higher frequency causes the muscle to contract faster, thus speeding up the bio-bot’s progress as seen in this video.

“It's only natural that we would start from a bio-mimetic design principle, such as the native organization of the musculoskeletal system, as a jumping-off point,” said graduate student Caroline Cvetkovic, co-first author of the paper. “This work represents an important first step in the development and control of biological machines that can be stimulated, trained, or programmed to do work. It's exciting to think that this system could eventually evolve into a generation of biological machines that could aid in drug delivery, surgical robotics, 'smart' implants, or mobile environmental analyzers, among countless other applications.”

Next, the researchers will work to gain even greater control over the bio-bots’ motion, like integrating neurons so the bio-bots can be steered in different directions with light or chemical gradients. On the engineering side, they hope to design a hydrogel backbone that allows the bio-bot to move in different directions based on different signals. Thanks to 3-D printing, engineers can explore different shapes and designs quickly. Bashir and colleagues even plan to integrate a unit into undergraduate lab curriculum so that students can design different kinds of bio-bots.

“The goal of 'building with biology' is not a new one—tissue engineering researchers have been working for many years to reverse engineer native tissue and organs, and this is very promising for medical applications,” said graduate student Ritu Raman, co-first author of the paper. “But why stop there? We can go beyond this by using the dynamic abilities of cells to self-organize and respond to environmental cues to forward engineer non-natural biological machines and systems.

“The idea of doing forward engineering with these cell-based structures is very exciting,” Bashir said. “Our goal is for these devices to be used as autonomous sensors. We want it to sense a specific chemical and move towards it, then release agents to neutralize the toxin, for example. Being in control of the actuation is a big step forward toward that goal.”

The National Science Foundation supported this work through a Science and Technology Center (Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems) grant, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Georgia Institute of Technology and other partner institutions. Mechanical science and engineering professor Taher Saif was also a co-author. Bashir also is affiliated with the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, the department of electrical and computer engineering and of mechanical science and engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory and the Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I. "

[Popeye82]

IT Gold-Doped Superconductor Stores 550.000+ Times Earth's Magnetic Field - DT/UoC/DWC/SS&T, CAMBRIDGE - Jul 3, 2014

- Jason Mick -
www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-team-breaks-supercondu…
www.dailytech.com/GoldDoped+Superconductor+Stores+550000+Tim…
www.dailytech.com/Unraveling+The+Mystery+of+Superconductivit…
www.dailytech.com/CERN+LHC+Data+Confirms+Particle+is+God+Par…
http://thecuriousphysicist.wordpress.com/tag/hampson-linde-c…
www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00013358.pdf
www.dailytech.com/Retraction+Room+Temperature+Superconductor…
www.dailytech.com/New+Material+Promises+to+Save+LCD+Solar+Po…
http://global.shibaura-it.ac.jp/en/
http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-2048/27/8/082001/pdf/0953-204…

"New superconducting material could open the door to commercial viability in some applications

A new superconductor made by an international team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, Florida State University (FSU), and the Boeing Comp. (BA) have bumped the record for strongest superconductor to 17.6 Tesla (T), breaking the previous held record by 0.36 T, or roughly 2.1 percent. While that may not sound like much, it's the first increase in the mark in more than a decade, with the last record (17.24 T) set in 2003.



- (Source: Supercond. Sci. Tech/Univ. of Cambridge) -


The new superconductor is about 550,000 times stronger than the Earth's relatively low-density field, about 3,500 times the density of a fridge magnet, and over the twice as strong as the CMS Magnet of the Large Hadron Collider. Previously, even small bumps have led to new commercialization prospects for superconductors. And given the well-documented and carefully thought out manufacturing process, this study has given those looking to commercialize a pretty clear roadmap.


I. Superconductors -- The Road to Discovery

Superconductivity is a phase transition that causes electrical resistance to reduce to zero, as the title suggests. The phase transition occurs due to quantum effects, but there's a catch -- it can only operate in very pure, homogenous materials and in most known superconductors is only observed at very low temperatures.

Most metals react to form oxides and other compounds. A notable exception is mercury, which behaves somewhat like a noble gas due to its filled electron shell. As a result, mercury forms weak bonds and is relatively easy to extract in pure elemental form. When chilled to 4K it starts to superconduct.




To get there you need something to cool to such a low temperature, which required the invention of the refrigeration cycle. Gases when they are throttled -- allowed to expand in volume in order to reduce pressure -- see an increase in entropy (disorder) and a decrease in temperature, if the throttling is done in a very well-insulated system. This is the Joule–Thomson effect. The cooled gas can then be used to cool another substance -- like your food.

The catch is that you have to expand the gas at below a certain temperature -- its so called "inversion temperature" (Ti), where the gas begins to behave ideally. For any given gas, this temperature is equal to about 27/4th of the critical temperature (TC), the temperature above which liquid and gas coexist at the same density to form a homogeneous single-phase fluid.

For diatomic nitrogen at standard pressure (N2 @ 1 atm), Ti = 621 K, or a little more than twice as hot as room temperature (273.14 K). For diatomic oxygen (O2 @ 1 atm), Ti = 764 K [source]. So at room temperature air -- composed primarily of oxygen and nitrogen -- can be directly compressed and expanded to make it a liquid and provide cooling.


II. Cooler Than Ice

But where things get tricky is helium. Its inversion temperature is 51 K. But scientists devised a way around that -- the Hampson–Linde cycle. The Curious Physicist has a good overview of how this technology works -- but in short the key trick is to just do basically everything you'd do with the standard Siemens cycle except it's all done on a vapor, which is allowed to slowly liquify in one part of the cycle.

The method was first devised independently by not one, but two researchers in 1895 -- German Professor Carl von Linde of Technische Hochschule München (Univ. of Munich) and William Hampson, a UK lawyer turned self-educated scientist and engineer.



- Another diagram of a cooler using the Linde-Hampson cycle [Image Source: Wikimedia Commons] -


A little over a decade after Hampson–Linde cycle came on the scene in the lab, they became available to other researchers. In 1908 a Dutch physics professor by the name of Professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes began to experiment with the idea of liquifying helium -- which has a super-cold temperature of around 4 K (with the "around" bit being due to isotopal impurity). Working in his lab at the University of Leiden he quickly succeeded in becoming the first to liquify helium, recording a temperature of around 4.2 K sometime in 1908.



- Professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes [Image Source: Wikimedia Commons] -


What he would witness two years later, in 1911, was an amazing, if accidental discovery. Mercury is in liquid form at room temperature, but freezes at ~234 K. Like all metals the resistance decreases as temperature decreases. But in 1911 there was still a lively debate among physicists over whether the conductivity reached some non-zero minima at absolute zero temperature -- as the slope of the resistance vs. temperature plot would suggest. Others believed that the resistance would drop sharply to zero as you approached absolute zero.

The helium cooling provided a perfect means to solidify a sample of supercooled metal mercury in order to find out which hypothesis was correct. But at 4.2 K something even more remarkable was witnessed -- the sample showed no electrical resistance at all, something no one had predicted.


In his lab notebook he wrote:

Mercury has passed into a new state, which on account of its extraordinary electrical properties may be called the superconductive state.


Recognizing the importance, in 1911 he published his discovery [PDF] (it's a good read -- especially the part where he recognizes a young Albert Einstein's Planck-vibrator theories were key to the phenomena he was witnessing). In 1913, for the work he was awarded the Noble Prize in physics. His student Professor Willem Hendrik Keesom -- who he groomed as his successor -- was the first to solidify helium in 1926, the same year his mentor passed away.

The liquification of helium and Professor Onnes' pioneering findings were intriguing, but the only immediate discovery was the superconductance of lead in 1913. These discoveries shed light on one early promise -- magnetic field generation. Zero resistance is one properties of superconductors that has led to commercialization. Current passing through a wire loop creates a magnetic field, a kind of a nonpermanent magnet called a solenoid.

With superconductors you can channel vast amounts of current through the material. You're only limited by the creation of thermal instabilities that can heat and melt a material. Hence superconductors are today used in most of the world's most powerful magnets, including the CMS magnet used in the LHC experiment, the world's strongest magnet.


III. Type II Superconductors, High Temperature Superconducting, and Magnetic Field Storage

A discovery in 1933 by Professor Fritz Walther Meissner and another German scientist -- Robert Ochsenfeld -- discovered the so-called "Meissner effect" -- which holds part of the key to a second kind of superconductivity's commercialization and the one that's directly relevant to the University of Cambridge team's new work.

The potential of the Meissner effect was fully understood nearly a decade layer. In 1941, niobium nitride was found to superconduct at 16 K. Researchers would later discover that this material differed from the lead and mercury pure metal superconductors in another way; it could store magnetic fields. The previously discovered superconductors resisted weak magnetic fields. When they were exposed to a very strong magnetic field, they underwent a phase transition and broke down.

NbN was a little different. It would resist weak fields, but as the field strength intensified, it formed so-called "magnetic vortices" trapping the field. This was incredibly important as it meant that superconductors could store magnetic energy on a thin layer non-superconducting phase on their surface. The only catch was that if you exposed this kind of superconductor to progressively stronger magnetic fields, it would reach a point where eventually superconductivity broke down as it did in lead and mercury.

Soviet physics Professor Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov theorized the existence of Type I and Type II superconductors. Type I were the non-magnetic ones like solid lead or mercury. Type II were the ones capable of storing moderately strong magnetic fields on their surface, like NbN. The theory he applied actually predated the discovery of NbN, so the neat part here was that physicists actually predicted the possibility of these substances before they discovered them.

Superconductors began to see commercial applications in the 1960s and 1970s and a number of compounds and elemental metals were found to superconduct. In 1986 it was discovered that cuprate oxides doped with certain other metals, including rare earth metals, were capable of acting as Type II superconductors at much higher temperatures. The first such superconductor to be found was cuprate lanthanum barium copper oxide (BCO) La2-xBaxCuO4 which at a Tc of 35 K shattered the previous record of 23 K.

The race was on, and since even higher temperature cuprate oxides in this class have been found. In a sort of beautiful symmetry the current record holder is actually a mercury derived BCO -- HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+x. It superconducts at below 135 K at ambient (standard) pressure, or at 153 K if you crank the pressure up to 150 kilobar (roughly 148,000 times standard pressure).

In 2008 a team claimed to see superconduction at Tc=185.6 K (-125.6 ºF) in (Sn1.0Pb0.5In0.5)Ba4Tm5Cu7O20 under a much lower pressure -- 1.000 to 1.250 kilobars. However, claims regarding that indium superconductor remain controversial.

While much glory has been awarded in the temperature race as scientists continue to try to find a room temperature superconductor (or at least one capable of superconducting at the temperature of frozen water), others have focused on commercializing the strengths of Type II superconductors -- lossless current transmission, magnetic field generation, and magnetic field storage.


IV. All That Glitters Isn't Gold, But This Superconductor is (Partially, at Least)

The Cambridge team focused their efforts on the latter application. Their formulation uses a slightly different kind of BCO superconductor is made of gadolinium barium copper oxide (GdBCO) doped with bits of AgO2 -- gold oxide.

Like all BCO superconductors, the metal oxides act as a superconducting quantum lattice at low temperatures, with the other compounds (typically barium and rare earth metals) acting as spacers.

The progress of the superconductor was supervised by Cambridge Professor Yun-Hua Shi -- an expert in the field. Professor David Cardwell led the overall design and testing effort and was the senior author of a paper on the work. Professor John Durrell -- a Cambridge research associate -- was the first author of the paper.

A whopping total of 8 other researchers also contributed to the study and the paper on it. Among them were a researcher from Boeing (the company who also cofunded the study) and FSU Professor Eric Hellstrom. The growth, assembly of the finished superconductor structures, and testing was performed at FSU's National High Field Magnet Laboratory.



- One of the prepared superconductor alloy discs. [Image Source: Univ. of Cambridge] -


To coax their formulation into reaching the record field strength, the team first used an unusually high gold percentage -- 15 percent by weight. This allows for an increase in so-called "flux-pinning centers" in the material. Prof. Shi describes:

The development of effective pinning sites in GdBCO has been key to this success.


Samples of the carefully controlled metal mix were grown using top-seeded melt growth, which preserves single grains of metal, capable of storing much stronger fields. Metal grain crystals were machined into discs 3 mm thick (about one-third as thick as that smartphone you might have in your pocket) and 24 mm in diameter. Two discs were stacked with measurement equipment in between.



- The finished steel-reinforced record setting stack [Image Source: Supercond. Sci. Tech./Univ. of Cambridge] -


Aside from the extra gold and growth technique the other trick to breaking the record involved heating a stainless steel 304 ring and affixing it around the stack. That techniqued allowed a reinforcing prestress of 250 megapascals (MPa) (2500 bar, or roughly 2500 times standard pressure).


V. Storing Over 500,000 Times the Earth's Magnetic Field in Two Tiny Metal Discs

The researchers then set out to find how much field the construct could store. At 28 K the team exposed the samples to a field strength of 16 Tesla. When the field was shut off one sample managed to retain a field strength of 15.4 T, while the other cracked, leading to it storing a weaker 10 T.

Looking to get a higher storage, they bumped the temperature next down to 17.6 K. That proved the trick. At 17.8 Teslas -- almost 560,000 times the Earth's magnetic field strength/flux density -- one of the samples managed to store 17.6 Teslas, after the source field was deactivated.



- [Image Source: Supercond. Sci. Tech./Univ. of Cambridge] -


The team continued to study that star stack and found it stored 10 T at 55 K and extrapolating from their data that it could potentially continue to store 17.6 T all the way up to 32 K, with careful controls.

The storage was quite long-term. Even after about an hour it had only dropped to around 17.5 Tesla -- still more than the previous record. The field strength was steady for that sample, also, at 16 mm using Hall sensors, where as it dropped off sharply in the broken samples. That indicated that careful growth is necessary not only to ensure an attractive field storage, but also to ensure that the range of the field is sufficient to make it commercially useful.

The sample was remagnetized and cracked at 18 Tesla at 26 K, leading the researchers to conclude that the achieved storage -- 17.6 Tesla was around the maximum possible before the brittle sample was overcome by stresses.

The team suggested that while the stainless steel ring method was likely unable to be improved upon do to the unparalleled yield strength and stiffness of the 304 alloy, that future samples could maybe store more field if they were internally reinforced (the previous record from Professor Masato Murakami of the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan had used a somewhat similar 26 mm two-disc stack of YBa2 Cu3O7-X (YBCO) reinforced with carbon fiber.

So there's at least one clear route with the record setting material to reaching even more impressive storage.


VI. The Final Frontier --Commercial Energy Storage

The study on the work was published [PDF] in the field's most prestigious journal, Superconductor Science and Technology.


Professor Cardwell says of the work:

The fact that this record has stood for so long shows just how demanding this field really is. There are real potential gains to be had with even small increases in field.


This work could herald the arrival of superconductors in real-world applications. In order to see bulk superconductors applied for everyday use, we need large grains of superconducting material with the required properties that can be manufactured by relatively standard processes.

This record could not have been achieved without the support of our academic and industrial colleagues and partners. It was a real team effort, and one which we hope will bring these materials a significant step closer to practical applications.

And what does all this mean? Well you could induce current from various was -- solar photovoltaics, steam from nuclear energy driving induced current, etc. -- and then use a superconducting magnet to fill the superconducting stack with intense magnetism, which you could then harvest by using the field to induce electrical current later in the day, once you've stopped producing.

In terms of time to market, clearly we're a ways off, given that the team struggled to have the sample survive a handful of magnetization cycles. But if the reinforcement and growth techniques could be simplified, this could bump superconductors a lot closer to becoming a cheap, reliable form of power storage, hence eliminating the problems from sporadic power generation methods like solar and wind. For now we're stuck with batteries, but superconductors like this one loom as a bright and promising solution on the horizon."

[Popeye82]

Nanoparticle Thin Films That Self-Assemble, in One Minute - IT/DOE, BERKELEY - Jun 11, 2014

- Lynn Yarris -
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/06/09/nanoparticle-thin-film…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/nanoparticle-thin-films-th…

"The days of self-assembling nanoparticles taking hours to form a film over a microscopic-sized wafer are ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooover.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have devised a technique whereby self-assembling nanoparticle arrays can form a highly ordered thin film over macroscopic distances in one minute.




The technique is compatible with current nanomanufacturing processes and has the potential to generate new families of optical coatings for applications in a wide number of areas including solar energy, nanoelectronics and computer memory storage. This technique could even open new avenues to the fabrication of metamaterials, artificial nanoconstructs that possess remarkable optical properties.

Nanoparticles function as artificial atoms with unique optical, electrical and mechanical properties. If nanoparticles can be induced to self-assemble into complex structures and hierarchical patterns, similar to what nature does with proteins, it would enable mass-production of devices a thousand times smaller, those used in today’s microtechnology. ..."

[Popeye82]

DARPA awards $40.000.000, to restore memories - SM/DARPA/BRAIN/UP/UCLA/DOE/M/MIT/RAM, CAMBRIDGE/CALIFORNIA - Jul 9 2014

- Emilie Underwood -
www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2014/07/09.aspx
http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/07/darpa-awar…
www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6162/1029.summary
www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6123/1022.summary?sid=60d22af…

"Last fall, Geoffrey Ling, a top biotechnology research official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), challenged neuroscientists to do something extraordinary: Develop an implantable device that can restore memory loss in vets with traumatic brain injuries. Offering up to $40 million in short-term, high-stakes funding, Ling said, “Here's the golden ring—who's brave enough to step up and actually grab it?”

Today, DARPA announced two academic teams that will spend the next 4 years attempting to meet that challenge as part of President Barack Obama’s roughly $110 million Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), will receive up to $15 million to develop a memory-restoring prosthesis that focuses on the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus—brain regions key to memory formation. A second team at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) will receive up to $22.5 million to develop a device that can monitor and modulate many different brain regions involved in memory formation and storage.



- U.S. Army combat medic receives a neurological exam -


Some researchers, however, are skeptical that the efforts will make major headway on such a complicated problem.

Both the UCLA team, led by neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried, and the UPenn team, led by neuroscientist Michael Kahana, will start out by studying neuronal activity in people with epilepsy, who are often recruited for brain stimulation studies because they were already treated through open-brain surgery. Fried will build on his earlier work in epileptic patients, which has shown that stimulating the entorhinal cortex improves performance on a computer game that requires players to quickly learn and remember where to drop off taxi passengers in a virtual city. Next, he will use data from those studies to build computational models of how the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus work together to convert daily experiences into lasting memories.

Kahana also aims to develop a computational model of memory formation, but using a different approach. By searching the brains of epileptic patients for electrical “biomarkers” of memory retrieval and storage, he hopes to build a program that can detect when memory goes awry and instruct a device to help repair it.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the device manufacturer Medtronic will also contribute to the efforts, aiming to build neurostimulators at least 10 times smaller than previous devices. Contractual agreements about rights to the technologies are still under way, according to DARPA officials.

If successful, the researchers ultimately hope to conduct the first clinical trials of deep brain stimulation in people with traumatic brain injury. That’s a “very achievable and realizable” goal because the teams are building on solid existing research in people and animals, says James Giordano, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., who serves as a neuroethics adviser to DARPA’s BRAIN-related efforts.

The viability of the DARPA effort will depend greatly on what kind of memory loss people with traumatic brain injury actually have, says Roger Redondo, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Memory loss can result from problems with either storage or retrieval, he notes. In the case of a storage problem, the connections that form a memory were either never formed to begin with, or were destroyed, he says. In such cases, “no implantable device is going to help.”

On the other hand, if a traumatic injury produces a retrieval problem, in which most of a memory is there, but simply difficult to access, stimulation could potentially be useful, he says. “It is going to be extremely hard,” however, to determine which cells contain the memory and precisely tune electrical stimulation to drive its retrieval, he says. “The complexity of the brain, and the hippocampus, is such that any change in voltage that a microelectrode or chip can apply, even in a tiny area, will affect multitudes of neurons in uncontrolled ways,” he says.

Relying too heavily on epilepsy as a model for traumatic brain injury could also be problematic, says neuropsychologist James Sumowski of the Kessler Foundation in West Orange, New Jersey. Although some people with such injuries go on to develop epilepsy, most don’t show the same patterns of abnormal electrical activity or areas of atrophy that epileptic patients do, he says. “They are very different disorders.”

On the bright side, such challenges define the kind of “blue-sky, high-risk” project that DARPA is uniquely positioned to take on, Redondo says. Given the 270,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, nothing less than a major scientific leap is required, Ling says. As things stand, the options for injured service members “are very few.” "

[Popeye82]

Tomato skins turned into car parts? Ford(F) +Heinz(HNZPP) think it's possible - SH/TCP, PITTSBURG - Jun 12, 2014
www.stockhouse.com/news/bulletins/2014/06/11/tomato-skins-tu…
www.automobil-produktion.de/2014/06/getrocknete-tomatenhaut-…

"Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F, Stock Forum) and the H.J. Heinz Co. (OTCQB:HNZPP, Stock Forum), the Pittsburgh-based ketchup maker are teaming up on research to turn tomato skins into auto parts.

According to a joint news release, scientists at both companies believe they can use tomato fibres to manufacture composite materials used for wiring brackets, or storage bins in cars instead of petroleum-based plastics.

Ford says it began working with Heinz, The Coca-Cola Company, Nike Inc. and Procter & Gamble to speed up attempts to create a ``a 100 per cent plant-based plastic to be used to make everything from fabric to packaging.''

Meanwhile, Heinz was looking to recycle the leftover parts of the nearly two million tonnes of tomatoes Heinz uses to make ketchup each year.

The companies say the technology has been validated, but still needs to be refined. "

[Popeye82]

DNA sequencing reaches new lengths - NW/UoW/NBT, WASHINGTON - Jul 17, 2014
www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nbt.2950
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=36566.php

"Sequencing technologies have made it cheaper and faster to read the sequence of bases on a strand of DNA. A promising technology to take these advances further is nanopore sequencing. Individual strands of DNA are moved through a nanopore gap not much wider than the DNA itself. As the DNA passes through the nanopore, continuous information is gained about the sequence of individual bases – the A, C, G and Ts that make up DNA. So far the technology has been used for sequencing relatively short fragments of DNA around 100 bases long.

“One reason why people are so excited about nanopore DNA sequencing is that the technology could possibly be used to create ‘tricorder’-like devices for detecting pathogens or diagnosing genetic disorders rapidly and on-the-spot,” commented Andrew Laszlo, a researcher in nanopore technology at the University of Washington.

Researchers from the University of Washington’s Departments of Physics and Genome Sciences have developed a nanopore sequencing technique reaching read lengths of several thousand bases. The result is the latest in a series of advances in nanopore technology developed at the university.

The team, led by Jens Gundlach, published their findings in Nature Biotechnology as an advanced online publication on June 25, 2014 ("Decoding long nanopore sequencing reads of natural DNA").



- Depiction of DNA (green) passing through a polymerase (white) followed by the nanopore protein MspA (yellow/red) embedded in a lipid bilayer (cyan). University of Washington researchers use this system to identify the sequences of individual strands of DNA. (Image: Ian Derrington, University of Washington) -


“This is the first time anaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayone has shown that nanopores can be used to generate interpretable signatures corresponding to very long DNA sequences from real-world genomes,” said co-author Jay Shendure, an associate professor in Genome Sciences, “It’s a major step forward.”

The idea for nanopore sequencing originated in the 90s: a lipid membrane, similar to the material that makes up the cell wall, acts as a barrier separating two liquids. Inserted into the membrane is a tiny gap, just nanometers across, called a nanopore. By applying a voltage difference across the barrier, ions in the liquid try to move between the two sides of the barrier and the only way to do this is to flow through the nanopore. The movement of the charged molecules between the two liquids is a current, just like electrons moving along a wire in an electrical circuit, and can be recorded.

Any DNA in the system is also pulled towards the other side of the barrier by the voltage difference, since DNA is negatively charged, and just like the ions it has to pass through the nanopore. The difference is that the DNA is much bigger than the ions and partially blocks the nanopore, making it harder for the smaller molecules to pass through. As the ions are blocked by the DNA, there is a measurable difference in the current flowing across the membrane which is dependent on the DNA base passing through the nanopore. By measuring the changing current, information can be gained on the bases passing through.

The researchers created the nanopore by inserting a single protein called Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A, or MspA, in the membrane. MspA is normally found lining the membrane of a species of bacteria, controlling the intake of nutrients.

One challenge the researchers faced was the control of the DNA passing through the nanopore. Normally, the DNA would zip through the MspA nanopore too fast to detect the changes in the current. The researchers slowed the DNA movement through the pore using a second protein called phi29 DNA polymerase (DNAP), which captures DNA and slows its movement through the pore.

The shape of the protein MspA meant that several bases passed through the nanopore at one time and the current changes were the result of a combination of those bases. This presented another challenge. Since several bases passed through the nanopore at one time, the researchers needed a way to decipher what the current changes meant. To do this, they first made a library of DNA sequences that contains all possible combinations of 4 nucleotides (for the mathematically inclined, the library is 44 = 256 bases long – a string of 4 bases with 4 possible choices for each DNA base). The library, whose sequence was already known, was run though the nanopore first to find the current associated with each set of DNA base combinations. They combined the library measurements with known genome sequences to generate a set of expected current changes that could be compared to experimental measurements.

The researchers tested their approach by sequencing the entire genome of bacteriophage Phi X 174, a virus that infects bacteria and is used as a benchmark for evaluating new sequencing technologies. The impressive feat here is the length of the genome they sequenced – the Phi X 174 genome is 4,500 bases long. Other nanopore technologies have been limited to sequencing DNA fragments that were much shorter.

“Despite the remaining hurdles, our demonstration that a low-cost device can reliably read the sequences of naturally occurring DNA and can interpret DNA segments as long as 4,500 nucleotides in length represents a major advance in nanopore DNA sequencing,” explained Gundlach.

By Dr Richard Muscat (on Twitter: @RAMuscat), Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, University of Washington "

[Popeye82]

kleine Hilfe zum künftigen Arbeitslosenzahlen kalkulieren.

Self-assembly machines -"a vision for the future of manufacturing" - NW/AM - Jul 10, 2014
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201401573/ab…
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=36474.php

"Industrial production processes, by and large, rely on robotic assembly lines that place, package, and connect a variety of disparate components. While the manufacturing world is dominated by robots, there are applications where the established processes of serial 'pick and place' and manipulation of single objects reach scaling limits in terms of throughput, alignment precision, and the minimal component dimension they can handle effectively.
By contrast, the emerging methods of engineered self-assembly are massively parallel and have the potential to overcome these scaling limitations.

"So far researchers have focused on small area proof-of-concept demonstrations testing new self-assembly concepts – for example testing a different driving force, agitation, or component handling mechanism – inside a small container to define the environment where self-assembly takes place," Heiko Jacobs, a professor at Technische Universität Ilmenau and Chair of the university's Nanotechnology Group, tells Nanowerk. "Over the past 10 years, tremendous knowledge has been gained. However for many observers it leaves out the proof that any of the processes can be scaled to enable high volume production of real devices and products as promised at the outset."

"Personally, I am convinced that this is possible and we are now at a stage where we have gained sufficient experience that will allow us to put the knowledge together to begin building 'self-assembly machines' which provides a deep motivation to go forward," he continues.

In a paper in the June 27, 2014 online edition of Advanced Materials ("A First Implementation of an Automated Reel-to-Reel Fluidic Self-Assembly Machine"), Jacobs's team together with researchers from the University of Minnesota, describe the first example of a device to assemble and distribute LEDs over large areas for solid state lighting applications.

It provides the blueprints and operational parameters of a reel-to-reel (RTR) fluidic self-assembly platform to assemble and electrically connect semiconductor chips with a yield clearly exceeding a 99% benchmark set by robotic pick and place machines.



- Automated RTR fluidic self-assembly scheme. (A) Overview depicting (i) component dispensing on the basis of liquid flow and gravity which transports the components to empty self-assembly sites (receptors) on a continuously advancing web, (ii) where the components attach at predetermined locations on the basis of surface tension directed self-assembly, and (iii) where recycling of access components is achieved on the basis of gravity at the turning point of the web before they are transported upward on the basis of a fluid drag inside a sufficiently small diameter channel. Mechanical up and down motion of the web is used to induce liquid flow and shear forces to dispense and agitate the components as well as to aid in the removal of access component in the region of the upside-down oriented web. (B) Schematic depicting the details of surface tension directed self-assembly using molten-solder-bump-based receptors to capture and connect to the metal contacts on the chips. (C) A jet pump based principle is used to achieve recirculation of the chips without passing the components through a mechanical pump where they would get damaged. A preferred location of the jet pump is at the bottom of the slanted funnel where access components arrive on the basis of gravity to be picked up by a high velocity directional jet. (Reprinted with permission by Wiley-VCH Verlag) (click on image to enlarge) -


This machine is based on surface-tension-directed self-assembly. As the team points out, their assembly process is no longer a discontinuous small-batch hand-operated process but resembles an automated machine like process involving a conveyer belt and a RTR type assembly approach with automated agitation.

The researchers' current design achieves 15,000 chips per hour using a 2.5 cm wide assembly region. Jacobs notes that scaling to 150,000 chips per hour would be possible using a 25 cm wide web, which would be a factor of 20 better than one of the faster chip pick-and-place machines in use today in the semiconductor industry.

"In principle, scaling to aaaaaaaany throughput should be possible, considering the parallel nature of self-assembly and the fact that there is no requirement for any pick and place operations," he says. "This means that it is fairly straight forward to scale this technology to aaaaaaaaaaaaaany desired assembly rate, by increasing the substrate width and number of nozzles."

Under optimized operational conditions, the group achieved an assembly yield of 99.8% using their self-assembly process.

The team says that their approach can be extended using shape recognition concepts to enable unique angular alignment and contact pad registration or using sequential batch assembly processes to assemble more than one component type on the substrate if desired. Moreover, it is possible to transfer the chip onto other flexible or stretchable substrates.

As a demonstration, the researchers applied their self-assembly machine to the realization of area lighting panels incorporating distributed inorganic light emitting diodes (GaN LEDs). The lighting modules are fabricated in three steps: 1) assembly of LEDs on the bottom electrode using the RTR system; 2) isolation and passivation of assembled LEDs with UV curable polymer; and 3) lamination of top conductive layer to complete the electrical connections (see figure below).



- RTR fluidic self-assembly system applied to the fabrication of area lighting modules. (A) Fabrication procedure: assembly of LED using the RTR fluidic self-assembly system, area isolation and passivation of assembled LEDs with UV curable polymer (NOA), and lamination of top conductive layer. (B) Optical photograph of assembled LEDs wrapped onto a cylinder (top), SEM close-ups (middle), and optical photograph after isolation using UV curable polymer (bottom). (C) Application as lighting panel (left, top), backlighting unit (left, bottom), and area illumination unit (right). (Reprinted with permission by Wiley-VCH Verlag) (click on image to enlarge) -


Although this is still basic research, Jacobs and his collaborators have set their eyes on the development of industrial-scale 'self-assembly machines' which would allow the assembly and electrical interconnection of semiconductor chips over wide area substrates in large quantities with high speed and high precision.

"I am convinced that processes of self-assembly will eventually be used in the manufacturing industry of the future," says Jacobs. "Today it might appear as science-fiction to some critical observers. However, researchers worldwide including my group continue to work out the details."

By Michael Berger. Copyright © Nanowerk "

[Popeye82]

"Printed paper memory" - NW/NTU/ACSN/IoP&DoEE - Jul 29, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=36722.php
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=34566.php
www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=20339.php
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=12645.php
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=22862.php
www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=24190.php
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=29190.php
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn501231z

" It seems that computer memory technology is coming full circle. Pioneers in the early 19th century, such as Charles Babbage, first proposed the use of paper memory (albeit non-electronic), where a bit was stored as the presence or absence of a hole in a paper card. State-of-the-art research today again is proposing the use of paper as memory devices. This time, although he paper may be very similar, the bits are not crudely punched holes but nanofabricated device structures.

Traditionally, electronic devices are mainly manufactured by photolithography, vacuum deposition, and electroless plating processes. In contrast to these multi-staged, expensive, and wasteful methods, inkjet printing offers a rapid and cheap way of printing electrical circuits with commodity inkjet printers and off-the-shelf materials (Read more: "Conductive nanomaterials for printed electronics applications").

Although transparent plastic substrates are widely explored for flexible electronics (read more: "The rise of flexible electronics"), they have intrinsic problems: Most of them are not thermally stable; are not based on green – i.e. renewable and biodegradable – materials; and are not as easily printable as paper.

Recently, researchers have explored papers with the goal of replacing plastic substrates as a lightweight substrate for low-cost, versatile, and roll-to-roll printed electronics. Already, they have demonstrated various types of devices on papers such as batteries ("Truly green paper battery is algae-powered"), solar cells ("Mass-printed polymer/fullerene solar cells on paper"), or RFID tags ("Playing RFID tag with sheets of paper"), and even transistors ("Nanopaper transistors for the coming age of flexible and transparent electronics").

In new work, researchers from National Taiwan University demonstrated a paper-based, nonvolatile memory device. As they reported in the July 14, 2014 online edition of ACS Nano ("All-Printed Paper Memory"), the team used a combination of inkjet and screen printing to fabricate resistive RAM memory cells on commercial printing paper.

Electronics printed on paper are cheap, flexible, and recyclable, and could lead to applications such as smart labels on foods and pharmaceuticals or as wearable medical sensors.

This is the first nonvolatile memory built on paper. Resistive random access memory (RRAM), however, is not a new concept. The combination of RRAM and paper is ideal because the structure of RRAM is simple—only one insulator and two electrodes are required for a bit. Operation is also simple; such memory is operated by changing the resistances of the insulator material, whose resistive states – 0 and 1 – varies greatly as different voltages impose across it. In addition, RRAM is nonvolatile so an embedded power source is not required.

"One challenge of using regular cellulose paper as a base for electronic memory is that, because it is made of fibers, it is very rough and porous on a microscopic level, making it difficult to lay down the thin, uniform layers of materials that typical memory technologies require," Jr-Hau He, an Associate Professor at the Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics & Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, who led the work, explains to Nanowerk.

To get around this problem, He's team decided to fabricate RRAM, a relatively new type of memory with a structure simple enough to cope with such surface variations.

In an RRAM device, an insulator can be set to different levels of electrical resistance by applying a voltage across it; one level of resistance corresponds to the 1s of digital logic, the other to the 0s. So each bit in RRAM consists of an insulator sandwiched by two electrodes.



- Fabrication and geometry of a paper RRAM. (a) Schematic diagram of the fabrication process for the resistive paper memory device. (b) Photograph of the device taken by optical microscopy. The alphabetical letters and the line arrays composed of Ag and TiO2 demonstrate the degree of freedom for the inkjet-printed patterns. (c) Zoom-in optical image from b. (d) Cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy image of the paper-based memory. (Reprinted with permission by American Chemical Society) -


This device is fabricated by printing techniques – inkjet printing and screen printing – so the memory can be printed by a commercial printer or roll-to-roll techniques. In a first fabrication step, commercial printing paper is coated several times – until the surface roughness of the paper is smoothed out – with a layer of carbon paste that will serve as the bottom electrode. After curing, patterns of titanium oxide nanoparticles are inkjet-printed onto the paper and dried. Finally, silver nanoparticle ink is inkjet-printed on top of the TiO2 patterns in order to form the top electrode.He notes that, if combined with other printable devices, it will become possible for consumers to design a functional circuit on their own computer, or download one from the internet, and directly fabricate it at home instead of in a lab or factory setting.

"And then a lot of applications will become possible," says He. "For example, integrated with RFIDs, a printed RRAM device can be used for ticketing; dot arrays can serve as QR code and provide better security; or it can just be memories embedded in your books, paper cups, or any other printable objects". Going forward, one of the issues the researchers will focus on is to increase the memory density of their printed RRAM. The current work uses a regular inkjet printer and has a dot size of ∼50 µm with pitch resolution of 25 µm. Thus, one bit will occupy a square of about 100 µm on each side, or 104 bits per cm2. With this density, a fully printed A4 paper can hold 6.237*106 bits or roughly 780 KB of data.

With a higher resolution printer it will be possible to achieve a dot resolution of 1 µm and nearly the same pitch width. That means the density could be enhanced by about 2500 times, and 1.56*1010 bits, or almost 2 GB, could be obtained on a single A4 paper.

According to He, the team is currently exploring RRAM crossbar architectures and trying to build 1D-1R or 2D-1R structures. The cross-bar architecture is possible to be stacked, so that the 3D arrays can be achieved, and the density can be increased.

They are also exploring the use of arrays of single memory dots, for instance in arrangements like QR codes. "The dots can be painted, so combining the pigments (dark and light) and resistive states (high and low) the stored information can be doubled and secured," says He.

By Michael Berger. Copyright © Nanowerk "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Scientists craft atomically seamless semiconductor junctions, only three atoms thick; Researchers have demonstrated that two of these single-layer semiconductor materials can be connected in an atomically seamless fashion known as a heterojunction. This result could be the basis for next-generation flexible +transparent computing, better light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, +solar technologies - NW/UoW/NM, WASHINGTON - Aug 26, 2014
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4064.html
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37085.php?utm_so…

"Scientists have developed what they believe is the thinnest-possible semiconductor, a new class of nanoscale materials made in sheets only three atoms thick.

The University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that two of these single-layer semiconductor materials can be connected in an atomically seamless fashion known as a heterojunction. This result could be the basis for next-generation flexible and transparent computing, better light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and solar technologies.



- As seen under an optical microscope, the heterostructures have a triangular shape. The two different monolayer semiconductors can be recognized through their different colors. (Image: University of Washington) -


"Heterojunctions are fundamental elements of electronic and photonic devices," said senior author Xiaodong Xu, a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering and of physics. "Our experimental demonstration of such junctions between two-dimensional materials should enable new kinds of transistors, LEDs, nanolasers, and solar cells to be developed for highly integrated electronic and optical circuits within a single atomic plane."

The research was published online this week in Nature Materials ("Lateral heterojunctions within monolayer MoSe2–WSe2 semiconductors").
The researchers discovered that two flat semiconductor materials can be connected edge-to-edge with crystalline perfection. They worked with two single-layer, or monolayer, materials – molybdenum diselenide and tungsten diselenide – that have very similar structures, which was key to creating the composite two-dimensional semiconductor.



- A high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image shows the lattice structure of the heterojunctions in atomic precision. (Image: University of Washington) -


Collaborators from the electron microscopy center at the University of Warwick in England found that all the atoms in both materials formed a single honeycomb lattice structure, without any distortions or discontinuities. This provides the strongest possible link between two single-layer materials, necessary for flexible devices. Within the same family of materials it is feasible that researchers could bond other pairs together in the same way.
The researchers created the junctions in a small furnace at the UW. First, they inserted a powder mixture of the two materials into a chamber heated to 900 degrees Celsius (1,652 F). Hydrogen gas was then passed through the chamber and the evaporated atoms from one of the materials were carried toward a cooler region of the tube and deposited as single-layer crystals in the shape of triangles.

After a while, evaporated atoms from the second material then attached to the edges of the triangle to create a seamless semiconducting heterojunction.



- This photoluminescence intensity map shows a typical piece of the lateral heterostructures. The junction region produces an enhanced light emission, indicating its application potential in optoelectronics. (Image: University of Washington) -


"This is a scalable technique," said Sanfeng Wu, a UW doctoral student in physics and one of the lead authors. "Because the materials have different properties, they evaporate and separate at different times automatically. The second material forms around the first triangle that just previously formed. That's why these lattices are so beautifully connected."

With a larger furnace, it would be possible to mass-produce sheets of these semiconductor heterostructures, the researchers said. On a small scale, it takes about five minutes to grow the crystals, with up to two hours of heating and cooling time.

"We are very excited about the new science and engineering opportunities provided by these novel structures," said senior author David Cobden, a UW professor of physics. "In the future, combinations of two-dimensional materials may be integrated together in this way to form all kinds of interesting electronic structures such as in-plane quantum wells and quantum wires, superlattices, fully functioning transistors, and even complete electronic circuits."

The researchers have already demonstrated that the junction interacts with light much more strongly than the rest of the monolayer, which is encouraging for optoelectric and photonic applications like solar cells.

Source: University of Washington "

[Popeye82]

'Revolutionärer' Raketenantrieb liefert Schub ohne Sprit, " "könnte" "wohl" die Raumfahrt revolutionieren"; Raketen brauchen Treibstoff: Will man vorwärts fliegen, muss man nach hinten etwas ausstoßen -so verlangt es Newtons drittes Gesetz. Jetzt aber hat die US-Raumfahrtbehörde Nasa einen Antrieb getestet, der diesem Prinzip zu widersprechen scheint - W/DPA/NASA - Aug 7, 2014
http://web.de/magazine/wissen/weltraum/19191948-revolutionae…

"

- Eine neue Nasa-Technik könnte wohl die Raumfahrt revolutionieren. Bild: Testflug für privaten Fracht-Transporter zur Raumstation ISS. © Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation -


Es war einer der Geniestreiche von Isaac Newton. 1687 postulierte der britische Gelehrte das Wechselwirkungsprinzip: Jede Aktion erzeugt eine gleich große Gegenreaktion. Das ist praktisch, denn deshalb kann man zum Beispiel Raketen ins All schicken: Ihr Antrieb schleudert Masse in Richtung Erdboden - und die Gegenreaktion hebt die Rakete in Richtung Himmel. Leider ist in diesem Fall die Stützmasse - der Treibstoff - ein kostspieliges Vergnügen. Nicht nur, weil er teuer ist, sondern auch, weil eine Menge Extra-Gewicht ins Weltall gehievt werden muss.

Jetzt aber hat die US-Raumfahrtbehörde Nasa einen technischen Bericht veröffentlicht, der anscheinend dem dritten Newtonschen Gesetz widerspricht. In den Eagleworks Laboratories sei es gelungen, Schub ohne Treibstoff zu erzeugen - wenn auch in homöopathischen Dosen. Der von der Nasa getestete "Cannae-Antrieb" des US-Forschers Guido Fetta habe zwischen 30 und 50 Mikronewton Schub erzeugt, was 0,0003 bis 0,0005 Newton entspricht.


Antrieb durch eingesperrte Mikrowellen

Das ist zwar wenig im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Antrieben. Die "Saturn V"-Rakete etwa, die einst die "Apollo"-Astronauten zum Mond brachte, hatte eine Schubkraft von 33.851.000 Newton. Dennoch könnte der "Cannae-Antrieb", sollte er jemals praxistauglich werden, eine neue Ära der Raumfahrt einläuten. Denn statt Treibstoff benutzt Fettas Antrieb Strom, um Mikrowellen zu erzeugen. Die bewegen sich in einem speziellen Container hin und her, was theoretisch einen Unterschied im Strahlungsdruck erzeugt - und so zu zielgerichtetem Schub führt. Und anders als Treibstoff gehen die Mikrowellen nicht verloren, sie bleiben in ihrem Behälter.

Fetta ist nicht der Erste, der einen solchen Antrieb entwickelt hat. Vor einigen Jahren schon präsentierte der Brite Roger Shawyer seinen "EmDrive", der nach demselben Prinzip funktioniert. Allerdings konnte sich niemand für sein Projekt erwärmen, zu esoterisch erschien das Konzept. Im vergangenen Jahr nahm sich dann jedoch ein chinesisches Team der Sache an und replizierte Shawyers Ergebnisse. Laut einem Bericht des Technologiemagazins "Wired" erzeugte diese Version des "EmDrive" sogar sagenhafte 720 Millinewton - was für einen Satellitenantrieb ausreichen würde. Der Antrieb könnte mit Solarenergie gespeist werden und bräuchte somit keinen Kraftstoff mehr.

Doch auch die Veröffentlichung der Chinesen nahm die Fachwelt mit großer Skepsis zur Kenntnis. Entsprechend verhalten gibt sich die Nasa mit der Verkündung der Ergebnisse aus den Eagleworks Laboratories. Ihre Ingenieure versuchen nicht, die physikalischen Mechanismen des Antriebs zu erklären, sondern konzentrieren sich auf Testaufbau und Resultate.


"Man kann die Gesetze der Physik nicht ändern!"

Noch ist der "Cannae-Antrieb" nicht viel mehr als ein Science-Fiction-Konzept. Auch wenn das Prinzip in verschiedenen Experimenten anscheinend bestätigt werden konnte, bleibt noch immer viel Spielraum für Fehler. Aber zumindest hat die Nasa nun ihr Interesse an dem "Cannae-Antrieb" bekundet und ihn damit aus der Schmuddelecke der Absurditäten herausgeholt.

Konstrukteur Fetta behauptet, zu dem Namen für sein Projekt habe ihn die Schlacht von Cannae inspiriert, bei der am 2. August 216 vor Christus ein kleines Heer unter dem karthagischen Führer Hannibal entgegen aller Erwartungen eine Übermacht von 16 römischen Legionen schlug. Der britische "Independent" vermutet allerdings auch eine Anspielung auf "Star Trek". An Bord von Raumschiff Enterprise sagte Chefingenieur Scotty mit schwerem schottischen Dialekt gern folgenden Satz: "Ye cannae change the laws o' physics!" - "Man kann die Gesetze der Physik nicht ändern!" "

[Popeye82]

AI, Robotics, +the Future of Jobs - PPIP - Aug 6, 2014

- By Aaron Smith +Janna Anderson -
www.pewinternet.org/2014/08/06/future-of-jobs/

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

NSA surveillance covers 75 percent of U.S. Internet traffic: WSJ - FY/R/WSJ - Aug 21, 2013
http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-surveillance-covers-75-percent-u-i…

" The National Security Agency's surveillance network has the capacity to reach around 75 percent of all U.S. Internet communications in the hunt for foreign intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.


Citing current and former NSA officials, the newspaper said the 75 percent coverage is more of Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed.

The Journal said the agency keeps the content of some emails sent between U.S. citizens and also filters domestic phone calls made over the Internet.

The NSA's filtering, carried out with telecom companies, looks for communications that either originate or end abroad, or are entirely foreign but happen to be passing through the United States, the paper said.

But officials told the Journal the system's broad reach makes it more likely that purely domestic communications will be incidentally intercepted and collected in the hunt for foreign ones.

In response to a request for comment, NSA said its intelligence mission "is centered on defeating foreign adversaries who aim to harm the country. We defend the United States from such threats while fiercely working to protect the privacy rights of U.S. persons.

"It's not either/or. It's both," NSA said in an email statement to Reuters.

The Journal said that these surveillance programs show the NSA can track almost anything that happens online, so long as it is covered by a broad court order, the Journal said.

Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, first disclosed details of secret U.S. programs to monitor Americans' telephone and Internet traffic earlier this summer.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Philip Barbara) "

[Popeye82]

Code generation: Kids who program, before they can read , A grand experiment is about to begin in English schools: computer science will join the three Rs, as the fourth core subject for kids as young as 5
www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329850.700-code-generation-…

[Popeye82]

Mineral exploration in space "to return results, in 2020"; Mining in outer space "is a step "closer" to reality, as Japanese scientists prepare to launch a new probe, to conduct mineral exploration on asteroids" - MA/JAXA/BI/CNBC/E - Sep 4, 2014

- B. Hagemann -
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/mineral-exploration-in-space…
www.businessinsider.com/japan-is-launching-an-asteroid-minin…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/new-company-plans-to-mine-in…
www.cnbc.com/id/101217571
www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/496078/Space…

" Mining in outer space is a step closer to reality, as Japanese scientists prepare to launch a new probe to conduct mineral exploration on asteroids.

The Haybusa-2 probe will be sent on a four year voyage to an asteroid dubbed 1999JU3.

The project is run by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).




The exploration satellite will arrive at the asteroid in 2018, when it will fire a projectile into the asteroid to blast off material, gather the loose material and then return to Earth.

The arrival of Hayabusa-2, barring unforeseen mishaps, should coincide with the Tokyo Olympic games in 2020.

1999JU3 is a spherical asteroid, about one kilometre across, and is speculated to contain organic matter and water.

The first Hayabusa probe was only able to collect dust samples from the surface of the asteroid, which may have been altered by exposure to energy sources in the universe.

Jiji press reported that project leader Hitoshi Kuninaka was grateful that the new probe was nearly complete.

“Of course, I hope things will go smoothly,” Kuninaka said.

“We have had many difficulties in the process of developing the new asteroid probe. Space is never an easy place.”

Last year an American company called Deep Space Industries announced it would build a fleet of asteroid mining space craft to exploit the mineral riches of space (or deep space, as the case may be).

The company claims the first of its exploration probes, said to be as small as toasters by CNBC, will be launched in 2016.

Chinese scientists have also developed a keen interest in mining on the Moon, which contains various minerals such as iron, gold, platinum and tungsten, as well as the incredibly rare Helium-3, which is valued at up to $90,000 per ounce.

Although the earth contains the lighter-than-air Helium-4 (in itself a finite resource), Helium-3 is extremely rare, and is believed to have the capacity to generate amazing amounts of power, such that 40 tonnes would be able to power the US for a year.

Helium-3 is emitted by the Sun, and abundant on the Moon, however only a few hundred kilograms are thought to exist on Earth as it is protected from entry of certain elements by an atmosphere. "

[Popeye82]

Scientists "pioneer strategy, for creating new materials" - NW/DoE/ERNSC/ANL, ARGONNE - Aug 29, 2014
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v13/n9/full/nmat4039.html
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37141.php?utm_so…

" Making something new is never easy. Scientists constantly theorize about new materials, but when the material is manufactured it doesn’t always work as expected. To create a new strategy for designing materials, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory combined two different approaches at two different facilities to synthesize new materials.

This new strategy gives faster feedback on what growth schemes are best, thus shortening the timeframe to manufacture a new, stable material for energy transport and conversion applications.

A recent article in Nature Materials ("Dynamic layer rearrangement during growth of layered oxide films by molecular beam epitaxy") describes how researchers used X-ray scattering during a process called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to observe the behavior of atoms as a type of material known as layered oxides were being formed. These observations were then used as data for computational predictions of new materials, leading to insights on how to best combine atoms to form new, stable structures.



- The expected atomic structure of film based on the growth sequence and layer swap that occurs in the real growth. -


“MBE is the construction of new materials one layer at a time—and each layer is one-atom thick. We used a new type of MBE system to observe what happens during the growth of oxide thin films. We found that the layers spontaneously rearrange to reach a lower energy, preferred configuration—but not necessarily the configuration we intended,” said John Freeland, the Argonne physicist who led the team. “Most scientists would not expect layers to move around like this, but this is important information to know when designing new materials.”

In experimenting with a class of oxides known as strontium titanates, the research team found that when they layered titanium on top of two layers of Strontium, the titanium layer switched places with the second strontium layer, thus becoming the center layer. When titanium was layered on multiple layers of strontium, titanium always switched places with the strontium layer directly underneath it (Figures 1 and 2).

Argonne chemist June Hyuk Lee lead the experimental development of the in situ oxide MBE, and Guangfu Luo from the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed the theoretical approach to unraveling the energetics that drive the layer rearrangements.

The research team included expertise from Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), Chemical Sciences and Engineering, and Materials Science, and partners from Northwestern University, the University of Connecticut-Storrs and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who wanted to understand the driving force behind the rearrangements. Using density functional theory (DFT) and computational resources at the CNM, they calculated and compared the energies of different layer sequences, using the data collected from the MBE system. They found that the actual layer sequences corresponded to the lowest energy configuration. Their computations also showed that layer exchange was not unique to strontium and titanium; in fact, it was expected for many different materials systems. With this understanding, scientists can control—on an atomic level—the growth of oxide thin-films.

“What we have here is a new strategy for materials design and synthesis,” said Argonne materials scientist and article co-author Dillon Fong. “Our combination of in situ X-ray scattering with computational theory can be extended to other layered materials and structures, even theoretical ones that haven’t been made yet because they are challenging to manufacture.”
This new strategy gives faster feedback on what growth strategies are best, thus shortening the timeframe to actual manufacture of a new, stable material.

In the future, Argonne wants to make oxide MBE a tool available to APS facility users for synthesis science. “The APS was instrumental in making our findings possible,” explained Freeland. “The X-rays gave us the quantitative information we needed to plug into the theoretical framework, which in turn will allow us—and other APS users--to make new materials more efficiently.”

Films were grown in the in situ X-ray chamber at Sector 33ID-E of the APS. Calculations were carried out on the Fusion Cluster of Argonne's Laboratory Computing Resource Center at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and on Argonne's Carbon Cluster.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory "

[Popeye82]

"Thousand-Robot Swarm Hints @Future Car, Drone, Even Nanobot Collectives" - SU/HU/SEAS/WI/SM, HARVARD - Aug 18 2014

- Arlington Hewes -
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/08/the-1000-robot…
www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6198/795
http://singularityhub.com/2014/08/18/thousand-robot-swarm-hi…
http://singularityhub.com/2011/06/21/cheap-swarming-kilobots…

"


When you think nanorobot, you don’t think just one. Or ten. You think millions or billions. Huge swarms of nanobots may work in concert with each other to accomplish tasks on tiny scales, perhaps in the human body, or more radically, to form larger robots, each nanobot functioning like a mechanical cell or 3D pixel.

Although we don’t have practical nanobots yet, we can work on the software that may coordinate them—and in fact, that’s exactly what a Harvard group has been up to.

Working out of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute, researchers Radhika Nagpal, Michael Rubenstein, and Alejandro Cornejo first unveiled their quarter-sized Kilobots in 2011 when 25 of them were shown capable of performing synchronized actions.

The name Kilobot refers to the goal of building collectives of a thousand coordinated robots. That initial squad of 25 grew to 100 last year and now, most recently, to 1024. In a new video, the robots autonomously assume shapes with no more guidance than the original input from the researchers (e.g., form the letter ‘K’).

Each $14 robot is exceedingly simple, just two vibrating motors on four spindly legs.

But we know from a flock of swallows or an ant colony that complex patterns can arise from simple individual behaviors. In this case, four Kilobots mark the center of a grid. Then, by hopping along the edge of the group and noting the relative distance to the center and each other with infrared transmitters and receivers, the bots shuffle into place.




From these basic abilities they can form shapes—letters, a wrench, a starfish.

“Biological collectives involve enormous numbers of cooperating entities—whether you think of cells or insects or animals—that together accomplish a single task that is a magnitude beyond the scale of any individual,” said Michael Rubenstein, lead author of the group’s recent paper in the journal Science and research associate at Harvard SEAS and the Wyss Institute.

Algorithms can be written and tested in computer models, but having real world robots to test them on is key. In practice the robots need to self-correct for problems like traffic jams and broken or wayward bots. Cost is also often a limiting factor. According to Harvard Gazette, only few robot swarms have so far surpassed 100 members.

In the future, we may see more and more machines behaving as collectives in groups that far exceed 1,000. But we won’t have to wait around for robots built on the nanoscale. Human-scale robots will benefit from coordination too—examples may include disaster response, environmental cleanup, drone delivery systems, or self-driving cars.

“Increasingly, we’re going to see large numbers of robots working together, whether it’s hundreds of robots cooperating to achieve environmental cleanup or a quick disaster response, or millions of self-driving cars on our highways,” Nagpal said.


Learn more about the research at the Harvard Gazette, “The 1,000-robot swarm.”

Image Credit: Harvard University/YouTube "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.710.188 von Popeye82 am 06.09.14 04:35:58

​US drafts new asteroid mining bill, The US is taking a major step forward in interplanetary mining, drafting a new bill to aid development of the asteroid mining industry
www.spacepolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/AsteroidsAc…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/us-drafts-new-asteroid-minin…

"The US is taking a major step forward in interplanetary mining, drafting a new bill to aid development of the asteroid mining industry.

A bill has been forward “to promote the development of a commercial asteroid resources industry for outer space in the United States and to increase the exploration and utilisation of asteroid resources in outer space”.

Dubbed the American Space Technology for Exploring Resource Opportunities In Deep Space Act or the ASTEROIDS Act in a show of love for acronyms, it is the first major step in regulating and supporting extra-terrestrial mining since the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which set out international standards for space exploration and ownership of materials found in space.

The treaty defines the sovereignty, or lack thereof, of asteroid mining. It means that countries, or companies, can’t simply plant a flag and claim sovereignty; however they can extract the metals and minerals discovered on the asteroid.

The new US bill is focused on facilitating commercial exploration, discouraging government barriers to the development of industries for the exploration of asteroids, as well as outlining resolution of legal disputes in space exploration.

It comes at a time when the space race has been commercialised and the focus in the potentially huge levels of minerals and metals that are believed to be found in asteroids.

“We do know now that there are materials of enormous economic interest available in space, any near earth object has a platinum group metals concentration greater than the best terrestrial ores,” according to Princeton’s Space Studies Institute director Lee Valentine in his article A Space Roadmap: Mine the Sky, Defend the Earth, Settle the Universe.

The moon is also understood to hold more than twenty times the amount of titanium and platinum than anywhere on earth, as well as the extremely rare helium 3 – which is valued at around $90 000 per ounce.

There are already a number of companies focused on mining near earth asteroids, as well as the lunar surface.

Planetary Resources, which is backed by Google and has already partnered with Virgin Galactic as well as Bechtel, is one of the space front runners.

Deep Space Industries has also formed for asteroid mining, while China has sent rockets to explore the lunar surface for minerals, with the Chinese Government stating that "China's space exploration will not stop at the moon; our target is deep space”.

The Japanese have also recently made leaps in this direction, as they prepare to launch a new probe to conduct mineral exploration on asteroids.

The project is run by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The exploration satellite will arrive at the asteroid in 2018, when it will fire a projectile into the asteroid to blast off material, gather the loose material and then return to Earth.

For a greater insight into the hows and whys space mining click here to see an infographic explaining the industry. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.731.455 von Popeye82 am 09.09.14 13:07:20

The why +how of space mining[infographic]
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/the-why-and-how-of-space…

" Japanese scientists are preparing to launch a probe to carry out mineral exploration on an asteroid.

The exploration satellite will arrive at the asteroid in 2018, when it will fire a projectile into the asteroid to blast off material, gather the loose material and then return to Earth.

In a series of infographics from space and asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, we explore interplanetary mining in depth.









"

[Popeye82]

A 'breakthrough for organic reactions, in water' - IT/NC/McGU - Jun 29, 2014
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/a-breakthrough-for-organic…
www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/breakthrough-organic-re…
www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140626/ncomms5254/full/ncomms5254…

"Green-chemistry researchers at McGill University have discovered a way to use water as a solvent in one of the reactions most widely used to synthesize chemical products and pharmaceuticals.


The findings, published June 26 in Nature Communications, mark a potential milestone in efforts to develop organic reactions in water.

Chao-Jun Li and Feng Zhou of McGill’s Department of Chemistry report that they have discovered a catalytic system which for the first time allows direct metal-mediated reactions between aryl halides and carbonyl compounds in water.

For the past two decades, researchers have been exploring ways to do away with chemists’ traditional reliance on non-renewable petrochemical feedstocks and toxic solvents. One important method has involved replacing the toxic solvents used in metal-mediated reactions with water – something that was previously considered impossible.

While researchers at McGill and elsewhere have succeeded in using water in metal-mediated reactions between carbonyl compounds and other halides, attempts to do so for the most challenging reaction, between aryl halides and carbonyl compounds, have never worked – uuuntil nooooow . ..."

[Popeye82]

New Kind of Ultraviolet LED " "Could " Lead to Portable, Low-Cost Devices"; Light "shines bright @precise frequencies, that suit commercial application" - LTB/OSU - Nov 1, 2013
www.lightingtechbriefs.com/component/content/article/1236-li…

"Commercial uses for ultraviolet (UV) light are growing, and now a new kind of LED under development at The Ohio State University could lead to more portable and low-cost uses of the technology. The patent-pending LED creates a more precise wavelength of UV light than today’s commercially available UV LEDs, runs at much lower voltages, and is more compact than other experimental methods for creating precise wavelength UV light. The LED could lend itself to applications for chemical detection, disinfection, and UV curing. With significant further development, it might someday be able to provide a source for UV lasers for eye surgery and computer chip manufacture.

Ohio State engineers created the LEDs out of semiconductor nanowires, which were doped with the rare earth element gadolinium. The unique design enabled the engineers to excite the rare earth metal by passing electricity through the nanowires.

When doctoral students Thomas Kent and Santino Carnevale started creating gadolinium-containing LEDs in the lab, they utilized another patentpending technology they had helped develop—one for creating nanowire LEDs. On a silicon wafer, they tailor the wires’ composition to tune the polarization of the wires and the wavelength, or color, of the light emitted by the LED.

Gadolinium was chosen not to make a good UV LED, but to carry out a simple experiment probing the basic properties of a new material called gadolinium nitride. During the course of that original experiment, one researcher noticed that sharp emission lines characteristic of the element gadolinium could be controlled with electric current. Different elements fluoresce at different wavelengths when they are excited, and gadolinium fluoresces most strongly at a very precise wavelength in the UV, outside of the range of human vision. The engineers found that the gadolinium-doped wires glowed brightly at several specific UV frequencies.

Exciting different materials to generate light is nothing new, but materials that glow in UV are harder to excite. The only other reported device which can electrically control gadolinium light emission requires more than 250 volts to operate. The Ohio State team showed that in a nanowire LED structure, the same effect can occur, but at far lower operating voltages (around 10 volts). High voltage devices are difficult to miniaturize, making the nanowire LEDs attractive for portable applications. Because the LED emits light at specific wavelengths, it could be useful for research spectroscopy applications that require a reference wavelength, and because it requires only 10 volts, it might be useful in portable devices.

The same technology could conceivably be used to make UV laser diodes. Currently high-powered gas lasers are used to produce a laser at UV wavelengths with applications from advanced electronics manufacturing to eye surgery. The socalled excimer lasers contain toxic gases and run on high voltages, so solid-state lasers are being explored as a lower power—and non-toxic—alternative.

In terms of cost, the LEDs are currently being grown on a standard silicon wafer, which is inexpensive and easily scaled up to use in industry. The team is now working to maximize the efficiency of the UV LED, and the university's Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer Office will license the design—as well as the method for making specially doped nanowires—to industry.

For more information, contact Roberto Meyers at [phone]; [e-mail] "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.739.378 von Popeye82 am 10.09.14 07:49:58

"Inexpensive Nano-Camera, Operates @the Speed of Light" - TB/MIT - Dec 4, 2013
www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1288-ntb/news/1…

"A $500 nano-camera that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab. The three-dimensional cameracould be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.

The camera is based on “time of flight” technology like that used in Microsoft’s recently launched second-generation Kinect device, in which the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes a light signal to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. However, unlike existing devices based on this technology, the new camera is not fooled by rain, fog, or even translucent objects.

In a conventional time of flight camera, a light signal is fired at a scene, where it bounces off an object and returns to strike the pixel. Since the speed of light is known, it is then simple for the camera to calculate the distance the signal has travelled and therefore the depth of the object it has been reflected from. Unfortunately though, changing environmental conditions, semitransparent surfaces, edges, or motion all create multiple reflections that mix with the original signal and return to the camera, making it difficult to determine which is the correct measurement.

Instead, the new device uses an encoding technique commonly used in the telecommunications industry to calculate the distance a signal has traveled. The idea is similar to existing techniques that clear blurring in photographs. The new model, which the team has dubbed nanophotography, unsmears the individual optical paths.

The camera probes the scene with a continuous-wave signal that oscillates at nanosecond periods. This allows the team to use inexpensive hardware — off-the-shelf light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can strobe at nanosecond periods, for example — meaning the camera can reach a time resolution within one order of magnitude of femtophotography while costing just $500. "

[Popeye82]

Researchers "create super-strong robotic muscle", "creating a micro-muscle that can can create "up to" 1000 times the strength of regular humans" - GO - Dec 23, 2013

- By Lauren Hockenson ´-
http://gigaom.com/2013/12/23/researchers-create-super-strong…
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2013/12/19/a-micro-m…
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2013/12/19/a-micro-m…

[Popeye82]

NASA "Selects “Game-Changing” Thermal Management Concept" - TB/TC/NASA - Dec 1, 2013
www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/27-ntb/features…

"Thermacore was recently selected by NASA Space Technology’s Game Changing Development Program to have one of its thermal management concepts evaluated for potential use in future spacecraft.

The development program released a solicitation to the nation to meet the difficult challenge of creating systems that reject high heat loads in a warm thermal environment, yet operate in a very cold environment, where maintenance is often difficult or impossible.

The proposed Thermacore technology is an improved variable- conductance heat pipe (VCHP) containing a novel working fluid that operates in a wide temperature range. The pipe uses a proprietary orifice disk (patent-pending) for fluid movement control. The new disk and working fluid allow the VCHP to operate effectively in a wider range of applications than standard heat pipes, including long-term spaceflight. The improved VCHP can also use standard working fluids, making it lighter and more cost-effective than conventional VCHPs used today.

The NASA Game Changing Development Program is a fourphase initiative. Phase I is designed to study the feasibility of the thermal management concepts involved. Once the concepts are approved for further development, future phases will involve benchtop testing, detailed drawings for a scaled-down model, and in Phase IV, fabrication of a prototype for testing. Completion of all four phases is expected to take approximately three years.


Variable-conductance heat pipe

Thermacore
Lancaster, PA
717-569-6551
www.thermacore.com "

[Popeye82]

'New Device Stores Electricity, On Silicon Chips' - TB/VU - Nov 15, 2013
www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1198-ntb/news/n…

"Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7, not just when the sun is shining, or mobile phones with built-in power cells that recharge in seconds and work for weeks between charges. These are just two of the possibilities raised by a novel supercapacitor design invented by material scientists at Vanderbilt University. It is the first supercapacitor that is made out of silicon so it can be built into a silicon chip along with the microelectronic circuitry that it powers. In fact, it should be possible to construct these power cells out of the excess silicon that exists in the current generation of solar cells, sensors, mobile phones and a variety of other electromechanical devices, providing a considerable cost savings.

“If you ask experts about making a supercapacitor out of silicon, they will tell you it is a crazy idea,” said Cary Pint, the assistant professor of mechanical engineering who headed the development. “But we’ve found an easy way to do it.”

Instead of storing energy in chemical reactions the way batteries do, “supercaps” store electricity by assembling ions on the surface of a porous material. As a result, they tend to charge and discharge in minutes, instead of hours, and operate for a few million cycles, instead of a few thousand cycles like batteries. These properties have allowed commercial supercapacitors, which are made out of activated carbon, to capture a few niche markets, such as storing energy captured by regenerative braking systems on buses and electric vehicles and to provide the bursts of power required to adjust the blades of giant wind turbines to changing wind conditions. Supercapacitors still lag behind the electrical energy storage capability of lithium-ion batteries, so they are too bulky to power most consumer devices. However, they have been catching up rapidly.

Research to improve the energy density of supercapacitors has focused on carbon-based nanomaterials like graphene and nanotubes. Because these devices store electrical charge on the surface of their electrodes, the way to increase their energy density is to increase the electrodes’ surface area, which means making surfaces filled with nanoscale ridges and pores.

“The big challenge for this approach is assembling the materials,” said Pint. “Constructing high-performance, functional devices out of nanoscale building blocks with any level of control has proven to be quite challenging, and when it is achieved it is difficult to repeat.”

So Pint and his research team – graduate students Landon Oakes, Andrew Westover and post-doctoral fellow Shahana Chatterjee – decided to take a radically different approach: using porous silicon, a material with a controllable and well-defined nanostructure made by electrochemically etching the surface of a silicon wafer. This allowed them to create surfaces with optimal nanostructures for supercapacitor electrodes, but it left them with a major problem. Silicon is generally considered unsuitable for use in supercapacitors because it reacts readily with some of chemicals in the electrolytes that provide the ions that store the electrical charge.

With experience in growing carbon nanostructures, Pint’s group decided to try to coat the porous silicon surface with carbon. “We had no idea what would happen,” said Pint. “Typically, researchers grow graphene from silicon- carbide materials at temperatures in excess of 1400 degrees Celsius. But at lower temperatures – 600 to 700 degrees Celsius – we certainly didn’t expect graphene-like material growth.”

When the researchers pulled the porous silicon out of the furnace, they found that it had turned from orange to purple or black. When they inspected it under a powerful scanning electron microscope they found that it looked nearly identical to the original material but it was coated by a layer of graphene a few nanometers thick. When the researchers tested the coated material they found that it had chemically stabilized the silicon surface. When they used it to make supercapacitors, they found that the graphene coating improved energy densities by over two orders of magnitude compared to those made from uncoated porous silicon and significantly better than commercial supercapacitors.

The graphene layer acts as an atomically thin protective coating. Pint and his group argue that this approach isn’t limited to graphene. “The ability to engineer surfaces with atomically thin layers of materials combined with the control achieved in designing porous materials opens opportunities for a number of different applications beyond energy storage,” he said. “Despite the excellent device performance we achieved, our goal wasn’t to create devices with record performance. It was to develop a road map for integrated energy storage. Silicon is an ideal material to focus on because it is the basis of so much of our modern technology and applications. In addition, most of the silicon in existing devices remains unused since it is very expensive and wasteful to produce thin silicon wafers.”

Pint’s group is currently using this approach to develop energy storage that can be formed in the excess materials or on the unused back sides of solar cells and sensors. The supercapacitors would store the excess the electricity that the cells generate at midday and release it when the demand peaks in the afternoon. "

[Popeye82]

'Experimental Spaceplane Shooting, for “Aircraft-Like” Operations in Orbit'; New program " "seeks " to lower satellite launch costs, by developing a reusable hypersonic unmanned vehicle with costs, operation +reliability similar to traditional aircraft" - DARPA - Sep 17, 2013
www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/09/17.aspx
www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=DARP252E
www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ce0a330c653efaf…
www.fbo.gov
www.youtube.com/darpatv

"Commercial, civilian and military satellites provide crucial real-time information essential to providing strategic national security advantages to the United States. The current generation of satellite launch vehicles, however, is expensive to operate, often costing hundreds of millions of dollars per flight. Moreover, U.S. launch vehicles fly only a few times each year and normally require scheduling years in advance, making it extremely difficult to deploy satellites without lengthy pre-planning. Quick, affordable and routine access to space is increasingly critical for U.S. Defense Department operations.

To help address these challenges, DARPA has established the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. The program aims to develop a fully reusable unmanned vehicle that would provide aircraft-like access to space. The vehicle is envisioned to operate from a “clean pad” with a small ground crew and no need for expensive specialized infrastructure. This setup would enable routine daily operations and flights from a wide range of locations. XS-1 seeks to deploy small satellites faster and more affordably, while demonstrating technology for next-generation space and hypersonic flight for both government and commercial users.

“We want to build off of proven technologies to create a reliable, cost-effective space delivery system with one-day turnaround,” said Jess Sponable, DARPA program manager heading XS-1. “How it’s configured, how it gets up and how it gets back are pretty much all on the table—we’re looking for the most creative yet practical solutions possible.”

DARPA seeks ideas and technical proposals for how to best develop and implement the XS-1 program. The agency has scheduled an XS-1 Proposers’ Day for Monday, October 7, 2013. The agency also plans to hold 1-on-1 discussions with potential proposers on the following day, October 8, 2013. Advance registration is required; more information is available at http://www.sa-meetings.com/XS1ProposersDay. Registration closes on Tuesday, October 1,2013, at 12:00 PM EDT. For more information, please email [e-mail].

The DARPA Special Notice describing the specific capabilities the program seeks is available at http://go.usa.gov/DNkF. A Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for XS-1 is forthcoming and will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

XS-1 envisions that a reusable first stage would fly to hypersonic speeds at a suborbital altitude. At that point, one or more expendable upper stages would separate and deploy a satellite into Low Earth Orbit. The reusable hypersonic aircraft would then return to earth, land and be prepared for the next flight. Modular components, durable thermal protection systems and automatic launch, flight, and recovery systems should significantly reduce logistical needs, enabling rapid turnaround between flights.

Key XS-1 technical goals include flying 10 times in 10 days, achieving speeds of Mach 10+ at least once and launching a representative payload to orbit. The program also seeks to reduce the cost of access to space for small (3,000- to 5,000-pound) payloads by at least a factor of 10 , to <$5.000.000/flight.

XS-1 would complement a current DARPA program already researching satellite launch systems that aim to be faster, more convenient and more affordable: Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA). ALASA seeks to propel 100-pound satellites into orbit for less than $1 million per launch using low-cost, expendable upper stages launched from conventional aircraft.

“XS-1 aims to help break the cycle of launches happening farther and farther apart and costing more and more,” Sponable said. “It would also help further our progress toward practical hypersonic aircraft technologies and increase opportunities to test new satellite technologies as well.” "

[Popeye82]

Solar Harvesting Windows "Possible", With Advances in Semiconductors - CT/YE360/LANL, LOS ALAMOS - Apr 16, 2014
www.lanl.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2014/April/04.14-shiny-q…http://cleantechies.com/2014/04/16/solar-harvesting-windows-…

"New semiconductor technology is advancing the development of house windows that could double as solar panels, according to scientists from Los Alamos National Lab and Italy. Their research into so-called “quantum dots” — ultra-small bits of semiconductors that transmit energy extremely efficiently and can be tuned toward specific colors — shows that quantum dots can be used in transparent materials to harvest sunlight with efficiencies comparable to standard solar panels.

When highly transparent materials are embedded with quantum dots, they are known as luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs); the structures can absorb sunlight and re-radiate it at longer wavelengths directed toward the edge of the slab, where the energy is collected by a solar cell.

“The LSC serves as a light-harvesting antenna that concentrates solar radiation collected from a large area onto a much smaller solar cell, and this increases its power output,” the lead researcher explained. In tests using large LSC slabs (sized in tens of centimeters), researchers reported harvesting photons at roughly 10 percent efficiency. Typical photovoltaic solar panels have an average efficiency of about 15 percent. "

[Popeye82]

Diesel-like hydrogen 'breakthrough' "rekindles platinum fuel-cell excitement", A "breakthrough that gives stored hydrogen 'diesel-like characteristics', for safe +efficient long-term energy storage is rekindling excitement that the introduction of new clean energy from platinum-based hydrogen fuel cells "may" be close @hand". Liquid organic hydrogen carrier(LOHC) technology is "seen as the 'probable code cracker' for the entry of efficient, versatile +scaleable hydrogen fuel cells that will ensure the new generation of clean, reliable +cost-effective power, that the world is crying out for - WM/CMR, JOHANNESBURG - Aug 4, 2014

- M. Creamer -
www.hydrogenious.net/news6.html
www.miningweekly.com/article/diesel-like-hydrogen-breakthrou…

"A breakthrough that gives stored hydrogen diesel-like characteristics for safe and efficient long-term energy storage, is rekindling excitement that the introduction of new clean energy from platinum-based hydrogen fuel cells may be close at hand.

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology is seen as the probable code cracker for the entry of efficient, versatile and scaleable hydrogen fuel cells that will ensure the new generation of clean, reliable and cost-effective power that the world is crying out for.


Owing to its diesel-like nature, LOHC can be transported and distributed in the existing infrastructure for oil-based fuels.

JSE-listed Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) announced on Monday that it had fully funded Hydrogenious Technologies’ first financing round after earlier this year committing $100-million to support early-stage industrial applications that enable the use of platinum-group metals (PGMs).


“This technology may be the long-awaited solution to efficient, safe and cost-effective hydrogen storage,” Amplats executive marketing head Andrew Hinkly said.

Amplats’ mines could be ideal users of the LOHC-based off-grid energy solutions, Bryanston Resources director Fabian Kröher said.


Amplats PGM Development Fund – a private equity fund managed by Douglas Investments and advised by co-investor Bryanston Resources – has already provided seed capital for greater PGM offtake to Primus Power of the US, which has a PGM-using flow battery that offers value at many locations on electrical power grids.

Co-investment has boosted Amplats' current $30-million on offer as a result of Bryanston Resources chipping a further $20-million into the fund, giving it considerable firepower.

Hydrogenious Technologies CEO Daniel Teichmann said the Amplats investment would enable his company to get its products out into the market.

“This really gives us an ideal starting position to make our business successful,” Teichmann added.

On the latest breakthrough, Hinkly said it could lead to the use of hydrogen as a mass-fuelling solution.

“Our interest in the success of platinum-based fuel cells for stationary and longer-term mobile applications could be well served through this type of hydrogen infrastructure solution,” Hinkly added to Mining Weekly Online

Hydrogenious Technologies – the high-tech spin-off from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, which also holds a stake in the company – will use the new funding to support its ‘HydroStore’ energy storage system to full commercial product stage.

The technology is focused on the safe storage of hydrogen, a frequent energy storage medium.

While existing technologies store hydrogen either under extremely high pressures of up to 700 bar, or in liquid form at –253 °C, this technology binds the hydrogen molecules to LOHCs, which facilitate safe, easy-to-handle, high-density energy storage at ambient conditions, addressing the existing challenges associated with storing gaseous hydrogen.

HydroStore, which stores energy generated from renewables in a power-to-power storage regime, offers flexibility to decouple input and output power from the storage capacity, making it a widely applicable energy storage system, which contributes to electricity grid stabilisation and grid independence.

The breakthrough technology has been developed and optimised by Teichmann and the university’s professors Peter Wasserscheid, Wolfgang Arlt and Eberhard Schlücker, together with their research teams at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg.

Fundamental aspects of the technology have been developed at the Bavarian Hydrogen Centre, a cross-institutional research platform focusing on the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy and within the framework of the Erlangen Excellence Cluster ‘Engineering of Advanced Materials’.

Hydrogenious Technology will continue its close research co-operation with the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg to ensure technological leadership in LOHC energy storage.

The collaboration is underlined by a fully fledged prototype of the LOHC energy storage system, currently being installed by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Initially set up in 2009 to stimulate new PGM-using businesses in South Africa, Amplats' PGM Development Fund has since realised the worth of stimulating international market demand, specifically in the industrial sector, where it provides start-up capital for investments in new PGM-using or PGM-enabling technology businesses.

Lesser known iridium and ruthenium PGM metals are used in the Primus products, which are able to store electricity from utilities like Eskom during non-peak periods, for use during peak periods, as well as store renewable energy, for example sun energy while the sun is shining, for use after dark.

Investing in the development of PGM markets is critical in ensuring sustainability of the South African platinum industry and supporting the green economy of tomorrow, to which PGMs are indispensable.

All investments are carefully structured with milestones met before funding is provided.

The Primus range has universal application but there is a need for it to come down the cost curve.

Other current investments have been in the Vancouver-based fuel-cell company Ballard Technologies and the US-based stationary fuel-cell company Altergy Systems, which supplies telecommunications back-up systems.

Amplats is working closely with Ballard on stationary power for rural off-grid areas and a 34-household farming community near the Free State town of Kroonstad, which has created South Africa’s first mini-grid application.

Protea Chemicals – which already supplies methanol to telecommunications back-ups and is well versed in fuelling safety and logistics – will be the methanol supplier.

Amplats has co-invested with South Africa’s Science and Technology Department in the South African fuel-cell company Clean Energy Investments, which has a distribution agreement with Altergy for the telecommunications back-up sector.

Some 800 platinum-using fuel-cell installations are already up and running in South Africa and Amplats envisages local fuel-cell manufacture once there is sufficient offtake.

A barrier to fuel-cell use in South Africa, however, is the lack of fuelling infrastructure and fuel-cell companies are partnering with fuel providers so that fuel cells can be marketed with pre-priced fuelling support.

In transport, Amplats’ London office has a four-year lease on a fuel-cell car as part of London’s hydrogen-network initiative, in which Hyundai is supplying fuel-cell-driven cars to several UK companies as a testing exercise, which also involves the building of additional hydrogen stations in London.

Amplats has gone the hydrogen route in developing fuel-cell-powered locomotive and dozer prototypes for its own mining operations, where underground hydrogen-fuelling bays may one day replace the current battery bays.

A new building at the top of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT's) upper campus forms the backdrop to the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Catalysis Centre of Competence, part of the South African government’s programme in hydrogen and fuel cells.

When the fuel-cell technology industry takes off, it is expected to be a multibillion-dollar market.

UCT Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment and Mintek, the national research and development organisation for mineral processing, co-host HySA, which hopes to capture 25% of the global fuel-cell and hydrogen catalyst market by 2020.

While many countries and academic programmes have their eye on capitalising on this market, they do not have the advantage that South Africa has of hosting the lion's share of global PGMs.

Fuel cells, which provide environmentally clean and extremely reliable power that can be used in many ways, are currently being implemented in the automotive industry by Toyota and Hyundai to produce commercial vehicles, but the cost for these models is still quite high and needs to come down.

It is seen as imperative that South Africa is ready to enter the market at the same time as the rest of the world, which was why the South African government launched its 15-year plan in 2008.

In a separate initiative, Amplats has appointed Rand Refinery to administer its platinum metal financing scheme that provides access to affordable metal financing for local manufacturers, which includes support for local jewellery training institutions. "

[Popeye82]

Branson: "We're killing the world", Branson @BIO. Branson on bio. And some of Branson's bio. Sir Richard Branson joined BIO CEO Jim Greenwood on stage @the BIO International Convention for a talk on enterprises, the entrepreneurial spirit, +the role of biotech, in the face of climate - BD - Jun 25, 2014

- J. Lane -
www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2014/06/25/branson-were-killi…

"An observer of Sir Richard Branson over, say 20 years might have remarked how much older he looked this week, as the keynote speaker at the BIO convention this week in San Diego. He struggled for words at times, and visibly tired by the end of his hour on stage; but he had lost nothing of his charm, nor had he varied in his iconoclastic approach to building great enterprises or his views on technology in the face of climate change.

“We’re killing the world,” he remarked at the outset of his lengthy interview with BIO president and CEO Jim Greenwood. “Over the next 100 years we could do irreparable harm to the planet. But in this room are the people who can absolutely transform the world. We need scientists to come up with clean fuels, ideally not disrupting the food supply.”

As he has done elsewhere, he singled out LanzaTech for praise. “They take waste products from aluminium and steel mills, and it comes out as jet fuel. These are the kinds of fuels we need, or algae-based or isobutanol fuels. Biotech people are working on producing them in enough quantities, and I would urge as many companies as possible to work on those [kinds of technologies].”

“We’re going to run out of oil anyway, so why not have an alternative? Just as an insurance policy, if nothing else?”


The $25M Virgin Earth prize




On his $25 million Virgin Earth Prize, which would be awarded to the first technology that comes up with a feasible way to extract carbon from the atmosphere, he noted that “we’ve had 10,000 submissions, which we’ve whittled down to 12 really good ideas. The Prize is still out there, but I think it’s a prize that will ultimately be awarded.”

In tough times for raising capital for advancing early-stage enterprises, BIO CEO Jim Greenwood returned several times in the interview to Branson’s roots as an entrepreneur, and the founder of Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile (among many other brands) obliged by recounting stories from the early days of building his airline.

“I find being Dr. Yes instead of Dr. No has been a lot more fun,” he noted. “It’s partly because of my inquisitiveness that we have gone into so many areas. When I was 27, I was taking a trip to the British Virgin Islands to see a very beautiful woman, and while I was waiting to board the plane, American Airlines decided they hadn’t sold enough tickets or something and they cancelled the flight, but I very much wanted to see the lady.

“So I went over to another counter and rented a plane, then made up a fancy name like Virgin Airlines and on a bit of blackboard I wrote out a price of $29 one-way, and went around to everyone like me who had been cancelled out. And filled my first plane. And the woman in question and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary, more than 30 years later.”


Branson on innovation

“No point to a company if you’re not going to innovate,” he observed. “It can be be little things or big things. For example, a lot of people wondered how someone from the entertainment industry could start an airline, but I knew from that industry that people want to be entertained. And I was determined that we would have seat-back video before anyone else. At the time, [to outfit our fleet] cost $10 million, and I could not get anyone to lend the money. No one.”

“I kept thinking to myself, where am I going to get 10 million before British Airways beats us to it? So I rang up Boeing, and I asked them, “‘If I buy 10 new 747s, would you include seat-back video?’ And they said they would be happy to. And It was far easier to find those wiling to lend $3 billion for the planes than the $10 million for seat-back video.”


Branson on management

His advice on management was straightforward. “Find someone as quickly as possible who can run the business for you; it will free you up to have a life and do other things, such as spending time with your family.” His ideal leader? “A great listener. There’s nothing worse than someone who talks all the time.”

3 words of advice? “Protect the downside. When I bought my first second-hand 747 from Boeing, I had an agreement that I could hand the plane back after 12 months, if things did not work out. If they did, I would buy a lot more planes from them. And they were very good about that. But the worst case, I thought it would cost us 6 months of our record business profits.”


Branson on entrepreneurship, and space exploration

His advice to entrepreneurs: really understand what people want, and have a passion for the product or service, rather than a passion for making money. He went into some detail about his upcoming Virgin Galactic space passenger enterprise.

“We’ve been fifty years in space and only about 500 people have ever gone there, and it’s clear that the governments in the US, Russia and China are not interested in taking ordinary people there. How many of you would like to go into space?” he asked the audience.

More than 1,000 raised their hands. “You see, there’s more than the 500 who’ve gone into space, who would like to go themselves, just in this room.”

“The problem is that something like 3% of people who have gone into space have lost their lives during re-entry. That’s unacceptable. So, Burt Rutan has come up with an innovative approach to re-entry, sort of like the flight of a shuttlecock where the angle of entry doesn’t matter so much.”

“I’ve had some great adventures in m lifetime and space will be the greatest. Im going. I hope you can join me.” "

[Popeye82]

New NIST metamaterial 'gives light a one-way ticket' - R&DM/NIST/N - Jul 1, 2014
www.nist.gov/cnst/light-070114.cfm
www.nist.gov/cnst/nanofab/index.cfm
www.rdmag.com/news/2014/07/new-nist-metamaterial-gives-light…
www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140617/ncomms5141/full/ncomms5141…

"The light-warping structures known as metamaterials have a new trick in their ever-expanding repertoire. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a silver, glass and chromium nanostructure that can all but stop visible light cold in one direction while giving it a pass in the other.* The device could someday play a role in optical information processing and in novel biosensing devices.

In recent years, scientists have designed nanostructured materials that allow microwave or infrared light to propagate in only one direction. Such structures hold potential for applications in optical communication—for instance, they could be integrated into photonic chips that split or combine signals carried by light waves. But, until now, no one had achieved one-way transmission of visible light, because existing devices could not be fabricated at scales small enough to manipulate visible light's short wavelengths. (So-called "one-way mirrors" don't really do this—they play tricks with relative light levels.)

To get around that roadblock, NIST researchers Ting Xu and Henri Lezec combined two light-manipulating nanostructures: a multi-layered block of alternating silver and glass sheets and metal grates with very narrow spacings.



- Schematic of NIST's one-way metamaterial. Forward travelling green light (left) or red light passes through the multilayered block and comes out at an angle due to diffraction off of grates on the surface of the material. Light travelling in the opposite direction (right) is almost completely filtered by the metamaterial and can't pass through. -


The silver-glass structure is an example of a "hyperbolic" metamaterial, which treats light differently depending on which direction the waves are traveling. Because the structure's layers are only tens of nanometers thick—much thinner than visible light's 400 to 700 nm wavelengths—the block is opaque to visible light coming in from outside. Light can, however, propagate inside the material within a narrow range of angles.

Xu and Lezec used thin-film deposition techniques at the NIST NanoFab user facility to build a hyperbolic metamaterial block. Guided by computer simulations, they fabricated the block out of 20 extremely thin alternating layers of silicon dioxide glass and silver. To coax external light into the layered material, the researchers added to the block a set of chromium grates with narrow, sub-wavelength spacings chosen to bend incoming red or green light waves just enough to propagate inside the block. On the other side of the block, the researchers added another set of grates to kick light back out of the structure, although angled away from its original direction.

While the second set of grates let light escape the material, their spacing was slightly different from that of the first grates. As a result, the reverse-direction grates bent incoming light either too much or not enough to propagate inside the silver-glass layers. Testing their structures, the researchers found that around 30 times more light passed through in the forward direction than in reverse, a contrast larger than any other achieved thus far with visible light.

Combining materials that could be made using existing methods was the key to achieving one-way transmission of visible light, Lezec says. Without the intervening silver-and-glass blocks, the grates would have needed to be fabricated and aligned more precisely than is possible with current techniques. "This three-step process actually relaxes the fabrication constraints," Lezec says.

In the future, the new structure could be integrated into photonic chips that process information with light instead of electricity. Lezec thinks the device also could be used to detect tiny particles for biosensing applications. Like the chrome grates, nanoscale particles also can deflect light to angles steep enough to travel through the hyperbolic material and come out the other side, where the light would be collected by a detector. Xu has run simulations suggesting such a scheme could provide high-contrast particle detection and is hoping to test the idea soon. "I think it's a cool device where you would be able to sense the presence of a very small particle on the surface through a dramatic change in light transmission," says Lezec. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Technology " "could" enable all crops to take nitrogen, from the air" - R&DM/UoN, NOTTHINGHAM - Jul 26, 2013
www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2013/july/world-chan…
www.rdmag.com/news/2013/07/technology-could-enable-all-crops…
www.azotictechnologies.com

"A major new technology has been developed by the University of Nottingham, which could enable the world’s crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.


Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

Professor Edward Cocking, director of the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots. His major breakthrough came when he found a specific strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugar cane which he discovered could intracellularly colonize all major crop plants. This groundbreaking development potentially provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The implications for agriculture are enormous as this new technology can provide much of the plant’s nitrogen needs.

A leading world expert in nitrogen and plant science, Cocking has long recognized that there is a critical need to reduce nitrogen pollution caused by nitrogen based fertilizers. Nitrate pollution is a major problem as is also the pollution of the atmosphere by ammonia and oxides of nitrogen.

In addition, nitrate pollution is a health hazard and also causes oxygen-depleted “dead zones” in our waterways and oceans. A recent study estimates that that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen pollution across Europe is £60 billion—£280 billion a year.

Speaking about the technology, which is known as ‘N-Fix’, Cocking said: “Helping plants to naturally obtain the nitrogen they need is a key aspect of World Food Security. The world needs to unhook itself from its ever increasing reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilisers produced from fossil fuels with its high economic costs, its pollution of the environment and its high energy costs.”

N-Fix is neither genetic modification nor bioengineering. It is a naturally occurring nitrogen fixing bacteria which takes up and uses nitrogen from the air. Applied to the cells of plants (intracellular) via the seed, it provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix nitrogen. Plant seeds are coated with these bacteria in order to create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship and naturally produce nitrogen

N-Fix is a natural nitrogen seed coating that provides a sustainable solution to fertilizer overuse and nitrogen pollution. According to Cocking, it is environmentally friendly and can be applied to all crops. Over the last 10 years, the University of Nottingham has conducted a series of extensive research programs which have established proof of principal of the technology in the laboratory, growth rooms and glasshouses.

Dr. Susan Huxtable, director of intellectual property commercialisation at the University of Nottingham, believes that the N-Fix technology has significant implications for agriculture. She said: “There is a substantial global market for the N-Fix technology, as it can be applied globally to all crops. N-Fix has the power to transform agriculture, while at the same time offering a significant cost benefit to the grower through the savings that they will make in the reduced costs of fertilisers. It is a great example of how University research can have a world-changing impact.”

The N-Fix technology has been licensed by the University of Nottingham to Azotic Technologies Ltd to develop and commercialise N-Fix globally on its behalf for all crop species.

Azotic is now working on field trials in order to produce robust efficacy data. This will be followed by seeking regulatory approval for N-Fix initially in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada and Brazil, with more countries to follow. It is anticipated that the N-Fix technology will be commercially available within the next two to three years. For details about the commercial opportunities for N-Fix, visit Azotic Technologies Ltd. "

[Popeye82]

Nanoparticle Thin Films That Self-Assemble, in One Minute - IT/DOE, BERKELEY - Jun 11, 2014

- Lynn Yarris -
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/06/09/nanoparticle-thin-film…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/nanoparticle-thin-films-th…

"The days of self-assembling nanoparticles taking hours to form a film over a microscopic-sized wafer are ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooover.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have devised a technique whereby self-assembling nanoparticle arrays can form a highly ordered thin film over macroscopic distances in one minute.




The technique is compatible with current nanomanufacturing processes and has the potential to generate new families of optical coatings for applications in a wide number of areas including solar energy, nanoelectronics and computer memory storage. This technique could even open new avenues to the fabrication of metamaterials, artificial nanoconstructs that possess remarkable optical properties.

Nanoparticles function as artificial atoms with unique optical, electrical and mechanical properties. If nanoparticles can be induced to self-assemble into complex structures and hierarchical patterns, similar to what nature does with proteins, it would enable mass-production of devices a thousand times smaller, those used in today’s microtechnology. ..."

[Popeye82]

'Engineering Fruit Flies May Help Crops' - ENN/UoEA - Aug 12, 2014
www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2014/August/oxitec-flies
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/47698

"We've genetically-modified crops to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or pesticides. Nonetheless, pests still infest crops around the world.
In an attempt to control these pests, scientists have turned to genetically engineering the pests themselves!


According to scientists at the University of East Anglia and Oxitec Ltd., releasing genetically engineered fruit flies into the wild could prove to be a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly way of pest control.

Researches studied the Mediterranean fruit fly an agricultural pest which causes extensive damage to more than 300 types of crops. It is currently controlled by a combination of insecticides, baited traps, biological control and releasing sterilized insects to produce non-viable matings, known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Lead researcher Dr Philip Leftwich, from UEA's school of Biological Sciences and Oxitec, said: "Of all of the current techniques used to control these flies, SIT is considered the most environmentally friendly as it uses sterile males to interrupt matings between wild males and females. The down side is that these males don’t tend to mate as well in the wild because the irradiation method used for sterilisation weakens them.

"Our research looked at whether releasing Oxitec flies, which are genetically engineered so that only male fly offspring survive, could provide a better alternative.

"The genetically engineered flies are not sterile, but they are only capable of producing male offspring after mating with local pest females - which rapidly reduces the number of crop-damaging females in the population. Using this method means that the males do not have to be sterilized by radiation before release, and we have shown they are healthier than the flies traditionally used for SIT."

"This method presents a cheap and effective alternative to irradiation. We believe this is a promising new tool to deal with insects which is both environmentally friendly and effective."

'Genetic elimination of field-cage populations of Mediterranean Fruit Flies' is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "

[Popeye82]

Scientists 'unveil hardest synthetic diamond, ever made'; The group made the diamond by heating carbon onions —concentric fullerene spheres nested within one another— @2000°C +25GPa, hundreds of thousands of times the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting diamond has an extremely high hardness of ~200GPa +is stable @temperatures up to nearly 1000°C –200°C higher than natural diamond. “The scientific community has dreamt of synthesising novel materials harder than natural diamond for decades” - M.com/YU/N, YANSHAN - Jun 15, 2014

- C. Jamasmie -
www.mining.com/scientists-unveil-hardest-synthetic-diamond-e…

[Popeye82]

Captured: The Sound Of An Atom , Researchers have used sound to communicate with an artificial atom, demonstrating phenomena in quantum physics using sound rather than light - S2.0/CUoT/PRL - Sep 11, 2014
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.013837%C2%A0
www.science20.com/news_articles/captured_the_sound_of_an_ato…

"Researchers have used sound to communicate with an artificial atom, demonstrating phenomena in quantum physics using sound rather than light


The interaction between atoms and light has been studied extensively but making acoustic waves couple to an artificial atom is a newer endeavor. An artificial atom is an example of such a quantum electrical circuit. Just like a regular atom, it can be charged up with energy which it subsequently emits in the form of a particle. This is usually a particle of light, but the atom in the Chalmers experiment is instead designed to both emit and absorb energy in the form of sound.

"According to the theory, the sound from the atom is divided into quantum particles," says Martin Gustafsson, the Science paper's first author. "Such a particle is the weakest sound that can be detected."



- On the right, an artificial atom generates sound waves consisting of ripples on the surface of a solid. The sound, known as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) is picked up on the left by a "microphone" composed of interlaced metal fingers. According to theory, the sound consists of a stream of quantum particles, the weakest whisper physically possible. The illustration is not to scale. Credit: Philip Krantz, Krantz NanoArt -


Since sound moves much slower than light, the acoustic atom opens entire new possibilities for taking control over quantum phenomena. "Due to the slow speed of sound, we will have time to control the quantum particles while they travel. This is difficult to achieve with light, which moves 100,000 times more quickly."

The low speed of sound also implies that it has a short wavelength compared to light. An atom that interacts with light waves is always much smaller than the wavelength. However, compared to the wavelength of sound, the atom can be much larger, which means that its properties can be better controlled. For example, one can design the atom to couple only to certain acoustic frequencies or make the interaction with the sound extremely strong. The frequency used in the experiment is 4.8 gigahertz, close to the microwave frequencies common in modern wireless networks. In musical terms, this corresponds approximately to a D28, about 20 octaves above the highest note on a grand piano.

At such high frequencies, the wavelength of the sound becomes short enough that it can be guided along the surface of a microchip. On the same chip, the researchers have placed an artificial atom, which is 0.01 millimeters long and made of a superconducting material.

The sample that the researchers use is made on a substrate of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and contains two important parts. The first one is the superconducting circuit that constitutes the artificial atom. Circuits of this kind can also be used as qubits, the building blocks of a quantum computer. The other essential component is known as an interdigital transducer (IDT). The IDT converts electrical microwaves to sound and vice versa. The sound used in the experiment has the form of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) which appear as ripples on the surface of a solid. The experiments are performed at very low temperatures, near absolute zero (20 millikelvin), so that energy in the form of heat does not disturb the atom.

The theoretical research group, led by Göran Johansson, recently published a paper on how the acoustic atom functions: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.013837


Source: Chalmers University of Technology "

[Popeye82]

Nrf2 Protein Finding " "Could " Mean 'New Superfoods' ", A protein called Nrf2, continually moves in +out of the nuclei of human cells, to sense the cell's health +vitality, +when Nrf2 is exposed to threats to the cell's health, it oscillates faster +activates an increase in the cell's defense mechanism, including raising the levels of antioxidants - S2.0/UoW, WARWICK - Sep 11, 2014
www2.warwick.ac.uk
www.science20.com/news_articles/nrf2_protein_finding_could_m…

"A protein called Nrf2,continually moves in and out of the nuclei of human cells to sense the cell's health and vitality and when Nrf2 is exposed to threats to the cell's health, it oscillates faster and activates an increase in the cell's defense mechanism, including raising the levels of antioxidants


A recent study successfully increased the speed of Nrf2's movement by artificially introducing health beneficial substances – potential components of new superfoods, meaning a new new generation of compounds that could help tackle heart disease and diabetes.

The beneficial substances comprise broccoli-derived sulforaphane and quercetin, which is found in high-levels in onions. Working from that, the team developed new food supplements, which are currently being trialed to decrease risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.



- Professor Paul Thornalley, Warwick Medical School.
Credit: University of Warwick -


The research team believe they are the first to record the continual movement cycle of Nrf2, which sees the protein oscillate in and out of the cell nucleus once every 129 minutes. When stimulated by a health beneficial vegetable-derived substance Nrf2's cycle sped up to 80 minutes. Lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley says, "The way Nrf2 works is very similar to sensors in electronic devices that rely on continual reassessment of their surroundings to provide an appropriate response.

"The health benefit of Nrf2 oscillating at a fast speed is that surveillance of cell health is increased when most needed , that is, when cells are under threat . By understanding how this process works and increasing Nrf2's speed without putting cells under threat, new strategies for design of healthier foods and improved drugs can be devised. Current designs may have selected substances with suboptimal if not poor health benefits in some cases ."

Commenting on the research, Professor Andreu Palou, coordinator of the EU-funded BIOCLAIMS research program said, "A main nutritional challenge in Europe is to substantiate the beneficial effects of foods that are advertised to the consumers. The approach of the group of Prof Thornalley is opening a fascinating new window." "

[Popeye82]

UCLA biologists delay the aging process, by ‘remote control’; UCLA biologists have identified a gene that can slow the aging process, throughout the entire body, when activated remotely in key organ systems. Working with fruit flies, the life scientists activated a gene called AMPK, that is a key energy sensor in cells; it gets activated when cellular energy levels are low - IT/UCLA/CR, CALIFORNIA - Sep 8, 2014
[e-mail]
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-biologists-delay-the-…
www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdf/S2211-1247%2814%2900669-X.pdf
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/09/ucla-biologists-delay-the-…

"

- Matthew Ulgherait/UCLA
‘Remote control’ of aging
Activating a gene called AMPK in the nervous system induces the anti-aging cellular recycling process of autophagy in both the brain and intestine. Activating AMPK in the intestine leads to increased autophagy in both the intestine and brain. Matthew Ulgherait, David Walker and UCLA colleagues showed that this “inter-organ” communication during aging can substantially prolong the healthy lifespan of fruit flies. -


UCLA biologists have identified a gene that can slow the aging process throughout the entire body when activated remotely in key organ systems.

Working with fruit flies, the life scientists activated a gene called AMPK that is a key energy sensor in cells; it gets activated when cellular energy levels are low.

Increasing the amount of AMPK in fruit flies’ intestines increased their lifespans by about 30 percent — to roughly eight weeks from the typical six — and the flies stayed healthier longer as well.

The research, published Sept. 4 in the open-source journal Cell Reports, could have important implications for delaying aging and disease in humans, said David Walker, an associate professor of integrative biology and physiology at UCLA and senior author of the research.

“We have shown that when we activate the gene in the intestine or the nervous system, we see the aging process is slowed beyond the organ system in which the gene is activated,” Walker said.

Walker said that the findings are important because extending the healthy life of humans would presumably require protecting many of the body’s organ systems from the ravages of aging — but delivering anti-aging treatments to the brain or other key organs could prove technically difficult. The study suggests that activating AMPK in a more accessible organ such as the intestine, for example, could ultimately slow the aging process throughout the entire body, including the brain.

Humans have AMPK, but it is usually not activated at a high level, Walker said.

“Instead of studying the diseases of aging — Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes — one by one, we believe it may be possible to intervene in the aging process and delay the onset of many of these diseases,” said Walker, a member of UCLA’s Molecular Biology Institute. “We are not there yet, and it could, of course, take many years, but that is our goal and we think it is realistic.

“The ultimate aim of our research is to promote healthy aging in people.” ..."

[Popeye82]

NSA Shakes Down Yahoo for $250,000 a Day, New court documents reveal that the US government threatened to fine Yahoo(YHOO-NASDAQ) $250,000 a day if it refused to hand over user data to the National Security Agency(NSA). According to the documents AOL(AOL-NYSE), Apple(APPL-NASDAQ), Google(GOOG-NASDAQ) +Microsoft(MSFT-NASDAQ) have all reluctantly participated in the NSA electronic surveillance program... - FY, VANCOUVER - Sep 15, 2014
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/nsa-shakes-down-yahoo-250-…

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

RMIT "delivers $AUD30.000.000, boost to micro- +nanotechnologies", will bring to Australia the world’s 1st rapid 3D nanoscale printer, +will support projects that span across the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, engineering, biology +medicine - NW/RMIT, MELBOURNE - Aug 26, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37073.php

" A new $AUD30 million research facility at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, will drive cutting-edge advances in micro- and nanotechnologies.

The MicroNano Research Facility (MNRF) will bring to Australia the world’s first rapid 3D nanoscale printer and will support projects that span across the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, engineering, biology and medicine.



- MIT University's $AUD30 million MicroNano Research Facility. -


The City campus facility will be launched by Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, on Wednesday, 27 August.

Professor Gardner said the opening of the state-of-the-art laboratories and clean rooms was the start of an exciting new chapter in cross-disciplinary nano research.

“At the heart of the MicroNano Research Facility’s mission is bringing together disparate disciplines to enable internationally-leading research activity,” she said.

“RMIT has long been a pioneer in this field, opening Australia’s first academic clean rooms at the Microelectronics and Materials Technology Centre in 1983.

“Over three decades later, this investment in the world-class MNRF will enable RMIT’s leading researchers to continue to break new ground and transform the future.”

Among the equipment available to researchers in the 1200 square metre facility will be the world’s first rapid 3D nanoscale printer, capable of producing thousands of structures – each a fraction of the width of a human hair – in seconds.

Designed by architects SKM Jacobs, the MNRF also offers researchers access to more than 50 cutting-edge tools, including focused ion beam lithography with helium, neon, and gallium ion beams to enable imaging and machining objects to 0.5 nm resolution – about 5 to 10 atoms.


Director of the MNRF, Professor James Friend, said 10 research teams would work at the new facility on a broad range of projects, including:

- building miniaturised motors – or microactuators – to retrieve blood clots from deep within the brain, enabling minimally invasive neurological intervention in people affected by strokes or aneurysms;

- improving drug delivery via the lungs through new techniques that can atomise large biomolecules – including drugs, DNA, antibodies and even cells – into tiny droplets to avoid the damage of conventional nebulisation;

- developing innovative energy harvesting techniques that change the way batteries are recharged, using novel materials that can draw on the energy generated simply by people walking around; and,

- inventing ways to use water to remove toxins from fabric dyes, with new nanotechnologies that can facilitate the breaking down of those dyes with nanostructured catalysts.


“This facility is all about ensuring researchers have the freedom to imagine and safely realise the impossible at tiny scales, and beyond ,” Professor Friend said.

"Having access to purpose-designed laboratories and leading-edge equipment opens tremendous opportunities for RMIT and for those we collaborate with, enabling us to advance the development of truly smart technology solutions to some of our most complex problems.”


Laboratories in the MNRF will include:

– Gas sensors laboratory
– Metrology laboratory
– Novel Fabrication laboratory
– PC2 mammalian cell laboratory
– Photolithography laboratory
– Physical vapour deposition laboratory
– Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and nanoparticle laboratory
– Wet etch laboratory
– Support laboratory


The MNRF will be a key enabler of RMIT’s flagship Health Innovations Research Institute and Platform Technologies Research Institute.

A unique teaching facility will also be affiliated with the MNRF.
The Micro Nano Teaching Facility (MNTF) is the first of its kind in Australia, enabling undergraduate and postgraduate engineering student trainees to study clean room operations and micro-fabrication.

Source: RMIT University "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.809.056 von Popeye82 am 18.09.14 03:01:17

New diamond nanothreads 'may let scientists build space elevator', Scientists have discovered how to produce 'ultra-thin diamond nanothreads', a sort of very strongnanotubes, which "could" prove to be stronger +hardier element currently available - M.com/PSU/N.com - Sep 24, 2014
http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2014-news/Badding9-20…
www.mining.com/new-diamond-nanothreads-may-let-scientists-bu…
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4088.html

"

- Artist rendition of how a space elevator would look like. -


American scientists from Penn State University have discovered how to produce ultra-thin diamond nanothreads, a sort of strong carbon nanotubes, which could prove to be stronger and hardier element currently available.


Research team leader, John V. Badding, said the discovery could be the key to building a space elevator for humankind to reach the stars.

Such a gadget could poootentially allow earthlings to make it into orbit withooooout the use of rocket ships. The problem with this idea is that space scientists don’t currently have any substance sufficiently both strong and light enough to make that sort of crane, which so far has existed only as a science-fiction idea .



- Diamond nanothreads. Image courtesy of Penn State University. -


“One of our wiiildest dreams for the nanomaterials we are developing is that they could be used to make the super-strong, lightweight cables,” Badding said in a press release.

"From a fundamental-science point of view, our discovery is intriguing because the threads we formed have a structure that has neeeeever been seen before," he added. “It is as if an incredible jeweller has strung together the smallest possible diamonds into a long miniature necklace.”



- Diamond nanothreads. Image courtesy of Penn State University. -


More down-to-earth applications of these new, ultra light, super-strong nanothreads include the making of fuel-efficient vehicles.

The team hopes to further their research by experimenting with adding other atoms to the nanothread to create liquids and make other materials, as the experts explain in their paper, recently published by the journal Nature.

Watch John Badding, professor of chemistry at Penn State University, explaining the results of his research ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.873.312 von Popeye82 am 25.09.14 13:40:14

" 'Hyper-cold Electrons' "Could " Mean 'Drastic Energy Savings' - OP.com/UoT/NC/NSF, TEXAS - Sep 15, 2014

- Andy Tully -
www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140910/ncomms5745/full/ncomms5745…
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Hyper-cold…

"Scientists in Texas have found a method of cooling electrons to nearly absolute zero, and they’ve done it at room temperature. Their discovery could lead to electronic devices that need only about one-tenth as much energy, as they do today, thereby dramatically reducing the size and weight of batteries.


“We are the first to effectively cool electrons at room temperature,” said Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Texas (UT) at Arlington. “Researchers have done electron cooling before, but only when the entire device is immersed into an extremely cold cooling bath.”

Now, Koh says, there’s no need for using liquid nitrogen or liquid helium in the process. In fact, he says, electrons in a chip, for instance, can undergo a natural process of thermal excitation, which heats them up, at an ambient temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or room temperature. Likewise, he says, a room-temperature chip can cool them down too.

The chip in question is equipped with a nanoscale structure with several microscopic components, including what’s known as a “quantum well,” to suppress the excitation of the electrons, cooling them off.

Koh says cold electrons are the pathway to a new kind of transistor that requires very little energy to operate, and he adds, “Implementing our findings to fabricating energy-efficient transistors is currently under way.”

The team’s research, published Sept. 10 in Nature Communications, explains that a quantum well is a minuscule gap between two semiconducting materials. Electrons moving along the semiconductors reach this gap and try to enter it. But to do so they must have very low energy, that is, they must be very, very cold. Warmer electrons cannot enter the well.

The electrons that are admitted to the quantum well aren’t merely very cold; their temperature has been brought down to -378.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or a mere 81.29 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero, the temperature at which all molecular activity slams to a halt.

A quantum well carrying a stream of electrons can now take on added elements like transistors. The researchers at UT Arlington created some transistors with just one electron, called single-electron transistors (SETs), attached them to the quantum well, and the SETs worked, thanks to the ultra-cold electrons in the well.


“These research findings could potentially reduce energy consumption of electronic devices by more than 10 times compared to the present technology,” says Usha Varshney, the program director in the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Engineering, which funded the research. “Personal electronic devices such as smart phones … can last much longer before recharging.”

Varshney saaaaays today’s batteries also can be reduced in size and weight, two of their most significant liabilities. This would make the UT Arlington research valuable not only for consumer devices but also for military applications such as drones, remote sensors and even complex computing in remote locations.

By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.879.915 von Popeye82 am 26.09.14 03:29:44

IBM Develops Solar System to Concentrate the Sun’s Rays, 2.000 Times - OP.com/GF/IBM/AE/SFIoT/NTBIUoAS/SCfT&I/FI, ZURICH, FREIBURG - Jul 3, 2013
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/IBM-Deve…

"High concentration photovoltaic thermal system harnesses the power of 2,000 suns.

IBM researchers in Switzerland have designed a high concentration photovoltaic thermal system (HCPVT) that concentrates solar radiation by a factor of 2,000, and converts 75% into usable energy. A parabolic reflector tracks the sun and focuses its rays onto an array of triple-junction photovoltaic chips. To prevent them melting, the array uses microchannel water-cooling, a technique also used in high-performance computers, which circulates the coolant to within a few tens of micrometres of the chips.


The array holds hundreds of 1cm2 standard commercial chips, each generating 50W of electricity – a 30% solar energy conversion rate. (Without concentrated sunlight, each chip would generate just 25 milliwatts.) The system’s energy conversion rate is boosted to over 75% by using the coolant’s waste heat to power desalination or air-cooling units. Currently, the best conversion rate for concentration photovoltaic systems is around 60%.

Dr Bruno Michel of IBM Research in Zurich expects their 100m2 dish prototype system to be ready in three years. “Our design, which uses concrete and pressurised metal foil instead of steel and glass, reduces the reflector’s costs by about two-thirds”, he says, “and we estimate the system will produce electricity for roughly $0.1/kWh over the plant’s lifetime – similar to the cost of electricity produced by coal fired plants.” A prototype is currently being tested at IBM Research in Zurich, and the concrete structures and high-tech components for two more will also be built in Switzerland.

IBM is collaborating on the project with Airlight Energy, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the NTB Interstate University of Applied Sciences. The Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation has awarded the project a three-year $2.4 million grant.

“This cogeneration solar project is challenging and ambitious”, says Dr Andreas Bett of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany. “It promises practical, highly efficient solar radiation conversion systems in the foreseeable future.”

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.879.921 von Popeye82 am 26.09.14 03:50:17

Canadian researchers "modernize solar power, with nano gold technology" - M.com/UoWO/NS, ONTARIO - Sep 26, 2014

- Cecilia Jamasmie -
[e-mail], @jeffrenaud99
519-661-2111, ext. 85165
http://communications.uwo.ca/media/releases/2014/September/w…
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/nr/c4nr04…
www.mining.com/canadian-researchers-modernize-solar-power-wi…

"

- University of Western Ontario. -


Scientists at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, have found a new way to improve solar cell performance by more than 10% by using a small molecule created with just 144 atoms of gold.


The findings, published Friday in the journal Nanoscale, represent a game-changing innovation that, according to the reseeeeearchers, holds the poooootential to take solar power mainstream.

For Giovanni Fanchini, Canada Research Chair in Carbon-based Nanomaterials and Nano-optoelectronics, the discovery has an even more interesting potential: “It could dramatically decrease the world's dependence on traditional, resource-based sources of energy,” he said in a statement.



- Gold nanocluster -


He added the new technology cooould eaaaaasily be fast-tracked and integrated into prototypes of solar panels in one to two years and solar-powered phones in as little as five years.

"Every time you recharge your cell phone, you have to plug it in," said Fanchini, an assistant professor in Western's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "What if you could charge mobile devices like phones, tablets or laptops on the gooooo? Not only would it be convenient, but the potential energy savings would be significant."

The team has already started working with manufacturers of solar components to integrate their findings into existing solar cell technology and anticipate a working prototype “very soon.” "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.809.056 von Popeye82 am 18.09.14 03:01:17

Zitat von Popeye82: RMIT "delivers $AUD30.000.000, boost to micro- +nanotechnologies", will bring to Australia the world’s 1st rapid 3D nanoscale printer, +will support projects that span across the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, engineering, biology +medicine - NW/RMIT, MELBOURNE - Aug 26, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37073.php

Northeastern "unveils 'state-of-the-art 3D nanoscale printing system' ", Uni­ver­sity leaders +nan­otech­nology researchers joined rep­re­sen­ta­tives from industry +gov­ern­ment agen­cies @Northeastern's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Home­land Secu­rity to unveil 'NanoOPS', a nanoscale printing system with the "poten­tial" to 'trans­form' nanoman­u­fac­turing, +spur inno­va­tion in a range of areas, including elec­tronics, med­i­cine, +energy storage - NW/NU/RIfHS/NSF/CHN/JKNT&MRC/RCIC, MASSACHUSETTS - Sep 20, 2014
http://nano.server281.com
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37438.php?utm_so…

"University leaders and nanotechnology researchers joined representatives from industry and government agencies on Wednesday at Northeastern’s George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security to unveil NanoOPS, a nanoscale printing system with the potential to transform nanomanufacturing and spur innovation in a range of areas including electronics, medicine, and energy storage.



- Researchers worked with the state-of-the-art nanomanufacturing instrumentation. -


NanoOPS, short for Nanoscale Offset Printing System, is housed at the Kostas Research Institute in Burlington, Massachusetts. The state-of-the-art system is the result of a strong academia-industry-government partnership—NanoOPS’ design is based on innovations and patents developed at Northeastern’s National Science Foundation-funded Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing; Milara, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of specialized equipment for the semiconductor industry, built the system; and public agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, supported the research and development.

Researchers said NanoOPS will operate at a fraction of the cost and time as current nanofabrication methods, which will make nanomanufacturing accessible to more innovators and entrepreneurs. The system blends traditional offset-type printing technologies with state-of-the-art technologies at the nanoscale to make products that leverage nanomaterials’ superior properties. In only a matter of minutes, the system can print metals, organic and inorganic materials, polymers, and nanoscale structures and circuits onto flexible and inflexible substrates.

The new system incorporates patented technologies developed by Northeastern graduate students, postdocs, and faculty researchers, moving society closer to a world with nanoscale devices for a vast amount of applications, such as new and affordable medicines; stronger and lighter building materials; and faster, cheaper electronics. Throughout Wednesday’s ceremony, speakers emphasized that it is the partnership between academia, industry, and government that have made these efforts possible.

“What we’re seeing today are the fruits of collaboration,” said Ahmed Busnaina, CHN’s director and the William Lincoln Smith and Professor in the College of Engineering. He said NanoOPS will now present many new opportunities to collaborate with companies interested in leveraging this technology.

Busnaina also praised George J. Kostas, E’43, for his longtime support; prior to establishing the homeland security research center in Burlington, Kostas invested $2 million to found the George J. Kostas Nanoscale Technology and Manufacturing Research Center.

Industry-academic partnerships were an integral part of Kostas’ vision for the Kostas Research Institute when he began discussions with President Joseph E. Aoun several years ago. The institute, which officially opened in 2011, would go beyond advancing security science and research—it would also enable industry-academic partnerships.

That vision came to fruition in March with the opening of the Rogers Corporation Innovation Center, which aims to advance basic research and develop commercially viable breakthrough innovations in advanced materials to address global challenges in clean energy, Internet connectivity, safety, and security.

Wednesday’s unveiling of NanoOPS is the continuation of that vision. Kostas said he was very proud to see the remarkable progress made by Busnaina and his CHN research team, which he said exemplifies Northeastern’s leading research efforts to translate that work into societal benefits. “These partnerships are the best means to accelerate the development of new technologies for a positive impact on the world,” he said.

Source: By Greg St. Martin, Northeastern University "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 47.225.504 von Popeye82 am 28.06.14 08:24:29

IEET Fellow Stefan Sorgner on German public radio - IIET/WDR, COLOGNE - Sep 8, 2014
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/sorgner20140908

[Popeye82]

Nanothreads 'Bring a Space Elevator, +'Much More', Nearer', “Ooooone of our wiiildest dreams for the nanomaterials we are developing is that they 'could' be used to make the 'super-strong, lightweight cables, that would make possible the construction of a “space elevator“ ', which so far has existed ooooonly as a science-fiction idea,” For the 1st time, scientists have discovered how to produce ultra-thin “diamond nanothreads”, that 'promise' 'eeextraordinary properties', including strength +stiffness greater than that of today’s strongest nanotubes +polymers - IT/NNM/PSU/ORNL/CIfS/WP - Sep 26, 2014
http://news.psu.edu/story/327133/2014/09/22/research/scienti…
http://carnegiescience.edu/news/smallestpossible_diamonds_fo…
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/10/02/the-s…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/09/nanothreads-bring-a-space-…

"

- “Diamond nanothreads” promise extraordinary properties, including strength and stiffness greater than that of today’s strongest nanotubes and polymers. The core of the nanothreads is a long, thin strand of carbon atoms arranged just like the fundamental unit of a diamond’s structure — zig-zag “cyclohexane” rings of six carbon atoms bound together, in which each carbon is surrounded by others in the strong triangular-pyramid shape of a tetrahedron. The threads, made for the first time by a team led by John V. Badding of Penn State, have a structure that has never been seen before.
Image: Enshi Xu, Vincent H Crespi lab, Penn State -


“One of our wildest dreams for the nanomaterials we are developing is that they could be used to make the super-strong, lightweight cables that would make possible the construction of a “space elevator“, which so far has existed only as a science-fiction idea,”





- Plans for a future space elevator — like this one proposed by David Smitherman of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center’s Advanced Projects Office — would include a structure extending from the surface of the Earth to geostationary Earth orbit. (NASA) -


For the first time, scientists have discovered how to produce ultra-thin “diamond nanothreads” that promise extraordinary properties, including strength and stiffness greater than that of today’s strongest nanotubes and polymers. A paper describing this discovery by a research team led by John V. Badding, a professor of chemistry at Penn State, was published in the Sept. 21 issue of the journal Nature Materials.

“From a fuuundamental-science point of view, our discovery is intriguing because the threads we formed have a structure that has neeeeever been seen before,” Badding said. The core of the nanothreads that Badding’s team made is a long, thin strand of carbon atoms arranged just like the fundamental unit of a diamond’s structure — zig-zag “cyclohexane” rings of six carbon atoms bound together, in which each carbon is surrounded by others in the strong triangular-pyramid shape of a tetrahedron. “It is as if an incredible jeweler has strung together the smallest possible diamonds into a long miniature necklace,” Badding said. “Because this thread is diamond at heart, we expect that it will prove to be extraordinarily stiff, extraordinarily strong, and extraordinarily useful.”

The team’s discovery comes after nearly a century of failed attempts by other labs to compress separate carbon-containing molecules like liquid benzene into an ordered, diamond-like nanomaterial. “We used the large high-pressure Paris-Edinburgh device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to compress a 6-millimeter-wide amount of benzene — a gigantic amount compared with previous experiments,” said Malcolm Guthrie of the Carnegie Institution for Science, a co-author of the research paper. “We discovered that slowly releasing the pressure after sufficient compression at normal room temperature gave the carbon atoms the time they needed to react with each other and to link up in a highly ordered chain of single-file carbon tetrahedrons, forming these diamond-core nanothreads.”

Badding’s team is the first to coax molecules containing carbon atoms to form the strong tetrahedron shape, then link each tetrahedron end to end to form a long, thin nanothread. He describes the thread’s width as phenomenally small, only a few atoms across, hundreds of thousands of times smaller than an optical fiber, enormously thinner that an average human hair. “Theory by our co-author Vin Crespi suggests that this is potentially the strongest, stiffest material possible, while also being light in weight,” he said. ..."

[Popeye82]

'Engineering Fruit Flies May Help Crops' - ENN/UoEA - Aug 12, 2014
www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2014/August/oxitec-flies
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/47698

"We've genetically-modified crops to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or pesticides. Nonetheless, pests still infest crops around the world.
In an attempt to control these pests, scientists have turned to genetically engineering the pests themselves!


According to scientists at the University of East Anglia and Oxitec Ltd., releasing genetically engineered fruit flies into the wild could prove to be a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly way of pest control.

Researches studied the Mediterranean fruit fly an agricultural pest which causes extensive damage to more than 300 types of crops. It is currently controlled by a combination of insecticides, baited traps, biological control and releasing sterilized insects to produce non-viable matings, known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Lead researcher Dr Philip Leftwich, from UEA's school of Biological Sciences and Oxitec, said: "Of all of the current techniques used to control these flies, SIT is considered the most environmentally friendly as it uses sterile males to interrupt matings between wild males and females. The down side is that these males don’t tend to mate as well in the wild because the irradiation method used for sterilisation weakens them.

"Our research looked at whether releasing Oxitec flies, which are genetically engineered so that only male fly offspring survive, could provide a better alternative.

"The genetically engineered flies are not sterile, but they are only capable of producing male offspring after mating with local pest females - which rapidly reduces the number of crop-damaging females in the population. Using this method means that the males do not have to be sterilized by radiation before release, and we have shown they are healthier than the flies traditionally used for SIT."

"This method presents a cheap and effective alternative to irradiation. We believe this is a promising new tool to deal with insects which is both environmentally friendly and effective."

'Genetic elimination of field-cage populations of Mediterranean Fruit Flies' is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "

[Popeye82]

New magnetic material " "could" boost electronics", A "highly sensitive magnetic material that "could" transform computer hard drives +energy storage devices has been discovered" - BBCN/APS/UoC, DENVER - Mar 3, 2014

- J. Morgan -
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26435809
www.aps.org/meetings/march/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7035247.stm

"A highly sensitive magnetic material that could transform computer hard drives and energy storage devices has been discovered.

The metal bilayer needs only a small shift in temperature to dramatically alter its magnetism - a tremendously useful property in electronic engineering.

"No other material known to man can do this. It's a huge effect. And we can engineer it," said Ivan Schuller, of the University of California, San Diego.



- Computer hard drives are just one possible application of the new material -


He presented his findings at the American Physical Society meeting in Denver.

The material combines thin layers of nickel and vanadium oxide, creating a structure that is surprisingly responsive to heat.

"We can control the magnetism in just a narrow range of temperature - without applying a magnetic field. And in principle we could also control it with voltage or current," said Prof Schuller.

"At low temperatures, the oxide is an insulator. At high temperatures it's a metal. And in between it becomes this strange material," he said.

Although it's too early to say exactly how it will be used, Prof Schuller sees an obvious opportunity in computing memory systems.

"A problem with magnetic memory is reversibility - you want it to be reversible but also stable.

"Today's best systems are heat-assisted, but they use lasers, which involves a lot of heat. But with this new material, you barely need to heat it by 20 degrees (Kelvin) to get a five-fold change in coercivity (magnetic resistance)," he told the conference.

Another potential use is in electricity networks. Prof Schuller envisions a new type of transformer which can cope with sudden surges in current - such as during a lightning strike or a power surge.

But he points out that new phenomena such as this often lead to entirely unexpected technologies.

He gave the example of giant magnetoresistance - a discovery that radically miniaturised hard drives in digital devices, and won the 2007 Nobel prize.

"Without it, that computer you're writing on would not work," he told the meeting.

"So if you want to find the next transformative technology, this is the type of research you do. We don't know what the best application is yet," he said.

"I'm not saying it's going to solve world's energy crisis but it's certainly going to help us." "

[Popeye82]

A 'prize for life', Biology is "experiencing a period of innovation +discovery, that owes much to the power of computation" - TWP/BP/JCVI/SM - Feb 24, 2013
https://breakthroughprize.org
www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5987/52.abstract
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-prize-for-life/2013/02/24/…

"LAST WEEK a group of technology titans announced the establishment of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, a $3 million award for each scientist honored, more than twice the sum of the Nobel Prize. The award comes at a time when the life sciences are in the middle of a scientific revolution no less awe-inspiring than the splitting of the atom.


The founders of the prize include Art Levinson, chairman of both Apple and Genentech; Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook; Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google; and Yuri Milner, a Russian Internet tycoon, who previously launched a similar prize for physics. What they share in common are fortunes and empires built on digital innovations such as search, e-mail and social media. What they are celebrating is also a phenomenon of the digital era but in a way not widely appreciated.

That is because biology — indeed, the very secrets of life and evolution — is experiencing a period of innovation and discovery that owes much to the power of computation. An organism’s genetic blueprint, or genome, can be turned into millions or billions of bits of digital information in a process known as sequencing. In more than a decade since the end of the Human Genome Project, there has been an explosion of sequencing technology and an enormous acceleration in speed.

In addition to humans, the genomes of everything from songbirds to sunflowers, down to the smallest bacteria and viruses, are being sequenced. The makeup of DNA can be recorded and examined in an electronic blueprint, not unlike the pixels in a digital photo. The applications are only gradually coming into view, and there have been disappointments, but the promise is enormous.

Diseases might be conquered by examining the genome of various pathogens or cells and modifying them. In 2010, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute reported that they used computers to design a synthetic chromosome and then transplanted it into a living cell controlled only by the synthetic material. New techniques are allowing accurate genome sequences to be made from single human cells; according to the journal Nature, this could speed up and reduce the cost of screening embryos for in vitro fertilization, picking the one likely to produce a healthy baby. At Harvard and other places, work is being done to develop artificial organelles that can be incorporated into algae, plants and even human cells and can perform specific and valuable functions. And sequencing is potentially valuable for unlocking new drugs that target specific illnesses, although it is difficult and there have already been plenty of failures.

Eleven researchers were named the first winners of the lucrative new prize. Their accomplishments range widely, not only in genomics. The founders hope to shine a light on scientists who often are overlooked in our celebrity-saturated society and to encourage a new generation. That’s good, but the real powerhouse of funding for basic biomedical research is the federal government, and its support must be sustained and expanded. We stand at the intersection of both the digital and life sciences revolutions, a suitable moment to salute explorers peering over the next horizon and to ensure that the potential of these revolutions can be fully realized. "

[Popeye82]

Regenerating plastic 'can patch bullet holes' - SP/UoI/S/SM, ILLIONOIS - May , 2014
www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/regenerating-plastic-can-p…
http://aerospace.illinois.edu/directory/profile/swhite
www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6184/620
www.chemistry.illinois.edu/faculty/jeffrey_moore.html

"Researchers have devised a new chemical concoction that can repair damaged plastics like never before. Until now, the self-healing properties of polymers have been limited to microscopic defects only, like cracks as wide as hair. The new system paves the way for synthetic materials capable of filling large holes after ballistic impacts -- or maybe even big cracks on airplanes and spaceships midflight.

Liquid mixtures of specific organic molecules have been known to quickly form solid structures when combined. But the challenge has been finding a way to deliver liquids to punctured sites and have them stick around long enough (without leaking away) for chemical reactions to occur and solidify them in place.




So, a team led by Scott White from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, developed a vascular system to deliver those raw ingredients to holes in polymeric materials. They created a network of channels filled with those restorative liquids, allowing them to run through plastics like arteries and veins. It basically works like a blood clot.

Two reactions need to happen, and timing is everything. First, the liquids have to mix to form a gel at the site quickly, but it also has to allow enough time for the second, slower polymerization reaction to take place. Pictured above, a time sequence showing an impact-damaged specimen undergoing the restoration process.

- They embedded the 330-micrometer-diameter channels into a plastic sheet. Then punctured it.

- When the damage occurs, the channels rupture and the regenerative chemicals are delivered through two isolated fluid streams (dyed red and blue) that infiltrate the cracks, wetting the inner surface of the damage.

- The mixing of the liquids immediately forms a semisolid gel, creating a scaffold for continuing the delivery of the restorative chemicals.

- After the damaged region and the cracks are filled, the gel hardens into a rigid polymer to create a seal, and the material goes back to its original function.


"What we did here was what I like to call repair by regrowth ," Illinois's Jeffrey Moore tells Science. Their network of capillaries filled holes that were nearly a centimeter in diameter -- with cracks radiating out more than 3.5 centimeters (just over an inch). That's about 100 times larger than any such previously self-repaired defect, he adds. The holes were filled in about 20 minutes, and the gel continued to solidify into a hard plastic for three hours.




The system was able to recover (not all but) 62 percent of the material's original strength. "We have demonstrated repair of a nonliving, synthetic materials system in a way that is reminiscent of repair-by-regrowth as seen in some living systems," Moore explains in a news release.

They tested the system using a 9 millimeter bullet and a thin epoxy sheet. Sure enough, the system autonomously replaced mass that was lost from the ballistic impact. The team envisions commercial plastics and polymers embedded with vascular networks that are filled with regenerative agents ready to be deployed whenever damage occurs -- just like biological healing . Self-repair capabilities like this would be very useful for commercial goods (like car bumpers) and also for parts that are harder to repair, like spacecrafts in orbit.

The work was published in Science earlier this month. "

[Popeye82]

Dooon't get tooooo excited, no one has cracked nuclear fusion yet, Lockheed Martin's ' 'claims' of small scale nuclear fusion may have been hasty, according to ANU's Matthew Hole' - MA/TC/LM - Oct 20, 2014

- Matthew Hole -
www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/press-releases/2014/october/1…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/don-t-get-too-excited-no…
www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceC…

" Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin’s announcement this week that it could make small-scale nuclear fusion power a reality in the next decade has understandably generated excitement in the media. Physicists, however, aren’t getting their hopes up just yet.

I recently returned from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Fusion Energy Conference in St Petersburg, Russia, the world’s leading conference on the development of fusion power. There was no announcement of research by Lockheed Martin, and the company did not field any scientists to report on their claims.

Lockheed Martin claims that its technology development offshoot, Skunk Works, is working on a new compact fusion reactor that can be developed and deployed in as little as ten years. The only technical details it provided are that it is a “high beta” device (meaning that it produces a high plasma pressure for a relatively weak magnetic field pressure), and that it is sufficiently small to be able to power flight and vehicles.

This isn’t enough information to substantiate a credible program of research into the development of fusion power, or a credible claim for the delivery of a revolutionary power source in the next decade.


Fusion power

Nuclear fusion, co-discovered by the Australian physicist Sir Mark Oliphant, is the process that powers the sun and stars. If harnessed, it offers the possibility of virtually limitless clean energy. As its name implies, fusion energy is released by joining light atomic nuclei (typically deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen) within a high-pressure, extremely high-temperature “plasma” contained by magnetic fields.

The attraction of fusion is substantial. Like nuclear fission, the fusion process produces zero greenhouse gases. Unlike fission, which generates radioactive waste as a by-product, fusion is intrinsically clean. The deuterium-tritium reaction produces helium and energetic neutrons – the only waste is generated indirectly, when the neutrons hit the shield of the reactor.

Based on existing technology, fusion power plants could be recycled in 100 years. Research into the use of advanced alloys and ceramics suggests that this period could be made even shorter.

Deuterium, a fuel for fusion, is naturally abundant in water. Any country with access to water automatically has access to deuterium, thereby dramatically reducing geopolitical tensions over energy security. Per kilogram of fuel, fusion releases four times more energy than fission, and a staggering 10 million times more than coal.

World deposits of deuterium are enough to power civilization for millions of years. Access to fuel supply will therefore no longer be an issue, economically or politically.

More importantly, the fusion reaction is inherently safe. Turn off the heating power and the reaction stops. There can be no nuclear chain reactions, no reactor meltdowns, and no explosions.


Contain your excitement

While the rewards of fusion power are substantial, so are the challenges of making it a reality. The deuterium-tritium reaction is the easiest fusion reaction to initiate, yet the optimal temperature needed is 100 million degrees C, which is six to seven times hotter than the core of the Sun.

The key to producing significant fusion power is confining the plasma long enough at a high enough temperature and density for there to be a net power gain.

The international research community is currently working on a new experimental fusion reactor, called ITER, which will have a field strength of about 5 Tesla and a radius of 6 m. Overall, the ITER device is 60 m tall, weighs 23,000 tonnes, and has 80,000 km of niobium tin superconducting strands. Such a device does not fit on the back of a truck.

Despite the difficulties, progress in fusion power has exceeded the spectacular improvement in computer power. In the space of 30 years, power output has increased by a factor of more than a million. Present-day experiments have a power output of tens of megawatts. ITER will produce 500 megawatts of fusion power.

Lockheed Martin will need to show a lot more research evidence that it can do better than multinational collaborative projects like ITER. So far, its lack of willingness to engage with the scientific community suggests that it may be more interested in media attention than scientific development.

Matthew Hole is Australia’s representative on the IAEA International Fusion Research Council and Chair of the Australian ITER Forum, a consortium of scientists and engineers who support an Australian participation in ITER.


The Conversation

Matthew Hole receives funding from the Australian National University and the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with the Australian ITER Forum. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 48.086.590 von Popeye82 am 20.10.14 19:14:59

" 'Breakthrough' in Fusion Research Brings New Nuclear Power Source 'Closer' " - US.net/UoM/O.com/CCfFE - Mar 30, 2014

- J. Daly -
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Breakth…
www.uranium-stocks.net/home/breakthrough-in-fusion-research-…

"Nuclear fusion has similarities to conventionally produced nuclear power in that it produces zero carbon electric power, but its big advantage over fission nuclear power is that it generates no nuclear waste, the bane of fission nuclear power plants. Recent research breakthroughs are bringing closer the day that power generation from fusion reactors will become a reality.

While research to develop commercially viable nuclear fusion has been underway for decades, advances have been slow due to the immense technological complexities involved and modest funding. That said, recent technological breakthroughs may hasten progress.

On 19 March the University of Michigan announced that a team of University of Michigan and Princeton researchers has uncovered a new kind of magnetic behavior that could help make nuclear fusion reactions easier to start. Designers of inertial fusion ignition systems may be able to use this newly discovered feature to place the laser spots so that they heat the target fuel cylinder more quickly and efficiently. Assistant Professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences Alexander Thomas said, "Essentially, what we found is a completely new magnetic reconnection mechanism. Though we're studying it in an inertial confinement fusion process, it might be relevant to the surface of the sun and magnetic confinement fusion."

The research breakthroughs could help overcome fusion’s major problem, how to design a fusion reactor that consumes less energy than is needed to power it. In Britain at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy Professor Steve Cowley claims that ongoing progress brings the day of sustainable fusion power ever closer, commenting, "I'm always asked, how can we put the sun in a bottle? But I already did that in the Joint European Torus. Until now, power output was small. People forget how important it was. ...You could say that the Wright brothers' flight did not matter, just because they flew about 30 feet.” Cowley was referring to the Joint European Torus experiment in 1997, when nuclear fusion briefly generated 16 megawatts of power.

In earlier research in 1994, the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory generated 10.7 million watts of power for a brief moment, with research generating plasma temperatures of 510 million degrees centigrade, the highest ever produced in a laboratory, and well beyond the 100 million degrees required for commercial fusion. Three years later, the Joint European Torus in England exceeded the PPPL's power generation at 16 million watts, but these outputs were not sustainable.

Francesco Romanelli, leader of the team of scientists operating the JET noted during an interview, "By the end of the century, 30 percent of global energy could be generated by nuclear fusion. I hope that by 2040 we will start to see fusion power injecting electricity into the grid."

The question of who might dominate this incipient energy source is unclear at present, but many Asian countries, including China, India, Japan and South Korea have expressed interest and could be countries that come to dominate the industry, should they finance breakthrough technologies leading to patents as the U.S. and the EU focus on small wind and solar energies. In a prime example of EU priorities, by 2011, the EU had already invested $110 billion annually in alternative energy sources while allocating only $400 million for ITER, an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor adjacent to the Cadarache facility in southern France.

With such funding priorities, the 21st century might be remembered for Asia dominating a clean energy source in the greatest technological advance since the era of oil began. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 48.086.590 von Popeye82 am 20.10.14 19:14:59

keine Ahnung ob/wie das ernstzunehmen ist. Aber wenn, dann hat das sicher potenziell gewaaaaaltige Auswirkungen

A 'Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion'? Lockheed Martin Thiiiiinks So, American defense +advanced technology company Lockheed Martin(NYSE:LMT) announced last week that it has taken a 'revolutionary step', forward , in the field of nuclear fusion. The breakthrough, the company claiiims, 'could' sooooolve the world's energy crisis. To test its theory, Lockheed will be building +testing a compact fusion reactor in less than a year - U308.biz - Oct 22, 2014

- Vivien Diniz -
www.u3o8.biz/s/MarketCommentary.asp?ReportID=679863&_Type=Ma…

"American defense and advanced technology company Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) announced last week that it has taken a revolutionary step forward in the field of nuclear fusion. The breakthrough, the company claims, could solve the world's energy crisis. To test its theory, Lockheed will be building and testing a compact fusion reactor in less than a year.

Checking in at about 10 times smaller than current reactors, Lockheed hopes to develop and deploy new compact fusion reactors in as little as 10 years.


How it works

Still in the experimental phase, nuclear fusion happens when two kinds of hydrogen atoms (deuterium and tritium) come together at high speeds, forming new atomic molecules known as ion plasma.

Lockheed is working on magnetic confinement techniques to reduce the size of nuclear fusion reactors. With its compact design, the company has found a way to constrain the plasma within a specifically shaped magnetic field. The magnetic field works to contain the expanding plasma, effectively making it so that the plasma works to contain itself.

If successful, Lockheed Martin's compact fusion reactor could change the energy landscape as we know it. As CNET explains, one of the most interesting features of Lockheed's announcement is the size of the reactor. At the size of a "large truck," the company has said its reactor could be built in a factory and shipped around the world.

"Our compact fusion concept combines several alternative magnetic confinement approaches, taking the best parts of each, and offers a 90 percent size reduction over previous concepts," said Tom McGuire, compact fusion lead for Skunk Works' Revolutionary Technology Programs, in a company statement.


Breakthrough technology

As the Daily Mail UK reported, "Lockheed's work on fusion energy could help developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy."

With energy use expected to increase by 40 to 50 percent in the next generation, commercialization of nuclear fusion could present the world with an alternative to nuclear fission and fossil fuels. In fact, while the task may not be an easy one, Wired explains, "fusion's clean energy has the potential to power naval vessels and aircrafts with effectively unlimited range using mere pounds of fuel."

Nuclear fusion isn't a new technology by any means. It just hasn't been perfected yet. But that hasn't stopped Lockheed's McGuire from moving forward. "We can make a big difference on the energy front," McGuire said, noting that fusion is safer and more efficient than current reactors based on nuclear fission.


Missing piece

The company anticipates being able to complete, design and build its reactor in as early as a year. From here, the countdown looks to be about 10 years to produce an operational reactor. So what's missing?

A partner.

Lockheed has been working on the secretive Skunk Works compact reactors for roughly four years and has chosen this time to go public in hopes of finding government and industry partners. With the added partnership, the dream could soon be a reality in the race to redefine energy as it is today. "

[Popeye82]

Russia pushes forward plans to mine the moon, Russia plans resuming moon exploration as early as in 2016, with the 1st spacecraft leaving in 2018 +a manned mission scheduled for 2030. The ultimate purpose? Exploring the Earth’s satellite for rare earth elements, used in a variety of industries including green technology, defence systems consumer electronics - M.com - Oct 28, 2014

- C. Jamasmie -
www.mining.com/russia-pushes-forward-plans-to-mine-the-moon-…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 48.164.167 von Popeye82 am 29.10.14 17:13:45

​Space miner sees test vehicle go up in flames
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/space-miner-sees-test-vehicl…

[Popeye82]

How 'Four Technologies Will Carry The Weight Of War', Soldiers today carry about 55 percent of their body weight into combat, but these tools 'could ease the burden' - PopSci - Oct 30, 2014

- Jeremy Hsu -
www.popsci.com/node/136250/?cmpid=enews102314&spPodID=020&sp…



- Robotic Mule, Graham Murdoch

This mechanical beast of burden combines the endurance of baggage mules with the speed and obedience of war dogs. Developed by the robotics company Boston Dynamics, which Google acquired last year, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) can carry more than 400 pounds, obey voice commands, and provide 500 watts of continuous power to recharge mobile devices. In early trials, the LS3 has proven agile enough to navigate rough terrain even while following a squad of Marines. It can move at more than 9 miles per hour—2 miles per hour faster than the pace of a Marine’s forced march. “We need a platform that has the ability to go where dismounted squads can go,” said DARPA’s Hitt. “So we built a system that has the smarts of a trained animal.” The next-generation prototype will replace the LS3’s gasoline and diesel engines with a hybrid-electric motor that’s quieter than human footsteps. The only hitch is that soldiers will have to wait about a decade before they get a 1,400-pound best friend of their own.

How It Works

1 The LS3 has stero, color, and infrared cameras which allow it to detect obstacles, create 3-D maps of terrain, and follow patrols.

2 Each of the four articulated legs use hydraulic actuators to power the joints. A control system enables the robot to maintain balance and ground contact.

3 Voice recognition allows troops to directly operate the robot. The mule's gait ranges from a one-mile-per-hour walk to a seven-mile-per-hour run. -




- Powered Exosuits, Graham Murdoch

There is some weight troops will never be able to shed. That’s why DARPA has created Warrior Web, a soft, supportive undersuit for the lower body. With a system of spring and rubber bands, the suit stores a soldier’s own kinetic power (from walking or running) and then releases it, lowering metabolic energy use. By augmenting existing leg muscles, the suit could reduce the exertion of carrying combat loads by 25 percent, says Lt. Colonel Joe Hitt, program manager at DARPA—possibly even enabling soldiers to run a four-minute mile. Warrior Web also helps prevent injury by stabilizing and reducing stresses on the ankle, knee, and hip joints. Though the suit adds 20 pounds, it more than compensates for the extra weight with just 100 watts of battery power, roughly twice that of a laptop. Early prototypes can be worn comfortably beneath a soldier’s regular uniform and body armor; a final version is slated for 2016.

“The difference moving forward in the next generation of technologies is not just about lightening the load, but also about enhancing human performance,” says Peter Singer, a defense expert at the New America Foundation and author of the book Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. Some of these high-tech solutions aim to boost human power even more dramatically than the Warrior Web. Another suit currently being developed by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) resembles Iron Man’s mechanical outerware—and even shares the same pedigree. SOCOM actually hired Legacy Effects, the Hollywood shop that designed the movie’s exoskeleton, to help build it. Called a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), the robotic full-body armor essentially turns troops into walking tanks, with full-body, computerized armor that might provide intelligence and even medical care. But the suit currently weighs almost 200 pounds and requires an 80 or 90 pound backpack generator to power it. “We don’t want to add perceived weight to the operator,” said Michael Fieldson, program manager for TALOS at SOCOM, so his team has made strides on a new engine-powered prototype. “We’ve gone from a law of physics problem to an engineering problem,” he says. If all goes well, SOCOM expects a final version of the suit as early as 2018.

How It Works

1The Warrior Web suit conforms to the lower body and supports the hip, knee, and ankle joints.

2Motors, mounted at the waist and attached by cables to joints, transmit force at key moments in the walking cycle, augmenting muscle strength.

3The suit is made of nylon in places where force is applied, and spandex where it needs to be flexible. A new type of -




- Portable Solar, Graham Murdoch

The tools of modern warfare draw a lot of power. Even on short missions, the batteries alone for night-vision goggles, radios, laptops, and GPS devices add between 15 and 20 pounds to a soldier’s load. The Marine Austere Patrolling System (MAPS), developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), could replace that burden with a five-pound vest. A flexible solar panel built into the back of the vest converts sunlight to electricity with 30 percent efficiency—a 22 percent improvement over the stationary panels now in use by the military. In addition to charging devices, MAPS can transfer electricity from a fully powered device to a dead one and it contains a membrane water-filtration system, so Marines can produce clean water from almost any source.

Perhaps just as important, field tests in 2013 revealed that MAPS gives Marines the confidence to resist dragging extraneous equipment around. With their lives on the line, soldiers often over-pack, says Marine Capt. Frank Furman, an ONR program manager for logistics. So new technologies can’t just replace old ones, he says. “It’s also about replacing the psychological security blanket.” MAPS should see widespread deployment in about five years.

How It Works

1MAPS uses a flexible solar panel to charge flat-form batteries with 30- percent efficiency.

2A power manager provides a universal interface for automatically adapting devices like radio, GPS, and laptop computers.

3 Voice recognition allows troops to directly operate the robot. The mule's gait ranges from a one-mile-per-hour walk to a seven-mile-per-hour run. -




- Modular Armor, Sgt. Ethan E. Rocke/USMC, United States Marines training with modular armor.

Although modern armor—made of ballistic fibers and ceramic plates—is lightweight by medieval standards, soldiers still wear up to 45 pounds of protective gear, about the weight of a six-year-old child. Aware of the strain this puts on soldiers, both the Army and Marines aim to lighten body armor by 10 to 15 percent over the next decade without changing its tensile strength. To do that, says Lt. Col. Frank Lozano, former program manager at the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, the military is investing in new polyethylene ballistic fibers—which could form soft, supple vests that are nonetheless 20 to 30 times stronger than steelCK—and fine-tuning ceramic armor at the nanoscale to make complementary hard protection. The Army is also making armor more modular, so soldiers can tailor it to individual missions. To patrol without appearing threatening, for example, troops will be able remove ceramic inserts from soft armor vests and wear the vests concealed beneath their clothes. “This enables maximum range and mobility,” Lozano says, “so it gives protection at its lightest possible.” Production of next-gen armor will start as early as 2016. -



- A History Of Heavy Loads, Popular Science

Image: A 1941 cover on the state-of-the-art military gear of the era. More on the story in this article, also from our November 2014 issue.

7th Century B.C.

Assyrian warriors wore iron-shinned boots, scale armor, a helmet, shield, sword, and spear into battle—upward of 60 pounds.

359 B.C.

Alexander the Great’s father was the first to order soldiers to be self-sufficient­, and his troops carried 10 days’ rations along with their weapons, while marching 40 miles a day.

100 B.C.

Roman Legionnaires earned the nickname “Marius mules” after emperor Gaius Marius required them to routinely march with loads weighing as much as 80 pounds.

1809

British rifleman Benjamin Harris complained of the Napoleonic Wars: “Many a man died, who would have borne up well to the end of the retreat, but for the infernal load we carried.”

1842

Some weight was a matter of personal preference. “Many young officers would as soon have thought of leaving behind their swords as march without their dressing cases, their perfumes, Windsor soap, and eau de cologne,” said Major-General Nott of British troops in Afghanistan.

1863

The quartermaster of the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War observed that many soldiers simply shed their loads, saying, “On the late campaign, the Army abandoned in battle about 25 percent [of knapsacks].”

1944

“We all knew we were carrying too much weight,” said Private First Class Hugo de Santis of landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. “The equipment had some of us whipped before we started.”

1960s

It’s no accident that U.S. soldiers took on the nickname “grunts” during the Vietnam War: The average total weight of rucksacks in an infantry battalion in Vietnam approached 100 pounds.

2000s

“The load has really changed over the last 15 years,” says Frank Furman, logistics program manager for the Office of Naval Research. “But all of sudden we were in Iraq, and we found a lot of [lighter] protective gear was inadequate for that.” He says incoming Marines now train with flak packs and Kevlar to prepare for their heavy combat burdens.

2014

“The bulk of the weight carried now,” Peter Singer, defense expert at New America Foundation, says, “is a combination of protective vest, flak vest, helmet, and, mostly, the electronics gear—in particular batteries. The electronics gear is different from the past.” -

[Popeye82]

Nanoparticle Thin Films That Self-Assemble, in One Minute - IT/DOE, BERKELEY - Jun 11, 2014

- Lynn Yarris -
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/06/09/nanoparticle-thin-film…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/nanoparticle-thin-films-th…

"The days of self-assembling nanoparticles taking hours to form a film over a microscopic-sized wafer are ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooover.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have devised a technique whereby self-assembling nanoparticle arrays can form a highly ordered thin film over macroscopic distances in one minute.




The technique is compatible with current nanomanufacturing processes and has the potential to generate new families of optical coatings for applications in a wide number of areas including solar energy, nanoelectronics and computer memory storage. This technique could even open new avenues to the fabrication of metamaterials, artificial nanoconstructs that possess remarkable optical properties.

Nanoparticles function as artificial atoms with unique optical, electrical and mechanical properties. If nanoparticles can be induced to self-assemble into complex structures and hierarchical patterns, similar to what nature does with proteins, it would enable mass-production of devices a thousand times smaller, those used in today’s microtechnology. ..."

[Popeye82]

A billion holes can make a battery, Researchers @the University of Maryland have invented a single tiny structure that includes all the components of a battery that they say could bring about the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components
[e-mail]
301-405-0876
www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=50431
http://umdrightnow.umd.edu/

"The structure is called a nanopore: a tiny hole in a ceramic sheet that holds electrolyte to carry the electrical charge between nanotube electrodes at either end. The existing device is a test, but the bitsy battery performs well. First author Chanyuan Liu, a graduate student in materials science & engineering, says that it can be fully charged in 12 minutes, and it can be recharged thousands of time.

A team of UMD chemists and materials scientists collaborated on the project: Gary Rubloff , director of the Maryland NanoCenter and a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and in the Institute for Systems Research; Sang Bok Lee, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemisty and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and seven of their Ph.D. students (two now graduated).

Many millions of these nanopores can be crammed into one larger battery the size of a postage stamp. One of the reasons the researchers think this unit is so successful is because each nanopore is shaped just like the others, which allows them to pack the tiny thin batteries together efficiently. Coauthor Eleanor Gillette's modeling shows that the unique design of the nanopore battery is responsible for its success.

The space inside the holes is so small that the space they take up, all added together, would be no more than a grain of sand.

Now that the scientists have the battery working and have demonstrated the concept, they have also identified improvements that could make the next version 10 times more powerful. The next step to commercialization: the inventors have conceived strategies for manufacturing the battery in large batches.

The research was funded by the Department of Energy. It will be published on November 10 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"An all-in-one nanopore battery array," Nature Nanotechnology (2014), Chanyuan Liu, Eleanor I. Gillette, Xinyi Chen, Alexander J. Pearse, Alexander C. Kozen, Marshall A. Schroeder, Keith E. Gregorczyk, Sang Bok Lee and Gary W. Rubloff


Abstract:

Researchers at the University of Maryland have invented a single tiny structure that includes all the components of a battery that they say could bring about the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components. "

[Popeye82]

German scientist makes diamonds, from peanut butter , probably one of the 1st cases ever reported where the tasty spread has been used to produce synthetic gems
www.bbc.com/future/story/20141106-the-man-who-makes-diamonds
www.mining.com/german-scientist-makes-diamonds-from-peanut-b…

"

- Hmm… Sandwich or a diamond ring? Tough call. -


While man-made diamonds are becoming increasingly popular, it’s hard to believe a German geologist has found the way to create the coveted gems out of peanut butter.


However Dan Frost — a geologist from the Bayerisches Geoinstitut— was able to replicate extreme conditions found in the Earth's surface, becoming one of the first cases reported where the tasty spread has been used to produce lab diamonds.

The scientist believes a mantle filled with diamonds may have slowed down the warming of Earth, which helped evolution. So, he’s built a mantle simulator in order to work out what elements could have been used in the making of diamonds. And here is where peanut butter comes in. Real diamonds are made of carbon atoms that have been heated and compressed at depths about 160 km. miles in the Earth's mantle. And the nutty spread happens to be rich in carbon. Frost told BBC Future:


“If we want to understand how the Earth was formed, then one of the things you need to know is what planet is made out of (…) “We’re interested in how the Earth’s interior has interacted with the surface; over the age of the Earth, that’s been very significant,” he says. “And if we are looking for other habitable planets, we will have to consider many of these processes.”


Frost and his team are not looking to compete in the jewellery sector. What they want is to produce artificial tiny diamonds that can as better semiconductors in electronics.

But first the team will have to work on safety issues. As BBC Future reports, small explosions are not unusual in his lab, and he usually can’t predict when the next one will happen.

Image by Diana Taliun|Shutterstock.com "

[Popeye82]

RoboSoft: A "Coordination Action for Soft Robotics" - EU2020I - Nov 19, 2014
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/robosoft-coordin…
www.robosoftca.eu/results

"Soft robotics technologies are becoming a major focus of robotics and hold great promise to become a cutting-edge for the development of systems for a wide range of new applications especially in those areas previously forbidden to rigid robots. RoboSoft is a FET Open Coordination Action that aims to bring together and consolidate the soft robotics community to enable the accumulation and sharing of crucial knowledge needed for scientific and technological progress in this field.


The ability to make structures and devices that are compliant, active and adaptable requires a rethinking of conventional robotics theories and techniques and an interdisciplinary effort as well as know-how from material science, mechanical/electrical engineering, control engineering, chemistry, physics, computer science, biology and medicine.

Started in October 2013 as an EU-funded 3-year Coordination Action under the FET Open Scheme, RoboSoft is coordinated by Prof. Cecilia Laschi (The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy) in partnership with the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and the University of Bristol (UK).



- SSSA (Photo credits: Massimo Brega). -


Soft Robotics Lab - The BioRobotics Institute RoboSoft is bringing together roboticists, industry stakeholders, and scientists from research communities related to soft robotics, embracing all technologies and scientific background needed to deliver soft robots including biology, smart materials design, mathematical modelling, actuation, sensing, embedded intelligence and control, compliant electronics, fabrication technologies, energy harvesting and industrial and consumer applications.

RoboSoft members are currently 22 institutions and research laboratories whose researchers participate in all the RoboSoft events and activities (plenary meetings, workshops, summer schools, events for cross-fertilization with other scientific communities, joint publications, etc.) and can benefit of the use of the RoboSoft resources, channels and initiatives to promote their research and technological results.

As part of coordination action activities, RoboSoft has already organized a series of events and talks at major international conferences in the field of robotics and in those communities related to it and where “fertilization” of soft robotics can take place. These events aimed at maintaing the community active and providing opportunities for gathering and exchanging of ideas and experiences, promoting discussions on open issues, tracking technical developments and encouraging innovation, as well as fostering collaboration activities.

Most importantly, the RoboSoft community members are involved in consultations to discuss the challenges and the expected milestones, to redefine theories and techniques, and to provide research roadmaps within a single coherent vision for soft robotics. The participation and the contribution of the members to the consultations is reported through the RoboSoft working papers, joint publications, and through the book series on soft robotics that will be released at the end of the coordination action.

The first RoboSoft working paper has just been released in September 2014, as result of the consultation of the RoboSoft community members held during the First RoboSoft Plenary Meeting and during the months after the event. Major challenges for research and technologies in soft robotics have been identified, such as the definition of new manufacturing processes for soft robotics (e.g. 3D printing of functional/soft materials), novel paradigms and principles for robots design (including basic research challenges for actuators, sensors, smart materials, control and their integration in full systems), and of unified modelling and control frameworks. To tackle these challenges in the next work-programme, a good mixture of both small and large projects is necessary, involving industries, creating infrastructures for testing soft robots, promoting competitions and supporting specific actions for training and coordination.

The RoboSoft Summer (Spring) School is planned for March 2015. "

[Popeye82]

US Navy To Test Vanadium Flow Battery Technology - EM/IPS/U.S.N, FREMONT/CALIFORNIA - Dec 3, 2014
www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/navy-vanadium-batter…/
www.imergy.com/press-releases/2014/12/imergy-power-systems-f…

"The U.S. Navy has announced it will deploy Imergy Power Systems’ vanadium-based flow battery technology for a new Smart Microgrid project designed to optimise the storage and consumption of solar energy at military bases, college campuses and other institutions.


The system will be rolled out at the Navy’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) Facility in Port Hueneme, California, and used to demonstrate the effectiveness of energy storage on regulating the often uneven flow of solar power into a power grid.

The project will incorporate releasing bursts of stored power at times of high demand to reduce consumer electricity bills; timed load shifting and management and the smoothing of troughs and peaks in solar energy generation. It will also involve an off-grid islanding application that will show how well an off-grid photovoltaic (PV) solar system with combined battery storage can provide energy for users deployed at remote or mission-critical facilities.

Three Imergy Energy Storage Power (ESP) 30 vanadium flow batteries will be incorporated into the system. Each has a capacity of up to 50 kilowatts and stores up to 200 kilowatt-hours. These batteries can be built for cost below $300 per kilowatt-hour storage, well below the industry benchmark of $500.




The company says this efficiency is possible due to its proprietary process for recycling the rare and expensive element vanadium used in its flow battery systems from secondary sources such as mining slag, oil field sludge and fly ash. This process lowers vanadium cost by 40 per cent relative to Imergy’s competitors.

“Other manufacturers of vanadium flow batteries build their devices with virgin vanadium extracted from mining. It must then be processed to a 99% plus level of purity. Imergy’s flow batteries from low-grade vanadium will also be capable of storing more energy per kilogram than conventional vanadium flow batteries by more than twice,” the company states.

In this type of battery, the chemical interaction of two liquids “flowing” next to each other produces electricity. The ESP30 is Imergy’s flagship storage solution, boasting an unlimited shelf life and the ability to operate in conditions above 55 degrees Celsius.

As the U.S. military transitions away from expensive and burdensome oil-based fuel supply – the Navy currently generates 12 per cent of its energy from renewable sources – transportable battery systems for solar and wind energy will play a larger part in operations at home and abroad, according to Imergy Power Systems CEO Bill Watkins.

“For military personnel, energy security can mean the difference between life and death. This Smart Grid project will pave the way for more secure energy solutions at mission critical military and other facilities.” "

[Popeye82]

"News You Can Uuuse" - IV/HBR/FT/R& - Dec 5, 2014
https://hbr.org/2014/11/a-chief-innovation-officers-actual-r…
www.ft.com/cms/s/df31d60a-7184-11e4-b178-00144feabdc0,Author…
www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/study-companies-to-spend-more-on-…
www.strategyand.pwc.com/global/home/what-we-think/global-inn…
www.intellectualventures.com/insights/archives/news-you-can-…
www.intellectualventures.com/insights/archives/ip-resources-…

"Executives play a key role in setting the tone for their companies when it comes to fostering innovative environments. In this edition of News You Can Use, we’re highlighting interesting stories from the past week focusing on the C-suite’s outlook on innovation.




The Importance of a Chief Innovation Officer

Even companies well-versed in best management practices can struggle with how to stoke innovative thought. This is where a strong Chief Innovation Officer comes into play. Alessandro Di Fiore, writing in Harvard Business Review, explores the need for a “powerful executive who can counterbalance the natural killing instinct of a company’s business units and design a more innovation-friendly organizational environment.” Drawing on research at the European Center for Strategic Innovation he outlines a framework for success.


Looking to the Past, to Shape the Future

What is most likely to fuel an inventor’s “eureka moment”? The Financial Times reports that some of the most influential innovations aren’t pulled from the sky, but rather result from careful assessment of how to leverage existing ideas in novel ways. The article points out that innovative ideas often come from unexpected places ; the key for the C-suite and innovators alike is to keep an open mind about how unique partnerships or influencers could spur new thinking.


Business Bets on Innovation

Inc. reports that large, multinational corporations plan to spend more on “breakthrough” R&D over the next decade. According to a survey by Strategy&, business leaders plan to increase their investment in this high-risk, high-reward category of R&D by roughly 50 percent. Executives’ decision to prioritize radical innovations demonstrates their assessment that developing cutting-edge intellectual property positions their companies for long-term growth.

For a more in-depth look at IP resources for executives, check out our post from August.

@IVinvents shares IP and tech innovation news every week. Follow along, and let us know what you’ve been reading, too. "

[Popeye82]

Apple-Nutzer: Bis zu 246 Prozent mehr Phishing-Attacken, CYREN veröffentlicht seinen neuesten Trendbericht zu Internetgefahren - CD/C,, VIRGINIA/BERLIN - Oct 28, 2014
www.comdirect.de/inf/aktien/detail/news_detail.html?ID_NEWS=…
http://pages.cyren.com/TrendReport_2014Q3.html?utm_campaign=…

"CYREN (NASDAQ: CYRN) hat heute seinen Trendbericht zu Internetgefahren für das 3. Quartal 2014 veröffentlicht. CYRENs Analysten berichten, dass Apple-Nutzer im 3. Quartal dieses Jahres einen dramatischen Anstieg von Phishing-Attacken zu verzeichnen hatten. Bei Apple-Nutzern stiegen Angriffe, die sich hinter der Fassade einer vertrauenswürdigen Instanz verbergen, um auf sensible Benutzerinformationen zuzugreifen, um 246 % im Vergleich zum 1. Quartal 2014.


Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140120/SF48846LOGO

Der gesamte Bericht ist per Download erhältlich auf: http://tinyurl.com/n4gq5oo

Im Zuge der jüngsten Meldungen über Angriffe von Hackern auf die Apple-Konten von Prominenten berichtete CYREN, dass seine vierteljährliche Analyse mehr als 7.000 neue Apple-Phishing-Seiten ergab, allein während der Woche, als der Promi-Hack bekannt wurde.

Der Bericht demonstriert, wie die Bedrohung dadurch intensiviert wurde, dass Apple kurz nach den Angriffen auf die Prominenten neue E-Mail-Alerts initiierte. Die legitimen Apple-E-Mails informierten die Benutzer darüber, dass ihre Apple-ID verwendet wurde, um sich bei einem iCloud-Konto anzumelden. Doch genau dies gab Betrügern die Möglichkeit, eine groß angelegte offizielle E-Mail-Kampagne zu imitieren.

Lior Kohavi, CTO bei CYREN, erklärt im Rahmen des Berichts: „Falls es etwas gibt, das uns der Promi-Phishing-Fotoskandal gelehrt hat, dann dass Apple-Nutzer ein wichtiges Ziel für Betrug und Hacking sind. Während die Betriebssysteme iOS und OSX noch relativ sicher sind, kaufen weltweit immer mehr Menschen Apple-Geräte und verwenden Apple-Dienste, die (teilweise) dafür verantwortlich sein könnten, dass Apple-Nutzer mehr ins Visier der Angreifer geraten. Phishing-Angriffe auf ein Smartphone führen mindestens dreimal so oft zum Erfolg wie solche auf ein Desktop oder Notebook, vor allem weil verräterische Anzeichen wie gefälschte Links, Logos und E-Mail-Adressen auf einem kleinen Handy-Bildschirm nicht so einfach zu erkennen sind."

Der CYREN Trend Report zu Internetgefahren basiert auf der umfassenden Analyse von Milliarden täglicher Transaktionen, die von der Cloudplattform CYREN GlobalView verarbeitet werden.


Über CYREN CYREN ist ein führender Anbieter cloudbasierter Sicherheitslösungen, die hocheffizienten Schutz durch globale Datenintelligenz bieten. Unabhängig von Art und Standort des Gerätes sorgen die Produkte von CYREN in den Bereichen Websicherheit, E-Mail-Sicherheit und Virenbekämpfung für grenzenlosen Schutz sowohl in Form eingebetteter Modelle wie auch als Security as a Service. Unternehmen vertrauen auf die cloudbasierte Erfassung von Sicherheitsbedrohungen und die aktiven Sicherheitsanalysen von CYREN, durch die aktuelle Spam-Klassifikationen, URL-Kategorien und Dienste zur Malware-Erfassung bereitgestellt werden. Die Cloud-Sicherheitsplattform CYREN GlobalView™ nutzt die Technologie der Recurrent Pattern Detection™ für den Schutz von über 550 Millionen Nutzern in 190 Ländern. CYREN ist am NASDAQ Capital Market und an der Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) unter dem Tickersymbol „CYRN" notiert. Besuchen Sie das CYREN GlobalView Security Center oder gehen Sie auf www.CYREN.com.

Blog: blog.cyren.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/CyrenWeb LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cyren Twitter: twitter.com/CyrenInc

CYREN Unternehmenskontakt Europa: Simone Leyendecker, Regional Marketing Manager EMEA/APAC [phone] [e-mail]

CYREN Unternehmenskontakt(U.S.): Mike Myshrall, CFO
CYREN +1 703.760.3320 [e-mail]

Pressekontakt (U.S.): Matthew Zintel Zintel Public Relations +1 281.444.1590 [e-mail] "

[Popeye82]

Low-Cost Solar Panel Captures Four Times more Energy, Focused Sun of Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA(www.focused-sun.com) is planning to shake up the solar industry with an inexpensive module, that captures four times more energy than a conventional solar panel of the same size. The module, called FourFold, produces both electricity +hot water - ENN/FS, LAS CRUCES - Dec 2, 2014
www.focused-sun.com/fs/
www.enn.com/press_releases/4289

"Focused Sun of Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA (www.focused-sun.com) is planning to shake up the solar industry with an inexpensive module that captures four times more energy than a conventional solar panel of the same size. The module, called FourFold, produces both electricity and hot water. It can pay for itself in as little as two years, bringing local jobs plus cheap, clean energy. For every dollar spent, you capture four times more solar energy.


A FourFold covers most of modern energy needs: its electricity powers lights, refrigerators and air cooling, while its heat can warm a home or drive boilers. In the developing world, the module is needed in village clinics where it can sterilize water and refrigerate vaccines.

The fabrication technology to make FourFold solar modules in small local factories can be licensed from Focused Sun. A town as small as 5,000 can support a solar factory. These aren’t short term jobs: most towns and small cities will take decades to solarize.

Costs of the module’s collector are similar to a same-sized conventional PV panel because sandwich fabrication is used for the module’s mirrors. Sandwich fabrication is the most efficient structure for resisting the wind, the highest force a solar panel must withstand.

Conventional PV solar panels capture 20% of the sun’s energy as electricity. In the FourFold module, four mirrors concentrate the sunlight into a narrow strip of overhead PV cells, capturing just as much electricity. More important, coolant pumped through the absorber captures an additional 55% of the sun’s energy as heat. Altogether the FourFold collects 75% of the sun’s energy with each module producing 500 W of electricity and 1500 W of heat for 2000 peak W total.

The attached shed stores energy overnight: heat in an insulated tank and electricity in batteries. With low costs and high efficiency solar capture, payback can be as low as 2 years.

Focused Sun founder Rene Francis (Hallsberg, Sweden) said, “This solar technology can outperform anything else you could find in the world. And the best part is it can be built locally.” Referring to Princeton University’s eight stabilization wedges needed to avoid global warming, he adds, “If PV solar is one Princeton wedge, then this technology is four wedges. That’s half the global warming problem.”

Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Focused-Sun/739401006138385), Twitter (https://twitter.com/focused_sun) and IndieGoGo (www.indiegogo.com/projects/focused-sun/x/8990024).


High resolution pictures are available on request







Contact Info: Shawn Buckley, 460 Avis Rd., Las Cruces, NM 88007 USA
[e-mail]; PH [phone]; [phone]. "

[sdaktien]

Ich weiss nicht. Das klingt irgendwie nicht realistisch. Vielleicht kann mal jemand was zu dem Thema schreiben, der sich in dieser Technologie auskennt, ob das sein kann, was hier veröffentlicht wurde.

[Popeye82]

wenn ich das halbwegs richtig verstehe, Hammer
wir können uns glaube ich warm, warm anziehen, was noch alles auf uns zukommen wird

Glasgow scientists 'create chemical evolution' - GM/UoG/NC, GLASGOW - Dec 12, 2014

- David Szondy -
[e-mail]
0141 330 3535
www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_382476_en.html
www.gizmag.com/chemical-evolution/35142/
www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141208/ncomms6571/full/ncomms6571…

"

- The University of Glasgow team have developed a chemical version of evolution (Image: Shutterstock) -


Scientists haven't created life in the laboratory yet, but when they do, they'll be off and running. Case in point is a University of Glasgow team led by Professor Lee Cronin, the Regius Chair of Chemistry, which has developed the world's first chemical system capable of evolving as part of a project that aims at creating synthetic "life" without DNA.


Building on Cronin's previous work on creating a synthetic basis for life that isn't based on carbon, the chemical evolution uses an open-source robotic "aid," which is derived from a cheap 3D printer. The robot is used to create droplets of oil in a water-filled Petri dish. These droplets are made of a mixture of four chemical compounds with each droplet slightly different from the others to create 225 different compositions and resulting in behaviors that convert chemical energy to kinetic energy as they act like primitive machines. The robot monitors them using a video camera.

The evolution bit comes in as the robot deposits the droplets in groups called "populations." These are then observed for signs of division, movement, and vibration, and then ranked according to how they match a predetermined criteria. Those deemed to be fittest are used to populate a second generation of droplets and the selection begins again. According to the team, after 20 generations, the droplets began to mimic natural selection as their behavior became more stable.

"This is the first time that an evolvable chemical system has existed outside of biology," says Cronin. "Biological evolution has given rise to enormously complex and sophisticated forms of life, and our robot-driven form of evolution could have the potential to do something similar for chemical systems. This initial phase of research has shown that the system we've designed is capable of facilitating an evolutionary process, so we could in the future create models to perform specific tasks, such as splitting, then seeking out other droplets and fusing with them. We're also keen to explore in future experiments how the emergence of unexpected features, functions and behaviors might be selected for."

The teams results were published in Nature Communications. ...


Source: University of Glasgow "

[Popeye82]

Another four US companies granted approval for commercial drone use - GM/FAA - Dec 10, 2014

- Nick Lavars -
www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=17934
www.gizmag.com/four-us-companies-approval-drone-use/35154/
www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/

"

- The Federal Aviation Administration has granted exemptions to four US companies to use UAVs (Photo: Ben Coxworth/Gizmag) -


In another small, but promising step toward the adoption of commercial drones in the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted exemptions to four companies that clear their unmanned aircraft systems for takeoff.

The FAA has faced mounting pressure to redraft the strict laws that ban drone use in commercial operations. In attempting to balance the safety of US airspace with the largely untapped potential of unmanned aerial vehicles, the FAA was ordered by Congress to write new laws for commercial drones by September 2015.

A congressional hearing this week revealed that this deadline is unlikely to be met, with the FAA claiming it needs until at least 2017 to safely integrate commercial drones with national airspace.


We have lift-off

In the meantime, the agency has been handing out discretionary permits to a handful of companies. The first tranche, announced back in September, granted six Hollywood studios permission to use drones in film production. These included conditions that all operators hold pilot certificates, the drone be subject to inspection before use and only be flown within line of sight.

Announced this week, the latest round sees a further four companies given the green light. Trimble Navigation Limited, VDOS Global, LLC, Clayco, Inc and Woolpert, Inc. will all begin using drones for operations described as aerial surveying, construction site monitoring and oil rig flare stack inspections. Their applications stipulated that the drones will weigh less than 55 lb (25 kg) and will be flown within sight at all times.

"Unmanned aircraft offer a tremendous opportunity to spur innovation and economic activity by enabling many businesses to develop better products and services for their customers and the American public," says Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We want to foster commercial uses of this exciting technology while taking a responsible approach to the safety of America’s airspace."


The waiting game

While progress is being made, some are growing increasingly impatient with the FAA. In an letter to the agency made public earlier this week, Amazon outlined its frustrations at the agency's unwillingness to grant an exemption for its Prime Air service, which aims to deliver packages to customers within 30 minutes.

The company revealed that the limitations posed by current drone laws have pushed it to develop outdoor testing facilities in other countries. It says this is a necessary step to advance the technology to the point where Amazon Prime Air would constitute a viable service, while also pointing to the potential benefits to the local economy.

"These non-U.S. facilities enable us to quickly build and modify our Prime Air vehicles as we construct new designs and make improvements," the letter reads. "It is our continued desire to also pursue fast-paced innovation in the United States, which would include the creation of high-quality jobs and significant investment in the local community."


Source: FAA "

[Popeye82]

ist immer schön wenn das dann auch mit "ästhetischer Unbezwingbarkeit" einhergeht
und Dreiräder -die ohne Motor- sogar überholt werden können

Google’s Self-Driving Car Is Ready, For The Road - CT/IBT - Dec 30, 2014
http://cleantechies.com/2014/12/29/googles-self-driving-car-…

"Google announced the first completed prototype of its self-driving car is finished and ready for the road. The company said Monday it will continue operating the car on its own test tracks for now but hopes to have it on public roads in 2015.

"We're going to be spending the holidays zipping around our test track," Google’s self-driving car team said in a Google+ post. “We hope to see you on the streets of Northern California in the new year.”


Google had previously revealed the design of its self-driving car in May, removing standard navigational tools like the steering wheel and pedals. The “smiling” car comes after Google’s earlier success with a program that adapted existing road cars.



- Google Inc. says its self-driving car prototype, which has no steering wheel or pedals, will be tested on public roads in 2015.Google Inc. -


“They won’t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal … because they don’t need them,” Chris Urmson said in May, director of Google’s self-driving car team. “They have sensors that remove blind spots, and they can detect objects out to a distance of more than two football fields in all directions, which is especially helpful on busy streets with lots of intersections.”

Google has said it would limit top speeds of the self-driving car to 25 mph. The vehicles are capable of seeing up to two football fields in clear conditions. Google says the project could help eliminate drunk and distracted driving. Automobile accidents are the primary cause of death for people ages 10 to 24 worldwide, resulting in 30,000 deaths every year in the U.S. alone.

"We've been working on different prototypes-of-prototypes, each designed to test different systems of a self-driving car … like steering and braking, as well as the self-driving parts like the computer and sensors," Google said. "We've now put all those systems together in this fully functional vehicle.”

Google is racing other Silicon Valley companies like Tesla Inc. to complete its self-driving car project. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company's 2015 models will be capable of self-driving, or moving in “autopilot” mode.

Google is also reportedly planning to offer in-car Internet with an upgrade to its Android Auto program, which extends smartphone apps onto a vehicle's infotainment center. The project, which it internally calls Android M, will not be ready until at least 2016, Reuters said. "

[Popeye82]

Scientists 'Delete' HIV Virus From Human DNA, For The 1st Time - YT - Jul 22, 2014
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDsJE-Pusws

[Popeye82]

Silky substrate makes flexible solar cells biocompatible - NW/ACSAM&I/ SUoS, MS, SUZHOU - Dec 30, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=38571.php
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/am504163r
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=8189.php
www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=34685.php

"Wearable electronic textiles are not too far off (see for instance: Nanotechnology e-textiles for biomonitoring and wearable electronics) and these textile-embedded electronics will have an equally flexible and embedded energy supply (read more: Graphene yarns facilitate energy storage textiles). Ideally, these textiles will even charge themselves with integrated solar cells.

The most common flexible substrates used for flexible solar cells so far have been synthetic polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate (commonly known as PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). However, if organic solar cells are to be applied onto clothes and other soft surfaces – some of which come into direct contact with skin – they are required to be human-compatible, non-toxic and non-irritable.

Ooone possible solution for such a substrate could be silk.

"The natural silk fibroin – extracted from the silkworm (Bombyx mori) cocoon – is a promising alternative material due to its good biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, non-irritability and advantageous mechanical properties, as well as high optical transmittance (90-95%) of films," Baoquan Sun, a professor in Materials Science at Soochow University in Suzhou, PR China, tells Nanowerk. "Furthermore, the biodegradable and mechanical properties of silk fibroin substrates can be tailored by controlling the fabrication process, such that they match the desired requirements for some specific application."

Sun and his team, together with researchers from the National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, also at Soochow University, integrated a biocompatible silk fibroin with a mesh of silver nanowires to achieve a flexible, transparent, and biodegradable substrate for efficient plastic solar cells.

They have reported their findings in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces ("Highly Flexible and Lightweight Organic Solar Cells on Biocompatible Silk Fibroin").



- The figure shows the silkworm cocoon picture and the scheme of plastic solar cell with silk fibroin film as substrate. The device can be flexible and compatible with human skin. Here, PEDOT:PSS, PTB7 and PCBM stand for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), polystyrene sulfonate thieno[3,4-b]thiophene/benzodithiophene and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester, respectively. (Image: Sun group, Soochow University)) -


"Our flexible substrate can achieve a conductivity of ∼11.0 Ω/sq and a transmittance of ∼80% in the visible light range, which is much better than the commercialized flexible substrate such as indium tin oxide coated PET and indium tin oxide coated polyethylene naphthalate," says Sun. "The power conversion efficiency of 6.6% is relatively high on the silk fibroin substrate."

He points out that, even after extremely rigid bending, the devices retain a stable conductivity that is superior to traditional flexible ITO-PEN substrates. He also notes that the conductivity of bent silver nanowire silk fibroin substrates can be recovered via a 'self-healing' process.

In order to form a continuous conductive film on transparent films, silver nanowire mesh is usually fabricated by directly spin- or spray-coating onto a transparent substrate. The resulting film is rough due to the random distribution of silver nanowire piling on the substrate.

"This roughness is a disadvantage because substrate flatness is critical to fabricating the ∼100-nm-thick active layer of the plastic solar cell," explains Sun. "Additionally, the deposited silver nanowire displayed poor adhesion properties on the substrate."

To resolve this problem, the researchers first deposited silver nanowires on a flat model substrate instead of being directly deposited onto the substrate. Then, the aqueous silk fibroin solution was coated onto the silver nanowire-covered substrate.

This work illustrates another step towards fully biocompatible plastic solar cells that one day might be integrated with objects and devices of everyday use and eeeven with living tissue, for some futuristic bionic applications .


By Michael Berger. Copyright © Nanowerk "

[Popeye82]

Fiiinally , a method for recycling of plastic-aluminum laminates, Technology developed @the University of Cambridge lies @the heart of a commercial process that can turn toothpaste tubes +drinks pouches into both, aluminium +fuel , in juuuuust three minutes . It started with a bacon roll +a microwave oven, +'nooow it’s 'poised to transform' the recycling of a packaging material that has been as unrecyclable as it is useful' - IT/UoC, CAMBRIDGE - Dec 31, 2014
www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/where-theres-muck-theres-alu…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/12/finally-a-method-for-recyc…

"

- via University of Cambridge -


Technology developed at the University of Cambridge lies at the heart of a commercial process that can turn toothpaste tubes and drinks pouches into both aluminium and fuel in just three minutes

It started with a bacon roll and a microwave oven, and now it’s poised to transform the recycling of a packaging material that has been as unrecyclable as it is useful.


The bacon roll, as the story goes, was microwaved for so long it turned into a charred mass of carbon that began to glow red-hot. What was happening was an intense heating process called microwave-induced pyrolysis.

On hearing about the ‘over-microwaved’ bacon roll from an acquaintance, chemical engineers Professor Howard Chase and Dr Carlos Ludlow-Palafox (a PhD student at the time) at the University of Cambridge wondered whether the process could be exploited to recover useful materials from packaging wastes.

Particulate carbon is an efficient absorber of microwaves and can transfer this thermal energy to adjacent materials. If the adjacent material is organic, such as plastic or paper, it breaks apart (or pyrolyses) into smaller pieces; if the material is a metal attached to the plastic or paper, the metal can be recovered in a clean form after the attached organics are pyrolysed.

Fifteen years later, and the technology they developed is now being used in a commercial-scale plant designed, built and operated by Cambridge spin-out Enval Limited. Founded by Ludlow-Palafox, with Chase as R&D Director, Enval is using the plant to demonstrate the capabilities and economics of the process to investors and waste handlers.

Enval has focused on plastic–aluminium laminate packaging. Prized by manufacturers for its lightness, cheapness and ability to protect the contents from light and air, the packaging is commonly used for food, drink, toothpaste, pet food and cosmetic products.

However, the combination of plastic and aluminium in the packaging presents a technical recycling challenge that until now has been unsolved; instead, items packaged like this contribute to the millions of tonnes of rubbish disposed of in landfill each year. For the brands who package their consumer goods this way, the ‘recyclable logo’ on the packaging, and the sustainability credentials that go with this, has been all-elusive. ..."

[Popeye82]

Lasers in space 'could trap +shape reflective dust, into telescopes with diameters wider than a planet , for detailed imaging of exoplanets ' - NBF/W/NASA, NIAC/RIT, ROCHESTER - Dec 28, 2014
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Quadrelli_2012_PhI_Or…
http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/12/lasers-in-space-could-trap-…
www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=51127

"Here we look in detail at the Phase I report for Orbiting Rainbows. NASA provided the funding for a phase 2 study project. They would use several lasers to trap and shape billions of reflective dust particles into single or multiple lenses that could grow to reach tens of meters to thousands of kilometers in diameter. According to Swartzlander, the unprecedented resolution and detail might be great enough to spot clouds on exoplanets. The diameter of the lens would be similar to what hypertelescopes could achieve in space however, the laser shaped dust clouds could more cheaply have a filled in lens.

Swartzlander developed and patented the techniques known as “optical lift,” in which light from a laser produces radiation pressure that controls the position and orientation of small objects.

Ideally, the dielectric particles should have 50% transmissivity and 50% reflectivity, no absorption, and to avoid diffraction they must be smaller than the wavelength of light. This giant, but tenuous, optical assembly has to be maintained either continuously or intermittently via separated free-flying pulsed lasers, which must have enough power, continuous
operation capabilities, and adequate pointing capability to maintain the cloud stably in orbit


Researchers propose to construct an optical system in space in which the nonlinear optical properties of a cloud of micron-sized particles are shaped into a specific surface by light pressure, allowing it to form a very large and lightweight aperture of an optical system, hence reducing overall mass and cost. Other potential advantages offered by the cloud properties as optical system involve possible combination of properties (combined transmit/receive), variable focal length, combined refractive and reflective lens designs, and hyper-spectral imaging. A cloud of highly reflective particles of micron size acting coherently in a specific electromagnetic band, just like an aerosol in suspension in the atmosphere, would reflect the Suns light much like a rainbow. The only difference with an atmospheric or industrial aerosol is the absence of the supporting fluid medium. This new concept is based on recent understandings in the physics of optical manipulation of small particles in the laboratory and the engineering of distributed ensembles of spacecraft clouds to shape an orbiting cloud of micron-sized objects. In the same way that optical tweezers have revolutionized micro- and nano-manipulation of objects, our breakthrough concept will enable new large scale NASA mission applications and develop new technology in the areas of Astrophysical Imaging Systems and Remote Sensing because the cloud can operate as an adaptive optical imaging sensor. While achieving the feasibility of constructing one single aperture out of the cloud is the main topic of this work, it is clear that multiple orbiting aerosol lenses could also combine their power to synthesize a much larger aperture in space to enable challenging goals such as exo-planet detection. Furthermore, this effort could establish feasibility of key issues related to material properties, remote manipulation, and autonomy characteristics of cloud in orbit. There are several types of endeavors (science missions) that could be enabled by this type of approach, i.e. it can enable new astrophysical imaging systems, exo-planet search, large apertures allow for unprecedented high resolution to discern continents and important features of other planets, hyperspectral imaging, adaptive systems, spectroscopy imaging through limb, and stable optical systems from Lagrange-points. Future micro-miniaturization might hold promise of a further extension of our dust aperture concept to other more exciting smart dust concepts with other associated capabilities.




The evolution of space telescopes, from Hubble, James Webb, inflatable concepts, formation flying, up to hyper-telescopes, where distributed apertures form the primary, naturally leads to the concept investigated in this study. This concept would increase the aperture several times compared to ATLAS, allowing for a true Terrestrial Planet Imager that would be able to resolve exo-planet details and do meaningful spectroscopy on distant worlds. The aperture does not need to be continuous. Used interferometrically, for example, as in a Golay array, imagery can be synthesized over an enormous scale. We leveraged our experience working with large optical systems to consider refractive, reflective and holographic systems. Finding a way to manipulate such distribution of matter in space would lead to a potentially affordable new way of generating very large and potentially re-shapeable optics in space, and indirectly open the way to future technologies for space construction by means of light. It will also enable new astrophysical imaging systems, exo-planet search, hyperspectral imaging, adaptive systems, spectroscopy imaging through limb, and stable optical systems from Lagrange points.

Radiation pressure positions the dust in a coherent pattern oriented toward an astronomical object. The reflective particles form a lens and channel light to a sensor, or a large array of detectors, on a satellite. Controlling the dust to reflect enough light to the sensor to make it work will be a technological hurdle.

Two RIT graduate students on Swartzlander’s team are working on different aspects of the project. Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse, a doctoral student in imaging science, is designing experiments in low-gravity environments to explore techniques for controlling swarms of particle and to determine the merits of using a single or multiple beams of light.

Swartzlander expects the telescope will produce speckled and grainy images. Xiaopeng Peng, a doctoral student in imaging science, is developing software algorithms for extracting information from the blurred image the sensor captures. The laser that will shape the smart dust into a lens also will measure the optical distortion caused by the imaging system. Peng will use this information to develop advanced image processing techniques to reverse the distortion and recover detailed images.






- Assuming 10 million grains per aerosol patch, a grain density of 2500 kg/m3, 3 patches of diameter 1 meter, diffculty level 2, cloud thickness 1 micron. -











SOURCES -Rochester Institute of Technology, NASA, Wikipedia "

[Popeye82]

1st 3D Metamaterials 'will enable higher resolution ultrasound, stealth submarines, +'other applications' ' - NBF/AEMPT/UoB/NM, CdRPP/CNRS, PARIS/BORDEAUX - Dec 30, 2014
[e-mail]
[phone]
[e-mail]
[phone]
www2.cnrs.fr/sites/en/fichier/cp_metafluide_en.pdf
http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/12/first-3d-metamaterials-will…
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4164.html

"Researchers have developed the first three dimensional metamaterials by combining physico-chemical formulation and microfluidics technology. This is a new generation of soft metamaterials that are easier to shape. In their experiment, the researchers got ultrasonic oscillations to move backwards while the energy carried by the wave moved forwards. Their work opens up new prospects, especially for high-resolution imaging (ultrasonography).


The new type of metamaterial, in the fluid phase, is formed of porous silicone microbeads embedded in a water-based gel. This metafluid is the first three-dimensional metamaterial to work at ultrasonic frequencies. In addition, due to its fluid nature, it can be made using physico-chemical processes and microfluidics technologies, which are much easier to implement than micromechanical methods.

One of the properties of porous media is that sound travels through them at very low speed (a few tens of meters per second) compared to water (1500 meters per second). Due to this sharp contrast, the whole suspension has the properties of a metamaterial provided the bead concentration is sufficient: when the researchers studied the propagation of ultrasonic waves through this medium, they directly measured a negative refractive index. Within such a metafluid, the energy carried by the wave travels from the emitter to the receiver, as expected, whereas the oscillations appear to move backwards in the opposite direction, rather like a dancer doing the 'moonwalk'.

These results open the way to numerous applications ranging from high-resolution ultrasound imaging to sound insulation and stealth in underwater acoustics. In addition, the soft-matter physico-chemical techniques used to make this metamaterial makes it possible to produce fluid or flexible materials with adaptable shapes, potentially at the industrial scale.




Many efforts have been devoted to the design and achievement of negative-refractive-index metamaterials since the 2000s. One of the challenges at present is to extend that field beyond electromagnetism by realizing three-dimensional (3D) media with negative acoustic indices. We report a new class of locally resonant ultrasonic metafluids consisting of a concentrated suspension of macroporous microbeads engineered using soft-matter techniques.

The propagation of Gaussian pulses within these random distributions of ‘ultra-slow’ Mie resonators is investigated through in situ ultrasonic experiments. The real part of the acoustic index is shown to be negative (up to almost − 1) over broad frequency bandwidths, depending on the volume fraction of the microbeads as predicted by multiple-scattering calculations. These soft 3D acoustic metamaterials open the way for key applications such as sub-wavelength imaging and transformation acoustics, which require the production of acoustic devices with negative or zero-valued indices. ..."

[Popeye82]

fliegende Autos, 2017?

Flying Cars Could Be Here, By 2017, And ooonce that's done?: A seeeeelf-flying car
www.popsci.com/node/224064/?cmpid=enews031915&spPodID=020&sp…

"

- Flying Roadster AeroMobil -


In October 2014, Slovakian company AeroMobil unveiled a prototype vehicle that exhilarated Back To The Future fans, as well as pretty much everyone else: the long fantasized flying car. Dubbed AeroMobil 3.0, the car/plane hybrid showed off its driving and flying abilities in a video filmed at the 2014 Pioneers Festival in Vienna. With its wings tucked in, the carbon fiber vehicle drives the streets seamlessly with other cars. Then, it makes its way to a parking lot, unfolds its wings, and takes off from a grass runway. It soars leisurely over the buildings of Vienna, before touching down in a green field.

At the time, the video was just a demonstration of what AeroMobil had accomplished. Now, the company is detailing their vision for the prototype’s future. At South By Southwest 2015, Juraj Vaculik, co-founder and CEO of AeroMobil, spoke at a panel about the future of flying cars, predicting a world ahead in which these vehicles easily merge with existing transportation. For him and his team, the goal is to make medium-distance travel much less of a hassle, and to do so, the company aims to put its vehicle on the market by 2017.

An AeroMobil representative told Popular Science the price would be several hundreds of thousands of dollars, which they argue is on par with a combination of a sport aircraft and a supercar.

But the announcements didn’t stop there. Vaculik also highlighted the company’s next revolutionary venture in this field: the self-flying car. AeroMobile says now that they have shown that flying cars are possible, it’s time to make them drive—and soar—on their own.



- The Roadster's First Flight AeroMobil -


Despiiiiite its unique look, AeroMobile 3.0, also named the Flying Roadster, isn't all that different from your average sports car or private plane. It runs on regular gasoline and can seat two people. When driving, it boasts a range of 545 miles and a top speed of 99 mph. When airborne, it can reach a top speed of 124 mph, with a range of 435 miles.

Notably, the Roadster—as well as all subsequent vehicles AeroMobile plans to build—can take off from and land on any flat grass field. This element is crucial for the vehicle’s success, claims Vaculik. He argues that it makes the building of additional airports unnecessary, and that instead, flying cars can launch off and land on grass lanes that could merge onto to existing highways. The Roadster only needs 650 feet to take off and just 160 feet to land, so the amount of land required for each runway wouldn’t be too substantial.



- Grass Landing AeroMobil -


AeroMobil still has a few things to hammer out before the Roadster can go mainstream, such as securing enough funding for mass production, as well as solidifying regulations and certifications from the European Union. And while most people may want their very own Roadster when it debuts, AeroMobil’s main goal isn’t to replace every single car with a flying one. Vaculik noted that initially, the Roadster is targeted to wealthy buyers and flight enthusiasts.

The company's long-term goal is to cut down on inefficiency. The idea is to provide options for people traveling what AeroMobli considers “medium” distances, or trips at around 400 miles. If someone decides to fly such a distance now, the process of traveling to and from the airport, in addition to the actual time for air travel, adds up to around six hours. But if a person were to simply take off near the starting location and then land close to the trip’s destination, it could cut down travel time to just 3.2 hours.

If the Roadster can accomplish this and generate enough profits, then AeroMobil will pursue their idea for the self-flying car. Vaculik didn’t give any indication as to whether such a vehicle is already being built, but he noted that it would incorporate already existing autonomous driving and flying technologies, and it would boast advanced vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. Plus, it would be a tad more accommodating, seating four rather than two.

For that, we'll just have to wait until 2017 to see how well the Roadster's debut goes. In the meantime, you can continue to geek out about the car's inaugural flight below: "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Controlling a material, with voltage, Technique could let a small electrical signal change materials? electrical, thermal, +optical characteristics - NW/MIT/N, MASSACHUSETTS - Nov 21, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=38194.php?utm_so…
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4134.html

"A new way of switching the magnetic properties of a material using just a small applied voltage, developed by researchers at MIT and collaborators elsewhere, could signal the beginning of a new family of materials with a variety of switchable properties, the researchers say.


The technique could ultimately be used to control properties other than magnetism, including reflectivity or thermal conductivity, they say. The first application of the new finding is likely to be a new kind of memory chip that requires no power to maintain data once it’s written, drastically lowering its overall power needs . This could be especially useful for mobile devices, where battery life is often a major limitation.

The findings were published this week in the journal Nature Materials ("Magneto-ionic control of interfacial magnetism") by MIT doctoral student Uwe Bauer, associate professor Geoffrey Beach, and six other co-authors.



- This diagram shows the principle behind using voltage to change material properties. In this sandwich of materials, applying a voltage results in movement of ions — electrically charged atoms — from the middle, functional layer of material into the target layer. This modifies some of the properties — magnetic, thermal, or optical — of the target material, and the changes remain after the voltage is removed. (Diagram courtesy of the researchers; edited by Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT) -


Beach, the Class of ’58 Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, says the work is the culmination of Bauer’s PhD thesis research on voltage-programmable materials. The work could lead to a new kind of nonvolatile, ultralow-power memory chips, Beach says.

The concept of using an electrical signal to control a magnetic memory element is the subject of much research by chip manufacturers, Beach says. But the MIT-based team has made important strides in making the technique practical, he says.
The structure of these devices is similar to that of a capacitor, Beach explains, with two thin layers of conductive material separated by an insulating layer. The insulating layer is so thin that under certain conditions, electrons can tunnel right through it.

But unlike in a capacitor, the conductive layers in these low-power chips are magnetized. In the new device, one conductive layer has fixed magnetization, but the other can be toggled between two magnetic orientations by applying a voltage to it. When the magnetic orientations are aligned, it is easier for electrons to tunnel from one layer to the other; when they have opposite orientations, the device is more insulating. These states can be used to represent “zero” and “one.”
The work at MIT shows that it takes just a small voltage to flip the state of the device — which then retains its new state even after power is switched off. Conventional memory devices require a continuous source of power to maintain their state.

The MIT team was able to design a system in which voltage changes the magnetic properties 100 times more powerfully than other groups have been able to achieve; this strong change in magnetism makes possible the long-term stability of the new memory cells.

They achieved this by using an insulating layer made of an oxide material in which the applied voltage can rearrange the locations of the oxygen ions. They showed that the properties of the magnetic layer could be changed dramatically by moving the oxygen ions back and forth near the interface.

The team is now working to ramp up the speed at which these changes can be made to the memory elements. They have already reached rates of a megahertz (millions of times per second) in switching, but a fully competitive memory module will require further increase on the order of a hundredfold to a thousandfold, they say.

The team also found that the magnetic properties could be changed using a pulse of laser light that heats the oxide layer, helping the oxygen ions to move more easily. The laser beam used to alter the state of the material can scan across its surface, making changes as it goes.

The same techniques could be used to alter other properties of materials, Beach explains, such as reflectivity or thermal conductivity. Such properties can ordinarily be changed only through mechanical or chemical processing. “All these properties could come under electrical control, to be switched on and off, and even ‘written’ using a beam of light,” Beach says. This ability to make such changes on the fly essentially produces “an Etch-a-Sketch for material properties,” he says.The new findings “started as a fluke,” Beach says: Bauer was experimenting with the layered material, expecting to see standard temporary capacitive effects from an applied voltage. “But he turned off the voltage and it stayed that way,” with a reversed magnetic state, Beach says, leading to further investigation.

“I think this will have broad applications,” Beach says, adding that it uses methods and materials that are already standard in microchip manufacturing.


Source: By David L. Chandler, MIT "

[Popeye82]

A 'theoretical roadmap to making 2-D electronics with novel properties', Researchers @MIT say they have carried out a theoretical analysis showing that a family of two-dimensional materials exhibits exotic quantum properties, that 'may' enable a new type of nanoscale electronics - NW/MIT/SM, MASSACHSETTS - Nov 21, 2014
www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=38193.php?utm_so…
www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/11/19/science.1256815

"Researchers at MIT say they have carried out a theoretical analysis showing that a family of two-dimensional materials exhibits exotic quantum properties that may enable a new type of nanoscale electronics.


These materials are predicted to show a phenomenon called the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, and belong to a class of materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides, with layers a few atoms thick. The findings are detailed in a paper appearing this week in the journal Science ("Quantum spin Hall effect in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides"), co-authored by MIT postdocs Xiaofeng Qian and Junwei Liu; assistant professor of physics Liang Fu; and Ju Li, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and materials science and engineering.



- This diagram illustrates the concept behind the MIT team’s vision of a new kind of electronic device based on 2-D materials. The 2-D material is at the middle of a layered “sandwich," with layers of another material, boron nitride, at top and bottom (shown in gray). When an electric field is applied to the material, by way of the rectangular areas at top, it switches the quantum state of the middle layer (yellow areas). The boundaries of these “switched” regions act as perfect quantum wires, potentially leading to new electronic devices with low losses. (Illustration: Yan Liang) -


QSH materials have the unusual property of being electrical insulators in the bulk of the material, yet highly conductive on their edges. This could potentially make them a suitable material for new kinds of quantum electronic devices, many researchers believe.

But only two materials with QSH properties have been synthesized, and potential applications of these materials have been hampered by two serious drawbacks: Their bandgap, a property essential for making transistors and other electronic devices, is too small, giving a low signal-to-noise ratio; and they lack the ability to switch rapidly on and off. Now the MIT researchers say they have found ways to potentially circumvent both obstacles using 2-D materials that have been explored for other purposes.

Existing QSH materials only work at very low temperatures and under difficult conditions, Fu says, adding that “the materials we predicted to exhibit this effect are widely accessible. … The effects could be observed at relatively high temperatures.”

“What is discovered here is a true 2-D material that has this [QSH] characteristic ,” Li says. “The edges are like perfect quantum wires.”
The MIT researchers say this could lead to new kinds of low-power quantum electronics, as well as spintronics devices — a kind of electronics in which the spin of electrons, rather than their electrical charge, is used to carry information.

Graphene, a two-dimensional, one-atom-thick form of carbon with unusual electrical and mechanical properties, has been the subject of much research, which has led to further research on similar 2-D materials. But until now, few researchers have examined these materials for possible QSH effects, the MIT team says. “Two-dimensional materials are a very active field for a lot of potential applications,” Qian says — and this team’s theoretical work now shows that at least six such materials do share these QSH properties.

The MIT researchers studied materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides, a family of compounds made from the transition metals molybdenum or tungsten and the nonmetals tellurium, selenium, or sulfur. These compounds naturally form thin sheets, just atoms thick, that can spontaneously develop a dimerization pattern in their crystal structure. It is this lattice dimerization that produces the effects studied by the MIT team.

While the new work is theoretical, the team produced a design for a new kind of transistor based on the calculated effects. Called a topological field-effect transistor, or TFET, the design is based on a single layer of the 2-D material sandwiched by two layers of 2-D boron nitride. The researchers say such devices could be produced at very high density on a chip and have very low losses, allowing high-efficiency operation.

By applying an electric field to the material, the QSH state can be switched on and off, making possible a host of electronic and spintronic devices, they say.

In addition, this is one of the most promising known materials for possible use in quantum computers, the researchers say. Quantum computing is usually susceptible to disruption — technically, a loss of coherence — from even very small perturbations. But, Li says, topological quantum computers “cannot lose coherence from small perturbations. It’s a big advantage for quantum information processing.”

Because so much research is already under way on these 2-D materials for other purposes, methods of making them efficiently may be developed by other groups and could then be applied to the creation of new QSH electronic devices, Qian says.

Nai Phuan Ong, a professor of physics at Princeton University who was not connected to this work, says, "Although some of the ideas have been mentioned before, the present system seems especially promising. This exciting result will bridge two very active subfields of condensed matter physics, topological insulators and dichalcogenides.”


Source: By David L. Chandler, MIT "

[Popeye82]

Asteroid miner puts first demonstration spaceship in orbit
www.mining.com/asteroid-miner-puts-first-demonstration-space…

"

- (Image courtesy of Planetary Resources) -


Asteroid mining company Planetary Resources has launched the first of two technology demonstration spacecrafts, aimed to identify subsystems needed to send out and prospect for valuable resources on asteroids.

The Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R), launched on Tuesday, will spent its three-month orbiting mission sending back data to a group of scientists based at the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.

Once done, A3R will complete its mission with a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere as a result of its natural atmospheric orbital-decay, the company said in a statement.

A second spacecraft is expected to be launched later this year, which will be twice the size of the one currently in orbit, Planetary Resources said.

Last year the company lost its first test satellite aboard a commercial rocket that exploded only six seconds after take-off.

The A3 is one of the earliest steps in a long roadmap for Planetary Resources that includes creating cost-effective equipment for space observation and exploration before launching a laser communications system into space to keep in contact with the eventual asteroid prospecting missions that are the ultimate goal.

The ultimate vision is for a larger Arkyd spacecraft, Arkyd 6 (A6), to help jumpstart a trillion-dollar market mining oxygen, hydrogen and precious metals from asteroids, which are rich in valuable minerals. An M-type asteroid, the third most common type, is just one km diameter, but could contain more than two billion tons of iron ore and nickel, not too mention other riches such as platinum and diamonds..



- The Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) technology demonstration spacecraft is on board the SpaceX Falcon 9. (Image courtesy of Planetary Resources) -


Planetary Resources said it had already contracted Spaceflight Services, Inc. to launch in a rideshare configuration with Formosat-5, currently scheduled for Dec. 2015.

Founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., the company is financed by industry-launching visionaries, three of whom include Google's CEO Larry Page & Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Ross Perot, Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group, who are committed to expanding the world's resource base so that humanity can continue to grow and prosper. Some of the company's advisors include film maker and explorer James Cameron, former Chief of Staff, United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley (Ret.) and Sara Seager, Ph.D, Professor of Planetary Science and Physics. "

[Popeye82]

Japan Plans to Have a Power Plant in Space, in a Decade, Actually, the plan to power the globe with gigantic space-based solar panels has been kicking around since the ’60s. But thanks to a perfect storm of technological advances—strong but lightweight tether materials, swarming worker robots that can self-assemble, more efficient solar panels, +cheaper payload launches—this thing is 'actually' looking feasible - MB/JAXA/IEEE/CfCS/WFS - May 14, 2014

- Meghan Neal -
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/japan-plans-to-have-a-power…
http://global.jaxa.jp/article/interview/vol53/index_e.html
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/space-elevators-are-totally…
http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/solar/how-japan-plans-to…
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/this-satellite-could-be-bea…
www.wfs.org/blogs/thomas-frey/next-great-space-race-space-ba…

"Japan, where the disastrous Fukushima meltdown heightened the search for safe, sustainable alternative energy, is answering that need by sending a power plant into space.

Actually, the plan to power the globe with gigantic space-based solar panels has been kicking around since the '60s. But thanks to a perfect storm of technological advances—strong but lightweight tether materials, swarming worker robots that can self-assemble, more efficient solar panels, and cheaper payload launches—this thing is actually looking feasible.

JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, recently announced that it intends to stick a solar-generated power station in orbit for the first time by 2025—just over a decade.

Picture this: Floating 24,000 miles above the Earth's surface is a mammoth power plant (power satellite may be more accurate) that stretches several miles long, weighs 10,000 metric tons, and is covered with solar panels basking in the sun and storing up its powerful energy.




The solar station is tethered to a base station on the ground with six-mile-long wires. This acts as a counterforce to offset the gravitational pull so the satellite is essentially pulled in tow as the Earth turns, keeping it at a fixed point in geostationary orbit. It’s the concept astrophysicists proposed to build our future space elevators, as explained Professor Emeritus at JAXA Susumi Sasaki in an editorial in IEEE.

The problem is that part of the Earth's rotation spins it away from the sun, which doesn't do much good for a solar power station. So the scientists hacked the initial model by adding in a couple mirrors to reflect the sunlight and point it directly on the panels, 24/7. These mirrors are just floating free, and scientists on the ground have to configure the whole setup with extreme precision.



- Floating mirrors would reflect the sunlight onto the solar panels. Image: JAXA -


That’s just the beginning of this multibillion-dollar challenge, however. After launching the station and mirrors up into the sky, the station then has to beam back energy to a small target on Earth, relying on wireless power transmission—something humans have been studying for decades but have yet to perfect.

According to the plan, the solar energy collected by the giant power satellite will be converted to microwaves, which are capable of traveling long distances while avoiding obstacles like weather and debris. The microwaves are beamed down to a receiving site on the ground speckled with antennas, where it's converted to electricity.

The planned space-based station can process 1 gigawatt of power, on par with the nuclear plants here on the planet. But it can do this ostensibly indefinitely, as long as the machinery (and the sun) hold out.

Solar panels in space are up to 10 times more efficient than the ones we've got on Earth, so the potential is beyond intriguing. If JAXA's or other current plans to build space-based solar power stations work—and according to the JAXA site, "we are getting close to the stage where it is feasible"— that could be a revolutionary change for society. A lot of industries would be turned on their heads.




In a blog post on the World Future Society, futurist Thomas Frey speculated that once one orbital solar station proves to be successful, other nations with space programs would rush to launch power plants into space, too. He believes the JAXA project marks the beginning of the next space race.

Maybe it could be: Energy is one of the most pressing issues of our generation, and probably the generation after that even more so. At the dawn of the space exploration age and peak techno-optimism, the temptation to look for an answer in the skies makes sense. "

[sdaktien]

Theortisch nett. Mal sehen ob es umzusetzen ist. Hoffentlich futtert der Godzilla nicht die Hälfte weg.

[Popeye82]

We DID it! McDonald's goes deforestation-free
http://blog.ucsusa.org/mcdonalds-palm-oil-commitments-710

"Dear XXX

Over the last year, UCS supporters like you sent more than 140,000 emails to tell McDonald's and the rest of America's fast food chains that there's no excuse to continue buying palm oil that could cause climate change, loss of endangered species habitat, and tropical deforestation.

You spoke up. McDonald's listened. And acted!

McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain, just pledged to eliminate deforestation from its global supply chains, making it the first global fast food company to do so. McDonald's pledged to ensure the palm oil, beef, fiber-based packaging, coffee, and poultry in their products does not contribute to tropical deforestation and peatland destruction.

McDonald's size and scale means the new commitment could force real change, pushing the industry to eliminate tropical deforestation from its supply chain, ultimately reducing global warming emissions. You can help make sure that happens by emailing McDonald's today to urge them to release a strong plan.




Just click the TAKE ACTION button below to send this letter to McDonald's now:

Dear McDonald's,

I was pleased to learn that McDonald's has pledged to eliminate deforestation from its global supply chains. As the largest fast food company in the world, McDonald's policies could spur real change, pushing your suppliers to eliminate tropical deforestation from production of commodities, ultimately protecting forests and reducing global warming emissions.

I'm calling on McDonald's to ensure that your upcoming palm oil sourcing targets include:

- a commitment to source palm oil only from suppliers whose entire operations meet McDonald's deforestation commitment principles and practices;
- an ambitious time-bound target for supplier compliance; and
- mechanisms for verification of origin of raw materials down to the palm oil plantation level.

In this way, McDonald's can set an industry-leading standard in the fast food sector for sourcing of deforestation-free palm oil ingredients.


For more than a year, we have worked with McDonald's to help them understand the deforestation risk in their supply chain, and urged them to adopt stronger standards. But without your urging, the company wouldn't have taken this issue seriously. To get the full story of how we used your support to move McDonald's, read our president's blog post.

This is a tremendous step forward for the climate, tropical forests, and endangered species, and we couldn't have done it without you. In a few months, McDonald's will release its palm oil action plan and timeline. Help us ensure this plan is as strong as possible—send a message to McDonald's today.

Together, we are transforming the palm oil industry.

Sincerely,
Miriam Swaffer
Miriam Swaffer
Corporate Policy Advocate
Tropical Forest & Climate Initiative "


https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepa…
https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Donation2;jsessionid=AD5…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.632.533 von Popeye82 am 23.04.15 21:51:10

upps, im falschen Thread gelandet



an Sdaktien

keine Ahnung ob daaas jetzt, nun genau, mal was wird, aber ich denke dass wir uns, langfristig, auf immer, immer mehr so ein Zeug drauf einstellen können
und dass das auch, nicht so wenige, Dinge beinhaltet die wir uns, bis jetzt, "vielleicht schwer vorstellen können"
oder gar nicht

das läuft ja heutzutage -im wissenschafts/technologie- und anderem Bereich(en)- immer mehr nach dem Motto "1000nde versuchens", die Lithiumsuperbatterie -oder was auch immer- zu entwickeln, 2 schaffens und irgendwann, mit der Zeit, wird der Markt dann so rammelvoll, dass die Burgquasi gestürmt wurde

so sehe ich auch viiiele Märkte -dass die schooon Ihre Berehctigung haben -auuuch so einiges was als "verblödeter Hype" abgestempelt wurde. im Nachhinein, dann, natürlich-
"nuuur" dass es "eben normal ist, dass am Ende nur noch wenige Soldaten auf dem Feld stehen"

so in der Art, Kurzversion

[Popeye82]

Battling Pirates, With Technology, A stealth vessel +other technologies could protect ships in troubled waters -iiiiif only we'd deploy them, Juliet Marine argues that two Ghosts, @$10,000,000 apiece, could protect thousands of square miles
www.popsci.com/high-tech-battle-fighting-pirates?cmpid=enews…



- Ghost flies through the ocean on buoyant foils, long propeller-tipped pontoons that sit six feet underwater. -

[Popeye82]

Replace Your Eyeballs With Synthetic Ones, Vision would no longer have to be #nofilter - PopSci - Apr 21, 2015

- By Alexandra Ossola -
www.popsci.com/biotech-startup-wants-replace-your-eyeballs-s…



- The MHOX EYE system. MHOX -





- The three EYE types. MHOX -

[sdaktien]

Ob ich als blinder Hesse nun mit natürlichen oder künstlichen Augen nix sehe, das macht doch keinen Unterschied.

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.642.418 von sdaktien am 25.04.15 12:41:06

ich sage mal so -mir geht es hier um bisschen andere Dinge
vor aaallem bisschen outside the box thinking

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.643.312 von Popeye82 am 25.04.15 17:30:53

Nemo, mach es!
du bist der GRÖÖÖSSTE!!!

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.579.562 von Popeye82 am 16.04.15 14:35:51

NASA "begins accepting applications from privates, to mine the Moon " - M.com/NASA - Feb 10, 2014

- Cecilia Jamasmie -
www.mining.com/nasa-begins-accepting-applications-from-priva…
www.mining.com/nasa-wants-your-name-in-its-first-asteroid-mi…
www.mining.com/is-space-mining-commercially-viable-22553/

"In what can be considered giant leap towards mining minerals from the moon, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has began accepting applications from potential business partners interested in mining the moon.

The move, part of a plan unveiled in January, aims to find private financing to help its experts design and build lunar prospecting robots, the first major step required to explore Earth’s natural satellite for valuable resources.

Unlike some loaded business figures who have set up their own space mining endeavours, NASA only counts on a budget set by the US government, which has refused to provide any further funding for the so called Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative.

In a teleconference late last month, Jason Crusan, director of NASA's advanced exploration systems, said business partners could support commercial activities on the moon while enabling new science and exploration missions of interest to NASA and the larger scientific and academic communities.

Experts claim space mining is a necessity as many metals that underpin our modern economy are quickly being depleted. Without any new technological advances, metals like zinc and gold are expected to run out in 100 years, they claim.

But the road ahead doesn’t look easy. In fact, a study from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics published last month highlights just how problematic this space mining/travelling business could be. "

[Popeye82]

“World’s 1st battery-powered rocket” readied, for launch - IT/RL/GM - Apr 20, 2015
www.gizmag.com/electron-rocket-batery-satellite-launch-vehic…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/04/worlds-first-battery-power…
http://rocketlabusa.com/index.html

"

- The Electron launch system uses a battery-powered turbopump in its Rutherford engine -


US$4.9 million per launch

Though there have been tremendous advances in space technology in recent years, when it comes to getting into space, we’re still like cavemen trying to get beyond the breakers on a floating log – at least, that’s the view of New Zealand-based company Rocket Lab. In the hopes of increasing the number of satellite launches to over 100 a year and placing constellations of small satellites into orbit numbering in the thousands, the company has developed a “battery-powered” rocket engine to lift its Electron launch vehicle at almost a tenth of the cost of conventional boosters.


Liquid rocket engines are hungry beasts that require huge quantities of propellants for every second of flight. To manage this, engines use turbopumps to feed propellants into the combustion chamber. In a conventional design, a centrifugal or axial-flow turbopump is driven by a gas turbine. This has done the job very well since the first rocket turbopumps were developed in the 1940s, but they’re complex, heavy affairs that need their own fuel systems to operate.

Rocket Lab’s idea for making a lighter, simpler liquid rocket is its Rutherford engine. Named after New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford, it’s an electric turbopump engine that burns a mixture of liquid oxygen and RP-1 rocket fuel, which is a highly refined type of kerosene. Unlike conventional engines, in the Rutherford, the gas-powered turbine to run the pump is replaced with a brushless DC motor and lithium polymer batteries, and provides enough fuel for the Rutherford to generate 4,600 lbf (20,462 N) of thrust and a specific impulse of 327 seconds.



- The Electron launch system uses a battery-powered turbopump in its Rutherford engine -


The company says that the Rutherford is also notable as the first oxygen/hydrocarbon engine to use 3D printing for all its primary components, including the regeneratively cooled thrust chamber, injector, pumps, and main propellant valves. ..."

[Popeye82]

halleluja
bitte warm anziehen
es wird heiss

Welcome Google. Seriously. - IV - May 4, 2015
www.intellectualventures.com/insights/archives/welcome-googl…

"Google has announced that it will enter the market looking to purchase patents from individuals and small companies. Of course, Google has long been in the market for larger portfolios – buying hundreds of patents from IBM, famously bidding $π billion in an attempt to purchase Nortel’s patents and spending $12.5 billion to purchase Motorola Mobility in large part for its patent portfolio.




But with the alliteratively named Patent Purchase Promotion Google now asks smaller patent holders to step up, suggest a sales price and, with some luck, walk away with cash in hand in exchange for their IP. Google argues this new “experimental marketplace” will improve the patent landscape and put money in the hands of inventors.

Sound familiar? In the decade+ since Intellectual Ventures was founded, the market for patents has become anything but “experimental." Patents are trading hands every day, sometimes in blockbuster deals, but often one-by-one. There even exist dedicated patent brokerages specializing in identifying promising technology and connecting buyers and sellers. Intellectual Ventures alone has purchased more than 70,000 patents, putting billions of dollars into the hands of inventors, universities and companies, large and small.

Intellectual Ventures has long had a vision of “investing in invention.” The benefits of a well-functioning market for invention have always been obvious to us, providing the ability for companies to quickly and easily buy, sell and license their patented inventions for a fair price. On the flip side, companies that need access to patented technologies can obtain the rights they need efficiently. This results in more money in the hands of those who invent, ultimately spurring more invention, job creation, economic growth and technological progress. Google’s patent purchasing efforts is another step toward accomplishing our long-term vision of creating a liquid capital market for invention.

Perhaps most notably, Google forthrightly states, in the associated FAQ, that “any patents purchased by Google through this program will join our portfolio and can be used by Google in all the normal ways that patents can be used (e.g., we can license them to others, etc.).” In other words, Google is planning to buy patents on the open market and license them out in exchange for value. This approach is anything but experimental – it is the exact same business model IV has been pursuing for years. Nice to see the IV model adopted by one of the world’s largest companies (and Google needn’t worry – we don’t claim any proprietary rights to the model).

A robust market for invention requires willing buyers, willing sellers, and willing licensees using patented inventions. We’re pleased to see Google step up and join this market. So welcome Google, to the patent marketplace. We’re happy to have you on our side. "

[Popeye82]

Thought-Controlled Bionic Legs Are Finally Here, Nooo, reaaaaally. Amputees have been testing them for over a year - PopSci - May 21, 2015

- Erik Sofge -
www.popsci.com/brain-controlled-bionic-legs-are-here-no-real…

"




Gudmundur Olafsson tests his brain-controlled bionic foot at the Reykjavik headquarters of prosthetics-maker Ossur.

For a full decade, Gudmundur Olafsson was unable to move his right ankle. That's because it wasn't there. Olafsson's amputated lower leg was the delayed casualty of an accident from his childhood in Iceland, when he was hit by an oil truck. “I lived in pain for 28 years,” says Olafsson. “After 50-plus operations, I had it off.” For years after the operation he wore a Proprio Foot, a prosthetic with a motorized, battery-powered ankle, sold by the Reykjavik-based company Ossur. The Proprio is essentially a wearable robot, with algorithms and sensors that automatically adjust the angle of the foot during different points in its wearer's stride. Olafsson's ankle moved on autopilot.

But 14 months ago Ossur upgraded his hardware. Now, at age 48, Olafsson can move his right ankle by thinking about it. When the electrical impulse from his brain reaches the base of his leg, a pair of sensors embedded in his muscle tissue connect the neural dots, and wirelessly transmit that signal to the Proprio Foot. Since the command reaches the foot before the wearer's residual muscles actually contract, there's no unnatural lag between intention and action. That makes Olafsson part of a highly exclusive club. Along with David Ingvasson, a fellow Ossur tester, he's one of the only people on the planet who owns a brain-controlled bionic limb. Ossur unveiled its implanted myoelectric sensor (IMES) technology today at an event in Copenhagen, and is now preparing large-scale clinical trials, in the hopes of reaching the market in three to five years.

“The first time, to be honest, I started to cry."

This is a bigger breakthrough in the field of robotics and advanced prosthetics than it might appear. Brain-controlled bionic limbs make headlines on a regular basis, with the implication that the science has been solved, and experimental systems are already transitioning to products. But most of those devices are confined to laboratories, and many require complex surgery, such as transplanting muscle tissue or implanting electrodes in a subject's brain. These devices look like the real thing in brief, sometimes compelling video clips. But so far, prosthetics that respond to thoughts are not so much a reality as a promise.



- Proprio Foot Close-Up, Ossur -


Ossur's sensor-linked limbs, meanwhile, have stood up to the abuses of everyday activity in Iceland and England (where Olafsson now lives). During the 14-month testing period, the company's two “first-in-man” subjects have worn the devices as their sole prostheses. Ossur checks the equipment and collects data, but the limbs are theirs. And the surgery to implant the sensors was minimal. According to Thorvaldur Ingvarsson, an orthopedic surgeon and head of R&D at Ossur, the procedure took 15 minutes, and each sensor required a single-centimeter-long incision. The tiny sensors (3 millimeters-by-80 millimeters) are powered by magnetic coils embedded in the socket -- the cushioned, hollow component that fits over a user's residual limb, and connects to the prosthesis. Since there are no integrated batteries to deal with, there's no need to replace the sensors (unless they fail for other reasons). “We believe this is a lifelong sensor,” says Ingvarsson.

Another thing that differentiates this mind-controlled prosthesis is its simplicity. The sensors, which were provided to Ossur by the Alfred Mann Foundation, don't have to be attached to specific nerves. That also means that tissue doesn't have to be harvested from other, more nerve-dense parts of the subject's body. The prosthesis moves based on which sensor—the front or rear—picks up an impulse in local muscle tissue. If Olafsson moves his calf muscles, the robotic foot follows suit. “It's really surreal,” he says. “The first time, to be honest, I started to cry. You are moving the ankle, and I basically haven't had one in 11 years.”



- Proprio Foot, Ossur -


One major advantage of sensor-control, says Olafsson, is the way it redistributes your weight. When climbing stairs or hills, or even standing up from a chair, he typically favored his “sound leg.” This sort of activity is common, and part of the problematic morphology that comes with lower-limb amputations. Advanced prosthetics can appear effortless, but even a subtle shift in balance can lead to serious joint and back problems over years and decades, shortening lifespans. Now, Olafsson can rise from a chair without straining his non-prosthetic leg.
"It's the next generation that's really going to benefit from this.”

But the biggest benefit he's seen is a surprising one. “You have to learn how to use those muscles again,” says Olafsson. “How to tighten them up, in front and back. And that's the main thing. Those muscles start getting bigger, so you get better at walking. I have more stamina. My gait is better. I don't limp as much.” By forcing the wearer to actively use muscles that were previously ignored, sensor-connected limbs could halt or reverse their deterioration. It's a reminder that, despite the urge among the able-bodied to obsess over cybernetic enhancements, bionic limbs are chiefly medical devices for now, designed to restore function. That a brain-controlled bionic leg would also promote muscle growth is stranger, and more exciting, than all of the superpowered cyborgs that science fiction has to offer.

Ossur hasn't revealed how much the IMES technology will cost, but it already works with the company's existing lineup of advanced prosthetic feet, knees and integrated legs. And as more amputees get access to this system, Olafsson hopes it will head off the bad habits and muscle atrophy before they set in. “I'm not doing this for me,” he says. “I'm already old. It's the next generation that's really going to benefit from this.” "

[Popeye82]

Dutch Government to establish Northern Europe's 1st UAV Training Centre
www.strat-aero.com/news/article/22380399

"Strat Aero plc, a revenue generative international aerospace services company focused on the provision of training solutions, management systems and consultancy services to the global aviation market, is pleased to announce that it has entered into discussions at a senior level of the Netherlands Government with a view to establishing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ("UAV") Training Centre in the Netherlands (the "Training Facility"), which when operational would be the first in Northern Europe. The Company has been highly encouraged by the pro-active steps taken by the Government of the Netherlands in order to fast track the development of this Training Facility.

In order to facilitate progress towards a binding agreement the Company has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Innovation Quarter, the regional economic development agency for the Dutch region of West Holland. As part of that LOI a framework has been set out including the capacity requirements for the Training Facility as set out below.


A future agreement with the Government of the Netherlands is expected to cover the following matters:

+ The Government of the Netherlands will source and make available a location with suitable fixed facilities in which to establish a new comprehensive UAV training base for both civilian and military training on fixed wing and multi rotor unmanned Aerial Systems ("UAS")

+ The site is expected to include a runway of 8,000ft enabling full operational UAV training for large fixed wing UAVs

+ Hanger capacity for six Northrop Grumman SandShark UAV training aircraft, one Predator and one Reaper, both Military operational fixed wing UAVs

+ Strat Aero will invest in the establishment of the Training Facility including the provision of ground based equipment, training materials, management personnel and the provision of training aircraft

- The Training Facility will provide Sandshark training, designed to simulate Predator and Reaper platforms, as well as light multi-rotor UAV training for commercial pilots

- Research and development and training infrastructure and services will be available to universities and civilian organisations

- The Training Facility is expected to be a multinational resource available to all EU member states

- Strat Aero has the required management and financial resources in place to rapidly progress the development of the facility subject to final agreement of terms

- The Company is scheduled to make proposals to the Government of the Netherlands and to inspect the proposed site during January, subject to successful completion of these meetings it expects to advance to binding contractual phase during Q1 2015

- Establishment of the Training Facility is in line with the Company's strategy to build a leading aviation services provider by capitalising on multiple growth opportunities identified in all three of its existing divisions: UAV Pilot Training and Services; Aviation Management and Consultancy Services; and Aviation Software, Products and Services


Capt. Russell Peck, CEO of Strat Aero, said:"We view this LOI with Innovation Quarter and discussions with the Government of the Netherlands to establish and operate the first UAV pilot training and research and development centre in Northern Europe as testament to Strat Aero's high standing within the aerospace sector, and the rapidly emerging UAV market in particular. Our team has proven expertise in delivering solutions to both the government and private sector, as demonstrated by the establishment of a unique UAV pilot training facility in New Mexico and our co-operation agreement with a leading US defence contractor to operate a UAV pilot training programme. With the number of commercial and military applications for UAVs forecast to increase significantly in the years ahead, the need to ensure operators are trained to the highest standards is paramount. Thanks to our established reputation and early mover status in the sector, Strat Aero is well placed to capitalise on this huge opportunity and in the process become the go-to provider of bespoke UAV training and solutions. I look forward to providing further updates in due course as the project progresses to full contract stage." ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.678.080 von Popeye82 am 30.04.15 01:13:38

US passes space mining bill, The US has taken a major step forward in the latest space race, after passing a bill defining mineral rights in space - MA/CBO - May 25, 2015

- Cole Latimer -
www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/cos…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/us-passes-space-mining-bill-…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/us-drafts-new-asteroid-minin…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/space-miner-planetary-resour…

" The US has taken a major step forward in the latest space race, after passing a bill defining mineral rights in space.

The US first drafted its first space mining focused bills in September last year, in order to promote the development of a commercial asteroid resources industry for outer space in the United States and to increase the exploration and utilisation of asteroid resources in outer space”.




This was the first major step in regulating and supporting extra-terrestrial mining since the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which set out international standards for space exploration and ownership of materials found in space.

Now the US has taken the lead again, with the passing of its ‘Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015’, which is designed to establish “the guidelines regarding the development of space resources by non-federal entities”.

“This bill would create a domestic framework for assigning property rights for resources from asteroids and for settling any related legal disputes,” the bill states.

This means companies, as opposed to only nation states, have the rights to resources they obtain in space.

“Any asteroid resources obtained in outer space are the property of the entity that obtained such resources, which shall be entitled to all property rights thereto, consistent with applicable provisions of Federal law,” the bill states.

Prior to this bill no legislation existed outlining the rights of companies to resources mined from asteroids, although the issue of lunar mining still remains a contentious one.

Planetary Resources, which is backed by Google and has already partnered with Virgin Galactic as well as Bechtel, is one of the space front runners.

Deep Space Industries has also formed for asteroid mining, while China has sent rockets to explore the lunar surface for minerals, with the Chinese Government stating that "China's space exploration will not stop at the moon; our target is deep space”.

The Japanese have also recently made leaps in this direction, as they prepare to launch a new probe to conduct mineral exploration on asteroids.


For an easy overview of asteroid and lunar mining, click --------------> here to see an infographic explaining the industry. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.845.352 von Popeye82 am 26.05.15 02:00:11

The Lunar Gold Rush: How Moon Mining Could Work [infographic], An infographic explaining why we may mine the moon, +what it maaay mean for humanity - MA/VC - May 26, 2015
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/the-lunar-gold-rush-how-…

"Humans are already going to extremes to get natural resources. Gold and platinum mines in South Africa go as deep as almost 4 km into the Earth’s crust, which is about twice the depth of the Grand Canyon.

Meanwhile, up high in the Andes are some of the biggest copper and gold operations in the world. In Peru, La Rinconada is the world’s highest permanent settlement at 5,100 m, and it is situated strategically between many artisanal gold deposits in the mountains.

However, there are two frontiers that humans are still exploring in their early stages: the deep sea and spacial bodies such as asteroids, planets, and the moon. Today’s infographic covers the prospect of moon mining.




While we often think of the moon as a pretty barren landscape, it turns out moon mining could take advantage of many natural resources present on the lunar surface.

Water is vital in space for a multitude of reasons, such as for use in human consumption, agriculture, or hydrogen fuel. It’s also cost prohibitive to transport water to space anytime we may need it from earth. Scientists are now confident that the moon has a variety of water sources, including water locked up in minerals, scattered through the broken-up surface, and potentially in blocks or sheets at depth.

Helium-3 is a rare isotope of helium. Currently the United States produces only 8kg of it per year for various purposes. Helium-3 is a sought-after resource for fusion energy and energy research.

Lastly, rare earth elements (REEs) are also at high concentrations on the moon. KREEP (Potassium, REEs, and Phosphorus) is a geochemical mixture of some lunar impact breccia rocks and is expected to be extremely common on the moon. This mix also has other important substances embedded, such as uranium, thorium, fluorine, and chlorine.

If a lunar colony is indeed in our future, moon mining operations may be an important component of it.

"

[Popeye82]

Facebook will in Paris künstliche Intelligenz erforschen
www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/7688890-facebook-paris-ku…

"PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Facebook eröffnet in Paris ein Forschungslabor für künstliche Intelligenz. Das Team solle an ehrgeizigen langfristigen Projekten in den Bereichen Sprachverarbeitung, Sprach- und Bilderkennung arbeiten, teilte das weltgrößte Online-Netzwerk am Dienstag mit. Zwei solche Facebook-Forschungsteams gibt es bereits in Kalifornien und New York. Das Unternehmen entschied sich nach eigenen Angaben für Paris, weil in Frankreich "einige der besten Forscher der Welt" zu Hause seien.


Facebook will die gewonnenen Erkenntnissen auch für seine Produkte nutzen. "Wir hoffen, dass diese Forschung uns letztlich helfen wird, Dienste wie den Nachrichten-Feed, Fotos und Suche noch besser zu machen", hieß es in der Mitteilung weiter. Facebook hat rund 1,4 Milliarden aktive Nutzer./hmj/sku/DP/he "

[Popeye82]

Ericsson Mobility Report: 70 percent of world's population using smartphones, +90 percent covered by mobile broadband networks, by 2020
www.slideshare.net/Ericsson/ericsson-mobilityreportjune2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/06/03/ericsson-m…
www.ericsson.com/TET/trafficView/loadBasicEditor.ericsson

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.835.228 von Popeye82 am 22.05.15 19:21:59

Europe’s pilots call for strict curbs, on flying drones, The Commission wants Europe to be “global leader in this emerging technology”, but pilots say European airspace needs better safety 1st - SB - Jun 3, 2015

- Éanna Kelly -
www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77058/Europe%E2%80%99s-pilots-c…

"Europe’s airspace lacks the safeguards needed to cope with a high influx of drones, according to the European Cockpit Association (ECA), which says there should be a certification system covering machines of all sizes, whether in use by hobbyists or companies.


“We need to make sure we safely integrate [them],” says Paul Reuter, pilot and technical director at ECA, which represents 38,000 pilots.

Although there are no official figures, the ECA claims there have been around 190 near-misses involving drones and passenger planes already in Europe.

The ECA is at odds with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is currently drafting EU-wide legislation. The Agency is recommending drones weighing less than 500 grammes, which are often referred to as hobbyist drones, should be classified as low-risk and exempt from industry standards. Such drones must be flown within the line of sight, not exceeding an altitude of 150 metres, and kept away from areas such as airports or nuclear installations.

Bigger drones should be integrated into the existing aviation system in a safe and proportionate manner, the EASA says. This integration should foster an innovative and competitive European drone industry, creating jobs and growth.

John Horne, ECA vice president says it is a misconception that small drones are harmless ‘toys’ flying at low level. He gives the example of an emergency helicopter using an unplanned flight path to get to an accident. A police helicopter might also be called and possibly drones used by the media to capture footage. “If they’re all drawn to the same place, you can see the problem,” Horne said.

Reuter agreed, saying, “We’ve had small birds of 250 grammes before that have shattered helicopters’ plexiglass windshields.”

Horne does not advocate keeping the industry tethered to the ground but says any accident involving a drone and an airplane would knock confidence. “It would set the industry back something like 10 years,” he says.

Passenger plane engines could be harmed by coming into contact with a drone, and there have been some close calls already. Last December an investigation in the UK found that a drone came within 20 feet of an incoming plane at Heathrow airport. A close-call was also reported at New York City's La Guardia Airport last week by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

“You’re getting a completely new community in aviation, they have no clue of the risks,” says Thomas Mildenberger, vice president of Vereinigung Cockpit, the German pilots’ union.

It tells you something when not even the UK military, which uses a variety of drones, has worked out how to safely integrate fleets of manned and unmanned aircraft, says Horne. “In theatres of war, they fly in separate airspace,” he points out.


Cleared, for take-off

Drones are taking off in civilian life largely thanks to the falling costs of commodity electronics. Today in Europe there are a little over 100 manufacturers making drones and over 2,000 operators, the EU says.

The list of research and commercial activities involving drones is ever-growing. Instead of sending someone with a Geiger counter into Fukushima power station to survey radiation levels, UK-based Bristol University researchers developed a drone for the job, three years after the tsunami that triggered a nuclear emergency in Japan.

Further down the line, drones may be deployed in firefighting, search and rescue missions and monitoring offshore energy infrastructures.


Regulation

Currently, European governments set their own rules on drones. Sweden, France and Italy allow private drone operations. In the UK, anyone can go out and buy a drone weighing less than 20kg, while the Belgian parliament is currently cooking up legislation to allow the commercial use of drones in non-urban areas.

Safety is an important issue but all sorts of privacy concerns are likely to complicate the journey to the statute books. Expectations are shifting all the time. The UK’s House of Lords in March recommended a national online database recording all drone operators and flights. Authorities would trace individual flights, and the general public could use a smartphone app to find the same information.
That the continent “has to catch up” on rules for drones is a prevailing narrative in Europe’s law-making houses and is not helpful, adds Philip von Schöppenthau, ECA’s secretary-general, “Time pressure is rarely a good adviser: the risk is that shortcuts will be taken.” "

[Popeye82]

INNOVATING FOR GROWTH: Launching the New Barcelona Declaration, @the '15 Science|Business Annual Summit, economists, investors +'top level representatives' from universities, multinationals, SMEs +government entities will discuss the best ‘innovation vehicles’, to boost growth in Europe
www.sciencebusiness.net/Eventsarchive/innovationconnection/D…

"In 2002, The European Council meeting in Barcelona set a 3% GDP target for spending on research and innovation by 2010. This became for the next decade a rallying cry to support increased R&D funding in Europe – but it failed. The European Commission forecasts that in 2015 growth will rise to 1.7%. It’s time to focus on a new approach. Getting away from the spending argument, Science|Business will consult leading innovation experts and produce a new Barcelona declaration focusing on the growth targets we want to achieve through innovation: 3% GDP growth.

Every year since 2008, the Science|Business Annual Summit brings together leaders from academia, industry and policy to debate how to best unleash Europe’s technological potential and stimulate innovation in Europe. In the 2015 edition, economists, investors and top level representatives from universities, multinationals, SMEs and government entities will discuss the best ‘innovation vehicles’ to boost growth in Europe. At the conference, we will release the new Barcelona declaration.


Topics for discussion:

- How to grow through regional innovation?
- How to grow through entrepreneurship ?
- How to grow through new technologies?
- How to grow through social innovation?
- How to grow through international cooperation? "

[Popeye82]

Amazon, Google race to get your DNA, into the cloud

- By Sharon Begley +Caroline Humer -
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-google-race-dna-cloud-0…

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is in a race against Google Inc to store data on human DNA, seeking both bragging rights in helping scientists make new medical discoveries and market share in a business that may be worth $1 billion a year by 2018.


Academic institutions and healthcare companies are picking sides between their cloud computing offerings - Google Genomics or Amazon Web Services - spurring the two to one-up each other as they win high-profile genomics business, according to interviews with researchers, industry consultants and analysts.

That growth is being propelled by, among other forces, the push for personalized medicine, which aims to base treatments on a patient's DNA profile. Making that a reality will require enormous quantities of data to reveal how particular genetic profiles respond to different treatments.

Already, universities and drug manufacturers are embarking on projects to sequence the genomes of hundreds of thousands of people. The human genome is the full complement of DNA, or genetic material, a copy of which is found in nearly every cell of the body.

Clients view Google and Amazon as doing a better job storing genomics data than they can do using their own computers, keeping it secure, controlling costs and allowing it to be easily shared.

The cloud companies are going beyond storage to offer analytical functions that let scientists make sense of DNA data. Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines are also competing for a slice of the market. The "cloud" refers to data or software that physically resides in a server and is accessible via the internet, which allows users to access it without downloading it to their own computer.

Now an estimated $100 million to $300 million business globally, the cloud genomics market is expected to grow to $1 billion by 2018, said research analyst Daniel Ives of investment bank FBR Capital. By that time, the entire cloud market should have $50 billion to $75 billion in annual revenue, up from about $30 billion now.

"The cloud is the entire future of this field," Craig Venter, who led a private effort to sequence the human genome in the 1990s, said in an interview. His new company, San Diego-based Human Longevity Inc, recently tried to import genomic data from servers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland.

The transmission was so slow, scientists had to resort to sending disks and thumb drives by FedEx and human messengers, or "sneakernet," he said. The company now uses Amazon Web Services.

So does a collaboration between Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health Systems to sequence 250,000 genomes. Raw DNA data is uploaded to Amazon's cloud, where software from privately-held DNAnexus assembles the millions of chunks into the full, 3-billion-letter long genome.

DNAnexus's algorithms then determine where an individual genome differs from the "reference" human genome, the company’s chief scientist Dr. David Shaywitz said, in hopes of identifying new drug targets.


HOSTING FOR FREE

Showing how important Google and Amazon view this business, and how they hope to use existing customers to lure future ones, each is hosting well-known genomics datasets for free.

Neither company discloses the amount of genomics data it holds, but based on interviews with analysts and genomic scientists, as well as the companies' own announcements of what customers they’ve won, Amazon Web Services may be bigger.

Data from the "1000 Genomes Project," an international public-private effort that identified genetic variations found in at least 1 percent of humans, reside at both Amazon and Google "without charge," said Kathy Cravedi of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the project's sponsors.

Other paying clients with a more specific focus are picking sides.

Google, for instance, won a project from the Autism Speaks foundation to collect and analyze the genomes of 10,000 affected children and their parents for clues to the genetic basis of autism.

Another customer is Tute Genomics, whose database of 8.5 billion human DNA variants can be searched for how frequently any given variant appears, what traits it's associated with and how people with a certain variant respond to particular drugs.

Amazon is hosting the Multiple Myeloma Foundation’s project to collect complete-genome sequences and other data from 1,000 patients to identify new drug targets. It also won the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project, which has similar aims.

Amazon charges about $4 to $5 a month to store one full human genome, and Google about $3 to $5 a month. The companies also charge for data transfers or computing time, as when scientists run analytical software on stored data.

Amazon's database-analysis tool, Redshift, costs 25 cents an hour or $1,000 per terabyte per year, the company said. A terabyte is 1 trillion bytes, or 1,000 gigabytes, about enough to hold 300 hours of high-quality video.


GENETIC GOLD

Another part of the cloud services' pitch to would-be customers is that their analytic tools can fish out genetic gold - a drug target, say, or a DNA variant that strongly predicts disease risk - from a sea of data. Any discoveries made through such searches belong to the owners of the data.

"On the local university server it might take months to run a computationally-intense" analysis, said Alzheimer’s project leader Dr. Gerard Schellenberg of the University of Pennsylvania. "On Amazon, it's, 'how fast do you need it done?', and they do it."

Another selling point is security. Universities are "generally pretty porous," said Ryan Permeh, chief scientist at cybersecurity company Cylance Inc., of Irvine, California, and the security of federal government computers is "not at the top of the class."

While academic and pharmaceutical research projects are the biggest customers for genomics cloud services, they will be overtaken by clinical applications in the next 10 years, said Google Genomics director of engineering David Glazer.

Individual doctors will regularly access a cloud service to understand how a patient's genetic profile affects his risk of various diseases or his likely response to medication.

"We are at that transition point now," Glazer said.

Matt Wood, general manager for Data Science at Amazon Web Services, sees cloud demand in genomics now as "a perfect storm," as the amount of data being created, the need for collaboration and the move of genomics into clinical care accelerate.

Experts on DNA and data say without access to the cloud, modern genomics would grind to a halt.

Bioinformatics expert Dr. Atul Butte of the University of California, San Francisco, said that now, when researchers at different universities are jointly working on NIH and other genomic data, they don't have to figure out how to make their computers talk to each other. In March, NIH cleared the way for major research on the cloud when it began allowing scientists to upload important genomic data.

"My response was, it's about time," Butte said.


(Reporting by Sharon Begley and Caroline Humer; Editing by Michele Gershberg and John Pickering) "

[Popeye82]

World’s 1st hangup clearance robot launched, A new robotic unit has been designed to make block caving hangup clearance safer - MA - Jun 17, 2015

- C. Latimer -
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/world-s-first-hangup-clearan…

"The first hangup assessment and clearing robot has been installed in a Chilean copper mine.

Penguin Automated System’s unit, which is operating at Codelco’s Andina mine, was built to service the growing number of block caving operations, in an effort to increase safety and clear blockages on site without exposing operators to unnecessary risk.

“Of the estimated 200,000 drawbells in the world’s block caving operations, up to 10 per cent of them are blocked at any one time,” Penguin CEO Greg Baiden explained, highlighting the need for a robotic system for the procedure.

The Unit features an arm that reaches 4.6 metres horizontally and ten metres vertically through the throat of a drawbell.

At the end of the arm are 3D cameras, an infrared lighting system, drill, and shot loader.

It scans the inside of the drawbell, creating a virtual map of the hangup by collecting point cloud data in real time, using optical receivers.




“Typically, optical signals have to be point-to-point and aimed right on line, which would have been a problem, but we developed a way to collect the optical information in a 70-m hemisphere all around the receiver,” Baiden said.

It then allows an operator to remotely control the machine to position the arm, drill a hole, and then load the charge to remove the blockage.

The unit was also designed to overcome the issues of operating in limited or compact spaces by allowing the arm to extend fully horizontally, and then vertically.

The vertical arm is supported by a stinger that extends to the ground.

Penguin’s unit is fully electric and operates without emissions, making it safer for underground use.

Additionally it “is so quiet that Codelco wanted it equipped with beepers and lights so it could warn underground personnel of its approach,” Baiden added.

“There are several other potential applications for a robot with these capabilities – in sublevel cave mines and ore passes, as well as for explosives dismantling, environmental disaster response, or cleanup and remediation work at a nuclear power plant like Fukushima in Japan – where the Penguin robot can access and perform complex tasks without putting people at risk.” "

[Popeye82]

Australia must prepare for massive job losses, due to automation - MA/CEDA - Jun 17, 2015

- David Tuffley -
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/australia-must-prepare-f…
http://adminpanel.ceda.com.au/FOLDERS/Service/Files/Document…
https://theconversation.com/how-to-guard-your-career-against…
https://theconversation.com/job-survival-in-the-age-of-robot…
https://theconversation.com/australia-must-prepare-for-massi…

"Australia faces some tough policy decisions to reshape its economy and prepare for an uncertain future, with predictions that up to five million jobs are likely to be automated by 2030, according to Australia’s Future Workforce report released today by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).

The researchers were looking at the probability of job losses due to computerisation and automation, and found that nearly 40 per cent of Australian jobs that exist today that are at risk. They reported an even higher likelihood of job losses in parts of rural and regional Australia, with more than 60% at risk.




These challenges are not confined to Australia, but face every developed economy. It is how we adapt to this technological change that will determine our future economic prosperity, says CEDA’s chief executive, Professor Stephen Martin:

"Australia and the world is on the cusp of a new but very different industrial revolution and it is important that we are planning now to ensure our economy does not get left behind."


Going, going, gone

These changes will not arrive overnight. However, within 20 years we are likely to see significant changes in industries that are currently considered safe.

We know that jobs in agriculture, mining and manufacturing have been squeezed in recent years, but sectors that have been relatively immune to technological disruption, such as health, are also coming under pressure.

In an earlier article, I outlined the thinking skills for the future that will be in demand. We have always needed people who can focus their attention on a problem and arrive at creative solutions, and who are not bound by orthodox thinking. And will continue to need them.

Creativity and innovation are not just cliches of the modern age. It is the kind of thinking that learns from history, but which is not bound by it. It sees the patterns of the past and projects them into the future to predict where the world will be in five or ten years.

This is the essence of the kind of thinking that drives innovation. Proactively looking ahead and positioning ourselves for when the future arrives, not waiting for it to arrive and being caught flat-footed.

Higher education has its part to play by giving people not just professional and vocational skills, but also the mindset of the innovative change agent – someone who embraces change and does not resist it. This is a learnable skill, if it does not already come naturally. It just requires a willingness to leave one’s comfort zone.

The private sector should be a powerhouse of innovation as it develops new products and services for a changing world and creates employment in the process. But it starts with government; with far-sighted policies that will help us to restructure our economy for a technological future that we would barely recognise today.


Education and innovation policy must be closely linked

In the CEDA report, Professor Martin is scathingly critical of Australia’s apparent lack of commitment to properly fund education and innovation policy. We are, he says, “woefully underfunded compared to global competitors”.

The federal government’s five Industry Growth Centres, announced last year, can and should be making major contributions to meeting the challenges. Yet, as Martin points out, their funding amounts to only A$190 million over four years.

He compares this with the United Kingdom’s Catapult centres that will receive almost A$3 billion over the same period. Elsewhere in the world, the German Fraunhofer Network, the Netherlands’ Top Sectors Strategy and United States' National Network for Manufacturing Innovation all have substantially larger allocations. To underfund is a false economy.

Until we get serious about funding innovation-focused research collaborations between academia and the private sector, we will increasingly fall behind and become less competitive against other countries who recognise the value in funding innovation.


A policy solution, from Denmark

The CEDA report recommends the policy framework used by Denmark. Their approach has three aspects that Australia can learn from to good effect:

- Flexibility around hiring and firing
- Decent unemployment benefits
- Seriously good re-skilling programs.


While undoubtedly more expensive, it is arguably a better long-term solution than our current policies are likely to provide. It is investing in the human capital of a nation, taking the view that our people are our most valuable resource.

The emphasis is on educating and re-educating people for the jobs that exist now and which are likely to exist in the future. This proactive approach will keep the emerging, technologically focused economy of the future well-supplied with the skilled workers it needs for economic growth.

But won’t dole bludgers send us bankrupt? No, not necessarily. Australia, like Denmark, already has the same values of mutual obligation. Society will look after you, and you have an obligation to contribute in the best way you can. In Australia, we call this a “fair go”. We are all capable of contributing in some way, and with the proper training we can have the opportunity to do so.

Australia is a resilient nation, its people are resourceful and imaginative. With the technology to network our minds together, there are few problems that cannot be met and overcome.

David Tuffley is Lecturer in Applied Ethics and Socio-Technical Studies, School of ICT, at Griffith University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. "

[sdaktien]

Interessanter Artkel. Australien braucht mehr Dienstleistung und mehr Innovation (steht ungefähr auch so in dem Artikel wenn ich richtig gelesen habe). Ein Mittel wären Unternehmensgründungen aus den Universitäten heraus. Scheinbar bewegt sich da aber momentan zu wenig. Wäre die Frage, ob es interessante Venture Capital Aktien in Australien gibt.
Allerdings sollten wir Deutschen in dieser Frage die Nase nicht so hoch im Wind tragen. Unternehmerisches Denken und Handeln wird hier auch nicht unbedingt gefördert. Eine Möglichkeit für Australien uns zu überholen.

[Popeye82]

Solar panel highways 'might be on the horizon' - SH/TCP, SPOKANE - Jul 11, 2014
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2014/07/11/solar-panel-high…

"The solar panels that Idaho inventor Scott Brusaw has built aren't meant for rooftops. They are meant for roads, driveways, parking lots, bike trails and, eventually, highways.

Brusaw, an electrical engineer, says the hexagon-shaped panels can withstand the wear and tear that comes from inclement weather and vehicles, big and small, to generate electricity.

``We need to rebuild our infrastructure,'' said Brusaw, the head of Solar Roadways, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, about 90 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington. His idea contains ``something for everyone to like.''

``Environmentalists like it,'' he said. ``Climate change deniers like it because it creates jobs.''

While the idea may sound outlandish to some, it has already got $850,000 in seed money from the federal government, raised more than $2 million on a crowd-funding website and received celebrity praise.

Solar Roadways is part of a larger movement that seeks to integrate renewable energy technology _ including wind, geothermal and hydro power _ seamlessly into society.

The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., described companies like Solar Roadways as ``niche markets'' in the booming alternative energy industry.

``They represent the type of creative innovation that addresses design and energy, while showcasing the diversity of solar applications,'' said Tom Kimbis, a vice-president of the association.

Brusaw said that in addition to producing energy, the solar panels can melt away snow and ice, and display warning messages or traffic lines with LED lights.

There are skeptics, who wonder about the durability of the panels, which are covered by knobby, tempered glass, and how they would perform in severe weather or were covered with dirt.

``It seems like something reasonable and something that is going to be very expensive,'' said Lamar Evans of the National Renewable Energy Association in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Another problem would be how to store the electricity that could be generated, Evans said.

The Brusaws have produced no estimates of how much the solar panels would cost, so the financial realities of their vision remain an unknown.

To demonstrate the concept, the company has created a small parking lot at its headquarters, using 108 solar panels. Vehicles have been driven onto the space, without damaging the panels, he said.

``We'll start off small with driveways and walkways,'' he said.

His wife Julie came up with the idea after watching ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' the global warming movie featuring former Vice-President Al Gore, Brusaw said.

She remembered that Scott had long talked about the concept of electric roads.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration gave the Brusaws $850,000 to develop Solar Roadways over the past few years, and build the prototype parking lot.

This year, they turned to the Indiegogo crowd-funding site to raise additional money and move to the next phase. Launched on Earth Day, the campaign got off to a discouraging start, Brusaw said.

Donations trickled in slowly, but two factors helped spread the company's vision: a viral YouTube video and celebrity mentions in social media. The video has more than 14 million views.

The floodgates opened when actor George Takei of ``Star Trek'' fame and the TV show ``MythBusters'' mentioned the company. They received donations from more than 45,000 people in 50 countries.

The money will enable the company to hire staff and begin production of more panels, Brusaw said.

``Once we've perfected everything, our ultimate goal will be highways,'' he said. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

"Innovative solar-powered toilet ready, for India unveiling", using a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - R&DM/B&MGF/UoC - Mar 14, 2014
www.rdmag.com/news/2014/03/innovative-solar-powered-toilet-r…

"A revolutionary Univ. of Colorado Boulder toilet fueled by the sun that is being developed to help some of the 2.5 billion people around the world lacking safe and sustainable sanitation will be unveiled in India this month.

The self-contained, waterless toilet, designed and built using a $777,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has the capability of heating human waste to a high enough temperature to sterilize human waste and create biochar, a highly porous charcoal, said project principal investigator Karl Linden, professor of environmental engineering. The biochar has a one-two punch in that it can be used to both increase crop yields and sequester carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.



- CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Tesfayohanes Yakob, left, and research engineer Dana Haushulz are shown here with a novel solar-thermal toilet developed by a team led by CU-Boulder Professor Karl Linden as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to improve sanitation and hygiene in developing countries. Image: Univ. of Colorado -


The project is part of the Gates Foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge ,” an effort to develop a next-generation toilet that can be used to disinfect liquid and solid waste while generating useful end products , both in developing and developed nations, said Linden. Since the 2012 grant, Linden and his CU-Boulder team have received an additional $1 million from the Gates Foundation for the project, which includes a team of more than a dozen faculty, research professionals and students, many working full time on the effort.

According to the Gates Foundation, the awards recognize researchers who are developing ways to manage human waste that will help improve the health and lives of people around the world. Unsafe methods to capture and treat human waste result in serious health problems and death—food and water tainted with pathogens from fecal matter results in the deaths of roughly 700,000 children each year.

Linden’s team is one of 16 around the world funded by the Gates “Reinvent the Toilet Challenge” since 2011. All have shipped their inventions to Delhi, where they will be on display March 22 for scientists, engineers and dignitaries. Other institutional winners of the grants range from Caltech to Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the National University of Singapore.

The CU-Boulder invention consists of eight parabolic mirrors that focus concentrated sunlight to a spot no larger than a postage stamp on a quartz-glass rod connected to eight bundles of fiber-optic cables, each consisting of thousands of intertwined, fused fibers, said Linden. The energy generated by the sun and transferred to the fiber-optic cable system—similar in some ways to a data transmission line—can heat up the reaction chamber to over 600 F to treat the waste material, disinfect pathogens in both feces and urine, and produce char.

“Biochar is a valuable material,” said Linden. “It has good water holding capacity and it can be used in agricultural areas to hold in nutrients and bring more stability to the soils.” A soil mixture containing 10 percent biochar can hold up to 50 percent more water and increase the availability of plant nutrients, he said. Additionally, the biochar can be burned as charcoal and provides energy comparable to that of commercial charcoal.

Linden is working closely with project co-investigators Professor R. Scott Summers of environmental engineering and Professor Alan Weimer chemical and biological engineering and a team of postdoctoral fellows, professionals, graduate students, undergraduates and a high school student.

“We are doing something that has never been done before,” said Linden. “While the idea of concentrating solar energy is not new, transmitting it flexibly to a customizable location via fiber-optic cables is the really unique aspect of this project.” The interdisciplinary project requires chemical engineers for heat transfer and solar energy work, environmental engineers for waste treatment and stabilization, mechanical engineers to build actuators and moving parts and electrical engineers to design control systems, Linden said.

Tests have shown that each of the eight fiber-optic cables can produce between 80 and 90 watts of energy, meaning the whole system can deliver up to 700 watts of energy into the reaction chamber, said Linden. In late December, tests at CU-Boulder showed the solar energy directed into the reaction chamber could easily boil water and effectively carbonize solid waste.

While the current toilet has been created to serve four to six people a day, a larger facility that could serve several households simultaneously is under design with the target of meeting a cost level of five cents a day per user set by the Gates Foundation. “We are continuously looking for ways to improve efficiency and lower costs,” he said.

“The great thing about the Gates Foundation is that they provide all of the teams with the resources they need,” Linden said. “The foundation is not looking for one toilet and one solution from one team. They are nurturing unique ideas and looking at what the individual teams bring overall to the knowledge base.”

Linden, who called the 16 teams a “family of researchers,” said the foundation has funded trips for CU-Boulder team members to collaborate with the other institutions in places like Switzerland, South Africa and North Carolina. “Instead of sink or swim funding, they want every team to succeed. In some ways we are like a small startup company, and it’s unlike any other project I have worked on during my career,” he said.

CU-Boulder team member Elizabeth Travis from Parker, Colo., who is working toward a master’s degree in the engineering college’s Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities, said her interest in water and hygiene made the Reinvent the Toilet project a good fit. “It is a really cool research project and a great team,” she said. “Everyone is very creative, patient and supportive, and there is a lot of innovation. It is exciting to learn from all of the team members.”

“We have a lot of excitement and energy on our team, and the Gates Foundation values that,” Linden said. “It is one thing to do research, another to screw on nuts and bolts and make something that can make a difference. To me, that’s the fun part, and the project is a nice fit for CU-Boulder because we have a high interest in developing countries and expertise in all of the renewable energy technologies as well as sanitation.”

The CU-Boulder team is now applying for phase two of the Gates Foundation Reinvent the Toilet grant to develop a field-worthy system to deploy in a developing country based on their current design, and assess other technologies that may enhance the toilet system, including the use of high-temperature fluids that can collect, retain and deliver heat. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Global Innovation Exchange: A 'new kind of investment, in higher ed' - FY/M/TU/UoW/BB/NYT, TSINGHUA/WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Jun 29, 2015

- By Emma Peters -
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-innovation-exchange-a-n…
www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/nyregion/bloomberg-philanthropies…

"

- Rendering of new GIX campus in Bellevue, Wash. (Image: GIX) -


Last week, Microsoft (MSFT) announced its $40 million contribution to the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), “a new model of learning” that partners the tech behemoth with the University of Washington and the “MIT of China,” Tsinghua University.


GIX, set to open next year, will be a graduate school with an aim to train students to solve real-world technology, design and entrepreneurship challenges through “project-based learning.”

Students who finish the program will get a master’s degree in technology innovation and, it’s hoped, a crash course in startup culture. The goal is to help students learn how to navigate the tech world better than traditional academia does now.

The institute will be based in Bellevue, Wash., just east of Seattle and only 10 miles from the University of Washington’s campus.

Ann Kirschner, the dean of the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY and a proponent of academic innovation, praised GIX as a “a giant step forward” in the largely static realm of higher education, explaining that it is the first institution of its kind in more than one way.

It’s the first time a Chinese academic institution has put down roots on U.S. soil. The inverse relationship, with American universities expanding their physical presence abroad— like NYU Abu Dhabi or Georgetown’s Qatar campus — is more common, says Vikram Jandhyala, vice provost for innovation at the University of Washington.

GIX is a good opportunity for American students to learn about the Chinese mindset, he said. While Americans are known for bold and risky choices in the tech industry, the Chinese have a reputation for taking a slower, more cautious approach, thinking more about the long term.


The Microsoft connection

The other innovative aspect of the GIX partnership is its corporate connection. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., hopes to bolster the tech economy in the Pacific Northwest with its financial contribution. The greater Seattle area is also home to web retail giant Amazon.com (AMZN).

The ultimate goal is to create the same sort of symbiotic relationship that Stanford has with Silicon Valley.

“Everybody has Stanford-envy, everybody says I want this to be just like Stanford and Silicon Valley,” Kirschner said.

Don’t expect to see this type of feeder program in Seattle anytime soon though. The inaugural 2016 GIX class is expected to have just 30 students. Though they hope to expand to a class of 3,000 by 2025, Kirschner said that pace is more on par with the academic rate of change than that of the tech world.

The GIX model is fairly similar to that of Cornell Tech, an applied sciences graduate institute in New York City that partners Cornell University and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. Bloomberg Philanthropies announced this month that it’s giving $100 million to build a new campus for the institute (which is currently housed in Google’s New York office). Jandhyala said that Cornell Tech and GIX have a lot to learn from each other.


Potential challenges

Any new model for higher education has its own set of challenges, of course. The GIX program will put University of Washington and Tsinghua University students in the same classrooms to collaborate on the same projects that have real-world applications. As shown time and again, whose-idea-was-it lawsuits have plagued Silicon Valley and the tech scene for a while. Facebook (more famously) and Snapchat (more recently) – both created by college students at the time of their founding – have been entangled in major lawsuits disputing intellectual property.

Jandhyala said that GIX is discussing ways to prepare for these sort of intellectual property conflicts, though it's still unclear what exactly the school's strategy will be on this front.

To some, the choice of a Chinese partner for a technology endeavor may be troubling, especially in light of the recent federal employee data breach, for which China has been accused of carrying out.

Kirschner acknowledged this, saying, “You’re going to have people who call it un-American, asking, ‘why are we selling out to the people who hack our most precious databases?’”

Finally, there’s the complication of melding three institutions into one:

“You have two universities with very different ideas about governance, intellectual property, academic freedom,” said Kirschner. “Now you throw in a corporate partnership, again, with very different ideas, and it gets challenging.”

According to Jandhyala, in order to succeed, GIX will have to practice just what they preach—innovation. "

[Popeye82]

Can we grow plants in space? - ENN/SD, LS/SR/PU/NASA, PURDUE - Jul 2, 2015
[e-mail]
765-496-2050
[e-mail]
765-494-1347
[e-mail]
www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q2/study-targeted-leds…
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/48737
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214552414000327
https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/Pages/default.aspx

"A Purdue University study shows that targeting plants with red and blue LEDs provides energy-efficient lighting in contained environments, a finding that could advance the development of crop-growth modules for space exploration.


Research led by Cary Mitchell, professor of horticulture, and then-master's student Lucie Poulet found that leaf lettuce thrived under a 95-to-5 ratio of red and blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, placed close to the plant canopy. The targeted LED lighting used about 90 percent less electrical power per growing area than traditional lighting and an additional 50 percent less energy than full-coverage LED lighting.

The study suggests that this model could be a valuable component of controlled-environment agriculture and vertical farming systems in space and on Earth, Mitchell said.




"Everything on Earth is ultimately driven by sunlight and photosynthesis," he said. "The question is how we can replicate that in space. If you have to generate your own light with limited energy resources, targeted LED lighting is your best option. We're no longer stuck in the era of high-power lighting and large, hot, fragile lamps."

One of the major obstacles to long-duration space exploration is the need for a bioregenerative life-support system - an artificial, self-contained ecosystem that mimics Earth's biosphere. A round-trip voyage to Mars for a crew of six, for example, could take about 1,000 days and would require more food, water and oxygen than current space vehicles can carry. Developing a module for efficiently growing crops would allow a space crew to grow food on long voyages and on the moon or Mars, said Poulet, now a doctoral student at Blaise Pascal University in France.

"If we can design a more energy-efficient system, we can grow vegetables for consumption for longer space travel," she said. "I can imagine a greenhouse on the moon."

The main challenge to creating a crop-growth module for space travel has been the staggering energy cost of the 600- to 1,000-watt conventional high-pressure sodium lamps traditionally used to mimic sunlight and stimulate plant photosynthesis in contained environments. The lamps also scorch plants if placed too close and require a filtration system to absorb the excess heat they create. "

[Popeye82]

www.chip.de/news/NASA-baut-eigene-Transformer-Drohne-Flug-Mo…

[Popeye82]

Seattle experiencing growing pains, during massive tech boom - SH/TCP, SEATTLE - Jul 3, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/07/03/seattle-experien…

"Seattle, notorious for boom-and-bust cycles stretching back to the 19th century Alaska gold rush, is booming once again.

Thickets of yellow cranes have crowded the skyline, where new glass-sided office buildings, hotels and apartment towers blot out views of the mountains and the Space Needle. Food trucks dot the streets and young software engineers with disposable income fill the bars.

But the boom has brought handwringing, as residents fret over whether Seattle has become a traffic-snarled city for the rich with soaring rental rates, overly dependent on the company behind it all: Amazon.


The online retail giant has brought tens of thousands of workers to its campus in the South Lake Union neighbourhood, overtaken the University of Washington as Seattle's biggest employer and lined up enough office space to roughly triple its headcount here.

``A lot of people who have lived in Seattle for 10 or 20 years are getting pushed out, ''says Jeff Reifman, a former Microsoft programmer who has criticized the ways Amazon is changing Seattle, including in a well-read essay last year on how the influx of male tech workers has skewed the dating scene.

To some, the complaints sound like trying to find the dark cloud in the silver lining.

``Cleveland would be doing cartwheels for this type of situation,'' commercial real estate expert Jim Allison said.

He suggests such talk would have been unthinkable five years ago, when Seattle's biggest private employer, Washington Mutual, collapsed. He credits Amazon for Seattle's turnaround, and credits the city with being a model for the ``right type of growth'' _ urban, young, educated and transit-oriented.

Nevertheless, growing pains are undeniable. Seattle, one of the nation's fastest growing cities, is expected to gain another 120,000 residents and 115,000 new jobs over the next 20 years. It's not just Amazon: Facebook, Google, Expedia and other tech giants have opened or are opening offices.

Those extra workers are putting pressure on rents, which have skyrocketed more than 37 per cent in Seattle since mid-2010, according to Tom Cain of Apartment Insights Washington.

The median rental price for all homes in Seattle in May was $2,289 a month, Zillow reports, compared to a national average of $1,367.

Mayor Ed Murray, who has a special committee seeking ways to provide affordable housing and avoid displacing longtime residents, last week announced another step: An agency to co-ordinate public investments in transportation, parks and housing around new development.

Amazon says it has more than 20,000 workers in Seattle, and estimates suggest it has enough office space built or planned to grow to more than 70,000, taking up a huge chunk of the city's commercial real estate. That raises the spectre among some residents of Boeing's bust in the early 1970s, when two real estate professionals put up a billboard reading, ``Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights.''

Boeing's downturn led to thousands of lost jobs, with ripple effects throughout Seattle.

While City Councilman Mike O'Brien said he loves that Amazon is hiring, it ``can't continue to grow at the pace they're growing at.''

``When it has a major hiccup _ and it will _ it will be a major shock to our system,'' O'Brien said.

Building in Seattle, Amazon has helped remake an old warehouse district into a hub of glass-paneled office buildings, along with new restaurants and a Tesla dealership.

Some businesses were kicked out when their buildings sold for Amazon or related projects, but Monty Holmes still runs his family-owned trophy shop, Athletic Awards, one of the few remaining enterprises from South Lake Union's days as a blue-collar neighbourhood. He says business is great, thanks in part to Amazon, which buys employee awards and emblazoned clothing from him.

FareStart, a restaurant and catering business that trains homeless people for food-service careers, is across the street from a building under construction for Amazon. When the company moves in, FareStart expects to see more Amazon workers at lunchtime.

``It's more success for everyone,'' FareStart marketing director Tina Gonsalves said.

Amazon says 55 per cent of its workers bus, bike or walk to work, and it notes it has given the city tens of millions of dollars for affordable housing, paid for a new street car and has contributed to nearly 100 charitable organizations.

``We made a decision to invest in our hometown and build an urban campus in the heart of Seattle,'' spokesman Ty Rogers said in an email.

But the company has also brought a lot of people into an area that has relatively little housing or public transportation, though the city has added bus service and street cars, and light rail lines are being expanded.

Some of Seattle's new arrivals have spread out, driving up rents in far flung neighbourhoods. That's prompted concern about the effect on seniors, low-wage workers, artists and others.

Even app-economy workers have felt the pinch. Jen Joyce, a marketing manager for a ride-service company, was startled to learn the rent for her one-bedroom apartment was going up $200 a month.

Urban planner Alon Bassok was inspired by Seattle's growth challenges to run for City Council this year.

``We as a city have to figure out how to accommodate and rise to the occasion of something like Amazon rather than saying something's their fault,'' Bassok said.

__________________________________________

Follow Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle "

[Popeye82]

Super-Muscular Pigs Created by Small Genetic Tweak, Researchers hope the genetically engineered animals will be approved for human consumption - SA/SNU/N, SEOUL - Jul 1, 2015

- David Cyranoski -
www.scientificamerican.com/article/super-muscular-pigs-creat…

"Belgian Blue cattle are hulking animals that provide unusually large amounts of prized, lean cuts of beef, the result of decades of selective breeding. Now, a team of scientists from South Korea and China says that it has created the porcine equivalent using a much faster method.


These ‘double-muscled’ pigs are made by disrupting, or editing, a single gene—a change that is much less dramatic than those made in conventional genetic modification, in which genes from one species are transplanted into another. As a result, their creators hope that regulators will take a lenient stance towards the pigs—and that the breed could be among the first genetically engineered animals to be approved for human consumption.



- These meaty pigs could become the first genetically engineered animals to be approved for human consumption. -


Jin-Soo Kim, a molecular biologist at Seoul National University who is leading the work, argues that his gene edits merely speed up a process that could, at least in principle, occur through a more natural route. “We could do this through breeding,” he says, “but then it would take decades.”

No genetically engineered animal has been approved for human consumption anywhere in the world, owing to fears of negative environmental and health effects. Fast-growing transgenic Atlantic salmon have languished in regulatory limbo for 20 years with the US Food and Drug Administration (see Nature 497, 17–18; 2013).

Kim and his colleagues are part of a growing band of researchers who hope that gene editing, which can be used to disable—or knock out—a single gene, will avoid this. Reports of gene-editing applications in agriculture include the creation of hornless cattle. (Horns make the animals difficult to handle and are currently burned off in a painful procedure.) Researchers have also engineered pigs that are immune to African swine fever virus.

Key to creating the double-muscled pigs is a mutation in the myostatin gene (MSTN). MSTN inhibits the growth of muscle cells, keeping muscle size in check. But in some cattle, dogs and humans, MSTN is disrupted and the muscle cells proliferate, creating an abnormal bulk of muscle fibres.

To introduce this mutation in pigs, Kim used a gene-editing technology called a TALEN, which consists of a DNA-cutting enzyme attached to a DNA-binding protein. The protein guides the cutting enzyme to a specific gene inside cells, in this case in MSTN, which it then cuts. The cell’s natural repair system stitches the DNA back together, but some base pairs are often deleted or added in the process, rendering the gene dysfunctional. "

[Popeye82]

Superconductivity Record Bolstered, by Magnetic Data, Measurements show that hydrogen sulfide superconducts much closer to room temperature than other materials do - SA/N/RICMASS/UoC/UoM/APS/OU/MPI/N, CALIFORNIA/SAN DIEGO/ROME/MAINZ/SAN ANTONIO/OSAKA - Jun 30, 2015

- Edwin Cartlidge -
www.scientificamerican.com/article/superconductivity-record-…
www.nature.com/news/superconductivity-record-breaks-under-pr…

"The long-standing quest to find a material that can conduct electricity without resistance at room temperature may have taken a decisive step forward. Scientists in Germany have observed the common molecule hydrogen sulfide superconducting at a record-breaking 203 kelvin (–70 ˚C) when subjected to very high pressures. The result confirms preliminary findings released by the researchers late last year, and is said to be corroborated by data from several other groups.

Some physicists urge caution, however. Ivan Schuller at the University of California in San Diego, says that the results "look promising" but are not yet watertight. However, Antonio Bianconi, director of the Rome International Center for Materials Science Superstripes (RICMASS), thinks that the evidence is compelling. He describes the findings as "the main breakthrough" in the search for a room-temperature superconductor since the 1986 discovery of superconductivity in cuprates—exotic ceramic compounds that exhibit the phenomenon up to 164 K.

Last December, Mikhail Eremets and two other physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz reported that they had discovered hydrogen sulfide superconducting below 190 K. When they placed a 10 micrometre-wide sample of the material in a diamond-anvil cell and subjected it to a pressure of about 1.5 million atmospheres, they found that its electrical resistance dropped by more than a factor of 1,000 when cooled below the threshold, or 'critical', temperature.

At that time, however, the researchers had not been able to demonstrate a second key characteristic of superconductivity, known as the Meissner effect, in which samples expel a magnetic field when cooled below the critical temperature.

In the latest work, the authors got together with two physicists from the University of Mainz to build a non-magnetic cell and acquire a very sensitive type of magnetometer known as a SQUID. They placed 50 micrometre-wide samples of hydrogen sulfide under pressures of up to 2 million atmospheres in an external magnetic field, and slowly warmed them, starting from a few degrees above absolute zero. They observed the tell-tale sign of the Meissner effect—a sudden increase in the sample's 'magnetization signal'—when the temperature rose past 203 K.

As to why they measured a higher critical temperature than they did last year, the researchers point to possible tiny variations in the samples' crystal structure. (Under conditions of high pressures and low temperatures, hydrogen sulfide is in a solid state.)


Growing acceptance

Bianconi says that many superconductivity researchers were sceptical of the findings when they were presented at a conference of the American Physical Society in San Antonio, Texas, in March. But the data were "very well accepted" by participants at a RICMASS conference he organized on the Italian island of Ischia in mid-June.

During discussions at the Ischia meeting, he says, it emerged that some groups in China and Japan had reproduced the results, including the drop in electrical resistance and the Meissner effect. Bianconi will not say who the groups are, explaining that they want to delay announcing their results until Eremets and colleagues have published their findings in a peer-reviewed journal (the papers are available in the arXiv online repository).

Katsuya Shimizu, a physicist at Osaka University in Japan, says that he and his colleagues have confirmed the 190 K electrical transition, using their own refrigerator to hold several samples and cells provided by Eremets.

And Schuller argues that the Mainz group should do further checks to make sure that they have not overlooked "an uncontrolled artefact," such as background noise picked up during the delicate measurements of magnetization.

Eremets and his colleagues propose that the superconductivity is likely to originate in the vibrations of the crystal lattice of H3S, which is created when hydrogen sulfide is compressed. These vibrations bind electrons together in pairs that then move through the lattice without resistance, as described by the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory that holds true for conventional, low-temperature superconductors.

If so, they point out, other hydrogen compounds might then superconduct at even higher temperatures, and possibly even at room temperature, given that the BCS theory does not place any upper limit on the superconducting transition.

Some theorists, however, are not sure that BCS theory is the correct interpretation. "The question of where the high critical temperature comes from is still wide open in my opinion," says theoretical physicist Jorge Hirsch at the University of California, San Diego.


This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on June 29, 2015. "

[Popeye82]

" 'Breakthrough' in Fusion Research Brings New Nuclear Power Source Closer" - US.net/UoM/O.com/CCfFE - Mar 30, 2014

- J. Daly -
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Breakth…
www.uranium-stocks.net/home/breakthrough-in-fusion-research-…

"Nuclear fusion has similarities to conventionally produced nuclear power in that it produces zero carbon electric power, but its big advantage over fission nuclear power is that it generates no nuclear waste, the bane of fission nuclear power plants. Recent research breakthroughs are bringing closer the day that power generation from fusion reactors will become a reality.

While research to develop commercially viable nuclear fusion has been underway for decades, advances have been slow due to the immense technological complexities involved and modest funding. That said, recent technological breakthroughs may hasten progress.

On 19 March the University of Michigan announced that a team of University of Michigan and Princeton researchers has uncovered a new kind of magnetic behavior that could help make nuclear fusion reactions easier to start. Designers of inertial fusion ignition systems may be able to use this newly discovered feature to place the laser spots so that they heat the target fuel cylinder more quickly and efficiently. Assistant Professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences Alexander Thomas said, "Essentially, what we found is a completely new magnetic reconnection mechanism. Though we're studying it in an inertial confinement fusion process, it might be relevant to the surface of the sun and magnetic confinement fusion."

The research breakthroughs could help overcome fusion’s major problem, how to design a fusion reactor that consumes less energy than is needed to power it. In Britain at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy Professor Steve Cowley claims that ongoing progress brings the day of sustainable fusion power ever closer, commenting, "I'm always asked, how can we put the sun in a bottle? But I already did that in the Joint European Torus. Until now, power output was small. People forget how important it was. ...You could say that the Wright brothers' flight did not matter, just because they flew about 30 feet.” Cowley was referring to the Joint European Torus experiment in 1997, when nuclear fusion briefly generated 16 megawatts of power.

In earlier research in 1994, the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory generated 10.7 million watts of power for a brief moment, with research generating plasma temperatures of 510 million degrees centigrade, the highest ever produced in a laboratory, and well beyond the 100 million degrees required for commercial fusion. Three years later, the Joint European Torus in England exceeded the PPPL's power generation at 16 million watts, but these outputs were not sustainable.

Francesco Romanelli, leader of the team of scientists operating the JET noted during an interview, "By the end of the century, 30 percent of global energy could be generated by nuclear fusion. I hope that by 2040 we will start to see fusion power injecting electricity into the grid."

The question of who might dominate this incipient energy source is unclear at present, but many Asian countries, including China, India, Japan and South Korea have expressed interest and could be countries that come to dominate the industry, should they finance breakthrough technologies leading to patents as the U.S. and the EU focus on small wind and solar energies. In a prime example of EU priorities, by 2011, the EU had already invested $110 billion annually in alternative energy sources while allocating only $400 million for ITER, an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor adjacent to the Cadarache facility in southern France.

With such funding priorities, the 21st century might be remembered for Asia dominating a clean energy source in the greatest technological advance since the era of oil began. "

[Popeye82]

U-M, UVa joint startup "attracts financing, to bring batteryless sensors to market" - UoM, ARBOR - Mar 31, 2014
http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22090-u-m-uva-joint-startup…

"PsiKick, an ultra-low-power wireless sensor company co-founded by a University of Michigan professor, has completed Series A, or first-round, funding.


The financing, led by New Enterprise Associates, will be used to accelerate PsiKick's growth and product development to meet the increasing demand for energy-efficient system-on-a-chip technology. MINTS, a U-M venture fund, and Osage University Partners also participated as new investors in this round.

PsiKick was launched in 2012 by David Wentzloff, U-M assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and partners Benton Calhoun, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia, and company CEO Brendan Richardson. It has offices in both Ann Arbor and Charlottesville, Va.

"This is a unique partnership between two universities and their inventors," said Jack Miner, director of the Venture Center within U-M Tech Transfer. "PsiKick benefited from UVA resources, from its home base in Charlottesville, and from U-M resources, having a satellite office in U-M Tech Transfer's Venture Accelerator. The result speaks for itself with funding from NEA, one of the nation's premier venture firms."

Wentzloff said the financing represents a huge step for PsiKick and a nice validation of the research conducted at U-M's Wireless Integrated Circuits and Systems group.

"This funding allows us to expand our leadership and technical teams, begin development of our first wireless system-on-a-chip and ultimately deliver chips to our customers," he said. "This will enable our customers to develop 'Internet of Things' devices that last much longer on batteries or operate entirely from harvested energy."

PsiKick's ultra-low-power wireless systems-on-a-chip are capable of operating on 1/100th to 1/1000th of the power budget of other low-power integrated circuit platforms. Their extreme energy efficiency enables them to be powered without a battery from harvested energy sources such as vibration, thermal gradients, solar, radio frequency or piezo actuation.

At its launch four years ago, the company demonstrated its technology by featuring a single chip that conducted continuous EKG monitoring and detection of atrial fibrillation based on an algorithm developed by a cardiologist at UVA. Wireless updates each second were sent by radio, all operating continuously and powered by body heat using a small thermoelectric generator on a body with no battery at all in the system.

"Imagine that technology being integrated into a Band-aid-like device for physiological monitoring at home or integrated into a performance shirt for athletes," Wentzloff said.

"As soon as you stick it on or put the shirt on, the device powers up from your body heat and starts recording and wirelessly talking to your phone. And since there's no battery, it can be disposable, or in the case of a shirt washed and dried—neither of which is good for batteries."

PsiKick licensed the initial technology from the universities of Michigan, Virginia and Washington. "

[Popeye82]

vielleicht noch kompletteistellung




Speeding Up Genome Assembly, from Months to Minutes - Jun 30, 2015
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/speeding-up-genome-assembl…

[Popeye82]

Forget ‘Deep Dream,’ Google’s ‘Deep Stereo’ Can Recreate the Real World
www.popsci.com/putting-googles-famously-trippy-deep-network-…

[Popeye82]

Opal discovery "may prove life on Mars" - MA/NBC/UoG/NHM/M&PS/NASA, GLASGOW/LONDON - Jul 9, 2015

- Cole Latimer -
www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_411822_en.html
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/opal-discovery-may-prove-lif…
www.nbcnews.com/science/space/martian-opals-could-contatin-e…
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/maintenance/

"The discovery of opals in a meteorite from Mars may be proof of life on the red planet.

According to NBC, a team of researchers from the University of Glasgow and the Natural History Museum in London have uncovered traces of opal-A or ‘fire opal’ in the Nakhla meteorite, which fell from Mars and landed on earth early last century.




Publishing their findings in the journal of Meteoritics & Planetary Science, the scientists used electron and x-ray imaging and spectroscopy to uncover the 1.7 gram section of opal-A, which was created by the interaction of Martian water with silica within the meteorite.

Chief researcher, professor martin Lee, described the discovery as significant.

“The slice of Nakhla that we have is small, and the amount of fire opal we’ve found in it is even smaller, but our discovery of opal is significant for a couple of reasons,” Lee said in a statement.

“Firstly, it definitively confirms findings from NASA’s imaging and exploration of the Martian surface which appeared to show deposits of opal. This is the first time that a piece of Mars here on Earth has been shown to contain opal.

“Secondly, we know that on Earth opals like these are often formed in and around hot springs. Microbial life thrives in these conditions, and opal can trap and preserve these microbes for millions of years. If Martian microbes existed, it’s possible they too may be preserved in opal deposits on the surface of Mars.”

The slice of opal is reportedly orange, yellow, and red in colouration. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.845.352 von Popeye82 am 26.05.15 02:00:11

Planetary Resources' 1st spacecraft begins testing asteroid prospecting technology, The Arkyd 3 Reflight(A3R) will spent its three-month orbiting mission sending back data to a group of scientists based @the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, WA
------> www.planetaryresources.com/2015/07/planetary-resources-first…
www.mining.com/planetary-resources-first-spacecraft-begins-t…

"Asteroid mining company Planetary Resources successfully deployed Thursday its first spacecraft from the International Space Station’s (ISS) Kibo airlock, beginning a 90-day mission aimed to test extraterrestrial prospecting technology.

The Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R), launched to the ISS onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 last April, will spent its three-month orbiting mission sending back data to a group of scientists based at the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.



- Arkyd 6, launching later this year. (Image courtesy of Planetary Resources) -








The demonstration vehicle, said the company in a statement, expects to validate several core technologies, including avionics, control systems and software, which Planetary Resources plans to incorporate into future spacecraft that will venture into the Solar System and prospect for resource-rich near-Earth asteroids.

“Our philosophy is to test often, and if possible, to test in space (…) We are innovating on every level from design to launch,” Planetary Resources president and chief engineer, Chris Lewicki, said.

He noted that the A3R is the most sophisticated, yet cost-effective, test demonstration spacecraft ever built. Its deployment, added co-founder and co-chairman Peter H. Diamandis, represents a “significant milestone” for the company.

Many consider asteroid mining a first and key step to the eventual colonization of outer space, something like California's Gold Rush, but out of this planet.

Nearly 9,000 asteroids larger than 36 meters (150 feet) in diameter orbit near Earth. Geologists believe they are packed with iron ore, nickel and precious metals at much higher concentrations than those found on Earth, making up a market valued in the trillions of dollars.

Asteroids are also a prime source for water in space, essential for interplanetary outpost.



- Arkyd 3R deploying from the Kibo Module on the International Space Station. (Courtesy of NASA) - "

[Popeye82]

We' "ve Made It To Pluto! What's Next?" - PopSci/NASA - Jul 14/16, 2015
------> www.nasa.gov/press/2015/april/nasa-s-new-horizons-spacecraft…
------> http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Press-Conferences/April-…
www.popsci.com/we-made-it-pluto-whats-next?cmpid=enews&spPod…










- This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard New Horizons on April 9, 2015, from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers). It is the first color image ever made of the Pluto system by a spacecraft on approach. -

[Popeye82]

U of A spin-off company 'game changer' for renewable fuels industry, A University of Alberta spinoff company commercializing technology developed by a Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences researcher is introducing the 'next-generation of renewable fuels'. Almost 10 years in the making, Forge Hydrocarbons is commercializing a patented conversion process, developed by David Bressler, that takes agricultural feed stocks like animal fat, such as beef tallow, crop seed oil +eeeeeven restaurant grease, +converts them into 'drop in' fuels
http://vimeo.com/77000973
www.ales.ualberta.ca/ALESNews/2013/October/UAlbertaspinoffco…

"A University of Alberta spinoff company commercializing technology developed by a Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences researcher is introducing the next-generation of renewable fuels.

Almost 10 years in the making, Forge Hydrocarbons is commercializing a patented conversion process developed by David Bressler that takes agricultural feed stocks like animal fat, such as beef tallow, crop seed oil and even restaurant grease, and converts them into ‘drop in’ fuels.

Unlike traditional renewable fuels like bio-diesel, ethanol and bio-jet fuel, drop in fuels are chemically similar to and interchangeable with petroleum-based fuels, which means they can be used in their pure form as, for example, gasoline or natural gas or jet fuel. The patented process also converts the same agricultural feeds stocks into solvents and diluents.

“I’ve been waiting for a technology like this for a long time,” said Tim Haig, president and CEO of Forge Hydrocarbons. An experienced entrepreneur, Haig started and ran BIOX, Canada’s biggest and most successful renewable fuel plant based on a then-breakthrough technology he acquired and commercialized from the University of Toronto, for 12 years, until this opportunity presented itself. “This is the first technology that creates drop-in fuels from agricultural and forestry feed stocks and I know it will dominate the renewable fuel industry,” he said.

Bressler made his initial discovery in 2004 with funding from an NSERC Discovery grant. Since then, he has received more than $4.9 million from a variety of funders to pursue the research and commercialize the technology.



- ALES researcher David Bressler, left, accepts TEC Edmonton's Spinoff Achievement Award from Western Economic Diversification Minister Michelle Rempel during the company's launch at Agri-Food Discovery Place on UAlberta's South Campus. They are joined by Tim Haig, President and CEO of Forge Hydrocarbons. -


His patented conversion process uses high-temperature chemistry whereby the feed stock is heated with water to create a mixture of fatty acids and glycerol. Once the mixture is cooled, the fatty acids are separated from the glycerol and water. Those fatty acids are then heated to a point where the oxygen contained within them is released. This is the key step that until now, no one had been able to do in a cost-effective way.

Once the oxygen is removed, the fatty acid becomes a hydrocarbon. Further processing converts the hydrocarbon into the desired fuel such as gasoline, natural gas, jet fuel, diesel, lubricating oil, solvents and diluents.

Bressler adds that the production of these drop-in fuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90 per cent when compared with the production of traditional petroleum-based hydrocarbons.

The company received one of two “University of Alberta Spinoff Achievement Award” from TEC Edmonton during its official launch this morning at a ceremony attended by Verlyn Olson, the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Honourable Michelle Rempel, Minister of Western Economic Diversification.

A pre-commercial plant using the company’s patented conversion process is currently being commissioned in Agri-Food Discovery Place, on the University of Alberta’s South Campus. With a capacity of producing 200,000 litres a year, it will be operational by the end of the year. The following phase of the company’s evolution will be a full-scale commercial plant.

Funders for the project during the last decade include Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, Alberta Innovates – Bio Solutions, the Alberta Meat and Livestock Agency, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Forge Hydrocarbons, the National Science and Engineering Research Council, the University of Alberta and Western Economic Diversification. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.210.565 von Popeye82 am 17.07.15 16:18:11

[Popeye82]

Self-Driving Cars. Who Will win, +Who Will Lose?
www.cantechletter.com/2015/07/why-autonomous-vehicles-will-r…

[sdaktien]

Disney. Der hatte schon vor 50 Jahren Herbie

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.210.565 von Popeye82 am 17.07.15 16:18:11

Pluto's atmosphere found being stripped away, by the solar wind
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20…
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/48797

"New Horizons has discovered a region of cold, dense ionized gas tens of thousands of miles beyond Pluto — the planet’s atmosphere being stripped away by the solar wind and lost to space. Beginning an hour and half after closest approach, the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument observed a cavity in the solar wind — the outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun — between 48,000 miles (77,000 km) and 68,000 miles (109,000 km) downstream of Pluto. SWAP data revealed this cavity to be populated with nitrogen ions forming a “plasma tail” of undetermined structure and length extending behind the planet.


Similar plasma tails are observed at planets like Venus and Mars. In the case of Pluto’s predominantly nitrogen atmosphere, escaping molecules are ionized by solar ultraviolet light, “picked up” by the solar wind, and carried past Pluto to form the plasma tail discovered by New Horizons. Prior to closest approach, nitrogen ions were detected far upstream of Pluto by the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) instrument, providing a foretaste of Pluto’s escaping atmosphere.

Plasma tail formation is but one fundamental aspect of Pluto’s solar wind interaction, the nature of which is determined by several yet poorly constrained factors. Of these, perhaps the most important is the atmospheric loss rate. “This is just a first tantalizing look at Pluto’s plasma environment,” says co-investigator Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder, who leads the New Horizons Particles and Plasma team. “We’ll be getting more data in August, which we can combine with the Alice and Rex atmospheric measurements to pin down the rate at which Pluto is losing its atmosphere. Once we know that, we’ll be able to answer outstanding questions about the evolution of Pluto’s atmosphere and surface and determine to what extent Pluto’s solar wind interaction is like that of Mars.”




Image shows artist’s concept of the interaction of the solar wind (the supersonic outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun) with Pluto’s predominantly nitrogen atmosphere. Some of the molecules that form the atmosphere have enough energy to overcome Pluto’s weak gravity and escape into space, where they are ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation. As the solar wind encounters the obstacle formed by the ions, it is slowed and diverted (depicted in the red region), possibly forming a shock wave upstream of Pluto. The ions are “picked up” by the solar wind and carried in its flow past the dwarf planet to form an ion or plasma tail (blue region). The Solar Wind around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on the New Horizons spacecraft made the first measurements of this region of low-energy atmospheric ions shortly after closest approach on July 14. Such measurements will enable the SWAP team to determine the rate at which Pluto loses its atmosphere and, in turn, will yield insight into the evolution of the Pluto’s atmosphere and surface. Also illustrated are the orbits of Pluto’s five moons and the trajectory of the spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Credit: NASA "

[Popeye82]

Introducing CIX Cleantech: 2015 Game Changers, Canada's Only National Cleantech Event, Achilles Media, the organizers of the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIXhave teamed up with MaRS Cleantech to launch CIX Cleantech: 2015 Game Changers, a full-day event that will showcase Canada’s hottest cleantech companies, while providing an education and networking forum to connect cleantech companies with investors, policy-makers, strategic partners and advisors, Program Elements, The program will include a full day of presentations from CEOs of Canada’s most innovative cleantech companies, as well as keynote speakers, networking events, exhibits and curated one-on-one meetings, TOP 10 Most Innovative Cleantech Canadian Companies, CIX Cleantech will also feature Canada’s 10 most promising, game-changing technologies. These top 10 companies will be selected by a panel of expert judges and announced at the event. Nominations are now open!
http://cleantechgamechangers.com/

[Popeye82]

$15 minimum wage on its way, to NY - SA - Jul 23, 2015

- Yoel Minkoff -
http://seekingalpha.com/news/2648705-15-minimum-wage-on-its-…

[Popeye82]

bisschen hässlich

E-Autos 'vor Quantensprung', Stella Lux steigert Reichweite auf unglaubliche 1.000 Kilometer; Elektroautos haben meistens eine geringe Reichweite +das Aufladen der Batterien ist aufwändig. Diese Beschränkungen sollen bald der Vergangenheit angehören: Studenten der niederländischen Universität Eindhoven haben gerade ihr Solarmobil Stella Lux vorgestellt - AS; Tom Selten: "Das Auto ist ein Positivenergie-Fahrzeug, das heißt, dass es mehr Energie erzeugt, als es verbraucht" Normale Autos stünden 95 Prozent des Tages ungenutzt herum. "Unser Fahrzeug jedoch produziert in der Zeit Energie, +lädt sich so auf" - Jul 23, 2015
www.auto-service.de/mobile-zukunft/alternative-antriebe/6031…

[Popeye82]

Colonizing The Moon May Be 90 Percent Cheaper, Than We Thought , +that in turn could help us get to Mars, says a NASA-commissioned study; To dramatically reduce costs, NASA would have to take advantage of private, +international, partnerships—perhaps one of which would be the European Space Agency, whose director recently announced that he wants to build a town on the moon; “A factor of ten reduction in cost changes everything” - PopSci/NASA - Jul 20, 2015

- Sarah Fecht -
www.popsci.com/colonizing-moon-may-be-90-percent-cheaper-we-…
www.bbc.com/future/story/20150712-should-we-build-a-village-…




- This 'Could Be Us In A Few Years', Artist concept of a moon colony, via NASA -

[Popeye82]

dürfen die jetzt Führerschein machen??

Spanish town grants human rights to cats +dogs: Weird business news[video] - FY, TRIGUEROS DEL VALLE - Jul 24, 2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spanish-town-grants-human-righ…

"This week in weird business news…

Trigueros del Valle, a small town in Spain, has voted to give dogs and cats the same rights as their human owners. The town is the first in the world to extend such rights to animals.


The town council declared that the animals would now be designated as non-human residents. “Dogs and cats have been living among us for over a 1,000 years,” said the town’s Mayor Pedro Pérez Espinosa, who identifies with the socialist party. “And the mayor must represent not just the human residents but must also be here for the others.”

The bill also bans bull fighting, and “any action that causes the mutilation or death of a non-human resident.” Bull fighting has long been a hot topic in Spain amongst animal rights activists and there is hope that this landmark ruling could spread to other towns.

“Today, we are closer as species and we are now more human thanks to the sensitivity and intelligence shown by the people of Trigueros del Valle. This is a great day for humans and non-human citizens alike,” wrote Rescate 1, a prominent animal rights group in Spain.

So will this be the Magna Carta for animals? Only time can tell… "

[sdaktien]

Nein, aber sie dürfen Steuern zahlen. Jemand in der Stadtverwaltung hat erfahren, dass Katzen immer Mäuse fangen. Von den Mäusen will man natürlich was abhaben.
Warum Hunde weiss ich nicht.Die müssen ja schon Steuern zahlen. Eventuelll muss da ja das Verursacher Prinzip greifen. "Zahl deine Steuern gefälligst selber, du Hund!"

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.210.031 von Popeye82 am 17.07.15 15:28:16

ist Platin tot?, für iiimmer???

$5-trillion asteroid to whiz past Earth, An asteroid said to contain up to $5.4 trillion worth of platinum reserves will be making a close approach to planet Earth this evening, Jul 19th - M.com - Jul 24, 2015

- Andrew Topf -
www.mining.com/5-trillion-asteroid-to-whiz-past-earth/?utm_s…
www.ibtimes.co.uk/private-mining-companies-lick-their-lips-3…
www.mining.com/planetary-resources-first-spacecraft-begins-t…
www.mining.com/asteroid-miner-puts-first-demonstration-space…
www.mining.com/us-congress-passes-bill-on-space-mining/
www.mining.com/asteroids-mined-for-fuel-to-generate-trillion…
www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-13/duffy-rosetta-landing-the-bil…

"An asteroid said to contain up to $5.4 trillion worth of platinum reserves will be making a close approach to planet Earth this evening, July 19th.

At half a kilometre across, asteroid 2011 UW-158 is too small to be spotted by the human eye, even though it will come 30 times closer to Earth – about 1.5 million miles away – than Mars, the nearest planet. Astronomers will be searching for the valuable space rock through telescopes tonight.

"What makes this unusual is the large amount of platinum believed to be lurking in the body of this space visitor. Can it be mined someday, perhaps not too far in the future?" said Bob Berman of Sloosh Community Observatory, which links telescopes to the Internet thus making viewing accessible to anyone with a Web browser.



- Image from Youtube -


Scientists believe the asteroid could contain up to 90 million tonnes of platinum and other precious metals.

The appearance of the asteroid comes just three days after asteroid mining company Planetary Resources successfully deployed Thursday its first spacecraft from the International Space Station’s (ISS) Kibo airlock, beginning a 90-day mission aimed to test extraterrestrial prospecting technology.

The Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R), launched to the ISS onboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 last April, will spend its three-month orbiting mission sending back data to a group of scientists based at the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.

According to Sloosh, Planetary Resources has categorized 2011 UW-158 as an "X-type" asteroid that is suitable for mining. The company is interested in exploiting the asteroid for platinum and possibly water.

Many consider asteroid mining a first and key step to the eventual colonization of outer space.

Nearly 9,000 asteroids larger than 36 meters (150 feet) in diameter orbit near Earth. Geologists believe they are packed with iron ore, nickel and precious metals at much higher concentrations than those found on Earth, making up a market valued in the trillions of dollars.

Asteroids are also a prime source for water in space, essential for interplanetary outpost.

In 2014 the European Space Agency proved it is possible to land a spacecraft on a comet, when the Rosetta drone touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov, after having travelled 6 billion kilometres in a decade.

2011 UW-158 is expected to make a return orbit to Earth in three years time, when it will be even closer to the planet. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.293 von Popeye82 am 26.07.15 21:26:12

[Popeye82]

be PART of California's Drought &Water Solution

Solve for California's Water Crisis, Singularity University, in collaboration with California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, has launched the '15 SU Impact Challenge, to help alleviate the severe drought in California by leveraging exponential technologies
http://singularityu.org/2015impactchallenge/?utm_source=Sing…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.620 von Popeye82 am 26.07.15 22:45:17

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.803 von Popeye82 am 26.07.15 23:43:07

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.917 von Popeye82 am 27.07.15 01:07:49

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.803 von Popeye82 am 26.07.15 23:43:07

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.284.818 von Popeye82 am 28.07.15 20:00:10

[Popeye82]

@sdaktien,

ist eine linkweiterführung von deinem Lamborghini video
schon von 2008

ich sehe sowas aber zum 1. mal, daher fand ich es interessant

[Popeye82]

Amazon Wants a Special Air Zone For Its Fancy Delivery Drones, the Internet retailer wants a 200-foot space of air -T/F- Jul 28, 2015

- Kia Kokalitcheva -
http://time.com/3976057/amazon-air-zone-delivery-drones/

"Online retailer Amazon wants to someday deliver your order via drone — a high-speed one, at that — and it wants a special piece of the sky to shuttle those drones, according to a proposal the company unveiled on Tuesday at a NASA convention in California.

As part of its plan, Amazon suggests a 200-foot space of air — between 200 and 400 feet from the ground — be reserved for state-of-the-art drones flying at speeds of 60 knots or more. To keep things safe, it also proposes that a 100-foot cushion just above that airspace be made a no-fly zone to act as a buffer between drones and other aircraft, such as planes, according to The Guardian.




“The way we guarantee the greatest safety is by requiring that as the level of complexity of the airspace increases, so does the level of sophistication of the vehicle,” said Gur Kimchi, VP and co-founder of Amazon’s delivery-by-drone project, Prime Air, at the NASA event, according to The Guardian. “Under our proposal everybody has to be collaborative – vehicles must be able to talk to each other and avoid each other as the airspace gets denser at low altitudes.”

In Amazon’s world, the drones it and others use will be highly sophisticated, safe, and autonomous. The company has outlined five capabilities drones in the special zones must have. They include: sophisticated GPS that tracks the location of other drones in real-time; a reliable Internet connection; online flight planning to communicate the drone’s path; communications equipment; and sensor-based sense-and-avoid equipment to fly around other drones and obstacles.

Amazon’s proposal would also set some limits on drone hobbyists. Their aircraft would be confined to small pockets outside of these new flight areas unless they meet the criteria to fly among Amazon’s drones. Currently, they are permitted to fly up to the 400-foot mark.

But even if Amazon’s proposal becomes reality, it will likely be a while from now before drones flying in a special zone to drop off packages are an everyday thing. Only recently did a company complete the first successful drone delivery — and it wasn’t Amazon. The company is unfortunately still butting heads with the Federal Aviation Administration over how strict its regulations should be. "

[sdaktien]

brave new world?...

Danke für das Video. Ischamahcool, ne!


... weiss nicht; irgendwie schon:

Zumindest für die Philippinen. Der Wert wird in Deutschland auch nicht gehandelt, sondern eigentlich nur an der Börse in Manila. Dennoch finde ich den Wert interessant, ich muss aber etwas ausholen, wie ich auf den Wert komme.

Vor einigen Tagen sah ich im Fernsehen (ARD-Spartensender) einen Bericht über ein Call-Center Zentrum auf den Philippinen, in dem viele solcher Firmen ansässig waren, die aber eigentlich von den USA aus angerufen werden. Die Zeitverschiebung zwischen der US-Ostküste und diesem Center soll genau 12 Stunden betragen, so dass die dort Beschäftigten vor allem in der Nacht arbeiten. Gleichzeitig sollen diese Jobs aber gut bezahlt werden und eine Mittelschicht schaffen.

Irgendwo war dann der Name dieses Gewerbegebietes zu sehen oder zu lesen: Eastwood City. Danach gegoogelt kam ich auf folgende Wikipedia Seite:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastwood_City

Projektentwickler dieses Areals ist eine Megaworld Corp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaworld_Corporation

Diese Megaworld ist ein börsennotiertes Unternehmen. Gehandelt werden deren Papiere aber eigentlich nur in Manila. An anderen Handelsplätzen scheint der Handel illiquide zu sein. In Deutschland wird die Aktie gar nicht gehandelt.

Fundamental scheint mir die Aktie nicht überbewertet zu sein. Allerdings fehlen mir zwei Jahresergebnisse um das abschliessend nach meinen Kriterien beurteilen zu können. Auch technisch ist die Aktie angeschlagen, seit April auf dem Rückzug.

Ich wollte den Titel aber dennoch mal vorstellen, weil dieses Eastwood City Areal noch nicht ausentwickelt erscheint und wenn ich das richtig einschätze, dieses Areal bei ausländischen Investoren wohl auf großes Interesse stößt und ein Jobmotor für die Philippinen sein könnte.
Wem es möglich ist, in Manila direkt zu handeln, sollte sich diese Aktie durchaus einmal anschauen.

[Popeye82]

also zu deinem wert kann ich soweit nichts sagen
gibt es einen besonderen grund -das hab ich nicht verstanden-warum der quasi unter "brave new world" fällt?

Elon Musk +Stephen Hawking Among Hundreds to Urge Ban on Military Robots, Elon Musk +Stephen Hawking, along with hundreds of artificial intelligence researchers +experts, are calling for a worldwide ban on so-called autonomous weapons, warning that they could set off a revolution in weaponry comparable to gunpowder +nuclear arms - IT/IEET - Jul 28, 2015
------> www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/technology/elon-musk-and-stephen-…
------> http://futureoflife.org/AI/open_letter_autonomous_weapons
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/elon-musk-and-stephen-hawk…
www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/science/darpa-robotics-challenge-…
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcend…

"

- via ieet.org -


Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, along with hundreds of artificial intelligence researchers and experts, are calling for a worldwide ban on so-called autonomous weapons, warning that they could set off a revolution in weaponry comparable to gunpowder and nuclear arms.

In a letter unveiled as researchers gathered at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires on Monday, the signatories argued that the deployment of robots capable of killing while untethered to human operators is “feasible within years, not decades.” If development is not cut off, it is only a matter of time before the weapons end up in the hands of terrorists and warlords, they said.


Unlike drones, which require a person to remotely pilot the craft and make targeting decisions, the autonomous weapons would search for and engage targets on their own. Unlike nuclear weapons, they could be made with raw materials that all significant military powers could afford and obtain, making them easier to mass-produce, the authors argued.

The weapons could reduce military casualties by keeping human soldiers off battlefields, but they could also lower the threshold for going to battle, the letter said. “If any major military power pushes ahead with A.I. weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow,” it said.

Mr. Musk, the head of SpaceX, has raised warnings about artificial intelligence before, calling it probably humanity’s “biggest existential threat.” Mr. Hawking, the physicist, has written that while development of artificial intelligence could be the biggest event in human history, “Unfortunately, it might also be the last.” ..."

[Betterway]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.289.093 von sdaktien am 29.07.15 12:02:11

Guten Tag, finden den Thread top, interessiert mich sehr. Von dem erwähnten Unternehmen bleib ich allerdings fern, keine Ahnung, was dort auf dem Markt passiert ??? !!! Gruß B. By the way, es soll in Amerika - von Musk/Tesla - ein Unternehmen geben, welches Züge in Röhren fahren lassen will, soll revolutionär sein ??? Find nichts gescheit's drüber. Hat jemand ne Ahnung ??

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.292.234 von Betterway am 29.07.15 17:31:36

Zitat von Betterway: By the way, es soll in Amerika - von Musk/Tesla - ein Unternehmen geben, welches Züge in Röhren fahren lassen will, soll revolutionär sein ??? Find nichts gescheit's drüber. Hat jemand ne Ahnung ??

dazu gibt es ein bisschen, aber ich glaube nicht sehr viel öffentliches
unter "hyperloop"

[Betterway]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.292.537 von Popeye82 am 29.07.15 18:02:49

Daaaaaaanke !! Werd auch weiter recherchieren !! Gruß B.

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.292.114 von Popeye82 am 29.07.15 17:19:30

Zitat von Popeye82: Elon Musk +Stephen Hawking Among Hundreds to Urge Ban on Military Robots, Elon Musk +Stephen Hawking, along with hundreds of artificial intelligence researchers +experts, are calling for a worldwide ban on so-called autonomous weapons, warning that they could set off a revolution in weaponry comparable to gunpowder +nuclear arms - IT/IEET - Jul 28, 2015
------> www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/technology/elon-musk-and-stephen-…
------> http://futureoflife.org/AI/open_letter_autonomous_weapons
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/elon-musk-and-stephen-hawk…
www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/science/darpa-robotics-challenge-…
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcend…

ich bitte alle, die das auch so sehen, die petition -oder was genau auch immer- zu unterschreiben
ich habe es gemacht
es ist der link2

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.299.395 von Popeye82 am 30.07.15 14:39:10

[Popeye82]

wer will, kann man bisschen recherchieren, und wenn die ampeln auf grün gehen auch ein paar crowd€s reinpacken

Dutch artist to turn air pollution into jewellery, New crowdfunding effort aims to clean up smog-choked areas - SB, EUII/SR/KS, ROTTERDAM - Jul 30, 2015

- Éanna Kelly -
------> www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777606920/the-smog-free-tower
www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77152/Dutch-artist-to-turn-air-…

"A Dutch artist and designer has teamed up with engineers on a project to turn the carbon in air pollution in smog into rings and cufflinks.

Daan Roosegaarde, founder of Studio Roosegaarde, will build a prototype 23-foot-tall air purification system called the Smog Free Tower, designed to clean the air in parks and other public areas.


To pay for it, he launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter last week, with the aim of raising $54,000. So far it is well on its way to meeting that goal, with over 200 backers pledging money.

The smog-eating tower, partly borrowing its design from hospital air-purifying systems, will suck in polluted air and capture ultra-fine smog particles using patented ionic filters.




In the spirit of the circular economy, the pollution will then be put to better use.

“We looked at [the smog] and said, ‘this is not waste’. We realised 42 per cent of this was carbon. And [by putting] carbon under high-pressure, you get diamond,” Roosegaarde says. Backers can purchase a smog free cube for €50 or a smog free ring or cufflinks for €250.

“We are just building the largest electronic vacuum cleaner in the world,” says Roosegaarde.

The idea came to Roosgaarde after a trip to Beijing, a city which periodically experiences air pollution levels way above the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation.

The first tower will begin operating in Rotterdam in September. After Rotterdam, Roosegaarde hopes to set up towers in other smog-choked cities in India, Mexico and China.

In the past Roosegaarde has attracted attention for creating dance floors that generate electricity from dancing and glow-in-the-dark solar-powered lighting for motorways.


Smog-eating designs

This is the latest in a series of imaginative solutions to air pollution.

Last year, university students in Peru unveiled a smog-eating billboard. Peers at the University of California in the US answered with smog-eating roof tiles, while scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK designed a smog-eating poem.

More on the campaign here. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.292.612 von Betterway am 29.07.15 18:12:36

also wenn ihr"innovative zukunftsfirmen", bla, sucht, könnt ihr mal zu WiLAN recherche machen
eine "IP &patent licensing" firma
bei bedarf könnte ich von einem analystenhaus wahrscheinlich auch recherche ranholen

WiLAN Reports 2nd Quarter '15 Financial Results, Company delivers strong revenue +earnings, while executing against business strategy
www.wilan.com/news/news-releases/news-release-details/2015/W…
www.investorcalendar.com/event/174064
http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=WIN®ion…


gruß
P.

[Popeye82]

entwicklerbude

How SolarWindow is Bringing 'World’s 1st-of-Their-Kind Electricity-Generating Windows' to Market – Aug 20th Webcast
www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150730006339/en/SolarWindow…
------> http://eventcallregistration.com/reg/index.jsp?cid=56553t11

[Popeye82]

AZoNano -Developing the 'World’s 1st Industrial Graphene Supply': An Interview with Mark Thompson


www.talgaresources.com//IRM/Company/ShowPage.aspx/PDFs/1620-…

[Popeye82]

Negotiating the 'chasm of death' - AB - Jul15

- Ken Richards -
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/fb7c4b4f0d480271078d58459/file…

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

der bankschrott ist mir, in diesem zusammenhang, egal

Tesla's autonomous car +U.S. banks 'are tops around the globe' - FY - Jul 31, 2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-s-autonomous-car-and-u-s…

"... Tesla's driver-less car?

Self driving car fascination continues to grow with names like Google (GOOGL) and Apple (AAPL) dabbling with technology that would render humans useless inside their cars. But Elon Musk may be ahead of everyone. In two tweets this morning he suggests Tesla (TSLA) is getting close to releasing a software update that would make those cares a lot more autonomous, including autosteering on the highway and automated parallel parking. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.269.515 von Popeye82 am 26.07.15 22:14:52

Asteroid mining: The big hairy audacious goal?[video], Is space mining our next major leap? Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks so. Speaking on Q&A earlier this week, deGrasse Tyson called for another Sputnik moment, pointing to asteroid mining as one of humanity's next leaps forward - MA - Aug 5, 2015
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/asteroid-mining-the-big-…

[Popeye82]

eine grundaussage der ich mich vollkommen anschliesse
(im übrigen ist auch mein anlageansatz in großen teilen darauf aufgebaut)

Impact report '15, 'Prosperity +growth are no longer measured only by wealth +revenue generated, but also by the rate @which new solutions to humanity’s challenges are created, +become widely available' - SU - Jun15
http://cdn.singularityu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Singu…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.339.022 von Popeye82 am 05.08.15 18:04:48

ColdBlock unveils new digestion technology, for mining industry - MT/CBT - Mar 4, 2015
http://coldblock.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ColdBlock-Tec…
www.mining-technology.com/news/newscoldblock-unveils-new-dig…

"Canada-based ColdBlock Technologies has launched a new ColdBlock Laboratory Sample Digestion Technology for the mining industry, which uses focused short-wave infrared radiation to energise sample particles primarily.

The technology, which is claimed to offer a new alternative to mining operations to achieve productivity gains, dissolves solid matter into a solution for instrumental multi-element analysis.


ColdBlock's digestion technology will generate high heat using infrared emitters, which is absorbed by the sample particles directly.

It delivers fast digestion rates of between ten and 15 minutes with better recovery of elements across an array of metals including chromium ore.

According to the company, the technology will have a positive impact on workplace safety and the environment as it cuts the amount of acid required for the digestion process and removes harmful reagents such as perchloric acid.

The company partnered with Brock University Professor of Chemistry Dr Ian Brindle to validate the technology and develop new chemistries for sample preparation.

Brindle said: "Coupled with the elimination of perchloric acid, and the overall reduction in the volume of acids needed, makes ColdBlock a greener and safer technology."

It was also designed for automation to benefit mining operations and laboratories by reducing sample preparation time and accelerating sample throughput.

ColdBlock Technologies CEO Nick Kuryluk said: "Today's release of ColdBlock Digestion marks the first step in our company's global launch.

"We aspire to become a leading sample digestion technology for the mining industry and look to expand into the environmental and other industries in the near future."

ColdBlock with research partner Brock University unveiled the new ColdBlock Laboratory Sample Digestion Technology at Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) 2015. "

[Popeye82]

1st 3-D printed drug, for epilepsy, approved by the FDA - SA - Aug 5, 2015

- Kanak Kanti De -
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3400475-premarket-biotech-di…

[Popeye82]

Lighting Science Group - 'Reimagines the Traditional Edison Lamp, by Unveiling 'Market-Changing A19 LED' ' - Aug 5, 2015
www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150805006304/en/#.VcKS9_kqt…

"Lighting Science Group Corporation® (OTCQB:LSCG) continues to change the LED game with the introduction of our new A19 4-pack, delivering the superior LED experience customers expect from our innovative LED collection. Created with quality craftsmanship, our new A19 bulb is unmistakably lighter and more efficient than ever before. This LED lamp truly replicates the traditional look and feel of an incandescent A19, but performs better and at a fraction of the cost. It’s your best dimmable, Energy Star rated A19 value on the market.



- Lighting Science A19 Energy Star Rated Value 4-Pack. (Photo: Business Wire) -


“These new Energy Star rated A19 LEDs are market changers,” said Pete Rumsey, Lighting Science’s EVP of Business Development. “These bulbs provide all the key features that are desired in a traditional A19 with the reliability of an Energy Star rating. Created with a sturdy, shatter-proof design and higher efficacy than standard A19s on the market, this value-priced lamp is also compatible with most standard dimmers and will produce superior light for years to come.”

Engineered with components that are significantly lighter and more efficient, these new lamps perform better and at a fraction of the cost of a standard incandescent. These new A19 bulbs are also omnidirectional for clean, even light distribution and are offered in 3 color temperatures.

Offered as 40W and 60W incandescent replacements, customers can purchase the A19 bulb directly at www.lsgc.com or contact our Customer Support Team at 1+877-999-5742 or via email at [e-mail].


About Lighting Science Group Corporation

Lighting Science Group Corporation (OTCQB:LSCG) is a global leader in innovative LED lighting solutions that designs, manufactures and brings to market the most advanced, intelligent products for consumer, professional and retail applications. By inventing breakthrough, award-winning, LED lamps and lighting fixtures that truly work in sync with nature, we follow one of our core values by being committed to unleash the science of light to make people, and our planet, look, feel and heal better. Lighting Science Group is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida with international offices in Hong Kong. Find out more about us at www.lsgc.com or www.definitydigital.com and join us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and the Lighting Science Blog. "

[Popeye82]

sieht nach einen ganz interessanten ding aus
gegebenenfalls mal die videos, link2, auf der webseite ansehen
macht schon nicht so wenig sinn das ding würd ich sagen

"the owner and designer of the world’s most advanced folding boat. It is a privately held Perth, West Australian, company with 38 shareholders. The Quickboat itself is an advanced composite folding boat for the water adventure market of the developed world. The Quickboat breaks the barriers holding millions of people worldwide from owning a small boat –storage, transport +costs. Like a standup paddle board(SUP) or a kayak, a Quickboat can also hang on a garage wall or that of an apartment storage room. The Quickboat has numerous international patents, +has received many awards, including:

• Finalist in Good Design Awards 2014
• Powerhouse Museum Good Design Award Selection
• WA Innovator of the Year Finalist
• Chosen by National Art Gallery of Victoria as an example of Australian Industrial Design
• Indigogo Crowd funding site’s “Best 12 (products) of 2012” "

Quickboats signs agreement, to manufacture in Taiwan
www.wholesaleinvestor.com.au/quickboats-signs-agreement-to-m…
http://quickboats.com/about-theboat/video-library/

[Popeye82]

Perlemax, informational webcast discusses the usefulness of micro bubble technology
http://perlemax.com/watch-our-webcast
http://perlemax.com/downloads/perlemaxoverview.pdf

[Popeye82]

BioAmber - announces opening of world's largest succinic acid plant, in Sarnia, facility uses biotechnology to produce sustainable chemicals from sugar - Aug 6, 2015

"Quick Facts"

- BioAmber Sarnia construction cost: ~US $141,500,000

- Capacity: 30,000 tons/year of succinic acid

- World's largest succinic acid plant

- 'Disruptive technology' is lower cost than oil-based production

- Markets: increasing demand for renewable building block chemicals, in large global markets

- Applications: examples include: plastics, paints, textiles +coatings, artificial leather, food and flavours +personal care products

- Volumes specified in signed take-or-pay, +sales agreements exceed annual production capacity

- ~300 construction jobs +60 full-time jobs were created by the project; many of the plant operators are graduates from Lambton College

- 100% reduction of Greenhouse Gas(GHG) emissions, compared to the equivalent production process that uses petroleum. ...
http://investor.bio-amber.com/2015-08-06-BioAmber-announces-…
www.bio-amber.com/_media/en/pdf/BIOA_Corp_Overview.pdf

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

SLAC Builds 'One of the World’s Fastest ‘Electron Cameras’ ', A new scientific instrument @the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory promises to capture some of nature’s speediest processes. It uses a method known as ultrafast electron diffraction(UED) +can reveal motions of electrons +atomic nuclei within molecules that take place in <a tenth of a trillionth of a second –information that will benefit groundbreaking research in materials science, chemistry +biology
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/08/slac-builds-one-of-the-wor…

[Popeye82]

The 'Future of Virtual Reality', Panel, join Us, Aug 27th, Space is LIMITED, or join us by watching the live stream
http://singularityhub.com/event/fovr/?utm_source=Singularity…
------> http://singularityhub.com/event/fovr/stream/

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.332.848 von Popeye82 am 05.08.15 06:39:21

Space mining "is closer than you think, +the prospects are great", Following trials of Planetary Resources 1st space mining craft launches, is asteroid mining on the horizon? - MA/TC - Aug 7, 2015

- Andrew Dempster -
https://theconversation.com/space-mining-is-closer-than-you-…
www.miningaustralia.com.au/features/space-mining-is-closer-t…

"In this week’s Q&A on the ABC, the American cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson gushed about the prospects of mining in space, and the benefits that might afford humanity.


How about mining an asteroid for natural resources? […] There are more natural resources on asteroids than have ever been mined in the history of the Earth. So in 100 years […] all wars over limited resources are over because we have access to the unlimited resources of our back yard and that new back yard is our solar system.


Is this reaaally plausible? Whaaaaat can we mine in space? And will it really deliver world peace, or just another realm for competition and conflict? Perhaps a look at the immediate past and near future may help us answer some of these questions.




Not science-fiction

In the two years since I first wrote about off-earth mining, a number of things have changed, and at least one relates to “world peace”.

One asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources, launched its first spacecraft from the International Space Station. This was the company’s second attempt after an earlier one was incinerated in the failed Antares launch.

Another asteroid miner, Deep Space Industries (DSI), won two NASA grants. One was to investigate creating propellant from asteroid material, and the other to create an asteroid regolith simulant, so equipment can be tested on Earth. That followed the award to DSI of a contract to help develop BitSat, which transmits Bitcoin transactions.

We, at the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at UNSW, along with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also won funding to investigate mining water to support NASA’s planned Mars colony.

In the US, the ASTEROIDS Act (yes that’s an acronym) was thankfully renamed the Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act before it passed Congress. It tries to deal with the gaps in the Outer Space Treaty relating to ownership of space resources. It states that “any asteroid resources obtained in outer space are the property of the entity that obtained such resources, which shall be entitled to all property rights thereto, consistent with applicable provisions of Federal law.”

A UNSW study has shown, for a particular iron-rich asteroid, given the existence of a market and other assumptions, the return on investment is 85 years if the ore is returned to Earth, but five years if used in space.


Not sooo costly

Despite all this activity, sceptics remain unconvinced about the prospects for space mining for reasons such as expense and time.

Mining in space will certainly be expensive. The total budget of the project to send Curiosity to Mars and operate it for 14 years was US$2.5 billion.

But mining on Earth is also expensive. In 2014, Rio Tinto reduced its exploration budget from US$948 million in 2013 to US$747 million. A single study can cost over US$650 million.

The corresponding figures for BHP Billiton are US$1,047 million in 2013 down to US$716 million. That’s the sort of money these companies are already spending, trying to find new terrestrial deposits. So, the absolute scale of an investment in space mining is not beyond existing mining companies.



- Space mining is a staple of science fiction, but it’s rapidly becoming a reality. Ryan Somma, CC BY -


Things are similar in terms of time frames. Mining operations last for decades. So neither the costs nor the time-frames are prohibitive. As we see, the asteroid mining companies are already getting into space. It’s happening, and it’s being funded.

So, where are the immediate problems? For one thing, the study that told us to use the iron ore in space rather than return it to Earth assumed a market in space.

For high-value commodities, like rare earth minerals or platinum group metals, there may be a case for return to Earth, but certainly, the “common” resources that could be mined in space are best used there.

The common argument is that it costs about US$20,000 per kilogram to launch to deep space from Earth, so if you can produce that kilogram in space for less than $20,000, you’re ahead.

In fact, SpaceX publishes its launch costs on its website. Currently, for its Falcon 9, that figure is about US$12,600. But a market does not exist at present, and may need an artificial demand to kick it off (e.g. someone like NASA could contract for a delivery of water on-orbit).

This dilemma was recently debated at SpaceUp Australia. Without that kick-start, early demand for water may come from space tourism, but the most likely place for this type of economy to kick off is probably satellite refuelling. Water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used to fuel satellites.


World peace, ooooor wild west?

In terms of world peace, there are a number of problems with the US Space Act (variously discussed here, here, here, and here), including that the law is not necessarily consistent with existing treaties, is likely to be ignored by other countries, and is unenforceable.

A bus could drive through the existing treaties and not touch the sides, so there is a lack of uncertainty about what can and can’t be done, or enforced. My own view on this is that it will be the wild west out there until the slow processes of the law finally catch up with reality off the ground.

As far as world peace goes, I think things in space will get worse before they get better (space piracy, anyone?). But once order is established, there is every possibility that deGrasse Tyson is right, perhaps in less than 100 years.

The world leaders on all of these contentious topics, as well as representatives from the off-earth mining companies will be meeting to debate these issues at the second Off-Earth Mining Forum, to be held in Sydney in November.

To maximise interaction between space experts and mining experts, the event has been co-located with the third Future Mining Conference. Members of the public are welcome to attend and get a sense of whether deGrasse Tyson might be right.

Andrew Dempster is Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at UNSW Australia. "

[Popeye82]

"Invest in 4 Disruptive Technologies, with 1 Stock"
www.nanalyze.com/2015/08/invest-in-4-disruptive-technologies…

[Popeye82]

Clinton to propose $350,000,000,000 college affordability plan -FY/AP, WASHINGTON - Aug 10, 2015

- By Lisa Lerer -
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/clinton-propose-350-billion-co…

"

- FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton listens to a home care worker during a roundtable discussion in Los Angeles. Calling for a “new college compact,” Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday, Aug. 10, will unveil a $350 billion plan aimed at making college more affordable and reducing the crushing burden of student debt. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) -


Calling for a "new college compact," Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday will unveil a $350 billion plan aimed at making college more affordable and reducing the crushing burden of student debt.

At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, the state with the highest average student debt in the country, Clinton will propose steps to reduce the cost of four-year public schools, make two-year community colleges tuition-free and cut student loan interest rates, according to campaign aides.

The college affordability plan, a main plank of her policy platform, is an effort to address a major financial stress for many American families and satisfy a central demand of the Democratic party's liberal wing.


The proposal centers on a $200 billion federal incentive system aimed at encouraging states to expand their investments in higher education and cut student costs. States that guarantee "no-loan" tuition at four-year public schools and free tuition at community colleges will be eligible to receive federal funds.

But Clinton doesn't go quite as far as some more liberal politicians and party activists, who've made "debt-free college" an early litmus test for the presidential primary field. In May, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released his own plan that would eliminate tuition and fees for public universities. The $70 billion annual proposal would be funded by imposing a tax on transactions by hedge funds, investment houses and other Wall Street firms.

While military veterans, lower-income students and those who complete a national service program, like AmeriCorps, would go to school for free in the Clinton plan, others would incur costs for their schooling and living expenses at four-year public universities. "For many students, it would translate into debt-free tuition," said Carmel Martin, executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, who advised Clinton on that plan. "It will depend on the student circumstances and the institution they are going to."

For most students, their families will still be expected to make a "realistic" contribution, say Clinton's aides, and students will contribute wages from ten hours of work per week.

Those currently repaying loans would be able to refinance their outstanding debt at lower rates, a change Clinton's aides say will save an average of $2,000 for 25 million borrowers over the life of the loan — an amount that equal to just about $17 month over a ten year repayment period. She would also expand income-based repayment programs, allowing every student borrower to enroll in a plan that would cap their payments at 10 percent of their income with remaining debt forgiven after 20 years.

Private universities with "modest endowments" that serve a higher percentage of low-income students, including historically black colleges, would also receive federal funds to help lower the costs of attendance and improve graduation rates.

The cost of Clinton's plan would be offset by capping itemized tax deductions for wealthy families at 28 percent, like those taken by high-income taxpayers for charitable contributions and mortgage interest. That proposal, which has long been included in President Barack Obama's annual budget, would raise more than $600 billion in the next decade, according to the Treasury Department.

Clinton's plan would likely face a steep climb in Congress: A $60 billion Obama administration initiative for free community college has gotten little traction.

Republican presidential candidates criticized the costs of Clinton's proposal on Monday morning.

"Every time you add more money and financial aid, (traditional colleges) raise their tuition rates," said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in an interview on Fox News. "That's what's going to happen here again unless they have competition.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, released a statement saying the proposal would "raise the cost of college even further and shift the burden to hardworking taxpayers."

College affordability has emerged as a major issue on the presidential campaign trail, as families face the highest debt burden in generations. National student debt is near $1.3 trillion dollars and the average price for in-state students at public four-year universities is 42 percent higher than it was a decade ago, according to the College Board.

Clinton aides attribute a portion of that price increase to state cuts of higher education funding. One of Clinton's Republican rivals, Gov. Scott Walker, signed a budget last month that slashed $250 million from the University of Wisconsin.

In almost every campaign stop, Clinton hears from students and families worried about paying for school. Her team conducted weeks of meetings with experts on the issue to develop their proposal, including policy staffers for liberal leader Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

"There's something wrong when students and their families have to go deeply into debt to be able to get the education and skills they need in order to make the best of their own lives," she told students and teachers at Kirkland Community College in Monticello, Iowa, in April, shortly after announcing her campaign.

Clinton aides believe their plan will help build enthusiasm for her candidacy with younger voters — whose support twice helped catapult Obama into the White House. The policy roll-out is timed for when students return to college campuses. Clinton organizers plan to promote the plan at registration events and other gatherings kicking-off the school year, according to a campaign aide, in an effort to galvanize college students.

___________________________________________________

Associated Press writer Sergio Bustos contributed from Miami. "

[Popeye82]

Open data ‘not enough to improve lives’, Developing nations must ensure the statistics they publish will help solve real-life problems, say practitioners - SciDevNet/ODI, LONDON - Aug15

Speed read

- Government agencies often publish masses of unfiltered data

- It is better to release key data related to real -life problems

- Doing this effectively means involving citizens
www.scidev.net/global/data/news/open-data-accountability-imp…

"


Governments in developing countries must ensure the statistics they publish can be used to improve citizens’ lives, practitioners told SciDev.Net following an open data meeting.

Liz Carolan, the international development manager at host organisation the Open Data Institute (ODI), said countries should instead start with real-world problems and then work out how data can be part of the solution.


“A government might say: ‘We put the data on the web, that’s enough’ — but it’s not,” she said. “You could not get away with that”, especially in countries where internet connectivity and literacy are low and it is difficult for people to access the data in the first place.

Ivy Ong, outreach lead at government data provider Open Data Philippines, added: “Do not be blinded by the bright and shiny milestone of developing and launching an open data portal.”

Ong was one of seven members of the ODI’s Open Data Leaders’ Network who discussed the challenges of implementing an open data culture and strategy in their respective countries at the meeting last week (27 July) in London, United Kingdom. The event also included senior civil servants from Argentina, Ecuador, New Zealand, Nigeria, Romania and Tanzania.

The meeting heard how conventional models of data sharing let government agencies and others who own information identify what they think is most useful. In contrast, starting with real-life problems “can change the way [governments] interact with people outside to prioritise the data they’re going to release”, Carolan said.

But moving from sometimes secretive government practices to transparent data sharing is a cultural challenge rather than a technical one, the meeting heard. This transition requires government leaders to commit to providing better services and engaging citizens, said Ong.

In the Philippines for example, ten days after Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck in November 2013, the public could access the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub, a government website detailing pledges or donations. This changed the public conversation after the disaster, Ong said.

“A few days after Yolanda, there was strong citizen demand for transparency” to know where foreign aid was going, she explained, as many people, including journalists, assumed the money was not being used for its intended purpose.

After the government shared the data, it became clear that the majority of the donations were funnelled through multilateral organisations or local government units, rather than through central government bodies, Ong said. “The conversation became: so how do we hold these organisations accountable?”

Some data uses might also be unexpected. One example given at the meeting was the Democratic Republic of Congo, where scientists used data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project to help protect wild animals.

“During an outbreak of violence, people can often turn to hunting wild animals as a replacement source of income and nutrition,” Carolan said. The data allowed researchers to identify areas likely to experience a spike in poaching. "

[Popeye82]

erstmal nur so, zur erinnerung
das ding möchte ich hier unbedingt noch, komplett, reinstellen
http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Geothermal-Energy/She…

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.397.138 von Popeye82 am 13.08.15 19:53:27

[Popeye82]

Meet baby Zain, the fruit of four years of labor @OvaScience - BBJ, BOSTON - May 7, 2015

- Don Seiffert -
www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bioflash/2015/05/meet-baby-z…
------> www.bizjournals.com/boston/search/results?q=Michelle%20Dipp
http://time.com/3849127/baby-stem-cells-augment-ivf/

"

- Zain Rajani was born on April 13. He is pictured with his mother, Natasha, and her… more -


The baby is the first to result from the Cambridge biotech firm’s approach to increasing a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant through in vitro fertilization. The approach, called Augment, has been tried in a select few fertility centers outside the U.S. over the past year, including one in Toronto, Ontario. It’s there where Natasha Rajani, a 34-year-old Toronto resident, became pregnant with her first son, who was born April 13.

The news appears to have restored confidence to investors, as seen by a 7 percent share increase to $26.37 as of 1:30 p.m. today, after a drop in late March after the company presented statistics on pregnancy rate s using its Augment approach at a conference. While some analysts saw the results as encouraging, many appeared to find the data inconclusive, and shares of the company were effectively cut in half during the month and a half since.

OvaScience CEO and founder Michelle Dipp said in an interview today that she hasn’t had a chance to meet the new baby nor the mother yet, but she looks forward to doing so.

“It’s really exciting time for the woman and couples everywhere,” she said. “One thing that’s interesting is Natasha tried everything for four years to get pregnant.”

Indeed, in an interview with Time Magazine, Rajani said she had tried not only traditional IVF, fertility drugs and intrauterine insemination, but also homeopathic remedies, before coming to the Toronto clinic to try Augment. She has suffered a miscarriage at one point, but didn’t give up hope, according to the magazine.

“I tried to remain positive, thinking there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that a baby will be there at the end,” she was quoted as saying.

Augment is the first of three methods the company is developing to improve the success rates of fertility treatments, and involves replacing the mitochondria in a woman’s eggs in order to rejuvenate them. It is not yet approved in the U.S. "

[Popeye82]

aus dem Organovo thread
interessant u.a. auch wie die sich in der konzeption, und auch zielen, untereinander unterscheiden

11 Companies Leading the 3D Bioprinting Space
http://3dprint.com/88792/3d-bioprinting-companies

[Popeye82]

[Betterway]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.412.429 von Popeye82 am 16.08.15 20:24:52

coool ! ;.)

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.412.588 von Betterway am 16.08.15 21:14:27

es gibt noch einen 2.teil dazu

[Popeye82]

schon nicht mehr ganz neu,
von anfang 2013

[Popeye82]

Microfluidic Organs-on-a-Chip, The patent landscape; Organs-on-a-chip are research tools that offer an alternative to the costly +time consuming use of clinical trials used in drug development. This article will discuss patents covering organs-on-a-chip, in particular those that contain multiple cells or tissue(s), the exceptions to patent infringement for experimental uses, +the prospects for further patenting
www.pharmafocusasia.com/strategy/microfluidic-organs-on-a-ch…

[Popeye82]

Frauen-Viagra erhält Zulassung - W/DPA, NEW YORK- Aug 19, 2015
http://web.de/magazine/gesundheit/viagra-frauen-usa-zugelass…

"


Die "Viagra für Frauen" kann in den USA auf den Markt kommen. Die Arzneibehörde FDA in Washington hat zum ersten Mal ein luststeigerndes Präparat als Medikament zugelassen. Die Food and Drug Administration genehmigte am Dienstag (Ortszeit) das Mittel Flibanserin, das unter dem Namen Addyi auf den Markt kommen soll. Die rosa Pille soll die sexuelle Lust von Frauen wecken. Eine körperliche Stimulanz ist sie nicht.

"Die heutige Zulassung gewährt Frauen, die unter sexueller Unlust leiden, eine überprüfte Therapiemöglichkeit", sagte FDA-Forschungsdirektorin Janet Woodcock. "Die FDA ist um den Schutz und die Förderung der Gesundheit von Frauen bemüht, und wir fühlen uns verpflichtet, die Entwicklung sicherer und effektiver Präparate zu unterstützen."

Die Effizienz ist jedoch genau der Streitpunkt. Nach Untersuchungen, die auch die FDA veröffentlicht hat, kam es bei Frauen mit dem Wirkstoff zu einem halben bis einem Mal Sex mehr pro Monat als bei Frauen mit Placebo. Das ist ein geringer Wert - allerdings dennoch einer, der für viele Paare einen großen Unterschied machen kann.

Frigidität oder sexuelle Gefühlskälte ist ein Problem für Millionen Frauen: Sie haben keine Lust auf Sex und empfinden keinen Spaß am Geschlechtsverkehr. Die Störung der Libido ist eine Belastung für viele Beziehungen, die oft psychotherapeutisch behandelt wird. Nach Angaben von Medizinern ist in Deutschland etwa jede dritte Frau betroffen. Ob und wann das Präparat nach Deutschland kommt, ist noch ungewiss. Mediziner gehen zudem davon aus, dass die Tablette nur zehn Prozent der Betroffenen hilft - was allerdings Millionen sein können.

Die rosa Pille wirkt weniger auf den Körper, denn auf die Psyche. Während Viagra und Co. bei Männern ein körperliches Problem anpacken und zu Erektionen verhelfen können, beeinflusst Flibanserin im Gehirn die Botenstoffe Dopamin und Serotonin und soll die Libido anregen. Es geht also nicht um das Können, sondern das Wollen. Die Pille muss aber jeden Abend eingenommen werden - ob Sex geplant ist, oooooder nicht.

Flibanserin wurde vom deutschen Hersteller Boehringer Ingelheim entwickelt - als Mittel gegen Depressionen. Die luststeigernde Wirkung wurde erst später bekannt. Nach einem negativen FDA-Bericht gaben die Rheinland-Pfälzer das Projekt 2010 auf. Sprout Pharmaceuticals aus Raleigh im Bundesstaat North Carolina übernahm die Forschung, scheiterte aber 2013 ebenfalls an der US-Behörde.

Daraufhin gab es heftige Kontroversen zwischen Frauenrechtsgruppen. Die einen warfen der FDA Sexismus vor, weil sie Viagra zugelassen habe, nicht aber Flibanserin. Andere behaupteten, das Unternehmen missbrauche die Aktivistinnen, um ein noch nicht als sicher bewiesenes Präparat durchzudrücken. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.392.026 von Popeye82 am 13.08.15 10:51:32

(auch)noch Einstellung

www.brw.com.au/p/entrepreneurs/aussie_innovator_cracks_tyre_…
www.pharmafocusasia.com/technotrends/novel-microneedle-patch
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/08/19/google-partners-…


die u.U. auch noch
www.natcoresolar.com/news/natcore-technology-develops-solar-…
www.stockhouse.com/opinion/interviews/2015/08/17/clearford-v…

[Popeye82]

wohl eine OTC bude, kann ich nicht beurteilen in wie weit dass so stimmig ist

Oro East seeks patent to dry gold tailings using solar concentration - MT - Aug 19, 2015
www.mining-technology.com/news/newsoro-east-seeks-patent-for…
www.oroeast.com/oroe-explores-revolutionary-patent-pending-i…

"Minerals development group Oro East Mining has submitted a patent application for equipment that will dry gold tailings in mining production using parabolic solar concentration.

Using the new patent pending invention, the US-based company can extract water from dry tailings from gold mining production.


According to the company, the invention is used to recycle and reuse all processed water and can improve mining production technology in an eco-friendly direction, especially important in drought conditions such as those currently being experienced in Califronia.

Oro East Mining used a conveyor system to remove water from mildly dry tailings through direct, concentrated sunlight.

Water conservation through the process will also help in optimizing the processing facilities.

As the technology will recycle water for further reuse, it will comply with sustainable and environmental mining practices, the company said.

The system will direct sunlight to vapourise all water from the tailings and the vapour would be subsequently condensed, collected, as well as reused.

Wear and tear of the filter press machine would be reduced and the solids that are dried can be disposed of by dry stacking.

The low cost process will not affect the environment and is considered safe by EPA standards. "

[Popeye82]

Mannatech - Launches 'Highest Grade Aloe Product in the World', Manapol® Powder -Aug 19, 2015
http://ir.mannatech.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=62253&p=irol-newsArt…

"Mannatech, Incorporated (NASDAQ: MTEX), the founder of the M5MSM (Mission 5 MillionSM) Foundation, the pioneer of nutritional glycobiology and the global innovator of naturally sourced supplements based on Real Food Technology® solutions, announced it has officially launched its most legendary ingredient, Manapol powder, the highest quality aloe vera gel extract in the world, as a standalone product. This exclusive product, available only in the U.S., supports a healthy immune system* and will only be available while supplies last.


Manapol powder is a pure, premium, 100 percent aloe vera gel extract that is abundant in acetylated, mannose-rich polysaccharides, or acemannans, designed to support cell-to-cell communication.* Manapol powder has a guaranteed molecular weight of more than one million Daltons1, testing the highest of any other aloe gel extract. As the most cutting-edge glyconutritional product available, Manapol powder supports the body’s immune system and may provide gastrointestinal benefits.*

“Mannatech is uniquely positioned to serve the wellness industry with excellence through our products,” said Mannatech CEO and President, Al Bala. “Manapol powder only further establishes us as the pioneer of nutritional glycobiology with this groundbreaking technology.”

For more than 20 years, Manapol powder has been an essential ingredient in other Mannatech products. Mannatech’s Advanced Ambrotose® product and Ambrotose® complex are among the company’s top-selling products containing the aloe gel extract, and are known for their cognitive, immune and gastrointestinal benefits.*

Manapol powder was made available for early bird registrants, who were able to purchase the powder for a limited time only from August 5-6. Manapol powder was also available for purchase by event attendees of Mannatech’s Los Angeles Super Regional meeting, August 14-15. The product is now available for all other U.S. Mannatech Associates and the general public. The Associate price for a 30-serving container of Manapol powder is $229.99, and the retail price is $321.99.

For more information on Manapol powder, please visit our website.


About Mannatech

Mannatech, Incorporated, develops high-quality health, weight and fitness, and skin care products that are based on the solid foundation of nutritional science and development standards. Mannatech is dedicated to its platform of Social Entrepreneurship based on the foundation of promoting, aiding and optimizing childhood nutrition where it is needed most around the world. Mannatech’s proprietary products are available through independent sales associates around the globe including the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Estonia, Finland, the Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Spain and Hong Kong. For more information, visit Mannatech.com. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.302.383 von Popeye82 am 30.07.15 19:31:55

http://solarwindow.com/2015/08/solarwindow-electricity-from-…

[Popeye82]

New vein of rare mineral discovered - MA/TI - Aug 21, 2015

- Cole Latimer -
www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/new-vein-of-rare-mineral-dis…
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/miner-fi…
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-23559735

"A rare mineral has been rediscovered in the UK.

The mineral, a form of fluorite with bands of purple and blue known as 'Blue John' or' Derbyshire spar', was found by a miner testing a new stone chainsaw, according to The Independent.


It was popular during the early 1800s Regency era.

The stone itself is reportedly not found anywhere else around the world apart from the Peak District in the UK, specifically in the Treak Cliff Cavern.

It was found by Gary Ridley, a local miner.




“It was only because we were trying out a new method of mining using a stone chainsaw that we discovered it,” Ridley stated.

“I decided to try the new saw in an area of the cavern we’ve never dug before ... just off the tourist route. I couldn’t believe my eyes when, within a few minutes, I had uncovered a substantial deposit.”

The new vein is the first to be found in more than 150 years.




A geological expert and retired Leicester University lecturer Dr Trevor Ford, said the find was a “major new development”.

It follows on from the 2013 rediscovery of a ‘lost vein’ that was first rediscovered in 1945, but whose location had been lost before the prospector who found it died. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.449.146 von Popeye82 am 20.08.15 21:32:01

http://solarwindow.com/2015/08/solarwindow-power-reinvented-…

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

An Artificial Heart IPO, From SynCardia Systems
www.nanalyze.com/2015/08/an-artificial-heart-ipo-from-syncar…

[Popeye82]

Rex Bionics striding out with new robot tech, this week, the group revealed the device had excitingly been used in conjunction with ground-breaking mind control technology - PAI, UK - Aug 6, 2015
www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/109625/rex-bioni…
www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/stocktube/4029/rex-bi…
www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/109736/rex-bioni…

"


Medtech group Rex Bionics (LON:RXB) says interest is growing in its REX robot for home and clinical use.

The robot allows wheelchair users to get upright and walk again.

And this week, the group revealed the device had excitingly been used in conjunction with ground-breaking mind control technology.


At a conference in Rome, a 21-year-old UK man, Robert Camm, who is paralysed from the neck down and cannot uses his hands, demonstrated it by walking in the robot and controlling his steps by his thoughts.

It came about after the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Houston, Texas asked REX to provide a robot to test out their technology.

While the mind control technology has yet to go through the medical device approval process, Rex Bionics' chief executive Crispin Simon explained to Proactive he can see a personal use and a clinical market for such a combined product.

It gives seriously injured people, such as Mr Camm, who cannot use a joystick, a new lease of independence and the health benefits of walking rather than sitting.

"The independence of being able to instruct your body to move is a big move forward," said Simon.

Work has also been done on controlling REX using just blow or eye movement technology for those who have 'locked-in' syndrome or have suffered a stroke, Simon added - another possible market.

Thirdly, he said the most likely market was university hospitals, which may like to own one to carry out rehab sessions.

The REX machine is described as the world’s first hands-free, self-supporting, independently controlled robotic walking device, but such tech of course does not come cheap.

A stand-alone REX robot retails at around £90,000 in the UK. Potential avenues for private individuals getting hold of them longer term, suggested Simon, is through fundraising or personal injury claims.

A sticking point for the group has been sales but Simon said he was "pleased" with current momentum and that the group will report sales in its first half to end May.

Research house Edison is upbeat on the potential and forecasts revenue of £1mln in its 2016 year, rising to £5mln for 2017.

On its calculations, Rex only needs to sell 197 of the units by 2020 to justify the current share price of 57.5p, it says.

Edison reckons the group is trading at a "significant discount" to its peers as the market appears to be pricing in a "low probability of success" for its products.

A key plank to the strategy is a launch of REX in the US, which Simon says will be a focus over the next 18 months.

In May, the group said it was on track to get FDA approval and launch the product in 2017.

In addition, it already inked distribution agreements in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Simon also expects to report early and positive data from the RAPPER II (Robot-Assisted Physiotherapy Exercises with REX) clinical trial - another strand of the development - before the end of the year.

The trial now has 15 patients (of a 100 target) and the aim is to prove the technology's value, safety and feasibility to increase attention and thereby sales.

And last month it struck a partnership deal in China - potentially a significant market - with investment group MAAB to manage the process of applying for China Food and Drug Administration regulatory approval for REX.

MAAB will also manage sales, marketing and distribution of the product once it is approved. Product launch could take place from the second half of 2016, the firm said. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.478.561 von Popeye82 am 25.08.15 05:40:20

[Popeye82]

AirXpanders - XPAND Pivotal Trial Meets Primary Endpoint - Aug 25, 2015
http://stocknessmonster.com/news-item?S=AXP&E=ASX&N=428381

[Popeye82]

Pentagon funding new high tech venture for flexible electronics - SH/TCP, NEWPORT BEACH - Aug 28, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/08/28/pentagon-funding…

"Defence Secretary Ash Carter will announce Friday that the Pentagon is funding a new venture to develop cutting-edge electronics and sensors that can flex and stretch and could be built into clothing or the skins of ships and aircraft.

The high-tech investment could lead to wearable health monitors that could be built into military uniforms or used to assist the elderly. Or it could foster thin, bendable sensors that could be tucked into cracks or crevices on weapons, ships or bridges where bulky wiring could never fit. The sensors could telegraph structural problems or trigger repair alerts.


Under the plan, the Pentagon will provide $75 million and industry, academia and local government will contribute $96 million over five years to a newly created high-tech innovation institute.

The consortium, called the Flexible Hybrid Electronic Institute, will be led by California-based FlexTech Alliance and be made up of 162 companies, universities and other groups.

Carter plans to lay out the details in a speech Friday in California's Silicon Valley. This is Carter's second trip to the technology hub in four months, as he works to get the Defence Department to increasingly tap into the region's high-tech expertise and workforce.

“Given what we've already done, there's truly no limit to what we can achieve together,” said Carter, in an excerpt of his speech provided to reporters. “That's why I've been pushing the Pentagon to think outside our five-sided box, and invest in innovation here in Silicon Valley and in tech communities across the country. And now we're taking another step forward.”

During his first trip in April, Carter launched a new program called Defence Innovation Unit - Experimental aimed at scouting out promising emerging technologies and beefing up the Pentagon's ability to work with high-tech firms. On Friday he will visit the unit's new office.

One of Carter's much-repeated goals is to build better relations with high-tech industry in order to better equip the military force of the future.

According to a senior defence official, using such partnerships allows the department to pursue technologies it might not otherwise be able to invest in. And officials are making a strategic bet that the innovations that spring from the projects would also have commercial uses. The official was not authorized to discuss the issue prior to public release so spoke on condition of anonymity.

“For those interested in foreign policy and national security, there are lots of interesting challenges and problems to work on,” said Carter in another speech excerpt. “And that's also true for those interested in technology. But the intersection of the two is an opportunity-rich environment?.”

According to the Pentagon, flexible hybrid electronics manufacturing is an innovative process at the intersection of the electronics industry and the high-precision printing industry. It can create light-weight sensors that can conform to the curves of the human body or stretch across the structure of an object.

The winning consortium includes major companies like Apple, United Technologies and Hewlett Packard with others that can embed these flexible, bendable electronics into everything from medical devices to supersonic jets.

This project is the seventh such private-public partnership to be announced by the Obama administration. Six are led by the Defence Department and this one will be managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Earlier this month Vice-President Joe Biden unveiled one focused on photonics research in Rochester, N.Y., while others included a 3D printing technology hub in Youngstown, Ohio and an advanced materials centre in Knoxville, Tennessee, Biden's office said. "

[Popeye82]

Robotically Steered Flexible Needles Navigate in Tissue, Robotically steering flexible needles can reach their intended target in tissue with sub-millimetre level accuracy. This has been demonstrated by the doctoral research of Momen Abayazid, who is affiliated with the research institute MIRA of the University of Twente. An major advantage of steering flexible needles is that one can avoid obstacles or sensitive tissues +can re-orient the path of the needle in real time as you insert the needle. Abayazid will defend his doctoral thesis, on 26 Aug, '15
www.utwente.nl/en/news/!/2015/8/213573/robotically-steered-f…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/08/robotically-steered-flexib…

[Popeye82]

Terminator’-style material heals, itself - IT/kurzweilai.net/ACS, ML/NASA - Aug 27, 2015
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/08/terminator-style-material-…
www.kurzweilai.net
www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/02/offtheshelf-materials-lead…

"

- via www.kurzweilai.net VIDEO via ACS.org -


For astronauts living in space with objects zooming around them at 22,000 miles per hour like rogue super-bullets, it’s good to have a backup plan. Although shields and fancy maneuvers could help protect space structures, scientists have to prepare for the possibility that debris could pierce a vessel. In the journal ACS Macro Letters, one team reports on a new material that heals itself within seconds and could prevent structural penetration from being catastrophic.

It’s hard to imagine a place more inhospitable to life than space. Yet humans have managed to travel and live there thanks to meticulous engineering. The International Space Station, equipped with “bumpers” that vaporize debris before it can hit the station walls, is the most heavily-shielded spacecraft ever flown, according to NASA. But should the bumpers fail, a wall breach would allow life-sustaining air to gush out of astronauts’ living quarters. Timothy F. Scott and colleagues wanted to develop a backup defense.

The researchers made a new kind of self-healing material by sandwiching a reactive liquid in between two layers of a solid polymer. When they shot a bullet through it, the liquid quickly reacted with oxygen from the air to form a solid plug in under a second. The researchers say the technology could also apply to other more earthly structures including automobiles. ..."

[Popeye82]

3D-printed swimming microrobots can sense, +remove, toxins, Nanoparticles enable them to be self-propelled, chemically powered, +magnetically steered; could also be used for targeted drug delivery - kurzweilai.net/AM/UoC, CALIFORNIA/SAN DIEGO - Aug 27, 2015
www.kurzweilai.net/3d-printed-smimming-microrobots-can-sense…

"

- 3D-printed microfish contain functional nanoparticles that enable them to be self-propelled, chemically powered and magnetically steered. The microfish are also capable of removing and sensing toxins. (credit: J. Warner, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering) -


A new kind of fish-shaped microrobots called “microfish” can swim around efficiently in liquids, are chemically powered by hydrogen peroxide, and magnetically controlled. They will inspire a new generation of “smart” microrobots that have diverse capabilities such as detoxification, sensing, and directed drug delivery, said nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego.

To manufacture the microfish, the researchers used an innovative 3D printing technology they developed, with numerous improvements over other methods traditionally employed to create microrobots, such as microjet engines, microdrillers, and microrockets.

Most of these microrobots are incapable of performing more sophisticated tasks because they feature simple mechanical designs — such as spherical or cylindrical structures — and are made of homogeneous inorganic materials.

The research, led by Professors Shaochen Chen and Joseph Wang of the NanoEngineering Department at the UC San Diego, was published in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Advanced Materials.


A microrobotic toxin scavenger



- Platinum nanoparticles in the tail of the fish achieve propulsion via reaction with hydrogen peroxide; iron oxide nanoparticles are loaded into the head of the fish for magnetic control (credit: W. Zhu and J. Li, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering) -


The nanoengineers were able to easily add functional nanoparticles into certain parts of the microfish bodies.

They installed platinum nanoparticles in the tails, which react with hydrogen peroxide to propel the microfish forward, and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in the heads, which allowed them to be steered with magnets.

“We have developed an entirely new method to engineer nature-inspired microscopic swimmers that have complex geometric structures and are smaller than the width of a human hair.

With this method, we can easily integrate different functions inside these tiny robotic swimmers for a broad spectrum of applications,” said the co-first author Wei Zhu, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student in Chen’s research group at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.

As a proof-of-concept demonstration, the researchers incorporated toxin-neutralizing polydiacetylene (PDA) nanoparticles throughout the bodies of the microfish to neutralize harmful pore-forming toxins such as the ones found in bee venom.

The researchers noted that the powerful swimming of the microfish in solution greatly enhanced their ability to clean up toxins.

When the PDA nanoparticles bind with toxin molecules, they become fluorescent and emit red-colored light. The team was able to monitor the detoxification ability of the microfish by the intensity of their red glow. “The neat thing about this experiment is that it shows how the microfish can doubly serve as detoxification systems and as toxin sensors,” said Zhu.

“Another exciting possibility we could explore is to encapsulate medicines inside the microfish and use them for directed drug delivery,” said Jinxing Li, the other co-first author of the study and a nanoengineering Ph.D. student in Wang’s research group.


3D-printing microrobots



- Schematic illustration of the μCOP method to fabricate microfish. (Left) UV light illuminates mirrors, generating an optical pattern specified by the control computer. The pattern is projected through optics onto the photosensitive monomer solution to fabricate the fish layer-by-layer. (Right) 3D microscopy image of an array of printed microfish. Scale bar, 100 micrometers. (credit: Wei Zhu et al./Advanced Materials) -


The new microfish fabrication method is based on a rapid, high-resolution 3D printing technology called microscale continuous optical printing (μCOP) developed in Chen’s lab, offering speed, scalability, precision, and flexibility.

The key component of the μCOP technology is a digital micromirror array device (DMD) chip, which contains approximately two million micromirrors. Each micromirror is individually controlled to project UV light in the desired pattern (in this case, a fish shape) onto a photosensitive material, which solidifies upon exposure to UV light. The microfish are constructed one layer at a time, allowing each set of functional nanoparticles to be “printed” into specific parts of the fish bodies.




- Fluorescent images demonstrating the detoxification capability of microfish containing encapsulated PDA nanoparticles (credit: Wei Zhu et al./Advanced Materials) -


Within seconds, the researchers can print an array containing hundreds of microfish, each measuring 120 microns long and 30 microns thick. This process also does not require the use of harsh chemicals. Because the μCOP technology is digitized, the researchers could easily experiment with different designs for their microfish, including shark and manta ray shapes. They could also build microrobots in based on other biological organisms, such as birds, said Zhu.

“This method has made it easier for us to test different designs for these microrobots and to test different nanoparticles to insert new functional elements into these tiny structures. It’s my personal hope to further this research to eventually develop surgical microrobots that operate safer and with more precision,” said Li.

Abstract of 3D-Printed Artificial Microfish

Hydrogel microfish featuring biomimetic structures, locomotive capabilities, and functionalized nanoparticles are engineered using a rapid 3D printing platform: microscale continuous ­optical printing (μCOP). The 3D-printed ­microfish exhibit chemically powered and magnetically guided propulsion, as well as highly efficient detoxification capabilities that highlight the technical versatility of this platform for engineering advanced functional microswimmers for diverse biomedical applications.

References:

Wei Zhu, Jinxing Li, Yew J. Leong, Isaac Rozen, Xin Qu, Renfeng Dong, Zhiguang Wu, Wei Gao, Peter H. Chung, Joseph Wang andShaochen Chen. 3D-Printed Artificial Microfish. Advanced Materials, Volume 27, Issue 30, pages 4411–4417, August 12, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/adma.201501372

Related:

These microscopic fish are 3-D-printed to do more than swim "

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2013/12/chinese-scientists-upbeat-…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2012/02/nasa-studying-solar-electr…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/08/scientists-discover-electr…

[Popeye82]

www.intellectualventures.com/insights/archives/metamaterials…

[Popeye82]

https://theconversation.com/pioneers-of-quantum-computing-ar…

[Popeye82]

Virtual Cockpit in Cars Edges Closer to Reality, as Hybrid Instrument Clusters Are Set to be the Standard Beyond 2020, next-gen instrument clusters will enable comprehensive display of information for drivers in the centre stack, finds Frost & Sullivan - W: 0/PRNW/F&S, LONDON - Sep 2, 2015
www.frost.com/mb36
www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/7918016-virtual-cockpit-c…

"Modernisation efforts are sweeping through the instrument cluster (IC) space as automakers in North America and Europe strive to provide consumers with a unique driving experience. Analogue gauges in cars will become obsolete by 2021, giving way to hybrid and fully digital ICs with flexible designs that facilitate personalisation. Next-generation ICs will feature customisable dials and advanced liquid-crystal-display (LCD) quantum dot displays containing detailed, relevant information. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and tier I suppliers are also working on integrating the centre stack into the IC, thus displaying all necessary data in the driver's line of sight and reducing distraction.


New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Rise of Virtual Cockpits, in Cars (https://www.frost.com/mb36), finds that the IC market in North America and Europe is expected to clock a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2 percent from 2014 to 2021, with digital IC expected to reach a CAGR of approx. 26 percent by 2021. While the "virtual cockpit" will be limited to premium-segment vehicles, fully digital clusters that will be standard in about 20 percent of cars will also be offered as an option on medium-segment cars.

For complimentary access to more information on this research, please visit: http://ow.ly/RkXpz.

"Hybrid ICs, which include both analogue and digital components, will become a standard feature in most vehicle segments and platforms post 2017," said Frost & Sullivan Automotive and Transportation Senior Research Analyst Ramnath Eswaravadivoo. "Hybrid ICs will continue to grow popular as the decreasing prices of graphic processors and control units make the integration of 3D graphics into hybrid ICs feasible."

By 2021, about 82.2 percent of cars shipped across Europe and North America are expected to be deployed with hybrid ICs, and the other 17.8 percent are expected to be fully digital ICs.

The falling costs of LCD panels and related electronics are turning fully digital ICs into an affordable alternative too. Low- and medium-end OEMs prefer digital clusters that lower distraction by displaying only the information that the driver currently requires. Moreover, digital ICs can dynamically change the information shown as the driver shifts from one mode to another, and OEMs can add new functionalities into a digital cluster by merely changing the software.

With digital ICs gaining traction, the need for software tooling is also heating up. However, the increasing instances of software failures could slow down adoption in North America and Europe.

"Constant software upgrades will be crucial to improve customer retention," observed Eswaravadivoo. "In addition, as the use of software drastically goes up, OEMs must expand their services and collaborate closely with technology enablers to manage the issue of cybersecurity."

Nevertheless, the advantages of fully digital ICs far outweigh the challenges, and OEMs are working to capitalise on all the benefits that the technology can offer.

Rise of Virtual Cockpits in Cars (MB36-18) is a Strategic Insight that is part of the Automotive & Transportation (http://ww2.frost.com/research/industry/automotive-transporta… Growth Partnership Service program. The study analyses the potential of analogue, hybrid, and fully digital ICs following extensive interviews with market participants. It details display technologies and the information that is most likely to be incorporated in ICs of the future, reviews current models, and benchmarks user interface suppliers.


About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

- The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

- The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.


For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organisation prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?


Contact Us: Start the discussion

Join Us: Join our community

Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing"

Register: Gain access to visionary innovation


Contact:

Katja Feick
Corporate Communications – Europe
P: +49 (0) 69 / 77 0 33 43
E: [e-mail]
Twitter: @Frost_Sullivan or @FS_Automotive
Facebook: FrostandSullivan
Linkedin: Future of Mobility – A Frost & Sullivan Forum
http://www.frost.com "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.549.564 von Popeye82 am 03.09.15 12:30:51

[Popeye82]

Wind Energy Startup Altaeros Energies Raises Funding, from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries +Suhail Bahwan Group - Aug 27, 2015
www.altaerosenergies.com/pressrelease_2015_08.html

"Somerville, MA, August 27, 2015 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (“MHI”) and the Suhail Bahwan Group (“SBG”) have invested in Altaeros Energies, a Massachusetts-based technology company, to support the design and production of its Buoyant Airborne Turbine (“BAT”) renewable energy and communication platform.


MHI and SBG bring deep strategic expertise in developing and executing large technology projects for industrial and government customers around the world. The Altaeros BAT offers a multi-purpose platform to supply power, telecommunication, and other sensing and security services to remote and off-grid customers.

“There are over one billion people that live without access to reliable electricity and three billion who do not have access to the Internet. We are honored to partner with MHI and SBG to deliver a product that can tackle this global challenge,” said Ben Glass, CEO of Altaeros. The BAT delivers a consistent power output from a containerized platform that is convenient to ship and install at remote sites, helping to significantly reduce reliance on diesel fuel for off-grid communities, disaster relief centers, island nations, and remote industries. The BAT is composed of a helium-filled shell that lifts a wind turbine to harness stronger and more consistent winds 600 meters (2,000 feet) above ground, roughly three times higher than the tallest existing tower-mounted wind turbines.


About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (“MHI”):

MHI (http://www.mhi-global.com/index.html), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world’s leading heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of 3,992.1 billion yen in fiscal 2014 (the year ended March 31, 2015). MHI’s diverse lineup of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, power plants, chemical plants, environmental equipment, steel structures, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space systems and air-conditioning systems. MHI has also become a leader in wind power, having installed multiple gigawatts of capacity worldwide.


About Suhail Bahwan Group (“SBG”):

Over the past five decades, SBG (www.suhailbahwangroup.com), headquartered in the Sultanate of Oman, has become one of the largest diversified professionally managed business groups in the Middle East, led by founder Chairman Sheikh Suhail Salim Bahwan. SBG’s business interests are primarily situated in the Middle East, India and Africa, and include a wide range of activities comprising manufacturing, engineering, construction, energy, telecommunication, banking and automobiles. SBG and MHI have successfully partnered in several projects including an engineering joint venture in India.


About Altaeros :

Founded in 2010, Altaeros (http://www.altaerosenergies.com/) was formed to commercialize the world’s first high altitude wind turbine. Our goal is to provide low cost renewable power and telecom access to rural communities and off grid industries that rely on expensive fossil fuels. Altaeros has received funding from SoftBank Group Corp., the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, California Energy Commission, Maine Technology Institute, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, ConocoPhillips Energy Prize, Alaska Energy Authority, Cleantech Innovations New England and Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Sons. Altaeros is based in Somerville, Massachusetts at the country’s largest clean technology incubator, Greentown Labs. "

[Popeye82]

Toyota pouring $50,000,000 into Stanford, MIT research centres, to help automate driving - SH/TCP/MIT, EAST PALO ALTO/STANFORD/CAMBRIDGE/MASSACHUSETTS - Sep 5, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/09/04/toyota-pouring-$…

"Toyota (NYSE: TM, Forum) is investing $50 million with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in hopes of gaining an edge in an accelerating race to phase out human drivers.

The financial commitment announced Friday by the Japanese automaker will be made over the next five years at joint research centres located in Silicon Valley and another technology hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


Toyota has hired robotics expert Gill Pratt to oversee research aimed at developing artificial intelligence and other innovations that will enable future car models to navigate the roads without people doing all the steering and stopping.

Major tech companies such as Google and Uber are competing against a range of automakers to make robot cars that will be better drivers than people and save lives by causing fewer accidents.

Google, which runs some of the world's most popular online services, has been working on a fleet of self-driving cars for the past six years. Its goal is to have the cars capable of driving completely on their own by 2020. Ride-hailing pioneer Uber has teamed up with Carnegie Mellon University on a Pittsburgh research centre in its quest to build driverless cars.

Toyota Motor Co. has already promised to have collision-prevention technology installed in all its U.S. cars by 2017, but isn't as optimistic about building a car capable of driving entirely by itself within the next decade.

Instead, Toyota envisions cars becoming gradually smarter and more independent of humans as its own engineers and the research centres at Stanford and MIT discover breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and robotics. The company wants to eventually equip its cars with safety systems that can automatically steer the vehicle toward the middle of the road and issue warnings when a human driver appears to be distracted.

Pratt, a former program manager at the U.S. government's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, will play a key role in Toyota's drive toward automation. During his five-year stint at DARPA, Pratt oversaw a popular program that challenged engineers to use robotics to perform specific tasks and solve problems.

The MIT research centre will focus on inventing ways for cars to recognize their surroundings and make decisions that avert potential accidents. If the goals are realized, Toyota might be able to build a car “incapable of getting into a collision,” said Daniela Rus, the MIT professor who will lead the university's research partnership with the automaker.

Besides working on recognition technology, the Stanford research centre will try to create artificial intelligence programs that can predict behaviour patterns so cars can quickly adjust to potentially dangerous situations. Stanford's research will be led by Fei-Fie Li, director of the university's artificial intelligence laboratory.

Not far away from Stanford, both General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. have established offices in Palo Alto, California, in their own quests to make smarter cars.

Meanwhile, just to the south, Google's self-driving cars are regularly cruising the roads of the company's hometown of Mountain View, California, during ongoing testing of the vehicles.

California law still requires humans to be in the self-driving cars to take control in dangerous situations or if something goes wrong. Most of the time, though, Google's self-driving cars are being controlled by a computer. They logged a combined 147,000 miles in autonomous mode from June 3 through August 31, according to Google. The self-driving cars were involved in four collisions that resulted in no major injuries. The robot cars were rear-ended by vehicles driven by people in those accidents. "

[Popeye82]

The 'Bionic Suit May Be the Future of Prosthetics', Inventor Scott Summit is personalizing medical devices, through 3D printing - Smithsonian - Aug 31, 2015

- Video by Sarah Joseph +Jon Betz, Smithsonian -

- Digital Studio; Text by Katie Nodjimbadem -
www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-bionic-suit-may-be-fu…

[Popeye82]

CAD3,000,000 In Funding Available, CCEMC Grand Challenge, Round 2, Now Open
https://ninesights.ninesigma.com/web/ccemc-gc/

"The inaugural round of the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) Grand Challenge was a vital step in reducing GHG emissions. 24 winners were chosen from 344 submissions from 37 countries on six continents; the winners each received $500,000 to develop technologies that create new carbon-based, value added products and markets.

The second round of the $35 million CCEMC Grand Challenge is open for submissions until January 18, 2016. This round is focused on near deployable ideas that turn carbon waste into a valued resource. Winners will receive $3 million in funding to commercialize their technology in Alberta.

Is your idea up to the challenge?

Apply now at ccemcgrandchallenge.com "

[Popeye82]

Sparton Subsidiary to Support Large Vanadium Flow Battery Start-up
www.marketwired.com/press-release/sparton-subsidiary-to-supp…

"TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 10, 2015) - Sparton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SRI) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that, through its majority controlled subsidiary, VanSpar Mining Inc., it has executed a contract to fund the commissioning one of the world's largest vanadium redox flow batteries. This battery is located in Hebei Province, China, approximately 60 km north of Beijing, where it was recently installed for the PRC State Grid Company.

With a capacity of 2 megawatts (mw) of power and 8 megawatt hours (mwh) of energy, the unit was pre-tested prior to installation, and features 10 units, each of 200 kilowatts power. It is integrated with large solar and wind power installations at the State Grid's Zhangbei SGCC1 clean energy demonstration project. Located in proximity to the site of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, it is expected that this battery, and the overall project, will be highlighted as a green energy initiative in the area.

By way of example, a battery of this capacity could support approximately 400 modest domestic households, each consuming approximately 20 kilowatt hour (kwh) of electricity, or an industrial plant or service facility, such as a hospital or school, with similar electricity requirements.

The commissioning program is the first of a series of transactions being planned by the Company, which could result in the Company becoming a participant in the manufacturing and sales of large scale vanadium flow batteries and, with vertical integration, the mining, processing and marketing of vanadium products. It is planned to integrate the batteries with green energy power installations (solar and wind) to provide one-stop-shopping solutions for efficient clean electricity production and distribution.

A convertible debenture financing, of up to US$650,000, is being proposed in VanSpar to fund the SGCC1 battery commissioning. A series of payments from State Grid will be forthcoming once the commissioning is successfully completed and accepted and will continue over the next 3 year period.

A team of experienced technicians, led by the engineers who previously installed the battery, are currently on site and the commissioning work is underway. It is expected to be completed prior to year end.

Company President, Lee Barker, commented: "This opportunity presented itself during our review of the prospective acquisition of an advanced technology company specializing in manufacturing vanadium based flow batteries. Our interest in vanadium and new applications for vanadium products goes back several years. We believe that vanadium flow batteries provide the best current solution to storing clean energy produced by wind and solar systems and that the combination of clean electricity production and storage is an ideal solution for remote areas.

These types of integrated systems can service various industrial and domestic applications including mines, schools, and communications terminals. They can also be used as back-up power systems for military installations, hospitals and public utility and transportation control systems in metropolitan centres. At the present time, vanadium flow batteries offer the best commercially viable solution for large scale electricity storage. They are cost competitive, long life, (+20 years, +100,000 cycles) safe, not prone to overheating, and are fully recyclable."

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

We Seek Safe Harbour "

[Popeye82]

www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/behavioural…

[Popeye82]

Hybrid solar cell converts both light +heat from sun’s rays into electricity, Scientists have developed a new hybrid, solar-energy system that harnesses the full spectrum of the sun’s radiation by pairing a photovoltaic cell with polymer films. The films convert the light that goes unused by the solar cell into heat +then converts the heat into electricity
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/hybrid-solar-cell-converts…

"Scientists have developed a new hybrid, solar-energy system that harnesses the full spectrum of the sun’s radiation by pairing a photovoltaic cell with polymer films. The films convert the light that goes unused by the solar cell into heat and then converts the heat into electricity. They report on their device, which produces a voltage more than five times higher than other hybrid systems, in the journal ACS Nano.

Solar cells today are getting better at converting sunlight to electricity, but commercial panels still harvest only part of the radiation they’re exposed to. Scientists are working to change this using various methods. One approach is to hybridize solar cells with different materials to capture more of the sun’s energy. Eunkyoung Kim and colleagues turned to a clear, conductive polymer known as PEDOT to try to accomplish this.

The researchers layered a dye-sensitized solar cell on top of a PEDOT film, which heats up in response to light. Below that, they added a pyroelectric thin film and a thermoelectric device, both of which convert heat into electricity. The efficiency of all components working together was more than 20 percent higher than the solar cell alone. With that boost, the system could operate an LED lamp and an electrochromic display. ..."

[Popeye82]

Loughborough University 'unveils breakthrough technology, with potential to revolutionise the global rail industry', a failsafe track switch designed to eradicate a 200-year-old problem on the railway has been created by engineers @Loughborough University. The breakthrough technology known asRepoint is a robust +reliable points mechanism, which will improve safety, reduce maintenance costs, +boost capacity
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2015/september/repoint-rail…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/loughborough-university-un…

"A failsafe track switch designed to eradicate a 200-year-old problem on the railway has been created by engineers at Loughborough University.

The breakthrough technology known asRepoint is a robust and reliable points mechanism, which will improve safety, reduce maintenance costs and boost capacity on the railways.

Supported by the UK Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), Repoint is the result of work carried out with industry experts into improved switches to override track switch failures which can lead to train derailment.


Using safety concepts derived from aerospace and the nuclear industry, Repoint corrects a failed switch through a patented arrangement of interlocking rail ends which incorporate a sliding arrangement similar to a breather switch. A lift and drop mechanism allows for expansion and provides an additional locking mechanism with virtually no friction losses.

The mechanism can also move the switch in fractions of a second compared to the current four seconds for conventional designs.

Professor Roger Dixon, Head of the Control Systems Research Group, said the next step was to build a prototype switch to be trialled in a non-passenger environment either on a test track or a siding.

“Repoint is a robust alternative to conventional switches that breaks with 200 years of tradition to offer a change in design that is inherently failsafe and fit for a 21st century rail network,” he said.

“A standard switch takes around four seconds to move, during which time a train may have travelled a distance of 200 metres. Repoint’s ability to reduce this time to under a second improves rail capacity without the need to build new infrastructure. It also has the potential to deliver huge cost savings, and will result in a significant increase in reliability and safety to the rail industry worldwide. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.613.101 von Popeye82 am 13.09.15 05:08:44

[Popeye82]

'Super soakers: speedy crystal sponges, to mop up industrial waste' - n@CSIRO - Jul 29, 2015

- Nicholas Kachel, Emily Lehmann -
http://csironewsblog.com/2015/07/29/super-soakers-speedy-cry…
www.csiro.au/en/Do-business/Collaborative-research/Active-op…

"

- The tiny crystal sponges up close. They are much bigger on the inside and the ideal waste filters. -


Environmental management is a valuable business. As well as being critical for protecting our waterways, soil and health, it supports a rapidly growing industry, contributing billions of dollars to Australia’s GDP each year.

That’s why we’re coming up with better, more efficient tools to add value to the industry.

One promising new technology for cleaning up industrial waste and soil takes advantage of tiny sponge-like crystals made of metal organic frameworks (or MOFs). These super soakers make ideal waste filters, efficiently trapping large amounts of contaminants found in industrial wastewater and soil.


The crystals are deceptively small. Believe it or not, just one gram has the internal storage capacity of an entire football oval – that’s 7,000 square metres! Until now, these crystals have been challenging to manufacture and bring to market because of their lengthy and costly production time.

The good news for manufacturers is that we’ve come up with a way to grow the crystals quickly and cheaply for around 30 per cent of the cost. Rather than taking days, our method makes MOF crystals in as little as 15 minutes, making them viable to manufacture for the first time.



- CSIRO’s Paolo Falcaro – one of the clever brains behind the new method. -


Our method has been used to create a specific type of MOF crystal based on zinc oxides, but we believe it could be applied to different types of MOFs in areas as diverse as energy and pharmaceuticals. These crystal gems could offer industry an innovative solution for turning tonnes of wastewater into safe, clean and usable resources.

We’re now looking to partner with manufacturers to develop these crystal sponges into a saleable product using our new process.

Find out how we’ve been applying these clever MOF crystals to other industries, including potential opportunities for your business. "

[Popeye82]

'World’s 1st man-made photosynthetic ‘leaf’ could produce oxygen, for astronauts', 'Breakthrough technology could make long-distance space travel feasible, clean our air here on Earth, +even combat global warming' - IT/MNN/RCoA - Jul 30, 2014
www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/worlds-f…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/08/worlds-first-man-made-phot…

"

Breakthrough technology could make long-distance space travel feasible, clean our air here on Earth, and even combat global warming.

To say that an invention has the potential to change the world is often an overstatement, but here’s a case where the phrase seems to fit: Royal College of Art graduate Julian Melchiorri has created the world’s first man-made, biologically functional “leaf,” reports Dezeen.

To get your mind around just how world-altering this invention could be, first understand just how important normal vegetation is for life on Earth. As the only organisms capable of converting sunlight into food, plants are the powerhouses that produce all of the sustenance on Earth. This process also produces the oxygen that we breath, and scrubs the air of pollutants and excess carbon dioxide, and helps to regulate the planet’s climate.

Melchiorri’s invention can potentially duplicate many of these benefits with a man-made material. In fact, this artificial leaf could potentially do even more, by allowing our astronauts to travel longer distances in space and possibly even colonize new planets.


“Plants don’t grow in zero gravity,” explained Melchiorri. “NASA is researching different ways to produce oxygen for long-distance space journeys to let us live in space. This material could allow us to explore space much further than we can now.” ..."

[Popeye82]

ich finde den Titel einfach geil,
extrem zutreffend,
in der heutigen zeit

Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: Teenagers in an Era of Consumerism, Standardized Tests, and Social Media, 2nd Edition
www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=156312&CultureCode…

[Popeye82]

Branson's OneWeb: 'Cheap Satellite Internet, Anywhere', there's a new space race that many people don't know is underway. The primary competitors in this race are two of the most admired entrepreneurs in the world; Elon Musk +Richard Branson. The goal is none other than to provide internet access to everyone, on the globe, anywhere. This idea has been explored before by Google's helium balloons +Facebook’s drones
www.nanalyze.com/2015/09/bransons-oneweb-cheap-satellite-int…

[Popeye82]

wen "abgefahrener sh*tstuff" interessiert,
ruhig mal ein bisschen ansehen

www.innovationtoronto.com/2012/11/nanotech-device-mimics-dog…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/01/new-laser-for-computer-chi…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/06/toward-nanorobots-that-swi…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/optogenetics-revolutionizi…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/tiny-wires-could-provide-a…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/02/google-network-learns-to-p…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/04/glass-fiber-that-brings-li…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/artificial-plants-could-fu…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/10/wasps-3d-printers-produce-…
www.newswise.com/articles/new-technology-may-double-radio-fr…

[Popeye82]

'Hybrid pioneer Toyota continues quest for carbon free travel, with hydrogen fueled Mirai' - SH/TCP/T - Sep 15, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/09/15/hybrid-pioneer-t…

"Toyota (NYSE: TM, Forum) is taking the next step in its quest for carbon-free travel with the launch of the Mirai hydrogen-fueled sedan.

The Japanese brand that pioneered the hybrid gas-electric powertrain sees hydrogen cars as the end-game, following plug-in hybrids and full-electric vehicles.

The region's new CEO, Johan van Zyl, told reporters on the sidelines of the Frankfurt auto show on Monday that “It's not a question of if, it's a question of when,” hydrogen technology will go mainstream .


Toyota Europe expects sales of between 50 and 100 Mirai's this year and next, with 47 ordered to date. It is being sold only in Britain, Germany, Denmark and Belgium, where Toyota is working on getting in hydrogen pumping stations with local partners.

Toyota Europe sales chief Karl Schlicht said that current customers include governments and companies looking to reduce their carbon emissions. He expects the technology to be affordable for average consumers by 2025.

Toyota Europe last year sold 880,000 cars, up 3 per cent from a year earlier. Twenty per cent of those were hybrids. Schlicht forecasts sales will be down 1-2 per cent this year due to the economic slowdown in Russia.

Van Zyl expects hybrid sales to grow with the launch at Frankfurt show of the new RAV4 small SUV, which for the first time will be offered also with a hybrid powertrain, joining the Yaris, Auris and restyled Prius. "

[Popeye82]

World's First Solar-Powered Airport, GENERATES MORE POWER THAN IT CONSUMES
------> http://cial.aero/Pressroom/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=360&news…
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/48973
http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/08/worlds-first-solar-airport-co…
------> www.care2.com/causes/guess-which-airport-is-the-worlds-first…
www.horizon2020.ie/cascade-reducing-energy-use-by-airports/

"Aviation history has just been made. Earlier this summer I told you about the record breaking solar plane flight, and now the solar eagle has landed again—this time at an airport in India that just became the first airport in the world to completely operate on solar power.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo India!

Amazingly, the Cochin International airport in India’s state of Kerala actually produces more power than it uses. Inaugurated on August 18 of this year, over 46,000 solar panels laid across 45 acres near its cargo complex now produce 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day, which is slightly more than it uses. The remainder is being contributed to the state’s power grid.




Mr.V.J.Kurian IAS, Managing Director, Cochin International Airport Ltd. explains:

“When we had realized that the power bill is on the higher side, we contemplated possibilities. Then the idea of tapping the green power came in. We consume around 48,000 unit (KWh) a day. So if we can produce the same, that too by strictly adhering to the green and sustainable development model of infrastructure development that we always follow, that would transcend a message to the world. Now this has become the world’s first airport fully operates on solar power.”


The official airport statement claims:

“The plant will produce 18 million units of power from sun annually – the power equivalent to feed 10,000 homes for one year. Over the next 25 years, this green power project will avoid carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power plants by more than 3 lakh metric tons, which is equivalent to planting 3 million trees.”


Although the first airport to run on 100 percent solar power, Cochin is not the only airport tapping into the sun’s energy. Ecowatch points out, an international airport in Mexico City aims to be the world’s most sustainable when completed in 2018, London Heathrow airport has many solar features integrated into its operations, and Denver International is one of a number of U.S. airports utilizing solar power plants, to name a few.

To give you an idea of how much energy an airport needs to function, Nicolas Rehault from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems explains in this video how a single airport uses roughly as much energy as a whole city of 30,000 to 100,000 households.

Wait, whaaaaat?

Thiiink about it. Lots of major airports are massive in size and require energy for so many things on a daily basis, 365 days per year.


Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Care2. "

[Popeye82]

letzte 3meldungen -inklusive dieser- war ein bisschen unentschieden,
ob hier
oder in "Earth unlimited?" rein
www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2015/09/15/dundee-sus…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.634.693 von Popeye82 am 16.09.15 10:43:09

Nr.4,
in a sense

hier werde ich eventl. nochmal nachhaken
www.equities.com/spotlight/spotlight-companies/revolutionizi…

[Popeye82]

www.popsci.com/uber-powerful?cmpid=enews&spPodID=030&spMaili…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.650.758 von Popeye82 am 18.09.15 02:43:34

[Popeye82]

www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77203/Exclusive-EIT-network-CEO…

[Popeye82]

Engineers 'Unlock Remarkable 3D Vision from Ordinary Digital Camera Technology '
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/engineers-unlock-remarkabl…

[Popeye82]

Cyclist 'reaches 85,71 mph, on way to human-powered speed world record' - GM/R - Sep 18, 2015

- Nick Lavars -
www.gizmag.com/cyclist-human-powered-speed-record/39472/

"

- AeroVelo engineering has had this very record in their sights for some time -


Aboard an enclosed recumbent bicycle in Nevada today, Canadian Todd Reichart has claimed the world record for human powered speed. The annual World Human Powered Speed Challenge draws cyclists from around the world seeking to push the limits of pedal-powered motion, but it was the 33-year-old who left the competition in his wake to clock a top speed of 85.71 mph (137.9 km/h).

Reichart and his team at AeroVelo engineering have had this very record in their sights for some time. In June last year the team announced its plans to set a new human-powered speed record, which stood at 83.1 mph (133.8 km/h) at the time courtesy of a 26-year-old Dutch rider named Sebastiaan Bowler.

And AeroVelo's confidence in approaching this objective was pretty well-founded, having proven its credentials in the realm of human-powered vehicles in the years previous. In 2011, its Vortex bicycle achieved a speed of 72.6 mph (116.9 km/h), a new land speed record for college-built and college-piloted vehicles. It has even ventured into aviation, developing what it describes as the first working human-powered ornithopter and also winning the Sikorsky Prize in 2013 with its Atlas human-powered helicopter.

So with this considerable momentum behind it, AeroVelo set about crafting a vehicle capable of propelling it even further into the record books. Dubbed Eta, a Greek letter often referenced in engineering as the symbol for efficiency, the bike to take them there would be an upgrade of a 2012 version called Bluenose.

The pilot sits in the recumbent position, with their legs out in front of them, in an enclosed capsule crafted with aerodynamics as a driving principle. Using a camera mounted to the top of the vehicle and a video monitor to see ahead, Eta was expected to offer around a one percent improvement on performance compared to its predecessor, according to the team's computer simulations.




Despite its meticulous planning, all didn't go to plan for the AeroVelo team come race day, with the first qualifying heat seeing Eta topple over on launch and damaging a front fairing. It then sat out the second heat while repairs were made, in time for Reichart to enter the third and the rest is history.

The course for the event consists of a 5 mile (8 km) run-up section for the pilots to build speed before a 218 yard (200 m) section on which they are judged. Reichart covered this distance in just 5.22 seconds, beating Bowler's previous record by 2.58 mph (4.152 km/h).

Source: Recumbents.com "

[Popeye82]

Making 3D Objects Disappear, Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Ultrathin Invisibility Cloak Invisibility cloaks are a staple of science fiction +fantasy, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, but don’t exist in real life, ooor dooooo they?
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2015/09/17/making-3d-objects-disap…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/making-3d-objects-disappea…



- A 3D illustration of a metasurface skin cloak made from an ultrathin layer of nanoantennas (gold blocks) covering an arbitrarily shaped object. Light reflects off the cloak (red arrows) as if it were reflecting off a flat mirror. -


"Berkeley Lab Researchers Create Ultrathin Invisibility Cloak

Invisibility cloaks are a staple of science fiction and fantasy, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, but don’t exist in real life, or do they? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have devised an ultra-thin invisibility “skin” cloak that can conform to the shape of an object and conceal it from detection with visible light. Although this cloak is only microscopic in size, the principles behind the technology should enable it to be scaled-up to conceal macroscopic items as well.

Working with brick-like blocks of gold nanoantennas, the Berkeley researchers fashioned a “skin cloak” barely 80 nanometers in thickness, that was wrapped around a three-dimensional object about the size of a few biological cells and arbitrarily shaped with multiple bumps and dents. The surface of the skin cloak was meta-engineered to reroute reflected light waves so that the object was rendered invisible to optical detection when the cloak is activated.


“This is the first time a 3D object of arbitrary shape has been cloaked from visible light,” said Xiang Zhang, director of Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and a world authority on metamaterials – artificial nanostructures engineered with electromagnetic properties not found in nature. “Our ultra-thin cloak now looks like a coat. It is easy to design and implement, and is potentially scalable for hiding macroscopic objects.”


Zhang, who holds the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chair at UC Berkeley and is a member of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley (Kavli ENSI), is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in Science. The paper is titled “An Ultra-Thin Invisibility Skin Cloak for Visible Light.” Xingjie Ni and Zi Jing Wong are the lead authors. Other co-authors are Michael Mrejen and Yuan Wang.

It is the scattering of light – be it visible, infrared, X-ray, etc., – from its interaction with matter that enables us to detect and observe objects. The rules that govern these interactions in natural materials can be circumvented in metamaterials whose optical properties arise from their physical structure rather than their chemical composition. For the past ten years, Zhang and his research group have been pushing the boundaries of how light interacts with metamaterials, managing to curve the path of light or bend it backwards, phenomena not seen in natural materials, and to render objects optically undetectable. In the past, their metamaterial-based optical carpet cloaks were bulky and hard to scale-up, and entailed a phase difference between the cloaked region and the surrounding background that made the cloak itself detectable – though what it concealed was not.




“Creating a carpet cloak that works in air was so difficult we had to embed it in a dielectric prism that introduced an additional phase in the reflected light, which made the cloak visible by phase-sensitive detection,” says co-lead author Xingjie Ni, a recent member of Zhang’s research group who is now an assistant professor at Penn State University. “Recent developments in metasurfaces, however, allow us to manipulate the phase of a propagating wave directly through the use of subwavelength-sized elements that locally tailor the electromagnetic response at the nanoscale, a response that is accompanied by dramatic light confinement.”

In the Berkeley study, when red light struck an arbitrarily shaped 3D sample object measuring approximately 1,300 square microns in area that was conformally wrapped in the gold nanoantenna skin cloak, the light reflected off the surface of the skin cloak was identical to light reflected off a flat mirror, making the object underneath it invisible even by phase-sensitive detection. The cloak can be turned “on” or “off” simply by switching the polarization of the nanoantennas. "




- Nooow you see it, nooooow you don’t, invisibility cloak makes 3D object disappear. Click to see gif. (Courtesy of Zhang group) -


------>

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/3d-printed-guide-helps-reg…

[Popeye82]

Wissenschaftler steuern Roboter, nur mit Gedanken(Video-News), Südkoreanische Forscher entwickelten ein Interface, mit dem in Zukunft Roboter, Autos +auch Computerspiele mit den Gedanken kontrolliert werden könnte
www.wiwo.de/finanzexperte-gottfried-heller-wer-dauernd-absic…

[Popeye82]

China 'Is Building The Mother Of All Reputation Systems, To Monitor Citizen Behavior', China’s proposal is like a credit score that could encompass your entire life, from work performance to Internet activity
www.fastcoexist.com/3050606/china-is-building-the-mother-of-…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/china-is-building-the-moth…

"China’s proposal is like a credit score that could encompass your entire life, from work performance to Internet activity.

China’s proposals for a “social credit system” don’t seem that radical when you read the dry, official plan posted by the government last year. As befits circulars from a socialist regime, the language is aggrandizing but unspecific:


Accelerating the construction of a social credit system is an important basis for comprehensively implementing the scientific development view and building a harmonious Socialist society; it is an important method to perfect the Socialist market economy system, accelerating and innovating social governance, and it has an important significance for strengthening the sincerity consciousness of the members of society, forging a desirable credit environment, raising the overall competitiveness of the country and stimulating the development of society and the progress of civilization.


Within all that verbiage, however, is something very radical. China is proposing to assess its citizens’ behavior over a totality of commercial and social activities, creating an uber-scoring system. When completed, the model could encompass everything from a person’s chat-room comments to their performance at work, while the score could be used to determine eligibility for jobs, mortgages, and social services.

“They’ve been working on the credit system for the financial industry for a while now,” says Rogier Creemers, a China expert at Oxford University. “But, in recent years, the idea started growing that if you’re going to assess people’s financial status, you should equally be able to do that with other modes of trustworthiness.”

The document talks about the “construction of credibility”—the ability to give and take away credits—across more than 30 areas of life, from energy saving to advertising. “It’s like Yelp reviews with the nanny state watching over your shoulder, plus finance, plus all of these other things,” says Creemers, who translated the plan.

The system, overseen by the State Council, is made possible by two factors. One, it’s now possible to gather information about behavior as never before. As we use the Internet and different devices, we’re leaving behind a huge footprint of data. Second, the Chinese government sees no reason to safeguard its citizens’ data rights if it thinks that data can benefit them, says Creemers.

“In Europe and the U.S., there’s a notion that the state should be constrained, that it’s not right to intervene in people’s lives, unless for justified reasons. In China, the state has no qualms about that. It says ‘data allows us to make society for better, so we’re going to use it,'” he says. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/ut-researchers-develop-rev…

[Popeye82]

Scientists Make Self-healing Rubber, a cut or torn tire usually means one thing —you have to buy a new one. But some day, that could change. For the 1st time, scientists have made tire-grade rubber without the processing step —vulcanization— that has been essential to inflatable tires since their invention
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/scientists-make-self-heali…

[Popeye82]

How 'Drones Could Become the Future, of Construction', Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology(ETH) Zurich released a video showing drones building a bridge, as part of the Aerial Construction Project. It is a joint collaboration between two departments @ETH Zurich: the Institute for Dynamic Systems +Control, along with the Chair of Architecture +Digital Fabrication - IT/R&D Magazine/ETH - Sep 22, 2015

- Ryan Bushey -
www.rdmag.com/videos/2015/09/how-drones-could-become-future-…

"Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich released a video showing drones building a bridge as part of the Aerial Construction Project. It is a joint collaboration between two departments at ETH Zurich: the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control along with the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication.

This endeavor is designed to create a system for robotic aerial construction that can serve as a viable substitute for the traditional construction process, according to ETH Zurich’s website.

The video shows researchers navigating quadrocopters through two sets of scaffolding. Quartz notes the “quadrocopters were able to scan the distance between the two sets of scaffolding and figure out how…[to]…build the bridge on their own without human intervention.”

Motorized spools helped the machines tie ropes together to form a 24-foot long bridge. The end result was a durable tensile structure that supported the weight of person taking a walk across it.

Watch the video below to see the experiment in action. "

[Popeye82]

Invisible batteries come closer, to reality - R &D Magazine/UoY/ACSN, YALE - Sep 14, 2015

- Andrew Sawyer -
http://seas.yale.edu/news-events/news/invisible-batteries-co…
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/09/invisible-batteries-come-closer-r…

"Remember all the high-tech transparent technology Tom Cruise used in Minority Report? Well, it’s been 13 years since that movie came out—where are our see-through devices?

It turns out that batteries are a big part of the holdup: typically, their materials are thick and optically absorbent. Creating an invisible battery has become a major challenge in the electronics industry, as demand increases for transparent phones, wearable electronics, sensors and screens.

The lab of André Taylor, associate professor of chemical & environmental engineering at Yale Univ., has made a big step toward this goal by developing a technique to make transparent electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Their results are published online in ACS Nano. Forrest Gittleson, post-doctoral associate at Yale Univ. in chemical & environmental engineering, is the lead author.


With a technique known as spin-spray layer-by-layer (SSLbL) assembly, the researchers created ultrathin and transparent films from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and vandium pentoxide (V2O5) nanowires to serve as battery anodes and cathodes.



- Image: Yale Univ. -


Control over deposition has long been an issue with films containing one-dimensional nanomaterials, said Taylor, the senior author of the paper. These materials hold great promise in sensor and electrode applications, but achieving uniform properties - such as conductivity -throughout the film has been difficult. Now researchers may produce electrodes with nano-level precision using SSLbL assembly, a method previously developed in Taylor’s lab.

“We demonstrate the feasibility of making transparent battery anodes and cathodes with this highly controllable solution-based method,” said Gittleson. “Engineering ultrathin films to store lithium ions reliably is not trivial. What we have achieved, while only a first step, is quite a feat.”

There are still challenges to overcome before transparent devices can be mass-produced. “The biggest obstacle we face is improving the conductivity of these thin electrodes,” Gittleson said. To address this, the researchers created a new “sandwich” architecture that integrates conductive SWNT layers and active cathode materials to enhance performance.

The next step, Taylor said, is creating a transparent separator/electrolyte, the third major component of a battery. It’s how the lithium ions travel between the anode and cathode. It's a challenge because this component is usually made from mass-produced polymers and the developers of these systems have not focused on transparency. But Taylor believes it can be done.

“Nature has already demonstrated that complex systems can be transparent,” he said. “In fact, earlier this year they discovered a new glass frog species with translucent skin in Costa Rica. If nature can achieve it through evolution, we should be able to with careful engineering.”

Source: Yale Univ.

____________________________________________________________

CONFERENCE AGENDA ANNOUNCED:

The highly-anticipated educational tracks for the 2015 R&D 100 Awards & Technology Conference feature 28 sessions, plus keynote speakers Dean Kamen and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason. Learn more. "

[Popeye82]

a chip placed under the skin, for more precise medicine
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/epfd-acp052615.php
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/05/a-chip-placed-under-the-sk…

"This biosensing chip has been created by researchers in EPFL‘s Integrated Systems Laboratory.
CREDIT
Alain Herzog / EPFL
The future of medicine lies in ever greater precision, not only when it comes to diagnosis but also drug dosage.

The blood work that medical staff rely on is generally a snapshot indicative of the moment the blood is drawn before it undergoes hours – or even days – of analysis.

Several EPFL laboratories are working on devices allowing constant analysis over as long a period as possible. The latest development is the biosensor chip, created by researchers in the Integrated Systems Laboratory working together with the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Group. Sandro Carrara is unveiling it today at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Lisbon.


Autonomous operation

“This is the world’s first chip capable of measuring not just pH and temperature, but also metabolism-related molecules like glucose, lactate and cholesterol, as well as drugs,” said Dr Carrara. A group of electrochemical sensors works with or without enzymes, which means the device can react to a wide range of compounds, and it can do so for several days or even weeks.

This one-centimetre square device contains three main components: a circuit with six sensors, a control unit that analyses incoming signals, and a radio transmission module. It also has an induction coil that draws power from an external battery attached to the skin by a patch. “A simple plaster holds together the battery, the coil and a Bluetooth module used to send the results immediately to a mobile phone,” said Dr Carrara. ..."

[Popeye82]

schon alt
aber sieht geilaus,
die Kiste




Volvo’s ultra-light Air Motion Concept
www.gizmag.com/volvo-air-motion-concept-car/17143/
www.innovationtoronto.com/2010/12/volvos-ultra-light-air-mot…

"We’ve been taking a closer look at some of the standout blue-sky concepts presented by the likes of Mercedes and Cadillac at the recent LA Design Challenge – here’s Volvo’s take on the lightweight car of the future.

The clamshell-inspired Volvo Air Motion Concept Canyon Carver uses fewer and lighter components than in traditional cars and compressed air engines to achieve a weight estimated at under 1000 lbs (454 kg).

Much of the weight saving would come from using compressed air motors rather than a heavy internal combustion engine along with a carbon fiber body. The chassis, interior and suspension design have also been simplified to further keep the vehicle light.

Volvo designers say that the need for cooling systems is removed because these air motors would cool down under load rather than heating up. ..."

[Popeye82]

5 'out of this world nanotechnologies driving future IoT' - CBR - Sep 17, 2015

- Joao Lima -
www.cbronline.com/news/internet-of-things/smart-technology/5…

[Popeye82]

we Went Inside Facebook's Artificial Intelligence Lab, the company is using our data, to build what they claim will be one of the world's smartest AIs

- Dave Gershgorn -
www.popsci.com/facebook-ai?cmpid=enews&spPodID=030&spMailing…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.703.024 von Popeye82 am 24.09.15 19:35:05

IOT Group - to become the 1st ASX-listed 'Internet of Things' company - FR - Sep 22, 2015

- Yolanda Redrup -
www.afr.com/technology/iot-group-finalises-details-to-become…

[Popeye82]

Permanent Data Storage, with Light, Researchers Develop the 1st Non-volatile All-optical Chip Memory Based on Phase Change Materials The first all-optical permanent on-chip memory has been developed by scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology(KIT) +the universities of Münster, Oxford, +Exeter


www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2015_108_permanent-data-storage-w…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/permanent-data-storage-wit…

"

- All-optical data memory: Ultra-short light pulses make the GST material change from crystalline to amorphous and back. Weak light pulses read out the data. (Photo: C. Rios/Oxford University) -


Researchers Develop the First Non-volatile All-optical Chip Memory Based on Phase Change Materials

The first all-optical permanent on-chip memory has been developed by scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the universities of Münster, Oxford, and Exeter. This is an important step on the way towards optical computers. Phase change materials that change their optical properties depending on the arrangement of the atoms allow for the storage of several bits in a single cell. The researchers present their development in the journal Nature Photonics (10.1038/nphoton.2015.182).

Light determines the future of information and communication technology: With optical elements, computers can work more rapidly and more efficiently. Optical fibers have long since been used for the transmission of data with light. But on a computer, data are still processed and stored electronically. Electronic exchange of data between processors and the memory limits the speed of modern computers. To overcome this so-called von Neumann bottleneck, it is not sufficient to optically connect memory and processor, as the optical signals have to be converted into electric signals again. Scientists, hence, look for methods to carry out calculations and data storage in a purely optical manner.

Scientists of KIT, the University of Münster, Oxford University, and Exeter University have now developed the first all-optical, non-volatile on-chip memory. “Optical bits can be written at frequencies of up to a gigahertz. This allows for extremely quick data storage by our all-photonic memory,” Professor Wolfram Pernice explains. Pernice headed a working group of the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) and recently moved to the University of Münster.


“The memory is compatible not only with conventional optical fiber data transmission, but also with latest processors,” Professor Harish Bhaskaran of Oxford University adds.


The new memory can store data for decades even when the power is removed. Its capacity to store many bits in a single cell of a billionth of a meter in size (multi-level memory) also is highly attractive. Instead of the usual information values of 0 and 1, several states can be stored in an element and even autonomous calculations can be made. This is due to so-called phase change materials, novel materials that change their optical properties depending on the arrangement of the atoms: Within shortest periods of time, they can change between crystalline (regular) and amorphous (irregular) states. For the memory, the scientists used the phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST). The change from crystalline to amorphous (storing data) and from amorphous to crystalline (erasing data) is initiated by ultrashort light pulses. For reading out the data, weak light pulses are used.

Permanent all-optical on-chip memories might considerably increase future performance of computers and reduce their energy consumption. Together with all-optical connections, they might reduce latencies. Energy-intensive conversion of optical signals into electronic signals and vice versa would no longer be required. ..."

[Popeye82]

hier werde ich event. noch recherchieren
www.macequity.com.au/publication/view/hazer-report/

[Popeye82]

Magic Leap is What Happened to Google Glass - NL - Sep 2, 2015
www.nanalyze.com/2015/09/magic-leap-is-what-happened-to-goog…
www.forbes.com/sites/siimonreynolds/2015/02/05/why-google-gl…

"Virtual reality (VR) is the simulation of an environment that can be interacted with by the user which can offer sensory experiences that target all 5 senses. Augmented reality (AR) is when you mix virtual reality with well, reality. It’s a direct view of the physical world which is supplemented by computer-generated sensory input. Devices such as the Oculus Rift (acquired by Facebook) and the Microsoft Hololens (released this year) are examples of virtual and augmented reality devices that are entering the market. One startup which has been operating in stealth mode up until last year wants to turn the whole world of augmented reality on its head. With a video teaser released last month which had everyone talking, Magic Leap could be the one AR company that will rule them all.




Founded in 2011 by serial entrepreneur Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap has taken in nearly $600 million in funding with Google (GOOG) being the lead investor followed by other notable names such as Andreessen Horowitz, Qualcomm, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The most recent funding round of $542 million which closed in October 2014 gives Magic Leap a valuation of 2 unicorns or $2 billion. Unlike some of the hacks you’ll find running OTC companies, Mr. Abovitz has a track record of building successful companies. He was the founder of Mako Surgical Group, a company that builds FDA approved robots that perform surgeries. Mako was sold several years ago for $1.65 billion.

Magic Leap best describes what they are building in the following statement:


Using our Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal™, imagine being able to generate images indistinguishable from real objects and then being able to place those images seamlessly into the real world.


Magic Leap calls that a “Cinematic Reality”, a technology so powerful that Mr. Abovitz thinks most people believe it’s 50 years out when in fact it’s here now. He also believes that this device will eliminate need for physical screens such as laptops, smartphones or even smartwatches. The potential applications for this technology seem limitless as evidenced by the 97 patents Magic Leap filed for in a single week. One of these patents provides 180 pages of details for you to peruse which shed some light on what the device might look like and how it might be operated:



- Source: Mashable -


Magic Leap is using some of that last funding round to build out a 300,000 square foot pilot manufacturing facility in Florida to begin producing whatever device it is is they plan to launch.

Forbes published an article earlier this year on the topic of Google Glass titled “Why Google Glass Failed: A Marketing Lesson“. In this article, the author opined that Google Glass failed because there was no easy way to buy it. There was no clear explanation as to why the product was fabulous. There was no product launch or mainstream advertising campaign. These reasons may be why the product failed, but they could only have been intentional. Are we to think that Google, with some of the smartest people in the world, somehow messed up and forgot to launch or advertise Google Glass? That with almost $70 billion in cash on hand, Google decided not to spend any of it on launching one of their most hyped product offerings? This doesn’t seem likely. What does seem likely, is that that decided to pilot the concept with select users and learn from their feedback. This pilot helped gauge demand, showed how the public would react to such a device, and paved the way for a truly disruptive augmented reality offering in the future. With Google being the lead investor in Magic Leap, it’s not too far fetched to think they’ve shelved Google Glass and are letting Magic Leap run with the idea.

We would speculate that the Google Glass launch was an intended failure. Google found a company that was doing what they were trying to do with Google Glass but doing it better. Why not just make an investment in Magic Leap and leverage what you already learned through the Google Glass pilot to develop a truly disruptive augmented reality product? It seems to make the most sense when trying to figure out what happened to Google Glass.

Magic Leap has a service offering that’s easy to understand. It’s also futuristic and promises limitless applications which imply “the sky’s the limit” growth potential. This is exactly the sort of company we’d expect to see offer pre-IPO shares on the Loyal3 platform. Signup to the Loyal3 pre-IPO email alerts and be notified if they do! "

[Popeye82]

Pope Francis to Congress +millionaires: Spread the wealth - FY, NEW YOrK - Sep 25, 2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pope-francis-to-congress-and-m…

"

- In this photo taken Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, making history as the first pontiff to do so.. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP) -


New Yorkers embraced Pope Francis on his first ever visit to the Big Apple. Across the city thousands of supporters gathered along barricaded streets to get a glimpse of “The People’s Pope”.

“It’s a daunting schedule and he seems to be handling it quite well. The crowds here are quite adoring,” says Father Michael Russo of St. Mary’s College, who is travelling with the pope during his visit to America.


Friday morning began with a speech at the United Nations where Francis became the fifth pope to address the UN General Assembly. He once again championed the environment and the downtrodden, saying the poor suffer most from the misuse of natural resources.

He also did not shy away from criticizing capitalism, saying that it contributes to society’s ills and that the consequences of “irresponsible mismanagement of the global economy must be cause for reflection.”

Father Russo tells Yahoo Finance that the pope’s message on the economy has been received well. “

He says the takeaway for lawmakers and the business world is to “get more engaged with the larger community.”

For those who say he’s out of touch with the economy, Father Russo says that the Pope isn’t telling individuals who wish to succeed not to. “Obviously he’s a pope who wants to make sure that those people who have the opportunities are also giving back.”

On his first full day in New York, the pope also led a prayer service at the September 11th memorial, met with schoolchildren in Harlem, greeted 80,000 people in Central Park and will celebrate Mass at Madison Square Garden in front of thousands. "

[Popeye82]

New camera system creates high-resolution 3-D images, from up to a kilometer away
www.innovationtoronto.com/2013/04/new-camera-system-creates-…

[Popeye82]

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammer

NASA CONFIRMS DISCOVERY OF LIQUID WATER ON MARS
www.gizmag.com/water-on-mars/39616/
------> www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liqui…

"

- This orthorectified image draped on a digital terrain model of slopes at the Hale crater region on Mars, exhibiting 100 m (329 ft) dark streaks known as recurring slope lineae, which are now confirmed to be a source of liquid water (Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona) -


Fresh observations of surface features known as recurring slope lineae (RSL) appear to have confirmed the presence of liquid water on Mars. The evidence of surface water may have profound implications in the ongoing search for Martian life, both ancient and present, and as a resource to be used in a future manned mission to the Red Planet.

Previous observations of RSLs, which were first discovered in 2010, drew many scientists to the theory that they may be the result of active water flows present on the Martian surface. The features appear as dark lines streaking down steep slopes such as Hale Crater. The running water theory was based on factors such as the RSLs' appearance at certain times of the year, with the streaks appearing to flow downhill during warmer seasons, where temperatures rise above -10 °F (-23 °C) , and subsequently fade in cooler periods.

However, though the observations were compelling, the scientific community lacked the evidence to conclusively point to water as the cause of the RSLs – that is, until today. New observations carried out by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have provided strong evidence that the RSLs are indeed the result of seasonal water flows emanating from slopes present on the Red Planet.

The observations made use of the spacecraft's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to sample the light absorption characteristics of the RSLs. NASA scientists then analyzed the readings back on Earth, and it was found that the absorption rates matched the characteristics of hydrated minerals called perchlorates. Based on the chemical signature returned by the MRO, it is believe that the flows are composed of a mixture of magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate.

"Our quest on Mars has been to 'follow the water,' in our search for life in the universe, and now we have CONVINCING SCIENCE that validates what we’ve long suspected," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "This is a significant development, as IT APPEARS TO CONFIRM THAT WATER – albeit briny – IS FLOWING TODAY ON THE SURFACE OF MARS."



- An orthorectified image draped on a digital terrain model of the walls of Gale crater displaying clear examples of RSL -


The chemical signature of hydrated salts was detected on a number of RSL points across the Martian globe, but only where the features were found to be very wide, with narrower RSL's exhibiting no traces of hydration.

"We found the hydrated salts only when the seasonal features were widest, which suggests that either the dark streaks themselves or a process that forms them is the source of the hydration" stated Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and lead author of a report on the findings published on Sept. 28 by Nature Geoscience. "In either case, the detection of hydrated salts on these slopes means that water plays a vital role in the formation of these streaks."

The leading theory on how RSLs are formed revolves around a process known as deliquescence. This process describes the ability of perchlorate salts to absorb atmospheric water. When the humidity in the Martian atmosphere is high enough, the salts will absorb atmospheric water until they dissolve and create a liquid solution

Ordinarily, pure, unfrozen water would quickly boil off in to space, however the brine-like solution detected on the Martian surface would give the water enough stability to survive and flow downhill. The briny mixture detected in the RSLs should keep the water from freezing until it reaches below -94 °F (-70°C). In terms of quantity, the flows are predicted to be mostly subsurface, meaning that we could expect a thin layer of wet soil rather than actual flowing water.

Arguably the most exciting aspect of the announcement are the implications that the discovery has in regard to the existence of life on Mars, either now or in the ancient past. The presence of water on our planet was one of the key factors in the development of early life, and the discovery of this briny mixture on Mars means that the Red Planet may be much more conducive to near-surface microbial life. Most importantly, it has given future missions to the Red Planet an ideal target in the search for extraterrestrial life.

During the briefing, it was mooted that Curiosity may be sent to examine the flows, however the panel was unsure of whether the mobile laboratory had the ability to reach or carry out the necessary experiments. Furthermore there was a danger of contamination of microbial life from the rover itself. The panel outlined a scenario in which we make a breaking discovery, that turns out to be life that we brought with us in the first place.

There is also significant potential of using the newly-discovered water as a resource during future manned missions, for example as a source of oxygen and drinking water.

"All of the scientific discoveries that we are making on the surface of Mars, Curiosity at Gale Crater, observations from the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter are giving us a much better view that Mars has resources that are useful to future travelers" explained Grunsfeld. "When you have water, you have hydrogen and oxygen – that's what we make rocket fuel out of."

The ramifications of today's announcement will undoubtedly inform future efforts, both manned and unmanned seeking to explore and understand the Red Planet, especially regarding to Mankind's ongoing mission to discover extraterrestrial life. Mars is now a more attractive candidate than ever as a site to make this historic discovery, and serves as yet another incentive to extend manned exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

Source: NASA "

[Popeye82]

"Designless" brain-like chips created, through artificial evolution, Scientists @the University of Twente in the Netherlands have devised a new type of electronic chip that takes after the human brain. Their device is highly power-conscious, massively parallel, +can manipulate data in arbitrary ways –even though it doesn't need to be explicitely designed to perform any task. The advance could pave the way for computers that think more like we do
www.gizmag.com/designless-brain-like-chips/39532/



- A new chip design could lead to massively parallel, energy efficient computation that handles complex tasks like pattern recognition better and faster than ever before (Credit: University of Twente) -

[Popeye82]

Whale protein 'puts researchers on path, to developing synthetic blood'
www.gizmag.com/whale-myoblobin-artificial-blood-rice/39594/
------> http://news.rice.edu/2015/09/25/deep-diving-whales-could-hol…
www.jbc.org/content/290/39/23479.abstract

"

- Whale myoglobin may hold the key to creating synthetic blood (Credit: Rice University) -


Researchers at Rice University have discovered that a protein found in whale meat may hold the key to developing synthetic blood. The protein, called myoglobin, allows marine mammals to remain submerged at great depths for up to two hours and has an ultra-stable structure that could one day allow for the manufacturing of a blood substitute using bacteria as biofactories.

The team, led by Rice University biochemist John Olson, is developing the synthetic blood in order to address a major problem in emergency medicine: the chronic shortage of whole blood. Currently, emergency services rely on donated blood for transfusions. When this isn't available, the only alternatives are serums and saline solutions. The problem is, whole blood has a very short shelf life, blood serum not much more, and saline solutions are good for little more than keeping the blood system topped up so the heart can keep working.

The goal of the Rice team is to use genetically-engineered bacteria to manufacture a molecule based on myoglobin, which is similar but simpler in structure to hemoglobin, the protein found in red blood corpuscles that allows blood to carry oxygen and makes corpuscles and blood red. The tricky bit is to find the right myoglobin to start off.


Hemoglobin works by bonding with oxygen in a way that's both chemical and physical. That is, the globin part of the molecule holds the heme group, which can change its shape, so it can unfold to catch oxygen molecules, then fold up again to seal them in a waterproof pocket.

Unfortunately, it's a protein so complex that it takes some major computing power to map its structure, which means that it's extremely difficult to synthesize outside the body.



- Researchers George Phillips, Premila Samuel and John Olson at Rice University -


Myoglobin is found in the muscle tissues of most species of marine mammals as well as humans. Its function is similar to hemoglobin, except it's found in muscle tissue, where it acts as a local oxygen reserve for quick access. In marine mammals, it's found in much higher quantities and gives whale meat its rich, dense color. Whale myoglobin is 60 times as stable as human myoglobin and doesn’t unfold readily. This allows whales and other marine mammals to store large quantities of it in their muscles, and indicates that the myoglobin could be manufactured on a large scale using bacteria.

"Whales and other deep-diving marine mammals can pack 10 to 20 times more myoglobin into their cells than humans can, and that allows them to 'download' oxygen directly into their skeletal muscles and stay active even when they are holding their breath," says Olson. "The reason whale meat is so dark is that it’s filled with myoglobin that is capable of holding oxygen. But when the myoglobin is newly made, it does not yet contain heme. We found that the stability of heme-free myoglobin is the key factor that allows cells to produce high amounts of myoglobin."

Using a new method that allows them to study myoglobin outside a living cell, the team looked at a heme-free form of myoglobin called an apoprotein or apomyoglobin. According to team member Premila Samuel, the structures of the different myoglobins are very similar, but differences in their amino acid sequences affect their stability. This becomes more obvious in the heme-free or "apo" versions, where chemicals that force them to unfold can be used to measure their stability. The more chemical needed, the more stable the molecule.

Put into practical terms, the Rice team found that whale myoglobin can be produced in 10 to 20 times the quantity of human or pig for the same effort. Though the outcome of the Rice team's work isn't yet a synthetic form of blood, they say that the methods they've developed will allow for faster screening of large libraries of hemoglobin variants without having to work with purified proteins in milligram quantities and is a major step toward identifying more stable recombinant hemoglobins that could one day be used in a blood substitute.

The team's findings were published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The video below discusses the synthetic blood research.

Source: Rice University "

[Popeye82]

wen das interessiert -was das ein bisschen genauerheisst- Der kann sich mal Link1 ansehen,
bisschen runterscrollen,
+dann downloaden
das ist das
"Architecting a Robust Manufacturing Network for the Internet of Things white paper"

GE +Cisco Collaborate, to Accelerate Manufacturing Productivity - W: 0/BW - Sep 29, 2015
www.ge.com/digital/partners/cisco
www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/7990689-ge-and-cisco-coll…

"To create the factory of the future where machines work efficiently and intelligently with increased speed, less waste and no unplanned downtime, GE and Cisco have teamed up to develop a set of best practices for deploying GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing Suite within a modern Cisco IT environment. This reference architecture from GE and Cisco, Architecting a Robust Manufacturing Network for the Internet of Things, provides a blueprint for combining GE’s digital industrial strength with Cisco’s flexible and highly-secure networking infrastructure in order to create a digital thread that will capture machine data on the factory floor.

This solution will marry GE manufacturing software that provides real-time, role-based dashboards to deliver more products, faster and with increased quality, with Cisco’s highly secure, contemporary networking technology. It will lay the foundation for brilliant machines that communicate, share data and insights with other machines and the humans that rely on them.


“In order to start down the path to becoming a Brilliant Factory, the first step is to deploy a modern IT infrastructure,” said James Beilstein, CIO for Advanced Manufacturing Deployment for GE’s manufacturing facilities worldwide. “This infrastructure will give our plants the flexibility and security needed to develop a ‘digital thread’ from product design to shipping. Cisco is part of GE’s Brilliant Factory architecture.”

“More than ever, manufacturers need to find ways to improve quality, speed, and utilization, and there is a dramatic increase in demand for real-time insights across manufacturing systems,” said Kate Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer for GE Digital. “Factory digitization capabilities are improving, and compute and connectivity prices are falling, but many companies are hamstrung by legacy IT infrastructure. Our joint GE-Cisco solution creates a state-of-the-art joint information and operations technology architecture necessary for machines to adapt, predict and diagnose their own failure, deployable in today’s real world manufacturing environments.”

Manufacturers are looking for ways technology can help them to achieve key outcomes of reducing downtime, and increasing efficiency and output. In addition, they are focused on increasing product quality and safety, and reducing energy consumption and waste. GE’s Brilliant Factory solutions use big data, software, sensors, controllers and robotics to increase productivity and deliver asset and operations optimization.

“Based on a recent survey, 47% of manufacturers are still trying to figure out how to take advantage of the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Matthew Littlefield, President and Principal Analyst for LNS Research. “GE and Cisco can help address this gap with best practices for deploying a modern and flexible IP-based industrial networking infrastructure. This can be used by manufacturers to help accelerate time to market, improve operations and support the cloud, big data analytics, and software applications being deployed in next generation manufacturing.”

“We are honored to be collaborating with GE to enable their first 100 brilliant factories," said Tony Shakib, VP of the IoE Vertical Solutions Group at Cisco. "Moving data from machines and assets on the factory floor through a highly-secure Cisco network and edge compute will help provide a repeatable and scalable reference architecture that we believe will be the blueprint for GE's Brilliant Factories and a model for the industry. We’re excited to take this important step together as two industry leaders work to make the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality in manufacturing."

This go-to-market partnership builds on GE’s and Cisco’s strategy to seamlessly connect the growing number of machines to the Industrial Internet. Last year, GE and Cisco announced they are integrating Predix software on Cisco networking products to enable the collection and analysis of asset performance and operational data anywhere in the network. One of the first of these devices is a Predix-ready Cisco router in a ruggedized form-factor for harsh environments such as oil and gas facilities.

For more information, click here. To download a copy of the Architecting a Robust Manufacturing Network for the Internet of Things white paper, click here.


About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com


About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

wer 2wochen über hat kann sich link2 durcharbeiten

Report on bioenergy +sustainability to be launched, @World Bank - NW/WB/FASEP/BIOEN/RPGCC/BIOTA/SCOPE, WASHINGTON - Sep 22, 2015
www.nanowerk.com/news2/green/newsid=41383.php
------> http://bioenfapesp.org/scopebioenergy/images/chapters/bioene…

"Over the past two years, 137 experts from 24 countries and 82 institutions have collaborated to analyze a range of issues related to the sustainability of bioenergy production and use. The resulting report Bioenergy & Sustainability: Bridging the Gaps (pdf), will be launched at a symposium at the World Bank, on September 28, 2015, in Washington DC, USA.




In the symposium, authors will highlight the key findings and discuss the opportunities for sustainable energy in developing regions, as well as the role of bioenergy in 2030 and 2050 time horizons. The symposium will bring together invited representatives from a range of research institutions, donors, government and non-government agencies and key staff from the World Bank. An expected outcome is the roadmap for scaling up sustainable bioenergy approaches globally.

The report was coordinated by scientists linked to FAPESP's research programs on Bioenergy (BIOEN), Global Climate Change (RPGCC), and Biodiversity (BIOTA), and was supported by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), an international nongovernmental organization.

The report that references over 2,000 studies provides a wide-ranging analysis of the current bioenergy landscape, technology, production financing systems and markets, and the potential for sustainable growth of bioenergy use, in parallel with a critical review of its impacts.

The authors consider how bioenergy expansion affects existing energy systems, food production, environmental and climate security, and sustainable development in both developed and developing regions. They then present their science-based recommendations for policy formulation and for the deployment of a range of bioenergy use options such as liquid biofuels, bioelectricity, biogas and bio-based chemicals, amongst others, in different regions of the world.
The report has five sections. The introduction is followed by an executive summary with technical data and bioenergy numbers offering a comprehensive survey of current biomass production and land use, conversion technologies, future demands and social and environmental benefits.

The third section presents the four crosscutting themes: energy security, food security, environmental and climate security, sustainable development and innovation, and filling in the knowledge gaps for sustainable expansion of bioenergy. The fourth section consists of commissioned background chapters, the state of the art discussed by experts from a spectrum of disciplines to form the basis for the conclusions and recommendations and crosscutting themes presented in the previous section. Topics cover land use, sources of biomass for bioenergy, integration with agriculture and forestry, water and soil, greenhouse gas emissions, and the impact of biofuels on biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as social and economic issues. Section V lists countries and regions cited in the report and keywords of the document.


Highlights

The Bioenergy & Sustainability report calls attention to the value of bioenergy as an alternative power source and an option to reduce the impact of fossil fuel combustion. It also highlights the opportunities for enhancement of energy security and mitigation of climate change through advanced biomass conversion technologies that would also help to offset the negative environmental impact of deforestation and land degradation due to agriculture and cattle grazing.
Another conclusion is that bioenergy production systems based on sustainable practices can help to offset greenhouse gas emissions resulting from land use changes or loss of biodiversity. These technologies and procedures include combinations of different feedstocks, use of co-products, integration of bioenergy with agriculture, pasture intensification, agro-ecological zoning, landscape-level planning, improving yields, and other land management practices adapted to local conditions.

The authors also affirm that sufficient land is available worldwide for expansion of biomass cultivation, that most of this land is in Latin America and Africa, and that the use of these areas for bioenergy production would not represent a threat to food security and biodiversity under certain conditions. Moreover, they present evidence that soil improvement technology, production chain integration and use of bioenergy byproducts in poor rural areas could boost economic performance, enhance food quality, reduce pollution and create jobs.


Source: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo "

[Popeye82]

Benchmark Holdings Plc - 'Major breakthrough in breeding for pancreatic disease, +sea lice resistance' - Sep 30, 2015
http://tools.euroland.com/tools/Pressreleases/GetPressReleas…

"Benchmark Holdings is pleased to announce that its subsidiary SalmoBreed AS ("SalmoBreed") has achieved a major breakthrough in genetic breeding programs for Pancreas Disease (PD) and sea lice resistance through a new genetic method in aquaculture called Genomic Selection. This method is already recognized in genetic science for other species, and can provide a more accurate and safer selection than by using traditional methods, but has never been used in aquaculture before. Benchmark believes that the use of this method can provide a significant advancement in developing resistance to both PD and sea lice in salmon, and thus provide significant savings for the industry.


SalmoBreed's geneticists have been very satisfied with the accuracy of the results achieved from this new method thus far. It has long been proven that Genomic Selection provides increased genetic gain and reduced rate of inbreeding in species such as cattle, pigs and poultry. For the first time, SalmoBreed can implement this technology in salmon breeding as well, initially for PD and sea lice resistance. Through Genomic Selection the selection of parent broodfish is based on both phenotypic data (the physical expressions of a desired trait) and information from a large number of DNA-markers. In the case of PD and sea lice resistance, SalmoBreed utilizes approximately 50,000 DNA-markers (called SNPs).


PD Resistance

When breeding for PD resistance, SalmoBreed has previously used family information from challenge tests and Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) testing, which relies on correlations or trends between genes from a limited segment on the genome, resulting in a potentially significant genetic variation of the desired trait. By using Genomic Selection instead of QTL, the Company looks at the whole genome of the fish and can thus access a more complete picture of how the genetic architecture looks for the desired trait, resulting in a more accurate selection of broodstock.


Sea Lice Resistance

When addressing sea lice resistance, SalmoBreed has previously developed genetic ranking based on family information from challenge tests. This meant distinction was only possible between families, without knowledge of the characteristics of the individual broodstock within each family. With Genomic Selection, it is possible to select those individuals showing the highest resistance to sea lice within each separate family, and hence get a stronger assurance that the eggs supplied have the desired genetic value of the trait of interest.

Genetic Selection allows for the selection of the best individual broodstock from all families, with the resulting increase in genetic progress and reduced rate of inbreeding creating a more sustainable breeding program. This means it will be possible to reduce the number of artificial sea lice treatments in the sea and result in future cost savings. The presence of fewer lice treatments is important for fish welfare, environment and working environment.

This is not only a breakthrough for Benchmark, but also for the entire salmon industry, which will have the opportunity to make use of the results from salmon fry already produced this autumn. Whilst definitive results in terms of efficacy are yet to be established, this advance in technology and method signals a step change in the salmon breeding industry, both in terms of efficiency and animal welfare.

The R&D leading to the application of Genomic Selection in salmon was conducted in cooperation with Nofima and other partners through an innovation project supported by the NFR (The research council of Norway). Further development of the Genomic Selection method for implementation in the Company's breeding program is being performed in cooperation with Nofima and Akvaforsk Genetic Center (AFGC), a sister company of SalmoBreed within Benchmark's Breeding and Genetics division.

"We are very proud of our success in adopting Genomic Selection for two important traits in our breeding program" said SalmoBreed's CEO, Dr. Jan-Emil Johannessen.

Malcolm Pye, CEO of Benchmark, commented, "It is fantastic to see SalmoBreed embracing the collaborative approach to innovation which typifies Benchmark's culture. The use of Genomic Selection is a major breakthrough for the salmon genetics industry, allowing us to be far more specific in our broodstock identification and resulting in a more sustainable process for both the animals themselves and their wider environment."

ENDS


For further information, please contact:

SalmoBreed AS

Tel: [phone]

Jan-Emil Johannessen, CEO

Dr. Borghild Hillestad


Cenkos Securities PLC


Tel: [phone]

Ivonne Cantu (NOMAD)

Russell Kerr (Sales)


Tavistock Communications

Tel: [phone]

Matt Ridsdale/ Niall Walsh


About SalmoBreed AS

SalmoBreed is a world leader in breeding and genetics of Atlantic salmon. It is headquartered in Bergen and owned by the British AIM-traded company Benchmark Holdings plc.

More information on www.salmobreed.no


Notes to Editors:

Founded in 2000, Benchmark represents a new model in sustainable business development based on applied biotechnology. Over the last decade it has built a successful group of companies on the economics of a sustainable food chain. The company is growing in response to a rapidly increasing demand for sustainable food, and in particular for seafood, from both mature and emerging markets.

The Group has four divisions: Animal Health which researches, manufactures and markets medicines and vaccines particularly for aquaculture; Sustainability Science which researches and informs sustainable development in the food industry, Technical Publishing which effects technology transfer through online publishing and education, and Animal Breeding and Genetics which is the second largest supplier of salmon eggs and genetic expertise in the world. Benchmark operates internationally with offices in the UK, Ireland, Norway, USA, Brazil, China, Russia, Iceland, Thailand, Belgium, Chile, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Australia and, as at 29 September 2015, employs 396 people.

Benchmark is an ethical company with an explicit policy based on the "3E's" definition of a sustainable business - ethics, environment and economics - which guides its strategy and operations.

For further information on Benchmark please visit www.bmkholdings.com "

[Popeye82]

World's 1st Sustainable Biomass Fuel to Replace Coal, Munro &; Associates Inc. Collaborates with AEG-BEE Partnership, to Create World's First Sustainable Biomass Fuel to Replace Coal - Biofpr/M&A/BEE/AEG, MICHIGAN - Sep 22, 2015
www.biofpr.com/details/news/8382811/Worlds_First_Sustainable…

"Munro & Associates, a global leader in manufacturing and design innovation, has been working with Biomass Energy Enhancements LLC (BEE) and UK-based and AIM-listed Active Energy Group Plc (AEG) to bring to market the first sustainable biomass fuel. The biomass fuel can be used in traditional coal-fired plants as either a co-mixed fuel with coal or, because of its very high BTU rating, independently without changing the infrastructure of the plant. This is important because retrofitting a coal fired power plant can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, current coal-fired plants can experience significantly reduced pollution emissions by transitioning to the new fuel creating an immediate improvement in surrounding air quality.


Other processes that have been used in the past, such as simple compaction and thermal drying, either leave a high level of toxic salts in the biomass creating pollution and frequent maintenance issues or leave too much intercellular moisture reducing the effective energy release from the fuels. BEE's process "explodes" the fibers like popcorn and exposes the intra-fiber moisture and soluble salts which can then be easily removed. This new process allows biofuels to be generated from materials that would not have been suitable or viable before, such as reclaimed waste wood, and diseased and invasive crops or trees.

A further benefit is that the final product is also hydrophobic, which not only prevents possible reabsorption of moisture that would degrade the fuel, but it subsequently reduces distribution, transportation and storage costs.

Although Munro has worked on several new technologies over the years, rarely does the company make the leap to actually invest in the technologies as well," said Sandy Munro, CEO of Munro & Associates. "This process has the potential to revolutionize the industry and we are very proud to be a part of the Coal Switch Team."

Munro's engineers worked with the BEE team to create a highly scalable, mobile and "flexible in the field" process that can be moved anywhere in the world. This creates a massive savings in regards to moving the raw potential biomass to a facility, rather than move the scalable facility easily and cheaply to set up onsite.

"Our primary goal at BEE was to make the unusable usable," said Chas Fritz, CEO of BEE. "According to the U.S. Department of Energy, over 93 million tons of forestry residues are left to rot each year in the U.S. alone and the global figure is vastly higher. That doesn't include waste timber from sawmills, construction sites and other industrial uses such as redundant railroad ties. Our unique process converts all of that material into high-energy fuel, benefitting the environment in numerous ways. We needed a strong partner with the vision and resources to take the system to market, and we believe that Active Energy Group has the infrastructure, industry connections and international network to work with us to successfully implement a worldwide launch."

"My colleagues and I have been searching for the past five years for the 'holy grail' of the power generation industry: a sustainable clean energy fuel that will act as a direct replacement for coal; some nine billion tons of which is currently utilized each year, causing enormous damage to the environment," said Richard Spinks, CEO of AEG. "I'm delighted to report that after a few false starts, we've not only found a method of producing that fuel, but that after months of working closely with BEE and thoroughly testing their claims for their technology, we're even more convinced that they're the ideal partners for AEG."

Munro engineers took the original prototype design created by BEE and scaled it up to create the new process/design. A critical component of Munro's redesign methodology is its proprietary Design Profit® software that provides the company with the unique ability to assess virtually every aspect of the manufacturing process and its associated costs. Through the software, every system, sub-system and component – along with its fabrication process, assembly steps and fastening methods (including tools) – is analyzed to produce accurate metrics for piece cost, labor cost and non-labor costs, as well as investment costs.


About Munro & Associates

Founded in 1988, Munro & Associates Inc. is a world class consulting engineering firm based in Auburn Hills, Mich. with offices in Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia. The firm specializes in upfront, predictive methods to increase profitability by improving quality, reliability and value, while reducing total lifecycle costs. The Munro team delivers in-depth knowledge in product design, manufacturing, quality and technologies from a broad selection of industries.

Munro & Associates, which has a 27 year history of delivering leading edge design and manufacturing ideas to its customers, has worked on a wide variety of green projects from electric vehicles, to wind, solar and now biomass technologies and processes.

For further information about Munro & Associates, please visit the website here. "

[Popeye82]

Bio-on +University of Hawaii to study how to produce bioplastic from wood +household waste - Biofpr, HONOLULU - Sep 4, 2015
www.biofpr.com/details/news/8326121/Bio-on_and_University_of…

"Bio-on and University of Hawaii today signed an exclusive global research contract to further develop the technology for the production of the revolutionary bioplastic PHAs: the objective is to use lignocellulosic materials (wood processing waste) and domestic or agricultural waste as the raw material. Bio-on will invest 1.4 million dollars in the Manoa (HI) laboratories for this project.

Bio-on and University of Hawaii will create an industrial process that will enable Bio-on over the coming years to further increase its technological offer, which has a unique selling point in the sector: the wide variety of waste products from which its high performing PHAs can be made. Wood and domestic or agricultural waste are therefore added to the sugar beet and sugar cane, glycerol (biodiesel waste) and potato processing waste co-products already used. The industrial plants, part of the licenses granted by Bioon, will have the capability of using all of these materials, with limited adjustments, making them highly flexible.


PHAs, or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are bioplastics that can replace a number of traditional polymers currently made with petrochemical processes using hydrocarbons. The PHAs developed by Bio-on guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties as oil-based polymers with the advantage of being completely naturally biodegradable.

“We are enthusiastic to participate in the development of Bio-on's technology,” says Robert BleyVroman, Chancellor of the University of Hawaii Manoa USA. We are also pleased to accept Bio-on's investment of 1.4 million dollars, which will make our scientists at theHawaii Natural Energy Institute School of Ocean and Earth Science & Technology University of Hawaii Manoa key players in the research into the green chemical industry at global level”.

“With this new contract, we are confirming a collaboration between Bio-on and UH active since 2008, which makes the research conducted in the USA on behalf of Bio-on one of the highest-level collaborations in existence,” explains Marco Astorri, Chairman of Bio-on S.p.A. “We are committing our funding and our technicians to support UH scientists in the technological expansion of the high performing biopolymers produced with Bio-on technology”.

The agreement between Bio-on and University of Hawaii adds an important building block to the construction of the platform for bioplastic production and the green chemical industry of the future. This agreement heralds the opening up of highly promising scenarios for the development and internationalisation of Bio-on's technology on new markets.


About Bio-on

Bio-On has developed an exclusive process for the production of a family of polymers called PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) from agricultural waste (including molasses and sugar cane and sugar beet syrups). The bioplastic produced in this way is able to replace the main families of traditional plastics in terms of performance, thermo-mechanical properties and versatility.

Bio-On PHA is a bioplastic that can be classified as 100% natural and completely biodegradable: this has been certified in Europe by Vincotte and in the US by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The Issuer's strategy envisages the marketing of licenses for PHAs production and related ancillary services, the development of R&D (also through new collaborations with universities, research centres and industrial partners), as well as the realisation of industrial plants designed by Bio-On.

For further information about Bio-on, please visit the website here. "

[Popeye82]

Deinove produces muconic acid from 2G substrates -Biofpr/D, MONTPELLIER - Sep 9, 2015
www.biofpr.com/details/news/8340351/Deinove_produces_muconic…
------> www.deinove.com/sites/default/files/pdf_page/deinove_220914-…

"DEINOVE (Alternext Paris : ALDEI), a biotech company developing innovative processes for producing biofuels and bio-based chemicals by using Deinococcus bacteria, announced that they have produced muconic acid in their laboratory using second-generation substrates.

DEINOVE recently announced that it had deployed a new R&D platform dedicated to the production of muconic acid, a versatile chemical intermediate whose derivatives – caprolactam, terephthalic acid (a precursor to PET) and adipic acid — are widely used in the plastics industry (notably for automotive and packaging applications), the production of synthetic fibers for textiles or industry (mainly nylon) and food (acidifying agent).


DEINOVE has since obtained proof of concept in their laboratory for the transformation of secondgeneration cellulose-based materials into muconic acid. Furthermore, the improvements made to the strains have made it possible to multiply production by five compared to the previous trials carried out on monosaccharide-based model substrates, glucose and xylose.

Cellulose is one of the main components in biomass, plants and wood, as well as in paper and cardboard (also called second-generation materials). This is a complex molecule (sugar chains with 6 carbon atoms) that have to be broken down into monosaccharides before fermentation (a step know as hydrolysis).

“Bio-based muconic acid is a real renewable alternative for the chemical industry, it will be able to replace petroleum-based industrial processes on significant markets,” said Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of DEINOVE. “While our teams pursue strain optimization, we have presented the platform to several chemical industrialists who have been following our project with great interest. Deinococcus is nodoubt a well suited microorganism for the development of this new process, with a metabolism that is naturally oriented toward muconic acid and unique characteristics in view of the low-cost conversion of second-generation substrates (production of cellulases and action at high temperatures). This 2G based production opens many opportunities, including the reuse of agricultural residue and urban waste, the first step toward a real circular economy. With the upcoming COP21, we are proud to contribute to France’s leadership in green chemistry and the ecological transition.”


About DEINOVE

DEINOVE (Alternext Paris: ALDEI) is ushering in a new era of green chemistry by designing and developing new standards of production based on bacteria of untapped potential: the Deinococci. Taking advantage of the bacteria’s unique genetic properties and unusual robustness, DEINOVE optimizes natural fermentation and metabolic capabilities of these bacterial "micro‐factories" to produce high value‐added products from non‐food biomass. The Company’s primary markets are 2nd‐ generation biofuels (DEINOL) and bio‐based chemicals (DEINOCHEM). On these markets, the Company offers its technology to industrial partners globally.

Listed on NYSE Alternext since April 2010, DEINOVE was founded by Dr. Philippe Pouletty, General Partner of TRUFFLE CAPITAL, and Pr. Miroslav Radman, of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris Descartes University. The company employs almost 50 people in its new offices and laboratories located in Montpellier, France.

For further information about DEINOVE, please visit the website here. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.741.823 von Popeye82 am 30.09.15 12:04:36

[Popeye82]

XPrize competition offers $20,000,000, to reduce carbon emissions, Contest designed to spark innovation that will help the oilsands industry with its CO2 problem, "Eeeeeven a garage entrepreneur can win this prize. If you have a good idea, we want to hear from you", Sign up NOW
------> www.cbc.ca/news/business/xprize-carbon-competition-1.3247826

"The prize is big, but so is the problem.

A group of Canadian oilsands companies along with U.S.-based NRG Energy is funding an XPrize competition designed to solve one of the world's most elusive problems: how to reduce CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. There is $20 million U.S. up for grabs.

''Even a garage entrepreneur can win this prize. If you have a good idea, we want to hear from you."

- Dan Wicklum, Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance


The contest opens this morning and runs for 4½ years. The teams are challenged to develop technologies that convert the most CO2 into one or more products with the highest net value.

The XPrize Foundation dropped a few hints to work with, suggesting alternative cement, concrete and other building materials, or chemicals used to manufacture a variety of industrial and consumer goods.

Or something altogether new.

"The competition itself has no limits, anyone in the world can enter," said Dan Wicklum, the head of Canada's Oil Sand Innovation Alliance (COSIA), a group of 13 Alberta oilsands producers, that is funding half the prize.

"You could work for a university, small company, a large company, oilsands company, or not. Even a garage entrepreneur can win this prize. If you have a good idea, we want to hear from you."


Teams can register

The contest will start registering teams as of today.

Adrian Corless, the chief executive of Calgary-based Carbon Engineering, is working to harvest CO2 from the air to create synthetic fuels. Corless said his team will have a look at the term of reference of the prize, and may enter the contest.

Carbon Engineering is already a finalist for the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25-million prize for the best technology to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

"The reality is that the costs in developing technology that are relevant in terms of carbon capture at a large scale, they are very, very large, so whether it's going to motivate new entrants into this field or not for $20 million, I think you have to have your own reason for being in this space beyond that."

There are two streams in the contest, with the new technologies tested at either a coal power plant or a natural gas facility. The prize could be won by one team whose technology worked for both coal and natural gas CO2 emissions, but it's more likely that it will be split by two teams.

Along with COSIA, the prize is co-sponsored by NRG, a company that promotes green technologies.


Greenwashing?

"In a sense this is corporate crowdfunding," said Ken Wong, a marketing expert at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. "Here's an initiative who's got a stake in the benefits of that initiative and let's hit them up for the prize money."

Wong doesn't believe that it's greenwashing on the part of the energy industry.

"It would be greenwashing if they come together to donate $20 million to some cause, but they weren't going to change their operations in any way."

XPrize is a non-profit organization that designs public competitions to encourage technological development. It will appoint a judging panel and scientific advisory board to guide and judge the entries.

For his part, Wicklum said he is optimistic that the contest will spark innovation that will help the oilsands industry with its CO2 problem.

"These incentive prizes have a proven track record. They work," he said. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.730.171 von Popeye82 am 29.09.15 02:03:51

Icahn to Yahoo Finance: It's going to be a real 'bloodbath'[+video] - FY - Sep 28, 2015

- Andy Serwer -
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/read-icahn-policy-paper-sent-t…
------> http://carlicahn.com/

"Yahoo Finance has obtained a policy paper written by Carl Icahn on income inequality that the billionaire financier recently sent to Donald Trump and others on Wall Street and in Washington. In the paper, Icahn warns of “dangerous systemic problems that will affect each and every American in the coming years.” The five and a half page paper has some similarities to the video that Icahn is releasing on www.carlicahn.com, but focuses more on imbalances in our society. The paper was sent to Trump before the GOP presidential candidate revealed his economic proposals. “I sent it to a number of people,” Icahn said. “A few of the ideas in the paper are reflected in Donald Trump’s plan. I think that shows what an open-minded guy he is, which is what we need in the White House.”


Source: www.carlicahn.com


In the paper, Icahn takes a decidedly egalitarian tone, writing:

“The average worker makes approximately $50,000 per year. The average annual compensation of the thirty highest paid CEOs is approximately $47 million per year. (I don’t believe this disparity was ever this great even in most dictatorships!) You will hear many politicians argue that government should not interfere with the ‘business judgment’, of our companies and, therefore they cannot pass laws to encourage ‘income equality.’ This is completely untrue – the sad fact is that the government has actually passed many laws that have brought about ‘income inequality.’”


In a phone interview with Yahoo Finance Icahn says, "In this country, you talk about the wealth gap and politicians say, 'well, you can't legislate equality,' but we legislate inequality.”

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Of all the corporate raiders and junk bond kings that came of age in the 1980s, Carl Icahn has become the richest and most powerful. He shows little sign of slowing down. Now 79, and with a net worth of some $21 billion according to Forbes, Icahn has moved beyond being a fixture of CNBC and the business pages to being something of a general news subject. With unusual tentativeness and nuance Icahn has linked himself to Donald Trump thereby guaranteeing him a place at the grown-ups' table this news cycle. In the recent phone interview with Yahoo Finance, Icahn says that while he admires Trump, (the two worked with each other in the maw of the Atlantic City casino business) the two don’t see eye to eye on everything. Icahn wouldn’t comment specifically on where they disagree. As for being Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Icahn apparently said he would and then retracted that point. “He’s his own man,” Icahn says of Trump.


In the policy paper, Icahn writes about the complicity of CEOs and Wall Street:

“…the American worker is also getting 'screwed' …boards and CEOS have allowed property, plants and equipment of our companies to become the oldest on record and, as a result, the growth rate in productivity per hour of our workers has also become the worst on record and has actually decreased compared to last year. The average age of corporate property, plants and equipment is an astounding 22.3 years, the oldest it has reached since 1941. But I do not believe that most boards and CEOs really give a damn. With many exceptions, CEOs only care about short term results. Perhaps you can’t really blame them because unfortunately, Wall Street judges them based on quarter to quarter results and CEOs receive their egregious compensation based on those short-term results.”


Icahn also writes about CEOs and how hard it is to remove them: “How would we feel if laws were passed that certain criteria had to be met to vote for President and there were no term limits on the President’s ability to serve, thus making it almost impossible to remove Obama? Amazingly, there are many state laws in existence that protect the CEOs that are analogous to the example I just made."

Icahn slams using junk bonds for doing deals, comparing it to drug addiction, writing, “Making acquisitions with junk bonds may increase earnings for the short-term, but this gives companies a short-term high, just as heroin does to their users.”

Icahn closes his piece by again coming back to the plight of the common man versus CEOs: “When it comes time to pay the Piper, CEOs will have taken their bonuses and again the workers will be left, holding the proverbially ‘empty bag.’” "

[Popeye82]

First Optical Rectenna – Combined Rectifier +Antenna – Converts Light to DC Current, using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna +a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current. Potential to achieve 40 percent broad spectrum efficiency - IT/GIoT/N, GEORGIA - Sep 30, 2015
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/first-optical-rectenna-com…
www.news.gatech.edu/2015/09/28/first-optical-rectenna-%E2%80…
www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2015.2…

"Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.

Potential to achieve 40 percent broad spectrum efficiency . . .

Based on multiwall carbon nanotubes and tiny rectifiers fabricated onto them, the optical rectennas could provide a new technology for photodetectors that would operate without the need for cooling, energy harvesters that would convert waste heat to electricity – and ultimately for a new way to efficiently capture solar energy.


In the new devices, developed by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the carbon nanotubes act as antennas to capture light from the sun or other sources. As the waves of light hit the nanotube antennas, they create an oscillating charge that moves through rectifier devices attached to them. The rectifiers switch on and off at record high petahertz speeds, creating a small direct current.

Billions of rectennas in an array can produce significant current, though the efficiency of the devices demonstrated so far remains below one percent. The researchers hope to boost that output through optimization techniques, and believe that a rectenna with commercial potential may be available within a year.

“We could ultimately make solar cells that are twice as efficient at a cost that is ten times lower, and that is to me an opportunity to change the world in a very big way” said Baratunde Cola, an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. “As a robust, high-temperature detector, these rectennas could be a completely disruptive technology if we can get to one percent efficiency. If we can get to higher efficiencies, we could apply it to energy conversion technologies and solar energy capture.”

The research, supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center and the Army Research Office (ARO), was reported September 28 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Developed in the 1960s and 1970s, rectennas have operated at wavelengths as short as ten microns, but for more than 40 years researchers have been attempting to make devices at optical wavelengths. There were many challenges: making the antennas small enough to couple optical wavelengths, and fabricating a matching rectifier diode small enough and able to operate fast enough to capture the electromagnetic wave oscillations. But the potential of high efficiency and low cost kept scientists working on the technology.

“The physics and the scientific concepts have been out there,” said Cola. “Now was the perfect time to try some new things and make a device work, thanks to advances in fabrication technology.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.751.990 von Popeye82 am 01.10.15 13:20:55

[Popeye82]

Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, finalists announced for the world’s 1st food system­ focused biomimicry innovation accelerator Earlier this year, hundreds of people from around the world took on a challenge to fix our global food system, by looking to nature for design solutions. Now, eight finalist teams have been invited to prototype their solutions in an accelerator program, that will award $100,000 to the top contender, in an effort to increase speed to market for biomimetic solutions to global problems
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/biomimicry-global-design-c…

"Finalists announced for the world’s first food system­ focused biomimicry innovation accelerator

Earlier this year, hundreds of people from around the world took on a challenge to fix our global food system by looking to nature for design solutions. Now, eight finalist teams have been invited to prototype their solutions in an accelerator program that will award $100,000 to the top contender in an effort to increase speed to market for biomimetic solutions to global problems.

The Biomimicry Institute’s Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, sponsored by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, asks participants to tackle any aspect of the food system that could be improved by looking to nature for design guidance. In the first year of this Challenge, the focus is on key food and agriculture issues like waste, packaging, agricultural pest management, food distribution, energy use, and other solutions.


Biomimicry Institute engaged 60 judges, themselves biologists, business leaders, venture capitalists, and agriculture, to select eight finalist teams. These teams have designed a range of solutions using biomimicry, such as desalination by looking to mangrove forests, soil remediation by emulating the digestive tract of earthworms, and a peer­to­peer networking app whose algorithm mimics the communication function found in a flock of birds. A full list of the finalists’ submissions and links to their pitch videos can be found here.

“Entrepreneurs don’t have the same R&D budgets as big companies, but those who are patient enough to understand and employ nature’s designs have a distinct advantage: they are leveraging millions of years of evolution,” said Beth Rattner, Biomimicry Institute executive director. “That’s what we’re seeing with these amazing submissions. They aren’t just good ideas? they’re proof points that radically sustainable products are possible.”

The finalist teams will travel to Austin, TX on October 4, 2015, to present their ideas at SXSW Eco, pitch to judges on the marketability of their ideas, and participate in an awards event. The teams will then spend the next eight months prototyping and testing their innovations, and will compete for the $100,000 Ray C. Anderson “Ray of Hope” Prize, to be awarded in 2016.

“Seeding and accelerating nature ­inspired solutions to global challenges and then mentoring them as they seek marketability is an idea that my grandfather would say is ‘so right and so smart’,” said John Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Interface Founder Ray Anderson, who funded the Foundation upon his passing in 2011, was famously inspired by radical new approaches to centuries old design and manufacturing techniques, and sought them out when rethinking his $1 billion, global carpet tile company’s products and processes.

The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has pledged $1.5 million over four years to support the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, a multi­year effort to crowdsource, support, and seed promising innovations inspired by nature. Each year beginning in 2016, the Institute and Foundation together will award the $100,000 “Ray of Hope” Prize to the most viable prototype that embodies the radical sustainability principles of biomimicry. The first two years are focused on food systems, while subsequent years will change to other sustainability issues.

A new round of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge opens October 5, which will be another opportunity for teams to join and compete for the $100,000 “Ray of Hope” Prize.

Individuals and teams can learn more about the first ­round finalists and register for the next round at challenge.biomimicry.org. "

[Popeye82]

Self-assembling material that grows +changes shape could lead to artificial arteries, Researchers @Queen Mary University of London(QMUL) have developed a way of assembling organic molecules into complex tubular tissue-like structures, without the use of moulds or techniques like 3D printing - IT/ERC, STROFUNSCAFF/QMUL/EA, LONDON - Sep 30, 2015
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/self-assembling-material-t…
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/qmuo-smt092415.php

"

- The protein/peptide system can grow on demand by simply displacing the interface.
CREDIT QMUL -


Researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have developed a way of assembling organic molecules into complex tubular tissue-like structures without the use of moulds or techniques like 3D printing.

The study, which will appear on Monday 28 September in the journal Nature Chemistry, describes how peptides and proteins can be used to create materials that exhibit dynamic behaviors found in biological tissues like growth, morphogenesis, and healing.

The method uses solutions of peptide and protein molecules that, upon touching each other, self-assemble to form a dynamic tissue at the point at which they meet. As the material assembles itself it can be easily guided to grow into complex shapes.

This discovery could lead to the engineering of tissues like veins, arteries, or even the blood-brain barrier, which would allow scientists to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s with a high level of similarity to the real tissue, which is currently impossible. The technique could also contribute to the creation of better implants, complex tissues, or more effective drug screening methods.

Alvaro Mata, Director of the Institute of Bioengineering at QMUL and lead author of the paper, said: “What is most exciting about this discovery is the possibility for us to use peptides and proteins as building-blocks of materials with the capacity to controllably grow or change shape, solely by self-assembly.

Karla Inostroza-Brito, PhD student and first author of the paper said: "The system is dynamic so it can be triggered on demand to enable self-assembly with a high degree of control, which allows the creation of complex shapes with a structure that resembles elements of native tissue."

The study has been partly funded by the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant STROFUNSCAFF). "

[Popeye82]

NIST Team Breaks Distance Record for Quantum Teleportation, Researchers @the National Institute of Standards +Technology(NIST) have “teleported” or transferred quantum information carried in light particles over 100 kilometers(km) of optical fiber, four times farther than the previous record - IT/NIST/NTTC - Sep 30, 2015
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/nist-team-breaks-distance-…
www.nist.gov/pml/nist-team-breaks-distance-record-for-quantu…
www.osapublishing.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-2-10-83…

"


Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have “teleported” or transferred quantum information carried in light particles over 100 kilometers (km) of optical fiber, four times farther than the previous record.

The experiment confirmed that quantum communication is feasible over long distances in fiber. Other research groups have teleported quantum information over longer distances in free space, but the ability to do so over conventional fiber-optic lines offers more flexibility for network design.


Not to be confused with Star Trek’s fictional “beaming up” of people, quantum teleportation involves the transfer, or remote reconstruction, of information encoded in quantum states of matter or light. Teleportation is useful in both quantum communications and quantum computing, which offer prospects for novel capabilities such as unbreakable encryption and advanced code-breaking, respectively. The basic method for quantum teleportation was first proposed more than 20 years ago and has been performed by a number of research groups, including one at NIST using atoms in 2004.

The new record, described in Optica,* involved the transfer of quantum information contained in one photon—its specific time slot in a sequence—to another photon transmitted over 102 km of spooled fiber in a NIST laboratory in Colorado.

The lead author, Hiroki Takesue, was a NIST guest researcher from NTT Corp. in Japan. The achievement was made possible by advanced single-photon detectors designed and made at NIST.

“Only about 1 percent of photons make it all the way through 100 km of fiber,” NIST’s Marty Stevens says. “We never could have done this experiment without these new detectors, which can measure this incredibly weak signal.”

Until now, so much quantum data was lost in fiber that transmission rates and distances were low. The new NTT/NIST teleportation technique could be used to make devices called quantum repeaters that could resend data periodically in order to extend network reach, perhaps enough to eventually build a “quantum internet.” Previously, researchers thought quantum repeaters might need to rely on atoms or other matter, instead of light, a difficult engineering challenge that would also slow down transmission.

Various quantum states can be used to carry information; the NTT/NIST experiment used quantum states that indicate when in a sequence of time slots a single photon arrives. The teleportation method is novel in that four of NIST’s photon detectors were positioned to filter out specific quantum states. (See graphic for an overview of how the teleportation process works.) The detectors rely on superconducting nanowires made of molybdenum silicide.** They can record more than 80 percent of arriving photons, revealing whether they are in the same or different time slots each just 1 nanosecond long. The experiments were performed at wavelengths commonly used in telecommunications.

Because the experiment filtered out and focused on a limited combination of quantum states, teleportation could be successful in only 25 percent of the transmissions at best. Thanks to the efficient detectors, researchers successfully teleported the desired quantum state in 83 percent of the maximum possible successful transmissions, on average. All experimental runs with different starting properties exceeded the mathematically significant 66.7 percent threshold for proving the quantum nature of the teleportation process. "

[Popeye82]

Fünfte Wasserstoff-Tankstelle in Baden-Württemberg eröffnet(News MIT Zusatzmaterial) - W: 0/EQS GROUP/DGAP-M, MÜNCHEN/STUTTGART/BERLIN - Oct 1, 2015

- Daimler, Linde +TOTAL setzen Ausbau des Wasserstoff-Tankstellennetzes fort

- Integration der H2-Betankungstechnik in einen bestehenden Tankstellenbetrieb in Fellbach

- Weitere Stationen im Südwesten projektiert, u.a. in Karlsruhe +Ulm

- Projekt im Rahmen der Clean Energy Partnership(CEP), Förderung durch das Nationale Innovationsprogramm(NIP) ...
www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/7998072-linde-ag-fuenfte-…

"Daimler, Linde und TOTAL setzen ihre gemeinsamen Pläne zum Ausbau der nationalen Wasserstoff-Infrastruktur fort. Nach den bereits erfolgten Eröffnungen am Autohof Geiselwind, der ersten H2-Tankstelle an einer Autobahn, und an zwei Berliner Standorten gehen die Partner nun einen weiteren Schritt in Richtung flächendeckendes Versorgungsnetz für lokal emissionsfreie Elektrofahrzeuge mit
Brennstoffzelle.

An der TOTAL Multi-Energie Tankstelle in Fellbach führten heute Dr. Veit
Steinle, Leiter der Abteilung für Grundsatzangelegenheiten im
Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur, gemeinsam mit
Ministerialdirektor Helmfried Meinel, Ministerium für Umwelt, Klima und
Energiewirtschaft Baden-Württemberg, die symbolische Erstbetankung einer
Mercedes-Benz B-Klasse F-CELL durch. Die H2-Station in Fellbach ist bereits
die fünfte in Baden-Württemberg, weitere werden in den nächsten Monaten
folgen.

Der Amtschef des Ministeriums für Umwelt, Klima und Energiewirtschaft,
Ministerialdirektor Helmfried Meinel, betonte, wie wichtig es der
Landesregierung in Baden-Württemberg ist, den Aufbau einer H2-Infrastruktur
im Land zu unterstützen: "Wasserstoff und Brennstoffzelle haben großes
Potenzial, sich zu einer Schlüsseltechnologie für eine umwelt- und
klimaverträgliche Mobilität zu entwickeln. Sie können uns helfen, unsere
Abhängigkeit von Erdölimporten zu reduzieren."

Wasserstoff könne darüber hinaus auch in vielen anderen Bereichen eine
wichtige Rolle spielen, zum Beispiel als Zwischenspeicher für die Nutzung
von Strom aus erneuerbaren Energiequellen. "Mit dem Innovationsprogramm
H2-Infrastruktur Baden-Württemberg H2BW hat das Umweltministerium in den
vergangenen drei Jahren mit insgesamt vier Millionen Euro die
H2-Infrastruktur in Baden-Württemberg in Form von Wasserstofftankstellen
sowie Anlagen zur Herstellung und Speicherung von regenerativem Wasserstoff
vorangebracht. Um den Ausbau der Infrastruktur auch weiterhin zu
unterstützen, haben wir ein weiteres Programm namens ,Power to Hydrogen'
aufgelegt, mit dem wir die großtechnische Erzeugung, Verteilung und Nutzung
von regenerativ erzeugtem Wasserstoff unterstützen. Hierfür stellt das Land
für die Jahre 2015 und 2016 insgesamt 1,4 Millionen Euro zur Verfügung."

In Fellbach kommt eine kompakte 700-bar-Betankungstechnik von Linde zum
Einsatz, die auch ideal zur Nachrüstung bestehender, konventioneller
Tankstellen geeignet ist. Linde verwendet dabei den selbst entwickelten
ionischen Kompressor IC90, der Vorteile im Energieverbrauch, bei der
Wartung, im Platzbedarf und in der Geräuschentwicklung miteinander
verbindet. Mit rund 100 errichteten Tankstellen in 15 Ländern ist Linde
führend in der Wasserstoff-Technologie und betreibt in Wien die weltweit
erste Kleinserienfertigung für H2-Tankstellen.

Der Aufbau einer bundesweiten H2-Infrastruktur geht einher mit dem
geplanten Markthochlauf von Brennstoffzellenfahrzeugen verschiedener
Hersteller. Bis 2016 wird eine erste strategische Aufbau-Etappe realisiert:
50 Wasserstoff-Tankstellen - gebaut und betrieben im Rahmen der Clean
Energy Partnership (CEP) - sollen die Metropolregionen und Hauptkorridore
im Bundesgebiet versorgen (siehe dazu
www.cleanenergypartnership.de/fileadmin/Assets/user_upload/50_TS.pdf).
Innerhalb dieses Ausbauprogramms beteiligt sich die
Daimler-Linde-Initiative an insgesamt 20 neuen H2-Stationen mit einem
Investitionsvolumen von insgesamt rund 20 Millionen Euro.

Daimler plant von 2017 an wettbewerbsfähige Elektrofahrzeuge mit
Brennstoffzelle auf den Markt zu bringen. Ein Vorteil von Elektrofahrzeugen
mit Brennstoffzelle ist ihre hohen Reichweite von 400 bis 500 Kilometern.
Vor allem aber die sehr kurze Betankungszeit spricht für dieses
Antriebskonzept. Der stufenweise Ausbau der H2-Infrastruktur stellt einen
der wichtigsten Faktoren für eine erfolgreiche Markteinführung solcher
Fahrzeuge dar.

TOTAL ist seit 2002 Vorreiter beim Aufbau der Infrastruktur von
Wasserstoff-Tankstellen in Deutschland - zu den bundesweit 19 öffentlich
zugänglichen H2-Stationen zählen heute acht TOTAL Multi-Energie
Tankstellen. Dazu sind weitere Stationen mit Wasserstoff-Betankungsangebot
in Ulm, Karlsruhe und am Flughafen in Köln geplant. TOTAL hat in Fellbach
die gesamten Bau- und Genehmigungskosten getragen sowie das
Projektmanagement zur Errichtung der Wasserstoff-Technik inklusive des
Service- und Wartungsanteils übernommen.

Im Rahmen des Nationalen Innovationsprogramms Wasserstoff- und
Brennstoffzellentechnologie (NIP) wird das Projekt von Bundesministerium
für Verkehr und Digitale Infrastruktur unterstützt. Das Programmmanagement
erfolgt durch die NOW GmbH (Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und
Brennstoffzellentechnologie).


Über The Linde Group

The Linde Group hat im Geschäftsjahr 2014 einen Umsatz von 17,047 Mrd. EUR
erzielt und ist damit das größte Gase- und Engineeringunternehmen der Welt.
Mit rund 65.500 Mitarbeitern ist Linde in mehr als 100 Ländern vertreten.
Die Strategie des Unternehmens ist auf ertragsorientiertes und nachhaltiges
Wachstum ausgerichtet. Der gezielte Ausbau des internationalen Geschäfts
mit zukunftsweisenden Produkten und Dienstleistungen steht dabei im
Mittelpunkt. Linde handelt verantwortlich gegenüber Aktionären,
Geschäftspartnern, Mitarbeitern, der Gesellschaft und der Umwelt -
weltweit, in jedem Geschäftsbereich, jeder Region und an jedem Standort.
Linde entwickelt Technologien und Produkte, die Kundennutzen mit einem
Beitrag zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung verbinden.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie online unter www.linde.com


Über Daimler

Die Daimler AG ist eines der erfolgreichsten Automobilunternehmen der Welt.
Mit den Geschäftsfeldern Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz
Vans, Daimler Buses und Daimler Financial Services gehört der
Fahrzeughersteller zu den größten Anbietern von Premium-Pkw und ist der
größte weltweit aufgestellte Nutzfahrzeug-Hersteller. Daimler Financial
Services bietet Finanzierung, Leasing, Flottenmanagement, Versicherungen,
Geldanlagen und Kreditkarten sowie innovative Mobilitätsdienstleistungen
an. Die Firmengründer Gottlieb Daimler und Carl Benz haben mit der
Erfindung des Automobils im Jahr 1886 Geschichte geschrieben. Als Pionier
des Automobilbaus gestaltet Daimler auch heute die Zukunft der Mobilität:
Das Unternehmen setzt dabei auf innovative und grüne Technologien sowie auf
sichere und hochwertige Fahrzeuge, die faszinieren und begeistern. Daimler
investiert konsequent in die Entwicklung alternativer Antriebe - von
Hybridfahrzeugen bis zu reinen Elektrofahrzeugen mit Batterie oder
Brennstoffzelle - um langfristig das emissionsfreie Fahren zu ermöglichen.
Darüber hinaus treibt das Unternehmen das unfallfreie Fahren und die
intelligente Vernetzung bis hin zum autonomen Fahren mit Nachdruck voran.
Denn Daimler betrachtet es als Anspruch und Verpflichtung, seiner
Verantwortung für Gesellschaft und Umwelt gerecht zu werden. Daimler
vertreibt seine Fahrzeuge und Dienstleistungen in nahezu allen Ländern der
Welt und hat Produktionsstätten in Europa, Nord- und Südamerika, Asien und
Afrika.

Zum Markenportfolio zählen neben Mercedes-Benz, der wertvollsten
Premium-Automobilmarke der Welt, sowie Mercedes-AMG und Mercedes-Maybach,
die Marken smart, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, FUSO, Setra und
Thomas Built Buses und die Marken von Daimler Financial Services:
Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial, Daimler Truck Financial,
moovel und car2go. Das Unternehmen ist an den Börsen Frankfurt und
Stuttgart notiert (Börsenkürzel DAI). Im Jahr 2014 setzte der Konzern mit
insgesamt 279.972 Mitarbeitern mehr als 2,5 Mio. Fahrzeuge ab. Der Umsatz
lag bei 129,9 Mrd. EUR, das EBIT betrug 10,8 Mrd. EUR.

Weitere Informationen von Daimler sind im Internet verfügbar:
www.media.daimler.com und www.daimler.com


Über TOTAL

Deutschland hält eine Vorreiterrolle bei der Erprobung von Wasserstoff im
Verkehrsbereich inne und TOTAL betreibt seit über zwölf Jahren
Wasserstoff-Tankstellen. Dabei begleiten wir als verlässlicher Partner
zusammen mit den Autoherstellern und Industriegaseproduzenten verschiedene
Demonstrationsprojekte. Die Wasserstoff-Testflotte der Clean Energy
Partnership (CEP) von etwas über 50 Fahrzeugen verfügt beispielsweise in
Berlin an unserer Flaggschiff-Station, der TOTAL Multi-Energie-Tankstelle
Schönefeld, über eine 100% grüne Energiequelle. Neben konventionellen
Qualitätskraftstoffen sowie Autogas und Erdgas sind dort auch
Schnellladesäulen für batteriebetriebene Elektromobilität verfügbar.

Die Wasserstoff-Produktion vor Ort ist mit einer Photovoltaik-Anlage
gekoppelt. Dazu ist ein Windpark projektiert. Die Projektpartner TOTAL,
Linde und McPhy zeigen, dass emissionsfreie Mobilität aus grünen Quellen
heute schon darstellbar ist. Ein nachhaltiger Kreislauf schließt sich.
Neben der CO2-Reduzierung beim Einsatz von grünem Wasserstoff kann die
heimische Produktion des Wind-Wasserstoffs einen wichtigen Beitrag zur
Versorgungssicherheit leisten.

Als Speichermedium könnte Wasserstoff auch eine wichtige Funktion zur
Nutzung von erneuerbarer Energie - und damit für die Energiewende insgesamt
- spielen. TOTAL betreibt insgesamt acht H2-Stationen bundesweit: Vier in
Berlin sowie in Fellbach, München und Hamburg jeweils eine, dazu zählt auch
mit Geiselwind die erste Autobahnstation mit Wasserstoff-Zapfsäule. Weitere
sind im Rahmen des 50 H2-Tankstellenprogramms der Bundesregierung in
Planung: u.a. in Bayern, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg und
Nordrhein-Westfalen.

de.total.com/de


Über die CEP

Die Clean Energy Partnership - ein Zusammenschluss von 19 führenden
Unternehmen - hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, Wasserstoff als "Kraftstoff
der Zukunft" zu etablieren. Mit Air Liquide, BMW, Bohlen & Doyen, Daimler,
EnBW, Ford, GM/Opel, der Hamburger Hochbahn, Honda, Hyundai, Linde, OMV,
Shell, Siemens, den Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen SSB, TOTAL, Toyota,
Volkswagen und der Westfalen Gruppe beteiligen sich Technologie-,
Mineralöl- und Energiekonzerne sowie die Mehrzahl der größten
Automobilhersteller und führende Betriebe des öffentlichen Nahverkehrs an
dem wegweisenden Zukunftsprojekt. Seit 2008 wird die CEP durch das
Nationale Innovationsprogramm Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellentechnologie
(NIP) gefördert.

www.cleanenergypartnership.de


Über die NOW

Die NOW GmbH Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und
Brennstoffzellentechnologie wurde 2008 von der Bundesregierung, vertreten
durch das Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung (heute
Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur), gegründet. Sie
koordiniert und steuert zwei Förderprogramme des Bundes - das Nationale
Innovationsprogramm Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellentechnologie (NIP)
sowie die Modellregionen Elektromobilität des BMVI. Beide Programme dienen
der Marktvorbereitung, um Mobilität und Energieversorgung künftig sowohl
effizient als auch emissionsarm zu gestalten. Im Mittelpunkt der Förderung
stehen Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitäten sowie
Demonstrationsprojekte.

www.now-gmbh.de

Für weitere Informationen:


The Linde Group

Medien
Stefan Metz
Telefon [phone]
[e-mail]


Daimler AG

Research & Development Communications Madeleine Herdlitschka
Koert Groeneveld Telefon [phone]
Telefon [phone] [e-mail]


TOTAL Deutschland Clean Energy Partnership (CEP)
Pressesprecher Pressesprecherin
Manuel Fuchs Claudia Fried
Telefon [phone] Telefon [phone]
[e-mail] [e-mail]


ENDE der Pressemitteilung


+++++
Zusatzmaterial zur Meldung:

Bild: http://newsfeed2.equitystory.com/Linde/399299.html
Bildunterschrift: New hydrogen fueling station in
Fellbach/Baden-Württemberg "

[Popeye82]

IBM Scientists Find New Way to Shrink Transistors, in the semiconductor business, it is called the “red brick wall” —the limit of the industry’s ability to shrink transistors beyond a certain size. On Thursday, however, IBM scientists reported that they now believe they see a path around the wall
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/ibm-scientists-find-new-wa…

[Popeye82]

Stronger than steel: Scientists spin ultra-strong cellulose fibres
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/06/stronger-than-steel-scient…

"“Our filaments are stronger than both aluminium and steel per weight,”

A Swedish-German research team has successfully tested a new method for the production of ultra-strong cellulose fibres at DESY‘s research light source PETRA III. The novel procedure spins extremely tough filaments from tiny cellulose fibrils by aligning them all in parallel during the production process.

“Our filaments are stronger than both aluminium and steel per weight,” emphasizes lead author Prof. Fredrik Lundell from the Wallenberg Wood Science Center at the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology KTH in Stockholm. “The real challenge, however, is to make bio based materials with extreme stiffness that can be used in wind turbine blades, for example. With further improvements, in particular increased fibril alignment, this will be possible.” ..."

[sdaktien]

Bericht von Juni 2014? Seh ich das richtig? Hat sich inzwischen was in Richtung Marktreife getan?

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.766.951 von sdaktien am 03.10.15 12:10:53

[e-mail]
(Thomas Zoufal)

[e-mail]
(Professor Lars Berglund)


www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140602/ncomms5018/full/ncomms5018…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.766.951 von sdaktien am 03.10.15 12:10:53

anders gesagt
datum -ja, das stimmt

marktreife,
weiss ich nicht
wenn du es wirklich wissen willst,
dürfte das der beste und kürzeste weg sein
auch ganz einfach,
eigentlich

[Popeye82]

Ten features of the new Horizon 2020 research plans, from robot farm aides to 5G networks, Draft work plans for 2016 +'17 are out, with ambitions to replace animal testing, resist the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance +deliver faster internet speeds - SB - Oct 6, 2015

- Éanna Kelly -
http://sciencebusiness.net/news/77230/Ten-features-of-the-ne…
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/draft-work-pr…

"With draft copies of the European Commission’s research plans for 2016 and 2017 recently arriving online, Science|Business takes a first dive, and picks out ten interesting features and competitions.


1. New prizes

Setting a seemingly intractable research challenge and offering a prize for the best answer is becoming a well-known part of the EU’s repertoire. There will be a number of prize competitions in the field of climate change in 2016 and 2017, to be awarded to projects that come up with an effective way of destroying plastic litter; promoting the circular economy in the retail sector; and propose novel ideas for capitalising on reams of environmental data beamed down by satellites. The Commission will also set an encryption challenge in the field of cyber security and offer rewards to a project that delivers a cheap way of shooting nano-satellites into space and another for reducing car engine emissions.


2. Alternatives to animal testing

Roused by the Stop Vivisection campaign, which earlier this year saw an Italian pressure group gather over a million signatures in 26 EU countries in protest over animal testing, the health section includes money for a new expert group to examine the feasibility of alternatives to animal testing, from computer modelling to cell culture experiments.


3. Cyborg farmhands

Farmers across Europe are weathering a slump right now, with dairy prices depressed and agricultural exports down since the EU imposed sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. It is hard how they will feel then, about a research call for labour-saving (or maybe labour-replacing) autonomous farmhands.

According to the food work programme, research efforts should, “prioritise technologies such as selective harvesting, more targeted weed reduction or environment friendly fertilisation, and/or livestock management, based on better planning and targeted intervention, using sensors (local and aerial, even maybe earth observation satellite).”


4. Motoring towards electric vehicles

With the global race to launch unmanned vehicles on to the consumer markets attracting the efforts of global companies like Google, Ford, BMW, Apple and others, it may be surprising to find just one call dedicated to autonomous cars (a pilot in the ‘cross-cutting’ section). By contrast, there are 12 calls for electric vehicles in the transport section.


5. Seeding, the ground, for 5G

Some money from the ICT section will go towards developing high speed 5G networks, which promise capacity so great that buffering videos and slow-running apps will be consigned to history. Europe’s role in building the networks, which could be available as soon as 2020, got a boost last week when the EU signed an agreement with China to set out common goals for 5G standards and timeframes for introducing the new technology.


6. Cleaning up data centres

With increasing demand for cloud computing, big data and the rise of the internet of things, the requirement for data processing and storage has never been greater. In the energy section there is a call for proposals covering, “innovative and energy efficient cooling solutions, waste heat reuse, geographical and temporal workload balance, integration of local and remote renewable energy sources, integration in smart grids, integration with district heating/cooling networks, integration of power backup system in the grid and use of heat pumps for efficient use of waste heat.”


7. A shift, to close-to-market projects

Several commentators drew attention to what they see as the continued shift within EU research towards projects with higher technology readiness levels (TRLs). Such closer-to-market funding does not appeal to everyone. One lobbyist, who represents universities, worries the Commission is becoming too pre-occupied with the other end of the pipeline and moving steadily away from basic research funding.

The Commission does not go far enough for another who said, “I would have liked to see TRLs of between seven and eight for climate projects." Europe is committed to cut its non-renewable energy use by 2020 compared to 2005. “Ahead of the 2020 climate goals, I would have guessed this was a good time to ask for more demonstration projects.”


8. Risk-based financing, for new antibiotic drugs

Horizon 2020’s investment vehicle, the InnovFin scheme, will introduce a pilot for antibiotic research financing, making loans of between €7.5 million and €75 million to SMEs, midcaps, special project vehicles, research institutions and large pharmaceutical companies for the development of new antibiotics.


9. Virtual reality

There will be some funding for the development of “augmented and virtual reality visualisation systems”, in the ICT section. The Commission funded several VR projects with health applications in Horizon 2020’s predecessor, the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), including a VR treadmill for senior citizens and VR for rehabilitation following stroke.


10. ‘Smart, anything, everywhere’

Managing to imply everything and nothing at the same time, the vaguest-sounding call, and remnant from FP7, returns in the ICT section, promising to put money into networks of SMEs and mid-caps so they can solve particular problems. Whether the ‘smart anything everywhere’ initiative can go on to become a stock piece of technical jargon like ‘the internet of things’ remains to be seen. "

[Popeye82]

FDA approves 'game-changing immunotherapy drug, to fight lung cancer', In an unprecedented study conducted @UCLA +29 other sites worldwide, Keytruda(pembrolizumab) was found to be effective in the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer Story Highlights U.S. Food +Drug Administration has approved the groundbreaking immunotherapy drug

- U.S. Food +Drug Administration has approved the groundbreaking immunotherapy drug Keytruda(pembrolizumab), to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)

- Three-year international study led by UCLA showed responses, which were generally of long duration with the drug in patients with NSCLC

- Results also found the drug to be generally better tolerated than typical chemotherapies

- The study identified which patients were most likely to benefit, by evaluating characteristics of patients’ tumors, leading to simultaneous approval of a test, to select patients most likely to benefit from the drug ...
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/fda-approves-game-changing…
www.cancer.ucla.edu/Index.aspx?page=644&recordid=870&returnU…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.789.988 von Popeye82 am 07.10.15 04:09:42

www.imi.europa.eu/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/11th…

[Popeye82]

Claritas Launches the First Clinical Exome Test That Gives Healthcare Providers, Multiple Options to Obtain Answers for Patients Quickly +Cost-Effectively, Claritas Clinical Exome delivers confirmed whole-exome test results within 4 weeks compared to industry standard of 12 weeks or more Claritas Exome-Based Tests Simplify Use of Exomes in the Clinic to Guide Precision Care for Kids
www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-technology-1/Claritas-Launches…

[Popeye82]

www.mining.com/canadas-nobel-prize-win-has-a-mining-connecti…

[Popeye82]

Science Fiction turns Science Fact –3D Displays Without Glasses, TU Wien(Vienna) +TriLite Technologies present a new prototype for a 3D display which can be used without 3D glasses –just in time for the “Back to the Future Day” on Oct 21st
www.tuwien.ac.at/en/news/news_detail/article/9699/
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/science-fiction-turns-scie…



- The billboard of the future: A large-scale glasses-free 3D display. (Image: TriLite) -




- The second prototype of the 3D display module, which sends different images to different directions, enabling glasses-free 3D. (Photo: TriLite) -




- The basic element of future large-scale displays: A Trixel with a movable mirror. (Photo: TriLite) -

[Popeye82]

From trees to power: McMaster engineers build better energy storage device, McMaster Engineering researchers Emily Cranston +Igor Zhitomirsky are turning trees into energy storage devices, capable of powering everything from a smart watch to a hybrid car. The scientists are using cellulose, an organic compound found in plants, bacteria, algae +trees, to build more efficient +longer-lasting energy storage devices or capacitors
www.eng.mcmaster.ca/news/2015/from_trees_to_power.html
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/from-trees-to-power-mcmast…

[Popeye82]

An alloy of iron +aluminium is as good as titanium, @1/10th of the cost, a little nickel does it, a LOT of tosh is talked about “nanotechnology”, much of it designed to separate unwary investors from their hard-earned cash. This does not mean, though, that controlling the structure of things @the level of nanometres(billionths of a metre) is unimportant. In materials science it is vital, as a paper just published in Nature, by Hansoo Kim +his colleagues @the Pohang University of Science +Technology, in South Korea, demonstrates. By manipulating the structure of steel on a nanometre scale, Dr Kim has produced a material which has the strength +the lightness of titanium alloys but will, when produced @scale, cost a tenth as much
www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21642107-alloy…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/02/an-alloy-of-iron-and-alumi…

"A little nickel does it.

A LOT of tosh is talked about “nanotechnology”, much of it designed to separate unwary investors from their hard-earned cash. This does not mean, though, that controlling the structure of things at the level of nanometres (billionths of a metre) is unimportant. In materials science it is vital, as a paper just published in Nature, by Hansoo Kim and his colleagues at the Pohang University of Science and Technology, in South Korea, demonstrates. By manipulating the structure of steel on a nanometre scale, Dr Kim has produced a material which has the strength and the lightness of titanium alloys but will, when produced at scale, cost a tenth as much.


Steel is useful because it is strong and cheap. But it is also heavy. It has, therefore, always been useless for applications such as aircraft. In a world that demands the ever-more efficient use of fuel in motor cars and lorries, it is now falling out of favour there, too. According to Dr Kim, the share by weight of steel in an average light vehicle fell from 68.1% in 1995 to 60.1% in 2011.

The obvious way out of this is to alloy steel with a lighter metal. And the obvious one to choose is aluminium, which is, like iron (steel’s principal component), cheap and abundant. An alloy of iron, aluminium and carbon (steel’s other essential ingredient) is too brittle to be useful. Adding manganese helps a bit, but not enough for aluminium-steel to be used in vehicles.

Dr Kim and his colleagues have, however, found that a fifth ingredient, nickel, overcomes this problem. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/high-efficiency-high-relia…
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150911141223.htm

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/02/epsrc-unveils-world-leadin…

[Popeye82]

EC Digital4Science platform builds bridges between scientists, citizens +policy-makers, the new Digital4Science platform is open to everyone interested in research +innovation, to discuss +share opinion on science in the digital age. We want to hear your voice on EU policies +programmes designed to support science in the digital age, +to boost scientific discoveries - FET - Oct 5, 2015


https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/european-commiss…
------> https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/blog/welcome-digital4scienc…

"The new Digital4Science platform is open to everyone interested in research and innovation to discuss and share opinion on science in the digital age. We want to hear your voice on EU policies and programmes designed to support science in the digital age and to boost scientific discoveries.
Share this

"We set up this platform to give you a voice; we want to listen to you, and establish a regular dialogue on our activities and policies. Together we can build a better future by focusing on the new technologies that are needed to push science further".

Thierry Van der Pyl, Director

The Digital4Science platform allows you to conduct and be part of interactions with scientists, technologists, researchers and innovators. By enabling a regular dialogue on activities linked to Excellent Science in the digital age, Digital4Science is a place where you can talk and listen, a place where you can gather evidence on common activities, a place where you can post events or create polls.

Please register to the platform and share your ideas with the community. We hope to hear about what you expect from present and future research in the field of Excellent Science, your experiences , your ideas on FET, FET Flagships, the Open Science Cloud and e-Infrastructures.


Create discussions and/or contribute to existing ones such as:

- What is the future of open access publishing?
- Empowering the people through citizen science - how you can help
- How can FET better support European innovation?
- How to foster the HPC ecosystem?
- Which International Co-operation for e-infrastructure projects?
- What can e-infrastructures bring to the Social Sciences and Humanities community?
- Overcoming the constraints of Biomedical and life sciences with e-infrastructures
- Which new skills and professions to support e-infrastructures needs?
- Which e-infrastructures for tomorrow's environmental challenges?
- How can e-Infrastructures facilitate Open Scholarship? "

[Popeye82]

GE Forms New Company in $1,000,000,000 Play for Disruptive Energy Market, GE is making a $1,000,000,000 play to offer microgrids, energy efficiency, energy storage, +other disruptive energy technologies to large energy users, through a new company called Current - MGK - Oct 7, 2015

- Elisa Wood -

http://microgridknowledge.com/ge-forms-new-company-in-1b-pla…
http://energyefficiencymarkets.com/ge-to-channel-1b-into-ene…

"GE is making a $1 billion play to offer microgrids, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles and other disruptive energy technologies to large energy users through a new company called Current.

Based in Boston, with offices in Silicon Valley, Current is a first-of-its-kind company that brings a range of efficiency-inducing energy services and technologies together under one roof, according to an announcement by GE Wednesday.




While Current includes GE LEDs as part of its package, the company moves well beyond conventional energy efficiency. GE says Current’s services range from reducing power levels, to generating power on site to creating new revenue streams for customers through the use of sensors and networked systems in buildings.

“Current combines GE’s products and services in energy efficiency, solar, storage, and onsite power with our digital and analytical capabilities to provide customers – hospitals, universities, retail stores, and cities – with more profitable energy solutions,” said Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE.

With its deep pockets and $1 billion kickstart, GE is creating what appears to be a formidable player in the disruptive energy space. GE says it intends to scale the company to $5 billion by 2020.

Current already is piloting programs with several well-known brands: Walgreens, Simon Property Group, Hilton Worldwide, JPMorgan Chase, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Intel and Trane, a brand of Ingersoll Rand.


Microgrids, where applicable

The company analyzes customer needs and then recommends the combination of technologies that solve particular energy problems. The solutions include microgrids, where applicable, according to a company spokeswoman.

Current plans to use GE’s Predix, an energy analysis tool, to identify and deliver efficiencies and cost savings. The company also will serve customers through sensor-enabled hardware, software, fulfillment, product management and financing.

GE expects to save customers 10-20 percent on their energy bills, and help utilities better manage their distributed load through Current’s services. The company will use an energy-as-a-service model.

“We’ve been transforming the power and lighting sector since GE’s inception. Energy is part of our legacy, part of our genetic code. And digital code is a big part of our future. Once again, we have an opportunity with Current as a startup to lead another significant change in energy delivery,” said Beth Comstock, GE vice chair. Comstock oversees GE’s Business Innovation, which encompasses Current and other transformation efforts.

Maryrose Sylvester, who is president and CEO at GE Lighting, will lead Current.

GE has been laying the ground work in recent weeks for Wednesday’s announcement. The company revealed some details about the new company in late September at Minds & Machine 2015 in San Francisco.


What do you think GE’s $1 billion move means to the microgrid market? Comment below or on our LinkedIn groups: Microgrid Knowledge and Community Microgrids and Local Energy. "

[Popeye82]

We Test-Flew Icon's A5, The Affordable-ish Personal Airplane For Everyone, an idea that just might take off[video] - PopSci - Oct 8, 2015

- Clay Dillow -
www.popsci.com/test-flight-icon-personal-airplane-for-everyo…

"


I’ve never piloted an airplane before. I’ve never even so much as sat in the cockpit of a moving aircraft. So I’m naturally a bit nervous when Kirk Hawkins, founder and CEO of Icon Aircraft, asks me if I want the stick. We’re roughly 1,000 feet above New York’s Hudson River in Icon’s new A5 airplane, the Manhattan skyline rolling past on our left, the Statue of Liberty dead ahead.

I do want the stick, and I also don’t want the stick. Above the Hudson River is a busy air corridor. Helicopters buzz past us headed in the opposite direction and dot the sky over New York Harbor ahead. There’s boat traffic below. Hawkins assures me that he won’t let me screw this up. In fact, he says, it's difficult to screw up badly in this aircraft.

Icon has spent seven years developing a two-seat light sport aircraft simple and safe enough that anyone can learn to fly it. The A5 is that aircraft, and to test the hypothesis Hawkins gives me control of the airplane in one of the busiest airspaces in America.




The A5 is a departure from what most people would typically think of as a small, propeller-driven airplane. Able to take off and land from both runway and water, it looks more like a winged jet ski than a Cessna. The rear-mounted propeller makes for an unobstructed forward view. The wings fold and sweep rearward, allowing the A5 to sit on a trailer for towing and fit through a garage door. Its 100-horsepower engine runs on regular automotive fuel. Perhaps most importantly, the A5 is packed with a number of innovative safety features that make it a very forgiving aircraft for pilots of all skill levels.

“We’RE THE FIRST PURE CONSUMER PRODUCT AIrPLANE,” Hawkins says. And if the idea that something as complex as an airplane can exist as a consumer product takes hold—and Hawkins and his team believe it will—the company could be looking at a multi-billion-dollar market, as more and more pilots take to the sky recreationally.

I do want the stick, and I also don’t want the stick.

The A5 is not designed for travel, nor for any kind of specific utility outside of the raw enjoyment of flight. It’s aimed at the same consumer who might spend six figures on a high-performance automobile or a really nice boat. The airframe, constructed largely of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials, is designed to appeal to potential pilots who want something sexier than the boxy, single-prop aircraft associated with weekend warriors of decades past. It takes cues from both Silicon Valley and the auto industry in the way it makes the technology approachable. The engine turns over with the turn of an ignition key. The dashboard—and it’s more dashboard than “cockpit”—resembles the one in my Nissan.

The A5 can trace its roots directly back to an Federal Aviation Administration rule change in 2004 that created a new classification of pilot’s license and aircraft. The Light Sport Aircraft rule and associated Sport Pilot License created the regulatory space for a new type of recreational airplane meeting certain weight and performance requirements. It also created a lower barrier to entry for pilots wanting to fly these slow-moving, lightweight, fair-weather-only aircraft.

Within the new LSA requirements, Hawkins saw room to create an aircraft that would be fun to fly and easily approachable by consumers—something that could bury the complexity and potential safety hazards of flying within good design and dependable failsafe mechanisms. Icon was born, and its collection of engineering talent spent roughly seven years developing the aircraft that would eventually become the A5.

Weighing just 1,000 pounds empty, the A5 tops out just above 100 miles per hour but only needs to be moving 40 to 50 miles per hour at takeoff (a low stall speed is among the FAA’s light sport aircraft requirements). It requires less than 900 feet for takeoff and landing on water and less than 650 feet on a runway. It can travel 427 nautical miles on a tank of gas.

As Hawkins gives me the stick, he reiterates that the A5 is also pretty resilient in the face of poor piloting. My safety valve for this flight is the seasoned F-16 pilot sitting next me (Hawkins flew for the U.S. Air Force for eight years prior to launching Icon). But for everyone else, there are a number of safety features built into the aircraft that help mitigate the everpresent specter of user error.


The first is simple but important: mounted right at eye level atop the cockpit dashboard is an angle-of-attack gauge. An aircraft’s angle of attack is the angle between the wing and the incoming air. At an optimal angle of attack, air flows around the wing and provides lift. But if the angle of attack falls outside certain parameters—if it’s too steep, for instance—the aircraft can stall. That is, it can cease to enjoy the aerodynamic phenomenon of lift. The angle of attack gauge offers a quick and intuitive green-yellow-red indicator (augmented by an audible stall warning alarm) that helps pilots keep their angle of attack on target.

More significant still, the A5 was completely designed around what Icon calls a spin-resistant airframe. When a conventional aircraft stalls and begins to fall through space, one wing will often begin generating lift disproportionately to the other wing, sending the aircraft into a spin. Icon’s engineers have engineered an airframe that simply doesn’t do this.

To prove it, Hawkins twice stalls our aircraft over the Hudson—once by climbing at an unsustainable angle of attack, once by basically dialing back the throttle back to zero. He recovers easily both times. The plane never lists or begins to spin. It glides, stable in the air, until Hawkins corrects the pitch of the aircraft or adjusts the throttle.

The A5 also packs a full aircraft parachute for any airborne emergencies that an angle-of-attack gauge and spin-resistant airframe can’t account for.

At roughly $200,000 for the most basic model, the A5 isn’t aimed at everyone. But Hawkins is banking on the idea that there are a whole lot of people out there that see a $200,000 personal airplane as a more rewarding investment than a boat or sports car. Icon delivered its first A5 to a customer in July and has deposits for 1,500 more.

That’s a three-year backlog for Icon and represents $400 million in revenue. If the A5 catches on, Hawkins sees a $3 to $5 billion market opportunity in the U.S. alone, and perhaps twice that globally as the rest of the world moves toward aircraft classifications similar to the LSA, he says. “We expect this to be a global phenomenon.” "

[Popeye82]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sparkgift-buy-stocks-shares-as…

[Popeye82]

www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/pure-storage-ipo-gets-tech-investors…

[Popeye82]

www.afr.com/technology/us-tech-firm-updater-to-launch-asx-ip…

[Popeye82]

'tracking the Global Energy Revolution', 2015, The Top 10 Trends Propelling the Global Clean Energy Transition - CEC.org/SFU - Oct/Jul15

- Table of contents:

#1 - A New Hope: Renewables Stall Out Carbon Pollution
#2 - As Solar Prices Drop, Affordability Rises
#3 - Tesla’s Gigafactory Poised to Unleash Battery Revolution
#4 - 100 Percent Renewable Energy Goes Mainstream
#5 - Climate Diplomacy Rising: Superpowers Move From Finger-Pointing, to Handshaking
#6 - Wind Spreads, Like Wildfire
#7 - Developing World Plugging, In to Renewable Power
#8 - Carbon Pricing is Fast Becoming the New Normal
#9 - Global Clean Energy Economy Surging
#10 - Divestment Movement Gains New Allies

Policy Recommendations for The Global Energy Revolution ...-
------> http://cleanenergycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/TER-…

[Popeye82]

Discovery about new battery overturns decades of false assumptions, new findings @Oregon State University have overturned a scientific dogma that stood for decades, by showing that potassium can work with graphite in a potassium-ion battery – a discovery that could pose a challenge +sustainable alternative to the widely-used lithium-ion battery
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/discovery-about-new-batter…

[Popeye82]

Using — And Sharing — New Technologies Is Key For Conservation, new technologies and big data are revolutionizing how we track +protect threatened species. The challenge is how to use all this new information most wisely. Scientists ESTIMATE THAT WE ARE LOOSING SPECIES @1,000 TIMES THE NATURAL BACKGROUND RATE


https://today.duke.edu/2015/10/pimm-consv-tech-release-sh-kl
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/using-and-sharing-new-tech…

"New technologies and big data are revolutionizing how we track and protect threatened species. The challenge is how to use all this new information most wisely.

Scientists estimate that we are losing species at 1,000-times the natural background rate.

While new technologies are improving conservation efforts by making it easier, faster and cheaper to monitor threatened species, these technologies alone cannot conserve biodiversity, a new multi-institutional study finds.


“The challenge is to use technology more wisely, connect different technologies and get appropriate technologies into the hands of those than can use them more effectively,” said Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, who is lead author of the study.

In a paper published this month in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Pimm and his colleagues from Duke, SAS Institute, the North Carolina Zoological Park and other conservation organizations and companies review current technologies for identifying, tracking and monitoring species. They also document the challenges associated with new technologies, including the limitations of certain methods, how to get new technologies into the right hands and how best to manage large datasets.

Many advancements have been made in recent years in non-invasive tracking techniques. One new tracking technology is Footprint Identification Technique (FIT), which digitizes photographs of footprints of large cats and other mammals to identify individuals.

“Our work and that of others has shown that invasive techniques, relying on capture and immobilization for marking or tagging, can negatively impact species in a variety of ways,” said Zoe Jewell, adjunct associate professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “Now, with the advent of new, non-invasive technologies, we can be more confident that the data we collect truly represent an ‘undisturbed’ population.”

Other non-invasive techniques for monitoring wildlife populations include vocalization identification, drones, DNA analysis and camera-trapping, added Jewell, who founded the nonprofit WildTrack for developing non-invasive monitoring techniques.

Crowd-sourced data collection through online platforms has become another valuable resource for researchers and conservationists. Apps such as eBird and iNaturalist enable amateur observers to record animals they see. The recorded sightings are added to an open-access online database to further research efforts.

“One key to the success of these ventures will be engaging groups currently marginalized from the processes of conservation: indigenous people,” noted Jewell. “Their traditional ecological knowledge can make a huge contribution to local conservation efforts.”

Infrastructure is essential to the effective implementation of new technologies, Jewell said. For example, a smartphone app that allows a user to record data to an online database is only useful if the user first has a smartphone, reliable Internet connection and electricity.

“These limitations will pose fewer challenges as widespread Internet access becomes available, but they must be taken into consideration in the implementation of every technology,” Jewell said.

New technologies may be especially useful in preventing poaching by allowing rangers and other authorities in protected areas to record and access data about species of interest via smartphones and other portable devices, according to the study. Drones might also be used to collect data on poachers, animals, and habitats, but robust and effective drones are still often prohibitively expensive for conservation work in the remote areas where they are needed most, the researchers said.

Assessing habitat loss is another area of conservation in which new technologies might be put to use. Remote sensing, which uses satellites or aircraft to scan large areas of land, can be used to monitor changes in land cover that result in habitat loss, such as deforestation.

“New technologies offer enormous potential in wildlife conservation,” Jewell said. “But we face a broad challenge in harnessing these technologies. We must increase the global pool of data collectors, find better ways of managing the resulting huge increase in data generated and use interdisciplinary approaches to develop creative solutions to meet anticipated future challenges.” "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 49.642.160 von Popeye82 am 25.04.15 11:32:55

www.greyinnovation.com/bionic-eye

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.826.042 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 09:36:50

http://verdefoundation.org/projects/

[Popeye82]

!

Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[Popeye82]

!

Dieser Beitrag wurde vom System automatisch gesperrt. Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an [e-mail]

[Popeye82]

so ein müll,
jetzt fängt er wieder damit an
keine ahnung warum

eingestellt werden sollte dieser artikel
www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/725508/carbon-capture-a-new…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.827.296 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 11:50:12

das Papier,
link2

Cement +steel industries need 'urgent' introduction of CCS technologies, Europe's energy-intensive industries such as cement +steel are in 'urgent need' of innovative carbon capture +storage(CCS) technology if they are to reach EU-wide emission targets by 2050, a new report has found
www.edie.net/news/6/Cement-and-Steel-industries-need--urgent…
------> http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/publication/218798-pathw…

" Europe's energy-intensive industries such as cement and steel are in 'urgent need' of innovative carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology if they are to reach EU-wide emission targets by 2050, a new report has found.

The report, developed over several years by researchers at Chalmers University of Technologyin Sweden, concludes that there is the potential to reduce emissions by between 60%-75% from large industry sources if the full potential of emerging CCS technologies was realised and implemented; a target that is in line with the emissions targets set for 2050.



- The continued high demand for bulk products like cement and steel means that the sector needs to find new ways to cut back on emissions without stifling production -


Researcher Johan Rootzén said: “There is an urgent need to demonstrate and implement carbon capture and storage, CCS, and other carbon dioxide mitigation technologies. While this will involve major investments in primary production, our results suggest that there will only be marginal impacts on costs and prices in the end-use sectors.”

“There is a lack of strategy from political actors about how emissions from [energy-intensive] industries should be reduced, even though these industries are responsible for a tenth of emissions of carbon dioxide in Europe and nearly 20% in Sweden. At the same time Sweden and the EU have a target in which emissions should be almost zero by 2050.”


TICKING clock

The thesis warns of a 'ticking clock' for these industries due to the plants’ long life span and the drawn out time it takes to introduce new technology. Rootzén warns that there is only “a few investment cycles left” before 2050. The continued high demand for bulk products like cement and steel means that the sector needs to find new ways to cut back on emissions without stifling production.




The researchers have called for the establishment of a large-scale demonstration of the entire CCS chain from capture to storage, a move that would only have a ‘marginal effect’ on the final price of end-products such as cars or buildings.

Professor Filip Johnsson who has been leading the research said: “It is easy to say that we should achieve zero emissions, but this requires that we take the issues seriously and are given the opportunity to demonstrate new technologies; CCS as well as other mitigation options.

“There are indeed question marks concerning CCS, and large investments are required in CCS as well as in other measures. Our research suggests that without a shift in technology then refineries, steel and cement industries alone are going to be the source of up to a quarter of the emissions in 2050.”


Home support

The UK Government has reiterated its support for the implementation of CCS despite energy giant Drax pulling out of a consortium to build the White Rose CCS project in Yorkshire.

The UK has also made the potential sites for carbon storage projects freely available to the public in an attempt to encourage more companies to invest in CCS by reducing initial costs and making information more readily available. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.827.602 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 12:24:43

bin mir nicht sicher ob sie sich da nicht
weit
aus dem fenster lehnt

wobei mit "safe, secure +effective"
hat sie wahrscheinlich die "richtigen"
worte
gewählt

Open letter to Ms Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as geoscientists +engineers representing decades of scientific research worldwide we would like to reassure the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) that the geological storage of carbon dioxide(CO2) with relevance to carbon capture +storage (CCS) is safe, secure +effective, and we have considerable evidence to show this
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/4ba4a05396f0bf7eac512a9b0/file…
------> www.sccs.org.uk/cop21-supporting-evidence#stored-co%E2%82%82…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.827.296 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 11:50:12

hab mal A*P
und foto
rausgenommen

mal sehen
obs klappt

ansonsten wirds langsam unheimlich
was hier so
copyright gefährlich
sein könnte

NULL plan,
dann

Carbon capture 'a new fuel frontier', Carbon Engineering, backed by Bill Gates +other investors, on Fri conducted a tour of its test facility, to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using giant fans - CCJ/Bangkok Post, BANGKOK/VANCOUVER - Oct , 2015
www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/725508/carbon-capture-a-new…

"A company with global plans to pull carbon from thin air to make fuel, while tackling climate change, has opened a pilot plant in a small community on Canada's west coast.

Carbon Engineering, backed by Bill Gates and other investors, on Friday conducted a tour of its test facility to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using giant fans.


That carbon goes through a series of chemical processes and emerges as pellets, which can be used to make fuel — or simply be stored underground.

The company was founded in Calgary in 2009 by David Keith, a Harvard University climate scientist, with funding from private investors.

Unlike existing machines that capture carbon from smokestacks like those of coal-fired power plants, the direct air capture plant deals "with emissions from sources you just can't otherwise capture", said company chief executive Adrian Corless.

"It's now possible to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, and use it as a feedstock, with hydrogen, to produce net zero emission fuels."

The benefit of those synthesised fuels, Corless told A*P, is they can be tailor-made for use in existing systems, from petrol pumps to automobiles and airplanes.

"You don't have to retool the US$30 trillion in [global] infrastructure now used to deliver fossil fuels," Corless said.

While alternative energies, from wind to solar, are being developed, "there's not a lot of options to power airplanes and vehicles", said Corless. "For me, this is most exciting."

"The economics are attractive," said scientist Hadi Dowlatabadi, of the University of British Columbia.

The small town of Squamish, north of Vancouver, welcomed the company moving into an unused industrial site, and the opening was blessed by members of the aboriginal Squamish Nation as a working example of traditional teachings to take care of the world.

"We have to adapt to the modern world ," said councillor Chris Lewis.

Mark Jaccard, a professor of sustainable energy at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said the technology holds promise to reduce greenhouse gases and climate change.

"What humans really should be doing is really either not using fossil fuels — or using fossil fuels and capturing the carbon so it doesn't go into the atmosphere," Jaccard said.

Other companies around the world are experimenting with air capture, but Corless said Carbon Engineering's design was unique because it can be quickly and affordably scaled up to industrial size.

Corless said the pilot plant began operations in June and had already captured 10 tonnes of C02.

The company plans to use the data from the pilot plant in Squamish to design its first commercial plant by 2017, which it says will cost no more than $200 million.

"We should be in a position to be selling synthetic fuels in 2018," said Corless.

He said synthetic fuels, like fossil fuels, provide an energy source concentrated enough to power airplanes and long-haul ground transport. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.828.115 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 13:14:40

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaalleluja
klappt wirklich

dann war es wahrsvcheinlich A*P<
würde ja auch sinn machen

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.828.115 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 13:14:40

3jahre alt
schon
nix neue(re)s da




http://carbonengineering.com/our-technology/

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.828.340 von Popeye82 am 12.10.15 13:39:43

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

http://piercepoints.com/california-renewable-energy-solar-wi…

[Popeye82]

www.nexttechstock.com/hazer-ipo/?utm_campaign=HZR-IPO&utm_so…

[Popeye82]

Bumblebees Have A New Job: Delivering Organic Pesticides, if you’re already out pollinating, why not just carry a little extra ? The humble bumblebee might help disrupt the multi-billion dollar synthetic pesticide industry. A new system uses bees to help deliver natural pesticides +beneficial fungi directly to plants

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/bumblebees-have-a-new-job-…
------> www.fastcoexist.com/3051789/bumblebees-have-a-new-job-delive…

"If you’re already out pollinating, why not just carry a little extra?

The humble bumblebee might help disrupt the multi-billion dollar synthetic pesticide industry. A new system uses bees to help deliver natural pesticides and beneficial fungi directly to plants—and because bees are so much more precise than the typical sprayers on farms, they can use a tiny fraction of the pesticide and make plants stronger.


“Imagine you have an apple orchard,” says Michael Collinson, president and CEO of Bee Vectoring Technology, the Vancouver-based startup behind the technology. “Because apple trees have a very large canopy, even though you may spray it and use a special type of spray that doesn’t go everywhere, you still won’t touch every bloom. Whereas the bees deliver product every single day, to every single bloom.”


The new system, originally developed by researchers at the University of Guelph, uses a tray filled with a patented mix of natural, beneficial microbes. The tray goes in a beehive that farmers already have. When bees head out to pollinate crops—their main job—they walk through the powder on the way, and end up delivering tiny helpful spores to flowers as they make their rounds.


Because the bumblebees deliver the powder directly to plants, they also help avoid runoff, a common problem with traditional pesticides. Typically, pesticide is mixed with hundreds of gallons of water and then sprayed everywhere. “99% of that is going to end up in the wrong place,” he says. “One percent ends up where it’s supposed to be, but 99% ends up in the water, or on the ground, or other non-targeted area.”


Normally, farmers can only spray once or twice while apple trees are in bloom, and because sets of trees bloom at different times, it’s easy to miss about half of the orchard. The bees can deliver their organic pesticide continuously, so fruit ends up stronger and more likely to make it to make it to the grocery store.

The special mix of powders also includes beneficial fungi that helps eliminate common diseases like botrytis, which causes mold. “When you go and buy strawberries and you put them in your fridge and they go gray and fuzzy, that’s botrytis,” says Collinson. “If you use our product from the beginning, you control that disease, and therefore you stop the fruit from actually starting to decay a lot sooner. In some cases we can make 10 to 12 days extra shelf life.”

The company has done years of testing to make sure the process is safe for bees. ..."

[Popeye82]

The 'end of heavy metal': Boeing has revealed the 'world's lightest metal structure', shows off material that is 99,99% AIR, +could lead to new generation of planes and spaceships - DM/B/DARPA - Oct 12, 2015

- Microlattice was inspired by the structure of human bones
- Made up of interconnected hollow tubes
- Each tube has a wall 1,000 times thinner than a human hair
- Egg wrapped in the material would survive a 25 story drop

- Mark Prigg -
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3270060/The-end-heav…

"Boeing has revealed the world's lightest metal structure, which it claims is 99.99% hollow.

The revolutionary breakthrough claims to be 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and could be the future for aeronautical design, and is so light that is can sit atop a dandelion

Called a microlattice, it is so strong the firm says an egg wrapped in the material would survive a 25 story drop .



- Boeing says an egg wrapped in the new material would survive a 25 story drop. They expect to use it to reduce the weight of planes, and is so light that is can sit on top of a a dandelion. -


The material, called Microlattice, is a 3D open-cellular polymer structure made up of interconnected hollow tubes, each with a wall 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.

'One of the main applications that we've been looking into is structural components in aerospace,' said Sophia Yang, Research Scientist of Architected Materials at HRL Labs who worked with Boeing on the project.

'The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness of 100 nanometers, 1,000 times thinner than a human hair,' Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL said.

In addition to its ultra-low density, the material's cellular architecture gives rise to unprecedented mechanical behavior for a metal, including complete recovery from compression exceeding 50% strain and extraordinarily high energy absorption.

[video]


Originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the novel material could be used for battery electrodes, catalyst supports, and acoustic, vibration or shock energy damping.

HRL Laboratories also announced today that it will develop new ultra-lightweight materials for future aerospace vehicles and structures under NASA's Game Changing Development Program.

These new materials can enable NASA to reduce the mass of spacecraft for deep space exploration by 40 percent and are necessary for the journey to Mars and beyond.

The focus of HRL's effort is to develop ultralight sandwich panels based on our ultra-light lattice core materials.

Attaching thin, stiff facesheets to the top and bottom surfaces of a relatively thick, lightweight core makes such structures.

Sandwich structures provide high torsional and bending rigidity at low weight and have become the standard for lightweight design in the aerospace industry.



- The material was inspired by the structure of bone, the researchers said. -


While foam and honeycomb cores are used currently, additional weight savings and performance increases are sought from advanced cores.

Led by Dr. Tobias Schaedler, HRL's team will develop lighter and stronger cores with innovative truss architectures that will be combined with carbon fiber composite facesheets.

The HRL approach combines ultra-stiff and ultra-strong materials (such as nanocrystalline metals) that provide higher strength than conventional materials with highly optimized truss architectures that enable unprecedented degrees of freedom to tailor the mechanical performance.

'We are building on our breakthrough invention of ultralight metallic microlattices and will mature this technology to be applied in the next generation of space vehicles,' says Dr. Schaedler. "

[Popeye82]

von letztem jahr

Spray-on cells CAN TURN ANYTHING INTO A SOLAR PANEL - IT/DMO, SHEFFIELD - Aug 4, 2014

- Scientists from Sheffield have developed low-cost, spray-on solar cells
- They are applied to surfaces in a similar way to paint or graphic printing
- The spray-on cells are made perovskite that produces very little waste
- They can be easily mass produced, meaning manufacturing costs are low
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/08/spray-on-cells-can-turn-an…
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2713394/Spray-cells-…

"

- Scientists from Sheffield have developed low-cost, spray-on solar cells that can be applied to small surfaces (pictured) in a similar way to paint. The cells are made of a material called perovskite, which is cheap to produce and, when used as a spray, produces very little waste
via Daily Mail Online -


‘Perovskite cells now have efficiencies of up to 19 per cent. This is not so far behind that of silicon at 25 per cent – the material that dominates the worldwide solar market.’

Forget large, bulky solar panels. Soon anything from clothing to cars could be used to harness energy from the sun.

Scientists from Sheffield have developed low-cost, spray-on solar cells that can be applied to surfaces in a similar way to paint.

The cells are made of a material called perovskite, which is cheap to produce and, when used as a spray, produces very little waste.

This, along with the fact the spray can be easily mass produced, means manufacturing costs are low, which ultimately means prices would be lower for customers.

In theory, the spray could be used on any surface that the cells can stick to, however, its efficiency is likely to be affected on flexible surfaces, or fabrics. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3270488/Will-astrona…

[Popeye82]

ich liebe den kerl irgendwie

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.836.863 von Popeye82 am 13.10.15 13:30:40

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.837.355 von Popeye82 am 13.10.15 14:16:34

[Popeye82]

Stretching the world’s bandwidth, with quantum optics - SB - Oct 13, 2015

- Éanna Kelly -
www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77240/Stretching-the-world%E2%8…

"CAILabs, Université Pierre et Marie Curie

www.cailabs.com

The Problem: Our ever-rising use of the Internet is putting pressure on optical networks, with demand for bandwidth growing at 20 to 90 per cent a year. For cloud applications to grow, we need new ways to get more data down optical fibres.

The Answer: CAILabs uses ‘multi-plane light conversion’ technologies, protected by three patent families, to design optical components that manipulate the shape of coherent light, allowing optical fibres using the technology to carry more data. With its technology, CAILabs helped Japan’s KDDI, the country’s second biggest telecoms firm, break the world record for fibre capacity, as reported this year.




The Company: The two-year-old French company is a 14-person start-up currently selling optical components to the R&D labs of major phone companies. It is preparing to expand its reach with the launch of a local area network solution for wider use. CAILabs raised €1.1 million in a first-round of venture capital funding in late 2013, and a further €450,000 at the start of 2015. Another round is planned later this year. The CEO is founder-inventor Jean-Francois Morizur. "

[Popeye82]

www.nexttechstock.com/this-is-solar-energy-but-not-as-you-kn…

[Popeye82]

Shape of Things to Come: Sweden is on track, to becoming the 1st cashless nation, Sweden is on its way to becoming the world’s 1st cashless society, thanks to the country’s embrace of IT, as well as a crackdown on organized crime +terror, according to a study from Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology
www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=157306&CultureCode…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/shape-of-things-to-come-sw…

[Popeye82]

Australian researchers make 'quantum computing breakthrough, paving way for world-1st chip'
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/australian-researchers-mak…
------> www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/australian-researchers-ma…

"

- via UNSW -


Australian scientists have discovered a way to put quantum computing technology into silicon computer chips, paving the way for the first commercial manufacture of the holy grail in superfast computing.


For decades scientists have been trying to turn quantum computing — which allows for multiple calculations to happen at once, making it immeasurably faster than standard computing — into a practical reality rather than a moonshot theory. Until now, they have largely relied on “exotic” materials to construct quantum computers, making them unsuitable for commercial production.

But researchers at the University of New South Wales have patented a new design, published in the scientific journal Nature on Tuesday, created specifically with computer industry manufacturing standards in mind and using affordable silicon, which is found in regular computer chips like those we use every day in smartphones or tablets.


“Our team at UNSW has just cleared a major hurdle to making quantum computing a reality,” the director of the university’s Australian National Fabrication Facility, Andrew Dzurak, the project’s leader, said.

“As well as demonstrating the first quantum logic gate in silicon, we’ve also designed and patented a way to scale this technology to millions of qubits using standard industrial manufacturing techniques to build the world’s first quantum processor chip.”




While regular computing reads data as binary bits (represented as either a 0 or a 1), a quantum bit (“qubit”) can exist in both states at once, allowing multiple computations to happen simultaneously. A working quantum computer could take days to answer questions that a regular one might take millions of years to resolve.

UNSW’s patented design modifies the transistors found in regular computer chips to store the binary code of 0 or 1 on the “spin” of a single electron, which works like a tiny compass needle. It builds on previous research that produced the first quantum computing transistor of this type.

However, this is the first time scientists have succeeded in getting two silicon-based transistors to talk to each other to perform calculations through what’s known as a “quantum logic gate”. "

[Popeye82]

Octopus robot makes waves, with ultra-fast propulsion
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/02/octopus-robot-makes-waves-…
www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2015/02/octopus-robot.page#.VNN7W…

"Scientists have developed an octopus-like robot, which can zoom through water with ultra-fast propulsion and acceleration never before seen in man-made underwater vehicles.

Most fast aquatic animals are sleek and slender to help them move easily through the water but cephalopods, such as the octopus, are capable of high-speed escapes by filling their bodies with water and then quickly expelling it to dart away.


Inspired by this, scientists from the University of Southampton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology built a deformable octopus-like robot with a 3D printed skeleton with no moving parts and no energy storage device other than a thin elastic outer hull.




The 30cm long self-propelling robot is inflated with water and then rapidly deflates by shooting the water out through its base to power its outstanding propulsion and acceleration, despite starting from a non-streamlined shape. As the rocket contracts, it can achieve more than 2.6 times the thrust of a rigid rocket doing the same manoeuvre.

It works like blowing up a balloon and then releasing it to fly around the room. However, the 3D printed polycarbonate skeleton inside keeps the balloon tight and the final shape streamlined, while fins on the back keep it going straight.

The robot is capable of accelerating up to ten body lengths in less than a second. In recent laboratory tests, the robot accelerated a one kilogram payload up to 6mph in less than a second. This is comparable to a mini-cooper carrying an additional 350kg of weight (bringing the total weight of the car to 1,000kg) accelerating from a standstill to 60mph in one second – underwater .

This performance is unprecedented in man-made underwater vehicles. "

[Popeye82]

http://today.uconn.edu/2013/02/uconn-professors-patented-tec…

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/4-d-technology-allows-self…

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/05/bioprinting-in-3d-looks-li…

[Popeye82]

Smart dressings speed healing of chronic wounds
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/smart-dressings-speed-heal…
www.swinburne.edu.au/media-centre/news/2015/08/smart-dressin…
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b00453

"

- via Swinburne University of Technology -


Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology are developing innovative nanofibre meshes that might draw bacteria out of wounds and speed up the healing process.

The research is the focus of Swinburne PhD candidate Martina Abrigo, who received the university’s Chancellor’s Research Scholarship to undertake this work.

Using a technique called electrospinning – in which polymer filaments 100 times thinner than a human hair are squeezed out of an electrified nozzle – Ms Abrigo and her colleagues have made nanofibre meshes that can draw bacteria from a wound.

In the first phase of research polymer nanofibres were placed over the top of films of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium involved in chronic wound infection. The researchers found the bacteria quickly attached to the fibres.

When the fibres were smaller than the individual bacteria, fewer cells attached and those that did attach died as they attempted to wrap around the fibre.

In the second phase, the tiny nanofibres were coated with different compounds and tested on the bacteria Escherichia coli, also commonly found in chronic wounds.

The researchers found these bacteria rapidly transferred onto fibres coated with allylamine, independent of the fibre size, but did not attach to fibres coated with acrylic acid.

In the third phase of research, the nanofibre meshes have been tested on tissue-engineered skin models in a partnership with researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK. The results of this research are yet to be published, but indicate that similar effects could be seen in living tissue.

“For most people, wounds heal quickly. But for some people, the repair process gets stuck and so wounds take much longer to heal. This makes them vulnerable to infection,” Mas Abrigo said.

“We hope this work will lead to smart wound dressings that could prevent infections. Doctors could put a nanomesh dressing on a wound and simply peel it off to get rid of the germs.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Algae-power under the microscope, a new high-tech facility in Munich will investigate whether the cultivation of algae can provide a viable source of biofuel - LT/TUM/AIRBUS GROUP, MUNICH - Oct 17, 2015


www.laboratorytalk.com/407631.article?slref=455879/192583/25

"A new high-tech facility in Munich will investigate whether the cultivation of algae can provide a viable source of biofuel.

The venture, established by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in cooperation with Airbus Group, aims to develop new processes for producing biokerosene and chemical products.


Although there are about 150,000 different types of algae known to scientists, the researchers said only about 10 species had so far been used commercially.

“While the production of biofuels from corn implies a problematic competition between nutritional use and fuel, algae also grow in saltwater and require neither arable land nor pesticides,” said Thomas Brück, professor for Industrial Biocatalysis at the Technical University of Munich.

“Still, they can generate up to ten times higher yields per hectare and year.”

The 1,500 square meter facility houses three areas for algae cultivation, and researchers say it can simulate lighting and climate conditions for almost any location on Earth.

Elaborate climate technology can recreate both tropical and very dry climate conditions, with two different climate zones simulated in the two outer halls.

To achieve this, the building’s façade is comprised of highly transparent glass to let ultraviolet light pass through.

Additional LED creates light in the 300-to 800-nanometer wavelength range of an intensity distribution that closely mimics that of sunlight, TUM researchers said.

“No one can predict whether or not a specific alga from the South Pacific will be just as productive in Germany as it is in its native environment,” said Brück.

“Now we can test all of this in our technical facilities.”

Airbus Group and the Bavarian Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Science and the Arts have jointly provided over €10 million (£7.4 million) in funding for the facility. "

[Popeye82]

Stanford engineers create artificial skin, that can send pressure sensation to brain cell, Stanford engineers have created a plastic skin-like material that can detect pressure, +deliver a Morse code-like signal directly to a living brain cell. The work takes a big step toward adding a sense of touch to prosthetic limbs


- Stanford chemical engineering Professor Zhenan Bao and her team have created a skin-like material that can tell the difference between a soft touch and a firm handshake. The device on the golden ?fingertip? is the skin-like sensor developed by Stanford engineers. (Bao Lab) -
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-artificial-skin-bao-1015…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/stanford-engineers-create-…

"Stanford engineers have created a plastic skin-like material that can detect pressure and deliver a Morse code-like signal directly to a living brain cell. The work takes a big step toward adding a sense of touch to prosthetic limbs.


Stanford engineers have created a plastic “skin” that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.


Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford, has spent a decade trying to develop a material that mimics skin’s ability to flex and heal, while also serving as the sensor net that sends touch, temperature and pain signals to the brain. Ultimately she wants to create a flexible electronic fabric embedded with sensors that could cover a prosthetic limb and replicate some of skin’s sensory functions.

Bao’s work, reported today in Science, takes another step toward her goal by replicating one aspect of touch, the sensory mechanism that enables us to distinguish the pressure difference between a limp handshake and a firm grip.


“This is the first time a flexible, skin-like material has been able to detect pressure and also transmit a signal to a component of the nervous system,” said Bao, who led the 17-person research team responsible for the achievement.


Benjamin Tee, a recent doctoral graduate in electrical engineering; Alex Chortos, a doctoral candidate in materials science and engineering; and Andre Berndt, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering, were the lead authors on the Science paper.


Digitizing touch

The heart of the technique is a two-ply plastic construct: the top layer creates a sensing mechanism and the bottom layer acts as the circuit to transport electrical signals and translate them into biochemical stimuli compatible with nerve cells. The top layer in the new work featured a sensor that can detect pressure over the same range as human skin, from a light finger tap to a firm handshake.

Five years ago, Bao’s team members first described how to use plastics and rubbers as pressure sensors by measuring the natural springiness of their molecular structures. They then increased this natural pressure sensitivity by indenting a waffle pattern into the thin plastic, which further compresses the plastic’s molecular springs.

To exploit this pressure-sensing capability electronically, the team scattered billions of carbon nanotubes through the waffled plastic. Putting pressure on the plastic squeezes the nanotubes closer together and enables them to conduct electricity.

This allowed the plastic sensor to mimic human skin, which transmits pressure information to the brain as short pulses of electricity, similar to Morse code. Increasing pressure on the waffled nanotubes squeezes them even closer together, allowing more electricity to flow through the sensor, and those varied impulses are sent as short pulses to the sensing mechanism. Remove pressure, and the flow of pulses relaxes, indicating light touch. Remove all pressure and the pulses cease entirely.

The team then hooked this pressure-sensing mechanism to the second ply of their artificial skin, a flexible electronic circuit that could carry pulses of electricity to nerve cells.


Importing the signal

Bao’s team has been developing flexible electronics that can bend without breaking. For this project, team members worked with researchers from PARC, a Xerox company, which has a technology that uses an inkjet printer to deposit flexible circuits onto plastic. Covering a large surface is important to making artificial skin practical, and the PARC collaboration offered that prospect.

Finally the team had to prove that the electronic signal could be recognized by a biological neuron. It did this by adapting a technique developed by Karl Deisseroth, a fellow professor of bioengineering at Stanford who pioneered a field that combines genetics and optics, called optogenetics. Researchers bioengineer cells to make them sensitive to specific frequencies of light, then use light pulses to switch cells, or the processes being carried on inside them, on and off.

For this experiment the team members engineered a line of neurons to simulate a portion of the human nervous system. They translated the electronic pressure signals from the artificial skin into light pulses, which activated the neurons, proving that the artificial skin could generate a sensory output compatible with nerve cells.

Optogenetics was only used as an experimental proof of concept, Bao said, and other methods of stimulating nerves are likely to be used in real prosthetic devices. Bao’s team has already worked with Bianxiao Cui, an associate professor of chemistry at Stanford, to show that direct stimulation of neurons with electrical pulses is possible.


Bao’s team envisions developing different sensors to replicate, for instance, the ability to distinguish corduroy versus silk, or a cold glass of water from a hot cup of coffee. This will take time. There are six types of biological sensing mechanisms in the human hand, and the experiment described in Science reports success in just one of them. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/soft-robot-changes-color-a…

[Popeye82]

Queen’s University Belfast Research 'Could Revolutionise Farming, in Developing World', a brand new technology developed by researchers @Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, has the potential to reduce crop losses across the developing world


- Dr Johnathan Dalzell, Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/queens-university-belfast-…
www.newswise.com/articles/queen-s-university-belfast-researc…

"A brand new technology developed by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, has the potential to reduce crop losses across the developing world.


A brand new technology developed by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, has the potential to reduce crop losses across the developing world and boost the incomes of subsistence farmers.


The technology is designed to combat parasitic ‘nematodes’ – microscopic worms which infect crop plants from the soil, and are responsible for a 12.3% reduction in global agricultural productivity, a loss of around £100 billion annually.

The research, which involves using ‘peptide mimics’ – versions of the parasites’ own brain chemistry – to confuse the real parasites and ultimately, render them impotent, has been awarded a Phase II Grand Challenges Exploration grant of $1million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to be developed in Belfast and proceed to trials in Kenya.

The project will focus on banana and plantain – although in theory it could extend to other crops – which are cultivated across 130 countries, making them the eighth most produced staple in the world. The fruits are often grown by smallholders in the developing world and can account for up to 30 per cent of farmers’ income. Despite their popularity, however, the crop is highly susceptible to a variety of plant parasitic nematodes, which typically reduce yields by 30-50 per cent.

Lead researcher on the project, Dr Johnathan Dalzell from Queen’s Institute for Global Food Security said: “This project builds on our previous research where we developed a novel way of interfering with parasitic nematode host-finding behaviour. Through our lab work we have identified a family of peptide mimics, which specifically and potently interfere with their neurobiology, disorientating the parasites so they can’t find the host plant. They then die quickly through lack of food. Importantly, these peptide mimics appear to have no impact on non-target animals. This is a clean, and robust approach to parasite control.


“Our aim is to develop a variety of approaches which harness this new technology in order to protect crops plants from these parasitic worms. We have chosen to focus on banana and plantain as these crops are highly susceptible to a range of pests and diseases, including nematodes, insects, viral and fungal pathogens.


Developing a broad-spectrum nematode control strategy represents a significant challenge, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a hotbed for pathogens which can break resistance strategies. This is yet another example of how Queen’s is having a global impact and is using its research findings to improve how our world functions.”

As a result of the Gates Foundation grant and other funding, the Queen’s-led project will proceed to glasshouse trials, in association with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya. Subsequently, field trials will be conducted and regulatory approval sought. ..."

[Popeye82]

Scientists produce clearest-ever images of enzyme, that plays key roles in aging, cancer, UCLA-led research on telomerase could lead to new strategies for treating disease An enzyme called telomerase plays a significant role in aging +most cancers, but until recently many aspects of the enzyme’s structure could not be clearly seen. Now, scientists from UCLA +UC Berkeley have produced images of telomerase in much higher resolution, than ever before, giving them major new insights about the enzyme


- A rendering of telomerase, showing the enzyme’s various subunits. -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/scientists-produce-cleares…
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/scientists-produce-cleares…

"UCLA-led research on telomerase could lead to new strategies for treating disease

An enzyme called telomerase plays a significant role in aging and most cancers, but until recently many aspects of the enzyme’s structure could not be clearly seen.

Now, scientists from UCLA and UC Berkeley have produced images of telomerase in much higher resolution than ever before, giving them major new insights about the enzyme. Their findings, published online today by the journal Science, could ultimately lead to new directions for treating cancer and preventing premature aging.


“Many details we could only guess at before, we can now see unambiguously, and we now have an understanding of where the different components of telomerase interact,” said Juli Feigon, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the UCLA College and a senior author of the study. “If telomerase were a cat, before we could see its general outline and the location of the limbs, but now we can see the eyes, the whiskers, the tail and the toes.”


The research brought together experts in structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics, and a wide range of cutting-edge research techniques.


Telomerase’s primary job is to maintain the DNA in telomeres, the structures at the ends of our chromosomes that act like the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces. When telomerase isn’t active, each time our cells divide, the telomeres get shorter. When that happens, the telomeres eventually become so short that the cells stop dividing or die.

On the other hand, cells with abnormally active telomerase can constantly rebuild their protective chromosomal caps and become immortal. Making cells immortal might sound like a promising prospect, but it actually is harmful because DNA errors accumulate over time, which damages cells, said Feigon, who also is a researcher at UCLA’s Molecular Biology Institute and an associate member of the UCLA–Department of Energy Institute of Genomics and Proteomics.


Telomerase is particularly active in cancer cells, which helps make them immortal and enables cancer to grow and spread. Scientists believe that controlling the length of telomeres in cancer cells could be a way to prevent them from multiplying.


When Feigon began her research on telomerase slightly more than a decade ago, she merely wanted to learn how telomerase works; fighting cancer and slowing the aging process were not even in the back of her mind.

“Our research may make those things achievable, even though they were not our goals,” she said. “You never know where basic research will go. When telomerase and telomeres were discovered, no one had any idea what the impact of that research would be. The question was, ‘How are the ends of our chromosomes maintained?’ We knew there had to be some activity in the cell that does that.”

Earlier research led by UC San Francisco professor Elizabeth Blackburn revealed that telomerase was responsible for this activity, but the study didn’t connect telomerase to cancer and it provided little information about its structural biology. The research was conducted using tiny, single-celled microorganisms called Tetrahymena thermophila that are commonly found in freshwater ponds. Blackburn won a Nobel Prize in 2009 for the finding.

Since then, Feigon and her colleagues have been filling in pieces of the telomerase puzzle, also using Tetrahymena. Their latest study found that the microorganism’s telomerase is more analogous to human telomerase than previously thought.

“This is the first time that a whole telomerase directly isolated from its natural workplace has been visualized at a sub-nanometer resolution and all components are identified in the structure,” said Jiansen Jiang, the study’s co-lead author and a UCLA postdoctoral scholar. (A nanometer is equivalent to one billionth of a meter.)


Among the new insights the team reported:

- Scientists had thought telomerase contains eight sub-units: seven proteins and an RNA. But Feigon and her colleagues discovered two additional proteins, Teb2 and Teb3, that increase telomerase’s activity. “Knowing we were the first people in the world who knew about these new proteins was amazing,” she said. “Days like that are what scientific discovery is all about, and it’s exhilarating.”
- Feigon’s research team knew that the RNA strand interacts with the proteins, but not exactly where it interacted. The new study found that within the enzyme’s “catalytic core,” which is formed by the RNA and its partner proteins TERT and p65, the RNA forms a ring around the donut-shaped TERT protein.
- Scientists previously knew that telomerase contains three proteins, p75, p45 and p19, but their structures and functions were poorly understood. The new research identified the proteins’ structures and revealed that they are similar to proteins found at human telomeres.
- The researchers showed that a key protein called p50 interacts with several components of telomerase, including TERT, Teb1 and p75, and this network of interactions has important implications for telomerase’s function.


Feigon knew that the Tetrahymena enzyme’s catalytic core, where the majority of the telomerase activity occurs, was a close analogue to the catalytic core in the human enzyme, but she did not previously know whether the other proteins had human counterparts.


“It turns out that nearly all, if not all, of the telomerase proteins in Tetrahymena have similar proteins in humans,” Feigon said. “Now we can use our model system to learn more about how telomerase interacts at the telomeres.”


Feigon and her colleagues are working to fill in even more details of the telomerase puzzle. Their research could lead to the development of pharmaceuticals that target specific sub-units of telomerase and disrupt interactions between proteins.


“There is so much potential for treating disease if we understand deeply how telomerase works,” Feigon said. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.872.731 von Popeye82 am 18.10.15 00:08:16

'Next-generation perovskite solar cells made stable, by metal oxide “sandwich”', this advancement by UCLA researchers will help in development of these solar cells for commercial use


- Perovskite solar cells with metal oxide hole and electron transport layers. -
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/next-generation-perovskite…

"CLA professor Yang Yang, member of the California NanoSystems Institute, is a world-renowned innovator of solar cell technology whose team in recent years has developed next-generation solar cells constructed of perovskite, which has remarkable efficiency converting sunlight to electricity.

Despite this success, the delicate nature of perovskite — a very light, flexible, organic-inorganic hybrid material — stalled further development toward its commercialized use. When exposed to air, perovskite cells broke down and disintegrated within a few hours to few days. The cells deteriorated even faster when also exposed to moisture, mainly due to the hydroscopic nature of the perovskite.


Now Yang’s team has conquered the primary difficulty of perovskite by protecting it between two layers of metal oxide. This is a significant advance toward stabilizing perovskite solar cells. Their new cell construction extends the cell’s effective life in air by more than 10 times, with only a marginal loss of efficiency converting sunlight to electricity.

The study was published online Oct. 12 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Postdoctoral scholar Jingbi You and graduate student Lei Meng from the Yang Lab were the lead authors on the paper.

“There has been much optimism about perovskite solar cell technology,” Meng said. In LESS THAN TWO YEARS, THE YANG TEAM HAS ADVANCED PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY FROM LESS THAN 1 PERCENT TO CLOSE TO 20 PERCENT. “But its short lifespan was a limiting factor we have been trying to improve on since developing perovskite cells with high efficiency.”

Yang, who holds the Carol and Lawrence E. Tannas, Jr., Endowed Chair in Engineering at UCLA, said there are several factors that lead to quick deterioration in normally layered perovskite solar cells. The most significant, Yang said, was that the widely used top organic buffer layer has poor stability and can’t effectively protect the perovskite layer from moisture in the air, speeding cell degradation. The buffer layers are important to cell construction because electricity generated by the cell is extracted through them.

Meng said that in this study the team replaced those organic layers with metal oxide layers that sandwich the perovskite layer, protecting it from moisture. The difference was dramatic. The metal oxide cells lasted 60 days in open-air storage at room temperature, retaining 90 percent of their original solar conversion efficiency. “With this technique perfected we have significantly enhanced the stability.”

The next step for the Yang team is to make the metal oxide layers more condensed for better efficiency and seal the solar cell for even longer life with no loss of efficiency. Yang EXPECT THAT THIS PROCESS CAN BE SCALED UP TO LARGE PRODUCTION NOW THAT TE MAIN PEROVSKITE PROBLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED.

This research is a joint project with National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan.
Tags:

technology
nanotechnology
research
engineering
energy

Media Contact

Shaun Mason, CNSI
310-794-5346
[e-mail] "

[Popeye82]

After 85-year search, massless particle with promise for next-generation electronics discovered, an international team led by Princeton University scientists has discovered an elusive massless particle theorized 85 years ago. The particle could give rise to faster +more efficient electronics, because of its unusual ability to behave as matter +antimatter inside a crystal, according to new research


- A detector image (top) signals the existence of Weyl fermions. The plus and minus signs note whether the particle’s spin is in the same direction as its motion — which is known as being right-handed — or in the opposite direction in which it moves, or left-handed. This dual ability allows Weyl fermions to have high mobility. A schematic (bottom) shows how Weyl fermions also can behave like monopole and antimonopole particles when inside a crystal, meaning that they have opposite magnetic-like charges can nonetheless move independently of one another, which also allows for a high degree of mobility. (Image by Su-Yang Xu and M. Zahid Hasan, Princeton Department of Physics) -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/after-85-year-search-massl…
www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S43/64/59M11/index.xml?s…

"An international team led by Princeton University scientists has discovered an elusive massless particle theorized 85 years ago. The particle could give rise to faster and more efficient electronics because of its unusual ability to behave as matter and antimatter inside a crystal, according to new research.

The researchers report in the journal Science July 16 the first observation of Weyl fermions, which, if applied to next-generation electronics, could allow for a nearly free and efficient flow of electricity in electronics, and thus greater power, especially for computers, the researchers suggest.


Proposed by the mathematician and physicist Hermann Weyl in 1929, Weyl fermions have been long sought by scientists because they have been regarded as possible building blocks of other subatomic particles, and are even more basic than the ubiquitous, negative-charge carrying electron (when electrons are moving inside a crystal). Their basic nature means that Weyl fermions could provide a much more stable and efficient transport of particles than electrons, which are the principle particle behind modern electronics. Unlike electrons, Weyl fermions are massless and possess a high degree of mobility; the particle’s spin is both in the same direction as its motion — which is known as being right-handed — and in the opposite direction in which it moves, or left-handed.


“The physics of the Weyl fermion are so strange, there could be many things that arise from this particle that we’re just not capable of imagining now,” said corresponding author M. Zahid Hasan, a Princeton professor of physics who led the research team.


The researchers’ find differs from the other particle discoveries in that the Weyl fermion can be reproduced and potentially applied, Hasan said. Typically, particles such as the famous Higgs boson are detected in the fleeting aftermath of particle collisions, he said. The Weyl fermion, however, was discovered inside a synthetic metallic crystal called tantalum arsenide that the Princeton researchers designed in collaboration with researchers at the Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter in Beijing and at National Taiwan University.



- An international team led by Princeton University scientists has discovered Weyl fermions, elusive massless particles theorized 85 years ago that could give rise to faster and more efficient electronics because of their unusual ability to behave as matter and antimatter inside a crystal. The team included numerous researchers from Princeton's Department of Physics, including (from left to right) graduate students Ilya Belopolski and Daniel Sanchez; Guang Bian, a postdoctoral research associate; corresponding author M. Zahid Hasan, a Princeton professor of physics who led the research team; and associate research scholar Hao Zheng. (Photo by Danielle Alio, Office of Communications) -


The Weyl fermion possesses two characteristics that could make its discovery a boon for future electronics, including the development of the highly prized field of efficient quantum computing, Hasan explained.

For a physicist, the Weyl fermions are most notable for behaving like a composite of monopole- and antimonopole-like particles when inside a crystal, Hasan said. This means that Weyl particles that have opposite magnetic-like charges can nonetheless move independently of one another with a high degree of mobility.

The researchers also found that Weyl fermions can be used to create massless electrons that move very quickly with no backscattering, wherein electrons are lost when they collide with an obstruction. In electronics, backscattering hinders efficiency and generates heat. Weyl electrons simply move through and around roadblocks, Hasan said.



- Hasan (pictured) and his research group researched and simulated dozens of crystal structures before finding the one suitable for holding Weyl fermions. Once fashioned, the crystals were loaded into this two-story device known as a scanning tunneling spectromicroscope to ensure that they matched theoretical specifications. Located in the Laboratory for Topological Quantum Matter and Spectroscopy in Princeton's Jadwin Hall, the spectromicroscope is cooled to near absolute zero and suspended from the ceiling to prevent even atom-sized vibrations. (Photo by Danielle Alio, Office of Communications) -


“It’s like they have their own GPS and steer themselves without scattering,” Hasan said. “They will move and move only in one direction since they are either right-handed or left-handed and never come to an end because they just tunnel through. These are very fast electrons that behave like unidirectional light beams and can be used for new types of quantum computing.” ..."

[Popeye82]

von April 2013

Discovery 'opens door to efficiently storing +reusing renewable energy', two University of Calgary researchers have developed a ground-breaking way to make new, affordable, +efficient catalysts, for converting electricity into chemical energy. Their technology opens the door to homeowners +energy companies, being able to easily store +reuse solar +wind power. Such energy is clean +renewable, but it’s available only when the sun is shining, or the wind is blowing


www.innovationtoronto.com/2013/03/discovery-opens-door-to-ef…
www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/april1-2013/discovery-renewable-…
------> www.fwfuel.com

"Two University of Calgary researchers have developed a ground-breaking way to make new, affordable, and efficient catalysts for converting electricity into chemical energy.

Their technology opens the door to homeowners and energy companies being able to easily store and reuse solar and wind power. Such energy is clean and renewable, but it’s available only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.


The research by Curtis Berlinguette and Simon Trudel, both in the chemistry department in the Faculty of Science, has just been published in Science – one of the world’s top peer-reviewed journals.

“This breakthrough offers a relatively cheaper method of storing and reusing electricity produced by wind turbines and solar panels,” says Berlinguette, associate professor of chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Energy Conversion.

“Our work represents a critical step for realizing a large-scale, clean energy economy,” adds Berlinguette, who’s also director of the university’s Centre for Advanced Solar Materials.

Trudel, assistant professor of chemistry, says their work “opens up a whole new field of how to make catalytic materials. We now have a large new arena for discovery.”

The pair have patented their technology and created from their university research a spin-off company, FireWater Fuel Corp., to commercialize their electrocatalysts for use in electrolyzers.

Electrolyzer devices use catalysts to drive a chemical reaction that converts electricity into chemical energy by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen fuels. These fuels can then be stored and re-converted to electricity for use whenever wanted.

The only byproduct from such a ‘green’ energy system is water, which can be recycled through the system. To store and provide renewable power to a typical house would require an electrolyzer about the size of a beer fridge, containing a few litres of water and converting hydrogen to electricity with virtually no emissions, the researchers say.

Key to their discovery is that they deviated from conventional thinking about catalysts, which typically are made from rare, expensive and toxic metals in a crystalline structure.

Instead, Berlinguette and Trudel turned to simpler production methods for catalysts. This involved using abundant metal compounds or oxides (including iron oxide or ‘rust’), to create mixed metal oxide catalysts having a disordered, or amorphous, structure.

Laboratory tests – reported in their Science paper – show their new catalysts perform as well or better than expensive catalysts now on the market, yet theirs costs 1,000 times less. ..."

[Popeye82]

Is 'the end in sight for reading glasses'?, a University of Leeds researcher is developing a new eye lens, made from the same material found in smartphone +TV screens, which could restore long-sightedness in older people


www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/is-the-end-in-sight-for-re…
www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3775/is_the_end_in_sight_for_re…
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4586222.ece

"A University of Leeds researcher is developing a new eye lens, made from the same material found in smartphone and TV screens, which could restore long-sightedness in older people.

As people age, their lenses lose flexibility and elasticity. This leads to a condition known as presbyopia, common in people over 45 years old, and can require optical aids, such as reading glasses.


Devesh Mistry, a postgraduate research student in the School of Physics and Astronomy, is now working with liquid crystal to create a truly adjustable artificial lens.


He said: “As we get older, the lens in our eye stiffens, when the muscles in the eye contract they can no longer shape the lens to bring close objects into focus.”


“Using liquid crystals, which we probably know better as the material used in the screens of TVs and smartphones, lenses would adjust and focus automatically, depending on the eye muscles’ movement.”


Using these liquid crystal-based materials, Devesh’s research is developing synthetic replacements for the diseased lens in the eye – a new generation of lenses and intra-ocular lens implants to rejuvenate sight.

Devesh is currently researching and developing the lens in the lab and aims to have a prototype ready by the end of his doctorate in 2018.


- Prototype lens Devesh Mistry A prototype of an electrically switchable contact lens previously developed by the same group of collaborators. The lens makes use of liquid crystals, a material used in the vast majority of TV and smartphone screens -


Within a decade, the research could see the new lens being implanted into eyes in a quick and straightforward surgical procedure under local anaesthetic.


Eye surgeons would make an incision in the cornea and use ultrasound to break down the old lens. The liquid crystal lens would then be inserted, restoring clear vision.


The lens could also have application in tackling cataracts – the clouding of natural lenses – which affect many people in later life and which can seriously affect vision. A common treatment is to remove and replace the natural lens.


“Liquid crystals are a very under-rated phase of matter,” Devesh told The Times, “Everybody’s happy with solids, liquids and gases and the phases of matter, but liquid crystals lie between crystalline solids and liquids. They have an ordered structure like a crystal, but they can also flow like a liquid and respond to stimuli.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Nanobot micromotors deliver medical payload in living creature for the 1st time


www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/01/nanobot-micromotors-delive…
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/nn507097k
www.gizmag.com/nanobot-micromotors-deliver-nanoparticles-liv…

"The very first self-propelled, nanoparticle delivering nanobots ever

Researchers working at the University of California, San Diego have claimed a world first in proving that artificial, microscopic machines can travel inside a living creature and deliver their medicinal load without any detrimental effects. Using micro-motor powered nanobots propelled by gas bubbles made from a reaction with the contents of the stomach in which they were deposited, these miniature machines have been successfully deployed in the body of a live mouse.


The picayune robots used in the research were tubular, about 20 micrometers long, 5 micrometers in diameter, and coated in zinc. Once the mouse ingested these tiny tubes and they reached the stomach, the zinc reacted with the hydrochloric acid in the digestive juices to produce bubbles of hydrogen which then propelled the nanobots along like miniature rockets.

Reaching speeds of up to 60 micrometers per second, the nanobots headed outwards toward the stomach lining where they then embedded themselves, dissolved, and delivered a nanoparticle compound directly into the gut tissue.



-

Micro-motor powered nanobots have delivered a nanoparticle compound directly into the gut tissue of a live mouse (Photo: Shutterstock) -


According to the researchers, of all the nanobots deployed in the stomach of the mouse, those that reached the stomach walls remained attached to the lining for a full 12 hours after ingestion, thereby proving their effectiveness and robust nature.

Further, after the mouse was eventually euthanized and the stomach was dissected and examined, the presence of the nanobots also showed no signs of raised toxicity levels or tissue damage. According to the researchers this was in line with their expectations, particularly given that zinc is effectively also a multipurpose nutrient.

While nanobots have been used before on organic tissue – such as in the destruction of the Hepatitis C virus – and still others have been designed to be propelled using external forces within a living creature, the University of California micromachines are the very first self-propelled, nanoparticle delivering nanobots ever. And it is this fact that makes the research team believe that its success so far merits further research and cites the fact that this is now the beginning of a proven method to deliver targeted drug administration.

For everyone else, this is exciting technology that may well help to medically treat human beings in the not-too-distant future. Of course, this is early days in this research and a plethora of continuously successful tests will need to be run before it can even be considered by the likes of the US Food and Drug Administration to approve its use in people. But these first steps are vital in what may one day be a commonplace, targeted, and safe alternative to traditional high-dose medications.

No announcement has been made regarding further tests or the possibility of human-based trials.


The research was published in the journal ACS Nano.

Source: UC, San Diego "

[Popeye82]

Mapping the Genes, that Increase Lifespan, following an exhaustive, ten-year effort, scientists @the Buck Institute for Research on Aging +the University of Washington have identified 238 genes that, when removed, increase the replicative lifespan of S. cerevisiae yeast cells. This is the 1st time 189 of these genes have been linked to aging. These results provide new genomic targets that could eventually be used to improve human health


- Budding Yeast via Buck Institute -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/mapping-the-genes-that-inc…
www.buckinstitute.org/buck-news/mapping-genes-increase-lifes…

"Following an exhaustive, ten-year effort, scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the University of Washington have identified 238 genes that, when removed, increase the replicative lifespan of S. cerevisiae yeast cells. This is the first time 189 of these genes have been linked to aging. These results provide new genomic targets that could eventually be used to improve human health.

The research was published online on October 8th in the journal Cell Metabolism.


“This study looks at aging in the context of the whole genome and gives us a more complete picture of what aging is,” said Brian Kennedy, PhD, lead author and the Buck Institute’s president and CEO. “It also sets up a framework to define the entire network that influences aging in this organism.”


The Kennedy lab collaborated closely with Matt Kaeberlein, PhD, a professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington, and his team. The two groups began the painstaking process of examining 4,698 yeast strains, each with a single gene deletion. To determine which strains yielded increased lifespan, the researchers counted yeast cells, logging how many daughter cells a mother produced before it stopped dividing.

“We had a small needle attached to a microscope, and we used that needle to tease out the daughter cells away from the mother every time it divided and then count how many times the mother cells divides,” said Dr. Kennedy. “We had several microscopes running all the time.”

These efforts produced a wealth of information about how different genes, and their associated pathways, modulate aging in yeast. Deleting a gene called LOS1 produced particularly stunning results. LOS1 helps relocate transfer RNA (tRNA), which bring amino acids to ribosomes to build proteins. LOS1 is influenced by mTOR, a genetic master switch long associated with caloric restriction and increased lifespan. In turn, LOS1 influences Gcn4, a gene that helps govern DNA damage control.


“Calorie restriction has been known to extend lifespan for a long time.” said Dr. Kennedy. “The DNA damage response is linked to aging as well. LOS1 may be connecting these different processes.”


A number of the age-extending genes the team identified are also found inC. elegans roundworms, indicating these mechanisms are conserved in higher organisms. In fact, many of the anti-aging pathways associated with yeast genes are maintained all the way to humans.

The research produced another positive result: exposing emerging scientists to advanced lab techniques, many for the first time.

“This project has been a great way to get new researchers into the field,” said Dr. Kennedy. “We did a lot of the work by recruiting undergraduates, teaching them how to do experiments and how dedicated you have to be to get results. After a year of dissecting yeast cells, we move them into other projects.”

Though quite extensive, this research is only part of a larger process to map the relationships between all the gene pathways that govern aging, illuminating this critical process in yeast, worms and mammals. The researchers hope that, ultimately, these efforts will produce new therapies.


“Almost half of the genes we found that affect aging are conserved in mammals,” said Dr. Kennedy. “In theory, any of these factors could be therapeutic targets to extend healthspan. What we have to do now is figure out which ones are amenable to targeting.” ..."

[Popeye82]

New portable device counts leukocytes, through the skin, a novel way to count white blood cells without a blood test, simply by applying a small device on the fingertip, is being developed by a team of young bioengineers. The technology, that combines an optical sensor with algorithms, has already three prototypes on the go +is specially designed to be used on chemotherapy patients, who could know their immune system levels in real time. It could also serve to detect serious infections


- Researchers are working to miniaturize the device for white blood cell counting which could be used in a similar way to the pulse oximeter shown in the image, used to measure oxygen levels in the blood. / Quinn Dombrowski -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/new-portable-device-counts…
www.agenciasinc.es/en/News/New-portable-device-counts-leukoc…

"A novel way to count white blood cells without a blood test, simply by applying a small device on the fingertip, is being developed by a team of young bioengineers. The technology, that combines an optical sensor with algorithms, has already three prototypes on the go and is specially designed to be used on chemotherapy patients, who could know their immune system levels in real time. It could also serve to detect serious infections.

A group of young bioengineers from various countries, including Spaniard Carlos Castro, is developing a portable device capable of counting white blood cells in real time, without requiring a blood test. The system includes an innovative optics sensor through the skin that can observe white cells as they flow past a miniature lens. This new device –potentially on the market in 2019– could be applied to improve the treatment of patients who are left immunosuppressed after chemotherapy treatments and to prevent sepsis.

The system includes an innovative optics sensor through the skin that can observe white cells as they flow past a miniature lens

The project, known as Leuko, has been financed by Madrid-MIT M+Visión, a consortium that seeks to catalyse collaboration between research centres and hospitals in the region of Madrid with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other centres in the Boston area (USA). Two other USA institutions have also supported the project: the Center of Future Technologies in Cancer Care and the Coulter Foundation. The total amount raised to develop this idea has been 400,000 euros.

Carlos Castro, an engineer specialised in biomedicine working in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, tells Sinc that the new device “will allow white blood cells to be measured simply and painlessly. The same way diabetics nowadays have a glucometer to check their glucose levels, patients undergoing chemotherapy will be able to use a ‘leukometer’ in the future to estimate the state of their immune system.”


Lymphoma and leukaemia

This technology –Castro adds– opens up the possibility to personalize chemotherapy treatment according to the immunological response for each patient. Particularly, in the case of patients with lymphomas and leukaemia, “treatment doses could be maximised for each individual without compromising their immunological system. Treatment efficiency could be improved while reducing the risk of suffering serious infections.”

The engineer tells that the idea came up during a clinical visit the team conducted at Hospital Gregorio Marañón, in Madrid, two years ago. The researchers observed that immunosuppression (low white blood cell counts) is the main side effect for chemotherapy patients, which leads to possible infections, hospitalizations, treatment delays and shorter life expectancy.


Immunosuppression (low white blood cell counts) is the main side effect after chemotherapy

From that moment, “we saw the need to create a non-invasive device that would detect leukopenia earlier and avoid its consequences,” he says.


According to the expert, the technology includes a portable optical system, which provides oblique illumination with LEDs, and is able to capture images of superficial capillaries under the skin with cellular resolution. The acquired videos are subsequently analysed by automatic algorithms capable of detecting white blood cells and calculating their concentration. These algorithms, which have been protected by a patent filing, were presented at the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, held in Milan in August.


How to use

Castro explains that the device is placed on the patient’s fingertip, in a similar way to how pulse oximeters are used in hospitals to measure blood oxygen levels. With a small lens, the system captures images of capillaries very close to the surface in the nailbed.






One prototype is a portable microscope which is placed manually on the patient’s fingertip to take videos of microcirculation in very superficial capillaries. / Research Laboratory of Electronics / MIT

When illuminating at certain frequencies, light is absorbed by the haemoglobin in the red cells, an effect that does not happen with the white cells. This means that the leukocytes appear as small transparent particles moving inside the capillary.

With this technology leukocytes appear as small transparent particles moving inside the capillary


Subsequently, “our image processing algorithms recognise these events and count them, providing an estimate for their concentration in the blood,” adds the researcher. In his opinion, this easy-to-use and portable device will allow the patients to carry out these measurements at home in the future. It will no longer be necessary for them to travel to a hospital or clinic. “In rural areas where access to health centres is limited, or in developing countries, this becomes a huge advantage. It would also be possible to perform measurements on a continuous basis, opening up treatment options that were previously not possible,” he highlights.


Personalized treatments

For example, if white blood cells were detected to be too low for a chemotherapy patient, medication could be immediately prescribed to boost his levels and avoid a potential infection. On the other hand, if a patient is observed to recover earlier than anticipated, he could be administered a new dose of his treatment and shorten his recovery time. “These decisions are not currently possible because it is not feasible to call patients in every hour or every day to test their blood”, says Castro.

The engineer says that, in addition to its application in chemotherapy, “there are other medical areas where this device could have a great impact, from preventing sepsis to the early diagnosis of a bacterial or viral infection which threatens 4 billion people worldwide.” "

[Popeye82]

UBC researchers create self-propelled powder, to stop bleeding, UBC researchers have created the 1st self-propelled particles capable of delivering coagulants against the flow of blood to treat severe bleeding, a potentially huge advancement in trauma care. “Bleeding is the number one killer of young people, +maternal death from postpartum hemorrhage can be as high as one in 50 births in low resource settings so these are extreme problems,” explains Christian Kastrup, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology +the Michael Smith Laboratories @the University of British Columbia


- Image showing a carbonate particle releasing carbon dioxide and propelling at a high velocity through an aqueous solution. Credit: James Baylis -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/ubc-researchers-create-sel…
http://news.ubc.ca/2015/10/02/ubc-researchers-create-self-pr…

"UBC researchers have created the first self-propelled particles capable of delivering coagulants against the flow of blood to treat severe bleeding, a potentially huge advancement in trauma care.

“Bleeding is the number one killer of young people, and maternal death from postpartum hemorrhage can be as high as one in 50 births in low resource settings so these are extreme problems,” explains Christian Kastrup, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia.

Traditional methods of halting severe bleeding are not very effective when the blood loss originates inside the body like the uterus, sinus or abdomen.




“People have developed hundreds of agents that can clot blood but the issue is that it’s hard to push these therapies against severe blood flow, especially far enough upstream to reach the leaking vessels. Here, for the first time, we’ve come up with an agent that can do that,” Kastrup said.

Kastrup teamed up with a group of researchers, biochemical engineers and emergency physicians to develop simple, gas-generating calcium carbonate micro-particles that can be applied in powder form to stop critical bleeding.

The particles work by releasing carbon dioxide gas, like antacid tablets, to propel them toward the source of bleeding.

The carbonate forms porous micro particles that can bind with a clotting agent known as tranexamic acid, and transport it through wounds and deep into the damaged tissue.

After studying and modeling the movement of the particles in vitro, the researchers confirmed their results using two animal models. Even in a scenario that mimicked a catastrophic event like a gunshot wound to a femoral artery, the particles proved highly effective in stopping the bleeding.


While much more rigorous testing and development is needed to bring the agent to market, the particles could have a wide range of uses, from sinus operations to treating combat wounds.


“The area we’re really focusing on is postpartum hemorrhage: in the uterus, after childbirth where you can’t see the damaged vessels but you can put the powder into that area and the particles can propel and find those damaged vessels,” said Kastrup.

VIDEO: Self-propelled powder stops severe bleeding (...)


This study was published in today in Science Advances. The research was initially funded by the University of British Columbia and through a “Rising Stars” grant from Grand Challenges Canada. Collaborators included James Baylis, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Nathan White, a trauma specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, Thomas Burke, the Chief of the Division of Global Health and Human Rights at Massachusetts General Hospital, Lindsay Machan from the Department of Radiology and James Piret from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.875.860 von Popeye82 am 18.10.15 20:16:36

[Popeye82]

Tiny carbon-capturing motors may help tackle rising carbon dioxide levels, Machines that are much smaller than the width of a human hair could one day help clean up carbon dioxide pollution in the oceans. Nanoengineers @the University of California, San Diego have designed enzyme-functionalized micromotors that rapidly zoom around in water, remove carbon dioxide, +convert it into a usable solid form


- Nanoengineers have invented tiny tube-shaped micromotors that zoom around in water and efficiently remove carbon dioxide. The surfaces of the micromotors are functionalized with the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which enables the motors to help rapidly convert carbon dioxide to calcium carbonate. Image credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/09/tiny-carbon-capturing-moto…
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?…
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ange.201505155/pd…

"Machines that are much smaller than the width of a human hair could one day help clean up carbon dioxide pollution in the oceans. Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have designed enzyme-functionalized micromotors that rapidly zoom around in water, remove carbon dioxide and convert it into a usable solid form.

The proof of concept study represents a promising route to mitigate the buildup of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas in the environment, said researchers. The team, led by distinguished nanoengineering professor and chair Joseph Wang, published the work this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie.


“We’re excited about the possibility of using these micromotors to combat ocean acidification and global warming,” said Virendra V. Singh, a postdoctoral scientist in Wang’s research group and a co-first author of this study.


In their experiments, nanoengineers demonstrated that the micromotors rapidly decarbonated water solutions that were saturated with carbon dioxide. Within five minutes, the micromotors removed 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a solution of deionized water. The micromotors were just as effective in a sea water solution and removed 88 percent of the carbon dioxide in the same timeframe.


“In the future, we could potentially use these micromotors as part of a water treatment system, like a water decarbonation plant,” said Kevin Kaufmann, an undergraduate researcher in Wang’s lab and a co-author of the study.


The micromotors are essentially six-micrometer-long tubes that help rapidly convert carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate, a solid mineral found in eggshells, the shells of various marine organisms, calcium supplements and cement. The micromotors have an outer polymer surface that holds the enzyme carbonic anhydrase, which speeds up the reaction between carbon dioxide and water to form bicarbonate. Calcium chloride, which is added to the water solutions, helps convert bicarbonate to calcium carbonate.

The fast and continuous motion of the micromotors in solution makes the micromotors extremely efficient at removing carbon dioxide from water, said researchers. The team explained that the micromotors’ autonomous movement induces efficient solution mixing, leading to faster carbon dioxide conversion. To fuel the micromotors in water, researchers added hydrogen peroxide, which reacts with the inner platinum surface of the micromotors to generate a stream of oxygen gas bubbles that propel the micromotors around. When released in water solutions containing as little as two to four percent hydrogen peroxide, the micromotors reached speeds of more than 100 micrometers per second.


- Video frames showing the movement of a micromotor in sea water. Image credit: Laboratory for Nanobioelectronics, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering -


However, the use of hydrogen peroxide as the micromotor fuel is a drawback because it is an extra additive and requires the use of expensive platinum materials to build the micromotors. As a next step, researchers are planning to make carbon-capturing micromotors that can be propelled by water.

“If the micromotors can use the environment as fuel, they will be more scalable, environmentally friendly and less expensive,” said Kaufmann.


Full paper:

“Micromotor-Based Biomimetic Carbon Dioxide Sequestration: Towards Mobile Microscrubbers,” published online Sept. 4, 2105 in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Authors of the paper are Murat Uygun, Virendra V. Singh, Kevin Kaufmann, Deniz A. Uygun, Severina D. S. de Oliveira, and Joseph Wang, all from the Department of Nanoengineering at UC San Diego."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.876.277 von Popeye82 am 18.10.15 21:50:42

Micromotors Take Their 1st Swim In The Body, Drug Delivery: Researchers demonstrate microsized tubes that can swim in a mouse’s stomach +deliver cargo
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/01/Micromotors-Take-…
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn507097k?source=cen
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja210874s?source=cen

"The idea sounds like something out of a science-fiction novel: Tiny medical machines zooming around the body delivering drugs, taking tissue samples, or performing small surgical repairs. But, now, for the first time, researchers have demonstrated a simple micromotor that can propel itself inside the body (ACS Nano 2014, DOI: 10.1021/nn507097k). When introduced into a mouse’s stomach, the micromotor swims to the stomach lining and delivers cargo.

The study is an important landmark, says Thomas E. Mallouk, who develops nanomotors and micromotors at Pennsylvania State University. It shows the potential of motorized particles to possibly improve the functions of nanoparticle drug carriers and imaging agents.


- JET-PROPELLED
Two gold-nanoparticle-carrying micromotors zip through gastric acid by reducing hydrogen ions into hydrogen gas. The motors are about 20 µm long. -


In recent years, researchers have designed microsized motors that react with chemicals around them in solution to produce jets of bubbles, propelling them forward or actuating moving parts. These particles can swim or perform tasks, such as sorting cells in tubes of blood. But so far, no one had tested the devices inside an animal. Joseph Wang, a nanoengineer at the University of California, San Diego, says one major challenge has been the fuel that the motors react with to zip around. For example, his early designs used toxic hydrogen peroxide. Wang and others in the field want to design new motors that can use chemicals found in an organism as fuel, without producing toxic by-products.


In 2012, Wang and his colleagues made micromotors fueled by acids, which offered the potential to run the devices on bodily fluids, such as gastric juices (J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja210874s). The motors consist of 20-μm-long, 5-μm-wide cylindrical tubes of the biocompatible polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), or PEDOT, filled with zinc. The zinc reduces hydrogen ions to produce bubbles of hydrogen gas. The tubes can reach speeds of about 60 μm per second.


- MICROMACHINES
This pair of micromotors, made of zinc and a biocompatible polymer, can propel themselves by reacting with stomach acid.
Credit: ACS Nano -


In the new study, Wang worked with Liangfang Zhang, a nanomedicine researcher at UCSD, to test the ability of these micromotors to deliver cargo to the stomach walls of mice. They thought that, unlike passive particles, jet-propelled ones could penetrate the thick layer of mucus that lines the stomach and then remain embedded until they dissolved.

The team first compared the micromotors with ones that were filled with platinum, which doesn’t react with acid to form propellant bubbles, instead of zinc. The researchers used a tube to deliver precise doses of the two particle types into the stomachs of mice. After two hours, nearly four times as many zinc micromotors as platinum particles remained in the stomach tissue, suggesting that the jet-propelled motors could penetrate that thick mucus layer.

Next, the researchers tested the micromotors’ ability to deliver cargo in the form of gold nanoparticles. When mice received an oral dose of micromotors whose polymer coat was embedded with gold nanoparticles, the animals ended up with 168 ng of gold per gram of stomach tissue after two hours; those given an equivalent dose of gold nanoparticles alone had 53.6 ng/g. These results, the researchers say, show that loading cargo in micromotors can improve the efficiency of delivery.

Also the team saw no signs of toxicity or immune reactions from the micromotors in the mice. Inside the stomachs, the micromotors completely dissolved without generating toxic by-products.

The UCSD team plans to build on these early results by adding more functionality to their particles. “We’re trying to add grippers that will move in response to changes in pH,” Wang says.


Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2015 American Chemical Society "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Liquid cooling moves onto the chip, for denser electronics
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/liquid-cooling-moves-chip-denser-…
www.news.gatech.edu/2015/10/05/liquid-cooling-moves-chip-den…

"Using microfluidic passages cut directly into the backsides of production field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are putting liquid cooling right where it’s needed the most—a few hundred microns away from where the transistors are operating.

Combined with connection technology that operates through structures in the cooling passages, the new technologies could allow development of denser and more powerful integrated electronic systems that would no longer require heat sinks or cooling fans on top of the integrated circuits. Working with popular 28-nm FPGA devices made by Altera Corp., the researchers have demonstrated a monolithically-cooled chip that can operate at temperatures more than 60% below those of similar air-cooled chips.


- Liquid ports carry cooling water to specially designed passages etched into the backs of FPGA devices to provide more effective cooling. The liquid cooling provides a significant advantage in computing throughput. Image: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech -


In addition to more processing power, the lower temperatures can mean longer device life and less current leakage. The cooling comes from simple de-ionized water flowing through microfluidic passages that replace the massive air-cooled heat sinks normally placed on the backs of chips.

“We believe we have eliminated one of the major barriers to building high-performance systems that are more compact and energy efficient,” said Muhannad Bakir, an associate professor and ON Semiconductor Junior Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “We have eliminated the heat sink atop the silicon die by moving liquid cooling just a few hundred microns away from the transistors. We believe that reliably integrating microfluidic cooling directly on the silicon will be a disruptive technology for a new generation of electronics.”

Supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research is believed to be the first example of liquid cooling directly on an operating high-performance CMOS chip. Details of the research were presented at the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference in San Jose, Calif.

Liquid cooling has been used to address the heat challenges facing computing systems whose power needs have been increasing. However, existing liquid cooling technology removes heat using cold plates externally attached to fully packaged silicon chips—adding thermal resistance and reducing the heat-rejection efficiency.

To make their liquid cooling system, Bakir and graduate student Thomas Sarvey removed the heat sink and heat-spreading materials from the backs of stock Altera FPGA chips. They then etched cooling passages into the silicon, incorporating silicon cylinders approximately 100 microns in diameter to improve heat transmission into the liquid. A silicon layer was then placed over the flow passages, and ports were attached for the connection of water tubes.

In multiple tests—including a demonstration for DARPA officials in Arlington, Va.—a liquid-cooled FPGA was operated using a custom processor architecture provided by Altera. With a water inlet temperature of approximately 20 C and an inlet flow rate of 147 mL/min, the liquid-cooled FPGA operated at a temperature of less than 24 C, compared to an air-cooled device that operated at 60 C.

Sudhakar Yalamanchili, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and one of the research group’s collaborators, joined the team for the DARPA demonstration to discuss electrical-thermal co-design.

“We have created a real electronic platform to evaluate the benefits of liquid cooling versus air cooling,” said Bakir. “This may open the door to stacking multiple chips, potentially multiple FPGA chips or FPGA chips with other chips that are high in power consumption. We are seeing a significant reduction in the temperature of these liquid-cooled chips.”

The research team chose FPGAs for their test because they provide a platform to test different circuit designs, and because FPGAs are common in many market segments, including defense. However, the same technology could also be used to cool CPUs, GPUs and other devices such as power amplifiers, Bakir said.

In addition to improving overall cooling, the system could reduce hotspots in circuits by applying cooling much closer to the power source. Eliminating the heat sink could allow more compact packaging of electronic devices—but only if electrical connection issues are also addressed.

In a separate research project, Bakir’s group has demonstrated the fabrication of copper vias that would run through the silicon columns that are part of the cooling structure fabricated on the FPGAs. Graduate student Hanju Oh, co-advised with College of Engineering Dean Gary May, fabricated high aspect ratio copper vias through the silicon columns, reducing the capacitance of the connections that would carry signals between chips in an array.

“The moment you start thinking about stacking the chips, you need to have copper vias to connect them,” Bakir said. “By bringing system components closer together, we can reduce interconnect length and that will lead to improvements in bandwidth density and reductions in energy use.”

The cooling research was funded by DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office, through the ICECOOL program. At Georgia Tech, DARPA funds two major cooling and system integration projects, one called STAECool directed by George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Professor Yogendra Joshi, and the other, called SuperCool, that is directed by Bakir. In collaboration with the STAECool effort, Bakir and Joshi, along with Profs. Andrei Fedorov and Suresh Sitaraman from the School of Mechanical Engineering, developed a thermal design vehicle to emulate challenging power maps to test the benefits of microfluidic cooling.

“We have reached an important milestone that we hope to use as a stepping stone to reach other objectives,” said Bakir. “There is still a big challenge ahead, but we expect this to allow much denser, higher-performance computing systems that will dissipate less power. We can think of many interesting applications for these cooling technologies.”

Altera’s principal investigator for the project, Arifur Rahman, said: “Future high-performance semiconductor electronics will be increasingly dominated by thermal budget and ability to remove heat. The embedded microfluidic channels provide an intriguing option to remove heat from future microelectronics systems.” "

[Popeye82]

Laser-wielding physicists seize control of atoms’ behavior


- This image shows how a laser (yellow) can affect collisions between atoms (red spheres). The blue spheres depict a molecule. The laser leaves the energy of single atoms unaffected, as represented by the red surface. But the laser lowers the energy of the molecules, leading to the cup-shape of the blue surface. The stronger the laser, the more the two atoms attract each other if they collide inside the laser beam. Image: Chin Group/Univ. of Chicago -
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/laser-wielding-physicists-seize-c…

"Physicists have wondered in recent years if they could control how atoms interact using light. Now they know that they can, by demonstrating games of quantum billiards with unusual new rules.

In an article published in Physical Review Letters, a team of Univ. of Chicago physicists explains how to tune a laser to make atoms attract or repel each other in an exotic state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.


"This realizes a goal that has been pursued for the past 20 years," said Cheng Chin, professor in physics at the Univ. of Chicago, who led the team. "This exquisite control over interactions in a many-body system has great potential for the exploration of exotic quantum phenomena and engineering of novel quantum devices."

Many research groups in the U.S. and Europe have tried various ideas over the last decade. It was Logan Clark, a graduate student in Chin's group, who came up with the first practical solution. He has now demonstrated the idea in the lab with cesium atoms chilled to temperatures just billionths of a degree above absolute zero, and the technique can be widely applied to other atomic species.

Clark compared the process to a billiards game, when one ball encounters another. "Normally, as soon as the surfaces touch, the balls repel each other and bounce away," Clark said. In Chin's lab, cesium atoms replace the billiard balls, and ordinarily they repel each other when they collide. But by turning up the laser while operating at a "magic" wavelength, Clark showed that the repulsion between atoms can be converted into attraction.

"The atoms exhibit fascinating behavior in this system," he said. By exposing different parts of the sample to different laser intensities, "We can choose to make the atoms attract or repel each other, or pass right through each other without colliding."

Alternatively, by oscillating their interactions, analogous to making the billiard balls rapidly grow and shrink while they roll, the atoms stick to each other in pairs.

The researchers explained two fundamental ways that lasers influence the atomic motion. One is to create potentials, like a bump or valley on the billiard table, proportional to laser intensity. The new way is to alter how billiard balls collide.

"We want our laser to control collisions, but we don't want it to create any hills or valleys," Clark said. When the laser is tuned to a "magic wavelength," the beam creates no hills or valleys, but only affects collisions.

"This is because the magic wavelength happens to be in between two excited states of the atom, so they 'magically' cancel each other out," he said.

Magic is a concept that has no place in science, though the word does enjoy fairly common use among atomic physicists. "Generally it is used to refer to a wavelength at which two effects cancel or are equal, in particular when this cancellation or equality is useful for some technological goal," Clark said. "

[Popeye82]

Scientists 'paint quantum electronics with beams of light', Chance effect of lab’s fluorescent lights leads to discovery, a team of scientists from the University of Chicago +Penn State University has accidentally discovered a new way of using light, to draw +erase quantum-mechanical circuits in a unique class of materials called topological insulators
http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/10/09/scientists-paint…

"In contrast to using advanced nanofabrication facilities based on chemical processing of materials, this flexible technique allows for rewritable “optical fabrication” of devices. This finding is likely to spawn new developments in emerging technologies such as low-power electronics based on the spin of electrons or ultrafast quantum computers. The research was published Oct. 9 in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s new online journal Science Advances.

“This observation came as a complete surprise,” said David D. Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor and deputy director in the Institute of Molecular Engineering at UChicago, who was one of two lead researchers on the project. “It’s one of those rare moments in experimental science where a seemingly random event—turning on the room lights—generated unexpected effects with potentially important impacts in science and technology .”


- David D. Awschalom -


The electrons in topological insulators have unique quantum properties that many scientists believe will be useful for developing spin-based electronics and quantum computers. However, making even the simplest experimental circuits with these materials has proved difficult because traditional semiconductor engineering techniques tend to destroy their fragile quantum properties. Even a brief exposure to air can reduce their quality.

In Science Advances, the researchers report the discovery of an optical effect that allows them to “tune” the energy of electrons in these materials using light, and without ever having to touch the material itself. They have used it to draw and erase p-n junctions—one of the central components of a transistor—in a topological insulator for the first time.

Like many advances in science, the path to this discovery had an unexpected twist.

“To be honest, we were trying to study something completely different ,” said Andrew Yeats, a graduate student in Awschalom’s laboratory and the paper’s lead author. “There was a slow drift in our measurements that we traced to a particular type of fluorescent lights in our lab. At first we were glad to be rid of it, and then it struck us—our room lights were doing something that people work very hard to do in these materials.”


- Graduate students Andrew Yeats (left) and Peter Mintun at Jones Laboratory. UChicago researchers found that the lab’s room lights emitted at a wavelength that changed the electronic properties of the materials they were studying. -


The researchers went back to Bulley & Andrews Construction, the contractor that renovated the lab space, for more information about the lights. “I’ve never had a client so obsessed with the overhead lighting,” said Frank Floss, superintendent for Bulley & Andrews. “I could have never imagined how important it would turn out to be.”

The researchers found that the surface of strontium titanate, the substrate material on which they had grown their samples, becomes electrically polarized when exposed to ultraviolet light, and their room lights happened to emit at just the right wavelength. The electric field from the polarized strontium titanate was leaking into the topological insulator layer, changing its electronic properties.

Awschalom and his colleagues found that by intentionally focusing beams of light on their samples, they could draw electronic structures that persisted long after the light was removed.

“It’s like having a sort of quantum Etch A Sketch in our lab,” he said. They also found that bright red light counteracted the effect of the ultraviolet light, allowing them to both write and erase. “Instead of spending weeks in the cleanroom and potentially contaminating our materials,” said Awschalom, “now we can sketch and measure devices for our experiments in real time. When we’re done, we just erase it and make something else. We can do this in less than a second.”

To test whether the new technique might interfere with the unique properties of topological insulators, the team measured their samples in high magnetic fields. They found promising signatures of an effect called weak anti-localization, which arises from quantum interference between the different simultaneous paths that electrons can take through a material when they behave as waves.

“One exciting aspect of this work is that it’s noninvasive,” said Prof. Nitin Samarth, the George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Department Head of Physics at Penn State, and a lead researcher on the project. “Since the electrical polarization occurs in an adjacent material, and the effect persists in the dark, the topological insulator remains relatively undisturbed. With these fragile quantum materials, sometimes you have to use a light touch.”

To better understand the physics behind the effect, the researchers conducted a number of control measurements. They showed that the optical effect is not unique to topological insulators, but that it can act on other materials grown on strontium titanate as well.

“In a way, the most exciting aspect of this work is that it should be applicable to a wide range of nanoscale materials such as complex oxides, graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides,” said Awschalom. “It’s not just that it’s faster and easier. This effect could allow electrical tuning of materials in a wide range of optical, magnetic and spectroscopic experiments where electrical contacts are extremely difficult or simply impossible.”

______________________________________________________________
Citation: A.L. Yeats, Y. Pan, A. Richardella, P.J. Mintun, N. Samarth, D.D. Awschalom, “Persistent Optical Gating of a Topological Insulator.” Science Advances 1, e1500640 (2015). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500640

Funding: Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office.
Tags
Andrew Yeats, David Awschalom, Fluorescent light, Institute for Molecular Engineering, Nitin Samarth, Quantum Electronics "

[Popeye82]

An Index, for the Search for Life


www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/10/index-search-life
www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/nasas-kepler-discovers-first-earth-…
------> http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.08922v1.pdf

"Though not launching for another three years, the James Webb Space Telescope is being called “the premier observatory of the next decade” by NASA. Outfitted with a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-m primary mirror, the apparatus is capable of measuring the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems.

To aid in the continuing search for life, astronomers from Univ. of Washington’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory created a ranking system that uses observational data to prioritize exoplanets. The findings are described in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysics Journal.

“As we move into a time when there are hundreds of targets available, we might be able to say, ‘OK, that’s the one we want to start with,’” said paper author Rory Barnes, an astronomy professor.


NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has helped astronomers discover thousands of exoplanets. Last year, astronomers discovered the first Earth-size planet located in a star’s habitable zone. Prior to the discovery, planets located in a star’s habitable zone were at least 40% larger than Earth. Informally referred to as the “Goldilocks zone,” the habitable zone is an ideal place for a terrestrial planet to have liquid surface water, thus heightening the possibility of life.

“That was a great first step, but it doesn’t make any distinctions within the habitable zone,” said Barnes. “Now it’s as if Goldilocks has hundreds of bowls of porridge to choose from.”

Called the “habitability index for transiting planets,” the new metric allows astronomer to plug in a variety of values to arrive at a single value, representative of the probability the planet maintains liquid water on its surface.

To create the index, researchers used planets discovered by Kepler, and ranked them. They factored in estimates of a plant’s rockiness and used a phenomenon called eccentricity-albedo degeneracy. Albedo defines the amount of solar energy a planet’s surface reflects back to space; and eccentricity, the circularity of the planet’s orbit.

“The higher a planet’s albedo, the more light and energy are reflected off to space, leaving less at the surface to warm the world and aid possible life,” according to the Univ. of Washington. “But the more noncircular or eccentric a planet’s orbit, the more intense is the energy it gets when passing close to its star in its elliptical journey.”

According to the research, planets receiving 60 to 90% of the solar radiation received by Earth were the best candidates for life.

“This innovative step allows us to move beyond the (2D) habitable zone concept to generate a flexible framework for prioritization,” said astronomy Prof. Victoria Meadows. "

[Popeye82]

A “greener” way, to assemble materials for solar applications

- A surfactant template guides the self-assembly of functional polymer structures in an aqueous solution. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; image by Youngkyu Han and Renee Manning. (hi-res image) -
www.ornl.gov/news/ornl-researchers-find-%E2%80%98greener%E2%…
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/nr/c5nr02…

"OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 5, 2015—The efficiency of solar cells depends on precise engineering of polymers that assemble into films 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.

Today, formation of that polymer assembly requires solvents that can harm the environment, but scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a “greener” way to control the assembly of photovoltaic polymers in water using a surfactant— a detergent-like molecule—as a template. Their findings are reported in Nanoscale, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

“Self-assembly of polymers using surfactants provides huge potential in fabricating nanostructures with molecular-level controllability,” said senior author Changwoo Do, a researcher at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS).


The researchers used three DOE Office of Science User Facilities—the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) and SNS at ORNL and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory—to synthesize and characterize the polymers.

“Scattering of neutrons and X-rays is a perfect method to investigate these structures,” said Do.

The study demonstrates the value of tracking molecular dynamics with both neutrons and optical probes.

“We would like to create very specific polymer stacking in solution and translate that into thin films where flawless, defect-free polymer assemblies would enable fast transport of electric charges for photovoltaic applications,” said Ilia Ivanov, a researcher at CNMS and a corresponding author with Do. “We demonstrated that this can be accomplished through understanding of kinetic and thermodynamic mechanisms controlling the polymer aggregation.”

The accomplishment creates molecular building blocks for the design of optoelectronic and sensory materials. It entailed design of a semiconducting polymer with a hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) backbone and hydrophilic (“water-loving”) side chains. The water-soluble side-chains could allow “green” processing if the effort produced a polymer that could self-assemble into an organic photovoltaic material. The researchers added the polymer to an aqueous solution containing a surfactant molecule that also has hydrophobic and hydrophilic ends. Depending on temperature and concentration, the surfactant self-assembles into different templates that guide the polymer to pack into different nanoscale shapes—hexagons, spherical micelles and sheets.

In the semiconducting polymer, atoms are organized to share electrons easily. The work provides insight into the different structural phases of the polymer system and the growth of assemblies of repeating shapes to form functional crystals. These crystals form the basis of the photovoltaic thin films that provide power in environments as demanding as deserts and outer space.

“Rationally encoding molecular interactions to rule the molecular geometry and inter-molecular packing order in a solution of conjugated polymers is long desired in optoelectronics and nanotechnology,” said the paper’s first author, postdoctoral fellow Jiahua Zhu. “The development is essentially hindered by the difficulty of in situ characterization.”

In situ, or “on site,” measurements are taken while a phenomenon (such as a change in molecular morphology) is occurring. They contrast with measurements taken after isolating the material from the system where the phenomenon was seen or changing the test conditions under which the phenomenon was first observed. The team developed a test chamber that allows them to use optical probes while changes occur.


Neutrons can probe structures, in solutions

Expertise and equipment at SNS, which provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world, made it possible to discover that a functional photovoltaic polymer could self-assemble in an environmentally benign solvent. The efficacy of the neutron scattering was enhanced, in turn, by a technique called selective deuteration, in which specific hydrogen atoms in the polymers are replaced by heavier atoms of deuterium—which has the effect of heightening contrasts in the structure. CNMS has a specialty in the latter technique.

“We needed to be able to see what’s happening to these molecules as they evolve in time from some solution state to some solid state,” author Bobby Sumpter of CNMS said. “This is very difficult to do, but for molecules like polymers and biomolecules, neutrons are some of the best probes you can imagine.” The information they provide guides design of advanced materials.

By combining expertise in topics including neutron scattering, high-throughput data analysis, theory, modeling and simulation, the scientists developed a test chamber for monitoring phase transitions as they happened. It tracks molecules under conditions of changing temperature, pressure, humidity, light, solvent composition and the like, allowing researchers to assess how working materials change over time and aiding efforts to improve their performance.


- ORNL’s in situ multimodal test chamber tracks molecular dynamics in solutions as well as solids. Image credit - Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; photographer Ilia Ivanov (hi-res image) -


Scientists place a sample in the chamber and transport it to different instruments for measurements. The chamber has a transparent face to allow entry of laser beams to probe materials. Probing modes—including photons, electrical charge, magnetic spin and calculations aided by high-performance computing—can operate simultaneously to characterize matter under a broad range of conditions. The chamber is designed to make it possible, in the future, to use neutrons and X-rays as additional and complementary probes.

“Incorporation of in situ techniques brings information on kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of materials transformations in solutions and thin films in which structure is measured simultaneously with their changing optoelectronic functionality,” Ivanov said. “It also opens an opportunity to study fully assembled photovoltaic cells as well as metastable structures, which may lead to unique features of future functional materials.”

Whereas the current study examined phase transitions (i.e., metastable states and chemical reactions) at increasing temperatures, the next in situ diagnostics will characterize them at high pressure. Moreover, the researchers will implement neural networks to analyze complex nonlinear processes with multiple feedbacks.

The title of the Nanoscale paper is “Controlling molecular ordering in solution-state conjugated polymers.”

Zhu, Do and Ivanov led the study. Zhu, Ivanov and Youngkyu Han conducted synchrotron X-ray scattering and optical measurements. Sumpter, Rajeev Kumar and Sean Smith performed theory calculations. Youjun He and Kunlun Hong synthesized the water-soluble polymer. Peter Bonnesen conducted thermal nuclear magnetic resonance analysis on the water-soluble polymer. Do, Han and Greg Smith performed neutron measurement and analysis of the scattering results. This research was conducted at CNMS and SNS, which are DOE Office of Science User Facilities at ORNL. Moreover, the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, was used to perform synchrotron X-ray scattering on the polymer solution. Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds partially supported the work.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science. The single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/. —by Dawn Levy "

[Popeye82]

Is 'Black Phosphorous the Next Big Thing, in Materials?', Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover Unique Thermal Properties in 2D Black Phosphorous Nanoribbons

- Berkeley Lab researchers have experimentally confirmed strong in-plane anisotropy in thermal conductivity along the zigzag (ZZ) and armchair (AC) directions of single-crystal black phosphorous nanoribbons. -
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2015/10/16/is-black-phosphorous-th…
www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151016/ncomms9573/abs/ncomms9573.…

www.mse.berkeley.edu/~jwu/

"A new experimental revelation about black phosphorus nanoribbons should facilitate the future application of this highly promising material to electronic, optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices. A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has experimentally confirmed strong in-plane anisotropy in thermal conductivity, up to a factor of two, along the zigzag and armchair directions of single-crystal black phosphorous nanoribbons.

“Imagine the lattice of black phosphorous as a two-dimensional network of balls connected with springs, in which the network is softer along one direction of the plane than another,” says Junqiao Wu, a physicist who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and the University of California (UC) Berkeley’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “Our study shows that in a similar manner heat flow in the black phosphorous nanoribbons can be very different along different directions in the plane. This thermal conductivity anisotropy has been predicted recently for 2D black phosphorous crystals by theorists but never before observed.”

Wu is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in Nature Communications titled “Anisotropic in-plane thermal conductivity of black phosphorus nanoribbons at temperatures higher than 100K.” The lead authors are Sangwook Lee and Fan Yang. (See below for a complete list of authors)


- Junqiao Wu (seated) and Yang Fan showed that the flow of heat in black phosphorous nanoribbons can be very different along different directions in the crystal plane. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt) -


Black phosphorous, named for its distinctive color, is a natural semiconductor with an energy bandgap that allows its electrical conductance to be switched “on and off.” It has been theorized that in contrast to graphene, black phosphorous has opposite anisotropy in thermal and electrical conductivities – i.e., heat flows more easily along a direction in which electricity flows with more difficultly. Such anisotropy would be a boost for designing energy-efficient transistors and thermoelectric devices, but experimental confirmation proved challenging because of sample preparation and measurement requirements.

“We fabricated black phosphorous nanoribbons in a top-down approach using lithography, then utilized suspended micro-pad devices to thermally isolate the nanoribbons from the environment so that tiny temperature gradient and thermal conduction along a single nanoribbon could be accurately determined,” Wu says. “We also went the extra mile to engineer the interface between the nanoribbon and the contact electrodes to ensure negligible thermal and electrical contact resistances, which is essential for this type of experiment.”

The results of the study, which was carried out at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office Science User Facility hosted by Berkeley Lab, revealed high directional anisotropy in thermal conductivity at temperatures greater than 100 Kelvin. This anisotropy was attributed mainly to phonon dispersion with some contribution from phonon-phonon scattering rate, both of which are orientation-dependent. Detailed analysis revealed that at 300 Kelvin, thermal conductivity decreased as the thickness of the nanoribbon thickness shrank from approximately 300 nanometers to approximately 50 nanometers. The anisotropy ratio remained at a factor of two within this thickness range.


- Black phosphorous, named for its distinctive color, is a natural semiconductor with an energy bandgap that allows its electrical conductance to be switched “on and off.” -


“The anisotropy we discovered in the thermal conductivity of black phosphorous nanoribbons indicates that when these layered materials are patterned into different shapes for microelectronic and optoelectronic devices, the lattice orientation of the patterns should be considered,” Wu says. “This anisotropy can be especially advantageous if heat generation and dissipation play a role in the device operation. For example, these orientation-dependent thermal conductivities give us opportunities to design microelectronic devices with different lattice orientations for cooling and operating microchips. We could use efficient thermal management to reduce chip temperature and enhance chip performance.”

Wu and his colleagues plan to use their experimental platform to investigate how thermal conductivity in black phosphorous nanoribbons is affected under different scenarios, such as hetero-interfaces, phase-transitions and domain boundaries. They also want to explore the effects of various physical conditions such as stress and pressure.

In addition to Wu, Lee and Yang, other co-authors of the Nature Communcations paper are Joonki Suh, Sijie Yang, Yeonbae Lee, Guo Li, Hwan Sung Choe, Aslihan Suslu, Yabin Chen, Changhyun Ko, Joonsuk Park, Kai Liu, Jingbo Li, Kedar Hippalgaonkar, Jeffrey Urban and Sefaattin Tongay.

This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.


Additional Information

For more about the research of Junqiao Wu go here

# # #

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.

Updated: October 16, 2015
TAGS: 2D electronics, energy, materials, Materials Sciences Division, science, semiconductors, thermoelectrics "

[Popeye82]

Catalyst combining reactivity, selectivity 'could speed drug development'
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/catalyst-combining-reactivity-sel…

"Chemists have long believed that inserting nitrogen into a carbon-hydrogen bond requires a trade-off between catalyst reactivity and selectivity. But a new manganese-based catalyst developed by Univ. of Illinois chemists has given researchers both in one efficient, lower-cost package.

Led by Illinois chemistry professor M. Christina White, the research team published its work in Nature Chemistry. The catalyst will be available commercially this fall from Sigma-Aldrich.

“Nitrogen is ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals and molecules that come from nature that have very potent biological activities,” White said. “The reaction we report allows chemists to take natural products and drug candidates containing alcohols and convert a carbon-hydrogen bond, three carbons away from the alcohol, to a nitrogen. Reactions that convert carbon-hydrogen bonds to carbon-nitrogen bonds could transform the solubility or biological properties of a molecule and enable accelerated drug discovery.”


Catalysts for these types of reactions based on precious metals, such as rhodium, are reactive but not very selective, which means they could react in places other than the target. Iron-based catalysts, a past achievement of White’s lab, are highly selective, precisely inserting the nitrogen, but are less reactive, only reacting with weaker types of bonds.

“It is commonly accepted that reactivity and selectivity will be inversely correlated, particularly when it comes to difficult transformations like carbon-hydrogen bond functionalization,” White said. “It’s like the difference between using a powerwasher and using a dentist’s water pick. As you become more selective, more targeted, you may become less powerful. As you get more forceful and powerful, you lose the ability to be fine-tuned.

“We have discovered a catalyst that challenges this reactivity-selectivity paradigm,” White said.

Although precious metals have been long revered for their predictable and controlled chemical reactivity, White’s group explores the properties of metals found abundantly in the Earth’s crust, which are less-documented and considered difficult to tame. After considering the distinct mechanisms of both rhodium-based catalysts and iron-based catalysts, the researchers hypothesized that manganese may fall somewhere in the middle, leading to a blending of reactivity and selectivity. However, what they found instead was that the manganese-based catalyst was very reactive, even more than rhodium, while maintaining the high degree of selectivity found in iron catalysts.

“What makes this catalyst really special is that it takes the best parts of the two catalyst families that existed and it combines them into one,” said graduate student Jennifer Griffin, a co-first author of the paper along with graduate student Shauna Paradine, now a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Univ. “I’ve always thought of reactivity and selectivity in carbon-hydrogen catalysis as two mutually exclusive properties. Now, by looking at these different metals, we find that it doesn’t have to be separate. You can have both.”

Manganese also holds several advantages over rhodium and other precious metals, the researchers said. It is 10 million times more abundant than rhodium, so using it for large-scale pharmaceutical production is much more cost-effective. In addition, manganese is much less toxic. It is found in enzymes throughout the body and is used as an ingredient in multivitamins. This suggests that any pharmaceuticals or compounds made with the catalyst can have higher concentrations of the catalyst left in it, with less need for costly and lengthy purification.

“It really showcases the importance of exploring these types of metals in hopes of replacing precious metals that are more expensive,” Griffin said. “It’s exciting, looking forward to what other kinds of catalysts can be developed for other types of processes.”

The researchers hope that the combination of high reactivity and high selectivity will be a boon to other chemists working to identify and synthesize new drug candidates. A subtle tweak in the molecule’s structure or functionality by adding nitrogen or another functional group in a position that wasn’t accessible before could dramatically change the way that molecule works in the body by affecting how it interacts with other molecules or its solubility.

“In the area of medicinal chemistry, you can image that with a very selective, reactive catalyst you can put nitrogen into various sites on a molecule, which opens up a whole new area of functionality to explore,” said Jinpeng Zhao, a graduate student and co-author of the paper. “It changes the way people can modify bioactive molecules and gives new possibilities of adding function to molecules found in nature.”

For example, White’s group demonstrated its ability to alter drug candidates by chemically modifying a potential antibiotic molecule, dihydroplueromutilone, using a combination of its previously developed iron catalyst to install oxygen and the new manganese catalyst to install nitrogen.

The researchers will continue to explore earth metals for catalyzing other reactions at carbon-hydrogen bonds, opening the door to even more avenues of drug development. They also will explore other manganese-based catalyst systems to develop intermolecular reactions that do not rely on having a nearby alcohol group.

“Ultimately our goal is to develop a suite of highly reactive and selective catalysts that enable you to precisely add oxygen, nitrogen and carbon to every type of carbon-hydrogen bond in a complex molecule setting,” White said.


Source: Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign "

[Popeye82]

Scientists awarded $6,000,000, to develop alternative HIV/AIDS vaccine
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/09/scientists-awarded-6m-develop-alt…
www.scripps.edu/news/press/2015/20150923farzan.html?

"Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been awarded up to nearly $6 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a revolutionary HIV/AIDS alternative vaccine that has demonstrated great potential in animal models.

The research, to be led by TSRI Professor Michael Farzan, will be supported by four years of funding—the first grant awarded by the Gates Foundation to a Scripps Florida scientist.

“I’m grateful to the Gates Foundation for its strong support of our research and for its continued commitment to eradicating HIV/AIDS throughout the world,” Farzan said.


- Michael Farzan is a professor on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute. Source: TSRI -

Farzan brings an innovative approach to combating HIV. The approach works by coaxing muscle cells into producing inhibitor proteins that block key sites on the virus’s surface used to attach and invade human immune cells—fooling the virus into thinking it is binding to a human cell.

Unable to attach to cells, and unable to reproduce, the virus simply floats impotently in the blood stream.

Farzan and colleagues’ breakthrough research received worldwide attention when announced earlier this year in the journal Nature. When the drug candidate, called eCD4-lg, was tested in the laboratory and in animal models, the results were so powerful and universally effective that they suggested the compound’s potential to serve the role of an alternative HIV/AIDS vaccine. The drug candidate offered complete protection of animal models against the virus for up to one year.

“Our compound eCD4-Ig is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far, effective against all strains tested,” Farzan said. “At the end of our research, we expect to have enough evidence to develop a firm foundation to fully evaluate its potential as an alternative vaccine.”

There are approximately 35 million people living with HIV-1—more than 25 million in sub-Saharan Africa—and more than two million new infections annually.


Source: TSRI "

[Popeye82]

Organic semiconductors get weird @the edge

- This composite image shows the difference in electronic states at the edge of the material compared to molecules in the center. Image: Univ. of British Columbia -
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/organic-semiconductors-get-weird-…

"As the push for tinier and faster electronics continues, a new finding by Univ. of British Columbia scientists could help inform the design of the next generation of cheaper, more efficient devices.

The work, published in Nature Communications, details how electronic properties at the edges of organic molecular systems differ from the rest of the material.

Organic materials—plastics—are of great interest for use in solar panels, light-emitting diodes and transistors. They're low-cost, light, and take less energy to produce than silicon. Interfaces—where one type of material meets another—play a key role in the functionality of all these devices.

"We found that the polarization-induced energy level shifts from the edge of these materials to the interior are significant, and can't be neglected when designing components," says UBC PhD researcher Katherine Cochrane, lead author of the paper.

'While we were expecting some differences, we were surprised by the size of the effect and that it occurred on the scale of a single molecule," adds UBC researcher Sarah Burke, an expert on nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic materials and author on the paper.

The researchers looked at “nano-islands” of clustered organic molecules. The molecules were deposited on a silver crystal coated with an ultra-thin layer of salt only two atoms deep. The salt is an insulator and prevents electrons in the organic molecules from interacting with those in the silver—the researchers wanted to isolate the interactions of the molecules.

Not only did the molecules at the edge of the nano-islands have very different properties than in the middle, the variation in properties depended on the position and orientation of other molecules nearby.

The researchers, part of UBC's Quantum Matter Institute, used a simple, analytical model to explain the differences which can be extended to predict interface properties in much more complex systems, like those encountered in a real device.

"Herbert Kroemer said in his Nobel Lecture that 'The interface is the device' and it's equally true for organic materials," says Burke. "The differences we've seen at the edges of molecular clusters highlights one effect that we'll need to consider as we design new materials for these devices, but likely they are many more surprises waiting to be discovered."

Cochrane and colleagues plan to keep looking at what happens at interfaces in these materials and to work with materials chemists to guide the design rules for the structure and electronic properties of future devices.


Source: Univ. of British Columbia "

[Popeye82]

www.oxisenergy.com/company/
www.oxisenergy.com/uploads/OXIS_ECLIPSE_final.pdf

[Popeye82]

Leclanché SA: Leclanché stellt 'voll- elektrischen' Bus vor

Am vergangenen Samstag zeigte Leclanché in der dicht besiedelten Innenstadt von Brüssel, Belgien, den ersten, aus der Partnerschaft mit dem Bushersteller Van Hool, und Bombardier, dem Weltmarktführer der Transportindustrie, hervorgegangenen elektrischen Bus.

- Innerhalb Leclanché's Wachstumsstrategie ist dieses Produkt ein starker Nachweis des Angebots an Lösungen für Hybrid- und volleleketrische Busse, bestehend aus on-board Batterien; Integriertem elektrischen Antriebsstrang; Ladestationen; und einer Cloud-basierten Flotten-Betriebs- Software. ...
www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/8038443-dgap-adhoc-leclan…

" Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, October 19, 2015 - Leclanché S.A. (SIX

Swiss Exchange: LECN), ein Spezialist für batteriebasierte

Energiespeicherlösungen erreicht Schritt für Schritt weitere Erfolge. An

diesem Samstag stellte Leclanché den ersten vollelektrischen Bus auf der

busworld Europe in Belgien, der größten Messe für öffentliche

Transportfahrzeuge, vor. Dabei wurden 3 Fahrzeuge der öffentlichen

Verkehrsgesellschaft in Fladern De Lijn übergeben.


Ben Weyts, Flämischer Minister für Verkehr, öffentliche Bauvorhaben und

Tierschutz: "Ich werde auch weiterhin in die Flotte von "De Lijn"

investieren. Mit modernen, schnellen und bequemen Fahrzeugen können wir

mehr Flamen begeistern, unsere öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel zu benutzen. Die

elektrischen Busse sind nicht nur die saubersten, sondern auch die

leisesten des Landes. Dies ist eine echte Investition in die Zukunft."


Jan van Hool, Geschäftsführer des Unternehmens Van Hool: "Wir sind stolz

auf diese Partnerschaft insbesondere weil das Batteriesystem

außergewöhnlich gute Eigenschaften besitzt und wie maßgeschneidert für

unsere Fahrzeuge ist. Darüber hinaus bietet das fernabfragbare

Managementsystem einen großen Vorteil, wenn die Fahrzeuge auf der Straße

unterwegs sind."


Anil Srivastava, der Vorstandsvorsitzende der Leclanché SA, unterstreicht

die Bedeutung des Projektes: "Betreiber von Bussen auf der ganzen Welt

stehen vor der Herausforderung, gleichermaßen schädliche Emissionen und

Betriebskosten der Fahrzeugflotte zu reduzieren. Dank einer Reihe von

Innovationen und Kostensenkungen sind hybride und vollelektrische Busse in

der Lage, diese beiden Herausforderungen zu meistern. Wir danken Van Hool

und De Lijn für diese Gelegenheit, sie bei diesem Projekt zu unterstützen.

Diese Referenz ist wesentlich für Leclanché, um den Einstieg in diesen

schnell wachsenden Markt mit einem prognostizierten Bedarf an

Batteriesystemen von 2,7GWh bis 2020 Fuß zu fassen."


Stefan Louis, Vorstand der Leclanché SA für Strategie, hebt die Vorteile

von Leclanché's Angebot hervor, mit denen die Betriebskosten der

Fahrzeugflotte durch besseres Energiemanagement und sicheren Betrieb

optimiert werden können:

- Dynamische Routensimulation und Systemplanungsprogramme, die den Kunden bei der Entwicklung eines optimierten Flottenbetriebs und der Fernüberwachung aller Systemkomponenten mittels Cloud-Services unterstützen

- Komplette Systemlösungen, die Lithium-Ionen Batteriepacks der neuesten Generation mit Temperaturmanagement, der Infrastruktur wie Ladestationen und Verbindung bis hin zu voll integrierten elektrischen Antriebssträngen aus der strategischen Partnerschaft mit Visedo beinhalten.

- Leasing und Finanzierungsservices, welche die Einführung neuer Technologien ohne große Investments beschleunigen.


Das Projekt ist Teil des Programms "Living lab for electric vehicles

program", das vom flämischen Ministerium für Innovationen initiiert und von

der flämischen Behörde für Innovationen in Wissenschaft und Technik (IWT)

unterstützt wurde. Die Umsetzung erfolgte in einer Partnerschaft des

Busherstellers Van Hool und Bombardier, die für das Induktionsladesystem im

Busdepot verantwortlich waren. Leclanché lieferte das

Schnellladebatteriesystem, die Batteriemanage-mentsoftware inklusive

Fernverwaltung und die Ladestationen.


Der Bus verkehrte am Wochenende mit professionellen Besuchern der busworld

Europe während der Messe in den Straßen Brügges. Das Fahrzeug und seine

nachgewiesen zuverlässigen technischen Innovationen haben bereits für

breites Interesse in mehreren europäischen Hauptstädten gesorgt.



Medienkontakt:

Claude-Olivier Rochat, Voxia communication. Mobil: ([phone] -

[e-mail]

Rohan Sant, Voxia communication. Mobil: ([phone] -

[e-mail]


Über Leclanché

Gegründet 1909, ist Leclanché heute ein verlässlicher Partner für

Batteriespeicher- Technologien. In einer Tradition, die auf Georges

Leclanché, den Erfinder der Trockenzelle zurückgeht, hat die Leclanché

Gruppe heute ein beeindruckendes portfolio an Energiespeicherlösungen,

angefangen von kundenspezifischen Batteriesystemen bis zu führenden

Lösungen zu Anwendungen von Lithium- Ionen- Speichern.

Durch die Integration eines Spin-Offs der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft im Jahr

2006 entwickelte sich die Firma von einem traditionellen Batteriehersteller

zu einem führenden Entwickler und Hersteller von Lithium-Ionen-Zellen in

Europa


Leclanché entwickelt Speicherlösungen für vielfältige Anwendungen wie die

effiziente Nutzung von erneuerbaren Energien, Diesel-Kraftstoffreduktion,

stromnetzgekoppelte Zusatzleistungen, Lastmanagement für die

Schwerindustrie, aber auch Schwertransportsysteme wie Busse, Schienen- und

Wasserfahrzeuge


Leclanché-Produkte zeichnen sich durch eine sehr hohe Zyklenfestigkeit

(Zellen mit Titanat-Anode) und aussergewöhnlich lange Lebensdauer aus.

Durch die patentierte Separator-Technologie, dem Kernelement der

Lithium-Ionen-Zellen mit Titanat-Anode, ist Leclanché in der Lage, Zellen

mit hervorragenden Sicherheitsmerkmalen in automatisierter Produktion

herzustellen. Leclanché betreibt ein vollständig automatisiertes Werk für

die Produktion grossformatiger Lithium-Ionen Zellen mit einer jährlichen

Höchstkapazität von 160 MWh, was einer Million Zellen entspricht.

Daneben bietet der Geschäftsbereich Portable Systeme eine Reihe weiterer

Batteriensysteme wie z.B. kundenspezifische portable

Energiespeicherlösungen für militärische und medizinische Anwendungen an.

Hinzu kommen Primär- und Sekundärbatterien sowie Zubehörteile für andere

Produzenten.

Leclanché SA ist an der Schweizer Börse notiert: SIX Swiss Exchange

(LECN).

Ende der Ad-hoc-Mitteilung


+++++

Zusatzmaterial zur Meldung:

Dokument: http://n.equitystory.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=CNDTXRVHAI

Dokumenttitel: Leclanché stellt 'voll- elektrischen' Bus vor

---------------------------------------------------------------------

19.10.2015 Mitteilung übermittelt durch die EQS Schweiz AG.

www.eqs.com - Medienarchiv unter http://switzerland.eqs.com/de/News

Für den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent verantwortlich.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sprache: Deutsch

Unternehmen: Leclanché SA

Av. des Sports 42

1400 Yverdon-les-Bains

Schweiz

Telefon: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-Mail: [e-mail]

Internet: www.leclanche.com

ISIN: CH0110303119, CH0016271550

Valorennummer: A1CUUB, 812950

Börsen: Auslandsbörse(n) SIX

ENDE der Mitteilung EQS Group News-Service "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

DARPA is Developing Disappearing Drones

- Image: DARPA -
www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/10/darpa-developing-disappearing…
www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6bf17b2b80ff386…
------> www.darpa.mil/program/vanishing-programmable-resources

"Many are familiar with Icarus from Greek mythology. The son of Daedalus, a master craftsman, Icarus and his father were imprisoned in the Labyrinth, a maze of his father’s creation meant to house the Minotaur. To escape, Daedalus fashioned two sets of wings from feathers and wax. He warned his son not to fly close to the sun, as the wax would melt. But, Icarus, giddy with his flight ability, didn’t heed his father’s advice. His flying apparatus melted, and he fell into the sea, meeting his death.

DARPA’s Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems (ICARUS) program is taking a cue from its Greek namesake. The program hopes to develop an aircraft capable of delivering small payloads—less than 3 lbs—and disappearing after mission completion. Potential payloads may contain additional batteries, communications devices or medical supplies.


“Vanishing delivery vehicles could extend military and civilian operational capabilities in extenuating circumstances where currently there is no means to provide additional support,” said Troy Ollson, program manager of ICARUS. “Inventing transient materials, devising ways of scaling up their production, and combining those challenges with the hard control and aerodynamic requirements to reach the precision and soft-landing specs we need here makes for a challenging and compelling engineering problem.”

Currently, payloads are delivered via parachute-based delivery systems, which require packing-out, adding a time-consuming activity and weight to individuals’ loads.

“Following a night drop, the air delivery vehicle must completely, physically disappear within (4 hrs) of payload delivery or within 30 mins after morning civil twilight, whichever is earlier,” according to a solicitation notice from DARPA. “To be considered not visible to the naked eye, DARPA nominally quantifies physical disappearance, or transience, as producing remnants not exceeding 100 µm on the longest dimension.”

The aircraft must be able to be deployed from a stationary balloon 35,000 ft high, and cover a lateral distance of up to 150 km. Afterwards, it must drop its payload within 10 m of a GPS-programmed target. At its longest dimension, the aircraft can be no more than 3 m.

DARPA believes technology from the agency’s Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program can be integrated into ICARUS. The VAPR program sought to develop electronics capable of dissolving/self-destructing when triggered.

“With the progress made in VAPR, it became plausible to imagine building larger, more robust structures using these materials for an even wider array of applications,” said Olsson, who is also the program manager of VAPR. “And that led to the question, ‘What sorts of things would be even more useful if they disappeared right after we used them?’”

ICARUS’ two-phase program is scheduled for 26 months with $8 million in funding. "

[Popeye82]

Discovery about protein structure 'opens window on basic life process'

- Protein folding. Image: Oregon State Univ. -
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/discovery-about-protein-structure…
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/oct/discovery-ab…

"Biochemists at Oregon State Univ. have made a fundamental discovery about protein structure that sheds new light on how proteins fold, which is one of the most basic processes of life.

The findings, announced in Science Advances, will help scientists better understand some important changes that proteins undergo. It had previously been thought to be impossible to characterize these changes, in part because the transitions are so incredibly small and fleeting.


The changes relate to how proteins convert from one observable shape to another—and they happen in less than one trillionth of a second, in molecules that are less than one millionth of an inch in size. It had been known that these changes must happen and they have been simulated by computers, but prior to this no one had ever observed how they happen.

Now they have, in part by recognizing the value of certain data collected by many researchers over the last two decades.

“Actual evidence of these transitions was hiding in plain sight all this time,” said Andrew Brereton, an OSU doctoral student and lead author on this study. “We just didn’t know what to look for, and didn’t understand how significant it was.”

All proteins start as linear chains of building blocks and then quickly fold to their proper shape, going through many high-energy transitions along the way. Proper folding is essential to the biological function of proteins, and when it doesn’t happen correctly, protein folding diseases can be one result—such as Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, amyloidosis and others.

Proteins themselves are a critical component of life, the workhorses of biology. They are comparatively large, specialty molecules that can do everything from perceiving light to changing shape and making muscles function. Even the process of thinking involves proteins at the end of one neuron passing a message to different proteins on the next neuron.

A powerful tool called x-ray crystallography has been able to capture images of proteins in their more stable shapes, but what was unknown is exactly how they got from one stable form to another. The changes in shape that are needed for those transitions are fleeting and involve distortions in the molecules that are extreme and difficult to predict.

What the OSU researchers discovered, however, is that the stable shapes adopted by a few proteins actually contained some parts that were trapped in the act of changing shape, conceptually similar to finding mosquitos trapped in amber.

“We discovered that some proteins were holding single building blocks in shapes that were supposed to be impossible to find in a stable form,” said Andrew Karplus, the corresponding author on the study and a distinguished professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science.

“Apparently about one building block out of every 6,000 gets trapped in a highly unlikely shape that is like a single frame in a movie,” Karplus said. “The set of these trapped residues taken together have basically allowed us to make a movie that shows how these special protein shape changes occur. And what this movie shows has real differences from what the computer simulations had predicted .”

As with most fundamental discoveries, the researchers said, the full value of the findings may take years or decades to play out.

What is clear is that proteins are key to some of the most fundamental processes of life, and this new information has revealed the first direct views of specific details of one aspect of protein folding in a way that had not been considered possible.

“In the 1870s an English photographer named Eadweard Muybridge made some famous photographs that settled a debate which had been going on for decades, about whether horses as they run actually lift all four feet off the ground at the same time ,” Karplus said.




“His novel series of stop-action photos proved that they did , and opened up a whole new understanding of animal locomotion,” he said. “In A SIMILAR WAY, OUR RESULTS CHANGE THE WAY RESEARCHERS CAN NOW LOOK @ONEOF THE WAYS PROTEINS CHANGE SHAPE, AND THAT's A PRETTY FUNDAMENTAL PART OF LIFE.” "

[Popeye82]

Developing Artificial Skin, Capable of Feel

- Model robotic hand with artificial mechanoreceptors. Image: Stanford Univ. -
www.rdmag.com/articles/2015/10/developing-artificial-skin-ca…
www.theverge.com/2015/10/15/9533625/artificial-skin-pressure…

"After doing battle with Darth Vader in Cloud City, Luke Skywalker—now with one less hand—makes a harrowing escape by falling down an airshaft. Later aboard a starship, he’s fashioned with a robotic limb. A medical robot tests his new limb’s sensors by prodding it with pinpricks. The hand flexes and responds much like a biological limb.

While such technology is not be the norm, Stanford Univ. researchers are making strides to produce artificial skin capable of sending pressure sensations to the brain.


“This is the first time a flexible, skin-like material has been able to detect pressure and also transmit a signal to a component of the nervous system,” said Prof. Zhenan Bao, who led the project’s research team.

According to Stanford Univ., the new technique uses two layers, the top acting as a sensing mechanism and the bottom as the circuit to transport electrical signals and translate them into biochemical stimuli.

By fitting billions of carbon nanotubes—which conduct electricity when compressed—onto thin plastic, the researchers created a plastic sensor capable of mimicking skin. “Increasing pressure on the waffled nanotubes squeezes them even closer together, allowing more electricity to flow through the sensor, and those varied impulses are sent as short pulses to the sensing mechanism,” according to Stanford Univ. “Remove pressure, and the flow of pulse relaxes, indicating light touch.”

For the second, underlying layer, researchers teamed up with PARC, a Xerox company, to print flexible electronic circuits onto the plastic.

To test whether the electronic circuit was capable of carrying electricity to nerve cells, the team used optogenetics. In optogenetics, scientists introduce light-responsive proteins into cultured cells or the brains of live animals, allowing them to turn neurons on and off, according to the Max-Planck Institute of Biophysics




“The sensor was hooked to an LED that flashed based on its pulses, activating mouse neurons,” according to The Verge. “It doesn’t (reveal) what the skin ‘feels,’ exactly, but it shows that the sensors can interface successfully with actual brain cells, even if they’re in a petri dish instead of a skull.”

While integrating this technology into practical applications is a ways off, the researchers hope to develop sensors capable of replicating the ability to distinguish between textures and temperatures. "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.883.597 von Popeye82 am 19.10.15 21:28:23

einer der Großen
wen(n Einen)das future ding interessiert vielleicht einmal ganz ansehen(bin gerade dabei)
soweit ich weiss hat er auch eine menge investitionen in Umwelt/Energietechnologie(denke noch nichtmal unbedingt nurunter Investitions(/"Geldvermehrungs")g)esichtspunkten

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.837.235 von Popeye82 am 13.10.15 14:03:11

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.883.597 von Popeye82 am 19.10.15 21:28:23

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.837.514 von Popeye82 am 13.10.15 14:30:31

[Popeye82]

Creating LEDs, from food +beverage waste

- A small light-emitting diode (LED) fabricated by carbon dots (CDs). Image: Prashant Sarswat -
www.rdmag.com/news/2015/10/creating-leds-food-and-beverage-w…
http://unews.utah.edu/u-researchers-create-light-emitting-di…

"Most Christmas lights, DVD players, televisions and flashlights have one thing in common: they're made with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are widely used for a variety of applications and have been a popular, more efficient alternative to fluorescent and incandescent bulbs for the past few decades. Two Univ. of Utah researchers HAVE NOW FOUND A WAY TO CREATE LEDs FROM FOOD AND BEVERAGE WASTE. In addition to utilizing food and beverage waste that would otherwise decompose and be of no use, this development can also reduce potentially harmful waste from LEDs generally made from toxic elements.

LEDs are a type of device that can efficiently convert electricity to light. Unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, which direct 80% of the energy consumed to producing heat, LEDs direct 80% of the energy consumed to producing light. This is made possible by the fact that LEDs do not require a filament to be heated as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs do.


LEDs can be produced by quantum dots, or tiny crystals that have luminescent properties. Quantum dots (QDs) can be made with numerous materials, some of which are rare and expensive to synthesize, and even potentially harmful to dispose of. Some research over the past 10 years has focused on using carbon dots (CDs), or simply QDs made of carbon, to create LEDs instead.

Compared to other types of quantum dots, CDs have lower toxicity and better biocompatibility, meaning they can be used in a broader variety of applications.

U Metallurgical Engineering Research Asst. Prof. Prashant Sarswat and Prof. Michael Free, over the past year and a half, have successfully turned food waste such as discarded pieces of tortilla into CDs, and subsequently, LEDs.

The results were recently published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.


- Michael Free (left) holds a light emitting diode and Prashant Sarswat (right) holds carbon dots in suspension. -


From bread, to bulb

To synthesize waste into CDs, Sarswat and Free employed a solvothermal synthesis, or one in which the waste was placed into a solvent under pressure and high temperature until CDs were formed. In this experiment, the researchers used soft drinks and pieces of bread and tortilla.

The food and beverage waste were each placed in a solvent and heated both directly and indirectly for anywhere from 30 to 90 mins.

After successfully finding traces of CDs from the synthesis, Sarswat and Free proceeded to illuminate the CDs to monitor their formation and color.

The pair also employed four other tests, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman and AFM imaging to determine the CDs' various optical and material properties.

"Synthesizing and characterizing CDs derived from waste is a very challenging task. We essentially have to determine the size of dots which are only 20 nm or smaller in diameter, so we have to run multiple tests to be sure CDs are present and to determine what optical properties they possess," said Sarswat.

For comparison, a human hair is around 75,000 nm in diameter.

The various tests Sarswat and Free ran first measured the size of the CDs, which correlates with the intensity of the dots' color and brightness. The tests then determined which carbon source produced the best CDs. For example, sucrose and D-fructose dissolved in soft drinks were found to be the most effective sources for production of CDs.

Finally, the CDs were suspended in epoxy resins, heated and hardened to solidify the CDs for practical use in LEDs.


An environmentally sustainable alternative

Currently, one of the most common sources of QDs is cadmium selenide, a compound comprised of a two toxic elements. The ability to create QDs in the form of CDs from food and beverage waste would eliminate the need for concern over toxic waste, as the food and beverages themselves are not toxic.

"QDs derived from food and beverage waste are not based on common toxic elements such as cadmium and selenium, which makes their processing and disposal more environmentally friendly than it is for most other QDs. In addition, the use of food and beverage waste as the starting material for QDs allows for reduced waste and cost to produce a useful material," said Free.

In addition to being toxic when broken down, cadmium selenide is also expensive—one Website listed a price of $529 for 25 mL of the compound.

"With food and beverage waste that are already there, our starting material is much less expensive. In fact, it's essentially free," said Sarswat.

According to a report from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, roughly 31% of food produced in 2014 was not available for human consumption. To be able to use this waste for creating LEDs which are widely used in a number of technologies would be an environmentally sustainable approach.

Looking forward, Sarswat and Free hope to continue studying the LEDs produced from food and beverage waste for stability and long term performance.

"The ultimate goal is to do this on a mass scale and to use these LEDs in everyday devices. To successfully make use of waste that already exists, that's the end goal," said Sarswat.


Source: Univ. of Utah "

[Popeye82]

Global Ocean found, in Saturn's Moon Enceladus - ENN/NASA, JPL/CU/SETI/I, NEW YORK/CORNELL/ITHACA//CALIFORNIA - Oct 20, 2015
www.enn.com/top_stories/article/49079
------> www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-298&rn=news.xml&…
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
------> http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/flash/Enceladus/encela…

"A global ocean lies beneath the icy crust of Saturn's geologically active moon Enceladus, according to new research using data from NASA's Cassini mission.

Researchers found the magnitude of the moon's very slight wobble, as it orbits Saturn, can only be accounted for if its outer ice shell is not frozen solid to its interior, meaning a global ocean must be present.

The finding implies the fine spray of water vapor, icy particles and simple organic molecules Cassini has observed coming from fractures near the moon's south pole is being fed by this vast liquid water reservoir. The research is presented in a paper published online this week in the journal Icarus.


Previous analysis of Cassini data suggested the presence of a lens-shaped body of water, or sea, underlying the moon's south polar region. However, gravity data collected during the spacecraft's several close passes over the south polar region lent support to the possibility the sea might be global. The new results -- derived using an independent line of evidence based on Cassini's images -- confirm this to be the case.

"This was a hard problem that required years of observations, and calculations involving a diverse collection of disciplines, but we are confident we finally got it right," said Peter Thomas, a Cassini imaging team member at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and lead author of the paper.


- Illustration of the interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus showing a global liquid water ocean between its rocky core and icy crust. Thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech -


Cassini scientists analyzed more than seven years' worth of images of Enceladus taken by the spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since mid-2004. They carefully mapped the positions of features on Enceladus -- mostly craters -- across hundreds of images, in order to measure changes in the moon's rotation with extreme precision.

As a result, they found Enceladus has a tiny, but measurable wobble as it orbits Saturn. Because the icy moon is not perfectly spherical -- and because it goes slightly faster and slower during different portions of its orbit around Saturn -- the giant planet subtly rocks Enceladus back and forth as it rotates.

The team plugged their measurement of the wobble, called a libration, into different models for how Enceladus might be arranged on the inside, including ones in which the moon was frozen from surface to core.

"If the surface and core were rigidly connected, the core would provide so much dead weight the wobble would be far smaller than we observe it to be," said Matthew Tiscareno, a Cassini participating scientist at the SETI Institute, Mountain View, California, and a co-author of the paper. "This proves that there must be a global layer of liquid separating the surface from the core."

This illustration is a speculative representation of the interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus with a global liquid water ocean between its rocky core and icy crust. The thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. Credit NASA JPL. "

[Popeye82]

IEA releases mid-term forecast for biofuels, renewable energy - BMM/IEA - Oct 6, 2015

- Katie Fletcher -
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/12454/iea-releases-mid-t…
------> www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/MTrenew2015sum.pdf

"The International Energy Agency recently released its annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report at a Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Turkey. The report forecasts global market trends and developments for renewable energy and biofuels to 2020.

The MTRMR 2015 indicates that renewable energy will represent the largest single source of electricity growth over the next five years, driven by falling costs and aggressive expansion in emerging economies. Although the report points to the promise renewables hold for affordably mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security, the report warns governments to reduce policy uncertainties that are slowing greater deployment.


“Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth, but this is hardly time for complacency,” said Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director as he released the IEA’s MTRMR at the G20 Energy Ministers Meeting. “Governments must remove the question marks over renewables if these technologies are to achieve their full potential, and put our energy system on a more secure, sustainable path.”

According to the MTRMR, renewable power expanded at its fastest rate to date—130 gigawatts (GW)—in 2014 and now represents more than 45 percent of overall supply additions. The report attributes the fall in fossil fuel prices over the past years to concerns about the competitiveness of renewables and government willingness to maintain policy support. One policy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, carries uncertainty. The report states, “Amid generally sluggish demand growth, OECD power systems face challenges to maintain long-term policy frameworks while shifting away from high incentive levels and integrating higher variable renewable penetrations.”


- Under this accelerated case projection, annual investment could reach over $315 billion by 020. Achieving this would require policy makers to send clearer signals to phase out the oldest, most polluting power plants. PHOTO: International Energy Agency -


In the report’s executive summary, it states renewable electricity additions over the next five years will reach 700 GW, or more than twice Japan’s current installed power capacity. The report concludes that the share of renewable energy in global power generation will rise to over 26 percent by 2020 from 22 percent in 2013.

This deployment is thought to increasingly shift to emerging economies and developing countries, which will make up two-thirds of the renewable electricity expansion to 2020. China will account for nearly 40 percent of total renewable power capacity growth and require almost one-third of new investment over the next five years.

The MTRMR highlights risks that may be associated with increasing deployment. Financing remains key to achieving sustained investment, and regulatory barriers, grid constraints and macroeconomic conditions pose challenges in many emerging economies.

The report shares that wind leads global renewable growth, followed by solar and hydropower. Meanwhile, other renewable technologies grow slower on an absolute basis, but still scale up significantly. The report gives the example of bioenergy supported by coal-to-biomass conversions in Europe and a significant scale-up in non-OECD Asia using domestic resources. Excluding traditional biomass, the report states global renewable energy use for heat will grow only moderately over the medium term. “While renewable heat technologies can be cost-effective options, an extended period of lower oil prices could undermine growth, particularly in bioenergy markets.”

The report also carries insight on biofuels for transport and renewable heat. “Blending mandates are expected to support biofuels for transport demand and production, even with the lower oil price environment.” The report indicates that, overall, biofuels growth is forecast to stabilize, reaching over 4 percent of road transport demand in 2020. A number of risks limit this growth, however. The U.S. continues to face structural challenges in scaling up ethanol to more than 10 percent of gasoline demand while the EU-28 has introduced a 7 percentage point cap on the contribution of conventional biofuels towards the 10 percent renewable transport target for 2020, according to the report.

The MTRMR notes that significant development of advanced biofuels is necessary for diversification and debarbonization of transport in the long term, particularly in aviation. Since 2013, the report shares that advanced biofuels have made good progress, with nine commercial-scale plants commissioned. Also, policies that mandate blending levels and provide capital incentives, along with the development of secure local feedstock supply chains have been fundamental. The report estimates new projects may require oil prices around $100/bbl or above to be attractive.

The executive summary of the MTRMR concludes, while energy security and local sustainability concerns prove a first-order motivation for adopting enhanced policies, the improving affordability of renewables can have positive ramifications for global climate change negotiations.

The MTRMR 2015 is part of a series of annual reports the IEA devotes to each of the main primary energy sources: oil, gas, coal, renewable energy and—as of 2013—energy efficiency. The full report is for sale by the IEA bookshop.

Additional information on the report is available on the IEA website. A copy of the executive summary of the report can be downloaded here. "

[Popeye82]

New crystal captures carbon from humid gas, a new material with micropores might be a way to fight climate change. Scientists have created crystals that capture carbon dioxide much more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of wate

- Osamu Terasaki and Peter Oleynikov with a model of the new crystal. -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/new-crystal-captures-carbo…
www.su.se/english/research/leading-research-areas/science/ne…

"A new material with micropores might be a way to fight climate change. Scientists have created crystals that capture carbon dioxide much more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of water.

The research was recently published in a report in the scientific journal Science.


One way to mitigate climate change could be to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. So far this has been difficult, since the presence of water prevents the adsorption of CO2. Complete dehydration is a costly process. Scientists have now created a stable and recyclable material, where the micropores within the crystal have different adsorption sites for carbon dioxide and water.

“As FAR AS I KNOW THIS IS THE 1ST MATERIAL THAT CAPTURES CO2 IN AN EFFICIENT WAY IN THE PRESENCE OF HUMIDITY. In other cases there is competition between water and carbon dioxide and water usually wins. This MATERIAL ABSORBS BOTH, BUT THE CO2 UPTAKE IS ENORMOUS” says Osamu Terasaki, Professor at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University.

The new material is called SGU-29, named after Sogang University in Korea, and is the result of international cooperation. It is a copper silicate crystal. The material could be used for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and especially to clean emissions.

“CO2 is always produced with moisture, and now we can capture CO2 from humid gases. Combined with other systems that are being developed, the waste carbon can be used for new valuable compounds. People are working very hard AND I THINK WE WILL BE ABLE TO DO THIS WITHIN FIVE YEARS. The most difficult part is to capture carbon dioxide, and we have a solution for that now” says Osamu Terasaki. ..."

[Popeye82]

Cornell researchers create artificial foam heart, Cornell University researchers have developed a new lightweight +stretchable material with the consistency of memory foam that has potential for use in prosthetic body parts, artificial organs +soft robotics. The foam is unique because it can be formed, +has connected pores that allow fluids to be pumped through it

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/cornell-researchers-create…
http://mediarelations.cornell.edu/2015/10/14/video-cornell-r…
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201503464/fu…

"Cornell University researchers have developed a new lightweight and stretchable material with the consistency of memory foam that has potential for use in prosthetic body parts, artificial organs and soft robotics. The foam is unique because it can be formed and has connected pores that allow fluids to be pumped through it.

The polymer foam starts as a liquid that can be poured into a mold to create shapes, and because of the pathways for fluids, when air or liquid is pumped through it, the material moves and can change its length by 300 percent.


While applications for use inside the body require federal approval and testing, Cornell researchers are close to making prosthetic body parts with the so-called “elastomer foam.”

“We are currently pretty far along for making a prosthetic hand this way,” said Rob Shepherd, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and senior author of a paper appearing online and in an upcoming issue of the journal Advanced Materials. Benjamin Mac Murray, a graduate student in Shepherd’s lab, is the paper’s first author.

In the paper, the researchers demonstrated a pump they made into a heart, mimicking both shape and function. ..."

[Popeye82]

To "save on weight, a detour to the moon is the best route, to Mars", for a piloted mission to Mars, fueling up on the moon could streamline cargo by 68 percent. Launching humans to Mars may not require a full tank of gas: A new MIT study suggests that a Martian mission may lighten its launch load considerably, by refueling on the moon

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/to-save-on-weight-a-detour…
http://news.mit.edu/2015/mars-mission-save-weight-fuel-on-mo…

"For a piloted mission to Mars, fueling up on the moon could streamline cargo by 68 percent

Launching humans to Mars may not require a full tank of gas: A new MIT study suggests that a Martian mission may lighten its launch load considerably by refueling on the moon.


Previous studies have suggested that lunar soil and water ice in certain craters of the moon may be mined and converted to fuel . Assuming that such technologies are established at the time of a mission to Mars, the MIT group has found that taking a detour to the moon to refuel would reduce the mass of a mission upon launch by 68 percent.

The group developed a model to determine the best route to Mars, assuming the availability of resources and fuel-generating infrastructure on the moon. Based on their calculations, they determined the optimal route to Mars, in order to minimize the mass that would have to be launched from Earth — often a major cost driver in space exploration missions.

They found the most mass-efficient path involves launching a crew from Earth with just enough fuel to get into orbit around the Earth. A fuel-producing plant on the surface of the moon would then launch tankers of fuel into space, where they would enter gravitational orbit. The tankers would eventually be picked up by the Mars-bound crew, which would then head to a nearby fueling station to gas up before ultimately heading to Mars.

Olivier de Weck, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems at MIT, says the plan deviates from NASA’s more direct “carry-along” route.

“This is completely against the established common wisdom of how to go to Mars, which is a straight shot to Mars, carry everything with you,” de Weck says. “The idea of taking a detour into the lunar system … it’s very unintuitive. But from an optimal network and big-picture view, this could be very affordable in the long term, because you don’t have to ship everything from Earth.”

The results, which are based on the PhD thesis of Takuto Ishimatsu, now a postdoc at MIT, are published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.


A faraway strategy

In the past, space exploration programs have adopted two main strategies in supplying mission crews with resources: a carry-along approach, where all vehicles and resources travel with the crew at all times — as on the Apollo missions to the moon — and a “resupply strategy,” in which resources are replenished regularly, such as by spaceflights to the International Space Station.

However, as humans explore beyond Earth’s orbit, such strategies may not be sustainable, as de Weck and Ishimatsu write: “As budgets are constrained and destinations are far away from home, a well-planned logistics strategy becomes imperative.”

The team proposes that missions to Mars and other distant destinations may benefit from a supply strategy that hinges on “in-situ resource utilization ” — the idea that resources such as fuel, and provisions such as water and oxygen, may be produced and collected along the route of space exploration. Materials produced in space would replace those that would otherwise be transported from Earth.

For example, water ice — which could potentially be mined and processed into rocket fuel — has been found on both Mars and the moon.

“There’s a pretty high degree of confidence that these resources are available,” de Weck says. “Assuming you can extract these resources, what do you do with it? Almost nobody has looked at that question.” ..."

[Popeye82]

CCNY research boosts optical fiber data speeds

- “Twisted data” – Multiple data streams are transmitted and received as different twists of light. -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/ccny-research-boosts-optic…
www.ccny.cuny.edu/news/alfano_milione-data-speed.cfm

"In the latest advance to boost the speed of the Internet, a research team including, the City College of New York, University of Southern California, University of Glasgow, and Corning Incorporated, demonstrates a way to increase the data speeds of optical fibers – considered the Internet’s backbone.


“Optical fibers can be sped up by ‘twisting’ data; multiple data streams are transmitted and received as different twists of light,” says Giovanni Milione, a City College doctoral student at the time. “Thought impossible using standard optical fibers which untwist the data, corrupting it, we showed that if the data was digitally re-twisted, after it was received, it could be recovered.”

To digitally re-twist the data, the researchers borrowed a well-known technique of radio communication, referred to as ‘MIMO,’ used by cell phones and Wi-Fi routers every day. “Light’s twists were treated like antennas,” Milione explains. “Even if transmitted data was untwisted, it was received as a different twist (antenna) and recovered.”

As a proof of principal, the researchers successfully transmitted four data streams on four twists of light over 5 kilometers of standard optical fiber. A key to their experiment was a University of Glasgow-made device that separates and combines light’s twists as a prism does color.

“This development could offer a solution to the insatiable needs of data-driven social media, such as, Facebook and YouTube, which continually push optical fiber data speed limits,” said Distinguished Professor of Physics Robert R. Alfano. ..."

[Popeye82]

Researcher creates AFDHAL cooking oil that can be used 80 times

- Prof Suhaila said AFDHA cooking oil was scientifically defined using the main ingredients, palm oil and Rutaceae herb, which are not only capable of reducing oil absorption in fried cooking up to 85 per cent but also minimize the risks of getting cardiovascular and cancer.
Credit: Marina Ismail -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/08/researcher-creates-afdhal-…
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150807150939.htm

"Using palm oil and Rutaceae herb, researchers have developed cooking oil that can be used 80 times. This cooking oil was scientifically defined using the main ingredients which are not only capable of reducing oil absorption in fried cooking up to 85 per cent but also minimize the risks of getting cardiovascular and cancer.


Using palm oil and Rutaceae herb, researchers at University of Putra Malaysia (UPM) have developed cooking oil that can be used 80 times.


Mohamed has invented AFDHAL cooking oil which was formulated using natural herbal extracts, capable of reducing oil absorption in cooking and can be used repeatedly for at least 80 times.

Prof Suhaila said AFDHA cooking oil was scientifically defined using the main ingredients, palm oil and Rutaceae herb, which are not only capable of reducing oil absorption in fried cooking up to 85 per cent but also minimise the risks of getting cardiovascular and cancer.

“Extracts from Rutaceaea herb serve as a natural antioxidant that prevents cooking oil from damage.

“Besides, wastage can be avoided through the use of cooking oil for 80 times, without affecting one’s health.

“Another plus point of this product is that it is rich in high antioxidant, has antibacterial properties and antihistamine to enhance crunchiness, taste and quality of fried foods to prevent damage to the oil whether in cooking or keeping and poses less health risks.

“AFDHAL oil can be used for all types of cooking oils by applying 15 millimetre (ml) or one big spoonful to 150 ml or half a cup of cooking oil,” she said. ..."

[Popeye82]

von 2013,
schon

stretchable lelectronics können wie ja inzwischen schon
wird noch ein dickes ding,
denk ich

South Korean Scientists Develop World’s 1st Bendable Lithium-Ion Battery

http://energy.unist.ac.kr/board/view.sko?menuCd=AC0200100000…

www.ibnlive.com/news/india/korean-scientists-develop-worlds-…

"South Korean scientists just developed the world’s first imprintable and bendable battery – and it could pave the way for flexible mobile devices in the near future. According to the researchers, the new lithium-ion batteries are not only flexible, but also more stable and less likely to overheat or catch fire than conventional batteries. This technology could lead to the creation of flexible smartphones or other electronic devices, as well as the development of new apps that could change the way consumers interact with their phones.







The new flexible battery was developed by a team of researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. Led by Professor Lee Sang-young, the team has created a fluid-like polymer electrolyte that, through use of nanomaterials, could be applied to any given surface. The electrolytes are exposed to ultraviolet rays for 30 seconds, resulting in flexible batteries that can be imprinted with various patterns.

Apart from creating more diverse possibilities for practical applications, due to the flexibility of the design, the new batteries show a much higher level of stability than conventional batteries that use liquefied electrolytes.

“Conventional lithium-ion batteries that use liquefied electrolytes had problems with safety as the film that separates electrolytes may melt under heat, in which case the positive and negative [charge] may come in contact,” said the country’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, which co-funded the research.

“Because the new battery uses flexible but solid materials, and not liquids, it can be expected to show a much higher level of stability than conventional rechargeable batteries.”


+ Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

Via IBNLive "

[Popeye82]

"Breakthrough Laser Communication Technology, to Revolutionize Earth Observation, +Satellite Communication", the 1st ever gigabit transmission via laser of imagery between the radar sensor on Sentinel-1A +Alphasat satellites, the latter built by Airbus Defence +Space, has taken place successfully. This advanced communication system based on the Laser Communication Terminal(LCT) technology is a main part of the European Space Agency's(ESA) European Data Relay System(EDRS), also referred to as the SpaceDataHighway - AO/A, D&S/GMoE/ESA/DLR - Nov 29, 2014

- European Data Relay System (EDRS) connecting LEO and GEO satellites together – confirming the concept of the SpaceDataHighway to benefit disaster management, security and commercial users. -
www.azooptics.com/News.aspx?newsID=20148
www.edrs-spacedatahighway.com
http://airbusdefenceandspace.com

"The first ever gigabit transmission via laser of imagery between the radar sensor on Sentinel-1A and Alphasat satellites, the latter built by Airbus Defence and Space, has taken place successfully. This advanced communication system based on the Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) technology is a main part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Data Relay System (EDRS), also referred to as the SpaceDataHighway.


It enables secure, high data rate communication between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites or aerial platforms and Geostationary (GEO) satellites. The LCT technology has been developed by the Airbus Defence and Space subsidiary Tesat-Spacecom with the support of the German Aerospace Centre DLR.

ESA is currently demonstrating the long distance laser link with real content from the Sentinel-1 Earth observation satellite in LEO orbit via Alphasat communications satellite in GEO orbit to the ground. During the demonstration, data transfer reached 0.6 Gigabits per second of possible 1.8 Gigabits per second over 45,000km between sophisticated Laser Communication Terminals. The demonstration follows on successful LCT operation between two LEO satellites since 2008. With such high bandwidths possible, the SpaceDataHighway will significantly improve data latency and system reactivity, MAKING TRULY GLOBAL NEAR-REAL TIME COMMUNICATION SRVICES AVAILABLE FORTHE 1ST TIME.

The SpaceDataHighway is realised within a Private Public Partnership between ESA and Airbus Defence and Space (www.esa.int/eo; www.esa.int/telecom). As the prime contractor, Airbus Defence and Space builds, owns, operates and co-finances the system infrastructure both on the ground and in space. The technology used by the Laser Communication Terminal has been developed in Germany and supported by the German Aerospace Center DLR based on funding by the Ministry of Economics.

"This is a major step in the proof of the concept. Once operational, the EDRS - SpaceDataHighway will move boundaries of space-based data communication significantly," said Evert Dudok, Head of the Communications, Intelligence and Security (CIS) Business Line at Airbus Defence and Space. "Besides Copernicus, the SpaceDataHighway will also serve many commercial and military applications that require such unparalleled near-real-time, high bandwidth communication services," said Mr Dudok.

Thomas Müller, Head of the Electronics Business Line at Airbus Defence and Space, said: "Our laser communication technology will revolutionize earth observation and satellite communication. We ARE THE FIRST COMPANY WHICH MASTERS THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY TO OPEN UP AN ENTIRELY NEW SPECTRUM OF COMMUNICATION."

A part of the available SpaceDataHighway capacity will be used for data communication on ESA's Earth observation project, Copernicus. The system will therefore enable faster, more efficient transfer of large near-real-time data of the Earth. This capability is also key for security organisations or emergency response organisations. The remaining bandwidth will be commercially available, and is expected to be used for diverse applications. These include Open Ocean Surveillance (OOS) where the SpaceDataHighway will provide much-needed, low latency downlink capabilities, supporting maritime border control and providing support for counter-measures against i.e. piracy and drug smuggling. The system can also provide beyond line of sight control for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and be used to control and re-configure satellites in orbit.

The radar payload of the Sentinel 1 satellite and the Alphasat satellite have been built by Airbus Defence and Space. The first operational SpaceDataHighway LCT payload has been integrated on the EUTELSAT 9B satellite, also built by Airbus Defence and Space, to be launched in 2015. A second dedicated spacecraft will follow in 2016, providing an increased field of coverage and system redundancy. Further extension of the SpaceDataHighway infrastructure with additional geostationary data relay capacities for enhanced global coverage and system capacity is currently under preparation.


Please find more information: http://www.edrs-spacedatahighway.com; www.tesat.de

Source: http://airbusdefenceandspace.com "

[Popeye82]

Hybrid vessels will soon be on the market, Hybrid cars have been a success. The shipping industry is now moving in the same green direction, “The authorities need to think in new ways ”

- Hybrid engines will soon be a common technology in anchor vessels like this, according to scientists. Photo: Morten Hellevik. -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/06/hybrid-vessels-will-soon-b…
www.sintef.no/en/news-from-gemini.no/hybrid-vessels-will-soo…

"Hybrid cars have been a success. The shipping industry is now moving in the same green direction.

ABB is convinced that vessels fitted with hybrid main propulsion machinery are the future, and the company expects to sign its first contract in the course of the year.

“Hybrid propulsion systems significantly reduce both fuel consumption and emissions,” says Børre Gundersen, R&D manager for ABB’s marine activities in Norway.

The company is currently testing the technology in a hypermodern hybrid laboratory in collaboration with NTNU and the SINTEF-institute MARINTEK.


Saving 15 percent of the energy

“The aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate solutions for improved, more energy-efficient propulsion systems for marine use. What we have found so far is that a direct-current power system that incorporates an energy store (i.e. battery) would result in 10 – 15 per cent lower fuel consumption and emissions than a traditional alternating current system.

This is because the energy store optimises operation of the internal combustion engine, which in turn means reduced fuel consumption, reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and particles, and not least, improved power system reliability,” says MARINTEK research manager Anders Valland.

The research team envisages that hybrid motors would be particularly effective in offshore operations, in which vessels perform many different tasks under a wide range of weather conditions.


Better, +cheaper, batteries

“The battery can absorb peak loads, while the internal combustion engine can continue to operate at its optimal level. This will also mean that in the future, future ships will not need such large engines as they do today, but rather smaller engines with batteries as backup and for security,” says Valland.

ABB believes that there could be a large market for electric vessels and el-hybrid vessels in the near future. One of the reasons for this belief is that experts expect to see battery capacity doubling by 2020, without a corresponding rise in cost. Moreover, they offer significant environmental benefits. ..."

[Popeye82]

MIT Spinout Develops Smartphone-Powered Eye-Test Device, after five years of development, +about 40,000 tests worldwide, the smartphone-powered eye-test devices developed by MIT spinout EyeNetra is coming to hospitals, optometric clinics, optical stores, +even homes, nationwide

- Ramesh Raskar holding the Netra device. Photo: John Werner/Camera Culture Group -
www.azooptics.com/News.aspx?newsID=21696

[Popeye82]

New Aluminum Battery Takes Just 60 Seconds To Charge - DM/UoS/N, STANFORD - Apr 7, 2015

- Carl Engelking -

- Researchers light up an LED bulb with their aluminum-ion battery prototype. (Credit: Screenshot from YouTube) -
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/04/07/aluminu…

"Researchers from Stanford University have built a battery that does everything you wish your cell phone’s lithium-ion battery could.

The team announced its aluminum-ion battery prototype Monday in the journal Nature, and it’s a glimmer of hope for every thumb-pounding smartphone addict. The battery can fully charge in about one minute, hold a charge longer than conventional batteries and is safer than lithium-ion batteries.


Decades in the Making

Aluminum is an attractive metal for batteries due to its low cost and high charge capacity, but attempts to build an aluminum battery over the past 30 years have largely failed. Past aluminum battery iterations didn’t pack enough juice to power devices, had extremely short life cycles and were susceptible to deterioration. Finding the right combination of materials to produce sufficient voltage after repeated recharge cycles has, to this point, eluded researchers.

However, the team at Stanford cleared these hurdles by using graphite for the battery’s cathode, the place where current leaves the battery, and aluminum for the anode, the place where current flows into the battery. The researchers placed their aluminum anode and graphite cathode, along with an ionic liquid electrolyte, into a flexible polymer pouch. The combination yielded a high performing, cheap battery.

------>



The aluminum battery can produce about two volts of electricity and can be recharged more than 7,500 times without any decay in its total capacity. For comparison, other experimental aluminum batteries died after 100 charges, and the conventional lithium-ion battery lasts about 1,000 cycles.

The aluminum battery also has another advantage over lithium-ion batteries: it doesn’t catch on fire. If you, say, drill a hole through a lithium-ion battery, it might catch fire, as evidenced in this video below. Indeed, lithium-ion batteries can behave in unpredictable ways, which is why some major airlines have banned bulk lithium-ion battery shipments on planes.




Mooore Voltage, Pleaaaaase

The Stanford team’s aluminum battery appears to fill in all the gaps left open by lithium-ion batteries, but there’s still work to do. Although the battery’s 2-volt output is the largest anyone has ever achieved with aluminum, it’s still not enough to power our popular handheld gadgets — the average lithium smartphone battery produces 3.7 or 4.2 volts. The team was able to produce 5 volts using two batteries and a converter, but that setup wouldn’t fit as snugly into our devices.

“Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery,” Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford, said in a news release. “But improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density. Otherwise, our battery has everything else you’d dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life.”

So hang in there avid texters, Tweeters, selfie-snappers and Candy Crushers, your days of living with battery anxiety are numbering fewer and fewer. "

[Popeye82]

Folgendes hat im prinzipviel mit diesem thread hier zu tun

Früher Wahnwitz, heute Realität, diese verrückten Ideen aus "Zurück in die Zukunft" sind jetzt Wirklichkeit, "was damals noch eine abstruse Fantasie war, ist heute (teilweise)schnöder Alltag"

http://web.de/magazine/wissen/zurueck-zukunft-2-grossen-real…

"Am 21. Oktober 2015 landet der Zeitreisende Michael J. Fox alias "Marty McFly" in unserem heutigen hier und jetzt. Soweit die Theorie der Kultreihe "Zurück in die Zukunft", die in diesem Jahr ihr 30-jähriges Jubiläum feiert. Demnach verfügen wir heutzutage über fliegende Autos und vielerlei andere technische Möglichkeiten. Wir zeigen, was Filmfiktion geblieben ist und welche Ideen inzwischen tatsächlich Realität geworden sind.


Robert Zemeckis, Regisseur der "Zurück in die Zukunft"-Trilogie, sagte einst, dass es ihm beim zweiten Teil der Saga nicht darum gegangen sei, eine realistische Zukunft zu skizzieren. Er habe sich einfach nur ein paar lustige Dinge ausdenken wollen, die es in 2015 geben könnte. Das scheint ihm besser gelungen zu sein, als erwartet. Denn einige wahnwitzige Ideen, mit denen "Marty McFly" in der Zukunft konfrontiert wird, sind inzwischen tatsächlich Realität.


- Viral-Hit: "Tagesschau"-Video zeigt News aus "Zurück in die Zukunft" -


"Zurück in die Zukunft 2": Diese Ideen sind nun Realität

Als "Marty McFly" aus dem Jahr 1985 in das Jahr 2015 reist, um seine Familie zu retten, ist die Stadt Hill Valley nicht mehr das, was sie einmal war. Am Rathausplatz wird der Zeitreisende von einigen technischen Neuerungen überrascht, darunter auch ein animierter 3-D-Hai, der ihn aus einem Kinogebäude heraus zu attackieren scheint. Ein kleiner Moment im Film – ein großer Moment in der echten Zukunft: Wer heutzutage einen Besuch im Kino plant, hat inzwischen meist die Wahl, ob er sich den Film klassisch in 2-D oder als 3-D-Event anschauen möchte. Einige Kinos gehen sogar noch einen Schritt weiter und bieten mittlerweile sogar 4-D-Vorführungen an. In diesen kommen zur schon fast "üblichen" räumlichen Dimension auch noch Spezialeffekte für die Sinne, wie etwa fühlen oder riechen, dazu.

Einen guten Riecher hatten die Macher von "Zurück in die Zukunft 2" übrigens auch hinsichtlich der Fernseh- und Computertechnik. In den 1980er-Jahren war man fasziniert davon, dass im McFly-Haus der Zukunft Flachbildschirme an den Wänden hängen, über die man sowohl Fernsehen schauen als auch mit dem Chef via Video chatten kann. Was damals noch eine abstruse Fantasie war, ist heute schnöder Alltag. Röhrenfernseher gehören längst der Vergangenheit an, Flachbildschirme und auch Beamer sind längst Teil der Wohnungseinrichtung geworden. Dank Skype und Co. kann sogar die Tante aus Texas live und in Bewegtbild am täglichen Familienwahnsinn teilhaben, indem man sie einfach via Video-Chat dazu schaltet.

Familienwahnsinn spielt sich bei den "McFlys" in 2015 auch am Küchentisch ab – wenn man sich die Nachrichten durch eine elektronische Brille hindurch anschaut. Wirklich absurd findet dieses Szenario heute wohl kaum jemand mehr: Der Optikgerätehersteller Oculus etwa wird Anfang 2016 eine eben solche Brille für Endkunden auf den Markt bringen, durch die man Filme schauen oder auch Computerspiele spielen kann.

Dass man für Computerspiele in unserem Jahrzehnt ohnehin keine Joysticks oder andere Steuerungs-Hardware braucht, wird bereits im Film vermutet. Als Michael J. Fox' Rolle "Marty" im 80er-Jahre-Café einen Spielautomaten entdeckt, wissen die kleinen Jungs, die davor stehen, gar nicht, wie man ein solches Gerät bedient – was zumindest für die Jugend von morgen nicht überraschend wäre. Denn Microsoft hat mit seiner Xbox Kinect eine Spielekonsole geschaffen, die per Gestensteuerung funktioniert. Selbiges ist übrigens inzwischen auch mit PCs möglich, allein mithilfe einer Webcam und entsprechender Software.

Zwei weitere Highlights im Film: Die fliegenden Skateboards und eine erwünschte Spendenzahlung für die zerstörte Rathausuhr. Bei Ersterem handelt es sich um das berühmte Hoverboard, an dem einige Firmen sich seit Jahren die Zähne ausbeißen, es in absehbarer Zeit aber tatsächlich auf den Markt bringen wollen. Bei Letzterem geht es um Bezahlen via Fingerabdruck – etwas, das in "Zurück in die Zukunft 2" wunderbar funktioniert und spätestens seit Apples Touch-ID auf dem iPhone auch keine fiktionale Idee mehr ist, sondern Realität. Wer mag, kann seine Einkäufe im App Store oder in manchen Supermarktketten nämlich tatsächlich mithilfe seines Fingerabdrucks tätigen und bestätigen.


Was wurde und wird eigentlich aus …?

Fliegende Autos, selbst trocknende Kleidung oder auch getrocknetes Essen, das erst in der Mikrowelle zu einer vollwertigen Mahlzeit "hydriert" wird, sind leider weiterhin reine Zukunftsvisionen. Zwar werden in einigen Bereichen die technischen Entwicklungen vorangetrieben, wirklich spruchreif ist davon aber noch nichts. Was übrigens nicht der Zukunft, sondern eigentlich vielmehr der Vergangenheit angehört, sind übrigens Faxgeräte. In "Marty McFly"s Zukunft spielen sie noch eine tragende Rolle, als er unendlich viele Faxe gleichzeitig von seinem Chef erhält, dass er gefeuert wurde. Das Gute am echten 2015: Eine Kündigung würde "Marty" heute auf diesem Weg wohl kaum noch zu Hause erreichen. "

[Popeye82]

in link2 äussert er sich im interview

Icahn: I want to see something done in Congress - FY/CNBC, WASHINGTON - Oct 21, 2015

- Scott Wapner -

- Getty Images (L) | CNBC (R). In a letter to leading members of Congress, the billionaire investor says he's pledging his own money to push for corporate tax reform. -
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/icahn-launches-150m-super-pac-…
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000435341

"Carl Icahn has a new activist target —Washington.

The man best known for battling some of America's biggest companies is now taking his fight to the nation's capital. In a letter, released Wednesday and sent to several leading members of Congress, the billionaire investor SAY'S HE IS FORMING A SUPER PAC AND PLEDHING $150,000,000 OF HIS OWN MONEY TO PUSH FOR CORPORATE TAX REFORM.

Icahn said he's targeting "inversions" which occur when a company changes its domicile, often outside the United States, to take advantage of lower tax rates elsewhere.


"I believe my own commitment of $150 million to the PAC will be more than enough to make voters fully aware of the horrible consequences that will ensue if Congress fails to pass legislation immediately to stop these 'inversions,'" Icahn said.

On CNBC's "Fast Money: Halftime Report," Icahn noted he believed change could come through congressional legislation. He did not say specifically how he would use the money to urge that change, other than to hold Congress "accountable."

"The political arena today is completely dysfunctional ," Icahn said.

In the letter, Icahn said as many as 50 companies have left the U.S. over the past few years, representing more than a half-trillion dollars in market value, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and lost jobs.

"If this exodus is allowed to accelerate, there will be disastrous consequences for our already fragile economy, as well as meaningful and unnecessary job losses," he said.

Icahn contended reform would not only bring those companies' tax money back to the United States but also reduce the threat of them leaving for good.

"I think right now we're not aware of the fact there's a great danger very many companies are going to leave this country," he told CNBC.

The topic is not new to Washington. Last September, the Obama administration, citing a need for "economic patriotism," threatened tougher rules for corporate inversions, but no executive orders or legislation on the issue have yet to be passed.

Icahn sees adding language to the Highway Bill, which is currently being debated in Congress, as an ideal opportunity to address the issue.

The billionaire said he has spoken with Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer and potential House Speaker Paul Ryan about his plan and that both are in agreement.

Central to Icahn's idea is allowing multinational companies to bring funds back from overseas without the threat of "double taxation" — commonly called repatriation.

He cites the more than $2 trillion American companies have parked overseas as evidence that the current tax code is anticompetitive.

"These companies want to bring this money back to the United States, but they choose not to because we require they pay a "double tax" if they do," Icahn said. "We are the only country in the world that does this, and it's counterproductive because it creates an incentive to keep the money abroad."

Icahn is one of the largest shareholders in Apple (AAPL), which holds more than $100 billion in cash overseas. He told CNBC he did not believe the tech giant would attempt to leave the United States.

Aside from his own millions, Icahn said he'll attempt to raise even more money from others — making one of Wall Street's most formidable activists a new political force on Pennsylvania Avenue. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.884.254 von Popeye82 am 19.10.15 23:25:55

diese Jungs sind schon ein bisschen schräg,
trotzdem -finde ich- schon interessant sich so(was) mal anzuhören

immerhin, soweit ichs verstanden habe, einer der mitinventoren der String Theorie,
und überm teich wohl ziemlich populär(vermutlich nicht so schwierig wenn man immer die coolen sachen erzählen kann)

und da hat er einen Sack voll geschichten

[Popeye82]

ein doppelschreiben

da freut man sich doch
auf morgen
und
nooooooooooooooooooooooooch
viel mehr
übermorgen





Study Advances Possibility of Mind-Controlled Devices - R&D M/NM/BU/BB, RHODE ISLAND - Oct 12, 2015

- Ryan Bushey -

- This 4-mm square array is implanted in the brains of people participating in BrainGate.org research. It detects neural signals that are then translated into a computer commands.
Matthew McKee/BrainGate Collaboration -
------> http://nurmikko.engin.brown.edu/?q=node/1&&
www.rdmag.com/videos/2015/10/study-advances-possibility-mind…
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-29/watch-two-people-…
www.nature.com/nm/journal/v21/n10/full/nm.3953.html?

" Overview

We have built a wireless implantable microelectronic device for transmitting cortical signals transcutaneously. The device is aimed at interfacing a microelectrode array cortical to an external computer for neural control applications. Our implantable microsystem enables presently 16-channel broadband neural recording in a non-human primate brain by converting these signals to a digital stream of infrared light pulses for transmission through the skin. The implantable unit employs a flexible polymer substrate onto which we have integrated ultra-low power amplification with analog multiplexing, an analog-to-digital converter, a low power digital controller chip, and infrared telemetry. The scalable 16-channel microsystem can employ any of several modalities of power supply, including via radio frequency by induction, or infrared light via a photovoltaic converter. As of today, the implant has been tested as a sub-chronic unit in non-human primates (~ 1 month), yielding robust spike and broadband neural data on all available channels.




The Substrate

Currently we use flexible Kapton (polyimide), laminated on either side for mechanical strength of the metal traces. Kapton provides excellend flexibility, and relatively low water uptake. Kapton has been used for many years in the retinal prosthetic realm, allowing extemely miniaturized electronics to be placed in the tight constraints of the eye.

Behind either end of the substrate, we attach a rigid plating (alumina) to allow proper wedge-bonding conditions. This also provides slight mechanical resistance to bending of the substrate around the electronics.

The connecting tether of the substrate has been made as thin as possible to allow greatest flexibility of the transcranial region of the implant. Slight movements of the brain in relation to the skull can cause damage from electrodes dragging through cortex, and this must be minimized.

A recent system is imaged on the right. The green material is the Kapton substrate. iPhone is underneathe for comparisson.




The Array/Amplifier




The array/amplifier integration process was developed at Brown by Yoon-Kyu Song from the need to directly mount the ASIC amplifier design (in-house by William Patterson) onto the back of the array, allowing maximal miniaturization and nearest amplification to the input signal (the neurons). At Brown, we use a "flip-chip" bonder to bring the two components together and cure the joining silver epoxy.


The Telemetry

The ADC receives a clock and a start-of-conversion signal from the digital controller IC that also supplies the channel address to the amplifier circuit. The controller is a custom integrated circuit built in the AMIS 0.5-micron process through MOSIS and has been described in more detail elsewhere. The controller has two other functions. First, it multiplexes the ADC data with a periodic synchronization code word that replaces the data from one channel. The external electronics that receive the neural data uses this unique code word to find the beginning of the serial data for the first channel. Second, the controller converts the multiplexed data into the drive current for a low-current, high-efficiency, vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diode (VCSEL), which produces a peak optical output power of 2 mW for the optical telemetry. The VCSEL occupies less than 1 mm2 of substrate area. The controller derives its clock from either the RF inductive power loop or from modulation on the DC power source depending on the supply mode. The controller IC contains a comparator that regenerates the digital clock from a small sinusoidal signal separated from the appropriate source in the power module. Total system power consumption is approximately 12 mW in the present version including all parts of the implanted system.




Encapsulation

While much is understood about the issues regarding soft, polymeric electrical insulation of electronics, little is known about how these issues can be solved. We have previously developed a small scale testing station to evaluate the major constituents of device failure due to encapsulation breakdown; these are surface adhesion strength of the material, electric driving force over the material, and temperature of the material in question. While this setup was extremely useful in the guidance of our research, it does not provide that statistical significance we need to make founded conclusions about the dynamics of the physical system we are dissecting. To achieve a greater degree of certainty we are currently in the process of developing a system with the capability and capacity to test 100 units concurrently. This system has been designed and is currently being fabricated in our labs to provide the scientific community with hard evidence as to how polymeric insulators (specifically, polydimethylsiloxane and Parylene C) will behave in biological environments. Spending the time and effort to thoroughly dissect this issue is essential to providing an implant that is safe for the patient/subject and functional for research and eventually human implant.







The Brown Neurocard(BNC)

Development and testing of a fully implantable neural microsystem is a multi-stage process, requiring rigorous performance evaluation and validation at each step. Our development pathway towards the final goal of a fully implantable (presently 16-channel) system had four steps: (A) evaluation at the benchtop level via immersion in physiologic saline solution (mimicking the conductivity of brain tissue) and „pseudospike‟ electrical current injection; (B) building a printer circuit board (PCB) version of the microsystem (“Neurocard”) for external mounting atop a primate skull, to validate the system component performance by coupling this external unit to passive microelectrode array implants with skull-mounted connectors, (C) In-vivo testing during acute surgery in rodents (rats, whose anatomical dimensions only permit the insertion of the cortical “front panel”), and finally (D) surgical techniques for microsystem implant into a monkey with wireless transcutaneous signal transmission, with online reliability and animal safety monitoring.




Implanting passive microelectrode arrays into non-human primates is relatively routine; however, integrated constructs such as the one described here require a different set of surgical parameters to be "mastered‟ by neurosurgeons. One key issue is to ensure that microelectrodes reach their required target area and depth (latter with submillimeter precision), while carrying the additional electronic payload and a mechanically different tether and associated force loads. A practical approach to decouple the evaluation of microsystem electronic performance from surgical, anatomical and neurophysiological implant complications is to move the active electronics to an external platform and use input from existing implanted passive arrays. Such an approach has been adapted recently for neuroscientific studies in freely moving monkeys. We have pursued this strategy and developed a small printed circuit board (PCB) bearing all the active microelectronics rigidly connected to a skull-mounted pedestal connector, and can be used in conjunction with standard passive implants in monkeys. The neural signals extracted from the board (by wire or wirelessly via IR) can then be directly compared in quality to those acquired from the same animal using a standard commercial (rack-mounted) neural signal acquisition system. The figure above shows a block diagram of the test system (a) and a photographic image of the “Brown Neurocard” (b).


The Results




The present status of our work underway is summarized the figure here showing an example of ongoing experiments where the full microsystem is being implanted into the head of macaque monkeys. The night vision camera shows the spot at which the IR laser beam exits through the skin. This implant also includes an accompanying electrical feedthrough for in-situ comparison between the wireless (IR) and wired telemetry. The implant was placed in a monkey subchronically (for a period of ~30 days), and analyzed post-explant for functionality and performance. The figure shows neural pseudospike waveforms recorded on a single channel of the explanted microsystem, and verifies that there was no change in system performance through the duration of the implant as well the handling during the actual implant and explant surgeries. This durability is another initial indicator of the resilience of the packaging. Work is underway to correlate the neural signals to specific task related behaviors.




Related publications:

- Active Microelectronic Neurosensor Arrays for Implantable Brain Communication Interfaces. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 2009.
- A Brain Implantable Microsystem with Hybrid RF/IR Telemetry for Advanced Neuroengineering Applications. EMBC. 2007
- A microelectrode/microelectronic hybrid device for brain implantable neuroprosthesis applications. Biomedical Engineering. 2004.


Recent conferences, +talks:

- International Conference on Solid State Circuits, San Francisco, January 29-31
- Northeast Bioengineering Conference, Providence, April 4-5
- Neuro-IC ’08 Conference, UCLA, Los Angeles, May 28
- NIH Conference on Neural Prosthetics, June 16-18
- IBM Physical Sciences Colloquium, Yorktown Heights, November 7
- International Conference on Electron Devices, San Francisco, December
- Conference on Lasers and Optoelectronics (CLEO), San Jose, May
- Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), Orlando, May
- Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington DC, November


On Wireless Power, for the Brain Implantable Chip

Currently we are striving to make our BIC device fully implantable. To make this possible, we’re adopting IR- RF data power telemetry for the next version of BIC device. As shown in the following figure, internal device consists of microelectrode array with amplifier on front-end and ASIC, ADC etc on the back end panel. Also on fully implantable internal unit, there is a coil printed on the back-end of a substrate which receive power, and VCSEL (850nm), mounted in the middle of the coil, sends data with full bandwidth through skin. To pick up those signals and feed the implantable device, external unit consists of primary coil and IR detector. While the concept of the whole system is straightforward, there are several challenging issues on RF/IR data transmission when the device is actually implanted.

Design Issues: RF coils on external and internal unit should align well together to deliver maximum power, while the external part should be minimally obtrusive and wearable easily as shown in cochlear implant. The device for freely moving animal model may be different from the future clinical application, but both should be optimized appropriately.

Transmission efficiency: Optical data has loss of power when it passes through skin due to scattering and absorption (and small but certain amount is due to back reflection). As the photodiode should be in the midst of the primary coil, the optical pickup is subject to picking up the RF output especially when the output of PD is tens (or less than)of mV level. This requires the proper optical model of scattering through tissue, since the total area of scattered light is related to the size of photodiode, and the size of PD is related to the time constant (speed of the system).

Biocompatibility: How big the temperature change of tissue will be near the implanted device when RF power is applied, and what will be the tolerable range? How can the system detect and shut down as soon as possible when induced power of implanted device by any reason? These are the region of biocompatibility that one might actually have during the clinical trial, and should be proved perfectly before any possible clinical application.




These and other possible issues that can come up with the implementation should be solved, and we’re working on these for the next version of BIC. "

[Popeye82]

Custom 3-D printed ear models help, surgeons, carve new ears

- Children with under-formed or missing ears can undergo surgeries to fashion a new ear from rib cartilage, as shown in the above photo. But aspiring surgeons lack lifelike practice models. (credit: University of Washington) -
www.kurzweilai.net/custom-3-d-printed-ear-models-help-surgeo…

"A University of Washington (UW) otolaryngology resident and a bioengineering student have used 3-D printing to create a low-cost pediatric rib cartilage model that more closely resembles the feel of real cartilage, which is used in an operation called auricular reconstruction (ear replacement).

The innovation could make it possible for aspiring surgeons to become proficient in the sought-after but challenging procedure. And because the UW models are printed from a CT scan, they mimic an individual’s specific unique anatomy. That offers the opportunity for even an experienced surgeon to practice a particular tricky surgery ahead of time on a patient-specific rib model.


As part of the study, three experienced surgeons practiced carving, bending, and suturing the UW team’s silicone models, which were produced from a 3-D printed mold modeled from a CT scan of an 8-year-old patient. They compared their firmness, feel, and suturing quality to real rib cartilage, and to a more expensive material made out of dental impression material. They preferred the 3-D printed versions.


- The UW team used a 3-D printer to create a negative mold of a patient’s ribs from a CT scan. Surgeons take pieces of those ribs and “carve” them into a new ear. (credit: University of Washington) -


Co-author Sharon Newman, who graduated from the UW with a bioengineering degree in June, teamed up with lead author Angelique Berens, a UW School of Medicine otolaryngologist, while they both worked in the UW BioRobotics Lab under electrical engineering professor Blake Hannaford.

Newman figured out how to upload and process a CT scan through a series of free, open-source modeling and imaging programs, and ultimately use a 3-D printer to print a negative mold of a patient’s ribs.

Newman had previously tested different combinations of silicone, corn starch, mineral oil and glycerin to replicate human tissue that the lab’s surgical robot could manipulate. She poured them into the molds and let them cure to see which mixture most closely resembled rib cartilage.

The team’s next steps are to get the models into the hands of surgeons and surgeons-in-training, and hopefully to demonstrate that more lifelike practice models can elevate their skills and abilities.

“With one 3-D printed mold, you can make a billion of these models for next to nothing,” said Berens. “What this research shows is that we can move forward with one of these models and start using it.”


Long waiting list

Kathleen Sie, a UW Medicine professor of otolaryngology – head and neck surgery and director of the Childhood Communication Center at Seattle Children’s, said the lack of adequate training models makes it difficult for surgeons to become comfortable performing the delicate technical procedure.

There’s typically a six- to 12-month waiting list for children to have the procedure done at Seattle Children’s, she said.

“It’s a surgery that more people could do, but this is often the single biggest roadblock,” Sie said. “They’re hesitant to start because they’ve never carved an ear before.”

Their study results were presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery conference in Dallas. "

[Popeye82]

Qualcomm CEO Says Machine Learning Could Change Devices, Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf tells WSJ's Dennis Berman that future smart devices may be able to proactively predict health problems. They speak @the WSJDLive '15 conference, in Laguna Beach, Calif - MW - Oct 20, 2015
------> www.marketwatch.com/video/qualcomm-ceo-says-machine-learning…

[Popeye82]

Apple CEO Tim Cook on a ‘massive’ shift for cars, +5 other things on his mind - MW - Oct 20, 2015

- Victor Reklaitis -
www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-ceo-tim-cook-on-a-massive-sh…

[Popeye82]

This is the 'world’s first laundry-folding robot', Tokyo-based Seven Dreamers Laboratories, in collaboration with Panasonic +Daiwa House Industry, is developing the world’s 1st clothes-folding robot. The machine can liberate users from 375 days of the chore over a lifetime - MW - Oct 20, 2015
------> www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-worlds-first-laundry-f…

[Popeye82]

dinosaurier als Concierge

A Tour of the 'World's First Robot-Staffed Hotel', Henn-na Hotel, the world's first hotel entirely staffed by robots, opens, in Nagasaki, Japan, on Jul 17(Video/Photo: Huis Ten Bosch) - MW - Jul 17, 2015
------> www.marketwatch.com/story/video-a-tour-of-the-worlds-first-r…

[Popeye82]

FDA permits marketing of new laser-based hearing aid, with potential for broad sound amplification - Sep 29, 2015
www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm464839…

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of a new hearing aid that uses a laser diode and direct vibration of the eardrum to amplify sound. The combination of laser light pulses and a custom-fit device component that comes in direct contact with the eardrum is designed to use the patient’s own eardrum as a speaker and enables amplification over a wider range of frequencies for some hearing impaired persons. The EarLens Contact Hearing Device (CHD) is indicated for use by adults with mild to severe sensorineural hearing impairment.


According to statistics compiled by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 37.5 million adults aged 18 and older in America report some form of hearing loss. However, only 30 percent of adults aged 70 and older and 16 percent of adults aged 20 to 69 who could benefit from wearing hearing aids have ever used them.

“For the millions of Americans with hearing impairment, hearing aids can significantly improve regular daily communications, as well as overall quality of life,” said William Maisel, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director for science and chief scientist in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “People with hearing impairment now have a new option that may help improve their hearing by amplifying sounds over a broad spectrum of frequencies.”

The EarLens CHD consists of two parts: a tympanic membrane transducer (TMT), which is non-surgically placed deeply into the ear canal on the eardrum, and a behind-the-ear (BTE) audio processor that sits on the outer ear and is connected to an ear tip that is placed in the ear canal. External sound waves received by the BTE processor are converted to electronic signals, digitally processed, amplified and sent to the ear tip, which contains a laser diode. There, the electronic signals of amplified sound are converted to pulses of light. The laser light pulses then shine onto a photodetector in the TMT, which converts the light back into electronic signals, transmitting sound vibrations directly to the eardrum by direct contact.

The EarLens CHD differs from traditional air conduction hearing aids in several ways. The TMT component is custom-molded to the patient’s eardrum and contains a driver mechanism that directly stimulates the eardrum, enabling efficient amplification of sound (functional gain).




Clinical data supporting the safety and effectiveness of the EarLens CHD included several assessments over a four-month period, such as residual hearing stability, improved word recognition, functional amplification gain and the ability to hear sentences in background noise compared to listening without any amplification. Studies showed that after 30 days of device use, the 48 subjects experienced, on average, a 33 percent improvement in word recognition. Users also experienced a clinically significant functional gain of 30.5 decibels (dB) on average in the high frequency range (2,000-10,000 Hz), with an average of 30-40 dB of functional gain noted at 6,000 Hz and above and a maximum of 68 dB at 9,000-10,000 Hz, which is not typically achieved with conventional air-conduction hearing aids.

Several subjects experienced abrasions in the ear canal, primarily related to ear tip use or the impression-making procedure. There were no serious device-related adverse events.

The FDA reviewed the data for the EarLens CHD through the de novo premarket review pathway, a regulatory pathway for some low- to moderate-risk medical devices that are not substantially equivalent to an already legally-marketed device.


EarLens CHD is manufactured by EarLens Corporation of Menlo Park, California.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

### "

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2010/09/new-tech-allows-memory-mat…

[Popeye82]

Self-Healing Coatings, +Parts, Are 'Next Frontier for Smart Materials', thanks to Recent Advances in Modeling +Design, Development of Smart Materials Will Become Faster +Cheaper in the Next Five to 10 Years, Says Lux Research

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/self-healing-coatings-parts-ne…

"BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Oct 20, 2015) - Recent advances and ongoing improvements will help rapid and low-cost development of smart materials, and the next wave of innovation will be in self-healing coatings and parts, according to Lux Research.

Smart materials -- those that change their properties in response to environmental stimuli, providing dynamic functionality -- range from everyday items like photochromic lenses that darken in sunlight to complex ceramics and nanocomposites used in electronics. Emerging classes of smart materials include self-healing materials , sensing materials, and shape memory materials, each of which has many potential applications.

"Today, researchers are beginning to develop software tools for predicting what structures will result in what smart properties. As a result, in the next five to ten years, these kinds of smart materials may become much faster and cheaper to develop," said Anthony Vicari, Lux Research Analyst and the lead author of the report titled, "Get Smart: Smart Materials as a Design Paradigm."

Lux Research analysts studied advances in the development of smart materials and their adoption by industry. Among their findings:

Focus is on self-healing materials. With applications in composites and coatings, self-healing materials are set to be the next frontier for smart materials. Such materials automatically repair damage to themselves through one of several chemical mechanisms.

Varied companies hold patents. Over 300,000 patents have been granted across all smart material families even though few mention the term "smart material" in their titles, abstracts or claims. Patent filings peaked in 2012 at about 100,000, and top patent holders include heavyweights such as Siemens, IBM, GE, and Samsung.

Commercialization can occur rapidly, when conditions are right. Many classes of smart materials had long incubation times, but saw very rapid commercialization once the time was right. Pieozelectric materials were long relegated to niche applications before booming due to adoption in mainstream products such as inkjet printers, digital cameras and smartphones.


The report, titled "Get Smart: Smart Materials as a Design Paradigm," is part of the Lux Research Advanced Materials Intelligence service.


About Lux Research

Lux Research provides strategic advice and ongoing intelligence for emerging technologies. Leaders in business, finance and government rely on us to help them make informed strategic decisions. Through our unique research approach focused on primary research and our extensive global network, we deliver insight, connections and competitive advantage to our clients. Visit www.luxresearchinc.com for more information.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2906527


Contact:

Carole Jacques
Lux Research, Inc.
617-502-5314
[e-mail] "

[Popeye82]

Dive of the RoboBee, HARVARD MICROROBOTICS LAB DEVELOPS FIRST INSECT-SIZE ROBOT CAPABLE OF FLYING +SWIMMING

- Using a modified flapping technique, researchers at the Harvard John Paulson School and Wyss Institute have demonstrate that the RoboBee can also swim. This is the first-ever aerial and aquatic capable insect-scale robot. (Photo by Harvard Microrobotics Lab) -
www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2015/10/dive-of-robobee
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/dive-of-the-robobee/?utm_s…

"HARVARD MICROROBOTICS LAB DEVELOPS FIRST INSECT-SIZE ROBOT CAPABLE OF FLYING AND SWIMMING


In 1939, a Russian engineer proposed a “flying submarine” — a vehicle that can seamlessly transition from air to water and back again. While it may sound like something out of a James Bond film, engineers have been trying to design functional aerial-aquatic vehicles for decades with little success. Now, engineers may be one step closer to the elusive flying submarine.

The biggest challenge is conflicting design requirements: aerial vehicles require large airfoils like wings or sails to generate lift while underwater vehicles need to minimize surface area to reduce drag.

To solve this engineers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) took a clue from puffins. The birds with flamboyant beaks are one of nature’s most adept hybrid vehicles, employing similar flapping motions to propel themselves through air as through water.

“Through various theoretical, computational and experimental studies, we found that the mechanics of flapping propulsion are actually very similar in air and in water,” said Kevin Chen, a graduate student in the Harvard Microrobotics Lab at SEAS. “In both cases, the wing is moving back and forth. The only difference is the speed at which the wing flaps.”

Coming from the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, this discovery can only mean one thing: swimming RoboBees.


For the first time, researchers at SEAS have demonstrated a flying, swimming, insect-like robot — paving the way for future duel aerial aquatic robotic vehicles. The research was presented recently in a paper at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Germany, where first author Chen accepted the award for best student paper.

The paper was co-authored by graduate student Farrell Helbling, postdoctoral fellows Nick Gravish and Kevin Ma, and Robert J. Wood, the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS and Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

The Harvard RoboBee, designed in Wood’s lab, is a microrobot, smaller than a paperclip, that flies and hovers like an insect, flapping its tiny, nearly invisible wings 120 times per second. In order to make the transition from air to water, the team first had to solve the problem of surface tension. The RoboBee is so small and lightweight that it cannot break the surface tension of the water. To overcome this hurdle, the RoboBee hovers over the water at an angle, momentarily switches off its wings, and crashes unceremoniously into the water in order to sink.

Next the team had to account for water’s increased density.

“Water is almost 1,000 times denser than air and would snap the wing off the RoboBee if we didn’t adjust its flapping speed,” said Helbling, the paper’s second author.

The team lowered the wing speed from 120 flaps per second to nine but kept the flapping mechanisms and hinge design the same. A swimming RoboBee changes its direction by adjusting the stroke angle of the wings, the same way it does in air. Like a flying version, it is still tethered to a power source. The team prevented the RoboBee from shorting by using deionized water and coating the electrical connections with glue.

While this RoboBee can move seamlessly from air to water, it cannot yet transition from water to air because it can’t generate enough lift without snapping one of its wings. Solving that design challenge is the next phase of the research, according to Chen.

“What is really exciting about this research is that our analysis of flapping-wing locomotion is not limited to insect-scaled vehicles,” said Chen. “From millimeter-scaled insects to meter-scaled fishes and birds, flapping locomotion spans a range of sizes. This strategy has the potential to be adapted to larger aerial-aquatic robotic designs.”

"Bioinspired robots, such as the RoboBee, are invaluable tools for a host of interesting experiments -- in this case on the fluid mechanics of flapping foils in different fluids,” said Wood. “This is all enabled by the ability to construct complex devices that faithfully recreate some of the features of organisms of interest."

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. "

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.916.507 von Popeye82 am 23.10.15 12:41:30

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.909.025 von Popeye82 am 22.10.15 16:55:30

Zitat von Popeye82: übermorgen

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Gettingrid of mercury pollution inexpensively, using orange peels

http://blogs.flinders.edu.au/flinders-news/2015/10/20/flinde…
www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/flinders-universit…

"Researchers from Australia believe they have found a cheap way to pull mercury from water: a polymer made from sulphur and oranges.

The discovery was made by Dr. Justin Chalker, whose findings will be published in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Chalker is a researcher at Flinders University, and his discovery was announced in Blogs at Flinders.

Chalker's goal was to develop a cheap substance that could be used in large-scale environmental clean-ups that could be coated on pipes or even used in large bodies of water.

The polymer contains sulphur, which is a byproduct of industrial waste, and limonene, which is produced by the citrus industry and mainly contains orange peels.

When the sulphur-limonene polysulfide contacts mercury, it turns bright yellow.

Chalker was happy to devise a polymer out of two products that are essentially landfill.

"More than 70 million tonnes of sulphur is produced each year by the petroleum industry, so there are literally mountains of it lying, unused, around the globe, while more than 70 thousand tons of limonene is produced each year by the citrus industry (limonene is found mainly in orange peels)," Chalker told Blogs at Flinders.

“So not only is this new polymer good for solving the problem of mercury pollution, but it also has the added environmental bonus of putting this waste material to good use while converting them into a form that is much easier to store so that once the material is ‘full’ it can easily be removed and replaced."

Photo of Flinders student Max Worthington and Dr Justin Chalker. Credit Flinders University. "

[Popeye82]

https://breakthroughprize.org/

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.903.004 von Popeye82 am 21.10.15 23:24:59

[Popeye82]

Researchers Develop Techniques to Bypass Blood-Brain Barrier, Deliver Drugs to Brain +Nervous System, Researchers @Massachusetts Eye +Ear/Harvard Medical School +Boston University have successfully shown neuroprotection in a Parkinson’s mouse model using new techniques to deliver drugs across the naturally impenetrable blood-brain barrier

www.masseyeandear.org/news/press-releases/2015/10/mass-eye-a…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/researchers-develop-techni…

"Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and Boston University have successfully shown neuroprotection in a Parkinson’s mouse model using new techniques to deliver drugs across the naturally impenetrable blood-brain barrier. Their findings, published in Neurosurgery, lend hope to patients around the world with neurological conditions that are difficult to treat due to a barrier mechanism that prevents approximately 98 percent of drugs from reaching the brain and central nervous system.


“We are developing a platform that may eventually be used to deliver a variety of drugs to the brain,” said senior author Benjamin S. Bleier, M.D. (in photo), of the department of otolaryngology at Mass. Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School. “Although we are currently looking at neurodegenerative disease, there is potential for the technology to be expanded to psychiatric diseases, chronic pain, seizure disorders and many other conditions affecting the brain and nervous system down the road.”


Using nasal mucosal grafting, researchers delivered glial derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a therapeutic protein in testing for treating Parkinson’s disease, to the brains of mice. They showed through behavioral and histological data capture that their delivery method was equivalent to direct injection of GDNF – the current gold standard for delivering this drug in Parkinson’s disease despite its traumatic nature and high complication rates – in diffusing drugs to the brain.

The researchers chose to test their delivery method with GDNF because the therapy has been shown to delay and even reverse disease progression of Parkinson’s disease in pre-clinical models. The study was funded by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF).




“Brain diseases are notoriously difficult to treat due to the natural protections the body builds against intrusion,” said Jamie Eberling, Ph.D., senior associate director of MJFF research programs. “Dr. Bleier’s group has identified a potential avenue to pass that barrier, and we look forward to the next stage of research to further test its utility in people with Parkinson’s disease .”


Nasal mucosal grafting is a technique regularly used in the ENT field to reconstruct the barrier around the brain after surgery to the skull base. ENT surgeons commonly use endoscopic approaches to remove brain tumors through the nose by making a window through the blood-brain barrier to access the brain. Once they have finished the treatment, they use adjacent nasal lining to rebuild the hole in a permanent and safe way. The safety and efficacy of these methods have been well established through long-term clinical outcomes studies in the field, with the nasal lining protecting the brain from infection just as the blood brain barrier has done.

Dr. Bleier saw an opportunity to apply these techniques to the widespread clinical dilemma of delivering drugs across the barrier to the brain and central nervous system. By functionally replacing a section of the blood-brain barrier with nasal mucosa, which is more than 1,000 times more permeable than the native barrier, surgeons may create a “screen door” to allow for drug delivery to the brain and central nervous system.


The technique has the potential to benefit a large population of patients with neurodegenerative disorders, where there remains a specific unmet need for blood-brain penetrating therapeutic delivery strategies.


“We see this expanding beyond Parkinson’s disease, as there are multiple diseases of the brain that do not have good therapeutic options,” Dr. Bleier said. “It is a platform that opens doors for new discovery and could enable drug development for an underserved population.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.925.585 von Popeye82 am 24.10.15 21:44:13

[Popeye82]

- Cornell University professor Hod Lipson demonstrates how a robot can teach itself to walk without any knowledge of its form and function. "Within a relatively small number of these babbling actions, it will figure out what it looks like," Lipson says. He adds that eventually "it can figure out how to move."

----

Join an audience at swissnex San Francisco as scientists from Switzerland and the US discuss their research on humanoid robots, cognitive robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Hear how some robots self-reflect, self-improve, and adapt to new circumstances, and whether it's possible for robots of the future to possess the same cognitive characteristics as humans.

Cornell University's Hod Lipson is seeking to understand if machines can learn analytical laws automatically. For centuries, scientists have attempted to identify and document analytical laws underlying physical phenomena in nature. Despite the prevalence of computing power, the process of finding natural laws and their corresponding equations has resisted automation. Lipson has developed machines that take in information about their environment and discover natural laws all on their own, even learning to walk.

Rolf Pfeifer directs the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Zurich. Together with his scientific assistant Pascal Kaufmann, Pfeifer presents current AI research and a humanoid robot in the Ecce family referred to as Cronos. Instead of copying only the outward form of a human, Cronos mimics the inner structures as well—bones, joints, muscles, and tendons—and thus has more human-like actions and interactions in the world. -

[Popeye82]

"Fearing Bombs, That Can Pick Whom to Kill"

- Keep killer robots fictional
via www.ottawacitizen.com -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/11/fearing-bombs-that-can-pic…

"On a bright fall day last year off the coast of Southern California, an Air Force B-1 bomber launched an experimental missile that may herald the future of warfare.

Initially, pilots aboard the plane directed the missile, but halfway to its destination, it severed communication with its operators. Alone, without human oversight, the missile decided which of three ships to attack, dropping to just above the sea surface and striking a 260-foot unmanned freighter.


Warfare is increasingly guided by software. Today, armed drones can be operated by remote pilots peering into video screens thousands of miles from the battlefield. But now, some scientists say, arms makers have crossed into troubling territory: They are developing weapons that rely on artificial intelligence, not human instruction, to decide what to target and whom to kill.

As these weapons become smarter and nimbler, critics fear they will become increasingly difficult for humans to control — or to defend against. And while pinpoint accuracy could save civilian lives, critics fear weapons without human oversight could make war more likely, as easy as flipping a switch.

Armaments with even more advanced self-governance are on the drawing board, although the details usually are kept secret. “An autonomous weapons arms race is already taking place,” said Steve Omohundro, a physicist and artificial intelligence specialist at Self-Aware Systems, a research center in Palo Alto, Calif. “They can respond faster, more efficiently and less predictably.”

Concerned by the prospect of a robotics arms race, representatives from dozens of nations will meet on Thursday in Geneva to consider whether development of these weapons should be restricted by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.917.386 von Popeye82 am 23.10.15 13:58:22

New research 'paves the way to begin developing a computer, you can control with your mind', a team of researchers led by Angelika Lingnau, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway has been able to predict participants’ movements just by analysing their brain activity

- via Royal Holloway University of London -
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/aboutus/newsandevents/news/newsartic…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/new-research-paves-the-way…

"A team of researchers led by Angelika Lingnau, from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway has been able to predict participants’ movements just by analysing their brain activity.


The research, which is published today (21st October) in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first human study to look at the neural signals of planned actions that are freely chosen by the participant and could be the first step in the development of brain-computer interfaces.


Dr. Lingnau and her team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants planned and performed simple hand movements inside the scanner. Crucially, participants freely chose which of three hand movements to select. Using machine learning algorithms, the researchers then determined whether they were able to predict which movement the participant was going to perform on the basis of the brain activity measured during the planning phase.


Dr Lingnau said: “We are very excited by our findings because it is the first time a human study of this kind has been carried out where the participants were able to choose a movement by themselves and were the only ones who knew what they had planned to do. We were successfully able to predict what action they were going to carry out just from analysing their brain signals.

“This opens up huge possibilities for the future including the development of technology you can control with your mind as well as enabling the development of methods for helping those with paralysis to have direct brain control to the affected areas.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Methane metabolising organisms discovered, new methane eating organisms have been discovered

www.australianmining.com.au/news/methane-metabolising-organi…

"An international project led by researchers at the University of Queensland has led to the discovery of two new methane-metabolising organisms.

This may be a boon for gassy coal operations, and provide a safer environment.


The new organisms are believed to play a role in both emitting and consuming greenhouse gases, leading to the suggestion that organisms involved in carbon cycling and methane production are scientifically missing.

Deputy Head of UQ’s Australian Centre for Egonomics in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences Associate Professor Gene Tyson discovered novel methane microorganisms found in a wide range of environments, including deep-ocean and freshwater sediments.

“Traditionally, these types of methane-metabolising organisms occur within a single cluster of microorganisms called Euryarchaeota,” Dr Tyson said.

“This makes us wonder how many other types of methane-metabolising microorganisms are out there?”

Techniques used to sequence DNA on a large scale into genomes have been developed by the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics over the past two years. "

[sdaktien]

In Australien. Schau mal an. Hoffentlich sind die Ergebnisse realistischer als die Messergebnisse bei VW.

[Popeye82]

Mini-kidney organoids re-create disease in lab dishes, Stem-cell biology +gene editing advances offer hope for kidney regeneration, drug discovery Mini-kidney organoids have now been grown in a laboratory by using genome editing to re-create human kidney disease in petri dishes. The achievement, believed to be the 1st of its kind, resulted from combining stem cell biology with leading-edge gene-editing techniques

- This is a mini-kidney (1 mm diameter) grown from a patient’s stem cells.
CREDIT
Benjamin Freedman & Joseph Bonventre labs -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/mini-kidney-organoids-re-c…
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/uowh-mor102215.php

"Stem-cell biology and gene editing advances offer hope for kidney regeneration, drug discovery

Mini-kidney organoids have now been grown in a laboratory by using genome editing to re-create human kidney disease in petri dishes.

The achievement, believed to be the first of its kind, resulted from combining stem cell biology with leading-edge gene-editing techniques.

The journal Nature Communications reports the findings today, Oct. 23. The work paves the way for personalized drug discovery for kidney disease.


The mini-kidney organoids were grown from pluripotent stem cells. These are human cells that have turned back the clock to a time when they could develop into any type of organ in the body. When treated with a chemical cocktail, these stem cells matured into structures that resemble miniature kidneys.

These organoids contain tubules, filtering cells and blood vessel cells. They transport chemicals and respond to toxic injury in ways that are similar to kidney tubules in people.

“A major unanswered question was whether we could re-create human kidney disease in a lab petri dish using this technology,” said Benjamin Freedman, who led the studies at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is now an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Washington and a UW Medicine researcher.

“Answering this question,” he said, “was important for understanding the potential of mini-kidneys for clinical kidney regeneration and drug discovery.”

To re-create human disease, Freedman and his colleagues used the gene-editing technique called CRISPR. They engineered mini-kidneys with genetic changes linked to two common kidney diseases, polycystic kidney disease and glomerulonephritis.

The organoids developed characteristics of these diseases. Those with mutations in polycystic kidney disease genes formed balloon like, fluid filled sacks, called cysts, from kidney tubules. The organoids with mutations in podocalyxin, a gene linked to glomerulonephritis, lost connections between filtering cells.

“Mutation of a single gene results in changes kidney structures associated with human disease, thereby allowing better understand of the disease and serving as models to develop therapeutic agents to treat these diseases,” explained Joseph Bonventre, senior author of the study. He is chief of the Renal Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a principal faculty member at Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

“These genetically engineered mini-kidneys,” Freedman added, “have taught us that human disease boils down to simple components that can be re-created in a petri dish. This provides us with faster, better ways to perform ‘clinical trials in a dish’ to test drugs and therapies that might work in humans.”

The researchers found that genetically matched kidney organoids without disease-linked mutations showed no signs of either disease.

“CRISPR can be used to correct gene mutations,” explained Freedman. “Our findings suggest that gene correction using CRISPR may be a promising therapeutic strategy.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Researchers hack off-the-shelf 3-D printer for 3-D bioprinting, Models of hearts, arteries, bones +brains are 3-D printed out of biological materials As of this month, >4,000 Americans are on the waiting list to receive a heart transplant. With failing hearts, these patients have no other options; heart tissue, unlike other parts of the body, is unable to heal itself once it is damaged. Fortunately, recent work by a group @Carnegie Mellon could one day lead to a world in which transplants are no longer necessary to repair damaged organs

- This is a coronary artery structure being 3-D bioprinted.
CREDIT
Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/researchers-hack-off-the-s…
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/cmu-cmr101615.php

"Models of hearts, arteries, bones and brains are 3-D printed out of biological materials

As of this month, over 4,000 Americans are on the waiting list to receive a heart transplant. With failing hearts, these patients have no other options; heart tissue, unlike other parts of the body, is unable to heal itself once it is damaged. Fortunately, recent work by a group at Carnegie Mellon could one day lead to a world in which transplants are no longer necessary to repair damaged organs.

“We’ve been able to take MRI images of coronary arteries and 3-D images of embryonic hearts and 3-D bioprint them with unprecedented resolution and quality out of very soft materials like collagens, alginates and fibrins,” said Adam Feinberg, an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Feinberg leads the Regenerative Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group, and the group’s study was published in the October 23 issue of the journal Science Advances. A demonstration of the technology can be viewed online.


“As excellently demonstrated by Professor Feinberg’s work in bioprinting, our CMU researchers continue to develop novel solutions like this for problems that can have a transformational effect on society,” said Jim Garrett, Dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering. “We should expect to see 3-D bioprinting continue to grow as an important tool for a large number of medical applications.”

Traditional 3-D printers build hard objects typically made of plastic or metal, and they work by depositing material onto a surface layer-by-layer to create the 3-D object. Printing each layer requires sturdy support from the layers below, so printing with soft materials like gels has been limited.

“3-D printing of various materials has been a common trend in tissue engineering in the last decade, but until now, no one had developed a method for assembling common tissue engineering gels like collagen or fibrin,” said TJ Hinton, a graduate student in biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon and lead author of the study.

“The challenge with soft materials — think about something like Jello that we eat — is that they collapse under their own weight when 3-D printed in air,” explained Feinberg. “So we developed a method of printing these soft materials inside a support bath material. Essentially, we print one gel inside of another gel, which allows us to accurately position the soft material as it’s being printed, layer-by-layer.”

One of the major advances of this technique, termed FRESH, or “Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels,” is that the support gel can be easily melted away and removed by heating to body temperature, which does not damage the delicate biological molecules or living cells that were bioprinted. As a next step, the group is working towards incorporating real heart cells into these 3-D printed tissue structures, providing a scaffold to help form contractile muscle.

Bioprinting is a growing field, but to date, most 3-D bioprinters have cost over $100,000 and/or require specialized expertise to operate, limiting wider-spread adoption. Feinberg’s group, however, has been able to implement their technique on a range of consumer-level 3-D printers, which cost less than $1,000 by utilizing open-source hardware and software. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/05/ultrafast-robotic-arm-catc…

[Popeye82]

Nanoparticle technology triples the production of biogas, according to researchers, today’s biogas production is not very efficient – only 30 to 40 per cent of organic matter is converted into biogas – when compared to other energy sources. “The 1st tests conducted with BiogàsPlus demonstrated that product increases up to 200% the production of this combustible gas

- Developed by researchers from ICN2 and the UAB, it is the first application using nanoparticles to improve the production of this source of renewable energy and the treatment of organic waste. The technology will be commercialised under the newly created spin-off Applied Nanoparticles. -
------> www.uab.cat/web/newsroom/news-detail-1345668003610.html?noti…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/11/nanoparticle-technology-tr…

"According to researchers, today’s biogas production is not very efficient – only 30 to 40 per cent of organic matter is converted into biogas – when compared to other energy sources. “The first tests conducted with BiogàsPlus demonstrated that product increases up to 200% the production of this combustible gas.

Researchers of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have developed the new BiogàsPlus, a technology which allows increasing the production of biogas by 200% with a controlled introduction of iron oxide nanoparticles to the process of organic waste treatment.


The development of BiogàsPlus was carried out by the ICN2’s Inorganic Nanoparticle group, led by ICREA researcher Víctor Puntes, and by the Group of Organic Solid Waste Composting of the UAB School of Engineering, directed by Antoni Sánchez.

The system is based on the use of iron oxide nanoparticles as an additive which “feeds” the bacteria in charge of breaking down organic matter. This additive substantially increases the production of biogas and at the same time transforms the iron nanoparticles into innocuous salt.

“We believe we are offering a totally innovative approach to the improvement of biogas production and organic waste treatment, since this is the first nanoparticle application developed with this in mind. In addition, it offers a significant improvement in the decomposition of organic waste when compared to existing technologies”, explains Antoni Sánchez.

According to researchers, today’s biogas production is not very efficient – only 30 to 40 per cent of organic matter is converted into biogas – when compared to other energy sources. “The first tests conducted with BiogàsPlus demonstrated that product increases up to 200% the production of this combustible gas. This translates into a profitable and sustainable solution to the processing of organic waste, thus favouring the use of this renewable source of energy”, affirms Eudald Casals, ICN2 researcher participating in the project.

At the moment, BiogàsPlus has been successfully applied in cellulose and mud found in urban treatment plants, but it also can be used in different anaerobic digestions, such as agricultural, industrial or urban waste treatments.

“Now the challenge lies in extrapolating the technology to digesters with capacity for hundreds of cubic metres. This would allow using it in large-scale anaerobic digestion processes around the world, thereby greatly increasing the production of biogas, a renewable energy which is growing steadily and is accessible to everyone”, Antoni Sánchez explains. ..."

[Popeye82]

Quantum dots +perovskite 'take lighting efficiency to a new level', Hyper-efficient LED technologies could enable applications from the visible-light LED bulbs in every home, to new displays, to gesture recognition using near-infrared wavelengths

- A glowing quantum dot seamlessly integrated into a perovskite crystal matrix (Image: Ella Marushchenko). -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/07/quantum-dots-and-perovskit…
www.ece.utoronto.ca/news/engineered-hybrid-crystal-opens-new…

"Hyper-efficient LED technologies could enable applications from the visible-light LED bulbs in every home, to new displays, to gesture recognition using near-infrared wavelengths.

It’s snack time: you have a plain oatmeal cookie, and a pile of chocolate chips. Both are delicious on their own, but if you can find a way to combine them smoothly, you get the best of both worlds.

Researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering used this insight to invent something totally new: they’ve combined two promising solar cell materials together for the first time, creating a new platform for LED technology.


- Dr. Riccardo Comin (left) and Xiwen Gong examine a film coated with their new hybrid crystal. -


The team designed a way to embed strongly luminescent nanoparticles called colloidal quantum dots (the chocolate chips) into perovskite (the oatmeal cookie). Perovskites are a family of materials that can be easily manufactured from solution, and that allow electrons to move swiftly through them with minimal loss or capture by defects.

The work is published today in the international journal Nature.

“It’s a pretty novel idea to blend together these two optoelectronic materials, both of which are gaining a lot of traction,” says Xiwen Gong, one of the study’s lead authors and a PhD candidate working with Professor Ted Sargent. “We wanted to take advantage of the benefits of both by combining them seamlessly in a solid-state matrix.”

The result is a black crystal that relies on the perovskite matrix to ‘funnel’ electrons into the quantum dots, which are extremely efficient at converting electricity to light.

“When you try to jam two different crystals together, they often form separate phases without blending smoothly into each other,” says Dr. Riccardo Comin, a post-doctoral fellow in the Sargent Group. “We had to design a new strategy to convince these two components to forget about their differences and to rather intermix into forming a unique crystalline entity.”


- The hybrid crystal fluorescing brightly in solution. -


The main challenge was making the orientation of the two crystal structures line up, called heteroexpitaxy. To achieve heteroepitaxy, Gong, Comin and their team engineered a way to connect the atomic ‘ends’ of the two crystalline structures so that they aligned smoothly, without defects forming at the seams. “We started by building a nano-scale scaffolding ‘shell’ around the quantum dots in solution, then grew the perovskite crystal around that shell so the two faces aligned,” explained coauthor Dr. Zhijun Ning, who contributed to the work while a post-doctoral fellow at UofT and is now a faculty member at ShanghaiTech.

The resulting heterogeneous material is the basis for a new family of highly energy-efficient near-infrared LEDs. Infrared LEDs can be harnessed for improved night-vision technology, to better biomedical imaging, to high-speed telecommunications. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.938.011 von Popeye82 am 26.10.15 21:09:35

China's Revotek unveils world's 1st 3D blood vessel bio-printer, if only one part of 3D printing technology can be called revolutionary, it must surely be the life-saving biomedical applications that are currently under development. Though most of those studies are projected to take years to complete, a new and exciting breakthrough has just been announced in China

www.3ders.org/articles/20151026-chinas-revotek-unveils-world…

"If only one part of 3D printing technology can be called revolutionary, it must surely be the life-saving biomedical applications that are currently under development. Though most of those studies are projected to take years to complete, a new and exciting breakthrough has just been announced in China. Revotek, a company based in Chengdu in southwestern China, has just announced that their custom-made bio 3D printer is now able to 3D print blood vessel systems, complete with the unique hollow structures of real vessels and even multiple layers of different cells. This is believed to be the first machine capable of doing so, as commercially available bioprinters cannot yet do so.


According to the company’s chairman Yang Keng, this is A COMPLETE BREAKTHROUGH IN THE STEM CELL FIELD. ‘It means that Revotek’s 3D bioprinting system for 3D printing stem cells is now complete. It includes a medical imaging cloud platform, biological inks, a 3D bio-printer and a post-print processing system – a four core technological system. With it, ORGAN REBUILDING IS NOW BECOMING A REALITY IN THE NEAR FUTURE’ he says.










At the heart of this technology are the Biosynsphere biological bricks, a stem cell culture system that aims to develop personalized cells for organ regeneration. It consists of seed cells (stem cells, differentiated cells and more) and bio-inks filled with growth factors and nutrients. When combined with other materials, this 3D bioprinter creates layered cell structures that can be cultivated to form tissues with physiological functions. ‘3D bioprinting is very different from 3D printing industrial titanium, bio-ceramics, polymers or other raw materials, for instance for 3D printed dentures, prosthetics, cars or houses,’ Ren Dong Chuan says, the chairman of Revotek’s mother company BlueRay Inno. ‘The fundamental difference is in activity, with 3D bioprinting systems extruding cell components that are biologically active.’

The 3D printer now built by Revoteks includes two print heads, that work alternately while extruding bioinks. It’s also very quick, being able to 3D print a 10 cm long blood vessel in just two minutes. ‘We create special environmental and biological conditions for our bio-bricks, making it possible to differentiate the cells as we need. So we can print each layer with different cell,’ said Professor Kang Yu Jian, who led the research team. He is also member of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences in the US. He was previously involved in the world’s first heart transplant case, involving a 3D printed artificial heart and a pig patient.



















Professor Kang Yu Jian built this ‘bio-brick’ 3D printing technology after working on smaller accumulating breakthroughs for a number of years. Key is that these stem cells in vitro can be accurately controlled, MAKING EVEN ORGAN 3D PRINTING POSSIBLE. ‘Constructing any organ requires vessels that transport nutrients to them, and with this ‘bio-brick’ technology we have successfully achieved vessel revascularization with help of this 3D bio-printer,’ he said.







Company chairman Yang Keng further announced that China’s first top level medical imaging cloud data center will be built in Chengdu in the near future. ‘Building a platform will not only provide a viable support system for the 3D printing of digital models, but will also provide us with an effective tool for dealing with bottleneck problems during future medical treatment procedures,’ he says.

In the near future, Revotek plans to invest in companies around the world, as well acquiring business, importing 3D bioprinting and medicine solutions, regenerative medicines and the necessary personnel, technologies and laboratories. As part of the press conference, Revotek also signed a cooperative agreement with UK-based Dundee University. Prof. Sir Alfred Cuschieri, developer of the minimal invasive surgery technology, announced that he will expand the cooperation to New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and other research centers.






- Jim Rogers. -


A few days ago, Revotek was also visited by Jim Rogers, the founder of investing house Quantum Fund. Especially interested in bioprinting innovations, materials and the medical imaging cloud platform, he discussed potential applications with professor Kang Yu Jian. ‘3D bio-printing technology not only has vital scientific value for the future, but will have a corresponding market value as well. In the US and in global capital markets, the 3D concept, the concepts of biological medicine and intelligent manufacturing have been investment hotspots,’ Rogers say. ‘3D bio-printing covers much more than a single discipline, as its high-tech features, the concept of life sciences will also become the focus of future investments. It will lead to a revolutionary breakthrough in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and medical research.’ "

[Popeye82]

Battelle Develops Self-Healing Smart Beads, that Detect +Repair Corrosion, Battelle scientists have developed a tiny bead, the Battelle Smart Corrosion Detector™ bead, that not only detects corrosion but delivers a payload to help heal the microscopic cracks that rust creates

www.battelle.org/media/press-releases/battelle-develops-self…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/05/battelle-develops-selfheal…

"Battelle scientists have developed a tiny bead, the Battelle Smart Corrosion Detector™ bead, that not only detects corrosion but delivers a payload to help heal the microscopic cracks that rust creates.

The Smart Corrosion Detector beads look like a fine, whitish powder that can be mixed with coatings used to protect pipelines and other critical infrastructure subject to corrosion. The self-healing smart beads detect and reveal corrosion forming on metal before it is visible to the naked eye. Once activated, the 20 to 50 micron beads release a proprietary chemical that fills the cracks.


The beads fluoresce in the presence of corrosion and can be seen with a special light. This not only provides an early indication that corrosion is happening (even it isn’t showing through the paint), but also creates an opportunity to mitigate the underlying problem while the beads repair and stem the onset of the corrosion.

Ram Lalgudi, a principal research scientist, and Battelle colleagues Kelly Jenkins, John Stropki and Wes Childers began working on this application of nanotechnology nearly a decade ago. They created a smart coating derived from functional nanomaterial that could be applied between a primer and topcoat. Now, they’ve developed a proof-of-concept technology that can be valuable for many industries, especially oil & gas.

For example, a technician could run a routine scan of the outer shell of a pipeline with a hand-held device and detect the presence of corrosion not yet visible otherwise. Then, while the nanomaterial was actively fighting the corrosion, the underlying problem could be addressed at that section, resulting in significant savings in time and money, as well as improved reliability, through early detection and remediation.

“This technology can not only address a major issue associated with protecting existing infrastructure in harsh or corrosive environments, but it can also improve the safety and reliability of new infrastructure as its installed, ” said Lalgudi, adding that Battelle is seeking collaborators to help take the product to market. ..."

[Popeye82]

Super-slick material makes steel better, stronger, cleaner, Researchers @the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering +Applied Sciences(SEAS) have demonstrated a way to make steel stronger, safer +more durable. Their new surface coating, made from rough nanoporous tungsten oxide, is the most durable to date, capable of repelling any kind of liquid, even after sustaining intense structural abuse

- The steel is prone to the corrosive effects of water, salt and organisms. Now, researchers have demonstrated a way to make steel stronger, safer and more -
www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=157444&CultureCode…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/super-slick-material-makes…

"Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a way to make steel stronger, safer and more durable. Their new surface coating, made from rough nanoporous tungsten oxide, is the most durable to date, capable of repelling any kind of liquid even after sustaining intense structural abuse.

Steel is ubiquitous in our daily lives. We cook in stainless steel skillets, ride steel subway cars over steel rails to our offices in steel-framed building. Steel screws hold together broken bones, steel braces straighten crooked teeth, steel scalpels remove tumors. Most of the goods we consume are delivered by ships and trucks mostly built of steel.


While various grades of steel have been developed over the past 50 years, steel surfaces have remained largely unchanged — and unimproved. The steel of today is as prone as ever to the corrosive effects of water and salt and abrasive materials such as sand. Steel surgical tools can still carry microorganisms that cause deadly infections.


Now, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a way to make steel stronger, safer and more durable. Their new surface coating, made from rough nanoporous tungsten oxide, is the most durable anti-fouling and anti-corrosive material to date, capable of repelling any kind of liquid even after sustaining intense structural abuse.

The new material joins the portfolio of other non-stick, anti-fouling materials developed in the lab of Joanna Aizenberg, the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Aizenberg’s team developed Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces in 2011 and since then has demonstrated a broad range of applications for the super-slick coating, known as SLIPS. The new SLIPS-enhanced steel is described in Nature Communications.


“Our slippery steel is ORDERS of magnitude more durable than ANY anti-fouling material that has been developed before,” said Aizenberg.


“So far, these two concepts – mechanical durability and anti-fouling – were at odds with each other. We need surfaces to be textured and porous to impart fouling resistance but rough nanostructured coatings are intrinsically weaker than their bulk analogs. This research shows that careful surface engineering allows the design of a material capable of performing multiple, even conflicting, functions, without performance degradation.”


The material could have far-ranging applications and avenues for commercialization, including non-fouling medical tools and devices, such as implants and scalpels, nozzles for 3D printing and, potentially, larger-scale applications for buildings and marine vessels. ..."

[Popeye82]

Nano memory cell can mimic the brain’s long-term memory, RMIT University researchers have mimicked the way the human brain processes information with the development of an electronic long-term memory cell. Researchers @the MicroNano Research Facility(MNRF) HAVE BUILT THEONE OF THE WORLD#S 1ST ELECTRONIC MULTI-STATE MEMORY CELL WHICH MIRRORS THE BRAIN'S ABILITY TO SIMOLTANEOUSLY PROCESS AND STORE MULTIPLE STRANDS INFORMATION

www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/media-releases/2015/may/nano-m…
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/05/nano-memory-cell-can-mimic…
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.201501019/ab…

"RMIT University researchers have mimicked the way the human brain processes information with the development of an electronic long-term memory cell.

Researchers at the MicroNano Research Facility (MNRF) have built the one of the world’s first electronic multi-state memory cell which mirrors the brain’s ability to simultaneously process and store multiple strands of information.

The development brings them closer to imitating key electronic aspects of the human brain – a vital step towards creating a bionic brain – which could help unlock successful treatments for common neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.


The discovery was recently published in the prestigious materials science journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Project leader Dr Sharath Sriram, co-leader of the RMIT Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group, said the ground-breaking development imitates the way the brain uses long-term memory.

“This is the closest we have come to creating a brain-like system with memory that learns and stores analog information and is quick at retrieving this stored information,” Dr Sharath said.

“The human brain is an extremely complex analog computer… its evolution is based on its previous experiences, and up until now this functionality has not been able to be adequately reproduced with digital technology.”

The ability to create highly dense and ultra-fast analog memory cells PAVES THE WAY FOR IMITATING HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED BIOLOGICAL NEURAL NETWORKS, he said.

The research builds on RMIT’s previous discovery where ultra-fast nano-scale memories were developed using a functional oxide material in the form of an ultra-thin film – 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.

Dr Hussein Nili, lead author of the study, said: “This new discovery is significant as it allows the multi-state cell to store and process information in the very same way that the brain does.

“Think of an old camera which could only take pictures in black and white . The same analogy applies here , rather than just black and white memories we now have memories in full color with shade, light and texture, it is a major step.”

While these new devices are able to store much more information than conventional digital memories (which store just 0s and 1s), it is their brain-like ability to remember and retain previous information that is exciting.

“We have now introduced controlled faults or defects in the oxide material along with the addition of metallic atoms, which unleashes the full potential of the ‘memristive’ effect – where the memory element’s behaviour is dependent on its past experiences,” Dr Nili said.

Nano-scale memories are precursors to the storage components of the complex artificial intelligence network needed to develop a bionic brain.

Dr Nili said the research had myriad practical applications including the potential for scientists to replicate the human brain outside of the body. ..."

[Popeye82]

Bio-Inspired Bleeding Control

- Artist’s rendering of synthetic platelets
Photo Credit:
Peter Allen illustration -
www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014506/bio-inspired-bleeding-control
www.innovationtoronto.com/2014/11/bio-inspired-bleeding-cont…

"Taking a cue from the human body’s own coagulation processes, researchers at UC Santa Barbara synthesize platelet-like nanoparticles that can do more than clot blood

Stanching the free flow of blood from an injury remains a holy grail of clinical medicine. Controlling blood flow is a primary concern and first line of defense for patients and medical staff in many situations, from traumatic injury to illness to surgery. If control is not established within the first few minutes of a hemorrhage, further treatment and healing are impossible.

At UC Santa Barbara, researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering and at Center for Bioengineering (CBE) have turned to the human body’s own mechanisms for inspiration in dealing with the necessary and complicated process of coagulation. By creating nanoparticles that mimic the shape, flexibility and surface biology of the body’s own platelets, they are able to accelerate natural healing processes while opening the door to therapies and treatments that can be customized to specific patient needs.


“This is a significant milestone in the development of synthetic platelets, as well as in targeted drug delivery,” said Samir Mitragotri, CBE director, who specializes in targeted therapy technologies. Results of the researchers’ findings appear in the current issue of the journal ACS Nano.

The process of coagulation is familiar to anyone who has suffered even the most minor of injuries, such as a scrape or paper cut. Blood rushes to the site of the injury, and within minutes the flow stops as a plug forms at the site. The tissue beneath and around the plug works to knit itself back together and eventually the plug disappears.

But what we don’t see is the coagulation cascade, the series of signals and other factors that promote the clotting of blood and enable the transition between a free-flowing fluid at the site and a viscous substance that brings healing factors to the injury. Coagulation is actually a choreography of various substances, among the most important of which are platelets, the blood component that accumulates at the site of the wound to form the initial plug.

“While these platelets flow in our blood, they’re relatively inert,” said graduate student researcher Aaron Anselmo, lead author of the paper. As soon as an injury occurs, however, the platelets, because of the physics of their shape and their response to chemical stimuli, move from the main flow to the side of the blood vessel wall and congregate, binding to the site of the injury and to each other. As they do so, the platelets release chemicals that “call” other platelets to the site, eventually plugging the wound.

But what happens when the injury is too severe, or the patient is on anti-coagulation medication, or is otherwise impaired in his or her ability to form a clot, even for a modest or minor injury? ..."

[Popeye82]

Nano-transistor breakthrough 'to offer billion times faster computer', SYDNEY scientists have built the world’s tiniest transistor, by precisely positioning a single phosphorus atom in a silicon crystal

- "A single phosphorus atom precisely positioned within a silicon crystal could become a building block for a super-fast quantum computer." -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2012/02/nano-transistor-breakthrou…
------> www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nanotransistor-breakth…

"SYDNEY scientists have built the world’s tiniest transistor


SYDNEY scientists have built the world’s tiniest transistor by precisely positioning a single phosphorus atom in a silicon crystal.

The nano device is an important step in the development of quantum computers – super-powerful devices that will use the weird quantum properties of atoms to perform calculations billions of times faster than today’s computers.


Michelle Simmons, of the University of NSW, said single atom devices had only been made before by chance and their margin of error for placement of the atom was about 10 nanometres, which affected performance.

Her TEAM WAS THE 1ST TO BE ABLE TO MANIPULATE INDIVIDAL ATOMS WITH “EXQUISITE PRECISION”.

Using a technique involving a scanning tunnelling microscope, they were able to replace one silicon atom from a group of six with one phosphorus atom, achieving a placement accuracy of better than half a nanometre. “This device is perfect,” Professor Simmons, director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, said.

The single atom sits between two pairs of electrodes, one about 20 nanometres apart, the other about 100 nanometres apart.

When voltages were applied across the electrodes, the nano device worked like a transistor, a device that can amplify and switch electronic signals. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.938.740 von Popeye82 am 27.10.15 01:06:38

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.938.746 von Popeye82 am 27.10.15 01:18:21

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.938.755 von Popeye82 am 27.10.15 01:38:07

[Popeye82]

Snake venom helps hydrogels stop the bleeding, Rice University lab employs clotting powers of viper-derived drug, even in presence of anti-coagulants A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/snake-venom-helps-hydrogel…
http://news.rice.edu/2015/10/26/snake-venom-helps-hydrogels-…

"Rice University lab employs clotting powers of viper-derived drug, even in presence of anti-coagulants

A nanofiber hydrogel infused with snake venom may be the best material to stop bleeding quickly, according to Rice University scientists.


The hydrogel called SB50 incorporates batroxobin, a venom produced by two species of South American pit viper. It can be injected as a liquid and quickly turns into a gel that conforms to the site of a wound, keeping it closed, and promotes clotting within seconds.


Rice chemist Jeffrey Hartgerink, lead author Vivek Kumar and their colleagues reported their discovery in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering. The hydrogel may be most useful for surgeries, particularly for patients who take anti-coagulant drugs to thin their blood.


“It’s interesting that you can take something so deadly and turn it into something that has the potential to save lives ,” Hartgerink said.


Batroxobin was recognized for its properties as a coagulant – a substance that encourages blood to clot – in 1936. It has been used in various therapies as a way to remove excess fibrin proteins from the blood to treat thrombosis and as a topical hemostat. It has also been used as a diagnostic tool to determine blood-clotting time in the presence of heparin, an anti-coagulant drug.


“From a clinical perspective, that’s far and away the most important issue here,” Hartgerink said. “There’s a lot of different things that can trigger blood coagulation, but when you’re on heparin, most of them don’t work, or they work slowly or poorly. That obviously causes problems if you’re bleeding.


“Heparin blocks the function of thrombin, an enzyme that begins a cascade of reactions that lead to the clotting of blood,” he said. “Batroxobin is also an enzyme with similar function to thrombin, but its function is not blocked by heparin. This is important because surgical bleeding in patients taking heparin can be a serious problem. The use of batroxobin allows us to get around this problem because it can immediately start the clotting process, regardless of whether heparin is there or not.”

The batroxobin combined with the Rice lab’s hydrogels isn’t taken directly from snakes, Hartgerink said. The substance used for medicine is produced by genetically modified bacteria and then purified, avoiding the risk of other contaminant toxins.

The Rice researchers combined batroxobin with their synthetic, self-assembling nanofibers, which can be loaded into a syringe and injected at the site of a wound, where they reassemble themselves into a gel.

Tests showed the new material stopped a wound from bleeding in as little as six seconds, and further prodding of the wound minutes later did not reopen it. The researchers also tested several other options: the hydrogel without batroxobin, the batroxobin without the hydrogel, a current clinical hemostat known as GelFoam and an alternative self-assembling hemostat known as Puramatrix and found that none were as effective, especially in the presence of anti-coagulants.

The new work builds upon the Rice lab’s extensive development of injectable hydrogel scaffolds that help wounds heal and grow natural tissue. The synthetic scaffolds are built from the peptide sequences to mimic natural processes.

“To be clear, we did not discover nor do any of the initial investigations of batroxobin,” Hartgerink said. “Its properties have been well-known for many decades. What we did was combine it with the hydrogel we’ve been working on for a long time. ..."

[Popeye82]

Scientists produce beneficial natural compounds, in tomato, Given the opportunity to drink fifty bottles of wine or eat one tomato, which would you choose? Scientists @the John Innes Centre have found a way to produce industrial quantities of useful natural compounds efficiently, by growing them in tomatoes

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/scientists-produce-benefic…
www.jic.ac.uk/news/2015/10/beneficial-compounds-tomato/

"Given the opportunity to drink fifty bottles of wine or eat one tomato, which would you choose?

Scientists at the John Innes Centre have found a way to produce industrial quantities of useful natural compounds efficiently, by growing them in tomatoes.


The compounds are phenylpropanoids like Resveratrol, the compound found in wine which has been reported to extend lifespan in animal studies, and Genistein, the compound found in soybean which has been suggested to play a role in prevention of steroid-hormone related cancers, particularly breast cancer.

As a result of the research led by Dr Yang Zhang and Dr Eugenio Butelli working in Professor Cathie Martin’s lab at the John Innes Centre, one tomato can produce the same quantity of Resveratrol as exists in 50 bottles of red wine. One tomato has also produced the amount of Genistein found in 2.5kg of tofu.

Drs Zhang and Butelli have been studying the effect of a protein called AtMYB12 which is found in Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant found in most UK gardens and used as a model plant in scientific investigation.

The protein AtMYB12 activates a broad set of genes involved in metabolic pathways responsible for producing natural compounds of use to the plant. The protein acts a bit like a tap to increase or reduce the production of natural compounds depending on how much of the protein is present.

What was interesting about the effect of introducing this protein into a tomato plant was how it acted to both increase the capacity of the plant to produce natural compounds (by activating phenylpropanoid production) and to influence the amount of energy and carbon the plant dedicated to producing these natural compounds. In response to the influence of the AtMYB12 protein, tomato plants began to create more phenylpropanoids and flavanoids and to devote more energy to doing this in fruit.

Introducing both AtMYB12 and genes from plants encoding enzymes specific for making Resveratrol in grape and Genistein in legumes, resulted in tomatoes that could produce as much as 80mg of novel compound per gram of dry weight –demonstrating that industrial scale up is possible.

Tomatoes are a high yielding crop – producing up to 500 tonnes per hectare in countries delivering the highest yields (FAOSTAT 2013) and require relatively few inputs. Production of valuable compounds like Resveratrol or Genistein in tomatoes could be a more economical way of producing them than relying on artificial synthesis in a lab or extracting them in tiny quantities from traditional plant sources (e.g., grapes, soybeans, etc.). The tomatoes can be harvested and juiced and the valuable compounds can be extracted from the juice. The tomatoes themselves could potentially become the source of increased nutritional or medicinal benefit. ..."

[Popeye82]

Zuckerberg 'defends Facebook`s push, to bring Internet to developing countries' - SH/TCP, NEW DELHI - Oct 28, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/10/28/zuckerberg-defen…

"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's contentious efforts to expand Internet access in the developing world during his second visit to India this year.

The company's free platform offering a basic level of Internet access via Android devices has been introduced to 24 countries and has amassed about 15 million users, mostly in Africa and Asia, Zuckerberg said at a meeting Wednesday with students.

He said it could help alleviate poverty in India by providing information to the poor and contributing to development of the economy.


The platform known as Free Basics was developed in conjunction with other technology companies and has brought a mixed response from governments and analysts. Many criticize it for lacking transparency in how information is selected for the site and favouring Facebook's own services over those of competitors.

Zuckerberg rejected the criticism as a luxury of those who can afford access to the Internet. He said limiting content on the Free Basics platform was necessary, because “you cannot provide the whole Internet for free.” It was initially known as Internet.org.

There are about 300 million people using the Internet in India, including 130 million using Facebook, making India the company's second-largest user base behind the United States.

But there are still about 1 billion Indians with no Internet access.

“We deeply care about servicing the Indian community and giving them the best tools. That's why I want to be here,” said Zuckerberg.

Last month, Zuckerberg hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a Silicon Valley town hall meeting, at which Modi also touted the power of social media in economic development by helping people to share knowledge and ideas. "

[Popeye82]

The Impact of Energy on Global Health, What does boosting sustainable energy access in the developing world have to do with improving global health? As it turns out, a lot - IV - Oct 28, 2015

www.intellectualventures.com/insights/archives/the-impact-of…

"Maurizio Vecchione, IV’s Senior Vice President of Global Good and Research, made this point strongly as he spoke recently to the second annual United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum on the Energy, Women and Children’s Health panel. Maurizio pointed out that Global Good, a collaborative effort between Bill Gates and IV to solve challenges in the developing world, works tirelessly not only to improve primary care and healthcare delivery, but also to enhance health technologies to run on low-resource or intermittent power.

Why is this important? Because energy will save lives. In just one minute, as Maurizio pointed out, 21 newborn children die around the world, in part because of a lack of access to oxygen. To help address this problem, Global Good is working to develop a more affordable oxygen concentrator that can run in low-resource areas to help more infants survive their first days.


The electricity issue is also drastically increasing rates of maternal mortality, particularly in cases of postpartum hemorrhaging. Postpartum hemorrhaging, the leading cause of maternal death, can usually be successfully treated with basic medication. But the medication requires refrigeration, and refrigeration in the developing world is typically powered by electricity. This is one of the many issues that Global Good’s passive storage device, Arktek™, addresses. Arktek can keep vaccines and drugs like oxytocin, medication often recommended to stop a hemorrhage, at the appropriate temperature for up to 35 days without power.

Global Good also conceived of the Arktek to help close the vaccination gap, a striking reality that leaves one in five children worldwide vulnerable to disease for which they could be immunized. By making vaccines available to areas with limited to no power, the device can start to break down at least one barrier to more widespread vaccination in developing countries.

Because lack of electricity is a widespread issue, Global Good is also focused on developing a solar-driven Arktek, low cost and effective screening tests for human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a leading cause of cervical cancer, and improved power supply for electric coagulation devices for HPV treatment. Its work in all of these areas is currently featured as part of the Sustainable Energy for All Clean Energy is Life campaign, which aims to reduce mortality in the developing world through increased access to sustainable energy.

There is no doubt that progress has been made. But there is much work left to complete. For our part, Global Good will continue to work to improve technologies that save lives even when electricity is intermittent or entirely unavailable.


Want to learn more about Global Good? Check out its projects to mitigate disease threats, improve diagnostic testing, increase agricultural productivity, and so much more. And don’t forget to stay up to speed on the worldwide effort to improve energy access via the UN Decade of Sustainable Energy for All. "

[Popeye82]

Alliance BioEnergy Plus - Announces Continued Success in Cellulose to Sugar Conversion Rates +Efficiencies During Commercial Scale Optimization - Oct 28, 2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alliance-bioenergy-plus-inc-an…

"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 28, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc. (OTCQB:ALLM) (the "Company"), announced today that its subsidiary Ek Laboratories in Longwood, Florida, under the direction of Dr. Richard Blair, Dr. Peter Cohen and Dr. Zhilin Xie, continues to see remarkable success in optimizing the commercial reactor of its licensed and patented CTS (Cellulose to Sugar) Mechanocatalytic process. Through the dry, mechanical process the Ek Labs team is now achieving a near 70% conversion of available sugars from a variety of feedstock’s, in less than 15 minutes, using no liquid acids, applied heat, pressure or enzymes while producing no waste stream and using very little power. This is a breakthrough in Cellulose Conversion technology and represents a new dawn in renewable manufacturing.

The one-step CTS cellulose conversion process is proving to be extremely efficient, easy to operate and able to process enormous amounts of virtually any cellulose feedstock, in a matter of minutes, into high quality C6 Glucose and C5 Xylose sugars as well as an extremely pure all natural lignin.


“This is only the beginning,” said Company CEO Daniel de Liege. “This technology is not only about cellulose to sugar for use in biofuels, plastics and other products, it's about a new type of green chemistry,” de Liege went on to say. The CTS process is easily adaptable, feedstock agnostic and with simple changes in catalyst can create a whole host of products from industrial additives and lubricants to pharmaceuticals, carbon fiber nanotubes, plastics, fiberboards and many other fine chemicals, all from plants, grasses or any other cellulose material. That… is truly renewable energy.

Throughout the engineering and optimization process the Ek team has developed several new techniques and components that will eventually become new IP for the Company and serve to enhance and strengthen the 3 issued patents and 15 pending patents already licensed by the Company.

As FEL 2 (Front End Loading 2 Engineering Stage) completes in the next week the focus turns to Vidalia, Ga and starting to engineer and design the first commercial plant for licensee RRDA.


About ALLM :

Alliance BioEnergy +, Inc. (“ALLM”) (OTCQB:ALLM), is a publicly traded company focusing on “Green” energy and renewable technologies. ALLM’s subsidiaries focus on emerging technologies in the renewable energy, bio-fuels and new technologies sectors. ALLM owns a fifty percent interest in Carbolosic, LLC, and the exclusive rights to North America (including Canada, U.S. and Mexico) and Africa. Carbolosic holds the exclusive, worldwide license to the patented mechanical/chemical technology, “CTS™” developed by the University of Central Florida. The CTS technology is able to produce Sugars, Various Fine Chemicals, Plastics, Carbon Fibers and other valuable products from virtually any plant material, wood or paper by product, fruit casings or bio waste.

Information in this document constitute forward-looking statements or statements which may be deemed or construed to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "forecast", "anticipate", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc actual results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements to differ from the future results, performance (financial or operating) or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties and other factors are more fully discussed in Alliance Media Group Holdings, Inc filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by the above-mentioned cautionary statement. Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this estimate, except as may be required by law.


Public Relations and Media Contact:

LCG
Headquarter Office
702.761.6976
www.lcginfo.com "

[Popeye82]

View from the Top: How Corporate Boards can Engage on Sustainability Performance - C - Oct15

www.ceres.org/resources/reports/view-from-the-top-how-corpor…
www.ceres.org/view-from-the-top

[Popeye82]

Graphene printing gets speed boost, a team of chemical engineers from Cambridge University has developed a method for printing electronics with graphene inks

www.laboratorytalk.com/407654.article?slref=455879/194549/25

"A team of chemical engineers from Cambridge University has developed a method for printing electronics with graphene inks.

The method permits high-speed and low-cost printing of electronics and disposable sensors, allowing electric ink printing to be conducted on a commercial scale for the first time.


The technique involves suspending graphene particles in a ’carrier’ solvent mixture, which is then added to conductive water-based ink formulations. The ratio of the mixture can be later adjusted to control electrical resistance.

This enables electric-conducting materials to be added to conventional water-based inks, and printed on large-scale roller equipment.

The same method also works for materials other than graphene, such as metallic, semiconducting and insulating nanoparticles, the researchers suggested.

Printed conductive patterns currently combine poorly conducting carbon with other materials, most commonly silver, which is expensive and cannot be recycled.

However, graphene is recyclable and uses quick-drying non-toxic solvents that reduce the costs of curing, the researchers said.

Until now, efforts to commercialise the use of graphene have been limited, despite its flexibility and electrical conductivity.

“There are lots of companies that have produced graphene inks, but none of them have done it on a scale close to this,” said Cambridge researcher Tawfique Hasan.

Researchers said the technique has been tested on commercial equipment without modification, printing at a rate of 100m per minute, in line with commercial production speeds.

“Being able to produce conductive inks that could effortlessly be used for printing at a commercial scale at a very high speed WILL OPEN UP ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS FOR GRAPHENE AND OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS,” said Hasan.

The researchers worked with Cambridge-based technology firm Novalia to produce the new method.

The researchers now hope to use their method to make printed and disposable biosensors, energy harvesters and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. "

[Popeye82]

The future of technology for innovation-driven economies, We are moving into the early stages of the 4th industrial revolution, but what is driving this change?

www.australianmining.com.au/news/sponsored-news/the-future-o…

"We are moving into the early stages of the fourth industrial revolution, but what is driving this change?

A recent report by ARC Strategies said innovation-driven economies will remain the source of the most advanced and complex products, materials, and solutions.

“To reduce time-to-market and cost of engineering, these economies will use increasingly integrated process and product engineering and simulation, as well as advanced robotics. These economies will also conceive and produce the solutions used for this purpose,” The Future of Manufacturing report said.


As innovation-driven economies will be the source of the most advanced processes, products, and materials; new, more flexible and adaptive automation will be required to reduce production cost and remain competitive with other economy types.

It is expected that the sector will see a second wave of automation in smaller companies related to the increasing proliferation of connected devices to support condition-based, predictive asset management and production and supply chain optimisation.

Digitisation, advanced robotics, and highly sophisticated industry software for design engineering and production will be applied earlier, and at larger scale than in other economies and these are necessary to shorten time-to market.

ARC uses the term “industrial Internet of Things“ to refer to the emerging practice of connecting intelligent physical entities, such as sensors, devices, machines, assets, and products, to each other, to internet services, and to applications.

Manufacturing companies can use information from these connected devices to lower costs, optimise processes, and create transformative new applications, services, or business models.

IoT-connected applications typically support data acquisition, aggregation, analysis, and visualization.

The IoT architecture builds upon current and emerging technologies such as mobile and intelligent devices, wired and wireless networks, cloud computing, Big Data, analytics, and visualisation tools.

The “Industry 4.0,” vision has many similarities from a technical and industrial standpoint, but also includes social and environmental sustainability goals.

These related technology visions will play a role innovation driven over the forecast period since they provide a platform for both increased efficiencies and innovation.

Innovation-driven economies will face stronger headwinds in the decades ahead, both because the global economy is likely to be significantly less buoyant than in recent decades and because technological changes are rendering manufacturing more capital- and skill-intensive.

Desirable policies will continue to share features that have served successful countries well in the past, but the emphasis will be placed on different growth strategies.

Siemens understands market trends and the need for innovation for Australia to remain competitive and support the Future of Manufacturing and the changing face of society.

Siemens sees the IoT as the trend which will shape the fourth industrial revolution and is building an open cloud platform for analysing large datasets in industry.

This will provide a platform for data-based services such as Siemens offers for predictive maintenance, asset and energy data management. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can also create their own applications to exploit the open infrastructure for data analytics. "

[Popeye82]

Wood based diesel, in Helsinki buses - Bfpr/UPM, HELSINKI - Oct 22, 2015

www.biofpr.com/details/news/8496401/Wood_based_diesel_in_Hel…

"UPM is to start field tests of its novel wood-based diesel fuel in urban buses together with Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and the VTT Technical Research Centre. The field tests are also supported by St1, Volvo and Transdev Finland. The new round of tests with UPM BioVerno fuel will start in October and run for a minimum of one year.


UPM BioVerno diesel has previously been studied in several engine and vehicle tests conducted by various research centres as well as in fleet tests, all with excellent results. The studies have shown that UPM BioVerno works exactly like the best quality diesel fuels and reduces tail pipe emissions significantly compared to fossil diesel.

The heavy duty vehicle field tests will focus on investigating UPM's renewable diesel in terms of fuel functionality in bus engines, their emissions and fuel consumption compared to fossil diesel. These tests will be operated by Transdev Finland on HSL's regular bus route between the city of Kerava and Helsinki in Finland. The tests will be done with four identical Volvo Euro VI Class buses that have low emissions and efficient engines.

"The tests will be conducted together with renowned partners. We are especially delighted to be able to take part in the Helsinki Region Transport initiative that aims for emission free public transport. One of the major targets of the initiative is to start using 100% renewable biofuels in their diesel vehicles in the coming years," says Sari Mannonen, Sales and Marketing Director at UPM Biofuels.

The bus field tests are also part of a larger "BioPilot" project coordinated by VTT. The goal of this project is to encourage companies to commercialise renewable energy solutions in traffic.

"Advanced, sustainable biofuels are a great opportunity for Finland - they could be our fast track to low emission traffic. When considering cutting traffic emissions both from the technological and economical point of view, Finland should invest in domestic biofuel production in the coming years. VTT has previously tested UPM BioVerno diesel both in passenger cars and bus engines with great results. The new bus field tests continue our long-term collaboration in testing with UPM," says Research Professor Nils-Olof Nylund at VTT.

Both VTT and bus manufacturer Volvo will test all the buses used in the field tests before the start, in the middle and at the end of the testing period. In addition to operating the buses, Transdev Finland is responsible for the follow up of diesel consumption and the kilometres driven. St1 is the distributor of the fuel used in this project - UPM BioVerno has already been sold by St1 filling stations in Finland as part of their Diesel Plus fuel since the spring.

UPM's renewable diesel, known as UPM BioVerno, is an innovation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% when compared with fossil fuels. The latest studies show that UPM BioVerno diesel also reduces tailpipe emissions significantly. This high quality biofuel is produced from residue of the pulp industry, crude tall oil, with no edible materials being used. UPM BioVerno is an ideal fuel for all diesel-powered vehicles.

UPM started the production of wood based renewable diesel in the UPM Lappeenranta Biorefinery in January 2015. The production capacity of the biorefinery is 120 million litres of renewable diesel annually. UPM BioVerno has been granted a Finnish Key Flag Symbol. The Symbol can be granted to products that are manufactured in Finland and have a domestic origin degree of over 50%.


About UPM

UPM plans to become a major player in high quality, advanced biofuels for transport. Biofuels are an essential part of the Biofore strategy. The innovative wood-based biofuels developed by the company and their production technologies are part of a sustainable future. UPM's biofuels are frontrunners in quality, usability and sustainability. They will significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels.

For further information about UPM, please visit the website here. "

[Popeye82]

www.wallstreet-online.de/nachricht/8072607-national-geograph…

[Popeye82]

Forscher lassen Dinge schweben, Freies schweben auf Schall, akustische Hologramme überwinden die Schwerkraft
http://web.de/magazine/wissen/forscher-gegenstaende-schweben…

[Popeye82]

Wall-less Hall thruster 'may power future deep space missions', Hall thrusters are advanced electric rocket engines primarily, used for station-keeping, +attitude control of geosynchronous communication satellites +space probes. Recently, the launch of two satellites based on an all-electric bus has marked the debut of a new era

- PPS-FLEX firing in wall-less mode in the PIVOINE-2g vacuum chamber. CREDIT: CNRS/LAPLACE and CNRS/ICARE -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/wall-less-hall-thruster-ma…
www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=157768&CultureCode…
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/107/17/10.1…

"Hall thrusters are advanced electric rocket engines primarily used for station-keeping and attitude control of geosynchronous communication satellites and space probes.

Recently, the launch of two satellites based on an all-electric bus has marked the debut of a new era – one in which Hall thrusters could be used not just to adjust orbits, but to power the voyage as well. Consuming 100 million times less propellant or fuels than conventional chemical rockets, a Hall thruster is an attractive candidate for exploring Mars, asteroids and the edge of the solar system. By saving fuel the thruster could leave room for spacecraft and send a large amount of cargo in support of space missions. However, the current lifespan of Hall thrusters, which is around 10,000 operation hours, is too short for most space explorations, which require at least 50,000 operation hours.


To prolong the lifespan of Hall thrusters, a team of researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research have experimentally optimized the operation of a novel, wall-less thruster prototype developed a year ago by the same team. The preliminary performance results were satisfactory, the team said, and pave the way toward developing a high-efficiency wall-less Hall thruster suitable for long-duration, deep space missions. The researchers present their work in a paper published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

Hall thrusters are electric rocket engines using a super high speed (on the order of 45,000 mph) stream of plasma to push spacecraft forward. Their operating principle relies on the creation of a low-pressure quasi-neutral plasma discharge in a crossed magnetic and electric field configuration. The propellant gas, typically xenon, is ionized by electrons trapped in the magnetic field.

In the conventional Hall thruster configuration, the magnetized discharge is confined to an annular dielectric cavity with the anode at one end, where the gas is injected, and an external cathode injecting electrons. Ionization of the propellant gas occurs inside the cavity, with ions accelerated by the electric field that stretches from the interior to the exterior of the cavity.

“The major drawback of Hall thrusters is that the discharge channel wall materials largely determine the discharge properties, and consequently, the performance level and the operational time,” said Julien Vaudolon, the primary researcher in the Electric Propulsion team led by Professor Stéphane Mazouffre in the ICARE-CNRS Laboratory, France.

Vaudolon explained that the wall materials play a role in the plasma properties mainly through secondary electron emission, a phenomenon where high-energy ions hit the channel wall surface and induce the emission of secondary electrons. Additionally, the erosion of the discharge cavity walls due to bombardment of high-energy ions shortens the thruster’s lifetime.

“Thus, an effective approach to avoid the interaction between the plasma and the discharge channel wall is to move the ionization and acceleration regions outside the cavity, which is an unconventional design named a Wall-Less Hall Thruster,” Vaudolon said.

Last year, the team developed a small-scale, wall-less thruster prototype based on a classical Hall thruster. At first the researchers simply moved the anode to the channel exhaust plane. However, this first wall-less thruster turned out to be a low-performance device, as the magnetic field lines are perpendicular to the thruster axis, which cross the anode placed at the channel exhaust plane.

“Magnetic fields are used to trap hot electrons injected from the external cathode and prevent them from reaching the anode,” Vaudolon said. “Basically an electron travels along the magnetic field line. If the magnetic field lines cross the anode, a large portion of hot electrons will be collected at the anode and won’t take part in the ionization of the xenon atoms, resulting in high discharge current, low ionization degree, and consequently, low performance level.”

To optimize the wall-less prototype and make the magnetic lines avoid the anode surface, the team rotated the magnetic barrier by 90 degrees, so that it injected the magnetic field lines parallel with the axial direction. The anode was still placed at the channel exhaust plane, but its shape is curved to avoid any interaction with the magnetic field lines.

Based on the PPS-Flex, a 1.5 kilowatts class thruster designed by the GREM3 Team at LAPLACE Laboratory, France and capable of modifying the magnetic field topology over a broad range of configurations, the team has validated their optimization strategies by modifying several parts and parameters of the thruster. The measurement of some operation parameters such as the thrust level, anode efficiency and far-field ion properties displayed a satisfactory performance level. However, Vaudolon said, some further optimization is still needed for the thruster’s efficient operation at high power.

“The wall-less thruster allows scientists to observe regions of the plasma previously hidden behind the channel walls. Now the plasma region can be observed and diagnosed using probes and/or laser diagnostic tools,” Vaudolon said. He also pointed out that the access to key regions of the plasma facilitates a thorough investigation of plasma instability and small-scale turbulence for a better understanding of the discharge physics and anomalous electron transport.

“Despite decades of research, the physics of Hall thrusters is still far from being understood, and the device characterization methods still rely on trials and testing, leading to expensive efforts,” Vaudolon said. “The major difficulty in developing predictive simulations lies in modeling the interaction between plasma and wall. The wall-less design would be an effective solution, potentially making future predictive simulations feasible and reliable.” ..."

[Popeye82]

The world’s fastest nanoscale photonics switch, Russian scientists developed the world’s fastest nanoscale photonics switch. International team of researchers from Lomonosov Moscow State University +the Australian National University in Canberra created an ultrafast all-optical switch on silicon nanostructures. This device may become a platform for future computers +permit, to transfer data @an ultrahigh speed

- “DEVICE ” IS A DISC 250 NM IN DIAMETER THAT IS CAPABLE OF SWITCHING OPTICAL PULSES AT FEMTOSECOND RATES (FEMTOSECOND IS A ONE MILLIONTH OF ONE BILLIONTH OF A SECOND). view more
CREDIT: MAXIM SCHERBAKOV ET AL -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/the-worlds-fastest-nanosca…
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/lmsu-twf102715.php

"Russian scientists developed the world’s fastest nanoscale photonics switch

International team of researchers from Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Australian National University in Canberra created an ultrafast all-optical switch on silicon nanostructures. This device may become a platform for future computers and permit to transfer data at an ultrahigh speed. The article with the description of the device was published in Nano Letters journal and highlighted in Nature Materials.


This work belongs to the field of photonics – an optics discipline which appeared in the 1960-s, simultaneously with the invention of lasers. Photonics has the same goals as electronics does, but uses photons–the quanta of light–instead of electrons. The biggest advantage of using photons is the absence of interactions between them. As a consequence, photons address the data transmission problem better than electrons. This property can primarily be used for in computing where IPS (instructions per second) is the main attribute to be maximized. The typical scale of eletronic transistors–the basis of contemporary electronic devices–is less than 100 nanometers, wheres the typical scale of photonic transistors stays on the scale of several micrometers. Nanostructures that are able to compete with the electronic structures–for example, plasmonic nanoparticles–are characterized by low efficiency and significant losses. Therefore, coming up with a compact photonic switch was a very challenging task.

Three years ago several groups of researchers simultaneously discovered an important effect: they found out that silicon nanoparticles are exhibit strong resonances in the visible spectrum – the so-called magnetic dipole resonances. This type of resonance is characterized by strong localization of light waves on subwavelength scales, inside the nanoparticles. This effect turned out to be interesting to researches, but, according to Maxim Shcherbakov, the first author of the article published in Nano Letters, nobody thought that this discovery could create a basis for development of a compact and very rapid photonic switch.

Nanoparticles were fabricated in the Australian National University by e-beam lithography followed by plasma-phase etching. It was done by Alexander Shorokhov, who served an internship in the University as a part of Presidential scholarship for studying abroad. The samples were brought to Moscow, and all the experimental work was carried out at the Faculty of Physics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, in the Laboratory of Nanophotonics and Metamaterials.

“In our experimental research me and my colleague Polina Vabishchevich from the Faculty used a set of nonlinear optics methods that address femtosecond light-matter, — explains Maxim Shcherbakov. — We used our femtosecond laser complex acquired as part of the MSU development program”.

Eventually, researches developed a “device”: a disc 250 nm in diameter that is capable of switching optical pulses at femtosecond rates (femtosecond is a one millionth of one billionth of a second ). Switching speeds that fast will allow to create data transmission and processing devices that will work at tens and hundreds terabits per second. This can make possible downloading thousands of HD-movies in less than a second.

The operation of the all-optical switch created by MSU researchers is based on the interaction between two femtosecond pulses. The interaction becomes possible due to the magnetic resonance of the silicon nanostructures. If the pulses arrive at the nanostructure simultaneously, one of them interacts with the other and dampers it due to the effect of two-photon absorption. If there is a 100-fs delay between the two pulses, the interaction does not occur, and the second pulse goes through the nanostructure without changing.

“We were able to develop a structure with the undesirable free-carrier effects are suppressed, — says Maxim Shcherbakov. — Free carriers (electrons and electron holes) place serious restrictions on the speed of signal conversion in the traditional integrated photonics.


Our work represents an important step towards novel and efficient active photonic devices– transistors, logic units, and others. Features of the technology implemented in our work will allow its use in silicon photonics. In the nearest future, we are going to test such nanoparticles in integrated circuits”. ..."

[Popeye82]

Aberystwyth physicist 'leads revolutionary research work, on glassy materials', an international group of researchers from Europe, China +Japan, led by Aberystwyth University physicist, Professor Neville Greaves, has discovered a new method of manufacturing glass. The discovery could lead to the production of ‘designer glasses’, with applications in advanced in advanced photonics, while also facilitating industrial scale carbon capture +storage

- Professor Neville Greaves delivering his plenary lecture on the discovery of Hybrid Glasses at the International Congress on Glass, in Bangkok, Thailand -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/aberystwyth-physicist-lead…
www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2015/10/title-176048-en.html

"An international group of researchers from Europe, China and Japan, led by Aberystwyth University physicist, Professor Neville Greaves, has discovered a new method of manufacturing glass.

The discovery could lead to the production of ‘designer glasses’ with applications in advanced photonics, while also facilitating industrial scale carbon capture and storage.


The international team of researchers, publishing in the prestigious journal Nature Communications (“Hybrid glasses from strong and fragile metal-organic framework liquids“), report how they have managed to use a relatively new family of sponge-like porous materials to develop completely novel glasses.

By careful processing, these fragile porous materials can be melted before they decompose and burn.

The liquids that are formed on the nanoscale, can be shaped and cast, that could enable substantial solid structures to be fabricated.

It is the open atomic architecture, an atomic labyrinth, that should enable toxic or useful molecules to be selectively trapped or filtered.

Professor Neville Greaves delivered the findings in his plenary lecture at the International Congress on Glass, which was held at the end of September in Bangkok, Thailand.


Professor Greaves explained: “Quite apart from their industrial potential, watching the way porous materials transform is a major step forward. With these discoveries we are starting to learn the ground rules of the way materials melt.”


For François-Xavier Coudert, a physical chemist who specialises in porous materials at CNRS in France, the interest lies in its possible impact on the fundamental chemistry. “Making metal–organic framework as liquids, it’s a totally new state of matter that becomes accessible in addition to the traditional solid material.”

Using the advanced equipment at the Diamond Light Source Science Facility in Oxfordshire, which houses the UK’s Synchrotron Particle Accelerator, the team were able to scrutinise these glassy frameworks in atomic detail.

Professor Trevor Rayment, the Physical Science Director at the facility said: “this work is an exciting example of how work with synchrotron radiation which deepens our fundamental understanding of the properties of glasses also produces tantalising prospects of practical applications of new materials.


“This work could have a lasting impact on both frontiers of knowledge.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.896.530 von Popeye82 am 21.10.15 12:22:11

Zitat von Popeye82: Folgendes hat im prinzipviel mit diesem thread hier zu tun

Früher Wahnwitz, heute Realität, diese verrückten Ideen aus "Zurück in die Zukunft" sind jetzt Wirklichkeit, "was damals noch eine abstruse Fantasie war, ist heute (teilweise)schnöder Alltag"

http://web.de/magazine/wissen/zurueck-zukunft-2-grossen-real…

From science fiction to reality –sonic tractor beam invented, the world’s 1st sonic tractor beams that can lift +move objects using soundwaves have been built, by a team that includes researchers @the University of Sussex. Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab +lift objects. The concept was created by science-fiction writers, but has since come to fascinate scientists +engineers
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/from-science-fiction-to-re…
------> www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents/?id=32804

"The world’s first sonic tractor beams that can lift and move objects using soundwaves have been built by a team that includes researchers at the University of Sussex.

Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab and lift objects. The concept was created by science-fiction writers but has since come to fascinate scientists and engineers.


Researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol, in collaboration with Ultrahaptics, have now built a working tractor beam that uses high-amplitude soundwaves to generate an acoustic hologram that can pick up and move small objects.

The technique, published in Nature Communicationstoday (27 October 2015), could be developed for a wide range of applications. For example, a sonic production line could transport delicate objects and assemble them, all without physical contact. Or a miniature version could grip and transport drug capsules or microsurgical instruments through living tissue.


- Asier Marzo, PHD student and lead author, levitating a polystyrene ball with soundwaves. -


Sriram Subramanian, Professor of Informatics at the University of Sussex and co-founder of Ultrahaptics, explained: “In our device we manipulate objects in mid-air and seemingly defy gravity. We can individually control dozens of loudspeakers to tell us an optimal solution to generate an acoustic hologram that can manipulate multiple objects in real-time without contact.”

The researchers used an array of 64 miniature loudspeakers (driven at 40Khz with 15Vpp. The whole system consumes 9 Watts of power) to create high-pitched and high-intensity sound waves to levitate a spherical bead (of up to 4mm in diameter) made of expanded polystyrene.

The tractor beam works by surrounding the object with high-intensity sound to create a force field that keeps the objects in place. By carefully controlling the output of the loudspeakers, the object can be either held in place, moved or rotated.

Asier Marzo, PhD student and the lead author, said: “It was an incredible experience the first time we saw the object held in place by the tractor beam. All my hard work has paid off. It’s brilliant.”

Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics in the University of Bristol‘s Department of Mechanical Engineering, added: “We all know that soundwaves can have a physical effect. But HERE WE HAVE MANAGED TO CONTROL THE SOND TO A DEGREE NEVER PREVIOUSLY ACHIEVED.”

The team have shown that three different shapes of acoustic force fields work as tractor beams. The first is an acoustic force field that resembles a pair of fingers or tweezers. The second is an acoustic vortex, the objects becoming trapped at the core and the third is best described as a high-intensity cage that surrounds the objects and holds them in place from all directions.

Previous work on acoustic studies had to surround the object with loudspeakers, which limits the extent of movement and restricts many applications. Last year, the University of Dundee presented the concept of a tractor beam but no objects were held in the ray.

The team is now designing different variations of this system. A bigger version with a different working principle that aims at levitating a soccer ball from 10 metres away; and a smaller version, targeted at manipulating particles inside the human body. ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.974.236 von Popeye82 am 30.10.15 22:40:14

[Popeye82]

Entanglement @heart of ‘two-for-one’ singlet fission 'could double solar cell output', the mechanism behind a process known as singlet fission, which could drive the development of highly efficient solar cells, has been directly observed by researchers for the 1st time. Harnessing the process of singlet fission into new solar cell technologies could allow tremendous increases in energy conversion efficiencies, in solar cells

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/10/entanglement-at-heart-of-two-for-one-singlet-fission-could-double-solar-cell-output/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InnovationToronto+%28Innovation+Toronto%29
www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/entanglement-at-heart-of-two-for…
www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nchem.2371.h…

"The mechanism behind a process known as singlet fission, which could drive the development of highly efficient solar cells, has been directly observed by researchers for the first time.


Harnessing the process of singlet fission into new solar cell technologies could allow tremendous increases in energy conversion efficiencies in solar cells


An international team of scientists have observed how a mysterious quantum phenomenon in organic molecules takes place in real time, which could aid in the development of highly efficient solar cells.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, used ultrafast laser pulses to observe how a single particle of light, or photon, can be converted into two energetically excited particles, known as spin-triplet excitons, through a process called singlet fission. If singlet fission can be controlled, it could enable solar cells to double the amount of electrical current that can be extracted.

In conventional semiconductors such as silicon, when one photon is absorbed it leads to the formation of one free electron that can be harvested as electrical current. However certain materials undergo singlet fission instead, where the absorption of a photon leads to the formation of two spin-triplet excitons.

Working with researchers from the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, the Cambridge team confirmed that this ‘two-for-one’ transformation involves an elusive intermediate state in which the two triplet excitons are ‘entangled’, a feature of quantum theory that causes the properties of each exciton to be intrinsically linked to that of its partner.

By shining ultrafast laser pulses – just a few quadrillionths of a second – on a sample of pentacene, an organic material which undergoes singlet fission, the researchers were able to directly observe this entangled state for the first time, and showed how molecular vibrations make it both detectable and drive its creation through quantum dynamics. The results are reported today (26 October) in the journal Nature Chemistry.

“Harnessing the process of singlet fission into new solar cell technologies could allow tremendous increases in energy conversion efficiencies in solar cells,” said Dr Alex Chin from the University’s Cavendish Laboratory, one of the study’s co-authors. “But before we can do that, we need to understand how exciton fission happens at the microscopic level. This is the basic requirement for controlling this fascinating process.”

The key challenge for observing real-time singlet fission is that the entangled spin-triplet excitons are essentially ‘dark’ to almost all optical probes, meaning they cannot be directly created or destroyed by light. In materials like pentacene, the first stage – which can be seen – is the absorption of light that creates a single, high-energy exciton, known as a spin singlet exciton. The subsequent fission of the singlet exciton into two less energetic triplet excitons gives the process its name, but the ability to see what is going on vanishes as the process take place.

To get around this, the team employed a powerful technique known as two-dimensional spectroscopy, which involves hitting the material with a co-ordinated sequence of ultrashort laser pulses and then measuring the light emitted by the excited sample. By varying the time between the pulses in the sequence, it is possible to follow in real time how energy absorbed by previous pulses is transferred and transformed into different states.

Using this approach, the team found that when the pentacene molecules were vibrated by the laser pulses, certain changes in the molecular shapes cause the triplet pair to become briefly light-absorbing, and therefore detectable by later pulses. By carefully filtering out all but these frequencies, a weak but unmistakable signal from the triplet pair state became apparent.

The authors then developed a model which showed that when the molecules are vibrating, they possess new quantum states that simultaneously have the properties of both the light-absorbing singlet exciton and the dark triplet pairs. These quantum ‘super positions’, which are the basis of Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment in which a cat is – according to quantum theory – in a state of being both alive and dead at the same time, not only make the triplet pairs visible, they also allow fission to occur directly from the moment light is absorbed. ..."

[Popeye82]

EU Commission announces plans to reinforce the single market, new measures are unveiled to simplify business rules, improve competitiveness, lower prices. But the Commission shies away from proposing a single market approach to ‘sharing economy’ companies, like Uber +Airbnb, which many view as unfair competition for professional services firms - SB/EC - Oct 29, 2015

- Éanna Kelly -

www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77292/EU-Commission-announces-p…

"New measures are unveiled to simplify business rules, improve competitiveness, lower prices. But the Commission shies away from proposing a single market approach to ‘sharing economy’ companies like Uber and Airbnb which many view as unfair competition for professional services firms.


The European Commission is to make a fresh assault on the longstanding goal of lowering competitive barriers in the EU’s single market, introducing 22 broad measures to tackle obstacles including onerous bankruptcy laws, the high cost of registering start-ups, ambiguity over the legality of companies operating in the so-called sharing economy, and uncertainty over how the extended patent protection offered to pharmaceutical companies will operate under the new unitary patent scheme.

Removing unjustified barriers would create huge opportunities for new companies to enter the market, improve competitiveness and lower prices for consumers, the Commission says in its plan, published yesterday.

The drive comes as the single market, which in the past has been praised for greatly facilitating cross-border trade, is beginning to look a little frayed around the edges, with countries inclined to protect national industries in a sluggish economy.


The Commission wants to deal with several problems:


Clarity on rules, for sharing economy

Flag-bearers of the sharing economy, where non-professionals provide cheap and easy access to products and services, have caused significant friction in European countries, and faced resistance from established professions and companies.

There is no consensus on whether companies like the US-based accommodation service Airbnb or France’s journey-sharing service BlaBlaCar are innovators or outlaws. The taxi service Uber has been banned in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Germany and embraced in Lithuania and Estonia, for example.

“It’s a new business model that will exist whether we want it or not,” said Industry Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska at the launch of the plan. In some members states such services are welcome, in others they are banned.

“The basic instinct in some European countries is to kill new business models and favour the traditional ways to do things,” said the Commission's Vice-President for growth and jobs Jyrki Katainen. “It would be very sad if Europe was the only continent which denied new business models, and this would lead to bad situations in terms of jobs and economic growth.”

However, Brussels is not preparing any legislation and will instead provide guidance on how to apply current rules to the sharing economy.

"These companies have to pay taxes, and consumer and health protection [requirements] must be fulfilled," Bieńkowska said.


Cutting the cost, of starting a company

The EU says an entrepreneur should be able to start a business inside three days for less than €100, completing all procedures through a single online portal.

But things are far from working that smoothly in reality. While in Ireland, the UK, France and Bulgaria registering a business costs less than €100, in Italy and Luxembourg the cost runs into the thousands. Registering a business can be done in less than one week in Estonia, but takes about three months or more in Austria, Lithuania, Poland or Spain.

So, the EU has decided to try again, with a fresh commitment to slash the time and effort needed to start a company.


Clarify IP rules, for big pharma

The Commission also said it will provide clarity on how to interpret rules on supplementary protection certificates (SPCs), which provide extended patent protection for drugs, under the EU’s new intellectual property rights regime.

The certificates are given to pharmaceutical companies in recognition of the extended timelines involved in developing, registering and launching new drugs.

As yet there is no clarity on how SPCs will fit into the unitary patent scheme, which may come into force next year.

“There’s some concern an absence of SPCs would have a chilling effect on the participation of pharma companies in the unitary patent,” said one Commission official.

Currently, pharma companies have to apply for a SPC from Europe’s 28 national authorities and the Commission would like to introduce one certificate that covers the whole continent.


Improved access, to finance

The new strategy also comes with a promise to create a European venture capital (VC) fund-of-funds.

Investors have poured €9.5 billion into European companies so far in 2015, according to new data this week from US investment data firm PitchBook.

It sounds pretty healthy, but several giant valuations disguise a fall in the number of VC deals being done. For instance, a flood of money to Swedish music streamer Spotify and Berlin-based online food and drink service Delivery Hero, skews the numbers. Both companies account for close to 11 per cent of total VC spend in Europe on their own.

From the early days of 2014 to date, the number of VC deals in Europe has plummeted by half.


Passport scheme, bankruptcy laws

A "services passport" is to be introduced, allowing service providers to file papers only in the first EU country where they want to work. A German engineering company pitching for business in Belgium can show its passport to demonstrate it complies with the laws and standards that apply in its domestic market.

There will also be a push to simplify the EU's welter of different national insolvency laws, which the Commission says deters Europe’s entrepreneurs. "

[Popeye82]

www.msn.com/en-au/health/watch/worldwide-breakthrough-in-den…

[Popeye82]

Bionovelus - 'Makes A Breakthrough, in the Fight Against Coffee Rust' - Oct 6,, 2015
http://bionovelus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/BioNovelus-…


http://bionovelus.com/fighting-coffee-rust/

[Popeye82]

www.cnbc.com/2015/10/30/ants-are-summoning-musks-demon.html

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.974.587 von Popeye82 am 31.10.15 05:38:49

[Popeye82]

US-Forscher entdecken Diamant-Planeten, der Planet 55 Cancri e ist doppelt so groß +achtmal so schwer wie die Erde. Forschern der Uni Yale zufolge wird der Fund die Sicht auf fremde Planeten stark verändern

- Eine künstlerische Darstellung von 55 Cancri e zeigt den Planeten im Vergleich zur Erde. © Spitzer/NASA/Wikipedia -
www.zeit.de/wissen/2012-10/diamant-planet-yale

"Forscher der US-Universität Yale haben einen erdnahen Planeten ausgemacht, der vermutlich zu einem Drittel aus Diamant besteht. Der 55 Cancri e benannte Himmelskörper sei etwa doppelt so groß und achtmal so schwer wie die Erde und rund 40 Lichtjahre von unserem Planeten entfernt, teilten die Wissenschaftler mit. Seine chemische Zusammensetzung sei reich an Kohlenstoff, die Basis von Diamant, hieß es.


55 Cancri e ist der innerste von insgesamt fünf Planeten, die den sonnenähnlichen Stern 55 Cancri umkreisen. Dieser liegt im Sternbild des Krebses und ist sogar mit bloßem Auge am Nachthimmel zu erkennen. Trotz seiner Masse umrundet 55 Cancri e seinen Stern mit rasender Geschwindigkeit: Für einen Umlauf benötigt er nur 18 Tage. Wegen seiner Nähe zu seiner Sonne ist er zudem extrem heiß, an seiner Oberfläche herrschen mehr als 2.100 Grad Celsius.

"Die Oberfläche dieses Planeten ist wahrscheinlich mit Graphit und Diamant bedeckt statt mit Granit und Wasser wie die Erde", sagte der Astrophysiker Nikku Madhusudhan. 55 Cancri e eröffne damit eine geochemisch und geophysikalisch ganz neue Klasse von Gesteinsplaneten, berichten die Forscher. Im letzten Jahr hatte ein Forscherteam bereits einen mutmaßlichen Diamantplaneten in der Milchstraße entdeckt, dieser umkreist aber einen Pulsar und damit einen sehr speziellen, exotischen Sternentyp. 55 Cancri e sei nun der erste bekannte Diamantplanet um einen sonnenähnlichen Stern, sagen die Astronomen.

Madhusudhan zufolge wirft der Fund einer kohlenstoffreichen Super-Erde ein völlig neues Licht auf die Vielfalt fremder Planeten. Denn jetzt könne man nicht länger davon ausgehen, dass ferne Gesteinsplaneten der Erde in Bezug auf ihre Zusammensetzung und auch die auf ihnen ablaufenden Prozesse ähnlich sein müssen. Wenn ein Planet zum großen Teil aus dem gut wärmeleitenden Kohlenstoff bestehe, beeinflusse dies auch geologische Prozesse wie die Plattentektonik, Vulkane, Erdbeben und die Bildung von Gebirgen.

" Sterne sind einfach. Kennt man ihr Alter und ihre Masse, kann man daraus auf Struktur und Geschichte schließen", kommentiert David Spergel von der Princeton University die Studie seiner Kollegen. Planeten seien dagegen weitaus komplexer. "Diese diamantenreiche Super-Erde ist nur ein Beispiel für die vielen weiteren Entdeckungen, die uns noch bei der Suche nach fremden Planeten erwarten", sagt der Astronom. "

[Popeye82]

www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2015/11/01/dupont-opens-world…

[Popeye82]

Waterloo researchers create silicon anode, to produce lighter, long-lasting batteries from silicon, substantially smaller +longer-lasting batteries, for everything from portable electronic devices to electric cars, could be come a reality, thanks to an innovative technology developed by University of Waterloo researchers

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/11/waterloo-researchers-creat…
https://uwaterloo.ca/news/news/waterloo-researchers-create-t…

"Substantially smaller and longer-lasting batteries for everything from portable electronic devices to electric cars could be come a reality thanks to an innovative technology developed by University of Waterloo researchers.

Zhongwei Chen, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo, and a team of graduate students have created a low-cost battery using silicon that boosts the performance and life of lithium-ion batteries. Their findings are published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.

Waterloo’s silicon battery technology promises a 40 to 60 per cent increase in energy density, which is important for consumers with smartphones, smart homes and smart wearables.


The environmentally safe technology could also make dramatic improvements for hybrid and electric vehicles. The findings could mean an electric car may be driven up to 500 kilometres between charges and the smaller, lighter batteries may significantly reduce the overall weight of vehicles.

Current lithium-ion batteries normally use graphite anodes. The Waterloo engineers found that silicon anode materials have a much higher capacity for lithium and are capable of producing batteries with almost 10 times more energy.

“Graphite has long been used to build the negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries,” said Professor Chen, the Canada Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Clean Energy and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy. “But as batteries improve, graphite is slowly becoming a performance bottleneck because of the limited amount of energy that it can store.”

The most critical challenge the Waterloo researchers faced when they began producing batteries using silicon was the loss of energy that occurs when silicon contracts and then expands by as much as 300 per cent with each charge cycle. The resulting increase and decrease in silicon volume forms cracks that reduce battery performance, create short circuits, and eventually cause the battery to stop operating.

To overcome this problem, Professor Chen’s team along with the General Motors Global Research and Development Centre developed a flash heat treatment for fabricated silicon-based lithium-ion electrodes that minimizes volume expansion while boosting the performance and cycle capability of lithium-ion batteries.

“The economical flash heat treatment creates uniquely structured silicon anode materials that deliver extended cycle life to more than 2000 cycles with increased energy capacity of the battery,” said Professor Chen. ..."

[Popeye82]

Loughborough University unveils 'world’s 1st lab-in-a-briefcase', Academics @Loughborough University hope to boost early detection rates of cancer in developing countries, with their portable lab-in-a-briefcase, that can operate even @high temperatures. Believed to be the 1st kit of its kind dedicated to the portable measurement of cancer biomarkers, the concept is the brainchild of Dr Nuno Reis, a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering

www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/11/loughborough-university-un…
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2015/october/lab-in-a-brief…

"Academics at Loughborough University hope to boost early detection rates of cancer in developing countries with their portable lab-in-a-briefcase that can operate even at high temperatures.

Believed to be the first kit of its kind dedicated to the portable measurement of cancer biomarkers, the concept is the brainchild of Dr Nuno Reis, a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering. The full study has been published in the Lab on a Chip journal.

The number of people dying from cancer in developing countries is on the increase, partly due to steadily ageing populations, but also due to limited access to proper diagnostic tools. Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for over 8 million deaths per year, and 70% of the world’s cancer deaths occur in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. The number of new cancer cases is expected to rise by 70% over the next two decades[1].


With the help of his Research Associate Ana Isabel Barbosa, Dr Reis has developed a solution for diagnostic testing in remote areas of developing countries that lack adequate technology to support a full laboratory.


The lab-in-a-briefcase comprises of four components; a manually driven multi-syringe device capable of performing up to 80 simultaneous tests from whole blood samples at any one time; microwell plates pre-loaded with assay reagents; a portable USB-powered film scanner to image the test strips; and a portable computer for real-time data analysis.


The entire system can be carried in a small briefcase, handbag or laptop case, and requires just one operator with minimal training to conduct the test within 15 minutes – with no need for additional equipment or instruments.

One of the remarkable features of the lab-in-a-briefcase is that it uses whole blood without the need for any sample preparation – a previously challenging task outside of a laboratory setting.


A new affordable and disposable microfluidic test strip – comprising of tiny tubes about the size of a human hair – is used specifically for the quick measurement of different types of cancer biomarkers in a whole blood sample. This technology, which operates in a similar way to a pregnancy test, has already been used successfully by Dr Reis in a separate study that detected prostate cancer with the help of a smartphone camera.

Dr Reis said: “Our lab-in-a-briefcase is both inexpensive and simple to use; it means that high precision diagnostic kits, complete with clinical laboratory equipment, can be made accessible to remote populations, and this is what makes it a truly life-changing concept for the screening and monitoring of different types of cancer.


- Dr Nuno Reis demonstrates how the disposable microfluidic test strip works. -


“This portable lab can really make a difference, boosting levels of cancer detection in developing countries where ordinarily people would not have such easy access to early diagnostics. I envisage that our lab-in-a-briefcase could also be developed further in the future to allow for rapid testing of infectious diseases and allergens.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.989.980 von Popeye82 am 03.11.15 01:39:33

[Popeye82]

Researchers design architecture for a quantum computer in silicon, Researchers @UNSW +the University of Melbourne have designed a 3D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, providing a blueprint to build a large-scale quantum computer. Australian scientists have designed a 3D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, which is compatible with atomic-scale fabrication techniques –providing a blueprint to build a large-scale quantum computer

- The UNSW members of the team: L-R: Dr Matthew House, Sam Hile (seated), Scientia Professor Sven Rogge and Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons of the CQC2T laboratories at UNSW. Image: UNSW -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/11/researchers-design-archite…
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/researchers-de…

"Researchers at UNSW and the University of Melbourne have designed a 3D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, providing a blueprint to build a large-scale quantum computer.

Australian scientists have designed a 3D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, which is compatible with atomic-scale fabrication techniques – providing a blueprint to build a large-scale quantum computer.


Scientists and engineers from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T), headquartered at UNSW, are leading the world in the race to develop a scalable quantum computer in silicon – a material well-understood and favoured by the trillion-dollar computing and microelectronics industry.

Teams led by UNSW researchers have already demonstrated a unique fabrication strategy for realising atomic-scale devices and have developed the world’s most efficient quantum bits in silicon using either the electron or nuclear spins of single phosphorus atoms. Quantum bits – or qubits – are the fundamental data components of quantum computers.

One of the final hurdles to scaling up to an operational quantum computer is the architecture. Here it is necessary to figure out how to precisely control multiple qubits in parallel, across an array of many thousands of qubits, and constantly correct for ‘quantum’ errors in calculations.

Now, the CQC2T collaboration, involving theoretical and experimental researchers from the University of Melbourne and UNSW, has designed such a device. In a study published today in Science Advances, the CQC2T team describes a new silicon architecture, which uses atomic-scale qubits aligned to control lines – which are essentially very narrow wires – inside a 3D design.

“We have demonstrated we can build devices in silicon at the atomic-scale and have been working towards a full-scale architecture where we can perform error correction protocols – providing a practical system that can be scaled up to larger numbers of qubits,” says UNSW Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons, study co-author and Director of the CQC2T.

“The great thing about this work, and architecture, is that it gives us an endpoint. We now know exactly what we need to do in the international race to get there.”

In the team’s conceptual design, they have moved from a one-dimensional array of qubits, positioned along a single line, to a two-dimensional array, positioned on a plane that is far more tolerant to errors. This qubit layer is “sandwiched” in a three-dimensional architecture, between two layers of wires arranged in a grid.

By applying voltages to a sub-set of these wires, multiple qubits can be controlled in parallel, performing a series of operations using far fewer controls. Importantly, with their design, they can perform the 2D surface code error correction protocols in which any computational errors that creep into the calculation can be corrected faster than they occur.

“Our Australian team has developed the world’s best qubits in silicon,” says University of Melbourne Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, Deputy Director of the CQC2T who led the work with colleague Dr Charles Hill. “However, to scale up to a full operational quantum computer we need more than just many of these qubits – we need to be able to control and arrange them in such a way that we can correct errors quantum mechanically.” ..."

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 50.989.998 von Popeye82 am 03.11.15 02:11:37

[Popeye82]

UW–Madison engineers reveal record-setting flexible phototransistor, inspired by mammals’ eyes, University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made. The innovative phototransistor could improve the performance of myriad products —ranging from digital cameras, night-vision goggles +smoke detectors to surveillance systems +satellites — that rely on electronic light sensors. Integrated into a digital camera lens, for example, it could reduce bulkiness, +boost both the acquisition speed +quality of video or still photo, "While many phototransistors are fabricated on rigid surfaces, +therefore are flat, Ma +Seo's are flexible, meaning they more easily mimic the behavior of mammalian eyes"

- Developed by UW electrical engineers, this unique phototransistor is flexible, yet faster and more responsive than any similar phototransistor in the world.
Photo: Jung-Hun Seo -
www.innovationtoronto.com/2015/11/uw-madison-engineers-revea…
http://news.wisc.edu/24146

"Inspired by mammals’ eyes, University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made.

The innovative phototransistor could improve the performance of myriad products — ranging from digital cameras, night-vision goggles and smoke detectors to surveillance systems and satellites — that rely on electronic light sensors. Integrated into a digital camera lens, for example, it could reduce bulkiness and boost both the acquisition speed and quality of video or still photos.

Developed by UW-Madison collaborators Zhenqiang “Jack” Ma, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and research scientist Jung-Hun Seo, the high-performance phototransistor far and away exceeds all previous flexible phototransistor parameters, including sensitivity and response time.

The researchers published details of their advance this week in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.


Like human eyes, phototransistors essentially sense and collect light, then convert that light into an electrical charge proportional to its intensity and wavelength. In the case of our eyes, the electrical impulses transmit the image to the brain. In a digital camera, that electrical charge becomes the long string of 1s and 0s that create the digital image.

While many phototransistors are fabricated on rigid surfaces, and therefore are flat, Ma and Seo’s are flexible, meaning they more easily mimic the behavior of mammalian eyes.

“We actually can make the curve any shape we like to fit the optical system,” Ma says. “Currently, there’s no easy way to do that.”

One important aspect of the success of the new phototransistors is the researchers’ innovative “flip-transfer” fabrication method, in which their final step is to invert the finished phototransistor onto a plastic substrate. At that point, a reflective metal layer is on the bottom.

“In this structure — unlike other photodetectors — light absorption in an ultrathin silicon layer can be much more efficient because light is not blocked by any metal layers or other materials,” Ma says. ..."

[Popeye82]

www.thelifesciencesreport.com/pub/na/aethlon-medicals-biofil…

[Popeye82]

http://solarwindow.com/2015/11/invisible-wires-start-disappe…

[Popeye82]

Nissan lets media ride in self-driving car prototype - TCP/SH, TOKYO - Nov 4, 2015

www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/11/03/nissan-lets-medi…

"Being a passenger in a self-driving car is similar to being driven around by a very cautious person, maybe your grandmother.

Requiring neither hands on the steering wheel nor a foot on the gas pedal or brakes, the Nissan Motor Co. car making its way on Japanese public roads is instead packed with radars, lasers, cameras and computer chips.


Nissan's “intelligent driving” feature is smart enough to navigate intersections without lane markers. It also brakes safely to a stop without crashing into the vehicle in front, and it knows the difference between a red light and a tail-lamp.

Reporters were given a half-hour test ride in the prototype vehicle Tuesday on a scenic but pre-programmed course on Tokyo roads, which included stopping at traffic lights, making turns, changing lanes and crossing a bridge across the bay.

The car was painstakingly careful, like someone extra cautious on the road.

It always stayed within the speed limit. And it slowed down, appearing to be “thinking” at slightly complicated situations, such as cars coming from another lane. The system is designed to recognize people and if a pedestrian jumped out onto the road, the car should come to a stop.

Nissan, which also makes the Infiniti luxury model and the March subcompact, is preparing the autonomous driving option for vehicles going on sale in 2020.

It plans to have abbreviated versions of the technology starting from next year, such as keeping a safe distance from the car in front on congested roads.

The car experienced by The Associated Press is still unable to deal with unexpected situations, such as moving to the side of the road if an ambulance approaches. At one point, the human driver, who was in the seat for the whole test ride, had to intervene because the car didn't properly recognize an unclearly drawn lane.

Otherwise, it did fine.

Nissan General Manager Tetsuya Iijima, who was the human driver for the test ride, acknowledged the system needs fine-tuning. But he was confident it was the way of the future, delivering better safety, because more than 90 per cent of traffic accidents are caused by driver error.

When compared with a human, Nissan's prototype is only 3 or 4 years old, maybe 6 at most, and the goal is to help it mature to a 20-year-old, he said.

“It's like a kid,” said Iijima, emulating a child walking slowly, a step at a time. “We need to make it understand the world - the severe world.”

The system was shown in Nissan's Leaf electric vehicle, meaning it was not only intelligent but also zero-emission.

Its trunk space was filled with electronics and wiring, evidence of the computer technology needed to integrate the information from the car's many sensors, radars and 360-degree cameras.

When it goes on sale, the electronics system will be much smaller and tidier.

Jeremy Carlson, senior analyst at IHS Automotive, who is an expert on autonomous driving, praised Nissan for having “a clear roadmap” for the technology it was working on.

“Nissan's plans to successively deploy piloted drive technologies keep the automaker at or near the leading edge of the industry in driver assistance technology both in Japan and worldwide,” he said.

“Overall it is a comprehensive system that will allow Nissan to continue to innovate and add functionality in the future.”

Nissan plans to tailor the feature to various markets.

In the U.S., where there tends to be long driving on highways, a feature that might work like an enhanced auto-cruise would be handy.

All the major automakers, including Nissan's Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. and electric car maker Tesla Motors, as well as players outside the auto industry such as Google Inc., are working on the driverless car. Daimler and Mercedes Benz also have developed such technology.

“We think we are a leader,” Iijima said. “Please compare the prototypes.” "

[Popeye82]

Space mining conference begins, in Sydney, the outermost reaches of available mineral resources will be the topic of discussion @the 3rd International Future Mining Conference, which begins today, in Sydney

www.australianmining.com.au/news/space-mining-conference-beg…

"The outermost reaches of available mineral resources will be the topic of discussion at the 3rd International Future Mining Conference, which begins today in Sydney.

The conference will showcase innovations and technological developments in the minerals industry, such as autonomous mining, emerging exploration technologies, new commodities for high-tech equipment, and asteroid capture.


Senior executives speaking at the event include Rio Tinto chief growth and innovation officer Craig Stegman, Caterpillar Global Mining Division’s James D. Humphrey, Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland, and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (Engineering & Science Directorate) deputy director René Fradet.

Topics to be discussed will include the types of new minerals that will bring wealth in the future; how global warming and climate change will affect the industry; renewable and alternative energies; mining in environmentally sensitive areas; advances in water treatment and reuse and a site of novel mining systems; and technologies that are revolutionising the industry.

The second Off-Earth Mining Forum will be held concurrently on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 November, which will hear speakers from space agencies NASA (US) and JAXA (Japan), as well as space mining companies Deep Space Industries and Shackleton Energy.

Engineers and scientists will join the forum in discussing the work being done to prepare for the coming age of asteroid mining in space; issues such as resources, technologies, robotics, automation, instrumentation and business risks.

The Off-Earth Mining Forum was organised by Professor Andrew Dempster, director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at UNSW, and professor in Space Systems Engineering

Conference chair and geotechnical engineer Serkan Saydam is an associate professor at UNSW, who is currently working on to develop financial and technical models to evaluate various off-Earth mining scenarios, including mining on Mars. "

[Popeye82]

Canada start ups developing new wearables technology for athletes - SH&/TCP, TORONTO - Nov 4, 2015
www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2015/11/04/canada-start-ups…

"Canadian startups are building new wearable technology that goes well beyond the simple heart-rate monitoring and calorie counting of activity trackers familiar to the average fitness buff.

While devices from companies such as Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin monitor basic information like steps taken and sleep cycles, many of the sports gadgets on display at the Wearable Entertainment & Sports Toronto conference on Tuesday were designed for the pros - offering advanced telemetry that helps professional athletes avoid injury and optimize training routines.


Montreal-based Hykso, for example, is developing sensors about the size of a watch face that sits in a boxer's hand wraps to feed back real-time data about speed, power and technique.

Hykso data scientist Patrick Chandler says the company has already partnered with three Montreal-area gyms to provide their technology to those looking to perfect the sweet science.

“Existing technologies are not really definitive” in gauging punches, Chandler said.

“We can tell which one's an effective hit, which one was blocked, what was the strength of the block. We can see everything about the punch.”

That information is tracked in a mobile application and fed to trainers and coaches, allowing them better control over strategy and technique even in the middle of a bout.

The company's presentation includes video of boxer Caroline Veyre, a gold-medal winner at this year's Pan Am Games, using the Hykso sensors to measure her punches as she landed a barrage of hits against a bag over a 30-second period.

“She loves the data, she always asks for more,” Chandler said.

Among the day's presenters was PGA golfer Andrew Parr, who talked about how he uses the Muse brain-sensing headband from Toronto-based InteraXon to work on his focus and help him while out on the links.

Hani Abidi, one of the co-founders of Ollinfit, said his company's wearable sensor system and accompanying digital personal training app are just the beginning.

Their accelerometer-based sensors could be used for recording the perfect golf swing and teaching users how to replicate the motions, he said, or help amateur tennis players work on backhanding the ball like Rafael Nadal.

“There are tons of opportunities for these concepts,” he said.

Conference organizer Tom Emrich said that sports are one of the more obvious areas where wearables can improve efficiency and productivity, yet the same principles can be applied to industrial applications such as monitoring the health of employees working in dangerous conditions or providing direct contact with employees working in the field.

Emrich said that wearable technology, like the BlackBerry smartphone, could become commonplace as it becomes more useful to businesses seeking productivty gains and cost savings.

“Once you see your job changing and becoming easier because of a wearable, then it makes sense,” he said. "

[Popeye82]

http://epsteinresearch.com/2015/11/04/chairman-interview-pau…

[Popeye82]

€1,000,000,000 Human Brain Project back on track, after Commission signs new contract; the flagship project has been reorganised following an open revolt by neuroscientists, who were unhappy @the direction of travel. A new management structure will ensure no single institution has overall control

www.sciencebusiness.net/news/77294/%E2%82%AC1B-Human-Brain-P…

[Popeye82]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hansen-medical-announces-world…

[Popeye82]

China stinkt mehr als vermutet, Volksrepublik stößt viel mehr Treibhausgase aus als bisher bekannt

http://web.de/magazine/politik/new-york-timeschinas-co2-auss…

"Washington (dpa) - China stößt laut "New York Times" viel mehr Treibhausgase aus als bisher bekannt. Unter Berufung auf bisher nicht veröffentlichte Daten eines Energiejahrbuchs Chinas aus dem Jahr 2013 schreibt die Zeitung, das Land verbrenne jährlich 17 Prozent mehr Kohle als bisher angenommen.

ALLEIN DADURCH ENTSTEHE MEHR CO2 ALS DIE GESAMTE DEUTSCHE WIRTSCHAFT JÄHRLICH DURCH DIE VERBRENNUNG VON KOHLE, ÖL ND GAS AUSSTOSSE.


China produziert bereits weltweit mit Abstand die meisten Treibhausgase. Nach Angaben der "New York Times" liegt der Ausstoß in Wirklichkeit eine Milliarde Tonnen höher: "Auch für ein Land von der Größe Chinas ist diese Korrektur immens."


Die neuen Werte könnten die Verhandlungen auf dem bevorstehenden Welt-Klimagipfel in Paris erschweren. Ende November kommen in Paris die Vertreter von rund 190 Staaten zusammen. Sie wollen durch eine verbindliche Senkung der Treibhausgase die globale Erwärmung begrenzen.

Staatspräsident Xi Jinping hatte angekündigt, sein Land wolle bis zum Jahr 2030 den CO2-Ausstoß gemessen am Wirtschaftswachstum um bis zu zwei Drittel herunterfahren. Dieses Ziel könnte nun infrage stehen.

Der Bericht der "New York Times" zitiert chinesische Energiebeamte und -forscher: Sämtliche Daten und Voraussagen müssten überprüft werden. Die Abhängigkeit Chinas von der Kohle sei gravierend unterschätzt worden, vor allem gelte das für Kraftwerke sowie die Stahl- und Zementproduktion.

Das Milliardenreich China steht vor dem Problem, seine Wachstumsziele zumindest mit einer Deckelung der Umweltverschmutzung in Einklang bringen zu müssen. Immer wieder haben ganze Regionen mit gravierendem Smog zu kämpfen.

Die amerikanische Energiebehörde EIA sehe ihre eigenen Prognosen für China bestätigt, schreibt die "New York Times". Allerdings gibt es auch gegenteilige Befunde. So hatte das Fachmagazin "Nature" im August berichtet, Chinas Emissionen würden überschätzt. Sie hätten 2013 um 14 Prozent niedriger gelegen.

Wie "Nature" weiter schreibt, sei eine genaue Zahl der chinesischen Emissionen vor allem wegen der hohen Zahl kleinerer Minen in dem riesigen Land sehr schwierig zu berechnen "

[Popeye82]

www.unmc.edu/news.cfm?match=17791

[Popeye82]

Researchers Construct New Power Interruption Technology, Korean Researchers have recently created the world’s 1st Mott device that reduces the size +improves the performance of traditional electromagnetic switches +circuit breakers. The research team has created a power interruption technology, based on a Mott metal-insulator transition(Mott MIT) device. According to Phys.org, MIT devices can be applied to electromagnetic switches that interrupt an electric current in case of overcurrent

- Left figure shows the temperature dependence of resistance of the developed Mott MIT VO2 device and its photo. Right side exhibits the commercial overload relay and magnetic contact (electromagnet) and the developed electromagnetic switch. -
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-power-electromagnetic.html
www.interferencetechnology.com/researchers-construct-new-pow…

"Researchers in Korea have overcome a 100-year old technological limitation by fabricating the world's first Mott device that reduces the size and enhances the performance of traditional electromagnetic switches and circuit breakers.

The research team, led by Dr. Hyun-Tak Kim of Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, has developed an innovative power interruption technology based on a Mott metal-insulator transition (Mott MIT) device.

The Mott MIT signifies the phenomenon that a Mott insulator is abruptly converted into a metal or vice versa without the structural phase transition. The research team previously developed a Mott MIT critical temperature switch (CTS) (or MIT device) which generates a control current (or signal) at a critical temperature between 67oC and 85oC as the unique characteristic of vanadium dioxide. After that, the MIT devices were applied to some kinds of electromagnetic switches that interrupt an electric current in case of overcurrent.


An existing traditional electromagnetic switch that takes the role to interrupt electricity through the mechanical switching when it conducts an overcurrent is composed of both an electromagnet called the magnetic contactor, which connects or disconnects signals of main power, and the thermal overload relay with an on-off switching function controlled by temperature. The overload relay is composed of both an expensive delicate mechanical switch with a large size and a bimetal that is made of two separate metals with different thermal expansion coefficients joined together. The bimetal has a characteristic of bending to any direction when heat is applied. The bending force of the bimetal controls the mechanical switch inducing the on-off switching; this has been called 'hundred years technology of power interruption'; Westinghouse applied the patent right of the power circuit breaker using a bimetal in 1924. However, the bimetal undergoes a change of the bending characteristic during a long-term usage. Therefore, the accuracy of the overload relay drops. Finally, the performance of electromagnetic switch is also deteriorated; this is a fatal problem of the existing traditional electromagnetic switch.

In order to solve the problem, the research team uses the MIT-CTS instead of the bimetal as a sensor for the on-off switch. In this case, the mechanical switch is replaced by a simple electrical circuit controlling the electromagnet, which means that the mechanical switching is changed into the electronic one. Therefore, the MIT overload relay becomes small in size by removing the large mechanical switch and has the accuracy irrespective of environment temperature during long term. Accordingly, the MIT electromagnetic switch has a reliable and accurate electronic switching characteristic.

The research team confirmed that the developed MIT electromagnetic switch is satisfied with the operating conditions of the overload relay given in a Korean technology standard, Article 5.6, KSC 4504 compatible with the international standard 60947-4-1. The team also checked through experiments that the circuit breaker using the bimetal operated below AC 1 KV can be replaced by that made of the developed MIT electromagnetic switching technology.

A market report on "The World Market For Transmission & Distribution Equipment and Systems" (Gould Report, 2013) announced that the sales of the worldwide power switch and circuit breaker markets will reach to approximate $29.5 billion in 2016. ..."

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

Merkel 'mächtiger als Obama', Kanzlerin überholt den US-Präsidenten auf der "Forbes"-Liste

http://web.de/magazine/politik/merkel-ueberholt-obama-forbes…

[Popeye82]

New glass almost as tough as steel, a team of researchers with The University of Tokyo +Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute has created a type of glass, that is stronger than many metals. In their paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how they overcame one of the major hurdles, in creating glass imbued with extra amounts of an oxide of aluminum, by using what they call aerodynamic levitation

- Transmittance spectrum of the 54Al2O3-46Ta2O5 glass in the UV/vis region. The inset picture shows the glass sample used for the transmittance experiment. Credit: (c) 2015 Scientific Reports (2015). DOI: 10.1038/srep15233 -
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-glass-tough-steel.html
www.nature.com/articles/srep15233

"A team of researchers with The University of Tokyo and Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute has created a type of glass that is stronger than many metals. In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how they overcame one of the major hurdles in creating glass imbued with extra amounts of an oxide of aluminum, by using what they call aerodynamic levitation.


Glass that does not break when dropped or when struck by another object would be useful in a wide variety of applications, from automobile windows, to skyscrapers to smartphones and tablets. For that reason, scientists have been searching for ways to make traditional glass stronger. One of those ways has been to add larger amounts of an oxide of aluminum to the mix, specifically, alumina, because it has one of the highest dissociation energies among oxides. Prior research has shown that glass made with such an addition would be much stronger than traditional glass. Researchers have been prevented from creating such a glass, however, because of a problem in the production process—when more alumina is added to the mix while the glass is being made, silicon dioxide crystals develop where the mix meets the surface that is holding it, making the end product worthless as a glass. In this new effort, the researchers found a way around this problem—by removing the container from the process.

The new process involves causing the mix to be held in the air while it is forming, by pushing it from below with oxygen gas and then using a laser as a spatula to mix the materials together. The end result is a glass with more alumina in it than any other produced to date—a glass that the team reports is transparent, colorless and extremely hard. Testing showed it to be stronger than most metals, and almost as strong as steel.

The only thing holding up the production of shatter-proof smartphone screens using the new glass is that the team still needs to find a way to convert their method to a mass production process—they appear confident that such a way will be found, as they promise to find a way shortly.


More information: Gustavo A. Rosales-Sosa et al. High Elastic Moduli of a 54Al2O3-46Ta2O5 Glass Fabricated via Containerless Processing, Scientific Reports (2015). DOI: 10.1038/srep15233


Abstract

Glasses with high elastic moduli have been in demand for many years because the thickness of such glasses can be reduced while maintaining its strength. Moreover, thinner and lighter glasses are desired for the fabrication of windows in buildings and cars, cover glasses for smart-phones and substrates in Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) displays. In this work, we report a 54Al2O3-46Ta2O5 glass fabricated by aerodynamic levitation which possesses one of the highest elastic moduli and hardness for oxide glasses also displaying excellent optical properties. The glass was colorless and transparent in the visible region, and its refractive index nd was as high as 1.94. The measured Young's modulus and Vickers hardness were 158.3 GPa and 9.1 GPa, respectively, which are comparable to the previously reported highest values for oxide glasses. Analysis made using 27Al Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MAS NMR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of a significantly large fraction of high-coordinated Al in addition to four-coordinated Al in the glass. The high elastic modulus and hardness are attributed to both the large cationic field strength of Ta5+ ions and the large dissociation energies per unit volume of Al2O3 and Ta2O5.


Journal reference: Scientific Reports ..."

[Popeye82]

www.mearstechnologies.com

[Popeye82]

Physicists measure force that makes antimatter stick together, Peering @the debris from particle collisions, that recreate the conditions of the very early universe, scientists have for the 1st time measured the force of interaction between pairs of antiprotons

- A new measurement by RHIC's STAR collaboration reveals that the force between antiprotons (p with bar above it) is attractive and strong--just like the force that holds ordinary protons together within the nuclei of atoms. Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory -
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-physicists-antimatter.html#nRlv
www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature15724…

"Peering at the debris from particle collisions that recreate the conditions of the very early universe, scientists have for the first time measured the force of interaction between pairs of antiprotons. Like the force that holds ordinary protons together within the nuclei of atoms, the force between antiprotons is attractive and strong.

The experiments were conducted at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility for nuclear physics research at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory. The findings, published in the journal Nature, could offer insight into larger chunks of antimatter, including antimatter nuclei previously detected at RHIC, and may also help scientists explore one of science's biggest questions: why the universe today consists mainly of ordinary matter with virtually no antimatter to be found.

"The Big Bang-the beginning of the universe-produced matter and antimatter in equal amounts. But that's not the world we see today. Antimatter is extremely rare. It's a huge mystery!" said Aihong Tang, a Brookhaven physicist involved in the analysis, which used data collected by RHIC's STAR detector. "Although this puzzle has been known for decades and little clues have emerged, it remains one of the big challenges of science. Anything we learn about the nature of antimatter can potentially contribute to solving this puzzle."

RHIC is the perfect place to study antimatter because it's one of the few places on Earth that is able to create the elusive stuff in abundant quantities. It does this by slamming the nuclei of heavy atoms such as gold into one another at nearly the speed of light. These collisions produce conditions very similar to those that filled the universe microseconds after the Big Bang-with temperatures 250,000 times hotter than the center of the sun in a speck the size of a single atomic nucleus. All that energy packed into such a tiny space creates a plasma of matter's fundamental building blocks, quarks and gluons, and thousands of new particles-matter and antimatter in equal amounts.

"We are taking advantage of the ability to produce ample amounts of antimatter so we can conduct this study," said Tang.


[video]
- Animation showing 3D view of STAR detector complex. Credit: Maria Theresia Schmah & Alexander Schmah -


The STAR collaboration has previous experience detecting and studying rare forms of antimatter-including anti-alpha particles, the largest antimatter nuclei ever created in a laboratory, each made of two antiprotons and two antineutrons. Those experiments gave them some insight into how the antiprotons interact within these larger composite objects. But in that case, "the force between the antiprotons is a convolution of the interactions with all the other particles," Tang said. "We wanted to study the simple interaction of unbound antiprotons to get a 'cleaner' view of this force."

To do that, they searched the STAR data from gold-gold collisions for pairs of antiprotons that were close enough to interact as they emerged from the fireball of the original collision.

"We see lots of protons, the basic building blocks of conventional atoms, coming out, and we see almost equal numbers of antiprotons," said Zhengqiao Zhang, a graduate student in Professor Yu-Gang Ma's group from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who works under the guidance of Tang when at Brookhaven. "The antiprotons look just like familiar protons, but because they are antimatter, they have a negative charge instead of positive, so they curve the opposite way in the magnetic field of the detector."

"By looking at those that strike near one another on the detector, we can measure correlations in certain properties that give us insight into the force between pairs of antiprotons, including its strength and the range over which it acts," he added.


- Zhengqiao Zhang, a graduate student from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, with STAR physicist Aihong Tang at the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory -


The scientists found that the force between antiproton pairs is attractive, just like the strong nuclear force that holds ordinary atoms together. Considering they'd already discovered bound states of antiprotons and antineutrons-those antimatter nuclei-this wasn't all that surprising. When the antiprotons are close together, the strong force interaction overcomes the tendency of the like (negatively) charged particles to repel one another in the same way it allows positively charged protons to bind to one another within the nuclei of ordinary atoms.

In fact, the measurements show no difference between matter and antimatter in the way the strong force behaves. That is, within the accuracy of these measurements, matter and antimatter appear to be perfectly symmetric. That means, at least with the precision the scientists were able to achieve, there doesn't appear to be some asymmetric quirk of the strong force that can account for the continuing existence of matter in the universe and the scarcity of antimatter today.

But the scientists point out that we wouldn't know that if they hadn't done these experiments.

"There are many ways to test for matter/antimatter asymmetry, and there are more precise tests, but in addition to precision, it's important to test it in qualitatively different ways. This experiment was a qualitatively new test," said Richard Lednický, a STAR scientist from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, and the Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague.

"The successful implementation of the technique used in this analysis opens an exciting possibility for exploring details of the strong interaction between other abundantly produced particle species," he said, noting that RHIC and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are ideally suited for these measurements, which are difficult to assess by other means.


More information: Nature, nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature15724

Journal reference: Nature "

[Popeye82]

[Popeye82]

- "Every TEN TO TWENTY MINUTES WE PRODUCE THE SAME AMOUNT OF DATA WE PRODCED OVER THE PAST ONE HUNDRED(!!!!!) YEARS. In THE NEXT TEN YEARS WE'LL PRODUCE THAT IN 5 SECONDS” says Henry Markram in this video for the World Economic Forum. Markram, who is Professor of Neuroscience at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), describes the new era of brain inspired computer science that’s evolving to meet the big data challenge.

Watch the full video above or read key quotes below

On the data challenge
“One of the biggest challenges is the volume of data we’re producing, and the next challenge is the speed at which we process the data. Every ten to twenty minutes today we produce the same amount of data we produced over the past one hundred years. In the next ten years we’ll produce that in five seconds.”

“What is absolutely clear to almost every technologist out there, is that we as humans can no longer read and digest this information. We need serious help. The essential help is in the form of algorithms. There are basically three kinds of algorithms that can go beyond the kind of algorithms that we used to use in the past. We need very sophisticated algorithms, and we need machines to help us build those sophisticated algorithms.”

“They exist today and are being evolved at an incredibly high speed in order for us to make decisions on exabytes of big data as fast as possible. There’s clearly hope that we are going to be able to deal with the speed of making decisions on such massive volumes of data.”

On deep learning and cognitive computing
“The one that is very popular today is deep learning. It’s what Google is going into, and Microsoft and Facebook are using. Deep learning is a series of neurons or nodes with successive layers. You can train one of these nodes to recognise all the difference features and conditions of a face, so it become a face detecting node. And if you show it enough images of faces you can train and develop the algorithm.”

“This will be a powerful tool that lives in the cloud, and when you want to recognise something you won’t realise that it ran through this deep learning algorithm to decide what you were looking at. This is going to become more and more important, because the trend is everything is becoming digital. Our self is becoming digital. Our health is becoming digital. Being able to recognise patterns is going to become increasingly important.”

“The second approach is brain inspired design. Brain inspired design is more of a massive set of interconnections. It’s a concept of what the brain could be doing, and we try to mimic that concept. IBM “Watson” for example is a good idea of a kind of cognitive computing. We look at the brain and we see that it’s got sensory areas, and reasoning areas and decision making areas, and reward areas. And we mimic those mathematically and try to get the machinery to make these decisions. So Watson can take all of the millions of pages of Wikipedia, for example, and run it through this conceptual model of the brain and it can make decisions on them. And it’s incredibly powerful and very useful.”

On mapping the brain
The third direction is the emerging direction and this depends now on much more concrete information about the brain. You can think of it as brain derived design; mimic the brain as accurately as possible, after all it is the product of four billion years of evolution. To get to brain design, you need to understand a lot more about the brain: how it’s put together, how the neurons are structured.

The essence is really that you have neurons and you have a lot of cables. You have enough cables in your brain to wrap around the moon a couple of times. There’s a lot of cables that are connecting and forming this intricate network. And what’s it’s really doing is carrying out an algorithm through these different networks. You also have synapses that have to connect these neurons. And in a piece of the brain the size of a pin head, you have 40 million synapses that have to connect to about 30,000 neurons. They are the messengers between cells and by controlling these messengers, you can control the algorithm. ” -

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.008.187 von Popeye82 am 04.11.15 20:31:55

- Henry Markram (Co-leader, Human Brain Project and Professor, Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland) explains that brain research suffers from a lack of platforms to consolidate and integrate the vast amount of data produced by the scientific and clinical community. This limits our ability to effectively exploit existing knowledge to improve the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders. The Human Brain Project aims to address knowledge and technical gaps by building new information, computing and experimental platforms that will enable the collection of great quantities of information (‘big data’), the design of new experiments and testing of new hypotheses regarding brain function in health and disease.

PROF. HENRY MARKRAM is the founder of the Brain Mind Institute at the EPFL, founder and director of the Blue Brain Project, and the coordinator of the Human Brain Project. After earning his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), with distinction, he was a Fulbright scholar at the National Institutes of Health (USA), and a Minerva Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Medical Research, Germany. In 1995 he returned to the Weizmann Institute, becoming an Associate Professor in 2000. In 2002 he became a full professor at EPFL. Prof. Markram's research has focused on synaptic plasticity and the microcircuitry of the neocortex, in which he has discovered fundamental principles governing synaptic plasticity (e.g. STDP, RSE, LTMP, neuromodulation) and the structural and functional organisation of neural microcircuitry. Key co-discoveries include the concept of Liquid Computing and the Intense World Theory of Autism. In 2005 he launched the Blue Brain Project to develop a general strategy for data integration in neuroscience and a specific strategy of predictive reconstruction to make experimental mapping of the brain tractable. Dr. Markram has published over one hundred papers, has been cited over 17,000 times and has an H-index of 61. Since 2002, Dr. Markram has spearheaded Switzerland's ambition to become a world leader in High Performance Computing and to prioritise simulation-based research; these fields are now two of the three national research priorities declared by the Swiss government. Dr. Markram is also founder of Frontiers (frontiersin.org), a new model for peer-reviewed open-access publishing. -

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.010.923 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 09:15:57

- Henrsy Markram sagt, dass die Geheimnisse des Gehirns bald gelöst sein können. Geisteskrankheiten, Erinnerung, Wahrnehmung: sie bestehen aus Neuronen und elektrischen Signalen, und er plant sie mit einem Super-Computer, der das Gehirn mit 100,000,000,000,000 Synapsen modeliert, zu finden. -

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.010.740 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 09:03:54

- Kwabena Boahen is using the human brain as the blueprint for designing radically more powerful and energy-efficient computers. In this short demo, Boahen describes how his Brains in Silicon lab at Stanford University has created computer chips with "synapses" and "neurons" -- and how these chips might revolutionize computing.

Brains in Silicon lab:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/brainsi..." target="_blank" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">http://www.stanford.edu/group/brainsi...

Stanford University:
http://www.stanford.edu/

Stanford University Channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/stanford -

[Popeye82]

www.theneweconomy.com/technology/plasco-energy-groups-advanc…

[Popeye82]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.010.740 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 09:03:54

- (Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Are intelligent machines possible? If they are, what will they be like? Jeff Hawkins, an inventor, engineer, neuroscientist, author and entrepreneur, frames these questions by reviewing some of the efforts to build intelligent machines. He posits that machine intelligence is only possible by first understanding how the brain works and then building systems that work on the same principles. He describes Numenta's work using neocortical models to understand the torrent of machine-generated data being created today. He will conclude with predictions on how machine intelligence will unfold in the near and long term future and why creating intelligent machines is important for humanity. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Council Lectures" [12/2012] [Science] [Show ID: 24412]-

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New highways to charge electric cars, as they drive, the UK plans to test the use of electric highways, that would allow electric cars to charge as they drive

- Electric car charger stations could soon become obsolete as the UK government starts its 18-month trial of highways that can charge electrically powered cars -
www.theneweconomy.com/energy/new-highways-to-charge-electric…

"The UK plans to test the use of electric highways that would allow electric cars to charge as they drive

From Hayes to Romford, Watford to Purley, and everywhere in between, electric car charger stations are dotted across the streets of London. Numbering around 1,000, this sprawling collection of fuel stations for the environmentally conscious is the largest in Europe. Those who prefer their fuel non-combustible are able to recharge their right-on electric battery powered cars at their convenience, and be on their silent way.


A new trial by the British Department for Transport, however, could soon render these electric juice points obsolete. It was announced in August that the UK government would go ahead with an 18-month trial of highways that will be able to charge electrically powered cars as they drive along.

“What has been committed to is that by 2016 or 2017 we will hold off-road trials – in other words not on a public road”, Stuart Thompson, a spokesman for Highways England told the BBC. “It’s still very early days. Where exactly the trials will be has yet to be determined.”

So far £200,000 has been spent investigating the feasibility of the technology, while it is expected another £500,000 will be spent on the plan.


Current of history

The basic idea behind the electric highway is to lay electric cables under the road. These cables will give off an electromagnetic field. Cars equipped with the correct technology will, if all goes well, pick up the electricity emitted, providing them with power to continue driving along indefinitely – or at least until they veer off the electric highway for long enough.

The concept itself can be traced back to the late 19th century, being one of the many ideas of the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. Patenting the idea in 1894, Tesla proposed a scheme for tramcars to be powered by electric currents emitted from the ground along their route of travel. As the patent itself noted, the idea was to provide tramcars with electricity currents “without the use of sliding or rolling contacts between the line conductor and the car motors”. The electricity supply, it continued, was intended to “convey these currents… run from the stationary source of supply along the line of travel and preferably through a conduit constructed between, or alongside of the tracks or rails”. As with so many of Tesla’s bold ambitions, however, it sadly never came to fruition.

Similar technologies do, however, now exist around the world. After years of testing, in 2013 the town of Gumi, South Korea opened a 15-mile route on which specially constructed buses draw their power from under-road cables. In 2014, the British city of Milton Keynes introduced a less technologically sophisticated version to charge its own bus fleet. Rather than bury the cables under the surface (which requires digging up and relaying the road), the city opted to lay electric plates on top of the road at certain points, where buses pick up the charge as they sit above them. This does, however, require the buses to remain stationary to be charged.


Red flags, +range anxiety

One major obstacle to electric cars becoming more popular is that people feel they are not very practical. A perceived lack of ease in keeping electric cars charged and running puts people off considering one, while the lack of such vehicles makes creating an infrastructure for charging them seem pointless.

“When the UK government surveyed consumers and businesses, they found the chicken-and-egg problem that haunts [electric vehicles] elsewhere”, said the website Co.Exist. “Some consumers don’t want to buy an electric car without a full infrastructure for charging in place.”

In the UK, a trip to the petrol station is routine, but outside London, the infrastructure needed to support electric cars is all but non-existent. Even inside London, the charge-up station network is shoddy. In 2014, The Telegraph pointed out that many of the charging points in London do not work, with confusion over who is responsible for their repair leaving them offline. The website Source London tracks which points are online and available for use: the map is constantly changing, but a quick glance at any given time will show a large number flagged red as inoperable. As The Telegraph said: “[T]he London Borough of Camden admits that it’s struggling to keep more than 70 percent of its charging points operational at any one time, leaving significant holes in the network.”

One Financial Times journalist recounted: “On a recent weekday morning, I walked to the nearest charging point to my home in Camberwell, southeast London, but it was out of service. So was the next one I visited, around half a mile away”.

Motorists in the UK have become accustomed to the ready availability of fuel. The idea of being uncertain whether or not the source of petrol for one’s car will be available is particularly unappealing.

All of this creates ‘range anxiety’; another major reason people have an aversion to electric cars. No one wants to get caught short, half a mile from the nearest charging point. Not that drivers in petrol powered cars are not also prone to such problems, but people have become accustomed to gauging how far they can get on low petrol before they arrive at the next station, or at least have the comfort of knowing there is an emergency jerry can of petrol in their car boot. The electric highway, if widespread enough, could alleviate such fears.

Many of the newer models of electric cars have increased battery power, allowing vehicles to run longer, easing the mind of drivers. This does not mean electric highways would be redundant, as even the longest powered battery needs to be recharged. As the electric highways themselves would require major road works to lay the cables, the highways will initially cover only certain areas, or be gradually integrated road by road. At the same time, as the BBC noted: “Highways England is also committed to installing plug-in charging points every 20 miles… on its motorway network over the ‘longer-term’.” "

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www.battelle.org

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Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.011.451 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 09:55:58

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Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.013.122 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 12:39:24

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Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 51.013.293 von Popeye82 am 05.11.15 12:53:06